An image processing device includes a storage unit, an initial setting unit configured to store a position of an optical axis neighborhood point in a first image obtained by the imaging unit in the storage unit as an initial position of a specific point in the first image in association with image features of a surrounding area of the optical axis neighborhood point, a search unit configured to search for a corresponding point of the specific point in a second image obtained by the imaging unit based on the image features of the surrounding area of the specific point stored in the storage unit, and an output unit configured to output a position of the corresponding point in the second image as a position of the reference point in the second image.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2006-170961 discloses a device for processing an image obtained by an imaging unit such as an in-vehicle camera. The device detects a center position (a vanishing point) of displacement in the image displaced by a vibration of the vehicle. The device monitors the vanishing point to calculate an amount of displacement of the image caused by the vibration of the vehicle in the captured image.
Specifically, the device performs a frequency analysis (Fourier transform) based on a history of the coordinates of the detection area, and creates a graph illustrating a relationship between a vibration frequency and a power spectrum intensity indicating an intensity of each frequency in the detection area. In this way, the frequency having the highest power spectrum intensity is specified. A predetermined frequency band including the above-described frequency is extracted using a band pass filter. Subsequently, inverse Fourier transform is performed on the extracted predetermined frequency band, and then, a temporal change in the amount of displacement in the predetermined frequency band within the detection area can be obtained. An image (balanced image) captured at a time when the amount of displacement is 0 is an image captured when the camera is not receiving an influence of the vibration which is normally occurring in the vehicle. An optical flow is calculated based on a longitudinal motion of lateral edges of a plurality of balanced images. As a result, an image velocity and a velocity direction in the longitudinal direction are calculated in the balanced image. By subtracting an average value of the image velocity of the balanced image from the image velocity of the image captured by the camera, an image velocity can be obtained, which is a result of removing the image velocity generated by the normal vibration of the vehicle. The coordinate axes are set in the horizontal center of the image velocity corrected as described above, coordinates having the lowest movement velocity on the coordinate axis are set as the coordinates of the vanishing point. Using this vanishing point as a reference, a blur correction between the images can be performed.


A door safety device, comprising: a door clasp, an anti-door-closing member, and a casing. The anti-door-closing member includes an elongated stem having opposite proximal and distal ends, wherein the proximal end comprises a raised spacer, and wherein the distal end of the elongated stem includes a stem button.

As described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,813,091 issued to Chaumat, doors generally comprise a door panel hinged in a doorframe about a hinge. This type of door presents an accident risk whenever the hinged door panel closes suddenly in the doorframe. A person, in particular a child, having a hand resting on the upright of the frame that is remote from the hinge, runs the risk of having the digits on a hand jammed between the door frame and the hinged door panel.
As noted in U.S. Pat. No. 6,550,186 issued to Haq, the sickening sound of a fast-closing door crunching against fingers which move too slowly is only secondary to the excruciating pain felt by the person whose fingers happen to be caught by the slamming door. Whatever the merits of the Haq invention, the Haq invention only works well with fast-closing doors.


A method of providing a representative or customer with an opportunity to electronically process a request to adjust, refund or waive a service charge on various products and services, comprising the steps of a) receiving requests via various channels such as phone, facsimile, in person, on-line, etc.; b) maintaining an electronic site on a computer network which representative or customer may connect; c) presenting at least one electronic screen over the network to a representative or customer who has connected to the electronic site, including a first input field operable to receive a first command from the representative or customer indicative of a type of adjustment; d) electronically delivering the first command to an automated interface which converts a format of the first command to another format; and presenting a decision to the representative or customer in response to the first command.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and method for enabling receiving, servicing, decision-making on, maintaining and administrating service charge adjustments over an automated platform, and more particularly, to a system and method for providing a fully automated process for receiving a request for a service charge adjustment by a customer, and processing the request within a financial institution prior to delivering a decision on whether to approve the request in a totally paperless environment. Important components of the system and method include an integrated platform that supports customer requests for service charge adjustments; links to other account systems to validate customer fees, and profitability and workflow/decision-making software. The term integrated platform refers to the capability of the present invention to provide customers and customer service representatives with the opportunity to process customer requests through a single system architecture, automatically, and in a paperless environment.
2. Related Art
Service charge adjustment systems, which utilize electronic transmission of customer account data and adjustments to accounts on-line have been developed. In these systems, customers provide account holder and fee data which is sufficient to determine the validity of a service charge to an account record and provide a card for cash funding. Customers generally are required to provide sufficient detail of the transaction that caused the fee in the form of a receipt, statement, and/or other circumstantial information before the charge can be reviewed and a determination made to approve or deny the request for adjustment.
Customer information system and/or processes have also been developed to allow non-electronic requests to be forwarded to a financial institution or other entity by mail, facsimile or other means. The customer provides the same account holder data as required above including the circumstances surrounding the charge in question, and forwards the information to the entity for processing and decision. The financial institution or other entity subsequently reviews the information and provides the customer with a response to the request in the form of a credit notice or reason for denying the request.
Customer access websites are currently under development and are available on the Internet. These systems typically require the customer to provide the same account information as required above, and generally involve a back-office area that reviews and researches the request. Usually the back-office receives the request and some form of research of the information prior to a decision to refund the fee or deny the request.
The process steps and/or systems to be provided in the present invention may be individually available through other companies and/or financial entities. However, there is no known integrated, seamless automated system in existence that can support an end-to-end "one and done" process on a single platform. Further, no financial institution or other entity is able to offer the ability for reviewing and processing customer requests across multiple lines of business, as in the present invention, or to support a fully automated, paperless process for the receiving, researching, decision-making and monitoring of such customer requests

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


An improved actuating fluid inlet manifold for a plurality of hydraulically-actuated fuel injectors. The manifold includes fluid dynamic tuning apparatus for controlling the flow of relatively high pressure actuating fluid between the common rail passage of the manifold and the injectors. The fluid dynamic tuning apparatus includes a predetermined flow restriction defined in each of the rail branch passages of the manifold. Advantages of the fluid dynamic tuning apparatus include improved injector performance and/or a reduction in structural stresses of various engine components.

Known hydraulically-actuated fuel injector systems and/or components are shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,168,855 issued to Stone on Dec. 8, 1992, U.S. Pat. No. 5,176,115 issued to Campion on Jan. 5, 1993, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,033,435 issued to Ostarello et al. on Jul. 23, 1991.
In such fuel injector systems, the cyclic operation of the injector and the intermittent communication of high pressure actuation fluid to each injector can i) undesirably add to the structural stresses imposed on various engine components, ii) cause the initial rate-of-injection pressure to be steeper than desired resulting in excessive engine noise and emissions, and/or iii) reducing mean injection pressure.
For example, the fuel injector system disclosed in FIG. 2 of Stone or Campion shows a relatively high pressure actuating fluid inlet manifold comprising a common rail passage and a plurality of rail branch passages. Each rail branch passage intersects a respective annular cavity associated with a respective injector. The annular cavity communicates with an actuating fluid inlet passage of the injector which is selectively opened and blocked by an electronically-controlled valve. When the valve is opened to admit high pressure actuating fluid into the injector, intense pressure waves may propagate between the manifold and the respective injector. These pressure waves may generate unacceptable stresses in the cylinder head generally at the intersection of the rail branch passage and the annulus which may cause component failure. Similarly, when the valve closes to block further communication of actuating fluid into the injector, intense pressure waves may propagate between the manifold and the respective injector which again may induce excessive stresses at the rail branch passage/annulus intersection.
The hydraulically-actuated injectors disclosed in Stone and Campion have a certain amount of inherent control over the initial rate of injection pressure. However, such control may not be always adequate for meeting future stringent emissions standards in some engine applications.
Moreover, conventional hydraulically-actuated injectors typically can have a relatively short injection duration at engine idle conditions. This short injection duration may cause excessive engine noise at idle conditions.
Studies have been conducted in the field of intake/exhaust manifold dynamics for compressible fluids such as air. One notable example is entitled Internal Combustion Engine Intake Manifold Aspiration Dynamics, by T. Miyano and M. Hubbard, published on December 1990 in Volume 112 of the Transactions of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). In the above study, the length and diameter of the intake manifold pipe and the throttle body upstream pipe length were varied to effect improved volumetric efficiencies of an engine. Air inlet manifold tuning is also disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,085,177 issued to Ma on Feb. 4, 1992. Fuel inlet manifold tuning is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,076,239 issued to Mina on Dec. 31, 1991 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,086,743 issued to Hickey on Feb. 11, 1992.
However, applicants are not aware of any prior art in the field of hydraulically-actuated injector fuel systems for controlling the flow of relatively high pressure and incompressible hydraulically actuating fluid between an inlet manifold and the injectors.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems as set forth above.

Tuned actuating fluid inlet manifold for a hydraulically-actuated fuel injection system


A camera control system incorporating a data processor is provided which uses a coordinate system based on CADD drawings and motion models of the cameras to effect open loop camera control of various cameras of the system. Various input and pointing devices are used to communicate with the system, and camera video is processed by the data processor.

