The present invention relates to a single-stranded DNA aptamer which inhibits oxidation by binding to L-ascorbic acid, characterized in that the single stranded DNA aptamer has at least one of stem-loop structure, has CG bond at the end of the stem-loop structure, and both of the beginning parts of the stem-loop structure are G or C, in which the same bases are faced to each other. The aptamer of the present invention has an anti-oxidative effect of vitamin C, it can be used for functional cosmetics of various formulations, oral nutritional supplements, foods, etc. by maintaining the reduced state of vitamin C using the aptamer which selectively binds to vitamin C to maintain the anti-oxidative function of vitamin C for a long time. In addition, it can be anticipated that the anti-oxidative effect is continued and maximized even with a small amount of vitamin C by using the aptamer selectively binding to vitamin C.

L-Ascorbic acid (Vitamin C, hereinafter, referred to as 'AA') which is one of representative components among antioxidants is widely used in medicine, cosmetics, food and beverage industries due to its antioxidant activity through neutralization of its free radicals. It was reported that the advantage of AA when AA is used as a food aid and/or medical active ingredient is to inhibit ZnONPs inhalation which may be generated in the industrial disaster (tire and rubber plants and plant for manufacturing cosmetics) by feeding drinking water adding AA during oxidation procedure of acute lung cells. Vitamin C is commonly used as a major solution in these industries, which cost tens of trillion wons.
AA can be easily degraded essentially by oxidation because of its antioxidant ability. The main factors affecting the oxidation of AA are temperature, pH, oxygen, metal ions, light, enzyme, and the like. In the industries using AA as a main ingredient, the oxidative-degradation property has been recognized as the present question for a long time because said property affects both the storage period and effect of the product due to said property. Therefore, many researches and costs are being invested in developing and discovering new and better methods as well as the understanding of the oxidative-degradation of AA in these industries.
Meanwhile, there are many reasons for promoting aging, but Reactive Oxygen [0004] species (ROS) is accepted as being one of significantly important causes. This active oxygen is indispensably produced in the energy metabolism process, immune response, etc., and it is an unavoidable stimulus which is also caused by the external harmful environment. The active oxygen has very high reactivity and leads to DNA deterioration, excessive signaling causing, protein deterioration, etc., and thus, leads to a series of reactions accumulating harmful effect on health. However, these harmful reactions are made to elaborately maintain their homeostasis by the antioxidant material (uric acid, vit. C, vit B, etc.) or antioxidant enzyme (Glutathione peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, catalase, etc.) present in vivo. However, an ageing of the antioxidant system according to endogenous aging and an accumulation of active oxygen by continuous harmful stimulus break such the balance, harm health, promote aging and cause various diseases such as skin diseases, skin cancer, arteriosclerosis and thrombosis (Laure Rittie et al., Ageing Research Reviews, 1, 705-720, 2002; Cutler R G, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1055, 93-135, 2005).
Accordingly, there are increasing interests in antioxidants that inhibit the formation of active oxygen systems or eliminate the formed active oxygen system. Antioxidants can be divided into two groups: a naturally occurring group in the body and an externally administered group. The naturally occurring group in the body includes enzymes such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione, peroxidase, catalase, etc., and the externally administered group includes phytochemicals such as kaempferol, catechin, genistein, etc.; vitamin E, vitamin C and beta-carotene; and minerals such as selenium, etc.
Cells are attacked by free radicals and oxygen free-radicals caused by ultraviolet A (UVA), and ultraviolet B (UVB) irradiated from sunlight, pollutants, stress, smoking, drinking, fatty foods, etc., and if the cells are not properly protected from such substances, they will be aged or dead. In the case of skin, the production of materials such as collagen or elastin, etc. is reduced or denatured by such substances, causing the skin to lose elasticity and to have wrinkles. In order to prevent this, it is known that it is important to prevent the aging of the skin by applying a preparation containing antioxidants such as vitamin A, C, E, etc., to the skin and absorbing it into the skin to prevent oxidation by the harmful active substances. However, synthetic vitamin C has a problem in manufacturing various formulations having a long storage period, due to the problem that it is easily oxidized in the air and its antioxidant effect disappears.
Vitamin C, which has a very high reducing power, reacts very sensitively to substances with high oxidation potential and thus, vitamin C is rapidly oxidized. It is well-known that vitamin C is oxidized and its effect is impaired. Water has a high oxidation potential, so vitamin C is very sensitively reacted with it and is rapidly oxidized.
Therefore, needs for new methods or materials for inhibiting the oxidation of antioxidants, including vitamin C, have existed for a long time.
In addition, the prevention of oxidation of antioxidants using an aptamer is an approach of safe and innovative new concept compared to the conventional methods, and it can be manufactured to maximize the effect by applying it to various industries. In particular, it will be a catalyst for transforming the existing chemical-based cosmetics, nutritional supplements, and food markets into DNA (BIO)-based markets. In the future, it is expected to provide explosive growths and innovative solutions in the DNA markets.

Aptamer specifically binding to L-Ascorbic acid and use of the same


The invention relates to a board game based on wines and the wine regions of the world. The board game has a plurality of zones through which players move in accordance with the throw of a die or dice to gain assets in the wine industry; players with sufficient assets being enabled to proceed to a further zone. The winner is the player who first accumulates enough assets to purchase a special property.

Although the board game may be based on many activities, in a preferred embodiment, it is based on wines and the wine regions of the world.
The wine trade is a subject which has been written about ad infinitum, yet the majority of these books are fairly dry and fail to convey the love and discernment felt by those in the trade. In particular, it is difficult as a trainee in this area to gain much useful information and understanding from the works currently on the market. The trade is divided between growers, producers, retailers and auction houses and it is necessary to understand how these interact with one another. This situation is not unique to the wine trade but also occurs in other fields such as architecture.
An aim of the present invention is to provide board game apparatus which may be used in an educational fashion.


A tailgate or side-gate for a vehicle, including a pickup truck, is disclosed that, when lowered, forms at least one step that is lower than the bed or floor of the vehicle. A more preferred embodiment forms at least two steps at different levels so that one may easily walk into the box with both arms full. When raised the exterior of the tailgate can have an appearance like the exterior of an original equipment tailgate. A mechanism for automatically lowering and raising the tailgate or side-gate is also disclosed along with several other functional options.

Numerous means for making it easier to enter the bed of a vehicle like a truck such as a pickup truck are known. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,462,170, 5,549,312, 5,617,930 and 5,941,342 disclose folding staircases or ladders for fastening to the tailgate of a truck and U.S. Pat. No. 5,816,638 discloses a bed extender for a box of a pickup that includes a second tailgate that has a folding step. U.S. Pat. No. 6,460,915 discloses a side panel for a pickup having integral steps, but this entry position interferes with the position of choice for large tool boxes, is very expensive and adds additional joint lines to the exterior of the pickup box.
None of the above disclosed devices meet the long felt needs of one or more convenient and stable steps onto the bed of a truck, good aesthetics both inside and outside the box as required of today's pickup trucks and low cost. Also, most of these devices intrude into the carrying space of the pickup box, or stick out from the back of the tailgate, both being undesirable. What is needed are steps into a pickup truck or other vehicle or structure that are integral in the tailgate, easy to use and that do not significantly interfere with the aesthetics of the tailgate and vehicle.


A method of determining facial location and orientation may include receiving a location of a first radio frequency (RF) tag on a subject; receiving a location of a second RF tag on the subject; determining a location and orientation of a face of the subject using at least the location of the first RF tag and the location of the second RF tag; and sending commands to one or more camera units. The commands may cause the one or more camera units to capture the location and orientation of the face of the subject.

Indoor localization, including the localization of humans in an indoor setting, has been the focus of numerous research projects, and there exists commercial off-the-shelf solutions both for the industrial and consumer world. However, there are many scenarios that are not handled well by those solutions. For example, performance capture has become the industry standard method for driving virtual character animation in films, video games, and even live-action shows. In particular, facial capture is especially important because the face is arguably the most important part of a character, yet it is the most difficult component to animate correctly. In order to perform facial capture, high-quality video determination of the subject's face is a critical component.


A method and apparatus for determining the rate of received data in a variable rate communication system. The receiving system decodes each frame of the received signal to produce a set of normalized correlation metrics, cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits, and possibly Yamamoto quality metrics, one for each possible data rate. The normalized correlation metric for each rate is calculated from a correlation value an a constant computed for that rate. The correlation value is determined from a correlation of the demodulated soft frame symbols and the re-encoded frame. The highest normalized correlation metric is selected and the CRC bit for this data rate is checked. If the CRC checks, this data rate is indicated as the received data rate. Otherwise, the next highest normalized correlation metric is selected and the process continues. If no CRC check, an erasure is indicated.

