A double-row rolling bearing includes an outer member having two raceway surfaces on an inner circumference thereof, an inner member having two raceway surfaces on an outer circumference thereof, the inner member being arranged on an inner side of the outer member, two rows of rolling elements assembled into a space between each of the two raceway surfaces of the outer member and each of the two raceway surfaces of the inner member, and a retainer for retaining the rolling elements. Any one of the outer member and the inner member includes a pair of raceway rings, both of the pair of raceway rings being fastened with a fixing bolt and having positioning holes into which a positioning member is fit-inserted, to thereby suppress misalignment in a radial direction of the pair of raceway rings.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a CT scanner 100 as one type of medical equipment. The CT scanner 100 diagnoses and analyzes a pathological symptom through irradiation with an X-ray or the like. The CT scanner 100 includes an examination unit 101 having an opening 101A, and a bed unit 102 movable in the opening 101A of the examination unit 101 with an examinee 110 such as a human body lying thereon. The examination unit 101 includes a ring-shaped rotator 105 (gantry) having an X-ray irradiation device 103 and a detection unit 104 arranged so as to be opposed to each other in a diameter direction. The rotator 105 is rotatably supported by a cylindrical stationary unit 106 through intermediation of a bearing 51.
The CT scanner 100 rotates the rotator 105 about the bed unit 102 while irradiating the examinee 110 with an X-ray from the X-ray irradiation device 103 so as to detect the X-ray having passed through the examinee 110 with the detection unit 104, thereby obtaining a tomographic image of the examinee 110.
In the CT scanner 100, in order to form the opening 101A of the examination unit 101 into such a dimension that the examinee 110 may pass through the opening 101A (diameter of about 1 m), and to downsize the CT scanner 100 itself, it is necessary to reduce a space of a rotation support unit 107 having the bearing 51 arranged therein. Therefore, a so-called ultrathin double-row rolling bearing having a significantly small ball diameter with respect to a pitch circle diameter of balls is used as the bearing 51. In this case, the ultrathin rolling bearing refers to an ultrathin large-scale rolling bearing having an inner diameter of 650 mm or more and having a value of a ratio Db/PCD of a diameter Db of each of rolling elements to a pitch circle diameter PCD of the rolling elements of 0.03 or less.
Patent Document 1 discloses such an ultrathin double-row rolling bearing that an inner member is formed of a pair of raceway rings, which are fastened with a fitting structure while a concentric state is kept. FIG. 9 illustrates this double-row rolling bearing. The double-row rolling bearing 51 mainly includes an outer member 52, an inner member 53, rolling elements 54, and retainers 55. The double-row rolling bearing is a double-row angular ball contact bearing having balls 54 arranged in two rows as the rolling elements. The balls 54 and 54 assembled into a space between each of two rows of raceway surfaces 56 and 56 of the outer member 52 and each of two rows of raceway surfaces 57 and 57 of the inner member 53 are brought into contact with the raceway surfaces 56 and 57 at a contact angle, and the double-row angular ball contact bearing is constructed in back-to-back arrangement so as to be suitable for supporting a moment load.
The inner member 53 is formed of a pair of raceway rings 53a and 53b. The raceway ring 53a has a screw hole 58a, and the raceway ring 53b has a fit-insertion hole 58b. The raceway rings 53a and 53b are fastened with a bolt 59. In this case, due to the fitting structure formed by a projection 60a formed on the raceway ring 53a and a recess 60b formed on the raceway ring 53b, misalignment between the raceway rings 53a and 53b is prevented. The bolt 59 is fastened to pressurize the raceway ring 53b toward the raceway ring 53a side, thereby applying a preload (minus clearance) to the inside of the bearing.


An apparatus or method for preserving the relationships or dependencies between content of files in a file system or between content of files in separate file systems. The preservation of relationships or dependencies may require the preservation of the files and their content as well. In one embodiment, the method includes receiving a first instruction that, when implemented, performs an operation involving a first file in a file system, wherein the first file is related to the second file. In response to receiving the first instruction, a second instruction is selected that, when implemented, performs a second operation involving the first file or a second file, wherein the second instruction is implemented before or after implementing the first instruction.

Hard disks are commonly used to store content (e.g., data, applications, executables, libraries, etc.) used by computer systems. Usually, the only way to access content stored on a hard disk is by specifying its physical location (in terms of cylinder, head, and sector). File systems were invented to more easily track content stored on hard disks. A file system, as its name implies, treats different sets of content as files. Each file is separate from others. Over and above content stored within it, each file includes or is associated with additional data including the file's name, the file's access permissions, the date and time of the file's creation, access, modification, etc.
While file systems in the past have included no more complexity than that already mentioned, present-day file systems include mechanisms that make it easier to group files together. The most commonly used mechanism to group files is the directory. Often implemented as a special type of file, directories make it possible to make hierarchical structures of files and directories. While most files have these attributes in common, they vary in implementation details, meaning that not all file systems can be accessed by all operating systems. Some operating systems (e.g., Linux-based operating systems) include support for many popular files systems, making it possible to easily access the file systems of other operating systems.
File systems can be accessed, modified, etc., using file system instructions. For example, the "create" file system instruction allows a new file to be made within a file system. The create instruction is useful, for example, when a new file is saved. The create instruction can change directory entries as well as set up memory space for a new file in the file system. A "delete" file system instruction removes a file from a file system. The space used by the deleted file will be returned to the free space available to the file system. In a file system where the filename is stored along with the file, the "rename" file system instruction will change this. The "open" file system instruction opens a file in preparation for reading the contents of the file, writing new content to the file, appending to the file, etc. The "close" file system instruction closes a file after some action (e.g., for reading the contents of the file, writing new content to the file, appending to the file, etc) has occurred. The "read" file system instruction reads content from a file into buffers within a process. A "write" file system instruction will cause new content to be written to a file. Access to a file will be controlled by permissions attached or associated with the file. Additional file system instructions are contemplated.
Content within a file may have a relationship or dependency with content in one or more other files in the same file system or other file systems. Additionally, content within a file may have a relationship with an entity (e.g., an application, a user, etc.) not contained in a file. Examples of dependencies or relationships include: a "needed-by" relationship between an entity such as an executable or library and a configuration file; a "used-by" relationship between contents of files or between the content of a file and an entity such as an application; a "refers-to" relationship between content in files or between content in a file and another entity; a "group-by" relationship between files or between a file and another entity.
Many of these file relationships should be preserved to insure proper operation of computer systems. Unfortunately, the relationships between files or between a file and another entity can be unwittingly lost when file system instructions are implemented. To illustrate, consider an HTML file (i.e., a web page) that contains a link to content within a second file, thus creating a "refers-to" relationship between the HTML file and the second file. If a file system instruction, when implemented, renames the second file, the link within the HTML file will become invalid, and the relationship between the files will be lost. In another example, suppose content in file F1 is "needed-by" content of another file F2 such that F1 should not be deleted before F2. If a file system instruction, when implemented, deletes F1 before F2, the needed-by relationship between F1 and F2 will be lost. Accordingly, a method or apparatus is needed which functions to maintain or preserve relationships between files or between files and other entities (e.g., applications, users, etc.) that can otherwise be lost when a file system instruction is implemented.

Method for preserving relationships/dependencies between data in a file system


A color printer is equipped with a digital micromirror device having at least one micromirror array constituted of a number of micromirrors. Each micromirror changes its tilt angle in accordance with a value of mirror drive data of one bit. As the mirror drive data takes a value "1", the micromirror reflects spot light toward color paper, whereas as the mirror drive data takes a value "0", it reflects spot light toward a light absorption plate. During red exposure, red light from a red LED unit is incident upon the digital micromirror device which is then driven by red mirror drive data to expose a red image on the color paper. Next, during radiation of a green LED unit, the digital micromirror device is driven by green mirror drive data to expose a green image on the color paper. Lastly, a blue image is exposed on the color paper by using a blue LED unit. A full-color image is therefore printed on the color paper through three-color line- or frame-sequential exposure.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a color printer for recording a color image on photosensitive material, and more particularly to a color printer using a color spatial light modulator having small size mirrors disposed in line or matrix, of each of which the light reflection direction is variable.
2. Description of the Related Art
A color photographic printer for projecting an image of a negative film onto photosensitive material such as color paper is most common as a color printer for recording a color image (including characters and line drawing) on color paper. Recently, a color printer is used in practice which drives a display unit by image data to record a color image on color paper. Such a color printer includes a CRT type, a laser type, a liquid crystal type, and the like.
A CRT type color printer includes a line type and a frame type. The line type uses a flat color CRT drawing red, green, and blue three rasters to form a color image through three-color line-sequential exposure. The frame type uses a fine precision monochrome CRT and a filter turret in which a monochrome image of a three-color image is sequentially formed, and corresponding color filters are set in front of the monochrome CRT to convert the monochrome images into red, green, and blue images and sequentially record them. The CRT type therefore requires a large size CRT and a complicated CRT drive circuit.
A laser color printer uses lasers for generating three-color laser beams and spatial light modulators for modulating the intensity of each laser beam with image data of each color. Intensity modulated laser beams of three colors are synthesized, and the synthesized laser beam is scanned by a polygon mirror or the like in the width direction of color paper to print a color image line-sequentially. With the laser color printer, the intensity of a laser beam is required to be modulated serially in unit of dot so that modulation of one line takes a relatively long time. Furthermore, since an exposure time for one pixel is short, a reciprocity law failure of color paper may occur being unable to reproduce an original image with high fidelity. Still further, a laser color printer cannot perform frame exposure.
A liquid crystal color printer uses as a spatial light modulator a liquid crystal unit having a number of micro light bulbs disposed in line. This liquid crystal color filter has a low transmittance so that a bright light source is necessary, and since it has a low aperture efficiency (vignetting factor), the image quality is degraded. Furthermore, since the performance of a liquid crystal unit changes with time and environments, the tonal level is difficult to be correctly controlled.
A mirror type spatial light modulator is known which has a number of small size mirrors (hereinafter called micromirrors) and the tilt angle of each micromirror is changed to control deflection of spot light. Mirror type spatial light modulators include digital micromirror devices (DMD) which tilt each micromirror by electrostatic force, piezoelectric type drive micromirror devices (AMA) which tilt each micromirror by a fine piezoelectric element, and the like.
For example, a digital micromirror device has a static RAM (SRAM) on each memory cell of which a micromirror capable of swinging is formed by semiconductor integration techniques. Mirror drive data of one bit, when written to each memory cell, tilts the micromirror in a positive direction or in a negative direction to change the light reflection direction. The principle and applications of such a digital micromirror device are described in a monthly magazine "O plus E", October, 1994, pp. 90-94.
The micromirror device has advantages of a low light attenuation coefficient and a large aperture efficiency (vignetting factor). It is therefore advantageous if the micromirror device is utilized in a color printer. In printing a color image by using the monochrome spatial light modulator, a filter turret is used, which is rotated to sequentially enter red, green, and blue sectors into an optical path to perform three-color line-sequential exposure or three-color frame-sequential exposure. This filter turret complicates the structure of a color printer and hinders high speed printing.


