A plurality of media data coding and multiplexing apparatus are connected, a video signal having a large information amount is processed in parallel in the plurality of media data coding and multiplexing apparatus, other media data pieces of an audio signal and a data signal are processed in one of the plurality of the media data coding and multiplexing apparatus, and a multiplexing section of the one of the plurality of the media data coding and multiplexing apparatus combines the signals and output multiplex streams output from other media data coding and multiplexing apparatus into one output multiplex stream.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a media data coding and multiplexing apparatus, a media data coding and multiplexing system, and a media data coding and multiplexing method for coding, packeting, and multiplexing a plurality of pieces of media data.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, development of a highly efficient coding apparatus of a video signal has been shifting to development of a system intended for high-definition video including HDTV signals. To handle high-definition video, inevitably high-speed processing is required and generally is accomplished by parallel processing.
FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a media data coding and multiplexing apparatus in a related art. In the figure, numeral 50 denotes a video signal, numeral 60 denotes an audio signal, numeral 70 denotes a data signal, numeral 51 denotes a video coding section, numeral 61 denotes an audio coding section, numeral 71 denotes a multiplexing section, numeral 55 denotes a coded video signal, numeral 65 denotes a coded audio signal, and numeral 75 denotes a packet string.
FIG. 6 is a block diagram to show the configuration of a video coding section in the related art shown inJP-A-7-115649. In the figure, numeral 56 denotes a video signal dividing circuit, numeral 57 denotes a transmission circuit, numeral 58 denotes a quantization control circuit, numerals 511, 521, 531, and 541 denote divided video signals numerals, 512, 522, 532, and 542 denote coding units, numerals 513, 523, 533, and 543 denote coded video signals, numerals 514, 524, 534, and 544 denote transmission buffers, 515, 525, 535, and 545 denote packeted video signals, numerals 516, 526, 536, and 546 denote transmission buffer control signals, numeral 517, 527, 537, and 547 denote transmission buffer information pieces, numerals 518, 528, 538, and 548 denote quantization control signals, and numerals 519, 529, 539, and 549 denote video information pieces.
Next, the operation of the media data coding and multiplexing apparatus in the related art will be discussed with reference to FIG. 5.
The video signal 50 is coded in the video coding section 51 and is output to the multiplexing section 71 as the coded video signal 55. Likewise, the audio signal 60 is coded in the audio coding section 61 and is output to the multiplexing section 71 as the coded audio signal 65. The multiplexing section 71 packets and multiplexes the data signal 70 and the input coded video signal 55 and coded audio signal 65 and outputs the signals as the packet string 75.
Further, the operation of the video coding section in the related art will be discussed with reference to FIG. 6.
The video signal 50 input to the video coding section 51 is divided into four signals in the video signal dividing circuit 56 and the divided video signals 511, 521, 531, and 541 are output to the coding units 512, 522, 532, and 542 respectively.
The quantization control circuit 58 receives the video information pieces 519, 529, 539, and 549 each representing the nature of the video images processed in the coding units 512, 522, 532, and 542 and also receives the transmission buffer information pieces 517, 527, 537, and 547 each representing the state of the corresponding transmission buffer, generates the quantization control signals 518, 528, 538, and 548 used in the coding units 512, 522, 532, and 542 respectively, and outputs the quantization control signals 518, 528, 538, and 548 to the coding units 512, 522, 532, and 542 respectively.
The divided video signals 511, 521, 531, and 541 are coded in the coding units 512, 522, 532, and 542 based on the quantization control signals 518, 528, 538, and 548 and the coded video signals 513, 523, 533, and 543 are output to the transmission buffers 514, 524, 534, and 544 respectively.
The coded video signals 513, 523, 533, and 543 are buffered in the transmission buffers 514, 524, 534, and 544 respectively and the buffered video signals 515, 525, 535, and 545 are output to the transmission circuit 57 in order based on the transmission buffer control signals 516, 526, 536, and 546 output from the transmission circuit 57.
The buffered video signals 515, 525, 535, and 545 are output from the transmission circuit 57 as the coded video signal 55 of the video signal 50.
In the media data coding and multiplexing apparatus in the related art, as shown in FIG. 6, to handle low-definition video, one module consisting of the coding unit and the transmission buffer is provided and to handle high-definition video, two or more modules, for example, the coding units 512, 522, 532, and 542 and the transmission buffers 514, 524, 534, and 544 are provided for performing parallel processing, thereby realizing easiness of hardware configuration. In this case, however, easiness of hardware configuration containing the multiplexing function with any other media data such as audio data is not considered and the coding section for coding any other media data such as audio data and the multiplexing section for multiplexing a plurality of pieces of media data such as audio data are configured as the audio coding section 61 and the multiplexing section 71 aside from the video coding section 51, as shown in FIG. 5. Thus, the output function of multiplexed coded data cannot be provided simply by combining a plurality of modules and parallel processing control circuits of the video signal dividing circuit 56, etc.

Media data coding and multiplexing apparatus, media data coding and multiplexing system, and media data coding and multiplexing method


A control device for the selective control of a multiplicity of actuators of an internal combustion engine is provided. The control device includes a central control unit, and a multiplicity of actuators associated with the multiplicity of actuator controls, which are connected to the central control unit. Each actuator control, of the multiplicity of actuator controls, includes an address, so that the actuator controls are selectively controllable by the central control unit by means of the address. Also, each actuator control includes a comparator, which is configured to compare a signal, preferably a voltage or current signal, emitted by the central control unit with the address. The comparator also emits an activation signal via an activation line, if the comparison has resulted in a match of the signal with the address of the respective actuator control within a window, preferably a voltage window (ΔV).

The invention relates to a control device for the selective control of a multiplicity of actuators of an internal combustion engine having the characteristics of the preamble of claim 1, an actuator in the form of an ignition device for a combustion chamber of an internal combustion engine having the characteristics of the preamble of claim 11 and an internal combustion engine having the characteristics of the preamble of claim 15.

Control device for a multiplicity of actuators of an internal combustion engine


A repositionable paper stop for the edge of the top surface of a table includes a long body having one flat planar side and another side having an upstanding edge portion which can be alternately repositioned in a groove in the top surface of the table between an inactive position with the flat planar side flush with the table surface and inactive position with the upstanding edge portion extending above the table surface to act as a conventional stop. The stop member can be manually displaced from either position by a slidable lift pin manually movable into the groove from below the table and into contact with the underside of the stop member in the groove.

The present inventions pertains to a paper stop or abutment for the edge of an inclined table or similar surface for preventing papers and similar materials from sliding off the surface and, in particular, to a repositionable paper stop which may be manually inverted to move from an active to an inactive position.
It is well known to provide inclined planar working surfaces, such as desks, tables, lecterns and the like with a raised lower edge portion to retain papers, books, writing implements and the like from sliding or rolling off the inclined surface. Many such paper stops or similar abutments are permanently attached to the edge of the planar surface and, as a result, sometimes interfere with the effective use of the surface, as for drawing or writing, by presenting an obstruction to the flush placement of the user's arms on the surface. As a result, it is known to provide the inclined or tiltable surface of a table, desk or the like with a movable or repositionable paper stop which can be moved between a paper retaining position and an inactive position where the stop does not extend above the inclined or tiltable surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,986,193 discloses a paper stop which is slidably mounted in a slot in the table top against the bias of compression springs which normally bias the stop bar upwardly into an active position above the surface of the table, but which may be manually depressed downwardly into the slot under the weight of the user's arm. An alternate embodiment provides a continuous elastically yieldable strip which is compressible under the weight of the user's arm.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,437,411 shows a paper stop which is movable vertically between flush and raised positions with respect to the table surface and in which the stop is held in either position by horizontal pins extending from the edge of the table through slots in the stop bar.
U.S. Patent No. 1,314,060 shows a stop bar in the form of a strip which is rotatably attached to the front edge of a drawing board or table for rotation about a center pivot to present either a top edge raised above the table surface or a top edge flush with the table surface.
The first above-identified patent requires the active engagement by the arms of the user to depress the paper stop, and the other two patents require special pinned connections to facilitate movement of the stop bar between its active and inactive positions. Further, the two last mentioned patents include stop bars which are attached to the front edge face of the table and, in their inactive positions, extend below the undersurface of the table.

Repositionable paper stop for a table surface


A fluidized bed combustor or gasifier has a combustion chamber(s) with a non-symmetrical horizontal cross section. The chamber may be trapezoidal, hemispherical, or may have five or more side walls of at least two different lengths. The walls of the combustion chamber may be water tube panels. An external pressure vessel surrounds the combustion chamber(s) and associated particle separator(s), and may be spherical or cylindrical.