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to communications. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for determining data rate in a variable rate communication system.
II. Description of the Related Art
The use of code division multiple access (CDMA) modulation techniques is one of several techniques for facilitating communications in which a large number of system users are present. Although other techniques such as time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), and AM modulation schemes such as amplitude companded single sideband (ACSSB) are known, CDMA has significant advantages over these other techniques. The use of CDMA techniques in a multiple access communication system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,307, entitled "SPREAD SPECTRUM MULTIPLE ACCESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM USING SATELLITE OR TERRESTRIAL REPEATERS," and assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated by reference herein. The use of CDMA techniques in a multiple access communication system is further disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,103,459, entitled "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR GENERATING SIGNAL WAVEFORMS IN A CDMA CELLULAR TELEPHONE SYSTEM", assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated by reference herein.
CDMA by its inherent nature of being a wideband signal offers a form of frequency diversity by spreading the signal energy over a wide bandwidth. Therefore, frequency selective fading affects only a small part of the CDMA signal bandwidth. Space or path diversity is obtained by providing multiple signal paths through simultaneous links from a mobile user through two or more cell-sites. Furthermore, path diversity may be obtained by exploiting the multipath environment through spread spectrum processing by allowing a signal arriving with different propagation delays to be received and processed separately. Examples of path diversity are illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,101,501 entitled "METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING A SOFT HANDOFF IN COMMUNICATIONS IN A CDMA CELLULAR TELEPHONE SYSTEM", and U.S. Pat. No. 5,109,390 entitled "DIVERSITY RECEIVER IN A CDMA CELLULAR TELEPHONE SYSTEM", both assigned to the assignee of the present invention, and incorporated by reference herein.
CDMA systems often employ a variable rate vocoder to encode data so that the data rate can be varied from one data frame to another. An exemplary embodiment of a variable rate vocoder is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,414,796, entitled "VARIABLE RATE VOCODER," assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated by reference herein. The use of a variable rate communications channel reduces mutual interference by minimizing unnecessary transmissions when there is no useful speech to be transmitted. Algorithms are utilized within the vocoder for generating a varying number of information bits in each frame in accordance with variations in speech activity. For example, a vocoder with a rate set of four may produce 20 millisecond data frames containing 20, 40, 80, or 160 bits, depending on the activity of the speaker. It is desired to transmit each data frame in a fixed amount of time by varying the transmission rate of communications. Additional details on the formatting of the vocoder data into data frames are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,511,073, entitled "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR THE FORMATTING OF DATA FOR TRANSMISSION," assigned to the assignee of the present invention, and incorporated by reference herein.
One technique for the receiver to determine the data rate of a received data frame is described in copending U.S. Pat. No. 5,566,206 entitled "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING DATA RATE OF TRANSMITTED VARIABLE RATE DATA IN A COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVER," filed Apr. 26, 1994, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,566,206, issued Oct. 15, 1996 assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated by reference herein. Another technique is described in copending U.S. Pat. No. 5,710,784 entitled "MULTIRATE SERIAL VITERBI DECODER FOR CODE DIVISION MULTIPLE ACCESS SYSTEM APPLICATIONS," issued Jan. 20,1998 now abandoned, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, and incorporated by reference herein. Yet another technique is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,751,725 entitled "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING THE RATE DATA IN A VARIABLE RATE COMMUNICATION SYSTEM", issued May 12, 1998 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,751,725, assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated by reference herein. According to these techniques, each received data frame is decoded at each of the possible rates. Error metrics, which describe the quality of the decoded symbols for each frame decoded at each rate, are provided to a processor. The error metrics may include cyclic redundancy check (CRC) results, Yamamoto quality metrics, and symbol error rates. These error metrics are well-known in communications systems. The processor analyzes the error metrics and determines the most probable rate at which the incoming symbols were transmitted.

Method and apparatus for determining the rate of received data in a variable rate communication system


An insulated drinking container having an insulated cup and an insulated lid which is shreadably engagable over the open upper end of the cup. The lid includes an integrally formed grasping handle and an elongated centrally disposed, downwardly extending straw housing. The straw housing includes a stationary straw which extends downward to the bottom of the cup and a removable straw slidably translatable up and down in the stationary housing adjacent the stationary straw between a downward stored position fully within the straw housing and an upward sipping position extended above the lid. Only when in its sipping position is the removable straw, having an aperture formed through its wall for this purpose, in fluid communication with the stationary straw so that liquid in the container may be removed. Pressurizing and suction features which automatically urge the removable straw upward to its sipping position and downward to its stored position are also disclosed.

The present invention relates generally to drinking containers, and more particularly to a non-spillable insulated drinking container which includes an automatically extendable and retractable straw mechanism.
The need for sealed liquid containers which may be used without spilling the liquid contents contained therein is well known, especially in situations such as driving and during other activities where the container might be jostled or upset or is otherwise in an unstable environment. Additionally, an insulation feature which maintains the liquid contained therein either in a cooled or heated condition is also desirable. Further, many users prefer to consume the liquid by sipping on a straw rather than drinking from an opened container to further limit the possibility of spilling the liquid.
Two patents known to applicant disclose containers having an integrally formed straw housings Finch and Leeds U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,016,998 and 3,558,033. U.S. Pat. No. 3,220,587 to Griffin also discloses a cover for a container having a straw housing integrally formed within which there is disposed a projectable straw.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,805,809 to Pugh also discloses the provision of a straw housing integrally formed with the cover of the container having a projectable straw which extends outwardly from the cover through an aperture normally covered by a flap. A later patent to Pugh, U.S. Pat. No. 3,263,855 also discloses a flexible straw in conjunction with a container which includes a lid having a tear out strip, the flexible straw attached to the tear out strip and confined within the container until the tear out strip is removed.
The Vannucci U.S. Pat. No. 4,461,406 discloses a container in which an elongated resilient straw is positioned and held thusly until a sealed closure atop the container is removed. An automatic straw emerging device is also disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,537,324 to Wang. This invention, which is structured to be incorporated into a conventional beverage can which is sealed by a sealing tap which, when pulled, releases the flexible straw for use.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,877,614 to Murphy discloses a container having a cover threadably secured thereon which is integrally provided with a handle. The handle includes a compressible portion which develops pressurized air for dispensing liquid from the container. No sipping straw is provided.
The present invention provides an insulated container having a removable sipping straw which is extendable from a sealed container by the application of air pressure at the bottom of the straw to force it upwardly into fluid communication with a stationary straw which downwardly extends to the bottom of the container for suctioning fluid therefrom. Suction means are also provided to retract the removable straw back down into the container for storage.


This invention relates to an improvement in a method for manufacturing dipeptides by coupling N-blocked aspartic acid and a phenylalanine lower alkyl ester in a medium containing a water-miscible organic solvent mixture in the presence of an immobilized metallo-protease so that a continuous reaction is established with stable enzyme activity.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a process for preparing dipeptides and more particularly, to a process for the preparation of dipeptides represented by the following formula (I) which comprises reacting N-blocked aspartic acid represented by the following formula (II) with a lower alkyl ester of phenylalanine represented by the following formula (III) in the presence of an organic solvent mixture and immobilized enzyme, ##STR1## wherein X is a protective group used in peptide synthesis and Y is a lower alkyl group.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, it is well known that protease can be used for forming peptide bonds in the reverse reaction of protein decomposition. A number of conventional methods have been proposed for favoring the reverse reaction toward synthesis of dipeptides. U.S. Pat. No. 4,165,311 to Isowa et al discloses a process for producing an addition compound which includes reacting a dipeptide and amino acid ester in an aqueous medium in the presence of a protease. However, only a soluble enzyme may be used. Generally, such a soluble enzyme is not only expensive but is unstable in soluble form so that it can only be utilized in very limited industrial applications. In order to overcome such limitations, research has been conducted for several years. As a result, it is possible to improve the enzyme stability by immobilizing techniques. However, in such an addition compound forming system, it is practically impossible to use any kind of immobilized enzymes due to the difficulties of enzyme separation therefrom. U.S. Pat. No. 4,284,721 to Oyama et al. discloses that a water-containing immobilized metallo-proteinase in an organic solvent immiscible with water is used to favor the peptide bond formation. J. Org. Chem., 46, p. 5241 (1981) published by Oyama et al discloses that, due to an immediate transfer of the product toward the water-immiscible organic solvent, the reaction rate as well as the equilibrium yield are relatively good although they are lower than those in the aqueous medium.
Furthermore, although the Oyama et al reference employs an immobilized enzyme which is stable in the organic solvent, since the enzyme requires a certain water content, the water-immiscible organic solvent inevitably requires to contain two phases. However, such a two phase medium limits the continuous operation of synthetic processes, particularly, a process of the packed bed column reactor and stirred tank reactor. In the stirred tank reactor, an attrition of the enzyme necessarily occurs. Furthermore, even though the enzyme is in an immobilized form, it is not satisfactorily stable.
To avoid these disadvantages of the water-immiscible solvent medium, the use of an organic solvent miscible with water has been considered. However, in such a medium, a micro-environmental change between the water disposed around the immobilized enzymes and the organic solvent causes feedback inhibition so that the reaction rate inevitably decreases.
On the other hand, however, the fact that an organic cosolvent can shift the reversible peptide forming reaction toward synthesis has been reported by Homandberg et al (Biochem. 17 (24), 5220 (1978)).


