A method for acquiring marine seismic data includes towing a seismic energy source in a body of water and towing a seismic sensor at a selected distance from the seismic energy source. The seismic energy source is actuated a plurality of positions, a distance between each of the plurality of actuations being randomly different than any other such distance. Seismic energy detected by the seismic sensor is substantially continuously recorded through a plurality of actuations of the at least one seismic energy source. The recording includes recording a geodetic position of the at least one seismic energy source and the at least one seismic sensor at each actuation.

This disclosure relates generally to the field of marine seismic data acquisition. More specifically, the disclosure relates to methods for acquiring marine seismic data in which the positions of seismic energy source(s) used to generate the seismic data are randomly geodetically distributed in order to improve quality of the data obtained.
Seismic surveying is known in the art for determining structures of rock formations below the earth's surface. Seismic surveying generally includes deploying an array of seismic sensors at the surface of the earth in a selected pattern, and selectively actuating a seismic energy source positioned near the seismic sensors. The energy source may be an explosive, a vibrator, or in the case of seismic surveying performed in the ocean, one or more air guns or water guns.
Seismic energy which emanates from the source travels through the earth formations until it reaches an acoustic impedance boundary in the formations. Acoustic impedance boundaries typically occur where the composition and/or mechanical properties of the earth formation change. Such boundaries are typically referred to as "bed boundaries". At an acoustic impedance boundary, some of the seismic energy is reflected back toward the earth's surface, where it may be detected by one or more of the seismic sensors deployed on or below the surface when onshore, and in the water when offshore. Other portions of the energy are refracted and continue propagating in a generally downward direction until another impedance boundary is reached. Seismic signal processing known in the art has as an objective the determination of the depths, geographic locations and physical properties of rocks forming a bed boundary below the earth's surface. The depth and location of the bed boundaries is inferred from the travel time of the seismic energy to the acoustic impedance boundaries and back to the sensors at the surface.
Seismic surveying (marine seismic surveying) is performed in bodies of water suck as lakes or the ocean to determine the structure of earth formations below the water bottom. Marine seismic surveying known in the art includes having a vessel tow one or more seismic energy sources, and the same or a different vessel tow one or more "streamers", which are arrays of seismic sensors forming part of or otherwise affixed to a cable. Typically, a seismic vessel will tow a plurality of such streamers arranged to be separated by a selected fixed or variable lateral distance from each other, in a pattern selected to enable relatively complete determination of geologic structures in three dimensions.
The signals detected by the seismic sensors at the earth's surface include components of seismic energy reflected at the bed boundaries, as previously explained. In addition, both coherent noise (noise which has a determinable pattern, such as may be caused by a ship propeller) and incoherent (random) noise may be present. The presence of such noise in the signals received by the seismic sensors reduces the signal-to-noise ratio ("SNR") of the seismic signals of interest. An objective of seismologists, therefore, is to seek methods of eliminating the effects of noise on the signals detected by the sensors without appreciably reducing the true seismic signal component of the detected signals. The resolution of the resultant seismic data is typically dependent on the spatial sampling of the signal and the noise.
Prior art methods which have been used to reduce the effects of noise and acquire a higher quality seismic representation of a particular subsurface structure include using multiple actuations of the seismic source (multiple "firings" or "shots") to record a plurality of sensor measurements from substantially the same subsurface structure, and then summing or "stacking" such measurements to enhance signal strength while substantially reducing the effects of random or incoherent noise. In most such techniques known in the art, the multiple firings are performed such that the source is disposed at regularly spaced positions, and signal processing of the recorded signals follows accordingly.
The idea of random spatial sampling rather than regular spatial sampling of the subsurface has been proposed as a way that can lead to improved resolution of the subsequent data. These design principles and theoretical justification come from a relatively new field of mathematics known as "compressive sampling". See, e.g., Candes, E., Romberg J., and Tao T., (2006) Stable signal recovery from incomplete and inaccurate measurements. Communications on Pure and Applied Mathematics 59, 1207-1223. See also, Donoho, D. L., (2006) Compressed sensing; IEEE Transactions on Information Theory. 52, 1289-1306.
Typically the approach of random sampling has been suggested as a way to obtain more information from fewer samples and has been considered in a theoretical sense for seismic data. See, Herrman, F., (2009) Sub-Nyquist sampling and sparsity: how to get more information from fewer samples, Proceedings of the 2009 Annual SEG meeting 3410-3415.
For land seismic acquisition, it is relatively easy to randomize the spatial positions of shots. Randomizing the positions of sensors is also possible with wireless systems, though more conventional wired systems would limit the potential. The concept of using random sampling in a land environment to get the same result through acquisition of less data has been described in, Milton A., Trickett, S., and Burroughs L., (2011) Reducing acquisition costs with random sampling and multi-dimensional interpolation, Proceedings of the 2011 Annual SEG meeting 52-56.
In the marine environment seismic data are typically acquired in straight lines with a set of sensors towed behind the vessel. There is in effect no capability to vary the relative positions of the sensors as these are constrained within a streamer towed behind the vessel. Some natural randomization of sensor positions may occur simply through the deviation of the streamers from the intended track due to currents, but the spacing of the sensor positions within the streamer is fixed.
Marine seismic sources are typically fired sequentially and alternately (in the case of 2 sources and a single vessel), with the objective of firing the sources at regularly spaced locations along a designated vessel track. There are known deviations from this practice known in the art involving the number of sources being activated, and the timing of the source activation.
A first technique known in the art is that multiple sources are fired sequentially with small deviations in timing between firings in each sequence. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,906,981 B2 issued to Vaage, entitled, Method and system for acquiring marine seismic data using multiple sources. The method disclosed in the foregoing patent still has as an objective acquiring seismic data on a regular spatial sampling basis and recording the data into discrete records of fixed time duration. By introducing slight variations in the actuation timing of the secondary source some variation in the position of the second source is obtained, however such position randomization is relatively small. The purpose of the technique disclosed in the foregoing patent is to achieve randomization of source firing timing so that essentially simultaneously operated sources can have their energy individually identified and separated from the recorded seismic signals in a single discrete record. Note that for purposes of identifying the source position, the sources are actuated at essentially the same time, and at regularly spaced apart spatial positions.
Another technique known in the art provides that the track of the vessel not be straight, but be approximately circular. This essentially creates a pseudo random set of resultant source positions, but the seismic energy sources are still fired at regular spatial intervals along the vessel track. This is described in, Moldoveannu, N., (2010) Random Sampling: A new strategy for marine acquisition, Proceedings of the 2010 Annual SEG meeting 51-54. Note however, that using the foregoing technique the source positions are not randomized along the vessel track, but it is simply a result of the fact that the vessel track is not straight that results in spatial variation of the source position.
What is needed is a technique to randomize seismic energy source position for marine seismic data acquisition to obtain the benefits thereof.

Method for acquiring marine seismic data


This invention relates to high temperature, semi-crystalline, semi-aromatic nylon terpolymers with improved shrinkage resistance, made from terephthalic acid (TA), hexamethylene diamine (HMD) and/or 2-methyl pentamethylene diamine (2-MPMD) and another aliphatic dicarboxylic acid as monomers. These polymers display superior % TD (Transverse Direction) annealing shrinkage, as well as very good balance of mechanical performance as high temperature nylons.