With respect to complex surveillance systems, such as those found in gaming establishments, schools, and shopping malls, surveillance cameras are typically placed in transparent domes mounted in ceilings or other supports, such as on poles in a parking lot.
In these systems, camera operators typically use a joystick type control to effect pan and tilt movements of various controllable cameras of the system. Zoom, focus, and iris functions of lenses coupled to these cameras are typically controlled by a keypad having discrete keys marked with these functions. A video switching matrix selectively couples video outputs from the cameras to a plurality of monitors, with the switching matrix controlled through the use of the keypad. In addition to controllable cameras, the surveillance system may also include fixed cameras, such as those directed toward doors, elevators, money counting rooms, cashier stations and the like.
A typical surveillance application will have many more cameras than monitors, and fewer operators than monitors. As a result, many of the views being observed by cameras are not monitored or recorded. For example, there may be cameras in locations that are normally not occupied, as in a money counting room. Surveillance operators are often required to periodically examine these areas but their work loads often prevent them from being able to accomplish this task on a timely basis. While size of these systems and ratios of the number of monitors with respect to the number of cameras varies widely, in a gambling casino there may be something on the order of about 500 surveillance cameras selectively coupled to 30 monitors, with two to five operators controlling the system and observing the monitors.
In these gambling casinos and other installations, surveillance operators must be proficient with using the surveillance system and be thoroughly familiar with the layout of the areas being observed. A surveillance operator must, within a short period of time, be able to bring up on a monitor random views; such as particular slot machines or gaming tables, views of money counting rooms, etc. While operators are provided with lists or drawings of locations of cameras and the particular objects or areas of interest, there may be thousands of views from hundreds of cameras that are of concern to an operator. As such, when asked to view a randomly selected area not routinely viewed, an operator may experience difficulty in locating a listing or drawing of the area, identifying the appropriate camera, maneuvering the camera and bringing up the view on a monitor. This is an undesirable situation as a risk exists that some critical activity may not be timely located and viewed by the surveillance system.
Another concern of surveillance operators relates to the need for returning cameras to to their "parking views", which are typically critical locations, such as a view including an exit, and to which the camera should be returned after use. Here, due to the necessity of having to constantly watch a monitor and control cameras during surveillance operations, the task of returning a previously used camera to it's parking view becomes a burden, and can be done only intermittently by the operators. As a result, cameras may be left in random positions, meaning that the next time a camera in such a position is used, critical time may be lost acquiring the desired view, such as when observing a suspicious person or a view responsive to an alarm indication.
Controllable cameras in surveillance systems generally fall into three categories, 1) Inexpensive, manually operated, cameras only capable of movement responsive to manual pan, tilt, zoom, focus and iris commands from an operator, and which are the most common type, 2) More expensive, semi-automated cameras equipped with "preset" controls, which use servo mechanisms to position the camera to internally stored pan, tilt, zoom, focus, and iris positions. With this data, a plurality of "preset" views for each camera may be stored in the camera and used to direct the respective camera to a one, or a sequence, of these preset views responsive to operating a key on the keypad, and 3) very expensive cameras containing computers capable of complex operations such as communicating information to the camera control system.
For cameras with preset capability, the number of preset views is set for each camera, such as 32 for one widely used camera. When there are hundreds of cameras equipped with preset capability, there may be thousands of preset views. As a result of the difficulty in remembering names and locations of this quantity of preset views, surveillance operators often do not use the preset capability to its full advantage, preferring instead to simply pan or tilt a camera to locations which they wish to view.
At the present time, a typical installation will have an architect's CADD (computer assisted drafting and designing) drawing available that contains information, such as in floor plans, wherein objects in the drawings are represented graphically and located with great precision. Generally, objects in these drawings are constructed as a series of lines, circles, or other geometrical shapes, each of which scaled to size using X and Y Cartesian Coordinates, with these drawing files known as "vector" format files. In most drawings, such as those of gambling casinos, there are many objects in the CADD floorplan that are represented by the same graphical outline, such as slot machines, which symbols being stored by the CADD program in a manner so as to not repetitively generate the symbol in memory. This is done by creating one image of the symbol in vector format and including in the image a reference point for locating the symbol in the drawing. This single image with a reference point is commonly known as a "component", with a typical drawing including a number of differing components. As such, after the image of the component is generated, it is only necessary to store a component reference name, rotation and scaling information, and coordinates, or "vectors" at which the reference point in the component is located in order to regenerate the object as many times as necessary. Once located in a CADD drawing, These individual objects are commonly known as "entities".
The CADD drawing and symbols therein may be converted and stored in several formats, two of which having gained considerable acceptance being the DXF and PCX formats. The PCX format, developed by PC PUBLISHER, is supported by most CADD programs, and is simply a bit mapped format where intensity and color values of each pixel making up an image is stored as a map in a digital format. The DXF format, developed by AUTODESK, stores coordinates of the drawing in an ASCII vector format, which is recognized by most, if not all, CADD programs. Thus, the majority of CADD drawings or selected elements therein can be converted by their respective programs to both the PCX and DXF formats from their native, usually proprietary formats.
Prior art of which Applicant is aware includes U.S. Pat. No. 4,992,866, issued to Morgan on Feb. 12, 1991. This reference discloses a camera control system requiring a number of computer controlled cameras, i.e. cameras that generate position information at the pan, tilt, zoom and focus motor drives and provide this information as feedback signals to operate the cameras in a closed loop configuration. These closed loop feedback signals are used in conjunction with a diagram that a user references to control movements of selected cameras. A conventional touch screen monitor and video switching matrix, under control of a microprocessor, provides a user with several options for selecting a particular camera, view, and monitor from a particular graphical representation.
While this system provides a relatively simple way to use a touch screen to effect camera, view, and monitor selection, it is limited in that it requires an operator to select from a predefined list of fixed views, or "assets" located in the diagram, which are similar to presets. Further, there is no ability to select an arbitrary location to view, or to refer to entities to be viewed by name, as is found in a CADD drawing. Further yet, there is no disclosure in Morgan as to how the graphical representations relate to camera movement, or how these graphical representations are constructed. In addition, there is no capability for the system to monitor the camera video, or relate portions of the video to locations on the diagram.
Another reference, U.S. Pat. No. 5,111,288, issued to Blackshear on May 5, 1992, discloses a feedback signal operated, closed loop camera system in conjunction with computer control used to store in memory one or more predetermined "presets", or views of particular interest. Computer routines are provided for controlling camera movements from one preset to another preset. Additional computer routines are provided for immediately moving a camera to view a preset responsive to an alarm.
Again, the system of Blackshear requires "smart" cameras with feedback position information of the pan and tilt mechanisms, with the attendant high cost of the cameras. Also, as each preset and sequence of presets must be manually entered into the computer, the system lacks the versatility needed for a large surveillance operation, such as found in a gambling casino.
To date, Applicant is unaware of any attempt to develop a surveillance camera control system wherein cameras are controlled in an open loop configuration (without requiring position feedback signals) by a data processor using a coordinate system, such as found in CADD drawings, for referencing camera movement. Further, Applicants system utilizes data from conventional CADD drawings for the purpose of operating surveillance cameras and monitors more effectively than is possible with methods of the known prior art.
Accordingly, it is a broad object of this invention to provide open loop control of surveillance cameras in conjunction with a coordinate system for referencing camera movement. In addition, numerous capabilities are provided that makes the system extremely flexible, and particularly useful in a system involving a number of large areas where numerous objects are to be monitored using a large number of cameras.

Method for open loop camera control using a motion model to control camera movement


A device, process and system are provided for collecting and releasing a liquid sample, especially saliva. A defined saliva sample, i.e., a filtered, approximately homogeneously mixed saliva sample of a predetermined volume is made available in the simplest possible manner. A sampling tip (2) is provided made of a dimensionally stable and porous material, which is moved with its mouthpiece (4) in the mouth of a test subject for one to two minutes and takes up saliva based on the capillary action. A reagent liquid enters the pores of the sampling tip (2), mixes with the saliva there and is subsequently fed from a reagent depot by the action of pressure. The saliva and the reagent liquid are finally discharged as a droplet (40) in the filtered and mixed state, either into the cavity (10) of the sample collector or into a filter mixer.

Saliva has gained increasing significance as an information carrier, especially for medical tests as well as for the detection of administered or ingested substances, especially drugs or habit-forming drugs. The testing of saliva is preceded by the taking and providing of a saliva sample.
A device for collecting and releasing saliva for diagnostic purposes has been known from DE 197 48 331 C1. The device comprises a section which collects and squeezes out the saliva sample and is located displaceably in a container. The container is closed at one of its ends and can be opened at its other end by lifting a closing cap with an integrated filter. The container is preferably designed as a bellows. Saliva first enters the bellows via the opened closing cap and is taken up by the porous section. Pushing together the bellows with the closing cap closed presses together the porous section, and the saliva taken up before is discharged to the outside, filtered by the filter of the closed closing cap. The piston is subsequently introduced into a syringe, in which a diluting liquid as well as additional reagents are contained.

