A system for the secure transfer of data and data management on the Internet has a data encryption and transfer module operable in a user computing system, a data management module operable in a sewer computing system, the transfer of data between the user and the server computing systems being effected on the user computing system through use of the data encryption and transfer module, by moving the data to or from a first desktop window, associated with the user computing system, from or to a second desktop window, associated with the server computing system, each window being associated with a password, such that the step of moving the data from one window to the other causes the data to encrypted/re-encrypted from one associated password to the other.

Due to the explosion in the use of the Internet in recent years, there has been a huge increase in the exchange and storage of electronic data over the Internet. This data comes in files of all types and in messages. Many systems have been designed to provide management functionality for this data, including transfer systems (including e-mail, file transferring systems, etc) and storage systems, including single "owner" or shared storage, as well as providing other functionality such as moving remote files, renaming, etc. In general, it may be allowed that these systems work quite well and are adopted by millions of users, except where the user feels security of his data is an important issue. Many prospective users do not trust the Internet as a place where data can be placed privately and confidentially.
One way of securing data being transferred is by encryption. Many "secure" file transfer systems use e-mail technology (smtp) or web-based (http) e-mail. But, in fact, e-mail is quite unsuitable as a medium for the transfer of large files and this is recognized in many systems, which must limit the file sizes, which their users are allowed to transfer. Typically, the file must be sent as an attachment and is limited to 1-8 megabytes in size, depending on the system used. Sometimes, the systems can only purport to encrypt the message itself, not the attachment, and the attachment must be encrypted by separate freestanding encryption software.
Another problem with e-mail is that e-mail technology requires the addition of extra data to all files attached, typically adding about 40% to file sizes, which of course means extra delay in file transfer and extra storage space required on Internet servers. (For example, sending a 1 megabyte file as an e-mail attachment via Microsoft Outlook resulted in over 2 megabytes of total data transmission, including transfer of technical/control data, more than a 100% increase).
In any case, e-mail does not travel in "real time", it can take minutes, hours or even a day to reach a destination, depending on traffic encountered along the way and on other technical requirements in any of the numerous switches/routers through which a travelling e-mail message must navigate. Also, copies of e-mail messages are routinely taken at these switch points and routinely stored indefinitely, giving rise to fears that they may be susceptible to deciphering by unintended parties at a future time. It commonly happens that the transmission of a large e-mail attachment is interrupted by an e-mail system's administrator, e-mail server manager or telecoms operator, for traffic management reasons, usually automatically by computer decision, and the transmission then must recommence later from the beginning of the message. Occasionally, this happens repeatedly until eventually the message becomes sidetracked and dumped, and therefore never arrives at the desired destination.
Also, while an e-mail message is in transit it is irretrievable by the sender, once it leaves the sender's PC, and is beyond the control of anyone connected with the data, sender or receiver, until it arrives at destination successfully. Many users would feel uncomfortable with that thought if considering sending a vitally important document.
As for web-based e-mail, known as HTML mail, accessible via web-browsers, it suffers the additional disadvantage in that it can be used as a method of carrying out surveillance of recipients and their later correspondents. A web-based e-mail message can easily be imbedded with a tracking device by its sender, so that when the recipient replies to the message, using the "Reply To" button, or forwards the message to a third party, perhaps with another message attached, the original sender receives a secret copy of the forwarded message and all subsequent messages containing the original message as a reference. (This is a weakness of HTML messaging in most of the major e-mail programmes). In other words, systems based on web-based e-mail are unacceptable from a security viewpoint.
When sending data across the Internet most current systems rely exclusively on an intermediate server-based communications system, where the sender and recipient, both clients of the server, transfer their messages through mail servers (if using e-mail technology) or file servers, residing in the system operator's premises or under his control. Typically, files are sent to the recipient's post box on the server, to be later picked up by the recipient. The major problems with this are that servers can become overloaded, especially considering that servers themselves are usually mirrored and backed up/duplicated elsewhere and therefore storage space is usually subject to some limit, and communication bandwidth demand is maximized.
Other providers of Internet-based file management services do not offer a secure, true peer-to-peer (P2P) connection as an option, or if they do, they do not offer a specific security solution and no service other than straight file transfer.
Furthermore, almost all other systems use SSL, or its variants or a similar protocol, such as SSH (or EFTP), for encrypting data between the sender and the server and between the server and the recipient. This is unsatisfactory because a) for many reasons, SSL does not (can not) provide strong encryption; b) SSL encrypts only during transmission and therefore leaves the data in unencrypted form on servers and PCs, where it can be accessed; c) SSL slows down server operations very substantially, including the operations of any intermediate servers (for example if e-mail is used) and therefore transmission and file access times. It is reported that SSL can slow down a server's activity by up to 50 times. To get around this, encryption acceleration hardware can be attached to the server, but, while that rebuilds most of the lost speed, the transfer of the data between the accelerator and the server becomes insecure.
Furthermore, in at least some cases it is probable that the server operator/system provider has access to users' unencrypted data, because of SSL. In any case, a system is badly designed from a security point of view if it decrypts data as it delivers it to the recipient's PC, permitting data to be momentarily unencrypted during an open Internet connection.
SSL uses PKI (public key infrastructure) technology, an encryption system that uses two related encryption keys, one of which is used to decrypt messages encrypted by the other one. This is known as an asymmetric encryption system, as compared to a symmetric system where the encryption and decryption keys are the same. PKI is primarily used as a method of transferring a symmetric system's secret key over the Internet; where there is no other secure way to convey the secret key to a recipient. This is the only benefit of PK systems, which are otherwise less secure and slower, by circa 100 times in the encryption function, than symmetric systems.
A further problem with data encryption in relation to the transfer of data is that normally, if a user wants to share/transfer some encrypted documents to another user, he will first decrypt the data from the really private (disk) password, which normally protects that data, and then re-encrypt it under a password, which he will share with the recipient. (Otherwise, he must needlessly give away/reveal his regular password to another person, whom he might hardly know, and with whom he might never communicate again). But, even in well established symmetric or PKI encryption technologies one does not find the sort of robustness, speed and efficiency that is required for elegant re-encryption or sharing of encrypted data activity.
Another drawback with systems using PKI encryption technology is that they cannot normally handle the sharing of encrypted files among many users. (Each encrypted file in a shared box would have to contain a copy of its unique symmetric key encrypted by the different public keys of each/all users, and all files would have to be modified again for each additional user).
Some file transfer systems, (i.e. such as HushMail (HushMail is a trade mark) system provided by the Hush Communications USA of Austin, Tex.), can encrypt data on the local desktop rather than on the server. The HushMail system, which uses e-mail technology, uses PKI encryption, but keeps users' keys on its server (though in encrypted form), and then downloads to the user his private key inside an "applet", where the encryption is done, whenever the user needs it. The user must trust that the applet contains no other executable program or other doubtful function, and that his private key is securely managed. The HushMail system does not offer file storage or sharing or other functions.
Most other systems rely exclusively on an intermediate server-based communications system, where the sender and recipient, both clients of the server, transfer their messages through mail servers (if using e-mail technology) or file servers, residing on the system operator's premises or under his control. Typically, files are sent to the recipient's postbox on the server, to be later picked up by the recipient. The major problems with this are that servers can become overloaded, especially considering that servers themselves are usually mirrored and backed up or duplicated elsewhere and therefore storage space is usually subject to some limit, and communication bandwidth demand is maximized.
It is an object of the present invention to overcome the disadvantages of the data management and encryption Internet based systems as hereinbefore described.


A rear-projection 3D auto-stereoscopic displays system using time-sequencing approach is configured for forming a plurality of perspective views of 3D images of an object or scene in a field of view. 3D displays system comprises a display component, an optical scanning assembly a sensor and a controller. The optical scanning assembly includes a first lens array, a complex of two (second and third) lens arrays, an optical beam shifting device and an optical projection block. The complex of two lens arrays is used as a screen for the 3D display system. The present invention can be employed especially for a wide range of screen sizes and allows significant reduction or elimination of optical cross-talk, at the same time reducing mechanical complexity of 3D display system.