The present invention relates to a circulating fluidized bed combustor or gasifier for application in pressurized combustion or gasification systems, the systems comprising at least one upright combustion chamber and one particle separator connected thereto enclosed in a common external upright pressure vessel.
In conventional circulating fluidized bed processes high flow velocity and excellent mixing of particles and gases leads to efficient heat transfer and improved combustion efficiency. SO2 and NOx emissions are low due to desulphurizing sorbents used and due to staged combustion. Various fuels and refuse derived wastes may be burned or gasified and utilized in circulating fluidized bed combustion. The temperature is very stable and the heat transfer rate is high.
In pressurized circulating fluidized bed processes principally all advantages from atmospheric circulating fluidized bed processes are maintained, whereas some additional advantages are achieved.
The size of a pressurized steam generation plant, including combustion chamber and particle separators, can be made much smaller than a corresponding conventional atmospheric steam generation plant. Significant savings in material and investment costs are achieved.
Further pressurized steam generation systems provide increased total efficiency compared to atmospheric steam boilers. Pressurizing of a circulating fluidized bed process provides a considerable increase in efficiency/volume ratio.
In pressurized circulating fluidized bed systems fuel is combusted or gasified in a combustion chamber at high temperatures and high pressure. The external vessel provides pressure containment, which is cooled or insulated to enhance material strength and to thereby minimize costs of the pressure vessel. Combustion air pressurized in a compressor is directed into the pressure vessel into the space between the combustor and the peripheral wall of the pressure vessel. The pressurized air thereby provides for cooling of the walls of the pressure vessel. In the vessel the pressurized air is further directed through a grid into the combustion chamber for fluidizing and combusting of material therein. The pressure in the pressure vessel may be 8-30 bar, typically 10-14 bar.
In a circulating fluidized bed system particles are separated in a particle separator, such as a cyclone or hot gas filter, from the hot gases produced in the combustion chamber and the separated particles are recycled into the combustion chamber. In a combined gas/steam power plant the hot gases discharged from the particle separator may be further cleaned and utilized in a gas turbine, thereby increasing the electrical efficiency of the power plant considerably compared with a conventional steam generation plant. The gas turbine may be connected to the compressor feeding pressurized air into the combustor.
The peripheral walls of the combustion chamber are cooled by recovering heat in a water/steam circulation. Additional heating surfaces, such as superheaters, reheaters and economizers, connected to the water/steam circulation are usually arranged in the combustion chamber. In circulating fluidized bed combustors the additional heating surfaces are arranged in the upper part of the combustion chamber. A multitude of steam piping, including risers and downcomers, thereby have to be arranged within the pressure vessel. Steam generation systems for power plants are therefore large even if pressurized.
The external pressure vessel can be a variety of shapes. Two common shapes are cylindrical and spherical. The price of a pressure vessel itself is high and the space inside the vessel must be utilized as advantageously as possible. The diameter of the pressure vessel should be kept as small as possible to minimize costs. The vessel wall thickness and hence material costs increase with the diameter of the vessel.
When pressurizing a circulating fluidized bed combustor system all of the combustion chamber, particle separator, fuel feeding and ash discharge arrangements, as well as the piping for the water/steam circulation are preferably arranged in one single pressure vessel. A conventional combustion chamber, having a square, rectangular or circular cross section, leads to a very space consuming arrangement, which needs a large diameter pressure vessel, leaving a large volume of unused space in the vessel.
The cost of the pressure vessel is a determining factor when calculating the total costs of the pressurized system. The bigger the system the more significant is the price of the pressure vessel.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a pressurized circulating fluidized bed combustion or gasification system in which the size of the pressure vessel is minimized. This is achieved, according to the present invention, by utilizing in the pressurized combustion or gasification system a combustion chamber comprising a nonsymmetrical horizontal cross section, whereby at least two adjacent walls in the combustion chamber form an angle > 90.degree., or the horizontal cross section of the combustion chamber is hemispherical.
The arrangement of combustion chamber equipment within the pressure vessel together with related auxiliary equipment including cyclones, filters, steam piping, fuel feeding or other equipment can be enhanced by utilizing unconventional combustion chamber shapes. According to the present invention a trapezoidal, semi-cylindrical, hybrid trapezoidal/semi-cylindrical, or other semicylindrical-approaching multisided (e.g. five or more sides) polygonal cross section is provided to better conform the shape of the combustor to the external vessel.
Advantages of the combustion chamber cross section of the invention include:
Optimal utilization of plan area within the external pressure vessel, thereby minimizing the size, cost, and space requirements of the vessel.
Minimization of the height of the combustor or gasifier, and of the external pressure vessel, by alternative configurations of the heat transfer surfaces. Such configurations include angling internal surfaces and maximizing wall area per unit height.
Maximization of the perimeter area of the combustor or gasifier, enhancing circulation characteristics of the combustor or gasifier if it is cooled.
Optimizing the cross sectional area of the combustor or gasifier, increasing the amount of usable space for location of heat transfer surfaces.
Reducing the potential effects of erosion by increasing the angle and/or rounding edges and corners within the combustor or gasifier to reduce eddies.
Increased wall area on the rear combustor wall for location of cyclone inlets, solids feeding or removal, and heat transfer surfaces.

Combustor or gasifier for application in pressurized systems


A wireless charging receiving device includes a body, a metal housing, a receiving coil, and a power storage device. The metal housing is coupled to the body to form an accommodating space. The metal housing includes an aperture and at least one slit. The slit interconnects the aperture and the edge of the metal housing. The receiving coil is disposed between the metal housing and the body. The receiving coil defines a through hole by a looped configuration, and the through hole overlaps at least part of the aperture of the metal housing. The power storage device is disposed within the accommodating space and electrically connected to the receiving coil. Electromagnetic waves are able to pass through the aperture of the metal housing and are magnetically coupled to the receiving coil, such that the receiving coil transfers the energy of the electromagnetic waves to the power storage device.

Field of Invention
The subject application relates to a wireless charging receiving device.
Description of Related Art
Wireless charging technology utilizes electromagnetic principles to achieve a charging effect. An electronic device may be charged without using a wire so that convenience is improved. Thus, wireless charging technology has become a major area of development in the industry.
However, in order to enhance the aesthetics of an electronic device, a metal housing may be used. For an electronic device with a metal housing, especially a portable electronic device, when it is wirelessly charged, the metal housing may shield the electromagnetic waves. Even if an aperture is disposed in the metal housing so that electromagnetic waves may pass through the metal housing, inductive current is still generated in the metal housing by the electromagnetic waves. The magnetic field induced by the inductive current typically reduces charging efficiency.

Wireless charging receiving device and wireless charging system using the same


Apparatus for training a body part, such as for example the feet or head, of a person is shown. The apparatus structure is configured to receive and support the body part. The structure includes a body part-supporting member defining a movement path of a selected distance to be traversed by the body part during training. At least one sensor is positioned along the movement path representing a selected distance to be traversed by the body part during trained. The sensor is physically contacted by and is actuated by the body part. A signal control circuit is responsive to actuation of the sensor for generating a feedback signal which is communicated to such person to verify that such person's body part has traversed the selected distance. A method for training a body part of a person including a head, leg or arm is also shown.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for training a body part of a person and more particularly to apparatus having a structure configured to receive and support a body part of a person requiring training, at least one sensor positioned along a movement path having a selected distance to be traversed by a body part of such person while being trained and a signal control circuit operatively connected to the at least one sensor. The signal control circuit is responsive to the body part actuating the at least one sensor for generating a feedback signal which is communicated to such person to verify that such person's body part has traversed a selected distance.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known in the art to provide apparatus for therapy and training for constrained knee-joint movement. One example of such therapy and training equipment is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,416,448.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,800,318 discloses rehabilitation thru training principal/walker type device for exercising a user's lower body while giving the user independence of an assisted walking device. The trainer/walker device includes a frame including a seat and vertical legs that are adjustable to control the height of the frame.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,779,881 discloses a mobile vertical supporting apparatus for a child comprising support frame having main wheels and castor wheels wherein the support frame supports a body support section and a belting system for positioning a user in a substantially vertical position and for concurrently applying an uplifting force to the body of a user permitting the legs to be unrestrained and freely able to move.
U.S. Pat. No. DES 315,884 discloses a vertical supporter for a child or the like having a belting means for supporting the body of a user against a body support.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,616,544 discloses an indication device in the form of a mechanism adapted to be placed in a golf shoe for interacting with one or both feet of a golfer during a golf swing to provide a tactile indication to a golfer that either of both feet are maintaining recommended positions.
It is also known in the art to use a method known as "Conductive Education" that is an intensive, multi-disciplinary approach to education, training and development for individuals with cerebral palsy, spina bifida and other motor challenges. The Conductive Education method was developed in Hungary in 1945 by Dr. Andras Peto. Conductive Education is based on the theory that the central nervous system has the capacity to form new neural connections, despite neurological damages. The Conductive Education method is based on repeating tasks and on verbal support from healthcare providers observing the child perform the tasks, e.g., attempting to walk. The combination of repeating the tasks and verbal support is designed to help a child gain movement and skills, all of which require a significantly long period of time, in the order of months or longer, to achieve the targeted training results.
None of the known prior art anticipates, discloses, suggests or teaches apparatus for training a body part of a person and method of using same disclosed and taught herein.

Apparatus for training a body part of a person and method for using same


An apparatus for removing extensible plastic elastomer seals from openings of bottles or other glass containers is provided. Aerodynamic pressure drop in a compressed air jet is used. Due to constriction of the air stream caused, either by the incidence of the net on the edge of the openings of said bottles or containers, or by the presence of an appropriate convex surface before of the seal, the containers are removed.