An interactive learning system for providing various modes of instruction relating to a syntax-intensive subject matter such as a computer program language. The modes of instruction may include a video lesson mode of instruction, a reference text mode of instruction and a syntax analysis mode of instruction in which the user attempts to answer questions presented by the system. The user's entries are analyzed for proper syntax and if any errors are found therein, the user is provided visual feedback relating to any errors found in the entries.

The present invention relates to an interactive learning system for use in learning syntax-intensive subject matter, such as a computer programming language, which analyzes user entries for syntactical correctness and generates user feedback information relating to errors that were made in the user entries.
Conventional interactive learning systems are in relatively widespread use for learning computer programs of all types. Those interactive learning systems are used either as the primary mode of education or as supplementary education for reinforcing previously received instruction, such as classroom instruction.
A conventional learning system may present instruction to the user, or student, relating to the application program being learned, and the system may also quiz the student by requesting that he or she make program entries in response to questions generated by the system. In response to a student's entry, the system typically responds by generating only an indication to the student whether the student's entry was correct or incorrect. Because the system provides only that minimal feedback information, the use of such conventional interactive learning systems may be a frustrating experience, particularly when the computer program being learned incorporates arcane syntactical rules of construction.
Conventional interactive learning systems are also relatively limited in the type of instruction that they provide. Some systems may provide lessons relating to the computer program being learned without reinforcing those lessons with other modes of instruction. Other systems may provide other modes of instruction, but typically they fail to provide a number of different modes of instruction, and thus are unduly limited in the effectiveness of the training provided.

Interactive learning system providing user feedback


A lapping assembly for lapping a group of workpieces including a pair of lapping discs and a cassette for positioning the workpieces between the lapping discs. The lapping discs are provided with two-component translational oscillations at the appropriate cutting speed, parallel to their working planes. This motion is effected using crank pins rotating about a coaxially positioned axis and elastic members (or swivel-supporting) members coupled to the body of the lapping machine to prevent the lapping discs from rotating. The cassette has an opening having a curvilinear shape for holding the workpieces, and protrusions which extend into the opening. The cassette is mounted on a support element and equipped with a drive to rotate it about a stationary axis. Alternatively, the cassette can be fixed during treatment and the lapping discs can be rotated at a speed less than the cutting speed. The combination of the curvilinear shape of the opening, the oscillations provided to the cassette and the relative rotation of the cassette in relation to the lapping discs cause workpieces to circulate within opening in a pseudo-random manner. The apparatus may also be adapted to finish workpieces to differing heights through the use of a sensor coupled to one lapping disc to detect the pre-set proximity of the other lapping disc.

Lapping machines are used to treat the surfaces of workpieces using an abrasive assembly. Typically, lapping machines include upper and lower lapping discs which are made of a strong material and have precisely flat working surfaces which are loaded with an abrasive compound. Workpieces are carried within a cassette that is positioned between the upper and lower lapping discs and which effect treatment of the workpieces. Typically, the axes of the lapping discs are vertical and coaxial and treatment is accomplished by rotating one or both discs relative to the cassette such that the appropriate surfaces of the individual workpieces are abrased by the working surfaces of the lapping discs.
During the treatment of workpieces, it is desirable to ensure minimal differences in thickness (or diameter if the workpieces are cylindrical) between individual workpieces and that the top and bottom sides of each workpiece are essentially parallel to eachother and flat. Care must be taken to avoid lapping constantly over the same areas of the lapping disc so that the surface of lapping disc is evenly utilized. If the working surfaces of the lapping discs are unevenly worn, the surfaces of the workpieces cannot be lapped to a high finish and to an accurate flatness. Since the speed of each particle on the abrasive surface of the lapping discs is proportional to the distance between the centre of rotation and the particle, it is necessary to provide workpieces with an appropriate trajectory of movement between the lapping discs in order to minimize radial deformation of the working surfaces of the lapping discs and to optimize the accuracy of finishing of the workpieces.
In order to ensure even wear of the working surfaces of lapping discs, prior art lapping machines utilize cassettes that have sockets formed within for holding individual workpieces and which allow the cassette to be rotated independently from the lapping discs. Accordingly, the workpieces are provided with radial movement having a changing vector of velocity relative to the vertical axis of the lapping discs and move along a spiral trajectory relatively to the lapping disks.
One type of assembly which effects such movement of workpieces is a planetary lapping machine as in U.S. Pat. No. 3,662,498 to Caspers and U.S. Pat. No. 4,157,637 to Orlov et al. A planetary lapping machine utilizes a number of circular cages, each cage having individual workpiece sockets. Each cage is driven by a sun gear and a ring gear of a sun-and-planet gear which are rotated on vertical shafts coaxial with annular upper and lower lapping discs. This construction ensures that the center of workpieces being machined are moved along spiral trajectories over the working surface of the lower and upper lapping discs. Planetary movement is composed of the joint motion of the circular motion of each individual workpiece socket rotating within a circular cage around the individual cage axis and the larger circular orbiting movement of each socket around the axis of the lapping discs.
Another type of lapping assembly is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,541,734 to Clar, which describes a dual-disc lapping machine. A dual-disc machine is generally used for lapping cylinders and includes a cassette which is driven by an eccentric crank pin so that the cassette rotates in an eccentric manner and at a different speed than the upper and lower discs.
Both types of lapping assembly suffer from substantial and well known disadvantages. Lapping discs are unevenly worn during the course of treatment of workpieces. Also, the required spacing of individual workpieces inside the cassettes results in a relatively low yield of treated workpieces from the lapping machines. Finally, since each workpiece must be individually housed within cassette sockets, labour intensive loading and unloading of workpieces from the cassette is required.
These disadvantages can be overcome as described in USSR Patent No. 181,516-66 to Malkin, by vibrating one or both of the lapping discs using a vibration generator to provide translational circular motion therein. Further, the lapping discs can be provided with additional motion so that the axis of the lapping discs circumscribe a cone. This techniques improves the precision and productivity of the workpiece finishing process by allowing loosely packed workpieces to move between the upper and lower lapping discs in an orderly manner.
Further, as described in USSR Patent No. 227,127-67 to Malkin, one of the lapping discs can be suspended on a shock-absorber and fixedly secured to an unbalanced-mass vibration generator. The lapping discs are connected to each other by elastic elements such as, for example, radial helical coil springs, whose total rigidity exceeds the total rigidity of the shock-absorber. This apparatus provides simultaneous finishing of both surfaces of the workpieces and allows the user to adjust the amount of material to be removed from the workpieces.
One disadvantage of these approaches is that particles on the surface of the lapping disks move in a vertical direction at a linear acceleration that is proportional to the radial distance of the particle from the center of the lapping discs. This causes the surfaces of the lapping discs to be worn into a conjugate spherical shape. This defect is especially apparent when large workpieces are treated and accordingly, such an approach is most appropriate for small workpieces. Also, prior art machines do not effectively move individual workpieces in relation to particles on the surface of the lapping discs, especially when the pressure applied to the surfaces of the workpieces is substantial. Finally, it is difficult to apply the same level of treatment to both sides of a workpiece, since the intensity of oscillations applied to one lapping disk connected to vibrator is higher than that of the other disk (especially when the working pressure is high) and since oscillations are imperfectly transferred through elastic couplings. This results in workpieces being treated primarily on one side.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved lapping assembly which provides even treatment to both surfaces of a group of workpieces, which effects even wear to the surfaces of lapping discs, which is easy to load and unload, which allows for treatment of a large number of workpieces, which comprises relatively few parts, and which is durable and relatively inexpensive to manufacture.