There are two main classes of 3D auto-stereoscopic displays based on different approaches: "space multiplexing (sharing)" and "time sequencing (sharing)".
The main disadvantage of 3D auto-stereoscopic displays using space-sharing approach is that the resolution of the 3D image is reduced with increasing the number of perspective views forming the 3D image in the field of view. This results in 3D image quality degradation and restriction of its viewing angle.
Unlike space-sharing displays, 3D auto-stereoscopic time-sequencing display systems reproduce 3D image with resolution that doesn't depend on the number of perspective views. This allows widening 3D image viewing angle by increasing the number of perspective views without reducing resolution of the 3D image.
There are several projection 3D display systems known in the prior art that embody the time-sequencing approach and use at least two lens matrices (arrays), for example, the ones described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,944,465 B2 and U.S. Pat. No. 8,243,127 B2 and US Patent Application US 2005/0270645.
US Patent Application US 2005/0270645 describes a 3D display apparatus comprising a display component for generating a sequence of 2-dimensional (2D) images and an image scanning assembly consisting of a first lens matrix (array), a second lens matrix (array) optically coupled to the first lens matrix (array) via intermediary optical assembly.
The peculiarity of this scanning assembly consists in that the first lens array can be made significantly smaller than the second array, if the intermediary optical assembly is a magnification system. This allows shifting the first lens array for scanning images instead of shifting the second array that can be made much larger and thereby significantly reduce the mechanical complexity of the scanning operation and provide more compact 3D display systems. This is much more suitable for 3D display systems with large screens.
However, this advantage is achieved at the expense of increased cross-talk. There are two sources of cross-talk in the image scanning assembly described in US Patent Application US 2005/0270645. One of them (the first source) is associated with shifting the structure of optical beams at the second lens array (shown FIG. 1, Prior Art) relative to the structure of the second lens array during the scanning operation. The second source of cross-talk is associated with a mismatch between the structure of 2D images at the first lens array shifting during the scanning operation and the structure of this array.
It is worth noting that the level of cross-talk for both sources grows with the amplitude of the displacement of the first lens array, resulting in 3D image quality degradation and restriction of its viewing angle.
It should be noted that the second source of cross-talk could be eliminated if the first lens array is displaced together with the display component. But, the associated mechanical complexity may effectively cancel the advantage of using a small-size first lens array. Therefore, it is necessary to find another solution for this cross-talk problem.
The said crosstalk problems can be partially solved by using the solution describing 3D display systems disclosed in the prior art (U.S. Pat. No. 7,944,465 B2 and U.S. Pat. No. 8,243,127 B2). Each of these systems comprises a display component for generating a sequence of 2-dimensional (2D) images, an image scanning assembly consisting of a first lens matrix (array) and a complex of two (second and third) lens matrices (arrays), and a mechanism for transversely moving the first matrix or the complex of matrices relative to each other to provide the scanning operation.
In fact, the use of three lens arrays significantly reduces the level of cross-talk related to the said first source of cross-talk, thus allowing better quality of the 3D image and wider viewing angles. This is provided by the fact that during the scanning operation an optical beam passing through each lens of the second lens array is directed by the said lens to the respective lens of the third lens array within the aperture of the latter lens.
Meanwhile, the said second source of cross-talk is inherent in both 3D display systems disclosed in the respective versions of U.S. Pat. No. 7,944,465 B2 and U.S. Pat. No. 8,243,127 B2 associated with the movement of the first matrix and in those of US 2005/0270645. This prevents further improvement of the quality of the 3D image and widening of its viewing angle.
Besides, the possibility of using the solution disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,944,465 B2 and U.S. Pat. No. 8,243,127 B2 for implementation of large-screen 3D display systems is restricted because of higher mechanical complexity of the scanning apparatus.
It should be noted that implementation of large-screen 3D display systems based on both the solution disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,944,465 B2 and U.S. Pat. No. 8,243,127 B2 and the solution disclosed in US 2005/0270645 is unfeasible without reducing the level of cross-talk mentioned above.
Therefore, it is necessary to find another solution for implementation of large-screen 3D display to solve prior art problems related to cross-talk and to the mechanical complexity of the scanning operation.

Rear-projection autostereoscopic 3D display system


A method for changing a color value and/or level of opacity value of a glass appearance window frame for an application window is described. The method includes steps of determining a defined color value and a defined level of opacity value to apply to a glass appearance window frame and displaying the glass appearance window frame in accordance with the defined color value and the defined level of opacity value. A command may be received to apply the defined color value and the defined level of opacity value to the glass appearance window frame, thereby applying the defined color value and level of opacity value to the glass appearance window frame. Color values and/or level of opacity values may be changed automatically, be application specific, and/or be changed in response to receipt of an input from a user to change one or more portions of a default configuration.

Today, many operating systems utilize a windows based configuration of user interface elements, such as application programs. Application windows are a user interface facility of graphical user interface (GUI) systems. While application windows may vary in appearance across systems, they share many common user interface (UI) visuals attributes, such as a frame area with a title bar control containing window management controls, the ability to be resized and repositioned, and to exist among other application windows associated with different applications. Together, multiple application windows can appear simultaneously on the screen, even layered on top of each other, typically represented by the order each application window was last accessed by a user. When an application window is the window that a user is working with currently, its frame appears in an active visual state. This is in contrast to an inactive visual state when the application window is not the window the user is currently working with. These two states typically have different appearances and primarily serve to communicate to the user which application window she is currently working with.
Windows® XP by Microsoft® Corporation of Redmond, Wash. supports the ability to change user interface "themes" which essentially swaps out all UI visuals with alternate renderings in an operating environment. The themes of Windows® XP are different bitmaps. As a user chose a different theme for her desktop environment, UI elements of the environment would employ the designated bitmaps for the different UI elements. Windows® XP provides the ability to change the appearance of all common window frames and controls and other UI elements, allowing for personalization of the operating environment. However, a user is limited to the themes provided.
Other operating systems employ a UI environment which is drawn programmatically. Users are provided greater flexibility in personalization as color choice is not limited to supplied bitmaps. Users can effectively dial in any color choice they wished and have that applied to common window frame and controls and other UI elements. However, the color choice is a single format applied to a single non-glass appearance window frame representation. A user is not supplied with a number of different visual appearances for the UI elements other than the overall color choice.

Glass appearance window frame colorization


A vertical adjuster for a deflection fitting of a vehicle safety belt includes a rail with a base part. The rail has at least one fastening screw for being fastened to a vehicle body. The rail further includes a deformation element allowing a displacement of said rail relative to the fastening screw. The deformation element is arranged on a side of the base part which is facing away from the vehicle body when the rail is mounted thereon.

A vertical adjuster typically comprises a rail which can be fastened to the vehicle body by at least one fastening screw, the rail being supported on the vehicle body by means of a deformation element.
The rail of such a vertical adjuster serves as a guide for a sliding carriage on which the deflection fitting for the safety belt is arranged so as to be vertically adjustable. Like other components in the interior of the vehicle, also the rail for the vertically adjustable deflection fitting must be constructed so as to be ductile, so that in the case of an impact of the head of a vehicle occupant, given threshold values are not exceeded, which are either predefined by the manufacturer or prescribed by law. By means of a plastic covering for the rail in particular, the forces acting in the case of a head impact can be reduced; for the case of a direct striking onto the deflection fitting, however, it is necessary for the rail to yield as a whole.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,529,344, a vertical adjuster of the type initially mentioned is shown, the rail thereof being mounted displaceably at the vehicle body. With this known configuration, a pressure spring is arranged between the vehicle body and the rail. Accordingly, a comparatively large space is required for accommodation of the rail.
Therefore, the object of the invention is to provide a vertical adjuster in which the space for accommodation of the rail is small even though a large displacement path of the rail is ensured.

Vertical adjuster for a deflection fitting of a vehicle safety belt

TRW Occupant Restraint Systems GmbH & Co. KG


An occurrence of a predetermined event is detected within a stream of data and a classification for the event is determined. A message is sent to an application when the predetermined event is detected. The message is received at the application and the message is visualized to a user of the application. The stream of data from the industrial machine to the transceiver circuit, to the control circuit, and to the application occurs in real-time without substantial interruption allowing the user of the application to make decisions and determine insights concerning the industrial machine in real-time.

Industrial equipment or assets, generally, are engineered to perform particular tasks as part of a business process. For example, industrial assets can include, among other things and without limitation, manufacturing equipment on a production line, wind turbines that generate electricity on a wind farm, healthcare or imaging devices (e.g., X-ray or MM systems) for use in patient care facilities, or drilling equipment for use in mining operations. Other types of industrial assets may include vehicles such as fleets of trucks. The design and implementation of these assets often takes into account both the physics of the task at hand, as well as the environment in which such assets are configured to operate.
Industrial equipment or assets produce various types of data. For example, the assets may acquire temperature, pressure, speed, or other types of physical parameters. In addition, the assets may report alarms or alarm conditions that are sensed or created. In aspects, alarms may be created when the asset is not operating properly or may be on the verge of not operating properly.
In current approaches, multiple systems and partitions (both hardware and software) exist. These multiple systems and partitions prevent alerting users in real-time to events as the events occur. Consequently, real-time observations and insights were not possible or were very difficult to achieve.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Apparatus and method for automatic detection and classification of industrial alarms


A liquid crystal display device (1) includes a plurality of pixels disposed in a matrix form. The liquid crystal display device (1) is driven such that, after a common data voltage is applied to liquid crystal layers of sub pixels disposed in each of the pixels, the transmittance of the liquid crystal layer of a sub pixel which is positioned closest to a boundary between a retarder plate (RR) and a retarder plate (RL) will be decreased. The maximum value of the transmittance of the liquid crystal layers of the sub pixels in a first display mode is smaller than that in a second display mode.

