A method of migrating Cartesian coordinate-based views is disclosed. The method includes providing applet-based templates and associating the templates to Cartesian coordinate-based views. Controls of the applet can be modified according to the requirements of the Cartesian coordinate-based view. The views are used as user interfaces.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to migrating applications, in particular user views and interfaces of applications, previously used in Cartesian coordinate-based platforms into tag field-based platforms.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hyper-text markup language (HTML) is an authoring language to create documents for applications on the world wide web (WWW). HTML's common use for WWW applications often employs HTML as a web-based language; however, with HTML's ability to structure information and to link to other documents, HTML is found to be a useful language to present views and user interface documents. Views and user interface documents are typically used to provide end-user access to databases and similar programs providing information.
Views and interfaces provide users an access to database application, and programs and other similar content providing applications. Numerous user views and interfaces have used platforms that have included Windows® operating systems by the Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Washington and languages such as Java® by Sun Microsystems of San Jose, CA. User views and interfaces in Windows®, Java®, and similar operating systems and languages have been written to include a Cartesian coordinate system that relates a control or command to a specific X-Y coordinate pair on a page or document.
HTML, and similar web-based languages, do not make use of such Cartesian coordinate systems; therefore, languages such as HTML cannot make use of the X-Y coordinate values of prior platforms which relate key interface elements to information stored in databases and similar content-providing applications. HTML makes use of control characters, also referred to as tags or tag fields, to determine presentation in a document of text, images, and links. Typically, several hundred tags are used to layout the information in an HTML page. For example, tags are used to allow text formatting which can specify paragraphs, line spacing, and horizontal rules. Graphics and links to other pages are also specified by HTML tags. Link tags allow users to be directed to another page by choosing or clicking on an image or a word on a current page. HTML also provides for the use of templates. A template is a blank form that provides, among other features, instruction as to how fields are set, field locations, field lengths, field widths, and field heights. Placeholder tags are provided and the placeholder tags can be replaced by controls. Each placeholder tag is associated with a unique identifier (ID). Creating a mapping or association between the control and the unique ID specifies the position of a control in a document.
An applet is defined as a programmatic construct that contains information about how data is to be presented. Users can create new applets, or users can modify existing or vendor provided applets. Modified applets are web-enabled or HTML-enabled; however, user-specific requirements necessitate added changes or modifications to the pre-existing applet.
Views are interfaces to the user in which data are presented. A view can include one or a number of applets. Data can be part of a database or similar resource. When an application runs, the application looks to a data repository. A user looks for a particular view. The application looks to the particular view and the applets associated with that view. The application looks up information about what data the application is supposed to provide and how the data is to be presented (i.e., laid out for the user). The application will leave the database and renders the applet in the specific way the data is supposed to be presented and shows the view to the user.
An applet contains configuration information about how the applet looks and what data the applet will show. A number of controls can be associated with an applet. Each control can be tied to a field in an object or the database. In a particular database example, database objects are constructed in column format. Particular controls are tied to the database table columns. Objects can include various data such as names, phone numbers, pictures, etc. Controls can also be independent from database tables. In other words, a control can merely be a name or a similar object. User interface buttons located on a screen are considered controls. An interface button with a control associated with it can have some functionality associated with the control. Various views and applications can use the same interface button that contains specific functionality. A user therefore can obtain specific functionality by activating (i.e., pushing) a particular button.
Applets also contain field controls and non-field controls. Field controls define what data should be shown on the applet, and are different for all applets. Non-field controls are user interfaces such as buttons that are common for all applets and are copied from a model applet to new applets.
Oftentimes, users find themselves with HTML interfaces working with prior applications based on a Cartesian coordinate system. Translating views and interfaces to tag-based languages such as HTML can involve creating drag and drop routines. The translating process requires a user to manually select views and/or interfaces; select controls and drag controls onto applets; drag the views and/or interfaces; and drop the views and/or interfaces into appropriate locations on a blank HTML template. Considering the thousands of prior Cartesian coordinate-based applications that potentially are needed to be converted to HTML, using the manual drag and drop process is a labor-intensive procedure requiring a great deal of time and resources.

Application migration to languages implementing tag fields


In one embodiment, the present invention includes a method for depositing lead-free bumps on a package substrate, depositing an alloy material on the lead-free bumps, attaching a semiconductor die including conductive bumps to the package substrate so that the conductive bumps contact the alloy material, and heating attached components to reflow the alloy material to form a joint therebetween. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Many of today's semiconductor packages are formed using so-called flip-chip technology. In such packaging, a semiconductor die is coupled to an underlying package substrate using a solder to connect a bump on the die with a bump on the package substrate.
As process technologies move away from lead-based solders to lead-free solders, after elevated temperatures at which reflow is performed, sufficient stress can be present in the package to cause delamination of dielectric layers such as a carbon doped oxide (CDO) layer of the semiconductor die. Such stress can occur as a result of coefficient terminal expansion (CTE) mismatches. While one solution to this problem implements a so-called no-flow under film (NUF) process, where an underflow material is allowed to gel and distribute stress to an entire die surface before cooling of the resulting joined package and die to room temperature, excessive costs and time is required and furthermore, expensive tooling is needed for each such die size to enable this process.


Program clock references in first and second MPEG data streams are re-stamped in accordance with delays introduced into the first and second MPEG data streams. Accordingly, the program clock references in the first MPEG data stream are re-stamped according to a variable delay in the first MPEG data stream, and the program clock references in the second MPEG data stream are re-stamped according to a variable delay in the second MPEG data stream. The re-stamped program clock references in the second MPEG data stream are corrected according to a fixed delay in the second MPEG data stream. The first and second MPEG data streams are multiplexed, and the multiplexed first and second MPEG data streams are transmitted and received.

Video images in a digital television system that meets the ATSC standard must be delivered in real time and with a consistent rate of presentation in order to preserve the illusion of motion. However, delays introduced by coding, multiplexing, and transmission can cause a variable amount of delay for video packets arriving at the decoder in the receiver. This delay can impair the decoding process in the receiver. Buffers in the decoder of the receiver are typically used as a mechanism to avoid the problems caused by this delay.
The MPEG-2 standard provides an additional mechanism to ensure video frames can be decoded and delivered to the viewer with a consistent rate of display. This additional mechanism is called the PCR or program clock reference. Values for the program clock reference are embedded into the adaptation field within the transport packets of defined PIDs in the MPEG bit stream. These PCR values provides a clock reference allowing the receiver to deliver a consistent display rate in spite of the variable delays with which the video packets arrive at the receiver.
However, because PCRs are used in the receiver to derive the clock reference, any jitter or drift in the PCR clock can have adverse effects on the receiver's performance. A major source of jitter in the PCR is PCR accuracy. This type of PCR jitter arises from a number of sources. For example, the repetition rate of the transport stream packets may not be a multiple of the PCR clock time, and the input and output data rates on the transport buffers may be poorly managed. Both of these sources are causes of PCR jitter.
One way to reduce the adverse effects of this jitter is to measure the jitter by comparing the PCR timestamps on the received transport stream with a local clock reference. The local reference clock is typically an integral multiple of the PCR clock. Therefore, any truncation and round-off errors in PCR jitter measurements are reduced or eliminated, thus enhancing the accuracy of the measurement. This measure of jitter is then used to adjust receiver decoding timing in order to present a consistent rate of presentation of the moving video images received by a digital television.
The present invention is directed to alternative or additional way of reducing the adverse effects of PCR jitter. According to the present invention, the PCRs are re-stamped in the transmitter in order to present the receiver with PCRs that reduce or eliminate jitter.

