A heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system includes a condenser to condense a flow of refrigerant into a liquid state. The system further includes an economizer assembly having at least one separator chamber to separate liquid refrigerant from vapor refrigerant. The economizer assembly shares an upper common wall with at least a portion of the condenser and the flow of refrigerant from the condenser into the economizer assembly proceeds through a flow opening in the upper common wall. A falling film evaporator exchanges thermal energy between the liquid refrigerant and a medium flowed through a plurality of evaporator tubes in the evaporator.

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. More specifically, the subject matter disclosed herein relates to chillers.
As regulatory & industry trends continue to drive towards replacement of conventional HFC's like R134a of particular interest are the class of "low pressure refrigerants", i.e. refrigerants that are near, or below atmospheric pressure at the boiling temperatures in a chiller. These have long been known to provide better thermodynamic cycle performance over medium (R134a) or higher (R410A) pressure refrigerants, due to their higher latent heats of vaporization and other thermodynamic properties. However, yet other thermodynamic properties such as vapor density or transport properties such as surface tension can reduce heat transfer performance and offset a significant portion of the thermodynamic cycle performance gains. Further, low pressure refrigerants have significantly greater specific volumes, resulting in the need for larger vapor spaces and pipes to connect the components of the chiller system. The larger vapor spaces and pipes are more costly and increase the volumetric footprint required to accommodate the chiller system.


Iron-based crystal structures including FeO4 tetrahedrally coordinated in three dimensions in a framework analogous to a zeolite. The structures having the general formula AyB8Fe12O24(O/OH)6.xH2O in which A is Na, K, Cs, Rb or a combination thereof and B is an alkaline earth element or a combination of alkaline earth elements.

Materials discovery through crystal growth continues to be the best way to explore phase space in the quest for new or improved physical properties. Soft chemical methods allow for the investigation of regions of phase-space inaccessible via traditional synthetic routes.
Iron (III) is known to take on a tetrahedral coordination environment with oxygen in some of its compounds, though it predominately prefers an octahedral environment. Most often, these tetrahedra are isolated. However, some compounds have shown that FeO4 tetrahedra can be condensed into higher dimensional structures. A small number of compounds have shown FeO4 tetrahedra corner-shared to form various-membered rings such as AFeO2 (A=K, Rb and Cs), Ba4KFe3O9, Na14Fe6O16, and Ba3Fe2O6. This is not unlike what is observed in silicate chemistry, despite the obvious disparity between the two elements' propensity to form condensed frameworks.