Method and apparatus for lapping of workpieces


The image projection apparatus combining lights from first and second light sources to project an image. First and second usable times of a first light source in the apparatus installed respectively in first and second installation positions have a relation that, when the power for the first light source is fixed, the second usable time is shorter than the first usable time. The second usable time shorter than a third usable time of the second light source in the second installation position. The power controller sets, in the second installation position, the power for the first light source to be lower than the power for first light source in the first installation position and set the power for the second light source to be equal to or higher than the power for the second light source in the first installation position.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image projection apparatus, such as a liquid crystal projector, which uses multiple light sources.
Description of the Related Art
The above image projection apparatus is capable of projecting a large and bright image by combining lights from multiple light sources to produce a high intensity light and by image-modulating the high intensity light with a light modulation element such as a liquid crystal panel or a digital micromirror device (DMD). In such an image projection apparatus, in particular in one using multiple light sources such as discharge lamps that require cooling, all of the light sources should be sufficiently cooled. The reason for this is that an insufficiency in the cooling of the light sources increases a rate of speed at which a brightness (light-emission amount) of each light source decreases, which significantly shortens a lifetime of each light source.
As a method of extending a lifetime of a light source included in an image projection apparatus, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-338601 discloses a method of providing multiple light sources to the image projection apparatus and switching, at every start-up of the apparatus, one light source to be lit.
On the other hand, an excessive cooling of the discharge lamp makes a state of enveloped substances such as gas and metal fume fever included in the lamp unstable, which makes it impossible to achieve a stable light emission. For this reason, temperature control of the discharge lamp is important. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2010-032944 discloses a method of controlling, in an image projection apparatus provided with multiple light sources, number of rotations of a cooling fan depending on lighting states of the light sources.
Furthermore, a change of an installation position (e.g., flat installation or upright installation on an installation surface, or ceiling mounting) of the image projection apparatus results in a variation in a temperature distribution around and in the light source. For this reason, it is necessary to perform the cooling and the temperature control of the multiple light sources depending on the installation position of the image projection apparatus. However, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 2000-338601 and 2010-032944 disclose nothing about the cooling and temperature control of the light sources depending on the installation position of the image projection apparatus. This means that the lifetime of any of the multiple light sources may be significantly shortened depending on the installation position of the image projection apparatus.

Image projection apparatus and storage medium storing light source power control program


The ultraviolet sensor has a ZnO layer composed of an oxide semiconductor including ZnO; a (Ni,Zn)O layer which is provided in contact with the ZnO layer and which is composed of an oxide semiconductor including NiO and ZnO solid-solved therein; a first terminal electrode electrically connected to the ZnO layer, and a second terminal electrode electrically connected to the (Ni,Zn)O layer. The ZnO layer is disposed at an ultraviolet ray receiving side. The (Ni,Zn)O layer is preferably formed of a sintered body.

An ultraviolet sensor has been used, for example, as a flame sensor for a fire alarm device or a combustion monitoring device of a burner and, in addition, has also been used as an ultraviolet detection device of a simple apparatus measuring the amount of ultraviolet radiation in an outdoor environment. Furthermore, an ultraviolet sensor has also been expected as a next-generation optical communication device which uses ultraviolet rays.
As the ultraviolet sensor, for example, a sensor using a diamond semiconductor or a SiC semiconductor have been developed and have been already produced on a commercial basis. However, in the case of the ultraviolet sensor using a diamond semiconductor or a SiC semiconductor as described above, there have been problems in that materials therefor cannot be easily machined and are also very expensive.
Hence, in recent years, research on ultraviolet sensor using an oxide semiconductor material has been pursued, and for example, a diode-type sensor having sensitivity in an ultraviolet region has been proposed, the structure of which has a hetero junction formed from an n-type semiconductor layer primarily composed of a titanium oxide and a thin film composed of a transition metal oxide (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In the ultraviolet sensor disclosed in this Patent Document 1, the n-type semiconductor layer primarily composed of titanium oxide is formed of a single crystalline substrate, and the transition metal oxide film is formed of a thin film obtained by epitaxial growth. In this case, the single crystalline substrate and the thin film described above are processed by a heat treatment, such as annealing, but these are not sintered bodies. In addition, in the ultraviolet sensor disclosed in the Patent Document 1, the transition metal oxide thin film is disposed at an ultraviolet ray receiving side.
However, the ultraviolet sensor disclosed in the Patent Document 1 has the following problems.
Since the n-type semiconductor layer primarily composed of a titanium oxide, which is used at a base side of the ultraviolet sensor, has high intrinsic resistance, the electrical conductivity is low, and hence the sensitivity of the ultraviolet sensor is relatively low. The properties described above are backed up, for example, by data shown in FIG. 5 of the Patent Document 1. In addition, since the transition metal oxide thin film is disposed at the light receiving side, the light transmission rate is also low. By the configuration described above, the sensitivity is also degraded.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-172166


An apparatus for controlling a battery of a green car, the apparatus includes an information collector configured to collect navigation information; a charge amount manager configured to manage a charge amount of the battery; a charger configured to charge the battery; and a controller configured to control the charging according to the charge amount of the battery and to expand a usable state of charge range of the battery based on the navigation information collected by the information collector.

A green car generally includes a high voltage battery for supplying driving power, and an auxiliary battery for supplying operating power to internal electric apparatuses (electronic loads). Here, a low voltage DC-DC converter (LDC) connected to the auxiliary battery and the electric apparatuses down-converts a high voltage of the high voltage battery into a charging voltage of the auxiliary battery when a voltage of the auxiliary battery does not exceed a reference value under the control of an upper controller, thereby charging the auxiliary battery with the charging voltage.
The auxiliary battery serves not only to start the ignition of the vehicle, but also to supply the operating power to the electric apparatuses such as a variety of lamps, a system, electronic control units (ECU), and the like.
Until recently, a lead-acid storage battery has been mainly used as the auxiliary battery of the vehicle because it may be recharged to be used again even when in which it is fully discharged. However, because a lead-acid storage battery is heavy, has low charging density, and particularly because it includes lead-acid, which is an environmental pollutant, lead-acid storage batteries have recently been replaced by lithium ion batteries in green cars.
An apparatus for controlling an auxiliary battery of a green car according to the related art controls a charge/discharge of the auxiliary battery within a fixed usable stage of charge (SoC) range in order to perform the above-mentioned functions. That is, the apparatus for controlling an auxiliary battery of a green car according to the related art controls the LDC to perform the charge when the charge amount of the auxiliary battery decreases to the usable SoC range (e.g., 65% to 95%) or less.
Since the apparatus for controlling an auxiliary battery of a green car according to the related art controls the charge of the auxiliary battery on the basis of the fixed usable SoC range, it needs to frequently perform the charge. The above-mentioned frequent charge increases the consumption amount of power (current) of the high voltage battery that supplies the charging power to the auxiliary battery, thereby resulting in a decrease in fuel efficiency of the vehicle.
In particular, the frequent charging of the auxiliary battery further increases the consumption amount of power of the high voltage battery, when considering loss of energy generated during a process of converting the high voltage of the high voltage battery into a low voltage (e.g., 12 V) for charging the auxiliary battery.

Apparatus and method for controlling battery of green car


Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a database system for collecting and integrating electronic data items from multiple data sources. Embodiments of the present disclosure also relate to a database system for determining the relationships between related data items from multiple data sources, so that the related data items may be integrated in a way that protects the privacy of those data items. The system may, for example, identify related data items by matching data items between the multiple data sources according to a pre-defined matching process. The related data items may be selectively integrated and stored across one or more databases. The relationship between the related data items may be preserved by generating associations between the related data items and storing those associations with those data items. This allows related data items to be easily located through the associations, which essentially allows for the grouping of data items to be performed across multiple databases. The associations may also be used to restrict user access to data items that are relevant to the user, which can be used to prevent unauthorized access to certain data items and secures their privacy.