As is known, the sterilization of glass containers such as bottles 17 or jars 10, etc. has always required costly and usually inefficient washing operations prior to filling.
All bottles 17 designed to be filled with various liquids, as well as other glass containers 10, also designed to be filled with other sterile products are maintained in sterile conditions from the manufacturing step to the filling step, by the application of seals 2, i.e. membranes or films made of an extensible plastic elastomer, thanks to state-of-the-art techniques, which form the subject of Swiss patent applications No. 1995 0235/95 and of the associated application PCT/EP 96/00342 and other associated international applications and 1997 01/97 CH and the associated application PCT WO 98/32 668, which membranes or films strongly adhere against the openings 3 of the containers 10 or the bottles 17, thereby maintaining the content thereof in a sterile state until filling.
In order to remove these seals 2, before filling and final closure, said seals 2 have to be extracted rapidly, cost-effectively and without leaving residues on the opening 3.
Some apparatuses have been conceived for this purpose, which essentially involve a mechanical removal effect by rotating brushes, continuously assisted by air intake on the opening to be sealed, but such apparatuses, though effective, cause operation problems at high processing rates and serious difficulties in sterile operations.


E. coli strain JM109 transfected with nitrate reductase gene containing plasmid pIC20RNR1.1 produces diazoluminomelanin when cultured in a medium containing nitrate, 3-amino-L-tyrosine and luminol, under suitable metabolic conditions.

This invention relates to luminescent reagents.
Specific binding assays provide an economical means for detecting and measuring an analyte present in low concentrations in a sample. Specific binding assays are based upon the interaction of two bindable substances, one the analyte and the other a specific binding partner, which specifically recognize each other. Examples of specific binding partners whose interaction can serve as the basis for a specific binding assay include antigens-antibodies, biotin-avidin, nucleic acid probes, enzymes-substrates, enzymes-inhibitors, enzymes-cofactors, chelators-chelates, and cell surface receptor pairs. Assays involving other specifically bindable substances are also known and within the scope of the present invention. Specific binding assays have shown great utility in determining various analytes in biological, medical, environmental, agriculture and industrial applications.
A variety of assays using the principles of the specific binding approach are known, and several have become important diagnostic tools. In one such type of specific binding assay, the immunoassay, the analyte is an antibody, antigen, or hapten, and is made to react with another member of this group. While the background discussion will focus on such immunoassays, this focus is made for clarity of presentation, and is not to be interpreted as limiting of the invention.
A variety of labeling reactions have been proposed for use in specific binding assays, including radioactive, enzymatic, chromogenic and luminogenic procedures. In a radioactive labeling procedure, the component conjugated with the specific binding partner is an atom or molecule which emits radioactivity. Chromogenic and luminogenic labeling reactions are chemically more complex, in that several reactants may be involved. The chromophore or lumiphore may itself be the label in the reaction, or a catalyst, typically an enzyme, may be used as the label. When the catalyst is used as the label, it will react with catalytic substrates which in turn produce color or luminescence. The remaining components of the reaction, that is, those not conjugated to the binding partner, are supplied in a chromogenic or luminogenic reagent medium, so that the uniting of the labeled conjugate and the reagent medium results in the desired color change or light emission, respectively.
Luminescent labels are attractive alternatives for use in specific binding assays for a variety of reasons. Luminescence is broadly defined as the production of visible light by atoms that have been excited by the energy produced in a chemical reaction, usually without an associated production of heat. Chemical energy excites electrons in the light-emitting molecules to higher energy states, from which electrons eventually fall to lower energy states with the emission of quanta of energy in the form of visible light. Luminescence is observed in several synthetic chemical compounds and also in naturally occurring biological compounds such as found in fireflies and certain varieties of fish.
One of the most important families of chemiluminescent molecules are the phthalylhydrazides. The most familiar member of this family is luminol, or 5-amino-2,3-dihydro- 1,4-phthalazinedione, which has a gross chemical composition of C.sub.8 H.sub.7 N.sub.3 O.sub.2 and a double ring structure with a melting point of about 320.degree. C. Luminol is commercially available from several suppliers and is well characterized. Certain luminol analogs are also chemiluminescent, such as those wherein the position of the amino group is shifted (e.g., isoluminol, the amino group being at the 6 position), or is replaced by other substituents, as well as annelated derivatives and those with substitution in the nonheterocyclic ring. Some luminol analogs produce light more efficiently than does luminol itself, while others have lower efficiency. (As used herein, the term "luminol" encompasses such related species.)
Generally, luminol produces light in an oxidizing reaction, wherein the luminol combines with oxygen or an oxidizer to produce a reaction product and photons at a wavelength of about 425-450 nanometers (nm). The precise reaction formula and the quantum efficiency of light production, i.e., the ratio of luminescing molecules to total molecules of the luminescent species, depend upon the medium in which the luminol resides, temperature and other reaction conditions. Typical oxidizers used in conjunction with luminol include oxygen, hydrogen peroxide, hypochlorite, iodine and permanganate.
The oxidation of luminol with the associated production of light occurs rather slowly at ambient temperatures, unless the reaction is catalyzed. A variety of different substances can catalyze the reaction, including organic enzymes, e.g., horseradish peroxidase, other organic molecules such as microperoxidase and heme, positive metallic ions such as the cupric ion, and negative ions such as the ferricyanate ion.
Luminescent molecules would appear to be highly desirable as tags in specific binding assays because of their stability, sensitivity, the potential ease of detecting their emitted visible light and their lack of toxicity. Commercial luminol, however, has proven to be unsuitable for such purposes. There exists a need for specific improvements in the light emission characteristics of the reaction for use with such assays. Heretofore, commercial luminol has not shown sufficient activity to be useful to measure analytes at low concentrations in specific binding assays. The light emission intensity of the luminol reaction may be sufficient where high concentrations of catalyst are employed and where highly sophisticated and sensitive photometers are available, but the luminescent intensity has not been sufficient with low concentrations of catalyst and where other detection media such as photographic film or less sensitive photometers are used.
While the luminol reaction therefore offers important potential benefits in the measurement of the presence and amount of a reaction component, for many potential applications, the intensity of the emitted light is too low. Further, the light emitted from commercial luminol exhibits an early flash of light within the first few seconds of the initiation of the reaction, followed by a progressive and rapid decrease in light emission over time. The integrated light intensity during any fixed period of time is therefore likely to be different from that measured over any other equal period of time. This variability may result in irreproducibility between tests. Desirably, there would be some period of time during which the light emission from the luminol reaction is relatively constant, so that the measurement of integrated light intensity could begin at different times after initiation of the reaction, but within the period of constant light output, without variability of the results. This would eliminate the requirement that the reagents be added to a solution fixed in front of the luminescence detector which puts severe constraints on the light measuring system.
Higgins et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,743,541, disclose that the intensity and duration of emitted light from luminol can be considerably improved by repeatedly dissolving and recrystallizing the luminol until sulphide and hydrazine levels are below about 100 ppm.
The production of chemiluminescence with luminol comprises dissolving the luminol in an organic solvent, such as DMSO or acetone, or in a strong base and diluting the solution in a buffer of desired pH. The amount of luminol that can be dissolved is severely limited by the relative insolubility of luminol in water at a pH below 10.
When luminol is covalently attached to carriers such as protein, its chemiluminescence is quenched. Isoluminol, although less efficient in light production than luminol, is quenched to a lesser degree by covalent attachment. The noncovalent attachment of luminol to bovine serum albumin prevents quenching and solubility problems, but "leaks" luminol into the solution by forming an equilibrium between bound and unbound luminol, thus decreasing the specificity of luminol/carrier dependent immunoassays and enzyme-linked assays.
There is a need for a luminescent probe which is water soluble, is highly quantum efficient, and provides long-lived chemiluminescence.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,003,050, issued Mar. 26, 1991, to Johnathan L. Kiel and Gerald J. O'Brien, discloses a water-soluble luminescent compound having repeating units of the formula: ##STR1## The product, which is a polymer having repeating units comprising diazo-linked luminol and hydroxyindole, is referred to as diazoluminomelanin (DALM), since one of the precursors to this product, 3-amino-L-tyrosine (3AT) is closely related to the biological substrates which are converted into melanin.
DALM is water soluble, having an apparent pKa for solubility about pH 5.0. DALM does not require a catalyst for chemiluminescence. The duration of the reaction is in excess of 52 hours. In contrast, luminol requires a catalyst; with microperoxidase as the catalyst, luminol has shown peak luminescence at 1 sec and half-lives of light emission of 0.5 and 4.5 sec at pH 8.6 and 12.6, respectively. The chemiluminescence yield of DALM is better at pH 7.4 than at pH 9.5, although it still provides a strong signal at strongly basic pHs. DALM also produces chemiluminescence at pH 6.5 which is about the same intensity as that produced at pH 9.5.
DALM can be used for chemiluminescent immunoassays for biological and chemical agents; in radiofrequency and ionizing radiation dosimeters; and for RNA/DNA hybridization assays for viruses and genetic detection.
Also disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,003,050 is a method for preparing DALM which comprises reacting 3AT with an alkali metal nitrite, and reacting the resulting diazonium salt with luminol. The method involves the use of organic solvents such as dimethylsulfoxide and acetone. On a large scale, handling and disposal of such solvents could be both dangerous and difficult.
We have discovered that a particular strain of Escherichia coli bacteria containing a plasmid constructed with a barley nitrate reductase gene fragment, grown on a nitrate/luminol/3-amino-L-tyrosine medium produces large quantities of DALM. Additionally, the E. coli containing the recombinant DNA plasmid can be employed for the purpose of detecting physical, chemical and/or radiation stressors.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved biosynthetic method for producing DALM.
Another object of the present invention is to provide methods for detecting physical, chemical and/or radiation stressors.
Other objects, aspects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from a reading of the following detailed disclosure of the invention.

