Eyewear is equipped with at least one lens and at least one pinhole aperture. Lenses and apertures may be used in place of or in combination with one another, and may be disposed in or on full frame, half frame, wire frame or rimless eyeglasses. The lens may be a corrective lens. Pinhole apertures may have a diameter no greater than about 3 mm, and a diameter/thickness ratio no less than about 66.7%.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to eyewear, and more particularly, to corrective eyewear that provides the option of using a lens or a pinhole aperture disposed adjacent to the lens.
2. Description of Related Art
There are a number of conditions of the eye that affect one's visual acuity over a range of distances. Myopia ("near-sightedness") refers generally to a condition in which distant objects appear blurred. It is often caused by an elongated eyeball which causes light to focus in front of the retina instead of directly on it. On the other hand, hyperopia ("far-sightedness") refers to the opposite condition, in which nearby objects appear blurred. As one might guess, hyperopia is caused by a shortened eyeball which causes light to focus behind the retina instead of directly on it.
Those who are fortunate enough to have avoided developing myopia or hyperopia, however, will inevitably develop presbyopia. Presbyopia is a vision condition in which the crystalline lens of the eye loses its flexibility, making it difficult to focus on close objects. Presbyopia usually becomes noticeable in the early to mid-40s and is a natural part of the aging process of the eye. It is not a disease, and it cannot be prevented. Thus, the need for corrective eyewear will be inevitable for most people.
The most common types of corrective eyewear are corrective lenses, such as glasses or contact lenses. Corrective lenses may be worn to correct most refraction errors of the eyes. Single vision lenses have the same optical correction over the entire area of the lens and are therefore suitable for those who suffer from a single refractive error. Many people, however, may suffer from more than one refractive error. For example, a person may have various combinations of myopia, hyperopia, presbyopia, or astigmatism. In such cases, bifocals, trifocals, or progressive lenses may be necessary.
Bifocals and trifocals are eyeglasses in which the lenses have two and three distinct regions of different optical powers, respectively. Bifocals are most commonly prescribed to people with presbyopia who also require correction for myopia, hyperopia, and/or astigmatism. Trifocals similar to bifocals, with the exception that trifocals have an additional segment for intermediate vision above the reading section and below the distance section. Trifocals are becoming rarer as more and more people are choosing to wear progressive lenses. Progressive lenses provide a gradient of increasing lens power, from minimal or no magnification at the top of the lens to maximum magnification at the bottom of the lens. A wearer can view objects at different viewing distances by directing his line of sight through appropriate parts of the lens.
Although corrective lenses have been developed to correct a variety of refractive errors, they are still limited to correcting predefined refractive errors in a person's eyes. Thus, once prescribed and cut, corrective lenses are not adjustable to further other changes in a person's vision. An additional eye examination will be necessary to address these changes in the person's vision. What is needed therefore is an optical device which, in addition to corrective lenses, can easily provide yet another way for improving one's visual acuity over a range of distances.


The present invention offers a system which operates with reference to a dictionary for registering a registered data string as correlated to a registration number and for performing a data compressing process by replacing a combination consisting of two or more character strings with a registration number mentioned above. The system according to the present invention performs the compilation and updating of the dictionary at the Step A1 and A2, respectively, and judges at the Step A3 whether or not the dictionary has become the optimum dictionary. The system performs the updating of the dictionary in such a case by an incremental decomposition method, or an augmentative decomposition method, or the like. Then, as shown for the Steps A4 and A5, the system compiles the optimum dictionary, at which stage the system puts out the dictionary as the ultimate static dictionary for its use for data restoration and also performs a data compressing process with reference to the above-mentioned static dictionary, putting out the compressed data as the ultimate compressed data to be used for data restoration.

The present invention relates to a data compressing method to be performed with reference to a dictionary which registers a registered data string as correlated with a registration number, to a data restoring method for restoring the compressed data, and an information processing apparatus for compressing the data strings and for restoring the compressed data strings.
Such information processing apparatuses as printers have recently been facing a demand for their increased added value achieved through their supply of bit map fonts and outline fonts in various print character sizes and for high quality to be maintained for any and all print character sizes. In view of these circumstances, data compressing technology, which provides a way of efficient storage of a large amount of information containing these font data, has recently begun to attract much attention in the field of printers and the like.
The publicly known conventional techniques for data compression for storing or transmitting a large amount of information in as small a capacity as possible include the technique for converting data in fixed length bits into a code in a variable length bits, such as the Huffman Code, and a technique for performing a data compression by utilization of an agreement between the data strings which appeared in the past and the data strings to be compressed hereafter, such as the techniques in a patent generally called "the Lempel-Ziv patent" (as disclosed in the Specification for the U.S. Pat. No. 4,464,650) and the techniques in the LZW patent (as disclosed in the Specification for the U.S. Pat. No. 4,558,302).
However, these conventional techniques are data compressing methods performed by using the so-called dynamic dictionary. That is to say, these techniques represent a method for performing an analysis of the object data to be compressed, registering the data in the form of a dictionary structure while checking the frequency of occurrence and the like, and concurrently keep compressing the data with reference to this dictionary. In this case, it is a feature characteristic of such a method that the dictionary undergoes steady changes on a real-time basis. In a data compression with such a dynamic dictionary, there remain as generated products only those data taken as objects and subjected to their data compression, but a restoration of such compressed data requires an examination of the history data as of the time of their data compression and a restoration of the next data through a re-compilation of the dictionary. Therefore, such a conventional technique presents the disadvantage that the data restoring operation must be performed in a serial order starting with the beginning of the compressed data taken up as the objects of the data restoration.
Now, the compression of font data in a printer or the like is performed in such a manner that the compressed font data are stored in a memory device provided either at the printer side or at the host computer side. Then, at the time of a printing operation, the system takes out the compressed font data as necessary from the memory device and forms the print character data by restoring the compressed font data to the ordinary data. Therefore, in case any data compression is to be employed under conditions like these, the requisite is how promptly the system restores the compressed data stored in the memory device and generate the print character data.
Also, another point which becomes important at a time when font data are to be compressed in a printer or the like is to provide the kind of operating freedom that ensures the possibility of putting out the print character data (i.e., letters) in any sequential order. In other words, it is to be required of a printer to make random access to the data stored in a memory device in it and to form print character data at random.
It is considered that such data compressing methods as those disclosed in the Lempel-Ziv patent specification and in the LZW patent specification, which are considered to be capable of attaining a higher ratio of data compression than by any such data compression method as that of the Huffman Code, will form a main current of the data compressing technology to be established from this time onward. In the meanwhile, however, these data compressing techniques operate in a data compressing process to be performed with reference to a dynamic dictionary, and, for this reason, the data restoring process by any of these methods requires an examination of the past data characteristics and the updating of the data, and, consequently, these data compressing methods present the disadvantage that each of them takes time in the restoration of the compressed data.
Further, the data compressing methods disclosed in the Lempel-Ziv patent and the LZW patent require that the compressed data should be restored in a serial order from the beginning of the data when the compressed data are to be restored, and these methods thus present the disadvantage that these methods does not allow the operator to take out only the necessary print character data when only such data are needed.
Furthermore, the data compressing method which is called an incremental decomposition method, which is used in the LZW method, etc., cannot increase the number of data strings one by one, so that the data compressing method presents the disadvantage that it is not capable of attaining any moderate further increase of the data compression ratio, for example, in case the same data strings appear in succession.

Data compressing method, data restoring method, and information processing apparatus


A lightpipe is coupled to a spectrometer based on a laterally variable optical filter. The lightpipe may be used for both guiding the illuminating light towards a sample and collecting light reflected or emitted by the sample upon illumination, for spectral measurements at a distance from the sample afforded by the lightpipe. The lightpipe may include a slab of homogeneous transparent material for unconstrained bidirectional propagation of light in bulk of the material. The lightpipe may be solid, hollow, or sectioned for separate guiding of the illuminating and the reflected light.

