Embodiments suppress a fluttering phenomenon of a wiring structure portion for signal transmission between a head and an FPC. In one embodiment, an actuator has a support portion which accommodates a wiring structure portion. The wiring structure portion is provided at a rear end portion thereof with a wide tab, the tab having pads for connection with the FPC. The support portion has a convex wall portion formed so as to overlap a front end portion of the tab. An air current occurs at an end portion of a magnetic disk in the vertical direction. When the head accesses a track present on the inner periphery side of the magnetic disk, the tab approaches the disk end portion. Since the convex wall portion protects the tab against the air current, it is possible to suppress fluttering of the wiring structure portion and improve the head positioning accuracy.

The present invention relates to a data storage device and more particularly to a data storage device having a support portion for supporting a wiring structure portion which is adapted to perform the transmission of a head signal.
A data storage device is known which uses various media, including an optical disk and a magnetic tape. Above all, a hard disk drive is spread widely as a storage device in a computer and is one of storage devices essential to computer system available at present. The application there is not limited to computer systems. Hard disk drives are used, for example, in moving image storage/reproduction apparatus, car navigation systems, and removable memories for use in digital cameras. Thus, the use of the hard disk drive is spreading more and more because of excellent characteristics thereof.
The hard disk drive includes a magnetic disk for the storage of data, a head for read and/or write of data from and/or to the magnetic disk, and an actuator for moving the head to a desired position above the magnetic disk. The actuator is moved pivotally about a pivot shaft by means of a voice coil motor, thereby causing the head to move radially over the magnetic disk which is rotating. As a result, the head can access a desired track formed on the magnetic disk and perform data read/write processing. The head has a write element which converts an electric signal into a magnetic field in accordance with data to be stored to the magnetic disk and/or a read element which converts a magnetic field induced from the magnetic disk into an electric signal. The head is further provided with a slider on a surface of which is (are) formed the write element and/or the read element.
The actuator is provided with a suspension having elasticity, and the head is fixed to the suspension. Pressure induced by the viscosity of air present between an ABS (Air Bearing Surface) of the head facing the magnetic disk and the magnetic disk which is rotating balances with pressure which is applied toward the magnetic disk by the suspension, whereby the head can float over the magnetic disk with a certain gap. The suspension includes gimbals which holds the head on its side facing the magnetic disk and a load beam which holds the gimbals on its side facing the magnetic disk. The gimbals is formed deformably so that the slider can tilt in a predetermined direction to absorb axial run-out or the like of the magnetic disk.
A relay wiring for signal transmission between a control circuit and elements on the head is formed on the actuator. The relay wiring is connected to an FPC (Flexible Printed Circuit) which is fixed to the actuator and which is for connection with the control circuit. For example, Japanese Patent Laid Open No. 09-320213 discloses that a part of a relay wiring is inserted into a groove formed in an arm portion of an actuator in order to improve the working efficiency of an actuator manufacturing process. A part of the relay wiring is constituted as wiring printed on the suspension which holds the head. One end of the wiring is connected to a terminal on the head, while an opposite end thereof is connected through an elongated relay FPC to a control-side FPC which is fixed to the actuator. The relay FPC which connects the wiring printed on the suspension with the control-side FPC is inserted into a groove formed in a side face of an arm portion of the actuator. According to this construction, wiring between the suspension with a wiring pattern pre-formed thereon and the FPC fixed to the actuator, as well as repair thereof, can be done easily in a short time.
FIG. 11 is a plan view showing a partial construction of an actuator according to another approach. In the same figure, the numeral 1101 denotes a suspension which holds a head, numeral 1102 denotes an arm to which the suspension 1101 is connected. Typically, the actuator is provided with a plurality of stacked suspensions and arms, but in FIG. 11 there are shown one suspension 1101 and one arm 1102. Numeral 1103 denotes a wiring structure portion formed with a relay wiring for signal transmission between the head and an FPC which is fixed to the actuator. The wiring structure portion 1103 is formed integrally with gimbals which is a constituent of the suspension 1101, and a multi-layer structure consisting of insulating films and metallic wiring lines is formed on a metallic member. The wiring structure portion 1103 is formed with a wide tab 1104 at a side end portion of FPC. Plural pads which permit connection to FPC by soldering are formed on the tab.
Numeral 1105 denotes a support portion which supports the wiring structure portion extending from the suspension. Since the wiring structure portion 1103 is of a thin stacked structure as noted above, it is easily affected by an air current created with rotation of a magnetic disk. Once the wiring structure portion is fluttered (fluttering phenomenon) by the air current, the resulting oscillation is transmitted to the head, causing the positioning accuracy to be deteriorated. In a side portion of the support portion 1105 is formed a slit (concave portion) (not shown) and the wiring structure portion 1103 is accommodated and fixed within the slit.
Since the wiring structure portion is accommodated within the slit, the air current created over the magnetic disk with rotation of the disk can be prevented from striking against the wiring structure portion 1103. Consequently, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of fluttering phenomenon of the wiring structure portion 1103 and improve the positioning accuracy of the head. The support portion 1105 is formed of resin for example and is fixed to the arm 1102. Alternatively, as described above, the support portion 1105 may be substituted by a slit formed in a side portion of the arm 1102 and the wiring structure portion 1103 may be inserted into the slit, whereby it is possible to suppress the occurrence of fluttering phenomenon of the wiring structure portion 1103.

Data storage device with support for wiring structure portion to suppress fluttering

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.V.


