A display module (100) comprises an LCD panel (110), which comprises a front substrate (114) and a rear substrate (116) opposed to the front substrate (114), a liquid crystal material sealed between the front substrate (114) and the rear substrate (116), a front polarizer (112) associated with the front substrate (114) and a rear polarizer (118) associated with the rear substrate (116). The components of the LCD panel are bonded together. The display module (100) further comprises a lightguide (130) having a first surface (131) facing the rear polarizer (118) and a second surface (132) opposed to the first surface (131). At least a part of the first surface (131) of the lightguide (130) is bonded directly to the rear substrate (116) of the LCD panel (110).

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a display module. This invention further relates to a portable electronic device, for example a mobile phone, a PDA etc., comprising such a display module.
2. Related Art
Typically, display modules comprise a liquid crystal display (LCD), which further comprises two substrates with respective sheets of polarizing films on each of the substrates and a liquid crystal material between the two substrates. On one of the substrates, the LCD further comprises a common electrode plane of indium-tin oxide covering the entire area of the LCD. The other substrate is provided with individual electrodes for each pixel of the display. The display module further comprises light enhancement sheets and diffuser sheets, a lightguide, a reflector sheet, which are housed together with the LCD into a housing unit. Generally, a separate black sticker is placed below a driver IC, which is placed on the lower substrates, to block light coming from the backlight. These types of displays are well known in the art and have been improved over time.
An embodiment of an LCD supporting structure is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. -20030071941-A1. The LCD comprises a front substrate and a rear substrate, the rear substrate having an edge extending beyond the front substrate, this extended part of the rear substrate forming a non-overlapping region between the front substrate and the rear substrate. A liquid crystal material is present between the overlapping region of the front substrate and the rear substrate. The rear polarizer of the LCD module is fixed to a lightguide plate of a back lighting module using a double-sided adhesive tape (DSA). The DSA is made of black polyethylene terephtalate (PET) or the likes having light blocking properties. Adhesive layers formed on both surfaces of the black PET. A driver IC is positioned on the extended part of the rear substrate. A connecting foil is electrically connected to the IC driver which drivers the driver IC.
A disadvantage with the LCD module described above is that the LCD module is vulnerable to mechanical stress, for example during a fall or the stress created due to the back bending of the foil connected to the driver IC. This mechanical stress leads to cracking or breaking of the rear substrate thereby making the liquid crystal material flow out which is poisonous and harmful to the user. Additionally, the connecting foil, which is bent backwards, generates an uplifting force potentially separating the components of the LCD module, for example peeling off the rear polarizer from the rear substrate. This latter problem may be overcome by providing the LCD module with an upper bezel, however this has the disadvantage of increasing the thickness of the display module.


A display board assembly includes a map rail and a supplemental display board mounted thereto. The map rail includes a top track defined by a top support rail and a top guard rail, and a bottom track defined by a bottom support rail and a bottom guard rail. The supplemental display board includes a wheeled mounting assembly on a rear surface thereof, the wheeled mounting assembly including: a top wheel forced to engage the top track and confined by the top guard rail, and a bottom wheel forced to engage the bottom track and confined by the bottom guard rail, wherein the supplemental display board is slidable on the top wheel and bottom wheel to different lateral positions on the map rail.

The present invention generally relates to display boards. Perhaps the most common display boards are chalkboards and marker boards employed in classrooms throughout the world. The present invention is particularly applicable to (but not limited to) these types of primary display boards. Typically, these display boards include an extrusion known as a "map rail" as part of the framing system for the board. The present invention teaches supplemental display boards that slidingly engage the map rail and can be easily secured to and removed therefrom.
An exemplary map rail is shown in FIG. 1 and designated by the numeral 10. FIG. 2 shows a map rail 10 secured to a primary display board 11. The map rail 10 includes a base plate 12 from which extends at upper end thereof a mounting bracket 14. Mounting bracket 14 consists of a top flange 16 that serves to extend over the width of a display board, such as a marker board. A rear flange 18 extends from the top flange 16 to lie against the rear surface of the primary display board 11 to facilitate securing the map rail 10 to a primary display board 11. Fasteners may be employed as well.
The base plate 12 runs down the front face of the primary display board 11 and separates a top track 20 from a bottom track 22. The top track 20 is defined by a top support rail 24 and a top guard rail 26 extending upwardly from a distal end of the top support rail 24. Similarly, the bottom track 22 is defined by a bottom support rail 28 and a bottom guard rail 30 extending downwardly from a distal end of the bottom support rail 28. The top support rail 24 and bottom support rail 28 are offset and typically receive a cork material C therebetween.
As seen in FIG. 3, these map rails can be used to receive various types of clips that engage the map rail by wrapping around the top and bottom guard rails. As also seen, the map rails may come in different forms and, instead of securing to a primary display board, may secure directly to a wall W.
Regardless of the particular form or whether it is mounted to a wall or a primary display board, the map rail provides the following salient features: a top track defined by a top support rail and a top guard rail, and a bottom track defined by a bottom support rail and a bottom guard rail.
Particularly in the context of chalkboards or marker boards employed in the classroom, it is common to secure a supplemental display board thereto. Supplemental display boards may include maps (hence the common name "map" rail), graph boards, polar coordinate boards and other boards bearing particular information suitable for classroom instruction. Indeed, some supplemental display boards may simply provide additional chalkboard/marker board surface area. In the 1940's, such supplemental display boards began appearing as horizontal sliding boards that fit over the primary display board and slide horizontally relative thereto, thus providing additional surface area and being able to slide to expose or cover information on the primary board, as necessary. Such movable boards require custom tracks and hanging apparatus such as that shown in FIG. 4, wherein two supplementary boards are shown slidingly movable relative to a primary board 11 in light of the use of a specialized track receiving different hanging apparatus for each supplemental board.
Because map rails are quite common, whether mounted to a primary display board or to a wall, the art would benefit from display systems that beneficially employ the map rail. The present invention is directed to such display assemblies.


A system may magnetically attach to a surface, such as a ceiling, wall, table, or other surface within an environment. For instance, a ceiling within an environment may include a magnet and a housing of the system may comprise a ferromagnetic material. Therefore, the system may magnetically couple to the ceiling for use. The system may be configured to move across the surface while remaining magnetically coupled to the surface.

Characterizing a scene within an environment and interacting with users within that environment may be aided by various types of components, such as cameras, microphones, projectors, speakers, sensors, transducers, lights, indicators, actuators, haptic devices, and so forth. However, use of these components within the environment requires careful consideration of how and where to place these components or systems that include multiple different combinations of these components.

Magnetically coupling a system to a surface


A mediator molecule is immobilized on the surface of a metallic or ceramic implant material. An anchor molecule (e.g., dialdehyde or cyanogen bromide) having a functional group that covalently binds the mediator molecule is covalently bound to the surface, and the mediator molecule is coupled to the functional group of the anchor molecule. The implant material may comprise titanium, titanium alloy, aluminium or stainless steel or hydroxylapatite. Oxide units on the implant material surface can be increased preferably by treating with hot chromic-sulphuric acid for 0.5 to 3 hours at a temperature between 100 to 250° C. prior to binding the anchor molecule. Also, prior to binding the anchor molecule, the surface of the implant material can be activated by reacting with a silane derivative. Mediator molecules include BMP protein, ubiquitin and antibiotics, and the implant material may be an artificial joint or coronary vessel support such as a stent.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for the immobilization of mediator molecules on surfaces of metallic or ceramic materials which are used for implants such as artificial joints or also microimplants, for example so-called stents, as well as implants produced according to the method.
2. Description of the Related Art
The implantation of artificial joints or bones has gained increasing importance in recent years, for example in the treatment of joint dysplasias or joint dislocations or in sicknesses resulting from joint attrition as a result of improper joint positioning. The function of the implants and the materials used for their production, which, in addition to metals such as titanium or metal alloys, can also include ceramics or synthetic materials such as teflon, have been continually improved, so that following a successful healing process, implants exhibit lifetimes of 10 years in 90-95% of all cases. Yet despite this progress and these improved operational methods, an implantation still remains a difficult and strenuous operation, particularly since it is associated with a long process of healing-in of the implants, often including month-long stays in clinics and health resorts, including rehabilitation measures. In addition to the pain, the length of the treatment period and the separation from familiar surroundings represent heavy stresses for the affected patients. In addition, the long healing process incurs high personal and treatment costs due to the required intensive care.
The understanding of the molecular-lever processes required for a successful growing-in of an implant has markedly increased in recent years. Structural compatibility and surface compatibility are crucial for the tissue tolerability of an implant. Biocompatibility in a narrower sense depends only on the surface. Proteins play a crucial role at all levels of integration. These form an initially adsorbed protein layer as early as during the implantation operation and thus, as explained below, since the first cells will later colonize on this layer, determine the further progression of the healing-in of the implant.
In the molecular interaction between implant, also referred to as biomaterial, and tissue, a multitude of reactions take place which seem to be strictly hierarchically ordered. The adsorption of proteins on the surface of the biomaterial is the first biological reaction which takes place. In the resulting protein layer, single protein molecules are for example either transformed by conformational changes to signal substances which are presented on the surface, or protein fragments functioning as signal substances are released by catalytic (proteolytic) reactions. Triggered by the signal substances, cellular colonization takes place in the next phase, and can include a multitude of cells such as leucocytes, macrophages, immunocytes and finally also tissue cells (fibroblasts, fibrocytes, osteoblasts, osteocytes). In this phase other signal substances, so-called mediators such as for example cytokines, chemokines, morphogens, tissue hormones and true hormones play a decisive role. In the case of biocompatibility, there is a final integration of the implant into the entire organism, and one ideally obtains a permanent implant.
In light of work performed in recent years at the molecular level of osteogenesis, chemical signal substances, the so-called "bone morphogenic proteins" (BMP-1-BMP-13), which influence bone growth, have gained increasing importance. BMPs (in particular BMP-2 and BMP-4, BMP-5, BMP-6, BMP-7) are osteoinductive proteins which stimulate the formation of new bones and bone healing by effecting the proliferation and the differentiation of precursor cells to osteoblasts. Furthermore they promote the formation of hormone receptors, bone-specific substances such as collagen type 1, osteocalcin, osteopontin and finally mineralization. Here, the BMP-molecules regulate the three key reactions chemotaxis, mitosis and differentiation of the respective precursor cells. In addition, the BMPs play an important role in embryogenesis, organogenesis of bone and of other tissue, wherein osteoblasts, chondroblasts, myoblasts and vascular smooth muscle cells (proliferation inhibition by BMP-2) are known as target cells.