Many terpolymers based on TA and HMD described in the patent literature or in commercial existence give very marginal performance in these applications. Such is the case for 6T/DT [50/50 molar ratio], the copolymer of hexamethylene terephthalamide (6T) and 2-methyl pentamethylene terephthalamide (DT) (U.S. Pat. No. 5,378,800 to Mok, Pagilagan; U.S. Pat. No. 5,322,923 to Lahary, Coquard) because of its high glass transition temperature (Tg) and high post-molding shrinkage. A terpolymer of hexamethylene terephthalamide/hexamethylene isophthalamide/hexamethylene adipamide (6T/6I/66) terpolymer [65/25/10 molar ratio], based on 3 acids, TA, isophthalic acid (IA) and adipic acid (AA), and HMD (U.S. Pat. No. Re. 34,447 to Poppe, Lisle, et al.) has high mold and post molding shrinkages when molded in cold molds. Similar would be the situation for the hexamethylene terephthalamide/hexamethylene isophthalamide/hexamethylene sebacamide (6T/6I/610) terpolymer [70/20/10 molar ratio] (U.S. Pat. No. 5,424, 104 to Amimoto et al.) because of its high Tg. Such would also be the case of the copolymer of hexamethylene terephthalamide/caprolactam (6T/6) [70/30] (EP 413258, to Kopietz, Betz, Blinne, Koch) because of its high T.sub.g. Copolymers of hexamethylene terephthalamide/hexamethylene adipamide (6T/66), based on TA, AA and HMD, at 55/45 molar ratio (U.S. Pat. No. 5,424,104) or 65/35 molar ratio (U.S. Pat. No. Re. 34,447) are functional in these "cold mold" injection molded parts, and display acceptable post mold shrinkage, but suffer in melt processability (i.e. thermal stability and flow) and moisture adsorption.
Terpolymers containing TA and HMD are generically described in the patent literature. Typical of that prior art is U.S. Pat. No. 5,200,450 to Blinne, Goetz, Hurley, Gutsche, Muehlbach (BASF) wherein the semi-aromatic polyamide is composed of i) 20-90% (wt) of units derived from terephthalic acid and hexamethylene diamine, ii) 0-50% (wt) of units derived from .epsilon.-caprolactam, iii) 0-80% (wt) units derived from adipic acid and hexamethylene diamine, and iv) 0-40% (wt) of further polyamide-forming monomers. Also typical of that prior art is U.S. Pat. No. 5,324,766 to Ikejiri, Yamamoto, Kawamoto (Mitsui Petrochemicals Company), wherein the semi-aromatic polyamide resin consists essentially of i) a dicarboxylic acid component recurring unit consisting of 30-100 mole % of terephthalic acid component unit and 0-40 mole % of an aromatic dicarboxylic acid component unit other than terephthalic acid and/or 0-70 mole % on an aliphatic dicarboxylic acid component unit having an alkylene group of 4-20 carbon atoms and ii) a diamine component recurring unit comprising an alkylene diamine component unit having an alkylene group of 4 to 25 carbon atoms.

Semi-crystalline, semi-aromatic terpolymers with superior post-molding shrinkage and balance of mechanical performance


Various embodiments of semiconductor assemblies with multi-level substrates and associated methods of manufacturing are described below. In one embodiment, a substrate for carrying a semiconductor die includes a first routing level, a second routing level, and a conductive via between the first and second routing levels. The conductive via has a first end proximate the first routing level and a second end proximate the second routing level. The first routing level includes a terminal and a first trace between the terminal and the first end of the conductive via. The second routing level includes a second trace between the second end of the conductive via and a ball site. The terminal of the first routing level and the ball site of the second routing level are both accessible for electrical connections from the same side of the substrate.

Board-on-chip ("BOC") techniques have been used for packaging high speed memory components. FIG. 1A is a cross-sectional view of a BOC semiconductor assembly in accordance with the prior art. As shown in FIG. 1A, the semiconductor assembly 100 includes a substrate 102, a semiconductor die 104 attached to the substrate 102 with an adhesive 106, and an encapsulant 108 encapsulating the semiconductor die 104 and at least a portion of the substrate 102. The substrate 102 includes a first side 102a proximate the semiconductor die 104, a second side 102b opposite the first side 102a, and an opening 118 between the first and second sides 102a and 102b. The opening 118 exposes a connection region 110 on the semiconductor die 104. A plurality of traces 112 are located on the second side 102b of the substrate 102 and are electrically connected to the connection region 110 via a plurality of wirebonds 114. A plurality of electrical couplers 116 (e.g., solder balls) are attached to ball sites on the substrate 102.
FIG. 1B is a bottom view of the semiconductor assembly 100 of FIG. 1A, and FIG. 1C is an enlarged view of a portion of the semiconductor assembly 100 shown in FIG. 1B. As shown in FIGS. 1B and 1C, the semiconductor die 104 can include a plurality of bond sites 119 in the connection region 110. The individual bond sites 119 are coupled to corresponding terminals 113 of the individual traces 112 on the semiconductor substrate 102 via the wirebonds 114. As is clearly shown in FIGS. 1B and 1C, the plurality of traces 112 fan out from the terminals 113 to contact corresponding ball pads 120.
Over the course of time, manufacturers have made dies smaller and smaller to meet user demands. As the semiconductor dies 104 have become smaller, the number of ball pads 120 and the traces 112 required on the substrate 102 has increased such that the large ball pads 120 can interfere with routes of the traces 112. One conventional solution for dealing with this problem is to use aggressive design rules and wire bond profiles to decrease the sizes of all features on both the semiconductor die 102 and the substrate 104. However, such a conventional technique is still limited due to the number of ball pads 120 that are typically required.

Semiconductor assemblies with multi-level substrates and associated methods of manufacturing


A method and an apparatus automatically detect and remove eyeglasses from an image. The method according to one embodiment accesses digital image data representing an image including a face; detects eyeglasses in the image to produce a report about presence or absence of eyeglasses in the image; normalizes illumination of the image to obtain a normalized image; and removes eyeglasses from the normalized image to obtain a face image without eyeglasses.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a digital image processing technique, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for detecting and removing eyeglasses from a digital image.
2. Description of the Related Art
Face recognition plays an important role in digital image processing techniques concerned with the study of human faces. An important requirement for a successful face recognition system is its robustness against occlusions appearing in images of human faces. Eyeglasses are some of the most common objects that occlude faces. Presence of eyeglasses in images can significantly decrease the performance of a face recognition system. Variability in lighting conditions in face images poses additional challenges to eyeglasses detection and face recognition.
A few publications have studied the impact of occluded regions in a face image on face detection. One such technique is described in US Patent Application 2005/0190963 A1 entitled "Target Object Detecting Method, Apparatus, and Program". The method described in this work detects faces that include occlusions such as eyeglasses. This method, however, is concerned with face detection, and does not detect, remove, or replace eyeglasses in faces. This method also does not address the difficulties caused by variability in lighting conditions of face images.
A disclosed embodiment of the application addresses these and other issues by utilizing a method and apparatus for automatic eyeglasses detection and removal. The method and apparatus automatically detect and remove eyeglasses, and reconstruct the face regions occluded by eyeglasses to produce a face image without eyeglasses.

Method and apparatus for automatic eyeglasses detection and removal


A system and method is provided for recognizing a pattern in queries and using the recognized pattern to categorize queries under existing query categories. An entity text that represents a real-world object is detected in a query. The entity text is categorized into an entity category. The query is then rewritten as an annotated query by replacing the entity text with a placeholder for any entity matching the entity category. The annotated query is compared to other queries that are associated with query categories to find a query category that is frequently associated with the annotated query. The query category frequently associated with the annotated query is used to generate a rule. The rule indicates that any query matching the annotated query is likely to fit into the query category. The rule can be used to assign categories to queries or correct incorrectly categorized queries.

Online service providers have various schemes for categorizing queries submitted by users. Currently, an online service provider will utilize a particular query categorization scheme that is based on potentially a number of factors. Various query schemes can be tested by human beings for accuracy.
For example, suppose an online service provider categorizes a query, "The Dark Knight," under "movies." Later, a human being can look at the query and determine whether the query is correctly categorized. Because "The Dark Knight" almost always refers to the popular movie from 2008 entitled "The Dark Knight," the human being would indicate that the query is correctly categorized. When testing the accuracy of a categorized query, the human being can also investigate other instances in which the query was used. If users frequently navigated to pages relating to "movies," as determined by the human being, then the query is correctly categorized under "movies."
In the example, if the online service provider categorized "The Dark Knight" under "medieval times," then a human being could determine that the query was incorrectly categorized. Although a query using the word "Knight" may sometimes fit under the "medieval times" category, the human being would know that the "medieval times" category does not fit "The Dark Knight." Online service providers that categorize the query based on the keyword, "knight," mistake "The Dark Knight" as a term relating to the "medieval times."
If a user's query is incorrectly categorized, the user receives the wrong content in response to his or her query. In the "medieval times" example above, the user might receive content about knights, paladins, swords, shields, chariots, elves, and dragons even though the true intent of the user is to retrieve information about the movie, "The Dark Knight," which involves the superhero named Batman and the villain named Joker.
On the other hand, if the query is correctly categorized under "movies," the user may receive information that complements the user's intent to receive information about "The Dark Knight." For example, the user may receive information about other Batman movies.
Online service providers spend too much time and money to have humans manually check queries such as "The Dark Knight" to determine whether the queries are correctly categorized. A more efficient approach would not require human beings to analyze categorized queries to determine whether queries have been correctly categorized. Also, an improved query categorization method that is less error-prone than current techniques would reduce the need for manual corrections.
The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.