Diazodenitrification in manufacture of recombinant bacterial biosensors

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force


An apparatus for regulating a flow of fluid in a tube. The apparatus comprises a housing comprising a passage configured to at least partially receive the tube, an adjustment mechanism rotatably coupled to the housing and selectively configurable between a first position and a second position, and a stopper at least partially provided in the housing and coupled to the adjustment mechanism. The stopper is configured to engage the tube when the adjustment mechanism is rotated from the first position to the second position thereby constricting the tube.

The present invention generally relates to spigots. The present invention more specifically relates to a system for regulating the flow of fluid in a hollow elongate member, such as a hose.
It is generally known to provide a sill cock or outdoor faucet for connection to the female end of a garden hose. Water is provided through the hose by turning the sill cock "on." However, such known sill cocks are typically fixed in a location near the water source (e.g., at the exterior of a house), and are not readily accessible when using the "working" or free end of the hose. For example, this can prove to be problematic when attempting to control the flow of water through a water accessory (e.g., sprinkler, nozzle, etc.) provided at the free end of the hose.
Attempts to solve this problem include providing large or bulky portable sill cocks or spigots that enable a user to regulate the flow of water through the hose. Many of these spigots require large tools or great strength to adjust the flow of water. Further, many of these spigots do not provide easily adjusted controls or grips and can often damage the hose when controlling the flow of water.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a spigot that may be located near the free end of a hose for regulating the flow of water in the hose. It would also be desirable to provide a spigot configured for re-positionable attachment along the length of the hose. It would also be desirable to provide a spigot that is easy to use and adjust. It would also be desirable to provide a spigot that allows for selective adjustment of the flow of fluid through a tube such as a hose.
It would be advantageous to provide a spigot or the like of a type disclosed in the present application that provides any one or more of these or other advantageous features. The present invention further relates to various features and combinations of features shown and described in the disclosed embodiments. Other ways in which the objects and features of the disclosed embodiments are accomplished will be described in the following specification or will become apparent to those skilled in the art after they have read this specification. Such other ways are deemed to fall within the scope of the disclosed embodiments if they fall within the scope of the claims which follow.


A phase change optical recording medium having an increased number of overwritable operations is provided. In this medium, the recording layer is disposed between a first dielectric layer and a second dielectric layer which contain zinc sulfide and silicon oxide as their main components; and difference between light absorption coefficient (Ac) of the recording layer in the region other than record marks (in crystalline state) and the light absorption coefficient (Aa) of the recording layer in the record marks (in noncrystalline state) is small, or Ac>Aa. More illustratively, the first dielectric layer is disposed underneath the recording layer and the second dielectric layer is disposed over the recording layer; and the conditions: Ac/Aa.gtoreq.0.9 and/or light transmittance .gtoreq.1% is satisfied. The first dielectric layer comprises a dielectric layer 1a on the side of the substrate and a dielectric layer 1b on the side of the recording layer; and the dielectric layer 1a has a silicon oxide content of from 2 mol % to less than 40 mol %, the dielectric layer 1b has a silicon oxide content of from 40 mol % to 80 mol %, and the second dielectric layer has a silicon oxide content of from 40 mol % to 80 mol %; and the second dielectric layer has a thickness of 10 to 35 nm.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a phase change optical recording medium.
2. Prior Art
Highlight is recently focused on optical recording media capable of recording information at a high density and erasing the recorded information for overwriting. One typical rewritable (or erasable) optical recording medium is of the phase change type wherein a laser beam is directed to the recording layer to change its crystalline state whereupon a change of reflectance by the crystallographic change is detected for reproduction of the information. The phase change optical recording media are of great interest since the drive unit used for their operation is simple as compared with magneto-optical recording media.
Most optical recording media of phase change type used chalcogenide systems such as Ge--Sb--Te systems which provide a substantial difference in reflectance between crystalline and amorphous states and have a relatively stable amorphous state.
When information is recorded in the optical recording medium of phase change type, the laser beam applied is of high power (recording power) that the recording layer is heated to a temperature higher than the melting point. In the region where the recording power is applied, the recording layer is melted and thereafter quenched to form an amorphous record mark. When the record mark is erased, a laser beam of relatively low power (erasing power) is applied so that the recording layer is heated to a temperature higher than the crystallizing temperature and lower than the melting temperature. The record mark to which the laser beam of erasing power is applied is heated to a temperature higher than the crystallizing temperature and then allowed to slowly cool to recover the crystalline state. Accordingly, in the optical recording media of the phase change type, the medium can be overwritten by modulating the intensity of a single light beam.
In the optical recording medium of phase change type, dielectric layers are generally formed on opposite sides of the recording layer. Requirements for the dielectric layers are:
(1) the dielectric layers should be capable of protecting the recording layer and the substrate from heat histerisis as a result of the laser beam irradiation; PA1 (2) the dielectric layers should be capable of amplifying the reproduced signal by making use of optical interference effect of lights reflected from boundaries between the layers; and PA1 (3) the recording and erasing properties can be regulated by adjusting thermal conductivity and the like of each dielectric layer. PA1 condition I: light absorption coefficient of the recording layer at wavelength of the laser beam used for recording/reproduction is such that: EQU Ac/Aa.gtoreq.0.9 PA1 when light absorption coefficient in crystalline region is Ac and light absorption coefficient in noncrystalline region is Aa; and/or PA1 condition II: the medium has a light transmittance of at least 1% when the medium is irradiated from its rear side with a laser beam used for recording/reproduction; is fulfilled; and PA1 difference in reflectance between the record mark and the erased region after at least 10,000 overwriting operations is at least 85% of the difference in reflectance in initial overwriting operations. PA1 condition I: light absorption coefficient of the recording layer at wavelength of the laser beam used for recording/reproduction is such that: EQU Ac/Aa.gtoreq.0.9 PA1 when light absorption coefficient in crystalline region is Ac and light absorption coefficient in noncrystalline region is Aa; and/or PA1 condition II: the medium has a light transmittance of at least 1% when the medium is irradiated from its rear side with a laser beam used for recording/reproduction; is fulfilled; PA1 the first dielectric layer and the second dielectric layer contains zinc sulfide and silicon oxide as their main components, and the first dielectric layer comprises a dielectric layer 1a on the side of the substrate and a dielectric layer 1b on the side of the recording layer; PA1 the dielectric layer 1a has a silicon oxide content of from 2 mol % to less than 40 mol % (not including 40 mol %), the dielectric layer 1b has a silicon oxide content of from 40 mol % to 80 mol %, and the second dielectric layer has a silicon oxide content of from 40 mol % to 80 mol % when the silicon oxide content is determined by SiO.sub.2 /(ZnS+SiO.sub.2) by calculating the zinc sulfide and the silicon oxide in terms of ZnS and SiO.sub.2, respectively; and PA1 the second dielectric layer has a thickness of 10 to 35 nm.
Typical dielectric layers which meet such requirements are those containing highly refractive ZnS as their main component. For example, Japanese Patent Application Kokai (JP-A) No. 103453/1988 discloses an optical information recording material having a dielectric layer containing a mixture of ZnS and SiO.sub.2. The merits described therein include increase in sensitivity for the power of incident light upon recording, and increase in the number of erasing/overwriting operations of the dielectric material. The increase in the sensitivity is said to have been realized by optimizing thermal constant of the dielectric layer, and the increase in the number of erasing/overwriting operations is said to have been realized by preventing the alteration in the nature of the dielectric layer. JP-A 103453/1988 discloses that SiO.sub.2 /(ZnS+SiO.sub.2) is preferably in the range of 10 to 30 mol % since the laser energy required for the recording and the erasure is minimum when SiO.sub.2 /(ZnS+SiO.sub.2) is in such range.
However, in the optical recording medium of phase change type wherein the recording layer comprising Ge--Sb--Te based material or the like is sandwiched by dielectric layers containing Zns as their main component, C/N reduces with the repeated overwriting operations, and the medium becomes unoverwritable after approximately several thousand times. A major cause for the decrease in C/N with the repeated overwriting operations is believed to be influence of the alteration in the composition of the recording layer due to element diffusion between the adjacent dielectric layer.
JP-A 177141/1990 describes an optical information recording medium wherein reaction between the recording layer and the dielectric layers is suppressed. This optical information recording medium has a recording layer which absorbs light in the recording and erasure of the information, and a protective layer formed on at least one side of the recording layer, and the protective layer contains as its main components a metal chalcogenide and a compound which does not form a solid solution with the chalcogenide. This protective layer is formed such that the compositional ratio alters in the direction of the film thickness, and the part in the vicinity of the interface with the recording layer has a larger content of said compound. ZnS is the exemplary compounds disclosed as the chalcogenide and SiO.sub.2 is the exemplary compounds disclosed as said compound. JP-A 177141/1990 states that the reaction between the recording layer and the protective layer is prevented by increasing the SiO.sub.2 content of the protective layer in the vicinity of the recording layer and the alteration of the recording layer composition is thereby prevented to realize stable recording and erasure for about several million cycles with no substantial alteration in the reflectance. In Example 1 of JP-A 177141/1990, a first dielectric layer (thickness, 100 nm) containing ZnS and 20% of SiO.sub.2 is formed on the substrate, and a protective layer (thickness, 20 nm) containing at least 90% of SiO.sub.2, a recording layer of Te--Ge--Sb, the protective layer (thickness, 20 nm) as described above, a second dielectric layer (thickness, 200 nm) similar to the first dielectric layer, and a reflective layer of NiCr (thickness, 40 nm) are formed thereon. In Example 2 of JP-A 177141/1990, a protective layer having a composition gradient wherein SiO.sub.2 content is as high as 90% or more in the vicinity of the recording layer is formed instead of "the dielectric layer+the protective layer" of Example 1.
The optical recording medium of phase change type utilizes difference in reflectance between the crystalline and the noncrystalline state, and light absorption coefficient (Ac) of the recording layer in the region other than record marks (in crystalline state) and the light absorption coefficient (Aa) of the recording layer in the record marks (in noncrystalline state) are often different, and the Ac<Aa is the condition generally found in such situation. Recording sensitivity and erasability are thus different depending on whether the region overwritten is crystalline or noncrystalline, and consequently, the record marks of different length and width are formed by the overwriting to invite increase in the jitter often resulting in errors. When mark edge recording wherein the information is encoded in opposite edges of the record marks is adopted for increasing the recording density, variation in the length of the record marks has greater significance and such variation invites increased errors. In order to solve such situation, the absorption coefficient should be adjusted such that the difference between Ac and Aa is small, and preferably Ac>Aa in consideration of the latent heat, by regulating the thickness of the recording layer or the dielectric layers sandwiching the recording layer. In the medium of the conventional structure, the adjustment to Ac.gtoreq.Aa results in reduced difference between the reflectance (Rc) of the medium of the region other than the record marks and the reflectance (Ra) of the medium in the record marks, and hence, in a reduced C/N.
JP-A 124218/1996 proposes an optical information recording medium comprising a substrate, a first dielectric layer, a recording layer, a second dielectric layer, a reflective layer, a third dielectric layer, and a UV curing resin layer disposed in this order wherein Ac>Aa, and an extremely thin metal film of high light transmission, Si or Ge is used for the reflective layer, and a dielectric material having a refractive index of higher than 1.5 is used for the third dielectric layer. The relation Ac>Aa is achieved without detracting from the high (Rc-Ra) by providing the reflective layer of high light transmission and the third dielectric layer of high refractive index. In the present invention, the structure wherein difference between Ac and Aa is small or wherein Ac>Aa is referred to as absorption coefficient control structure.
In the optical recording medium of absorption coefficient control structure, the dielectric layer is also preferably the one containing ZnS and SiO.sub.2 as its main components as in the case of the conventional optical recording medium. When the ZnS--SiO.sub.2 based dielectric layer is formed in the optical recording medium of absorption coefficient control structure, the medium also suffers from increase in jitter by the repeated overwriting operations as well as decrease in the modulation (difference between the reflectance of the crystalline portion and the reflectance in the non-crystalline portion), and as a consequence, decrease in the number of overwritable operations.
In view of such situation, the inventors of the present invention prepared an optical recording medium of absorption coefficient control structure in accordance with the Example of JP-A 177141/1990, supra. This optical recording medium, however, exhibited marked increase in jitter in the repeated overwriting operations, high jitter from the initial overwriting operations, and no improvement in the modulation decrease.


