A protective bed includes a shield comprising bullet-proof and impact resistance material that surrounds a metal frame. The shield operably separates to provide access to an interior sleeping area. Quick access doors are located on either side of the bed. A ventilation system provides for climate control as well as filtering harmful substances from the air. A rebreather scrubs carbon dioxide from air within the unit to allow a user to close the unit to outside air.

The present invention relates generally to a safe environment to which an individual may retreat for protective or rest purposes. More specifically, the invention relates to a protective sleep unit that includes multiple protective and convenience features. This invention is directed towards providing users with a high-level security system for use during sleeping periods. It also acts as a place of retreat and defense against those desiring to inflict bodily harm upon a user. Lastly, the invention might be used as a protective environment during biological or chemical attacks and natural disasters.
A safe room is a room having a reinforced door and walls for use in emergencies such as tornados or when an intruder enters a dwelling. Typically, the walls of the safe room comprise concrete or steel to protect individuals or items inside the safe room. Safe rooms have been used as a form of protection for many years. Safe rooms are limited in their use because of their weight and size. Ordinarily, they are built during an initial construction of a residence or during a remodeling of the residence. Alternatively, an installer fabricates the safe room outside the residential dwelling and hauls it into place.
Problems that exist with a safe room include reinforcing structural members under and around the safe room during initial construction or remodeling of the residence. Hauling a safe room into place may require the removal of doors and/or walls. Thus, there are many problems associated with the use and installation of safe rooms.
The present invention overcomes many of these problems associated with safe rooms. The protective unit of the present invention is shipped to a residence and constructed on-site. Individual or component parts are carried through standard-sized entryways thereby alleviating the need to remove doors and walls. Additionally, it does not require any further reinforcement of structural members within the residence.
It is an object of the invention to provide a high-level security unit that includes a protective barrier between an intruder or dangerous environmental condition and a user.
It is another object of the invention to provide a unit that includes high-level security during periods of sleep. The unit might be equipped with various sensors to alert a user when an intruder has entered the user's dwelling.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a unit that includes a bulletproof shielding material for protecting an occupant. The shielding material is durable such that it can withstand the impact of large objects such as sledge hammers, wrecking bars and the like.
It is an additional object of the invention to provide a sealed environment that protects an occupant from chemical, biological or other harmful airborne contaminants. The sealed unit may be used as a positive pressure system, that allows the user to bring in fresh filtered air and keep offensive agents such as pollen, mold spores, radioactive fallout, or viruses like SARS from entering the unit. Alternatively, the unit may be used as a negative pressure system to create an isolation environment that allows the user to contain events caused by airborne particles (like the transfer of a contagious virus).
It is another object of the invention to provide a secured area that allows a user to see an area external to the closed unit while preventing others from peering into the unit.
It is another object of the invention to provide a protective unit that protects against terrorism or, harmful biological agents such as Anthrax. The unit includes a security system for detecting intruders and reacting thereto. Bullet proof shielding protects the occupant from weapons of mass destruction including biological and chemical warfare. The unit can be operated as a safe room or bomb shelter. It may be used to prevent kidnappings, or protect the occupant from natural disasters such as tornados, hurricanes, earthquakes and floods.
These objects and others will become apparent when the aforementioned discussion is taken in conjunction with the following disclosure.


Gastrointestinal tract simulation system and compartment therefor. The compartment comprising a vessel having an open top surrounded by a peripheral edge portion and an air-tight lid system configured to be placed onto the peripheral edge portion. The lid system comprises a body with a plurality of passageways extending through the body and providing access to the interior of the vessel, the plurality of passageways comprising passageways for fluid transfer tubes and passageways for mounting at least one sensor component. The lid system is provided with releasable sealing elements for sealing the plurality of passageways and at least one pressing element which is common to at least a number of the sealing elements and configured for applying pressure to each of the respective sealing elements to effect the sealing of the respective passageways.

The conventional SHIME is a dynamic model of the human gut comprising 5 compartments respectively simulating the stomach, small intestine and ascending, transverse and descending colon. The stomach and small intestine compartments mimic the enzymatic and physicochemical environment by controlling pH and residence time and the dosing of a proper nutritional medium, enzymes and bile salts.
By controlling the pH, redox potential and residence times, the different colon compartments each harbor a microbial community that corresponds to that of the in vivo situation in terms of metabolic activity and community composition. In this model a typical stabilization period of two weeks and a basal period of two weeks are followed by treatment and wash-out periods.
In order to simulate the operation of the gastrointestinal tract, various fluids need to be added to the compartments. Furthermore, tubes are needed to transfer the contents from one compartment to another, and openings are needed for mounting sensors. As a result, the air-tight sealing of the compartments is cumbersome.
From U.S. Pat. No. 4,457,339, a pinch valve module is known which can be used in a.o. in an automated analysis apparatus for performing tests in the medical and biological fields.

Gastrointestinal tract simulation system, compartments therefor, and method


Systems and methods for converting analog signals to digital signals. A reference slice is associated with each of a plurality of active slices to balance the loading on an active sampling track and hold amplifier within each active slice. Alternatively, the reference slice is split into a portion having a reference ADC that is shared by a plurality of partial reference slices, each partial reference slice having a partial reference input module.