System for automatically categorizing queries


An apparatus, method and system for retracting a read/write head (13) to a landing position of a disk (11) in a disk drive system (10) which includes an actuator (33) coupled with the head (13) for retracting in a first direction toward an outside diameter of the disk (11) and a second direction toward an inside diameter of the disk (11) in response to corresponding signals. A control device (32) coupled with the actuator (33) which is adapted for determining a retract direction for the read/write head (13), wherein a first signal indicative of a first direction and a second signal indicative of a second direction is provided to the actuator (33), the control device (32) further providing the first signal following a loss of power which energizes the disk drive motor (38) of the disk drive system and providing the second signal subsequent to providing the first signal for retracting the read/write head (13) to the landing position.

Conventional magnetic storage devices generally include a magnetic transducer head suspended in close proximity to a recording medium, such as a magnetic disk having a plurality of concentric tracks. The storage device also includes a spindle motor for rotating the disk and a head stack assembly that can include one or more read/write heads. The head stack assembly is controllably positioned over the magnetic disk by an actuator or a servo system in order to read or write information from or to particular tracks on the disk.
When the disk is at rest, the heads normally ride just resting on the disk; however, when the disk is spinning, air forces generated between the disk and the heads cause the heads to float a small distance above the magnetic media.
Two of the most critical periods in determining the read/write head life span occur during take off and landing. Prior to operation, the read/write head rests on an inner track or landing zone where the head is parked. As the disk begins to rotate from an initial, stopped position, the read/write head is dragged along the surface of the disk. Once the disk reaches sufficient speed, the aerodynamic lift floats the read/write head assembly away from the disk surface.
During shutdown of the disk drive system, the disk drive spindle motor slows and the air forces begin to stop, allowing the heads to fall into contact with the magnetic media. If the heads come into contact with the media while there is still some movement of the media, wear or damage may result, both to the recorded area on the media and to the heads.
Consequently, means have been proposed to position the heads over a "landing strip" portion of the disk, so that only that strip is damaged by a head falling onto the disk. This landing strip is typically along the inner diameter (ID) of the magnetic disk surface. In the event of a loss of power, to prevent the heads from landing on portions of the magnetic media other than the ID, often when a power failure is detected, the motor spinning the disk is allowed to continue to turn under the inertia of the various masses of the drive. As a result, the spindle motor coils generate their own back-emf. The coils of the spinning motor are then connected to deliver the voltages generated by the back-emf produced in the motor windings to operate retract control circuitry and to provide the energy to the voice coils necessary to drive the heads to the landing strip. Once the head is retracted to the ID and the air forces stop, the head falls and contacts the disk surface, the head is dragged across the ID surface as the motor's momentum continues the magnetic disk rotation for a period before a brake is finally applied to totally stop the motor. Power failure detection, back-emf utilization, head retract circuitry, and motor braking are known in the art.

Retract method to reduce head friction with the disk for a hard disk drive


A finite state automata (FSA) may comprise of a plurality of states and a plurality of events that are triggered to transition between the plurality of states to enable the continuous delivery of one or more machine learning (ML) models. Datasets may be uploaded by one or more users to a computing device. Each dataset may include columns of attributes and/or rows of data for each attribute. Each dataset may be analyzed according to respective predefined ML model criteria. Each dataset may be automatically transformed and/or enhanced to meet the predefined ML model criteria. Data analysis may be performed on each dataset to inform the building of the ML models. An algorithm may be received for each ML model. Each ML model may be built based on the respective dataset and the respective algorithm to generate an ML model file. Logs may be stored for tracking the process performed by the FSA.

Machine-learning has been used to generate predictive models from datasets. Many current machine-learning infrastructures use an open platform that allows a data administrator to build the predictive models from the dataset by selecting code based on the types of information in a given dataset. Once the model is built, the model may be deployed into a production environment, such as by deploying the results of the model for automating decision making by a business unit. Once in production, the model may be maintained in response to changes in the data.
Present machine-learning infrastructures fail to appropriately allow for continuous delivery of a machine learning model to support self-learning from data ingestion through model deployment. Users, such as data scientists, have an open platform with little structure or documentation during the process of building, training, and/or deploying of the ML model. As there is little structure to the open platforms, users also fail to have consistency in the output of the process of building, training, and/or deploying an ML model. The process of building and maintaining an ML model may include multiple users working with multiple datasets and/or ML models, or versions of models, at the same time. As a result, ML applications, particularly in industries with legacy data challenges or multiple data source challenges, may be hard to build and maintain in an open platform.

Finite state automata that enables continuous delivery of machine learning models


Low frequency pulse-echo ultrasonic transducers are provided especially suited for use in downhole cement bond evaluation, but usable for various applications. One frequency pulse-echo ultrasonic transducer comprises a transducer stack having alternating layers of a piezoceramic element and an ultrasonic attenuating element that is preferably acoustic impedance matched to the piezoceramic elements in order to reduce the Q of the transducer stack. Another low frequency pulse-echo ultrasonic transducer comprises an assembly having the present transducer stack disposed on an acoustic attenuating backing and a front face. Yet another low frequency pulse-echo ultrasonic transducer comprises a transducer composite made from a lead metaniobate. Still another frequency pulse-echo ultrasonic transducer comprises a composite stack. A further low frequency pulse-echo ultrasonic transducer comprises a composite stack, wherein multiple drive elements allow driving individual elements at different times. The transducers may be driven in a multiple-pulse time delayed manner.

