A method of driving a PDP including alternately-arranged X and Y electrodes and A electrodes crossing the X and Y electrodes provides a recurring cycle of a resetting period, an addressing period, and a sustaining period. The method includes applying a ramp waveform in the resetting period. Discharge starting threshold voltages between the X and Y electrodes and between the A and Y electrodes are denoted by VtXY and VtAY, respectively. Voltages applied between the X and Y electrodes and between the A and Y electrodes at the trailing edge of the ramp waveform are denoted by VXY and VAY, respectively. An offset voltage of the voltage applied between the A and Y electrodes at the end of the sustaining period is denoted by Vaoff. In such a case, the voltage of a driving waveform for each electrode is set so as to satisfy the relational expression “2 VtAY−VtXY>2VAY−VXY−2Vaoff”.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods for driving plasma display panels, and more particularly relates to the improvement of a driving method for resetting.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 shows the structure of a plasma display panel (hereinafter referred to as a PDP).
The PDP is manufactured by attaching a front base plate 10 and a rear base plate 20 to each other. The front base plate 10 includes a plurality of pairs of display electrodes (X electrodes 11 and Y electrodes 12). A dielectric layer 13 covers these electrodes, and a protective film-14 made of MgO or the like covers the dielectric layer 13.
A plurality of address electrodes (A electrodes 21) is arranged on the rear base plate 20. A dielectric layer 23 covers the A electrodes 21. Barrier ribs 25 partitioning discharge spaces into regions are disposed between the adjacent A electrodes 21. Each of the regions is applied with one of red, green, and blue fluorescent materials 26R, 26G, and 26B.
The front base plate 10 and the rear base plate 20 are attached to each other so that the A electrodes 21 intersect the X electrodes 11 and the Y electrodes 12. One cell is arranged at the intersection of each of the A electrodes 21 and each pair of the X electrodes 11 and the Y electrodes 12. One pixel of the PDP is formed of three adjacent cells colored red, green, and blue.
Referring to FIG. 2, a method for driving the PDP to perform display will now be described. The PDP performs grayscale display by dividing one field into a plurality of sub-fields having different light emitting periods. FIG. 2 illustrates 28 gray-level control (that is, 256 gray levels (28=256)). One sub-field (hereinafter referred to as SF) consists of a resetting period, an addressing period, and a sustaining period (light-emitting period).
The light-emitting periods in the SFs are arranged to derive a ratio of 1:2:4:8:16:32:64:128 or a ratio close to this ratio. For example, the gray-level 10 is displayed by turning ON a cell in SF2 that has an weight of 2 and SF4 that has an weight of 8 and turning OFF the cell in the remaining SFs.
The operation of the PDP during one SF will now be described. As described above, one SF consists of the resetting period, addressing period, and sustaining period. In the resetting period, the charge states (wall charges) of all cells are set to a predetermined state. In the addressing period, a selective writing discharge or erasing discharge is initiated in each desired cell to be displayed. The charge state of each cell is changed by the selective writing discharge or erasing discharge. In the sustaining period, a sustaining discharge by a sustaining pulse is caused only in the cell whose charge state has been changed.
FIG. 3 shows voltage waveforms applied to the electrodes. In a period excluding the addressing period during which driving waveforms are selectively applied to an A electrode group and a Y electrode group, that is, in the resetting period and the sustaining period, the common waveforms are applied to the corresponding electrode groups. In contrast, in the addressing period, data pulses (also referred to as address pulses) A(1) to A(n) in accordance with display data are applied to the individual A electrodes 21, and scan pulses ScP1 to ScPn that are separated in the time domain to perform line selection are applied to the individual Y electrodes 12. In the resetting period, a gradually increasing voltage waveform (positive ramp wave) RPa and a gradually decreasing voltage waveform (negative ramp wave) RPb are applied to the Y electrodes 12.
FIG. 4 shows the basic resetting operation. A resetting waveform used here is a waveform combining the positive ramp wave and the negative ramp wave. In order to simply describe the principle, the resetting operation between two electrodes, that is, an α electrode and β electrode, will now be described. The α electrode and the β electrode described here refer to two electrodes of the X electrode, Y electrode, and A electrode. The phrase "voltage applied between the α and β electrodes (or α-β applied voltage)" refers to a voltage applied between the α electrode and the β electrode (difference (voltage) between the electrodes), and, more specifically, refers to a potential (relative value) of the α electrode on the basis of the β electrode (the same applies to the following description). One of the XY voltage waveform and the AY voltage waveform in the resetting period shown in FIG. 3 serving as α-β voltage waveform corresponds to the waveform shown in FIG. 4.
Referring to FIG. 4, first, a negative ramp wave having an amplitude of −VR1 (positive or negative is indicated by the sign of the amplitude) is applied between the α and β electrodes, which is followed by application of a positive ramp wave with an amplitude of VR2. The solid line represents the voltage applied between the electrodes. The dotted line, broken line, and dotted-chain line represent the sign-inverted voltages (wall voltages) representing the charge state of a cell. Resetting refers to setting the states of cells to the same state regardless of their previous states (turned-ON or turned-OFF states). Discussion of the resetting operation requires investigation of each cell's state at the time the previous SF has ended. A wall voltage of a cell that has been turned ON in the previous SF (referred to as a wall voltage of a "turned-ON cell") is represented by the broken line. A wall voltage of a cell that has been turned OFF in the previous SF (referred to as a wall voltage of a "turned-OFF cell") is represented by the dotted line.
Since a voltage component (wall voltage) due to the charging by the wall charge is added to an applied voltage component, the effective voltage required by each cell's discharge space (hereinafter refereed to as the "cell voltage") is:
cell voltage=applied voltage+wall voltage.
Since the sign of the wall voltage is inverted, the cell voltage in FIG. 4 corresponds to the length between the dotted line (or the broken line or the dotted-chain line) and the solid line (the same applies to the following description). The cell voltage is positive when the solid line is above the dotted line (or the broken line or the dotted-chain line), whereas the cell voltage is negative when the solid line is below the dotted line (or the broken line or the dotted-chain line). For example, in FIG. 4, the cell voltage upon application of the negative ramp wave in the first half is negative, whereas the cell voltage upon application of the positive ramp wave in the second half is positive.
Prior to the start of resetting (time to), the wall voltages of both the turned-ON cell and turned-OFF cell are negative (since the sign is inverted, the dotted line and broken line above 0 V represent negative wall voltages). The turned-ON cell is more strongly negatively charged. Negative voltages are gradually applied to the two cells, and the absolute values of the negative cell voltages are increased. Since the turned-ON cell is more strongly negatively charged, the turned-ON cell is discharged at time t1 before the non-turned-ON cell is discharged. At time t1, a waveform representing the discharge (light) in the turned-ON cell rises, as shown in FIG. 4. Once the discharge has started, the wall voltage is accumulated so that the cell voltage is maintained at a discharge starting threshold voltage −Vt1 (positive or negative is indicated by the sign of the discharge starting threshold voltage) having the α electrode as the cathode (hereinafter this is written as "the wall voltage is 'written' so that the cell voltage is maintained at the discharge starting threshold voltage). Slightly after the discharge in the turned-ON cell, the turned-OFF cell starts discharging at time t2. At time t2, a waveform representing the discharge (light) in the turned-OFF cell rises, as shown in FIG. 4. Once the discharge has started, the wall voltage of the same value is written so that the cell voltage of the turned-OFF cell is maintained at the discharge starting threshold voltage −Vt1 having the α electrode as the cathode. The wall voltage in this case is represented by the dotted-chain line. Subsequently, when the falling of the negative ramp wave stops (maximum voltage) at time ta, the waveform representing the discharge (light) decreases to level 0. At time t3, the negative ramp wave ends. At this time, the wall voltages of both the turned-ON cell and the turned-OFF cell are set to the same voltage −VR1+Vt1.
The polarity of the applied voltage is inverted. This time, a positive ramp wave is applied. Since the wall voltages of both the turned-ON cell and the turned-OFF cell have been set to the same value at time t3, the two cells simultaneously starts discharging at time t4. Subsequently, the discharges are sustained, and the wall voltages are written while the cell voltages are maintained at a discharge starting threshold voltage Vt2, Waveforms representing the discharges (light) in both the turned-ON cell and the turned-OFF cell rise at time t4 and decrease to level 0 at time tb at which the rising of the positive ramp wave stops. Each of the wall voltages at time t5 at which the positive ramp wave ends is VR2−Vt2.
Since the discharge starting threshold voltage Vt2 is a constant peculiar to a discharge between two electrodes, the wall voltage after the positive ramp wave has ended is determined only by the applied voltage amplitude VR2.
Using the basic principle of the resetting described above, turned-ON cells and turned-OFF cells are reset. In order to describe the principle, the relationship between two electrodes (that is, between α and β electrodes) has been described. Since practical PDP cells each have three types of electrodes consisting of the X electrode, Y electrode, and A electrode, the operation is more complicated.
FIG. 5A shows the resetting waveform portions shown in FIG. 3. Each resetting waveform consists of two steps, namely, a first step and a second step. The potential of the address electrode is fixed to a zero potential during the resetting period. To the X electrode, a negative pulse (constant voltage pulse having an amplitude of −VX1) is applied in the first step and a positive pulse (constant voltage pulse having an amplitude of VX2) is applied in the second step. To the Y electrode, a gradually increasing voltage waveform having an amplitude of VY1 (positive ramp wave) is applied in the first step and a gradually decreasing voltage waveform having an amplitude of −VY2 (negative ramp wave) is applied in the second step.
In order to initiate a discharge between each two electrodes of the three electrodes (X electrode, Y electrode, and A electrode) of the PDP, it is convenient to use two types of "voltages between two electrodes", that is, between the X and Y electrodes and between the A and Y electrodes, as shown in FIG. 5B. The two types of voltages are voltages between two electrodes on the basis of the Y electrode (that is, the electrode represented by the latter character of a character string representing the two electrodes).
In the first step, a gradually decreasing voltage waveform having an amplitude of −(VX1+VY1) is applied between the X and Y electrodes, and a gradually decreasing voltage waveform having an amplitude of −VY1 is applied between the A and Y electrodes. In the second step, a gradually increasing voltage waveform having an amplitude of VX2+VY2 is applied between the X and Y electrodes, and a gradually increasing voltage waveform having an amplitude of VY2 is applied between the A and Y electrodes.
Referring to FIG. 5B, wall voltages are represented by the dotted lines and plotted while the signs thereof are inverted (the same applies to the following description). There are two types of wall voltages of the PDP having three types of electrodes: a wall voltage between the X and Y electrodes and a wall voltage between the A and Y electrodes.
A cell voltage between the X and Y electrodes is referred to as an XY cell voltage; a voltage applied between the X and Y electrodes is referred to as an XY applied voltage; and a wall voltage between the X and Y electrodes is referred to as an XY wall voltage. Similarly, a cell voltage between the A and Y electrodes is referred to as an AY cell voltage; a voltage applied between the A and Y electrodes is referred to as an AY applied voltage; and a wall voltage between the A and Y electrodes is referred to as an AY wall voltage (the same applies to the following description).
An effective voltage required by each cell's discharge space (cell voltage) is the sum of an applied voltage and a wall voltage:
XY cell voltage=XY applied voltage+XY wall voltage
AY cell voltage=AY applied voltage+AY wall voltage
Since the sign of each of the plotted wall voltages is inverted in FIG. 5B, the cell voltage refers to the distance between the dotted line and the solid line. When the solid line is above the dotted line, the cell voltage is positive. When the solid line is below the dotted line, the cell voltage is negative.
Since the PDP has three types of electrodes, there are discharge starting threshold voltages between the X and Y and between the Y and X electrodes, between the A and Y and between the Y and A electrodes, and between the A and X and between the X and A electrodes. Specifically, there are six types:
VtXY: discharge starting threshold voltage between X and Y electrodes having Y electrode as cathode (hereinafter referred to as an XY discharge starting threshold voltage);
VtYX: discharge starting threshold voltage between Y and X electrodes having X electrode as cathode (hereinafter referred to as a YX discharge starting threshold voltage);
VtAY: discharge starting threshold voltage between A and Y electrodes having Y electrode as cathode (hereinafter referred to as an AY discharge starting threshold voltage);
VtYA: discharge starting threshold voltage between Y and A electrodes having A electrode as cathode (hereinafter referred to as a YA discharge starting threshold voltage);
VtAX: discharge starting threshold voltage between A and X electrodes having X electrode as cathode (hereinafter referred to as an AX discharge starting threshold voltage); and
VtXA: discharge starting threshold voltage between X and A electrodes having A electrode as cathode (hereinafter referred to as an XA discharge starting threshold voltage).
FIG. 6 shows an example of normal resetting. The broken line represents a wall voltage of a cell that has been turned ON in an SF immediately before the start of resetting (hereinafter referred to as a previous SF), and the dotted-chain line represents a wall voltage of a cell that has been turned OFF in the previous SF. In the case of the turned-ON cell, the XY wall voltage immediately before the start of the resetting is negative (please note that the sign is inverted), and the AY wall voltage is zero. In contrast, in the case of the turned-OFF cell, both the XY wall voltage and the AY wall voltage immediately before the start of the resetting are positive (please note that the sign is inverted).
The "turned-ON cell" that has been turned ON in the previous SF will now be described. At time (1), the XY cell voltage exceeds the YX discharge starting threshold voltage −VtYX, and a discharge is initiated in the "turned-ON cell". Subsequently, the wall voltage is written so that the XY cell voltage is maintained at −VtYX until the amplitude of the XY applied voltage becomes −VxY1 and the amplitude of the AY applied voltage becomes −VAY1. At the same time, the AY wall voltage changes. Since the change in the AY wall voltage is smaller than the change in the AY applied voltage, the absolute value of the AY cell voltage gradually increases. In this example, the AY cell voltage does not exceed the AY discharge starting threshold voltage in the first step, and no discharge is thus initiated. Therefore, the AY cell voltage is not set to a uniform value. At the first step end time (3), only the XY wall voltage is set, whereas the AY wall voltage remains unset.