Over the past several decades, the electronics field has been moving rapidly toward using digital techniques for handling information. In particular, signals that are initially analog signals are being digitized to allow those signals to be managed, processed and otherwise handled in the digital domain. The advantages of handling signals in the digital domain which have driven this movement are well known to those skilled in the art.
As a consequence of the desire to handle signals in the digital domain, there is a need for analog to digital converters (ADCs) to convert analog signals to the digital signals (i.e., to digitize such analog signals). One type of analog to digital converter, called a successive approximation register (SAR) ADC uses a series of iterative steps to determine a digital value that represents the amplitude of an analog signal.
FIG. 1A is a simplified schematic of a conventional SAR ADC 100. The SAR ADC 100 comprises a successive approximation register (SAR) 102, a digital to analog converter (DAC) 104, a comparator 106 and a track and hold amplifier circuit (THA) 108. An input signal 110 is applied to the THA 108. The THA 108 outputs a signal having a stable amplitude equal to the amplitude of the input signal 110 averaged over the time the sample was taken. The output signal 109 from the THA 108 is then applied to the positive input of the comparator 106. The negative input to the comparator 106 is coupled to the analog output of the DAC 104. The analog output 107 of the DAC 104 is determined by the state of the digital value D1, . . . Dn applied to the input of the DAC 104. The value D1, . . . Dn is output from the SAR 102 to the DAC 104.
When the ADC 100 starts operating, the SAR 102 is initialized to output a digital value that is equal to half the full scale value of the ADC 100. A reference signal 103 applied to the ADC 100 from an external source defines the magnitude of the full scale output. The most significant bit (MSB) of the SAR (Dn) is set to 1 and each of the other bits (D1, D2, . . . Dn-1) are set to 0. Accordingly, the DAC 104 will output a signal with an amplitude that is half the magnitude of the full scale output. A sample clock 110 provided by the SAR 102 is synchronized with a clock signal 105. The clock signal 105 indicates when the THA 108 is to sample the input 110. Typically, the SAR 102 is a state machine that controls the ADC process.
The comparator 106 compares that amplitude of the signal 107 output by the DAC 104 with the amplitude of the sample 109 of the input signal. If the sample 109 has an amplitude greater than or equal to the value output 107 from the DAC 104, then the output 111 from the comparator 106 is set high and applied to the SAR 102. The clock signal 105 sets the timing for the SAR. The sample clock 112 is derived from the clock signal 105. The clock signal 105 to the SAR 102 will indicate when the value output from the comparator is stable. The SAR 102 will then store that value as the value of the MSB. The SAR 102 will then set the next most significant bit DN-1 to 1 and the process repeats until a determination is made for each bit of the SAR output.
Once the value of each bit of the SAR has been determined, an End of Conversion (EOC) signal 114 indicates the completion of the process and the value output by the SAR 102 can be read. This value will then represent the amplitude of the input signal to a resolution determined by the number of bits in the ADC 100 (i.e., the number n of bits output from the SAR 102 and input to the DAC 104).
FIG. 1B is a simplified block diagram of another type of ADC, commonly known as a "pipeline" ADC 101. In a pipeline ADC 101, the conversion from analog to digital format occurs in stages. An input signal 110 is applied to a THA 120 within the first stage. The sampled input 122 is then coupled to the input of a course sub-ADC 124. The sub-ADC 124 provides a three-bit digital representation of the sampled input signal 122. The three-bit output from the sub-ADC 124 is coupled to the input of a multiplying DAC (MDAC) 126. The MDAC 126 converts the three bits back to an analog signal 128. The output 128 is then coupled to a subtraction circuit 129 that subtracts the difference between the output 128 and the sampled input 122. The difference is then applied to an amplifier 131 that provides a gain of 2n, where n is equal to 2 in this case. The amplifier brings the difference back in the range of a second stage of the pipeline ADC 101.
The second stage and each subsequent stage functions identically to the first stage. The output from the sub-ADC 124 of each stage is coupled to a Combine/Process module 130 that combines the output from each stage and does any processing required to correct the output. Other types of ADCs are known as well, including sigma-delta ADCs, etc.
The speed at which current ADCs can operate has been steadily increasing, thus allowing higher and higher frequencies to be digitized. One technique currently used to increase the speed of an ADC involves the use of a set of interleaved individual ADCs.
FIG. 2 is a simplified block diagram of a time interleaved ADC 200. FIG. 3 is a timing diagram for the ADC 200. Time interleaved ADCs use a set of parallel ADCs (frequently referred to as "slices"). Each slice 202, 204, 206, 208 comprises essentially the configuration shown in either FIG. 1A or FIG. 1B. Note that while the examples provided for time interleaved ADCs are shown for SAR ADCs or pipeline ADCs, this would apply for any ADC architecture as well.
Referring to FIG. 3, a master clock 301 runs at a rate that is at least equal to the Nyquist frequency (i.e., twice the highest frequency of the input signal to be digitized). In an ADC 200 that has M slices, a slice sample cycle 303 occurs at the rate at which samples are taken by each slice. In the example shown, M master clock cycles 305 occur during one "sample cycle" 303 at the slice sample rate. In the case shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, there are four slices. Each slice runs at the master clock rate fN divided by the number of slices M (i.e., fN/M). Accordingly, the slice sample rate 303 is one fourth the master clock rate. In addition, each slice is offset in phase by 1/M with a duty cycle that is equal to 1/M. In some cases, the slice clocks run at a 50% duty cycle and the sample time is triggered by an edge of the slice clock and lasts only for that portion of the time during which the other slices are not sampling (i.e., each slice samples for 1/M of the total sample cycle).
Upon completing the conversion of the analog input signal to a digital output from each slice, the output is coupled to a Reconstruction Interleaver 218 which combines the outputs to form a coherent output that digitally represents the analog input signal 110. That is, the output 210, 212, 214, 216 of each slice is interleaved to create a digital representation of one sample cycle of the analog signal 110.
Accordingly, the rate at which the data can be sampled is increased by a multiple equal to the number of slices provided. That is, if M individual ADCs are interleaved, then the rate of the time interleaved ADC is M times the rate of each slice.
One problem that results from the use of time interleaved ADCs is that a correction has to be added to the output 210, 212, 214, 216 of each slice to correct for differences in the gain and offset of each slice 202, 204, 206, 208. That is, differences in the gain and offset of the various slices will cause distortion in the overall output of the time interleaved ADC 200. In addition, differences in sample time also cause distortion.
One way in which the prior art attempts to resolve this problem is to provide a reference slice that samples the input at the same time as the other slices. Since the problem is due to differences in gain and offset between the slices, the problem can be resolved by making the gain and offset of each slice equal. By using an independent slice as a reference, the gain and offset of each slice can be normalized to a value that is the same for each slice with respect to the reference slice. Accordingly, distortion in the interleaved output of an ADC can be reduced.
FIG. 4 is a simplified block diagram of an interleaved ADC 400 with a reference slice 401.
FIG. 5 is a timing diagram of the interleaved ADC 400 shown in FIG. 4.
The reference slice 401 samples the input signal at the same time as one of the active slices 402, 404, 406, 408. The term "active" is used merely to distinguish those slices termed "active slices" that generate the digitized output signal from the reference slice.
The reference slice 401 runs at a slower speed than the active slices 402, 404, 406, 408. In FIG. 5, the reference slice clock 501 runs approximately one half the speed of the active slice clocks 511, 513, 515, 517. Accordingly, the first two samples are taken by the reference slice 401 M master clock cycles apart and concurrent with the samples taken at times 519, 521 by the first active slice 402. As shown in FIG. 5, M is equal to 8. This causes the reference slice 401 to take a first sample at a first reference sample time 503 that is concurrent with a first active sample time 519 taken by the first active slice 402. A second sample is taken by the reference slice 401 at a second reference sample time 505 concurrent with a third sample taken by the first active slice 402 at a third sample time 521. In other cases, M is equal to 12, 16 or any other multiple of the number of active slices, depending upon how much slower the reference slice is with respect to the active slices.
In the case shown in FIG. 5, the reference slice 401 takes two samples concurrent with the first active slice 402. The reference slice 401 then waits M+1 cycles before taking the next sample at reference sample time 507. Waiting one additional cycle, shifts the reference sample time to be concurrent with the sample time 523 of the next active slice 404. The reference slice 401 takes two samples concurrent with each active slice and moves on to the sample time of the next active slice. Therefore, the reference slice 401 rolls through the active slice sample times in round robin fashion. The fact that the reference slice 401 need not sample at a high rate is advantageous, since reducing the processing speed of the reference slice reduces the cost and the amount of power required to operate the ADC 400. In the example of FIG. 5, the reference slice 401 takes two samples concurrent with the each active slice before taking samples concurrent with the next active slice. Alternatively, for a slower reference slice, M can be a multiple of four greater than 8. Accordingly, the reference slice 401 takes a sample once for every M/4 times that the active slice 401 takes a sample.
It should be noted that a reference THA (not shown) will track the sample for the same amount of time as, and concurrent with, one of the active THAs (not shown). This is so even though the reference slice 401 processes the sample slower. Furthermore, in one example, the reference slice 401 takes 8 reference samples over 128 master clock cycles (i.e., one every 16 clock cycles over 128 clock cycles), rather than just 2 samples over 16 master clock cycles, as shown in FIG. 5. In this case, it should be noted that the first active slice 402 will take 4 samples for each one sample taken by the reference slice 401. Those 8 reference samples are digitized and each resulting digital output is compared to the corresponding digital output resulting from the slice sample taken at the same time by the first active slice 402. The differences between the 8 reference measurements and the 8 active slice samples can then be averaged (or otherwise weighted and combined) to determine the difference between the first active slice 402 and the reference slice 401. After taking the 8 reference samples concurrent with the first active slice 402, the reference sample time of the reference slice 401 is shifted by one master clock cycle to coincide with the slice sample time of the second active slice 404. Once again, the reference slice 401 will take 8 reference samples over a period of 128 slice sample cycles (one every 16 slice sample cycles) concurrent with the samples taken by the second active slice 404. This will be repeated for the other two active slices 406, 408.
The Reconstruction Interleaver 410: (1) receives the output from the reference slice; (2) receives the output from each of the active slices 402, 404, 406, 408; and (3) calculates a correction to be applied to each of the active slices 402, 404, 406, 408 based on the average difference between the sample taken by the reference slice and the sample taken by the active slice at the same time.
It should be noted that the order in which the active slices 402, 404, 406, 408 sample the input can be pseudo random or may follow a pattern other than what is shown.
One problem with this approach is that the loading of the input signal (i.e., the loading on the input to each slice 402, 404, 406, 408) changes when the reference slice 401 is sampling the input in coincidence with sampling by an active slice 402, 404, 406, 408. This causes the value of the sample taken by the active slices 402, 404, 406, 408 to be slightly different from the value of that would have been sampled without the loading of the reference slice 401. This difference causes distortion due to the difference between the values of the samples from sample to sample. That is, in the example shown in FIG. 5, the reference slice 401 only samples the signal once for every two samples taken by the active slice. Therefore, there is a difference in the load on the input of each active slice 402, 404, 406, 408 when the reference slice 401 is sampling concurrent with an active slice 402, 404, 406, 408 and when the reference slice 401 is not sampling concurrent with an active slice 402, 404, 406, 408.
In addition, there is a difference in the measurement taken when the reference slice 401 is sampling concurrent with the first active slice 402 and the time the reference slice 401 is sampling concurrent with the second active slice 404, etc. Accordingly, there is presently a need for an ADC that can perform fast digitization of high frequency analog signals while reducing the resulting distortion.

Method and apparatus for calibration of a time interleaved ADC


A dual compartment vehicle organizing container for removable installation in emergency vehicles includes first and second side walls situated in spaced apart relationship to each other. A front wall and a back wall are attached to extend between the first and second side walls, and an interior wall is positioned between the front wall and back wall. The interior wall is attached to both the first and second side walls to define an electronic equipment holding cavity between the interior wall and the front wall, and an organizing receptacle is defined between the interior wall and the back wall.