These days, a liquid crystal display device having a function of displaying images in a three-dimensional manner (hereinafter may also referred to as "displaying 3D (three-dimensional) pictures") in addition to a function of displaying images not in a three-dimensional manner (hereinafter may also referred to as "displaying 2D (two-dimensional) images" are in practical use.
As technologies for displaying three-dimensional pictures, an active shutter system, a naked-eye lenticular system, a patterned retarder system (polarization system, which is also called a PR system), and so on, are known. In any of the systems, a right-eye image is presented only to the right eye of a user, and a left-eye image is presented only to the left eye of the user, thereby enabling the user to view the images three-dimensionally.
In a liquid crystal display device using the active shutter system, right-eye frames (R frames) and left-eye frames (L frames) are alternately displayed. A user views images displayed on the liquid crystal display device with 3D glasses having a right-eye lens and a left-eye lens which perform a shutter operation in synchronization with the switching of the L frames and the R frames, thereby viewing the images three-dimensionally.
In a liquid crystal display device using the naked-eye lenticular system, a right-eye image and a left-eye image are respectively presented to the right eye and the left eye of a user via a lenticular lens formed on the front side of a liquid crystal panel. This enables the user to view the images three-dimensionally without the need to use 3D glasses.
In a liquid crystal display device using the patterned retarder system, a right-eye image is displayed by using pixels defined by odd-numbered horizontal scanning lines, while a left-eye image is displayed by using images defined by even-numbered horizontal scanning lines.
The patterned retarder system will be discussed more specifically below with reference to parts (a) and (b) of FIG. 11 and FIG. 12. Part (a) of FIG. 11 is an exploded perspective view illustrating a backlight unit 50, a liquid crystal panel 60, and a patterned retarder 70 included in a known liquid crystal display device using the patterned retarder system.
The backlight unit 50 supplies backlight to the liquid crystal panel 60 from the back side of the liquid crystal panel 60. On the liquid crystal panel 60, pixels defined by horizontal scanning lines (lateral-direction scanning lines) HL1 through HLN (N is the total number of horizontal scanning lines) and vertical scanning lines (longitudinal-direction scanning lines) VL1 through VLM (M is the total number of vertical scanning lines) are formed. The liquid crystal panel 60 controls the orientation of a liquid crystal included in each pixel, thereby making it possible to control the transmittance of backlight to be supplied to each pixel. Additionally, the liquid crystal panel 60 displays a right-eye image by using pixels defined by the odd-numbered horizontal scanning lines HL1, HL3, and so on, and displays a left-eye image by using pixels defined by the even-numbered horizontal scanning lines HL2, HL4, and so on.
The patterned retarder 70 is a retarder plate unit having a length in the direction of the horizontal scanning lines, and includes two types of retarder plates RR and RL having characteristics different from each other. The retarder plates RR convert linearly polarized light into right-handed circularly polarized light, while the retarder plates RL convert linearly polarized light into left-handed circularly polarized light. As shown in part (a) of FIG. 11, the retarder plates RR are disposed on the front side of the pixels defined by the odd-numbered horizontal scanning lines HL1, HL3, and so on, while the retarder plates RL are disposed on the front side of the pixels defined by the even-numbered horizontal scanning lines HL2, HL4, and so on.
Accordingly, a right-eye image to be displayed by using pixels defined by the odd-numbered horizontal scanning lines is represented by light which is right-handed circularly polarized after passing through the patterned retarder, while a left-eye image to be displayed by using pixels defined by the even-numbered horizontal scanning lines is represented by light which is left-handed circularly polarized after passing through the patterned retarder.
Part (b) of FIG. 11 shows 3D glasses 80 used in the patterned retarder system. As shown in part (b) of FIG. 11, the 3D glasses 80 include a right-eye lens and a left-eye lens. The right-eye lens transmits only right-handed circularly polarized light, while the left-eye lens transmits only left-handed circularly polarized light. Accordingly, by using the 3D glasses 80, among images displayed on a liquid crystal display device, the user is able to view right-eye images displayed by using pixels defined by the odd-numbered horizontal scanning lines only with the right eye, and views left-eye images displayed by using pixels defined by the even-numbered horizontal scanning lines only with the left eye, thereby making it possible to view the images three-dimensionally.
A liquid crystal display device using the patterned retarder system can also display 2D images by using both of pixels defined by the odd-numbered horizontal scanning lines and pixels defined by the even-numbered horizontal scanning lines. In this case, the user simply views images displayed on the liquid crystal display device without using the 3D glasses.
The 3D glasses 80 used in the patterned retarder system do not need electrical control, which is necessary for 3D glasses used in the active shutter system. Thus, the 3D glasses 80 can be implemented with a simple structure.
On the other hand, however, in the patterned retarder system, it is known that a phenomenon called crosstalk occurs mainly due to a limited thickness of a glass layer forming a liquid crystal panel.
The crosstalk is the following phenomenon occurring, for example, when the user views a liquid crystal panel from the obliquely top side or the obliquely bottom side. Part of a right-eye image to be displayed by using pixels defined by odd-numbered horizontal scanning lines passes through left-eye retarder plates disposed on the front side of pixels defined by even-numbered horizontal scanning lines and is then viewed, and part of a left-eye image to be displayed by using pixels defined by the even-numbered horizontal scanning lines passes through right-eye retarder plates disposed on the front side of pixels defined by the odd-numbered horizontal scanning lines and is then viewed. Accordingly, the right-eye image is mixed into the left-eye image represented by left-handed circularly polarized light, and the left-eye image is mixed into the right-eye image represented by right-handed circularly polarized light.
Hitherto, the configuration in which the occurrence of crosstalk is suppressed by forming black matrixes and black stripes along horizontal scanning lines in a liquid crystal panel and in a patterned retarder, respectively, is known.
FIG. 12 is a sectional view, along vertical scanning lines (longitudinal direction), of the backlight unit 50, the liquid crystal panel 60, and the patterned retarder 70 included in a known liquid crystal display device, and illustrates an area around pixels defined by an n-th horizontal scanning line and pixels defined by an (n+1)-th horizontal scanning line. FIG. 12 illustrates the liquid crystal panel 60 and the patterned retarder 70 configured in which the occurrence of crosstalk is suppressed by the use of black matrixes and black stripes.
As shown in FIG. 12, the backlight unit 50 is disposed at the back side (the left side in FIG. 12) of the liquid crystal panel 60, and the patterned retarder 70 is disposed at the front side (the right side in FIG. 12) of the liquid crystal panel 60. The liquid crystal panel 60 includes a first polarizing sheet 60a, a TFT-Glass 60b, a TFT substrate 60c, a color filter 60d, a CF-Glass 60e, and a second polarizing sheet 60f.
As shown in FIG. 12, in the TFT substrate 60c, a black matrix BM is formed between a pixel Pn defined by the n-th horizontal scanning line and a pixel Pn+1 defined by the (n+1)-th horizontal scanning line. Moreover, at the front side of the black matrixes BM, black matrixes BM′ are formed within the color filter 60d, and black stripes BS are formed within the patterned retarder 70.
By using such black matrixes and black stripes, as shown in FIG. 12, if the angle between the direction of a normal to the liquid crystal panel 60 and a viewing direction is within α degrees in the direction of the vertical scanning lines, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of crosstalk.
With this configuration, however, the provision of black matrixes and black stripes decreases the aperture, thereby causing a problem that the brightness of images is reduced.
NPL 1 discloses a technology for suppressing the occurrence of crosstalk without using black stripes by dividing each pixel into two sub pixels (an upper sub pixel and a lower sub pixel) in the direction of vertical scanning lines. In this technology, when displaying a 2D image, a data voltage for displaying an image is supplied to both of the sub pixels, and when displaying a 3D image, a data voltage for displaying an image is supplied to only the upper sub pixel, while a data voltage for displaying black is supplied to the lower sub pixel. The lower sub pixel to which the data voltage for displaying black is supplied functions as a black matrix.
According to the technology disclosed in NPL 1, therefore, the brightness of images is not reduced when displaying a 2D image. When a 3D image is displayed, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of crosstalk by black matrixes.