In the second step, the XY applied voltage and the AY applied voltage increase, and the XY cell voltage and the AY cell voltage increase. At time (4), the XY cell voltage exceeds the XY discharge starting threshold voltage VtXY, and a discharge is initiated. Subsequent to time (4), the XY wall voltage is written so that the XY cell voltage is maintained at VtXY. At the same time, the AY wall voltage is written. Since the change in the AY wall voltage is smaller than the change in the AY applied voltage, the absolute value of the AY cell voltage gradually increases. At time (5), the AY cell voltage exceeds the AY discharge starting threshold voltage VtAY, and a discharge is initiated. The AY wall voltage is written so that the AY cell voltage becomes the constant value VtAY. At the resetting end time (7), both the XY wall voltage and the AY wall voltage are set.
The "turned-OFF cell" that has been turned OFF in the previous SF will now be described. In the first step, at time (2), the XY cell voltage exceeds the XY discharge starting threshold voltage −VtXY, and a discharge is initiated. Subsequently, the XY wall voltage is written so that the XY cell voltage is maintained at −VtYX until the XY applied voltage in the first step becomes −VxY1 and the AY applied voltage becomes −VAY1. At the same time, the AY wall voltage changes. Since the change in the AY wall voltage is smaller than the change in the AY applied voltage, the AY cell voltage gradually increases. In this example, no discharge is initiated since the AY cell voltage does not exceed the AY discharge starting threshold voltage. Thus, the AY cell voltage is not set to the uniform value. At the first step end time (3), only the XY wall voltage is set, whereas the AY wall voltage remains unset.
The operation in the second step will now be described. The XY applied voltage and the AY applied voltage increase, and the XY cell voltage and the AY cell voltage increase. At time (4), the XY cell voltage first exceeds the XY discharge starting threshold voltage VtXY, and a discharge is initiated. Subsequent to time (4), the XY wall voltage is written so that the XY cell voltage is maintained at VtXY. At the same time, the AY wall voltage changes. Since the change in the AY wall voltage is smaller than the AY applied voltage, the AY cell voltage gradually increases. At time (6), the AY cell voltage exceeds the AY discharge starting threshold voltage VtAY, and a discharge is initiated. The AY wall voltage is written so that the AY cell voltage becomes the constant value VtAY. At the second step end time (7), both the XY wall voltage and the AY wall voltage are set.
As described above, in this example, regardless of the ON/OFF state in the previous SF, the XY wall voltages and the AY wall voltages in the cases of the turned-ON cell and the turned-OFF cell are set to the same values, respectively, at the end of the resetting.
What is important in the resetting using the ramp waves is that the cell must be driven so that two simultaneous discharges, that is, a discharge between the X and Y electrodes having the Y electrode as the cathode (hereinafter referred to as an XY discharge) and a discharge between the A and Y electrodes having the Y electrode as the cathode (hereinafter referred to as an AY discharge), are simultaneously initiated immediately before the end of the resetting. On the other hand, the ramp waves in the first step need not initiate two discharges at the same time.
The operation described above is geometrically analyzed using a "cell voltage plane" and a "discharge starting threshold voltage closed curve", which are presented at an international conference of the Society for Information Display in 2001 (see "High-speed Address Driving Waveform Analysis Using Wall Voltage Transfer Function for Three Terminals and Vt Close Curve in Three-Electrode Surface-Discharge AC-PDPs", pp. 1022 to 1025, SID 01 DIGEST, 2001).
Referring to FIGS. 7A and 7B, the "cell voltage plane" and "discharge starting threshold voltage closed curve" will now be described. (The contents related to FIGS. 7A and 7B are disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-242825.)
Since the cell voltages, wall voltages, and applied voltages come in pairs of the X and Y electrodes and the A and Y electrodes, they are represented as two-dimensional voltage vectors, namely, a cell voltage vector (VCXY, VCAY), a wall voltage vector (VWXY, VWAY), and an applied voltage vector (VaXY, VaAY).
A coordinate plane, which is referred to as the "cell voltage plane," having the XY cell voltage VCXY as the abscissa and the AY cell voltage VCAY as the ordinate is defined. The relationships among the three vectors are visually represented in this plane using points and arrows.
FIG. 7A shows the "cell voltage plane" and the relationship among the three voltage vectors.
Since the discharge starting threshold voltages play an important role in the resetting operation, points of the discharge starting threshold voltages are plotted in the "cell voltage plane". These points constitute a "discharge starting threshold voltage closed curve" (hereinafter referred to as a "Vt closed curve").
FIG. 7B shows a measured Vt closed curve. Although the XY discharge starting threshold voltage portion does not constitute a line but constitutes a slightly distorted shape, the "Vt closed curve" has a shape relatively similar to a hexagon. The following description assumes that the "Vt closed curve" has a hexagonal shape. The vertices of the hexagon simultaneously satisfy two discharge starting threshold voltages and play an important role in the resetting operation. Since two discharges are initiated at the six vertices, the six vertices are referred to as "simultaneous discharge points".
Referring to FIGS. 8A and 8B, a method of determining, from the "cell voltage plane" and "Vt closed curve", the wall voltage vector that changes in accordance with a discharge upon application of a ramp wave is described.
The wall voltage state prior to application of a ramp wave is at point 0 in FIG. 8A. Upon application of the ramp wave, the cell voltage changes toward point 1 and exceeds the XY discharge starting threshold voltage VtXY. When a discharge is caused by the ramp wave (ramp-caused discharge), once the cell voltage has exceeded the threshold, the wall voltage is written so that the cell voltage is maintained at the threshold. In other words, referring to FIG. 8A, a wall voltage vector 11′ (vector connecting point 1 and point 1′) (and so forth) is written. The discharge is sustained until the absolute value of the ramp wave voltage reaches its maximum. While the XY cell voltage is maintained at around the XY discharge starting threshold voltage VtXY, the AY cell voltage increases. In other words, the cell voltage point changes in a sequence of 1, 1′, 2, 2′, 3, 3′, . . . , 5, 5′ shown in FIG. 8A. A micro-increase in the applied voltage is represented by the solid arrow, and a micro-increase in the wall voltage is represented by the dotted arrow. The micro-increase in the wall voltage will now be described.
Since the XY discharge has been initiated, the charge mainly moves between the X electrode and the Y electrode. When a wall charge of +Q moves to the X electrode and a wall charge of −Q moves to the Y electrode, a wall charge of +Q−(−Q)=2Q moves between the X and Y electrodes, and a wall charge of 0−(−Q)=Q moves between the A and Y electrodes. In the plane having VCXY and VCAY as the coordinate axes, the direction written by the XY discharge has a slope of ½. More accurately speaking, the slope needs to be determined not from the wall charge, but from the wall voltage. The slope depends on the forms and materials of the dielectric layers covering the electrodes of the PDP. The slope is roughly near ½.
The wall voltage vector to be written until the end of the ramp wave is determined as in FIG. 8B. FIG. 8B shows a vector connecting the start point and end point of each applied voltage vector representing the micro-change and a vector connecting the start point and end point of each wall voltage vector representing the micro-change. That is, vector 05 is a total applied voltage vector, and vector 55′ is a total written wall voltage vector.
Point 5 is determined by adding the total applied voltage vector to the initial wall voltage point 0. A line that passes through point 5 and that has a slope of ½ is written. The intersection 5′ of the written line and the "Vt closed curve" is the changed cell voltage point. Vector 55′ is the total written wall voltage. As discussed above, the total wall voltage vector that has been written by the ramp wave and the cell voltage point are determined from the geometric relationship.
In the above description, the cell voltage point is determined from the geometric relationship. The cell voltage is not increased to a very large value, such as point 5 of FIG. 8B. Actually, the cell voltage point moves in the vicinity of the "Vt closed curve", such as point 5 of FIG. 8A.
The AX discharge and the AY discharge can be analyzed in a similar manner. FIG. 9 shows wall voltage vectors written when the XY discharge, AY discharge, AX discharge, and the like are initiated. Each white dot represents an initial wall voltage. Each solid arrow represents an applied voltage vector. Each dotted arrow represents a wall voltage vector written by a ramp-caused discharge. Each black dot represents a wall voltage point subsequent to the end of the ramp wave. During the XY discharge, a wall voltage vector having a slope of ½ is written. During the AY discharge, a wall voltage vector having a slope of 2 is written. During the AX discharge, a wall voltage vector having a slope of −1 is written. Although these slopes depend on the forms and materials of the dielectric layers covering the electrodes of the PDP, each of the slopes has an approximately equal value.
FIGS. 10A and 10B show the analysis of the operation shown in FIG. 6. Specifically, FIG. 10A shows the operation analysis of the turned-ON cell, and FIG. 10B shows the operation analysis of the turned-OFF cell.
The turned-ON cell in FIG. 10A is at point A prior to resetting. Referring to the waveform shown in FIG. 6, at first the applied voltage changes step-wisely, and the cell voltage point moves to point B. Next, a discharge is initiated at point C upon application of the negative ramp wave, and the writing of the wall voltage starts. Since the discharge is the XY discharge, the writing direction has a slope of ½. The cell voltage is at point E at the end of the first ramp wave. In transition from the first ramp wave to the second ramp wave, the applied voltage suddenly changes, and the cell voltage point moves to point F. Upon application of the second ramp wave, a discharge is initiated at point G, and the writing of the wall voltage starts. Since the discharge is the XY discharge, at first the wall voltage is written with a slope of ½. Subsequent to the start of the discharge, the cell voltage point moves upward along the "Vt closed curve". This corresponds to the fact that the AY cell voltage increases while the XY cell voltage is maintained at VtXY. As the applied voltage increases, so does the AY cell voltage. When the AY cell voltage becomes the AY discharge starting threshold voltage VtAY, at point I, simultaneous discharges occur between the X and Y electrodes and between the A and Y electrodes (hereinafter the simultaneous discharges are referred to as "XY and AY simultaneous discharges"). After the "XY and AY simultaneous discharges" have occurred, the cell voltage point is fixed at point I. An increase in the applied voltage only causes the wall voltage to be written, and the cell voltage vector remains unchanged.
The turned-OFF cell in FIG. 10B is at point J prior to resetting. Referring to the waveform shown in FIG. 6, at first the applied voltage changes step-wisely, and the cell voltage point moves to point K. Next, a discharge is initiated at point L upon application of the negative ramp wave, and the writing of the wall voltage starts. Since the discharge is the XY discharge, the writing direction has a slope of ½. The cell voltage is at point N at the end of the first ramp wave. In transition from the first ramp wave to the second ramp wave, the applied voltage suddenly changes, and the cell voltage point moves to point O. Upon application of the second ramp wave, a discharge is initiated at point P and the writing of the wall voltage starts. Since the discharge is the XY discharge, at first the wall voltage is written with a slope of ½. Subsequent to the start of the discharge, the cell voltage point moves upward along the "Vt closed curve". This corresponds to the fact that the AY cell voltage increases while the XY cell voltage is maintained at VtXY. As the applied voltage increases, so does the AY cell voltage. When the AY cell voltage becomes the AY discharge starting threshold voltage VtAY, the "XY and AY simultaneous discharges" occur at point R. Subsequent to the simultaneous discharges, the cell voltage point is fixed at point R. An increase in the applied voltage only causes the wall voltage to be written, and the cell voltage vector remains unchanged.
When the resetting is normally done, the cell voltage point immediately after the end of the resetting is set to the upper-right vertex of the "Vt closed curve" having a hexagonal shape, that is, a point representing the "XY and AY simultaneous discharges". The point is referred to as a "simultaneous resetting point". When the cell voltage reaches the "simultaneous resetting point", the XY wall voltage and the AY wall voltage are simultaneously adjusted to the corresponding values.
Whether the resetting is normally done or not greatly depends on the wall voltage prior to the start of resetting. In other words, even when the same resetting waveform is used, the resetting is normally done or not done depending on the previous wall voltage. The range of the wall voltage in which the resetting is normally done greatly depends on the amplitude of the resetting waveform applied voltage.
FIG. 11 shows a case in which the AY wall voltage prior to the start of resetting differs from that of FIG. 6 whereas the cases shown in FIGS. 6 and 11 have the same driving waveforms. In FIG. 6, the AY wall voltage of the turned-ON cell is zero. In FIG. 11, the AY wall voltage of the turned-ON cell is negative (please note that the sign is inverted).
Only the operation of the turned-ON cell (that is, the behavior of the wall voltage represented by the broken line) will now be discussed.
In the turned-ON cell, the XY wall voltage is written so that the XY cell voltage is maintained at −VtYX during a period from time (1) at which the XY cell voltage exceeds the YX discharge starting threshold voltage −VtYX to time at which the XY applied voltage amplitude becomes −VXY1 and the AY applied voltage becomes −VAY1. At the same time, the AY wall voltage changes. Since the change in the AY wall voltage is smaller than the change in the AY applied voltage, the absolute value of the AY cell voltage gradually increases. In this example, as in FIG. 6, the AY cell voltage does not exceed the AY discharge starting threshold voltage in the first step. Therefore, the AY cell voltage is not adjusted to the corresponding value. At the first step end time (3), only the XY wall voltage is set, whereas the AY wall voltage remains unset.
In the second step, the XY applied voltage and the AY applied voltage increase, and the XY cell voltage and the AY cell voltage increase. At time (4), the XY cell voltage exceeds the XY discharge starting threshold voltage VtXY. Subsequent to time (4), the XY wall voltage is written so that the XY cell voltage is maintained at VtXY. At the same time, the AY wall voltage is written. Since the change in the AY wall voltage is smaller than the change in the AY applied voltage, the absolute value of the AY cell voltage gradually increases. Even by time (5), the AY cell voltage does not exceed the AY discharge starting threshold voltage VtAY and the written AY wall voltage is not sufficient. At the resetting end time (6), the XY wall voltage is set, whereas the AY wall voltage remains unset.
As shown in FIGS. 3 and 5A, the driving waveforms in the resetting period are such that positive and negative driving waveforms, such as those shown in FIGS. 3 and 5A, are applied to the X electrode and the Y electrode, and the address electrode potential is fixed at zero. Therefore, the amplitude of the AY applied voltage is smaller than the amplitude of the XY applied voltage. The range of the wall voltage in which the AY wall voltage is normally reset thus becomes narrower. This results in an increase in the rate of resetting failure of the AY wall voltage. The PDP thus suffers from display problems such as turning ON extra cells or failing to turn ON the cells that must be turned ON.