PCR jitter reduction in a VSB and/or EVSB multiplexer system


A system and method for creating, storing and retrieving, and displaying user-created data_ties (a data_tie is a user-created relationship between two items the user had previously saved). The purpose of the invention is to provide the user a way to not only see the data he has saved, but to provide him a way to graphically display the relationships he has made between pieces of Evidence. The present invention is particularly adapted to tablet computers, notepads, etc. with touchscreens. A feature of the present invention is the ability to manually slide one icon on top of a second icon thereby creating a data_tie between the two pieces of data, or evidence. In various embodiments of the invention, this relationship can be annotated with context to later relate why and how the two pieces of data were connected.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to managing data and more particular to a system and method for creating data_ties.
2. Description of the Prior Art
People underline a phrase or sentence in a book, or ponder over a quote in a magazine article, because it's connected to other ideas they already have. Often these ideas that came from other books and highlights they had read or marked previously. Usually such a collection of underlined sentences or quotes or even entire articles remains just that, a jumbled collection that is totally unconnected and extremely difficult to retrieve.
It would be advantageous to have a way that one can record and see all these connections, and not just become aware of the connection, but also see why it was made. Note-taking software is known in the art. However, the primary function of existing note-taking software is to categorize, search and find a specific note from the single stack of an entire collection of notes. What is badly needed is a way to create, maintain and retrieve is a stackless presentation of how the notes relate to one another.
The note-taking software and the associated storage systems on the market today are useful for creating, organizing and searching notes. In those systems, each note is like a separate piece of paper in a 10-foot stack. If you can remember what's in the stack you'll have no problem finding it when you need it.
But what happens to the data you forgot you saved? What if you could spread out that stack across your floor and instantly see how all your notes relate to one another. What if you could visually represent why you created a particular note in the first place? And what if when you picked up a particular note, say a Bible passage you once saved, you revealed a whole web of photos, articles, a college paper you once wrote, and a letter you received from your son twenty years later, that are each related to that Biblical passage?
Delicious.com, Diigo, Spring It, DevonThink, and Evernote are prior art systems for note-taking or bookmarking on the market today. All of these systems present a top-to-bottom list of a user's notes that he can tag and categorize and search for particular note(s).
In 2012, Amazon Corp. announced that its electronic books were now outselling print books for the first time. However, the functionality of electronic books is still in its infancy. As far as highlights and margin notes go, many readers find a print book a lot more user-friendly than an electronic book. However, it would be extremely advantageous if the user could start associating quotes from one electronic book with quotes from other electronic books in a visual manner. Then suddenly electronic books can do something that print books never could.
As an aid to understanding the problem and the present invention, it can be considered that each of highlight, quote or note is a separate tree in a particular user's forest of notes. The present invention allows a walk through that forest. As the walk progresses, the user can see pieces of Yarn tying various trees to one another, the yarn showing all the connections the user has made between a quote from a novel highlighted many years ago, a photograph seen in the newspaper last month, a the sermon heard a few hours ago. Now the user is not just seeing all the data he deemed important enough to save, but he is seeing why it was deemed important, and how it relates it to other data over time. The only reason anyone has ever highlighted anything is because in his mind it is tied to something he already knew or had experienced. It is an object of the present invention aims to record not just the data, but how the user understood and used that data.
As an example, imagine a photo of an oak tree that a user saved to his database. It's not just any oak tree but a photo of an oak tree in the backyard of where the user grew up. The present invention takes the oak tree out of the stack of notes and shows it to the user in its most meaningful context. It does this by showing how the important items that were saved later in the user's life relate to one another, which is the only reason they were saved in the first place. Perhaps it was under that oak tree that the user and his brother made a life-long pact, signed in blood, that brought them where they are today—say, the biggest screenplay writing team in Hollywood. In this example, a photo of the oak tree, the pact, examples of the later success and a note recording the date of the pact are all related and should be able to be accessed and displayed in a related manner so that now the photo of the oak tree carries its true meaning. The oak tree has significance not because it is an oak tree, but because an important event happened under it.

System and method for creating and displaying data


A fastening element for a shoe of a boot comprising a disk-shaped single or multi-part main part, comprising a base side for fastening to the shoe, a cover side lying opposite the base side, and two grooves molded into a casing between the base side and the cover side for receiving and guiding a respective end of a shoelace. The grooves have an entrance angle at which shoelaces are to enter into the fastening element when laced in the pulling direction and an exit angle at which shoelaces are to exit the fastening element when pulled in the pulling direction, and wherein the entrance angle is greater than or equal to the exit angle.

A fastening element pursuant to the preamble of the valid claim 1 is known from EP 0 848 917 B2. According to claim 1 of this document, the grooves in this fastening element comprise a sliding section which is connected angularly to a clamping section. The grooves in this fastening element are designed to hold the shoelace against a guide direction running away from one another.
One shoelace is first pulled upwards with both hands while being guided in the sliding section to lace the shoe. The ends of the shoelace are then secured in the clamping section by turning them, for which both hands are required. This, however, is unsuitable when being used in the inner shoe, because particularly during quick retying, for example on a snowboard, there is not enough space inside the outer shoe to pull the lace apart with both hands.


The radiation emitter device of the present invention includes at least two radiation emitters emitting radiation of different wavelengths, first and second electrical leads electrically coupled to at least one of the radiation emitters, and an encapsulant configured to encapsulate the radiation emitters and a portion of the first and second electrical leads. The encapsulant is further configured to have a surface defining an optical lens including a plurality of concentric circular grooves. The optical lens is preferably a divergent lens. Preferably, the lens is a multi-faceted Fresnel lens structure having a plurality of risers and Fresnel facets defining the plurality of concentric circular grooves. The radiation emitter device may further include a secondary reflective cup, preferably a parabolic or elliptical reflective cup, disposed proximate the encapsulant about the periphery of the Fresnel lens structure.

The present invention generally relates to radiation emitter devices such as, for example, light emitting diode (LED) packages, and more particularly to opto-electronic emitter assemblies incorporating a plurality of optical radiation emitter devices.
As used herein, the term "discrete opto-electronic emitter assembly" means packaged radiation emitter devices that emit ultraviolet (UV), visible, or infrared (IR) radiation upon application of electrical power. Such discrete opto-electronic emitter assemblies include one or more radiation emitters. Radiation emitters, particularly optical radiation emitters, are used in a wide variety of commercial and industrial products and systems, and accordingly come in many forms and packages. As used herein, the term "optical radiation emitter" includes all emitter devices that emit visible light, near IR radiation, and UV radiation. Such optical radiation emitters may be pyrroluminescent, photoluminescent, electroluminescent, or other solid state emitter. Photoluminescent sources include phosphorescent and fluorescent sources. Fluorescent sources include phosphors and fluorescent dyes, pigments, crystals, substrates, coatings, and other materials.
Electroluminescent sources include semiconductor optical radiation emitters and other devices that emit optical radiation in response to electrical excitation. Semiconductor optical radiation emitters include light emitting diode (LED) chips, light emitting polymers (LEPs), organic light emitting devices (OLEDs), polymer light emitting devices (PLEDs), etc.
Semiconductor optical emitter components, particularly LED devices, have become commonplace in a wide variety of consumer and industrial opto-electronic applications. Other types of semiconductor optical emitter components, including OLEDs, LEPs, and the like, may also be packaged in discrete components suitable as substitutes for conventional inorganic LEDs in many of these applications.
Visible LED components of all colors are used alone or in small clusters as status indicators on such products as computer monitors, coffee makers, stereo receivers, CD players, VCRs, and the like. Such indicators are also found in a diversity of systems such as instrument panels in aircraft, trains, ships, cars, trucks, minivans and sport utility vehicles, etc. Addressable arrays containing hundreds or thousands of visible LED components are found in moving-message displays such as those found in many airports and stock market trading centers and also as high brightness large-area outdoor television screens found in many sports complexes and in some urban billboards.
Amber, red, and red-orange emitting visible LEDs are used in arrays of up to 100 components in visual signaling systems such as vehicle center high mounted stop lamps (CHMSLs), brake lamps, exterior turn signals and hazard flashers, exterior signaling mirrors, and for roadway construction hazard markers. Amber, red, and blue-green emitting visible LEDs are increasingly being used in much larger arrays of up to 400 components as stop/slow/go lights at intersections in urban and suburban intersections.
Multi-color combinations of pluralities of visibly colored LEDs are being used as the source of projected white light for illumination in binary-complementary and ternary RGB illuminators. Such illuminators are useful as vehicle or aircraft maplights, for example, or as vehicle or aircraft reading or courtesy lights, cargo lights, license plate illuminators, backup lights, and exterior mirror puddle lights. Other pertinent uses include portable flashlights and other illuminator applications where rugged, compact, lightweight, high efficiency, long-life, low voltage sources of white illumination are needed. Phosphor-enhanced "white" LEDs may also be used in some of these instances as illuminators.
Blue, violet, and UV emitting LEDs and LED lasers are being used extensively for data storage and retrieval applications such as reading and writing to high-density optical storage disks.
Opto-electronic radiation emitters and particularly LED devices are known to utilize more than one radiation emitter (i.e., LED chip). An example of such a structure is shown in FIG. 1. As illustrated, two LED chips 1 are mounted on a common electrical lead of a lead frame 2 and have wire bonds 3 attaching their other contact terminals to independent electrical leads of lead frame 2. An encapsulant 4 encapsulates the LEDs, wire bonds, and a significant portion of the leads so as to retain the physical integrity of the structure. As shown in FIG. 1, one end of encapsulant 4 has an outward-convex spherical surface 5 to serve as a lens at the light exit surface. The optical axis and focus of spherical surface 5 is typically centered between LED chips 1. Such an arrangement is problematic in that neither LED chip 1 is disposed at the focal point or on the central axis of spherical lens surface 5. This has the undesirable effect of magnifying and projecting an image of the LED chips at a distance from the LED device. Thus, if LED chips 1 emit light of different colors, a person looking directly at the LED device from a distance will clearly see two different color images of the LED chip point sources as magnified by lens 5. When the different colors from the LED chips are desired to mix so as to provide a different color, the ability of an observer to see the two different colored chips from a distance may render the device unsuitable for certain applications. For example, when a binary-complementary or ternary RGB chip set is utilized to provide effective white light for use as an indicator, a person looking directly at the indicator will see spots corresponding to the component colors of the device. When a binary-complementary or ternary RGB chip set is utilized to provide effective white light for use as an illuminator, the illuminator will project the magnified image of the differently colored LED chips such that the illuminating light is not uniformly white across the area of projected illumination.
The above imaging problem also can be present when one of the radiation emitters is an LED chip and the other radiation emitter is a photoluminescent material that is incorporated within the encapsulant or within a glob top over the LED chip. In such devices, the light emitted from the LED chip may not strike the photoluminescent material uniformly thereby exciting the photoluminescent material in a non-uniform fashion resulting in non-uniform light emission from the photoluminescent material. Further, the photoluminescent material may not be uniformly dispersed throughout the encapsulant thereby further exacerbating the problem.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,289,082 addresses the problem in utilizing two or three LED chips and proposes an encapsulant lens structure having elliptically segmented portions, with each portion aligned with respect to one of the LED chips and having its focal point at the corresponding LED chip position. While this approach may ameliorate the above problem, it nevertheless does not sufficiently overcome the problem so as to render a multi-chip LED device suitable for all applications where color mixing is required.
Accordingly, there is a need for an opto-electronic emitter device that includes a plurality of radiation emitters, whether electroluminescent and/or photoluminescent, that sufficiently disperses the light with a required intensity at a distance while not separating the images of the radiation emitters so as to create images of the two or three component colors.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Radiation emitter device having an integral micro-groove lens