The invention provides a semiconductor integrated circuit having a zooming function independently in a driver IC for driving a display device. The semiconductor integrated circuit can be a semiconductor integrated circuit which respectively outputs a plurality of two-dimensional images of different sizes according to a mode signal from a plurality of output terminals. It can include select signal shift circuits and the like which, in a first mode, synchronize with one of a rise-up or a fall of a clock signal and sequentially supply a select signal to each of select signal supply terminals, and, in a second mode, synchronize with the rise-up and the fall of the clock signal and sequentially supply the select signals to two of select signal supply terminals at a time. The invention can also include a first group of latch circuits and the like which hold image data in response to the select signals sequentially supplied to the select signal supply terminals, and a second group of latch circuits and the like which hold image data outputted from the first group of latch circuits in response to a line pulse.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a semiconductor integrated circuit (a driver IC) for driving a display device, such as an LCD (liquid crystal display).
2. Description of Related Art
A display device, such as an LCD is widely used in a display part of a small apparatus, such as a digital camera and a mobile phone. Also, a camera is built in a mobile phone, giving rise to a recent demand for displaying an enlarged view of an image taken. Conventionally, image data showing image information of one pixel are used to display a plurality of pixels, whereby a zooming function is realized in a display device by increasing an area displaying identical information. However, since identical image data are employed for displaying the plurality of pixels, it is necessary to process image data in an MPU and the like.
For related techniques, in Japanese Published Patent Publication No. Hei-7-146666 (First, 12 pages, FIG. 1), there is described a scan electrode driving circuit for showing an enlarged display without setting up a peripheral device such as a memory or an A/D, D/A converter in an image display device. According to Japanese Published Patent Publication No. Hei-7-146666, it is possible to show an enlarged display even in a device having no enlarging function on its signal source side by setting up a means of driving a plurality of scan electrodes in one horizontal period. Also, since the plurality of scan electrodes are driven when displaying one piece of image data, it is not necessary to convert an analog signal to a digital signal, and there are no need to set up a memory for storing image data once, which are to be shown in an enlarged display, and a circuit controlling the memory. Further, it is made unnecessary to set up a circuit and the like for mutual conversion between analog signals and digital signals, thus contributing to miniaturization, lightweight, and low cost. Nonetheless, because no mention is made of a method of showing an enlarged display in a horizontal direction, this alone does not make it possible to realize the zooming function.
Moreover, conventional techniques require preparation of a driver IC fit for a resolution of respective LCDs per size (number of electrodes) of an image displaying LCD, so that there is a problem which makes it impossible to use the driver IC of identical specification for driving an LCD of a different resolution.


A method adapted to multiple corpora includes training a statistical machine translation model which outputs a score for a candidate translation, in a target language, of a text string in a source language. The training includes learning a weight for each of a set of lexical coverage features that are aggregated in the statistical machine translation model. The lexical coverage features include a lexical coverage feature for each of a plurality of parallel corpora. Each of the lexical coverage features represents a relative number of words of the text string for which the respective parallel corpus contributed a biphrase to the candidate translation. The method may also include learning a weight for each of a plurality of language model features, the language model features comprising one language model feature for each of the domains.

The work leading to this invention has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no 287755.
The exemplary embodiment relates to Statistical Machine Translation (SMT) and finds particular application in generating a model which is adapted to use in different domains.
Statistical Machine Translation systems use a model which is trained on a parallel corpus containing pairs of source and target sentences which are assumed to be a translation of each other, in at least the source to target direction. In a phrase based system, for example, the model stores corpus statistics that are derived for biphrases found in the parallel corpus. These statistics include phrasal and lexical probabilities that represent the probability that a given source phrase/word in the biphrase is translated to the corresponding target phrase/word. For a new source sentence to be translated, the SMT model is used to evaluate candidate biphrases which cover the source sentence, by using the respective corpus statics to determine an optimal set of the biphrases. To do this, the SMT model employs a translation scoring function which incorporates the lexical and phrasal probabilities as features that are weighted by respective weights. The feature weights are learned on a development corpus of source and target sentences. The translation scoring function may also incorporate a language model as one of the features, which focuses on the target side probabilities of given sequences of words.
The performance of SMT models tends to be very dependent on the congruence between the domain of the corpus that was used to train the model and the domain of the text which is to be translated. For example, SMT models can be trained on large collections of parliamentary proceeding translations, such as the Europarl corpus (see, Koehn, P., "Europarl: A Parallel Corpus for Statistical Machine Translation," in MT Summit (2005), hereinafter, "Koehn 2005"). While achieving high translation scores (e.g., BLEU scores) on unseen test sentences from the same collection, the systems trained on such a corpus typically underperform when translating text from a different domain, such as news stories or lecture transcriptions.
This problem could be addressed by using a training corpus which focuses on the domain of interest. For example, a corpus of news articles may provide better training samples for machine translation of news articles. However, parallel corpora are generated by human translators, which is time consuming and expensive. Thus, for most domains, a large-enough corpus of documents and their translations for training an SMT model is not generally available. However, there is often access to a small in domain corpus of documents.
One solution to this problem is to use the small in-domain corpus in combination with a large out-of-domain corpus for producing translation systems which combine the wide coverage of large out-of-domain corpora, with the information on domain-specific translation correspondences contained in in-domain data. Such methods which bring in- and out-of-domain training corpora together in an SMT system tend to produce systems that perform better than employing exclusively one or the other kind of data. However, such methods also involve the danger of diluting the domain-specific translation correspondences contained in the in-domain corpus with irrelevant out-of-domain ones. Also, when bringing all the training data together, the result may be an incoherent translation model which, while offering wide coverage, does not perform particularly well on any kind of data.
One approach for addressing these issues is to track from which subset of the training data each translation option (e.g., a phrase-pair) was extracted. This information could be used to target the translation of the in-domain data. For example, Matsoukas, et al., ("Discriminative Corpus Weight Estimation for Machine Translation," Proc. 2009 Conf. on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing, pp. 708-717, hereinafter Matsoukas 2009) introduce sentence level features which register for each training sentence-pair, the training corpus collection of origin and the language genre (domain) to which it belongs. Using these features, a perceptron is trained to compute a weight for each sentence-pair, which is used to down-weight the impact during training of translation examples that are not helpful on the test-set domain. Chiang, et al. ("Two Easy Improvements to Lexical Weighting," Proc. 49th ACL Meeting: Human Language Technologies, pp. 455-460 (2011), hereinafter, Chiang 2011) uses similar collection and genre features to distinguish between training sentence-pairs and computes separate lexical translation smoothing features from the data falling under each collection and genre. Tuning on an in-domain development set allows the system to learn a preference for the lexical translation options found in the training examples which are similar in style and genre.
However, while such systems can yield improvements, they lack flexibility in handling diverse domains.