Synthesis and crystal structure of iron zeolitic frameworks


The present invention is a method and system for forecasting the behavioral characterization of customers to help customize programming contents on each means for playing output of each site of a plurality of sites in a media network through automatically measuring, characterizing, and forecasting the behavioral information of customers that appear in the vicinity of each means for playing output. The analysis of behavioral information of customers is performed automatically based on the visual information of the customers, using a plurality of means for capturing images and a plurality of computer vision technologies on the visual information. The measurement of the behavioral information is performed in each measured node, where the node is defined as means for playing output. Extrapolation of the measurement characterizes the behavioral information per each node of a plurality of nodes in a site of a plurality of sites of a media network. The forecasting and customization of the programming contents is based on the characterization of the behavioral information.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is a method and system for forecasting the behavioral characterization of customers to help customize programming contents on each node, defined as means for playing output, of each site of a plurality of sites in a media network through automatically measuring, characterizing, and forecasting the behavioral information of customers that appear in the vicinity of each means for playing output, using a plurality of image capturing devices and a plurality of computer vision technologies on the visual information, and the present invention is called behavior-based programming (BBP).
2. Background of the Invention
There have been earlier attempts to help customers and salespersons in a shopping process utilizing computer-aided devices, such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,047,614 of Bianco, U.S. Pat. No. 5,283,731 of Lalonde, et al. (hereinafter Lalonde), and U.S. Pat. No. 5,309,355 of Lockwood. Bianco disclosed a portable and remote bar code reading means. Lalonde disclosed a computer-based classified advertisement system. Lockwood disclosed an automated sales system, which enhances a travel agent's marketing ability; especially with regard to computerized airline reservation systems.
There have also been attempts to customize and distribute targeted advertising content to customers or television viewers based on customer profiles, customer purchase history, or demographic information from the customer in the prior art.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,155,591 of Wachob and U.S. Pat. No. 5,636,346 of Saxe disclosed methods and systems for delivering targeted advertisements and programming to demographically targeted television audiences. U.S. Pat. No. 6,002,393 of Hite, et al. disclosed a system and method for delivering targeted TV advertisements to customers utilizing controllers.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,459,306 of Stein, et al. (hereinafter Stein) disclosed a method and system for delivering product picks to a prospective individual user, especially with regard to a movie rental and sale business. Stein gathered the user information and the user's usage information, which are correlated with a user code and classified based on the use of at least one product. The product picks (promotions and recommendations) were delivered based on the classified information and the user information. However, Stein is foreign to the automatic method of gathering the user information, especially the user behavior, in a store.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,119,098 of Guyot, et al. (hereinafter Guyot) disclosed a method and apparatus for targeting and distributing advertisements over a distributed network, such as the Internet, to the subscriber's computer. The targeted advertisements were based on a personal profile provided by the subscriber. Guyot was primarily intended for the subscriber with a computer at home, not at a physical space, such as a retail place, and the targeted advertisement creation relied on the non-automatic response from the customer.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,182,050 of Ballard disclosed a method and apparatus for distributing advertisements online using target criteria screening, which also provided a method for maintaining end user privacy. In the disclosure, the demographic information or a desired affinity ranking was gathered by the end user, who completed a demographic questionnaire and ranked various categories of products and services. Ballard is foreign to the behavior analysis of customers in a retail store.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,055,573 of Gardenswartz, et al. and its continuation U.S. Pat. No. 6,298,330 of Gardenswartz, et al. (hereinafter Gardenswartz) disclosed a method and apparatus for communicating with a computer in a network based on the offline purchase history of a particular customer. Gardenswartz included the delivery of a promotional incentive for a customer to comply with a particular behavioral pattern. However, in Gardenswartz, the customer manually supplied the registration server with information about the customer, including demographics of the customer, to generate an online profile. In Gardenswartz, the content of advertisements were selected based on changes in the customers' purchase history behaviors, but Gardenswartz is foreign to the automatic behavioral pattern analysis using customer images and computer vision algorithms in a retail store, such as the shopping path analysis of the customers in the retail store. Furthermore, Gardenswartz is foreign to the concept of forecasting the customer behavioral pattern to help customize programming content in a media network.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,385,592 of Angles, et al. (hereinafter Angles) disclosed a method and apparatus for delivering customized advertisements within interactive communication systems. In Angles, the interactive devices include computers connected to online services, interactive kiosks, interactive television systems and the like. In Angles, the advertising provider computer generated a customized advertisement based on the customer's profile, upon receiving the advertising request. In Angles, the customer, who wished to receive customized advertisement, first registered with the advertisement provider by entering the demographic information into the advertisement provider's demographic database. Therefore, Angles is foreign to the automatic forecasting of customers' behavioral pattern for the programming in a retail space based on customer behavior, without requiring any cumbersome response from the customer.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,408,278 of Carney, et al. (hereinafter Carney) disclosed a method and apparatus for delivering programming content on a network of electronic out-of-home display devices. In Carney, the network includes a plurality of display devices located in public places, and the delivered programming content is changed according to the demographics of the people. Carney also suggests demographic data gathering devices, such as kiosk and automatic teller machines. Carney is foreign to the idea of forecasting customers' behavioral patterns for the programming based on the automatic analysis of the customer's behaviors inside the store utilizing non-cumbersome automatic computer vision technology.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,484,148 of Boyd disclosed electronic advertising devices and methods for providing targeted advertisements based on the customer profiles. Boyd included a receiver for receiving identifying signals from individuals such as signals emitted by cellular telephones, and the identifying signal was used for the targeted advertisements to be delivered to the individuals. U.S. Pat. No. 6,847,969 of Mathai, et al. (hereinafter Mathai) disclosed a method and system for providing personalized advertisements to customers in a public place. In Mathai, the customer inserts a personal system access card into a slot on a terminal, which automatically updates the customer profile based on the customer's usage history. The customer profile is used for targeted advertising in Mathai. However, the usage of a system access card is cumbersome to the customer. The customer has to carry around the card when shopping, and the method and apparatus is not usable if the card is lost or stolen. U.S. Pat. No. 6,529,940 of Humble also disclosed a method and system for interactive in-store marketing, using interactive display terminals that allow customers to input feedback information to the distributed marketing messages.
Boyd, Mathai, and Humble are foreign to the idea of forecasting customers' behavioral patterns for the programming content in a media network based on the automatic analysis of the customers' behaviors inside the store utilizing non-cumbersome automatic computer vision technology.
U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. No. 2006/0036485 of Duri, et al. (hereinafter Duri) disclosed a method and system for presenting personalized information to consumers in a retail environment using the RFID technology. Duri very briefly mentioned the computer vision techniques as a method to locate each customer, but Duri is clearly foreign to the concept of utilizing an image processing algorithm in the computer vision technologies to gather behavior analysis information of the customers to customize the programming contents in a media network.
There have been earlier attempts for understanding customers' shopping behaviors captured in a video in a targeted environment, such as in a retail store, using cameras.
U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. No. 2006/0010028 of Sorensen (hereinafter Sorensen 1) disclosed a method for tracking shopper movements and behavior in a shopping environment using a video. In Sorensen 1, a user indicated a series of screen locations in a display at which the shopper appeared in the video, and the series of screen locations was translated to store map coordinates. The step of receiving the user input via input devices, such as a pointing device or keyboard, makes Sorensen 1 inefficient for handling a large amount of video data in a large shopping environment with a relatively complicated store layout, especially over a long period of time. The manual input by a human operator/user cannot efficiently track all of the shoppers in such cases, not to mention the possibility of human errors due to tiredness and boredom. Additionally, the manual input approach is not scalable when the number of shopping environments to handle increases.
Although U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. No. 2002/0178085 of Sorensen (hereinafter Sorensen 2) disclosed a usage of tracking device and store sensors in a plurality of tracking systems primarily based on the wireless technology, such as the RFID. Sorensen 2 is clearly foreign to the concept of applying computer vision based tracking algorithms to the field of understanding customers' shopping behaviors and movements. In Sorensen 2, each transmitter was typically attached to a hand-held or push-type cart. Therefore, Sorensen 2 cannot distinguish the behaviors of multiple shoppers using one cart from a single shopper who is also using one cart. Although Sorensen 2 disclosed that the transmitter may be attached directly to a shopper via a clip or other form of customer surrogate when a customer is shopping without a cart, this will not be practical due to the additionally introduced cumbersome steps to the shopper, not to mention the inefficiency of managing the transmitter for each individual shopper.
With regard to the temporal behavior of customers, U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. No. 2003/0002712 of Steenburgh, et al. (hereinafter Steenburgh) disclosed a relevant prior art. Steenburgh disclosed a method for measuring dwell time of an object, particularly a customer in a retail store, which enters and exits an environment, by tracking the object and matching the entry signature of the object to the exit signature of the object, in order to find out how long the customer spent in a retail store.
U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. No. 2003/0053659 of Pavlidis, et al. (hereinafter Pavlidis) disclosed a method for moving object assessment, including an object path of one or more moving objects in a search area, using a plurality of imaging devices and segmentation by background subtraction. In Pavlidis, the object included customers. Pavlidis was primarily related to monitoring a search area for surveillance, but Pavlidis also included itinerary statistics of customers in a department store.
U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. No. 2004/0120581 of Ozer, et al. (hereinafter Ozer) disclosed a method for identifying activity of customers for marketing purpose or activity of objects in a surveillance area, by comparing the detected objects with the graphs from a database. Ozer tracked the movement of different object parts and combined them to high-level activity semantics, using several Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) and a distance classifier. U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. No. 2004/0131254 of Liang, et al. (hereinafter Liang) also disclosed the Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) as a way to characterize behavior, particularly animal behavior, along with the rule-based label analysis and the token parsing procedure. Liang disclosed a method for monitoring and classifying actions of various objects in a video, using background subtraction for object detection and tracking. Liang is particularly related to animal behavior in a lab for testing drugs.
With regard to path analysis, an exemplary disclosure can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,584,401 of Kirshenbaum, et al. (hereinafter Kirshenbaum), which disclosed a method and apparatus for automatically gathering data on paths taken by commuters for the sake of improving the commute experience. Kirshenbaum disclosed a global positioning system, mobile phone, personal digital assistant, telephone, PC, and departure or arrival indications as some ways for gathering the commute data. Clearly, Kirshenbaum is foreign to the concept of analyzing the customers' behaviors automatically based on visual information of the customers using the means for capturing images, such as the shopping path tracking and analysis, for the sake of delivering targeted advertisement content to a display in a retail store.
U.S. Pat. Appl. Pub. No. 2003/0058339 of Trajkovic, et al. (hereinafter Trajkovic) disclosed a method for detecting an event through repetitive patterns of human behavior. Trajkovic learned multidimensional feature data from the repetitive patterns of human behavior and computed a probability density function (PDF) from the data. Then, a method for the PDF analysis, such as Gaussian or clustering techniques, was used to identify the repetitive patterns of behavior and unusual behavior through the variance of the Gaussian distribution or cluster.
Although Trajkovic can model a repetitive behavior through the PDF analysis, Trajkovic is clearly foreign to the event detection for the aggregate of non-repetitive behaviors, such as the shopper traffic in a physical store. The shopping path of an individual shopper can be repetitive, but each shopping path in a group of aggregated shopping paths of multiple shoppers is not repetitive. Trajkovic did not disclose the challenges in the event detection based on customers' behaviors in a video in a retail environment such as the non-repetitive behaviors, and Trajkovic is clearly foreign to the challenges that can be found in a retail environment.
While the above mentioned prior arts try to deliver targeted advertising contents to the customers in a computer network, television network, or a standalone system, using customer profiles, customer purchase history, demographic information from customers, various devices and tools, or non-automatic information collection methods, such as questionnaires, registration forms, or electronic devices from the customers, they are clearly foreign to the automatic forecasting of customers' behavioral patterns in a retail space based on the customers' behavioral statistics and classification, such as the shopping paths information in the store, without requiring any cumbersome involvement from the customer, using an efficient computer vision technology on the customers' images.
In the present invention, the term "programming" is defined as any media content that is delivered to the sites in a particular media network, including any advertisement, public announcement, informational message, promotional content, marketing content, and educational content. Therefore, the term programming in the present invention includes a much broader concept of content than a mere advertisement content. In this context, the prior arts are especially foreign to the concept of providing forecasting information to help customize the programming content, rather than just advertisement content, in a media network based on automatic behavior analysis by computer vision algorithms.
The present invention is a method and system for forecasting the behavioral characterization of customers to help customize programming contents on each node, defined as means for playing output, of each site of a plurality of sites in a media network through automatically measuring, characterizing, and forecasting the behavioral information of customers that appear in the vicinity of each means for playing output, using a plurality of image capturing devices and a plurality of computer vision technologies on the visual information, which solves the aforementioned problems in the prior art. It is an objective of the present invention to provide an efficient and robust solution that solves the aforementioned problems in the prior art. The present invention is called behavior-based programming (BBP).
Computer vision algorithms have been shown to be an effective means for detecting and tracking people. These algorithms also have been shown to be effective in analyzing the behavior of people in the view of the means for capturing images. This allows for the possibility of connecting the visual information from a scene to the behavior and content of advertising media. The invention allows freedom of installation position between data gathering devices, a set of cameras, and display devices. The invention automatically and unobtrusively analyzes the customer behavior without involving any hassle of feeding information manually by the customer. The present invention does not require the customer to carry any cumbersome device.
Another limitation found in the prior arts is that the data gathering device is often collocated adjacent to the display device in the prior art. However, depending on the public place environment and the business goal, where the embodiment of the system is installed, it may be necessary to install the data gathering devices independent of the position of the display device. For example, some owners of public places could want to utilize the widely used and already installed surveillance cameras in their public places for the data gathering. In this situation, the surveillance cameras may not necessarily be collocated adjacent to the display devices.
The BBP enables the separation of the device locations, which makes the layout of equipment installation flexible. In the above exemplary cases, the BBP enables the targeted content to be delivered and displayed through display devices, which do not need to be collocated adjacent to the data gathering devices, such as cameras.

Method and system for automatically measuring and forecasting the behavioral characterization of customers to help customize programming contents in a media network


A spoon, which comprises a sheet of plastic bags received in a bottom cap which is secured to the body thereof. Plastic bags can be drawn out of the bottom cap one by one, for wrapping up the spoon therein. A retainer ring is provided to sleeve on the handle of the spoon so as to secure a plastic bag to the spoon. Every plastic bag can be removed from the spoon each time after use, so that a new plastic bag can be used to wrap the spoon and the spoon can be repeatedly used without the need to wash.

The present invention relates to spoons and more particularly to a spoon which can be repeatedly used without the need to wash.
Conventional disposable dinner set is generally made of foamed plastics, which are to be thrown away each time after use. However, the use of foamed plastics may cause environmental pollution because regular foamed plastics are not dissolvable in the weather. Further, foamed plastics may be easily blown to turn over by wind force and may produce chemical reaction when it is used to contain hot fluid. During chemical reaction, harmful substances may produce simultaneously. Therefore, it is harmful to people's health to use such kind of disposable products for containing foods.
An object of the present invention is to provide a spoon which can be repeatedly used without the need to wash.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a spoon in which the cover layers are made of a kind of plastic material which does not cause chemical reaction when it is heated by hot fluid.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a spoon which does not produce environmental pollution.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a spoon which is not easy to break or be blown by wind force to turn over.
A yet further object of the present invention is to provide a spoon which is inexpensive to manufacture.
The present invention will now be described by way of example, with reference to the annexed drawings, in which:


A stack or tandem injection molding apparatus includes a first melt transfer nozzle coupled to a stationary platen and a second melt transfer nozzle coupled to a movable platen. A melt transfer device includes a first valve pin extending through a first melt transfer channel of the first melt transfer nozzle and a second valve pin extending through a second melt transfer channel of the second melt transfer nozzle. At least one groove is provided in the outer surface of the first valve pin. The first valve pin is movable relative to the first and second melt transfer nozzles to selectively locate the groove across a portion of the first melt transfer channel and a portion of the second melt transfer channel to allow melt to flow therebetween in the mold closed position and to prevent drooling in the mold open position.

