A TCP acceleration apparatus includes input queues each having a service level and storing at least one session packet list having packets from a same TCP session. The apparatus also includes a distributor connected to the input queues and to the client and configured to retrieve a session packet from a session packet list at a top of an input queue for transmission to the client. The input queue at the service level selected by the distributor moves the session packet list at a top of the input queue to a bottom of the input queue after the session packet is retrieved by the distributor. Acceleration apparatuses including other features, as well as a method, computer program product and system for TCP acceleration are also discussed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of accelerating communications across a network, and in particular accelerating one or more Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) communication sessions across a network, for example across a satellite communication network.
2. Discussion of the Background
TCP attempts to provide a reliable communications channel over an unreliable network by arranging for packets to arrive intact and in order at their proper destination. TCP uses a sliding window system allowing up to 65535 bytes to be outstanding at any given time. To avoid over-saturating the network, TCP also implements algorithms such as congestion avoidance and slow start. Features of TCP are further described in Stevens, W. Richard, TCP/IP Illustrated Volume 1: The Protocols, Addison-Wesley, Massachusetts, 1994, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
The TCP protocol does not readily support channels with high latency or high loss. TCP interprets the absence of timely acknowledgements as congestion and under these conditions, TCP reduces its transmission speed and window sizes. In the case of high latency, even with a lossless channel, TCP allows a maximum of 65535 bytes to be sent before an acknowledgement is received, which may not be adequate for a high bandwidth satellite link, for example a geosynchronous satellite link.
Conventional network communication systems may be configured to rely on endpoint configurations to overcome satellite link delay and loss, such as using SACK, as described in "TCP Selective Acknowledgment Options," October 1996, IETF RFC-2018, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, or TCP window compression, as described in "TCP Extensions for High Performance," May 1992, IETF RFC-1323, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. However, conventional schemes may require a complex or unique configuration for each communication node, and also may still result in delayed or lossy communications.
Other conventional communication systems having a relatively fast communication segment with a high latency and/or low loss (e.g., a wired connection) in series with a relatively slow communication segment having low latency and/or low reliability (e.g., a satellite link) may include a method of TCP acceleration to improve communication reliability and to allow client computers that communicate through the slow segment to use normal TCP protocol (i.e., without repeated unnecessary retransmission of packets). However, conventional TCP acceleration systems may not efficiently manage computing resources, such as processor execution cycles, memory, disk space, and channel throughput, etc. . . .
For example, the bandwidth of a link, multiplied by the round trip time over that link is known as the link's Bandwidth Delay Product (BDP). For example, a 5 megabit/sec (Mb/s) satellite link with a latency of 500 milliseconds (ms) has a bandwidth delay product of 312,500 bytes. Thus, in a conventional method 312,500 bytes would have to be sent without waiting for an acknowledgement in order to fully utilize the link. However, 312,500 bytes is greater than the number of bytes that may be sent before receiving an acknowledgment according to the requirements of TCP.
Another issue that may arise in the presence of high latency is slow start. TCP has a slow start algorithm that may increase transmission speed once every round trip. When the round trips take a long time, it can take a significant amount of time to get past the slow start algorithm. If packets are lost and the TCP session slows down, the slow start phase will have to be overcome again, resulting in further delays.
Further, events may occur that result in significant and rapid increase of system resources demanded by a particular TCP session or by an application that shares resources with the TCP acceleration system. For example, during a software upgrade to plural users, significant resources may be required by a communication application to transfer files. Conventional TCP acceleration methods may be unable to efficiently react to this change in required resources. When data has been accelerated over a satellite link, for example, but is not being received by the remote client, a full BDP worth of data may be queued. If this situation occurs in even a small number of sessions, system memory may be quickly exhausted when the BDP is high.
Further, TCP sessions involve numerous states and timers which consume CPU cycles, and there are a finite number of TCP sessions, which can be simultaneously handled. In addition, there may be a relatively high latency link between two acceleration layers, so bandwidth may be wasted on traffic that has no hope of arriving at its destination.
Further, increased "virtual throughput" due to TCP acceleration may require an increased use of memory. However, background TCP acceleration methods may disadvantageously allocate too much memory to a TCP session.
Further, background TCP acceleration methods may transmit uncompressed packets regardless of CPU utilization, thereby resulting in disadvantageously high usage of valuable communication resources.
Further, packets transmitted from a first client to a first acceleration layer using a conventional acceleration method may disadvantageously be received out of sequence at the first acceleration layer. A conventional first acceleration layer may retransmit packets in the order they are received. Thus, when they arrive at the second acceleration layer out of sequence, an inefficient retransmission across the slow segment is required to correct the packet sequence.
Further, some clients/TCP stacks do not open their window size as large as they advertise (i.e., the MSS or maximum segment size of a client). Thus, a background TCP acceleration scheme may never send a particular packet (or might disadvantageously delay the transmission of a packet) if the packet is sized according to the reported window size of that client.
Further, conventional acceleration methods may not ensure fairness across TCP sessions within a given service level (e.g., a Quality of Service, a desired rate, a desired latency, etc. . . . ). That is, in a conventional method, a first TCP session may be allocated more communication resources than a second TCP session, even if they are operating at the same service level. Further, in the conventional acceleration methods a user having a large amount of data to transmit may disadvantageously slow or starve a different user having a smaller amount of data to transmit.
FIG. 10 shows an example of a conventional TCP communication system without TCP acceleration. In this example, client A 100 communicates with client B 112 using communication segment 114. FIG. 11 shows an example of a conventional TCP session between clients A and B of FIG. 10. Client B initiates the session by sending a packet having the synchronize bit (i.e., SYN bit) set in the header SYN 1100 to client A, which replies with SYN ACK 1102. Client B responds with ACK 1104 and sends data packets 1106 and 1108 to client A. Client A replies with ACK 1110 and client B initiates conclusion of the TCP session by sending a packet having the finish bit (i.e., FIN bit) set in the header FIN 1112 to client A, which sends ACK 1114 and FIN 1116 to conclude the TCP session.

Method apparatus and system for accelerated communication


The present disclosure relates to a method for displaying stereoscopic images and image display apparatus thereof, the displaying method includes producing a depth map using left eye images and right eye images; adjusting depth values of the produced depth map according to any one of a plurality of depth level adjustment modes; and displaying the stereoscopic images using the adjusted depth values, wherein the depth level adjustment modes include a forward 3D depth adjustment mode increasing the depth levels representing perspective of objects included in the stereoscopic images, a backward 3D depth adjustment mode reducing the depth levels and a bi-directional 3D depth adjustment mode simultaneously increasing and reducing the depth levels.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a method for displaying stereoscopic images in an image display apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
The image display apparatus is an apparatus displaying images to enable a user to view. The user may view broadcasting through the image display apparatus. The image display apparatus displays broadcasting selected by the user among broadcasting signals transmitted from broadcasting stations on the display. Currently broadcasting has increasingly converted from analog broadcasting to digital broadcasting all over the world.
The digital broadcasting means the broadcasting transmitting the digital images and voice signals. The digital broadcasting is more robust to external noises than analog broadcasting, such that the data loss is reduced, the error correction is advantageous, the resolution is high, and the definite screen is provided. Further, the digital broadcasting is available for interactive services unlike the analog broadcasting.
In addition, recently, various researches for stereographic images are being progressed, and the stereographic image technologies are becoming more common and have been put to practical use in another various environments and technologies as well as computer graphics.

Method for displaying stereoscopic images and image display apparatus thereof


An ink jet printing method, comprising the steps of:

Reference is made to the following commonly-assigned, copending U.S. Patent Applications:
Ser. No. 09/626,588, filed Jul. 27, 2000, of Landry-Coltrain et al. entitled xe2x80x9cInk Jet Printing Methodxe2x80x9d;
Ser. No. 09/627,052, filed Jul. 27, 2000, of Landry-Coltrain et al. entitled xe2x80x9cInk Jet Printing Methodxe2x80x9d;
Ser. No. 09/626,752, filed Jul. 27, 2000, of Landry-Coltrain et al. entitled xe2x80x9cInk Jet Recording Elementxe2x80x9d;
Ser. No. 09/626,883, filed Jul. 27, 2000, of Landry-Coltrain et al. entitled xe2x80x9cInk Jet Recording Elementxe2x80x9d; and
Ser. No. 09/726,373, filed Nov. 30, 2000, of Landry-Coltrain et al. entitled xe2x80x9cInk Jet Recording Elementxe2x80x9d.
This invention relates to an ink jet printing method, more particularly to a method using a porous ink jet recording element.
In a typical ink jet recording or printing system, ink droplets are ejected from a nozzle at high speed towards a recording element or medium to produce an image on the medium. The ink droplets, or recording liquid, generally comprise a recording agent, such as a dye or pigment, and a large amount of solvent. The solvent, or carrier liquid, typically is made up of water, an organic material such as a monohydric alcohol, a polyhydric alcohol or mixtures thereof.
An ink jet recording element typically comprises a support having on at least one surface thereof an ink-receiving or image-forming layer. The ink-receiving layer may be a porous layer which imbibes the ink via capillary action or a polymer layer which swells to absorb the ink.
Ink jet prints, prepared by printing onto ink jet recording elements, are subject to environmental degradation. They are especially vulnerable to water smearing and light fade. For example, since ink jet dyes are water-soluble, they can migrate from their location in the image layer when water comes in contact with the receiver after imaging. Highly swellable hydrophilic layers can take an undesirably long time to dry, slowing printing speed, and will dissolve when left in contact with water, destroying printed images. Porous layers speed the absorption of the ink vehicle, but often suffer from insufficient gloss and severe light fade. Porous layers are also difficult to coat without cracking. The support for the ink receiving layers is typically either porous or non-porous. When it is porous, the support itself can absorb non-imaging ink components such as water, solvents, and humectants, so that the ink receiving layer thickness can be minimized. However, when the support itself is non-porous, the ink receiving layer thickness must be great enough to absorb all the ink rapidly in order to prevent degradation of the image by dye smear during printing.
EP 940,427 discloses a method for making a microporous film for an ink jet recording element in which a hydrophobic polymer and a second hydrophilic polymer or copolymer of N-vinylpyrrolidone is dissolved in a certain solvent system, partially dried, and then washed to extract at least 50% by weight of the second polymer. The amount of the hydrophobic polymer to the second hydrophilic polymer is stated as 2:1-1:3. This reference also discloses the addition of a mordant to the polymer mixture. However, this reference does not disclose the use of a fluid-absorbing layer, so that the element has a problem in that it has a limited ink-absorbing capacity.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,785,313 and 4,832,984 disclose a two-layer ink jet receiving element wherein the layer adjacent the support is an image receiving layer and the outermost layer is an ink-transporting layer. However, there is a problem with this receiving element due to the fact that the ink-retaining layer is underneath the ink-transporting layer, which would scatter light, thus lowering the optical density.
It is an object of this invention to provide an ink jet printing method using a recording element which will provide improved ink uptake speed and capacity. Another object of the invention is to provide an ink jet printing method using a recording element having a receiving layer that when printed upon has an excellent image quality. Still another object of the invention is to provide an ink jet recording printing method using a recording element having a receiving layer wherein the printed image has improved water fastness. Yet still another object of the invention is to provide an ink jet printing method using a recording element having improved ink absorbing capacity and drying rate when the support is non-porous or highly water resistant.
These and other objects are provided by the present invention comprising an ink jet printing method, comprising the steps of
A) providing an ink jet printer that is responsive to digital data signals;
B) loading the printer with an ink jet recording element comprising a support having thereon in order:
a) a hydrophilic, fluid-absorbing layer, and
b) an image-receptive layer capable of retaining an ink jet image, the image-receiving layer comprising an open-pore membrane of a mixture of a water-insoluble polymer and a water-absorbent polymer, the mixture containing at least about 25% by weight of the water-absorbent polymer,
C) loading the printer with an ink jet ink composition; and
D) printing on the ink jet recording element using the ink jet ink in response to the digital data signals.
By use of the method of the invention, a recording element is obtained which will provide improved ink uptake speed and capacity, and when printed upon, has an excellent image quality and improved water fastness.
In order for the image-receptive layer employed in the invention to be sufficiently porous, the water-insoluble polymer must be coated from a solvent mixture combination such that an open-pore membrane structure will be formed when the solution is coated and dried, in accordance with the known technique of dry phase inversion. In a preferred embodiment, the formation of an open-pore membrane is accomplished by using a mixture of a good and poor solvent for the water-insoluble polymer. In this embodiment, the poor solvent has a boiling point that is higher than that of the good solvent. When the solution is coated or cast onto a support and dried, the good solvent evaporates faster than the poor solvent, forming the membrane structure of the layer when the polymer phase separates from the solvent mixture. The open-pore structure results when the good solvent and poor solvent are removed by drying.
The water-insoluble polymer that can be used in the image-receptive layer employed in the invention may be, for example, a cellulose ester such as cellulose diacetate, cellulose triacetate, cellulose acetate propionate or cellulose acetate butyrate, cellulose nitrate, polyacrylates such as poly(methyl methacrylate), poly(phenyl methacrylate) and copolymers with acrylic or methacrylic acid, or sulfonates, polyesters, polyurethanes, polysulfones, urea resins, melamine resins, urea-formaldehyde resins, polyacetals, polybutyrals, epoxies and epoxy acrylates, phenoxy resins, polycarbonates, vinyl acetate polymers and copolymers, vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymers, vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate-vinyl-alcohol copolymers, vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate-maleic acid polymers, vinyl chloride-vinylidene chloride copolymers, vinyl chloride-acrylonitrile copolymers, acrylic ester-acrylonitrile copolymers, acrylic ester-vinylidene chloride copolymers, methacrylic ester-styrene copolymers, butadiene-acrylonitrile copolymers, acrylonitrile-butadiene-acrylic or methacrylic acid copolymers, or styrene-butadiene copolymers. Cellulose ester derivatives, such as cellulose diacetates and triacetates, cellulose acetate propionate, cellulose acetate butyrate, cellulose nitrate, and mixtures thereof are preferred.
The water-absorbent polymer that can be used in the image-receptive layer employed in the invention may be, for example, polyvinyl-pyrrolidone and vinylpyrrolidone-containing copolymers, polyethyloxazoline and oxazoline-containing copolymers, imidazole-containing polymers, polyacrylamides and acrylamide-containing copolymers, poly(vinyl alcohol) and vinyl-alcohol-containing copolymers, poly(vinyl methyl ether), poly(vinyl ethyl ether), poly(ethylene oxide), hydroxyethylcellulose, hydroxypropylcellulose, hydroxypropylmethylcellulose, methylcellulose, and mixtures thereof. As noted above, the water-absorbent polymer is present in an amount of at least about 25% by weight of the image-receptive layer. If the water-absorbent polymer is too high, for example, greater than about 75% by weight, then the open pore membrane structure is not formed. If the water-absorbent polymer is less than about 25% by weight, then poor image density is obtained.
The hydrophilic, fluid-absorbing layer useful in the invention may be gelatin, acetylated gelatin, phthalated gelatin, oxidized gelatin, chitosan, poly(alkylene oxide), a poly(vinyl alcohol), sulfonated polyester, partially hydrolyzed poly(vinyl acetate/vinyl alcohol), poly(acrylic acid), poly(1-vinyl pyrrolidone), poly(sodium styrene sulfonate), poly(2-acrylamido-2-methane sulfonic acid), polyacrylamide or mixtures thereof. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the hydrophilic, fluid-absorbing layer is gelatin. In another preferred embodiment of the invention, the hydrophilic, fluid-absorbing layer is porous, comprising particulates such as an inorganic oxide or an organic polymer. For example, the porous, particulate-containing layer may be barium sulfate, calcium carbonate, clay, silica or alumina, or mixtures thereof.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the hydrophilic, fluid-absorbing layer has a thickness of about 1 xcexcm to about 40 xcexcm and the image-receptive layer has a thickness of about 2 xcexcm to about 50 xcexcm.
In another preferred embodiment of the invention, the image-receptive layer contains at least about 7% by weight of a mordant comprising a polymer or copolymer containing a quaternized nitrogen moiety. The mordant serves to improve the fixability of an ink jet image, thereby improving water fastness and smear. The mordant polymer can be a soluble polymer, or a crosslinked dispersed microparticle.
The mordant polymer or copolymer containing a quaternized nitrogen moiety which is useful in the invention can contain other comonomers such as, for example, styrenics, acrylates, imidazoles, vinylpyridines, etc. Examples of specific mordants include poly(styrene-co-1-vinylimidazole-co-1-vinyl-3-benzylimidazolium chloride), poly(styrene-co-1-vinylimidazole-co-1-vinyl-3-hydroxyethyl-imidazolium chloride), poly(styrene-co-1-vinylimidazole-co-1-vinyl-3-benzylimidazolium chloride-co-1-vinyl-3-hydroxyethylimidazolium chloride), poly(vinylbenzyltrimethylammonium chloride-co-divinylbenzene), poly(ethyl acrylate-co-1-vinylimidazole-co-1-vinyl-3-benzylimidazolium chloride), or poly(styrene-co-4-vinylpyridine-co-4-hydroxyethyl-1-vinylpyridinium chloride).
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the quaternary nitrogen moiety is a salt of trimethylvinylbenzylammonium, benzyldimethylvinylbenzylammonium, dimethyloctadecylvinylbenzylammonium, 1-vinyl-3-benzylimidazolium, 1-vinyl-3-hydroxyethylimidazolium or 4-hydroxyethyl-1-vinylpyridinium. Preferred counter ions which can be used-include chlorides or other counter ions as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,223,338, 5,354,813, and 5,403,955, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference. The hydrophilic, fluid-absorbing layer useful in the invention may also contain mordant polymers.
The choice of a good and poor solvent for the water-insoluble polymer will be effectively determined by the specific choice of polymer. The good solvent that can be used in the invention includes alcohols such as methanol, ethanol, n-propyl alcohol, isopropyl alcohol, isobutyl alcohol, Dowanol(copyright) solvents, glycols, ketones such as acetone, 2-butanone, 3-pentanone, cyclopentanone, and cyclohexanone, ethyl acetate, methylacetoacetate, diethylether, tetrahydrofuran, acetonitrile, dimethylformamide, dimethylsulfoxide, pyridine, chlorinated solvents such as methylene chloride, chloroform, carbon tetrachloride, and dichloroethane, hexane, heptane, cyclopentane, cyclohexane, toluene, xylenes, nitrobenzene, and mixtures thereof.
The poor solvent that can be used in the invention may be, for example, alcohols such as ethanol, n-propyl alcohol, isopropyl alcohol, isobutyl alcohol, 2-methyl-2,4-pentanediol, and Dowanol(copyright) solvents, glycols, ketones such as 2-butanone, 3-pentanone, cyclopentanone, and cyclohexanone, ethyl acetate, methylacetoacetate, diethylether, tetrahydrofuran, acetonitrile, dimethyl-formamide, dimethylsulfoxide, pyridine, chlorinated solvents such as carbon tetrachloride, and dichloroethane, hexane, heptane, cyclopentane, cyclohexane, toluene, xylenes, nitrobenzene, water, and mixtures thereof.