A cell culture apparatus is provided, including a storage tank including one or a plurality of cell culture units, in which the cell culture unit includes a culture chamber having an inner surface-side space in which a culture solution is stored, a permeable membrane having a first surface to which cells are adherable and a second surface opposite to the first surface, the first surface facing the inner surface-side space, a culture solution storage chamber that stores the culture solution, a culture solution introduction flow path that introduces the culture solution in the culture solution storage chamber to the inner surface-side space, and a culture solution discharge flow path that sends, to the culture solution storage chamber, the culture solution which permeates through the membrane from the inner surface-side space and flows into an outer surface-side space that the second surface of the membrane faces.

In recent years, development costs for pharmaceutical drugs have increased exponentially (for example, see NPL 1), and the success rate of clinical trials has decreased year by year (for example, see NPL 2). One reason for this is that results of animal experiments cannot be directly applied to clinical trials due to species differences between animals and humans. In addition, in development of chemical products such as cosmetics, in some cases, it is difficult to use experimental animals, especially in Europe. Under such circumstances, there are increasing expectations for in vitro cell assays in which human-derived cultured cells are used.
On the other hand, monolayer culture used in cell assays in the related art is often problematic in that the environment surrounding the cells is greatly different from the in vivo environment, and many functions expressed in the body are lost in cultured cells. Advances in a micro-processing technique or a three-dimensional culture technique in recent years are expected to overcome the problem of losing many functions expressed in the body in cultured cells and simultaneously improve throughput and reliability of cell assays (for example, see NPL 3 and NPL 4). In particular, the concept of organ-on-a-chip, which handles a microfluidic device that reproduces a physiological three-dimensional culture environment in vitro as an organ, has expanded, and research considering application to development of pharmaceutical drugs is being globally developed (for example, see NPL 5 and NPL 6). Furthermore, the concept of body-on-a-chip, which aims to reproduce an individual response by connecting a plurality of organ models reconstructed in vitro with each other through micro-flow paths or the like has also been proposed and has been rapidly attracting attention (for example, see NPL 7).
As described above, a cell culture apparatus that reconstructs an organ model formed of human-derived cultured cells in vitro and reproduces physiological functions is expected to improve the reliability of cell assays. For example, since the liver is a major organ involved in drug metabolism in the living body, expectations for a culture technique of a three-dimensional liver tissue are particularly high. In order to evaluate drug metabolism using three-dimensional liver tissue, the liver function has to be maintained for a long time in vitro. For this reason, it is necessary to construct a three-dimensional tissue having a vascular network, but a method for constructing a three-dimensional tissue having a vascular network in vitro has not as yet been established. Therefore, constructing a three-dimensional tissue having a vascular network in vitro has become a major challenge.
In NPL 8 and PTL 1, an apparatus for perfusion culture of a three-dimensional tissue by disposing cells on a membrane and feeding a culture solution to the membrane using an external peristaltic pump or a built-in peristaltic pump has been reported.

Cell culture apparatus and cell culture method


The invention provides a cloth washer, a dish washer-dryer and a control system associated therewith, which facilitate establishing of a special operating program. The cloth washer comprises selector means for selecting one of a plurality of basic operating programs, which are individually preprogrammed with specifications of washing operation, rinsing operation and spin-dry operation, special operating program setting means for establishing a special operating program by correcting at least one of the specifications of the washing operation, the rinsing operation and the spin-dry operation preprogrammed for the one selected by the selector means among the plurality of basic operating programs, and control means for controlling the washing operation, the rinsing operation and the spin-dry operation according to the special operating program set by the special operating program setting means.