System for collecting and releasing saliva


Gun sight apparatus for day and night viewing includes three units, a base unit including an objective lens assembly and a windage and elevation assembly. An erector lens assembly is disposed within the windage and elevation assembly. An aiming reticle is located between the objective lens and the erector lens at the first focal plane. A second focal plane is located behind the base unit. For daytime viewing operations, a daytime unit, including an ocular lens assembly, is secured to the base unit. For nighttime viewing operations, a night vision unit, including an image intensifier tube, is secured to the base unit. The face of the image intensifier tube is located at the second focal plane when the night vision unit is secured to the base unit.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to gun sights and, more particularly, to telescopic gun sight apparatus usable for daytime operations and for nighttime operations.
2. Description of the Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 3,529,882 (Schmidt) discloses a combined day and night viewing telescope using two different optical systems for the respective viewings.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,549,231 (Scidmore et al) discloses lens systems for a day and night periscopic sight.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,712,702 (Schmidt) discloses a lens system for day and night operations. One lens system is used for day operations and a second lens system is used for night operations, with both lens systems being included in a single element.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,974,585 (Dunham) discloses gun sight apparatus for use at night. The apparatus appears to be more concerned with the structural elements than with the optical elements.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,291,479 (Lough) discloses a day and night sight mounting apparatus for a weapon. The structural elements involved are disclosed, rather than optical elements.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,764,011 (Goldstein) discloses a sighting apparatus for day and night use in which a beam splitting optical system is used.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,822,994 (Johnson et al) discloses day and night telescopic sight apparatus in which an image intensifier module for night operation is inserted between front and rear sections of a telescopic sight. The image intensifier module is removable for daytime use.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,961,278 (Johnson et al) discloses two sections of a telescopic sight, front and rear optical sections, with an image intensifier unit pivotally secured between the two optical lens units. The image intensifier unit is pivoted out of alignment for daytime operation and is pivoted into alignment for nighttime operation.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,134,798 (Lee) discloses a mounting system for two sights, one sight for day use and one sight for night use. No optics are disclosed. The mounting system structure allows two different systems to be mounted on the disclosed structure.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,5,140,151 (Weiner et al) discloses an optical system for day and night usage.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,272,514 (Dor) discloses a modular day and night gun sight apparatus. The apparatus discloses a different aiming system for day and night using a light source to assist in the aiming process.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,307,204 (Dor) discloses a mounting system for mounting a night vision system to a helmet.
In some of the above described patents, only optical systems are disclosed. In others of the above described patents, structural elements are involved. However, it will be noted that none of the above described patents disclose a relatively simple telescopic sight in which two elements, one element for day sighting and one element for night sighting, may be quickly and easily secured to a single element which may be referred to as a base telescopic sight element or housing. The apparatus of the present invention comprises three separate elements, a base telescopic sight element and two modules which may be selectively secured to the base telescopic sight module, one module for daytime sighting and the second module for nighttime sighting.


A motion-sensitive bird repelling device comprises a cylindrical shaped housing, and a plurality of spike legs extending downwardly from the bottom thereof for securing the housing to a garden or lawn, for protecting newly planted seeds from being eaten by birds and rodents. The bird repelling device includes motion sensors for detecting motion of a bird or rodent entering a prohibited area. The motion sensors activate a motor in response to simultaneous detecting of the trespassing animal into such area. When the motor is activated, a plurality of flexible arms mounted to the motor rotates, producing both noise and fluttering motions for scaring the approaching animals prior to reaching the seeds.

This invention relates to a motion-sensitive bird repelling device. More particularly, the invention relates to a device which employs motion detectors, and flexible arms that rotate and makes noise when prompted by the motion detectors, designed for scaring off birds and rodents so as to prevent them from entering a prohibited area.
Each year, people spend their valuable time planting a wide variety of plant seeds in their own private gardens. Unfortunately, birds too often eat the seeds from the garden even before the seeds have a chance to germinate and grow into a plant. This not only causes enormous frustration for the avid gardener who patiently waited for the plant to grow but also causes the gardener to repeat the expensive and troublesome process of replanting the seeds. Thus, it is desirable to have a device that is capable of deterring birds and rodents from entering the garden areas.
Various references uncovered in the prior art provide devices that utilize a jet of water to drive off small animals. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,009,192 to Burman discloses an animal deterrent apparatus having water sprinklers which produce sudden jet of water to frighten an animal. Likewise, U.S. Pat. No. 5,603,287 to Houch discloses an animal sensing and repelling system that uses a floodlight and water sprayer for repelling animals. U.S. Pat. No. 5,458,093 to MacMillan discloses another garden protection device comprising a water sprinkler head designed to spray a sudden shock of water over the area to be protected to drive off wandering animals.
In the field of animal repelling device, many have been designed which generate undesirable noises to frighten away animals. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,214,411 to Herbruck discloses an ultrasonic sound emitting apparatus producing an undesirable noise for animals such as dogs and cats to deter such animals from trespassing within certain geographical boundaries. This noise is of such a high frequency that it is not heard by most human beings. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,450,063 to Peterson discloses a bird avert system which includes microwave, radar, or other signal generation and receiving arrangements for forming an electronic net a distance above a polluted pond, that is triggered by passage therethrough of a bird, to frighten away birds from the pond.
Despite all these animal repelling devices, there is still a further need to provide an improved motion-sensitive bird repelling device. Such a motion-sensitive bird repelling device should be simple in construction so as to minimize manufacturing cost, and yet be capable of deterring birds, rodents, and other small animals from entering a prohibited area by generating noise and fluttering motions. Moreover, such a motion-sensitive bird repelling device should be capable of deterring birds and rodents from entering garden areas without presenting any danger to children and house pets playing nearby.
While these units mentioned above may be suitable for the particular purpose employed, or for general use, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention as disclosed hereafter.


An image adjusting method, a light source module, and an electronic device are provided. The image adjusting method includes the following steps. A first set of light source and a second set of light source of the light source module are driven independently by corresponding driving intensity respectively. An image display command is received. The driving intensity corresponding to the first set of light sources and the second set of light sources respectively are adjusted according to the image display command, wherein a gamut of the first set of light sources is wider than that of the second set of light sources, and luminous efficacy of the second set of light sources is higher than that of the first set of light sources.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to an image adjusting method, a light source module, and an electronic device, in particular, to an image adjusting method, a light source module, and an electronic device that may adjust luminance intensity of a light source.
2. Description of Related Art
Because liquid crystal display (LCD) devices go toward the development trend of high color saturation gradually in recent years, the product research of a wide gamut display device has been emphasized by those of the related domain. In general speaking, a light source of the wide gamut display device often adopts red light, green light, and blue light light-emitting diode (LED) chips accompanying with quantum dot components, such that images of display devices have wide gamut and high color saturation. However, comparing with a light source that adopts blue light LED chips accompanying with Yttrium Aluminum Garnet (YAG), luminous efficacy of the light source of the wide gamut display device is lower, such that products have higher power consumption and shorter product lifetime.

Image adjusting method, light source module and electronic device


A mounting assembly for securing a data storage device (10) includes a drive bracket (20) and a rotating member (40). The data storage device has sliding members (12) at opposite sides thereof. The drive bracket includes a pair of guiding slots (32, 52) for receiving the sliding member. A clip (35) extends from the drive bracket. The rotating member is pivotably mounted on the first side panel. The sliding members of the data storage device slide into the guiding slots. The rotating member is rotated to engage with the latching tab and secure at least one of the sliding members in the guiding slot.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to mounting devices, and more particularly to a mounting device for mounting data storage devices in a computer enclosure.
2. Background of the Invention
Usually data storage devices, such as hard disk drives, floppy disk drives, and optical drives are simply screwed to a drive bracket of a computer enclosure. However, this conventional means of mounting data storage devices is known as painstaking and time-consuming.
Another mounting means is disclosed in Taiwan patent No. 190919. Two sliding members are secured on two sides of a data storage device. A hole is defined in a front portion of each of the sliding members. A drive bracket defines a pair of guiding slots and two threaded holes in a front portion thereof. The two sliding members slide into the guiding slots of the drive bracket, and two screws extend through the holes and screw in the threaded holes to secure the data storage device on the drive bracket. The data storage device is thus easily mounted. However, the mounting means described above is still inconvenient, for screws are also needed to stably mount the data storage device.

Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd.


A method for tracking shipments of a letter or package shipped by at least one shipper to an address of at least one addressee including printing a bar code on each shipment to be tracked, wherein the bar code includes at least one part for identification of the shipper of the shipment, which is invariable for each shipper, and a shipment rank identification part of each shipment, which is variable for each shipment; and a device for tracking shipments of a letter or package shipped by at least one shipper to an address of at least one addressee including at least one database having at least one user data table listing bar codes of the shipper and address information, and a data table of shipments being tracked listing each shipment by shipper.