Stack and tandem injection molding devices provide an advantage over single molding in that each enables the output of an injection molding machine to be at least doubled without significantly increasing its size. Stack mold configurations generally employ a stationary first platen, a movable center platen and a movable second platen. The mold cavities are conventionally located on opposing faces of the movable center platen. The movable center platen and the second movable platen reciprocate to open and close the mold cavities during a production cycle. In a stack molding apparatus, the melt runner system or the manifold system extends through the center platen in order to reach the mold cavities located on each side of the center platen via an equal path length.
Typically, multi-cavity stack molds use a single and movable sprue bar, or transfer nozzle, to provide a direct melt channel between the nozzle of the injection molding machine and its hot runner distributor, or manifold, which is mounted in the center section of the stack mold. The manifold delivers melt from the sprue bar, or transfer nozzle, into injection nozzles that are associated with each individual mold cavity. "Sprue bars" are typically thermal gated, whereas "transfer nozzles" are valve gated.
As a result of the reciprocating action of the movable platens, the sprue bar, or transfer nozzle, is continuously coupled to and decoupled from the melt source. It is therefore necessary to control the flow of the pressurized melt stream when the sprue bar, or transfer nozzle, is decoupled from the melt source so that substantially no drooling and no stringing occurs. In the case of tandem injection molding, where there are different parts in the mold that are filled in separate cycles, there is a higher potential for drooling because of the increase in cycles.
Valve gated stack injection molding apparatus, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,212,626, 4,244,909 and 5,460,510 which are incorporated herein by reference thereto, control the flow of melt between platens using valve pin members located in the melt channels of transfer nozzles. In the valve gated stack injection molding apparatus of U.S. Pat. No. 5,460,510, the upstream and downstream nozzles each have valve pins that reciprocate between retracted open positions and closed positions in which the valve pins are seated in respective gates. Diagonal vent bores are formed in the valve pins to provide a path for melt to flow back into the melt channel of the nozzle when the valve pins are in the closed position.
Tandem molds are known and they provide at least two molds that can be operated sequentially in order to mold different parts that may require different cooling cycle times. Reference is made in this regard to U.S. Pat. No. 4,400,341, U.S. Pat. No. 5,049,343 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,620,723, herein incorporated by reference, that show injection molding machines where molded parts are injected in two different mold plates that can be operated sequentially in order to adjust injection molding parameters such as the cooling time.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a melt transfer device for substantially reducing the occurrence of drooling and stringing in a stack or a tandem injection molding apparatus.


A binocular includes first and second swingable bodies respectively accommodating telescope systems. The binocular further includes two drive rings respectively provided to the swingable bodies and an operation knob. A transmission unit is provided to transmit the rotation of the operation knob to the drive rings. The transmission unit includes two pairs of a first gear and a second gear. The first gear and the second gear engage with the other so that a contact point of pitch circles thereof is located on each of the swing axis.

The present invention relates to a binocular.
Generally, a binocular includes a mechanism such as a magnifying-power-varying mechanism and an operation knob for manually operating the mechanism. In case of a binocular with the magnifying-power-varying mechanism, two drive rings (for example, cam rings) are provided to left and right lens barrels for moving the lens groups. In order to transmit the rotation of the operation knob to the drive rings, the conventional binocular is provided with a gear train connecting the operation knob and the drive rings.
However, if the binocular further has an interpupillary adjustment mechanism (in which the lens barrels are swung about certain swing axes), the relative rotational position of adjacent gears of the gear train may be changed by the swinging of the lens barrels. If the relative rotational position of the adjacent gears changes, the drive rings are intentionally rotated. Thus, when the interpupillary adjustment is performed, the magnifying-power may be unintentionally varied.

Binocular with rotation transmitting system


Multi-layered golf balls having a core made of a foamed composition, preferably polyurethane foam, are provided. The ball includes a dual-layered core having a foam inner core (center) and surrounding outer core layer. The outer core layer may be made from a non-foamed thermoset material such as polybutadiene rubber. The ball further includes an inner cover, preferably made from an ionomer composition comprising an O/X-type acid copolymer, wherein O is α-olefin, and X is a C3-C8 α,β-ethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acid. The outer cover may be made from a non-foamed thermoset or thermoplastic material such as polyurethane. Preferably, the specific gravity of the inner cover is greater than the specific gravity of the outer core, which is greater than the specific gravity of the inner core. The finished ball has good distance and low-spin properties.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to multi-layered golf balls having a core made of a foamed composition. Particularly, the ball includes a dual-layered core having a foam inner core (center) and surrounding outer core layer, preferably made from a thermoset rubber. The ball further includes an inner cover, preferably made from a thermoplastic ionomer composition; and an outer polyurethane cover. The core and inner cover layers have selective weight distribution such that the layers have different densities. The finished ball has good distance and low-spin properties.
Brief Review of the Related Art
Both professional and amateur golfer use multi-piece, solid golf balls today. Basically, a two-piece solid golf ball includes a solid inner core protected by an outer cover. The inner core is made of a natural or synthetic rubber such as polybutadiene, styrene butadiene, or polyisoprene. The cover surrounds the inner core and may be made of a variety of materials including ethylene acid copolymer ionomers, polyamides, polyesters, polyurethanes, and polyureas.
In recent years, three-piece, four-piece, and even five-piece balls have become more popular. New manufacturing technologies, lower material costs, and desirable ball playing performance properties have contributed to these multi-piece balls becoming more popular. Many golf balls used today have multi-layered cores comprising an inner core and at least one surrounding outer core layer. For example, the inner core may be made of a relatively soft and resilient material, while the outer core may be made of a harder and more rigid material. The "dual-core" sub-assembly is encapsulated by a cover of at least one layer to provide a final ball assembly. Different materials can be used to manufacture the core and cover and impart desirable properties to the final ball.
The core sub-assembly located inside of the golf ball acts as an engine or spring for the ball. Thus, the composition and construction of the core is a key factor in determining the resiliency and rebounding performance of the ball. In general, the rebounding performance of the ball is determined by calculating its initial velocity after being struck by the face of the golf club and its outgoing velocity after making impact with a hard surface. More particularly, the "Coefficient of Restitution" or "COR" of a golf ball refers to the ratio of a ball's rebound velocity to its initial incoming velocity when the ball is fired out of an air cannon into a rigid vertical plate. The COR for a golf ball is written as a decimal value between zero and one. A golf ball may have different COR values at different initial velocities. The United States Golf Association (USGA) sets limits on the initial velocity of the ball so one objective of golf ball manufacturers is to maximize COR under such conditions. Balls with a higher rebound velocity have a higher COR value. Such golf balls rebound faster, retain more total energy when struck with a club, and have longer flight distance as opposed to balls with low COR values. These properties are particularly important for long distance shots. For example, balls having high resiliency and COR values tend to travel a far distance when struck by a driver club from a tee.
The durability, spin rate, and feel of the ball also are important properties. In general, the durability of the ball refers to the impact-resistance of the ball. Balls having low durability appear worn and damaged even when such balls are used only for brief time periods. In some instances, the cover may be cracked or torn. The spin rate refers to the ball's rate of rotation after it is hit by a club. Balls having a relatively high spin rate are advantageous for short distance shots made with irons and wedges. Professional and highly skilled amateur golfers can place a back spin more easily on such balls. This helps a player better control the ball and improves shot accuracy and placement. By placing the right amount of spin on the ball, the player can get the ball to stop precisely on the green or place a fade on the ball during approach shots. On the other hand, recreational players who cannot intentionally control the spin of the ball when hitting it with a club are less likely to use high spin balls. For such players, the ball can spin sideways more easily and drift far-off the course, especially if it is hooked or sliced. Meanwhile, the "feel" of the ball generally refers to the sensation that a player experiences when striking the ball with the club and it is a difficult property to quantify. Most players prefer balls having a soft feel, because the player experience a more natural and comfortable sensation when their club face makes contact with these balls. Balls having a softer feel are particularly desirable when making short shots around the green, because the player senses more and can place a better touch on such balls. The feel of the ball primarily depends upon the hardness and compression of the ball.
Manufacturers of golf balls are constantly looking to different materials and ball constructions for improving the playing performance and other properties of the ball. For example, golf ball manufacturers have looked at ball constructions, wherein the density or specific gravity among the multiple layers of the golf ball is adjusted to control its spin rate. The total weight of a golf ball preferably conforms to weight limits set by the United States Golf Association ("USGA"). Although the total weight of the golf ball is controlled, the distribution of weight within the ball can vary. Redistributing the weight or mass of the golf ball either towards the center of the ball or towards the outer surface of the ball changes its flight and spin properties.
For example, the weight can be shifted towards the center of the ball to increase the spin rate as described in Yamada, U.S. Pat. No. 4,625,964, wherein the golf ball contains a core, an intermediate layer, and a cover, and the core has a specific gravity of at least 1.50 and a diameter of less than 32 mm, the intermediate layer having a lower specific gravity than the core. Chikaraishi et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,048,838 discloses another three-piece golf ball containing a two-piece solid core and a cover. The dense inner core has a diameter in the range of 15-25 mm with a specific gravity of 1.2 to 4.0 and the outer core layer has a specific gravity of 0.1 to 3.0 less than the specific gravity of the inner core. Gentiluomo, U.S. Pat. No. 5,104,126 discloses a ball with a dense inner core made of steel, lead, brass, zinc, copper, and a filled elastomer, wherein the core has a specific gravity of at least 1.25. The inner core is encapsulated by a lower density syntactic foam composition and this construction is encapsulated by an ionomer cover. Yabuki et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,482,285 discloses a three-piece golf ball having an inner core and outer core encapsulated by an ionomer cover. The specific gravity of the outer core is reduced so that it falls within the range of 0.2 to 1.0. The specific gravity of the inner core is adjusted so that the total weight of the inner/outer core falls within a range of 32.0 to 39.0 g. In other instances, the weight can be shifted to the outside portion of the ball and away from the center. For example, Sullivan and Nesbitt, U.S. Pat. No. 6,120,393 discloses golf balls having a low spin rate. The balls comprise a relatively soft, multi-piece core and a hard cover. The inner core is hollow and may be filled with gases, while the outer core layer is made of a soft, resilient material. Sullivan and Nesbitt, U.S. Pat. No. 6,142,887 disclose a golf ball containing a core, a thin spherical layer, and a polymeric outer cover. The thin spherical layer comprises a metal, ceramic, or composite material such a silicon carbide, glass, carbon, boron carbide, and aramid materials.
Golf ball manufacturers also have looked at lighter-weight materials, such as foams, for making the inner core. For example, Puckett and Cadorniga, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,836,552 and 4,839,116 disclose one-piece, short distance golf balls made of a foam composition comprising a thermoplastic polymer (ethylene acid copolymer ionomer such as Surlyn®) and filler material (microscopic glass bubbles). The density of the composition increases from the center to the surface of the ball. Thus, the ball has relatively dense outer skin and a cellular inner core. According to the '552 and '116 patents, by providing a short distance golf ball, which will play approximately 50% of the distance of a conventional golf ball, the land requirements for a golf course can be reduced 67% to 50%.
Gentiluomo, U.S. Pat. No. 5,104,126 discloses a three-piece golf ball (FIG. 2) containing a high density center (3) made of steel, surrounded by an outer core (4) of low density resilient syntactic foam composition, and encapsulated by an ethylene acid copolymer ionomer (Surlyn®) cover (5). The '126 patent defines the syntactic foam as being a low density composition consisting of granulated cork or hollow spheres of either phenolic, epoxy, ceramic or glass, dispersed within a resilient elastomer.
Aoyama, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,688,192 and 5,823,889 disclose a golf ball containing a core, wherein the core comprising an inner and outer portion, and a cover made of a material such as balata rubber or ethylene acid copolymer ionomer. The core is made by foaming, injecting a compressible material, gasses, blowing agents, or gas-containing microspheres into polybutadiene or other core material. According to the '889 patent, polyurethane compositions may be used. The compressible material, for example, gas-containing compressible cells may be dispersed in a limited part of the core so that the portion containing the compressible material has a specific gravity of greater than 1.00.
Golf ball manufacturers have considered foam inner cores over the years, but they have experienced drawbacks with using such foam materials. For example, one disadvantage with golf balls having a foam core is the ball tends to have low resiliency. That is, the velocity of the ball tends to be low after being hit by a club and the ball generally travels short distances. It would be desirable to have a foam core with improved resiliency that would allow players to generate higher initial ball speed. With higher ball speeds, players can make longer distance shots. Particularly, it would be desirable to develop multi-layered foam core constructions having the proper weight distribution to provide the ball with good distance properties. The present invention provides new foam cores and balls having improved weigh distribution, resiliency and other advantageous properties, features, and benefits.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Multi-layered golf balls having foam center with selective weight distribution