With reference to FIG. 21 through FIG. 23, description is provided on a conventional washing machine which performs washing operation, rinsing operation and spin-dry operation according to a special operating program established by correction made on a basic operating program having preprogrammed specifications for the washing operation, the rinsing operation and the spin-dry operation.
FIG. 21 is a vertically sectioned side view depicting a structure of conventional cloth washer 390, FIG. 22 is a circuit block diagram showing the structure of conventional cloth washer 390, and FIG. 23 is a front view depicting an exterior of control panel 398 equipped in conventional cloth washer 390.
Cloth washer 390 is provided with enclosure 325 having generally a rectangular parallelepiped shape. Enclosure 325 has water receiving tub 321 of generally a cylindrical shape disposed to the inside thereof. Water receiving tub 321 is suspended on enclosure 325 with suspension rods 324. Water receiving tub 321 is provided in it with washing-cum-drying basket 322 of generally a cylindrical shape. In the bottom of washing-cum-drying basket 322, pulsator 323 is attached to a vertically mounted shaft in a freely rotatable manner.
Water receiving tub 321 is provided with motor 327 for driving pulsator 323. Motor 327 consists of a brushless D.C. motor. Power shifting mechanism 326 is arranged between motor 327 and pulsator 323. Power shifting mechanism 326 decelerates a driving force of motor 327 and transmits it to pulsator 323 during a washing cycle, but transmits the driving force of motor 327 directly in one-to-one ratio to pulsator 323 and washing-cum-drying basket 322 during a spin-dry cycle.
Water receiving tub 321 has cover 328 on top of it to constitute a discharge port for water splay. Water supply valve 331 is installed above water receiving tub 321. Water supply valve 331 is provided for supplying water to washing-cum-drying basket 322. Drain valve 332 is installed beneath water receiving tub 321. Drain valve 332 is provided for draining the washing water from water receiving tub 321.
Water receiving tub 321 has connecting port 330 at a lower part of it. Water receiving tub 321 also has water level detector 329. Water level detector 329 converts a water pressure at connecting port 330 into an electrical frequency for detecting a level of the water inside water receiving tub 321.
Motor 327 is driven by inverter circuit 337. Inverter circuit 337 has six switching elements 338A to 338F. Each of switching elements 338A to 338F has a parallel circuit comprising a power transistor and a diode.
Cloth washer 390 has power supply 340. Power supply 340 delivers a voltage to inverter circuit 337 via a D.C. power converter comprised of diode bridge 341, choke coil 342 and smoothing capacitor 343. Power supply 340 also supplies the voltage to a pump, which is not shown in the figure, to water supply valve 331, drain valve 332 and power shifting mechanism 326. Motor 327 is provided with three position detectors 335. Each of position detectors 335 detects a rotating position of motor 327.
Cloth washer 390 is provided with control unit 303. Control unit 303 has rotation controller 334. Rotation controller 334 controls driving circuit 336 based on the rotating position of motor 327 detected by each of position detectors 335 and the water level in water receiving tub 321 detected by water level detector 329. Driving circuit 336 drives inverter circuit 337 according to a direction provided by rotation controller 334.
The pump, which is not shown in the figure, water supply valve 331, drain valve 332 and power shifting mechanism 326 are connected to component drive unit 333. Component drive unit 333 drives the pump, not shown in the figure, water supply valve 331, drain valve 332 and power shifting mechanism 326 respectively according to a direction provided by control unit 303.
Cloth washer 390 is provided with control panel 398. Control panel 398 has operating program selector button 304J for selecting any one of a plurality of basic operating programs and a special operating program, and a plurality of operating program selection lamps 304D corresponding respectively to the plurality of basic operating programs and the special operating program. Each of operating program selection lamps 304D comprises an LED. The basic operating programs include "regular program", "short program" and "in-home cleaning program", for instance. The "regular program" represents the most standard operating program, in which a washing time is set for "9 minutes", a number of rinse cycles for "2 times with supplying water", and a spin-dry time for "7 minutes", for example. The "short program" is a basic operating program designed to complete the washing in a hurry, and it has a washing time set for "3 minutes", a number of rinse cycles for "once with supplying water", and a spin-dry time for "3 minutes", for example. The "in-home cleaning program" is another basic operating program designed for the "dry-cleaning" items using the cloth washer for household use, and it has a washing time set for "12 minutes", a number of rinse cycles for "2 times with impounded water", and a spin-dry time for "40 seconds", for example. The "special operating program" is so designed that a washing time for the washing operation, a number of rinse cycles for the rinsing operation, and a spin-dry time for the spin-dry operation can be set arbitrarily. Operating program selection lamp 304D is provided for each of the "regular program", the "short program", the "in-home cleaning program", and the "special operating program". These operating program selection lamps 304D light up alternately from the "regular program", "short program", "in-home cleaning program" and "special operating program" in this sequential order, at each time operating program selector button 304J is pressed.
Control panel 398 has input unit 304 for entering a washing time for the washing operation, a number of rinse cycles for the rinsing operation and a spin-dry time for the spin-dry operation, and display section 305 for displaying the washing time, the number of rinse cycles and the spin-dry time entered from input unit 304. Input unit 304 comprises a plurality of buttons for setting the washing time, the number of rinse cycles and the spin-dry time respectively.
Control panel 398 also has special operating program setting unit 302. Special operating program setting unit 302 establishes a "special operating program" by correcting the washing time, the number of rinse cycles and the spin-dry time as originally preprogrammed for the "regular program", which represent the most standard operating program, with the washing time, the number of rinse cycles and the spin-dry time respectively entered from input unit 304.
In cloth washer 390 constructed as above, when a user selects the "special operating program" by pressing operating program selector button 304J, display section 305 displays in it the washing time, the number of rinse cycles, and the spin-dry time preprogrammed for the "regular program", which is the most standard operating program. The user then enters a desired washing time, a number of rinse cycles and a spin-dry time by pressing individual buttons comprising input unit 304 while referring to the washing time, the number of rinse cycles and the spin-dry time of the "regular program" displayed in display section 305, in an effort to make corrections for the washing time, the number of rinse cycles and the spin-dry time of the "regular program".
Next, special operating program setting unit 302 establishes the special operating program by correcting the originally preprogrammed washing time, the number of rinse cycles and the spin-dry time for the "regular program", according to the washing time, the number of rinse cycles and the spin-dry time as desired and entered therein by the user.
Thereafter, control unit 303 controls driving circuit 336 and component drive unit 333 in a manner to carry out the washing operation, the rinsing operation and the spin-dry operation according to the washing time, the number of rinse cycles and the spin-dry time set by special operating program setting unit 302.
The structure described above and relevant techniques are disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication, No. 2002-119788.
In the above-described structure of the conventional cloth washer 390, the user establishes the special operating program while referring to the washing time of "9 minutes", the number of rinse cycles of "2 times with supplying water" and the spin-dry time of "7 minutes" preprogrammed for the "regular program" representing the most standard operating program. Therefore, even when the user desires to establish the special operating program by making minor changes, for example, on the "short program" representing the basic operating program designed to complete the washing in a hurry, and consisting of the washing time for "3 minutes", the number of rinse cycles for "once with supplying water" and the spin-dry time for "3 minutes", all the user can refer is the "regular program" providing "9 minutes" of the washing time, "2 times with supplying water" for the number of rinse cycles and "3 minutes" of the spin-dry time, when setting user's desired washing time, number of rinse cycles and spin-dry time. In this instance, it is difficult for the user to know how the washing time, the number of rinse cycles and the spin-dry time are best set for the purpose. Accordingly, it has a problem that the user is required to review every detail of operation of the special operating program from the ground up and to determine the desired washing time, number of rinse cycles and spin-dry time before setting them.

Cloth washer, dish washer-dryer, and control system of the same

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a technique for input sensing using an input device having a display device with an integrated sensing device. Input sensing is performed over a long sensing interval to attain narrow-band filtering, and is temporarily suspended for short intervals (within the long sensing interval) to refresh the row selection logic of the display device.

Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to techniques for reducing display artifacts when resuming display updating in an integrated input device.
Description of the Related Art
Input devices including proximity sensor devices (also commonly called touchpads or touch sensor devices) are widely used in a variety of electronic systems. A proximity sensor device typically includes a sensing region, often demarked by a surface, in which the proximity sensor device determines the presence, location, and/or motion of one or more input objects. Proximity sensor devices may be used to provide interfaces for the electronic system. For example, proximity sensor devices are often used as input devices for larger computing systems, such as touchpads integrated in, or peripheral to, notebook or desktop computers. Proximity sensor devices are also often used in smaller computing systems, such as touch screens integrated in cellular phones or tablet computers.
Proximity sensor devices may include one or more types of electrodes configured for both updating display lines and transmitting input sensing signals. In such shared electrode configurations, display updating and input sensing may be performed during separate time periods in order to reduce the likelihood of interference between these processes. For example, input sensing may be performed during one or more non-display update periods during which display updating is paused. However, when display updating is paused for an extended period of time to perform input sensing, components that are used to perform display updating may discharge. Consequently, when display updating is resumed after an input sensing period, the voltages across these components may be at lower-than-desired levels, generating display artifacts.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved technique for reducing display artifacts when resuming display updating in an integrated input device.


A converter circuit and method for converting a pulse-width modulated input signal into a voltage output signal eliminates an offset due to component mismatch. The converter circuit includes at least two channels. Each channel has an operational amplifier with differential inputs and differential outputs. A first capacitor in each channel provides a negative feedback from a first output to a first input and a second capacitor in each channel provides a negative feedback from a second output to a second input. Each channel is conditioned by a switch array in response to the pulse-width modulated signal to operate in a selected one of an integration mode, a sampling mode and a reset mode. In each channel, in the integration mode, the switch array selectively connects the reference current source of first polarity either to the first or to the second input of the operational amplifier, and the reference current source of second polarity to the other of the first and second inputs. In the sampling mode, the switch array selectively disconnects the reference current sources of first and second polarity and the outputs of the operational amplifier provide the voltage output signal. In the reset mode, the switch array selectively disconnects the reference current sources of first and second polarity and short-circuits the first and second capacitors.

In some systems a signal value is encoded in the time domain using a pulse-width modulation (PWM). Typically, a duty-cycle <50% represents a negative value and a duty-cycle>50% represents a positive value. A conventional way to convert a pulse-width modulated signal to an analog voltage signal is to use filters that introduce delays and phase shift, and require large value RC components that cannot be implemented in an integrated circuit. Other approaches are to use a fast oversampling clock to count the PWM time difference or to use a switched-capacitor filter.