A shadow mask frame for prevention of halation in a color picture tube is characterized in that a bent end portion bent toward the frontal face of the panel is provided around the periphery of an open portion of the frame in a predetermined inclination angle relative to the plane of the frame, the bending being formed toward the panel of the picture tube. The ineffectively overscanned electron beams are positively reflected away toward the opposite side of the luminescent screen, with the result that not only the halation prevention effect becomes superior, but also that there is no difficulty in manufacturing and assembling.

As shown in FIG. 1, the ordinary shadow mask type color picture tube is constituted such that a luminescent screen 12 is formed on the inner surface of the face plate of a panel 11, a shadow mask 13 supported by a frame 14 is installed in such a manner as to be separated as much as a certain gap from the luminescent screen 12, and electron beams emitted from an electron gun (not shown) are made to selectively land on the luminescent screen 12 by means of the shadow mask 13 so that the intended image should be formed by visible light emitting from of the luminescent screen 12.
The electron beams emitted by the electron gun are deflected by deflecting means such as deflecting coils and the like, so that the beams should land on the visible region of the luminescent screen 12. However, the so-called over-scanned beams which are produced by departing from the effective region after being excessively deflected are reflected from the side face of the panel or the side end of an opening portion of the frame, resulting in that a twice (i.e., double) luminescence is caused, thereby degrading the image quality through the aggravations of the luminance and purity, and producing the so-called halation phenomenon, in other words "visible electron flooding".
As a measure against this phenomenon, an electron shield 15 made of a thin metal sheet is installed in the space between the side face of the panel 11 and the outer face of the frame 14 as a blocking element against the reflections from the side face of the panel, while one of various kinds of elements are provided against the reflections from the side end of the opening portion of the frame 14.
To describe in a more detail the reflection mechanism of the beams from the side end of the open portion of the frame 14, this frame 14 has usually a thickness of 1 to 2 mm, and therefore, ineffective electron beams of the outermost region of the effective region i.e., the ineffectively overscanned electron beams having a deflection angle that is a little larger than the maximum deflection angle will be incoming to the side end of the open portion, while the reflected electron beams (shown by the dotted lines in FIG. 1) are scanned onto the luminescent screen 12, thereby producing the halations.
The extensively used conventional method for preventing such a phenomenon is constituted such that, instead of the frame, the electron shield 15 is extended up to the inside of the open portion of the frame 14, thereby limiting the outer boundary of the effective region. In such a case, the leading end of the electron shield 15 having a thickness (usually 0.2 mm or less) far thinner than that of the frame 14, has a small reflection area, and therefore, it can effectively prevent halation. However, in order to limit the outer boundary of the effective region by means of the electron shield 15 having so thin a thickness, an extremely high degree of precision is required in its fabrication and assembly, as well as making the workability very fastidious, thereby making it difficult to expect a saving of manufacturing cost.
Under this circumstance, various techniques have been proposed, attempting to limit the outer boundary of the effective region by means of a shadow mask frame, and to modify the shape of the leading end of the open portion of the frame, in order to prevent halations. However, almost all of them were of the technical constitution such that the reflection area for the ineffective electron beams at the side end of the open portion of the frame is to be reduced.
For example, one of these techniques is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 58-9539, and is illustrated in FIG. 2. This technique is constituted such that, in the ordinary shadow mask type color picture tube described above referring to FIG. 1, the edge of the open portion of the frame 14' of the shadow mask 13 is bent toward the electron gun which is the electron beam source, and the leading end of the bent portion is provided with a sharp burr 19 in order to minimize the reflection area for the ineffective electron beams.
However, the method of providing the burr 19 to the leading end of the open portion of the frame 14' is constituted such that the burrs are produced between a punch and die when carrying out the blanking process, and therefore, the shapes of the burrs are not uniform, with the result that not only the halation prevention effect is not sufficient, but also there are many problems in handling the component because the burr forms a sharp edge.