After printing on the ink jet recording element, heat and/or pressure can be applied to the element to improve surface gloss, image density and durability. Various methods can be used such as hot presses, hot rolls, hot air, IR-radiation, high frequency heating, and a fusing belt or roller apparatus. For example, the printed element can be passed through a fuser consisting of rollers or a belt and a roller. Temperatures can range from slightly above ambient temperature to an upper temperature limited only by the thermal stability of the support and the membrane components. Temperatures should not be so high as to cause delamination of layers within the support, or any bubbles or defects to form in the support or the open-pore membrane. The heating time is not limited.
The fusing temperature need not be so high as to be above the glass transition temperature of all of the individual components in the open-pore membrane. Fusing may result in clarification (becoming transparent) or in only partial clarification of the membrane. The degree of clarification need not be identical in printed and non-printed areas of the image or in printed areas of differing density.
The open-pore membrane layer may include low molecular weight or polymeric plasticizers to aid in the fusing step. These plasticizers are compounds that typically have low glass transition temperatures. Plasticizers useful in the open-pore membrane layer include, but are not limited to, poly(ethylene glycol), poly(propylene glycol), chlorinated paraffins such as those sold under the trade names of Chlorowax(copyright) (Occidental Chemical Corp.) and Paroil(copyright) (Dover Chemical, Inc.), aliphatic polyesters, such as polyester sebacate available commercially as Paraplex(copyright) G-25 from C.P. Hall Co., poly(butylene glycol adipates) available commercially as Drapex(copyright) polymeric plasticizers from Witco Corporation, poly(ethylene succinate), poly(hexamethylene sebacate), or poly(butylene adipate), polycaprolactone, diphenyl phthalate and di(2-ethylhexyl phthalate).
Also, the high boiling components of the inks may remain in the open-pore membrane and aid in the fusing step. Compounds commonly found in ink compositions can also be used to plasticize the open-pore membrane ink receiving layer and facilitate fusing. Examples of such compounds include, but are not limited to, glycols and glycol ethers such as diethylene glycol, diethylene glycol monobutylether, triethylene glycol, dipropylene glycol monomethylether, tripropylene glycol monomethylether, glycerol, Dowanol(copyright) compounds, and poly(ethylene glycol)monobutyl ether, triethanolamine; methyldiethanolamine, 2-pyrrolidone, and N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone.
The plasticizers can be incorporated directly into the coating solution of the membrane, or can be incorporated into the formed open-pore membrane through the printing of the ink which contains these plasticizing compounds or in a printing step prior to printing the inks.
Since the image recording element may come in contact with other image recording articles or the drive or transport mechanisms of image recording devices, additives such as filler particles, surfactants, lubricants, crosslinking agents, matte particles and the like may be added to the element to the extent that they do not degrade the properties of interest.
Filler particles may be used in the open-pore membrane, the hydrophilic, fluid-absorbing layer, or both. Examples of filler particles are silicon oxide, fumed silica, silicon oxide dispersions such as those available from Nissan Chemical Industries and DuPont Corp., aluminum oxide, fumed alumina, calcium carbonate, barium sulfate, barium sulfate mixtures with zinc sulfide, inorganic powders such as xcex3-aluminum oxide, chromium oxide, iron oxide, tin oxide, doped tin oxide, alumino-silicate, titanium dioxide, natural or synthetic clay particles, organic particles, such as polystyrene matte beads, highly crosslinked organic polymer particles derived primarily from styrene, acrylates, or methacrylates, mixtures of these monomers, or mixtures with other monomers.
A dispersing agent, or wetting agent can be present to facilitate the dispersion of the filler particles. This helps to minimize the agglomeration of the particles. Useful dispersing agents include, but are not limited to, fatty acid amines and commercially available wetting agents such as Solsperse(copyright) sold by Zeneca, Inc. (ICI). Preferred filler particles are silicon oxide, aluminum oxide, calcium carbonate, and barium sulfate. Preferably, these filler particles have a median diameter less than 1.0 xcexcm. The filler particles can be present in the amount from about 0 to 80 percent of the total solids in the dried open-pore membrane layer, most preferably in the amount from about 0 to 40 percent.
The open-pore membrane layer, the hydrophilic, fluid-absorbing layer, or both, may include lubricating agents. Lubricants and waxes useful either in the open-pore membrane layer or on the side of the element that is opposite the open-pore membrane layer include, but are not limited to, polyethylenes, silicone waxes, natural waxes such as carnauba, polytetrafluoroethylene, fluorinated ethylene propylene, silicone oils such as polydimethylsiloxane, fluorinated silicones, functionalized silicones, stearates, polyvinylstearate, fatty acid salts, and perfluoroethers. Aqueous or non-aqueous dispersions of submicron size wax particles such as those offered commercially as dispersions of polyolefins, polypropylene, polyethylene, high density polyethylene, microcrystalline wax, paraffin, natural waxes such as camauba wax, and synthetic waxes from such companies as, but not limited to, Chemical Corporation of America (Chemcor), Inc., Michelman Inc., Shamrock Technologies Inc., and Daniel Products Company, are useful.
The open-pore membrane layer, the hydrophilic, fluid-absorbing layer, or both, may include coating aids and surfactants such as nonionic fluorinated alkyl esters such as FC430(copyright), FC-431(copyright), FC-10(copyright), FC-171(copyright) sold by Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co., Zonyl(copyright) fluorochemicals such as Zonyl-FSN(copyright), Zonyl-FTS(copyright), Zonyl-TBS(copyright), Zonyl-BA(copyright) sold by DuPont Corp., other fluorinated polymer or copolymers such as Modiper F600(copyright) sold by NOF Corporation, polysiloxanes such as Dow Corning DC 1248(copyright), DC200(copyright), DC510(copyright), DC 190(copyright) and BYK 320(copyright), BYK 322(copyright), sold by BYK Chemie and SF 1079(copyright), SF1023(copyright), SF 1054(copyright), and SF 1080(copyright) sold by General Electric, and the Silwet(copyright) polymers sold by Union Carbide; polyoxyethylene-lauryl ether surfactants, sorbitan laurate, palmitate and stearates such as Span(copyright) surfactants sold by Aldrich; poly(oxyethylene-co-oxypropylene) surfactants such as the Pluronic(copyright) family sold by BASF; and other polyoxyethylene-containing surfactants such as the Triton X(copyright) family sold by Union Carbide, ionic surfactants, such as the Alkanol(copyright) series sold by DuPont Corp., and the Dowfax(copyright) family sold by Dow Chemical.
The open-pore membrane layer, the hydrophilic, fluid-absorbing layer, or both, may include crosslinking agents, such as organic isocyanates such as tetramethylene diisocyanate, hexamethylene diisocyanate, diisocyanato dimethylcyclohexane, dicyclohexylmethane diisocyanate, isophorone diisocyanate, dimethylbenzene diisocyanate, methylcyclohexylene diisocyanate, lysine diisocyanate, tolylene diisocyanate, diphenylmethane diisocyanate, aziridines such as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,225,665; ethyleneimines such as Xama-7(copyright) sold by EIT Industries; blocked isocyanates such as CA BI-12 sold by Cytec Industries; melamines such as methoxymethylmelamine as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,198,499, alkoxysilane coupling agents including those with epoxy, amine, hydroxyl, isocyanate, or vinyl functionality; Cymel(copyright) crosslinking agents such as Cymel 300(copyright), Cymel 303(copyright), Cymel 1170(copyright), Cymel 1171(copyright) sold by Cytec Industries; and bis-epoxides such as the Epon(copyright) family sold by Shell. Other crosslinking agents include compounds such as aryloylureas, aldehydes, dialdehydes and blocked dialdehydes, chlorotriazines, carbamoyl pyridiniums, pyridinium ethers, formamidinium ethers, and vinyl sulfones. Such crosslinking agents can be low molecular weight compounds or polymers, as discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,161,407 and references cited.
In the present invention, the support can be either transparent or opaque. Opaque supports include plain paper, coated paper, synthetic paper, photographic paper support, melt-extrusion-coated paper, and laminated paper, such as biaxially oriented support laminates. Biaxially oriented support laminates are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,853,965; 5,866,282; 5,874,205; 5,888,643; 5,888,681, 5,888,683; and 5,888,714, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference. These biaxially oriented supports include a paper base and a biaxially oriented polyolefin sheet, typically polypropylene, laminated to one or both sides of the paper base. Transparent supports include glass, cellulose derivatives, e.g., a cellulose ester, cellulose triacetate, cellulose diacetate, cellulose acetate propionate, cellulose acetate butyrate; polyesters, such as polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene naphthalate, poly-1,4-cyclohexanedimethylene terephthalate, polybutylene terephthalate, and copolymers thereof; polyimides; polyamides; polycarbonates; polystyrene; polyolefins, such as polyethylene or polypropylene; polysulfones; polyacrylates; polyether imides, and mixtures thereof. The papers listed above include a broad range of papers, from high end papers, such as photographic paper to low end papers, such as newsprint.
The support used in the invention may employ an undercoat or an adhesive layer such as, for example, a vinylidene chloride-methyl acrylate-itaconic acid terpolymer or a vinylidene chloride-acrylonitrile-acrylic acid terpolymer. Other chemical adhesives, such as polymers, copolymers, reactive polymers or copolymers, that exhibit good bonding between the hydrophilic, fluid-absorbing layer and the support can be used. Other methods to improve the adhesion of the layer to the support include surface treatment such as by corona-discharge, plasma-treatment in a variety of atmospheres, UV treatment, etc, which is performed prior to applying the layer to the support.
The recording element employed in the invention can contain one or more conducting layers such as an antistatic layer to prevent undesirable static discharges during manufacture and printing of the image. This may be added to either side of the element. Antistatic layers conventionally used for color films have been found to be satisfactory, such as those in U.S. Pat. No. 5,147,768, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference. Preferred antistatic agents include metal oxides, e.g., tin oxide, antimony doped tin oxide and vanadium pentoxide. These antistatic agents are preferably dispersed in a film-forming binder.
The layers described above may be coated by conventional coating means onto a support material commonly used in this art. Coating methods may include, but are not limited to, wound wire rod coating, knife coating, slot coating, slide hopper coating, gravure coating, spin coating, dip coating, skim-pan-air-knife coating, multilayer slide bead, blade coating, curtain coating, multilayer curtain coating and the like. Some of these methods allow for simultaneous coatings of more than one layer, which is preferred from a manufacturing economic perspective if more than one layer or type of layer needs to be applied. The support may be stationary, or may be moving so that the coated layer is immediately drawn into drying chambers.
Ink jet inks used to image the recording elements employed in the present invention are well known in the art. The ink compositions used in ink jet printing typically are liquid compositions comprising a solvent or carrier liquid, dyes or pigments, humectants, organic solvents, detergents, thickeners, preservatives, and the like. The solvent or carrier liquid can be solely water or can be water mixed with other water-miscible solvents such as polyhydric alcohols. Inks in which organic materials such as polyhydric alcohols are the predominant carrier or solvent liquid may also be used. Particularly useful are mixed solvents of water and polyhydric alcohols. The dyes used in such compositions are typically water-soluble direct or acid type dyes. Such liquid compositions have been described extensively in the prior art including, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,381,946; 4,239,543 and 4,781,758, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
The following examples further illustrate the invention.