A remote support system includes: an image processing apparatus; an information terminal apparatus; and an information processing apparatus serving for remote support. The image processing apparatus and the information terminal apparatus operate in sync with each other. Either or both of the image processing apparatus and the information terminal apparatus execute the following operations: receiving a synchronous display start command; determining whether or not the image processing apparatus and the information terminal apparatus are operating in sync with each other; obtaining first screen information on the image processing apparatus and second screen information on the information terminal apparatus if the image processing apparatus and the information terminal apparatus are operating in sync with each other; and transmitting the first and second screen information to the information processing apparatus. The information processing apparatus reproduces screens on the basis of the first and second screen information received therefrom.

Technical Field
The present invention relates to: an image processing apparatus such as a multi-function peripheral (MFP) i.e. a multifunctional digital machine; a remote support system provided with an information terminal apparatus such as a smartphone or tablet computer capable of operating in sync with the image processing apparatus; an information processing apparatus for remote support; and a recording medium.
Description of the Related Art
Various systems that enable remote support on an image processing apparatus have been heretofore suggested. For example, in such a system, an information processing apparatus for remote support displays a screen identical with the current screen of an image processing apparatus in a synchronous manner. The information processing apparatus transmits coordinate data indicating a touch event on the screen to the image processing apparatus, and the image processing apparatus produces another screen with reference to the received coordinate data and displays the screen. The user who is unfamiliar with how to manipulate the image processing apparatus is thus allowed to receive support from the information processing apparatus.
According to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2015-170049, such a heretofore known system is disclosed as an image forming system that includes an information processing apparatus for supporting an image forming apparatus. This image forming system includes an information processing apparatus for user support, an image forming apparatus, and an information terminal apparatus, which are connected to each other through a network. The information processing apparatus is provided with: a screen emulator that produces a screen image for screen sharing; a screen sharing portion that shares the screen image; and an access switch that switches the support target to the information terminal apparatus upon request from the image forming apparatus. The information processing apparatus is thus allowed to switch the support target to the information terminal apparatus upon request from the image forming apparatus.
Recently introduced functions allow an image processing apparatus such as an MFP as described above and an information terminal apparatus to operate in sync with each other. To input data to the image processing apparatus using KEYBOARD LINK and/or ADDRESS LINK function, for example, the user has to manipulate both the image processing apparatus and the information terminal apparatus. However, the user may be unfamiliar with how to manipulate an operation screen displayed on the information terminal apparatus; the user may be even more unfamiliar with how to manipulate an operation screen on the image processing apparatus and an operation screen on the information terminal apparatus alternately.
It can be considered that the information processing apparatus for remote support displays a screen identical with the current screen of the image processing apparatus in a synchronous manner. In this case, the operator of the information processing apparatus is allowed to provide manipulation support on the information processing apparatus with a screen displayed in a synchronous manner, but allowed to provide manipulation support on the information terminal apparatus only by telephone or the like with no such screen. Without a screen displayed on the information terminal apparatus in a synchronous manner, it will not be easy for the operator to grasp the situation by telephonic communication.
As described above, while the image processing apparatus and the information terminal apparatus are operating in sync with each other, the user cannot receive accurate and efficient support because the information processing apparatus for remote support is not capable of displaying the current screen of the information terminal apparatus all that while.
According to the system of Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2015-170049, the image processing apparatus is capable of displaying a screen produced by the information processing apparatus but the information processing apparatus is not capable of displaying the current screen of the information terminal apparatus. So, this system cannot provide accurate and efficient support while the image processing apparatus and the information terminal apparatus are operating in sync with each other.