A data communication apparatus and method based on OFDMA are provided. In a first user transmitting unit through which a user transmits user information to a base station in units of first symbol blocks each including M symbols, a first encoder generates a first sub-block composed of Mu user symbols for a u-th user by encoding the user information. A first block repeater repeats the first sub-block Lu times to generate M symbols. A first multiplier multiplies the M symbols by γu exp(j2πkmu/M) and outputs a u-th user signal. A first cyclic extension symbol inserter inserts a cyclic extension symbol into the u-th user signal and generates a single complete first symbol block. Accordingly, data transmission speed can be freely changed, a very small PAR can be provided, influence of the signal interference is greatly reduced, interference occurring between received blocks due to channels can be prevented, and distortion between channels can be effectively compensated for.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to data communication, and more particularly, to a data communication apparatus and method based on orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA).
2. Description of the Related Art
In a time division multiple access (TDMA) method as a conventional data communication method, a plurality of time slots are defined within a data frame and the time slots are appropriately allocated to different users so that the users can share a common physical channel. When the conventional TDMA method is applied to a voice-centered communications environment, multiple access can be easily accomplished since a necessary communication speed is constant. However, in a multimedia communications environment requiring a high-speed data service as well as a low-speed voice service, a data transmission speed needs to be changed to satisfy a user's request. Since a data transmission speed can be adjusted only by changing time slots in the conventional TDMA method, the conventional TDMA method is not appropriate to a multimedia communications environment.
A direct sequence-code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) method as another conventional data communication method allows a plurality of users to simultaneously transmit/receive signals at the same time. The conventional DS-CDMA method uses a multiple access method in which users use orthogonal codes, in order to separate different users' signals from one another. In an environment in which serious multi-path fading does not occur in wireless channels, fading can be effectively overcome using a RAKE receiver according to the conventional DS-CDMA method. In addition, in the conventional DS-CDMA method, a data transmission speed can be easily adjusted by adjusting a spread factor (SF) of a code multiplied by a signal. However, compared to other data communication methods, the conventional DS-CDMA method has lower spectrum efficiency. Moreover, if a spreading factor is decreased in order to transmit data at a high speed, reliability of communications decreases. Accordingly, it is difficult to transmit data at a high speed in the conventional DS-CDMA method. In the conventional DS-CDMA method when a user transmits data using different codes, although a data transmission speed can be increased, a signal power needs to be reduced or nonlinear distortion occurs since a peak to average rate (PAR) of a transmitting signal increases, thereby decreasing reliability of a receiving signal.
A still another conventional data communication method is a TDMA method based on orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) or a frequency division multiple access (FDMA) based on OFDM. In conventional data communication methods based on OFDM, inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) is performed on a transmitting signal in units of blocks, and a cyclic prefix is added to each block before the signal is transmitted. Since a cyclic prefix is inserted between adjacent blocks of an OFDM signal, inter-block interference occurring due to fading can be prevented. In addition, since channel distortion can be easily compensated for using a simple 1-tap equalizer after FFT, conventional data communication methods based on OFDM are suitable to high-speed communications having a lot of channel interference. However, conventional data communication methods based on OFDM have a large PAR and decreases the reliability of a receiving part due to nonlinear distortion caused by a high power amplifier (HPA) of a transmitting party, thereby limiting HPA power in order to reduce nonlinear distortion. Accordingly, conventional data communication methods based on OFDM which are applied to two-way wireless communications reduce the efficiency of mobile terminals and increase the manufacturing cost of mobile terminals. Moreover, when there is a carrier frequency offset, interference occurs in a receiving signal proportional to the size of an FFT/IFFT block in conventional data communication methods based on OFDM, thereby decreasing the performance of a communications system.

Data communication apparatus and method based on orthogonal frequency division multiple access


A thermal image forming apparatus is provided. The thermal image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit including a thermal printhead and a platen that face each other and are elastically biased towards each other; a cassette including a knock-up plate on which a medium is stacked, a pickup roller that picks up the medium from the cassette, and a pickup unit that raises the knock-up plate in a direction in which the medium stacked on the knock-up plate contacts the pickup roller and lowers the knock-up plate in a direction in which the medium is separated from the pickup roller.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus. More particularly, the present invention relates to a thermal image forming apparatus that prints an image by heating a medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional thermal image forming apparatuses generally use of two methods to form an image on both sides of a recording medium. In a first method, two thermal printheads (TPHs) that face each other are installed on first and second surfaces of the recording medium. This method is expensive because it uses two thermal printheads, which are expensive.
In a second method, one TPH is installed so that the TPH may face the first and second surfaces of the recording medium, in sequence. To do this, the TPH may be fixed in the image forming apparatus and the recording medium may be reversed. Alternatively, the TPH may move between positions that face the first and second surfaces of the recording medium, in sequence. Unfortunately, in conventional devices, the structure for performing this operation is complicated.
Accordingly, there is a need for a thermal image forming apparatus with an improved structure for printing on both sides of a recording medium.


To stabilize the supply of color material particles as well as reduce the wasteful amount of color material particles used and suppress deformation or damages of the outer walls of a plurality of cell regions partitioned by partition walls provided upright, an interval holding section having a first height dimension for holding an interval between a non-display area of the surface of a substrate for a display panel, which has an electrode at each of the cell regions, and a non-transfer area of the surface of an electrophotographic transfer body, is provided between the non-display area of the surface of the substrate and the non-transfer area of the surface of the transfer body, at a predetermined value at the time when the transfer body transfers the color material particles to the substrate, and the color material particles are transferred to the substrate from the transfer body while biasing the substrate toward the transfer body in such a way that the interval holding section holds the interval between the non-transfer area of the transfer body and the non-display area of the substrate at the first height dimension.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a particle movement type display panel which moves color material particles between the front side and rear side of each cell to display an image, a manufacturing method therefor, and an apparatus for manufacturing the same. Specifically, the invention relates to a technique of supplying color material particles to a plurality of cells on a substrate for a display panel.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is known a particle movement type display panel in which a plurality of cell regions partitioned in a grid pattern by partition walls are provided upright between a transparent substrate and a rear-side substrate, electrodes are provided at the surface of each substrate in correspondence to the respective cell regions and color material particles with an electrostatic property are enclosed in each cell, and an electric field is applied to each cell to move color material particles between the front side and rear side cell by cell, thereby displaying different colors to display an image or a character. In order to supply color material particles into each cell of such a display panel, there is known a technique of using, for example, a transfer body as used in an electrophotographic image forming apparatus to form a supply pattern of color material particles on the transfer body, and supplying color material particles with an electrostatic property from the transfer body to the position of a target cell region (refer to, for example, Patent document 1).
There is known a technique of fixing a rear-side substrate provided with cell regions to a frame by a vacuum chuck or a mechanical chuck, and filling color material particles (refer to, for example, Patent document 2). In addition, the Patent document 1 or Patent document 2 describes the explanation for the supply pattern of color material particles on a transfer body being set smaller than the size of the opening of each cell region, the preferable height of the partition wall of the cell regions, and the particle size of the color material particles and the distribution of the particle size.    Patent document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-330707    Patent document 2: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-317608
However, neither Patent document 1 nor Patent document 2 describes the distance of the transfer body and each cell region of the rear-side substrate at the transfer position. When the color material particles are supplied to each cell according to the description of Patent document 1 or Patent document 2, therefore, the color material particles may contact the partition wall of the cell regions and fall out of a target cell, thus wasting some color material particles and increasing the amount of usage of the color material particles in consequence. In this case, the contact of the color material particles with the partition wall of the cell regions may deform or damage the outer walls of the cell regions. Since some of the color material particles are wasted in that case, it is difficult to stably supply the color material particles to the individual cells and improve the resolution.