Already known in the prior art are shipment tracking methods and notably mail tracking methods based on bar codes. FR 2 715 333 pertains to a printing method for postal envelopes, and more precisely the printing of the final destination of a postal envelope by means of a bar code. Also known is WO 96/13803 which pertains to a method for labeling mail with bar codes with each bar code having at least four parts. Two different parts indicate the beginning and the end of the code. A content indicator, which follows the beginning bars, indicates the structure and the length of the following data field so that it will be read correctly. The data field can contain a postal code, with or without address information, information on the client, etc.
Use of bar codes is also known in the field of shipping and transport for identification of a shipment. This technique is based on the assignment of a bar code to a shipment and an association of the bar code with the shipment by a database. Reading the bar code at different sites as the shipment advances makes it possible to track the advancement of the shipment. Part of the information relative to the advancement of the shipment is made available to the shipper in a database that it can consult.
A major disadvantage of this technique is that it requires a very large number of bar codes to allow identification of each shipment.
Furthermore, since assignment of bar codes to the shipments is made in a random manner, it is necessary to have available a very large database permanently containing all of the possible bar codes according to the desired configuration and powerful data processing means, which limits the use of the technique to valuable shipments, i.e., essentially packages and registered mail.

Shipment tracking method, device for the implementation of the method and printing device


A method and apparatus for omni-directional image and 3-dimensional data acquisition with data annotation and dynamic rage extension method is capable of omni-directionally photographing, acquiring 3-dimensional images photographed by cameras having each different exposure amount in connection with the direction of height of an object, extending dynamic range, and generating an geographical information by entering an annotation such as photographing location and time into the photographed images, which can be connected with other geographical information system database. The apparatus includes one or more multi camera module(s) which are stacked and formed multi layers in the direction of height for acquiring 3-dimensional images and extending dynamic range of the 3-dimensional images, wherein each multi camera module includes a plurality of cameras symmetrically arranged with a specific point in a plane.

There have been many efforts to capture and re-create human visual experience of being a location. Omni-directional photography is one way of effectively re-creating visual experience of a location at a specific moment. Omni-directional photograph may cover up to 360 degree horizontally and 180 degree vertically to cover whole spherical view from the photographing viewpoint.
However, to capture and re-create human visual experience, it is more efficient to concentrate capturing vicinity of horizontal viewing areas rather than trying to cover whole spherical view. For this reason, panoramic image, which omits upper part and lower part of spherical view, is also widely or generally used.
Currently, the prior-art methods to capture omni-directional images may be categorized as below:                (a) a method to cover about hemispheric viewing angle using non-planer mirror and a camera;        (b) a method to cover wider viewing angle using multiple planer mirror and multiple cameras;        (c) a method to generate a panoramic image by connecting a plurality of images which are obtained as a camera rotates;        (d) a method to produce a single image as by connecting a plurality of images which are obtained as a line-scan camera rotates (http://www.e-pan.com/index.html);        (e) a method to cover wider viewing angle by a plurality of imaged which are obtained as a plurality of cameras each of which covers different viewing angle (for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,023,725); and        (f) a method to cover about hemispheric viewing angle using a camera with fisheye lens (for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,185,667).
Each method above has inherently advantages and disadvantages. The methods (a) and (f) tend to produce low-resolution image unless the image sensor of the camera is especially very big since they try to cover very wide viewing angle with single camera. Method (b) is hard to cover wide vertical viewing angle without using very big mirrors. Methods (c) and (d) capture omni-directional images over the camera rotating time so that moving object can be captured in different location of multiple images in method (c) or distorted in method (d). Method (e) utilized a plurality of cameras to cover wider viewing angle. In method (e), as the number of camera increases, each camera can cover less viewing angle and overall image resolution can be desirably enhanced.
However, when an image-capturing device adopting the method (e) is installed with a vehicle moving in normal driving speed and captures images, each camera of the image-capturing device can not be precisely controlled.
Some of the desired precise controls for image capturing while in fast motion are (1) precise synchronization of triggering of all cameras at the desired photographing location and (2) an adjustment of optimal exposure amount of each camera facing to different direction without creating motion blur.

Method and apparatus for omni-directional image and 3-dimensional data acquisition with data annotation and dynamic range extension method


A riser for an archery bow is formed from a fibrous composite material, the matrix of which may be a high heat distortion thermoplastic polymer, a very high heat distortion thermoplastic polymer, or a combination thereof. The riser may incorporate a spine formed from a different polymer or composite than the rest of the riser, or from metal. A method for producing a riser for an archery bow includes the steps of introducing a polymeric composite into a mold from a first end of the mold to facilitate a particular orientation of components of the polymeric composite, molding the polymeric composite to produce a billet that approximates a net shape of the riser, and then machining the billet to the final shape of the riser.

The design of bows for use in archery has evolved over thousands of years. Changes in technology have been the result of mechanical innovation and advancement in material science. One significant advancement in bow design was the development of the "compound" bow. Traditional bows are referred to as "recurve" bows. Recurve bows are usually made from wood and must be bent into the curved bow shape each time a user wishes to attach the bow string. Recurve bows employ a single bow string and the resilience of the bow places the bow string in tension. While effective, it usually requires a great deal of force to draw the bowstring back when using a recurve bow. Contrastingly, compound bows employ a camming system that allows a user to exert less force on the bow string to draw it back than is necessary with a similarly rated recurve bow.
Major components of compound bows are the riser (on which a handle is mounted or formed) and two generally opposed limbs, each extending from an end of the riser. The limbs may be mounted in pockets at the ends of the riser and have pulleys or cams rotatably attached to the distal ends of each limb. A drawstring and harness system is wound between the pulleys and cams. Upon drawing the drawstring back, the limbs flex to allow the drawstring and the harness system to be loaded under high tension. In turn, the riser is loaded as a result of bending and torsional forces transferred thereto. These forces are resolved in the riser as tension, compression, shear forces, and torque.
Typically, the riser is fabricated from metal such as aluminum or magnesium or from composite materials that generally lack any appreciable amount of elasticity. The limbs, on the other hand, are typically fabricated from a material having a sufficient amount of resiliency (for example, woven unidirectional epoxy fiberglass and/or co-mingled composite materials) to allow them to flex or bend, thereby placing the bowstring in tension. Accordingly, upon drawing the bowstring back on a bow having a riser fabricated from a substantially inelastic material and limbs that are by comparison more flexible, undesirable stresses are introduced into the bow, particularly at the joints between the riser and the limbs. Over time, these stresses may compromise the structural integrity of the bow.
Furthermore, in bows and crossbows having risers fabricated from substantially inelastic materials, the opportunity for stress-related cracking to develop as a result of repeated use increases. Climatic changes (e.g., high temperature that results in increased creep or degradation of the composite matrix or the adhesives used, variations in humidity, and the like) can also contribute to the deterioration of the microstructure of the material of the riser, which can in turn significantly reduce the useful life of the bow. Moreover, deterioration of the microstructure can lead to visible defects in the riser that detract from the overall appearance of the bow.
Based on the foregoing, it is the general object of the present invention to provide an archery bow having components fabricated from a material that overcomes the problems of, or improves upon, the prior art.

Thermoplastic composite bow riser, limb, and cam


The invention relates to a device for producing a fluid containing a radioactive constituent, the device comprising: a shielded chamber (5) within which is located an isotope container (6) housing a radioactive isotope (7), the shielded chamber including first and second fluid connections (12,13) to opposing ends of the isotope container and a fluid conduit (14,15) extending from each of the first and second fluid connections to a fluid inlet (16) and a fluid outlet (17) respectively characterised in that the fluid inlet comprises a single spike (22) having a substantially circular cross-section, the spike being adapted to penetrate the rubber seal of a vial and the spike having two bores, the first bore extending from a first aperture adjacent the tip of the spike to a fluid connection with the fluid conduit and the second bore extending from a second, separate aperture in the spike to a filtering air inlet.