When forming a well, such as an oil or natural gas well, a hole is drilled in the earth using an earth-penetrating drill bit situated at an end of one or more drilling tools which, in turn, are disposed at the end of numerous sections of pipe (i.e. a drilling assembly). The drilling assembly is then rotated to affect the drilling process. Typically, a fluid mixture known as mud is circulated into the well during drilling. The mud then flows around the drilling tools and out of the hole along with drilling debris. After the hole is formed a metal casing such as pipe is situated in the hole. Thereafter, cement is provided between the well casing and the hole wall in order to fill space between the outside of the well casing and the hole wall. Once the cement hardens, the well casing is bonded to the hole wall.
It is important for the quality and integrity of a well that no gaps, air pockets or the like exist between the well casing and the hole wall. In order to determine whether gaps, air pockets and/or the like exist between the outer well casing and the hole wall, cement bond evaluation (CBE) is performed. CBE is performed on new wells as well as existing wells by introducing a tool having a CBE component into the well which obtains data that is then analyzed. The CBE component is typically an acoustic (e.g. ultrasonic) transducer configured to operate in a pulse-echo mode. Such is depicted in FIG. 1 wherein a down-hole tool (tool) 10 having an ultrasonic transducer assembly 13 situated in a side thereof is shown sending an ultrasonic signal (represented by the parallel lines) through the mud 11 toward the well casing 14. The ultrasonic transducer assembly 13 includes a piezo-ceramic element situated between an ultrasonic signal dampening backing and a tuned PEEK front face. Behind the well casing 14 is cement 15 and the formation 12 in which the hole was formed.
The ultrasonic transducer 13 generates an ultrasonic pulse that is directed at the well casing 14. The transmitted ultrasonic pulse is reflected off the well casing 14 and returned to the transducer 13. Additionally, a portion of the transmitted ultrasonic pulse travels through the well casing 14 and cement 15, and is reflected off of the formation 12 back to the transducer 13. The ultrasonic reflections cause further ultrasonic reflections that travel back to the transducer. Eventually, the ultrasonic reflections subside. However, by analyzing the reflected ultrasonic signals (i.e. the response signals of the casing and cement), it can be determined whether gaps, air pockets and/or the like, exist in the cement 15 (i.e. between the well casing and the hole wall), as well as the estimated size of the gap, air pocket and/or the like.
Most down-hole pulse-echo ultrasonic transducers operate in the range of 400 kHz to 1 MHz. Selecting an operating frequency for a pulse-echo ultrasonic transducer is a trade-off between transducer size, focal spot size, resolution, ringdown, attenuation and frequency-specific phenomena. The thickness of the well casing is also sensitive to frequency. Transducer size, focal spot size, resolution, and ringdown generally favor higher frequency ultrasonic transducers, while attenuation generally favors lower frequency. There are also more of the specific phenomena at lower frequencies, particularly with respect to well casing (pipe) used for deep wells having a one inch (1″) or greater wall thickness.
Referring to FIGS. 2A-F, various graphed results are shown for tests conducted by the present inventors regarding the effect of ultrasonic frequency on response. Particularly, three ultrasonic transducers of low frequency (115 kHz, 95 kHz, 75 kHz) were used with respect to four (4) well test structures having known gaps in the cement between the well casing and the well formation (i.e. one well test structure having an 0.30 inch gap, one well test structure having an 0.45 inch gap, one well test structure having an 0.71 inch gap, and one well test structure having a 2.33 inch gap—using a section of 6 inch OD steel pipe with a 1 inch thick wall). As seen in graphs 16e of FIGS. 2E and 16f of FIG. 2F, the 115 kHz ultrasonic transducer does not produce responses which allow discrimination between the various gaps. In graphs 16c of FIGS. 2C and 16d of FIG. 2D, the 95 kHz ultrasonic transducer produces responses which allow discrimination of only the 0.71 inch gap from the other gaps. In graphs 16a of FIGS. 2A and 16b of FIG. 2B, however, the 75 kHz ultrasonic transducer produces responses which allow discrimination of all the gaps. Therefore, for down-hole CBE applications where the well casing is relatively thick (i.e. 1″ or greater), lower frequency ultrasonic transducers would be preferable.
A problem with low frequency transducers for CBE applications however is their size since down-hole tools only have so much room for the ultrasonic transducer assembly. Referring to FIG. 3, the problem of size of the ultrasonic transducer assembly is depicted. Particularly, the illustration 17 depicts a 400 kHz ultrasonic transducer assembly 18 and a 100 kHz ultrasonic transducer assembly 19 within the limited space within a down-hole tool. The 400 kHz ultrasonic transducer 18 includes a piezo-ceramic element 20 affixed to an ultrasonic dampening backing with a PEEK face 22 that produces a 400 kHz ultrasonic signal 23.
The 100 kHz ultrasonic transducer 19 includes a piezo-ceramic element 24 affixed to an ultrasonic dampening backing 25 with a PEEK face 26 that produces a 100 kHz ultrasonic signal 27. Every change associated with dropping the operating frequency of the ultrasonic transducer makes achieving bandwidth and ringdown goals more difficult. Particularly, the ratio of ultrasonic dampening backing to the piezo-ceramic element drops, the attenuation in the backing drops by sixteen times (16×), the piezo-ceramic volume versus backing surface area drops by four times (4×), the number of cycles in which to dissipate energy drops by four times (4×) (wherein Q=E/ΔE per cycle), and the thickness versus diameter of the piezo-ceramic approaches 3:1 or worse. As denoted by the double-headed arrow within the piezo-ceramic element 24, the 100 kHz piezo-ceramic element 24 has a significant unwanted radial component.
FIG. 4 illustrates ultrasonic energy flow from the 400 kHz ultrasonic transducer assembly 18 and the 100 kH-z ultrasonic transducer assembly 19. With respect to the 400 kHz ultrasonic transducer assembly 18 (representing typical ultrasonic transducers), ultrasonic energy emitted by the piezo-ceramic element 20 is dissipated in the backing 21 as represented by the large arrow 30. Particularly, nearly 50% of the ultrasonic energy projected into the backing 21 is dissipated, while a 5%-10% heat loss occurs in the piezo-ceramic 20. Moreover, as represented by the two small arrows 31, there is minimal coherent echoing from the backing 21. As represented by the large arrow 32 labeled "Transmitted", the remainder of the ultrasonic energy is emitted by the piezo-ceramic element 20. With respect to the 100 kHz ultrasonic transducer assembly 19 (representing low frequency ultrasonic transducers), some of the ultrasonic energy emitted by the piezo-ceramic element 26 is dissipated in the backing 21 (as represented by the large arrow 34), but not as much as the 400 kHz ultrasonic transducer assembly 18 since the backing 25 of the 100 kHz ultrasonic transducer assembly 19 is smaller. Moreover, as represented by the two small arrows 35, there is more echo resulting from the backing 25. As represented by the large arrow 36 labeled "Transmitted", the remainder of the ultrasonic energy is emitted by the piezo-ceramic element 26.
Therefore, while it would be advantageous to have a low frequency (i.e. ˜100 kHz) ultrasonic transducer for use in CBE and other applications, the aforementioned problems with respect to low frequency (i.e. 100 kHz) ultrasonic transducers makes current designs unsuitable and/or unusable in down-hole CBE applications. As the ability of the backing to absorb energy from the transducer decreases (due to limited space in a downhole tool for a transducer assembly), loss in the transducer must be increased to meet bandwidth goals.

Low frequency broad band ultrasonic transducers


A one-piece valve cover product for use on an internal combustion engine having an engine cylinder head, said cover product including dome-like upper portion which acts as a cover over the cylinder head area of the engine, a peripheral flange portion adapted for sealing engagement to the cylinder head, a plurality of apertures through said flange portion through which a plurality of fasteners can be inserted to secure said cover product in sealing engagement to the cylinder head, said valve cover including in an upper portion thereof a molded or cast conduit passageway member formed as part of the valve cover itself, said passageway member extending inside the cover and being adapted to receive an air/oil vapor mixture associated with operation of the engine and to condense oil out of said air/oil mixture, at least one or more apertures located in a lower part of that passageway member to permit the oil droplets which are condensed, to drain back into the engine, and wherein said valve cover is formed from a high-temperature resistant molding or castable material.

This invention broadly relates to a new cover assembly for use with internal combustion engines, and method associated therewith.
In the past, the common technique of achieving air/oil separation in an engine cover was to utilize an assembly of metallic components inside the cover to direct the air/oil mixture through a passageway. The passageway was designed to allow the oil to condense out of the air/oil vapor, through the system of metallic components, and then permitting the oil to drain back into the engine. The past design for such an air/oil separation system included the following: (a) sheet metal or die cast metal baffle plates were attached to the inside of the valve covers with a multitude of fasteners, rivets or the like. In addition, the prior design technology required sealants between the cover and the metal baffle plates to improve the efficiency of the air/oil separation. (b) Plastic baffle plates were also sometimes utilized and were attached to the inside of the covers with fasteners, adhesives, sealants, staking operations, or by ultrasonic or vibration welding methods. (c) Also, a combination of the above assembly techniques referred to in a) and b) were used, followed by attachment to the inside of the valve cover itself.
The above described methods of designing or constructing such valve covers were highly undesirable for the following reasons: 1) The assembly of the components used in the past added to the complexity of the cover assembly, thereby adding significant unnecessary cost. The added cost associated therewith can be broken down into the cost of designing those components, the cost for tooling those components, purchasing, quality control, and the required inventory of components; and most importantly, the labor cost to assemble those components in prior engine covers. 2) The integrity of the system was also dependent upon the robustness of the assembly. The potential for the assembly to separate from the cover under the operating conditions of the engine (for the life of the vehicle) did exist. Such a separation would potentially cause engine damage or engine failure. 3) The assembly of components in such prior covers does not add to the structural integrity of the cover in its intended functional usage in the automotive engine environment.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of this invention to overcome the disadvantages and problems associated with prior engine cover assemblies as described above.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a novel valve cover product for internal combustion engines which is economical to produce, lightweight, strong, and highly advantageous in actual usage conditions on an internal combustion engine.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Valve cover assembly for internal combustion engines


An image sensor may have an array of image sensor pixels arranged in unit pixel cells each having at least one modified clear image pixel. Each modified clear image pixel may include a modified clear color filter element formed from a transparent material such as an oxide material that is modified with a colored pigment or colored dye such as yellow pigment. Each unit pixel cell may include one or more color pixels of other colors such as red pixels, blue pixels, and green pixels. Image signals such as yellow image signals from the modified clear pixels may be processed along with other color image signals such as red image signals and blue image signals to generate standard red, green, and blue image data. Image processing operations may include chroma demosaicing or point filtering of the image signals from the modified clear image pixels.