This invention pertains to methods for protecting a propagule or a plant grown therefrom from invertebrate pests comprising contacting the propagule or the locus of the propagule with a biologically effective amount of a compound of Formula I, its N-oxide or an agriculturally suitable salt thereof

The control of invertebrate pests such as arthropods is extremely important in achieving high crop efficiency. Damage by invertebrate pests to growing and stored agronomic crops can cause significant reduction in productivity and thereby result in increased costs to the consumer. The control of invertebrate pests in forestry, greenhouse crops, ornamentals and nursery crops is also important.
Plants are subject to injury by invertebrate pests at all stages of growth, beginning with seeds or other propagules such as bulbs, tubers, rhizomes, corms, and stem and leaf cuttings and ending with mature plants. Besides the cost of materials, the effort and time required for application of invertebrate pest control substances make repetition of treatments undesirable. Ideally a single treatment of a plant at the propagule stage would protect the plant from invertebrate pests during its entire life.
A variety of techniques for treating propagules with plant protection substances are known. These include soaking propagules in arthropodicide-comprising solutions, coating propagules with films, pelleting materials and the like comprising arthropodicidal compositions, and applying arthropodicidal compounds to the growing medium surrounding the propagules. While some compounds can effectively protect propagules from certain phytophagous invertebrate pests, new compounds are needed that are more effective or have a broader spectrum of activity, are less costly, less toxic, environmentally safer or have different modes of action.
Particularly needed are invertebrate pest control treatments that can protect the plant not only at its propagule stage but also later in its development. Achieving this objective requires compounds that are active against invertebrate pests and can effectively translocate from the locus of the propagule up through the growing stems, leaves and other aboveground plant parts. Furthermore the compounds need to have high activity against invertebrate pests to compensate for the dilution occasioned by the expanding plant mass. Also, the compounds cannot rapidly degrade and lose their biological potency in the environment of the plant's vascular tissues. The combination of these properties is rare. Treatments of propagules effective for protecting from phytophagous invertebrate pests not only the propagule but also the plant at later growth stages have now been discovered.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Abstract: wherein A and B and R1 through R8 are as defined in the disclosure. This invention also relates to propagules treated with a compound of Formula I and compositions comprising a Formula I compound for coating propagules.