Method for immobilization of mediator molecules on metallic and ceramic implant materials


Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communication are described. In some wireless communications systems, a user equipment (UE) may be configured to transition to communicating on a first bandwidth part from communicating on a second bandwidth part. In order to ensure that the UE is able to perform receiver processing for demodulating data received on the first bandwidth part, after transitioning to communicating on the first bandwidth part, the UE may be configured to perform receiver processing using reference signals received on the second bandwidth part. That is, for a configured period of time, before the UE is able to perform receiver processing for demodulating data received on the first bandwidth part using reference signals received on the first bandwidth part, the UE may perform receiver processing for demodulating data received on the first bandwidth part using reference signals received on the second bandwidth part.

The following relates generally to wireless communication and more specifically to quasi co-location (QCL) assumption during bandwidth part switching.
Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems may be capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). Examples of such multiple-access systems include fourth generation (4G) systems such as Long-Term Evolution (LTE) systems, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) systems, or LTE-A Pro systems, and fifth generation (5G) systems which may be referred to as New Radio (NR) systems. These systems may employ technologies such as code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), or discrete Fourier transform-spread-OFDM (DFT-S-OFDM). A wireless multiple-access communications system may include a number of base stations or network access nodes, each simultaneously supporting communication for multiple communication devices, which may be otherwise known as user equipment (UE).
In some wireless communications systems, a base station may communicate with a UE using multiple antennas. Data streams may be mapped to one or more antennas using antenna ports, and each of these antenna ports may be associated with a reference signal (e.g., which may allow a receiver to distinguish data streams associated with different antenna ports in a received transmission). In some cases, some antenna ports may be referred to as quasi co-located, meaning that the properties of a channel (e.g., spatial receive properties) over which a symbol is conveyed on one antenna port may be inferred from the properties of a channel over which another symbol is conveyed on another antenna port. This implicit relationship between antenna ports may improve the chances that a UE is able to successfully decode a downlink transmission. For example, a receiving device (e.g., a UE) may be able to perform receiver processing (e.g., including channel estimation and spatial filtering) for demodulating data received on a first set of antenna ports based on reference signals received on a second set of antenna ports that are quasi co-located with the first set of antenna ports. Current techniques for performing receiver processing based on QCL relationships between antenna ports, in certain instances, may be deficient.

Quasi co-location assumption during bandwidth part switching


A resonator element includes a quartz crystal substrate having a base, a pair of vibration arms extending from the base, and a support arm located between the vibration arms and extending from the base in the direction in which the vibration arms extend. Each of the vibration arms has an arm portion and a hammer head provided at the front end of the arm portion. The arm portion has a pair of principal surfaces and a groove that has a bottom and opens through each of the principal surfaces. In the invention, the width of each of bank-shaped portions of each of the principal surfaces that are disposed side by side on opposite sides of the groove along the width direction of the vibration arm perpendicular to the longitudinal direction thereof is set at 6 μm or smaller.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a resonator element, a resonator, an oscillator, an electronic apparatus, a sensor, and a moving object.
2. Related Art
There is a known resonator element of related art that is made of quartz crystal (see JP-UM-A-2-32229, for example). A resonator element of this type excels in frequency-temperature characteristic and is hence widely used as a reference frequency source or a signal transmission source in a variety of electronic apparatus.
The resonator element described in JP-UM-A-2-32229 is of tuning fork type and includes a base and a pair of vibration arms extending from the base. Each of the vibration arms has a pair of open grooves formed in the upper and lower surfaces of the vibration arm. Each of the vibration arms therefore has a substantially H-like transverse cross-sectional shape. The thus shaped vibration arm can reduce the amount of thermoelastic loss and hence provides an excellent vibrational characteristic. In the related art, however, the shape of a vibration arm, specifically, the shape (including the size) of a portion around the grooves has not been sufficiently studied.

Resonator element, resonator, oscillator, electronic apparatus, sensor, and moving object


Reinforced copolymers formed from a functionalized copolymer that undergoes a reactive extrusion process with an inorganic component to form the reinforced copolymer. The functionalized copolymer in the form of a block and/or graft copolymer includes hard segments and soft segments, where the soft segments are covalently bonded with a coupling agent either before or after copolymerization with the hard segments. The reinforced copolymer of the present disclosure can be suitable for use as a biomaterial and/or in medical devices.

Dilation catheters are used for opening blood vessels or other passageways in the body that may be blocked by obstructions or stenosis. Dilatation catheters are generally formed from thin, flexible tubing having an inflatable balloon at or near a distal tip of the catheter that can be inflated with fluid pressure communicated to the balloon through a lumen of the catheter. In a typical angioplasty procedure, the balloon dilatation catheter is passed through the vasculature to the location of a stenosis in an artery, and the balloon is inflated to a predetermined size and shape to open the blocked artery.
It is desirable for balloons of balloon dilatation catheters to be capable of inflating to a diameter of typically many times their uninflated diameter in order to be able to open an obstructed vessel. Other desirable properties of balloons for such balloon dilatation catheters include strength, softness, flexibility and a thin, low profile which are important for achieving the performance characteristics of folding in an uninflated state, tracking, crossing and recrossing the area of the obstruction or stenosis in a vessel in an uninflated state. In addition, properties of burst strength, compliance, and fatigue have been increasingly important in the continuing effort to create thinner, lower profile balloons for dilatation catheters with an ability to track, cross and recross increasingly narrow passages in obstructed vessels.
Polymeric materials that have been used for making medical devices, catheters, dilatation catheters, and balloons for dilatation catheters include polyethylene, polyolefins, polyvinyl chloride, polyester, polyamide, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyamides, polyurethane, and the like. Balloons made of soft polyolefin or ethylene copolymers materials are typically foldable, and track and cross well, so that they can often be used more than once, and can be used to cross multiple lesions. However, such balloons also commonly have high balloon compliance and low burst strengths. Balloons made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) are commonly stronger, with a higher rated burst pressure. However, dilatation catheter balloons made of PET are generally stiff, not readily foldable and refoldable, and are susceptible to acquiring defects from mechanical handling.
It would be desirable to provide a polymeric blend for balloons of balloon dilatation catheters with a combination of the best features of the softer balloon materials and the stronger balloon materials, including good flexibility, folding, track, cross and recross, with a thin, low profile, high resistance to fatigue, low compliance, and high burst strength.


Apparatus, and an associated method, for detecting and facilitating amelioration of mass call event in a telephonic network. A detector monitors call attempts to form call connections during operation of the telephonic network. When more than a selected level of call attempts are made to a particular one, or more than one, called station within a selected period, a mass call event is considered to have occurred and detection thereof is made. A notifier initiates notification of other network elements in the telephonic network, and the rate at which call connections are permitted with the called stations is limited during the duration of the mass call event.