A laterally variable optical filter (LVF) may include a transmission optical filter having a transmission wavelength varying in a transverse direction across a surface of the filter. A compact optical spectrometer may be constructed by coupling a photodetector array to an LVF. When the LVF surface is illuminated with light reflected by the sample, light portions at individual wavelengths are selectively transmitted through the LVF and detected by individual pixels of the photodetector array. As a result, a reflection spectrum of the sample may be obtained. A miniature light source may be provided in an LVF-based spectrometer for illuminating a sample, enabling quick, on-the-spot reflection spectral measurements.
Due to their miniature size and small weight, LVF-based spectrometers may be constructed in handheld configuration, making them suitable for use in a variety of test and measurement applications. It is sufficient to bring such a handheld LVF-based spectrometer in close proximity with the sample, and to press a thumb-operated button on the back of the spectrometer to quickly (within seconds, or even less than a second) obtain a reflection spectrum. Other types of spectra, e.g. fluorescence, transmission, etc., may also be obtained with a suitable configuration of the light source.
A direct contact between the handheld spectrometer and the sample may be undesirable. For instance, chemically aggressive samples, extremely hot or cold samples, bio-hazardous samples, etc., may damage the compact spectrometer or endanger the user. In other applications, such as food processing, a direct physical contact may be undesirable for hygienic reasons. For applications such as these, a remote spectra collection may be preferable.
To obtain a spectrum from a safe distance, the illuminating light may be formed into a parallel or converging beam of light by a lens-based or mirror-based collimator, so as to concentrate the illuminating light on the sample. A mirror or lens, or a lens system, may be used to remotely collect light reflected by the sample. Alternatively, a pair of optical fibers may be used to bring the illuminating light to the sample, and to guide the reflected light back into a spectrometer for a spectral measurement.
Free-space or fiber-guided illumination delivery and light collection systems have some drawbacks. For repeatability purposes, a free-space collection system needs to be placed at a pre-defined distance from the sample, which may not be convenient, or may even be unfeasible when holding the spectrometer by hand. Light collection systems based on optical fibers typically require precision optical alignment for coupling light into the illuminating fiber, and may require dedicated optics, so-called "optical head", for coupling the reflected light into a core of the light collection fiber. Transmission of a fiber bundle may depend on its bend radius, requiring re-calibration if the fiber bundle is re-shaped or bent at a different radius. Furthermore, most optical fibers are fragile and expensive, and may require replacement upon damage of sensitive fiber tips caused by chemically aggressive, hot, cold, or abrasive samples.


A plurality of MIS charge transfer systems are connected to the output of a first MIS charge transfer system and are operated in parallel with each other. The plurality of charge transfer systems form filters of the same kind, or of a different kind, and charge packets emitted thereby have different delay times and are subsequently converted into a voltage which is sampled at a higher frequency than the sampling frequency for the signal which is applied to the input of the first MIS charge transfer system. This voltage is smoothed by a simple low pass filter.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a monolithically integrated charge transfer circuit having a signal scanner, a first clock pulse controlled metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) charge transfer system which is supplied with charge packets via the signal scanner and a clock pulse controlled output stage which is connected to the MIS charge transfer system and which serves for the restoration of a signal which is constant in time.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Such monolithically integrated charge transfer circuits are, for example, described in "Der Elektroniker", No. 3/1978, pp. EL7-EL15, whereas the essentials concerning MIS charge transfer systems having clock pulse control may be found in "Der Elektroniker", No. 2/1978, pp. EL3-EL6. The embodiment of such an output stage for MIS charge transfer systems is to be represented in the following for charge coupled circuits (CCD circuits), and nevertheless it is applicable in the same manner to bucket brigade device circuits (BBD circuits).
In the case of the transmission of signals by means scanning systems, the scanning brings about a periodicity of the frequency spectrum of the scanned signal, which must be done away with in the case of a conversion into signals which are constant in time by means of suitable filters, since the higher spectral components interfere in the case of multiples of the scanning frequency for many cases of application. This means that one must solve the problem of regaining a band-limited signal from the output signal of a charge transfer circuit, which output signal is formed by the scanning values, whereby the higher spectral components which arose by means of scanning are adequately attenuated. For the interpolation of the scanning values, as a rule, a scan holding element and a subsequently connected analog low pass filter are provided. In many cases, a RC filter is insufficient for the low pass filter which is to be used, so that one must use LC filters. However, with such structure, one loses the possibility of integrating the filter monolithically upon a common semiconductor chip with the remaining parts of a charge transfer circuit. A completely integratable solution of the problem is nevertheless of great significance for CCD circuits which, for example, form filters or time delays.
There are two possibilities for reducing the selection requirements placed upon a low pass filter: (1) increasing the scanning frequency f.sub.A of the CCD; or (2) post-connecting a further CCD low pass filter which functions with the scanning frequency f'.sub.A to the first CCD, whereby the scanning frequency f'.sub.A of the low pass filter is larger than the scanning frequency f.sub.A of the first CCD. Then the following analog low pass filter can be designed very simply, or perhaps can be completely omitted.
However, a higher scanning frequency of a CCD installation [case (1)] in the case of the same system requirements, increases proportionally the number N of the charge transport elements and, therefore, increases the surface requirement for the semiconductor chip and, as a rule, leads to poorer system characteristics by means of raised charge transport losses (.epsilon.N). Also, the expense of a following CCD low pass filter of higher scanning frequency f'.sub.A is relatively high, conditioned by the clock pulse generation.

Monolithically integrated charge transfer circuit


Apparatus reconditioning artificial turf surfaces by scarifying or brushing. Scarifying rods (13) and cleaning brushes (14) are mounted to a rotary work head (31) inside a wheeled housing which is pushed over the artificial turf surface as the work head rotates against the direction of movement to lift compacted blades above their sand bed and clean them of slime coatings.

It is known to provide surfaces for tennis courts, which surfaces comprise material which mimics grass. It is usual, on laying a mat of such material, to work in a layer of sand to bed the material, with grass like elements of the mat projected above the sand. In use, the individual elements projected above the sand bed may be flattened. The blades may become introverted and be embedded in the sand. When folded flat over each other, the blades may bond to a degree and remain flat, degrading the surface characteristics such that a simple brushing will not raise the blades to restore the artificial grass. Bacteria may breed in the material to create a slimy surface further degrading the usefulness of the surface.
A slimy surface may cause a player to lose footing and can become dangerous.
One proposal for overcoming the above problems involves a vacuum cleaner type mechanism by which the bedding sand is withdrawn from the surface to be cleaned when it is replaced. Such an apparatus goes to unnecessary complications in overcoming the problem.


A grill device for cooking a fluidic food material includes a lower grill plate and an upper grill plate. The lower grill plate includes a lower base wall and a lower surrounding wall that extends upwardly from the lower base wall. The lower base wall has at least one lower inclined surface. The upper grill plate removably covers and is operable to uncover the lower grill plate. The upper grill plate cooperates with the lower grill plate to define a cooking space therebetween, and is formed with an opening through which the fluidic food material is fed into the cooking space. The lower inclined surface is for guiding the fluidic food material to flow smoothly and then fill up the cooking space.

Among various types of grill devices, waffle iron is a device particularly used for making waffle, which is made from a batter containing flour, sugar, milk, etc. Examples of various types of waffles are Belgian waffle and Liège waffle. A conventional waffle iron includes a lower grill plate and an upper grill plate that are gridded, that are hinged together, and that cooperatively de fine a cooking space therebetween. Each of the lower and upper grill plates has a horizontal grill surface. During cooking operation, an uncooked batter is poured onto the horizontal grill surface of the lower grill plate, and the upper grill plate pivots down to cover the lower grill plate with the batter held therebween. The lower and upper grill plates are then heated for heating the batter to make a waffle.
Since the batter has a certain degree of viscosity, the batter cannot spread quickly and evenly on the horizontal grill surface of the lower grill plate by itself. Thus the batter requires manual spreading by an operator before the upper grill plate pivots down to engage the lower grill plate to heat the batter. As a result, the batter cannot be heated and cooked uniformly by the upper and lower grill plates, and it is relatively difficult to obtain a waffle with top and bottom surfaces having the same degree of crispiness.
In addition, if too much batter is poured onto the lower grill plate, an excess amount of the batter may ooze out of the lower and upper grill plates and form crumbs that need to be removed after the batter is heated and solidified, or the excess batter may drip down from the conventional waffle iron and need to be removed for sanitary purpose. If too little batter is poured onto the lower grill plate, the batter may not contact the upper grill plate, and the waffle produced may have an undesirable shape.
A conventional grill device, which may be used to grill steak and/or vegetables, is similar in structure to the conventional waffle iron, with the main difference residing in that the lower and upper grill plates are provided with a plurality of ribs protruding therefrom instead of being gridded. Since the horizontal grill surface of the lower grill plate is flat, a sauce has to be spread manually, which demands attention.