Abstract: b) an image-receptive layer capable of retaining an ink jet image, the image-receiving layer comprising an open-pore membrane of a mixture of a water-insoluble polymer and a water-absorbent polymer, the mixture containing at least about 25% by weight of the water-absorbent polymer;


A variable area inlet structure for a vehicle utilizing ram air for coolant is described which comprises a variable area inlet device in the ram air inlet in the form of a butterfly valve, damper, shutter, or similar structure, a temperature sensor in thermal contact with a component within the vehicle to be cooled by ram air flow, a controller and actuator, responsive to the temperature sensor and operatively connected to the variable area device, for controlling the inlet area in response to the component temperature.

The present invention related generally to ram air inlet structures for providing coolant air to heat generating components within a vehicle, and more particularly to a variable area inlet structure for thermal control on heat generating components within a vehicle configured principally for reducing vehicle drag and thermal cycling of the components so cooled.
Aircraft, automobiles and other vehicle types use ambient air as a heat sink for cooling heat generating components within a vehicle. Most vehicles rely on ram air for forced convection cooling with fans to augment the ram air at low speeds. Currently, vehicles use fixed area inlets to conduct ram air into compartments containing heat generating components. A characteristic of fixed area inlet configurations is that the ducted air speed generally increases with vehicle speed and higher speeds generally improve the rate of convective heat transfer from the heat generating component to the ducted air. Low ducted air temperatures also improve the rate of heat transfer.
The combination of vehicle speed, ambient air temperature, and inlet characteristics present trade-offs for fixed area inlet configurations. However, fixed area inlets cannot be optimal for all vehicle speed and ambient temperature operating conditions. As a consequence, fixed area inlets are usually overdesigned in order to accommodate severe environmental conditions (i.e., northern winter air temperatures and southern summer air temperatures), which results in increased drag losses and reduced vehicle performance and efficiency. A substantial portion of the drag coefficient on an aircraft or an automobile may be attributable internal cooling air flow. Fixed area inlets may also cause undesirable thermal cycling of the cooled component.
The invention solves or substantially reduces in critical importance problems with conventional vehicle structures incorporating ram air cooling inlet structures as just suggested by providing a variable area inlet structure for thermal control on heat generating components within a vehicle comprising a variable area inlet device in the form of a butterfly valve, damper, shutter or similar structure, a temperature sensor in thermal contact with the heat generating component, and a programmable controller and an actuator in the form of a stepper motor or the like, responsive to signals from the temperature sensor, for controlling the area of the ram air inlet and, correspondingly, regulating the temperature of the component. The invention may be used in any vehicle using ram air coolant, such as aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, automobiles and other ground based vehicles and watercraft. Heat generating components which may be typically cooled include electronic equipment and engine parts.
It is therefore a principal object of the invention to provide a variable area inlet structure for conducting ram air coolant to a vehicle.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a variable area ram air inlet for a vehicle having minimum drag associated with the inlet.
It is another object of the invention to provide a variable area inlet for conducting ram air to a vehicle to minimize thermal cycling to the heat generating component within the vehicle.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a variable area ram air inlet for a vehicle for minimizing the inlet area over all vehicle speeds and ambient air temperatures while providing sufficient air for forced convective cooling to heat generating components within the vehicle.
It is another object of the invention to provide a variable area ram air inlet for a vehicle in order to optimize inlet air flow for diverse or variable velocity and environmental conditions.
These and other objects of the invention will become apparent as a detailed description of representative embodiments of the invention proceeds.

Variable area inlet for vehicle thermal control

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


Disclosed herein are systems and method for blocking malicious script execution. In one exemplary aspect, the method may comprise detecting an execution of a script that creates or modifies a file on a computing device and recording a first report comprising a list of operations involved in the execution of the script, an identifier of the script, and an identifier of the file. The method may comprise determining that the file includes malicious code using a malware scanner and recording a second report comprising an indication that the file includes malicious code and an identifier of the file. In response to determining that identifier of the file is present in both the first report and the second report, the method may comprise generating and storing a first rule that prevents complete execution of any script that shares at least one operation in the list of operations with the script.

Anti-virus and malware scanners often detect malicious activity once it has already occurred. At this point, the damage caused by the malicious entity has happened and may be irreversible. In some cases, a script that seems benign may be executed, thus generating a malicious file, and the scanner will be unable to prevent the execution (because the script does not appear malicious). The malicious file may then proceed to harm the computing device.
Because conventional data security systems are reactive and do not prevent malicious executions, computing devices are still at risk of harm. There thus exists a need for the proactive blocking of malicious script executions.

Systems and methods for blocking malicious script execution


An input/output byte control device using a nonvolatile ferroelectric register can maintain compatibility with various memories by selectively controlling bytes of input/output data. Since bytes of input/output data are selectively activated, the compatibility can be maintained with SRAM (Static Random Access Memory) having wide bytes and flash memory having fixed input/output bytes. Additionally, programs can be changed in a software system using a nonvolatile ferroelectric register.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an input/output byte control device using a nonvolatile ferroelectric register, and more specifically, to a technology for changing input/output bytes of a memory device depending on program commands with a nonvolatile ferroelectric register.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, a ferroelectric random access memory (hereinafter, referred to as 'FRAM') has attracted considerable attention as next generation memory device because it has a data processing speed as fast as a Dynamic Random Access Memory DRAM and conserves data even after the power is turned off.
The FRAM having structures similar to the DRAM includes the capacitors made of a ferroelectric substance, so that it utilizes the characteristic of a high residual polarization of the ferroelectric substance in which data is not deleted even after an electric field is eliminated.
The technical contents on the above FRAM are disclosed in the Korean Patent Application No. 2002-85533 by the same inventor of the present invention. Therefore, the basic structure and the operation on the FRAM are not described herein.
The conventional memory device inputs/outputs bits or bytes of data accessed by one address through a data input/output buffer. The memory device loads bits or bytes of data by a system bus.
In the conventional memory device, when required data is a part of bits or bytes, the rest bits or bytes are used to drive the bus unnecessarily. As a result, a bandwidth of the whole system bus is wasted by the rest bits or bytes.
In addition, the conventional memory device has a fixed memory input/output data width. Therefore, the conventional memory device cannot be applied to various systems of different bandwidths. If a conventional memory having a different bandwidth from a system is to be used additional interface equipment is required so that the conventional memory device may become compatible with the system.

Input/output byte control device using nonvolatile ferroelectric register


Method for generating ions from thermally unstable, non-volatile, large molecules, particularly for a mass spectrometer such as a time-of-flight mass spectrometer. A specimen substance comprising the molecule is exposed to energy pulses with which molecules are released from the specimen substance, and the released molecules are entrained by a jet of a carrier gas and are cooled upon expansion thereof and are subsequently ionized in an ionization chamber. The molecules are ionized by electron impact, the power per unit area of the electrons employed for the ionization is selected such that a potential trough is generated in the focus of the electron beam, the depth thereof being greater than the translational energy of the molecule ions in the carrier gas stream. The molecule ions generated by the electron impact ionization are respectively collected in the potential trough for a defined time span. The molecule ions respectively collected in the potential trough are accelerated out of the ionization chamber in pulsed fashion. The invention is also directed to an apparatus particularly for the implementation of this method.