Liquid crystal display device, driving method, and display apparatus


A protocol analysis access system (“PAAS”) and a restricted access method for remotely monitoring and testing embedded channels in a signal communicated over a telecommunications network. The PAAS system is capable of accessing a signal from a network circuit through digital cross-connect systems (“DCSs”) or through direct connections. In case of restricted network access, the PAAS performs non-intrusive monitor-only function on the signal without interfering with or interrupting the data flow over the network circuit. In addition, the PAAS system is capable of performing non-intrusive conformance testing on a signal using a protocol analyzer. In case of non-restricted network access, the PAAS system allows full performance testing on a signal. The PAAS system functions are executed by an external command source from a remote network maintenance center via remote control links. The monitor-only and test results are reported back to the remote network maintenance center for further analysis.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to telephone networks, and more particularly to a system and method for accessing, monitoring and testing a telephone network.
2. Description of the Related Technology
For some time, public switched telephone networks (PSTN) have utilized time division multiplexing (TDM) transmission systems to communicate both voice and data signals over a digital communications link. For example, digital signal level 1 (DS1), and more recently digital signal level 3 (DS3), data paths have long been used to carry both voice and data signals over a single transmission facility. DS1 data paths carry DS1 signals which are transmitted at a transmission rate of 1.544 Mbps, and DS3 data paths carry DS3 signals which are transmitted at a transmission rate of 44.736 Mbps. Consequently, both DS1 and DS3 data paths offer the advantage of considerably reducing the number of lines required to carry information that otherwise would be required without time division multiplexing the digital voice and data signals.
Nowadays, there are several regional Bell operating companies and independent telephone companies which provide local telephone service within numerous local access transport areas (LATA). These companies are forced to rely on interexchange carriers such as AT&T, MCI and Sprint for transmission of calls from one LATA to another. As a result, a long distance call or transmission from one end-user to another involves many levels of multiplexing and many transport carrier handoffs. The responsibility for quality and performance of the telephone circuit is thus split between local telephone companies and interexchange carriers.
Telephone companies often need an economical way to access circuits for testing and protocol analysis. Typically, each telephone company dispatches multiple repair crews with portable test equipment to a number of locations. The locations include the network boundary between the long distance and the local telephone company, the telephone building nearest the end-user, and to outside facilities such as the cables and equipment beneath streets and on poles between the central offices and the end-user customer. This method of maintenance results in significant inefficiencies. Hence, solutions which do not require dispatching repair crews with portable test equipment when problems occur were created. Today, telephone companies equipped with advanced systems can monitor circuits remotely from a network management center. However, with the split in responsibility among telephone companies comes significant difficulties in maintaining network circuits, troubleshooting and isolating transmission faults over their data paths: logical faults (which are protocol dependent) and physical faults (which are circuit dependent). Moreover, and perhaps more importantly, with data services and voice services sharing common networks, an organization maintaining a network common with another organization could easily access, interfere or disrupt circuit communications for the other organization.
Most network elements incorporate some form of monitoring, test, and control of the data that they process. However, none of these options supports the monitor-only function or restricted access (firewall) feature of the present invention. The U.S. Pat. No. 5,375,126 to Hekimian Laboratories, Inc., apparently describes a system which provides physical and protocol testing of digital data system (DDS). The Hekimian system, however, does not offer the firewall functionality of restricting or preventing a technician from accessing or interrupting unauthorized network circuits or other organization's equipment.
Thus, a restricted access method that provides continuous performance monitor-only of DS3 embedded channels and technician access restricted to authorized equipment are desired. It is desired to have a system which provides comprehensive, full-time performance monitoring-only of DS3 embedded channels (i.e. DS1, DS0 and subrate channels) through a digital cross-connect system (DCS) or directly connected circuits. It is further desired to provide a system having restricted circuit access (firewall feature) by data network technicians to ensure that a network organization accesses only its own equipment or authorized facilities. With the restricted access feature, other organizations will no longer have to be concerned about unauthorized access to their circuits nor about interference or interruption caused by unauthorized access by data network technicians. In addition, it is also desired to provide testing of DS1, DS0 and subrate circuits, along with an extensive suite of test capabilities for HiCap, DDS and VF services only for authorized or core network technicians.

Method and system for monitoring and testing a communication network


A cooling structure for a bearing housing for a turbocharger is provided. The cooling structure is configured so that the cooling structure has improved productivity, the occurrence of heat soak-back is reduced, and the cooling structure has improved cooling performance. The cooling structure cools both a bearing housing 13 and a bearing 52 by cooling water flowing through an annular cooling water path 13f formed in the bearing housing 13, and is provided with: a water path inlet 13h for supplying the cooling water and a water path outlet 13j for discharging the cooling water, which are provided in the bearing housing 13 to communicate with the annular cooling water path 13f; and a partial partition 14a in the bearing housing 13 to partially close a water path which forms the shortest route between the water path inlet 13h and the water path outlet 13j.

There are bearing housings for a turbocharger, which are provided with a cooling structure using water or air to protect from a high temperature environment caused by exhaust gas a supporting part of a shaft which integrally connects a turbine rotor to a compressor.
For instance, there is a cooling structure configured to promote a flow of cooling water in a water jacket by connecting an inlet and an outlet of a circulation water passage to the water jacket and providing a partition board at the connection part to partition the passage into an inlet side and an outlet side (Patent Document 1). There is another cooling structure in which a top part partitioning wall is provided at a top part of a cooling water jacket and an inlet and an outlet for cooling water are formed in both sides with respect to the partitioning wall (Patent Document 2).
According to FIG. 1 and FIG. 4 of Patent Document 1, a water jacket 7 is formed in a center housing 6, and a water passage flange 1 is attached to the center housing 6 to face the water jacket 7. Further, in this water passage flange, a water inlet passage 2 for introducing cooling water into the water jacket 7 and a water outlet passage 3 for discharging the cooling water from the water jacket 7 are provided, and a partition board 5 is provided in the water passage flange 1 to project inside the water jacket 7 and separate a water inlet passage 2 and a water outlet passage 3.
According to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 of Patent Document 2, a cooling water jacket 31 is formed in a bearing housing 3 to have a loop shape surrounding the entire circumference of the turbine shaft 5, and the top part partitioning wall 32 is formed on the cooling water jacket 31 to partially close the loop shape of the cooling jacket 31, and the inlet 33 and the outlet 34 of cooling water are formed in the bearing housing 3 to communicate with the cooling water jacket 31 at a position where the top part portioning wall 32 is interposed between the inlet 33 and the outlet 34

Cooling structure of bearing housing for turbocharger


A safety syringe having a cylindrical hollow barrel member of semi-elastic material has a seal and stop device at the distal open end and a first restraining stop device axially spaced a preselected distance from the distal open end. A cylindrically shaped needle carrier is initially positioned within the barrel member between the stop device, the needle carrier having a centrally located recess device at the proximal end thereof for receiving and holding a male piston extension device. A piston rod having a piston is provided for drawing fluid into the barrel and forcing fluid out of the barrel through a longitudinal bore in the needle carrier and through an elongated hollow needle attached to the needle carrier. The piston has a male extension at the distal end for engagement with the female recess of the needle carrier. The piston coacts with the first restraining stop device so as to stretch the barrel to disengage the stop means from the needle carrier and to permit subsequent longitudinal movement of the assembled and locked piston and needle carrier in the proximal direction relative to the barrel so as to withdraw the hollow needle means totally within the barrel to prevent accidental contact of the needle with an errant body part.

This invention relates to disposable syringes having an arrangement which will shield the syringe needle after the syringe has been used so as to thus prevent the sticking or pricking of a human person handling the syringe. The needle stick hazard is a well known health hazzard, regard being given to the possibility of transmitting infectious diseases such as the HIV virus, hepatitis, and the like through needles which have become contaminated through prior use.
Various prior art arrangements have been proposed. Representative examples of prior art arrangements are the Chul 5,256,151, Haining 5,342,323 and Gloyer et al 4,747,830 and the several prior art references cited in these patents.
While a number of prior art arrangements have been proposed, none are as advantageous as the present invention.

Safety syringe with retractable needle holder


A modular propulsion system includes an array of micromachined field effect electrostatic propulsion devices, each of which is an assembled micromachined device including an array of field effect electrostatic propulsion thrusters, a fuel container of propellant using passive plumbing, electronic power and command controls, with the array of devices disposed about and on a surface of a spacecraft for providing diverse propulsion needs.

Developmental space propulsion systems have used macro field effect electrostatic propulsion thrusters that have sub-millimeter to millimeter-sized gaps to create large ion accelerating fields with smaller applied voltages than is possible with conventional ion thrusters, which typically require many thousands of volts. The resulting macro thrusters have a large specific impulse and have a large thrust. However, macro field effect electrostatic propulsion thrusters do require accelerating voltages of many hundreds to a thousand or more volts, which is undesirable. These macro field effect electrostatic propulsion thrusters have been built and tested for use in space but lack possible further reductions in size and weight. These macro field effect electrostatic propulsion thrusters have not been micromachined with micron dimensions, and thus, the size of propulsion arrays using the thrusters will necessarily be large.
In contrast to the macro field effect electrostatic propulsion, micromachined field effect electrostatic propulsion thrusters are in development. The micromachined field effect electrostatic propulsion thrusters are made with accelerating gaps whose dimensions are in micrometer sizes. These micromachined thrusters and arrays made of these micromachined thrusters are the only known space propulsion technology capable of simultaneously providing high specific impulse from 500 to 5,000 seconds, high thrust in micronewtons to Newtons, low specific weight in grams/Newton of thrust, lower specific power demands than conventional electric ion propulsion in N/kW, and much lower required drive voltages in the range of 200-500 V rather than the many thousands of volts for conventional ion thrusters. In addition, these micromachined thrusters have the ability to control the thrust proportionally from nanonewtons to Newtons.
The macromachined field effect electrostatic propulsion thrusters take advantage of micromachined designs using a hollow accelerating electrode with a self-forming cone of liquid metal propellant, such as one made of gallium or indium. The tip radius of this cone forms to radii in the nanometer scale. Thus, the field required to pull ions out of the liquid and accelerate the ions is very low due to a very large field gradient. The accelerating voltage varies both with the desired specific impulse Isp and the material to be ionized. For example, preliminary consideration would indicate that specific impulses of 3,000 ISP could be attained using liquid indium with a potential difference of about 500 volts, and for liquid gallium, the potential difference would be only about 300 volts. These thrusters have high efficiency. This high efficiency, from 500 to 5,000 seconds, indicates that a given thrust should be obtainable with about half the input power than is the case for conventional ion propulsion.
In addition, the micro thruster weight becomes negligible when micromachined on a silicon or other substrate. As an example, initial calculations suggest that a 1 mm by 1 mm array with 105 micron-sized ion sources should produce a thrust level of 7.2 mN at a specific impulse of 1,700 seconds with an ion beam power of only 60 W. Also, because the ionization time constants are extremely short, proportionally variable thrust over a very large thrust range can be achieved by simply pulse-modulating the impressed accelerating voltage.
Prior space thrusters, such as gas thrusters, have been employed in arrays for providing directional microthrust. However, field effect electrostatic propulsion thrusters have not been developed to provide space systems with efficient directional microthrust propulsion and control. Prior space thrusters have required fuel plumbing, valving, pressurants, and external tanks, to perfect the delivery of propellants to the space thrusters. Such fuel plumbing, valving, pressurants, and external tanks in the macroscale for system applications have been unsuitable for use with field effect electrostatic propulsion micromachined thrusters. These and other disadvantages are solved or reduced using the invention.