The present invention relates to a vehicle organizing container for emergency vehicles. The container is configured to allow organization of documents and electronic components.
Containers for holding objects in vehicles are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,391,659, to Cross, is directed to a control desk for emergency vehicles. The control desk includes a first panel 22 adapted for writing and the placement of control equipment, and a second panel 24 adapted to retain equipment. The first panel 22 is disposed in a vehicle at an appropriate writing height and angle, and the second panel 24 depends downwardly from the first panel 22 to support it. The second panel 24 is secured to the floor of the vehicle. At least one leg 64 is secured to both the first and second panels 22, 24 to retain them in their proper orientation. The first panel 24 includes a flash light holder 44 for writing, and the second panel 24 includes structures and receptacles for supporting equipment such as radio, microphones, flashlights, flares, night sticks, and other equipment.
Another container is described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,934,391, to Bohnett. Bohnett describes an automobile desk 13 having a file cabinet portion 14 and a desk top 17 for providing a writing surface. The described automobile desk 13 is installed by placement in the front seat of an automobile to the right side of the driver Legs 18 of the desk are adjusted to the desired length to give a cabinet end 14 elevation so that a seat engaging arm 16 properly fits the seat and disposes a desk top 17 at a suitable work level. Files can be inserted into the automobile desk by lifting the desk top about a hinge structure 31-32, permitting files to be disposed in slots formed by partitions 29. To write, a user disposes his elbow upon a cushion 27 in a comfortable arm position. This combination file cabinet/writing surface is typically used by traveling salesmen who require a writing surface to make notes for delivery, request for catalogs, notations on errors and billings, or other matters.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,490,538, to Owen, describes a combination utility receptacle and arm rest. Generally, Owen describes a utility receptacle and arm rest intended to be secured to a car body or car door on the left side of the driver. The combination arm rest/utility receptacle includes a deck plate having integrally formed side and end walls in the bottom. The bottom is formed to have compartments and a continuous vertical rim is formed near the outer edge of the deck plate. A vertical leg is formed integral with the right hand of the deck plate and is adapted to be attached to the left-hand side of an automobile. A cover plate having a convex cross-sectional form is hinged on its left side and adapted to close down on the outside of the vertical continuous rim.
Another mobile desk for vehicles is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,425,366, to Lindsey. Lindsey describes a mobile desk for vehicles that includes a table having an edge portion adapted to be placed adjacent an instrument panel 10 of a vehicle. A desk including a flat self-supporting surface 16 is rigidly attached by spaced apart brackets 18, 18' to the instrument panel. The desk has a cut out form by a second curved portion 24 and 26, and a third edge portion spaced apart from the first edge portion. A fourth edge portion 28 is adjacent to driver while the cut out portion is mounted adjacent the passenger side. The desk is supported by a support leg 22.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,589,577, to Basinger, describes an article-carrying stand adapted for supporting meters, two-way radios, and the like in taxi cabs. The stand is adapted to be mounted on a vehicle floor over the hump or tunnel but often extends longitudinally along the floor over the transmission and drive shaft of the vehicle. A support stand 30 made of flat plates or angled structural steel is adapted to receive and support a two-way radio 40. A first pair of legs 42 and 44, each having the form of a solid front strip, support a forwardly, downwardly projecting end of a frame or rack 32. An intermediate platform 62 is also supported by the stand 30 to provide a table. A second smaller horizontal or meter platform 70 is disposed above the platform 62 to support taxi-fare meter 80.
Service console trays for use in a vehicle are also known. Such service console trays can be used to hold drinks, small articles such as pocket change, or provide a trash receptacle. Such service trays are described for example in U.S. Pat. No. 3,291,353, to Sobczak; U.S. Pat. No. 4,796,791, to Goss et al.; and, U.S. Pat. No. 3,318,456, to Lipe.
Unlike the foregoing vehicle containers, service consoles, or writing desks, the present invention is an easily removable container/electronic component support system specifically designed for interchangeable use in conjunction with police, fire, and other emergency vehicles. These types of emergency vehicles are typically provided with multiple electronic communication devices for reception and transmission of information. These electronic components can be bulky and difficult to access when conventionally mounted over, under, or in the vehicle's dashboard. In addition, removal of conventionally mounted electronic components for service maintenance, or transfer to other vehicles, can be a difficult and time-consuming.
Another requirement of emergency vehicles is a container for holding necessary papers, forms, reports, and other documents. Ideally, such a container is partitioned to provide separate compartments for holding different classes of documents, and other small objects such as pens.
The present invention provides a dual compartment vehicle organizing container for removable installation in a vehicle. The vehicle organizer can conveniently hold documents as well as electronic components. The vehicle organizing container has first and second side walls situated in spaced apart relationship to each other. A front wall and a back wall are attached to extend between the first and second side walls, and an interior wall is positioned between the front wall and back wall. The interior wall is attached to both the first and second side walls to define an electronic equipment holding cavity between the interior wall and the front wall, and an organizing receptacle is defined between the interior wall and the back wall.
In addition, the present invention provides a mechanism for securing the vehicle organizing container to the vehicle. In preferred embodiments, the container is secured by dimensioning the container to fit between seats of a vehicle. Alternatively, when a vehicle is not designed to have two seats, or does not have room to accommodate a vehicle organizing box between seats, the container is configured to provide attachment points for securing a vehicle seatbelt.
The present invention also provides a mechanism for mounting electronic equipment in the electronic equipment holding cavity. The mounting mechanism is attached to at least one of the front wall, interior wall, first side wall and second side wall. In preferred embodiments, the electronic mounting mechanism includes at least one slide track mounted to at least one of the front wall, interior wall, first side wall, and second side wall defining the electronic equipment holding cavity. In preferred embodiments, the at least one slide track includes a first slide track and a second slide track positioned to extend in spaced apart parallel relationship, the first and second slide tracks both being attached to the first side wall, and a mounting plate for mounting electronics attached to extend between the first and second slide tracks. Of course, additional third and fourth slide tracks can also be provided to better distribute the weight of the electronic equipment.
The apparatus of the present invention may also be provided with at least one door positionable to cover the organizing receptacle. Hinge or other conventional mechanisms may be used to attach the at least one door to one of the first side wall, second side wall, and interior side wall. Preferably, the at least one door may be locked with a locking mechanism to prevent unauthorized access to the organizing receptacle.
In alternative embodiments, a vehicle organizing container for installation in a vehicle includes a receptacle defining element for defining an organizing receptacle. An electronic equipment holding element for defining an electronic equipment holding cavity adjacent to the receptacle means is also provided. A writing desk is attached to the receptacle element to cover the organizing receptacle and at least one slide track is attached to the electronic equipment holding element for attachment to electronic components to allow sliding withdrawal of electronic equipment from the electronic equipment holding cavity. Electronic equipment is attached to the at least one slide track, and the vehicle organizing container is secured to the vehicle.
Additional features and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description of preferred embodiments exemplifying the best mode of carrying out the invention as presently perceived.


A method of operating a movable object using a user terminal includes configuring, through an interface, a plurality of tasks on the user terminal for parallel execution by the movable object, and transmitting the tasks from the user terminal to the movable object for operating the movable object.

Movable objects, such as unmanned aircraft, can be used in many different fields such as film production, sporting events, disaster relief, geological study, and more. In some cases, movable objects can be manually controlled by a remote operator to accomplish a desired purpose. In other cases, where manual control is cumbersome or impractical, movable objects can be preprogrammed with tasks, or missions, to execute autonomously or semi-autonomously. However, there currently lacks a suitable interface for easily and efficiently configuring a movable object to perform tasks, especially high level tasks, that may require parallel coordination of multiple functional modules of the movable object (for example, flight controls, a gimbal, and a camera of an unmanned aerial vehicle).
Accordingly, there is a need for systems and methods that allow for improved configuration of parallel tasks for movable objects.

System and method for movable object control


According to one example embodiment, a complex, programmable logic device (CPLD-type) has logic blocks and Input/Output (I/O) pads interconnected via a programmable interconnect array. A dedicated logic block is directly coupled to I/O pads, which provides external access to the dedicated logic block without traversing the programmable interconnect array. The dedicated logic block may include a clock divider module for providing a divided clock to the CPLD.

Prompted by the development of new types of sophisticated Field Programmable Devices (FPDs), the process of designing digital hardware has changed dramatically over the past few years. Unlike previous generations of technology, in which board level designs included large numbers of Small Scale Integration (SSI) chips containing basic gates, virtually every digital design that is produced today consists substantially of high density devices. High density devices are not only used for custom devices like processors and memory, but also for logic circuits such as Finite State Machines (FSM), counters, registers, and decoders.
High density gate arrays have been used to implement FPD functions when targeted for high volume systems, however, gate array Non-Recoverable Engineering (NRE) expenses and development schedules often preclude their use in prototyping, or other low volume implementations. For these reasons, most prototypes, as well as an increasing number of production designs, are now implemented with FPDs. Some of the most compelling advantages realized when using FPDs are: instant manufacturing turnaround; low startup costs; low financial risk; and ease of design change. Design changes are easily implemented by the end user through the use of Computer Aided Design (CAD) tools, which include software for the following exemplary tasks: initial design entry; logic optimization; device fitting; simulation; and configuration.
Clock division, for example, is a common function that is often programmed by the end user of an FPD. Clock division can also involve the use of a dedicated, programmable clock divider, to perform fixed divide-by ratios between (for example, ÷2 and ÷16), to generate a finite set of clock rates. In an FPD, the user programmable logic portion of the FPD may be utilized by the end user for clock division. The user programmable logic portion of an FPD may be implemented, for example, through the use of: the Configurable Logic Blocks (CLB) and Input/Output (I/O) blocks in Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA); or by the Product Term Array (PTA) and macrocell arrangement of the Complex Programmable Logic Device (CPLD). If the user requires divide-by ratios in excess of the finite set of clock rates, for example, the complexity of the programmable logic increases dramatically.
Historically, dedicated clock dividers have primarily been provided on FPGAs. Consequently, the CPLD user wishing to implement clock division is faced with a dilemma: either use a portion of the available macrocells on the CPLD to implement the clock divider, or change over to an FPGA to realize his particular design. In many instances, however, use of the FPGA is cost prohibitive, whereas utilizing macrocells within a CPLD is an inefficient use of user programmable logic. Today's logic designer is in need of additional design solutions that provides both efficient use of hardware resources, while allowing adequate cost control.
Accordingly, there is a need in the programmable logic device industry to provide the circuit designer with such options not currently offered in FPD designs.
An apparatus and method that addresses the aforementioned problems, as well as other related problems, are therefore desirable.

Method and apparatus for clock division on a programmable logic device


Techniques are described to allow a query to be registered as a persistent stored entity within the database, and to generate notifications as and when the query result changes continuously as long as the query continues to be registered with the database. According to one aspect, for a table referenced in a query, a filter condition is generated based, at least in part, on a predicate of the query. Then, the database server determines whether the filter condition is satisfied by either a before image of a row, or an after image of the row, that was modified by a transaction. If the filter condition is satisfied by either the before image or the after image, then the query is added to a first set of queries whose result sets may have been affected by the transaction. From among the first set of queries, a second set of queries that have result sets that were actually affected by the transaction is determined. Notifications are then sent based on the second set of queries.