Electronic databases provide for storage and retrieval of electronic data items. Data items in such databases may be electronically updated. In some scenarios, a system may be configured to access information on multiple data sources. For example, a system may access multiple databases in order to access and retrieve data items stored within those databases for use.
However, some of the data items across those multiple databases may be related, and the operation of the system may involve the integration and use of related data items originating from multiple databases. For example, there may be data items across multiple databases pertaining to the same unique entity. Accordingly, the system may need to identify the data items in each database that relate to that specific unique identity.
To do this, some systems may require the relationships between related data items from different databases to be specified, so that those data items may be properly integrated and used. In some cases, these relationships can be specified in advance. However, in other cases the relationships may not be explicitly known in advance, especially if the databases used are dynamic in nature.
Thus, it may be useful for a system to be able to efficiently match data items from different databases in order to automatically determine any relationships between those data items, so that related data items may be identified and properly integrated for use by the system. It may also be useful for related data items to be integrated in a way that preserves their relationship, especially if those data items are stored by the system in separate databases. Furthermore, for security and privacy purposes it may also be useful for those related data items to be integrated in a way that allows users to only access data items relevant to the user.

Database systems and methods for integrating data items collected from multiple data sources


A downhole tool includes a pressure housing deployed in the bore of a drill collar. At least three fins are deployed on the housing and in the tool annulus. At least one of the fins includes a floating blade deployed thereon. The blade includes a plurality of radial pistons deployed therein. The pistons are configured such that the surface area of the radially outward facing piston surfaces is greater than the surface area of the radially inward facing piston surfaces. This piston configuration causes the surface area of the radially outward facing blade surface to be less than the radially inward facing blade surface. In operation, hydrostatic pressure exerts a differential force on the pistons and the floating blade thereby urging the pistons radially inward towards the housing and the blade radially outward towards the drill collar.

In recent years there has been a marked increase in the sophistication of downhole tools, and in particular, downhole tools deployed in the bottom hole assembly (BHA) of a drill string. A typical BHA commonly includes, for example, one or more logging while drilling (LWD) and/or measurement while drilling (MWD) tools. Such tools are well known to include various electronic sensors such as gamma ray sensors, neutron sensors, resistivity sensors, formation pressure and temperature sensors, ultrasonic sensors, audio-frequency acoustic sensors, magnetic sensors, acceleration sensors, and the like. LWD and MWD tools typically further include an electronic controller including at least one microprocessor and electronic memory. Moreover, a typical BHA further includes other tools, such as a telemetry tool, a formation sampling tool, and/or a rotary steerable tool, which include electronic controllers disposed to control, monitor, and record various tool functions during drilling.
It is also well known in the art that severe dynamic conditions are often encountered during drilling. Commonly encountered dynamic conditions include, for example, bit bounce, lateral shock and vibration, and stick/slip. Bit bounce includes axial vibration of the drill string, often resulting in temporary lift off of the drill bit from the formation ("bouncing" of the drill bit off the bottom of the borehole). Lateral shocks and vibrations are those which are transverse to the axis of the drill string and are often due to impact of the BHA with the borehole wall. Stick/slip refers to a torsional vibration induced by friction between drill string components and the borehole wall. Stick/slip causes rapid rotational acceleration and deceleration of the drill string and is known to produce instantaneous drill string rotation speeds many times that of the nominal rotation speed of the table. Bit bounce, lateral shock and vibration, and stick/slip are commonly recognized as leading causes of electronic failures in downhole tools. These electronic failures often result in costly trips (tripping the drill string in and out of the borehole) to repair or replace damaged tools and/or tool components.
Due in part to the above described dynamic conditions, the use of electronic sensors and controllers in downhole tools poses no small challenge. Moreover, it is commonly desirable to deploy MWD sensors (e.g., accelerometers, magnetometers, and gyroscopes) and certain LWD sensors (e.g., gamma ray sensors, neutron sensors, and density sensors) as close as possible to the longitudinal axis of the drill string. These sensors are typically deployed in a pressure housing that is centralized in the bore of a drill collar. In such configurations, it is typically desirable for the pressure housing to be both securely fixed to the drill collar and easily removable from the drill collar (e.g., for servicing the sensors between drilling operations). The centralizing mechanism should also be streamlined so as to enable drilling fluid to flow through the annulus between the inner surface of the drill collar and the outer surface of the pressure housing with minimal restriction.
Various centralizer configurations are known in the art. For example, one type of centralizer includes a pressure housing having metallic fins and/or rings sized and shaped to nearly contact the inner wall of the drill collar. This configuration may also employ o-rings for vibration dampening. While such an arrangement tends to adequately centralize the pressure housing(s), the necessary gap between the fins and drill collar tends to damage the inner surface of the collar under vibration and can actually amplify the shock and vibration seen by the electronics. Moreover, removal of the centralizer can be problematic due to mud packing between the ring and collar ID.
Another adaption of the metal finned or ring-type centralizer incorporates a wedge-locking device. These wedge-locking devices are typically energized using conventional screws. These devices often provide adequate locking and centralization of the pressure housing(s). However the screws have been known to loosen in service thereby unlocking the device and allowing motion of the device due to the downhole dynamic conditions. The screws have even been known to completely unscrew and fall down through the BHA to the bit where they can plug nozzles and causes drilling problems.
Another commercially available configuration utilizes molded rubber fins which are sized and shaped for a slight interference fit with the ID of the drill collar. While this arrangement tends to adequately dampen vibrations, installation and removal of the centralizer can be problematic due to the high coefficient of friction between rubber and steel. Moreover, the rubber fins are susceptible to tearing and chemical degradation which can lead to excessive movement of the pressure housings in service.
Pressure actuated, wedge locking centralizers are also known in the art. While such pressure actuated wedging mechanisms (provided by an inclined plane) increase the mechanical holding force of the stabilizer in the drill collar they tend to be bulky and therefore tend to significantly restrict the flow of drilling fluid through the drill collar. This restriction increases local fluid velocity and turbulence which in turn can lead to serious erosion and cavitation damage to the drill collar and pressure housing. Wedging mechanisms are further problematic in that a significant portion of the force exerted by the piston can be needed just to overcome the frictional forces between the wedge and the ramp and the movement needed between the wedge and the collar. The wedge style approach can also be problematic when trying to remove the system from the collar due to friction locking.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for an improved centralizer, for example, for centralizing and/or stabilizing pressure housings in a drill collar.


The invention provides a stacked capacitor configuration comprising subunits each with a thickness of as low as 20 microns. Also provided is combination capacitor and printed wire board wherein the capacitor is encapsulated by the wire board. The invented capacitors are applicable in micro-electronic applications and high power applications, whether it is AC to DC or DC to AC, or DC to DC.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the fabrication of capacitors. More specifically this invention relates to the architecture and method of fabricating ceramic dielectric sheets or ceramic dielectric film on metal foils (film-on-foils), to prepare multilayer capacitors for electronic applications.
2. Background of the Invention
Applications of electronics continues to explode in new areas. Miniaturization is key in some applications, such as in the fabrication of printed circuit boards. The implementation of microelectronics (with power requirements in the nanowatt range, i.e. approximately five (5) nanowatts or lower) and the implementation of power electronic devices (for example, electric vehicle propulsion systems which range from 30-60 kW) are also gaining in popularity. For example, Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs), Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs), military applications all require high power applications and management but in small packages.
Capacitors are integral parts of power electronic devices. For example, capacitors comprise about 35 volume percent, about 25 weight percent, and about 25 percent of the cost of a power inverter in electric drive vehicles.
Performances and life-cycles of these capacitors degrade rapidly with increasing temperature. Separate cooling systems are therefore required to protect inverter units, and these systems add to the costs of the entire machinery. For example, the inverter in the Toyota Prius (2004-2006 model) has a bank of three capacitors, each the size of a soft-drink can, with each capacitor rated at 85° C. and 450 volts, providing 2700 micro farads (μF) of capacitance.
There are fixed capacitors and variable capacitors. Variable capacitors often are made of interleaved plates, one immobile and the other attached to a shaft. Rotating the shaft effectively changes the area of the plates, thus changing the capacitance. Problems with such variable capacitors is that their moving parts make them less robust than their more static monolithic counterparts. Conversely, the problem with fixed capacitors is that their capacitance cannot be varied.
A need exists in the art for a capacitor which will satisfy the requirements of miniaturized electronic systems and high power electronic systems. The capacitor should accommodate different power levels simultaneously, and have a low profile so as to be embeddable into a printed circuit board. The capacitor should also withstand a wide temperature change of operation. New capacitors should free up surface space, increase device reliability, and minimize electromagnetic interference and inductance loss.

Multilayer capacitors, method for making multilayer capacitors


The present invention relates to a polymer including a fullerene core and a plurality of prepolymer units. Each of the prepolymer units is linked to a carbon atom of the core by a moiety independently selected from the group consisting of --O--(C.dbd.O)--NH--, --NH--(C.dbd.O)--NH--, --0--(C.dbd.S)--NH--, and --N--(C.dbd.S)--NH--.