Modular micropropulsion device and system


Provided is an electrical connection box according to which it is possible to suppress the occurrence of mistakes in a manufacturing process, and it is possible to reliably prevent the occurrence of faulty products. The electrical connection box to be used in a vehicle includes a terminal having an inner-fitting plate portion that is fit into and held in a slit of a holding member; and multiple substrate connection portions that protrude along a surface of the inner-fitting plate portion from one side edge of the inner-fitting plate portion. The terminal has a shape that is asymmetrical in a direction in which the multiple substrate connection portions are arranged side by side.

Conventionally, an electrical connection box into which fuses are inserted has been mounted in a vehicle.
JP H9-283004A discloses an electrical connection box including a box main body provided with: multiple fuse fitting portions into which fuses are to be fit; multiple fusible link fitting portions into which fusible links are to be fit; and a main fusible link fitting portion into which a main fusible link is to be fit, wherein the fuse fitting portions, the fusible link fitting portions, and the main fusible link fitting portion are sequentially arranged on one surface of the box main body.
JP H9-283004A is an example of related art.
On the other hand, multiple FL (fusible link) terminals for connecting fuses to a substrate are mounted in the above-described electrical connection box. The FL terminals each have one end portion inserted into a fuse and another end portion soldered to the substrate. Also, the fuses each have two insertion holes. That is, two FL terminals forming a pair need to be provided so that the end portions on one side of the pair of FL terminals can be appropriately inserted into the insertion holes of a fuse.
Accordingly, if there is a mistake in the assembly of the FL terminals in the process of manufacturing the electrical connection box, a problem such as no longer being able to insert the FL terminals into the fuse will occur. However, this kind of problem cannot be resolved by the electrical connection box disclosed in JP H9-283004A.
The present disclosure was achieved in view of the foregoing circumstances, and it is an object thereof to provide an electrical connection box according to which it is possible to easily find assembly mistakes in the manufacturing process, and according to which it is possible to improve work efficiency in the manufacturing process.


A crossed-field device comprises a cathode having an electron emitting surface and an anode structure radially spaced from the cathode. The anode structure has a plurality of vanes extending in radial directions of the cathode with an interaction region defined between the electron emitting surface of the cathode and innermost radial ends of the anode vanes. First and second magnetic polepieces are respectively disposed at first and second axial ends of the cathode and have respective magnets coupled magnetically thereto. The polepieces direct magnetic flux from the respective magnets to define an axial magnetic field through the interaction region. The polepieces are electrically isolated from the anode structure. An anode modulator is adapted to provide a voltage potential between the anode structure and the cathode to define a radial electric field through the interaction region. A polepiece modulator is adapted to provide a voltage potential between the polepieces to define an axial electric field through the interaction region, whereby a frequency characteristic of the crossed-field device is adjusted by varying the axial electric field.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to crossed-field devices such as magnetrons having a radial electric field and an axial magnetic field, and more particularly, to a positive anode magnetron in which a tertiary electric field is utilized to enable improved frequency tuning ability.
2. Description of Related Art
Magnetrons are a type of crossed-field device that is commonly used to generate high power microwave energy for assorted applications, such as radar. A magnetron typically comprises a cylindrically shaped cathode that extends axially along a central axis of an anode structure comprising a plurality of radially extending anode vanes. A space defined between the cathode surface and the tips of the anode vanes provides an interaction region, and an electric potential is applied between the cathode and the anode forming a radial electric field in the interaction region. An axial magnetic field is provided in a direction perpendicular to the electric field and is directed to the interaction region by polepieces which focus magnetic flux from permanent magnets disposed externally of the interaction region. The cathode may be provided with an internal heater disposed below the surface of the cathode to heat the cathode surface to a temperature sufficient to cause thermionic emission of electrons therefrom. The emitted electrons are caused to orbit around the cathode in the interaction region due to the axial magnetic field, during which they interact with an electromagnetic wave that is caused to move on the anode structure. The orbiting electrons give off energy to the electromagnetic wave, thus resulting in a high power microwave output signal.
In conventional magnetrons, the polepieces and the anode structure are disposed at the same electric potential relative to the cathode. The magnetron may be operated with negative voltage pulses being applied to the cathode with the anode grounded, or with positive pulses being applied to the anode with the cathode grounded. An advantage of such a magnetron structure is that the polepieces need not be isolated electrically from the anode, and thus, construction of the device is simplified. On the other hand, the potential difference between the cathode and the polepieces causes undesirable spreading, or defocusing, of the electron stream that extends between the cathode and the anode structure. As known in the art, the electron stream may be refocused to counteract the spreading phenomenon by tapering the polepieces to distort the magnetic field and by disposing end hats on the cathode to distort the electric field.
An alternative structure which tends to avoid the electron stream spreading phenomenon described above is known as the positive anode magnetron. In a positive anode magnetron, the cathode and the polepieces are disposed at the same electric potential relative to the anode. As a result, the electron stream remains focused as it passes between the cathode and the anode structure, thus eliminating the need to distort the magnetic field. An example of a positive anode magnetron is provided by U.S. Pat. No. 4,104,559, to Hobbs, for ISOPOLAR MAGNETRON SUPPORTED WITH RIGID INSULATION IN A REMOTE HOUSING.
A problem common to each of the known magnetron types is that of efficiently tuning the device to alter its operating frequency. There are three known methods of tuning a magnetron. A first method is to mechanically alter the resonant structure of the magnetron to alter its inductance or capacitance, and thereby change the output frequency. For example, the volume of the structure may be changed by a movable end plate or other such member. A significant drawback of this first method is that the response time of any such alterations is limited by the mechanical mass of the movable member which restricts the amount that the frequency of the magnetron can be changed during the period between successive pulses.
A second method of tuning a magnetron is to place electrically active devices within the resonant structure of the magnetron, such as pin diodes or multipactor discharge gaps. Such active devices are limited to non-linear tuning, and moreover, they increase the cost and complexity of manufacturing. For example, pin diodes are extremely fragile and prone to breakage during the manufacturing process, and they dissipate significant power when used in other than a switching mode for frequency modulations. Multipactor devices use secondary emission surfaces which require special processing techniques.
A third method of tuning a magnetron is to insert a tunable structure into the high electric field region of the resonant structure. For example, a mechanical gear arrangement may be used to control the position of a rotatable tuning element disposed within the interaction region. The tuning element may comprise a dielectric structure that alters the magnetron frequency in relation to its alignment with the electric field lines. A drawback of this third tuning method is that it is only effective with crossed-field devices having a low quality factor, Q, or the ratio of energy stored to energy lost due to dissipation, and thus is not practical with high power magnetrons.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a system for tuning a high-power crossed-field device which overcomes these and other substantial drawbacks of the prior art tuning systems. In particular, it would be desirable to provide such an improved tuning system for use with a positive anode magnetron.

Tertiary field tuning of positive anode magnetron


A method of stabilizing a first vertebra and a second vertebra includes implanting a first bone anchor into the first vertebra, implanting a second bone anchor into the second vertebra, connecting a first anchor connection instrument to the first anchor, connecting a second anchor connection instrument the second anchor, positioning a cement delivery tube into a passage provided through the first anchor, delivering bone cement from a bone cement delivery system coupled to the bone cement delivery tube through the passage in the first anchor to the first vertebra, removing the cement delivery tube from the first anchor connection instrument and the first anchor, connecting the cement delivery tube to second anchor connecting instrument connected to the second anchor, delivering bone cement through a passage in the second anchor to the second vertebra, connecting a spinal connection element to the first anchor and the second anchor.

Bone anchors may be used in orthopedic surgery to temporarily fix bone during the healing or fusion process. One problem with the use of bone anchors is that bone anchors may pullout or otherwise be displaced from the bone prior to the healing or fusion process completing. This problem is particularly common when a bone anchor is positioned in poor quality bone such as osteoporotic bone. Accordingly, there is need for improved instruments and techniques for securing bone anchors to bone that minimize instances of anchor pull out.