To determine how changes made to a database have affected the results returned by a particular query, the particular query may be resubmitted, and the results produced by a previous execution of the query can be compared with the results produced by the current execution of the query. Unfortunately, the process of re-submitting a query and then comparing previous and current results may be tedious and time consuming, especially when many queries are involved. Further, in many circumstances, users would like to know about query result changes continuously, AS and WHEN the query result changes occur.
A variety of techniques may be used to inform users of query result changes. For example, according to a "trigger" approach, a trigger is created on each of the tables referenced in the queries of interest. One implementation of the trigger approach is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,405,191, entitled "Publish and Subscribe in a Database System". Inside the body of the trigger, the query is evaluated to detect if the result set has changed. For the trigger approach to be feasible, the trigger has to know the rows changed and the contents of the changed rows (before and after images). Because the after image is desired, the trigger approach will typically be implemented using triggers that fire after the change has been applied (an "after DML" trigger). However, a COMMIT trigger may also be used in conjunction with DML triggers. Specifically, DML triggers may be used to capture and buffer the row changes, and the COMMIT trigger may be used to send the buffered changes to the interested users.
Unfortunately, the trigger approach has several problems. For example, separate triggers have to be defined for each table that is being monitored for changes. Thus, one thousand triggers would be required to monitor one thousand tables. In addition, the trigger body execution has a significant cost since it is akin to executing a PL/SQL procedure. In the presence of a large number of queries, evaluating all the queries can be prohibitively expensive. This can significantly hamper the throughput (and increase latency) of OLTP transactions.
There are also visibility issues with DML triggers since the DML triggers are invoked while the transaction is still active. Invoking the DML trigger while the transaction is still alive may cause correctness issues, since the state of the database when the transaction is active may be significantly different compared to the state of the database at the time the transaction commits, thereby leading to incorrect evaluations. For the evaluation to be correct, the changes performed within a transaction have to be considered atomic as of the COMMIT POINT of the transaction. While visibility issues may be partly addressed by the use of COMMIT triggers, the problems of performance and scalability would still remain.
According to a log mining approach, logs may be used as a source of changes. The changes identified from the logs may be used to evaluate query result changes. The log mining approach can be implemented on top of a commercial DBMS using the log mining tools available. However, there is still a great cost to the log mining approach, both in terms of performance/scalability as well as complexity of logic.
Specifically, log mining has significant I/O costs, since log mining involves scanning redo logs to obtain log records. Every transaction has to be scanned, causing a great deal of I/O. Further, evaluating query result changes is also non-trivial, and evaluating every query will have severe scalability issues.
In a common usage scenario, the events of interest (i.e the query result changes) occur at a frequency much lower than the frequency of OLTP transaction commits i.e a large majority of transactions may not affect any query results at all. Moreover, even if a transaction is "interesting", the transaction may affect only one or a few of possibly many thousands of registered queries. Checking query result changes for all possible queries for all possible transactions across all DML changes is not likely be a scalable solution.
Based on the foregoing, it is clearly desirable to provide a mechanism for identifying query result changes that avoids the scalability and performance issues of the trigger and log mining approaches.
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.

Generating continuous query notifications


A semiconductor integrated circuit structure and method for fabricating. The semiconductor integrated circuit structure includes a light sensitive device integral with a semiconductor substrate, a cover dielectric layer disposed over the light sensitive device, and a lens-formation dielectric layer disposed over the cover dielectric layer. Light is transmittable though the cover dielectric layer, and through the lens-formation dielectric layer. The lens-formation dielectric layer forms an embedded convex microlens. The microlens directs light onto the light sensitive device.

With the advent of modern electronic scanners, digital cameras, and other products, light sensitive elements are becoming more and more common in these and other modern electronic systems. A semiconductor p-n junction diode is often used for the detection of light signals. When in use as a photodetector, the p-n junction is typically reverse biased. As such, light illuminating the p-n junction generates hole-electron pairs in the depletion region which are swept out of the depletion region in opposite directions. Depending upon the application, either a generated current due to electron-hole pair movement or a change in junction potential due to collapse of the depletion region is detected as the signal indicative of the incident light intensity.
A p-n junction diode intended for use as a photodetector is often referred to as a photodiode. Various physical mechanisms act to limit the ability of the photodiode and photodiode arrays to detect and specially resolve low levels of light. Important among these mechanisms are noise, surface reflectivity, leakage currents, and cross-talk. Noise may be due to random fluctuations in light signal intensity, thermal mechanisms, and other causes. Other characteristics of the photodiode, such as depth of the junction below the semiconductor surface and width of depletion region, also influence the sensitivity of the photodiode to the incident light.
Leakage currents in photodiodes are often referred to as the dark current of the device, i.e., the biased diode's current in the absence of any light. Leakage currents can be caused by surface and bulk defects in the semiconductor which give rise to mid-gap states sufficiently dense to provide leakage current paths across the device. These defects can be either native (generated during silicon wafer/epitaxial layer fabrication) or generated during the subsequent processing steps used in typical integrated circuit fabrication processes. One such processing step is the formation of a silicide layer on polysilicon and silicon surfaces. Silicide is a binary compound of silicon and a metal. Silicides can be formed by first depositing a metal on polysilicon or silicon and subsequently reacting the metal with the polysilicon or the silicon in a high temperature annealing process. Typically, this reaction is accompanied by a significant change in volume (before and after the reaction) for the metal and silicon. This results in a significant amount of stress on the remaining silicon which is usually accommodated by the creation of various defects in the silicon. As a result, it is necessary to block silicide formation in photodiode areas for high performance image sensors. This is typically accomplished by using a silicide block layer on top of silicon or polysilicon that prevents the chemical reaction between the metal and silicon. Another important reason for including a silicide block layer is that titanium silicide is light absorbing which would greatly impact the light collection of a photosensitive device should titanium be deposited over the photosensitive device as a part of the processing. Typically mixed signal CMOS processes and CMOS image sensor processes use a layer of silicon dioxide or silicon nitride as a silicide block layer.
In addition, depending upon the surface condition of the semiconductor, a significant fraction of the light signal may be reflected rather than absorbed, thereby reducing the sensitivity of the photodiode to low light levels. For applications wherein the anticipated light levels are low, it is important to have photosensitive devices capable of collecting as much of the incident light as possible while maintaining a low level of noise and leakage current.

Optical enhancement of integrated circuit photodetectors


The present invention provides methods for de-differentiating somatic cells into stem-like cells without generating embryos or fetuses. More specifically, the present invention provides methods for effecting the de-differentiation of somatic cells to cells having stem cell characteristics, in particular pluripotency, by introducing RNA encoding factors inducing the de-differentiation of somatic cells into the somatic cells and culturing the somatic cells allowing the cells to de-differentiate.