Tsann Kuen (Zhangzhou) Enterprise Co., Ltd.


A device for additive manufacturing, in particular powder-bed-based additive manufacturing, having a build-chamber wall, which defines a build chamber and is designed to separate the build chamber from an outside area. The build-chamber wall has a hatch, which is designed for transferring at least partially a component that is to be built up in layers from the build chamber through the hatch into an outside area during an additive manufacturing process, and the component can be built up along at least one transferring direction beyond a dimension of the build chamber. A corresponding method includes the provision of a first portion of the component to be manufactured in layers in the build chamber, and the building up in layers of a second portion, adjoining the first portion, wherein an already built-up sub-portion of the component is transferred in layers from the build chamber through the hatch into the outside area.

Generative or additive manufacturing methods are, for example, laser deposition welding (LMD) or selective laser melting (SLM).
A method for the additive buildup of components by means of selective laser melting is known from EP 2 910 362 A1, for example.
To produce a component from a powder bed, for example by means of SLM, the powder bed is irradiated for example by a laser beam in accordance with the design of a corresponding CAD file.
Additive fabrication methods have proved to be particularly advantageous for complex components or components of complicated or delicate design, for example lightweight structures. Additive fabrication is particularly more advantageous owing to a particularly short chain of process steps, wherein a manufacturing or fabrication step of the corresponding component can occur directly on the basis of the CAD file.
Furthermore, additive fabrication is particularly advantageous for the development or production of prototypes which, for example for cost reasons, cannot be produced, or cannot be produced efficiently, by means of conventional subtractive or material-removing fabrication or casting methods.
At the current time, the designs of the components are limited, in particular in terms of their dimensions, by the design of the commercially available systems which in particular offer only a limited building space. Currently available SLM systems usually have fixed building space sizes. Typical dimensions for the building or manufacturing space are 250 mm×250 mm×250 mm, for example. The building space sizes can be (co-)determined, for example, by the size or area of a building platform.
At the current time, corresponding manufacturing systems are at any rate limited to a building volume of about 1000 mm×1000 mm×1000 mm. However, in particular in the case of the manufacture of long components or ones with an extent along mainly one axis, the complete building space area is not required. Consequently, a very large amount of powder has to be used for the manufacture of the corresponding component and in particular arranged or moved in the building space. Only a fraction of said powder is furthermore necessary for the actual buildup of the component. This constitutes a substantial disadvantage for the technology of additive manufacturing since the powder is not only expensive but any unnecessary (further) use of the powder can be disadvantageous for the component and also for the method. In particular, powder for each additive manufacturing process that is not processed to form the component is thermally loaded by the manufacturing conditions, for example by a laser, which can lead to an ageing process and thus to an impairment of the physical properties of the powder.
Furthermore, a large quantity of powder has to be kept in stock, for example, with it being the case that, during each (renewed) heating of the powder in the building space, the quality of the powder can be impaired by a partial oxidation and/or by the absorption of air moisture. This is particularly critical in the additive manufacturing of components for use in the hot gas path of a turbine, where even small quantities of oxygen can, for example, prevent the formation of desired or required material phases (for example the γ or γ′ phase of a nickel- or cobalt-based superalloy).

Device with hatch for additive manufacturing


A silver halide photographic material is provide having at least one silver halide emulsion layer on one surface of a support and having on the other surface of the support, a backing layer containing a mat agent comprising grains having a mean grain size of 15 .mu.m or more in a proportion of at least 5% by volume. Due to the presence of the particular mat agent, the material has improved feedability and has small amount of haze.

In the field of graphic arts, an image-formation system having super-hard photographic character is required to improve reproduction of images with continuous gradation of half-tone images or to improve reproduction of line images.
Previously, a particular developer known as a lith-developer has been utilized for the above purpose. A lith-developer contains only hydroquinone as a developing agent, in which a sulfite preservative is incorporated in the form of an adduct with formaldehyde in order not to interfere with the infectious developability thereof. Thus, the concentration of free sulfite ion in the developer is extremely low (generally, 0.1 mol/liter or less). Accordingly, the lith-developer is easily subjected to aerial oxidation and therefore has a serious defect in that it is not stable during storage for more than 3 days.
Known methods for obtaining high-contrast photographic characteristic by using a stable developer include using a hydrazine derivative, for example, as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,224,401, 4,272,606, 4,211,857 and 4,243,739, and high-contrast systems using a tetrazolium derivative, for example, as described in JP-A-53-17719 and 61-117535. (The term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application".)
Recently, scanner systems have become widely used in the field of photomechanical processing and printing technology. There are various known recording apparatus for image formation using such a scanner system. As a recording light source for this type of scanner system recording apparatus, a glow lamp, xenon lamp, tungsten lamp, LED, He-Ne laser, argon laser, semiconductor laser, etc are known.
Photographic materials which are applied to scanner systems of this type, must possess various photographic characteristics. In particular, the photographic materials are required to have high sensitivity and high contrast even under short time exposure, since they are only exposed from 10.sup.-7 to 10.sup.-3 seconds. Especially in the field facsimile machines, the photographic materials used therein must have rapid processability which is considered the most important characteristic in the field.
In the future, increasing the number of lines to be resolved as well as focusing the light beam to be irradiated would be required for the purpose of further accelerating scanning speed and further improving the quality of images to be reproduced. In this situation, development of photographic materials which have high sensitivity and high contrast and which may be developed and processed rapidly is strongly desired.
Further, various apparatus having an automatic feeding mechanism such as an automatic device for automatically feeding, exposing and developing photographic materials have been developed recently, and such automatic apparatus have been applied to a recording device used with the above-mentioned scanner system.
Where photographic materials are fed by the use of such an automatic feeding system, various feeding accidents often occur during the automatic processing. For example, photographic materials being processed can be erroneously trapped and stopped in the course of the processing line, or where large-sized sheet films are fed one by one from a sheet tray or stack zone, two or more sheets of them are erroneously fed (double-feeding).
As a means of improving the feedability of photographic materials being processed, there has been known a method of reducing the sliding friction of the materials. For instance, various techniques for this method are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,042,522 and 3,080,317, and British Patents 1,466,304 and 1,143,118.
However, where photographic materials are processed with the more recent automatic processing machines equipped with a variety of feeding mechanisms as mentioned above, simply improving the slide property to the photographic materials being processed can not ensure sufficient feedability of the materials into the machine.
On the other hand, JP-A-60-188942, 60-188945 and 1-37710 disclose a system for improving the feedability of photographic materials by adding a mat agent to the backing layer of the support of the material, in which the mat agent containing grains having a grain size of 5 .mu.m or more in a proportion of 30% or more by volume. However, the disclosed system is still not satisfactory, though it would be effective for improving the feedability of photographic materials being processed.
Additionally, it has been found that the disclosed system has a drawback. Specifically, since the mat agent contains large grains having a grain size of 5 .mu.m or more in a proportion of 30% or more by volume, and therefore the volume of each grain in the agent is large, the number of grains present in the backing layer of the photographic material must be small even though the mat agent is incorporated into the backing layer of the material. As a result, when the material containing the agent is wound up on a roll, or a number of sheets of the material are piled up, the load to be applied to the unit area of the mat agent grain is so large that the mat agent grains in the layer can easily be crushed and broken out. Further, the system has been found to have another drawback. Specifically, when a mat agent comprising large grains is to be incorporated into a photographic material, the precipitation speed of the mat agent grains in the coating composition is large so that the content of the mat agent in the photographic material noticeably fluctuate in every manufacture lot of photographic materials.