Multi-domain machine translation model adaptation


A hardtop storage apparatus for storing a removable automobile hardtop has an overhead hoist including a depending lifting member attached to a sling including sling members which extend around and under opposite extremities of the hardtop and across the underside of the hardtop and are releasably joined at the underside of the hardtop in such a way that the sling members support the hardtop with a cradling action and without any direct attachment of the sling members to the hardtop when the hoist is operated to lift the sling and hardtop to an elevated storage position. Certain of the sling members are spaced by a stabilizing member to maintain the cradled hardtop in a balanced position. One disclosed embodiment of the hardtop storage apparatus has a fabric cover which encloses the stored hardtop and mounts a sleeve containing the stabilizing bar of the hardtop sling.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to automobile accessories and more particularly to a storage apparatus for lifting a removable hardtop from an automobile, storing the hardtop in an elevated storage position, and replacing the hardtop on the automobile.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
There is commercially available a hardtop storage apparatus including a hoist for lifting a removable automobile hardtop from the automobile body to facilitate storage of the hardtop on a special wheeled cart when the top is not being used and for later replacing the hardtop on its automobile body. This commercially available hoist comprises a winch mechanism including an overhead winch having a cable attached to a cross bar which can be lowered to a position over the roof of the hardtop. Depending from the ends of this cross bar are two griping devices for attachment to opposite edges of the hardtop. This hoist is selectively operable to lift the hardtop from and lower the hardtop onto the automobile body. The cart attaches to the cross bar to support the hard top for movement to and from a storage area.
This commercially available hardtop storage apparatus has several disadvantages. Among the foremost of these disadvantages are the following. The hardtop is not covered when stored on the wheeled cart and is therefor subject to the accumulation of dust and other airborne particles, vapor, and the like. Accordingly, use of the storage apparatus necessitates the frequent use of cleaners to clean the hardtop which involves the risk of scratching or otherwise marring the top. The hardtop is stored at ground level. As a consequence, a special area must be set aside for storing not only the hardtop when the top is positioned on the storage cart but also the cart by itself when the hard top is mounted on the automobile. Also, storage of the hardtop at ground level creates the ever present risk of damage to hardtop by a person carrying an object and running into the top or dropping the object on the top. Finally, the available storage apparatus is relatively costly since it requires two separate components, namely, the hoist and the storage cart, and transferring the hardtop from the hoist to the storage cart and from the cart to the hoist requires substantial manual skill and physical strength.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,600,177, dated Jul. 15, 1986, to Fritz and my prior U.S. Pat. No. 5,263,687, dated Nov. 23, 1993, disclose automobile hardtop storage apparatus which avoid at least some of these disadvantages of the commercially available hoist-cart storage system referred to above. These patented hardtop storage apparatus have the common features of a hardtop supporting harness and a hoist for lifting and lowering the harness. The harness includes straps joined to one another at a central support point of the harness and having free ends mounting clips in the form of hooks or plates for releasable attachment to opposite edges of a removable automobile hardtop. The hoist includes an overhead support to be mounted on the ceiling of a garage or the like and a flexible lifting member in the form of a cable or strap attached at one end to the support point of the harness and extending upwardly from the harness, over a roller on the overhead support, to a rotary drum which is rotatable in one direction to lift the harness to an elevated storage position and in the opposite direction to lower the harness to a lowered position. When the harness is in its elevated storage position, an automobile may be driven to and from a parked hardtop transfer position below the harness without contacting the harness or a hardtop supported by the harness. When in its lowered position, the harness is disposed for attachment to and detachment from the removable hardtop of an automobile in the parked hardtop transfer position.
These hardtop storage apparatus are used in the following way. An automobile mounting a removable hardtop is parked in the hardtop transfer position below the elevated harness, after which the hardtop is released for removal from the automobile, the harness is lowered, the harness clips are attached to opposite edges of the hardtop, and the harness is raised to lift the hardtop to an elevated storage position in which the automobile may be driven from and later return to the hardtop transfer position without contacting the elevated hardtop. The hardtop is replaced on the automobile by reversing this procedure.
In addition to the above features which are common to the hardtop storage apparatus of both patents mentioned above, the storage apparatus of my prior U.S. Pat. No. 5,263,687 includes a zippered hardtop dust cover and a pair of pivoted storage supports. The dust cover is attached to the harness and encloses the hardtop when in its elevated storage position. The storage supports are pivotally mounted on the overhead hoist support for movement between retracted positions in which they permit a hardtop to be lifted to and lowered from its elevated storage position and extended positions in which the storage supports are disposed to support a hardtop in its elevated storage position.

Overhead hoist and sling apparatus for removing, storing and replacing a removable automobile hardtop


The invisible acoustic screen for reducing sound leakage from handsfree telephones, loudspeaking computer terminals, and the like in a workspace includes a sound reducing apparatus comprising: a sound producing loudspeaker; a cancelling loudspeaker; a sensing microphone having an output; a delay circuit; and, an adaptive filter circuit having a value determined by a transfer function between the sound producing loudspeaker and the sensing microphone and by a transfer function between the cancelling loudspeaker and the sensing microphone; and the output of the sensing microphone being fed back to the adaptive filter circuit; and the received signal coupled through a delay circuit to the sound producing loudspeaker.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to acoustic noise confinement and reduction in general, and in particular to the confinement of sound to the region of use of loudspeaking or handsfree telephones, computer terminals, etc., as are commonly used in open-plan offices, cubicles, booths and so forth, particularly where the partitioning walls do not extend fully to the ceiling. By reducing the loudspeaker radiated sound beyond the edge of partitions, the noise in neighboring booths may be reduced to the leakage of the sound locally produced, such as the voice of an occupant on the telephone. Thus, noise from loudspeaking telephony becomes comparable to that from ordinary handset use.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, various noise suppressing systems have been proposed. Several examples of such previously proposed noise suppressing systems are disclosed in the following U.S. Pat. Nos.:
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. Patentee ______________________________________ 4,463,222 Poradowski 4,934,483 Kallergis 5,289,147 Koike et al. 5,381,473 Andrea et al. 5,388,160 Hashimoto et al. 5,432,857 Geddes 5,408,532 Yokota et al. ______________________________________
The Poradowski U.S. Pat. No. 4,463,222 discloses a noise cancelling transmitter for voice communication comprising a casing having a principle surface opposed to the mouth of the user and three side surfaces facing upwardly, laterally and downwardly when the principle surface is so opposed. Noise cancelling openings in the three side surfaces communicate noise to the back of a diaphragm in the transmitter microphone. Openings in the principle surface communicate both noise and the speaker's voice to the front of the diaphragm. The noise acts on both sides of the diaphragm and is thus cancelled, while the voice acts only on one side of the diaphragm and vibrates it.
The Kallergis U.S. Pat. No. 4,934,483 discloses a method of reducing the overflying noise of airplanes having a propeller driven by a piston engine. The propeller is arranged on the engine shaft in such a way that positive components of the engine sound pressure fall on negative components of the propeller sound pressure. It is preferable to use an engine/propeller combination in which the number of engine ignitions per revolution of the propeller shaft divided by the number of the propeller blades is an integer, preferably being equal to 1.
The Koike et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,289,147 discloses an image forming apparatus which includes a housing, a mechanism, mounted in the housing, for forming images on a medium, and an operation panel formed on the housing, the mechanism being driven in accordance with operating instructions input from the operation panel by an operator. The apparatus further includes a microphone, provided in the housing, for detecting a noise generated by a driving of the mechanism, and a noise cancelling unit for outputting an acoustic wave to an area adjacent to the operation panel of the housing, the acoustic wave being generated based on the noise detected by the microphone so that the acoustic wave and a noise present in the area cancel each other out, whereby the noise present in the area is reduced.
The Andrea et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,381,473 discloses an apparatus for reducing acoustic background noise for use with a telephone handset or a boom microphone device or the like. The apparatus includes first and second microphones which are arranged such that the first microphone receives a desired speech input and the background noise present in the vicinity of the speech, and the second microphone receives substantially only the background noise. The background noise from the second microphone is converted into a corresponding electrical signal and subtracted from a signal corresponding to the speech and background noise obtained from the first microphone so as to produce a signal representing substantially the speech.
The Hashimoto et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,388,160 discloses a noise suppressor in which a noise signal detected by a first detector is inputted to an adaptive filter and a FIR filter. An output signal of the adaptive filter is reproduced by a speaker. The signal reproduced by the speaker and a noise signal from a noise source are detected by a second detector. The signal detected by the second detector is band-limited by a filter circuit and sent to a LMS computing circuit. The LMS computing circuit updates a coefficient of the adaptive filter so as to minimize an output signal of the filter circuit in response to an output signal of the FIR filter and an output signal of the filter circuit.
The Geddes U.S. Pat. No. 5,432,857 discloses an active muffler for use in motor vehicles comprising a sensor, an electronic control responsive to the signal generated by the sensor for producing a drive signal delivered to a transducer which emits cancellation pulses phased 180.degree. from the sound pressure pulses passing through a conduit, where both front and rear sides of the transducer are acoustically coupled to the conduit to improve the efficiency of the transducer operation. Preferably, the acoustic coupling comprises an enclosed chamber including a port for communicating with the conduit which can be tuned to resonate at predetermined frequencies. When both sides of the transducer are so coupled to the conduit, the transducer has increased efficiency over a broad band of frequencies, and the frequency band can be broadened at the low end as required to accommodate the frequencies generated by a source of noise. A tandem transducer mounting arrangement constructed according to the teachings of this invention reduces vibration of the housing. The transducer mounting arrangement is particularly suitable for use in adapting noise cancellation techniques to replace passive mufflers on motor vehicles.
The Yokota et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,408,532 discloses the use of an ignition pulse signal which is transformed into a single vibration noise source signal (primary source) so as to obtain a frequency spectrum composed of 0.5.times.n order components which is converted into a cancelling signal after being subjected to the sum of convolution products processed with filter coefficients of an adaptive filter. Further the cancelling signal is converted into a cancelling sound by a speaker and outputted to the passenger compartment to cancel vibration noise at a noise receiving point. The state of noise reduction is detected as an error signal by a microphone and the error signal is inputted to an exponential averaging circuit where the error signal is exponentially averaged with previous error signals by a trigger signal of the primary source from a trigger signal generating circuit. The error signal, as a result of this averaging, is compressed and then outputted to a least mean square (LMS) operational circuit. In the LMS operational circuit, the filter coefficients are updated based on the primary source inputted via speaker/microphone transmission characteristic correction circuit and the compressed error signal.