Stem cells also called progenitor cells are cells with abilities to self-renew, to remain undifferentiated, and to become differentiated into one or more specialized cell types with mature phenotypes. Stem cells are not terminally differentiated and they are not at the end of a differentiation pathway.
Totipotent cells contain all the genetic information needed to create all the cells of the body, including the cells of the placenta. Human cells have this totipotent capacity only during the first few divisions of a fertilized egg. After three to four divisions of totipotent cells, there follows a series of stages in which the cells become increasingly specialized. The next stage of division results in pluripotent cells, which are highly versatile and can give rise to any cell type except the cells of the placenta or other supporting tissues of the uterus. At the next stage, cells become multipotent, meaning they can give rise to several other cell types, but those types are limited in number. At the end of the long chain of cell divisions that make up the embryo are "terminally differentiated" cells that are considered to be permanently committed to a specific function.
There are three main groups of stem cells: (i) adult or somatic stem cells (post-natal), which exist in all post-natal organisms, (ii) embryonic stem cells, which can be derived from a pre-embryonic or embryonic developmental stage and (iii) fetal stem cells (pre-natal), which can be isolated from the developing fetus.
Stem cell technologies involving the isolation and use of human embryonic stem cells have become an important subject of medical research. Human embryonic stem cells have a potential to differentiate into any and all of the cell types in the human body, including complex tissues. It is expected that many diseases resulting from the dysfunction of cells may be amenable to treatment by the administration of human embryonic stem cells or human embryonic stem cell-derived cells. The ability of pluripotent embryonic stem cells to differentiate and give rise to a plurality of specialized mature cells reveals the potential application of these cells as a means to replace, restore, or complement damaged or diseased cells, tissues, and organs. However, scientific and ethical considerations have slowed the progress of research using embryonic stem cells recovered from aborted embryos or embryos formed using in vitro fertilization techniques.
Adult stem cells are present only at low frequencies and exhibit restricted differentiation potential and poor growth. A further problem associated with using adult stems cells is that these cells are not immunologically privileged, or can lose their immunological privilege after transplant, wherein the term "immunologically privileged" is used to denote a state where the recipient's immune system does not recognize the cells as foreign. Thus, only autologous transplants are possible in most cases when adult stem cells are used. Most presently envisioned forms of stem cell therapy are essentially customized medical procedures and therefore economic factors associated with such procedures limit their wide ranging potential.
The restoration of expression of at least some measured embryonic-specific genes has been observed in somatic cells following fusion with embryonic stem cells. However, the resulting cells are hybrids, often with a tetraploid genotype, and therefore not suited as normal or histocompatible cells for transplant purposes.
The use of somatic cell nuclear transfer has been shown to adequately reprogram somatic cell nuclear content to adopt pluripotency, however, raises a set of concerns beyond the moral status. The stresses placed on both the egg cell and the introduced nucleus are enormous, leading to a high loss in resulting cells. Furthermore, the procedure has to be performed manually under a microscope, and therefore, somatic cell nuclear transfer is very resource intensive. In addition, not all of the donor cell's genetic information is transferred, as the donor cell's mitochondria that contain their own mitochondrial DNA are left behind. The resulting hybrid cells retain those mitochondrial structures which originally belonged to the egg. As a consequence, clones are not perfect copies of the donor of the nucleus.
A major step towards patient derived pluripotent cells was achieved by Takahashi et al. in 2006. It was shown that the overexpression of defined transcription factors (TFs) which are known to regulate and maintain stem cell pluripotency (Takahasi et al., 2006, Cell 126, 663-676; Schulz & Hoffmann, 2007, Epigenetics 2, 37-42) can induce a pluripotent state of murine somatic fibroblasts, termed induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. In this study the authors identified OCT3/4, SOX2, KLF4 and c-MYC as being required for iPS cell generation (Takahasi et al., 2006). In a subsequent study the authors showed that the same TFs are able to reprogram adult human fibroblasts (Takahasi et al., 2007, Cell 131, 861-872), while others attributed this activity to a modified TF-cocktail composed of OCT3/4, SOX2, NANOG and LIN28 regarding human (Yu et al., 2007, Science Express) or murine fibroblasts (Wernig et al., 2007, Nature 448, 318-324). For those initial studies as well as most subsequent studies the reprogramming TFs were overexpressed using retro- or lentiviral vectors. Due to the silencing of viral promoters these studies reproducibly show that the expression exogenous TFs is shut down during the reprogramming process (reviewed by Hotta & Ellis, 2008, J. Cell Biochem. 105, 940-948). Accordingly, the pluripotent state is maintained by activated endogenous transcription factors. Furthermore, the silencing of the virally expressed TFs is prerequisite for the subsequent re-differentiation of iPS cells to tissue specific precursors (Yu et al., 2007). A major disadvantage of viral delivery is the stochastic reactivation of integrated retroviruses encoding potent oncogenes, which in the case of c-MYC led to the induction of tumors in chimeric mice (Okita et al., 2007, Nature 448, 313-317). Meanwhile it has been demonstrated that the generation of iPS cells is possible in absence of MYC (Nakagawa et al., 2008). Overall, only OCT4 and SOX2 have been reported being essential for the reprogramming, oncogenes like MYC and KLF4 seem to acts like enhancers (McDevitt & Palecek, 2008, Curr. Opin. Biotechnol. 19, 527-33). Accordingly it has been shown that other transforming gene products like SV40 Large-T antigen or hTERT can improve the efficiency of iPS generation (Mali et al., 2008, Stem Cells 26, 1998-2005). As the epigenetic reprogramming involves chromatin remodelling the addition of histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors (like valproic acid) or DNA methyltransferase inhibitors (like 5′-azaC) greatly improve the reprogramming efficiency (Huangfu et al., 2008, Nat. Biotechnol. 26, 795-797) and reduced the need for TFs to OCT4 and SOX2 (Huangfu et al., 2008, Nat. Biotechnol. 26, 1269-1275).
Another strategy to reduce the risk associated with retroviral intergration into the host genome is the use of non-integrating adenoviral vectors, which mediate a transient transgene expression sufficient for reprogramming (Stadtfeld et al., 2008, Sciencexpress). Transgene integration is also avoided by the use of conventional eukaryotic expression plasmids leading to transient gene expression. So far, with this strategy MEFs have been successfully reprogrammed to iPS cells (Okita et al., 2008, Science 322, 949-53). Genomic integration has not been detected in this study, however, stable genomic integration in a small fraction of the cells of transfected plasmid DNA cannot be completely excluded.
Adult human fibroblasts are easily derived from healthy donors or—in future clinical applications—from patients without risky surgical intervention. However, a recent study has shown that human keratinocytes are more easily and more efficiently reprogrammend to iPS cells, and that e.g. hair follicle derived keratinocytes might be the better source of choice for patient derived iPS cells (Aasen et al., 2008, Nature Biotechnology).
There remains a need for improved technologies for reprogramming differentiated somatic cells to produce reprogrammed cells suitable for research, testing for quality control, and for use in cell therapy in high number and with good quality.
The present invention provides technologies of producing reprogrammed cells avoiding the use of DNA. These technologies use cells that are easily and inexpensively obtained in unlimited quantities and provide reprogrammed cells useful in cell therapy. The approach according to the present invention completely lacks the risk of genomic integration and opens the possibility of reprogramming without modification of the host genome.

Use of RNA for reprogramming somatic cells


The invention relates to a method for setting the feed rate of a fuel pump unit, which sucks up fuel from a fuel tank 8, as a function of the feed pressure, which is built up by the fuel pump unit, in an outlet 25 of the fuel pump unit, which outlet leads to an internal combustion engine. The fuel pump unit has a first pump stage and a second pump stage, the two pump stages being connected in parallel below a defined feed pressure in the outlet 25 of the fuel pump unit and being connected in series above the defined feed pressure.

The invention relates to a method for setting the feed rate of a fuel pump unit, which sucks up fuel from a fuel tank, as a function of the feed pressure, which is built up by the fuel pump unit, in an outlet of the fuel pump unit, which outlet leads to an internal combustion engine, and to a fuel pump unit for this method.
In the case of a known method of this type, the fuel pump is activated as a function of operating parameters of the internal combustion engine by appropriately setting the speed of rotation of the fuel pump. In this case, the pressure which is built up by the fuel pump is limited to a defined, specified pressure by means of a pressure-limiting element. For this purpose, the speed of rotation of the fuel pump, the temperature and the suction pressure at the throttle valve of the internal combustion engine and fuel composition data are detected as operating parameters by means of sensors and are evaluated in an evaluation unit. The latter then correspondingly produces a pulsed control voltage for activating the fuel pump.
A very great and complicated outlay is required for detecting the operating parameters and for generating the activating voltage.
It is therefore the object of the invention to provide a method for setting the feed rate of a fuel pump unit, which sucks up fuel from a fuel tank, and a fuel pump unit for this method, which make it possible, in a simple manner and with little outlay, to set the fuel feed rate in accordance with the particular fuel requirement of the internal combustion engine.

Method for setting the feed rate of a fuel pump unit, which sucks up fuel from a fuel tank, and fuel pump unit for the method


The invention discloses an anti-bacterial composition and method for producing the same. The anti-bacterial composition of the invention includes an organic siloxane material which comprises an amino group, and a plurality of silver atoms. Particularly, the organic siloxane material has a meshed structure, and the plurality of silver atoms are bonded to the amino group and are well dispersed in the meshed structure.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an anti-bacterial composition and method for producing the same, and more particularly, to an anti-bacterial composition comprising silver atoms and method for producing the same.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are many different anti-bacterial agents, and the purpose of most of them is not to eliminate harmful microorganism immediately, but to suppress the growth and the reproduction of the harmful microorganism for long-term using process to achieve the purpose of protecting human body's health. The anti-bacterial agents can be divided into inorganic type, organic type and natural type. The inorganic type anti-bacterial agents may also be divided into metallic ion type, photocatalysis type and complex type.
In addition, the metallic ion type anti-bacterial agents are formed by physical absorption or ion exchange to make the metal such as silver, copper, zinc and so on to be fixed on the surface of zeolite, silica gel or other suitable porous material. The metallic ion type anti-bacterial agents utilize the anti-bacterial ability of the metal to suppress the growth of the harmful microorganism. Moreover, the metallic ion type anti-bacterial agents have great application and can be mixed with different polymers to form fiber, plastic, paint and so on by different processing methods. However, because the properties of the interfaces of the metallic ions and the polymer are quite different, the metallic ions are easy to accumulate and not easy to be dispersed well in the polymer.

Anti-bacterial composition and method for producing the same

Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology Armaments Bureau, Ministry of National Defense


A magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) encoder device which is used for processing checks. The MICR encoder utilizes a dot matrix printer head for printing numerical information on checks. The MICR encoder comprises a self-contained housing for housing a guiding assembly, a transporting assembly, a detection assembly, a printing assembly, a microprocessor, and a stepper motor. The printing assembly includes a ribbon cartridge and a dot matrix printer head coupled to the ribbon cartridge for printing characters on the check. The dot matrix printer head has an extended head portion with nine tip wires thereon, where the characters are printed continuously on the check while the check is traveling through the guide assembly, thereby eliminating the need to stop the check for printing as taught by prior art MICR encoder devices.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the field of electronic devices used in the banking industry for processing batch checks. More particularly, the present invention relates to the field of check encoding machines used for printing numerical information on the bottom of the checks as they are being processed.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) encoder devices are well known in the art. These prior art MICR encoder devices are used for printing numerical information on the bottom of checks as they are being processed by the encoder devices. These devices are known in the industry as a micr-encoder, batch-encoder, exception item encoder or proof machine. In a conventional MICR encoder device, the encoding of the numerical information on the check is done through a font wheel which requires the check to be advanced through the device in an intermittent stop mode arrangement for printing so that the font wheel can engrave the characters onto the check. The disadvantage with prior art MICR encoder devices is that it utilizes a font wheel for printing, in which the characters are engraved onto the check and cause the check to be advanced in an intermittent stop mode arrangement.
The following nine (9) prior art patents are found to be pertinent to the field of the present invention:
1. U.S. Pat. No. 3,985,998 issued to Crafton on Oct. 12, 1976 for "Personal Authority Verification System" (hereafter the "Crafton Patent"); PA1 2. U.S. Pat. No. 3,990,558 issued to Ehrat on Nov. 9, 1976 for "Method And Apparatus For Preparing And Assessing Payment Documents" (hereafter the "Ehrat Patent"); PA1 3. U.S. Pat. No. 4,630,201 issued to White on Dec. 16, 1986 for "On-Line And Off-Line Transaction Security System Using A Code Generated From A Transaction Parameter And A Random Number" (hereafter the "White Patent"); PA1 4. U.S. Pat. No. 4,774,513 issued to Bonnaval-Lamothe et al. on Sep. 27, 1988 for "Process For Controlling The Use Of Documents And Means For Implementing This Process" (hereafter the "Bonnaval-Lamothe Patent"); PA1 5. U.S. Pat. No. 5,053,607 issued to Carlson et al. on Oct. 1, 1991 for "Point-Of-Sale Device Particularly Adapted For Processing Checks" (hereafter the "Carlson Patent"); PA1 6. U.S. Pat. No. 5,204,881 issued to Cardini et al. on Apr. 20, 1993 for "System For Set-Up Of Transmitters In High Capacity Digital Radio Links" (hereafter the "Cardini Patent"); PA1 7. U.S. Pat. No. 5,491,325 issued to Huang et al. on Feb. 13, 1996 for "Method And System For Payment And Payment Verification" (hereafter the "Huang Patent"); PA1 8. European Patent No. 472-255-A (hereafter the "European Patent"); and PA1 9. Japanese Patent No. 40-4243497 (hereafter the "Japanese Patent").
The Crafton Patent discloses a personal authority verification system. The Crafton Patent uses output signals from a transformation matrix which is used to drive a printer which prints an array of marks and spaces on the check blank, the array being the encipherment of the check number and its corresponding alphabet display providing thereby codes of authenticity and authority.
The Ehrat Patent discloses a method and apparatus for preparing and assessing payment documents. It comprises a printing mechanism which prints optically detectable numerals on the document. The printing mechanism could be a magnetic head for writing data on the document in the appropriately encoded form on a magnet track or it could be a perforater punching the data in an appropriate encoded form in the document.
The White Patent discloses an on-line and off-line transaction security system using a code generated from a transaction parameter and a random number.
The Bonnaval-Lamothe Patent discloses a process for controlling the use of documents and means for implementing this process.
The Carlson Patent discloses a point-of-sale device particularly adapted for processing checks. It comprises a MICR read head means, printer means and keypad means which feed information into a CPU which communicates with the customer's bank and the retailer's bank in order to transfer funds from the account of the customer to the account of the retailer. The printer means includes a document printer head which is associated with a printer head drive means which propels the printer head.
The Cardini Patent discloses a system for set-up of transmitters in high capacity digital radio links, in which a digital signal with quadrature amplitude modulation is transmitted over a radio frequency carrier wave.
The Huang Patent discloses a method and system for payment and payment verification. It comprises the imprinting of a bar code on the face of a payment document. The bar code serves as an index to a corresponding data file in a database which can be communicated to a drawee banking institution serving as broker for the funds as identified in the check so that the institution has prior knowledge of information relating to the check.
The European Patent discloses a device for reading an identification mark from a moving object. It comprises a reader for scanning the identification mark at a predetermined location. A reading time control unit receives an inked reading signal from a preceding identification mark. It inhibits the reading operation of the reader. The time duration corresponds a distance shorter than the distance required for a succeeding identification mark reaching the read position.
The Japanese Patent discloses an automatic check dealing system.
It is highly desirable to have a very efficient and also very effective design and construction of a magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) encoder device utilizing a dot matrix printer head for printing numerical information on checks. It is desirable to provide an MICR encoder device with the capability of continuous printing without having the check stop for printing the numerical information on the check. It is also desirable to provide an MICR encoder device that can print at high speeds in a much more efficient way than prior art MICR encoder devices.

Magnetic ink character recognition encoder utilizing a dot matrix printer head and plurality of sensors for detecting, activating, and controlling the speed of the media


Disclosed is a multiplexing method and apparatus that allows holograms to be spatially multiplexed with partial spatial overlap between neighboring stacks of holograms. Each individual stack can additionally take full advantage of an alternate multiplexing scheme such as angle, wavelength, phase code, peristrophic, or fractal multiplexing, for example. An amount equal to the beam waist of the signal beam writing a hologram separates individual stacks of holograms. Upon reconstruction, a hologram and its neighbors will all be readout simultaneously. An filter is placed at the beam waist of the reconstructed data such that the neighbors that are read out are not transmitted to the camera plane. Alternatively, these unwanted reconstructions can be filtered out with an angular filter at an intermediate plane in the optical system that has a limited angular passband.

Multiplexing holograms means to store multiple holograms in the same volume or nearly the same volume. Typically, this is done by varying an angle, wavelength, phase code, or some other system parameter in the recording and readout setup. Many of these methods rely on a holographic phenomena known as the Bragg effect in order to separate the holograms even though they are physically located within the same volume of media. Other multiplexing methods such as shift and, to some extent, correlation use the Bragg effect and relative motion of the media and input laser beams to overlap multiple holograms in the same volume of the media.
Some multiplexing techniques use momentum (spatial frequency) to filter out the unwanted reconstructions from the desired reconstruction. Examples of these methods include: fractal, aperture (disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,892,601 to Curtis et al for "Multiplex Holography, which is incorporated in its entirety by reference) and peristrophic multiplexing. Each of which is understood in the art. For disclosure of aperture multiplexing see U.S. Pat. No. 5,892,601 which is incorporated in its entirety by reference, and for a disclosure of peristrophic multiplexing see K. Curtis et al "Method of Holographic Storage Using Peristrophic Multiplexing", Optics Letters, Vol. 19, No. 13 pp. 993–994, 1994 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,483,365 to Pu et al. for "Method for holographic Storage using Persitrophic Multiplexing" each of which is incorporated in its entirety by reference. By changing the reference beam angle and moving the media between recordings, the reconstructions are still Bragg matched but come out at different angles and can therefore be filtered out.
Using holography to store data has been well known for the last 30 years. The idea of increasing system capacity by combining spatial multiplexing (recording holograms in multiple locations but not significantly in the same volume of media) along with some other multiplexing technique that overlaps holograms within the same location has been well known for over 15 years. These are standard techniques for distributing holograms on holographic media such as a disk, card, cube, or tape. Several patents and papers disclose a number of multiplexing techniques: U.S. Pat. No. 5,550,779, "Holographic Memory with Angle, Spatial and Out of Plane Multiplexing", and S. Li, "Photorefractive 3-D Disks for Optical Storage and Artificial Neural Networks" California Institute of Technology, pp. 78–111, 1994, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference. All of these place the beam waist, that is, the point at which the beam is focused and the beam spot size is smallest, (either image or Fourier transform plane) inside the media. By doing so, relatively small holograms can be generated which make excellent use of the media material's dynamic range.
FIG. 1 illustrates a prior art method of spatial and angle multiplexing holograms in a relatively thick media. FIG. 1 shows a holographic media 8 in which an angle multiplexed hologram is being created by reference beam 20a and signal beam 10a. In FIG. 1, signal beam 10a includes an incoming converging cone 12, an outgoing diverging cone 14 and a waist 16, where the signal beam is focused in the media 8 and where its spot size is smallest. FIG. 1 also shows reference beam 20b, which can be used to generated a second hologram in media 8 that is angle multiplexed with the hologram generated by reference beam 20a and signal beam 10a. A number of holograms, or stack, can be angle multiplexed in a portion 24 of the media. The media or signal source can the be shifted to record a second stack of holograms. FIG. 1 illustrates signal beams 10b, 10c and 10d which, along with reference beams shown in phantom, generate additional stacks of holograms in portions 24b, 24c, and 24d, respectively, of media 8. In FIG. 1, the portions 24a–24d of media 8 outline the area used by each stack.
Portions 24a–24d are significantly larger than an individual beam waist, such as beam waist 16. This is because both the signal beam and the reference beams determine the area that a given hologram stack uses. To spatially multiplex these holograms, stacks of holograms must be separated by at least the length of a portion 24a–24d of media 8. This has consequences for achievable densities and capacities that can be reached using holographic storage. High density is achieved by multiplexing more holograms in one location and by placing these stacks as close as possible. However, as discussed above, close spacing of stacks is limited.
Additionally, the divergence of a beam can limit the minimum distance between stacks. The amount of divergence, which can be expressed as the angle the edges of the diverging cone form with the direction of beam propagation, is dependent on the numerical aperture of a lens through which the signal beam is projected. For high NA systems that are typically used for storage systems, the amount of signal beam divergence in holographic media, such as media 8, is relatively significant for relatively thick media. In addition, the number of holograms that can be multiplexed at one place (one stack) is determined by the thickness of the media. More holograms can be stored in thicker media due to the increase in the Bragg selectivity and dynamic range. Unfortunately, if the media is made thicker the spatial stack size increases due to the increased divergence of the beam. Thus the achievable density/capacity saturates at a certain thickness. Thus, density cannot be increased significantly by increasing the material thickness once the saturation thickness is reached.
Increasing density is also possible by overlapping holograms. An example of this with angle multiplexing is disclosed in "Spatioangular Multiplexed Storage of 750 Holograms in an FeLiNbO3 Crystal", Optics Letters, Vol. 18, No. 11 pp. 912–914, 1993, which is incorporated in its entirety by reference. With this concept, partially overlapping hologram stacks are recorded with angle multiplexing within each stack. Each stack, however, has a unique set of angles and therefore, though the stacks partially overlap, the holograms can be easily separated. This increases the density of the stacks but many fewer holograms can be recorded in a stack, which very significantly reduces the density gains of overlapping the stacks. In practice this method results is very little if any increase in achievable density. When multiplexing holograms, however, the dynamic range of the holographic media can be a limiting factor. (The materials dynamic range or M# is a measure how many holograms can be multiplexed at a given location in the material and is related to the materials index change and material thickness.) Thus, the reduced possible number of angle multiplexed holograms was acceptable since it reduced the demands on the available dynamic range for a given overall density. This is because as more holograms are multiplexed in the same volume (i.e. angle multiplexed) the diffraction efficiency of the holograms drops depending the material dynamic range (M#) divided by the number multiplexed holograms squared. Now that better materials have been invented, a way of actually increasing the achievable density is needed.