Shadow mask frame for prevention of halation


A mark detector optically detecting a scale having multiple marks formed successively at predetermined intervals along the moving direction of an endless belt member, and outputting an electrical signal corresponding to the presence or absence of the marks when the endless belt member moves is disclosed. The mark detector includes a light illumination part configured to illuminate the light illumination surface of the endless belt member on which surface the scale is formed with parallel light rays; a light receiving part configured to receive reflected light from the light illumination surface; and a variation prevention part configured to prevent a variation of the light illumination surface. The variation prevention part includes a holding member configured to hold the endless belt member in the vicinity of the light illumination surface movably in the moving direction from the exterior surface side and the interior surface side of the endless belt member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to mark detectors, drive controllers, belt drive units, and image forming apparatuses, and more particularly to a mark detector for appropriately rotating an endless belt member, a drive controller including the same, a belt drive unit including the drive controller and the endless belt member, and an image forming apparatus, such as a copier, a printer, or a facsimile machine, including the belt drive unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Some electrophotographic image forming apparatuses have multiple primary transfer parts (primary transfer means) to successively transfer respective single-color images formed with corresponding single-color toners on corresponding multiple photosensitive bodies (first image carriers) onto an intermediate transfer body (second image carrier), thereby superposing the single-color images one over another so as to form a composite color image; and a secondary transfer part (secondary transfer means) to transfer the composite color image formed on the intermediate transfer body onto a sheet of paper. Other electrophotographic image forming apparatuses have a primary transfer part to successively transfer single-color images formed successively with corresponding single-color toners on a photosensitive body onto an intermediate transfer body, thereby superposing the single-color images one over another so as to form a composite color image; and a secondary transfer part to transfer the composite color image formed on the intermediate transfer body onto a sheet of paper.
In such image forming apparatuses, for example, those having endless belt members for image formation, such as a belt-like photosensitive body (photosensitive body belt), a belt-like intermediate transfer body (intermediate transfer belt), and a paper conveyor belt, it is required to control the amount of movement and the movement position of the endless belt member (actually, its moving surface) with accuracy in order to accurately position the endless belt member and an image (toner image) on a sheet of paper (transfer material) conveyed by the endless belt member.
However, the movement velocity of the endless belt member is likely to vary because of various factors such as load variations caused by a member contacting the endless belt member. Accordingly, it is extremely difficult to eliminate variations in the velocity of the endless belt member completely. Therefore, if the endless belt member is caused to vary for some reasons, its movement velocity, amount of movement, and movement position also vary. This results in a problem in that it is difficult to control error in the positions of the endless belt member and an image on a sheet of paper conveyed by the endless belt member with high accuracy.
In order to eliminate this disadvantage, an image forming apparatus is proposed in which: a rotary encoder is directly coupled to the rotary shaft of an endless drum-like member or the rotary shaft of a driving roller (for moving an endless belt member) in order to control error in the position of an image due to variations in the rotational angular velocity of the endless drum-like member or the driving roller with high accuracy; and the rotational angular velocity of a drive motor serving as means to drive the endless drum-like member or the driving roller is controlled based on the rotational angular velocity of the endless drum-like member or the driving roller detected by the rotary encoder (see, for example, Japanese Patent No. 3107259). This image forming apparatus indirectly controls the amount of movement (movement position) of the endless drum-like member or the endless belt member by controlling the rotational angular velocity of the endless drum-like member or the driving roller.
On the other hand, an image forming apparatus is proposed in which: marks (or holes) are formed on the exterior surface (top surface) or the interior surface (bottom surface) of a belt (endless belt member) so as to be successive at predetermined intervals along the moving direction of the belt; and the movement velocity of the belt surface is calculated from a pulse interval obtained by detecting the marks with a sensor (mark sensor) and is fed back to a drive control (see, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Nos. 6-263281, 9-114348, and 11-24507). According to this image forming apparatus, it is possible to directly observe the behavior of the belt surface. Accordingly, it is possible to directly control its amount of movement. As a result, it is possible to reduce the eccentricity of a driving roller for driving the belt, skidding between the driving roller and the belt, and detection error due to the thickness deviation of the belt, thus making it possible to perform drive control with high accuracy.
In general, however, it is extremely difficult to have an endless belt member formed to be uniform in thickness in its direction of movement (rotational direction). Further, the thickness of the endless belt member varies because of deformation of the endless belt member due to tension applied thereto during its movement. Therefore, while the endless belt member is moving, a change is caused in the distance between the endless belt member (marks) and a mark sensor. Further, in the case of detecting marks in a part of the endless belt member (belt part) between multiple support members supporting the endless belt member, a change is also caused in the distance between the endless belt member and the mark sensor by the vibration of the belt part. Further, an angle (angular error) greater than a prescribed range may be formed at the time of attaching the mark sensor.
Therefore, in the case of optically detecting multiple marks on the endless belt member, that is, in the case of detecting multiple marks on the endless belt member using a light-reflection-type mark sensor having light emitting means to emit a beam (light beam) onto the light illumination surface (marks) of the endless belt member and light receiving means to receive reflected light from the light illumination surface, if a change in the distance between the mark sensor and the light illumination surface (detection distance) goes beyond a prescribed range because of the above-described thickness or vibration of the endless belt member or the attachment angle goes beyond a prescribed range at the time of attaching the mark sensor, the angle formed between the light illumination surface and the optical axis of the beam emitted from the light emitting means onto the light illumination surface goes beyond a range that does not affect image quality. This causes a problem in that timing error occurs in mark detection so as to cause detection error.

Mark detector, drive controller, belt drive unit, and image forming apparatus


A method is indicated for determining a confidence value of an object of a class detected in an input image with the aid of a trained neural network, including: producing an activation signature for the class of the detected object using a plurality of output images of a layer of the neural network, the input image being provided to the input of the neural network; scaling the activation signature to the dimension of the input image; comparing an object portion of the scaled activation signature with an activation signature distribution of all objects of the same class of a training data set of the neural network in order to determine the confidence value.

For controlling at least partially automated systems, such as e.g., self-driving vehicles or robots as examples of mobile platforms, deep learning methods are tested and developed further. An essential component of such at least partially automated systems is their ability to perceive complex situations with respect to their environment. A precondition for the safe and effective operation of such an at least partially automated system is the interpretation of the environment and the estimation of the state of this environment, e.g., for decision processes such as trajectory planning and control, deep learning methods, that is, the use of deep neural networks, which are specifically trained, promising a great potential for solving such tasks.

Method for determining a confidence value of a detected object


A portable pet house includes a room for accommodating pets, a pair of flaps and a pair of panels extended upward from the upper portion of the pet house, each of the flaps has a handle and a pair of locks, a ring disposed in one of the handles and a latch disposed in the other of the handles for engaging with the ring so as to couple the flaps together, an ear is extended upward from each of the panels and has a puncture formed in the middle portion for engaging with the locks so as to secure the panels to the flaps.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pet house, and more particularly to a portable pet house.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Raising pets has become more and more popular, however, typical pet houses are not suitable for portable purposes. In addition, it is very difficult to feed the pets with water.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore-described disadvantages of the conventional pet houses.


A system and method for calibrating an electronically actuatable hydraulic valve in a work machine may include at least one supply valve and at least one drain valve to be calibrated and a bypass valve in fluid communication with a pump and a fluid source. The at least one supply valve and the at least one drain valve may be calibrated by opening the at least one supply valve and the at least one drain valve, closing the bypass valve, setting the pump to a desired flow output, determining a first current command for the at least one supply valve corresponding to a first target pressure parameter and determining a second current command for the at least one drain valve corresponding to a second target pressure parameter.

A variety of work machines such as, loaders, excavators, motor graders, and other types of construction, work and earth moving machinery use one or more hydraulically actuatable implements for accomplishing a task. These hydraulically actuatable implements may be operated by one or more hydraulic actuators such as a cylinder and a piston assembly that divides the cylinder into two chambers. The cylinder may be in fluid communication with a hydraulic pump for providing pressurized fluid to the chambers thereof, as well as in fluid communication with a fluid source or a tank for draining pressurized fluid therefrom. A valve arrangement may be connected between the pump and the cylinder and between the cylinder and the fluid source to control the flow rate and direction of the pressurized fluid to and from the chambers of the cylinder.
Each of the valve arrangements may include one or more electrically actuated compensated valves such as, independent metering valves (IMVs) that may be independently actuated to control the flow of pressurized fluid between the pump and the fluid source via the chambers of the cylinder. The amount of the pressurized fluid flowing to/from the cylinder may be controlled by changing the displacement of a valve spool in each valve. Each valve spool may typically include a series of metering slots that control the amount of fluid flowing through that valve. Changing the displacement of the valve spool may be accomplished by using an electrically controlled solenoid wound around an armature. When current is applied to the solenoid, the armature may be moved under electro-magnetic forces generated by the solenoid to cause the associated valve spool to displace a certain amount.
For precise flow control, the spool area needs to be controlled accurately. This is particularly true for compensated valves (such as IMVs) and electronically controlled pumps, because errors in spool area or pump flow may cause high pressure drops across a pressure compensator and affect the performance of the valve components such that each valve may perform differently from the others. Furthermore, hardware tolerances, such as actuator slope, springs, spool machining, and valve body machining may have a significant effect on the spool area. As a result, the valve components may not operate predictably and the performance of the cylinder may be degraded. Thus, in order to ensure a consistent performance of the cylinder and to accurately control the flow of pressurized fluid through the valves, a calibration technique is often utilized.
A prior art calibration technique is disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 7,997,117 assigned to the assignee of this Application. This prior art calibration technique utilizes a bypass valve to regulate pressure of pressurized fluid through the valves (IMVs) discussed above and adjusts the current being applied to the solenoids of those valves. It then uses a hardware characteristic map to determine a calibration for the valves. While effective, regulating pressure by utilizing the bypass valve is not as accurate as possible. Moreover, the calibration routine also does not have a method for determining the correct calibration current which is as robust as possible, leading to a calibration technique that is not entirely repeatable when tested on the work machine.
It would accordingly be beneficial if an improved technique of calibrating the hydraulic valves that overcomes at least some of the disadvantages of the prior art technique discussed above were developed.

System and method for calibrating hydraulic valves


A linear fluidic actuator comprising an upper actuation deformable surface suitable to induce a displacement in an actuation direction L and a wall delimiting an internal cavity wherein the shape of the actuator is a pillar; the wall, the cavity and the upper surface of a base form the lower part of said pillar, where h1 is the highest dimension of the internal cavity at rest according to the actuation direction L; a part forms the upper part of said pillar where the upper surface of said upper part is the upper actuation deformable surface, the bottom surface of said upper part closes the upper part of the cavity so as to form an upper surface of said cavity and where h2 is the distance at rest from the top of the upper surface of the internal cavity to the upper actuation deformable surface; the height ratio h1/h2 is comprised between 0.2 and 10; a fluidic inlet is provided and suitable for introducing a fluid in the internal cavity.