A hybridization vessel rotator can be used, without modification, in either a liquid bath or a conventional oven. The rotator includes a frame which supports a spindle to which hybridization vessels are attached. A motor turns the spindle to rotate the vessels. The motor is affixed to the frame at a position opposite to the bottom surface of the frame. The rotator can thus be inserted into a liquid bath, while the motor remains outside of the bath. If an oven is used, the entire rotator can be placed inside the oven. The vessel rotator is independent of the external source of heating or cooling. The vessel rotator also does not require that the bath or oven be specifically designed for use with the rotator.

The present invention relates to devices for promoting hybridization reactions used in genetic research or biotechnology. In particular, the present invention makes it possible to use the same vessel rotator, regardless of whether the hybridization reactions are to be conducted in dry heat, in a liquid bath, or in another temperature-controlled environment.
In DNA and RNA research, current laboratory practice requires the use of expensive dedicated dry heat incubators for use in hybridizing nitro-cellulose membranes in special glass or plastic hybridization vessels. Such incubators provide heat while slowly rotating the vessels, over a period which may be about twelve hours. Alternatively, one can use a liquid bath to promote the hybridization reaction, wherein the nitro-cellulose membranes are held in plastic bags immersed in the bath. The bath is typically agitated by vibrators, or by shaking the entire bath, or by other means, to impart the necessary motion to the bags. The latter process is older and considered less preferable than the use of dry heat incubators, but it is also much less expensive, and can be practiced, at least in theory, almost anywhere a sink or tub is found.
The prior art contains many examples of hybridization ovens which provide support and rotational movement for the vessels containing the reactants, while applying dry heat to promote the hybridization reaction. Such ovens are particularly designed for use with dry heat, insofar as the support structures which rotate the vessels form part of the ovens. Thus, such devices are inherently incompatible with the use of a liquid bath.
The present invention provides a hybridization vessel rotator device which can be used regardless of whether it is to be placed in a temperature-controlled chamber or in a temperature-controlled liquid bath. The user need not make changes in the rotator device itself.


According to an embodiment, a crystalline color-conversion device includes an electrically driven first light emitter, for example a blue or ultraviolet LED, for emitting light having a first energy in response to an electrical signal. An inorganic solid single-crystal direct-bandgap second light emitter having a bandgap of a second energy less than the first energy is provided in association with the first light emitter. The second light emitter is electrically isolated from, located in optical association with, and physically connected to the first light emitter so that in response to the electrical signal the first light emitter emits first light that is absorbed by the second light emitter and the second light emitter emits second light having a lower energy than the first energy.

Solid-state electrically controlled light emitters are widely used in the display and lighting industries. Displays often use differently colored emitters, and lighting applications require a large color rendering index (CRI). In either case, the efficient production of a variety of colors is important.
Colored light is produced in liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and some organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays using white-light emitters (such as a backlight) and color filters, for example as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 6,392,340. However, this approach has the disadvantage of wasting much of the white light produced by the back light. In a different approach, light emitters emit a specific desired color. For example, some OLED displays use different organic materials to emit light of different colors. This design requires the patterned distribution of the different organic materials over a display substrate at a micron-level resolution, for example using evaporation through a mechanical shadow mask. However, it is difficult to maintain pattern accuracy using metal shadow masks over large display substrates, for example greater than 300 mm by 400 mm, or display substrates requiring high resolution.
Inorganic light-emitting diodes (LEDs) based on crystalline semiconductor materials are also used to emit light of different frequencies. These crystalline-based inorganic LEDs provide high brightness, excellent color saturation, long lifetimes, good environmental stability, and do not require expensive encapsulation for device operation, especially in comparison to OLEDs. However, the crystalline semiconductor layers also have a number of disadvantages. For example, crystalline-based inorganic LEDs have high manufacturing costs, difficulty in combining multi-color output from the same chip, low efficiency, color variability and poor electrical current response.
Most solid-state lighting products desirably emit white light with a large color rendering index, for example greater than 80 or even 90. Since solid-state light emitters emit colored rather than white light, multiple different colored solid-state light emitters are often used to provide the appearance of white light. For example, LED backlights in LCDs, or white OLED emitters in some OLED displays, use a combination of blue and yellow emitters or red, green, and blue emitters that together are experienced as white light by the human visual system. However, this technique requires the use of different light emitters that emit different colors of light. As noted above, different light emitters have different electrical and colorimetric properties leading to inefficiency and non-uniformity.
Another technique used to provide colored light is color conversion, in which a single kind of light emitter is used to optically stimulate (pump) a second light emitter with light having a first energy (frequency). The second light emitter absorbs the first light and then emits second light having a lower energy (frequency). By choosing a variety of different second light emitters that emit light of different frequencies, a display or a solid-state light device can emit light of different colors. For example, a blue light emitter can be used to emit blue light and to optically pump yellow, red, or green light emitters. U.S. Pat. No. 7,990,058 describes an OLED device with a color-conversion material layer.
Phosphors are often used as color-conversion materials. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 8,450,927 describes an LED lamp using a phosphor and U.S. Pat. No. 7,969,085 discloses a color-change material layer that converts light of a second frequency range higher than a first frequency range to light of the first frequency range. Light-emissive inorganic core/shell nano-particles (quantum dots or QDs) are also used to produce optically pumped or electrically stimulated colored light, for example as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 7,919,342.
In general, color-change material systems suffer from efficiency problems. For example, the production of relatively higher-frequency blue light can be difficult and the conversion of light from relatively higher frequencies to relatively lower frequencies may not be efficient. Moreover, the conversion materials may fade over time, reducing the performance of the display. Furthermore, much of the relatively higher-frequency light may not interact with the color-change materials and thus may not be converted to the desired, relatively lower frequency light. U.S. Patent Publication 2005/0140275A1 describes the use of red, green, and blue conversion layers for converting white light into three primary colors of red, green, and blue light. However, the efficiency of emitted-light conversion remains a problem.
Diode-pumped solid-state lasers use a solid gain medium such as a neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet crystal. Light from one or more light-emitting diodes is imaged with a lens or optical fiber onto one or more sides of the crystal. The crystal then lases to produce coherent light.
Inorganic displays use arrays of inorganic light emitters, typically light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Because of the variability in LED materials and manufacturing processes, different LEDs, even when made in similar materials, will have different performances and losses in the circuits providing power to the different LEDs. LEDs made in different materials have even greater inefficiencies when provided with a common power source. Furthermore, these issues are exacerbated in LEDs since the variability of materials in a source semiconductor wafer is much greater on a smaller scale than on a larger scale. These differences lead to performance inefficiency and uniformity variations.
Although a variety of devices produce arrays of emitters emitting different colors of light, there remains a need for structures and methods that improve power efficiency and performance uniformity in the production of colored light in a simple and robust structure made with fewer parts.


A bearing lubrication system for a high temperature bearing, such as in a small gas turbine engine for a UAV, in which the bearing and lubricant requires a long shelf life, where the bearing includes a solid lubricant movable within a chamber formed within a housing and located adjacent to the bearing. The solid lubricant is biased by a spring toward the bearing and abuts against a runner that rotates along with the rotor shaft during engine operation. A cooling air passage opens into a space formed between the bearing and the solid lubricant to supply cooling air through the bearing. When the engine operates, heat is transferred through the runner to the solid lubricant to melt the lubricant. Rubbing of the runner against the biased solid lubricant will also melt the lubricant. The melting lubricant is carried by the cooling air through the bearing to provide both cooling and lubrication for the bearing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a small gas turbine engine, and more specifically to a lubricated bearing for the small gas turbine engine.
2. Description of the Related Art Including Information, Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
A small gas turbine engine is used to power a small UAV (unmanned aero vehicle) because of the engine's high efficiency. The UAV can have much longer hover times because of the higher efficient gas turbine engine. Prior art UAVs are powered by small internal combustion engines or small single spool gas turbine engines.
The size and weight of the power plant used for a UAV is critical. Extra weight or space due to a larger engine reduces the space available for fuel. Less fuel results in lower hover times. Another issue to be addressed in a UAV is the shelf life of the engine or other parts that are required to fly the UAV. A military UAV must have a very long shelf life in order to be used by the military. Thus, liquids such as lubricants must be capable of being stored for these long shelf lives if the UAV is to be operated. Modern aero gas turbine engines include a bearing lubrication system that can form up to 17% of the weight of the engine. Prior art bearing lubrication systems includes parts like lubricant reservoir, pump, lubricant cooling system, and the necessary piping to deliver and collect the lubricant to cool the bearings. These parts add to the weight of the engine.
What is needed is a bearing lubrication system for a small gas turbine engine that will provide for a long shelf life, reduce the complexity and weight of the engine, and provide adequate lubrication and cooling for the bearing during engine use.