Invisible acoustic screen for open-plan offices and the like

Botrus Teleconferencing & Acoustics Consulting, Ltd.


Provided is a material for organic electronics which can produce an organic electronic element capable of lowering the driving voltage or capable of performing stable driving for a long time. The material for organic electronics contains at least an ionic compound and a compound having a charge transporting unit (hereinafter, referred to as charge transporting compound), and the ionic compound is composed of a counter cation and a counter anion, while the counter cation is any one kind or two or more kinds selected from H+, a carbocation, a nitrogen cation, an oxygen cation, and a cation having a transition metal.

An organic electronic element is an element which performs an electrical operation using an organic substance, and is expected to exhibit features such as energy saving, low price, and flexibility. Thus, attention is being paid to the organic electronics as a technology to be substituted for the conventional inorganic semiconductors containing silicon as a main component.
Among organic electronic elements, organic EL elements have attracted attention for their use in, for example, large-sized solid state light sources as the substitute for incandescent lamps and gas-filled lamps. Furthermore, organic EL elements are also attracting attention as the most promising self-luminescent displays that will be substituted for liquid crystal displays (LCD) in the field of flat panel displays (FPD), and productization of the organic EL elements is in progress.
Organic EL elements are broadly classified into two classes such as low molecular weight organic EL elements and high molecular weight organic EL elements, in terms of the material and film-forming method used. High molecular weight organic EL elements are such that the organic material is composed of a polymeric material, and are capable of simplified film formation such as printing or ink-jetting as compared with low molecular weight organic EL elements which require a vacuum system for film formation. Therefore, the high molecular weight organic EL elements are indispensable elements for the large screen organic EL displays of the future.
Active research has been conducted hitherto on both the low molecular weight organic EL elements and the high molecular weight EL elements, but there are still serious problems of low light emission efficiency and short element service life. In an attempt to address these problems, multilayering has been adopted in the low molecular weight organic EL elements.
An example of a multilayered organic EL element is presented in FIG. 1. In FIG. 1, a layer that is in charge of light emission is described as a light emitting layer 1, and if the organic EL element has other layers, a layer that is in contact with an anode 2 is described as a hole injection layer 3, while a layer that is in contact with the cathode 4 is described as an electron injection layer 5. Furthermore, when another layer is present between the light emitting layer 1 and the hole injection layer 3, the layer is described as a hole transport layer 6. When another layer is present between the light emitting layer 1 and the electron injection layer 5, the layer is described as an electron transport layer 7. Meanwhile, reference numeral 8 in FIG. 1 represents a substrate.
In a low molecular weight organic EL element, since film formation is carried out by a vapor deposition method, multilayer can be easily achieved by performing vapor deposition while sequentially changing the compound used. On the other hand, in a high molecular weight organic EL element, since film formation is carried out using a wet process such as printing or ink-jetting, in order to achieve multilayering, a method in which the layer that has previously been formed does not change when a new layer is formed, is needed. The reason why multilayering is difficult in high molecular weight organic EL elements is that a lower layer which has been formed earlier is dissolved out at the time of the formation of an upper layer.
In order to take measures to this problem, investigation has been conducted on the use of compounds having significantly different solubilities. As a representative example thereof, there may be mentioned an element having a two-layer structure including a hole injection layer formed from polythiophene:polystyrene sulfonic acid (PEDOT:PSS), which is formed by using an aqueous dispersion liquid, and a light emitting layer which is formed by using an aromatic organic solvent such as toluene. In this case, since the PEDOT:PSS layer does not dissolve in toluene, it is possible to produce a two-layer structure. However, it is difficult to eliminate water, and this causes deterioration of the characteristics of the organic electronic element. Furthermore, drying at a high temperature for a long time is required for the removal of water, so that production of an organic electronic element on a resin substrate becomes difficult, or restrictions are imposed on the process such as the pressure reduction conditions.
Furthermore, as an example of using an organic solvent, there has been disclosed a method of selecting a solvent that does not affect a lower layer that has been formed earlier (see Patent Document 1).
However, because the solvent that can be used in such a method is limited to a solvent which does not dissolve the lower layer, there is a problem that the selection range for the material is narrow. Further, a certain extent of erosion of the lower layer occurs at the time of the formation of an upper layer.
As another method for constructing a multilayer structure, a method of using a crosslinking reaction has been disclosed. Patent Document 2 discloses a method of crosslinking a triphenylamine-containing ether polyether ketone by irradiating the compound with ultraviolet radiation, and thereby insolubilizing the compound. In order to achieve sufficient insolubilization by this method, ultraviolet irradiation for a long time is required, and there is a problem that decomposition of triphenylamine and the like occurs.
In addition, Patent Document 3, Patent Document 4, Non-Patent Document 1 and Non-Patent Document 2 disclose multilayering as a result of the crosslinking of oxetane groups. In these methods, since a photoinitiator is used, there is a concern about deterioration by light. Furthermore, sufficient insolubilization does not proceed at a low temperature, and there occurs a problem that the application of resin substrates which require low temperature curing is restricted, or a problem that at the time of the formation of an upper layer, the upper layer and the lower layer are mixed with each other, and the organic EL characteristics are deteriorated. Moreover, the photoinitiators used in those methods are general iodonium salts or sulfonium salts, and there is a concern about the effect of the salts on the EL characteristics.
On the other hand, in order to achieve a decrease in the driving voltage, which is an unsolved problem of organic EL elements, an investigation has been conducted on the use of an iodonium salt or sulfonium salt having the a similar structure in the hole transport layer or in the light emitting layer.
Patent Document 5 discloses an ionic compound, but this has the same structure as that of the photoinitiator described above, and there is a concern about its effect on the characteristics of organic EL elements. Further, there are no descriptions on crosslinking or lamination.
Patent Document 6 discloses a polymeric illuminant composition containing a polymeric illuminant and an ion couple. According to this literature, there is a description that when the composition has an ion couple having a particular structure, a luminescent element having a much longer service life may be obtained; however, there are no descriptions on the injection and transport of charges. Further, there are no descriptions on crosslinking or lamination.
On the other hand, for the purpose of increasing the efficiency of organic EL elements, development of phosphorescent organic EL elements is also actively attempted. In the phosphorescent organic EL elements, not only singlet state energy but also triplet state energy can be utilized, and the internal quantum yield can be increased up to 100% in principle. In a phosphorescent organic EL element, phosphorescence emission is extracted by doping a metal complex-based luminescent material containing a heavy metal such as platinum or iridium as a dopant emitting phosphorescence, into a host material (see Non-Patent Document 3, Non-Patent Document 4, and Non-Patent Document 5).
Patent Document 7 disclose a phosphorescent organic EL element in which multilayering is achieved by polymerizing a polymerizable compound. In the organic EL element, since a polymerization initiator is contained in a layer that is adjacent to a light emitting layer, it is speculated that when the polymerization initiator or a decomposition product thereof reacts with the compound of the light emitting layer, the service life of the organic EL element is shortened. For this reason, a structure which does not contain a polymerization initiator in a layer that is adjacent to the light emitting layer has been suggested.

Material for organic electronics, organic electronic element, organic electroluminescent element, display element using organic electroluminescent element, illuminating device, and display device


A pure MOS-implementable oscillator requires no trimming to make the oscillation frequency Vdd independent, but permits trimming to compensate for process and fabrication variations. A current generator creates a core reference current Iosc0, mirrored programmable trim currents, and dynamic reference voltages that do not require a constant Vdd source. A programmable delay unit provides value-programmable capacitors that receive mirrored currents A.times.(M/N).times.Iosc0, where A is a MOS channel W/L ratio constant, and M and N are integers. The currents create ramp-like voltage signals across the capacitors, the slewrate being A.times.(M/N).times.Iosc0/capacitance. A comparator unit compares the ramp-like signals, which ramp-down from Vdd, against a (Vdd-Vt) reference voltage (Vt being a MOS threshold voltage). The comparator unit outputs complementary signals that toggle a set-reset flipflop, whose output is the oscillator output signal. This signal is fedback to the programmable delay unit to toggle on and off the current flow that determines oscillation period. Frequency change due to discrepancies between anticipated and realized load resistors and capacitors may be coarse and/or fine trimmed, for example by incrementally varying M and/or by turning-on a current-providing MOS device having an appropriate W/L value for A. The oscillator includes two programmable delay paths and can accept an input oscillator signal and output a signal whose frequency is a non-integer or integer multiple, simply by varying capacitor ratios.