This relates generally to imaging systems, and more particularly, to imaging systems with modified clear image pixels.
Image sensors are commonly used in electronic devices such as cellular telephones, cameras, and computers to capture images. In a typical arrangement, an electronic device is provided with an array of image pixels arranged in pixel rows and pixel columns. Circuitry is commonly coupled to each pixel column for reading out image signals from the image pixels.
Conventional imaging systems employ an image sensor in which the visible light spectrum is sampled by red, green, and blue (RGB) image pixels arranged in a Bayer mosaic pattern. The Bayer mosaic pattern consists of a repeating cell of two-by-two image pixels, with two green pixels diagonally opposite one another, along with a red pixel and a blue pixel that are diagonally opposite one another.
Some imaging systems replace the green color filters in the standard Bayer mosaic pattern by a non-absorbing clear material. This type of clear pixel can boost the sensor light sensitivity by a factor of more than two, thereby significantly improving the medium and low-light performance. However, this type of color scheme is partially subtractive and therefore can require the use of relatively high color correction coefficients. In addition, the high sensitivity of the clear pixel can result in a color channel imbalance that is typically corrected using relatively high white-balance coefficients. Thus, if care is not taken, proper color correction using these types of color correction and white-balance coefficients can result in an enhancement of pixel noise.
It would therefore be desirable to be able to provide improved imaging systems.

Imaging systems with modified clear image pixels

Semiconductor Components Industries, LLC


Some embodiments of the invention provide a computerized method for creating a scene selection from a marker for a multi-image content. The method allows identification of a multi-image content. The multi-image content includes several markers. Each marker represents an image of the multi-image content. The markers are identified to generate several scenes. Each generated scene is referenced to its corresponding marker from which it is identified.

Today, many consumers use DVD authoring tools to prepare DVD presentations and to burn these presentations on DVD's, which they can then distribute. An important feature of DVD presentations is the creation of menus and sub-menus that contain scene selections. The creation of such menus and sub-menus is often time consuming. For instance, to create scene selections, the user typically manually specifies one or more sub-menus for the scene selections, and then manually associates each scene selection link in the specified menus to a video clip. Therefore, there is a need in the art for an application that automatically produces menus and specifies scene selections for DVD's. More generally, there is a need for a method that can take marked-up multi-image content from an editing application and produce portions of a marked-up packaged presentation on a DVD.

Method and apparatus for producing a packaged presentation


A local entity without its own means of voice communication is provided with the semblance of having a voice interaction capability. This is done by providing a beacon device at or near the entity, the beacon device transmitting, over a short-range communication link, contact data identifying a voice service associated with, but hosted separately from, the entity. The transmitted contact data is picked up by equipment carried by a nearby person and used to contact the voice service over a wireless network. The person then interacts with the voice service, the latter acting as a voice proxy for the local entity. The contact data can be presented to the user in other ways, for example, by being inscribed on the local entity for scanning or user input into the equipment.