A highly reliable light-emitting module or light-emitting device is provided. A method for manufacturing a highly reliable light-emitting module is provided. The light-emitting module includes, between a first substrate and a second substrate, a first electrode provided over the first substrate, a second electrode provided over the first electrode with a layer containing a light-emitting organic compound interposed therebetween, and a sacrifice layer formed using a liquid material provided over the second electrode.

Mobile phones, personal computers, smartphones, e-book readers, and the like have come into widespread use, and the length of time display devices are used in our lives has increased. Since these electronic devices are now in popular use, they are also used for simple work which has conventionally been done with paper and stationery. Specifically, schedule management, address list management, making notes, and the like which have conventionally been done with a notebook are now done with multifunctional electronic devices typified by smartphones.
For most of these electronic devices, a display panel in which display elements are arranged in matrix is used. As the display element, an element which controls transmission of light (e.g., a liquid crystal display element), an element which controls reflection of light (e.g., an element using an electrophoretic method), a light-emitting element which emits light by itself, or the like is used.
A light-emitting element in which a layer containing a light-emitting organic compound (also referred to as an EL layer) which has a film shape is provided between a pair of electrodes is known. Such a light-emitting element is called, for example, an organic EL element, and light emission can be obtained from the layer containing a light-emitting organic compound when voltage is applied between the pair of electrodes. Lighting devices and light-emitting devices used for display each including an organic EL element are known. An example of a display device including an organic EL element is disclosed in Patent Document 1.

Light-emitting module, light-emitting device, and method for manufacturing the light-emitting module

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


An equipment case for use in an electronic device such as a radio wave wrist watch case comprises a metal case body, a metal back cover, a spacer member, and a ring member. The case body has an opening and houses an antenna inside the case body. The back cover covers the opening of the case body. The spacer member is provided between the case body and the back cover, and increases the electric resistance between the case body and the back cover. The ring member is screwed to the case body, and fixes the back cover to the case body by pressing the back cover against the spacer member towards the case body.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to equipment cases, wrist watch cases, and radio controlled watches.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the conventional art a radio controlled watch is known in which, for example, an antenna for receiving standard time radio waves is housed. The radio controlled watch corrects its time based on the standard time radio waves received by the antenna.
In timepieces such as the radio controlled watch above, when both the case body and the back cover (lid) are formed of metal, eddy current flux can be generated between the case body and the back cover. When this occurs, the signal receiving sensitivity of the antenna is lowered.
Accordingly, as a technology to solve this problem, in U.S. Pat. No. 7,126,548 and Japanese Patent Application KOKAI Publication No. 2006-112866, the installation of a spacer member between the metal case body and the metal back cover is described. As a result of this technology, current flux between the case body and the back cover is suppressed by the spacer member, thereby suppressing the lowering of the signal receiving sensitivity of the antenna.
However, when the back cover is fixed to the case body with the interposing spacer members via press fitting or screws, the securing force of the back cover is often weakened. When this occurs, high water resistance, for example, cannot be obtained.
In addition, a technology for strengthening the securing force of the back cover and additionally suppressing in part eddy current is described in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0109188. In this technology, screw members are formed respectively on a portion of the periphery of the metal back cover and a portion of the inner surface of the metal case body. By threading and screwing these screw members together, the back cover is attached to the case body. Furthermore, the screw heads of the screw members formed on the case body are partially cut. As a result of this configuration, the technology described in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0109188 reduces the surface contact area between the case body and the back cover, and partially suppresses eddy current.
However, in the technology described in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0109188, although eddy current is suppressed, the more the screw heads are cut, the more the back cover securing force weakens.

Equipment case, wrist watch case, and radio controlled watch


A valve assembly for managing a flow of fluids in hydrocarbon development and production operations includes a valve body having an internal body cavity and a body bore intersecting the body cavity. A valve plug is located within the body cavity and is rotatable between an open position and a closed position. A sleeve is located between the valve plug and the valve body and is rotationally fixed to the valve body and remains rotationally static relative to the valve body as the valve plug rotates. A seal groove is located on a sidewall surface of the sleeve and circumscribes one of the sleeve openings. A seal assembly has a seal ring that is U shaped in cross section with an inner leg that engages the seal groove and an outer leg that extends out of the seal groove and engages one of the valve body and the valve plug.

1. Field of the Disclosure
This disclosure relates in general to valves for hydrocarbon drilling, production and processing operations, and in particular to plug valves used for managing fluids associated with hydrocarbon drilling, production and processing operations.
2. Description of Related Art
Gate valves and ball valves can be used to manage fluids relating to hydrocarbon drilling, production and processing operations. However gate valves have cavities or voids which create pockets for sand and debris accumulation, and ball valves generally have open spaces around the ball. During operations of gate valves and ball valves, solid matter can accumulate in such voids and open spaces, which degrades their ability to seal or operate and eventually leads to failure.
It can be difficult to manufacture advanced rigid high pressure seals and some common valves instead currently use primarily elastomeric seals due to their conformability. However elastomeric seals alone can be both pressure and temperature limited and will result in plug valve assemblies that are not usually used in high pressure applications, in particular due to the extrusion of the elastomeric seals during operation.
It is also difficult to achieve metal to metal sealing around complex geometric shapes, such as a ball or cylinder. This is because the manufacturing of these parts to achieve conforming surfaces is more difficult, than say for flat gates and seats. As a result these valves are generally not used in bi-directional applications, or do not perform well at low pressures.
Furthermore, it is difficult to prevent sand or debris from entering the dynamic sealing areas for all types of valves. The ingress of sand or debris may prevent the valve from sealing properly. Therefore it is beneficial to permit only very small or zero clearances around the sealing surfaces.