Display panel and manufacturing method therefor


The present invention relates to a method and a device for treating opacities and/or hardenings of an unopened eye.

The present invention relates to a method and a device for treating opacities and/or hardenings of an unopened eye. Specifically, the present invention relates to a laser system and a method for cleaning, in particular, the ageing human eye from gray hazes in the cornea, the lens or the vitreous body to restore transparency in the eye.
In ophthalmology, it is known that, in particular in the ageing eye, opacities develop in the lens (cataract) or in the vitreous body or the cornea. At the advanced stage, the treatment is presently limited to replacing the lens with a plastic lens during a cataract surgery, replacing the vitreous body with silicone oil by vitrectomy, or also to transplanting the cornea. It is known to carry out the surgery of the cataract and the vitrectomy of the vitreous body using a laser. During a surgery, the laser beam is in both cases led directly to the tissue to be treated. A proven efficient laser is, in particular, the Er:YAG laser having the emission wavelength of 2.94 μm whose radiation is strongly absorbed by water. For conveying the laser radiation, cannulas with optical waveguides are led up to the location of treatment. Although cannulas having diameters of approximately 1 mm are manufacturable now, the necessity of the surgical intervention remains. A device for carrying out a laser phacoemulsification is described, for example, in German Patent 19718139.
Also known are surgical techniques in the case of which the eye is not opened but the laser light is guided into the eye via the normal path of the visual process. These techniques include the possibility of attaining an optical disruption inside of the cornea by focusing fs laser pulses (300 fs, 1 μl, 780 nm), resulting in the formation of blisters. By folding open a lamella, it is possible to prepare an intrastromal lenticle whose removal brings about a refractive correction. It is known, moreover, that the gray after-cataract membrane can be disruptively removed with the aid of ns pulses of a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser.
In known methods heretofore, apart from medicamentous methods, it was not possible to treat the clouded regions already at the initial stage. Thus, the known laser techniques are not suitable for removing the clouded regions in the eye without opening the eye. Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method and a device which make it possible to dissolve clouded regions in the eye.
A further phenomenon which occurs in old age is presbyopia. One reason for this lies in the hardening of the lens, which can occur, for example, due to deposit of substances. Apart from the utilization of spectacles, photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) has often been used recently for correcting the visual defect. Removal of the hardening itself has not been possible in known methods heretofore. Therefore, it is a further object of the present invention to provide a device with which the lens' ability to contract is increased again.

Method and device for treating opaqueness and/or hardening of a closed eye

Abstract: It is a specific advantage of the solution according to the invention that the treamtment of the inner region of the eye is possible without the need to introduce a surgical instrument into the eye.


A packaging cell line that complements recombinant adenoviruses based on serotypes from subgroup B, preferably adenovirus type 35. The cell line may be derived from primary, diploid human cells that are transformed by adenovirus E1 sequences either operatively linked on one DNA molecule or located on two separate DNA molecules, the sequences being operatively linked to regulatory sequences enabling transcription and translation of encoded proteins. Also disclosed is a cell line derived from PER.C6® that expresses functional Ad35 E1B sequences. The Ad35-E1B sequences are driven by the E1B promoter or a heterologous promoter and terminated by a heterologous poly-adenylation signal. The cell lines are useful for producing recombinant adenoviruses designed for gene therapy and vaccination, and can also be used for producing human recombinant therapeutic proteins such as human growth factors and human antibodies. Also, the cell lines are useful for producing human viruses other than adenovirus such as influenza virus, herpes simplex virus, rotavirus, and measles virus.