The diagnosis and/or treatment of disease in nuclear medicine constitute one of the major applications of short-lived radioisotopes. It is estimated that in nuclear medicine over 90% of the diagnostic procedures performed worldwide annually use 99mTc labelled radio-pharmaceuticals. Given the short half-life of radio-pharmaceuticals, it is helpful to have the facility to generate suitable radioisotopes on site. Accordingly, the adoption of portable hospital/clinic size 99mTc generators has greatly increased over the years. Portable radioisotope generators are used to obtain a shorter-lived daughter radioisotope which is the product of radioactive decay of a longer-lived parent radioisotope, usually adsorbed on a bed in an ion exchange column. Conventionally, the radioisotope generator includes shielding around the ion exchange column containing the parent radioisotope along with means for eluting the daughter radioisotope from the column with an eluate, such as saline solution. In use, the eluate is passed through the ion exchange column and the daughter radioisotope is collected in solution with the eluate, to be used as required.
In the case of 99mTc, this radioisotope is the principle product of the radioactive decay of 99Mo. Within the generator, conventionally the 99Mo is adsorbed on a bed of aluminium oxide and decays to generate 99mTc. As the 99mTc has a relatively short half-life it establishes a transient equilibrium within the ion exchange column after approximately twenty-four hours. Accordingly, the 99mTc can be eluted daily from the ion exchange column by flushing a solution of chloride ions, i.e. sterile saline solution through the ion exchange column. This prompts an ion exchange reaction, in which the chloride ions displace 99mTc but not 99Mo.
In the case of radio-pharmaceuticals, it is highly desirable for the radioisotope generation process to be performed under aseptic conditions i.e. there should be no ingress of bacteria into the generator. Moreover, due to the fact that the isotope used in the ion exchange column of the generator is radioactive, and is thereby extremely hazardous if not handled in the correct manner, the radioisotope generation process also should be performed under radiologically safe conditions. Therefore, current radioisotope generators are constructed as closed units with fluid inlet and outlet ports providing external fluid connections to the inner ion exchange column.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,564,256 describes a radioisotope generator in which the ion exchange column is in a cylindrical holder which is located within two box-shaped elements that are in turn located within appropriate radiation shielding. The holder is closed by rubber plugs at both ends, and the box-shaped elements have passages opposite each of the rubber plugs in which respective needles are located. At the outermost ends of the needles quick-coupling members are provided to enable a syringe vessel containing a saline solution to be connected to one of the needles and to enable a collection vessel to be connected to the other of the two needles. This document acknowledges that as the two syringes form a closed system there is no need for air to be withdrawn or added.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,387,303 describes a radioisotope generator in which air is introduced to the eluate conduit via a branched pipe so that the hollow spike used to delivery the eluate to be collected has a single bore as the air is introduced into the fluid upstream.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,801,047 describes a dispensing device for a radioisotope generator in which the vial containing the saline solution that will be used to flush out the desired radioisotope from the ion exchange column, is mounted in a carrier that is moveable relative to the hollow needle used to pierce the seal of the vial and to extract the saline solution. The drawings of this document clearly illustrate two separate spaced apart hollow needles one to deliver air and one to collect fluid. The dispensing device is intended to penetrate an elastic stopper and so presents the problem that any rotational movement of the eluant container will result in tearing of the stopper which in turn destroys the aseptic environment through the uncontrolled introduction of air into the system. A similar dual needle system is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,109,160.
Although piercing devices are known that employ a single spike with two channels such as that illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,211,588 such piercing devices have been restricted in their application in general to intravenous systems.


A display apparatus is provided. The display apparatus includes: a display panel; and a backlight unit which provides the display panel with backlight. The backlight unit includes: a converter which converts a voltage of a received power and outputs an output power, a plurality of light source modules which receives the output power from the converter, and a control unit which determines powering conditions to operate the plurality of the light source modules in a specific state for each of the plurality of light source modules, and controls the converter sequentially based on the determined powering conditions.

1. Field
Apparatuses and methods consistent with exemplary embodiments relate to a display apparatus and a backlight unit (BLU), and more particularly, to a display apparatus which provides backlight using a plurality of light source modules, and a BLU.
2. Description of the Related Art
As multimedia devices such as televisions (TVs), mobile phones, and laptops have developed, there has been an increasing demand for the technical development of the flat panel display devices in association with display apparatuses. The flat panel display devices may include plasma display panel (PDP), liquid crystal display (LCD), field emission display (FED), and vacuum fluorescent display (VFD).
Recently, LCDs have become popular, particularly due to advanced production technology, efficient driving, and the high resolution. LCDs change electronic data output from a plurality of devices into visible data using variations in light permeability of the liquid crystal according to the applied voltages.
Since an LCD displays a desired image on a screen by adjusting an amount of light passing through the liquid crystal layer based on the index of refractive anisotropy, it is necessary that a BLU is installed as a light source to emit light through the liquid crystal layer.
The BLU generally includes light sources to generate backlight, and driving elements to drive the light sources. The light sources are arranged to emit the backlight onto the LCD, and include an appropriate number of driving elements for an efficient driving of the light sources.
The cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL), light emitting diode (LED), or electroluminescent (EL) light may be used as light sources for the BLU. Lately, the LED became popular choice to replace the CCFL, as the LED provides higher level of brightness, longer lifespan, and better thermal characteristic. Therefore, BLUs with a plurality of LED aligning structures are used in a wider range of applications due to the longer lifespan and higher efficiency of the LEDs as compared to some other light sources.
However, the BLUs including LEDs may have some drawbacks. For example, the imbalance of brightness may occur due to variations of forward voltages in the factory or variations of driving during circuit arrangement. It may be possible to control the stability of the light source modules by adding converters for each of the light source modules. However, such solution may result in complicated circuits and increased cost.


A bright trim article is manufactured by a process including applying a primer coat material to the outer surface of a raw part and thereafter applying a dielectric substrate basecoat by rotation and spray painting to prevent orange peel; thereafter vacuum metallizing a corrosion prone metal, namely indium, on the dielectric substrate basecoat to form "islands" of the indium that are etched following the growth of the metal as it is deposited after the nucleation stage and the stage of channelization but before the formation of an electrically conductive film; thereafter applying a clear resinous topcoat material by rotating the base-coated part and spraying the resinous topcoat material to prevent an orange peel surface while filling the channels and covering the islands to encapsulate and insulate the islands, one from another.. A preferred application of this invention is the manufacture of trim parts for the automotive, plumbing and building industries.

Vacuum metallizing of plastic and similar dielectric substrates is disclosed in various forms including U.S. Patent:
U.S. Pat. No. 2,992,125 Fustier PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 2,993,806 Fisher PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,118,781 Downing PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,914,472 Nakanishi PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,101,698 Dunning PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,131,530 Blum PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,211,822 Kaufman PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,215,170 Oliva PA1 Thin Film Phenomena, Kasturi L. Chopra, Robert E. Kreiger Publishing Company, Huntington, N.Y., 1979. See especially pp. 163 et seq. PA1 Handbook of Thin Film Technology, Leon I. Maissel and Reinhard Glang, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, N.Y., 1970. See especially pp. 8-32 et seq.
Prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,431,711 issued Feb. 14, 1984, relates to metal film island structure and spacing to the appearance and performance of a commercial product, to the conductivity of the metal layer, to the corrosion resistance of the metal layer and/or to the adhesion of the top coat. It further relates to nucleation and film growth to a desired island structure and spacing that achieves these ends.
With regard to the last statement, two excellent reference books are:
These texts discuss and illustrate the stages of metal film growth by vacuum deposition from metal nucleation and nuclei growth, to liquid coalescence, to electrically discrete islands, channelization with incipient film conductivity, and finally, full continuous film formation. Film formation of vacuum deposited metals on plastic substrates for commercial products, especially on elastomeric plastic substrates, is not discussed. Nor is the interdependence of the natures of the metal film and the top coating correlated with product performance.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,431,711 shows the significant difference in performance to be obtained with a vacuum metallized flexible plastic product, top coated, where the metal particles are coalesced only to the island state instead of being allowed to coalesce to beyond the channelization stage where film conductivity is established.
In the '711 patent, the separate islands are coalesced from separate nucleation points and are globular or rounded and fused appearing and are part of the nucleation and growth process.
In general, the coalesced islands forming the indium films of the '711 patent are smaller and there is a much greater spacing between them that can be filled with the resin of the top coating, in effect encapsulating the islands and binding them to the substrate surface. The rounded islands are better protected by the resin and the film over all is far more corrosion resistant, surprisingly so. The metal film is much more securely adhered to the substrate--a very significant advantage. The appearance of the globular island product is better--it is more specular, more reflective.
The construction of the indium island structure in U.S. Pat. No. 4,431,711 includes islands that are separated by channels which receive the top coat to bond the resinous film of the top coat to the substrate for the indium island structures. While the island structures are suitable for their intended purpose, it has been observed that the channels formed between the individual islands also contain many clusters and smaller islands of residual material. It is believed that this material reduces the total effective area of substrate material to which the top coat can be bonded. Consequently, the resultant bright trim article may be subject to undesirable delamination between the top coat and the substrate material.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,713,143 discloses a corrosion resistant vacuum metallized article of bright metallic material in which a dielectric substrate surface has a vacuum deposited layer of metal selected from a group consisting of indium and alloys thereof which alloys are predominantly of indium and wherein the vacuum deposition is continued only until there is a formation of discrete islands which visually appear as a continuous film, but that have channels formed between the discrete islands of a dimension so as to maintain the islands electrically non-conductive over the surface area of the substrate, wherein the process includes etching the vacuum deposited discrete islands with a solvent which slowly dissolves or removes residual amounts of indium from the channels between the distinct islands so as to clear the channels to expose additional bonding surfaces on the substrate for increasing the surface area of adhesion between the substrate and a protective dielectric top coat.
The deposited islands are formed by indium which is amphoteric and thus has some solubility in both acids and bases. As deposited, the indium metal layer is composed of tiny islands ranging from tiny clusters of 25 angstroms or less in diameter. The tiny clusters are barely resolvable in the transmission electronic microscope. The islands can increase in diameter to sizes as large as 4,000 angstroms in diameter. Each of the islands is separated by channels which can be several hundred angstroms wide. However, in the deposition process to form the aforedescribed indium island structure, it is observed that many clusters and small islands of residual indium material may exist in the channels which produce the desired electrically non-conductive characteristics across the surface of the substrate. The process of my '143 patent includes etching the previously deposited indium material with a solution that slowly dissolves or removes the small clusters and islands to clean the channels and thereby define an additional surface area against which the top coat can adhere to the base coat so as to improve its adhesion to the base coat. The typical adhesion strength of a top coat material to a base coat material is in the order of 2 orders of magnitude stronger than the adhesion strength of the top coat to the metal making up the individual island structures separated by the channels. The treatment steps for vacuum deposited islands just before top coating consists of rinsing the part in a 10% NaOH solution for 60 to 90 seconds in a temperature range of 150.degree.-160.degree. F. followed by two water rinses and a second rinse with deionized water. This etch treatment step greatly improves the adhesion of top coat material of the type set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 4,431,711. While the flexible substrate described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,431,711 has sufficient adhesion to pass most automotive specification tests, it is desirable to improve the adhesion in such article so that it will consistently pass an X-scribed type taped adhesion test after either Florida exposures or accelerated weathering tests including (QUV, weatherometer, xenon, dual carbon arc weatherometer). With increasing emphasis on quality in American made cars, such tests are now beginning to show up in automotive specifications (see, for example, Fisher Body FBMS 1-51 specification). While etching the island containing metal layers of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,431,711, an improved adhesion between top coat and base coat materials results so that such X-scribed standards can be met. While suitable for their intended purpose, such articles that are spray coated can have a surface finish that is referred to as either an orange peel surface or spray mottled surface. The effect is due to the failure of either the base coat or the clear coat spray coating to flow to a smooth, level surface. Such lack of smoothness can undesirably reduce the specularity or mirror-like quality of the images visually seen in coatings including the metal film comprised of the island containing layer.
Various methods for smoothly coating articles are known including those set-forth in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,952,699; 4,312,292; 4,874,639; and 4,919,977.
The '292 patent includes spray coating a tile that is mounted on a rotatable horizontal platform that carries a second rotatable platform for rotating a part to be coated in a second plane that is inclined at an angle to the horizontal.
The '639 and '977 patents are directed to a method for spray coating automobile bodies. The method in the '977 patent includes mounting the bodies on their central axis and rotating the bodies about such axes with respect to spray painting devices. Alternatively, the method set-forth in the '699 patent includes mounting the spray paint devices on a rotating platform and driving the spray guns about the car body. The method set forth in the '699 patent requires careful selection of the wetness of the spray coating to prevent runs on the vertical surfaces of the car body.
None of the aforesaid patents are related to a method for improving the specularity of bright trim parts having a metallic island structure for a chrome like appearance while maintaining a discontinuity across the metal layer in the trim part to prevent corrosion therein. Specifically, the aforesaid patents do not disclose a method for manufacturing a bright trim product having reduced orange peel effect or spray coating mottle so as to improve specularity of a bright metal island film deposition thereon.
Furthermore, none of the aforesaid patents include a reel rotation step that will accommodate the manufacture of a plurality of parts at the same time without requiring separate mounting and rotation of the individual parts on their own axes.