A Pulse Detonation Synthesis (PDS) process for the manufacture and deposition of ceramic powders and coatings is disclosed. PDS may use multiple detonation pulses that are initiated in a reaction chamber to synthesize ceramic materials from reactants introduced into the chamber. The reactants may be provided in the form of divided solids, gases, liquids, gels, and/or mixtures of the foregoing. The synthesized ceramic materials may take the form of micron and/or nano-scale powders or coatings. Non-coating powders may be collected for later use. The coatings produced by the present invention include, but are not limited to, gradient coatings, uniform coatings, thermal barrier coatings, and other commercially useful coatings.

The present invention relates to a process for synthesizing engineering materials using intermittent combustion, or pulse detonation, processes, the engineering materials formed by those processes, and the apparatus for making them. The present invention has particular utility in the synthesis of ceramic materials. It has long been recognized that ceramic materials possess certain properties which are superior to other "engineering materials". They may be tailored for specific applications requiring outstanding heat transfer, resistance to thermal shock, corrosion resistance, wear resistance, specific optical properties, etc.
Conventional ceramic processing techniques usually involve several steps. First, raw materials must be purified into basic ceramic materials. Second, the product is fabricated into the desired shape or form. Third, the product undergoes an initial drying phase. Fourth, the part must be heated to allow the microstructure of the material to mature into its final form. This step is also called sintering. Depending on the specific requirements of the end product, additional processing or finishing steps may be necessary.
Most base ceramic powders arc manufactured using chemical techniques that require several intermediate steps and are fairly slow. Examples arc the sol-gel, solvent evaporation, and various precipitation techniques. These processes tend to yield small amounts of relatively inconsistent powders that typically require further processing.
Most prior processes produce relatively coarse particles. The ideal particles for dense, strong microstructures are fine and spherical. Fine powders on the order of 1 .mu.m typically are produced using mechanical means such as ball milling. The ceramic powder is placed in a container containing a liquid and a generating media such as Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 or ZrO.sub.2. The container is rotated for several hours to reduce the particle size. The resulting powders, however, are jagged, which makes them hard to handle, pack, and sinter. The flow characteristics of the resulting powders are particularly affected. The powders also are often contaminated with pieces of the milling media or container.
The ideal particles for manufacturing a strong ceramic structure, for example, a nose cone for a missile, are spherical and have a fine grain size ranging from 0.1 to 10 .mu.m. The particles preferably do not have a uniform size. Rather, to provide better packing, a distribution of particle sizes is preferred. By way of illustration, visualize a large box. Regardless whether the box is filled with basketballs, baseballs, or marbles, the pore space (the empty space between the spheres) will be the same. This is true because pore volume is a function of geometry, not size. If, however, each of the three types of objects were mixed in the same box, the pore volume would be greatly decreased. This is because the baseballs would occupy the spaces between the basketballs, and the marbles would occupy the spaces left between the other two. This is a more efficient packing method. Occasionally, voids may be desirable, as in the case of thermal insulation. For wear and strength applications, however, higher density is generally more desirable. Higher purity powders typically produce higher purity ceramic structures.
Spray processes such as flame plasma spraying, melt and then resolidify powders. The particles are generally spherical. Their size depends on many factors, including rheology, cooling, and precipitation rate. Neither of the concepts of using combustion to synthesize materials or using thermal spray techniques to manufacture ceramic powders is new. In 1968, the National Academy of Sciences assigned the Materials Advisory Board of the Academy the task of exploring solutions to problems faced by the Department of Defense. The committee performing the study recommended exploring the use of molten-particle or thermal spray processes for: the manufacture of fine, spherical ceramic powders; the production of high-purity oxide "smoke" by burning high-purity metals in oxygen; and the manufacture of uniform, reliable, free-standing structural ceramics. The Committee on Ceramic Processing, Materials Advisory Board, Division of Engineering, National Research Council, "Ceramic Processing" Publication #1576, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C., 1968 ("NAS Report"). Spherical ceramic powders are highly desirable for thermal spray coatings and for the manufacture of solid, free-standing structures. Spherical particles lack surface irregularities which can cause snagging and agglomeration, one of the biggest problems in handling fine ceramic powders.
Since the NAS Report was issued, there has been much research into the use of spray processes and/or combustion to produce ceramic materials. Many of the spray processes are known as "aerosol processes." These typically involve combustion, which is used to drive a chemical reaction, rather than to directly produce a material. Currently, there are several different approaches to the production of ceramic powders using aerosol processes. These processes include flame, plasma, condensation, reaction, and spray pyrolysis processes. Aerosol spray processes such as flame and plasma are fairly mature technologies. Their primary use is not to manufacture powders, but to deposit coatings from pre-cursor powders. For example, a tungsten carbide coating is manufactured from tungsten carbide powder. (These coatings typically are used for wear and thermal barrier applications.) In general, these processes each involve the injection of a precursor feed material into a flame. The powders react, vaporize, and then condense to produce a ceramic powder. The features of these processes are given in Table I.
TABLE I ______________________________________ Typical Characteristics of Powders Produced by Aerosol Processes Process Particle Diameter Particle Shape ______________________________________ Flame 0.001 to 0.5 .mu.m Aggregates Plasma 0.001-1 .mu.m Spherical or Aggregates Condensation 0.001 to -10 .mu.m Spherical Reaction 0.001 to -10 .mu.m Spherical or Aggregates Spray Pyrolysis 0.1 to 10 .mu.m Spherical or Broken Shells ______________________________________
The commercialization of these processes has been limited. Even though they may be technically feasible, little was known about how they actually worked. This lack of understanding made the design of large scale production facilities difficult. Some of these gaps have since been filled through systematic study. Nonetheless, the results yielded on a small laboratory scale arc often difficult, if not impossible, to extrapolate to a full-scale production facility.
One alternative ceramic processing technique is self-propagating, high-temperature synthesis ("SHS"). SHS reactions usually involve the combustion of two solid phase materials. For example, to manufacture titanium boride (TiB.sub.2), titanium and boron are mixed and burned. The reaction is described by: Ti+2B=>TiB.sub.2. The resulting combustion reaction is highly exothermic, that is, once the components start reacting, a large amount of heat is released which keeps the reaction going (hence, the designation self-propagating). The preparation rate of an SHS reaction, however, is relatively slow.
Engineering materials are often called upon to perform in particularly harsh environments. For example, aerospace applications have extremely demanding technical requirements. High G loading and thermal heating require strong, lightweight, environmentally resistant structures. Currently, there is no shortage of candidate high performance materials that can be used to manufacture these structures. Superalloys, ceramics, composites, and cermet materials can be used at temperatures up to several thousand degrees Kelvin. The problem in selecting between these materials in these applications is not satisfactory technical performance but, rather, reasonable cost. These materials can be stronger and lighter than conventional aerospace materials when processed correctly and can be used at much higher temperatures. Unfortunately, their price is often prohibitive. For example, 1 micron, 99.9% silicon nitride powder can cost $77 per 100 g.
Several prior patents disclose the production of certain types of coatings or the use of various combustion processes to apply coating materials. Nevgod, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,669,658 (Jun. 2, 1987) for GAS DETONATION COATING APPARATUS, is directed to a coating apparatus. The invention comprises a barrel enclosed in a casing, a spark plug associated with the barrel, a gas supply system, a buffer unit, and a powder supply system. A combustible gas is detonated which forces the powder through a muzzle at the end of the barrel in order to coat a substrate. No synthesis is accomplished. This is merely a coating process. Another patent to Nevgod, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,687,135 (Aug. 18, 1987) for DETONATION-GAS APPARATUS FOR APPLYING COATINGS, is directed to another coating apparatus. The invention lies in a specific gas distribution system.
Jackson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,902,539 for FUEL-OXIDANT MIXTURE FOR DETONATION GUN FLAME-PLATING issued on Feb. 20, 1990 is directed to a process for flame plating which uses a particularized fuel-oxidant mixture. Similarly of interest in this regard is a patent to Ulyanitsky, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,052,619 for BARREL OF AN APPARATUS FOR APPLYING COATINGS BY GAS DETONATION, issued on Oct. 1, 1991, is directed to a coating apparatus. As is the case with other prior art inventions, this patent is directed to coating, and not synthesis of materials.
Other patents were directed to material synthesis. For example, Taylor, U.S. Pat. No. 5,073,433 for THERMAL BARRIER COATING FOR SUBSTRATES AND PROCESS FOR PRODUCING IT, issued Dec. 17, 1991 is directed to a stabilized zirconia coating material and a process for making the same. Both Sue, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,185,211 for NON-STOICHIOMETRIC TITANIUM NITRIDE COATING, issued Feb. 9, 1993 and Sue, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,242,753 for SUBSTOIHIOMETRIC ZIRCONIUM NITRIDE COATING, issued Sep. 7, 1993 are directed to a particularized coating materials.
In spite of the existence of these prior materials synthesis and application processes, there remains a significant need for a commercially feasible method for synthesizing and applying engineering materials, particularly in high performance applications. Particularly, in applications which require extreme performance, there continues to be a substantial need for simple, reliable, and low-cost material synthesis and application techniques.