Remote support system and recording medium


A switchable free-spectral-range mode selector is used to change the free spectral range of a free-space delay-line interferometer. The mode selector consists of a rotatable device with at least one transparent plate selected to produce the desired change in the free spectral range of the delay-line interferometer. The device may be rotated in and out of the free-space optical path of on of the interferometer arms. If used as a DPSK demodulator, the device enables operation at multiple predetermined free spectral ranges. In the preferred embodiment, the demodulator includes a 50/50 beam-splitter cube combined with two cavities. The mode selector consists of a plurality of different transparent slabs attached to a rotatable shaft so that any one of the slabs or none may be inserted in the appropriate optical path to obtain the desired FSR mode of operation.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to differential phase-shift keying (DPSK) in telecommunication. More specifically, it relates to DPSK devices for multiple free-spectral-range operation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Phase-shift keying (PSK) is a digital modulation scheme that conveys data by changing, or modulating, the phase of a reference signal (the carrier wave). Any digital modulation scheme uses a finite number of distinct signals to represent digital data. In the case of PSK, a finite number of phases is used. Each of these phases is assigned a unique pattern of binary bits. Usually, each phase encodes an equal number of bits. Each pattern of bits forms the symbol that is represented by the particular phase. The demodulator, which is designed specifically for the symbol-set used by the modulator, determines the phase of the received signal and maps it back to the symbol it represents, thus recovering the original data. This requires the receiver to be able to compare the phase of the received signal to a reference signal (such a system is termed coherent).
Alternatively, instead of using bit patterns to set the phase of the wave, the patterns are used to set changes in the phase of the signal. The demodulator then determines the changes in the phase of the received signal rather than the phase itself. Since this scheme depends on the difference between successive phases, it is termed differential phase-shift keying (DPSK). DPSK can be significantly simpler to implement than ordinary PSK because there is no need for the demodulator to have a copy of the reference signal to determine the exact phase of the received signal (i.e., it is a non-coherent scheme).
In telecommunication technology, differential phase-shift keying utilizes a decoding method in order to convert the phase-keyed signal to an intensity-keyed signal at the receiving end. The decoding method can be achieved by comparing the phase of two sequential bits. In principle, it splits the input signal beam into two channels with a small delay before recombining them. After the recombination, the beams from the two channels interfere constructively and destructively. The interference intensity is measured and becomes the intensity-keyed signal. To achieve this, one channel has an optical path longer than the other by a distance equivalent to the photon flight time of one bit. For instance, in a 40 Gbit-per-second system, one bit is equal to 25 ps and light travels 7.5 mm in that period. Thus, in this example, the optical path difference (OPD) between the two channels would be set at 7.5 mm.
The Mach-Zehnder type interferometer with a desired OPD between the two channels has been used for decoding purposes. Because of the properties of optical interference, a change in OPD can greatly affect interference intensity. Moreover, the optical path in each arm is much longer than its difference. Therefore, a sophisticated temperature control is required to maintain the optical path in each arm in order to assure that the change in the OPD is much less than a small fraction of one wavelength, e.g., about 10 nm. This is difficult and expensive to achieve, especially for an interferometer with a long optical path.
FIG. 1 shows the typical configuration of a Michelson interferometer 10. The core of such device consists of a beam-splitter cube 12 and two mirrors 14,16 positioned so as to reflect the transmission and reflection beams produced by the beam splitter. Two cavity structures are shown in the figures because commonly used in the art, but it is understood that the mirrors 14,16 are the only relevant optical elements to the Michelson configuration and the rest of the structure can take different forms. The input signal I impinges on the beam-splitting surface 18 of the beam-splitter cube 12 and produces two beams (a reflected beam R and a transmitted beam T), each carrying 50% of the total power. After both beams R,T are reflected by the mirrors 14,16 along their respective optical paths, they return to the beam-splitting surface 18 and are split again, thereby producing two pairs of beams propagating in different directions. The two beams in each pair interfere, both constructively and destructively, to produce two output beams O1 and O2 that are 180 degrees out of phase.
As mentioned, the mirrors 14,16 are illustrated as components of cavity structures formed by combining two pieces of fused silica glass plates (20,22 and 24,26) and a number of spacers (28 and 30) interposed between them. Therefore, the cavity length is defined by the length of the spacers in the cavity. (Two spacers are illustrated for each cavity, but different numbers are often used in the art to meet other design requirements.) The spacers are typically made of a Zerodur® or a ULE® (ultra low expansion) glass, both substances with a coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) less than 0.05 ppm (i.e., very close to zero), in order to make the free spectral range of the device practically insensitive to temperature variations. The rest of the parts in the interferometer are made of fused silica, which has CTE of 0.5 ppm. The joints between the spacers, the fused silica and the beam splitter are implemented by optical contact technology. In essence, the parts are super-polished, contacted at room temperature, and then thermally treated for several hours in order to obtain a permanent bond. Mirror coatings are used in conventional manner to form the mirrors 14,16 on the glass plates 22,26 to reflect the impinging beams at the distal end of each cavity.
Assuming that the anti-reflection (AR) coated surfaces 32,34 of the glass plates 20,24 at the proximal end of each cavity are equidistant from the beam-splitting surface 18, the lengths L1 and L2 of the cavities determine the optical path difference (OPD) between the two arms of the interferometer 10. As is well understood in the art, the difference in the optical lengths of the two arms (which under the conditions described is the same as the difference between L1 and L2) determines the free spectral range (FSR) of the device. The relationship between the FSR of the device and the cavity lengths is given by
                    FSR        =                              C                          2                                            (                                                      L                    1                                    -                                      L                    2                                                  )                                              =                      C                          2                                            (                                                      L                    2                                    -                                      L                    1                                                  )                                                                        (        1        )            where C is the speed of light. For example, an OPD of 3,000 μm will produce an FSR of 100-GHz.
For optical communication DPSK demodulator applications, the relative lengths of the cavities are also selected so as to provide a time delay (τDLI) between the two beams R and T returning to the beam-splitting surface 18 that is close to the time interval (τ0) between two adjacent bits. (If τDLI<τ0, the interferometer can be used as a PDPSK—partial DPSK—demodulator.) FIG. 2 shows the spectra of two outputs O1 and O2 of a DPSK demodulator with FSR=50 GHz.
Copending U.S. application Ser. No. 11/360,959 and No. 11/485,653 describe various embodiments of novel Michelson-type interferometers used as DPSK demodulators. These demodulators provide a significant improvement over the prior art, but the operation of each device is limited to a single free spectral range. The present invention provides a solution for expanding the use of any free-space delay line interferometer (DLI) to multiple free-spectral-range applications.


A GaN-based transistor device comprises a substrate; a buffer layer disposed on the substrate; a channel layer disposed on the buffer layer; a barrier layer disposed on a part of the channel layer; a passivation layer disposed on the barrier layer; wherein the barrier layer and the passivation layer comprise a first side wall and a second side wall; a barrier metal layer disposed on the passivation layer has a first opening that exposes a part of the passivation layer, and the passivation layer has a second opening located in the first opening; a gate electrode disposed on the exposed part of the barrier layer, a source electrode disposed on the channel layer covers the first side wall and a part of the barrier metal layer, and a drain electrode disposed on the channel layer covers the second side wall and another part of the barrier metal layer.

Technical Field
The disclosure relates to a GaN-based transistor device transistor and a method manufacturing the same.
Related Art
As the technology advances, demands for high power semiconductor devices are also increasing. The conventional Si-based and GaAs semiconductor devices with lower energy gap can hardly satisfy the demands of high power semiconductor devices. As a result, semiconductor made of larger energy gap materials such as SiC or GaN emerges. Comparing semiconductor devices made of materials of GaN or SiC, semiconductor devices made of GaN material with bandgap tuning have higher channel electron mobility and carrier concentration. Therefore, GaN-based semiconductor devices can easily satisfy the demands of high power applications, such as High Electron Mobility Transistor (HEMT).
In order to produce a high quality electrode interface of a high electron mobility transistor, a high temperature annealing process is taken after the source electrode and the drain electrode are made. However, metal element in those electrodes easily diffuses to inside of the transistor during the high temperature annealing process. Thus, it raises an important issue to improve the manufacturing process of the high electron mobility transistor.

Structure of GaN-based transistor and method of fabricating the same

INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH INSTITUTE


A pneumatic impacting mechanism comprising a first cylinder and a piston with a rear air distributing bar and a front air distributing bar which simultaneously acts as an impacting head of the same, said rear distributing bar having an axially extending air inlet channel, which in turn can be connected, through a radial air channel in the piston, alternatively with a pair of air inlet channels leading to a second cylinder of a plunger valve, said plunger valve being provided with two annular grooves at both ends for alternatively controlling two air inlet channels and two air exhaust channels. In this manner, the quantities of compressed air entering into the first cylinder during forward and backward strokes are determined by the lengths of the two distributing bars. Moreover, two air buffer chambers are provided at both ends of the first cylinder so that the compressed air doing work within said first cylinder can expand to approximately atmosphere. With the back pressure of the piston reduced considerably, the energy of compressed air can be made full use of.

This invention relates to a pneumatic impacting mechanism, in particular to a pneumatic rock drill for mineral use.
Impacting devices driven by compressed air, such as rock drill, pneumatic pick, pneumatic riveter, etc., are widely used nowadays. However, they are all of a low efficiency in respect of energy use, since with most devices only 26-35% of the effective energy contained in compressed air is made use of.
The structure of a traditional rock drill is shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. When valve 40 is at extreme left, as shown in FIG. 4, the compressed air 31 enters into a rear chamber 29 of the cylinder 1 through an air channel 35, to push a piston 2 forward, while the front chamber 28 of the cylinder is connected to atmosphere. After face A--A of the piston 2 passes by an air exhaust hole 71, the air remaining in chamber 28 is compressed by a forward movement of the piston 2. A pneumatic cushion thus formed will consume the kinetic energy of the piston 2, and the piston 2 is connected with an impacting head of the device. When face B--B of the piston 2 passes by said exhaust hole 71, as shown in FIG. 5, the rear chamber 29 is connected to atmosphere, so that the pressure within this chamber drops all of a sudden. At the same time, the front chamber 28 is connected to the back side of the valve 40 through an air channel 36, to move said valve 40 towards its right position, thus connecting said chamber 28 with the compressed air source 31, to start a backward stroke. The whole procedure of a backward stroke is much the same as a forward stroke.
The main features of the traditional mechanism can be summed up in the following:
1. The compressed air, supplied alternatively during a forward stroke and a backward stroke, can do work only in an isobaric state rather than an expansion state.
2. Since high pressure air is exhausted suddenly through a fixed exhaust hole, exhaustion is not only uncontinuous, but also incomplete. After exhaustion, there is sure to be certain quantity of air left in the cylinder. This portion of air is adiabatically compressed by the piston to form an air cushion. This portion of compressed air can no longer be made use of, and we call it "cushion loss". Normally, 40% of energy is lost due to continuous air supply and discontinued exhaustion at a high pressure. And in addition, 16% more energy loss is caused by an air cushion formed after adiabatical compression.
3. Another shortcoming with a traditional device is its serious noise pollution. Since exhaustion is performed at a high pressure and within a short time, a sort of pulse noise is produced, which has become a major source of noise pollution with the traditional pneumatic impacting devices.
It is obvious that the above-mentioned shortcomings are caused by a structural deficiency of the traditional mechanism, and cannot be overcomed or improved by simply changing the dimensions, materials, or the manufacturing processes.