The invention is directed to a method for generating ions from thermally unstable, non-volatile, large molecules, particularly for a mass spectrometer such as a time-of-flight mass spectrometer, whereby a specimen substance comprising the molecules is exposed to energy pulses by which molecules are released from the specimen substance, and whereby the released molecules are entrained by a jet of a carrier gas and are cooled upon expansion thereof and are subsequently ionized in an ionization chamber. The invention is also directed to an apparatus for generating ions from thermally unstable non-volatile, large molecules, particularly for a mass spectrometer such as a time-of-flight mass spectrometer, comprising a means for generating a carrier gas jet, an energy source for the desorbtion of molecules from the specimen material and comprising a means for introducing specimen material into the carrier gas jet, particularly for the implementation of the above-recited method.
German Letters Patent 38 00 504 discloses a method of the species wherein the desorbtion of the molecules ensues with a laser beam. It serves the purpose of converting, in particular, large molecules into the vapor phase before the molecules are brought by a subsequently implemented ionization process into a chemical condition wherein they become accessible for mass spectrometric analysis. What is thereby exploited is that the inner energy absorbed by the molecules due to the desorbtion is greatly reduced in the carrier gas jet, so that the molecules are intensively cooled and their thermal decomposition is largely prevented. This desorbtion process is suitable for liquid and solid specimen substances, whereby it has proven beneficial to accommodate the molecules of the specimen substance in a matrix that thermalitically decomposes easily.
An apparatus with this desorbtion process can be implemented is described in the periodical "ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE" 1988, pages 461 ff, in the overview article "Die Multiphotonen-Ionisation (MUPI) Massenspektrometrie". The specimen substance is thereby placed in front of the orifice of a nozzle from which the carrier gas emerges. By employing infrared laser light, the molecules of the specimen substance are desorbed into the expanding jet of the carrier gas. The inner degrees of freedom of the molecules are thereby cooled and the molecules are farther-conveyed by the carrier gas jet. This apparatus is usually operated as a pulsed system that is composed of a pulsed valve for producing the carrier gas jet and of a laser for the desorbtion of the neutral molecules. Since the molecules are farther-transported as a jet or, respectively, as a particle packet in pulsed mode, it is possible to keep this desorbtion process spatially separated from an ionization process that follows thereafter.
Single-photon or multi-photon ionization has proven itself for the mass-spectrometric examination of the large molecules under consideration. Since the wavelength of the beamed-in photons can be tuned to the energy difference between the basic condition and an excited condition of the neutral molecule, it is possible to undertake the ionization selectively vis-a-vis only the molecules under examination; the carrier gas particles thereby remain in a neutral condition and do not influence the subsequent examination results.
Although multi-photon ionization mass spectrometry is successfully carried out it can nonetheless not be employed for some problems since an only selective excitation of the neutral molecules can often not supply adequate information for the desired structural clarification of the molecule because the excitation wavelength to be selected can not be adequately predetermined given unknown molecules. It has also turned out that some substances can only be ionized with difficulty in the way set forth.
Ionization methods that act non-selectively are known. These include electron impact ionization. Such methods, however, cannot be employed for large molecules are in the present case since they lead to a great fragmentation of the molecule. Moreover, the carrier gas particles are also ionized, this leading to saturation effects, electrostatic repulsion and, thus, to poor resolution and inadequate sensitivity of the analysis. Such influences cannot be left out of consideration for the very reason that the carrier gas particles are present in a concentration that is at least a thousand-fold higher when compared to the molecules to be examined.
The employment of electron impact ionization is disclosed by German Letters Patent 873 765; the combination of this procedure with a method as known from German Published Application 36 19 886, however, only leads to highly fragmented ions in the low mass range, so that large, thermally unstable, non-volatile molecules such as, for example, peptides can thus not be examined therewith.

Method and apparatus for generating ions from thermally unstable, non-volatile, large molecules, particularly for a mass spectrometer such as a time-of-flight mass spectrometer


An electrophoresis gel has a colored or pigmented loading area at one edge having a plurality of sample wells for receiving samples, the loading area extending beyond the ends of the wells so that the wells can be visually differentiated from the surrounding colored material in the loading area. The remainder of the gel is transparent or substantially transparent.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to electrophoresis gel assemblies and to methods of making an electrophoresis gel.
2. Related Art
Electrophoresis gels are use routinely in laboratories for the separation and analysis of proteins, poly-nucleic acids (such as DNA and RNA) and carbohydrates. The gels are typically uniformly transparent. They contain a sample loading area, such as holes in gels run horizontally or sample pockets in gels run vertically. These sample pockets are typically formed using a comb-shaped device inserted into the top of the mold when forming the gel. Because the gel is transparent and has about the same refractive index as the solutions used to fill the wells before loading samples onto them, it is difficult to see where the wells actually are. The smaller the sample wells, the more challenging it is to actually load samples in the correct place. Further, since samples are usually loaded near the bottom of the sample well using pipettes, knowing where the bottom of the well is would be useful.
Some improvements to gels have been made to improve loading. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,656,145 issued to Nguyen uses a loading guide so one can direct the samples into the wells without seeing them. Pre-cast gel products are also made with an outline printed on the outside of the mold in which the gel is contained, showing where the wells are supposed to be. These methods are cumbersome or imprecise, and complicated by the fact that the gel fingers dividing the wells may move. Other efforts have been made using visible or fluorescent soluble dyes in the loading area. These dyes tend to diffuse out of the loading area, may migrate down the gels during electrophoresis, or bleach out of the gel during polymerization (especially photo-polymerization). Finally, alternate structures, such as plastic ribs or walls have been used to divide sample-loading wells, making them easier to see. Examples of these can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,878,257 to Manusu and U.S. Patent application 20030141190 by Alpenfels. While useful, these structures are more expensive to make, can inhibit polymerization of the gel fingers, and can block the current flow, which in turn causes samples separated in adjacent lanes to merge together. Further, since samples are usually loaded near the bottom of the sample well using pipettes, knowing where the bottom of the well is would be useful. If one tries to expel sample from the pipette into the well while it is touching the top of the gel surface, the sample expels with too much force when the pipette is raised, often ruining the quality of the resulting separation. None of the prior art helps to know such information with certainty.

Electrophoresis gel and method of making same


A method verifying the position of a surgically inserted orthopedic insert. A preoperative three dimensional image data set of the surgical site is generated, showing the bone into which the insert is to be inserted. During the insertion procedure, a series of intraoperative two-dimensional fluoroscope images are generated, each at a known pose relative to the bone, showing the insert during or after insertion into the bone. The 3-D position of the insert is determined in an intraoperative three dimensional image data set reconstructed from the series of intraoperative 2-D fluoroscope images. The reconstructed intraoperative 3-D image data set is registered with the preoperative three dimensional image data set, such as by comparison of imaged anatomical features. Once this registration is achieved, the determined 3-D position of the insert is used to implant a virtual image of the insert into the preoperative three dimensional image data set.

In orthopedic surgery, intraoperative fluoroscopic images are extensively used in order to ascertain the alignment of orthopedic implants, such that they are inserted into their predetermined positions, as selected by the surgeon generally using preoperative three-dimensional images, such as CT images. Such intra-operative fluoroscopic images are also used in order to ascertain that the orthopedic implants have been inserted into their correct position at the conclusion of the operation. However, such verification may be difficult to perform since although the implants, generally being metallic, show up with high contrast in the intra-operative x-ray images, the anatomical features around them may have much weaker contrast, and, because of the depth of soft tissue and bone through which the x-ray image is being taken, various image artifacts may make the X ray image difficult to interpret. Consequently, in the typically blurred fluoroscope image, it may be difficult to associate the position of the implant with the unclearly defined surrounding bone structure into which the insert has been placed. Currently this is a problematic situation, since the verification of an implant location can only be performed after closing the operating site, and sending the patient for a high definition 3-D imaging procedure, such as a CT or an MRI procedure, in which the soft tissues and bone are also clearly defined. If this procedure shows that the implant is not in the correct position, then the patient must undergo a correction operation, with its associated discomfort and costs.
This problem is particularly acute in spinal operations, such as those which use pedicle screws for spinal fusion for instance, the accuracy of the placement of the screws being highly critical because of the proximity of sensitive neurological features. Because of the complex orthopedic structural nature of the vertebrae themselves and of their associated muscles and ligaments, determination of the spatial position and angle of a pedicle screw is difficult to define in a two-dimensional x-ray image.
There therefore exists a need for an imaging technique which enables the verification of the accurate 3D positioning of an insert during the operation itself, such that it overcomes at least some of the disadvantages of prior art methods.
The disclosures of each of the publications mentioned in this section and in other sections of the specification, are hereby incorporated by reference, each in its entirety.

On-site verification of implant positioning


Embodiment related to a curved display including a curved panel, a printed circuit board separated from the curved panel, and a plurality of flexible films electrically connecting the curved panel and the printed circuit board. The lengths of the flexible films is increased as the flexible films approach an edge of the curved panel.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a curved display.
Discussion of the Related Art
In the field of display devices, a slim, lightweight, and large-scaled flat panel display (FPD) has been rapidly replaced a cathode ray tube (CRT) that tends to be heavy and bulky. Examples of the flat panel display include a liquid crystal display (LCD), a plasma display panel (PDP), an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display, and an electrophoretic display (EPD).
Generally, a flat panel display includes a module where a polarizer and an optical film are attached to a display panel, and a case top supporting and covering the module. The display panel or the polarizer shrinks or expands according to an external environment, and thus a shape of the panel may be changed. When the panel is deformed, an internal liquid crystal layer is deformed to twist an optical axis of the panel. Accordingly, a light leakage may occur. Particularly, a curved display using a curved panel formed by artificially bending the panel has a noticeable problem of the light leakage due to tension of a chip-on film bonding the curved panel and a printed circuit board.


The invention relates to a new double-stranded RNA endoribonuclease, its derivative and/or variant, which has a loop locating in and interacting with the major groove of the double-stranded RNA, exhibiting sequence specific properties in the double-stranded RNA cleavage.