Oscillator circuits are used in applications that can range from test circuitry to speech synthesizers, and may be called upon to output a stable frequency over a range from perhaps 1 KHz to perhaps 1 MHz. Although it is desirable that the output frequency be stable and reasonably predictable before any frequency trimming is carried out, implementing such oscillators has proved to be a challenge. The output of such oscillators is often used to trigger other circuitry, and thus high noise immunity is also a requirement. To avoid having to tightly regulate the source of operating potential Vdd, the oscillator frequency should be substantially independent of variations in Vdd. Further, the oscillator frequency should be substantially independent of variations in the fabrication processes used to construct the oscillator.
FIGS. 1A and 1B depict conventional oscillator circuitry, according to the prior art. FIG. 1A is a simplification of a bipolar circuit found in the popular 555 astable oscillator integrated circuit ("IC"). Current flow (i) into a timing capacitor (C.sub.t) changes the voltage (v) appearing across the capacitor as a function of time (t) according to the equation: EQU i=C.sub.t dv/dt
The bipolar circuit of FIG. 1A requires several on-chip resistors (e.g., R1, R2, R3) in addition to off-chip resistors Rta, Rtb and the off-chip timing capacitor C.sub.t. The off-chip passive components Rta, Rtb, C.sub.t add to the size and cost of the overall oscillator unit.
Circuits such as shown in FIG. 1A rely upon a hopefully fixed voltage reference that is input to one or more comparators. The ramp voltage appearing across a timing capacitor in response to a hopefully constant current is then compared to this fixed reference voltage to determine an oscillation period.
The frequency (f) of the oscillator output signal (OSCOUT) provided from the circuit of FIG. 1A is given by the equation: EQU f=t/T=1.44/(Rta+2.times.Rtb).times.C.sub.t
where T is the period of the oscillator frequency.
Unless the current into the timing capacitor C.sub.t is maintained substantially constant, and unless the reference threshold voltage is substantially constant, the OSCOUT frequency will vary, assuming of course that C.sub.t is itself suitably stable. But maintaining a constant current and constant reference voltage requires maintaining good regulation on the power supply Vdd, as well as maintaining constant values for the resistors Rta, Rtb in the current path. Understandably it can be difficult to predict what the frequency f will be, without trimming one or more component values and/or adjusting voltage levels.
FIG. 1B depicts a so-called constant current relaxation oscillator unit, whose implementation requires complementary metal-oxide-silicon ("CMOS") devices as well as a bipolar bandgap generator to provide a reference input voltage Vref. Such a circuit is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,352,934 (1994) to Khan. The frequency of the OSCOUT output signal from this oscillator circuit is given by the following equation, where B is a constant and Iosc is constant current: EQU f=1/T=B.times.Iosc/(Vref.times.Cap)
The period of oscillator (T or T.sub.osc) is given by: EQU T.sub.osc =A.times.Cap.times.(Vref/Iosc)
where A is a constant, Vref is a fixed reference voltage toward which capacitors Cap charge, and (Vref/Iosc).apprxeq.R, an equivalent resistance.
Cycle time T.sub.osc of the oscillator clock circuit is proportional to the R.times.Cap product and scaling constant A. As such, we may write: EQU T.sub.osc =A.times.Cap.times.R
If Cap is stable in magnitude, the frequency or clock period will be stable providing that R is stable. The value of R will be stable providing that the quotient (Vref/Iosc) is stable.
In FIG. 1B, Vref is maintained substantially stable by using a bandgap reference generator to provide this reference voltage. However, bandgap generators require bipolar circuitry and can be very tricky to properly design. Also, the resultant overall oscillator circuit will combine bipolar devices (in the bandgap generator) and CMOS devices, and be BiCMOS, which requires a more complicated and expensive fabrication than a strictly CMOS circuit implementation. Some oscillator circuits are implemented using pure CMOS but with parasitic bipolar components, and thus require careful and accurate characterization of the parasitic bipolar devices in the normal CMOS devices. In such implementation, good circuit design requires that very special attention be paid to the bipolar portion (be it BiCMOS or parasitic bipolar) of the circuit to reduce parasitic contributions from the bipolar transistors.
But even with a stable value of Vref, the oscillator frequency for the circuit of FIG. 1B will still be very sensitive to variations in the Cap value and in Iosc variations. Variations in Iosc can result from variations in the process used to fabricate the overall circuit, as well as variations in the power supply Vdd.
To summarize, there is a need for a stable oscillator that may be economically implemented using CMOS techniques, without need for bipolar devices. Such oscillator should maintain an output frequency that is substantially constant and predictable with respect to variations in operating power supply. If frequency trimming options are provided, a reduced number of trimming components should be used. Further, the oscillator frequency should be readily adjustable to be a known constant, despite variations in component and device process and fabrication parameters. The oscillator should lend itself to precise frequency multiplication, including multiplication by non-integer multiples, and should provide a programmable frequency multiplication function.
The present invention discloses such an oscillator.

Frequency trimmable oscillator and frequency multiplier


Technology is described for visually communicating using a robotic device. An example of a method can include a video feed sent from the video camera of the robotic device to the remote user. A projection surface identified in the video feed can then be sent to the remote user using an application. Another operation can be obtaining an image from the remote user using the application. The image created by the remote user can then be projected on the projection surface.

Robotic devices can provide services for humans. Examples of a useful robotic device can be a simple autonomous robot to provide services to an elderly person or to patrol a workplace at night. Robotic devices can also have applications that control the operations that are performed by the robotic device. For example, one application may include functions for accomplishing navigation tasks by localizing or estimating the current location of the robotic device and for navigating reliably to reach locations in the environment. Other example applications can include telecommunications, photo capture, video playback, audio playback, navigation, and video conferencing abilities.
An example of a video conference application can use a robotic device where a video screen on a robotic device displays a video image of a remote user to communicate with a local user at the location where the robotic device is located. The video screen can be viewed by the local user at the robotic device's location and the remote user can view the local user using a camera mounted in the robotic device. This allows a two-way video conversation to take place using audio and video. If desired, the robotic device may follow the local user around in a building during the video conversation. However, the interaction between the local user and the remote user is generally limited to the screen of the robotic device and what the camera captures of the local user.

Visual communication using a robotic device


A system for cleaning a fiber cap including a first fixture configured to hold the fiber cap, the fiber cap having an internal cavity with an opening therein. The fiber cap also includes a first axis generally aligned with the central axis of the fiber cap and internal cavity, a second axis orthogonal to the first axis, and a third axis orthogonal to the first and second axes. The system further includes a second fixture configured to hold a particulate collecting member (1) to receive and hold an electrical charge and (2) for insertion into the opening of the fiber cap. Also included with the system is a first camera positioned to provide a view of the fiber cap held in the first fixture and the particulate collecting member held in the second fixture in the direction of the third axis of the fiber cap and a second camera positioned to provide a view of the fiber cap held in the first fixture and the particulate collecting member held in the second fixture in the direction of the second axis of the fiber cap.

Medical lasers have been used in various practice areas, such as, for example, urology, neurology, otorhinolaryngology, general anesthetic ophthalmology, dentistry, gastroenterology, cardiology, gynecology, and thoracic and orthopedic procedures. Generally, these procedures require precisely controlled delivery of energy as part of the treatment protocol.
Surgical laser systems utilize a frequency doubled Nd:YAG laser, which operates at 532 nm in a quasi continuous mode at high power levels (e.g., 100 watts) and has been used to efficiently ablate tissue. The frequency doubled Nd:YAG laser can be pumped by CW krypton arc lamps and can produce a constant train of laser light pulses. When ablative power densities are used, a superficial layer of denatured tissue is left behind. At high powers, 532 nm lasers induce a superficial char layer that strongly absorbs the laser light and improves ablation efficiency.
Many surgical laser procedures utilize a surgical probe, which generally comprises an optical fiber and a fiber cap over a distal end of the optical fiber to form a probe tip. A laser source delivers laser energy through the optical fiber to the probe tip where the energy is discharged through the fiber cap and onto desired portions of the targeted tissue.
The laser energy may be directed laterally from the probe tip by reflecting the laser energy off a polished beveled surface at the distal end of the optical fiber. The fiber cap seals a cavity containing a gas (or vacuum) that maintains the necessary refractive index difference for total internal reflection at the beveled surface.
It is important that the fiber cap be free of contaminants on the walls of the interior cavity of the fiber cap that receives the distal end of the optical fiber. Such contaminates can adversely affect the assembly of the probe tip and can lead to failure of the probe tip.


Devices and methods for performing separation of cell particles by dielectrophoresis in three dimensions. In one embodiment the device comprises a flow chamber having microfabricated chip with a plurality of vertical and horizontal electrodes, which may be coated with a protective layer to prevent direct contact between any electrode and a sample. The horizontal electrodes are in electrical communication with a DC or an AC power source, while the vertical electrodes are in electrical communication with an AC power source.