Systems and methods for delivering bone cement to a bone anchor


The invention provides a method and system for reshaping periodic waveforms to a selected duty cycle. An incoming periodic waveform has its edge transitions stretched out, and the stretched edge transitions compared with an adaptively selected threshold, to generate a reshaped waveform with a 50% duty cycle. The incoming periodic waveform is a square wave clock signal. The edge transitions are stretched using an inverter which is biased and filtered, and the stretched edge transitions are squared off using a comparator. The reference voltage for the comparator is selected using a second filter coupled in a feedback configuration with the biasing transistors for the inverter.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to reshaping periodic waveforms to a selected duty cycle.
2. Description of Related Art
Clock signals are regularly timed periodic signals which are used to trigger elements in virtually all digital circuits. A typical clock signal is a square wave, i.e., a signal which is virtually always at either a logic "0" value or a logic "1" value, with sharply defined edges at transition times. For example, storing data into a register might be triggered by the rising edge of the clock signal, i.e., the transition from logic "0" to logic "1". A clock signal is often described in terms of its frequency, which is the number of full periods of the clock signal in a second, and its duty cycle, which is the fraction of each full period the clock signal spends at logic "1". The clock signal may also be described by the duty cycle skew, which is the difference between the fraction of each full period the clock signal spends at logic "1" and the fraction it spends at logic "0". An equivalent to frequency is the clock signals period or width, which is the duration in seconds of one full period.
Many digital circuits are "edge-triggered", i.e., triggered by an edge of the clock signal, and of those, many digital circuits have both elements which are triggered by the rising edge of the clock signal and elements which are triggered by the falling edge of the clock signal. Moreover, many digital circuits have signal paths which are time-critical; they depend on the clock signal's width being longer than some preselected time value. In such digital circuits, it can be critical that the duty cycle of the clock signal is exactly 50%. For example, if the clock signal has a frequency of 100 megahertz and therefore a period of 10 nanoseconds, circuits which require a time period of at least 4.9 nanoseconds will fail if the duty cycle varies outside the range 49% to 51%. Many digital circuits have even more stringent tolerances.
One known method is to start with a clock signal which is twice as fast, to couple the "doubled" clock signal to a divide-by-two counter, or to use a phase-locked loop (PLL) to generate a new clock signal which has about a 50% duty cycle. While this method is capable of achieving an approximately 50% duty cycle, it is not suitable when digital circuit tolerances are very stringent. Moreover, it often requires generating a clock signal which is at a higher frequency than can be stably achieved.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide a superior technique for reshaping periodic waveforms to a selected duty cycle. The preferred selected duty cycle is 50%, but the same technique is capable of reshaping periodic waveforms to any selected duty cycle, such as 1%, 10%, 331/3%, or some other selected duty cycle.

Reshaping periodic waveforms to a selected duty cycle


Pausing and resuming playback of a media item across a group of devices that belong to a user. A server maintains a media queue that includes playback records that contain a unique media item identifier and a bookmark position. When a pause instruction is received on a client device, the pause instruction is transmitted to the server as a playback record. The server in turn transmits the received playback record to other client devices within a group of client devices that belong to the user account of the client device.

Recent advances in digital media technology has led to a rapid increase in the number of ways which digital media content such as images, text, audio items, and videos can be consumed. In the past, consumers were constrained to enjoying digital media content on their desktop computer or in their home. Today, digital media can be enjoyed at any time and in any place by using a variety of portable media devices.
Consumers generally own more than one media device and thus have many options for consuming digital media content, such as from a digital video recorder, desktop PC, laptop PC, tablet PC, or a smart phone. However, having multiple options does present some challenges. One difficulty is that each device can have a different user interface. Therefore, user interaction with a media item across multiple devices can be tedious and difficult. Another difficulty is that when a user migrates from one device to another, it can be difficult and inconvenient to resume playback on the new device.
For example, a viewer can be enjoying a media item on a large television in the home. The viewer can desire to migrate the playback of the media item to a portable handheld device due to a change in circumstances that results in the viewer needing to leave the home. To migrate the media item to the portable handheld device can be a tedious process that includes copying the media item over to the portable handheld device, starting up a media player application on the portable handheld device, locating the media item from storage of the portable handheld device, and searching through the media item to locate the point in which playback of the media item was interrupted on the large television. Hence, a significant amount of care and effort is required to migrate playback of media content from one device to another. Thus, there is a need for improved techniques for playing back media content across multiple devices.


A peristaltic pump for transporting a fluid within a flexible tube having a first end, a middle portion, and a second end. The peristaltic pump may include a roller assembly positioned for rotation, a first door positioned adjacent to the roller assembly and pivotable about a first direction, and a second door positioned adjacent to the roller assembly and pivotable about a second direction. The first door and the second door may pivot open and the middle portion of the flexible tube may be positioned about the roller assembly.

Generally described, a peristaltic pump includes a number of pads, drums, or arms rotating within a pair of outer discs. A tube with a fluid to be transported therein generally is positioned adjacent to the drums and a fixed outer surface. As the drums rotate, the fluid within the tube is pushed along and caused to move through the tube. In other words, the fluid is forced along by means of contractions produced mechanically on the flexible tubing.
Peristaltic pumps have been used in the beverage industry with respect to varying types of fluids. One issue associated with a peristaltic pump is the loading and unloading the fluid tube. Loading the tube may be relatively uncomplicated in that the rollers may advance the tube through the overall housing of the pump. Unloading the tube, however, may result in some spillage of the fluid within the housing of the pump. Such spillage may be a concern from an ease of operation point of view and otherwise.
Further, a peristaltic pump generally provides a fixed number of rollers and a fixed pump speed. As such, the pump may not accommodate fluids of varying viscosity or the desire for varying pump speeds. In other words, the pump generally is designed for one specific type of fluid
There is a desire therefore, for a peristaltic pump that is easy and clean to use. Such a pump may be quickly and easily modified for varying fluids and speeds.


A technique for performing Automatic Gain Control for a receiver (102) of a device (100) connected to a communication system is provided. As for a method embodiment, a method (200) comprises the steps of receiving (205) a signal using a gain setting (310; 410; 510; 610) of the receiver (102); at least partially decoding (210) the received signal (301; 401; 501; 601) to obtain a decoding result; and selecting (215) the gain setting based on the decoding result.

State of the art receivers for wireless communication (e.g., in mobile terminals or base stations), operated in accordance with the Global System for Mobile communication (GSM), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), or Long Term Evolution (LTE, including evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Networks, or E-UTRANs), are equipped with Automatic Gain Control (AGC). The AGC is used to ensure that a signal received by the receiver is processed at a suitable signal level (also referred to a signal power). In this regard, the AGC scales the received signal such that the signal can be represented by a limited number of bits for digital processing without significant loss of information. The receiver gain determined by the AGC should be large enough to minimize quantization noise. At the same time, the AGC should ensure that the scaled signal does not exceed a maximum range of the digital processing, i.e., that the processing in the receiver or in a downstream processing stage does not get saturated.
FIG. 1 schematically shows a received signal 10 interfered by bursts of an intermittent interference 12. In case the intermittent interference 12 is sufficiently distant in frequency space from the signal 10 to be received, the interference 12 might be sufficiently attenuated by means of an analog filter, so that its impact on the digital processing of the received signal 10 is marginal. Otherwise, the AGC has to take into account interference 12 that is close in frequency space, or inside the spectrum of signal reception, even if the interference 12 could be attenuated by the digital processing.
The AGC determines the receiver gain depending on both the signal to be received and the interference 12. In case the received power of the interference 12 is considerably larger than the received power of the signal 10, the receiver gain determined by the AGC essentially depends on the received power of the interference 12. Thus, the receiver gain is significantly reduced from a receiver gain 14, which is appropriate when only the signal 10 is received, to a receiver gain 16 determined by the interference 12.
The gain reduction in a stage of the receiver prior to the digital processing is detrimental to signal quality and increases quantization noise, as is expressed by the Friis formula for noise. As a quantitative example, for a signal amplitude Asignal and an interference amplitude Ainterference, a number of B bits is lost in a dynamic range of the digital processing, wherein Asignal/Ainterference=2−B. This fact is related to a difference in the received power of the signal 10 and the interference 12, which difference is 20·log10 (Ainterference/Asignal) dB=6.02·B dB. In case the interference 12 would be 30 dB stronger than the signal 10, the conventional AGC would shift the dynamical range by B=5 bits in order to prevent saturation. Due to a "conservative" updating of the old receiver gain settings 14 to the new receiver gain setting 16 at time t1, the loss in dynamic range of B=5 bits for the digital processing covers a time interval from time t1 to time t2.
Requirements on power consumption and hardware resources typically limit an available dynamic range of, for example, a mobile terminal to effectively 60 dB or approximately 10 bits. Such a loss in the order of half of the available dynamic range is detrimental to processing the signal 10 received using the reduced receiver gain 16. Consequently, signal reception may be impeded not only during presence of the interference 12, but even beyond in the time interval from time t1 to time t2, as well as the time following t3. As a result, a communication can be temporarily interrupted or may even break down.
For the case of periodic interference described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,263,143 B1, an occurrence of interference events might be predictable. The AGC can be improved under such specific conditions based on the prediction. In a more general random interference scenario, the conventional AGC technique is expected to still suffer from the loss of dynamic range.