Typically, vector and packaging cells have to be adapted to one another so that they have all the necessary elements, but they do not have overlapping elements that lead to replication-competent virus by recombination. Therefore, the sequences necessary for proper transcription of the packaging construct may be heterologous regulatory sequences derived from, for example, other human adenovirus (Ad) serotypes, nonhuman adenoviruses, other viruses like, but not limited to, SV40, hepatitis B virus (HBV), Rous Sarcoma Virus (RSV), cytomegalovirus (CMV), etc., or from higher eukaryotes such as mammals. In general, these sequences include a promoter, enhancer and poly-adenylation sequences.
PER.C6® is an example of a cell line devoid of sequence overlap between the packaging construct and the adenoviral vector (Fallaux et al., 1998). The PER.C6® cell line was deposited under ECACC deposit number 96022940 under the provisions of the Budapest Treaty with the Centre for Applied Microbiology and Research Authority (European Collection of Animal Cell Cultures), Porton Down, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP4, OJG, United Kingdom, an International Depository Authority, on Feb. 29, 1996. Recombinant viruses based on subgroup C adenoviruses, such as Ad5 and Ad2, can be propagated efficiently on these packaging cells. Generation and propagation of adenoviruses from other serotypes, like subgroup B viruses, has proven to be more difficult on PER.C6® cells. However, as described in EP Appin. 00201738.2, recombinant viruses based on subgroup B virus Ad35 can be made by co-transfection of an expression construct containing the Ad35 early region-1 sequences (Ad35-E1). Furthermore, Ad35-based viruses that are deleted for E1A sequences were shown to replicate efficiently on PER.C6® cells. Thus, the E1A proteins of Ad5 complement Ad35-E1A functions, whereas, at least part of the E1B functions of Ad35 are necessary. This serotype specificity in E1B functions was recently also described for Ad7 recombinant viruses. In an attempt to generate recombinant adenoviruses derived from subgroup B virus Ad7, Abrahamsen et al. (1997) were not able to generate E1-deleted viruses on 293 cells without contamination of wild-type (wt) Ad7. Viruses that were picked after plaque purification on 293-ORF6 cells (Brough et al., 1996) were shown to have incorporated Ad7-E1B sequences by non-homologous recombination. Thus, efficient propagation of Ad7 recombinant viruses proved possible only in the presence of Ad7-E1B expression and Ad5-E4-ORF6 expression. The E1B proteins are known to interact with cellular, as well as viral, proteins (Bridge et al., 1993; White, 1995). Possibly, the complex formed between the E1B-55K protein and E4-ORF6 which is necessary to increase mRNA export of viral proteins and to inhibit export of most cellular mRNAs, is critical and in some way serotype-specific.


A direct lighting type LCD apparatus includes lamps for generating a first light, a diffusing member for diffusing the first light and light reflected from a reflecting member to emit a second light having uniform brightness distribution, and a receiving member for receiving the lamps, the diffusing member and the reflecting member for reflecting the first light to the diffusing member. The lamps are arranged in the receiving member to be separated from the diffusing member at selected distances, respectively, which may be different from one another. The direct lighting type LCD apparatus may have brightness distribution which is controlled by varying the distances between the respective lamps and the diffusing member to improve quality of image display.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a backlight assembly and a direct lighting type LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) apparatus, and more particularly to a backlight assembly for improving display quality by partially controlling brightness and a direct lighting type LCD apparatus employing the backlight assembly of the present invention.
2. Description of the Related Art
Information processing devices have been developed for improvements on their shapes, functions, and high data processing speed. In such information processing devices, information is processed in the form of electrical signals to be displayed on a display device such as an LCD apparatus.
LCD apparatuses generally have a lighter weight and a smaller size as compared with CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) type display devices, and have been developed to achieve full-color and high-resolution functions. In the LCD apparatuses, an arrangement of liquid crystal molecules is changed into a specific arrangement by applying a voltage to the liquid crystal molecules. The LCD apparatuses convert variations in optical properties of liquid crystal cells into variations in visual properties, thereby displaying images on an LCD apparatus. Generally, an LCD apparatus receives light from a backlight assembly disposed under an LCD panel and displays images on the LCD panel.
Backlight assemblies may be classified into those for direct lighting type LCD apparatuses and those for edge type LCD apparatuses based on the position of light sources. In a direct lighting type LCD apparatus, light is provided to an LCD panel from a plurality of light sources disposed under the LCD panel, so that the direct lighting type LCD apparatuses may provide higher brightness of images compared with the edge type LCD apparatuses.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a structure of a conventional direct lighting type LCD apparatus.
Referring to FIG. 1, the direct lighting type LCD apparatus 100 includes an LCD panel 110 for displaying an image and a backlight assembly 120 for supplying light to the LCD panel 110.
The backlight assembly 120 includes a plurality of lamps 121 for generating a first light, a diffusing plate 123 for diffusing the first light and generating a second light having uniform brightness distribution, and a lamp reflecting plate 122 for reflecting the first light to the diffusing plate 123. The lamps 121, lamp reflecting plate 122 and diffusing plate 123 are received in a receiving container.
The receiving container includes a bottom mold frame 124 and a bottom chassis 125 combined to each other using a hook. The bottom mold frame 124 has a quadrangle shape, and sidewalls of the bottom mold frame 124 are parallel to the longitudinal direction of the lamps 121 and inclined at a predetermined angle. The sidewalls of the bottom mold frame 124 are each provided with a step on which an edge portion of the diffusing plate 123 is placed. The bottom chassis 125 has a rectangular parallelepiped shape, and an upper surface of the bottom chassis 125 is open to provide a receiving space. The lamp reflecting plate 122 is received in the receiving space and the lamps 121 are disposed on the lamp reflecting plate 122.
A portion of the first light emitted from the lamps 121 is incident on the diffusing plate 123, and the remaining portion of the first light is reflected from the lamp reflecting plate 122 and supplied to the diffusing plate 123. As a result, the diffusing plate 123 emits the second light after diffusing the light directly from the lamps 121 and the reflected right from the lamp reflecting plate 122.
The direct lighting type LCD apparatus further includes an upper mold frame 130 disposed on the diffusing plate 123. The LCD panel 110 is disposed on the upper mold frame 130. A top chassis 140 is combined to the bottom chassis 125 to secure the LCD panel 110.
As shown in FIG. 1, the lamp reflecting plate 122 has a flat plate shape and the lamps 121 are disposed proximately on the lamp reflecting plate 122. When those of the lamps 121 disposed at the central area of the lamp reflecting plate 122 are referred as first lamps 121 a and those of the lamps 121 disposed at the end portions of the lamp reflecting plate 122 are referred as second lamps 121b, the first lamps 121a are each disposed between two adjacent lamps and the second lamps 121b are each disposed adjacent to only one lamp. As a result, the brightness at the end portions of the LCD panel 110 is lower than that at the central portion of the LCD panel 110 as a brightness distribution curve 150 shows in FIG. 1.
Accordingly, the direct lighting type LCD apparatus 100 has brightness distribution which is not uniform over the entire screen thereof, so that display quality of the direct lighting type LCD apparatus 100 is deteriorated.
Also, a vertical distance between the respective lamps 121 and the diffusion plate 123 has an identical distance d1, so that the brightness distribution of the direct lighting type LCD apparatus 100 may not be partially controlled.