Use of telephonic networks through which to communicate is an endemic part of modern society. Telephonic communications are effectuated pursuant to many types of communication services as well as, perhaps most pervasively, to effectuate voice communication services. Public-access telephonic networks are widely deployed and are regularly through which to effectuate the telephonic communications.
The telephonic networks that encompass various geographical areas are interconnected. And, when suitably interconnected, telephonic communications are effectuable between telephonic stations connected to, and forming part of, almost any of the telephonic networks that are interconnected there together. Thereby, telephonic communication services are effectuated between locations at which access to a telephonic network is available.
A telephonic network comprises a communications fabric that includes, e.g., a signaling network and switching entities. Telephonic stations forming calling stations are connected to the switch entities, and telephonic stations forming called stations are also coupled to switch entities. The switch entities perform switching functions and are operable, together with operation of the signaling network to form call connections between calling and called stations. When a call connection is formed, telephonic communication between the calling and called stations is permitted.
When telephonic communications are to be effectuated between a calling and a called station, dialed digits associated with the called station are entered at the calling station, such as by user actuation of a telephonic keypad in some telephonic networks. An IAM message, for instance, is formed as part of a call set-up procedure. The IAM message includes values of the dialed digits associated with the called station. Additional signaling is generated as call set-up procedures are carried out, pursuant to conventional operation of the telephonic network. A call request is routed to the called station, and the call is accepted at the called station. The call connection is formed and the telephonic communications commence. When the communication session during which the telephonic communications are effectuated is completed, the communication session is terminated, by sending a release message through the signaling network, and the call connection is terminated.
While the number of concurrent call connections that are capable of formation in the telephonic network is, usually, large, the number of concurrent call connections that can be formed is not infinite. That is to say, the telephonic network is of a finite capacity. And, the telephonic network is constructed to be of a selected size, i.e., to permit a selected level, or capacity of concurrent call connections to be formed. When the capacity of the network is exceeded, call attempts, i.e., attempts to form call connections, fail.
A careful balance between competing goals of increasing the size of the telephonic network and minimizing the costs of the telephonic network is made when selecting the size, i.e., the capacity, of the network. While maximizing the size of the telephonic network minimizes the possibility of the occurrence of call connection attempts that exceed the capacity of the telephonic network, the costs associated with a telephonic network of such capacity would be prohibitively expensive.
Telephonic networks are correspondingly more regularly constructed to be of capacities that permit all of the call connections that are normally requested within a selected standard deviation. That is to say, telephonic networks are typically constructed to be of capacities that permit all of the call connections, within a selected standard deviation, or other normative value, to be completed. When concurrent call connections are attempted in excess of this number, not all of the call connections can be formed. Call connection failure results for at least some of the call connection attempts.
A significant increase in call connection attempts to a called station or a set of called stations is sometimes defined as being a mass call event. During a mass call event, the number of call connection attempts might approach, or exceed, the capacity of the telephonic network. The influx of the call connection attempts causes network congestion that might prevent the completion of revenue-generating calls, thus adversely affecting the profitability of the network.
Mass call events are sometimes caused by generalized mass media initiated calls, such as request for responses to polls, voting, drawings, and fund raisers. These occurrences are generally characterized by a large number of call connection attempts to a specific station within a short time period. And, the call connection attempts are not controlled at the destination, i.e., the called station, or stations, location.
Conventional efforts to reduce the deleterious effects of a mass call event require an operator of the telephonic network both to manually detect the mass call event and then to intervene manually. The time period required both to detect and to intervene manually is sometimes lengthy, necessitating excessive amounts of time in which to ameliorate the effects of the mass call event.
If a manner could be provided by which better to more quickly detect the occurrence of a mass call event, and to ameliorate the effects of the mass call event, improved telephonic network performance would be provided.
It is in light of this background information related to telephonic networks that the significant improvements of the present invention have evolved.

Apparatus, and an associated method, for detecting a mass call event and for ameliorating the effects thereof


A brewing apparatus includes an intermittent brewing feature whereby a controller regulates flow into a brew basket based upon a user selected pre-stored flow profile comprising a sequence of flow pulses. A user selects from among a plurality of stored intermittent flow profiles according to the specific brewing operation, where each profile is designed for different brewing conditions. The flow profiles can be incorporated into a larger set of pre-stored or programmed instructions that also regulate temperature, volume, warming operations, and the like.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a beverage brewing apparatus, and more particularly to a programmable brewing apparatus with "pulse" brewing and pre-infusion brewing capabilities.
2. Description of Related Art
The art of coffee brewing has advanced significantly over the last few decades from the old fashioned percolators to today's state of the art automatic brewing machines. But the goal of coffee machines has remained the same—draw the appropriate amount of flavored solutes and oils from the ground coffee beans without extracting the bitter residues and complex compounds that are released when the coffee is overbrewed. Releasing the appropriate flavor from coffee is a process that optimally considers the type of coffee, the temperature of the infusing water, the exposure time of the grounds to the infusing liquid, the level of wetting achieved by the infusing water, and so forth. A brewing apparatus that accounts for the variations and factors that affect the brewing of an optimal cup of coffee has a higher probability of success than those machines that do not account for such factors.
One factor that is critical to successful extraction of the coffee solutes is the level of wetting that the coffee brewing apparatus achieves in connection with the infusion of hot water through and about the coffee grounds. Coffee grounds are naturally coated with a fine layer of oil that is hydrophobic, that is, the coating insulates the grounds against wetting by repelling or resisting the infusing water. When water is delivered to a batch of coffee grounds, the water will create paths through the grounds that resists wetting of all grounds at the expense of overexposure of some grounds to the infusion liquid. This phenomenon results in inconsistent brewing batches because even if the grounds for each batch is measured accurately, the lack of consistent wetting results in some batches being over wetted while other batches are under wetted. This is an unsatisfactory condition that requires addressing. This layer also causes the individual grounds to float on pools of collecting water, which inhibits the full extraction of the grounds' flavor. It is important to prevent or limit the degree of floatation that the grounds experience during the brewing operation.
It has been discovered that infusing water intermittently into the brewing chamber ("pulse brewing") increases the wetting of the grounds and promotes more uniform brewing. By introducing pulses of water into the grounds, turbulence is created that jostles and moves the coffee grounds within the brewing chamber. As the grounds move and the water mixes with the grounds, the thin oily coating on the grounds dissipates and erodes leaving the unprotected granules exposed to the hot water. In between pulses, the grounds are exposed to gradual draining of the water and semi-drying as the water pulses flow through the brewing chamber. Each successive pulse aids in achieving a more complete wetting of the grounds as the grounds are agitated by the flowing water, resulting in a much more consistent brewing operation.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,148,717 to Lassota describes a beverage maker with intermittent beverage liquid dispenser and apparatus and method for uniform contact of brew ingredient with brew. Lassota discloses a beverage brewer where a programmable dispenser controller intermittently passes liquid to a dispenser head during pre-selected duty portions of a plurality of control periods in order to control the quantity of liquid dispensed and the duration of the dispense period. The controller includes a microprocessor for controlling the dispensing valve pursuant to a computer program to automatically adjust the duty portions to maintain a pre-selected dispense period during different total dispense quantities and to maintain a pre-selected total dispense quantity for different selected dispense time periods. The control periods are generated by a dividing means that divides the total dispensing period into a plurality of uniform control periods. The control periods are then divided into duty portions and non-duty portions that create the pulse brewing feature. The creation of uniform control periods by dividing the overall brewing period limits the period of the cycles to integer multiples of the overall brewing period.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,375,508 to Knepler includes a control module that allowed the entry of control limits that regulated flow from a heated water source to an infusion assembly, establishing a dispensing cycle that periodically dispensed water from the heated source to the infusion assembly. The pulses of water provided to the infusion assembly are entered by the user and stored in the controller's memory. For example, the user can cause the valve to open at T0 and close at T0 plus sixty seconds, and then open again at T0 plus seventy seconds and close at T0 plus one hundred thirty seconds. The references of Knepler and Lassota are incorporated in full herein by reference.
Another method of maximizing the wetting of the coffee grounds is by pre-infusion or pre-wetting of the coffee prior to brewing. By introducing an initial spray of heated water on the grounds and allowing a short soaking period, the grounds are more efficiently wetted during the brewing cycle. It is preferable to perform either pulse-brewing or pre-infusion prior to the brewing cycle, but not both.
The selection of the appropriate periods of pulse brewing or pre-infusion is dependent upon various factors and the typical consumer is not familiar with the conditions that would favor one pulse brewing sequence over another or the choice between pulse brewing and pre-infusion. The prior art lacks a brewing apparatus that incorporates several predetermined brewing profiles for various conditions that allow the user to simply select a profile and the brewing apparatus will apply the pulse brew profile or pre-infusion sequence based on information stored in its memory. Alternatively, the brewing apparatus can store global instructions that include pulse brew or pre-infusion options, and further include other brewing options and parameters that works best for the present conditions.