The invention provides pharmaceutical compositions containing non-feminizing estrogen and methods of using these compositions to prevent or ameliorate retinal and optic nerve damage associated with glaucoma.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of glaucoma. More specifically, the invention provides a method to protect glaucomatous retinopathy using compositions comprising at least one non-feminizing estrogen.
2. Description of the Related Art
"Glaucomas" are a group of debilitating eye diseases that are the leading cause of preventable blindness in the United States and other developed nations. Primary Open Angle Glaucoma (POAG) is the most common form of glaucoma. The disease is characterized by the degeneration of the trabecular meshwork (TM), leading to obstruction of the normal ability of aqueous humor to leave the eye without closure of the space (e.g., the "angle") between the iris and cornea (Langham (1979); Segawa (1979); Rohen (1983)). A characteristic of such obstruction in this disease is an increased intraocular pressure (IOP), resulting in progressive visual loss and blindness if not treated appropriately and in a timely fashion. The disease is estimated to affect between 0.4% and 3.3% of all adults over 40 years old (Leske et al. (1994, 1997, 2001); Bengtsson (1989); Strong (1992)). Moreover, the prevalence of the disease rises with age to over 6% of those 75 years or older (Strong (1992)).
Another form of POAG, normal-tension glaucoma, is characterized by a severe optic neuropathy in the absence of abnormally high IOP. Patients with normal-tension glaucoma have pressures within the normal range, albeit often in the high normal range (Tanna & Jampel (2000)).
Because increased IOP is a readily measurable characteristic of glaucoma, the diagnosis of the disease is largely based on an increase in IOP which is generally estimated by tonometry (Strong (1992); Greve & Chisholm (1993)). Unfortunately, as is evident from normal-tension glaucoma, glaucomatous retinopathy and optic nerve damage can occur in the absence of abnormally high IOP (Yamamoto & Kitazawa (1998); Tanna & Jampel (2000)). Conversely, ocular hypertension does not always lead directly to retina or optic nerve damage. Approximately 5 million Americans have elevated IOP without optic nerve damage or visual field loss. Because the relationship between pressure and optic nerve and retina damage is not necessarily direct, high IOP is now considered to be only a risk factor rather than an essential disease characteristic. For this reason, additional methods, such as direct examination of the optic disk and determination of the extent of a patient's visual field loss are often conducted to improve the accuracy of diagnosis (Greve & Chisholm (1993)). Also for the same reason, the ultimate goal of glaucoma treatment is to preserve vision by protecting against the pathological changes in the retina and optic nerve.
Current glaucoma therapy is directed to lowering IOP. A variety of therapeutic agents have been proposed as having the ability to reduce elevated IOP. These therapies lower IOP, but they do not directly address the pathogenic mechanisms occurring at the retina and optic nerve, and the disease continues to progress. Moreover, many of these agents are often associated with untoward effects. There is currently no generally accepted therapeutic method to manage glaucomatous retinopathy and optic neuropathy. Agents offering retinoprotection properties would be desirable.

Use of non-feminizing estrogens as retinoprotective agents for the treatment of glaucoma


Disclosed is an optical transmission system for transmitting data via an optical transmission line in accordance with a frame format having overhead which includes a K1 byte used for a switching request and a K2 byte used to respond to the K1 byte. The optical transmission system includes N sets of working terminal stations, one set of protection terminal stations, N-number of optical transmission lines for interconnecting respective ones of the N sets of working terminal stations one optical protection transmission line for interconnecting the one set of protection terminal stations, repeater stations, which are provided in the optical transmission lines between the N sets of working terminal stations, for demultiplexing and outputting data extracted from the transmission lines or for multiplexing data and inserting the data in the transmission lines, protection transmission line connecting units, which are provided at positions in a protection transmission line corresponding to positions at which the repeater stations are disposed, for switching a failed transmission line to the protection transmission line in every section demarcated by the repeater stations. A working terminal station or repeater station that has detected occurrence of failure in a transmission line of a prescribed section sends K1 byte to and receives K2 byte from an opposing working terminal station or repeater station of the section via a protection terminal station or protection transmission line connecting unit and switches the failed transmission line section to the protection transmission line.