Multi-passenger recreational utility vehicle comprising: a frame; two front wheels suspended from the frame via a front suspension assembly; two rear wheels suspended from the frame via a rear suspension assembly; an open-air seating area; a front driver seat; a front passenger seat; two rear passenger seats; each seat having a seat base and a backrest; a roll cage; a steering device; an engine; a transmission; a center console extending within the seating area intermediate the seats, a first portion of the center console forming a storage compartment within the console; a storage compartment cover covering the storage compartment, the storage compartment cover forming a rear passenger armrest when covering the storage compartment; and an inner accessory inside the center console, the inner accessory being removeable from the center console, the inner accessory being selectively openable.

Recreational utility vehicles (RUVs) (also known in the art as side-by-side vehicles (SSVs)) are a new class of vehicle that has been developed by manufacturers over the past few years as an off-shoot of all-terrain vehicles (ATVs). While there is no "standard" definition of an RUV, in the present context, an RUV is an off-road vehicle for transporting a small number of persons sitting in a side-by-side configuration in bucket seats (as opposed to one behind another on straddle seats) in an open-air seating area. Originally RUVs were two seat vehicles designed to carry a driver and a passenger sitting side-by-side. Examples of such an RUV are the BRP™ Commander™ family of side-by-side vehicles (which is generally described in United States Patent Application Publication (US 2011/0209937 A1), incorporated by reference in its entirety in those jurisdictions allowing for incorporations-by-reference) commercialized by Bombardier Recreational Products Inc. of Valcourt, Quebec, Canada; and the Polaris™ Ranger™ family of side-by-side vehicles commercialized by Polaris Industries Inc. of Medina, Minn., USA. These are but two examples of currently commercially available vehicles.
In the current conventional two-seater RUVs, the engine is either between the two seats (as in the case of the Commander vehicles) or rearward of the two seats (as in the case of the Ranger vehicles).
As RUVs have increased in popularity, manufacturers have sought to increase the passenger carrying capacity of these vehicles to be able to carry two additional passengers. One example of such a vehicle is the Polaris Ranger 4 family of vehicles. The way in which this vehicle appears to have been designed is to have taken a two seat RUV and to have stretched it in the center and included additional seats for the additional passengers. Thus, the engine in these vehicles is at the rear of the vehicle behind the rear seats (as it is with Polaris' two-seat Ranger vehicles). While this method of design is useful, practical and commonly used in vehicle design, it does not provide an optimal design of a four-seater RUV as it is simply a "stretched" two-seater.
Improved vehicle designs are therefore possible.


An ophthalmic shunt implantable in an eye having an elongate body and a conduit for conducting aqueous humor from an anterior chamber of the eye to the suprachoroidal space of the eye. The elongate body has a forward end and an insertion head that extends from the forward end. The insertion head defines a shearing edge suitable for cutting eye tissue engage thereby. The forward end and the insertion head of the body define a shoulder surface. The conduit has a first end defined on a portion of a top surface of the insertion head. The conduit also extends through the body from the forward end to a back end thereof. The first end of the conduit is spaced from the shearing edge and, in one example, from the shoulder of the body.