A high-accuracy, low-cost rotation rate sensor is based on a vibrating mechanical element induced to laterally oscillate. When rotated, the element, preferably a cantilever beam, is subjected to a Coriolis force that is proportional to the rate of rotation. The Coriolis force, if not counteracted, would cause the beam to move vertically. Vertical motion is detected with a highly sensitive tunneling tip sensor positioned below the beam. A wide bandwidth control circuit applies a counteracting force to the beam to keep the gap between tip and beam constant. This counteracting force varies with and provides an indication of the rotation rate. Lateral oscillation is induced by applying an electrostatic force to the beam with narrow, bipolar pulses that improve the sensor's stability and accuracy. A quadrature suppression circuit is employed if needed to prevent an oscillation that is tending to tilt due to imperfections in sensor construction, by activating electrodes positioned on a substrate below the oscillating beam to counteract the tendency. An alternative embodiment of the invention utilizes a tunneling tip to provide both lateral and vertical position sensing of an oscillating beam.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of gyroscopes and rotation rate sensors, and more particularly to rotation rate sensors that utilize an oscillating mechanical element to sense rotation rate.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many methods have been developed to sense rotation rate. Gimbaled spinning wheel, ring laser, and vibrating ring gyroscopes have all been successfully developed for this purpose. Many applications exist for devices that can sense rotation, such as traction control and ride stabilization systems for cars, and stabilization systems for aircraft and spacecraft. However, existing gyroscope designs tend to be too expensive for mass market applications.
One method of sensing rotation rate utilizes a vibrating mechanical element, in which the Coriolis force that arises when the element is rotated is used to measure rotation rate. Devices of this type include the hemispherical resonator gyroscope and the vibrating ring gyroscope. Such vibratory gyroscopes have no rotating parts and are easily miniaturized using micro-machining techniques. These type of devices are described in M. W. Putty and K. Najafi, "A Micromachined Vibrating Ring Gyroscope," Solid-State Sensor and Actuator Workshop, Hilton Head, S.C., June, 1994. However, these gyroscopes tend to be either very expensive or low accuracy devices.
A mechanical element is fixed at one end and extends along a y-axis. The free end of the element is made to oscillate along an x-axis. The element is then subjected to rotation about the y-axis. A Coriolis force, induced by the rotation of the element and orthogonal to the axes of oscillation and rotation, i.e. along the z-axis, will cause the path described by the element to change, unless constrained by a counteracting force. Rather than continuing to oscillate back and forth along the x-axis only, under a Coriolis force acting alone, i.e. with no counteracting forces, the element would describe an elliptical pattern, with motion in both z and x axes. The Coriolis effect is a well known phenomenon and is discussed in D. Considine, Van Nostrand's Scientific Encyclopedia, Seventh Edition, Van Nostrand Reinhold (1989), page 773. The Coriolis effect will cause the element, oscillating laterally along the x-axis and rotating about the y-axis, to experience a Coriolis force F.sub.c along the z-axis as follows: EQU F.sub.c =2mW.sub.r xV.sub.1
where m is the mass of the element, W.sub.r is the element's rotation rate and V.sub.1 is the lateral velocity of the element. If a force is applied to the element to counteract the Coriolis force and prevent z-axis displacement, measuring this counteracting force will give the Coriolis force, which is directly proportional to the rate of rotation.
A rotation rate sensor based on this principle having a properly designed mechanical element, an accurate sensor for measuring z-axis displacement, and circuitry to control lateral oscillation and to generate a force that prevents displacement along the z-axis, can overcome the accuracy and cost deficiencies of other vibrating element rotation rate sensors.


A defect inspecting apparatus in which a plurality of probes to measure electric characteristics of a sample including a fine wiring pattern are combined with a charged-particle beam unit includes graphic user interfaces (GUI) to simply control the plural probes. The apparatus includes a probe image processing unit to display the plural probes on a display; a selecting unit to select, from the probes displayed on the display, a probe to be operated; and a display unit to simultaneously display the probe selecting unit and information indicating that the selected probe is an operable probe, or the probe is in a non-selected state.

The present invention relates to a defect inspecting apparatus for measuring electric characteristics of an electronic element such as a semiconductor chip by use of a fine probe, and in particular, to a defect inspecting apparatus using particularly a charged-particle beam unit for measuring electric characteristics of an electronic element by bringing the probe into direct contact with the electronic element.
To inspect electric defects of a complicated electronic circuit formed on a semiconductor chip, there have been used defect inspecting apparatuses such as an Electron Beam (EB) tester and a prober unit. The EB tester inspects an electrically defective point of a Large-Scale Integrated (LSI) circuit as below. When the tester emits an electron beam onto a measuring point, secondary electrons are emitted from the measuring point. The amount of such emitted secondary electrons varies depending on a voltage value at the point to thereby detect an electrically defective point of the LSI circuit. In the prober unit, a plurality of probe needles disposed according to positions of characteristic measuring pads of an LSI circuit or mechanical probes are brought into contact with the measuring pads and/or plugs to measure electric characteristics of the LSI circuit. When such EB tester or prober unit is employed for the defect inspection, an operator or a user of the apparatus confirms a contact position of each probe through a manual operation while viewing an image of wiring produced by an optical microscope or a Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) image generated by a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM).
Since the circuit pattern formed on a semiconductor element such as an LSI device has been complicated these days, it becomes difficult to quickly move a probe to an optimal position. To overcome the difficulty, there exists a technique called Computer Aided Design (CAD) navigation to reduce the period of time required for moving the probing. That is, in the inspection of a semiconductor device, a wiring layout of the device is displayed in association with an actual image at desired positions on the device, the image being viewed by the operator for the inspection.
To observe the SEM image, a scanning electronic microscope is employed to scan a sample using a primary electron beam to produce a scanned image of a fine pattern sample of a semiconductor. Such apparatus to observe a fine pattern sample includes an image shift function to correctly move an emission area of the primary electron beam or an observing field thereof to an observing point on the sample by use of a deflector including electrically two stages. The deflector electrically deflects the primary electron beam in a range from several micrometers (μm) to about ten μm.
JP-A-2000-147070 describes a probing device including a display section to display a probe information screen indicating information to make a probe achieve a desired operation. The probing device also includes a function to display a sample and the probe in the probe information screen of the display section, to present on the display section a probe operation screen area to move the probe thereto, and to move the probe by a probe controller in response to an operation signal of the probe operation screen area. The probing device further includes a function in which when the operator respectively designates a current position of a tip end of the probe displayed in the probe information screen and a moving target position of the tip end in the probe information screen, the device calculates a moving length or distance from the current position to the target position and makes the probe controller according to the moving distance to move the probe to the target position. The probing device also includes a function to select one of plural probes.
JP-A-9-326425 describes a defect inspecting apparatus including a vacuum chamber, a probing needle and a probing needle moving mechanism to move the probing needle which are disposed in the vacuum chamber, a sample stand to mount a sample thereon, a charged particle source, an emitting unit to emit a charged-particle beam from the charged particle source, a detector to detect charged particles from the sample, a unit to apply a voltage between the probing needle and the sample and/or between the probing needles, and a unit to measure electric characteristics of the sample.
JP-A-2002-523784 describes a probe station to deliver an electric test signal to an integrated circuit as an object to be inspected.