PWM-to-voltage converter circuit and method


A method for suturing a perforation of the present invention comprises the steps of: inserting an observation device into the hollow organ and confirming a proposed incision line for incising the hollow organ; determining a position to be sutured before incising the hollow organ along the proposed incision line; and suturing the perforation by tightening up a suture thread that penetrates through the hollow organ via the position to be sutured after incising the hollow organ along the proposed incision line and performing a medical treatment in an abdominal cavity through the perforation.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a transendoscopic suturing method. For example, this invention relates to a method for suturing a perforation formed in a wall of a hollow organ.
2. Description of Related Art
In the case of performing a treatment in a body of a patient, the treatment can be performed by incising the body of the patient by a surgical operation, or by an oral endoscopic treatment or a transanal endoscopic treatment. In the case of using an endoscope, the treatment can be performed by putting through a channel of the endoscope a forceps, high-frequency treatment instrument, incision instrument, or suturing apparatus. In the case of using an endoscope inserted in the lumen from a natural opening of a living body such as, for example, the mouth or anus to perform a medical treatment in the abdominal cavity, tissue is resected from the abdominal cavity or incised to form a hole, through which the medical treatment is carried out by moving the endoscope from the lumen to the abdominal cavity. After the end of the medical treatment, the formed hole is sutured by using a suturing apparatus.
A method for suturing a perforation formed in a hollow organ is disclosed in FIG. 1, FIG. 4, and FIGS. 5A to 5C of U.S. Pat. No. 5,297,536. According to this method, a flexible endoscope is inserted into the vicinity of the perforation via the mouth or the anus. Ambient tissue is aspirated by a tube of the flexible endoscope. An O-ring equipped at the outside of the tube is pushed out from the tip of the tube, and the aspirated tissue is clamped by the O-ring.
According to a suturing method shown in FIGS. 6 to 9 of Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2004-601, the tissue is drawn into an overtube, and a needle is penetrated from the proximal end to the distal end of this tissue. From the inside of the needle, an anchor with a suture thread is pushed out to the distal end of the tissue. After that, the needle is drawn out, and thereby the suture thread penetrates into the tissue, and tightens up the tissue.


A circuit for a parity tree is disclosed. In one embodiment, a circuit for a parity tree includes a pull-up circuit, a pull-down circuit, and a cross-couple circuit. The circuit, an XOR/XNOR circuit, includes both an output node and an inverted output node. For a given set of input signals, a pull-up path exists through the cross-couple circuit for one of the output node and the inverted output node, and wherein a pull-down path exists through the cross-couple circuit for the other one of the output node and the inverted output node.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electronic systems, and more particular, to circuitry for implementing parity trees.
2. Description of the Related Art
Computers and other digital systems utilize parity circuits in order to detect the presence of errors in transferred data. When data is transmitted, one or more extra bits may be appended onto the transmitted data for error checking purposes. The bits may be appended such that there is an even or an odd number of logic ones (or zeros) in the data. A parity checking circuit may receive the transmitted data and check to ensure that the data includes the correct number of ones or zeros.
Parity is typically checked by parity tree. The size of a parity tree is dependent on the size of the data for which parity is being checked. Thus, as digital systems are designed to process greater data sizes (e.g., 64 bit processors), the corresponding growth of parity trees increases the number of logic gates necessary to implement them, and may thus slow down the error-checking process. Thus, implementing parity trees with slow circuitry may reduce the overall speed at which the system for which parity is being checked may operate.


Medicinal compositions for treating, ameliorating or preventing diseases with sensitivity to 3,6-anhydrogalactopyranose represented by formula (1):

Recently, a mode of death of cells or tissues called as apoptosis (self-blasting or self-destruction of cells) has been noticed.
The apoptosis is a death which has been originally programmed in the genome of a cell and is different from necrosis which is a pathological cell death. Certain external or internal factors trigger the activation of a gene that programs the apoptosis to cause the biosynthesis of a programmed death protein. In some cases, a programmed death protein which has been present in a cell in its inactive form becomes activated. The active programmed death protein thus formed decomposes the cell to lead death.
Activation of the apoptosis in desired tissues or cells would make it possible to eliminate cells which are unnecessary or harmful from a living body in a natural manner, which is of very importance.

Use of algae-derived physiologically active substances for treating a carcinomatous disease

Abstract: foods, drinks, cosmetics, etc. containing as the active ingredient at least one member selected from the group consisting of the above-mentioned compound, its aldehyde, its hydrate and 2-O-methylated derivatives thereof and soluble sugar compounds containing the above compound. This compound also shows, for example, an apoptosis-inducing activity, a carcinostatic activity and inhibitory activities on the production of active oxygen, lipid peroxide radicals and NO, which makes it useful also as the active ingredient of antioxidants and preservatives.


A dishwashing method is dislosed wherein two detergent compositions, one being alkalinic and the other acidic are applied in sequence onto the dishes. The liquid compositions are applied onto the dishes directly without or with only a moderate dilution such that once applied onto the dishes they input respective alkalinic and acid pH's on the surface of the dishes.

Dishwashers are widely used both domestically as well as in mass eating places, e.g. restaurants. In such systems, a detergent, which may be a dry detergent, e.g. supplied as a powder, or a liquid detergent is applied onto the dishes at predetermined parts of the washing cycle. In certain dishwashers a combination of detergents is used.
Detergents can have an acidic pH or an alkalinic pH. There are advantages in using detergents giving rise to a high pH when being in solution, as well as such giving rise to a low pH. U.S. Pat. No. 5,338,474 (Fitch et al.) discloses a powdered automatic dishwashing detergent composition which, once in solution imparts on the solution a pH of 8-13, preferably 9-12. The composition of Fitch et al. is specifically suitable for removal of carbonoid stains from plastic ware. A composition having an alkalinic pH is also disclosed in International (PCT) Patent Application, WO 96/17047. An acidic detergent is disclosed in PCT Application 96/15215. The detergent of this patent has a pH lower than 2, and is useful in the food industry.

Dishwashing method and detergent composition therefor


A statistical machine translation (MT) system may include a compound splitting module to split compounded words for more accurate translation. The compound splitting module select a best split for translation by the MT system.

Machine translation (MT) is the automatic translation from a first language (a "source" language) into another language (a "target" language). Systems that perform an MT process are said to "decode" the source language into the target language.
A statistical MT system that translates foreign language sentences, e.g., French, into English may include the following components: a language model that assigns a probability P(e) to any English string; a translation model that assigns a probability P(f|e) to any pair of English and French strings; and a decoder. The decoder may take a previously unseen sentence f and try to find the e that maximizes P(e|f), or equivalently maximizes P(e)*P(f|e).
Compounded words may present a challenge for MT systems. Compounding of words is common in a number of languages (e.g., German, Dutch, Finnish, and Greek). An example of a compounded word is the German word "Aktionsplan", which was created by joining the words "Aktion" and "Plan". Words may be joined freely in such languages, which may greatly increase the vocabulary size of such languages.

Empirical methods for splitting compound words with application to machine translation


An electronic circuit unit of the present invention has a plurality of arms rotatably mounted on two side walls thereof facing each other. When the circuit unit is mounted to an electronic apparatus, the angle between each arm to contact the apparatus and the associated side wall of the circuit unit is adjustable in order to vary the height, or level, of the circuit unit above the apparatus. The circuit unit has side walls surrounding a circuit board accommodated in the unit. A top and a bottom cover may be mounted to the circuit unit. Each arm is connected to the respective side wall of the circuit unit by hooks, hinge structure, etc. With this configuration, the level of the circuit unit above the electronic apparatus is readily adjustable.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic circuit unit to be mounted on an electronic apparatus, and a method of mounting the same. More particularly, the present invention is concerned with an electronic circuit unit whose height, or level, can be easily adjusted, and a method of mounting the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is a common practice to configure an electronic circuit capable of being shared by a handy phone, radio modem and other electronic apparatuses as an electronic circuit unit. A conventional electronic circuit to be mounted to, e.g., a handy phone includes a shield case constituted by a thin sheet of metal, and a printed circuit board disposed in the shield case and carrying a radio circuit thereon. A plurality of legs or support members extend downward from the bottom or the sides of the circuit unit. To mount the circuit unit to the electronic apparatus, the legs are soldered to a printed circuit board included in the electronic apparatus or fastened thereto by screws.
However, the problem with the conventional circuit unit is that the legs have a preselected length and determine the height, or level, of the circuit unit above the electronic apparatus. This critically limits the design freedom of the inside arrangement of the apparatus as well as the configuration of a casing included in the apparatus. As a result, wasteful spaces occur in the apparatus, and in addition the apparatus itself becomes bulky.

Electronic circuit unit and method of mounting the same


An agglutinant compound and agglutinated product for reconstituting powders of vegetal origin, that allow employing a lamination or similar process, being said agglutinated product comprised of agglutinant compound and a vegetal mass formed by the powder of vegetal origin, that may range from 5-50% (mass/mass, regarding the powder mass used), with drying temperature ranging between 100-400° C., thickness between 0.05-2.50 mm and vegetal film humidity between 8 and 20%; being said agglutinant compound formed only by a mixture of polymers of hydroxylated organic acids, such as lactic acid and malic acid, and it may contain agents improving its agglutinant and sensorial properties.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of vegetal product industrial processes, and more particularly the invention objects to a practical and innovative chemical agglutinant compound for producing laminates from particulate aggregates and vegetal powder originated from tobacco, tea leaves, aromatic herbs, etc., such technology consists of composing a homogeneous mixture of vegetal structures residues rejected as raw material due to its granulometry out of dimensional standards, being larger or smaller than specific values, where the compound of the invention is aggregated with the material described to be laminated and dried so as to form leaves and pellicles with the objective of returning them to industrial process, rationalizing its reuse and providing economy and environmental responsibility.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well known in industry operating with vegetal products transformation processes such as tobacco, coffee, tea, mate herb, etc., that such processes release large quantities of residues as powders that in general are rejected. These powders have such granulometry so that industries are not interested therein, since they can not be processed for optimal consumption.
Due to these issues, it would be very convenient to have the possibility of reconstituting such powders so as to reconvert them in products of interest for consumption.