Glaucoma, a leading cause of world blindness, is a group of disorders, characterized by irreversible damage to the optic nerve, or glaucomatous optic neuropathy, in which elevated intraocular pressure is the main causative risk factor. The only proven way to prevent the blindness of glaucoma is to control the intraocular pressure.
Clinical management of intraocular pressure can be achieved medically or surgically. Modern medical therapy for glaucoma began in the 1870s, with the introduction of pilocarpine and other cholinergic agonists. In the twentieth century, several compounds were introduced, such as alpha-2 agonists, beta-adrenergic antagonists, topical and systemic carbonic anhydrase inhibitors, and prostaglandins. However, glaucoma medication are not available or practical in many parts of the world, and are inadequate in many patients, despite availability. Hence the need for surgical methods to control the intraocular pressure.
Control of intraocular pressure can be achieved surgically by reducing the production of aqueous humor or by increasing its outflow. Operations to reduce production, referred to collectively as cyclodestructive surgery, destroy a portion of the ciliary body, the source of aqueous humor. Destructive elements over the years have included diathermy, cryotherapy and, most recently, laser energy. While these operations are effective in lowering the intraocular pressure, and are beneficial in desperate cases, they have a high complication rate, including inflammation and further reduction in visual acuity.
Referring to FIG. 1, after production by the ciliary body, aqueous humor leaves the eye by many routes. Some goes posteriorly through the vitreous body to the retina, while most circulates in the anterior segment of the eye, nourishing avascular structures such as the lens and cornea, before outflow by two main routes: canalicular or uveoscleral.
The canalicular, also referred to as the trabecular or conventional, route is the main mechanism of outflow, accounting for approximately 80% of aqueous egress from the normal eye. The route is from the anterior chamber angle (formed by the iris and cornea), through the trabecular meshwork, into Schlemm's canal. The latter is a 360° channel just peripheral to meshwork. It is connected to intrascleral outlet channels that take the aqueous through the sclera to reunite with the blood stream in the episcleral veins.
The uveoscleral route is less clear with regard to anatomy and physiologic significance, but probably accounts for 10-20% of aqueous outflow in the normal human eye. As with the canalicular route, the uveoscleral pathway begins in the anterior chamber angle. The aqueous is absorbed by portions of the peripheral iris, the ciliary body and probably the trabecular meshwork, from whence it passes posteriorly through the longitudinal muscle of the ciliary body to the suprachoroidal space (between the choroids and sclera). Aqueous in the suprachoroidal space may pass as far posteriorly as the optic nerve and leave the eye through a variety of emissaria around nerves and vessels in the sclera.
A majority of operations that have been devised to enhance the aqueous outflow as a means of treating glaucoma have focused on enhancing canalicular outflow. The ideal glaucoma operation would be to re-establish normal canalicular flow into Schlemm's canal. In some forms of glaucoma this is possible, such as the iridectomy (introduced in the 1850s) for pupillary block glaucoma and goniotomy and trabeculotomy (introduced in the mid-twentieth century) for congenital glaucoma. For the vast majority of glaucomas, however, the obstruction to outflow (and, hence, the elevated intraocular pressure) is in the trabecular meshwork, and the only effective surgical approach has been to bypass the normal canalicular pathway and create bulk outflow by one of two methods: filtration surgery and drainage implant devices.
Filtration surgery was introduced in the first decade of the twentieth century. The basic principle is the creation of a fistula through trabecular meshwork, Schlemm's canal and sclera. Aqueous flows through the fistula to create a pool beneath the elevated conjunction (called a bleb), through which it filters to wash away in the tear film. The basic operation, in a variety of modified forms, has now been the preferred glaucoma procedure for nearly 100 years, despite serious limitations.
Limitations of filtering surgery include failure due to fibrotic closure of the fistula. Of even greater concern are the complications associated with excessive outflow, which include an intraocular pressure that is too low (hypotony) and a conjunctival filtering bleb that becomes too thin, with leakage and the risk of infection (endophthalmitis).
Drainage implant surgery was developed primarily to overcome the problem of fistula closure, since a conduit passes from the anterior chamber angle, through the fistula, to a plate beneath the conjuctiva. However, these operations are also complicated by early hypotony and late failure due to obstruction of the conduit or excessive fibrosis over the plate. There is a need, therefore, for a device and method of using same that reliably channels aqueous into pathways without creating hypotony or a filtering bleb.
Although the uveoscleral pathway may only account for 10-20% of aqueous outflow in the normal state, there is evidence that it can be enhanced to accommodate a significantly greater percentage of outflow. For example, topical prostaglandins, which work nearly exclusively by increasing uveoscleral outflow, can lower the intraocular pressure by 30-50% in some patients. Even more compelling are the results of early surgical attempts to enhance uveoscleral outflow.
In the first decade of the twentieth century, paralleling the introduction of filtering surgery, an operation was devised to enhance uveoscleral outflow, called cyclodialysis. Referring to FIGS. 2A and 2B, the basic principle is separation of the ciliary body from the scleral spur, which provides a direct route for aqueous flow from the anterior chamber angle to the suprachoroidal space. Unlike filtering surgery, however, cyclodialysis enjoyed only limited acceptance in the twentieth century. Although it was commonly used during the first half of the century, serious limitations led to its virtual abandonment by mid-century. The limitations were two-fold. When so-called cyclodialysis cleft was patent, the operation often worked too well, with significant hypotony. In many patients, the cleft would close suddenly, with a profound rise in the intraocular pressure.
A variety of efforts have been made to prevent closure of the cleft by wedging flaps of ocular tissue or plastic devices into the space. To date, none of these techniques have proved success.


A foldable lamp shade includes a shade body, an upper support ring, a plurality of locking members, a lower support ring, a plurality of hanging hooks, and a plurality of support bars. Thus, the user only needs to hook the hook hole of each of the support bars on the respective hanging hook and to insert the insertion portion of each of the support bars into the locking slot of the respective locking member so as to mount the support bars between the upper support ring and the lower support ring by the respective hanging hook and the respective locking member so that the lamp shade is assembled easily and quickly, thereby facilitating the user assembling the lamp shade.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lamp shade and, more particularly, to a foldable lamp shade.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional foldable lamp shade in accordance with the prior art shown in FIG. 12 comprises a shade body (not shown), an upper support ring 40 and a lower support ring 41 mounted on the shade body respectively and each provided with a plurality of locking protrusions 42, and a plurality of support bars 50 each mounted between the upper support ring 40 and the lower support ring 42 and each having two ends 52 each secured to the respective locking protrusion 42. Thus, each of the support bars 50 is located between the upper support ring 40 and the lower support ring 42 by the respective locking protrusion 42 to support the shade body.
The closest prior art reference of which the applicant is aware was disclosed in his U.S. Pat. No. 6,869,207B2.

Foldable lamp shade assembled and disassembled easily and quickly


A computer-implemented method for generating, responsive to user input from a user, a set of property results, said set of property results including data pertaining to one or more properties, the computer-implemented method comprising: (a) receiving the user input, the user input including one or more text strings; (b) checking the one or more text strings against one or more references to find one or more changeable text strings, the one or more references including a real estate dictionary; (c) forming one or more search criteria using one or more transformed terms, the one or more transformed terms pertaining to the one or more changeable text strings; and (d) searching in one or more databases using the one or more search criteria to produce the set of property results, the one or more databases include one or more property databases.

The residential real estate industry in the US has $1.6T in annual sales and $60B in annual gross brokerage commissions. The residential real estate brokerage industry has traditionally been very labor intensive, and the industry relies heavily on individual real estate agents working as independent contractors to provide services and to manage business transactions. Although information technology has been utilized in the industry, there are still problems such as: (a) inefficient real estate search, (b) unintuitive user interface for real estate search, (c) scattered open house information, and (d) inefficient real estate evaluation. The problems are described below.
(a) Inefficient Real Estate Search
Typically, when searching for real estate properties (hereinafter properties) on the market, an agent or prospective buyer would access a Property Information Database (PID) or one or more other databases that store syndicated information from the PID. PID systems are individually owned by local Realtor associations, and they include some basic data for each listed property. When a real estate agent obtains an agreement to sell a property, the agent (called a listing agent) usually puts information about that property into a PID system immediately so that other agents can view that information through the Internet. The completeness and accuracy of the information about a property on the market depends on what data the listing agent inputs. Frequently, the information in the PID is not accurate, or some pertinent information is missing. The inconsistent availability of data presents a challenge for the real estate agent trying to serve prospective buyers, and for the prospective buyers themselves, because they cannot assess the suitability of an inadequately listed property very easily. The prospective buyers will then have to physically visit such properties to evaluate their suitability. This presents a cost and efficiency challenge for both the agents and the prospective buyers.
Further, the PID contains only data that are intrinsic to individual properties, such as address, size, structure, and price. However, there are other extrinsic factors that a prospective buyer needs to or would like to consider when making a buying decision such as, for example and without limitation, surrounding amenities and facilities. FIGS. 12A-D illustrate differences between a conventional search result and a preferred search result. For an illustrative example, FIG. 12 shows houses such as houses 1202, 1204, 1206, 1208, 1212, 1214, and possibly other houses (represented by dotted lines) that meet a prospective buyer's search criteria of intrinsic data. As an example and as illustrated in FIG. 12B, a conventional search result will list all the above houses and many others as long as their data meet the prospective buyer's search criteria. Such a conventional search may list a large number of houses such that the prospective buyer is required to unnecessarily spend much time in skimming through listed data and is prevented from efficient and effective assessment of the houses. The conventional search result may further rank the houses according to their locations, or their distances to office 1232 (or a specified address) and list house 1202 the first, house 1204 the second, and so forth, without considering extrinsic factors.
(b) Unintuitive User Interface for Real Estate Search
In searching for properties, typical computer software programs and Internet websites allow users to enter search criteria by selecting given attributes or typing a keyword or a phrase in a text box.
FIG. 13A illustrates selections of attributes. As shown in FIG. 13A, a user may select the given attributes using a number of methods such as selecting a city from drop-down box 1302, checking boxes such as box 1304 for multiple choices such as property types, clicking on radio buttons such as radio button 1306 for alternative selections such as numbers of bedrooms and bathrooms, entering numbers in text boxes such as text box 1308 for entering data such as price limits, etc. However, these methods require the user to unnecessarily and discretely go through many menus of options and attributes to enter their selection criteria. Such structured search options limit the user's thinking and do not provide an intuitive way for the user to think about the kind of real estate properties that the user himself/herself is really looking for.
FIG. 13B illustrates a text box, in which the user may type a keyword such as "post office" as a criterion for searching for a house for which the data in PID contain the keyword (or "post office" in this example). However, a search based on a single criterion may list an unnecessarily large number of real estate properties that meet the criterion and make it difficult for the user to efficiently and effectively find desirable properties. The user may also be allowed to type a logical combination using one or more logic operators such as "AND" and "OR" to provide multiple search criteria. Nevertheless, the logic operators are not intuitive to many users who do not have relevant training.
Again, the typical computer software programs and Internet websites provide searches only in PIDs, which do not include extrinsic factors that are also important for the user's buying decision.
(c) Scattered Open House Information
Open houses, commonly hosted during Sundays or Saturday afternoons, are times when properties on the market are open to the public for viewing. Prospective buyers, sellers, neighbors, or agents view the properties at these open houses. There exists a problem in communicating to the public when and which properties are holding open houses during a particular weekend.
There are several ways that sellers currently give notice of their open houses. A seller or agent can advertise in local or regional newspapers, put the information on the local PID board, put the information directly into the marketing comments in the PID that can be viewed by the public or by the agents, place broker advertisements that include property information as well as open house information, or disperse specific printed or online materials that individual real estate agents put together. Sometimes, open house information is not publicly available, and is thus only obtainable by calling the listing agent. Given scattered or even unavailable sources, end consumers, i.e. the prospective buyers, cannot easily access open house information. There currently exists no streamlined way for buyers to find a comprehensive list of the open houses for a particular Sunday, for example. A buyer would have to consult multiple sources to extract that information. Such a labor-intensive approach is neither efficient nor reliable.
Further, useful information generated during open house tours are not efficiently and sufficiently collected. A typical open house tour process that agents or prospective buyers follow includes reviewing currently available listings of open houses, selecting suitable properties for viewing, locating these properties on maps, getting driving directions for the tour, physically visiting these properties, viewing the various neighborhoods surrounding these properties, recording personal impressions and other information about properties either mentally or on paper or other electronic means, and finally identifying particular homes in which the buyers maybe interested. Often when the buyers view the properties on open house tours on their own, the agents working with them do not get the information on how and why the buyers like or dislike about these properties. That information could be very important for the agents in the future to help identify the properties that may be appropriate for their clients, but existing practices do not allow agents to exploit such information.
(d) Inefficient Real Estate Evaluation
There can be hundreds of residential properties that become available on the market in a week in a particular city. Prospective buyers and real estate agents typically have to evaluate these homes to see if they are suitable candidates for purchase, and also to figure out whether these properties are of good values. This task of evaluating whether a specific property is of good value involves very complicated and time-consuming task of comparing this property against personal preferences, previously sold homes and their prices, currently available homes and their offered prices, housing and other financial trends, etc. This task currently is handled manually by the particular prospective buyers or real estate agents, and to do this accurately, one needs to process a lot of data. This manual processing of data can become a prohibitively time-consuming task if one chooses to consider a large number of properties.
One of the most important criteria for prospective buyers in selecting properties is whether the property is attractively priced. To figure out whether a property is attractively or cheaply priced, the buyer needs to seek professional help from appraisers and real estate agents. The process is very time consuming and expensive, and therefore most often buyers cannot easily screen for well-priced properties. When a large number of properties are on the market, the buyer may therefore miss out on good deals, because he cannot readily and cost-effectively identify the for-sale properties that offer the most value.
In light of the above, there is a need in the art for one or more methods or apparatuses that solve one or more above-identified problems. In light of the above, there is a need in the art for one or more methods or apparatuses that solve one or more above-identified problems pertaining to unintuitive user interface for real estate search.