Fullerenes are a class of carbon molecules having an even number of carbon atoms arranged in the form of a closed hollow cage, typically spheroid, wherein the carbon-carbon bonds define a polyhedral structure.
Fullerene monolayers have been described. See, e.g., K. Chen, et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 115 (1993) 1193 (the self-assembled monolayer (SAM) of covalently bonded fullerenes on (MeO).sub.3 Si(CH.sub.2).sub.3 NH.sub.2 -modified oxide surfaces), and in W. B. Calwell, et al. Langmuir, 9 (1993) 1945 (SAM on HS(CH.sub.2)NH.sub.2 -modified gold surfaces).
Similarly, some fullerenes with relatively small functional groups or addends such as amido, alkoxy, and halides have been described. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,177,248; European Application No. 546,718 (treatment of unfunctionalized fullerenes with trifluoromethanesulfonic acid and nucleophiles to form alkoxylated fullerenes); European Application No. 575,129 (treatment of unfunctionalized fullerenes with sulfuric acid to form sulfated fullerenes).
However, few macromolecules have been attached to fullerenes. K. L. Wooley, et al. (J. Am. Chem. Soc., 115 (1993) 9836) attached two dendritic (highly branched, fan-shaped) polyphenylethers to a bifunctionalized fullerene with an ether linkage. A broad mixture of products with between 1 and 10 polystyrene chains attached was obtained from reacting unfunctionalized fullerenes with living polystyrene (carbon-carbon linkage) (E. T. Samulski, et al., Chem. Mater., 4 (1992) 1153). Unfunctionalized fullerene have also been grafted with some cross-linking to an amine-containing linear polymer (carbon-nitrogen linkage) (A. O. Patil, et al., Polymer Bull., 30 (1993) 187).


A method for the conversion and display of tree-structured information to a “treetable”, a table-like display structure, in which each path from a root to a leaf node is represented by a single column, and cells representing the immediate successors of a node are placed immediately under that node. Variation in the amount of space given to cells within particular columns is used to allow more detail to be given for selected paths and subtrees. Extraction of subparts of a treetable into another such structure is used for deeper exploration of trees. The treatable structure is also suitable for use as a selector and guide to the reading, in auxiliary displays, of the concatenated node content associated with either (a) individual columns (representing full paths), or (b) all successors to a given node.

The present invention relates generally to the field of information display. More specifically, it provides methods for the construction and manipulation of displays of tree-structured information in a tabular form permitting rapid identification of "root-to-leaf" paths, and facilitating deeper exploration of those paths both within the tree representation, and also via auxiliary displays keyed to the latter.
To establish some terminology, a "tree" or "tree structure" is a standard term denoting an abstract data structure that models information as a set of nodes connected by directed edges such that: (a) there is exactly one element having no incoming edges, called the "root"; and (b) all other nodes have exactly one incoming edge. A leaf node is a node with no outgoing edges. All nodes besides the root node and the leaf nodes can be called "interior nodes". The "parent" of a node is the source of its incoming edge, and the "children" of a node are the targets of its outgoing edges. A "path" in a tree is a sequence of nodes such that each node except the last in the sequence is followed by one of its children.
The invention is intended for use in connection with tree structures whose paths form logical groupings, and whose interior nodes represent substantial amounts of information (rather than acting as simple containers, like file directories). For example, the nodes of inheritance trees, such as natural taxonomies or programming-language frameworks, represent collections of properties, and the paths determine the net properties inherited by an interior node or leaf. As another example, the nodes of trees used to depict email threads represent individual messages, and the paths constitute the synchronous message/response sequences within the thread. For such applications, tree visualizations should provide a convenient grasp of path relationships, while at the same time containing sufficient text to serve as overviews of tree content. Furthermore, the tree visualizations should also serve as contexts for deeper exploration of information along the paths.
Conventional representations of tree-structured material do not have these properties. Tree-structured material is conventionally visualized via either connected node-edge representations, or linear, indented representations. Both of these representations tend to waste space that might be devoted to text, and to obscure path information, in different ways. Node-edge representations have significant wasted space. To limit this while providing significant labeling information, they tend to physically intersperse unrelated paths. The alternative of using tiny nodes can partially solve this latter problem, but at the expense of omitting any information about node content. In linear, indented representations, any line may contain only textual information for one node, and nodes may appear at considerable distances from their ancestors, so that individual paths are difficult to isolate.
Furthermore, while conventional tree representations sometimes provide for selection and display of the full text underlying individual nodes, they do so one-node-at-a-time. This mechanism is inadequate and onerous in cases where there are many nodes, and the relationships among connected nodes are significant.
There are two relatively recent approaches to the display of tree-structured information that address some of the disadvantages of conventional node-edge visualizations. First, the "TreeMap" visualization, described by B. Johnson and B. Shneiderman in the paper "TreeMaps: A Space-Filling Approach to the Visualization of Hierarchic Information Structures, Proceedings of 1991 IEEE Visualization Conference, focuses on avoiding waste of space for trees whose interior nodes function as organizers or containers, mapping the tree into a nested rectangular structure, with the rectangles sized proportionately to the size of the nodes they contain, or other distinguishing principle. This approach addresses the waste-of-space problem, but only for leaf nodes, and does not alleviate, and in some cases exacerbates, the path visualization problem. Another approach is the "Degree of Interest" tree visualization, as described in a U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/747,634, titled "System and Method for Browsing Node-Link Structures Based on Estimated Degree of Interest", by Card et al., and incorporated by reference hereinabove. The Degree of Interest tree visualization is a node+edge visualization that permits the selection of a particular node of interest, and expands that node and (proportional to distance from the selected node) closely related nodes and their associated text, at the expense of more distant nodes. Such an approach could be modified to enlarge all nodes on a path from the root to a selected node, but this would allow only one such path to be easily seen at any particular time.
The present invention addresses the path comprehension problem directly, by converting the tree-structured material into a table-like structure, hereinafter called a "treetable" in which each path is represented by a column of the table. In this way, the ancestors of a given node can be seen at a glance. Furthermore, all children of a node are placed directly under that node, and can also be seen at a glance. Wastage of space is avoided in the sense that no space is devoted to the presentation of edges, and more space is available for the display of content for what may be the more important nodes, namely, those serving as roots to the broadest subtrees.
However, as in any other tree representation, the size and shape of the tree of the tree determines how much content may be given for the nodes within a limited display area, so that for large trees the amount of information that can be given for nodes within an initial visualization may be insufficient. The present invention addresses this problem in two ways. First, it adapts some methods associated with "degree of interest" displays to allow selective expansion of focus areas in ways consistent with the table-like geometry. In particular, it adapts mechanisms of (a) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/747,634, titled "System and Method for Browsing Node-Link Structures Based on Estimated Degree of Interest", by Card et al., and (b) U.S. Pat. No. 6,085,202, entitled "Method and System for Producing a Table Image Having Focus and Context Regions", which are incorporated by reference hereinabove. The second means by which the present invention addresses the problem of displaying large trees is by providing for the extraction of treatable subparts into auxiliary displays, so that more space is available for text in those subparts, while retaining the original representation, in either full-scale or outline form, to maintain user awareness of context.
But no matter how much information may be incorporated within a table-like tree representation, the individual nodes may represent far more material than can be accommodated in a single display. Many applications of conventional tree displays, such as indented file directories or indented listings of messages within an email thread, allow the user to select individual nodes for separate display. This, however, is less than satisfactory for applications where the nodes are logically related. Therefore, the present invention provides for the use of treetables as guides for reading the concatenated content of closely related nodes representing either full paths or children of the same root. The content presented may be the full content, or may be abbreviated in ways appropriate to the application. For example, an application presenting a path of an inheritance hierarchy permitting property overrides, such as a programming language class hierarchy might highlight properties of predecessors not overridden by the leaf node.
While the method provided by the invention in the area of auxiliary displays of node content is a general one, one embodiment of the invention directed specifically to the production of auxiliary displays of messages in email threads utilizes a technique which is discussed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/732,024, titled "Method and System for Presenting Email Threads as Semi-connected Text by Removing Redundant Material", by Newman et al., incorporated by reference hereinabove. This patent describes the concatenation of the significant texts of the messages of an email thread, shorn of extraneous information such as redundant quotes and contact information, into a single document. The present invention further exploits the methods of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/732,024 to present the concatenated messages with even more quote information elided, because of their presence in an adjacent node.
Further advantages of the invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds.