In recent years there has been an explosion in the number of services available over the World Wide Web on the public internet (generally referred to as the "web"), the web being composed of a myriad of pages linked together by hyperlinks and delivered by servers on request using the HTTP protocol. Each page comprises content marked up with tags to enable the receiving application (typically a GUI browser) to render the page content in the manner intended by the page author; the markup language used for standard web pages is HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language).
However, today far more people have access to a telephone than have access to a computer with an Internet connection. Sales of cellphones are outstripping PC sales so that many people have already or soon will have a phone within reach where ever they go. As a result, there is increasing interest in being able to access web-based services from phones. 'Voice Browsers' offer the promise of allowing everyone to access web-based services from any phone, making it practical to access the Web any time and any where, whether at home, on the move, or at work.
Voice browsers allow people to access the Web using speech synthesis, pre-recorded audio, and speech recognition. FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawings illustrates the general role played by a voice browser. As can be seen, a voice browser is interposed between a user 2 and a voice page server 4. This server 4 holds voice service pages (text pages) that are marked-up with tags of a voice-related markup language (or languages). When a page is requested by the user 2, it is interpreted at a top level (dialog level) by a dialog manager 7 of the voice browser 3 and output intended for the user is passed in text form to a Text-To-Speech (TTS) converter 6 which provides appropriate voice output to the user. User voice input is converted to text by speech recognition module 5 of the voice browser 3 and the dialog manager 7 determines what action is to be taken according to the received input and the directions in the original page. The voice input/output interface can be supplemented by keypads and small displays.
In general terms, therefore, a voice browser can be considered as a largely software device which interprets a voice markup language and generate a dialog with voice output, and possibly other output modalities, and/or voice input, and possibly other modalities (this definition derives from a working draft, dated September 2000, of the Voice browser Working Group of the World Wide Web Consortium).
Voice browsers may also be used together with graphical displays, keyboards, and pointing devices (e.g. a mouse) in order to produce a rich "multimodal voice browser". Voice interfaces and the keyboard, pointing device and display maybe used as alternate interfaces to the same service or could be seen as being used together to give a rich interface using all these modes combined.
Some examples of devices that allow multimodal interactions could be multimedia PC, or a communication appliance incorporating a display, keyboard, microphone and speaker/headset, an in car Voice Browser might have display and speech interfaces that could work together, or a Kiosk.
Some services may use all the modes together to provide an enhanced user experience, for example, a user could touch a street map displayed on a touch sensitive display and say "Tell me how I get here?". Some services might offer alternate interfaces allowing the user flexibility when doing different activities. For example while driving speech could be used to access services, but a passenger might used the keyboard.
FIG. 2 of the accompanying drawings shows in greater detail the components of an example voice browser for handling voice pages 15 marked up with tags related to four different voice markup languages, namely:                tags of a dialog markup language that serves to specify voice dialog behaviour;        tags of a multimodal markup language that extends the dialog markup language to support other input modes (keyboard, mouse, etc.) and output modes (large and small screens);        tags of a speech grammar markup language that serve to specify the grammar of user input; and        tags of a speech synthesis markup language that serve to specify voice characteristics, types of sentences, word emphasis, etc.
When a page 15 is loaded into the voice browser, dialog manager 7 determines from the dialog tags and multimodal tags what actions are to be taken (the dialog manager being programmed to understand both the dialog and multimodal languages 19). These actions may include auxiliary functions 18 (available at any time during page processing) accessible through APIs and including such things as database lookups, user identity and validation, telephone call control etc. When speech output to the user is called for, the semantics of the output is passed, with any associated speech synthesis tags, to output channel 12 where a language generator 23 produces the final text to be rendered into speech by text-to-speech converter 6 and output to speaker 17. In the simplest case, the text to be rendered into speech is fully specified in the voice page 15 and the language generator 23 is not required for generating the final output text; however, in more complex cases, only semantic elements are passed, embedded in tags of a natural language semantics markup language (not depicted in FIG. 2) that is understood by the language generator. The TTS converter 6 takes account of the speech synthesis tags when effecting text to speech conversion for which purpose it is cognisant of the speech synthesis markup language 25.
User voice input is received by microphone 16 and supplied to an input channel of the voice browser. Speech recogniser 5 generates text which is fed to a language understanding module 21 to produce semantics of the input for passing to the dialog manager 7. The speech recogniser 5 and language understanding module 21 work according to specific lexicon and grammar markup language 22 and, of course, take account of any grammar tags related to the current input that appear in page 15. The semantic output to the dialog manager 7 may simply be a permitted input word or may be more complex and include embedded tags of a natural language semantics markup language. The dialog manager 7 determines what action to take next (including, for example, fetching another page) based on the received user input and the dialog tags in the current page 15.
Any multimodal tags in the voice page 15 are used to control and interpret multimodal input/output. Such input/output is enabled by an appropriate recogniser 27 in the input channel 11 and an appropriate output constructor 28 in the output channel 12.
Whatever its precise form, the voice browser can be located at any point between the user and the voice page server. FIGS. 3 to 5 illustrate three possibilities in the case where the voice browser functionality is kept all together; many other possibilities exist when the functional components of the voice browser are separated and located in different logical/physical locations.
In FIG. 3, the voice browser 3 is depicted as incorporated into an end-user system 8 (such as a PC or mobile entity) associated with user 2. In this case, the voice page server 4 is connected to the voice browser 3 by any suitable data-capable bearer service extending across one or more networks 9 that serve to provide connectivity between server 4 and enduser system 8. The data-capable bearer service is only required to carry text-based pages and therefore does not require a high bandwidth.
FIG. 4 shows the voice browser 3 as co-located with the voice page server 4. In this case, voice input/output is passed across a voice network 9 between the end-user system 8 and the voice browser 3 at the voice page server site. The fact that the voice service is embodied as voice pages interpreted by a voice browser is not apparent to the user or network and the service could be implemented in other ways without the user or network being aware.
In FIG. 5, the voice browser 3 is located in the network infrastructure between the end-user system 8 and the voice page server 4, voice input and output passing between the end-user system and voice browser over one network leg, and voice-page text data passing between the voice page server 4 and voice browser 3 over another network leg. This arrangement has certain advantages; in particular, by locating expensive resources (speech recognition, TTS converter) in the network, they can be used for many different users with user profiles being used to customise the voice-browser service provided to each user.
A more specific and detailed example will now be given to illustrate how voice browser functionality can be differently located between the user and server. More particularly, FIG. 6 illustrates the provision of voice services to a mobile entity 40 which can communicate over a mobile communication infrastructure with voice-based service systems 4, 61. In this example, the mobile entity 40 communicates, using radio subsystem 42 and a phone subsystem 43, with the fixed infrastructure of a GSM PLMN (Public Land Mobile Network) 30 to provide basic voice telephony services. In addition, the mobile entity 40 includes a data-handling subsystem 45 interworking, via data interface 44, with the radio subsystem 42 for the transmission and reception of data over a data-capable bearer service provided by the PLMN; the data-capable bearer service enables the mobile entity 40 to access the public Internet 60 (or other data network). The data handling subsystem 45 supports an operating environment 46 in which applications run, the operating environment including an appropriate communications stack.
Considering the FIG. 6 arrangement in more detail, the fixed infrastructure 30 of the GSM PLMN comprises one or more Base Station Subsystems (BSS) 31 and a Network and Switching Subsystem NSS 32. Each BSS 31 comprises a Base Station Controller (BSC) 34 controlling multiple Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) 33 each associated with a respective "cell" of the radio network. When active, the radio subsystem 42 of the mobile entity 20 communicates via a radio link with the BTS 33 of the cell in which the mobile entity is currently located. As regards the NSS 32, this comprises one or more Mobile Switching Centers (MSC) 35 together with other elements such as Visitor Location Registers 52 and Home Location Register 52.
When the mobile entity 40 is used to make a normal telephone call, a traffic circuit for carrying digitised voice is set up through the relevant BSS 31 to the NSS 32 which is then responsible for routing the call to the target phone whether in the same PLMN or in another network such as PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) 56.
With respect to data transmission to/from the mobile entity 40, in the present example three different data-capable bearer services are depicted though other possibilities exist. A first data-capable bearer service is available in the form of a Circuit Switched Data (CSD) service; in this case a full traffic circuit is used for carrying data and the MSC 35 routes the circuit to an InterWorking Function IWF 54 the precise nature of which depends on what is connected to the other side of the IWF. Thus, IWF could be configured to provide direct access to the public Internet 60 (that is, provide functionality similar to an IAP—Internet Access Provider IAP). Alternatively, the IWF could simply be a modem connecting to PSTN 56; in this case, Internet access can be achieved by connection across the PSTN to a standard IAP.
A second, low bandwidth, data-capable bearer service is available through use of the Short Message Service that passes data carried in signalling channel slots to an SMS unit 53 which can be arranged to provide connectivity to the public Internet 60.
A third data-capable bearer service is provided in the form of GPRS (General Packet Radio Service which enables IP (or X.25) packet data to be passed from the data handling system of the mobile entity 40, via the data interface 44, radio subsystem 41 and relevant BSS 31, to a GPRS network 37 of the PLMN 30 (and vice versa). The GPRS network 37 includes a SGSN (Serving GPRS Support Node) 38 interfacing BSC 34 with the network 37, and a GGSN (Gateway GPRS Support Node) interfacing the network 37 with an external network (in this example, the public Internet 60). Full details of GPRS can be found in the ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) GSM 03.60 specification. Using GPRS, the mobile entity 40 can exchange packet data via the BSS 31 and GPRS network 37 with entities connected to the public Internet 60.
The data connection between the PLMN 30 and the Internet 60 will generally be through a gateway 55 providing functionality such as firewall and proxy functionality.
Different data-capable bearer services to those described above may be provided, the described services being simply examples of what is possible. Indeed, whilst the above description of the connectivity of a mobile entity to resources connected to the communications infrastructure, has been given with reference to a PLMN based on GSM technology, it will be appreciated that many other cellular radio technologies exist (for example, UTMS, CDMA etc.) and can typically provide equivalent functionality to that described for the GSM PLMN 30.
The mobile entity 40tself may take many different forms. For example, it could be two separate units such as a mobile phone (providing elements 42-44) and a mobile PC (providing the data-handling system 45), coupled by an appropriate link (wireline, infrared or even short range radio system such as Bluetooth). Alternatively, mobile entity 40 could be a single unit.
FIG. 6 depicts both a voice page server 4 connected to the public internet 60 and a voice-based service system 61 accessible via the normal telephone links.
The voice-based service system 61 is, for example, a call center and would typically be connected to the PSTN 56 and be accessible to mobile entity 40 via PLMN 30 and PSTN 56. The system 56 could also (or alternatively) be connected directly to the PLMN though this is unlikely. The voice-based service system 61 includes interactive voice response units implemented using voice pages interpreted by a voice browser 3A. Thus a user can user mobile entity 40 to talk to the service system 61 over the voice circuits of the telephone infrastructure; this arrangement corresponds to the situation illustrated in FIG. 4 where the voice browser is co-located with the voice page server.
If, as shown, the service system 61 is also connected to the public internet 60 and is enabled to receive VolP (Voice over IP) telephone traffic, then provided the data handling subsystem 45 of the mobile entity 40 has VolP functionality, the user could use a data capable bearer service of the PLMN 30 of sufficient bandwidth and QoS (quality of service) to establish a VoIP call, via PLMN 30, gateway 55, and internet 60, with the service system 61.
With regard to access to the voice services embodied in the voice pages held by voice page server 4 connected to the public internet 60, if the data-handling subsystem of the mobile entity is equipped with a voice browser 3E, then all that the mobile entity need do to use these services is to establish a data-capable bearer connection with the voice page server 4 via the PLMN 30, gateway 55 and internet 60, this connection then being used to carry the text based request response messages between the server 61 and mobile entity 4. This corresponds to the arrangement depicted in FIG. 3.
PSTN 56 can be provisioned with a voice browser 3B at internet gateway 57 access point. This enables the mobile entity to place a voice call to a number that routes the call to the voice browser and then has the latter connect to the voice page server 4 to retrieve particular voice pages. Voice browser then interprets these pages back to the mobile entity over the voice circuits of the telephone network. In a similar manner, PLMN 30 could also be provided with a voice browser at its internet gateway 55. Again, third party service providers could provide voice browser services 3D accessible over the public telephone network and connected to the internet to connect with server 4. All these arrangements are embodiments of the situation depicted in FIG. 5 where the voice browser is located in the communication network infrastructure between the user end system and voice page server.
It will be appreciated that whilst the foregoing description given with respect o FIG. 6 concerns the use of voice browsers in a cellular mobile network environment, voice browsers are equally applicable to other environments with mobile or static connectivity to the user.
Voice-based services are highly attractive because of their ease of use; however, they do require significant functionality to support them. For this reason, whilst it is desirable to provide voice interaction capability for many types of devices in every day use, the cost of doing so is currently prohibitive.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus by which entities can be given a voice interface simply and at low cost.