String-based systems and methods for searching for real estate properties


A porous composite includes a porous base material, and a porous collection layer. The collection layer is provided on the base material. The collection layer contains praseodymium oxide.

Gases emitted from internal combustion engines such as diesel engines or various combustion apparatuses contain particulate matter such as soot. Hence, vehicles or other equipment that mount diesel engines are provided with filters for collecting particulate matter in exhaust gases. As one of these filters, a honeycomb structure is used in which some of a plurality of cells in a porous honeycomb base material have sealing parts at openings located on their outlet side, and the remaining cells have sealing parts at openings located on their inlet side.
In the case of using such a honeycomb structure to collect particulate matter, if the particulate matter infiltrates into the inside of a partition wall of the porous honeycomb base material, pores of the partition wall may be blocked off and pressure loss may increase. In view of this, Japanese Patent No. 5634984 (Document 1) has proposed to provide a porous collection layer on the inner surfaces of cells that each have a sealing part at an opening located on the outlet side, to collect particulate matter by this collection layer in order to suppress infiltration of the particulate matter into the inside of the partition wall. The collection layer preferably contains 70% by weight or more of ceramic or metallic inorganic fibers. The inorganic fibers contain one or more materials selected from aluminosilicate, alumina, silica, zirconia, ceria and mullite.
In the above filter mounted on a vehicle or the like, in order to prevent excessive accumulation of particulate matter on the filter, a regeneration process is performed in which the particulate matter collected by the filter is heated, oxidized, and removed from the filter. In the honeycomb filter of Document 1, by supporting the catalytic function in the collection layer, the oxidation of the particulate matter in contact with the collection layer is accelerated.
Currently, in the honeycomb structure used as the above filter, further acceleration of oxidation of particulate matter is required.


A high-resolution printer includes a printhead having optimized features including 3 to 20 micron diameter orifices spaced apart from adjacent orifices by a distance of between about 15 and 75 microns. The orifice plate is electroformed and plated to a thickness ranging from about 6 to 19 microns. A barrier layer secures the orifice plate to a printhead substrate.

The present invention is generally related to components that comprise a high-resolution inkjet printer and is more particularly related to a printhead capable of a large number of dots-per-inch (dpi) placement of ink on a medium for a high-resolution printer.
Simply stated, inkjet printers operate by expelling a small volume of ink through a plurality of small orifices in an orifice plate held in proximity to a paper or other medium upon which printing or marks are to be placed. These orifices are arranged in a fashion in the orifice plate such that the expulsion of droplets of ink from a selected number of orifices relative to a particular position of the medium results in the production of a portion of a desired character or image. Controlled repositioning of the orifice plate or the medium followed by another expulsion of ink droplets results in the creation of more segments of the desired character or image. Furthermore, inks of various colors may be coupled to individual arrangements of orifices so that selective firing of the orifices will produce a multi-colored image on the medium.
Several mechanisms have been employed to create the force necessary to expel an ink droplet from a printhead, among which are thermal, piezoelectric and electrostatic mechanisms. While the following explanation is made with reference to the thermal inkjet expulsion mechanism, the present invention may have application for the other ink expulsion mechanisms as well.
Expulsion of the ink droplet in a conventional thermal inkjet printer is a result of rapid thermal heating of the ink to a temperature that exceeds the boiling point of the ink solvent to create a vapor phase bubble of ink. Such rapid heating of the ink is generally achieved by passing a pulse of electric current, typically for one to three microseconds, through an ink ejector that is typically an individually addressable heater resistor. The heat generated thereby is coupled to a small volume of ink held in an enclosed area associated with the heater resistor and which is generally referred to as a firing chamber. For a printhead, there are a plurality of heater resistors and associated firing chambers—perhaps numbering in the hundreds—each of which can be uniquely addressed and caused to eject ink upon command by the printer. The heater resistors are deposited in a semiconductor substrate and are electrically connected to external circuitry by way of metalization deposited on the semiconductor substrate. Further, the heater resistors and metalization may be protected from chemical attack and mechanical abrasion by one or more layers of hard and non-reactive passivation. Additional description of basic printhead structure may be found in "The Second-Generation Thermal Inkjet Structure" by Ronald Askeland, et al. in the Hewlett-Packard Journal, August 1988, pages 28-31. Thus, one of the boundary walls of each firing chamber consists of the semiconductor substrate (and typically one firing resistor). A foraminous orifice plate forms another of the boundary walls of the firing chamber, disposed opposite the semiconductor substrate in one common implementation. Generally, each of the orifices in this orifice plate is arranged in relation to a heater resistor in a manner in which enables ink to be directly expelled from the orifice. As the ink vapor nucleates at the heater resistor and expands, it displaces a volume of ink that forces a lesser volume of ink out of the orifice for deposition of the medium. The bubble then collapses and the displaced volume of ink is replenished from a larger ink reservoir by way of an ink feed channel in one of the boundary walls of the firing chamber.
As users of inkjet printers have begun to desire finer detail in the printed output from a printer, the technology has been pushed into a higher resolution of ink droplet placement on the medium. One of the common ways of measuring the resolution is the measurement of the maximum number of ink dots deposited in a selected dimension of the printed medium, commonly expressed as dots per-inch (dpi). The production of an increased number of dots per inch requires smaller droplets. Smaller ink droplets means lowered drop weight and lowered drop volume for each droplet. Production of low drop weight ink droplets requires smaller structures in the printhead. Merely making structures smaller, however, ignores the fact that complex interactions between the various structures make the optimization of a printhead design quite complex. Thus, it is desirable that an optimization be reached so that improved resolution may be realized with acceptable throughput and cost.
Conventionally, an orifice plate for a thermal inkjet printer printhead is formed from a sheet of metal perforated with a plurality of small holes leading from one side of the metal sheet to the other. There has also been increased use of a polymer sheet through which holes have been created by ablation or other means. In the metal orifice plate example, the process of manufacture has been well described in the literature. See, for example, Gary L. Siewell, et al., "The Think Jet Orifice Plate: A Part With Many Functions", Hewlett-Packard Journal, May 1985, pages 33-37; Ronald A. Askeland, et al., "The Second-Generation Thermal Inkjet Structure", Hewlett-Packard Journal, August 1988, pages 28-31; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,167,776 "Thermal Inkjet Printhead Orifice Plate and Method of Manufacture".
Providing an orifice plate with a larger number of orifices (higher dpi) requires that the orifices be smaller in diameter and more closely spaced. However, the smaller orifice diameters and closer spacing tend to result in thinner orifice plates. One prior art orifice plate of 600 dpi, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,402,296 (a patent that is commonly assigned herewith and which is hereby incorporated by reference), has a thickness on the order of about 20-25 microns. However, orifice plates thinner than about 20 microns tend to suffer the serious disadvantage of being too flimsy to handle, likely to break apart in a production environment, or likely to become distorted by heat processing of the printhead. Such orifice plates are typically manufactured by electroforming nickel on a mandrel and subsequently plating with a protecting metal layer.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an orifice plate for a thermal inkjet printer having a dpi of 1200-2400 or higher and a method for producing the same.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