Brewing apparatus with pre-infusion and pulse brewing


An object of the present invention is to implement, at a low hardware cost, a device that changes an autonomous driving control parameter whose step size is variably set. An autonomous driving control parameter changing device according to the present invention includes, a gesture operation acquisition unit that acquires information on a gesture operation for moving the operation target icon, a parameter changing unit that changes the autonomous driving control parameter in an increase or decrease direction defined in association with a movement direction in which the operation target icon is moved, and a step size setting unit that variably sets a step size based on a predetermined condition, the step size corresponding to an amount of change in the autonomous driving control parameter made by the parameter changing unit per occurrence of the gesture operation, and the change operation screen includes a display of the step size.

In recent years, an autonomous driving control device that controls various actuators involved in travel control of a vehicle to perform autonomous driving control on the vehicle has been developed. Further, various techniques for allowing a driver to change an autonomous driving control parameter that is a parameter used by the autonomous driving control device for autonomous driving control of a vehicle have been proposed.
For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for allowing a driver to change a set speed under steady travel control by operation of a switch. In the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1, a step size of the set speed per operation of the switch is determined to be larger as a vehicle speed at the time of operation of the switch is higher.
Further, Patent Document 2 discloses a technique for allowing a driver to change a set vehicle speed under cruise control by operation of a cruise lever. In the technique disclosed in Patent Document 2, a step size of the set vehicle speed per operation of the cruise lever when a vehicle is traveling in a passing lane is set larger than a step size when the vehicle is traveling in a traveling lane.

Autonomous driving control parameter changing device and autonomous driving control parameter changing method


Disclosed are a motor vehicle drive control system, which easily detects accelerations, generated in the up and down, front and rear, and left and right of a motor vehicle body, in high degree of accuracy, and performs the stability control of a motor vehicle, and its sensor unit. Sensor units provided in four corners of the front and rear, and left and right of the motor vehicle body detect accelerations generated in X-, Y-, and Z-axis directions, and digital values of detection result are transmitted to a monitoring device as digital information via an electromagnetic wave. The monitoring device outputs this digital information to a stability control unit. The stability control unit performs the correction control of drive of a subthrottle actuator or a brake drive actuator on the basis of the acceleration values obtained.

Heretofore, when a road surface got wet at the time of a rainy weather season and a frictional force between the road surface and a tire degraded, slip might arise at the time of brakes being applied, a motor vehicle might move in an unexpected direction, and an accident might be caused.
In order to prevent an accident which arose by such a slip, quick start, and the like, an anti-lock brake system (hereafter, this is called an ABS), a traction control system, and further, a stability control system, which a YAW sensor was provided, and the like have been developed.
For example, the ABS is a system which detects a rotation state of each tire and controls a braking force to prevent each tire from entering into a locked state on the basis of this detection result.
It is possible to detect states such as rotating speed, air pressure, and strain of each tire as rotation states of tires and to use this detection result for control.
As examples of such a control system, for example, what are known are a motor vehicle braking apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication (Hei)05-338528 (hereafter, this is called patent document 1), a brake control apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication 2001-018775 (hereafter, this is called patent document 2), a motor vehicle control method and an apparatus thereby disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication 2001-182578 (hereafter, this is called patent document 3), a motor vehicle motion control system disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication 2002-137721 (hereafter, this is called patent document 4), a braking system disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication 2002-160616 (hereafter, this is called patent document 5), and the like.
What is disclosed in the patent document 1 is the braking system which prevents the change of brake pedal feeling on brake operation at the time of rapid brake operation and brake operation immediately after that by controlling a pump motor so that a vacuum pump operates when decelerated acceleration of a motor vehicle has reached a predetermined value is detected by an acceleration sensor 14 by negative pressure being supplied from a vacuum tank to a vacuum booster connected to a brake pedal, negative pressure being supplied from the vacuum pump to this vacuum tank, and this vacuum pump being driven by the pump motor.
What is disclosed in the patent document 2 is the brake control system in a brake control system provided with control means executing ABS control, wherein the control means comprises lateral acceleration estimating means of estimating lateral acceleration generated in a motor vehicle, and comparison test means of comparing estimated lateral acceleration by this lateral acceleration estimating means, estimated lateral acceleration by vehicle behavior detecting means, and detected lateral acceleration which a lateral acceleration sensor included in the vehicle behavior detecting means detects, judging that a normal turn corresponding to a turning angle is being performed, when difference between both is under a predetermined value, and judging that an abnormal turning is being performed, when the above-mentioned difference is not less than the predetermined value, and wherein control is switched between the cases of the judgment of the normal turn and the judgment of the abnormal turn during ABS control of the above-mentioned control means.
What is disclosed in the patent document 3 is the motor vehicle control method and apparatus thereby in a motor vehicle control method where a control signal for adjusting the deceleration and/or acceleration of a motor vehicle is formed by a corresponding setting value, and an apparatus thereby, wherein a correction coefficient denoting motor vehicle acceleration or motor vehicle deceleration generated by a traveling road surface inclination is formed, this correction coefficient is superimposed with a setting value, and the setting of the motor vehicle deceleration and/or acceleration is improved.
What is disclosed in the patent document 4 is the motor vehicle motion control apparatus which acquires side slip angle changing speed β′ of a center of gravity as an actual yawing motion state function of a motor vehicle which has a plurality of wheels, generates yawing moment, whose value becomes large as the value becomes large and whose direction decreases an absolute value of the changing speed β′, whose by making brake fluid pressure ΔP act on either of left and right rear wheel brakes when the absolute value of the changing speed β′ is not less than a setting value β0′, continues judgment of whether slip control is necessary in a wheel on which the brake fluid pressure ΔP is made to act, also in this yawing moment control, and performs slip control of keeping a slip ratio in a proper range by suppressing brake fluid pressure ΔP when the slip control is required.
What is disclosed in the patent document 5 is the braking apparatus, which comprises at least two out of an acceleration sensor detecting acceleration in a fore-and-aft direction of a motor vehicle, a wheel speed sensor detecting the wheel speed of each wheel, and a braking pressure sensor detecting braking pressure, and which can suppress output abnormality even if a disturbance arises or one sensor breaks down, by calculating target braking pressure by feedback from the at least two sensors, calculating an indicator current in an indicator current arithmetic section on the basis of this operation result, flowing the indicator current to a brake drive actuator, and generating a braking force depending on the amount of the indicator current.
In addition, what is common as a method of detecting the rotating speed of a tire is a method of detecting the rotating speed of a tire by a rotor A1, rotating with being integrated with a wheel carrier, and a pickup sensor A2 as shown in FIGS. 38 and 39. In this method, flux density varies because a plurality of irregularities provided in a circumferential surface of the rotor A1 at equal intervals crosses a magnetic field generated by the pickup sensor A2, and a pulse-like voltage arises in a coil of the pickup sensor A2. It is possible to detect rotating speed by detecting this pulse. An example of a basic principle of this method is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication (Sho)52-109981.

Motor vehicle drive control system and sensor unit for the same


A game and a method of playing a game involving skill and chance. The game of sets of tiles, each set having a numerical value ranging from one through nine and an icon or figure. Additionally, the game can also include a set of "lucky" or trump tiles that only include an icon, a die, a set of rulers for including the scoring values and aid in counting the tiles, and a chips for keeping score. The game includes 112 tiles, of the 112 tiles 36 tiles of one suit, meaning that these 36 tiles have similar icons, with four identical groups of nine tiles each, another 36 of the tiles is also made up of four identical groups of nine tiles of the same suit, and a third group of 36 tiles is four identical groups of nine tiles of the same suit. The balance, or four tiles, is made up of "lucky" or trump tiles. The process for playing the game involves distributing a randomly selected hand of tiles consisting of eight tiles when playing amongst two or three players, or eleven tiles when playing amongst four or more players. The game is played in rounds with the object being earning of points by winning rounds by completing hands that contain only groups of three similar or related tiles. The groups of three similar or related tiles is formed by taking turns in selecting and discarding tiles which can be used to complete a hand of nine or twelve similar or related tiles. The "lucky" or trump tiles can be used to win points, or a round if one player collects all four.