Agglutinant compound and agglutinated product for reconstituting powders of vegetal origin

IOTI International Industria e Comercio de Produtos Aromaticos LTDA


In a method and medical examination device for post-editing of at least one film clip created within an examination with the imaging medical examination device, at least one associated data item of at least one film clip is created. The data item designates the film shot and contains at least one suitable information item for the purpose of determining a specific sub-segment of the film clip.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a method for post-editing at least one film clip created within a film record of an examination with an imaging medical examination device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various imaging methods are known in the medical field, with which it is possible to create sequences of moving pictures and thus films. In the process, it is often the case that, within the framework of a longer study, those scenes that are actually of interest and suitable for preparation of a diagnosis are smaller segments of the entire film with a length of for example 2-10 seconds. These individual clips must then be excised for further processing and subsequent analysis in order to then be stored separately from the original film material as diagnostically relevant scenes in a storage device.
Those segments of the entire film material that have been recognized as being diagnostically relevant are thus stored as copies of the original material in addition to the original in a medical archive. Particularly if several interesting scenes have been excised, the quantity of data to be saved is significantly increased. If a medical assistant or a physician who is working on an evaluation or report of the film exposures would like to simultaneously look at the original film and the excised scenes, he or she must download various data records from the central archive, namely the original data and the post-edited data separated as film clips. This requires additional effort and causes significantly increased data traffic in the data network, which connects the computers, terminals, etc. involved in the film processing and evaluation.
If the film segments have been excised, it is not possible to modify the scenes of interest again afterwards. The excision causes the time stamps for the beginning and the end of a scene to be uniquely defined, and they can no longer be modified. If already existing clips are now separated a second time, it is necessary to save the corresponding film data twice.
On the whole a high memory requirement arises, while at the same time the handling of the image data is made rather awkward, so that work flows become complicated in the case of a subordinate further processing and evaluation. Accompanying this are high requirements for data transfer rates in the computer networks that are used as well as in the processor performances and memory capacities of the servers or workstation computers.

Method and medical examination apparatus for editing a film clip produced by medical imaging


An ignition coil apparatus for an internal combustion engine can be produced at low cost with a simple structure, and can be inserted into a bent plug hole without impairing insertability thereof. The apparatus is provided with a high voltage tower (2b) that holds a high voltage terminal (8) in its interior, and a cylindrical plug boot (10) that has electrical insulation and flexibility and is attached at its one end to the high voltage tower (2b). The plug boot 10 is installed on a main body of the internal combustion engine by being inserted into the bent plug hole. The plug boot (10) has a thin wall part (10a) of a thin thickness formed at a location facing in opposition to a bent portion of the plug hole.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ignition coil apparatus for an internal combustion engine in which a plug boot is installed on a main body of the internal combustion engine by being inserted into a bent plug hole.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the past, there has been known an internal combustion engine in which a plug hole is bent at its intermediate portion due to the complication of a cylinder head upper structure, the compact formation of a cylinder head and combustion chambers, and the adoption of a structure to arrange a multitude of spark plugs in a single cylinder to fire a mixture therein.
When an ignition coil apparatus for an internal combustion engine (hereinafter abbreviated as an "ignition coil") is installed on a main body of the internal combustion engine by inserting a plug boot into such a bent plug hole, for the purpose of preventing a reduction in the insertability or insertion property of the plug boot, for example, an ignition coil as described in a first patent document (Japanese patent application laid-open No. H5-52175) employs a bendable coil spring that is arranged between a first metal fitting and a second metal fitting in the flexible plug boot so as to bend an intermediate portion thereof.
However, in the ignition coil described in the above-mentioned first patent document, provision is required for the first metal fitting, the second metal fitting and the coil spring so as to bend the intermediate portion of the plug boot, thus posing a problem that the number of component parts required is increased and the production cost becomes high.
In addition, in the ignition coil having the plug boot molded with its intermediate portion being bent, there is also a problem that molding processing of the bent hollow plug boot is difficult.

Ignition coil apparatus for internal combustion engine


A system and method is disclosed for improving the efficiency of a service department when maintaining equipment. The equipment performs self-diagnosis and periodically reports a problem or other event by automatically generating an event code indicating that an event has occurred that requires maintenance of the equipment. The system then automatically posts initial information about the event on a secure message board, such as within the company's website, for access by one or more authorized personnel via a network. The event code is applied to a look-up table pre-programmed with rules identifying authorizations of certain personnel to receive posted information about the event and to contribute to a posting thread. A communications controller then applies the rules to the thread as the event is being resolved by the authorized personnel. Authorized personnel are allowed to dynamically modify the rules after the posting of the initial information.

Modern electronic equipment, such as servers, perform self-diagnostic routines and generate event flags when something is wrong. Events may include over-heating, data errors above a threshold, data delays, etc. Such events are then communicated to a computer, typically directly connected to the equipment, and the computer screen displays the event message. A technician in a service department then views the event message and takes the appropriate steps to resolve the event. One possible step is for the technician to post the event in the company's network, on-line, or in an email so the proper personnel or group can help resolve the event.
Various people may receive the thread of the related posts between the technical personnel, and some of the people may not be relevant to the problem to be resolved. As a result of unnecessary people being involved in the issue, or the omission of people that should be involved in the issue, efficiency is lowered and response time may be extended.
In a service environment, response time and efficiency are critical to maintain agreed upon service levels.
What would be desirable is a communication system for detecting events automatically generated by equipment, such as events identifying a problem to be solved, and controlling access to the information generated during the resolution of the event so only the proper personnel can be involved in resolving the problem.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2013/0061156, assigned to Salesforce.com, describes a social network system directed to sales people that includes filters for determining who is authorized to participate in or receive threads (related to sales issues), but such threads are initiated by human users who specify the desired filters. Such a system is not appropriate for resolving events totally initiated by equipment.

Dynamic filters for posted event messages initiated automatically by equipment


A system managing apparatus that monitors a status of a device, which is installed in an information processing apparatus, includes a connecting unit that connects the system managing apparatus with other system managing apparatus installed in other information processing apparatus to exchange information; and a monitoring-target switching unit that switches a device to be monitored from a device connected to the system managing apparatus to other device connected to the other system managing apparatus.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system managing apparatus, an information processing apparatus, and a method of implementing redundant system-managing-apparatus, and, more particularly to a system managing apparatus, an information processing apparatus, and a method of implementing redundant system-managing-apparatus that can realize a redundant configuration of the system managing apparatus at low cost with a simple mechanism.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, an information processing apparatus that requires high reliability such as a server device that operates for 24 hours a day takes, in many cases, a redundant configuration having double or multiplexed internal devices. With the redundant configuration, even when a fault occurs in a certain device during the operation, the same type of another device can take over the function and continue the operation.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-204172 discloses a technique of improving reliability of an information processing apparatus by providing redundant internal devices. According to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-204172, the information processing apparatus includes plural power supply devices. When a fault occurs in a power supply device in an operating status, another power supply device is changed to an operating status.
Recently, an information processing apparatus called a blade server that can store plural system blades (SB) within a casing is becoming popular. Each system blade can have a central processing unit (CPU) or a memory mounted thereon, and can be supplied with power from the casing to execute an independent processing. Provision of a blade server has high expandability as compared with provision of plural server devices, and installation space thereof is small.
According to the blade server system, a system managing apparatus called a management blade (MMB) that monitors devices such as the system blade and controls power supply is generally installed within the casing. Since the system managing apparatus plays a very important role of monitoring a status of the system blade and the like, many of relatively expensive blade servers have a redundant configuration having plural system managing apparatuses.
However, many of relatively low-price blade servers include only one system managing apparatus for cost reasons. With the configuration having no redundant system managing apparatus, when a fault occurs in this only one system managing apparatus, it is not only impossible to monitor the status of devices within the casing, but may lead to a serious trouble due to the fault in the device.