A direct conversion receiver comprising mixers for mixing a received radio frequency signal and a local oscillation signal in frequency, a signal processing unit for converting the output signal of the mixers into a baseband signal, a delta-sigma modulator for detecting offset voltage from the output signal of the signal processing unit, a holding circuit for supplying offset canceling voltage for canceling the offset voltage, and a switch of supplying the output signal of the mixers to the delta-sigma modulator during a given period and supplying the offset canceling voltage sent from the holding circuit to the output side of the mixers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a direct conversion receiver, and more particularly to a direct conversion receiver known as a zero intermediate frequency (IF) receiver, for use in a portable telephone or other radio terminal devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, there have been rising the demands for downsizing, power consumption reduction, and cost reduction of a radio according to the prevalence of a portable telephone and other radio portable terminals. As a radio receiving method for realizing such demands, a direct conversion is an attractive architecture in radio design.
FIG. 9 shows a block diagram of the typical direct conversion receiver of this kind. With reference to FIG. 9, radio frequency signals are respectively supplied to quadrature mixers 73a and 73b through an antenna 71 and a radio frequency amplifier 72. One is multiplied by a local oscillation frequency of a local oscillator 74 in the mixer 73a, and the other is multiplied by the quadrature component of the local oscillation frequency in the mixer 73b, then to be supplied as I-component and Q-component. The quadrature component of the local oscillation frequency of the local oscillator 74 is generated by a 90 degrees phase shifter 75. The respective output signals of the mixers 73a and 73b consist of the sum component of input carrier frequency and local oscillation frequency and the difference component relative to the zero frequency (in case of .+-. expression of spectrum). LPFs 76a and 76b extract only the difference component with the zero frequency fixed as a reference (hereinafter, referred to as a zero frequency component). The extracted zero frequency component is further processed and demodulated by respective baseband amplifiers 77a and 77b.
The above-mentioned direct conversion method directly converts the input frequency into the baseband frequency. This corresponds to the case where the intermediate frequency is zero in the superheterodyne method. Because no image frequency component exists, no radio frequency filter is required. The baseband signal has such a form as turning back at the zero frequency and a LPF may be used as a channel filter. This makes IC fabrication easier compared with a channel filter of BPF type for use in the superheterodyne method. The direct conversion method has been recently recognized as a suitable circuit for 1 chip receiver because of requiring fewer external parts and making LSI fabrication easier compared with the superheterodyne method.
However, in order to use a direct conversion receiver in a radio system such as a portable telephone, it is necessary to eliminate dc (direct-current) offset voltage generally existing on the order of several mV to several 10 mV in a mixer, which is a serious practical problem. In order to get a good sensitivity in PDC (Personal Digital Cellular-phone) system and PHS (Personal Handy-phone System), the amplification degree of the baseband amplifiers 77a and 77b must be set at an extremely high value, for example, at several 10 dB. The baseband amplifiers, however, are saturated with the dc offset voltage occurring in the mixer as mentioned above, and never function as a receiver.
In order to solve the above problem, placing dc blocking condensers 78a and 78b behind the mixers 73a and 73b may be considered as illustrated in FIG. 10. This method, however, also blocks the zero frequency component and therefore this method can be applied only to the FSK modulation, for example, for use in a pager system. Even in this case, another additional circuit for shortening the charge/discharge time of a capacitor is generally needed, thereby increasing the circuit size disadvantageously, since a pager with an intermittent receiving function is generally designed in order to extend a battery life.
Another conventional technique for eliminating dc offset voltage is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Publication Laid-Open (Kokai) No. Heisei 3-220823, "Direct Conversion Receiver". The same publication describes a method of eliminating dc offset voltage by a negative feedback loop using AD and DA converters as illustrated in FIG. 11. In the block diagram of FIG. 11, the same reference numerals are respectively attached to the same components as those of the block diagram of FIG. 9.
In a direct conversion receiver as shown in FIG. 11, dc offset voltage is extracted from the output signals of the baseband amplifiers 77a and 77b by use of the AD converters 81a and 81b, and according to the extracted result, the dc offset voltage is suppressed by use of a data processing circuit 82 and DA converters 83a and 83b that are closed-loop controlling means.
This method is applicable to .pi./4QPSK modulation for use in PDC and PHS because of blocking off none of the zero frequency component in signal information. However, this method, by use of a closed-loop, is not effective in the change of offset voltage at the earlier time because of the restriction of the loop convergence time. More specifically, in case of controlling the average value of the offset voltage, for example, to be zero during a long period of one second, some effects can be expected to an extent. However, it is not effective in the offset voltage such as would vary at a speed of time slot of the digital portable telephone system (for example, 0.625 msec in PHS). Further, it is defective in increasing the circuit size because of using AD and DA converters.

Direct conversion receiver capable of canceling DC offset voltages


A visualization of computer-enabled information in association with a computer-enabled map is provided. One or more data items may be imported onto a computer-generated mapping surface. A data visualization application may obtain location information, for example, physical address or latitude/longitude coordinates, for each data item. A map showing a geographical area large enough to contain each data item may be automatically generated and displayed, and each data item may be located on the map and may be identified by an identifying icon or label. Selection of an icon or label for any of the data items may cause display of information about the data item. The map display and visualization of the data items on the map display may be dynamically modified as one or more other data items are imported onto the visualization surface or as one or more existing data items are removed from the visualization surface.

Computer-enabled mapping systems have been developed to allow users to locate business and personal addresses, natural or human-made structures, topographical layouts, and the like. In a typical setting, users program a physical address into a mapping application in order to locate the address or to obtain travel directions to the address. Often, information used by a mapping application user is manually input from a computer-generated list or file, for example, entry of an address from a contacts file. Once a user locates an item of interest using a computer-enabled mapping application, he/she typically must rely on a physical information file or computer-generated information file for information about the located item of interest. Thus, there is a need for integration of computer-enabled information with a computer-enabled mapping application to provide a visualization of the computer-enabled information in association with a computer-enabled map.
It is with respect to these and other considerations that the present invention has been made.

Authoring of data visualizations and maps


A straight drive shaft type engine mounted transversely of a vehicle is provided with a centrally bored drive shaft surrounding a wheel axle having a wheel connected with its respective remote ends. A primary clutch moves a friction disk slip-spline mounted on the axle into driving engagement with a flange on one end of the drive shaft for rotating the axle at the speed of and in the direction of engine drive shaft rotation. A secondary clutch, to be engaged when the primary clutch is disengaged, moves a driving gear into friction engagement with a second flange mounted on the other end portion of the engine drive shaft to connect a transmission with the axle for gear driving or moving the vehicle in reverse.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to vehicle drive trains and more particularly to an engine to wheel axle direct drive.
Power transmission patents generally disclose a plurality of gears and pinions selectively engaged for transmitting power from an input to an output shaft. U.S. Pat. No. 3,106,102 discloses turbo couplings mounted on a sleeve surrounding a shaft for transmitting power to an output shaft by a plurality of gear wheels. U.S. Pat. No. 3,507,113 discloses a plurality of housing contained pinion gears axially connecting drive shafts in turn connected with a power turbine and a compressor turbine so that either turbine drives the other. U.S. Pat. No. 3,537,334 discloses a motor driven shaft rotating several gears to power an output shaft which gradually slows down with increase in motor speed until at a certain motor speed the output shaft will stop and then reverse direction with further increase of motor speed.
This invention is distinctive over the above named patents by the engine drive shaft concentrically surrounding and rotating independently of a shaft to be driven with power transmitted from the engine drive shaft to the driven shaft by a clutch so that the driven shaft rotates at the speed of the engine.


A stretchable stitchbonded fabric, suitable for forming into conformable apparel, fitted furniture covers or the like, is stitched with elastic yarns to form at least two longitudinal regions of differing stretchability, each region having minimum stretchability of 30% and one region being least 1.5 times as stretchable as the other region.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a stretchable stitchbonded fabric having a nonwoven layer of substantially nonbonded fibers of textile decitex, into which elastic thread has been multi-needle stitched to form spaced apart, parallel, longitudinal rows of stitches. More particularly, the invention concerns such a fabric in which parallel longitudinal regions differ significantly in stretchability.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Stretchable stitchbonded fabrics are known, as for example, from my earlier U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,773,238, 4,876,128 and 4,998,421. Such fabrics are made by multi-needle stitching a nonwoven layer of substantially nonbonded textile fibers with elastic threads. The threads form spaced apart, parallel rows of stitches and provide a final fabric with stretchability in the stitching direction (referred to herein as the "longitudinal direction" or "LD") and in the direction transverse thereto (referred to herein as the "transverse direction" or "TD"). All regions of the fabric have substantially the same stretch characteristics in a given direction. Although such fabrics have been useful in many applications, the utility of stitchbonded stretch fabrics could be significantly enhanced, if different regions of the fabric were of different stretchability.
The manufacture of upholstery, seat covers, clothing, shoe covers, industrial garments and the like, often requires cutting and sewing of many separate pieces to provide for the various wider and narrower portions of the article being made. In the manufacture of articles, such as fitted mattress pads, furniture slip covers, and the like, improvements are desired in the elastic portion that holds the article in place. An object of this invention is to provide an improved stretchable stitchbonded fabric that has regions of differing stretchability which permit simplification of such manufacturing operations.