Backlight assembly having particular lamp and reflecting plate arrangement and direct lighting type liquid crystal display apparatus


A system and method are described for manufacturing a lapping plate. Diamond particles are premixed with a metal matrix. The diamond particles are electro-deposited onto the surface of a lapping plate. The lapping plate may have a substrate of hard metal with a soft metal coating. The metal matrix and the lapping plate may be the same metal. The metal matrix may be tin, copper, nickel, or silver. The metal matrix may be an alloy of tin, copper, nickel, or silver. The diamond particles may be between 0.1 and 0.25 microns in size. Multiple uniform layers of the diamond particles and metal matrix may be stacked on the lapping plate.

Hard disk drives are common information storage devices having a series of rotatable disks that are accessed by magnetic reading and writing elements. These data transferring elements, commonly known as transducers, are typically carried by and embedded in a slider body that is held in a close relative position over discrete data tracks formed on a disk to permit a read or write operation to be carried out. In order to properly position the transducer with respect to the disk surface, an air bearing surface (ABS) formed on the slider body experiences a fluid air flow that provides sufficient lift force to "fly" the slider and transducer above the disk data tracks. The high speed rotation of a magnetic disk generates a stream of air flow along its surface in a direction substantially parallel to the tangential velocity of the disk. The air flow interacts with the ABS of the slider body which enables the slider to fly above the spinning disk. In effect, the suspended slider is physically separated from the disk surface through this self-actuating air bearing. The ABS of a slider is generally configured on the slider surface facing the rotating disk, and greatly influences its ability to fly over the disk under various conditions.
As shown in FIG. 1 an ABS design known for a common catamaran slider 100 may be formed with a pair of parallel rails 102 and 104 that extend along the outer edges of the slider surface facing the disk. Other ABS configurations including three or more additional rails, with various surface areas and geometries, have also been developed. The two rails 102 and 104 typically run along at least a portion of the slider body length from the leading edge 106 to the trailing edge 108. The leading edge 106 is defined as the edge of the slider that the rotating disk passes before running the length of the slider 100 towards a trailing edge 108. As shown, the leading edge 106 may be tapered despite the large undesirable tolerance typically associated with this machining process. The transducer or magnetic element 110 is typically mounted at some location along the trailing edge 108 of the slider as shown in FIG. 1. The rails 102 and 104 form an air bearing surface on which the slider flies, and provide the necessary lift upon contact with the air flow created by the spinning disk. As the disk rotates, the generated wind or air flow runs along underneath, and in between, the catamaran slider rails 102 and 104. As the air flow passes beneath the rails 102 and 104, the air pressure between the rails and the disk increases thereby providing positive pressurization and lift. Catamaran sliders generally create a sufficient amount of lift, or positive load force, to cause the slider to fly at appropriate heights above the rotating disk. In the absence of the rails 102 and 104, the large surface area of the slider body 100 would produce an excessively large air bearing surface area. In general, as the air bearing surface area increases, the amount of lift created is also increased.
As illustrated in FIG. 2, a head gimbal assembly 202 often provides the slider with multiple degrees of freedom such as vertical spacing, or pitch angle and roll angle which describe the flying height of the slider. As shown in FIG. 2, a suspension 204 holds the HGA 202 over the moving disk 206 (having edge 208) and moving in the direction indicated by arrow 210. In operation of the disk drive, as shown in FIG. 2, an actuator 212 moves the HGA over various diameters of the disk 206 (e.g., inner diameter (ID), middle diameter (MD) and outer diameter (OD)) over arc 214.
The lapping process pre-defines the ABS on a slider during slider fabrication. With the increase in the disk-drive capacity, the current requirements of the ABS, such as surface finish and the reduction of smearing, scratching, and pitting, have become even more demanding. Since this surface flies over the magnetic media during the drive operation, it has to be de-voided of all the above mentioned problems which are typically related to lapping.
The ABS surface also affects the pole-tip-recession (PTR) of the slider. This parameter defines a portion of the magnetic spacing in the disk, requiring keeping the PTR at a minimum and consistent value during the process. The PTR of the slider is a direct result of the quality of the lapping process parameters, such as slurry type, size, shape, lapping plate, pressure, etc. The effect from each lapping process parameter to the PTR and surface finish is difficult to quantify experimentally.
Conventionally, lapping has been performed using diamond slurry on a soft lap, which is typically an alloy of tin-bismuth or tin-antimony. FIG. 3 shows one embodiment of a system 300 for performing the soft lap. A charging ring 310 may be used to charge the lapping plate 320 as weights 330 apply pressure. The lapping plate could be textured using various techniques. During charging, diamond slurry 340 is added to the lapping plate 320 from a slurry feed 350. The size, shape, and distribution of diamond slurry can be specific to the user. Not only does this plate have to impart defect free surface finish to the resulting head but it also has to have a long lasting plate life.
A typical lapping process is shown in the flowchart of FIG. 4. The free-diamond slurry is introduced into the lapping process, with the floating slurry the main mechanism for increased removal rates (Block 410). The speed is lowered (Block 420). The floating diamond slurry is replaced with lapping oil (Block 430). The cutting mechanism is now dominated by the pre-charged lap since the floating diamond slurry is wiped off from the lapping interface (Block 440). Hence, the PTR and surface finish now become a function of the pre-charged diamond, lubricant, lapping pressure and the lapping plate. The pre-charged plate should retain the diamonds for an enhance plate life. In course of time, the diamonds may come out of the plate and start changing the surface characteristics of the final slider.
With the demand of smoother and scratch free surfaces, the industry is driving towards using small diamond sizes in the range of 0.1 microns or lower. A softer lap poses problems such as diamond pull out and the ability to maintain a flat surface during lapping, which could potentially result in loss of geometry control, scratching, and non-uniform pressure on the row bar. Also, getting rid of the floating diamond slurry during the polishing cycle is difficult to achieve practically.