An optical sensor, having serviceable electronics, for monitoring the level of a liquid within a vessel having an exterior and an interior and for providing an electrical signal on the traverse of the liquid level past the sensor. The sensor comprises a fitting adapted to traverse the vessel wall, the fitting including a window having a prism shaped interior face and a planar exterior face sealed into the fitting and providing a fluid-tight optical path from the vessel interior to the vessel exterior. The fitting includes a chamber adjacent the planar face of the window and an electronic module shaped to fit the chamber. The module has an optical face. A light source and a light detector are positioned in the optical face to provide substantially zero clearance light communication between the window and both the source and the sensor, when the module is positioned within the chamber. The module includes electronics for supplying power to the light source and for providing different electrical signals on the presence, and on the absence of light at the detector. The sensor further includes means for resiliently securing the module against the window whereby intimate light communication between the window and the light source and the light sensor is achieved, and for readily removing the module for servicing ory replacement.

This invention relates to liquid level sensing devices and more particularly to liquid level sensing devices applied to air conditioning and refrigeration systems. On refrigeration systems, this invention would be used for sensing oil level in a compressor crankcase as described in Barbier U.S. Pat. No. 5,103,648 or for detecting refrigerant liquid level in a receiver tank. In refrigeration systems, it is important that the all devices attached to the refrigerant piping be as pressure tight as possible because any emissions are considered as atmospheric pollutants. Therefore any service work required must be accomplished without requiring opening the piping system. For these reasons, it is important that level sensing devices be constructed so that the operating portion can be removed and serviced without opening the refrigerant containing piping system.
Present applications in receiver low and high level alarm applications use a mechanical float located inside of the receiver tank. As the float moves up and down with changes in liquid level, a rotational motion produced by the float motion moves a magnet. The motion of the magnetic field links through the tank wall with parts external of the pressurized system. The rotational motion of the float linked magnetically to an external moving arm is used to operate an electrical switching action. The Switchgauge made by Rochester Gauges is one of the types commonly used. This device provides a compact, low cost device which allows service of the electrical parts without opening the refrigeration system. Unfortunately, mechanical floats are subject to failure due to wear and dirt. For that reason, an opening in the tank wall must be provided for service removal for the float parts. Additionally the float arm length puts limits on its use in small tanks. Additionally the friction in the float and magnet mechanism reduces the accuracy of the switching point.
The present invention described herein overcomes these problems. By providing a compact level sensing device which uses a vertical optical window and associated electronic and electrical means for level detection, all moving parts inside of the pressurized vessel are eliminated. Accurate and repeatable level sensing is accomplished. Additionally the level sensing parts and associated power supply parts are designed to be compact and low in cost. To provide these functions in a small module, power for operating the light emitter must be accomplished from voltages as high as 240 v AC without the use of a transformer. Low voltage DC is required to supply electrical current to the light emitter and other electronic components. The heat produced in dropping the supply voltage from the supply line level to low voltage DC then becomes the major technical problem to solve. Light power is increased by any reduction in the optical distance by a function of the square of the ratio in the change in distance. Therefore optimum electronic construction for minimum light power requires that the light source and light detector be as close to the external prism face as possible to minimize the optical distance that light must travel to go from the light source to the internal prism reflective faces and back to the light detector. The present invention accomplishes this need by using a very efficient optical construction which reduces the heat loss in the power supply for module operation to an acceptable level. In addition the subject invention provides a construction of a level sensing device with a removable module for service that is self contained. In this way, the device is easily repaired by replacing a sealed water-tight module containing all the electronic, electrical and electro-optical components including the means to operate from various power supply voltages.

Optical liquid level sensor for pressurized systems utilizing prismatic element


A slack adjuster that is protected against environmental contaminants via a series of holes positioned circumferentially around each end and covered by a sleeve having a slot is aligned with one of the series of holes while covering the remaining holes. The sleeve protects against infiltration of contaminants at the ends of the slack adjuster and allows any contaminants that do infiltrate the slack adjuster to be expelled through the aligned hole and slot. The central portion of the slack adjuster may also be protected by including a series of circumferential holes that are selectively covered by a sleeve having a drain positioned to align with the lowest holes while covering the remaining holes.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to railroad braking system slack adjusters and, more particularly, to various improvements for protecting slack adjusters against environmental damage.
2. Description of the Related Art
Slack adjusters are provided in the brake rigging of railway vehicles to automatically adjust the slack in the brake rigging to maintain the brake cylinder piston rod travel within a specified distance. Brake cylinder piston rod travel is important for proper balancing of the fluid pressure in the brake cylinder so that all brakes on a train operate under the same conditions and timing and to ensure the substantially uniform braking forces are applied to each set of wheels on each car in the train. Because slack adjusters include a variety of moving parts and are exposed to the elements under a rail car, slack adjusters are exposed to numerous environmental contaminants, such as dust, dirt, and water, which can corrosion and even failure.

Slack adjuster environmental improvements


Provided are non-dairy yogurt analogs that have qualities similar to those of dairy-based yogurts. Certain embodiments are to plant-based yogurt analogs comprising fermented plant protein isolates and/or gelled plant protein isolates. Also provided are processes for production of such non-dairy yogurt analogs. For instance, a method for producing a plant-based yogurt mixture capable of being used to make a plant-based yogurt analog comprising the steps of: a) obtaining an essentially dairy-free base for a yogurt formulation that includes a plant-based derivative, such as a paste; and b) adding an acid to said formulation. Thereafter, the plant-based yogurt formulation may be used to manufacture a plant-based yogurt analog comprising the steps of: a) heating a plant-based yogurt mixture at for a first pre-determined amount of time while stirring; b) allowing the mixture to cool; c) adding yogurt cultures to the resultant mixture; and d) incubating the resultant mixture for a second pre-determined amount of time to produce a plant-based yogurt analog.

Vegetarian and vegan diets provide many benefits to consumers. Such benefits include healthy nutrition (e.g., lower saturated fats, no cholesterol), absence of ethical or religious dietary conflicts, less negative environmental impacts (e.g., less green house gases produced in production), more efficient use of resources (e.g., less water used in production), and for consumers who have developed intolerances to certain dairy milk constituents, avoidance of such intolerance.
Dairy-like food products derived from soybean, coconut, and almond are available to consumers. Demand for these vegetarian/vegan alternatives to dairy products is fueled, inter alia, by the factors described above. However, acceptance of the dairy substitutes has been relatively low. In addition, the appearance, flavor and/or mouth feel of the currently available dairy substitutes has not appealed to consumers. Moreover, many of the currently available dairy substitutes have lower nutritional value than their dairy analogs.
Production of dairy substitutes from other natural sources is therefore desirable. However, many natural sources comprise compounds that limit their application in food products. For instance, many plants contain compounds that produce distinct colors and/or flavors that are unpleasant and difficult to mask with coloring and/or flavoring agents. The compounds may also affect the structure or stability of proteins, and consequently affect the appearance, sensory and nutritional qualities, and shelf lives of food products derived from such other natural sources.
It is particularly challenging to create a plant-based yogurt formulation that results in a texture and taste similar to dairy yogurt without using any, or only using little dairy ingredients.
Commercial plant-based yogurts, such as So Delicious Almond Milk Plain Greek Yogurt, Wildwood Organic Plain Unsweetened Soyogurt, and Nancy's Organic Blackberry Cultured Soy have not met customer's needs. Many have proven too expensive or have been deemed unpalatable either based on taste, texture, color, and nutritional content.
Therefore, there exists an unmet need for dairy-free or substantially dairy-free yogurt formulations and/or plant-based yogurt that have the color, taste, nutritional content, and/or other qualities of dairy products, that do not challenge common nutritional sensitivities, and/or that provide consumption experiences consumers are accustomed to from dairy products. The present disclosure describes exemplary embodiments of formulations and/or plant-based yogurt that may meet various combinations of one or more of these features, as well as processes for their production. The present disclosure is directed to solving these and other problems disclosed herein. The present disclosure is also directed to overcoming and/or ameliorating at least one of the disadvantages of the prior art as will become apparent from the discussion herein. The present disclosure is also directed to pointing out one or more advantages to using yogurt analogs that are derived substantially from or wholly from non-animal sources, but that have color, flavor, nutritional content, texture and/or other qualities that are similar, or substantially similar, to those of dairy-based yogurts.