One of the basic tools of molecular biology are proteins with a clearly defined activity, used for example in genetic engineering, diagnostics, medicine and industry in the manufacturing and processing of various products.
DNA restriction endonucleases are sequence dependent enzymes that recognize and cleave specific sequence of double-stranded DNA. There are also known enzymes that cleave RNA in a given sequence, however, such enzymes act on single-stranded sites in RNA. Examples of these enzymes include a phage protein RegB, which cleaves the single-stranded RNA in the middle of the sequence GGAG and Ribonuclease Y, which cleaves the single-stranded RNA in A or AU rich sequences. These enzymes require additional determinants for efficient cleavage, such as RNA secondary structure and in case of RegB the interaction with the ribosomal protein S1 (Lebars, I., et al., J Biol Chem (2001) 276, 13264-13272, Saida, F. et al., (2003) Nucleic Acids Res, 31, 2751-2758 and Shahbabian, K. et al., The EMBO Journal (2009) 28, 3523-3533). There were also attempts to change the specificity of Ribonuclease T1 and Ribonuclease MC1 (Hoschler, K. et al. J Mol Biol, (1999) 294, 1231-1238, Numata, T. et al., Biochemistry, (2003) 42, 5270-5278). In these two cases the enzyme variants were created in which their specificity has increased, from one to two nucleotides (Numata, T. et al., Biochemistry, (2003) 42, 5270-5278, Czaja, R. et al., Biochemistry, (2004) 43, 2854-2862; Struhalla, M. et al. Chembiochem, (2004) 5, 200-205). However, all these Ribonucleases still have a very limited sequence specificity which makes them unsuitable as molecular biology tools in applications similar to those of DNA restriction enzymes.
Ribonuclease III is an archetype of nucleases that cleave double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) and a founding member of the Ribonuclease III superfamily of proteins, which share an evolutionarily conserved catalytic domain. They are divided into four classes based on the occurrence of additional domains. Class 1, i.e., orthodox Ribonuclease III enzymes, have a double-stranded RNA binding domain (dsRBD) and a single Ribonuclease III domain. Class 2 and 3 enzymes are represented by Drosha and Dicer, respectively, which both comprise two Ribonuclease III domains along with a single dsRBD. In addition, enzymes belonging to class 2 possess additional domains, such as a polyproline domain and to class 3 a DExD helicase, DUF283 and PAZ domains. Class 4, called Mini III, includes enzymes that consist solely of the Ribonuclease III domain.
The natural substrate for the Mini III protein from Bacillus subtilis is 23S pre-rRNA, in which the 3′ and 5′ ends of the molecule are removed to yield the mature 23S rRNA. The cleavage site for this enzyme is known, however close to the cleavage site of double-stranded pre-rRNA one fragment of 23S pre-rRNA forms an irregular helix, which was speculated to be necessary for substrate recognition (Redko, Y. et al., Molecular Microbiology, (2008) 68 (5), 1096-1106). In addition, in vitro endoribonucleolytic activity of Mini III was shown to be stimulated by the ribosomal protein L3 bound to the 3′ end of the 23S rRNA. There is indirect evidence that protein L3 enhances the cleavage of the substrate by changing the conformation of the RNA (Redko, Y. et al., Molecular Microbiology, (2009) 71 (5), 1145-1154).
There are no known enzymes for specific and defined dsRNA fragmentation with properties similar to the DNA restriction endonucleases or DNA nickases (JP 54059392-A, May 12, 1979). The dsRNA can be cleaved by endoribonucleases from Ribonuclease III family, but no details of Ribonuclease III-dsRNA interactions are known (Herskovitz, M. A. et al., Molecular Microbiology, (2000) 38 (5), 1027-1033). The criteria for site-specific binding and selective processing remain unclear (Dasgupta S. et al., Molecular Microbiology, (1998) 28 (3), 629-640). However, unspecific dsRNA endonucleases are used for generating short double-stranded RNA fragments (US 2006057590-A1, Mar. 16, 2006, NOVARTIS). Obtaining enzymes exhibiting sequence specificity in dsRNA cleavage will allow to develop all areas of RNA manipulation techniques, but also to develop new research methods, new applications of such enzymes and new technologies derived from them.
Citation or identification of any document in this application is not an admission that such document is available as prior art to the present invention.

Miedzynarodowy Instytut Biologii Molekulamej I Komorkowej


A system and method for conducting electronic commerce, includes electronically visiting, by a customer interested in shopping for an item, a comparison shopping site (“CompShop”), and inquiring about the item and comparative prices thereof, running, by the “CompShop”, a query on all a plurality of electronic stores it is aware of asking for a price of the item, and selectively determining, by at least one of the electronic stores, an offer price of the item and selectively returning one of a static price and a modified price. The modified price results from the at least one of the electronic stores learning the best (e.g., lowest or highest depending upon the embodiment) offer price received by the CompShop from all of the electronic stores.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and method for electronic commerce, and more particularly to a system and method by which an electronic store (e.g., an "eStore" provided on a world-wide network such as the Internet) can offer a competitive price to a customer when there is another eStore that offers a competitive price, and the prospective customer is somehow aware of the existence of such a competition.
2. Description of the Related Art
Shopping over the Internet is increasingly becoming important and a prime way of doing business and conducting transactions. As the amount of Internet shopping explodes, electronic businesses (e.g., so-called "eBusinesses") and eStores must address similar kinds of pricing issues that conventional stores face. One pricing issue is that of competitive pricing. A number of comparison shopping business sites have been developed (e.g., e-compare.com) which allows comparison shopping over the Internet.
A typical scenario is described below. A user looking for a book "Of Mice and Men" (or the like) visits the comparison shopping site and inquires about the book. The comparison shopping site keeps track of all eStores that sell this book. It runs a query asking for the price and shipping and handling cost of this book on each of these sites and lists the prices to the user in the form of a table. The table contains entries, such as shop name, base price, shipping charges, availability, etc. The user can immediately compare the prices and the other attribute(s) and pick one of the stores at which to shop. Such comparison sites also typically provide a "click-through"facility whereby the user can directly click on the Universal Resource Locator (URL) of the eStore that qualifies the user criteria and the user can shop at that store. In this manner, the comparison shopping business makes a commission for the referral to the eStore from the eStore from which the user buys the product.
This is a "win—win" situation for the customer since the customer gets the best price without actually visiting many eStores manually. The comparison shopper "wins" due to referral commissions, and the eStore in which the user buys the product or service "wins" because it obtains the business it may not otherwise have obtained.
However, a drawback with the above system is that other stores do not have a chance of winning even though they might be willing to bring the price down if they knew that there was a competitive offer. This is a problem.

Dynamic pricing system and method for electronic stores

International Business Machines Corporation


The present invention provides a method of making a fluoropolymer through emulsion polymerization of one or more fluorinated monomers in an aqueous phase in the presence of a fluorinated surfactant. At least part of the fluorinated surfactant is added to the aqueous phase as an aqueous mixture with at least one organic liquid that is not miscible with water and that is selected from halogenated and non-halogenated organic liquids, the mixture having droplets having an average droplet diameter of not more than 1000 nm and the mixture being added to the aqueous phase in such an amount that the total amount of the fluorinated surfactant is not more than 1% by weight based on the weight of the aqueous phase and the total amount of said organic liquid is not more than 1% by weight based on the weight of said aqueous phase. The invention allows for an improvement of the efficiency of an aqueous emulsion polymerization process. In particular, the polymerization time can be reduced and the polymer yield may be improved.

Commonly known or commercially employed fluoropolymers include polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), copolymers of tetrafluoroethylene (TFE) and hexafluoropropylene (HFP) (FEP polymers), perfluoroalkoxy copolymers (PFA), ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) copolymers, terpolymers of tetrafluoroethylene, hexafluoropropylene and vinylidene fluoride (THV) and polyvinylidene fluoride polymers (PVDF). Commercially employed fluoropolymers also include fluoroelastomers and thermoplastic fluoropolymers. Fluoropolymers and their applications are further described in "Modern Fluoropolymers", edited by John Scheirs, John Wiley & Sons Ltd., 1997. The making of such fluoropolymers generally involves the polymerization of gaseous monomers, i.e. monomers that under ambient conditions of temperature and pressure are present as a gas. Several methods are known to produce the fluoropolymers. Such methods include suspension polymerization as disclosed in e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 3,855,191, U.S. Pat. No. 4,439,385 and EP 649863; aqueous emulsion polymerization as disclosed in e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 3,635,926 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,262,101; solution polymerization as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,642,742, U.S. Pat. No. 4,588,796 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,663,255; polymerization using supercritical CO2 as disclosed in JP 46011031 and EP 964009 and polymerization in the gas phase as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,861,845.
Currently, the most commonly employed polymerization methods include suspension polymerization and especially aqueous emulsion polymerization. The aqueous emulsion polymerization involves the polymerization in the presence of a fluorinated surfactant, which is generally used to ensure the stabilization of the polymer particles formed. Accordingly, the emulsion polymerization process differs from suspension polymerization in which generally no surfactant is used which generally results in substantially larger polymer particles than in case of the aqueous emulsion polymerization.
In the aqueous emulsion polymerization, the polymerization speed, yield of polymer, comonomer incorporated, particle size and number are dependent on each other as well as on the emulsifier content. In order to optimize polymer yield, polymerization time and particle size, one can modify the pressure, temperature as well as the amount of fluorinated surfactant. For example, EP 612770 discloses the use of high amounts of fluorinated surfactant to increase the polymerization speed. However, increasing the amount of fluorinated surfactant has the disadvantage of increasing the cost and furthermore is environmentally undesirable.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,864,006 describes an aqueous emulsion polymerization process wherein an aqueous micro-emulsion of a perfluoropolyether is added to the polymerization reaction. The microemulsion in this US-patent is characterized as a monophase solution which is stable in the long run without providing "dispersion energy". It thus seems that the micro-emulsion discussed in this patent form upon simple mixing of the components without the need to apply "dispersion energy" through the use of special emulsifying equipment. Accordingly, this limits the type of surfactants that can be used and further may complicate the polymerization process. For example, as shown in the examples of this patent, the microemulsion of the perfluoropolyether is formed using a perfluoropolyether that has a carboxylic acid group as a surfactant. Such surfactants are expensive. Further, as shown in the examples of U.S. Pat. No. 4,864,006, the microemulsion forms at elevated temperatures which further complicates the process relative to one in which such a heating is not required and the surfactant can simply be added to the polymerization vessel at room temperature.
EP 969027 discloses a similar process as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,864,006 for making PTFE dispersions. Also in this patent application, a microemulsion of a perfluoropolyether obtained through emulsification with a perfluoropolyether surfactant is used to prepare the PTFE dispersion. Although small polymer particles are achieved in this process, it appears that large amounts of surfactant are used which is disadvantageous in that it makes the process more costly and puts an environmental burden on the process.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,895,799 discloses a microemulsion polymerization of TFE to produce very small particle dispersions of PTFE in water. Thus, in accordance with the teaching of this US patent, the polymerization of TFE proceeds in a microemulsion of liquid perfluorinated hydrocarbons. This microemulsion is formed by adding the perfluorinated hydrocarbon liquid and a fluorinated surfactant to water at a temperature and in proportions that result in a microemulsion. As is well known, microemulsions only form when the surfactant is used above its critical micelle concentration (CMC) (P. Lovell, "Emulsion Polymerization and Emulsion Polymers", J. Wiley, 1997, pages 700–739). As a result, the process taught in this US-patent will generally require large amounts of surfactant, typically much higher than the amounts employed in the conventional aqueous emulsion polymerization process which uses the surfactant in amounts below the CMC of the surfactant and therefore does not involve the use of a microemulsion during the polymerization process. The use of a microemulsion polymerization has the disadvantages already mentioned above and moreover may result in foam building during processing.
Because of the environmental burden that fluorinated surfactants may impose, it is generally desired to produce polymer dispersions that have substantially no fluorinated surfactant. Further, the presence of such fluorinated surfactants in the polymer product may be undesired in some applications of the fluoropolymers. Further, the fluorinated surfactants are generally expensive and it is therefore desired to minimize the amount necessary for the polymerization and/or to recover and recycle the fluorinated surfactants. Several methods are known to recover and recycle the fluorinated surfactants used in the aqueous emulsion polymerization. Such methods are disclosed in e.g. EP 524585, EP 566974, EP 632009, EP 731081, WO 99/62858, WO 99/62830 and DE 19932771. It will be appreciated by one skilled in the art that these recovery processes will be more efficient and less costly if the amount of fluorinated surfactant employed in the polymerization is minimized. For example, the amount of waste water produced in these recycling and recovery processes will generally be less if less fluorinated surfactant is used in the polymerization.
It would now be desirable to improve the aqueous emulsion polymerization of fluorinated monomers to produce fluoropolymers whereby low amounts of fluorinated surfactant can be employed, for example not more than 1% by weight based on the weight of the aqueous phase of the aqueous emulsion polymerization. It is further desirable that the process can be practiced with commonly employed fluorinated surfactants that can be easily and effectively recovered and/or removed from the fluoropolymer dispersions produced. It is in particular desirable to reduce the polymerization time, improve the yield of polymer solids obtained and/or to obtain fluoropolymer dispersions having a small particle size.