The basis for many molecular-biological and immuno assays, diagnostic assays and tests, among other things, include the steps of obtaining a cellular sample (e.g., blood, tissue, etc.), separating out the cellular material of interest, disrupting or lysing the cells of interest to release the crude DNA and RNA (for simplicity, a reference to DNA in the following text also refers to RNA where appropriate) all protein, purifying the crude lysate (i.e. removing cellular debris), and performing some enzymatic reaction to analyze the lysate as desired.
Dielectrophoresis has become a popular technique for separating microparticles which are either charged or uncharged in solution. Techniques reported prior to this invention are almost always performed in a glass slide based device having exposed (i.e. naked) interdigitated electrodes plated on the surface of the slide and having a flow chamber with a volume of several hundred microliters. Cells are separated in such devices based on their dielectric properties by choosing separation buffer(s) with appropriate conductivity and an AC signal with a suitable amplitude and frequency. These prior devices have several problems, including the following. A first problem is that both separated and unseparated cells bind nonspecifically to the exposed glass surface of the slide and to the exposed electrode surfaces. A second problem is that the volume of the flow chamber (several hundred microliters) is so large that thermal convection disturbs and pushes off cells initially retained by the electrodes. A third problem is that washing off any undesired cells is not easily accomplished without disturbing the cells that are desirably retained on the electrodes, as the desired cells and electrodes stand in the way of fluidic flow and, hence, block the wash flow containing any undesired cells.
Disrupting or lysing cells releases the crude DNA and RNA material along with other cellular constituents. Electronic cell lysing techniques reported prior to this invention are conventionally performed by applying a series of high voltage DC pulses in a macrodevice, as opposed to a microchip-based device. These conventional electronic lysis techniques have several problems, including the following. A first problem is that the electronic lysis conditions specified by commercial macro-device do not release DNA molecules of high molecular weight (larger than 20 Kb) because the high molecular weight DNA molecules do not fit through the pores created in the cell membrane by the prior lysing methods. A second problem is that some nucleic acids originally released in the lysis chamber are lost due to their non-specific binding to the surface of the lysis chamber. A third problem is that the conventional electronic lysis macrodevice works as a stand alone unit such that both dielectrophoretic cell separation and electronic lysis cannot be performed on the same module.
The crude lysate is then purified (i.e., undesired cellular debris is washed off or separated), and then the purified lysate is subjected to enzymatic reaction(s) to prepare the lysate for hybridization, detection, and analysis. Such reactions may include, for example, denaturing, cleaving, or amplifying the lysate. Only after these sample preparation and DNA processing steps, the actual hybridization reaction is performed, and, finally, detection and data reduction convert the hybridization event into an analytical result. These conventional preparation and processing techniques have several problems, including the following. A first problem is that the steps of sample preparation and processing are typically performed separately and apart from the other main steps of hybridization, detection and analysis. In addition, most of these techniques involve carrying out numerous operations (e.g., pipetting, centrifugations, electrophoresis) on a large number of samples. They are often complex and time consuming, and generally require a high degree of skill. Many a technique is limited in its application by a lack of sensitivity, specificity, or reproducibility. For example, these problems have limited many diagnostic applications of nucleic acid hybridization analysis.
Attempts have been made to use dielectrophoresis to separate and identify cells. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,326,934 to Herbert discloses a method and apparatus for cell classification by continuous dielectrophoresis. Cells were separated by making use of both the positive and negative dielectrophoretic movement of cell particles. Separated cells were allowed to be characterized and/or classified by viewing the characteristic deflection distance of cells moving through the two electrodes.
Also, U.S. Pat. No. 5,344,535 to Walter et al. discloses a method and apparatus for the characterization of micro-organisms and other particles by dielectrophoresis. Cells were characterized by matching their signature dielectrophoretic collection rates.
And U.S. Pat. No. 5,569,367 to Walter et al. discloses a method and apparatus for separating a mixture using a pair of interdigitated electrodes. The apparatus used two energized interdigitated electrodes that obstruct straight through flow of cells and further separate different types of cells into fractions by applying a non-uniform alternating field. The electrode structure is comprised of interleaved grid-like structures aligned to obstruct flow through the structure.
As exemplified above, several methods of separating cells by dielectrophoresis have been developed. In dielectrophoresis migration, dielectrophoretic forces are applied to drive the migration of different types of cells within the biological sample to different regions of the microelectrode structure. In dielectrophoresis retention, competition between dielectrophoretic forces and fluid-flow forces is exploited to selectively trap cells of interest from a biological sample at electrodes and hold those cells against an imposed fluid-flow stream. Although dielectrophoresis retention has been successfully demonstrated for isolating cancer cells, bacteria, or CD34+ stem cells from blood, two practical deficiencies minimize the effectiveness of this technique in biomedical applications. First, conventional dielectrophoretic systems often consist of a thin, low volume flow chamber utilizing a two-dimensional array of microelectrodes disposed at the bottom of the flow chamber. However, with increasing distance (e.g., more than 10 μm) from the electrode plan, the electric field decays rapidly and the non-uniformity of the field distribution becomes smaller. The dielectrophoretic forces in such two-dimensional systems are only able to collect the cells of interest that are located close to the electrode plane, while cells floating well above the electrode plane can be lost during washing. Second, the dielectrophoretic forces acting on the cells are not the uniform due to the heterogeneous properties among different cells types. Therefore, cells that experience smaller dielectrophoretic properties may be lost during washing steps because the dielectrophoretic forces are not strong enough to hold the cells against the fluid-flow forces.
In addition, attempts have been made to combine certain processing steps or substeps together. For example, various microrobotic systems have been proposed for preparing arrays of DNA probes on a support material. For example, Beattie et al., in The 1992 San Diego Conference: Genetic Recognition, November, 1992, used a microrobotic system to deposit micro-droplets containing specific DNA sequences into individual microfabricated sample wells on a glass substrate. Various attempts have been made to describe integrated systems formed on a single chip or substrate, wherein multiple steps of an overall sample preparation and diagnostic system would be included. For example, A. Manz et al., in "Miniaturized Total Chemical Analysis System: A Novel Concept For Chemical Sensing", Sensors And Actuators, B1(1990), pp. 244-248, describe a 'total chemical analysis system' (TAS) which comprises a modular construction of a miniaturized TAS. Sampling, sample transport, any necessary chemical reactions, chromatographic separations as well as detection were to be automatically carried out. Yet another proposed integrated system is Stapleton, U.S. Pat. No. 5,451,500, which describes a system for automated detection of target nucleic acid sequences in which multiple biological samples are individually incorporated into matrices containing carriers in a two-dimensional format. Different types of carriers are described for different kinds of diagnostic tests or test panels.
Various multiple electrode systems are disclosed which purport to perform multiple aspects of biological sample preparation or analysis. Pace, U.S. Pat. No. 4,908,112, entitled "Silicon Semiconductor Wafer for Analyzing Micronic Biological Samples" describes an analytical separation device in which a capillary-sized conduit is formed by a channel in a semiconductor device, wherein electrodes are positioned in the channel to activate motion of liquids through the conduit. Pace states that the dimension transverse to the conduit is less than 100 μm. Pace also states that all functions of an analytical instrument may be integrated within a single silicon wafer: sample injection, reagent introduction, purification, detection, signal conditioning circuitry, logic and on-board intelligence. Soane et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 5,126,022, entitled "Method and Device for Moving Molecules by the Application of a Plurality of Electrical Fields", describes a system by which materials are moved through trenches by application of electric potentials to electrodes in which selected components may be guided to various trenches filled with antigen-antibodies reactive with given charged particles being moved in the medium or moved into contact with complementary components, dyes, fluorescent tags, radiolabels, enzyme-specific tags or other types of chemicals for any number of purposes such as various transformations which are either physical or chemical in nature. It is said that bacterial or mammalian cells; or viruses may be sorted by complicated trench networks by application of potentials to electrodes where movement through the trench network of the cells or viruses by application of the fields is based upon the size, charge or shape of the particular material being moved. Clark, U.S. Pat. No. 5,194,133, entitled "Sensor Devices", discloses a sensor device for the analysis of a sample fluid which includes a substrate in a surface of which is formed an elongate micro-machined channel containing a material, such as starch, agarose, alginate, carrageenan or polyacrylamide polymer gel, for causing separation of the sample fluid as the fluid passes along the channel. The biological material may comprise, for example, a binding protein, an antibody, a lectin, an enzyme, a sequence of enzymes, or a lipid.
Various devices for eluting DNA from various surfaces are known. Shukla U.S. Pat. No. 5,340,449, entitled "Apparatus for Electroelution" describes a system and method for the elution of macromolecules such as proteins, DNA and RNA from solid phase matrix materials such as polyacrylamide, agarose and membranes such as PVDF in an electric field. Materials are eluted from the solid phase into a volume defined in part by molecular weight cut-off membranes. Okano, U.S. Pat. No. 5,434,049, entitled "Separation of Polynucleotides Using Supports Having a Plurality of Electrode-Containing Cells" discloses a method for detecting a plurality of target polynucleotides in a sample, the method including the step of applying a potential to individual chambers so as to serve as electrodes to elute captured target polynucleotides, the eluted material is then available for collection.
Generally, the prior art processes have been extremely labor and time intensive. Multiple steps requiring human intervention either during the process or between processes are suboptimal in that there is a possibility of contamination and operator error. Further, the use of multiple machines or complicated robotic systems for performing the individual processes is often prohibitive except for the largest laboratories, both in terms of the expense and physical space requirements.
As is apparent from the preceding discussion, numerous attempts have been made to provide effective techniques to conduct sample separation and preparation reactions. However, for the reasons stated above, these techniques are limited and lacking. These various approaches are not easily combined to form a system which can carry out a complete DNA diagnostic assay. Despite the long-recognized need for such a system, no satisfactory solution has been proposed previously.
There is a continuing need for methods and devices which lead to improved dielectrophoretic separation of biological cells as well as improved biological stability of the separated cells. There is also a continuing need for methods and devices which improve cell preparation and analysis, and which are capable of integrating cell separation, preparation, and analysis in a single system.