Method and apparatus for the construction and use of table-like visualizations of hierarchic material


An apparatus and a method for detecting abnormal combustion in an internal combustion engine and an apparatus and a method for controlling vibration caused by abnormal combustion. The apparatus for detecting abnormal combustion includes a unit for detecting the rotation of an internal combustion engine, a unit for calculating rotation angular acceleration on the basis of the detected rotation, a unit for comparing the rotation angular acceleration at the position of a predetermined crank angle in one cycle of the operation of the internal combustion engine with a predetermined reference value, and a unit for judging from the comparison result whether abnormal combustion occurs in the internal combustion engine. The apparatus for reducing vibration caused by abnormal combustion offsets vibration caused by abnormal combustion and vibration of an electric generator to each other by passing a pulse-like field current in the electric generator in response to detection of abnormal combustion to generate vibration torque in the electric generator.

The present invention relates to an abnormal combustion detecting apparatus and method for detecting occurrence of abnormal combustion in an internal combustion engine, and also relates to a control apparatus and method using the abnormal combustion detecting apparatus and method for reducing vibration caused by abnormal combustion in the internal combustion engine.
In recent years, there is a tendency to employ mechanism of double over head camshafts in internal combustion engines to realize high-speed rotation and high output power. This type internal combustion engines are designed to exhibit high efficiency in operation at high speed. For example, the cam profile is designed so that the timing of opening/closing of intake and exhaust valves is designed to adapt to high-speed operation. Therefore, such abnormal combustion that the combustion pressure of some cylinder is reduced as compared with the pressure of normal combustion cylinder because of misfire, uneven combustion in cylinders, or the like, often occurs at the time of low-speed rotation such as at idling.
In general, a periodic torque fluctuation synchronous with the frequency of combustion strokes in each cylinder as shown in FIG. 2 (which shows the case where a four-cycle four-cylinder engine is used) is generated in a crankshaft of an internal combustion engine when the internal combustion engine is operated. The cyclic torque fluctuation causes torsional vibration in rotation shafts such as a crankshaft in the engine or in various kinds of apparatus driven by the engine. In an automobile engine, the reaction of the cyclic torque fluctuation may be transmitted from engine mounts to an automobile body to vibrate the body of automobile as a whole, so that vibration or inside noise may occur.
Assuming now that abnormal combustion as shown in FIG. 3 occurs in some cylinder, then output torque drops down remarkably in an instant compared with the output torque at the state of normal combustion. The reaction of the torque reduced by the abnormal combustion acts as vibration torque for vibrating the internal combustion engine itself and the automobile body in the same manner as the reaction of the cyclic torque fluctuation synchronous with the combustion frequency. Because the dropping (difference between the broken line and the solid line shown in FIG. 3) of torque caused by abnormal combustion occurs only in the cylinder of abnormal combustion, the envelope thereof is shaped like a single-shot pulse Accordingly, vibration torque as the reaction of the dropping of torque gives vibration to the engine and the automobile in the form of a single-shot pulse as shown in FIG. 4. At this time, a vibration having the combustion frequency generated in the engine and a vibration having the natural frequency of each of the internal combustion engine and the automobile are combined with each other in each of the engine and the automobile. Among these vibrations, the vibration having the natural frequency of each of the engine and the automobile is caused by single-shot pulse vibration torque as the reaction of the dropping of torque caused by abnormal combustion, so that the vibration exhibits the form of transitional vibration, so called, in which the vibration is attenuated with the passage of time.
In the case where an engine is set in a longitudinal direction with respect to an automobile as seen in an FR (front-engine rear-drive) car, that is, in the case where the axial direction of a crankshaft of an engine is equal to the direction of a roll axis of an automobile, the aforementioned reaction of the dropping of torque caused by abnormal combustion acts as vibration torque which brings the rolling of the engine and the rolling of the automobile. In general, the natural frequency of rolling in each of the engine body and the automobile is about 5 to about 10 Hz. At the time of low-speed rotation such as the time of the idling of the engine, however, the frequency in which abnormal combustion occurs is in the aforementioned natural frequency range of the rolling. If abnormal combustion occurs at the time of low-speed rotation, both the engine and the automobile are rolled so that an unpleasant feeling may be given to passengers. It is therefore necessary to reduce vibration of the engine and the automobile caused by abnormal combustion in the engine.
As one example of a technique for controlling vibration torque generated by the internal combustion engine, reference is made to Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. JP-A-61-171612 of Japanese Patent Application filed Jan. 28, 1985 by TOYOTA MOTOR CO., LTD. According to the disclosed technique, the torque fluctuation is reduced by generating reverse torque in the crank-shaft synchronously with the increasing of torque in the torque fluctuation generated with the frequency of combustion by the engine.
However, the aforementioned disclosed technique can cope only with the periodical torque fluctuation generated in the crankshaft synchronously with combustion in the engine. Accordingly, the disclosed technique cannot be applied to the vibration problem caused by the irregular torque fluctuation such as the torque dropping caused by abnormal combustion which occurs irregularly.
Further, in the aforementioned disclosed technique, the torque fluctuation generated by the engine is detected on the basis of the rolling acceleration of the engine detected by an acceleration pickup provided in the engine body. In the disclosed technique, such an acceleration pickup which is not provided originally in the engine must be provided newly.

Abnormal combustion detection and vibration reduction system


A verification item extraction apparatus is disclosed that performs a priority determination process. Connection relationships pertinent to input/output are derived for each of logics in a verification subject circuit based on connection information acquired from description data in a storage part. A first priority for verifying the logics is determined based on the connection relationships being derived. Related I/Fs, which are related to inputs to the logics and are interfaces to an outside of the verification subject circuit, are extracted based on the connection information. Second priority for verifying the related I/Fs is determined based on the first priority.

Conventionally, a verification using a logical simulation has been conducted for a designed circuit. For the verification of the designed circuit, verification items are determined. Next, a priority of the verification items (an order to perform priority items) is defined. A scenario is created to instruct a logical simulation pattern in accordance with the priority of the verification items, and the logical simulation is executed.
The priority of the verification items is defined based on "items strongly recommended to verify". Especially, the "items strongly recommended to verify" correspond to items for verifying portions which may include bugs, or portions which may broadly influence other logics (logic circuits) due to modification of Register Transfer Level (RTL) when a bug is found.
Also, in general, when the bug is found by the verification using the logical simulation and the RTL is modified for the bug, the verification is performed again, in order to confirm modification contents and to confirm how the modification influences peripheral logics. In this re-verification, verification items, which activate a modified logic of the RTL, are also considered as the "items strongly recommended to verify".
In light of extracting portions which the modification influences, a method is considered in which a result output of an initial logical simulation is read out, and a cell where an error occurs in a circuit and a cell of a post-stage which is influenced by an output signal of the cell are determined. Another method may be considered in which by setting a register or an external output pin as a start point in a cell within circuit connection information after a circuit is modified, connection information of cells in the circuit connection information is traced back until reaching a register or an external input pin.
Also, regarding the priority for conducting the verification, a few technologies are proposed. In one technology, a signal transition confirmation verification is conducted with respect to a verification target portion in a circuit, verification test patterns or verification target portions are prioritized depending on a ratio of a signal transition, and the verification is conducted in an order based on the priority. In another technology, regarding an influence level for an operation of a logical circuit when an input signal is changed, a priority is defined for an input signal input into a logical circuit being a verification target.

Logical Verification Apparatus and Method


A system is described that, after executing a parameterless search query to identify results that are determined to be relevant to a user of a device, determines a respective target property, for each of the results, that indicates whether a result is associated with audio content, visual content, audio and visual content, haptic content, or textual content. The system also determines one or more dynamic properties, of the device, that indicate one or more of a network connection strength, connection status to an audio output device, battery level, or connection status to a multimedia streaming device. Based on the one or more dynamic properties of the computing device and the respective target property of each of the results, the system determines a dynamic ranking of the results and transmits the results and the dynamic ranking to the device.

Computing devices are often used to execute searches for information. Some computing devices may perform "parameterless searches" as a way to automatically obtain search results that the computing device infers may be of interest to a user given a current context (e.g., time of day, geographic location, calendar appointment, etc.).
Despite sometimes obtaining relevant and useful information for a current context, the content associated with parameterless search results may not always be suitable for presentation by the computing device. For example, even if a computing device (e.g., a mobile phone, a watch, etc.) determines that a certain video stream is a particularly relevant search result for a current context, the computing device may annoy the user by providing the video stream as a relevant search result if the computing device is likely to have difficulty playing streaming videos (e.g., if the mobile computing device has a slow or unreliable network connection that does not meet streaming video requirements, etc.).