Method and apparatus to produce a GRM lapping plate with fixed diamond using electro-deposition techniques


A cam phaser is described for selectively engaging in a torque transmitting mode or an angle control mode. In the torque transmitting mode, torque from a camshaft is transmitted to an e-motor, which functions as a generator and provides electrical energy.

Camshaft phasers are provided within an internal combustion (IC) engine to control a camshaft angular position relative to a crankshaft angular position, ultimately phasing a valve event relative to a four-stroke engine cycle. Some ECP systems require a constant supply of electric power to an electric motor throughout IC engine operation, during both phasing and non-phasing instances. Therefore, fuel economy and emissions are negatively impacted.
The present disclosure is directed to overcoming this inefficiency and other problems of the prior art.

Electric camshaft phaser motor—generator


Computer implemented methods and systems for fulfilling a customer request for a requested item purchased from a merchant is provided. The method may be performed by a tangibly embodied processing machine disposed in a customer device. The method may include (1) observing, through the input of information, an observed event that is associated with a customer; (2) associating the observed event with a corresponding order record; (3) retrieving order information from the corresponding order record, the order information including at least customer financial entity account information; (4) generating a merchant request based at least in part on the order information in the corresponding order record, the merchant request including at least customer identification information and customer financial entity account information; and (5) outputting the merchant request to the designated merchant, so as to provide the designated merchant with information to fulfill the customer request.

In the present fast paced environment, people make a variety of purchases using traditional payment methods. To support such payment methods, an extensive financial infrastructure is utilized. For example, the credit card, and financial system associated therewith, is widely used. However, the current financial infrastructure is insufficient in some respects to provide desired convenience for people. For example, the ease and efficiency of performing routine transactions is lacking using various of today's commonplace technologies. Also, the tracking and recording of travel records, cost records, and similar records may be difficult and inefficient, especially for corporate travelers, who often maintain separate records for personal purchases and business purchases. Therefore, improvements to the current financial infrastructure is needed to accommodate the evolving needs of people in their busy and complex lives.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Systems and methods for mobile ordering and payment


An LED connector assembly having a LED module, a base. and a connector. The LED module includes a substrate provided with a conductor pattern and an LED device disposed on a surface of the substrate and connecting to the conductor pattern. The base includes an attachment side larger than the LED module and attaching with the LED module such that a bottom surface of the LED module faces the attachment side. The connector that includes a housing fixed to the base, wherein the housing includes a cylindrical section with a conductor receiving passageway at a tip thereof to which the cylindrical section penetrates the base from the attachment side there through, and a contact having one end that connects to the conductor pattern and extend inside the cylindrical section for connection with an electrical wire insertable into the cylindrical section.

Recently, lighting fixtures having LEDs, which have a lower power consumption and a longer life, have been used in place of known conventional incandescent lamps and lamps incorporating a fluorescent tube.
Among LED light fixtures, for example, there is one which has an external appearance similar to that of an incandescent lamp and may replace an incandescent lamp for use. A power conversion circuit to power the LED and an LED device are incorporated in such an LED lighting fixture.
As an example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2009-176733 describes a configuration in which the substrate provided with the LED is placed on the lamp holding stage which functions as a heat dissipation plate, and the electrical wire to supply electric power to the LED is connected through the connection device. The connection device of Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2009-176733 includes a so-called poke-in connector in which the electrical wire retaining lug is formed, and connected to the electrical wire end wherein the core is exposed, without soldering and crimping.
In the lamp holding stage shown in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2009-176733, the side in which the LED is arranged is a side of the light distribution face from which light is emitted, and the electrical wire is arranged close to the lamp holding stage so as not to interrupt light of the LED in the light distributing face. In addition, the connecting device is arranged so as to receive the electrical wire in the direction parallel to the surface of the electrical wire holding stage.
In assembling of the known lamp shown in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2009-176733, when the electrical wire is attached, the electrical wire is required to be held in the posture parallel to the surface at the position close to the electrical lamp holding stage and to be moved along the surface of the electrical lamp holding stage and inserted into the connection device. For these reasons, it is difficult to make the connection.

Connector having a cylindrical section with a contact connected to an electrical wire therein


A decoder for a video signal encoded according to the MPEG-2 standard processes either interlace scan signals or progressive scan signals by dynamically reconfiguring a single high-bandwidth memory. The memory is used to hold 1) the input bit-stream, 2) first and second reference frames used for motion compensated processing, and 3) image data representing a field that is currently being decoded. The decoder includes circuitry which stores and fetches the bit-stream data, fetches the reference frame data, stores the image data for the field that is currently being decoded in block format and fetches this image data for conversion to raster-scan format. This circuitry also detects whether the signal is in interlace or progressive format from the input data stream. When an interlace format signal is being decoded, the memory is partitioned in one configuration and when a progressive format signal is being decoded, the memory is partitioned in another configuration.