Three dimensional dielectrophoretic separator and methods of use


A magnetic disk apparatus which protects magnetic disks from being damaged by an external shock applied thereto. The magnetic disk apparatus includes a shock absorber provided in the enclosure for absorbing a shock of the magnetic disk caused by vibration of the magnetic disk. Alternatively or additionally the magnetic disk apparatus includes a shock absorber for covering a surface of the enclosure which houses the disk drive components.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic disk apparatus having magnetic disks and magnetic heads provided within its enclosure, and, more particularly, to a magnetic disk apparatus having excellent shock resistance to an externally-applied shock.
2. Description of the Related Art
A magnetic disk apparatus has rotatable magnetic disks and magnetic heads for writing and reading information on and from the magnetic disks. Each magnetic head is positioned over a desired track position of the associated magnetic disk to read data from that track or write data thereon.
This magnetic disk apparatus is widely used as an external storage device. Recent demand tends toward downsizing of computer systems using such a magnetic disk apparatus. Particularly, the use of such a magnetic disk apparatus in a notebook type computer, a word processor, a portable, palmtop computer and so forth has become popular. There is therefore a demand for small and slim magnetic disk apparatuses, such as a 1.8-inch magnetic disk apparatus. Micro magnetic disk apparatuses with a size of 1.8 inches or less have the size of a credit card, This type of magnetic disk apparatus can be detachably mounted in a computer and can be handled alone.
When this magnetic disk apparatus is handled alone unlike the one installed in a computer, it is susceptible to an external magnetic field and external electric noise, which may cause read/write errors. Similarly, if the detachable magnetic disk apparatus is dropped on a floor or the like by accident, it would receive a great shock, which could damage the internal components.
Such a magnetic disk apparatus therefore requires good shock resistances resistance to external magnetic fields and resistance to electric noise. To reduce an external shock on the magnetic disk apparatus it has been proposed to provide a shock absorber near the magnetic heads to prevent the head from being damaged by a shock (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 168985/1991).
To protect magnetic disks from the internal magnetic field generated by the actuator in the magnetic disk apparatus, it has been proposed that the base on which the actuator is mounted should be made of a ferromagnetic material (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 63077/1984).
However, the conventional shock absorbing scheme for magnetic disk apparatuses probably raises the following problem. In a small magnetic disk apparatus, the shock resistance can be improved without the use of the aforementioned shock absorbers by designing the magnetic heads smaller to reduce the shock mass. In other words, even if the magnetic disk apparatus receives a shock, the magnetic heads or magnetic disks can be prevented from being damaged by the vibration of the magnetic heads due to the lighter mass of each magnetic head (e.g., 1 g or below).
The mass of the magnetic disk, however small it is made, is larger than the mass of the magnetic head. In a slim magnetic disk apparatus, the clearance between the magnetic disks and the housing of the magnetic disk apparatus is small. So is the gap between the magnetic disks. When magnetic disks in a slim magnetic disk apparatus vibrate by an external shock applied thereto, therefore, the magnetic disks may hit against the inner wall of the housing of the magnetic disk apparatus or hit against one another, and may thus be damaged. This can disable data recording/reproduction on the damaged disks. Further, when the magnetic disks vibrate, their magnetic heads may hit against the housing so that the magnetic disks and the magnetic heads may both be damaged.
The aforementioned proposal of providing shock absorbers is a measure to cope with an external shock in the case where a magnetic disk apparatus is installed in a computer or the like, the magnitude of the shock is about 100 G to 200 G. However, in a possible case where the magnetic disk apparatus is dropped on a floor or the like, the magnitude of the shock exceeds 200 G and rises above 300 G. Accordingly, the magnetic disks securely attached to the spindle motor vibrate and protected by the conventional shock absorbers, possibly causing a likely damage to the magnetic disks, the magnetic heads, etc.

Magnetic disk apparatus with visco elastic shock dampening


The present invention has an object to more enhance the efficiency of the purification of the CO-containing exhaust gases with a catalytic-component-supporting type catalyst, particularly, to enable both achievement of high purification efficiency and long-term stable maintenance of high purification efficiency without increasing the quantity of the catalytic component as supported. As a means of achieving this object, a process for purification of exhaust gases, according to the present invention, is a process for purification of exhaust gases to remove CO therefrom, and is characterized by comprising the step of bringing the exhaust gases into contact with a catalyst layer at a temperature of 250 to 600° C., a pressure drop of not more than 100 mmH2O, and a linear velocity of 0.5 to 10 m/s, wherein the catalyst layer includes a honeycomb-structural catalyst having an opening size of 1.0 to 3.0 mm, an opening ratio of 60 to 80%, and an inner wall thickness of less than 2 mm.

A. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a process for purification of exhaust gases and a catalyst used for purification of exhaust gases in this purification process. Specifically, the present invention aims at: a process for purification of exhaust gases to efficiently purify carbon monoxide (CO) as contained in exhaust gases as discharged from such as various combustion apparatuses such as boilers, gas turbines, diesel engines, and gas engines; and a catalyst usable for purification of exhaust gases in such a purification process.
B. Background Art
The combustion exhaust gases, as discharged from various combustion apparatuses such as boilers, gas turbines, diesel engines, and gas engines, generally contain harmful components such as CO, NOx, SOx, and unburned-fuel-derived volatile organic compounds, though depending on such as their respective combustion apparatuses and operational conditions. As to these combustion apparatuses, there are many cases where combustion is carried out under conditions where the quantity of air as supplied during combustion is rendered larger than the theoretical air quantity necessary for perfect combustion of fuel gases in order that the combustion efficiency or thermal efficiency may be enhanced and further that the quantities of harmful components such as CO and NOx may efficiently be decreased. The quantities of the harmful components such as CO and NOx as contained in the combustion exhaust gases can considerably be decreased by such as the above control of the combustion state, but such as CO and NOx still remain on a level recognized as harmful. Therefore, these residual harmful components need to also efficiently be purified, so it becomes necessary to develop a catalyst for purification of exhaust gases and a process for purification of exhaust gases which are able to function effectively on a higher level of purification. Specifically, these combustion exhaust gases contain a large quantity of oxygen, corresponding to the excessive air quantity, and a large quantity of water vapor resultant from combustion, so the purification of the harmful components such as CO and NOx as contained in the combustion exhaust gases needs development of a catalyst for purification of exhaust gases and a process for purification of exhaust gases which are able to function still effectively even if the combustion exhaust gases contain the above large quantity of oxygen and the above large quantity of water vapor resultant from combustion.
Hitherto for purification of combustion exhaust gases as discharged from combustion apparatuses for combustion under conditions near the theoretical air ratio to fuel, for example, a trinary catalyst such as Pt, Rh/alumina catalyst is proposed and a process for purification of exhaust gases with this catalyst is actually put to practical use. This process for purification of exhaust gases is carried out by passing the above exhaust gases through the Pt, Rh/alumina catalyst (honeycomb catalyst) under conditions of about 500 to about 700° C., whereby CO, NOx, and the unburned volatile organic compounds are removed from the exhaust gases.
However, the above process for purification of exhaust gases targets almost oxygen-free exhaust gases for purification and also has a premise of being carried out under conditions where the purification temperature is in the range of about 500 to about 700° C., and the above catalyst can sufficiently display its function in such a purification environment. Therefore, the above catalyst cannot adapt effectively to or sufficiently display its function in a process for purification of exhaust gases which process targets, for purification, exhaust gases that contain oxygen and water vapor in large quantities and are discharged at an exhaust gas temperature of about 300 to about 500° C., and which process is intended to remove the harmful components such as CO.
On the other hand, as to processes for purification of exhaust gases as intended for making such as CO in the exhaust gases harmless wherein the exhaust gases are discharged at a temperature of about 300 to about 500° C. and contain oxygen and/or water vapor in large quantities, for example, there are known such processes as disclosed in JP-A-241467/1995 and JP-A-241468/1995 for oxidation removal of CO from exhaust gases of dilute combustion gas engines. Specifically, JP-A-241467/1995 discloses a catalyst and a process for making the CO in the exhaust gases of the dilute combustion gas engines harmless by oxidation, and these are characterized in that the catalyst as used is a Pt/alumina catalyst as supported on a honeycomb support wherein the quantity of the supported Pt is in the range of 1.2 to 2.5 g/liter. On the other hand, JP-A-241468/1995 discloses a catalyst and a process for making the CO in the exhaust gases of the dilute combustion gas engines harmless by oxidation, and these are characterized in that the catalyst as used is a Pt, Pd/alumina or Pt, Rh/alumina catalyst as supported on a honeycomb support.
As to the technique as disclosed in JP-A-241467/1995, long-term stable effective oxidation removal of the CO from the exhaust gases, as discharged from the dilute combustion gas engines, needs to set the quantity of the Pt, as supported on the honeycomb support along with the alumina, in the range of 1.2 to 2.5 g/liter and, in the case where the quantity of the supported Pt is decreased to not larger than 1 g/liter, the long-term stable effective oxidation removal of the CO from the exhaust gases is impossible. In addition, the technique as disclosed in JP-A-241468/1995 reports that if the Pt/alumina catalyst as supported on the honeycomb support is replaced with the Pt, Pd/alumina or Pt, Rh/alumina catalyst as supported on the honeycomb support, then the quantity of the supported Pt can be selected without the problems of the technique of JP-A-241467/1995, specifically, the restriction such that the quantity of the supported Pt must be increased into a certain specific range for the purpose of the long-term stable effective oxidation removal of the CO from the exhaust gases. However, it is necessary therefor to support the Pd and Rh, which are expensive noble metals similar to the Pt, in almost the same quantity as of the Pt.
As to a CO removal catalyst on which a noble metal is supported, if the quantity of the noble metal as supported is increased, the catalytic function is expected to be enhanced, but the cost of the noble metal as a material rises correspondingly to the increase of the supporting quantity, so the economical performance is inferior. Furthermore, in the case where the exhaust gases contain SOx, the conversion of SO2→SO3 is so high that there occur problems of such as corrosion of piping by SO3, and further that the catalytic performance is greatly deteriorated by SO3.