Voice communication concerning a local entity

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A detachable coupling member (30) at the cable entry end (16) of an electrical connector (10) provides easily removable attachment of the individual wires (54) of a cable assembly to the electrical connector (40). The detachable coupling member (30) permits the conventional solder connection of a wire (54) to an electrically conductive element (32) of the connector (10) to be made at a position spaced from portions (12) of the connector assembly (10) that may be damaged by heat generated in the course of making the solder connection, and provides selective attachment or separation of the wire (54) and connector (10). In use, the wires (54) are joined to the coupling members (30) which are to be plugged into sockets (27) at the rear of contacts (22) and held in place by use of threaded sleeves (42) to permit easy removal of faulty or incorrectly attached wires.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to an electrical connector assembly having a contact member imbedded therein and which has a portion extending outwardly from a cable entry end of the connector, and more particularly to such an electrical connector to which a wire can be detachably connected to the portion of the conductor extending outwardly from the connector.
2. History of Related Art
Electrical connection between the individual wires of a multi-wire cable and the corresponding electrical contacts carried within a connector attached to the cable, are typically made by solder joints. Solder joints not only provide good electrical communication between the wires and the respective contacts, but also provide good physical connection between the two members. For example, the electrical contacts imbedded within in an electrically non-conductive body, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,711,685 issued Jan. 27, 1998 to Richard G. Wood, the inventor of the present invention, are made by solder attachment of the wires to a solder lug formed on the end of each of the contacts.
However, solder connections between the electrically conductive wires and the contact member of a connector assembly presents several problems. First, it is frequently difficult to make good solder connections between the wires and the contacts of the connector when there are a large number of closely positioned contact members in the connector. Secondly, the heat required to melt solder and make the joint may be damaging to a surrounding sheath at the cable end of the contact, as illustrated in the above-referenced patent, or even damage the seal between lands and grooves of the contact member and the body of the connector. Moreover, if it is subsequently discovered that one of the wire leads is faulty, and the wire is connected to a contact member positioned in the middle of a large number of other contact members, it is extremely difficult to desolder the wire without damaging the solder connection of adjacently positioned wires. Also, if one of the wire conductors is faulty or connected in error to the wrong contact, it is generally difficult to correct the fault or error and rewire a wire conductor to another contact member.
The present invention is directed to overcoming the problems set forth above. It is desirable to have an electrical connector in which the individual contacts within the connector are detachably connected to respective wires of a cable to which the connector is attached. It is also desirable to have such an electrical connector, and electrical contacts disposed within the connector, which do not require direct soldering to the cable entry end of the contact. Furthermore, it is desirable to have such an electrical connector in which wiring errors, or damaged wire circuits can be replaced or rerouted without requiring solder joint melting for removal of the faulty attachment.

Electrical connector having detachable wire connection at cable entry end


Provided is a molded resin strand configured so that interlayer fusion of a shaped object can be improved and mechanical aptitude (specifically, stiffness) in a 3D printer can be more improved even in a case where an inorganic filler such as carbon fibers is mixed. The molded resin strand contains thermoplastic resin, an inorganic filler, and α-olefin elastomer. The thermoplastic resin is polypropylene, for example. The inorganic filler is carbon fibers, for example. The α-olefin elastomer is ethylene-α-olefin copolymer, for example. The molded resin strand of the present invention is used for a 3D printer employing a fused deposition modeling method.

A so-called 3D printer has attracted attention as the method for forming a three-dimensional object. A three-dimensional object in a complicated shape which has been difficult to be realized can be easily produced. With the 3D printer, an optional material such as resin or metal is stacked so that a shape unavailable by a common method can be processed.
Some methods have been known as a 3D printer method. Of these methods, the method (a fused deposition modeling method) for laminating and depositing a resin strand (a molded resin strand) after extrusion of the resin strand is advantageous in terms of cost. In view of these points, the fused deposition modeling method has been developed from every perspective (see, e.g., Patent Literatures 1 and 2).
For example, in a lamination shaping system of Patent Literature 1, a filament as a shaping material is supplied to an extrusion head. The filament is melted at a liquefier mounted on the extrusion head, and then, the molten filament is extruded onto a base through a nozzle. The extrusion head and the base are movable relative to each other for formation of a 3D model. In this manner, many material lines and layers are laminated. As a result, the 3D model is manufactured.
Patent Literature 2 discloses a 3D object building method including delivering, by extrusion, a reformed ABS material to an extrusion head of a lamination deposition system, melting the delivered reformed ABS material at the extrusion head under conditions for improving a response time of the extrusion head, and depositing, in a layer-by-layer manner, a molten thermoplastic plastic material to form a 3D object.
A basic idea of the method of this type is melting and deposition of the resin material. A resin strand (a molded resin strand) is used as a raw material for this method. Patent Literatures 3 and 4 disclose a resin strand used as a raw material and the method for supplying the resin strand, for example.
Patent Literature 3 discloses a composition for producing a three-dimensional object. This composition is, as a flexible filament, supplied to an extrusion head of an extruder for producing a shaped object. The filament is melted in a liquefier carried with the extrusion head. The liquefier heats the filament to a temperature slightly higher than a solidification point, thereby bringing the filament into a molten state. The molten material is extruded onto a seat through an orifice of the liquefier.
Patent Literature 4 discloses a filament cassette configured to supply a filament in a three-dimensional deposition modeling machine and a filament cassette receiver. Patent Literature 4 provides the method for engaging/disengaging the filament with/from the modeling machine in a simple form. According to this method, a form can be realized, in which the filament is protected from moisture in environment.


A method and a device for reducing NO.sub.x emissions from a diesel engine is disclosed. The engine has an inlet system for introducing air into the engine, an exhaust system for exhausting gases from the engine and a branch conduit connecting the exhaust system with the inlet system to permit recirculation of a portion of exhaust gases. A flow control valve is provided which is associated with the branch conduit for regulating the portion of exhaust gases flowing through the branch conduit. The engine further includes control means responsive to particular engine parameters. The control means is employed to effect regulation of the flow control valve based on values of the engine parameters. The control means determine when the engine is running below a predetermined maximum speed, and opens the flow control valve only when the engine is running below the predetermined maximum speed.

It is known to equip engines with exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) systems. Such systems generally comprise a branch conduit between the inlet manifold and the exhaust pipe of an engine. A valve is placed in the branch conduit and is adjustable to recirculate a fraction of the exhaust gases generated by the engine. Thus, a smaller portion of the exhaust gases is taken from the exhaust and mixed with the intake gases. In order to increase the density of the intake charge, the recirculated gases are normally passed through an intercooler in the branch conduit, thereby lowering the temperature of the intake charge.
The above-described systems are primarily used to reduce harmful exhaust emissions, i.e. nitrous oxides (NO.sub.x), mainly for automobile engines. Due to the introduction of cooled recirculated exhaust gas, the peak temperature in the combustion chamber is lowered during the combustion phase, thus limiting the formation of NO.sub.x. Normally, up to between about 5 percent and 20 percent of the exhaust gas volume is recycled. The EGR system is traditionally shut off when the engine load is low, e.g. during idling, to lower the fuel consumption and, in the case of petrol engines, to achieve a more even running of the engine. This also serves to prevent fouling of the valves and EGR system.
It is also known to utilise exhaust brakes in diesel engined vehicles, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,193,657. Such exhaust brakes are activated when the engine speed has to be lowered rapidly or when the engine-braking efficiency has to be increased, for instance when the driver of the vehicle presses the brake pedal. More efficient engine braking is achieved because the engine load is increased.
Increased exhaust pressure, and thereby increased load on the engine, is often utilized by truck drivers when their vehicles are stationary for relatively long periods in cold climates. Due to the increased load on the engine, more fuel is burnt and therefore the engine temperature is increased. The heat thus generated is then used for heating the interior of the vehicle cab. The increased load on the engine does, however, increase the fuel consumption of the engine.
From the documents JP-A-7180572 and WO-A-9310339 it is known to use an exhaust pressure governor (EPG) to adjust the exhaust back pressure to vary the exhaust flow depending upon the operating state of a spark-ignition engine. This is said to result in improved combustion efficiency and a raised catalytic converter temperature, with a resulting decrease in NO.sub.x emissions through the exhaust.
From DE-A-3339053 it is known to briefly completely shut off the exhaust when the brakes are applied, when starting the engine or when the engine is idling. According to said document, this results in lowered emission of unburnt white fumes when cold starting and lowered emission of blue smoke when idling.