High efficiency pneumatic impacting mechanism with a plunger valve


An improved output driver is disclosed having a pull-off diode-connected transistor and a resistor for keeping a pass transistor off when no load current is desired. An MOS transistor is coupled in parallel with the pull-off diode. As the input voltage increases beyond a threshold level, the diode is no longer able to pull-off the pass transistor's base due to increasing leakage currents in the pass transistor and is thus unable to turn off the pass transistor. The MOS transistor turns on at this threshold voltage and pulls-off the pass transistor's base hard enough to keep the pass transistor off. In one embodiment, the MOS transistor is incorporated into an unadjusted field region of the diode-connected transistor without any additional masking or processing steps. Further, since it is formed in the field region of the diode, the inclusion of the MOS transistor requires no additional surface area.

Typically, voltage regulator circuits provide a constant output voltage of a predetermined value by monitoring the output and using feedback to keep the output constant. FIG. 1 shows an output driver 1 of a typical prior art voltage regulator. A PNP pass transistor 12 has its emitter coupled to an input voltage rail 14 and its collector coupled to an output terminal 16. Pass transistor 12 is typically a high power transistor. Voltages at rail 14 typically range from 5 to 30 volts.
A PNP transistor 18, operating as a current source, is connected to the collector of an NPN transistor 20. The collector of NPN transistor 20 is also coupled to the base of pass transistor 12.
NPN transistor 20 is controlled by a control signal coupled to its base 21 to turn on pass transistor 12 by pulling down the base of pass transistor 12. Diode 22, which is typically a diode-connected transistor, and resistor 24 are connected between the base of transistor 12 and voltage rail 14 to provide a pull-up voltage for the base of pass transistor 12.
Pass transistor 12 provides a variable current to output terminal 16 for driving a load (not shown) coupled between output terminal 16 and ground. The voltage at output terminal 16 is regulated by a feedback loop (not shown) which adjusts the control signal to the base 21 of NPN transistor 20. When the load requires a large current, the feedback circuit increases the control voltage to transistor 20 which, in turn, increases the conductance of pass transistor 12 to provide the necessary collector current to drive the load at output terminal 16. Conversely, when the load requires only a small amount of current, a lower control signal is generated by the feedback circuit so that pass transistor 12 provides only a small amount of current to output terminal 16. When no load current is desired, the control signal turns off transistor 20. However, when a small load current or no load current is intended to flow, relatively small base-substrate and base-emitter leakage currents within pass transistor 12, as well as similar leakage currents in transistor 20, result in unwanted additional current flowing through the base of pass transistor 12. This undesirable base drive current further turns on transistor 12 to some extent, causing a larger load current to be provided at output terminal 16 than was intended.
The amplification (or beta) of pass transistor 12 is problematic for another reason. At low base currents the beta of pass transistor 12 is higher than at larger base currents. Since the impedance looking into a transistor's base is proportional to its beta, it follows that the pass transistor's base impedance will also increase at low base currents. This larger base impedance, together with parasitic base-substrate and base-emitter capacitances of pass transistor 12, forms a low pass filter at the base of transistor 12. This low pass filter adds an additional pole to the regulator circuit, thereby limiting the frequency response of the circuit and causing unwanted oscillations at the output terminal 16.
The above-described problems are largely overcome by diode 22 and resistor 24. First, by providing a relatively low impedance path between the base and emitter of pass transistor 12, diode 22 and resistor 24 dominate the base impedance of pass transistor 12 at low base currents. The resultant decrease in base impedance mitigates the effects of the low pass filter, thereby improving the frequency response of the circuit and reducing the likelihood of oscillations.
As mentioned earlier, when no load current is to be provided, transistor 20 and pass transistor 12 should be in their off states. When transistor 20 is in its off or low conductivity state, the current through diode 22 and resistor 24 pulls up (i.e., pulls to a higher voltage) the base of transistor 12 to a high enough voltage to force transistor 12 to turn off despite the above-described leakage currents. In this manner, diode 22 and resistor 24 offset the tendency of leakage currents to turn on transistor 12 when no or little load current is to be provided to the load. Thus, by offsetting the base drive current of transistor 12, diode 22 and resistor 24 prevent undesirably large DC bias currents from flowing when little or no load current is desired.
At high input voltages and high temperatures, however, diode 22 and resistor 24 cease to operate properly in keeping transistor 12 turned off when no load current is to be provided. As the input voltage and/or the operating temperature increases, pass transistor 12's base-substrate and base-emitter leakage currents rapidly increase to levels sufficient to turn on transistor 12. As the input voltage exceeds approximately 40 volts, pass transistor 12 begins to experience punch-through, which causes a large collector current to flow. This large collector current causes the collector (or output) voltage to increase beyond its regulated level. This higher collector voltage, in turn, further increases the undesirable base drive discussed above. Diode 22 is no longer able to pull-off the base of transistor 12 hard enough or quickly enough to offset the strong base drive current resulting from the leakage currents. As a result, at such high temperatures and input voltages pass transistor 12 will supply a large collector current to the load. Such a large collector current, as discussed above, is problematic when the load requires no current or a small current.
Thus, there is a need for an improved output driver which reduces its associated pass transistor's base impedance at high input voltages and temperatures. There is also a need for an output driver which has the capability of pulling-off (i.e., turning off) its associated pass transistor at high temperature and high input voltage without any increase in ground current when the pass transistor is off.

Voltage regulator having MOS pull-off transistor for a bipolar pass transistor


An X-ray imaging apparatus includes an X-ray generator configured to generate X-rays; a detector configured to detect X-rays that have penetrated an object; a stand on which the detector is mounted; and a control panel mounted on the stand, and configured to operate the detector to rotate or move up or down along an extension direction of the stand.

1. Field
Exemplary embodiments relate to an easily operable switch device and an X-ray imaging apparatus and an electronic apparatus including the switch device.
2. Related Art
An input unit to operate various functions may be provided in electronic devices. The input unit may include various input means including a button, a track ball, a touch pad, a toggle switch, a joy stick, etc.
When a button is pressed to perform various operations of the electronic device, because any one of a plurality of buttons arranged in the input unit is pressed, an operation radius of a key may be small, and there is a high probability of an incorrect input operation. In case of the track ball, because it does not have a constant directionality, there may be an advantage in precisely controlling a movement, but there is also a disadvantage in controlling a simple movement.
The toggle switch represents a switch device which may become any one of an on state and an off state. The joy stick is a lever-type switch device having degrees of freedom in at least two directions. In the case of the joy stick, an electronic apparatus may be operated to identify movement information by a lever moved in an up and down direction, a left and right direction, or a diagonal direction.

Switch device, and X-ray imaging apparatus and electronic apparatus including the same


To achieve synchronization of an inverter-synchronous machine drive system, feedback of a phase angle signal, derived in part from stator current drawn by, and voltage supplied to, the synchronous machine, is provided to control the frequency of inverter thyristor conduction. At light or zero synchronous machine load conditions, machine stator current may be of insufficient magnitude to permit derivation of the phase angle feedback signal; therefore, substitute simulated stator current signals, proportional to a preselected combination of inverter thyristor gating pulses, are utilized to derive the phase angle feedback signal, thereby allowing inverter-synchronous machine drive synchronism to be maintained.

This invention relates to apparatus for synchronizing an inverter-synchronous machine drive system and for maintaining such inverter-synchronous machine synchronism at light or zero synchronous machine load conditions.
In many industrial applications where operator control of synchronous machine speed is desired, synchronous machine drive systems are employed. Typically, such synchronous machine drive system comprise a synchronous machine and an inverter which is configured of a plurality of pairs of solid state switching devices, typically thyristors, each pair of thyristors being coupled in series aiding fashion, and each of the pairs coupled across a unidirectional current source. The junction between thyristors of each thyristor pair is coupled to a respective synchronous machine phase. Rendering the thyristors conductive in a predetermined sequence causes the synchronous machine to be supplied with alternating current and hence to commence rotation. By adjusting the frequency at which inverter thyristors conduct, the frequency of alternating current potential supplied to the synchronous machine and hence, synchronous machine speed, can be varied accordingly.
To achieve peak inverter-synchronous machine drive system performance, it is desirable to synchronize the inverter to the synchronous machine, that is, to adjust the frequency of inverter thyristor conduction to maintain commutation of inverter thyristors by synchronous machine back EMF. Such apparatus for achieving inverter-synchronous machine drive synchronism is described and claimed in the copending application Ser. No. 945,625, entitled "Method and Apparatus for Control of Inverter Synchronous Machine Drive Systems", filed by A. B. Plunkett and F. G. Turnbull on Sept. 25, 1978 and assigned to the assignee of the present invention. As taught in that application, inverter-synchronous machine drive system synchronization is achieved by adjusting the frequency of inverter thyristor conduction in accordance with a phase angle feedback signal which is proportional to the difference in magnitude between an operator-commanded machine phase angle relationship and the actual machine phase angle relationship between stator current and air gap flux.
While the method and apparatus described and claimed in the aforementioned application Ser. No. 945,625 achieves inverter-synchronous machine drive system synchronism over a wide range of machine load conditions, inverter-synchronous machine drive system synchronism may not always be maintained at light or zero machine load conditions. This is because machine stator current drawn during intervals of light or zero machine loads may be of insufficient magnitude to permit computation of the actual machine phase angle relationship magnitude. The apparatus of the present invention alleviates this difficulty thereby allowing inverter-synchronous machine drive system synchronism to be maintained even at light or zero machine load conditions.