In the United States a standard has been proposed for digitally encoded high definition television signals. This standard is essentially the same as the MPEG-2 standard, proposed by the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). This standard is described in a draft internal standard (DIS) publication entitled "Information Technology--Generic Coding of Moving Pictures and Associated Audio, Recommendation H.262" ISO/IEC 13818-2 DIS, March 1994 which is available from the ISO and which is hereby incorporated by reference for its teaching on the MPEG-2 digital video coding standard.
The MPEG-2 standard is actually many different standards. In MPEG-2 several profiles are defined, each corresponding to a different level of complexity of the encoded image. For each profile, different levels are defined, each level corresponding to a different image resolution. One of the MPEG-2 standards, known as Main Profile, Main Level (MP@ML) is intended for coding video signals conforming to existing television standards (i.e., NTSC and PAL). This standard may be used to encode video images having 480 active lines each with 720 active pixels with a 2:1 interlace scan. When the horizontal and vertical blanking intervals are added to these signals, the result has 525 lines by 858 pixels. When they are decoded, and displayed with a 13.5 MHz display clock signal, these signals produce images that correspond to NTSC-type broadcast images.
Another standard, known as Main Profile, High Level (MP@HL) is intended for coding high-definition television images. Images encoded according to the Main Profile, High Level standard may have as many as 1,152 active lines per image frame and 1,920 active pixels per line. The number of pixels per line and the number of lines per frame are variable. In addition, the Main Profile, High Level signal may be scanned either progressively or using an interlaced format.
The Main Profile, Main Level standard, on the other hand, defines a maximum picture size of 720 pixels per line and 567 lines per frame. At a frame rate of 30 frames per second, signals encoded according to this standard have a data rate of 10,368,000 pixels per second. By contrast, images encoded according to the Main Profile, High Level standard have a maximum data rate of 1,152 * 1,920 * 30 or 62,668,800 pixels per second (the maximum data rate numbers may be found in the MPEG-2 specification at table 8-11). The data rate of the high definition television signals is more than five times the data rate of image data encoded according to the Main Profile Main Level standard. The standard proposed for HDTV encoding in the United States is a subset of this standard, having as many as 1,080 lines per frame, 1,920 pixels per line and a maximum frame rate, for this frame size, of 30 frames per second. The maximum data rate for this proposed standard is still far greater than the maximum data rate for the Main Profile, Main Level standard.
The MPEG-2 syntax defines several layers of data records which are used to convey both audio and video data. For the sake of simplicity, the decoding of the audio data is not described herein. Encoded data which describes a particular video sequence is represented in several nested layers, the Sequence layer, the Group of Pictures layer, the Picture layer, the Slice layer and the Macroblock layer. To aid in transmitting this information, a digital data stream representing multiple video sequences is divided into several smaller units and each of these units is encapsulated into a respective packetized elementary stream (PES) packet. For transmission, each PES packet is divided, in turn, among a plurality of fixed-length transport packets. Each transport packet contains data relating to only one PES packet. The transport packet also includes a header which holds control information to be used in decoding the transport packet.
When an MPEG-2 encoded image is received, a transport decoder (not shown) decodes the transport packets to reassemble the PES packets. The PES packets, in turn, are decoded to reassemble the MPEG-2 bit-stream which represents the image in the layered records, as described above. A given transport data stream may simultaneously convey multiple image sequences, for example as interleaved transport packets. This flexibility also allows the transmitter to switch among formats providing material in 4 by 3 aspect ratio according to one standard and widescreen (16 by 9) material according to another standard.
Because of the wide range of data rates for these different standards, a decoder which can handle all of the video standards defined for MPEG-2 needs a large, high-bandwidth memory or several distributed smaller memories which, when considered together, are at least as large as the single memory. These memories unduly increase the cost of a commercial television receiver. This memory is used to hold the input bit-stream as it is received, to hold two anchor frames of data which are used to decode predictively (P-frame) and bidirectionally predictively (B-frame) encoded data, to hold the frame which is being decoded and to hold data which is being converted from the block-format used for encoding and decoding the image data to a raster-scan format that is used to display the data.

MPEG video decoder having a high bandwidth memory for use in decoding interlaced and progressive signals

Matsuhita Electric Corporation of America


The present invention provides novel antimicrobial compositions. In one embodiment, the antimicrobial composition comprises an antimicrobial effective amount of a mixture comprising (a) two or more fatty acids, each of which is natural or naturally derived, and (b) at least one of (i) a natural or naturally derived product, (ii) an alcoholic solvent, or (iii) an organic acid or a salt thereof. The present invention also provides a product comprising a preservative effective amount of the aforementioned mixture.

There are many drawbacks to currently available natural and naturally-derived antimicrobial formulations. They are expensive, and high concentrations of them (for instance, >2%) are often required to prevent microbial growth and preserve a product. Many have undesirable colors and odors, have poor stability (for example, in aqueous systems), and are not effective against a broad spectrum of microorganisms. Additionally, some such natural or naturally-derived antimicrobial mixtures cause thinning of formulations. Many are oils or extracts which limits their usage in various formulations.
There is a continuing need for low cost and safe natural preservative systems which are effective against a broad spectrum of microorganisms.


A method for detecting the location of objects from a calibrated camera involves receiving an image capturing an object on a surface from a first vantage point; generating an occupancy map corresponding to the surface; filtering the occupancy map using a spatially varying kernel specific to the object shape and the first vantage point, resulting in a filtered occupancy map; and estimating the ground location of the object based on the filtered occupancy map.