(a) Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to games whose object is to assemble groups items bearing the same or related numbers and the same or related indicia or suits. More particularly, but not by way of limitation, this invention relates to a game as well as the method for playing a game that uses a variety of tiles, each bearing an icon or design and a numerical representation, with the object of being the first player to complete a hand or set that is made up of certain pre-determined subsets, each subset having an established hierarchical point value.
(b) Discussion of the Prior Art
Games that use cards or tiles with icons and numbers have been very popular in the past. For example, with the well known card game of poker one uses a 52 card deck with an "ace" card with the value of one, numbered cards having values ranging from two to nine and "face" cards with numerical values that range from ten to thirteen. In addition to the 52 cards, poker card decks normally include a pair of jokers that can be used as "wild" cards, meaning that they can assume any value.
Each set of cards in a poker deck includes four suits. Each suit is represented by a specific symbol. For example, as is well known, the ace card comes in spades, clubs, hearts and diamonds. Point values are assigned to different hands or combinations of cards. The points earned for any one hand depend on the combination of cards that are dealt to the player. With cards, for example, the point value of combinations depends primarily on the numerical value of the cards, the order of the numbers and the suit of the hand.
The combinations for scoring points in most card games can be difficult to learn for younger children. Moreover, the numbers and suits used with many card games have little appeal to children. On the other hand, games that appeal to children usually do not provide enough opportunity for strategy and complexity to challenge adult players.
Therefore, there remains a need for a game that is easily learned and played by children or adults and that provides the opportunity of increased complexity and strategy, so that the challenges presented during play are simply a function of the cleverness of the players.


A pneumatic tire having a pair of annular bead areas (12), a pair of sidewalls, and a crown portion wherein a carcass ply (22) wraps around a radial inner side (RSj,2o) of each bead ring (20), for each bead area (12) a first layer of rubber material (30) is arranged radially inward from both the bead ring radial inner side (RSi,2o) and the carcass ply (22) and a second layer of rubber material (40) is arranged radially inward from the first layer of rubber material (30), each of the first layer of rubber material (30) and the second layer of rubber material (40) extending substantially across a full width (W20) of the corresponding bead ring (20), each of the first and second layer of rubber material (30, 40) having a modulus of elongation, where the modulus of elongation of the second layer of rubber material (40) is equal to or greater than substantially 125% of the modulus of elongation of the first layer of rubber material (30).

The invention concerns the structures and production of tubeless tires having rim mounting and sealing portions each characterized as having improved resistance to rim mounting damage.
Tubeless pneumatic tires having one or more carcass plies extending between a pair of substantially unstretchable bead rings (which may be more simply referred to herein as "beads"), one or more carcass plies being surmounted by a crown reinforcement (referred to also as a belt or belt package) and a tread, the one or more carcass plies being partially wound at each of their two ends around each of the bead rings. Each of the one or more carcass plies and crown reinforcement being reinforced with cables or cords within a rubber matrix.
In the case of tubeless tires, it is necessary that the pressurized inflation atmosphere not be lost by diffusion into the materials of the mounted assembly or by leaks caused by an inadequate seal between tire and rim. Additionally, the structure forming the seal together with the surrounding portions near each bead ring must withstand mounting forces observed when mounting the tire on a rim or dismounting the tire from rim.
Presently, there is a desire to improve the ability of the sealing portion of the tire, or more specifically, the portion of the tire arranged between each bead ring and the radially inner rim-seating portion of the tire as is arranged within a bead area of the tire, to provide sealing capabilities while also better resisting the occurrence of damage that may occur during tire mounting or tire dismounting.

Compagnie Generale des Etablissements Michelin


A thermoplastic resin composition which comprises (A) 1 to 99 parts by weight of polytrimethylene terephthalate and (B) 99 to 1 part by weight of a polycarbonate, wherein the ingredient (A) crystallization enthalpy, ΔHcc, which is obtained when the thermoplastic resin composition is heated from 0 ° C. at a rate of 20° C./min is 0 to 15 J/g.

Resin compositions, which generally comprise an aromatic polyester and a polycarbonate, are widely used in the industry. Among them, resin compositions comprising a polytrimethylene terephthalate and a polycarbonate have excellent appearance, mechanical properties, heat resistance and dimension properties. Therefore, they are useful as a material in automobile parts, electric/electronic parts, construction parts and industrial parts. In particular, such resin compositions are useful as exterior automobile parts due to their excellent appearance and heat resistance. However, in recent years, heat resistance has become increasingly demanded in this industrial field. In this context, a conventional resin composition comprising a polytrimethylene terephthalate and a polycarbonate provides products with only insufficient high-temperature mechanical properties in the field where such high-temperature mechanical properties are required, e.g., automobile exterior handles or roof legs.
For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a thermoplastic resin composition comprising a polytrimethylene terephthalate and a polycarbonate having melt viscosity stability defined for the purpose of improving wet heat resistance. However, the demanded heat resistance and rigidity when heated are still not satisfied even if this technique is employed. In addition, Patent Document 2 discloses a resin composition comprising a polytrimethylene terephthalate and a polycarbonate, which is characterized in that the polytrimethylene terephthalate contains a specific amount of a dipropylene glycol component to improve wet heat resistance. However, heat resistance and physical properties when heated are still not improved even if this technique is employed.    Patent Document 1: JP-A-2002-265771    Patent Document 2: JP-A-2002-275369

Thermoplastic resin having rigidity when heated


A position detection system includes a responder configured to be carried by a user; interrogators, and a position detection unit configured to detect the user. The responder includes: a responder reception unit configured to receive interrogator identification information and floor identification information from the interrogator, a current floor identification information storage unit configured to store therein the floor identification information, and a responder transmission unit configured to determine whether to transmit the user identification information to the interrogator, when a transmission source of the received interrogator identification information is the interrogator provided in the room, and wherein the position detection unit comprises a position determination unit configured to detect that a position in the room of the floor, at which the user exists, is adjacent to the interrogator, based on the interrogator identification information and user identification information received from the interrogator.

A position detection system configured to detect a position of a user in a room is applied to a variety of fields. For example, JP-A-2004-301380 discloses an air conditioning system capable of locally air-conditioning a vicinity of a user by arranging a plurality of tag readers on a matrix in a room to thus detect a position of the user with precision. However, when detecting a position of a user with the air conditioning system disclosed in JP-A-2004-301380 in a building having a plurality of floors, a tag carried by the user and a tag reader provided for a floor adjacent to a floor at which the user exists, are enabled to communicate with each other. As a result, a misdetection that the user exists at a floor different from the floor at which the user actually exists occurs.
FIG. 9 is a schematic view showing a misdetection that a user exists at a floor different from a floor at which the user actually is in the background art. A tag reader 200b mounted on a ceiling 400b of a corresponding floor performs communication with a tag carried by a user 402 existing at the corresponding floor, thereby detecting a position of the user. However, as shown in FIG. 9, a signal arriving range of the tag reader 200b extends to not only the corresponding floor but also an adjacent floor. Thus, if a user carrying a tag 100 is at the adjacent floor, the tag 100 detects a leakage signal to the adjacent floor, which is generated from the tag reader 200b, so that a misdetection is caused.


A semiconductor device of the present invention comprises a Group III-V nitride semiconductor layer of gallium nitride or the like having n-type conductivity and at least one ohmic electrode formed on the Group III-V nitride semiconductor layer of gallium nitride or the like having n-type conductivity. The ohmic electrode is formed of a conductive material containing a metal boride.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device using a Group III-V nitride compound semiconductor and a method for fabricating the same.
(2) Description of Related Art
Compounds made of Group III elements, boron (B), aluminum (Al), gallium (Ga) and indium (In), and a Group V element, nitride (N) and represented by the general formula, BwAlxGayInzN (wherein w+x+y+z=1 and 0≦w, x, y, z≦1) are Group III-V nitride compound semiconductors, i.e., the so-called Group III-V nitride semiconductors. Group III-V nitride semiconductors have advantages such as wide band gaps and associated high breakdown voltages, high electron saturation velocities and high mobilities, and also high electron densities in heterojunctions. In view of the above, Group III-V nitride semiconductors are being researched and developed for the purpose of applying them to short-wavelength light-emitting elements, high-power and high-frequency elements, high-frequency and low-noise amplifying elements, or the like.
In order to enhance characteristics of semiconductor elements made of such Group III-V nitride semiconductors, it is necessary to maximally reduce the contact resistance of each semiconductor element. When current is carried by electrons, an ohmic electrode need be formed from outside in the region where electrons are conducted (hereinafter, referred to as an "electron channel"). In this case, it is especially significant to reduce the contact resistance of the ohmic contact.
A known method for forming an ohmic electrode (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 11-126947) will be described hereinafter.
FIGS. 8A and 8B show the most typical method for forming an ohmic electrode in an n-type electron channel. As shown in FIG. 8A, an n-type aluminum gallium nitride (AlxGa1-xN: 0≦x≦1) layer 32 serving as an active layer is formed on a sapphire substrate 31. A multilayer metal thin film 33 is formed on the AlxGa1-xN layer 32 by lift-off to include titanium (Ti) as the lowest layer and aluminum (Al), nickel (Ni), gold (Au), and the like thereon. Next, annealing is performed at a high temperature (500° C. through 900° C.). In this way, as shown in FIG. 8B, Ti of the multilayer metal thin film 33 is allowed to react with nitrogen (N) of the AlxGa1-xN layer 32 to form vacancies of nitrogen (N), thereby forming a region 34 with an increased metallicity in the vicinity of the top surface of the AlxGa1-xN layer 32. At the same time, Ga, Ti, TiN, Al, Ni, Au, and the like existing at the interface between the region 34 and the multilayer metal thin film 33 are allowed to react with one another to form a stable metal compound serving as an ohmic electrode.
With this method, the tunnel effect at the interface between the electron channel and an electrode metal is increased so that the contact resistance of the ohmic electrode can be reduced. For example, when source/drain electrodes of a typical heterojunction transistor obtained by stacking a 25-nm-thick Al0.25Ga0.75N layer and GaN are formed by this method, an ohmic electrode having a contact resistance of approximately 1×10−5 Ω·cm2 can be formed.
As the other method for forming an electrode in a Group III-V nitride semiconductor, a method using metal diboride is known which is intended to improve the lattice match between a Group III-V nitride semiconductor layer and an electrode (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-101038).
However, a contact resistance of the order of 10−6 through 10−7 Ω·cm2 is demanded for ohmic electrodes of practical high-frequency devices. The ohmic electrodes obtained by the known method for forming an ohmic electrode cannot satisfy this demand.
Since in the known example nitrogen vacancies are produced in a Group III-V nitride semiconductor layer to increase the tunnel effect at the interface between an electrode metal and a nitride semiconductor layer, this reduces the contact resistance of an ohmic electrode. In this relation, the lower limit of the contact resistance is defined by the height of a potential barrier located at the interface between a metal used for an ohmic contact and an electron-conducting channel, i.e., the barrier height.
The barrier height at the interface is determined by the work function of a metal used for an electrode. The work function represents the height from the Fermi level to the vacuum level. The work function of Ti usually used for electrodes in n−-type nitride semiconductors is approximately 5 eV. Accordingly, even when the tunnel effect is increased to reduce the contact resistance, it is extremely difficult to achieve a required contact resistance of the order of 10−6 through 10−7 Ω·cm2.
The present invention is made to solve the conventional problems, and its object is to realize a semiconductor device made of a Group III-V nitride semiconductor comprising a low-resistance ohmic electrode.