Method and a device for reducing NO.sub.x emissions from a diesel engine


An example method includes receiving information related to a transaction with a financial account initiated by a customer at a financial terminal, the financial account including a transaction limit. Based on the information related to the transaction exceeding the transaction limit for the financial account, the method includes identifying a mobile device associated with the financial account and receiving location information of the mobile device via one or both of a passive location response or an active location response. Based on the location information of the mobile device, the method includes determining that the mobile device is located within a predetermined distance from a location of the financial terminal and temporarily changing the transaction limit for the financial account by a variable amount based on whether the location information of the mobile device was received via the one or both of the passive or the active location response.

Currency limits on financial transactions may be used to limit the financial cost of fraud. For example, withdrawal limits at automated teller machines (ATMs) help to reduce the financial risk of fraudulent direct access to a bank customer's bank account. ATMs are intended to be a fast, convenient service providing direct access to a customer's account, which may present opportunity for fraud due to the lack of a human operator verifying the identity of the ATM user and the ATM user's positioning in a car with quick exit access to roads. However, transaction limits such as ATM withdrawal limits may reduce the convenience to the customer use the banking services.

Computer-based system for determining dynamic financial transaction parameters


An apparatus having a reduced reflection from its surface includes a dielectric material and a capacitive circuit analog sheet buried within the dielectric material and configured to produce a reflection that adds out of phase with a reflection from an incident side of the dielectric material. The capacitive circuit analog sheet comprises conductive patches configured to have high impedance for transverse magnetic (TM) polarization.

The field of the disclosure relates generally to the transmission of electromagnetic radiation and more particularly to methods and apparatus for reducing loss of such radiation incident on dielectric materials at grazing angles.
When electromagnetic energy is incident upon a dielectric interface at a shallow angle, very little power actually enters the dielectric, particularly for polarizations perpendicular to the plane of incidence (TE). For example, when a dielectric having a dielectric constant of 4.86 (ZnS) is used with incident electromagnetic energy striking the dielectric at 80 degrees off normal, only 30% of the electromagnetic energy actually enters the dielectric. The remaining 70% of the energy is reflected away.
Several conventional anti-reflection techniques are known. These known techniques include dielectric stacks, matching layers and gradients that reduce overall polarizations. Low dielectric constant materials are needed for all of these techniques, although the techniques are equally applicable for various materials and frequencies.
In one known technique, the dielectric constant of a dielectric interface (such as, but not limited to, an RF radome, an IR window, or optical window) is graduated from that of free space to that of a dielectric material being matched. This type of graduation provides transmission over a relatively broad band of wavelengths. In a second known technique, the thickness and dielectric constant of a matching layer is selected so that a reflection from the incident surface of the matching layer exactly cancels that from the interface between the matching layer and the dielectric material being matched, thus producing maximum transmission of electromagnetic radiation into the dielectric material being matched. This matching by cancellation is performed using an off angle equivalent of a quarter wave transformer. Since it is a cancellation technique, the thickness of the dielectric layer depends upon the wavelength (frequency) of operation.
Other finite dielectric thickness techniques are known that cancel reflections from both interface sides of a dielectric material being matched. These techniques, such as those commonly used in radomes, set strict restrictions on the dielectric thickness being matched and do not necessarily maximize power transfer into a dielectric material.
The first two known solutions presented above depend upon materials having dielectric constants that are lower than those of the dielectric material being matched. However, low dielectric constant materials are inherently fragile and cannot be easily engineered. At extreme grazing angles, all dielectric coatings fail and reflect strongly as there are relatively few materials having extremely low dielectric constants and those that do have very poor physical characteristics. The quarter wave technique is very narrow banded and depends upon the availability of a material that must have a low dielectric constant that can be engineered to a particular value. In addition, to have good transmission characteristics, the materials must also have very low loss. As such, there is still an unmet need for coatings and materials that overcome the above described shortcomings.

Method of making antireflective apparatus


A video processing apparatus and method, the apparatus including: a signal processing part to process an inputted video signal; a display panel to display the processed video signal; a backlight unit that comprises a plurality of light emitting elements that correspond to pixels of the processed video signal and emit light to the display panel; and a controller to calculate a brightness of each of the pixels based on R, G and B component values of each of the pixels, and to control the backlight unit such that the plurality of light emitting elements emit light with intensities corresponding to the calculated brightness of each of the pixels. Thus, aspects of the present invention are capable of improving quality of a video and reducing power consumption.

1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention relate to a video processing apparatus and method, an intensity of light emitted from a backlight unit and, hence, brightness of a display panel.
2. Description of the Related Art
Among video processing apparatuses, a liquid crystal display (LCD) has an LCD panel that does not emit light by itself, unlike a plasma display panel (PDP), and is adjusted in brightness by controlling the intensity of white light emitted from light emitting elements (such as a light emitting diode (LED), an organic light emitting diode (OLED), or the like) of a backlight.
In such a conventional LCD, methods of adjusting the brightness of the LCD panel by controlling the intensity of white light emitted from the LED or the OLED include adjusting the LCD panel by emitting light from the backlight according to brightness information inputted by a user and adjusting the LCD panel by emitting light from the backlight according to power inputted to the LCD. The method of adjusting the LCD panel according to the inputted power includes maintaining a maximum brightness of the LCD panel if the input power is AC power, and decreasing the brightness of the LCD panel in proportion to time during which there is no input from a user if the inputted power is DC power, such as battery power.
However, these conventional methods of adjusting the brightness of the LCD panel have a difficulty in displaying a video clearly since the brightness of the LCD panel is adjusted irrespective of an inputted video signal, and a disadvantage in that power consumption is great, compared to adjustment of brightness for each pixel of a video, since the brightness of the LCD panel is collectively adjusted.

Video processing apparatus and video processing method


A portable lighting fixture includes a removable light-diffusing covering of predetermined light transmission character that is maintained in a substantially-spherical shape by an underlying frame. The frame consists of cage formed of a pair of spaced-apart rings that are joined to one another by a plurality of ribs. A harp for positioning a light bulb engages both the upper and lower rings of the cage whereby the height of the harp defines that of the cage of the assembled frame. The heights of the ribs are such that, as the distance between the rings of the cage is compressed through interengagement to the harp, they define the desired spherical shape for mounting the light-diffusing covering.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to lighting fixtures suitable for movie or film stage use. More particularly, this invention is directed to a durable, versatile and reusable fixture capable of hand-held use.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Lighting quality often determines the quality of a photographic product, whether still or motion. Unnatural shadows impair photographic quality. Such shadows are often produced by directional studio lighting and are particularly destructive in the case of studio photography of supposedly "outside" shots.
A number of lighting systems have been employed in the past for lessening oftentimes-stark appearances created by point sources. Such systems conventionally incorporate a back reflector for broadening the light beam generated by a high wattage globe. An example of such prior art apparatus is the product commercially available under the designation STUDIO SOFT LIGHT from Mole-Richardson. This system uses a back reflector whose surface is white. The system weighs approximately five to ten pounds, sufficiently heavy to complicate extended hand-held operation. Even with the broadening effect provided by the reflector, an undesirable degree of directionality remains. This is due, in part, to the finite size and opaqueness of the reflector. Further, systems of this type generate substantial amounts of heat, much of which is absorbed by the reflector and not dissipated. As mentioned earlier, systems of this type can become rather uncomfortable and difficult to manipulate over extended periods of hand-held use, limiting their flexibilities.
Pending U.S. patent application No. 08/642,315 of James Babineaux entitled "Studio Lighting Fixture" discloses an improved hand-held fixture that includes a harp frame for mounting a paper lantern (a.k.a. a "china ball") whose spherical shape is supported by an integral spiral wire. While providing ready portability and improved lighting effects, that device is hampered by the relatively-flimsy structure of the spherical lantern that is inherently stretched in application by the affixation to the harp frame.