The present invention relates to an optical transmission system and a method of controlling switching of a transmission line in the event of a transmission line failure. More particularly, the invention relates to an optical transmission system, which has N-number of currently working optical transmission lines and one protection (standby) optical transmission line, in which data is sent and received between stations via the transmission lines in a frame format having overhead, and to a 1:N transmission line switching control method in such a system.
Shelf
Several basic shelves are prepared, the selves are assembled to construct a terminal station, a repeater station and a signal regenerator, and these are used to construct an optical transmission system.
FIGS. 34A and 34B are diagrams illustrating an HS (high-speed) shelf, and FIGS. 35A and 35B are diagrams illustrating a TRIB (tributary) shelf. As shown in FIG. 34A, an HS shelf 150 has line-optical interfaces 151, 152 for interfacing OC-48 (2.4 Ghz) optical transmission lines, a switch 153, an alarm interface 154, a controller 155, a clock source 156, a tributary-side optical interface 157, and a tributary-side electrical interface 158. As shown in FIG. 34B, the line-optical interfaces 151, 152 respectively have O/E converters 151a, 152a, E/O converters 151b, 152b for converting electric signals to optical signals, demultiplexers (DMUX) 151c, 152c for demultiplexing a higher-order group signal (an OC-48 optical signal) into three types of signals STS-1, STS-3C, STS-12c, and multiplexers 151d, 152d for multiplexing the signals STS-1, STS-3C, STS-12c. The switch 153 has a function for passing the three types of signals demultiplexed by the demultiplexers 151c, 152c or for dropping these signals on the tributary side. Further, the switch 153 switches the signals STS-1, STS-3C, STS-12c, which have been inserted from the tributary side, to the E (East) or W (West) direction.
As shown in FIG. 35A, an HS shelf 160 has interfaces 161, 162 for lower-order group signals (DS 3.times.12ch, STS-1.times.12ch, OC-3/3c.times.2ch, OC-12/12C.times.1ch), a switch 163 and an interface 164 for interfacing the HS shelf. As shown in FIG. 35B, the tributary-side interfaces 161, 162 respectively have multiplexer/demultiplexers (MUX/DMUX) 161a, 162a for multiplexing the lower-order group signals to signals STS-1, STS-3C, STS-12c, entering these signals into the switch 163, demultiplexing signals that have entered from the switch 163 and then outputting these signals, and interfaces 161b, 162b for interfacing multiplexers located within station.
LTE, LNR ADM, REG
By combining the HS shelf 150 and TRIB shelf 160, it is possible to construct an LTE (line terminal equipment), which serves as a terminal station for an optical transmission line, as shown in FIGS. 36A, 36B, or an LNR ADM (linear add/drop multiplexer), which serves as a repeater station (D/I: drop/insert), as shown in FIG. 36C. In a case where the system is expanded, it is required that the terminal station of LTE construction be changed to a repeater station. In such case the two LTEs of FIGS. 36A and 36B are connected back to back, as depicted in FIG. 37, thereby forming a repeater station provided with a function equivalent to that of the LNR ADM having the add/drop function. Furthermore, a signal regenerator REG (regenerator) can be constructed by allowing signals to pass through using the switch of the HS shelf 150. In the LTEs illustrated in FIGS. 36A, 36B, only the line-optical interface on one side of the HS shelf is used.
Construction of Transmission System
A point-to-point optical transmission system can be constructed by using the LTEs, arranged as set forth above, as terminal stations (station A and station B) of an OS-48 optical transmission line, as illustrated in FIG. 38. Further, a ring system can be constructed by connecting LNR ADMs in a ring-shaped configuration, as shown in FIG. 39. Furthermore, a linear ADM system can be constructed by using the LTEs as terminal stations (stations A and C) and using the LNR ADM as a repeater (station B), as depicted in FIG. 40.
Further, as shown in FIG. 41, a 1+1 line switching point-to-point system can be constructed by adding 2.4 G switch controllers (2.4 G SW CONT) onto a 1+1 arrangement having one working line WORK1 and one protection (standby) line PTCT. Similarly, as shown in FIG. 42, a 1:N line switching point-to-point system can be constructed by adding 2.4 G switch controllers (2.4 G SW CONT) onto a 1:N arrangement having N-number of working lines WORK1.about.WORKN and one protection line PTCT.
Lower-order group signals are capable of being supported with regard to the LTE in the protection line as well. The function in which the LTE of the protection line supports a lower-order group signal is referred to as PCA (protection channel access). In an ordinary system, optical transmission lines can be utilized efficiently by transmitting a PCA signal using a protection line, namely a line which is not transmitting a signal. It should be noted that when a working line is switched over to the protection line, transmission of the PCA signal using the protection line is no longer carried out.
Changeover of Optical Signal Line
In the 1:N line switching point-to-point system, the sending and receiving of information relating to switching of the OC-48 optical signal line is performed using K1/K2 bytes of overhead bytes stipulated by a SONET (synchronous optical network) standard, which is in line with the new synchronous network standard of North America.
(1) Frame format
FIG. 43A is a diagram for describing the frame format of a SONET STS-3(OC-3). One frame consists of 9.times.270 bytes. The first 9.times.9 bytes constitute section overhead (SOH), and the remaining bytes constitute path overhead (POH) and payload (PL). Section overhead is for transmitting information (a frame synchronizing signal) representing the beginning of the frame, information specific to the transmission line (information for checking error at the time of transmission, information for maintaining the network, etc.), and a pointer indicating the position of the path overhead POH. Further, the path overhead POH is for transmitting information for end-to-end monitoring within the network, and the payload PL is for transmitting 150 Mbps information.
The section overhead SOH is composed of repeater section overhead of 3.times.9 bytes, a pointer of 1.times.9 bytes and multiplex section overhead of 5.times.9 bytes. The repeater section overhead has bytes A1.about.A2, C1, B1, E1, F1 and D1.about.D3, as shown in FIG. 43B. The multiplexer section overhead has bytes B2, K1.about.K2, D4.about.D12 and Z1.about.Z2. The repeater section overhead and multiplexer section overhead have a number of undefined bytes and use thereof is left to the communications manufacturer.
FIG. 44 is a diagram for describing the SONET OC-12 frame format produced by multiplexing SONET OC-3 frames. The frame is composed of section overhead SOH of 9.times.9.times.4 bytes, path overhead POH of 9.times.4 bytes and a payload PL of 9.times.260.times.4 bytes. A SONET OC-48 frame is similarly constructed.
Among the overhead bytes, the K1 byte is used mainly to request switching and designates the level of the switching request and the line switched. The K2 byte is used mainly to respond to the K1 byte. In addition, this is used to express the system architecture, the switching mode and AIS/FERF (AIS: alarm indication signal; FERF: far end receive failure). Switching requests include, in addition to the switching request at the time of signal failure, switching requests based upon lock-out, a forced switch and a manual switch. FIGS. 45 and 46 illustrate the arrangement of the K1/K2 bytes stipulated by the SONET standard, as well as a list of the meanings of the bytes.
(2) K1 byte
The first four bits b1.about.b4 of the K1 byte represent a switching request, and the last four bits b5.about.b8 represent a switching line. A maximum of 14 transmission lines can be designated. "Lockout of Projection" is a switching request which inhibits switching to a protection transmission line. "Forced Switch" is an artificial switching request for a designated transmission line. If a changeover has been made, no changeover is made to any other line that has failed. "SF" (signal failure) is a switching request for when a signal on a transmission line has been lost. This request has two priorities, namely high and low. "SD" (signal degrade) is a switching request in response to deterioration of a signal on a transmission line and has the two priorities high and low. It should be noted that the SF switching request has a higher priority than the SD switching request. "Manual Switch" is an artificial switching request. When a failure has occurred elsewhere, priority is given to changeover of this switch. "Wait-to-Restore" is a request which, if a request for switching back has been issued after restoration of a failed line, performs switch-back upon elapse of a prescribed period of time. "Exercise" is a request for automatically diagnosing, by actually performing switching, whether the switching operation has been performed normally. "No Request" is sent when operation is normal or when a bridge is removed.
Switch-back modes that can be set are of two types, namely a non-revertive mode in which, if a fault that caused switching has been eliminated, the line to which the changeover has been made is kept as is and is not switched back, and a revertive mode in which the line to which the changeover has been made is switched back to the original line. The former is used mainly in case of the 1+1 arrangement and the latter in case of the 1:N arrangement. The revertive mode has the WTR (wait to restore) function. Specifically, after the cause of switching is eliminated, switch-back is performed not immediately but upon elapse of a specific period of time. This is a function which prevents noisy switching and is stipulated as being between 5 and 12 minutes according to the SONET standard.
In a case where there is contention for a protection line at the time of switching, priority is given to the switching request having the higher level. Further, two degrees of priority (LOW/HIGH) can be set for each line. In a case where switching requests have the same level, the line having the higher degree of priority is switched. In a case where switching requests have the same level and the degrees of priority of the lines are also the same, the line that issued the switching request first is switched. In a case where the levels of the switching requests, the degrees of priority of the lines and the timings at which the switching requests were issued are the same, the line having the youngest line number is given precedence in changeover. This is the order of priority stipulated by the SONET standard. However, there are cases where other orders of priority are requested depending upon the customer.
(3) K2 byte
Bits b1.about.b4 of the K2 byte designate the number of the transmission line. These bits are nulled (0000) in a case where the bits b5.about.b8 of the received K1 byte are null and become the number of the transmission line switched in other cases. The b5 bit indicates the network construction; a "1" indicates the 1+1 system and a "0" indicates the 1:N system. The bits b6.about.b8 indicate the particular switching mode, the details of a failure, etc. There are two types of switching modes, namely a unidirectional mode in which only a unidirectional signal is switched, and a bidirectional mode in which signals in two directions are switched simultaneously.
(4) Switching sequence using K1, K2 bytes
In the unidirectional mode, the B station sends the K1 byte (switch request) to the A station upon detecting SF (signal failure), as shown in FIG. 47A. The A station performs bridge control with respect to the line designated by the K1 byte (switch request) received. Bridge control refers to control for sending identical signals to both the working line and the protection line. After performing bridge control, the A station sends the B station the K2 byte (switch response) corresponding to the K1 byte received. Upon receiving the K2 byte, the B station performs switch control. Switch control means control in which the line signal of the designated reception direction is changed over to the protection line.
In the bidirectional mode, the B station sends the K1 byte (switch request) to the A station upon detecting SF, as shown in FIG. 47B. The A station performs bridge control with respect to the line designated by the K1 byte (switch request) received, sends back the K2 byte (switch response) in the same manner as in the unidirectional mode, and simultaneously sends a K1 byte designating a reverse request (RR). Upon receiving the RR, the B station performs switch control and bridge control with respect to the line designated by the K1 byte which it itself sent, and sends the K2 byte (switch response) to the A station. Upon receiving the K2 byte (switch response), the A station performs switch control.
The following problems arise in the currently existing SONET standard.
(1-1) A PCA signal passed utilizing the protection line when a changeover has not been made is interrupted at execution of "exercise" (self-diagnosis of the switching operation) in the working line.
(1-2) According to the SONET standard, switching priority based upon the importance of the failure is set to be higher than switching priority based upon the importance of the line. However, there are also users who desire that the switching priority based upon the importance of the line be set to be the higher, in which case the SONET standard cannot be accommodated.
(1-3) The number of working lines per system is limited to 14 or less by the existing SONET standard, and a 1:N system having 15 or more working lines cannot be constructed.
(1-4) The existing SONET standard stipulates only a 1:N line switching point-to-point system; there are no standards for a 1:N line switching LNR ADM system or 1:N line switching nested system. In the 1:N line switching point-to-point system, the switching section is a single section from one terminal station to another. More specifically, the SONET standard only supports line switching of one section. There is no standard for a case where a transmission line between terminal stations is divided into a plurality of sections and line switching is performed per section.
(1-5) In a case where a transmission line between terminal stations is divided into a plurality of sections and line switching is performed per section, LNR ADMs (repeater stations) are placed at the boundaries of the switching sections. When a K1/K2 byte is entered in such a case, control is required for either accepting and terminating a byte or not accepting the byte and passing it through to the next stage. Further, when a K1/K2 byte has been sent to the next stage erroneously, line switching takes place in the wrong section.
(1-6) The SONET standard stipulates an ambiguous 5.about.12 min as the time for WTR (wait to restore). A specifically set time or interval is not clearly indicated.
Further, the following problems arise in the conventional optical transmission system:
(2-1) Each terminal station in the system is managed and controlled using a craft interface via TL-1 message and a 1:N switching function unit is managed and controlled using a separately provided independent craft interface. Operation must be performed using different procedures and different operating systems.
(2-2) In a case where a repeater (D/I) station is constructed using LTEs instead of an LNR ADM, a thru-signal also is connected back to back in a lower-order group. The problem which arises in a large number of shelves in the station.
(2-3) In a case where a D/I station is constructed using LTEs, the connection is back to back (the DS 3 signal in the prior art). Consequently, even a signal that is to be passed through is temporarily terminated and the line section becomes one which is different from the line section stipulated by the SONET standard.
(2-4) In the multiplexer (MUX) of protection shelves when switching is performed, the presently prevailing input signal can be processed only in units (STS1C, 3C or 12C) set for each shelf. Consequently, in a case where lower-order group signals of each working line are constituted by units of various types and a signal constituted by a unit other than the set units is switched, the changeover cannot be performed while satisfying the SONET standard. In other words, if working line 1 is set by OC-3C, working line 2 by STS-1 and the protection shelf by STS- 1, then OC-3C is broken down to the STS-1 level when working line 1 is switched.
(2-5) In order to change the 1:N point-to-point system to a 1:N nested switching system or vice-versa, it is necessary to replace units for monitoring/control.
(2-6) In an existing system, an LTE must be used in the protection line of the terminal station. Consequently, in a case where the station has become a repeater owing system enlargement, it becomes necessary to change the LTE (i.e., to enlarge the shelf).
(2-7) In a 1:N nested system, the PCA channel cannot be used between repeater stations; it can be used only between terminal stations.

Optical transmission system and transmission line switching control method