Semiconductor device and method for fabricating the same

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A method and apparatus for controlling a valve during the detection of a hazard event. A hazard event is defined as an event that may endanger the health or safety of people or the environment from contamination of hazardous material carried by a vehicle. The hazard event may be detected from a condition of the vehicle, an input received from a vehicle operator, or a message received from a remote location. After detecting a hazard event, a valve located on the vehicle is controlled to prevent contamination from the hazardous material being transported.

I. Field
The present invention relates generally to transportation and delivery systems, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for controlling a valve for use with a vehicle transporting hazardous materials when a hazard event is detected.
II. Description of the Related Art
Advances in technology have provided for increased automation in many industries. For example, in the trucking industry, technology has allowed for the shipment and delivery of cargo virtually around the clock. Vehicles now carry and deliver cargo to all parts of the country. For example, cargo-carrying tractor-trailers may be driven hundreds or thousands of miles to reach a delivery site.
Typically, cargo is loaded into a trailer portion of a tractor-trailer vehicle and driven from point to point along a delivery route by a vehicle operator. Along the delivery route, intermediate stops may occur where portions of the cargo are unloaded for delivery or where new cargo is picked up. To facilitate efficient routing, sometimes a trailer is detached from its current tractor and left at a designated location for pickup by another tractor. The trailer may sit at this intermediate location for various lengths of time while waiting to be retrieved by another tractor. This detachable trailer arrangement allows shippers to plan the most efficient and cost effective routes for the delivery of the cargo. In some cases, the trailer acts as a storage container to store the cargo for an extended period of time.
Generally speaking, the vast majority of cargo carried by the trucking industry represents food or other consumer goods that do not pose a danger to the public during transportation. However, the trucking industry also transports hazardous materials (HAZMAT) that may pose a threat to the general public or the environment. For example, materials such as fuels, chemicals, oil, waste materials, or other hazardous materials may pose a serious risk to the public in the event of a vehicle accident, malfunction, or hijacking. For example, if a truck carrying a cargo of dangerous chemicals is involved in an accident, leakage of the chemicals may endanger lives or pose a serious risk to the environment.
Another problem facing the transportation industry is the threat of theft or hijacking to steal hazardous cargo from vehicles during transport. While cargo doors may be locked using conventional locking devices, they are typically easily defeated by the use of bolt cutters or other means to destroy the locking mechanisms. In the case of hazardous liquids or gases, however, it may be easy for thieves to stop a vehicle and to release hazardous liquids or gases into the environment, or into another container for later use by the thieves.
Therefore, what is needed is a system for controlling a hazardous material valve on a vehicle in the event of an accident, vehicle malfunction, or theft. It would be ideal to have such a control system operate without user intervention.

Method and apparatus for controlling a valve during a hazard event


A system for distinguishing between a first condition corresponding to a living subject being directly in contact with an object of interest, and a second condition corresponding to the absence of contact between the living subject and the object of interest. A transducer, which may be a MEMs sensor, is disposed in predetermined relationship to the object of interest and produces a transducer signal responsive to a pressure wave resulting from the living subject being directly in contact the object of interest. A database stores data corresponding to the first condition and may contain additional data corresponding to the second condition. A processor calculates an algorithm of a non-linear short-term frequency-selective energy distribution of the transducer signal over time to produce transducer signal data. An arrangement, which may be a human listener or a processor system, determines a threshold between the first and second conditions in response to the transducer signal data and the first and second data. The direct contact may be a tap or stroking contact by a living subject. The transducer can be disposed within, or on the exterior of, the object of interest.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to systems that detect the presence of a living being in direct, physical communication with an object of interest, and more particularly, to the production a signal that contains information that indicates that a living being is in communication with the object of interest. The signal can be used to activate the object, such as a water faucet that is tapped or stroked by a human user; determination of whether the seat of a vehicle occupied with a human or other living being, or whether the vehicle seat is occupied with a non-human being (e.g., a box or a bag), or whether the seat is empty; determination when the seat is occupied by a human being whether the occupant is seated normally or leaning; determination of the presence of one or more human beings hidden or hiding within an enclosed space, such as a trailer, a cave, or an underground bunker; location of persons or animals trapped in a hazardous or hostile environment; and determination of the drowsiness of a human engaged in a dangerous task, such as the operation of an automobile or truck.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In order that a front-seat passenger in a vehicle be protected in the event of a collision, motor vehicles are equipped with a front-seat passenger airbag. A necessary, but not entirely sufficient, condition for airbag deployment is that the front passenger seat be occupied. There are a number of systems for determining the presence of a human being in a vehicle seat. A typical detection system available in the art includes one or more sensing devices for measuring predetermined characteristics of a seat occupant. The sensed characteristics are used to determine whether a vehicle seat is occupied with a human subject, and further to determine whether to deploy the airbag. The weight of the occupant has been used in known arrangements as a fundamental parameter in this regard. More particularly, weight is used as a criterion to distinguish between a human-occupied seat and an empty seat. However, weight-based occupant detection systems have met challenges in calibration for different seat types, different operating environments, etc. There also are known systems for detecting occupancy of vehicle seats in which vision, infrared, or ultrasonic focal plane array sensors are used to gather occupant information. These sensors are mounted within the vehicle, but away from the seats, such as in the overhead console. However, since these sensors do not directly measure physical attributes they are not as reliable as those that do, and accordingly, occupant-sensing systems based on such sensors are more prone to errors than their weight-based counterparts. Occupant-sensing systems that use focal plane array technology also tend to be much more costly.
In another application of living being detection systems, unauthorized persons might endeavor to pass through entry checkpoints that have high security requirements (e.g., at airports, shipyards, border crossings, ballparks, concert halls, and secure or limited access areas such as military bases, power plants, nuclear plants, government buildings, etc.) by hiding, for example, in the trunk of an automobile or in a trailer. Conventional visual security checks are time-consuming and prone to fault due to human error and fatigue. An automatic living being presence detection system can reduce the workload for the guards and provide information about the inside of an enclosed space. An enclosed-space living being detection system developed at Lockheed Martin Energy Systems, Inc. detects the presence of human beings with geophones placed on the vehicle and employs wavelet analysis to the sensed data to determine if there are persons in the vehicle. This known system, as is the case with others, is capable of detecting human being presence, but it needs careful positioning and tuning of the sensors.
Enclosed spaces not only include boxed areas, but also areas that are hemispherical, tubular, etc. Examples of the other kind include caves, underground bunkers, tunnels, etc. A case in point is the ongoing anti-terrorism search for hidden/hiding criminals over the countryside and mountain ranges of certain foreign countries. The system proposed herein is useful in locating and capturing human beings who are hidden or hiding in caves, underground bunkers, tunnels, etc.
There is a need for a living being presence detection system that locates living beings buried under rubbles, trapped behind barriers, or inside buildings. After a disaster strikes, such as an earthquake, a hurricane, or a terrorist attack, living beings might be buried or trapped under rubble or behind large barriers. Similarly, there is a need to find living beings trapped indoors during a building fire. Rapid location of such persons can reduce the loss of life.
In a "life-detection system," living subjects are illuminated by penetrating microwave, and the reflected wave is modulated by the body movements, including the breathing and heartbeat. In this arrangement, the living being presence detection is accomplished by extracting the breathing and heartbeat component signals from the received microwave signal.
Drowsiness is a common attribute of humans engaged in repetitive monotonous tasks. When the task is, for example, the operation of an automobile or truck, the consequences of undetected drowsiness can be fatal. Previous approaches to the detection of drowsiness have relied on measuring eye closure, i.e., so-called "perclose." Although perclose can be a reliable measure of human drowsiness, it cannot be reliably estimated in operating conditions and requires very careful calibration for each human.
Heartbeat and breathing signals have been extensively used in detecting and monitoring living beings. In one known arrangement the author proposed a hand-held acoustic sensor pad that is placed on the subjects' upper chest to monitor heartbeat and breathing patterns. Since the water-filled sensor is excellently coupled with the living body, it is able to collect high signal-to-noise ratio heartbeat and breath signals. In another known arrangement, the life detection system utilizes active microwave sensors to acquire the heartbeat and breathing signals with a high signal-to-noise ratio. In both these cases, the acquired signal clearly shows the breathing and heartbeat patterns in time domain.
A problem incurred in inspection of cargo containers is that unauthorized persons, or stow-aways, might endeavor to cross a border or pass through entry checkpoints that have high security requirements (e.g., at airports, shipyards, border crossings, and secure or limited access areas such as military bases, power plants, nuclear plants, government buildings, etc.) by hiding in the container. In addition to unauthorized persons, weapons, bombs, or other contraband, may also be hidden in the same cargo containers.
Conventional visual security checks are time-consuming and prone to fault due to human error and fatigue. Moreover, in some cases, human intervention can be dangerous. In view of increased security concerns, methods of inspection employing strong radiation have been developed to guard against entry of dangerous weapons, for example. However, should the container also contain a stow-away, the level of radiation required to inspect for weapons, for example, is harmful, if not lethal. There is, therefore, a need for an automatic human being detection system that can be detected by a remote inspection.
In addition to the foregoing, there is a need for a method of detecting tampering with a cargo load that has already been inspected and/or sealed at a foreign location. Presently, United States customs inspects containers at the point of entry. However, the ability to inspect the containers abroad, seal them, and monitor whether the seal has been tampered with, would greatly expedite the flow of goods into the country. Thus, there is a need for a means of monitoring whether a sealed cargo container has been opened or tampered, at a remote location.
These problems are addressed by the present invention which provides a flexible film sensor, in the nature of an adhesive strip, that can detect human heart beats and breathing, as well as pressure changes, or vibrations, that would be indicative of tampering with the sealed container.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