System managing apparatus, information processing apparatus, and method of implementing redundant system-managing apparatus


An embodiment of a protection system for an object includes first and second sensors and a processor coupled to the sensors. The sensors are mountable to a side of the object a predetermined distance apart, and each sensor is operable to detect a respective angle between the sensor and a location from which a projectile is fired toward the side. The processor is operable to determine from the detected angles whether the firing location is aligned with the object. If the firing location is aligned with the object, then the processor is operable to calculate from the detected angles and the predetermined distance a time window during which the processor estimates that the projectile will strike the object, and is operable to cause a protection unit to defend against the projectile for the duration of the time window. Such a protection system may be less expensive to acquire, install, or operate than prior protection systems, and may expand defenses more efficiently than prior protection systems.

Systems are available for protecting an object, such as a vehicle, or a group of objects, such as a convoy of vehicles, from a projectile fired at the object or group of objects. Examples of the projectile include a shell and a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG).
FIG. 1 is a plan view of a convoy 10 of vehicles 121-12n, such as tanks, and two RPG launchers 14a and 14b for firing RPGs (not shown in FIG. 1) at the vehicles.
Each vehicle 121-12n includes a respective protection system 161-16n, which protects the vehicle (and perhaps nearby vehicles) from damage caused by fired RPGs, and which protects the passengers of the vehicle (and perhaps the passengers of nearby vehicles) from injuries caused by the fired RPGs. For example, one or more of the systems 161-16n may launch countermeasures (not shown in FIG. 1) or other enable defenses in response to the launcher 14a firing an RPG at the convoy 10. Such countermeasures/defenses may damage or destroy the fired RPG. Or, where the launcher 14a fires a projectile that can change its direction after firing (e.g., a guided missile), such countermeasures/defenses may cause the projectile to veer away from the convoy 10.
Unfortunately, each protection system 161-16n may be relatively expensive to acquire and install. For example, a protection system 16 that incorporates radar may cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to acquire and install on a vehicle such as a tank.
Furthermore, the protection systems 16 may be relatively inefficient and expensive to operate. For example, if the system 161 in the convoy 10 detects the firing of an RPG (not shown in FIG. 1) from the launcher 14a, the system 161 may launch countermeasures, and may also cause the other systems 162-16n in the convoy to launch countermeasures, even though countermeasures launched by fewer than all of the systems 16 are sufficient to disable or destroy the fired RPG. The loss of the unnecessarily launched countermeasures may reduce the convoy's mission time and may compromise the systems' ability to defend the convoy 10 against subsequent attacks. Furthermore, the time and the cost of replacing the unnecessarily launched countermeasures may be significant.

System and method for defending against a projectile

BAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration Inc.


A noise-cut filter device for a power converter, including at least one noise-cut filter, for filtering switching noise occurring upon a switching operation of a semiconductor switching device of the power converter is disclosed. In this filter device, the noise-cut filter includes first and second planar conductors, and a dielectric sheet having upper and lower surfaces on which the first and second conductors are disposed to face each other through the dielectric sheet. The first and second planar conductors cooperate with the dielectric sheet to form a circuit having both functions of an inductor and a condenser. The current of a main circuit of the power converter flows through the opposite ends of the first planar conductor, while the current based on the switching noise, which flows from the first conductor to the second conductor, is led to ground by the second conductor.

Semiconductor switching devices of a power converter, such as an inverter, perform switching operations based on drive signals which undergo pulse width modulation (PWM) where the carrier frequency is in the range of about several KHz to about twenty KHz. Due to these switching operations, switching noises having frequency components of several dozens of KHz are generated from the power converter.
Since frequency components of the switching noises that are greater than one hundred KHz have adverse influences on external equipment, various legal regulations have been laid on power converters in recent years, in an attempt to reduce or eliminate such adverse influences. To deal with these regulations, noise-cut filters are installed on the power converters.
A known example of noise-cut filter for a power converter includes a single reactor formed by winding an electric wire around a core, such as of ferrite, amorphous alloy or crystalline alloy, and a single condenser in the form of a film or a chip. The reactor and the condenser are coupled into an inverted L-shape, to thus provide a filter for filtering switching noises that occur upon switching operations of semiconductor switching devices of the power converter.
The reactor used in this known type of noise-cut filter generally has a toroidal shape, and the condenser is a pin-inserted type and has a flat shape or a cylindrical shape. Where these reactor and condenser are mounted on a printed board within the power converter, space required for mounting will be greater than the sum of volumes of individual elements. Further, mounting of such filters with separate wiring results in an undesirably large number of coupling portions, and a complicated manner of fixing individual components.
Commercially available so-called composite LC filters of a chip type or pin-inserted type, in which an inductor and a condenser are integrated, have a cut-off frequency of several MHz or higher, whereas the cut-off frequency normally needed to filter switching noises occurring upon switching operations of semiconductor switching devices is as low as about 150 KHz, for example. Further, in a power converter such as an inverter, several amperes of current is required to flow through the commercially available filter. Thus, it has been difficult to employ the commercially available, low-cost composite LC filter for use in the power converter.


An operation assisting system enhances the operator's willingness to participate in energy-saving efforts. The operation assisting system stores information about the actual operation of operated equipment carried out by the operator, evaluates the stored operation information, and displays the results of evaluation. The evaluation results relate to the cost concerning the operated equipment, the cost of supplying energy to the operation target facility, the cost concerning the operated equipment, the amount of emission of carbon dioxide, nitride oxide, and global warming substances, the amount of primary energy consumption, the crude oil-converted amount of energy consumption, the amount of excess or shortage of supply of energy, or electric power quality.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technology for assisting or guiding a cogenerator operation method, so that necessary quantities of electric power or steam for use in factories or other buildings can be optimally generated in view of particular purposes, such as for the minimization of cost or carbon dioxide emissions. The invention also relates to an energy management system for assisting energy cutting measures in factories or other buildings, such as by assisting or guiding certain air conditioning settings. Beyond energy applications, the invention can also be used in assisting the operator of a system in which a final plan is decided upon based on appropriate results provided by computer and those provided by human (operator) senses. Furthermore, the invention can be applied to systems in which the appropriateness of results (processes) of human decisions is evaluated for the purpose of improving humanity's decision-making abilities.
2. Background Art
Due to problems such as global warming, finding methods of saving energy is now a pressing concern for humanity. In the 3rd Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (in Kyoto), concrete targets were set for reducing amounts of carbon dioxide emissions. In Japan, an Energy Conservation Law has been made, and large factories now employ certified energy conservation specialists. As a means of conserving energy, cogeneration technology is gaining attention. Cogeneration generates electric power/steam (heat) from fuels and utilizes both. A cogeneration system is comprised of an intricate combination (flow of energy) of elements such as a gas turbine, steam turbine, boiler, gas engine, micro-gas turbine, and heat regenerator. The electric or steam (thermal) power demand at operation target factories or buildings varies continuously. Thus, it is difficult for operators to calculate or plan how cogenerator operating equipment, including gas turbines, steam turbines, boilers, gas engines and micro-gas turbines, should be operated in order to meet the changing energy demand every day or for each instance in an energy- and cost-efficient manner. Accordingly, there is a need for a cogenerator operation assisting system that can predict electric power/steam demand at factories or other buildings and determine the most energy- or cost-efficient method of operating gas or steam turbines depending on the predicted electric power/steam demand, thus providing operation guidance.
In the prior art, a system has been proposed that predicts the electric power/steam demand at an operation target facility for a given day on an hourly basis based on weather conditions and schedule. The system then determines a cost-minimizing method of operating the cogenerator for supplying the necessary electric power/steam, thus providing guidance to the operator.
JP Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2000-274308 A discloses a method of determining a cost-minimizing power supply (operation) method based on a combination of electricity purchase and cogeneration. JP Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 9-285010 A (1997) describes a method of predicting demand based on demand prediction results provided by a plurality of demand prediction means.
Prediction of electric power/steam demand on a continuous basis is required, because electric power cannot be stored. Machine-based predictions, however, are often inaccurate. Various counter-measures have been proposed, such as disclosed in the above-mentioned publication JP Kokai No. 9-285010, and yet the results are not accurate enough. As a result, operators, unable to put faith in demand predictions on the basis of which they are supposed to plan an optimum operation method, begin to rely on educated guesses and disregard the use of machines even for the calculation or planning of a cost- and energy-minimizing method of supplying energy, which they are best at. This has not necessarily resulted in energy- and cost-saving operations and, moreover, often discouraged the operators' enthusiasm for the cause of energy conservation, for they have no idea how much they are contributing to energy-saving efforts.