An electronic control unit controls an air/fuel ratio of an engine having a lean NOx catalyst in its exhaust system in order to improve the cleaning of exhaust gas during rich process to reduce lean NOx catalyst. The electronic control unit includes an estimator for estimating NOx amount occluded in the lean NOx catalyst; a device for performing shift-to-rich process responsive to the NOx amount estimated by said estimator exceeding a predetermined value; a calculator for calculating an accumulated value of an exhaust flow amount; and a device for completing the shift-to-rich process responsive to the accumulated value of the exhaust flow amount exceeding a threshold value. Completing the shift-to-rich process using the accumulated value of the exhaust flow amount enables the NOx occluded in the lean NOx catalyst to be precisely reduced.

The present invention relates to cleaning exhaust gas of an automobile engine, in particular, to air-fuel ratio control on an automobile equipped with a lean NOx catalyst.
In engines burning fuel at lean side of an air-fuel ratio (hereinafter referred to as a lean-burn engine), a lean NOx catalyst (LNC) is employed to occlude NOx exhausted at lean air-fuel ratio and to reduce the occluded NOx at rich or theoretical air-fuel ratio. Since the amount of NOx that the lean NOx catalyst can occlude is limited, the engine cannot continue the lean-burn operation for a long time. To continue the lean-burn operation for a long time, the air-fuel ratio need to be changed temporarily to rich side to reduce the NOx occluded in the lean NOx catalyst during the lean-burn operation, causing the catalyst to release the occluded NOx. This process is referred to as xe2x80x9cshift-to-rich processxe2x80x9d.
It is well known in the art to perform the shift-to-rich process periodically during the lean-burn operation to actively reduce the NOx occluded in the LNC, and to perform the shift-to-rich process on transition from the lean-burn operation to stoichiometric air-fuel ratio operation (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9cstoichiometric operationxe2x80x9d) to reduce the NOx occluded in the LNC. It is also known to estimate the amount of the NOx occluded in the LNC in order to vary the air-fuel rich amount according to the estimated amount, one example of which is disclosed in The Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 7-139340.
According to this application, it is disclosed to provide a NOx estimating counter for estimating the amount of NOx occluded in the LNC. This counter is incremented during the lean-burn operation and is decremented while performing the shift-to-rich process or during the stoichiometric operation. More specifically, a value depending on operation state of the engine is added to the NOx estimating counter at every certain period during the lean-burn operation. A value depending on the fuel amount exceedingly fed to the engine is subtracted from the counter at every certain period while performing the shift-to-rich process or during the stoichiometric operation.
The Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 11-6421 describes other technique which comprises means for determining a saturation state of NOx amount occluded in the NOx catalyst to adequately change the rich amount of the air-fuel ratio, causing the shift-to-rich process to be initiated with appropriate timing. More specifically, this technique includes a calculator for calculating the amount of NOx generated in the engine in accordance with a detected value of internal pressure in cylinder of the engine. When the calculated amount is determined as saturation state of NOx occluded in the NOx catalyst, the shift-to-rich process is initiated. Predetermined period according to engine speed is set in a timer and shift-to-rich process is performed during this set period.
In the above-mentioned conventional technique, however, the period for the shift-to-rich process is set according to the engine speed and therefore the shift-to-rich process is not adapted appropriately to the change of engine load. More specifically, in the shift-to-rich process when the lean NOx catalyst is saturated, sufficient CO and HC have to be supplied to the lean NOx catalyst enough to reduce the occluded NOx. However, setting the period according to only the engine speed, it is probable that the amount of reducing agent (HC, CO) becomes short and can not reduce all of the NOx or the amount of reducing agent becomes too much and may degrade exhaust performance. Moreover, in the case that a three-way catalyst is provided upstream of the lean NOx catalyst, the reducing agent may become short because the reducing agent is oxidized by the three-way catalyst during the shift-to-rich process, as in the case of the air-fuel ratio changing from lean side to stoichiometry.
Considering the above-mentioned problems, it is objective of the invention to provide an electronic control unit for cutting the emission as well as improving the drivability by appropriately controlling the shift-to-rich process for reducing the NOx occluded in the lean NOx catalyst during the shift-to-rich process and transition from the lean operation to the stoichiometric operation.
To solve the above-mentioned problems, according to one aspect of the invention, an electronic control unit is provided which controls an air-fuel ratio of an engine having a lean NOx catalyst in its exhaust system, comprising: an estimator for estimating NOx amount occluded in the lean NOx catalyst; means for performing shift-to-rich process responsive to the NOx amount estimated by said estimator exceeding a predetermined value; a calculator for calculating an accumulated value of an exhaust flow amount; and means for completing said shift-to-rich process responsive to said accumulated value of the exhaust flow amount exceeding a threshold value.
Completing the shift-to-rich process based on the accumulated value of the exhaust flow amount, which is correlated with the amount of the reducing agent (HC, CO), enables the NOx occluded in the lean NOx catalyst to be precisely reduced, and resultingly the exhaust gas can be cleaned at higher level.
According to second aspect of the invention, an electronic control unit is provided for controlling an air-fuel ratio of an engine having a lean NOx catalyst in its exhaust system, comprising: an estimator for estimating NOx amount occluded in the lean NOx catalyst; means for performing shift-to-rich process on a transition from lean-burn operation to stoichiometric operation; a calculator for calculating an accumulated value of an exhaust flow amount; and means for completing said shift-to-rich process responsive to said accumulated value of the exhaust flow amount reaching a threshold value which is set based on the occluded NOx amount estimated by said estimator.
On the transition from the lean-burn operation to the stoichiometric operation, the shift-to-rich process is performed to reduce the lean NOx catalyst and the timing for completing the shift-to-rich process is determined based on the accumulated value of the exhaust flow amount and the estimated amount of the occluded NOx, enabling the NOx occluded in the lean NOx catalyst to be precisely reduced and resultingly the exhaust gas is cleaned at higher level.
According to third aspect of the invention, said electronic control unit further comprises a three-way catalyst and an air-fuel ratio sensor upstream of said lean NOx catalyst, wherein said calculating means starts to accumulate the exhaust flow amount when said air-fuel ratio sensor indicates rich.
Since the accumulation of the exhaust flow amount is started when the air fuel ratio sensor upstream of the lean NOx catalyst indicates rich, the effect of degradation of the three-way catalyst placed upstream of the sensor may be avoided and the NOx occluded in the lean NOx catalyst may be reduced appropriately.
According to fourth aspect of the invention, said electronic control unit further comprises adding means for adding NOx amount to be occluded in said lean NOx catalyst during said shift-to-rich process, to said estimated occluded NOx amount.
It is possible to reduce the NOx occluded in the lean NOx catalyst on the transition from the lean-burn operation to the stoichiometric operation.

Electronic control unit for controlling air fuel ratio to reduce NOx occluded in NOx catalyst


To provide either a facility comprising a plurality of stores that offer food and drink, and that treats customer seating for the plurality of stores as a shared space, or a method of attracting customers to said facility. This facility comprises: a traveling wheeled vehicle, which is capable of carrying customers on a tour of the shared space; and rotating tables. The rotating tables are configured such that tables are positioned upon rotating devices. The rotating devices comprise upper rotating bodies, further comprising central gears which are positioned in the centers of bases. The rotating devices further comprise: drive motors that are capable of rotationally driving the central gears; and casters that support the upper rotating bodies. The traveling wheeled vehicle and the rotating tables are positioned in the shared space.

Currently, the facilities such as food courts (meaning an indoor space for providing a variety of adjacent restaurant booths and a shared space for self-service meals, the same shall apply hereinafter) are spreading rapidly in a shopping mall and an airport. Because seats can be commonly used by dividing the shop by each menu regarding the cuisine, every shop doesn't need the seats. Furthermore, it is used by many families because the seat portion (hereinafter called a sharing space) can be set widely.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Facility comprising food and drink infrastructure, and method of attracting customers to facility


An information processing device running a game program which improves the strategic characteristics of a game in which one or more players participate. The device may perform a step of initiating a game part in which one or more players participate; a step of providing an action opportunity to each of the one or more players; a determination step of determining a first parameter and a second parameter so that a total value of the first parameter and the second parameter which are correlated with the player becomes constant at a predetermined value when the action opportunity is given to the player; and a step of executing action processing of the player. The first parameter may be used in processing when a subsequent action opportunity is given to the player. The second parameter may be used in processing before the subsequent action opportunity is given to the player.

In the related art, a game in which one or more players such as a user and an artificial intelligence (AI) participate is known. For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a battle game in which action opportunities are given in turns to a plurality of players who respectively operate characters.
[Patent Literature 1], cited above, is Japanese Patent No. 5678146.

Program, information processing device, and control method for strategic operation of a game using an action point system