An apparatus for driving a light emitting panel which selects one scanning line from a plurality of scanning lines, designates at least one drive line of a plurality of drive lines corresponding to at least one capacitive light emitting element driven to emit light on the one scanning line, applies the one scanning line with a first predetermined potential, applies scanning lines other than the one scanning line with a second predetermined potential higher than the first predetermined potential, supplies a driving current to the at least one line so as to apply the at least one capacitive light emitting element with a positive voltage equal to or higher than a light emission threshold voltage in the forward direction, and applies drive lines other than the at least one drive line with a third predetermined voltage lower than the light emission threshold voltage and higher than the first predetermined potential.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for driving a light emitting panel using capacitive light emitting elements such as organic electroluminescence elements or the like.
2. Description of the Related Background Art
In recent years, with the trend of increasing the size of display devices, thinner display devices have been required, and a variety of thin display devices have been brought into practical use. An electroluminescence display comprising a plurality of organic electroluminescence elements arranged in a matrix has drawn attention as one of the thin display devices.
The organic electroluminescence element (hereinafter simply called the "EL element" as well) may be electrically represented as an equivalent circuit as illustrated in FIG. 1. As can be seen from the figure, the element can be replaced with a circuit configuration having a capacitive component C and a component E of a diode characteristic coupled in parallel with the capacitive component. Thus, the EL element can be regarded as a capacitive light-emitting element. As the EL element is applied with a direct current light-emission driving voltage across the electrodes, a charge is accumulated in the capacitive element C. Subsequently, when the applied voltage exceeds a barrier voltage or a light emission threshold voltage inherent to the element, a current begins flowing from one electrode (on the anode side of the diode component E) to the organic functional layer which carries the light emitting layer so that light is emitted therefrom at an intensity proportional to the current.
The Voltage V-Current I-Luminance L characteristic of the element is similar to the characteristic of a diode, as illustrated in FIG. 2. Specifically, the current I is extremely small at a light emission threshold voltage Vth or lower, and sharply increases as the voltage increases to the light emission threshold voltage Vth or higher. The current is substantially proportional to the luminance L. Such an element, when applied with a driving voltage exceeding the light emission threshold voltage Vth, exhibits a light emission luminance in proportion to a current corresponding to the applied driving voltage. On the other hand, the light emission luminance remains equal to zero when the driving voltage applied to the element is at the light emission threshold voltage Vth or lower which does not cause the driving current to flow into the light emitting layer.
As a method of driving a display panel using a plurality of EL elements, a simple matrix driving system is known. FIG. 3 illustrates the structure of a driver applied with the simple matrix driving system. In a light emitting panel, n cathode lines (metal electrodes) B1 -Bn are arranged extending in parallel in the horizontal direction, and m anode lines (transparent electrodes) A1-Am are arranged extending in parallel in the vertical direction. At each portion where the cathode lines and the anode lines (a total of n×m locations) intersect, an EL element E1,1-Em,n is formed. The elements E1,1-Em,n which carry pixels are arranged in matrix, at the intersections of the anode lines A1-Am along the vertical direction and the cathode lines B1-Bn along the horizontal direction. The elements E1,1-Em,n have one end connected to an anode line (on the anode line side of the diode component E in the aforementioned equivalent circuit) and the other end connected to a cathode line (on the cathode line side of the diode component E in the aforementioned equivalent circuit). The cathode lines are connected to a cathode line scanning circuit 1, while the anode lines are connected to an anode line drive circuit 2.
The cathode line scanning circuit 1 has scanning switches 51-5n corresponding to the cathode lines B1-Bn for individually determining potentials thereon. Each of the scanning switches 51-5n supplies a corresponding cathode line either with a positive potential VCC (for example, 10 volts) or with a ground potential (0 volt).
The anode line drive circuit 2 has current sources 21-2m (for example, constant current sources) and drive switches 61-6m corresponding to the anode lines A1-Am for individually supplying the EL elements with driving currents. Each of the drive switches 61-6m is adapted to supply an associated anode line with the output of the current source 21-2m or a ground potential. Each of the current sources 21-2m has an amount of supply current which is required to maintain light emitting of the EL elements at desired instantaneous luminance (hereinafter this state is called the "steady light emitting state"). Also, When an EL element is in the steady light emitting state, the aforementioned capacitive component C of the EL element is charged, so that the voltage across both terminals of the element becomes a positive value Ve (hereinafter, this value is called the "light emission regulating voltage") slightly higher than a light emitting threshold voltage Vth. It should be noted that when voltage sources are used as driving sources, their driving voltages are set to be equal to Ve.
The cathode line scanning circuit 1 and the anode line drive circuit 2 are connected to a light emission control circuit 4.
The light emission control circuit 4 controls the cathode line scanning circuit 1 and the anode line drive circuit 2 in accordance to image data supplied from an image data generating system, not shown, so as to display an image represented by the image data. The light emission control circuit 4 generates a scanning line selection control signal for controlling the cathode line scanning circuit 1 to switch the scanning switch 51-5n such that any of the cathode lines corresponding to a horizontal scanning period of the image data is selected and set at the ground potential, and the remaining cathode lines are applied with the positive potential VCC. The positive potential VCC is applied by regulated voltage sources connected to cathode lines in order to prevent crosstalk light emission from occurring in EL elements connected to intersections of a driven anode line and cathode lines which are not selected for scanning. The positive potential VCC is typically set equal to the light emission regulating voltage Ve (VCC=Ve). As the scanning switches 51-5n are sequentially switched to the ground potential in each horizontal scanning period, a cathode line set at the ground potential functions as a scanning line which enables the EL elements connected thereto to emit light.
The anode line drive circuit 2 conducts a light emission control for the scanning lines as mentioned above. The light emission control circuit 4 generates a drive control signal (driving pulse) in accordance with pixel information. The drive control signal is a signal for instructing which of EL elements connected to associated scanning lines are driven to emit light at which timing and for approximately how long, and supplies the drive control signal to the anode line drive circuit 2. The anode line drive circuit 2, responsive to this drive control signal, individually controls the switching of the drive switches 61-6m to supply driving currents to associated EL elements through the anode lines A1-Am in accordance with the pixel information. Thus, the EL elements supplied with the driving currents are forced to emit light in accordance with the pixel information.
Next, the light emitting operation will be described with reference to an example illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4. This light emitting operation is taken as an example in which a cathode line B1 is scanned to have EL elements E1,1 and E2,1 emit light, and subsequently, a cathode line B2 is scanned to have EL elements E2,2 and E3,2 emit light. Also, for facilitating the understanding of the explanation, in FIGS. 3 and 4, an EL element which is emitting light is represented by a diode symbol, while an element which is not emitting light is represented by a capacitor symbol.
Referring first to FIG. 3, only a scanning switch 51 is switched to the ground potential equal to zero volt to scan a cathode line B1. The remaining cathode lines B2-Bn are applied with the positive potential VCC through the scanning switches 52-5n. Simultaneously, anode lines A1 and A2 are connected to current sources 21 and 22 through drive switches 61 and 62, respectively. The remaining anode lines A3-Am are switched to the ground potential at zero volt through drive switch 63-6m. Thus, in this event, only the EL elements E1,1 and E2,1 are forward biased so that driving currents flow thereinto from the current sources 21 and 22 as indicated by arrows, causing only the EL elements E1,1 and E2,1 to emit light. In this state, the EL elements E3,2 and Em,n which are not emitting light, indicated by hatching, are charged with polarities as indicated in the drawing.
From the light emitting state illustrated in FIG. 3, only the scanning switch 52 corresponding to the cathode line B2 is now switched to the ground potential at zero volt to scan the cathode line B2 as illustrated in FIG. 4. Simultaneously with this scanning, the current sources 22, 23 are connected to the corresponding anode lines A2, A3 through the drive switches 62, 63, while the remaining anode lines A1, A4-Am are applied with zero volt through the drive switches 61, 64-6m, respectively. Thus, in this event, only the EL elements E2,2, E3,2 are forward biased, so that driving currents flow into the EL elements E2,2, E3,2 from the current sources 22, 23 as indicated by arrows, causing only the EL elements E2,2, E3,2 to emit light.
In the light emitting control as described above, a scanning mode that is a period in which any of the cathode lines B1-Bn is activated is repeated. The scanning mode is performed every one horizontal scanning period (1H) of image data, wherein the scanning switches 51-5n are sequentially switched to the ground potential every horizontal scanning period. The light emission control circuit 4 generates a drive control signal (driving pulse) in accordance with pixel information. The drive control signal instructs which of EL elements connected to associated scanning lines are driven to emit light at which timing and for approximately how long, and is supplied to the anode line drive circuit 2. The anode line drive circuit 2, responsive to the drive control signal, controls the switching of the drive switches 61-6m to supply driving currents to associated EL elements according to the pixel information through the anode lines A1-Am. Thus, the EL elements supplied with the driving currents perform light emitting corresponding to the pixel information.
During a period in which the cathode line B1 is selected and driven at the ground potential, EL elements E3,2-Em,n are applied with the voltage Vcc in the direction opposite to the forward direction to prevent EL elements on non-selected scanning lines from emitting light to cause crosstalk, so that the EL elements E3,2-Em,n are charged.
However, since the charge accumulated in the reverse direction for purposes of preventing the crosstalk light emission is a charge which never contributes to light emission, useless power is consumed.
Also, immediately after the scanning is switched from the cathode line B1 to the cathode line B2, the EL element E3,2, which is one of the charged EL elements, has the anode connected to the current source 23 through the drive switch 63, and the cathode driven to the ground potential through the scanning switch 52, so that the EL element E3,2 should emit light. However, unless the charge accumulated on the EL element E3,2 in the reverse direction has been discharged, the EL element E3,2 is not immediately applied with a voltage exceeding the light emission threshold voltage Vth in the forward direction. Therefore, there is a problem that a delay occurs before the EL element E3,2 actually emits light.