The present invention relates to linear fluidic actuators.
Fluidic actuators convert energy in the form of a pressurized fluid into motion. The motion can be rotary or linear, depending on the type of actuator.
More particularly the present invention relates to linear fluidic actuators.
Linear fluidic actuators can be used to move a wide range of parts.
The term fluid refers either to gases or to liquids.
It is desirable to develop linear fluidic actuators that can be used to move parts with a wide displacement range but which size remains reasonable.

ESSILOR INTERNATIONAL (COMPAGNIE GENERALE D'OPTIQUE)


Method and apparatus in a router (200) of an IP network, for providing a relevant and expected service level for a first subscriber (A) in a peer-to-peer session with a second subscriber (B). When a session setup message (PATH) sent from the first subscriber is received (2:2) at the router, a required service level is detected from a service level indicator in the received message, and a service level definition of an operator of the first subscriber is obtained (2:3) for interpreting the service level indicator. Communication resources required for data transmission during the session are determined (2:4) according to the detected service level as interpreted by the service level definition. The determined communication resources are then booked (2:4) in the router, and the session setup message is forwarded (2:7) to a next hop node in the transmission path towards the second subscriber.

Various multimedia services have been developed for packet-based communication using IP (Internet Protocol), typically involving transmission of media in different formats and combinations between user terminals such as fixed or mobile computers and telephones. An architecture called "IP Multimedia Subsystem" (IMS) has also been developed to enable such multimedia services and sessions for user terminals connected to different access networks.
Multimedia sessions are handled by specific session control nodes in the IMS network typically using the signalling protocol "SIP" (Session Initiation Protocol) for setup of the sessions. For example, a terminal may send a message called "SIP INVITE" to initiate a session with another terminal or a server, e.g. when a multimedia application has been invoked in the terminal. The SIP INVITE message triggers different actions in the IMS network and the access network for establishing the session, including reservation of appropriate resources in the access network used.
In SIP, an additional protocol called "SDP" (Session Description Protocol) is used for specifying various parameters of a multimedia session, and an SDP message is typically embedded as a self-contained body within SIP messages. SDP messages are used to provide information on terminal capabilities and media properties, in order to specify and negotiate session parameters for multimedia sessions, which is well-known in the art. The session parameters may include terminal capabilities, media properties and address information necessary to establish a session. The above-mentioned SIP INVITE message and a common response message "SIP 200 OK" typically include the embedded SDP message with session parameters proposed by the sender for the session.
A policy node associated with the used access network is also typically connected to the IMS network. Among other things, the policy node controls the reservation of network resources for the sessions, based on various predetermined policies and subscription profiles. In particular, different QoS (Quality of Service) requirements can be enforced by the policy node for different services and/or subscribers for the above resource reservation in the access network, e.g. based on the SDP negotiation above. In multimedia sessions controlled by an IMS network, a desired or expected QoS can be obtained for the participating parties when the policy node controls the reservation of network resources as described above.
When establishing a communication session for a subscriber, various network resources are thus reserved preferably such that an acceptable and expected level of service is maintained for the subscriber, e.g. with respect to data bitrates and latency. When reserving network resources during setup of an IMS-controlled session, any QoS requirements can thus be taken into account.
However, sessions initiated and controlled solely by the participating parties without involving any intermediate session control node or policy node, generally referred to as peer-to-peer sessions, cannot obtain a specific QoS in the manner above. Any data transmitted as data packets between the parties are routed through an IP network, e.g. the Internet, over various routers each having its own mechanisms and policies for controlling different data flows. There is no standardised or consistent mechanism today for ensuring that QoS requirements of the communicating parties are taken into account in the routers. In FIG. 1, a typical scenario is shown for a peer-to-peer session between two user terminals A and B over routers R in an IP network 100. Terminal A is connected to an access router RA and terminal B is connected to another access router RB. The transmission path over multiple intermediate routers R in the network 100 may vary for different data packets during the session, which is well-known in the art.
Today, differentiated services and subscriptions are commonly offered to subscribers of an IMS network such that they can consume services with different subscription types that typically dictate the QoS requirements for those services. The subscribers may thus be offered specific service levels with respect to QoS, e.g. for different subscription types and also for individual services. For example, using common terminology, a "Platinum" subscription may provide a relatively high warranted QoS or service level, whereas "Gold", "Silver" and "Bronze" subscriptions provide successively lower service levels.
Moreover, specific services may also be offered with different service levels, e.g. at different prices. This differentiation of subscriptions, services and quality/service levels becomes increasingly significant and will thus influence the customer satisfaction and expectations to a great extent. For example, a Bronze subscriber might be satisfied to obtain a certain service level whereas a Platinum subscriber might not, expecting a higher service level.
However, such service levels cannot be guaranteed for peer-to-peer sessions as explained above. Furthermore, when SIP is used to initiate a peer-to-peer session, there is no way to map service level requirements between different operator networks which may have their own definitions of service levels. For example, the commonly used terms Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum for different service levels may have different implications in different operator networks with respect to quality related session parameters. Moreover, the sessions need to be symmetrical in terms of using the same quality related session parameters in both directions, in order to achieve a properly working SDP negotiation. Thus, it is a problem that a desired and relevant service level cannot normally be accomplished for peer-to-peer sessions over routers in an IP network not centrally managed, such as the Internet.

Method and apparatus for providing relevant service levels


An active matrix substrate which includes a plurality of pixel electrodes arranged in a matrix over an insulating substrate, with each of the pixel electrodes having a transparent conductive film including an additional capacitance portion and a non-additional capacitance portion. Additional capacitance electrodes are capacitively coupled to said additional capacitance portions through at least one insulating film. A conductive film electrically connects the additional capacitance portion to the non-additional capacitance portion of each of the pixel electrodes. The transparent conductive film of each of said pixel electrodes includes a portion for covering the conductive film, the portion for covering having a wider width than a width of the conductive film.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an active matrix substrate to construct a display device in combination with a display medium such as liquid crystal.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An active matrix display device includes a substrate and pixel electrodes arranged in a matrix on the substrate, each pixel electrode having active elements such as a thin film transistor (hereinafter called the "TFT"). The pixel electrodes are charged when the TFTs are on. Until all the pixel electrodes for one frame become on, the electric charge is held. The liquid crystal sealed between the charged pixel electrodes and counter electrodes thereto is optically modulated and displayed. The active matrix display device has advantages of being thin, light-weight, and consuming less electric power, and is in wide use for flat display panels.
Referring to FIG. 5, an example of the conventional active matrix substrate will be described:
Pixel electrodes 2 are arranged in a matrix on a glass substrate, and each pixel electrode is provided with a TFT 3 as an active element. Gate buses 4 and source buses 5 are disposed between the pixel electrodes 2 so as to drive the TFTs 3. In order to increase the capacity of pixel electrodes 2 for holding electric charge during a period for one frame, additional capacitance electrodes 15 are disposed under the pixel electrodes 2. Alternatively, the additional capacitances can share the gate buses 4.
The fabrication of such active matrix substrates requires a series of complex processes which consist of fabricating TFTs and etching. The TFTs 3 and the additional capacitance electrodes 15 must be provided to each of such a huge number of pixel electrodes as 100,000 or more without scarifying or losing the electric characteristics. To achieve this, a precision process control is required to maintain the electric characteristics of each pixel electrode.
However, even if the manufacturing process is precisely controlled, leakage is likely to occur between the additional capacitance electrodes and the pixel electrodes, thereby resulting in defective pixel electrodes. The defective pixel electrodes are detected and repaired at the time of quality check. The defective pixel electrodes are repaired by removing a leak occurring portion of the pixel electrode 2 on the additional capacitance electrode 15. The defective portion of the pixel electrode is cut with a suitable trimmer, or supersonic wave cutter, etc. The cutting involves difficulty because the length to be cut is equal to the length of a side of the pixel electrode, and in addition, takes a long time.
In order to facilitate the cutting of a defective pixel electrode, the active matrix substrate shown in FIG. 6 is used. The substrate of FIG. 6 is the same as the one shown in FIG. 5 except that the pixel electrode 2 is divided into the additional capacitance portion 2b and the non-additional capacitance portion 2a, and that a conductive film 30 is disposed so as to electrically connect the additional capacitance portion 2b and the non-additional capacitance portion 2a. FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken line P-P of FIG. 6 showing the vicinity of the TFT 3. FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken line Q-Q of the FIG. 6.
In this type of active matrix, the gate buses 4, gate electrodes 7 branched from the gate buses 4 and an additional capacitance electrode 15 are formed on a glass substrate 6, and an insulating film 8 is disposed to cover them by anodic oxidation. Finally the gate insulating film 9 made by the plasma CVD is formed over the whole surface of the substrate 6. A semi-conductive film 10 is formed above the gate electrode 7 over the insulating films 8 and 9. On the semi-conductive film 10, a first source electrode 11 and a second source electrode 12, which are connected to the source bus 5, and a first drain electrode 13 and a second drain electrode 14, which supply electric charges to the pixel electrodes 2, are respectively stacked. As shown in FIG. 6, the pixel electrode 2 is divided into an additional capacitance portion 2b located in opposition to the additional capacitance electrode 15 and other non-additional capacitance portions 2a.
A conductive film 30 is formed on the gate insulating film at the same time as when the source bus 5, the second source electrode 12 and the second drain electrode 14 are formed. The additional capacitance portion 2b and the non-additional capacitance portion 2a of the pixel electrode 2 are formed on the gate insulation film 9, and the edges of these portions 2b and 2a are formed on the conductive films 30.
An advantage of this construction is that a defective pixel electrode can be easily repaired by cutting the conductive film 30 with a laser beam when leakage occurs between the additional capacitance portion 2b and the additional capacitance electrode 15 composing the pixel electrode 2 so that the additional capacitance portion 2b and the non-additional capacitance portion 2a are electrically disconnected. The width of the conductive film 30 is so short that the conductive film 30 may be easily cut.
In order to simplify the manufacturing process, the conductive film 30 and the source bus wiring 5 are formed on the active matrix substrate at the same time. As a result, the conductive film 30 has a thickness of about 200 to 400 nm which is the same thickness with that of the source bus wiring 5. In contrast, since the additional capacitance portion 2b and the non-additional capacitance portion 2a, both of which are made of transparent conductive film, are formed to the thickness of about 100 nm, a step cut portion 40 may occur in the additional capacitance portion 2b and the non-additional capacitance portion 2a formed on the step portion made by the thick conductive film 30 as shown in FIG. 9. Moreover, when patterns of the additional capacitance portion 2b and non-additional capacitance portion 2a are formed by etching, the etchant is likely to penetrate into the step portion, so that the step cut portions 40 may detrimentally spread. The increased number of step cut portions result in poor characteristics for holding electric charges stored in the pixel electrode 2.