An interconnect that may reduce a head slider's exposure to electrostatic discharge events and may dissipate charging of the head is provided. Conductive and nonconductive adhesives are used to adhere a head slider to the interconnect. An electromagnetic interference generating circuit generates current that flows through the conductive adhesive bonding the head slider to the flexure arm. The electromagnetic interference current breaks down the resistance of the conductive adhesive to dissipate an electrostatic voltage charge on the head slider. This may prolong the life of the head slider and a read/write head coupled to the head slider.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for dielectric breakdown of a conductive adhesive on a suspension interconnect of a hard disk drive to reduce the severity of electrostatic events encountered by a head slider coupled to the interconnect.
2. Background Information
Hard disk drives contain a plurality of magnetic heads that are coupled to rotating disks. The heads write and read information by magnetizing and sensing the magnetic fields of the disk surfaces. Typically the magnetic heads include a write element for magnetizing the disks and a separate read element for sensing the magnetic field of the disks. The read element is typically constructed using a magneto-resistive material that has a resistance that varies with the magnetic field of the disk. Heads with magneto-resistive read elements are commonly referred to as magneto-resistive (MR) and giant magneto-resistive (GMR) heads.
Each head is mechanically coupled to a head slider. The head slider is attached to a flexure arm to create a subassembly known as a head suspension assembly (HSA). The HSA comprises a subassembly of a known head gimbal assembly (HGA). The HGA's are attached to an actuator arm. The actuator arm has a voice coil motor that can move the heads across the surfaces of the disks.
Information is stored in radial tracks that extend across the surfaces of each disk. Each track is typically divided up into a number of segments or sectors. The voice coil motor and actuator arm can move the heads to different tracks of the disks and to different sectors of each track.
A suspension interconnect extends along the length of the flexure arm and connects the head to a preamplifier device of the voice coil motor. The suspension interconnect typically comprises a pair of conductive write traces and a pair of conductive read traces formed on a stainless steel lamina.
Changes in the geometry of the flexure may cause the read/write heads to contact the surface of the disk. If the read/write heads contact the surface of the disk, electrostatic charging may occur. The electrostatic discharge (ESD) that occurs when the head contacts the disk surface may jump to the head and may severely damage or destroy the head.
An electrostatic discharge may also be formed on the head during the build processes of the HSA, HGA, and hard disk drive. Each ESD event that the head is exposed to may significantly shorten the life of the head and head slider.
Accordingly, there exists a need for an interconnect design that may reduce the head and head slider's exposure to severe ESD events.

Interconnect for dissipating electrostatic charges on a head slider


A medication dispensing apparatus having a gear set (64) to provide a mechanical advantage to the plunging of the apparatus plunger (66). The gear set (64) has a first pinion (114) in meshed engagement with a rack of the plunger (102), and a second pinion (126) in meshed engagement with a rack of a drive member (80) of the apparatus. The gear set (64) operatively interconnects the plunger (66) and the drive member (62) such that after the plunger (66) is moved relative to the housing in a proximal direction to prepare the apparatus for injection, the plunger (66), when manually pushed back toward the housing, causes the drive member (62) to advance in a distal direction to force medication through an outlet, typically provided with an injection needle, at the distal end of the apparatus.

The present invention pertains to medication dispensing devices, and, in particular, to a portable medication dispensing device such as an injector pen.
Patients suffering from a number of different diseases frequently must inject themselves with medication. To allow a person to conveniently and accurately self-administer medicine, a variety of devices broadly known as injector pens or injection pens have been developed. Generally, these pens are equipped with a cartridge including a piston and containing a multi-dose quantity of liquid medication. A drive member, extending from within a base of the injector pen and operably connected with typically more rearward mechanisms of the pen that control drive member motion, is movable forward to advance the piston in the cartridge in such a manner to dispense the contained medication from an outlet at the opposite cartridge end, typically through a needle that penetrates a stopper at that opposite end. In disposable pens, after a pen has been utilized to exhaust the supply of medication within the cartridge, the entire pen is discarded by a user, who then begins using a new replacement pen. In reusable pens, after a pen has been utilized to exhaust the supply of medication within the cartridge, the pen is disassembled to allow replacement of the spent cartridge with a fresh cartridge, and then the pen is reassembled for its subsequent use.
One known type of injection pen uses a pull/push sequence applied to an externally accessible plunging member to deliver medication from the pen. The pulling of the plunging member in an axial, proximal direction first cocks or arms the pen for dose delivery, and then the axial pushing of the plunging member in the distal direction advances the cartridge piston to dispense the medication. While useful, such devices are not without their shortcomings. For example, some users who possess limited hand strength may find it difficult to apply sufficient force to push in the plunging member to inject a dose. In addition, the short plunging member travel associated with delivering very small doses in some pens may cause some users to question whether in fact a pen is operating to delivery the expected relatively small dose.
An injection pen disclosed in International Publication Number WO 96/26754 is designed with a mechanical advantage that may facilitate pen operation. The mechanical advantage is obtained with a gear set including first and second coaxial pinions that engage different racks within the pen, and which gear set travels with the pen thrust rod. While useful, due to the way the mechanical advantage is achieved, the mechanical advantage of the pen may be practically limited by how much smaller the diameter of the first pinion can be made than the diameter of the second pinion. In addition, the pen has a design which may be too complicated for some applications.
Another injection pen with a mechanical advantage is disclosed in International Publication Number WO 01/95959, which uses one or more gear wheels carried by a connector element threadedly engaged with the piston rod. The mechanical advantage of this pen may be practically limited by how small the gear wheel carried by the connector element can be made. Moreover, this pen has a relatively complicated design, as well as potentially costly components, such as separate springs.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide an apparatus that can overcome one or more of these and other shortcomings of the prior art.