Operation-assisting system and operation-assisting computer program


Micro-execution is the ability to run any code segment in isolation. Implementations for micro-execution of code segments are described. A test engine determines an effective address of a memory operation of an instruction of an executable program. The test engine determines, prior to performing the memory operation and based on a memory policy, that the effective address is to be replaced with a replacement address. Based on determining that the effective address is to be replaced, the test engine allocates the replacement address and executes the instruction based on the allocated replacement address.

A code segment of a large, legacy program is written by a programmer with the expectation that another portion of the program (i.e., one or more other code segments) will have established a relevant execution state for the execution of the code segment, including the inputs and addresses referenced by the instructions of the code segment. It is often useful to test a code segment of a larger program, but testing a code segment in isolation involves establishing an execution state; otherwise the code segment's output is likely to be uninteresting or cause a system crash.
Various tools have been developed to assist in the testing of code fragments or segments. For example, in order to execute and test software segments in isolation (e.g., "unit testing"), a test harness can be written to isolate the component from the other components of the program. A test harness includes code and data that emulates the larger executable environment in which the code segment is designed to operate. But manual test harness programming is time-consuming and expensive. In automatic test-harness generation, the code segment is statically analyzed in order to test its input/output interface and test harness inputs are automatically generated for the detected interface. Automatic test harness generation often requires user guidance and results in imprecise tests, and has therefore not been widely implemented.
Within object-oriented programming, mock objects for unit testing simulate the behavior of other objects that are impractical to include within the testing environment. Frameworks for mock object creation and unit testing are not automatic and require user set-up. These are implemented only for object-oriented languages, and not for legacy code, such as code written in C, C++, etc., or for large systems.


The present invention provides a novel angiogenesis inhibitor, LK68 whose amino acid sequence is identical with the human apolipoprotein (a) kringle domains IV36, IV37 and V38, a cDNA sequence encoding the LK68, a recombinant expression vector comprising the cDNA, a recombinant microorganism transformed with the recombinant expression vector and a novel use of the LK68 as an anticancer agent and a method for treating angiogenesis-mediated disease. LK68, LK6, LK7 and LK8 exhibit inhibitory activities on the cultured endothelial cell proliferation as well as on the endothelial cell migration. LK68 and its single kringles also inhibit the normal development of capillaries in the chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM). It was also showed that systemic administration of LK68 causes the inhibition of primary tumor growth, which is correlated with a suppression of tumor-induced angiogenesis. Accordingly, LK68 protein, its single kringles or their functional equivalents may be applied for the development of a potent anti-cancer agent, which is highly effective for angiogenesis-mediated diseases covering cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, ocular angiogenic disease, etc.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a novel angiogenesis inhibitor, LK68 whose amino acid sequence is identical with the human apolipoprotein(a) kringle domains IV36, IV37 and V38, more specifically, to an amino acid sequence of the LK68, a cDNA sequence encoding the LK68, a recombinant expression vector comprising the cDNA, a recombinant microorganism transformed with the recombinant expression vector and a novel use of the LK68 as an anticancer agent and a method for treating the angiogenesis-mediated disease.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Angiogenesis is a biological process of generating new blood vessels into a tissue or organ. Under normal physiological conditions, humans or animals undergo angiogenesis only in very specific restricted situations. For example, angiogenesis is normally observed in wound healing, fetal and embryonal development and formation of the corpus luteum, endometrium and placenta. It has been reported that new vessel growth is tightly controlled by many angiogenic regulators (see: Folkman, J., Nature Med., 1: 27–31, 1995a), and the switch of the angiogenesis phenotype depends on the net balance between up-regulation of angiogenic stimulators and down-regulation of angiogenic suppressors.
An imbalance of the angiogenic process has been shown to contribute to pathological disorders such as diabetic retinopathy, rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis (see: Folkman, J., Nature Med., 1: 27–31, 1995a). Especially, both primary and metastatic tumors need to recruit angiogenic vessels for their growth (see: Folkman, J., New Engl. J. Med., 285:1182–1186, 1971; Folkman, J., J. Biol. Chem., 267:10931–10934, 1992). If this angiogenic activity could be repressed or eliminated, then the tumor, although present, would not grow. There are many reports suggesting that inhibiting tumor angiogenesis should provide a practical approach to long term control of the disease. Blocking positive regulators of angiogenesis or utilizing negative regulators to suppress angiogenesis results in a delay or regression of experimental tumors. If the angiogenic activity could be repressed or eliminated, then the tumor, although present, would not grow. Moreover, in the disease state, prevention of angiogenesis could avert the damage caused by the invasion of the new microvascular system effectively. Therefore, therapies directed at control of the angiogenic process could lead to the abrogation or mitigation of these diseases.
Therefore, what is needed is a novel angiogenesis inhibitor which can inhibit the unwanted growth of blood vessels, especially into tumors. An anticancer agent comprising the angiogenesis inhibitor should be able to overcome the activity of endogenous growth factors in premetastatic tumors and prevent the formation of the capillaries in the tumors thereby inhibiting the growth of the tumors. The anticancer agent should also be able to modulate the formation of capillaries in other angiogenic processes, such as wound healing and reproduction. Finally, the anticancer agent and method for inhibiting angiogenesis should preferably be non-toxic and produce few side-effects.
Until now, at least 10 endogenous angiogenic inhibitors have been identified in the art (see: O'Reilly, M. S. et al., Cell, 88: 277–285, 1997). One such molecule is angiostatin, which consists of the plasminogen kringle I through IV(see: O'Reilly, M. S. et al., Cell, 79:315–328, 1994). When applied systemically, angiostatin powerfully inhibits both primary tumor growth and metastasis without toxicity, and angiogenesis induced by bFGF as well (see: O'Reilly, M. S. et al., Nature Med., 2:689–692, 1996). These anti-tumor effects were accompanied by a marked reduction of microvessel density within the tumor mass, indicating that suppression of angiogenesis was associated with the inhibition of tumor growth.
Kringles are protein structural domains composed of approximately 80 amino acids and three intramolecular disulfide bonds. Kringle structures are found in many proteins such as prothrombin (see: Walz, D. A. et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., U.S.A., 74:1969–1973, 1977), plasminogen(see: Ponting, C. P., Blood Coagul. & Fibrinolysis, 3:605–614, 1992), urokinase(see: Pennica, D. et al., Nature, 301:579–582 1983), hepatocyte growth factor(see: Lukker, N. A. et al., Protein Eng., 7:895–903, 1994), and apolipoprotein("apo")(a)(see: McLean, J. W. et al., Nature, 330:132–137, 1987). These domains appear to be independent folding units, but their functional role is not yet known. The previous reports represent that the kringle structure can act as inhibitors of endothelial cell migration and proliferation during angiogenesis. Specifically, prothrombin's kringle 2 and plasminogen's kringle 1–4, and 5 have been shown to be anti-angiogenic(see: Ji, W. R. et al., FASEB J., 15:1731–1738, 1998a; Ji, W. R. et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 247:414–419, 1998b; Cao, Y. et al., J. Biol. Chem., 271:29461–29467, 1996; Cao, Y. et al., J. Biol. Chem., 272:22924–22928, 1997; Barendsz-Janson, A. F., J. Vasc. Res., 35:109–114, 1998; Lee, T. H. et al., J. Biol. Chem., 273:28805–28812, 1998).
Apolipoprotein(a), one of the proteins having kringle structures, is a candidate for a novel angiogenesis inhibitor. Apo(a) is covalently attached to apoB-100, the main protein component of low density lipoprotein(LDL) to form lipoprotein(a) (see: Fless, G. M., J. Biol. Chem., 261: 8712–8718, 1986). Elevated plasma concentration of Lp(a) represents a major independent risk factor for artherosclerosis(see: Armstrong, V. W. et al., Artherosclerosis, 62:249–257, 1986; Assmann, G., Am. J. Cardiol., 77:1179–1184, 1996; Bostom, A. G. et al., JAMA, 276:544–548, 1996). Although several pathogenic activities have been reported, the physiological role of apo(a) has not yet been established(see: Lawn, R. M. et al., J. Biol. Chem., 271:31367–31371, 1996; Scanu, A. M. and Fless, G. M., J. Clin. Invest., 85:1709–1715, 1990; Utermann, G., Science, 246:0904–910, 1989).
Apo(a) contains two types of kringle domains and an inactive protease-like domainsee: the first 37 kringle domains are ˜75% identical to plasminogen kringle IV, and the last kringle domain is 90% identical to plasminogen kringle V. Interestingly, the kringle IV-like domain is present in 15–40 copies in different human alleles of the apo(a) gene. In this regard, it is feasible to develop an inhibitor of tumor angiogenesis and growth employing the Apo(a) kringle structures.

Nucleic acid encoding angiogenesis inhibitor