Apparatus and method for driving light emitting panel


A method and an apparatus for confirming matching of data in a distributed processing system aiming easy maintenance of the matching of the data and efficient parallel design work in a distributed processing system. In the distributed processing system having a server including a database and plural clients utilizing data in the database, said server and clients are connected to each other. The server stores information of destinations to which data in the database has been distributed and receives information of an editorial history of the data from a client that is a destination of the distributed data to store the editorial history information at the destination client on the side of the server. After that, matching of the data is confirmed on the side of another client on the basis of the distributed data's destination information or the editorial history information stored in the server.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for confirming matching of data in a distributed processing system, which are suitable for use of a CAD (computer aided design) system made up of a server and plural clients.
2. Description of Related Art
A CAD system employing a distributed system as shown in FIG. 20 has widely spread in these years at a job site where products are designed or manufactured. Such CAD system is configured with a server 1 and plural clients (terminal equipments such as workstations) 2 and 3 connected to each other through a local area network (referred simply as a LAN, hereinafter) laid in a compound or an office.
Referring to FIG. 20, reference numeral 4 denotes a gateway machine (a GW machine), 51 denotes a basic LAN, 52 denotes a sectional LAN, 53 a transceiver, and 54 denotes a terminal resistor.
The server 1 stores or manages a product database such as drawings of parts of products, three-dimensional data, etc., which is connected to the basic LAN 51 through the transceiver 53. The basic LAN 51 is a basic network, which is connected to the sectional LAN 52 provided for each section (for example, a designing section, a manufacturing section, etc.) through the gateway machine 4.
The sectional LAN 52 is connected to plural clients (only clients 2 and 3 are shown in FIG. 20) through the transceiver 53. The clients 2,3 can make a request for information in the database from the server 1 to refer to or update the database.
In an operation of the CAD system in a distributed processing system configured around the server 1 of this sort, to maintain matching of the data of a product made through the CAD system is sometimes a big problem.
If plural design groups design, in cooperation, one product, or if a manufacturing section and a designing section examine or alter a design of a product in parallel, the work of the design is carried out in the clients 2,3 dispersed in each group or section. As a result, each designer manages the design data in a different way so that it is difficult to manage the CAD data uniformly.
For instance, if a designer calls out the data base from the server 1 through the client 2 for a design work and stores the CAD data after the design work as sub-database in the client 2, the database in the server 1 is not updated and the old data before the design work remains in the server 1. Under such situation, if another designer takes out the database from the server 1 to do a design work through the client 3, the designer cannot confirm matching of the CAD data.

Method and apparatus for confirming matching of data in a distributed processing system


A TOC region is provided on a DAT tape. In the TOC region reduced still image data is recorded as one still image and is obtained by reducing each still picture data recorded in each of a plurality of still picture/audio composite data regions provided subsequently to the TOC region. A first address of each still picture/audio composite data is also recorded in the TOC region. At the time of reproduction, the TOC region is reproduced and the still image based on the reduced still image data is shown on a display. When an operator selects a specific still image among the plurality of displayed still pictures, the corresponding still picture/audio composite data is reproduced based on an address corresponding to the selected still picture.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally an to image recording/reproducing apparatus, and more particularly, to such a still picture recording/reproducing apparatus as a DAT (Digital Audio Taperecorder) for recording or reproducing numerous still picture composite data by using a magnetic tape as a recording medium.
2. Description of the Background Art
In recent years, image recording/reproducing apparatuses have been already put to practical use which record still image data obtained by an electronic still camera or a CCD (Charge Coupling Device) solid state image sensing device, by using an image recording apparatus with a magnetic disk or a magnetic tape as a recording medium. The image data can thereafter from the medium recording by using a reproducing device, thereby reproducing a still image.
As a recording medium, a 2-inch video floppy, for example, is capable of recording 25 frames of still picture data such as television images. A 5-inch optical disk is capable of recording 1600 frames of still picture data such as television images and a 120-minute DAT tape is capable of recording 2880 frames of still picture data such as television images. However, with an increase in the number of frames to be recorded, more time is required for searching for a frame. For searching for desired image data among numerous image data, it is necessary to sequentially reproduce frames one by one from the beginning until a desired image is displayed or to have a search function of finding a desired image by a search and displaying the same.
It is well known (in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 1-221076) that a device having a conventional search function at the time of reproduction records the contents of the entire image data recorded on a recording medium in advance on a text frame or a graphic frame, in a form equivalent to an index of a book. This enables a user to select a desired image for the search by using a pointing device (mouse) or by entering data through a keyboard, from a menu frame displaying data reduced and aggregated while reproducing the entire image data at the time of reproduction.
Searching for desired data among a plurality of image data recorded on a magnetic disk or a magnetic tape requires reproduction of the each frame as described above, and is not practical since the time necessary for the search is increased. Such a search is also impractical in that an indefinite correspondence between image data on a text frame and a graphic frame and desired image data prevents a user from reliably recognizing the desired image data.

Image recording/reproducing apparatus which displays images to be searched


Compounds and methods for imaging and/or assessing collagen are described. The compounds can include collagen binding peptides.

Provided herein are improved compounds for binding to and imaging collagen. Also provided herein are pharmaceutical compositions containing the compounds provided herein.
Collagens are a class of extracellular matrix proteins that represent 30% of total body protein and shape the structure of tendons, bones, and connective tissues. Abnormal or excessive accumulation of collagen in organs such as the liver, lungs, kidneys, or breasts, and vasculature can lead to fibrosis of such organs (e.g., myocardial fibrosis, heart failure, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis of the liver (also known as NASH), cirrhosis of the liver, primary biliary cirrhosis), lesions in the vasculature or breasts, collagen-induced arthritis, Muscular dystrophy, scleroderma, Dupuytren's disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and other collagen vascular diseases. It would be useful to have diagnostic agents that could assist in the treatment or diagnosis of such disorders.
Compounds and pharmaceutical compostions for collagen imaging have been previously disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,034,898 and various publications, including Kolodziej, et al., "Peptide optimization and conjugation strategies in the development of molecularly targeted magnetic resonance imaging contrast agents." Methods Mol Biol. 2014; 1088: 185-211, Helm, et al. "Postinfarction myocardial scarring in mice: molecular magnetic resonance (MR) imaging with use of a collagen-targeting contrast agent." Radiology. 2008 June; 247(3): 788-96, and Caravan et al. "Collagen-targeted MRI contrast agent for molecular imaging of fibrosis." Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2007; 46(43): 8171-3.
However, improved compounds that exhibit superior binding to collagen of animals used in preclinical studies (especially rodent, canine) along with greater in vivo uptake into collagen tissue and robust imaging enhancement are needed. In addition, because of the association of free gadolinium(III) ions with Nephrogenic Sclerosing Fibrosis (NSF, Thomsen H S. (2009) Nephrogenic systemic fibrosis: history and epidemiology Radiol Clin North Am. 47(5): 827-31), there is a need for new derivatives that do not require gadolinium chelates.
Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs. Methods and materials are described herein for use in the present disclosure; other, suitable methods and materials known in the art can also be used. The materials, methods, and examples are illustrative only and not intended to be limiting. All publications, patent applications, patents, sequences, database entries, and other references mentioned herein are incorporated by reference in their entirety. In case of conflict, the present specification, including definitions, will control.
Other features and advantages of the disclosure will be apparent from the following detailed description and figures, and from the claims.