Process for purification of exhaust gases and catalyst used for purification of exhaust gases in this process


A method and device for realizing smart antenna in WCDMA system are disclosed in the invention, including array antenna, radio frequency channel module, beam forming module, channel environment detection and classification module, beam-forming algorithm selection and weight value generation module. After processing the signals received by the antenna array in RF channel, the baseband array data X including multiple components is obtained, then the channel environment is estimated and identified according to the characteristics of said array data, and the channel type which the channel belongs to is determined; the corresponding adaptive beam forming algorithm is selected according to the identification result of the channel type, so as to calculate the uplink weight value W including multiple components; said array data X and weight value W are multiplied so as to form beam Y. The invention can adopt corresponding adaptive beam forming algorithm based on the channel environments, thus it can effectively restrain the interference under various channel environments.

In WCDMA communication channel, in addition to the Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN), there are various interferences in different environments, so the design of a receiver must take the restraint of interferences into consideration. Under the ideal AWGN environment, a matched filter de-spreader (or called a correlated de-spreader) can be used. In the case of multi-paths interferences, Rake multi-paths diversity de-spread receiver is often used, which needs to estimate the delay and amplitude of the multi-paths. In the channel having narrowband interference, the common used method is to add an adaptive prediction filter in front of the matched filter to estimate the narrowband interference and realize the separation from the wideband spread signals. In the WCDMA system with multi-access interferences, multi-user detection receiver ever received wide attention. It consists of a set of matched filters and a multi-user detector, the typical one is a de-correlated multi-user detector, which has linear complexity and the best ability to suppress the near-far effect. But its disadvantage is needing various information (such as pseudo code, timing, phrase etc.) of all the interference users.
In the method above, the suppression for various interferences is usually performed separately. However, we actually often face with the following two conditions: 1) we may not know which kind of interference environment located in, and also don't clear about the interference parameters; 2) sometimes, there may be various interferences existing at the same time. Under such conditions, the receiver that can suppress one kind of interference may not work normally when under the channel environment in which another kind of interference or various interferences existing simultaneously. There is also a method of combining narrowband notch filter, Rake receiver, and de-correlated multi-user detector. But its disadvantage is that the receiver is extremely complex and even can not be implemented.
The baseband model of BPSK modulation DS/CDMA receiving signal in complex channel environment will be discussed first herein. Spread spectrum modulation and multipath effect use the FIR filter to set up the model. There exists multi access interference, multipath interference, narrowband interference and AWGN. There are K users in the system, the data sequence of each user is dk(n)ε±1, ck and hk are the coefficients of FIR filter. Filter ck completes the function of spread spectrum modulation, with its input being dk(n)δ(n−Tb), provided ck=[ck,0, ck,1, . . . , ck,N-1]T represents the spread spectrum pseudo code sequence of kth user with its value of ±1, then the impulse response of the filter equals to this spread spectrum pseudo code sequence ck, hk represents the effect of the multipath interference. Provided the multipath delay is the integral times of code-chip period Tc, τkTc represents LoS (line of sight) path time delay of kth user, provided the maximum number of multipaths is L, the time delay of each path of kth user is: τkTc, (τk+1)Tc, . . . , (τk+L−1)Tc respectively, and the fading coefficient is denoted by the vector hk=[hk,0, hk,1, . . . , hk,L-1]T, for the user with the number of the multipaths less than L, some elements of hk are zero.
Provided the first user is the expected user, and τk>τ1, (k=2, . . . , K), makemk,l=int[τk+l−τl)/N]qk,l=τk+l−τl−N·mk,l
The above two equations illustrate how many data code cell periods the lth path of kth user delays relative to the LoS path of the first user, mk,l is the integer part, qk,l is the residue.
If narrowband interference is not considered, the vector of the received signal is represented as:
      x              [      n      ]        =                    h                  1          ,          0                                            d          1                                  (          n          )                                  c        1              +                  ∑                  l          =          1                          L          -          1                                                            [                                            h                              1                ,                l                                                                                d                1                                                          (                                  n                  -                                      m                                          1                      ,                      l                                                        -                  1                                )                                                                cf                              1                ,                l                                              +                                    h                              1                ,                l                                                                                d                1                                                          (                                  n                  -                                      m                                          1                      ,                      l                                                                      )                                                                cb                              1                ,                l                                                    ]              +                  ∑                  k          =          2                K                                                              ∑                      l            =            0                                L            -            1                                                                              [                                                    h                                  k                  ,                  l                                                                                d                  k                                                                  (                                      n                    -                                          m                                              k                        ,                        l                                                              -                    1                                    )                                                                          cf                                  k                  ,                  l                                                      +                                          h                                  k                  ,                  l                                                                                d                  k                                                                  (                                      n                    -                                          m                                              k                        ,                        l                                                                              )                                                                          cb                                  k                  ,                  l                                                              ]                      +          z                    (        n        )
Wherein:cfk,l=[ck,N-qk,l,ck,N-qk,l-1, . . . , ck,N-1,0, . . . , 0]1×NT,cbk,l=[0, . . . , 0,ck,0,ck,1, . . . , ck,N-qk,l-1]1×NT
The first item in the equation is the LoS path signal of the expected user, the second is the multipath interference generated by the expected user, the third is the multi access interference, the multipath interference generated by multi access user is equivalent to multi access interference, i.e. equivalent to the multi access interference of item (k−1)l, the fourth item is AWGN interference.
Usually, in the base station of WCDMA system, the receiver often adopts correlated receiving or Rake receiving technique, which is the processing method for single user. From the view point of information theory, WCDMA is a MIMO channel, and single user can not make full use of the channel capacity. Multi-user detection can make full use of the time domain information of the multi-user, such as codeword, amplitude, timing, and delay etc., and thus reduce the multipath multi-access interference greatly. Smart antenna technique is on the basis of adaptive antenna and high resolution array signal processing, and makes it possible for the receiver to capture the space domain information of multi-user signal. Such space information includes parameters such as arriving angle, the number of signals, the way of signal polarization, and the relative phase relationship etc.
In order to make full use of the features of the space domain and time domain of the signals, it is necessary to perform space-time associated processing for the signals. The method of space-time associated processing includes the method based on some space-time optimization criterions and the method based on some structure characteristics. In order to make full use of various methods in various conditions, the space-time processing can be combined into software radio architecture, that is to say, space-time associated processing is implemented with software, it is to construct a generalized space-time associated processing method suitable to various channel conditions.
The adaptive smart antenna currently used, such as the ones disclosed in China patent application 01132304 "A Receiving Device with Full Adaptive Smart", China patent application 01131993 "A Receiving Method and Device with Smart Antenna", the weight value can be updated by certain criterions according to the changes of the distribution characteristics of signal space, the amplitude and phase of the weight value can be updated freely, when the update algorithm is convergent, this method can make full use of the space features of the expected user signal and interference signal to maximum the SIR (signal interference ratio) of the received signal.
However, there are some key technique problems to be solved when applying the adaptive smart antenna in practice. Wherein, the steadiness and the complexity of the calculation of adaptive beam forming algorithm is one of the problems that limit the development of adaptive antenna. In practical communication, the channel condition is very complex and has the characteristic of time-varying, so it is difficult to use single certain adaptive beam forming algorithm to perform well in all kinds of environments. In the above patents relating to adaptive smart antenna, they either only advance the function that the system realizes without specific implementing method, or provide algorithms that have limitations in application environment. That is also one of the prime reasons why no WCDMA adaptive smart antenna products have appeared till now despite there are many patens and researches on this field.

Method and equipment for realizing smart antenna in WCDMA system