Active matrix substrate with conductive film covering transparent conductive film portion connecting additional and non-additional capacitance portions of pixel electrode


An image display apparatus according to an embodiment of the present technology includes a polarizer, a polarization conversion element, and a ¼ wave plate. The polarizer causes to transmit linearly polarized light having a predetermined polarization direction. The polarization conversion element converts a polarization state of the linearly polarized light transmitted through the polarizer and emits the light as light in a non-polarized state. The ¼ wave plate is arranged on an optical path of the light in the non-polarized state emitted from the polarization conversion element.

In the related art, an image display apparatus such as a projector is widely used. In a projection apparatus described in Patent Document 1, between an emitting side of synthetic light of a color synthesizing prism, an incident side of a projection lens, a polarization conversion section capable of uniformly and omnidirectionally non-polarizing projected lights of all RGB is arranged. This makes possible to completely eliminate color unevenness of a 3D image without tilting a 3D glasses and to eliminate the color unevenness and a brightness drop of the 3D image with the 3D glasses tilted. As a result, it becomes possible to significantly improve a 3D image quality (see Patent Document 1, specification paragraphs [0154],[0155], FIG. 20, etc.).

Image display apparatus and image display unit


A method of providing high availability enhancement for servers using structured query language (SQL), includes: installing hardware for cluster configuration; installing an operating system, SQL application, and eRoom application in a first server; duplicating a disk image of the first server to a second server; performing an initial cluster configuration procedure for eventually permitting the first server and second server to function in a clustered configuration; performing an eRoom cluster configuration procedure to permit one of the first server and second server to run the eRoom application that is installed in a shared storage in the cluster configuration; and performing an SQL cluster configuration procedure to install the SQL application in the shared storage. An apparatus for providing high availability enhancement for servers using structured query language (SQL), includes: a cluster configuration including a first server, a second server, and a shared storage, where an eRoom application is configured to run on one of the first server and second server, with the eRoom application installed in a shared disk in the shared storage, and where the shared disk is configured to move to the other one of the first server and second server as part of the cluster configuration on fail-over.

Web collaboration and e-business solutions may be provided by use of an application known as the eRoom server application ("eRoom") from eROOM TECHNOLOGIES, INCORPORATED<www.eroom.com>. eRoom can run on the MICROSOFT WINDOWS 2000 server family of products from MICROSOFT CORPORATION, Redmond, Wash. One version of eRoom can be deployed using either a built-in database engine which utilizes SQLAnywhere or deployed using the Microsoft SQL 2000 server or SQL Server 7 database. Both deployment methods are stand-alone installations, meaning that the eRoom and SQLAnywhere run on the same machine with no redundancy. When used with Microsoft SQL, the database engine can reside locally on the eRoom server or on a different server.
Both deployment methods do not provide for redundancy or high availability features. For example, the eRoom server application does not support the Microsoft Clustering Service as a native feature. Instead, methods, such as fault tolerant hardware and disk configurations combined with full system backups, are the current and non-robust techniques to protect an eRoom instance.
Therefore, current technologies, such as eRoom, are unable to support a clustered highly available instance which would be useful in, for example, critical applications or in an environment with many users. For example, the eRoom application does not support clustering as a native feature and is advertised as a stand-alone application. Therefore, current technologies are limited in their capabilities and suffer from at least the above constraints.

High availability enhancement for servers using structured query language (SQL)

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, LP.


Improved curve plotting techniques are disclosed for drawing a substantially smooth curve in real time, from a plurality of sampled points, as the points are sampled, on a point-by-point basis. The curve is substantially smooth in that it has a continuously changing slope of G.sup.1 continuity, as opposed to a slope which changes in a discontinuous or stepwise manner. The curve plotting is performed by representing the x coordinates of the curve using a parametric equation x=a.sub.x *(t.sup.2)!+b.sub.x *t!+c.sub.x !, and by representing the y coordinates of the curve using a second parametric equation y=a.sub.y *(t.sup.2)!+b.sub.y *t!+c.sub.y !, wherein a.sub.x, a.sub.y, b.sub.x, b.sub.y, c.sub.x, and c.sub.y comprise six unknown quantities, and t is a "dummy" valuable. The derivatives of the parametric equations are employed to calculate and to plot the smooth curve.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to interactive computing devices and, more specifically, to improved smooth curve generation techniques for use in conjunction with interactive computerized drawing systems.
2. Description of Prior Art
In many existing computerized drawing systems, a system user changes the position of a computer mouse or other pointing device on a substantially planar surface to create a drawing consisting of some combination of lines and curves. The drawing is displayed on some form of video display terminal, such as CRT display, an LCD display, or the like. The pointing device (i.e., the mouse) and the display are coupled to a computing device, such as a personal computer, a laptop computer, or the equivalent. The computer periodically samples the current position of the pointing device and uses these sampled position readings to plot the lines and curves drawn by the pointing device. The computing device cannot receive every point on the lines and curves, because the sampling interval is limited by the mouse. The plot is calculated by drawing straight lines between a plurality of successively sampled position readings of the mouse. Therefore, existing interactive curve drawing techniques utilize straight line segments between sample points, and these techniques do not interactively draw smooth curves.
Standard techniques for fitting smooth curves to a plurality of sampled position readings use higher-order polynomials. However, these approaches do not provide smooth curves in a user-interactive environment where the user would like to see lines and curves displayed as they are drawn, in real time. These techniques require a knowledge of position readings beyond the last sampled position of the pointing device. Since these position readings are unavailable until after the drawing has been completed, it is not possible to display smooth lines and curves in real time, as they are being drawn by the user.
In the example of FIG. 1, a system user has manipulated a pointing device (i.e., a computer mouse) to describe a substantially circular curve. The mouse position is periodically sampled, for example, at times t0, t1, t2, t3, t4, t5, t6, t7, and t8. At time t0, the mouse is at starting point P(0) 110; at time t1, the mouse is at point P(1) 101; at time t2, the mouse is at point P(2) 102; at time t3, the mouse is at point P(3) 103; at time t4, the mouse is at point P(4) 104; at time t5, the mouse is at point P(5) 105; at time t6, the mouse is at point P(6) 106; at time t7, the mouse is at point P(7) 107; and at time t8, the mouse is at point P(8) 108. Applying existing curve fitting methods to these sampled points in real time, as the sampled points are obtained, results in a curve 100 as shown in FIG. 1. Note that the curve 100 of FIG. 1 resembles a polygon, even though the user had manipulated the mouse in a circular manner.
A major shortcoming of existing curve plotting and curve drawing methods is that smooth curves cannot be drawn in a manner such that the effect of the most recently-sampled point is properly and fully considered. The curve that is drawn will lag the most currently sampled mouse position by at least one reading. The curves appear as if they consist of a plurality of line segments, when in fact a smooth arc was actually inscribed by the computer mouse. Using existing curve drawing and curve plotting methods, circular arcs appear as polygons, and curved arcs appear as a series of straight lines joined with sharp comers.
Smooth curves could be drawn if all of the sampled mouse positions were known beforehand, or if substantial parts of the curve were re-drawn every time the sampled mouse position changed. For example, using Bezier curves, once a new sampled mouse position point P(n) is taken, the entire curve must be recalculated (i.e., re-plotted or redrawn) from the starting point, i.e., P(0) 110. If B spline methods are used, once a new sampled mouse position point P(n) is taken, the future position of the mouse at sampled point P(n+1) must be known in order to draw a smooth curve. Therefore, using B spline methods, a smooth curve cannot be drawn in real time, as this curve is always one sampled point behind the most recently-sampled position of the mouse. This has been demonstrated to produce unacceptable results.
The mouse user expects to see a smooth curve on the video display terminal as the curve is traced by the computer mouse. What is needed is a method for interactively drawing (plotting) a smooth curve as each new sampled point is added to a sequence of sampled mouse positions, without any knowledge of the mouse position to be sampled next.