Medication dispensing apparatus with gear set for mechanical advantage


A method and system for generating an antialiased approximation of a line displayed within a data processing system having a raster-scan device for generating images within a two-dimensional grid comprising rows and columns of pixels. A plurality of parameters are generated according to Bresenham's algorithm for the line, including first error term and a second error term. A pixel intensity for an initial pixel for the pixel approximation of the line is generated. The first error term is compared with a threshold to determine an amount of error. The first error term is adjusted by a first selected amount in response to the comparison of the first error term, and the second error term is adjusted by a second selected amount in response to the comparison of the first error term. A pixel proximate to the initial pixel is selected by comparing the first adjusted error term with a second threshold to locate a pixel closest to a point on the line. The pixel is assigned a first intensity based on a comparison of the second adjusted error term with the first error term. Another pixel proximate to the pixel is selected in response to selecting the pixel. This another pixel is a assigned a second intensity based on a comparison of the second adjusted error term with the first error term.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to the display of lines in a computer display system and in particular to a method and system for antialiasing lines displayed in a raster format within a computer display system. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a method and system for antialiasing lines by generating an antialiased pixel approximation of a line in a computer display system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Visual display clarity is a problem faced by computer system developers. Graphics, including the set of text characters, are typically displayed using a raster image. The raster image is a rectangular array of rectangular picture elements known as pixels. Pixels are arranged on the computer display screen in rows and columns.
Image clarity problems typically occur when a continuous image is displayed using discrete pixels. The problem is most visible in the non-vertical and non-horizontal parts of a graphic image. For example, a line that is neither vertical nor horizontal will look jagged or stair-stepped because the line is constructed of rectangular pixels. This problem is called aliasing.
One method of solving aliasing problems is to employ a display with a greater number of pixels per square inch. With a higher resolution display, the stair-steps are smaller and therefore less noticeable. This solution, however, is expensive because of the high cost of high resolution displays. This option may not always be possible because of limited speed capability of the electronic components utilized in the display.
Another method of anti-aliasing involves modifying or blurring the pixels in the region near the jagged edge of the graphic image. Blurring the jagged edges reduces the contrast and makes the jagged edges less noticeable. In the edge blurring technique, both the brightness and color of the graphic image, and the background behind the image, may be considered when computing the new brightness and color of pixels near the jagged edge of the graphic image.
In converting a line into coordinates for pixels on a two-dimensional raster grid, the basic strategy employed by typical line scan-conversion algorithms is to increment x and calculate y=mx+b. A pixel is selected at (x, ROUND (y)) where ROUND (y) is a function that determines the y coordinate of the pixel closest to the y value calculated. These x and y values correspond to points on a grid wherein the intersection of x and y values associated with grid points are often referred to as "picture elements" or "pixels".
Most conventional raster displays rasterize a continuous line one pixel at a time, with each pixel being generated in sequence. Bresenham's algorithm is perhaps the most widely used algorithm for presenting lines on a raster display Bresenham's algorithm is explained in many computer graphics text books. For example, a description of the algorithm, as well as its derivation, are presented at pages 71-78 of Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice by Foley, Van Dam, Feiner, and Hughes, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc. (2d Ed. 1990), which is incorporated herein by reference.
Bresenham's algorithm determines a running error term as well as correction terms to be applied to the running error term as various pixel locations are chosen to represent the line. The initial error term and each of the correction terms is determined from the total x and y displacements traversed by the line. For each particular pixel, the error term associated with that pixel reflects the amount that the pixel deviates from the true line location. As a result, error terms for various pixels may be utilized to determine which pixels are closest to the actual line.
As pixel locations are sequentially selected and the algorithm is reiterated to select subsequent pixel locations, an appropriate error term is added to the running error term to account for changes in the error term produced by selecting the previous pixel location. Bresenham's algorithm is continued until the end of the line is reached and the last pixel location is selected.
An inherent problem with drawing a Bresenham line is that it appears very rough or jagged. Additionally, presently available methods and systems do not display Bresenham lines with as much precision as desired since they utilize integer endpoints.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a method and system for producing lines that are visually smooth and positioned accurately with respect to subpixel endpoints.

Method and system for double error antialiasing in a computer display system

International Business Machines Corporation


In a radiation imaging apparatus having a radiation generator, an imaging unit including a detecting unit for detecting radiation to generate a radiation imagedata, a carriage for carrying the radiation generator, and an operating unit for providing an interface to a user, it is decided whether the radiation imaging apparatus is in a moving state or not. When it is decided that the radiation imaging apparatus is in a moving state, the operation function of the operating unit for the radiation detector and the imaging unit is limited.

Conventionally, imaging apparatuses for irradiating an object with radiation, detecting the intensity distribution of radiation having passed through the object, and obtaining a radiation image data of the object have generally been used for industrial nondestructive inspections and medical diagnoses. As a typical imaging method of such imaging apparatuses, the film-screen method is available. In this method, radiation imaging is performed with a combination of a photosensitive film and a phosphor having a sensitivity to radiation. To be specific, a sheet of a rare-earth phosphor, which emits light in response to irradiation, is bonded and held on both sides of a photosensitive film, radiation having passed through a subject is transformed into visible light through the phosphor, and the light is captured by the photosensitive film. A latent image formed on the film can be visualized by development through a chemical treatment.
As digital technology has improved in recent years, the following method has become widely available: a radiation image is converted into an electric signal, the electric signal is subjected to image processing, and then the signal is reproduced on a CRT or the like as a visible image, so that a radiation image with high image quality can be obtained. For example, a radiation image recording/reproducing system is proposed in which a transmission image of radiation is temporarily stored in a phosphor as a latent image, and then the latent image is photoelectrically read by irradiation of excitation light such as laser light, so that a visible image is obtained.
Further, as semiconductor process technologies have improved in recent years, apparatuses for photographing radiation images using semiconductor sensors have been developed. These systems have a considerably wide dynamic range as compared with conventional radiation photographing systems using photosensitive films, and have a practical advantage of obtaining a radiation image not affected by fluctuations of the exposure amount of radiation. Further, unlike the conventional photosensitive film system, an output image can be obtained instantly without the need for a chemical treatment.
FIG. 9 is a conceptual diagram showing a system using such a radiation imaging apparatus 103. Radiation from a radiation generating device 101 is emitted to a subject 102, and radiation having passed through the subject reaches a radiation sensor 104 included in the radiation imaging apparatus 103. In the radiation sensor 104, radiation is transformed into visible light through a phosphor and detected as an electric signal by an photoelectronic converter arranged in a two-dimensional lattice. A control unit 105 is provided for controlling driving for reading, image transfer, and so on of the radiation sensor 104. The control unit 105 performs digital image processing on an image signal outputted from the radiation sensor 104, and displays the signal as a radiation image of the subject 102 on a monitor 106. The advantage of the system shown in FIG. 9 is that an image can be instantly monitored unlike the above radiation image reading/reproducing system which reads an image in post-processing. In such an imaging system, the radiation sensor 104 is set on a dedicated stand according to an imaging pattern such as a standing position or a lying position, and is properly set as necessary.
Conventionally, this kind of imaging apparatus has been placed and used in a radiation room. In recent years, however, a transportable imaging apparatus (called electronic cassette) has been developed with a small thickness and a light weight in order to attain faster and wide-range imaging. Thus, there is proposed an imaging system applicable to a round of visits as well as cassette imaging in a radiation room (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-99144). Such an imaging system is quite useful because it is possible to solve the following problems: a number of cassettes have to be carried for storing conventional films and fluorescent screens during a round of visits, and imaging has to be performed again in the event of an imaging error which cannot be instantly confirmed.
The movable radiation imaging apparatus above requires, as a minimum, a battery which supplies electric power for generating radiation. Besides, in recent years, some imaging apparatuses include batteries capable of supplying electric power used for power for movement. When the electronic imaging apparatus above (e.g., electronic cassette) is used, more electric power is required and the capacity of the battery must be increased in order to drive the imaging apparatus. When a larger capacity battery is used, the weight and outer dimensions of the battery increase, adversely affecting the outer shape of the apparatus. Thus, such a large battery is unacceptable in view of operationality. However, when a small capacity battery is used, it must be charged very frequently, and the rate of operation may decrease.
When the mobile radiation imaging apparatus is moved, an operation unit may be carelessly touched and the apparatus may perform an unnecessary operation. Such an unnecessary operation wastes power. If persons to be imaged can be displayed on a list when the apparatus is moved, an examiner can conveniently confirm, for example, the next person to be imaged. However, when the overall apparatus is turned off while being moved, a list of persons to be imaged cannot be displayed on a display, thereby considerably degrading operationality. Therefore, in the case where the radiation imaging apparatus is moved while power is turned on, power conservation measures are desired for preventing an unnecessary operation caused by an operating error or the like and also reducing power consumption.

Radiation imaging apparatus and method of controlling the same