Aqueous emulsion polymerization process for producing fluoropolymers


A mould end cap comprises a cap end portion engaged with an end of a mould body for a vehicle frame, a mould insert portion extending from the cap end portion and inserted in the mould body, and a hook portion provided at the mould insert portion and engaged with the mould body. In the mould end cap, the hook portion comprises a first step portion having a quadrangular column shape, which has a front surface and a rear surface inclined and opposite to each other, and side surfaces each having a trapezoidal shape, and a second step portion located on an upper end of the first step portion, the second step portion having a quadrangular column or pyramid shape, which has an inclined front surface, a vertical rear surface, and side surfaces each having a trapezoidal or triangular shape.

Conventional mould end caps are described in Japanese Laid Open Utility Model No. 5-82694 (cited reference 1) and Japanese Laid Open Patent No. 11-34757 (cited reference 2). Such a mould end cap includes a cap end portion engaged with an end of a mould body for a vehicle frame, a mould insert portion inserted in the mould body, and a hook portion engaged with the mould body.
Cited reference 1 discloses a bonding film made from PVC resin, which is coated on an inner surface of the mould body to which the mould end cap is attached. The hook portion is bonded to the bonding film.
Further, Cited reference 2 discloses a notch portion formed at the mould body, so that the hook portion of a mould end cap is engaged with the notch portion.
Therefore, when the mould insert portion is inserted in the mould body, the hook portion may be bonded to the bonding film of the mould body or engaged with the notch portion, so that the mould end cap can be assembled with the mould body.


An energy storage system that includes a battery module including a plurality of battery cells, a battery management module connected to the battery cells through a plurality of first wires, detecting voltages of the battery cells and performing first cell balancing operations of the battery cells, and an external balancing module connected to the battery cells through a plurality of second wires, discharging the battery cells to a predetermined voltage and performing second cell balancing operations of the battery cells.

1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention generally relate to an energy storage system.
2. Description of the Related Art
An energy storage system that is a hybrid combination of a solar power generation system and a power storage system can store surplus power from a solar cell and a grid that is supplied to a load while supplying power to the load in a secured manner in the event of power failure.
The above information disclosed in this Related Art section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known to a person of ordinary skill in the art.


A video correlation tracking system captures a first image frame and identifies one or more reference patches in that image frame. In a successive image frame, the new location of a reference patch is estimated with a dead reckoning algorithm, and a trial patch is placed at that location. The system cross correlates each reference patch with its corresponding trial patch, the results of which are used to make corrections to the dead reckoning algorithm, register successive image frames, and determine at which reference patch processing resources should be concentrated.

There are numerous applications in the video processing arts where it is necessary to either track objects of interest from one image frame to the next, or to record an image and compare the saved image with another saved image or a current image. In general, such applications include unmanned air vehicle (UAV) navigation, mapping, object identification, and scene reconstruction.
For example, when identifying an object on the ground from a camera on a UAV, the system tracks the object from image frame to image frame until a level of certainty is reached that the object is identified. Objects are identified by passing the information from each successive image frame to a classification algorithm. In identifying the object of interest from image frame to image frame, each image frame or a portion thereof must be processed and reprocessed until the associated classification algorithm's output level has exceeded a predetermined threshold at which point an identification is declared. Such processing and reprocessing requires a tremendous amount of computer resources.
Consequently, video correlation tracking would benefit from an improved system that tracks objects and registers images with a minimal expenditure of processing time and other

Correlation based in frame video tracker


An arrangement is provided for translating a plurality of scalar single instruction multiple data stream (SIMD) instructions into a plurality of optimized non-scalar SIMD instructions to be executed on a target architecture supporting only parallel SIMID instructions. After receiving a plurality of scalar SIiVLD instructions, translation from the scalar SIMD instructions to non-scalar SIMD instructions is performed. The translation is optimized so that the number of translated non-scalar SIMD instructions is minimized. The translated non-scalar SIIViD instructions are executed on a target architecture that supports only parallel SIMD instructions.

A single instruction multiple data stream (SIMD) instruction enables a computer that supports parallel processing to base on a single instruction such as an add instruction to perform a single operation on more than one data stream in parallel. Such an SIMD instruction can be used for speeding up processing and utilizing registers with adequate number of bytes in an efficient manner. A scalar type SIMD instruction is different from a parallel (non-scalar) SIMD instruction in that the operation specified in a scalar SIMD instruction is carried out on only one of the multiple data elements while the operation specified by a parallel SIMD instruction is carried out on all of the multiple data elements. This difference is illustrated in FIGS. 1(a) and 1(b).
A parallel SIMD instruction operates simultaneously on all data elements. FIG. 1(a) (Prior art) shows how different data elements in two parallel registers are added in parallel via a parallel SIMD instruction "ADD PS Xmm1, Xmm2", where "ADD PS" indicates that it is a parallel scalar (PS) add (ADD) instruction and that registers Xmm1 and Xmm2 store the multiple data elements (operands) that are to be added in parallel. In this example, each register has 128 bits, corresponding to four data elements, each of which has 32 bits. The data elements in register Xmm1 have floating point values of 3.5, 12.8, 0.32, and 1.0, respectively. The data elements in register Xmm2 have floating point values of 4.3, 7.1, 2.65, and 4.0, respectively. When the parallel SIMD instruction "ADD PS Xmm1, Xmm2" is performed, the values in corresponding data elements of the two registers are added simultaneously, yielding values of 7.8, 19.0, 2.97, and 5.0, respectively. The addition result is stored in the destination register Xmm1 (which is also a source register).
A scalar SIMD instruction performs computation on only one data element stored in each of the operand parallel registers, as illustrated in FIG. 1(b) (Prior art). An example scalar SIMD instruction "ADD SS Xmm1, Xmm2" performs an addition operation on single data elements stored at the lowest 32 bits of the two operand registers (i.e., Xmm1 and Xmm2). In the illustrated example, only data 1.0 and 4.0 (that occupy the lowest 32 bits of Xmm1 and Xmm2) are added, yielding 5.0 to be stored at the lowest 32 bits of the destination register (Xmm1). During this operation, the upper bits (i.e., bits 33-127) of the registers should remain unchanged. That is, the execution of the "ADD SS" instruction needs to ensure the integrity of all the upper bits of the registers.
To ensure the integrity of the upper 96 bits, conventional solutions extract the single data elements from involved registers (e.g., extract 1.0 and 4.0 from the lower 32 bits of the registers) from parallel registers, place extracted data elements elsewhere to perform the computation, and then merge the result (e.g., 5.0) into the intended destination parallel register (e.g., Xmm1). This involves four separate steps of operations, namely two extraction operations to extract the source data elements (e.g., 1.0 and 4.0), one computation operation (e.g., ADD SS), and a merging operation to merge the result (e.g., 5.0) back to the destination parallel register (e.g., Xmm1).