Vision based guidance system and method for lawn mowing devices are disclosed. An exemplary method for operating an autonomous lawn mower includes receiving, via a receiver, a perimeter data set from a handheld computer. The perimeter data set includes a perimeter outline of at least one perimeter that is determined utilizing a GPS unit of the handheld computer. The exemplary method also includes collecting, via at least one camera, images of a set area within the perimeter outline and mowing, via a mowing blade, grass within the set area. The exemplary method also includes autonomously steering, via a controller, the autonomous lawn mower based on the perimeter outline of the at least one perimeter and the images captured by the at least one camera.

This application relates to the field of lawnmowers and more particularly a vision based guidance system for autonomous lawnmowers and enhanced control of lawnmowers. Typical autonomous lawnmowers operate in one of two different ways. First, a perimeter wire may be buried or placed around the perimeter of the property that one wishes to mow. The robot mower then travels in a somewhat random pattern, changing direction when an obstacle is encountered, or when it encounters the perimeter wire. Alternatively, GPS is used to "geo-fence" the perimeter of the lawn, and is used to provide navigational routing to the autonomous mower.
The perimeter wire boundary/random navigation method allows the robot mower platform to be fairly unsophisticated and inexpensive. The autonomous mower travels randomly through the yard, and travels back to a home charging station when the batteries are low. It continues to do this at relatively frequent intervals so that the entire yard is eventually mowed. It typically does not mow the entire yard in a single pass.
The GPS boundary/GPS navigation system allows the autonomous robot to travel a pre-programmed, or a more purposeful path. The optimum mowing scenario can be programmed in and executed to minimize the inefficiency associated with the more random mow styles. The positioning accuracy of the GPS system is limited to the positioning accuracy of the GPS system on the robot and of the signal. Oftentimes stationary radio beacons, or other local reference points are used in order to increase the accuracy of the GPS based autonomous navigation systems. Neither of these methods of operation are ideal and both leave room for improvement.


A method and system elects a master node from a plurality of nodes in a distributed system. A serverless elector function periodically outputs an election API call to a load balancer. The load balancer elects a master node from a plurality of candidate nodes each time the load balancer receives the election API call.

Many data management systems utilize cloud-based distributed systems to manage communication with the data management systems, or between subsystems of the data management systems. Distributed systems typically include one or more nodes that serve as communication links between the distributed systems and other systems external to the distributed systems. Each node can correspond to an individual server, virtual machine, or a process running in a server or virtual machine.
In a distributed system, sometimes it is desirable to ensure that a piece of software code is executed by no more than one concurrent node or process. The node or process that executes this critical code is known as the master node or master process. One example of such critical code is one that decides whether to open (i.e. break) the circuit between the nodes of an external system and the nodes of the distributed system in response to a high rate of failures connecting with the nodes of the external system.
Failing to decide on a single master node can lead to a condition known as split-brain. In the split-brain condition, multiple nodes or processes function as masters and take actions that may be inconsistent with each other. For example, one master may attempt to open a circuit while the other may attempt to close (i.e. complete) the circuit.
Some traditional data management systems seek to achieve a single master design by simply using a single node and designating it as the master. However, this approach suffers from the drawback that this node becomes a single point of failure. If this node is down, there is no master.
Other traditional data management systems utilize a distributed co-ordination service such as Zookeeper to help elect a master using a leader election technique. However, Zookeeper is a highly complex system requiring at least 3 nodes. This can be very resource intensive and may not be affordable in many smaller use-cases.
Still other traditional data management systems utilize a global lock to ensure critical code is executed by only one node at a time. However, this can require implementation of a distributed co-ordination service, like Zookeeper, to implement a global lock. The result is a costly and complex system.
When the data management systems, or other systems utilizing distributed nodes, are unable, or cannot afford, to implement a single master system, the data management system, it's users, and partners can suffer negative consequences. In some cases, the mismanagement of communication nodes and channels can result in an entire failure of systems or processes associated with the data management system. Furthermore, implementation of current single master solutions can result in inefficient use of system resources.
What is needed is a method and system that provide a technical solution to the technical problem of providing a single master system that is reliable, efficient, inexpensive, and scalable.

Method and system for electing a master in a cloud based distributed system using a serverless framework


A remote fish bite indicator for eliminating the need for the user to continually watch the tip-ups to know when a fish is biting. The remote fish bite indicator includes a housing; and also includes a spool assembly including brackets being securely attached to the housing, and also including a spool and a fishing line being carried by the spool and having a fish hook at an end thereof; and further includes a motion detector being attached to the housing for detecting tampering and moving of the housing; and also includes a line tension sensor also being attached to the housing for detecting amount of tension being applied to the fishing line; and also includes a transmitter assembly including a transmitter being mounted to the housing and being connected to the motion detector and to the line tension sensor for sending out signals upon a fish biting said fishing line and upon the housing being tampered with; and further includes a remote receiver unit being adapted to be carried by a user and capable of receiving signals from the transmitter.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fish bite detector and more particularly pertains to a new remote fish bite indicator for eliminating the need for the user to continually watch the tip-ups to know when a fish is biting.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of a fish bite detector is known in the prior art. More specifically, a fish bite detector heretofore devised and utilized are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
Known prior art includes U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,835,462; 5,396,726; 5,097,618; 4,996,788; U.S. Patent No. Des. 326,136; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,528,554.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not disclose a new remote fish bite indicator. The inventive device includes a housing; and also includes a spool assembly including brackets being securely attached to the housing, and also including a spool and a fishing line being carried by the spool and having a fish hook at an end thereof; and further includes a motion detector being attached to the housing for detecting tampering and moving of the housing; and also includes a line tension sensor also being attached to the housing for detecting amount of tension being applied to the fishing line; and also includes a transmitter assembly including a transmitter being mounted to the housing and being connected to the motion detector and to the line tension sensor for sending out signals upon a fish biting said fishing line and upon the housing being tampered with; and further includes a remote receiver unit being adapted to be carried by a user and capable of receiving signals from the transmitter.
In these respects, the remote fish bite indicator according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of eliminating the need for the user to continually watch the tip-ups to know when a fish is biting.
In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known types of fish bite detector now present in the prior art, the present invention provides a new remote fish bite indicator construction wherein the same can be utilized for eliminating the need for the user to continually watch the tip-ups to know when a fish is biting.
The general purpose of the present invention, which will be described subsequently in greater detail, is to provide a new remote fish bite indicator which has many of the advantages of the fish bite detector mentioned heretofore and many novel features that result in a new remote fish bite indicator which is not anticipated, rendered obvious, suggested, or even implied by any of the prior art fish bite detector, either alone or in any combination thereof.
To attain this, the present invention generally comprises a housing; and also includes a spool assembly including brackets being securely attached to the housing, and also including a spool and a fishing line being carried by the spool and having a fish hook at an end thereof; and further includes a motion detector being attached to the housing for detecting tampering and moving of the housing; and also includes a line tension sensor also being attached to the housing for detecting amount of tension being applied to the fishing line; and also includes a transmitter assembly including a transmitter being mounted to the housing and being connected to the motion detector and to the line tension sensor for sending out signals upon a fish biting said fishing line and upon the housing being tampered with; and further includes a remote receiver unit being adapted to be carried by a user and capable of receiving signals from the transmitter.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
Further, the purpose of the foregoing abstract is to enable the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally, and especially the scientists, engineers and practitioners in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of the application. The abstract is neither intended to define the invention of the application, which is measured by the claims, nor is it intended to be limiting as to the scope of the invention in any way.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a new remote fish bite indicator which has many of the advantages of the fish bite detector mentioned heretofore and many novel features that result in a new remote fish bite indicator which is not anticipated, rendered obvious, suggested, or even implied by any of the prior art fish bite detector, either alone or in any combination thereof.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a new remote fish bite indicator which may be easily and efficiently manufactured and marketed.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a new remote fish bite indicator which is of a durable and reliable construction.
An even further object of the present invention is to provide a new remote fish bite indicator which is susceptible of a low cost of manufacture with regard to both materials and labor, and which accordingly is then susceptible of low prices of sale to the consuming public, thereby making such remote fish bite indicator economically available to the buying public.
Still yet another object of the present invention is to provide a new remote fish bite indicator which provides in the apparatuses and methods of the prior art some of the advantages thereof, while simultaneously overcoming some of the disadvantages normally associated therewith.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a new remote fish bite indicator for eliminating the need for the user to continually watch the tip-ups to know when a fish is biting.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a new remote fish bite indicator which includes a housing; and also includes a spool assembly including brackets being securely attached to the housing, and also including a spool and a fishing line being carried by the spool and having a fish hook at an end thereof; and further includes a motion detector being attached to the housing for detecting tampering and moving of the housing; and also includes a line tension sensor also being attached to the housing for detecting amount of tension being applied to the fishing line; and also includes a transmitter assembly including a transmitter being mounted to the housing and being connected to the motion detector and to the line tension sensor for sending out signals upon a fish biting said fishing line and upon the housing being tampered with; and further includes a remote receiver unit being adapted to be carried by a user and capable of receiving signals from the transmitter.
Still yet another object of the present invention is to provide a new remote fish bite indicator that allows the user to quickly hurry over to the fishing line to set the fishing hook in the fish.
Even still another object of the present invention is to provide a new remote fish bite indicator that is easy and convenient to use and allows the user to do other things rather than just sitting and watching all his tip-ups.
These together with other objects of the invention, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the invention, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and the specific objects attained by its uses, reference should be made to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which there are illustrated preferred embodiments of the invention.