Apparatus for maintaining synchronism of an inverter-synchronous machine drive system at light or zero machine loads


A data processing system determines for a stream of instructions to be executed, whether there are any instructions that can be re-ordered in the instruction stream 41 and assigns each such instruction to an instruction completion tracker and includes in the encoding for the instruction an indication of the instruction completion tracker it has been assigned to 42. For each instruction in the instruction stream, an indication of which instruction completion trackers, if any, the instruction depends on is also provided 43, 44. Then, when an instruction that is indicated as being dependent on an instruction completion tracker is to be executed, the status of the relevant instruction completion tracker is checked before executing the instruction.

The technology described herein relates to data processing systems, and in particular to the operation of graphics processing systems that include one or more programmable processing stages ("shaders").
As is known in the art, graphics processing is typically carried out in a pipelined fashion, with one or more pipeline stages operating on the data to generate the final render output, e.g. frame that is displayed. Many graphics processing pipelines now include one or more programmable processing stages, commonly referred to as "shaders". For example, a graphics processing pipeline may include one or more of, and typically all of, a geometry shader, a vertex shader and a fragment (pixel) shader. These shaders are programmable processing stages that execute shader programs on input data values to generate a desired set of output data (e.g. appropriately transformed and lit vertex data in the case of a vertex shader) for processing by the rest of the graphics pipeline and/or for output. The shaders of the graphics processing pipeline may share programmable processing circuitry, or they may each be distinct programmable processing units.
A graphics processing unit (GPU) shader core is thus a processing unit that performs graphics processing by running small programs for each graphics item in a graphics output to be generated such as a render target, e.g. frame (an "item" in this regard is usually a vertex or a fragment (pixel)). This generally enables a high degree of parallelism, in that a typical render output, e.g. frame, features a rather large number of vertices and fragments, each of which can be processed independently.
As is known in the art, a shader program to be executed by a given "shader" of a graphics processing pipeline will be provided by the application that requires the graphics processing using a high-level shader programming language, such as GLSL, HLSL, OpenCL, etc. This shader program will consist of "expressions" indicating desired programming steps defined in the relevant language standards (specifications). The high-level shader program is then translated by a shader language compiler to binary code for the target graphics processing pipeline. This binary code will consist of "instructions" which are specified in the instruction set specification for the given target graphics processing pipeline. The compilation process for converting the shader language expressions to binary code instructions may take place via a number of intermediate representations of the program within the compiler, as is known in the art. Thus the program written in the high-level shader language may be translated into a compiler specific intermediate representation (and there may be several successive intermediate representations within the compiler), with the final intermediate representation being translated into the binary code instructions for the target graphics processing pipeline.
A known way to improve shader execution efficiency is to group execution threads (where each thread corresponds to one vertex or one fragment (pixel)) into "groups" or "bundles" of threads, where the threads of one group are run in lockstep, one instruction at a time. This way, it is possible to share instruction fetch and scheduling resources between all the threads in the group. (Other terms used for such thread groups include "warps" and "wavefronts". For convenience the term thread group will be used herein, but this is intended to encompass all equivalent terms and arrangements, unless otherwise indicated.)
Execution units in a thread group architecture are typically deeply pipelined. They are normally kept at high utilization by alternating execution between multiple thread groups on a per-clock-cycle basis.
In existing thread group architectures, execution of instructions in a group is done in a strictly in-order manner: once a thread group has begun executing an instruction, it cannot proceed to the next instruction until the current instruction has completed.
This is not normally a problem for arithmetic instructions, as these typically have fairly short latencies. The GPU normally has more than enough thread groups in flight to keep up utilization for arithmetic-only code fairly well.
However, it can be much more of a problem for instructions with nondeterministic latency. Examples of such instructions include: memory accesses (loads, stores and atomics) and texture lookups. Memory accesses may have low latency in case of a cache hit, but tend to exhibit quite high latencies in case of cache misses. This is particularly the case for loads and atomics (for stores, it is often possible to mask latency by performing write gathering). Texture lookups tend to feature memory accesses with relatively high cache miss rates, as well as a large number of fixed-function processing stages both before and after the memory accesses.
In an in-order thread group-based architecture, a few cache misses can easily cause most or even all of the thread groups to get blocked while waiting for the cache misses to get resolved. This is sometimes also aggravated by multiple thread groups producing cache misses for the same memory region.
Also, due to the lockstep execution of threads, it is possible to get multiple cache misses for a single thread group instruction. This happens when the individual threads in a group get cache misses in different cache lines. In this case, the group cannot proceed until all the cache misses have been resolved, which may take a long time.
There sometimes also arises a "bunching" phenomenon, where large groups of thread groups form a "bunch". This "bunch" then tends to move as a whole between different types of execution units with the result that the execution unit currently occupied by the "bunch" is executing at full rate while other execution units stand idle. The actual execution units that stand idle then shift around while the "bunch" executes. This gives fairly poor execution unit utilization.
The Applicants believe therefore that there remains scope for improvements to the handling of thread groups, for example in graphics processing pipelines that include one or more shader stages.
Like reference numerals are used for like components where appropriate in the drawings.


A video signal recording apparatus digitizes video signals, writes the digital data in a memory and then reads them therefrom before recording the video signals on a recording medium. The orders of access to the addresses in the memory in write and read modes differ from each other with a predetermined relationship. A video signal reproducing apparatus reads recorded video signals from a recording medium, digitizes the video signals, writes the digital data in a memory and then reads them therefrom. The orders of access to the addresses in the memory in write and read modes differ from each other with a predetermined relationship.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording apparatus for recording video signals on a recording medium, such as a disk, and a reproducing apparatus for reproducing the video signals therefrom.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known that there are a video disk player and a video tape recorder as conventional apparatuses for reproducing video signals recorded on a recording medium. For instance, the video disk player reproduces video signals recorded on a disk as long as the disk has been prepared in a predetermined video disk format.
In some cases, it would be inconvenient if all the recorded images were allowed to be reproduced arbitrarily at the time a video disk is played. For example, some educational videos and video games are designed to change the progress of videos in accordance with the manipulation of users, so that if the users can easily find answers to questions or key points of each game, the value of each software is reduced or such videos become insignificant to the users.

Video signal recording/reproducing apparatus where the order of access to video data during a write mode is different than the order of access during a read mode


Examples disclosed herein relate to a device including a media ramp, in examples, the device includes a scanner disposed in a scan zone to image a medium traveling across the scan zone; a transparent member disposed over the scan zone; a media ramp disposed adjacent to the scan zone to direct the medium to an exit; and a film element disposed underneath the transparent member and adjacent to the scan zone at a first end and disposed to extend over at least a portion of the media ramp at a second end.

Imaging devices—including scanners, copiers, facsimile machines, multifunction printers, all-in-one devices, or other devices—convert physical objects (e.g., documents, photographs, etc.) into electronic data. In some examples, imaging devices can include an automatic document feeder (ADFs) to receive stacks of media to provide to a scanner sub-assembly for imaging. ADFs may utilize a transmission having a series of motors and rollers to transport the media between trays.


A 2-dimensional carrier for picture, pattern and/or other information, produced from material, which is wavy or corrugated on its surface and the waves or currugations of which are pressed down or flat within or without contours, which are specified by the picture, pattern and/or the information.

The invention relates to a 2-dimensional product, which serves as carrier for textual or pictorial representations, such as pictures, patterns and/or information, as well as to a method for its production. Such an information carrier can form, for example, an integral component of a receptacle, such as a carrier bag or paper bag.
Carrier or paper bags frequently are used as advertising carriers. Their exterior, wide sides are printed with advertising slogans, company names, trademarks, addresses, telephone numbers, etc., and, moreover, in as pleasing a coloration and conformation as possible. After all, such carrier or paper bags virtually represent a calling card for its user, that is, the ultimate consumer or person engaged in a trade or business. There is therefore a considerable need for finding further products or bodies, which serve as information carriers and can be designed from aesthetic points of view.