Optimized translation of scalar type SIMD instructions into non-scalar SIMD instructions


A shared active pixel sensor with a shared photodiode, a shared sense node, a transfer gate, a shared reset gate and a shared source follower gate is disclosed. A shared photodiode includes at least a first signal node and a second signal node. A shared sense node electrically connected to the shared photodiode. A transfer gate disposed between the first signal node and the shared sense node to control the first signal node and the shared sense node. A shared reset gate is electrically connected to the shared sense node and a shared source follower gate reads a photocurrent from the shared photodiode.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a shared active pixel sensor (APS). In particular, the present invention is directed to a shared active pixel sensor so that a single multi-share pixel unit can serve as multiple pixels.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A photodiode is a semiconductor device for use as an image sensor. Basically speaking, to make an image sensor more sensitive, it is a good idea for a photodiode to occupy an area as large as possible so regions other than the photodiode region in each pixel should be minimized. For the sake of saving more pixel area, pixels are always designed to share read out circuits with other neighboring pixels.
In terms of the number of sharing pixels, there are various sharing pixels, for example a 2-share or a 4-share pixel. Generally speaking, a reset transistor or a source follower is the first candidacy. Otherwise, it is only one option available to reduce the STI (shallow trench isolation) area or the floating diffusion area to achieve a high conversion gain or high sensing area.
Accordingly, another novel pixel structure is still needed for minimizing the pixel area.


A transmission includes an input drive shaft, a drive gear, an idler gear, and a driven gear. The drive gear is rotationally fixed to the input drive shaft which, in turn, may but not necessarily, be powered by an engine. The idler gear may include a second set of gear teeth mounted to a bearing wherein the second set of gear teeth are formed from polymeric material. The second set of gear teeth for the idler gear may be in meshing engagement with the first set of gear teeth. The driven gear may include a third set of gear teeth in meshing engagement with the second set of gear teeth. The driven gear may be rotationally fixed to a pump shaft for a transmission pump. The input drive shaft, the drive gear, the idler gear, and the driven gear are configured to power a transmission pump.

Many vehicles are used over a wide range of vehicle speeds, including both forward and reverse movement. Some types of engines, however, are capable of operating efficiently only within a narrow range of speeds. Consequently, transmissions capable of efficiently transmitting power at a variety of speed ratios are frequently employed. Transmission speed ratio is the ratio of input shaft speed to output shaft speed. When the vehicle is at low speed, the transmission is usually operated at a high speed ratio such that it multiplies the engine torque for improved acceleration. At high vehicle speed, operating the transmission at a low speed ratio permits an engine speed associated with quiet, fuel efficient cruising.
Most transmissions are equipped with a torque converter. When the vehicle is stationary or moving very slowly, the gearbox input speed is less than the minimum operating speed of the engine. A launch device transmits torque from the engine to the gearbox input while permitting the engine to rotate at an acceptable speed. A torque converter includes an impeller driven by the engine and a turbine driving the gearbox input. Torque is transferred from the impeller to the turbine hydro-dynamically.
However, the intrusive noise known as gear whine may be caused by vibrations generated by gears in a gear train (such as in the example of a transmission or the like) as the gears mesh as a result of imperfections caused by design, loading, temperature effects, and manufacturing variations. Reducing gear whine noise to an acceptable level is a significant challenge, especially for complex gearboxes such as, but not limited to a planetary automatic transmission. Gear whine, by nature is a tonal noise, which may be objectionable to drivers and passengers because it cuts through other noises in the vehicle interior.
In light of manufacturing and assembly tolerances together with components which deflect under the loads applied in a setting such as in a transmission gear train, the gear transmission error may occur as gears rotate relative to each other. The gear transmission error generates a vibration at the gear mesh thereby generating unacceptable gear whine noise. Such vibrations at the gear mesh in a transmission for example may be transmitted through the internal gearbox components to the housing, where it is radiated directly as noise or transferred through the chassis in the form of vibrations to be radiated as noise elsewhere.
The cause of gear whine is two-fold: (1) the consistency of the engagement and disengagement of the intermeshing metal gear teeth; and (2) the natural frequency vibrations of the metal gear teeth circumferentially as a result of sequential engagement and disengagement of the intermeshing metal gear teeth. Transmission error of the gear and the pinion is a root cause for excessive noise excitation. Ideally, the gear and pinion are precisely manufactured such that the transmission error is minimized. However, this is not feasible due to manufacturing errors. Further, the gearing arrangement will experience additional performance issues due to static and dynamic displacement and misalignment of tooth flanks.
Accordingly, there is a need to eliminate gear whine noise generated within a gear train.


An inflatable truss frame member for use in the frame of a large inflatable device such as a ship or satellite decoy. A first embodiment, developed for use in satellite decoys, comprises three main inflatable tubes separated by shear load carrying interlacing inflatable tubes. The first embodiment may be manufactured by laminating two MYLAR sheets together using a triangular pattern of adhesive print to form a series of inflatable tubes. Excess material is removed from between the tubes and the edges of the MYLAR are bonded together forming a cylinder to complete the inflatable truss frame member. A second embodiment, developed for the heavier shear loading of ship decoys, comprises three main inflatable tubes separated by a shear load carrying web. The second embodiment may be manufactured by bonding an inner and outer tube made of MYLAR along arcuately spaced strips. The bonded MYLAR forms the separating web and unbonded MYLAR forms three inflatable tubes. Alternately, the second embodiment may be manufactured by separately forming three inflatable tubes and then bonding the separating web material to the inflatable tubes. Rigid stays or battens may be added between the three inflatable tubes when the separating web will not be strong enough to support the shear loading.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention concerns large, lightweight, inflatable structures such as satellite decoys and ship decoys. More particularly, this invention relates to inflatable tubes used as supports in such structures.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Large, lightweight, inflatable structures find various applications. Generally speaking, these devices need structural members as reinforcement. Conventional ship decoys or satellite decoys are large, inflatable structures which typically employ internal inflatable tube frames for structural support.
The sizing of the tubes in such a tube frame is determined, at least in part, by the cross sectional area moment of inertia. In other words, a tube size is conventionally chosen to prevent the tubes from buckling and thereby keeping the decoy from collapsing under its own weight.
With a large cross section, a tube in a tube frame requires a large gas volume to inflate. Using tubes, particularly with a large cross section, also increases the weight of the entire decoy due to the weight of material required to construct the inflatable device and the gas required for inflation.
A typical satellite decoy is fabricated and packaged in a canister along with gas required to inflate the decoy. The decoy is packaged in a canister to conserve space on the launch vehicle for other cargo. For the satellite decoy, the weight and volume of the deflated satellite decoy as well as the weight and volume of inflation gas are crucial in reducing launch costs.
Advances in inflatable devices have enabled easier inflation of devices such as air-mattresses or tents, but at the expense of added material weight. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 4,065,888 issued to Napierski, incorporated herein by reference, describes an inflatable device which reduces the effort required to pump up the device. The Napierski device uses two air inlet valves, valves a, and b. Valve a is used to blow up an outer shell, tube frame or skeleton which requires a relatively limited air volume to give structure to the overall device. Upon inflation through valve a, air is simultaneously drawn through valve b to fill the remainder of the inflatable device which has a much larger air volume. Thus, a reduced effort is required to complete pumping the inflatable tube through valve b. FIGS. 6 and 7 of Napierski show a tent with inflatable support props which require a relatively large air volume to inflate, however, by using inflatable skeletons inflated by separate valves, pump-up time for the full support prop is reduced.
Advances have also been made in manufacturing techniques for inflatable devices. U.S. Pat. No. 3,742,658 issued to Meyer, incorporated herein by reference, shows a geodesic structure which is formed by sealing two sheets of flexible material together with the sealing lines disposed in a triangular pattern to form a series of inflatable tubes. Excess edge material is severed away from the edges of the flexible material, and the edges are then joined to complete the inflatable geodesic structure. Meyer refers to the tubular edges as edge struts.


Provided is a planar antenna assembly attached to a ceiling, in which a structure of an antenna assembly for a mobile communication repeater is developed into a planar shape, thereby improving interior aesthetics. The planar antenna assembly attached to the ceiling according to an embodiment of the present invention may improve electric characteristics of radio waves to improve call quality.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an antenna assembly for a mobile communication repeater, and more particularly, to a planar antenna assembly fixed to a ceiling, in which a structure of an antenna assembly for a mobile communication repeater is improved with a planar form using a planar antenna.
2. Discussion of Related Art
As most people currently possess personal mobile phones and an amount of use of radio waves is rapidly increasing due to the current use of smart phones, a large number of mobile communication repeaters for data communication are installed. However, because customers are not close to mobile communication repeaters in areas such as inside buildings in downtown areas, underground parking areas, offices, subway stations, tunnels, and the like, or due to structural problems in a building, transmission and reception of radio waves from and to the mobile communication repeaters are deficient, so that areas in which calls are difficult to establish may be generated. Such an area is referred to as a shadow area. In order to relieve customers' needs for quality of calls in the shadow area and process an amount of data, a mobile communication repeater may be installed in such a shadow area in which the call quality is poor.
In general, an antenna assembly for a mobile communication repeater includes an antenna which is a radio wave transmission and reception device and an antenna cover which is made of a material for protecting the antenna. An antenna assembly for a mobile communication repeater which is installed indoors to be used is installed in a ceiling or a wall, and in this instance, a structure and a size of the antenna assembly for a mobile communication repeater have a very important impact on interior aesthetics.
Since a conventional antenna assembly for a mobile communication repeater which is attached to a ceiling uses an antenna including a radiation element having a structure perpendicular to a ceiling, an antenna assembly for mobile communication repeaters which has a protruding structure is attached to the ceiling. The structure protruding from the ceiling is not aesthetically pleasing, and therefore the antenna assembly for a mobile communication repeater is difficult to install due to opposition from building owners. Thus, it is difficult to eliminate shadow areas in accordance with the needs of customers.

Planar antenna assembly fixed to ceiling