The present invention relates to tape measure apparatus including an adapter having a first portion, which is sized and shaped so as to be attached to a butt end of a fishing pole, and a second portion, which is attached to the first portion. The tape measure apparatus is provided with a tape measure device sized and shaped such that the tape measure device can be removably attached to the adapter. In this manner, conventional fishing poles can be retrofitted with the tape measure device.

In the past, fishing poles equipped with measuring devices have been developed (see, for instance, U.S. Pat. Nos. 461,106, 1,255,269, 1,271,073, 2,003,893, 2,750,184, 2,914,881, 4,969,286 and 4,995,188). These measuring devices, some of which are in the form of a tape measure, are useful for measuring the length of the fish that has been caught. However, because the fishing poles are specifically constructed for accommodating the corresponding measuring devices, it has been difficult to retrofit conventional fishing poles (i.e., fishing poles equipped without measuring devices) with such measuring devices.

Measuring device for use with fishing pole


A fishing mechanism for selectively attaching a fishing device to a line is provided. In one example, the fishing mechanism comprises an elongated outer insert mechanism having a line path channel formed therein, the line path channel extending from one end of the elongated outer insert mechanism to its other end, and wherein the elongated outer insert mechanism further comprises an elongated opening that extends from said one to said other end, the elongated opening being configured such that the line may be placed through the elongated opening and into the line path channel without having to guide an end of the line through the line path channel from said one end to said other end.

Fishing bobbers are commonly connected to a fishing line when fishing. Bobbers can serve several functions. One possible function includes controlling the depth of the hook and bait. Another possible function includes providing a signaling mechanism for indicating when a fish is biting at the bait or when a fish has been hooked.
Two types of fishing bobbers include attachment bobbers and slip bobbers. Attachment bobbers are maintained at a fixed position on the fishing line. For instance, some attachment bobbers having a clipping mechanism that securely fastens the bobber to a particular location on the line. Slip bobbers on the other hand are not attached to one particular location along the line and are able to move at least some distance along the line. For instance, a slip bobber may be placed between a hook and a knot in a fishing line, and the slip bobber is able to move between the hook and the knot.


A translation unit for use in a wireless communications system comprises translation circuitry configured to be interfaced between an RF antenna network and a backhaul network. The translation circuitry is operable for translating the frequency of signals directly between an RF network and a backhaul network without conversion to audio in order to provide direct communications between a base station and a backhaul destination.

In many wireless communication stations, such as cellular/PCS base stations, RF communication signals are received by an antenna at the top of a tower, routed down to equipment at the base of a tower ("base station"), downconverted from RF, and demodulated to audio. For further processing, the signals are then routed back to a Mobile Switching Center (MSC), Central Office (CO), or other facility, using another wireless communication link or using a wired link, such as a T1 line. This routing back to the MSC/CO is referred to as backhaul.
About 80% of all base stations route the signals back to the MSC/CO via a microwave backhaul link. That is, the base station signals are converted to microwave backhaul. More specifically, at the base station, the audio signals are arranged or stacked and are upconverted to IF. The signals are then remodulated, usually using a different modulation scheme, and converted to a microwave frequency. They are then amplified and transmitted out via a microwave antenna or dish. The modulation and other signal processing is traditionally handled at the ground level of the tower, while the conversion to a microwave spectrum may be handled on the ground or on the tower. The primary reason for this whole complicated loop is that the RF Cellular/PCS signals are spread apart in the RF band, due to frequency re-use, and often occupy distinct bands, like a comb. For example, in a typical TDMA system, total comb bandwidth is around 12.5 MHz. However, the microwave link bandwidths are often much narrower.
In order to limit the microwave bandwidth which must be purchased in order to facilitate the backhaul, the base stations have had to utilize expensive modulation/demodulation equipment utilizing digital signal processing or DSP and other supporting circuitry at the base station. For example, the RF wireless communication signals have to be up/down converted and modulated/demodulated down to audio, and then again up/down converted and modulated/demodulated for the microwave backhaul and have to be multiplexed from the RF side with the microwave hardware. For microwave transmissions, the multiplexed audio streams are modulated/demodulated with a different modulation scheme, such as QAM 256, and are up/down converted with respect to the microwave band. The modulation hardware and associated DSP functions are expensive and must be duplicated at all base stations using microwave backhaul. Because the base station hardware takes a larger RF bandwidth and backhauls it over a smaller microwave bandwidth, the base station hardware is considered to provide a spectrum compression mechanism. Without such spectrum compression, it would be necessary to purchase a greater amount of expensive microwave backhaul bandwidth for the backhaul function.
It is therefore desirable to reduce, and even eliminate, the expensive modulation/ demodulation hardware associated with the base station and its backhaul functions. More specifically, it is desirable to eliminate the need for complicated DSP functions and associated hardware at the base station.
It is further desirable to simplify the base station and reduce its overall construction and maintenance costs, while still maintaining the convenient and desirable microwave backhaul function.
It is further desirable to achieve these goals without having to purchase an increased amount of an expensive backhaul bandwidth from the traditional microwave backhaul spectrum.
These goals and improvements, and other features, are addressed by the present invention.

Translation unit for wireless communications system


The present application discloses a shift register unit and a method for driving the same, a gate driving circuit, an array substrate, and a display apparatus. The shift register unit includes an input sub-circuit; a first output sub-circuit configured to output a first output signal to an output signal terminal, so that the output signal terminal outputs a gate driving signal having a first valid level; and a second output sub-circuit configured to output a second output signal to the output signal terminal, so that the output signal terminal outputs a gate driving signal having a second valid level, wherein an absolute value of the second valid signal is greater than an absolute value of the first valid level.

In order to pursue a lower cost and a narrower bezel when manufacturing a display apparatus, more and more display panel products adopt the Gate driver On Array (GOA) technology, i.e., directly manufacturing a gate driving circuit of a Thin Film Transistor (TFT) on an array substrate, thereby reducing space occupation of bonding and fan-out regions, and achieving cost reduction in terms of materials and manufacturing processes and the like, and narrowing the bezel on opposite sides of gate lines of the display panel.

Shift register unit and method for driving the same, gate driving circuit, array substrate and display apparatus

CHONGQING BOE OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


Provided is a method for estimating blood pressure using a variable characteristic ratio. In the method, a pressure wave detected at a measurement body part of a subject is obtained to calculate a characteristic ratio of the subject based on a correlation between the characteristic ratio used to determine blood pressure at a measurement body part and the shape of the pressure wave detected at the measurement body part. The blood pressure at the measurement body part of the subject is estimated using the calculated characteristic ratio.

1. Field
Provided is an apparatus and method for estimating blood pressure using variable characteristic ratios.
2. Description of the Related Art
Blood pressure is used as an index of the health condition of a person. Apparatuses for measuring blood pressure are commonly used in medical institutions and at home. The United States Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") determines the standards required for apparatuses for measuring blood pressure, specifically the FDA requires blood pressure measuring apparatuses to comply with the requirements of the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation ("AAMI"). The American National Standards Institute ("ANSI")/AAMI SP10 issued by the AAMI offers specification details, and safety and performance requirements for the blood pressure measuring apparatuses.
In order to measure systolic blood pressure, pressure is applied to stop the flow of blood through a site where arterial blood flows. The pressure is then slowly released and the pressure at which an initial pulse sound is heard is the systolic blood pressure. A diastolic blood pressure is the pressure where the pulse sound disappears. Digital hemadynamometers calculate blood pressure by detecting a waveform corresponding to a pressure measured while pressurizing a blood vessel.

Apparatus and method for estimating blood pressure by using variable characteristic ratio