Picture, pattern and information carrier and method for its production


The present invention relates to a communication device for transmitting transmission information to a connectionless network, while shaping it, within the range of a transmission bandwidth (=BWt·BWr/ΣBW) to be applied to transmission of this transmission information computed based on bandwidths BWt and BWr, which are allotted respectively to a local station corresponding to a transmitting party of the transmission information and a node corresponding to a destination, and the sum total ΣBW of bandwidths allotted to all the nodes except that destination, and a bandwidth management method applied to the communication device. In a network to which the present invention is applied, bandwidths are managed properly and efficiently, and furthermore, high transmission quality and service quality are maintained steadily and high RAS is also enhanced.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communication device disposed in a connectionless network as a node and a bandwidth management method for setting a bandwidth to be applied to transmission in the communication device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, many private networks laid among lodgments of business organizations via public networks and leased lines for realizing transmission of various information related to the organizations' business employ technology of packet switching and frame relay (cell relay) and so on so that they are configured as connectionless networks allowing communication channels to be formed among desired lodgments.
Furthermore, at present, telecommunication carriers have been switching to connectionless networks to which IP (Internet Protocol), Eathernet, and so on having high line utilization efficiency and providing the maximum merits of multiplexing are applied, and as a result, business organizations as their users have also been configuring their networks utilizing more economical services such as low-charged IP-VPN (L3VPN) and L2VPN.
In such a connectionless network, bandwidths to be allotted for transmitting transmission information among individual lodgments are released when there is no transmission information. Therefore, when a large volume of packets are transmitted in parallel to a specific lodgment from a plurality of lodgments, for example, an edge network connected to this connectionless network gets into congestion and many of the packets are likely to be discarded.
Generally, these discarded packets can be restored by a retransmission procedure included in TCP (Transmission Control Protocol), which is an upper ranked transmission protocol of IP.
However, none of the discarded packets, which are transmitted by a communication device terminating a network by a layer above an IP layer or to be received by such a communication device (for example, communication signals and speech signals transmitted/received under UDP (User Datagram Protocol) fall under this category), are restored.
Conventionally, as a prior art for solving the above problem in such a connectionless network, there exists an ATM cell rate/bandwidth controlling system as described, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. Hei 10-107802, wherein shaping of each transmission information according to bandwidths physically allotted to individual communication devices and a contracted bandwidth of a communication device corresponding to a destination of the transmission information to be transmitted makes it possible to configure almost the same network as a conventional private network in which logical lines are formed between individual destinations and a leased line is utilized.
In the above-described conventional example, bandwidths of paths to be formed among all the lodgments and bandwidths which individual lodgments can allot to transmission according to the combinations of these bandwidths are set manually when necessary.
However, for example, when a bandwidth allotted to a specific lodgment is changed, or when some lodgment is expanded or relocated, previously set bandwidths and so on have to be updated synchronously in all the lodgments.
Moreover, such updating operations cannot be started until the operations of communication devices installed in individual lodgments are forcibly interrupted or until the state and the time permitting the interruption of their operations are recognized.
However, as for networks used, for example, by banks and securities companies and provided for their basic business, the degeneration of transmission quality or the decline in reliability due to the operation interruption of their communication devices at the time of updating bandwidths and so on as described above as well as the aforesaid discarding of packets is not permitted.
Therefore, transmission carriers providing services such as L3VPN and L2VPN (including 'system integration enterprises' providing L3VPN and L2VPN services and a device for realizing these services as a system) have strongly demanded that a connectionless network having flexible adaptability to maintenance and operation states and an efficient transmission ability of various transmission information including speech signals be realized.

Communication device and bandwidth management method


Provided are novel human α-synuclein-specific antibodies as well as fragments, derivatives and variants thereof as well as methods related thereto. Assays, kits, and solid supports related to antibodies specific for α-synuclein are also disclosed. The antibody, immunoglobulin chain(s), as well as binding fragments, derivatives and variants thereof can be used in pharmaceutical and diagnostic compositions for α-synuclein targeted immunotherapy and diagnosis, respectively.

Protein misfolding and aggregation are pathological aspects of numerous neurodegenerative diseases. Aggregates of α-synuclein are major components of the Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites associated with Parkinson's disease (PD). A natively unfolded protein, α-synuclein can adopt different aggregated morphologies, including oligomers, protofibrils and fibrils. The small oligomeric aggregates have been shown to be particularly toxic.
Naturally occurring autoantibodies against α-synuclein have been detected in healthy persons and altered levels in patients were associated with particular neurodegenerative disorders; see for review Neff et al., Autoimmun. Rev. 7 (2008), 501-507. Thus, naturally occurring antibodies in patients suffering from Parkinson's disease, either spontaneously or upon vaccination, in particular in healthy patients may serve a protective role with respect to α-synuclein aggregation; see, e.g., Woulfe et al., Neurology 58 (2002), 1435-1436 and Papachroni et al., J. Neurochem. 101 (2007), 749-756. Hitherto, the therapeutic significance of autoantibodies had been difficult to assess. This is mostly due to the lack of straight-forward experimental approaches for their isolation and subsequent characterization in vitro. Recently, oligomeric species of α-synuclein have been reported extracellularly in plasma and CSF (El-Agnaf et al., FASEB J. 20 (2006), 419-425) and immunization studies in mouse models of PD show that extracellular mouse monoclonal antibodies against α-synuclein can reduce accumulation of intracellular α-synuclein aggregates (Masliah et al., Neuron, 46 (2005), 857-868) supporting the idea that antibodies that neutralize the neurotoxic aggregates without interfering with beneficial functions of monomeric α-synuclein may be useful therapeutics. However, the therapeutic utility of murine based antibodies in human is hampered by the human anti-mouse antibody (HAMA) response in view of their non-human origin.
Emadi et al. in J. Mol. Biol. 368 (2007), 1132-1144, describe the isolation of single chain antibody fragments (scFvs) from a phage displayed antibody library based on human sequences against α-synuclein, which bind only to an oligomeric form of α-synuclein and inhibit both aggregation and toxicity of α-synuclein in vitro. However, although the generation of scFvs from phage display is rather simple, this technique has severe drawbacks since the antibodies so produced bear the risk of undesired crossreactivity against self-antigens and lack the characteristics of evolutionary optimized natural human antibodies produced by the human immune system. Furthermore, such antibodies may not be specific enough because of cross-reactivity with other proteins and/or with the target protein in context with normal physiological environment and function. In case of Parkinson's disease, for example, antibodies that also cross-react with physiological derivatives of α-synuclein bear the potential to cause side effects related to the normal functions of the physiologic target structures. In this respect, an undesired autoimmune disease would downrightly be induced—a hardly calculable risk also in the conceptual design of active immunization experiments employing protein structures that, in variant form, also occur physiologically.
More recently, Seitz et al. (81. Kongress der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Neurologie mit Fortbildungsakademie Hamburg Sep. 10-13, 2008), reported on the isolation of anti-α-synuclein polyclonal autoantibody from different immunoglobulin solutions and samples of single blood donors through affinity chromatography. However, besides the fact that this approach provides mere limited amounts of the desired antibody, polyclonal antibodies are of only limited use for therapeutic application, for example because of their heterogeneity and the risk of being contaminated with other α-synuclein associated molecules which have undesired side effects. Likewise, the diagnostic value of polyclonal antibodies is reduced since the variability of the composition of the antibodies will influence the overall specificity and reactivity. This is all the more true for antibodies against proteins subject of aggregation and deposition due to misfolding.
Thus, there is a need to overcome the above-described limitations and to provide a therapeutic and diagnostic human antibody against α-synuclein.


A locking device is disclosed, comprising a locking mechanism having a locked position and an unlocked position, a hollow plunger member having a central axis, the hollow plunger member being engaged with the locking mechanism to move the locking mechanism alternatively into the locked and unlocked positions upon reciprocating linear motion of the hollow plunger member in first and second directions along its central axis, and a motor having a shaft disposed coaxial with the central axis of the hollow plunger member is disclosed. In one embodiment, the locking device further comprises a spring having first and second ends, the first end being fixed to the motor shaft, and a pin fixed to the hollow plunger member for engaging the second end of the spring such that when the motor shaft rotates in a third direction the hollow plunger member moves in the first direction and when the motor shaft rotates in a fourth direction the hollow plunger member moves in the second direction. In another embodiment, the locking device further comprises a threaded member disposed on the motor shaft and a threaded surface disposed at an interior of the hollow plunger member to engage the threaded member such that when the motor shaft rotates in a third direction the hollow plunger member moves in the first direction and when the motor shaft rotates in a fourth direction the hollow plunger member moves in the second direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a locking device and, in particular, an electronic locking device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various electronic locking devices have been suggested for controlling access to large numbers of areas through doors by a large number of individuals. Many of these devices utilize card readers, push-buttons, dials, etc. to activate the locking device.
One such device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,038,122 issued to Clark. The device disclosed in Clark opens a lock in response to a correct code entered through a keyboard and/or to a chronological schedule enabled by a clock marking real time. An LED provides a wireless link to a hand-held printer so that the device may be programmed with access codes and time schedules. The printer also prints out a list of users and times of entry.
One problem with the device disclosed in Clark is that the electromechanical drive system is difficult to assemble because of the engagement of the spring through a set screw. The spring also has a compound shape with two different pitch and hook formations at the end of the spring which again makes alignment and assembly of the system very difficult. Another problem with the device disclosed in Clark is that there is a significant amount of friction generated by the rotary and linearly moving components which results in increased electric power consumption and hence reduced battery life.