Dairy product analogs and processes for making same


An integrated circuit memory device includes programmed memory cells and programmable and erasable memory cells. The memory device includes a first memory array block in which programmed memory cells are arranged and a second memory array block in which programmable and erasable memory cells are arranged. The programmed memory cells in the first memory array block may be programmed with predetermined data during a semiconductor manufacturing process, and may be mask read-only memory (ROM) cells. The programmable and erasable memory cells in the second memory array block may be programmed or erased with predetermined data after the semiconductor manufacturing process, and may be electrically erasable and programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) cells or flash memory cells.

In general, software for operating a system-on-chip (SOC) and/or other software may be stored in read-only memories (ROMs) that is called firmware. The ROMs store program codes corresponding to the firmware in ROM cells in a manufacturing process, that is, in a semiconductor wafer processing step. For example, mask ROMs are programmed to be "on" or "off" in a channel region of a transistor included in a memory cell, depending on whether an implant process is performed in accordance with a program code. Accordingly, the mask ROMs generally can store data just one time. Since the mask ROMs have no write circuit, their configuration may be simple. Moreover, since the mask ROMs may not use a special process for a cell structure, the mask ROMs may be low or lowest in terms of manufacturing costs. The design of mask ROMs is well known to those having skill in the art and need not be described further herein.
Programmable and erasable memory devices also have been developed. These devices can be used to correct the firmware even after the SOCs have been made. A representative programmable and erasable memory device is an electrically erasable and programmable read-only memory (EEPROM). An EEPROM generally includes a transistor which has a control gate and a floating gate formed in a channel region between a source and a drain. A threshold voltage of the transistor is controlled by the amount of charge in the floating gate. That is, when a turn-on voltage of the transistor which conducts between the source and the drain is applied to the control gate, the turn-on voltage is controlled by the level of the charge in the floating gate. The transistor is programmed to be either "on" or "off" by electrons which are trapped on the floating gate through a gate oxide layer from the channel region in a substrate.
Whether the EEPROM cell transistor is programmed to be "on" or "off" is determined by detecting the level of current flowing between the source and the drain after an operating voltage is applied to the control gate and both ends of the source and the drain. When a proper amount of current is applied to the source and drain, and the control gate of the programmed transistor, charges are transferred to the drain from the floating gate by a tunneling mechanism, such that the EEPROMs can be electrically erased. Particularly, EEPROMs which can erase all memory cells or memory cells of a specific group at a time are called flash memories. The design of EEPROMs and flash memory devices are well known to those having skill in the art and need not be described further herein.
A conventional process of producing SOCs will now be described. When developing programs for the SOCs, EEPROMs or flash memories may be used since the EEPROMs or flash memories can correct firmware even after integrated circuit chips have already been manufactured. When producing the SOCs, the developed programs may be stored in ROMs. Moreover, as a variety of SOCs have been developed, there may be many cases that some products share firmware but some other products use different firmware. Accordingly, both ROM chips and EEPROM chips or flash memory chips may be used in the SOCs, so that the shared firmware can be stored in the ROMs and different firmware can be stored in the EEPROMs or the flash memories.

Systems-on-chips including programmed memory cells and programmable and erasable memory cells


A color filter includes red, green and blue filter segments and is adapted to be used in a liquid crystal display device using, as a light source, a white LED having specified spectral properties. The red filter segment has a 50% transmittance wavelength within a range of 595 to 610 nm and a transmittance of 85% or more at a wavelength of 630 nm. The blue filter segment has a maximum transmittance wavelength of 455 nm or less and a transmittance of 55% or more at a wavelength of 450 nm. A thickness of each of the red, green and blue filter segments is 3.0 μm or less. A liquid crystal display device including this color filter and the white LED is also disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a color filter used, for example, in a color liquid crystal display device and a liquid crystal display device provided with the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a color liquid crystal display device has been used in various applications such as a monitor for personal computers (PCs), a display for cell phones, laptop PCs and personal digital assistants, because of advantages such as lower power consumption and space saving, and has also been used in liquid crystal televisions in recent years as substitutes for conventional CRT-based televisions.
Color reproducibility is considered important in liquid crystal televisions.
The color reproducibility of a color liquid crystal display device is determined by the colors of lights emitted from red, green and blue filter segments constituting a color filter and is evaluated on the basis of the area of a triangle (color reproducing area, hereinafter "area A") defined by three chromaticity points of red, green and blue filter segments expressed as (xR, yR), (xG, yG) and (xB, yB) on the x-y chromaticity diagram.
Specifically, this color reproducibility is expressed as the ratio of the area A to the area of a triangle (area B) defined by 3 points of red (0.67, 0.33), green (0.21, 0.71) and blue (0.14, 0.08) that are the three primary colors in the standard system prescribed by U.S. National Television System Committee (NTSC) (hereinafter referred to as NTSC ratio. The unit is % ((area A/area B)×100 (%)). The NTSC ratio is about 40 to 50% for general laptop computers, about 50 to 60% for PC monitors and about 72% for liquid crystal televisions.
The NTSC ratio increases as the color purity of each filter segment is increased.
However, as the color purity of the filter segment is increased, the light utilization efficiency of a backlight (represented by the lightness Y value) is decreased. Therefore, high electric power is required in order to increase the Y value while maintaining high color purity.
Among conventional color liquid crystal display devices, products powered mainly with a battery, such as personal digital assistants and cell phones, do not use high electric power because of an emphasis on power consumption, and thus the NTSC ratio thereof is as low as 30 to 50%.
However, as the opportunity of watching photos and TV programs on personal digital assistants and on displays of cell phones is increasing in recent years, there is increasing demand not only for lower power consumption but also for a higher NTSC ratio even in personal digital assistants and displays of cell phones.
A backlight using a cold-cathode tube as a light source is used in laptop PCs, monitors and liquid crystal televisions, while a front light or backlight using, as a light source, a white LED formed by coating the surface of a blue LED chip of lower power consumption with a layer of a phosphor which converts a blue light into a yellow light is often used in displays of products powered mainly with a battery, such as personal digital assistants and cell phones.
In the white LED, a part of the blue light emitted by blue LED passes through the phosphor layer, and the remainder is absorbed by the phosphor and converted into a yellow color. A mixed light of the two color lights of blue and yellow is recognized as white light by an observer.
That is, the light from this white LED is a mixed light of blue and yellow lights and is different in wavelength and spectrum peak from the backlight from a cold-cathode tube as a light source.
It follows that when the white LED is used, a filter segment having different spectroscopic properties from those of a filter segment used with a cold-cathode tube backlight is necessary in improving color reproducibility.
Techniques of improving color reproducibility where white LED is used are disclosed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2004-177592 for a green filter segment and in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2004-145275 for a red filter segment.
However, not only the color reproducibility of red, green and blue colors, but also the color reproducibility and lightness (Y value) of white color are important in the color liquid crystal device.
The color reproducibility and lightness (Y value) of white color cannot be improved by merely improving the color reproducibility of green and red filter segments as described in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication Nos. 2004-177592 and 2004-145275 supra.
Particularly, because the red wavelength light intensity from white LED is lower than the green wavelength light intensity and blue wavelength light intensity from the LED, the red segment unlike the green segment and blue segment should not only shield a transmitted light at a wavelength higher or lower than a predetermined wavelength, but also transmit a red wavelength light with good balance.
The blue segment should shield or transmit a light in a specific wavelength range, corresponding to the characteristics of the red segment.

Color filter and liquid crystal display device


A transceiver module can share a common connector with a rechargeable battery connection. The transceiver module can be protected from the high voltages applied by a battery charger. Determining when the voltage applied at a connector exceeds a reference voltage and electrically decoupling the transceiver module from the connector when the reference voltage is exceeded can protect the transceiver module. The reference voltage can be set at a level so that the transceiver is decoupled from the connector when the voltage at the connector reaches a voltage that is unsafe for the transceiver.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to electronic systems, and more particularly to electronic systems comprising an integrated circuit transceiver.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hand-held systems typically have a system power connection used to charge a rechargeable battery. Many newer systems support data transfer standards that specify a power connection as part of the standard. The use of a data transfer standard, such as the Universal Serial Bus (USB) Standard, in systems that are independently powered has resulted in the inclusion of at least two power pins on hand-held systems. While it is desirable that these systems be compliant with certain data transfer standards, such as the USB standard, the additional pin count is disadvantageous. Accordingly, it would be advantageous to have a method and system for reducing the number of pins needed by such a system.

System and method for protecting low voltage transceiver