Information ranking based on properties of a computing device


The present invention is a projection type projector apparatus which is provided with a light source portion, a light bulb and a cooler for cooling at least the light source portion, with a silencer which takes exhaust air from the cooler once to damp exhaust sound, and a mounting portion for attachably/detachably mounting the silencer to a projection type projector.

This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-401171, filed Dec. 28, 2000, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates a silencer used in a projection type projector apparatus utilizing a light source and a light modulating element, and a projection type projector apparatus with the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, as a light source for a projection type projector, a discharge lamp of a short arc type such as a mercury lamp, a metal halide lamp or a xenon lamp is employed mainly. The discharge lamp emits light while it is being maintained in a high temperature of 1000xc2x0 C. or so, and about 90% of the energy is not converted to light to be consumed as a heat generating source. Therefore, in view of a problem of reliability of an electrode, a discharge lamp, and a reflector itself which controls and reflects light, such a configuration must be employed that a reflector having a proper space according to power is provided to perform forced air cooling, or a vent hole is provided in a reflector to perform direct forced air cooling.
A conventional projection type projector apparatus will be explained using a liquid crystal projector. The liquid crystal projector is provided with a discharge lamp which is the light source, which is provided in reflector in an approximately closed state. Furthermore, a suction port and an exhaust port are provided in the projector apparatus, the fresh air is taken in via the suction port, and the fresh air is sent to a discharge lamp by a fan, and a heated air is exhausted to outside by a exhaust fan which is provided in exhaust side. As the technique describing a liquid crystal projector having such an exhausting means, there are U.S. Pat. No. 5,993,008 publication and the like.
Since the temperature of the discharge lamp is an extremely high temperature, when the hot air is exhausted as it is, exhaust air to be exhausted or discharged outside depends on an airflow speed but will has a high temperature of 100xc2x0 C. or so. Such a high temperature is not preferable in view of safety.
Therefore, such a technique is employed that the speed of the hot air is increased until an arbitrary temperature can be achieved, or the hot air is mixed with a cooling air with a relatively low temperature which has been used to cool both polarizing elements, a liquid crystal panel and a polarizing plate which constitutes a light bulb, which are other parts to be cooled, so that exhaust air from the exhaust port is lowered to an arbitrary temperature.
In such a projection type projector apparatus, according to recent requirements for further small-sizing and higher output power, a higher power is required for the discharge lamp light source, while the apparatus set itself, namely, the reflector including the discharge lamp, both the polarizing elements and the polarizing plate constituting the light bulb, and the fan which is a cooling air suction side (exhaust side) cooler, is required for further small-sizing and weight reduction.
Considering the forced air cooling effected by the fan which is an ordinary cooling air suction air side (exhaust air side) cooling, when, for example, a light bulb is small-sized from 1.3 sun (which is a Japanese unit where 1 sun is equal to 1.3 inches) which is a representative value to 0.7 sun, light energy per unit area becomes 3.5 times or so correspondingly in order to maintain the same brightness. In such a case, air cooling effected by stronger air speed is required due to poor heat conductivities of almost all of the optical elements except for using expensive sapphire material for both polarizing elements or using an approach where it is difficult to secure reliability.
Especially, since it is assumed that a front projection type projector apparatus is used in a dark chamber environment, light leakage is not allowed from a main body thereof so that it becomes necessary to provide a complicated air passage and a narrow vent port, thereby increasing noises due to air cooling significantly. As a result, noises generated from a cooling apparatus become a problem not only in home use which is in a quiet house environment but also in ordinary business use.
That is, in the conventional projection type projector apparatus, there is a drawback that it is required to attain small-sizing, higher output and silence but it is much difficult to solve these conflicting demands collectively.
In view of the above, an attachable/detachable silencer has been made or devised, and the present invention is to provide a projection type projector apparatus whose small-sizing, higher output and silence can be achieved by mounting the silencer to the apparatus only when sound or noise reduction is required without large-sizing a main body of the projection type projector apparatus, and the silencer.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a silencer which is mounted to a projection type projector apparatus provided with optical function including a light source portion and a light bulb, and cooling means for cooling at least the light source portion by blowing cooling air to the optical function, the silencer comprising a silencer main body which takes air flowing in the cooling means or cooling air flowing out of the cooling means into silencer main body to reduce suction sound or exhaust sound of the cooling means; and mounting means for attachably/detachably mounting the silencer main body to at least one of a cooling airflow suction side and a cooling airflow exhaust side of the cooling means of the projection type projector.
According to the aspect of the present invention, the silencer is made attachable/detachable so that the silencer is mounted to the projection type projector apparatus only when sound or noise reduction is required, thereby allowing small-sizing and silence of the apparatus to be achieved simultaneously.
And, according to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a projection type projector apparatus which irradiates light whose light amount is controlled by a light bulb in a predetermined direction is provided with a light source provided inside the projection type projector apparatus; cooling means, provided within the projection type projector apparatus, for cooling at least the light source by blowing cooling air to the light source; a silencer main body which takes cooling air flowing from the cooling means into the silencer main body once to discharge the same, thereby damping suction sound or exhaust sound of the cooling means; and mounting means which attachably/detachably mounts the silencer main body on a cooling air exhaust side of the cooling means of the projection type projector apparatus such that the mounting angle of the silencer main body can be changed continuously so that an exhaust angle of the silencer main body can be changed continuously.
According to the aspect of the present invention, the projection type projector apparatus is mounted above mentioned silencer which is mounted to the projector apparatus only when sound or noise reduction is required, thereby allowing small-sizing and silence of the apparatus to be achieved, similarly.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out hereinafter.

Attachable/detachable silencer and projection type projector apparatus with the same


A joist locating device includes a screw having a head at one end, and a threaded portion at and adjacent to an opposing end, which is oppositely disposed from the head, with a long smooth barrel between the head and the threaded portion. A washer may fit over the barrel and threaded portion, but not the head in order to provide for the screw to be pulled from the floor.

Squeaky floors can be an annoyance or even a dangerous structural defect. The squeak occurs due to an imperfect relation between a solid flooring material and the joists supporting the flooring material. Such squeaky floors are clearly discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,372,466 to Jon L. O'Berry, fully incorporated herein by reference. One of the key factors, in solving a squeaky floor problem by eliminating or minimizing the squeak, is locating the joist, which supports the floor at the point where the squeak is occurring.
In a carpeted room, it is difficult to use a standard device to locate a joist. One standard device is magnetic detector. Another is a sound echo check. Neither of these devices is efficient, especially in a carpeted room.
For example, the magnetic detectors for the nails in the joist cannot be used in view when carpeting is on the floor.
The carpeting insulates the nails from a magnetic detection device. Yet, it is still desired to locate the joist as efficiently as possible. With the joist being located as efficiently as possible, the squeak in the floor can be eliminated as efficiently as possible.
Sound echo location is also prevented by the carpeting on the joist. It is difficult, if not impossible, to develop any reasonable sound distinction of a nail or a joist through the carpet on a carpeted floor, and thereby locate a joist.
It is undesirable to have the device for locating the joist be expensive or complicated to use. It is desired to achieve these results with a very simple uncomplicated device. Such actions on the part of the device can permit the squeaks to be acted on in an efficient manner. Such efficiency provides for the more effective use of an invention as described in the above cited patent.
Also, any joist locating procedure must occur with minimal or no damage to the surface. This is difficult to accomplish, when neither echo or sound detection, nor magnetic detection works well.


A method for changing a display background is disclosed. The method may be implemented by a server. The method may comprise acquiring a user preference label set of a current user and a background label set of each candidate background; matching the current user with each candidate background based on the acquired user preference label set and the acquired background label set to obtain a match result; selecting one or more recommended backgrounds for the current user based on the match result; and pushing the selected one or more recommended backgrounds to a mobile terminal of the current user.

With a growing popularity of smart mobile terminals, more and more users are getting used to applications or functions provided by the mobile terminals. For example, a lock screen interface and a desktop are most frequently used. The mobile terminal can provide various backgrounds for the user to apply as the lock screen interface or the desktop. The richness of the background selection choices can influence user experience for the mobile terminal.
Most users may get bored of a mobile terminal background over a time period and want to change to a new background. In the related art, a display background such as a background of a lock screen or a desktop typically comes from a picture stored in the mobile terminal or an on-line background picture developed for the mobile terminal, and the change of the background requires manual configuration by the user through a desktop program.

Method and device for changing display background