A prior automatic method of detection of persons in a video involves the use of 'histograms of oriented gradients' ("HOG") as an effective means for detecting pedestrians within arbitrary still images. Although the method is quite effective at finding people, the approach is very computationally intensive and therefore slow. Moreover, the HOG pedestrian detector must be trained on a large set of manually labeled data. Publicly available implementations trained on images of pedestrians may not be able to handle the more complex poses of sports players and vantage points which were not included in the training database. Additionally, the HOG descriptor only uses the information from a single frame of video. If a continuous action sport is observed from a stationary camera, temporal information is also available.
Background subtraction is a second automatic method for detecting moving objects. In a background subtraction process each pixel in the video frame is compared to its corresponding pixel in the previous frame or to its corresponding pixel in a reference image that models the background scene possibly based on temporal history. Typically, the output of a background subtraction process is a binary background mask indicating if the corresponding pixel in the video frame is a foreground ("1") or a background ("0") pixel. Alternatively, a background mask may indicate the probability of a pixel being a foreground pixel and hence assumes continuous values. Various background subtraction embodiments are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/403,857, incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. Note that other methods in the art may be used for foreground detection. For example, a background mask may be generated from depth information (either from a single structured light camera or via the disparity map from a stereo video pair). Similarly to estimating background appearance from the temporal history, modeling the geometry of the scene through temporal history of the depth information (or from a combination of camera's parameters and scene geometry model) is known in the art. Other modalities such as thermal cameras may be used as well for foreground detection.
Background subtraction is very efficient as an initial foreground detection step. Although background subtraction is fast, straightforward implementation of it is also fairly naive and may produce incorrect results. Camera shake, for instance, causes many false foreground detections. This is especially true in high-definition video of outdoor sports, since there is strong contrast between grass and pitch markings. Camera shake, though, may be handled by compensating for vibration when comparing two consecutive frames or when comparing the current frame to a reference (background) image. However, this requires an additional step of image registration that is computationally involved. Another complexity is small appearance changes, caused by rain, snow, and shadows cast by players, for example. Shadows may be detected as foreground objects and are difficult to model. Another challenge is to discriminate between foreground and background regions with similar appearance: players' green uniforms may be mistaken for grass, and their torsos will not be detected as foreground, for example. A robust interpretation of background subtraction results is therefore important for reliable foreground detection.
Typically, a sensitivity threshold is used to determine whether a particular pixel is a foreground pixel. Hence, a pixel may be determined to be a foreground pixel based on its lack of similarity to the average of recent previous values or based on its lack of similarity to the corresponding pixel in a reference (background) image. Individual foreground pixels are then clustered into 'blobs' by finding the connected components in the binary image (background mask). Since the background mask may be noisy, a single connected component may be not corresponding to a complete object. Instead, a second clustering of 'blobs' into 'objects' is often performed. In this step, it is quite difficult to determine automatically (1) how many 'objects' exists, (2) which 'blobs' associate to which 'objects', and (3) the identification of 'blobs' which do not correspond to any 'objects' (in these cases where the 'blobs' were incorrectly identified as foreground regions during background subtraction).
The association of 'blobs' to 'objects' is often ambiguous. Therefore, this particular technique of extracting objects from blobs may be unreliable. For instance, the outstretched leg of one player could be considered as the arm of another player. Complex association heuristics may work in some situations, but they tend to fail catastrophically in other circumstances. To improve the robustness of the 'blobs' to 'objects' association, small 'blobs' are often removed in a preprocessing stage of image erosion followed by image dilation. However, this method could easily discard minute correct detections, such as a player on the far side of the field. Additionally, if many small 'blobs' are present in the image, the connected components algorithm (which groups pixels into 'blobs') may take an excessively long time to process. For instance, when it is raining, the image will be littered with many small false detections or blobs may contain more than one player.
Once an object's foreground was detected in the image space, its position at the scene is computed. The 3D ground position X of a player, for instance, is estimated by finding the 2D location x of their feet in the image and mapping these locations to the ground plane using a homography H obtained from a full or partial camera calibration: x=HX. Knowledge of the homography, H, allows for one-to-one association of a 3D point at the scene, X, with its corresponding 2D point at image space, x. In order to uniquely associate a point at image space, x, with its corresponding point at the scene, X, the homography is expressed with respect to a specific plane in the 3D world. Specifically, the 3D location of a pixel at the player's head-top can be found based on the homography and knowledge of the player's height (i.e. the 2D plane crossing X=(x,y,h)). Similarly, the 3D location of a pixel at the player's foot can be found based on the homography and knowledge of player's feet level (i.e. the 2D plane crossing X=(x,y,0)). Hence, in order to map a pixel in image space to its corresponding 3D point at the scene, knowledge of this point height, for example, is necessary.
A method to interpret background subtraction results on the ground plane (instead of the image plane) involves the realization that homography which maps the object's foreground to the 3D scene, assuming all pixels at ground level, is only valid for those pixels which are a projection of part of the object that actually exists on the ground (such as feet and shadows). This mapping of objects' foreground from the image space to a plane in the 3D scene resulting in a ground map named "occupancy map" that may be an aggregation of mapping results from several cameras positioned at different vantage points. Therefore, a player's feet will consistently map to the same ground position from multiple vantage points, but the upper body will map to different areas. As a result, determining the number of players and their positions in the world is equivalent to finding local peaks in the occupancy map produced by aggregating the mapping of foreground regions detected from multiple vantage points onto the ground plane. In addition to avoiding the heuristics of clustering 'blobs', this method also avoids the threshold stage of background subtraction, as no further analysis involves binary image processing. More details about muliview occupancy map can be found in Khan S. M. and Shah, M., "Tracking multiple occluding people by localizing on multiple scene planes", Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 31, no. 3, pp. 505-519, March 2009.
The insight that a player's feet will map to the same ground location in all camera views does not apply for just the z=0 plane. If the camera is fully calibrated, it is possible to map the image onto any plane. Following a similar logic, the top of a player's head should consistently map to the same (x, y) location on the z=h plane (assuming the player is h meters tall and standing upright). In fact, some part of the player's body will map to the same (x, y) location for any plane 0≦z≦h parallel to the ground. A height-specific occupancy map generated from multiple parallel planes produces local peaks which are much more dominant than the local peaks of an occupancy map produced from just the ground plane. Such occupancy maps have been generated using multiple cameras from different vantage points. In addition to a player's feet, the ground plane will also have consistent mappings between shadows. However, on horizontal planes above the ground, the shadows will not map to consistent locations. As a result, estimating the (x, y) location of the player by fitting a vertical axis through multiple planes of data is much more reliable than simply searching for the midpoint of the feet on the ground plane.
Mapping to multiple planes is more computationally expensive. In the continuous case, the integration over an infinite number of planes can be projected back into the image. Essentially, this corresponds to pre-computing bounding convex hulls in the image plane for every (x, y) location on the ground. Summing the number of foreground pixels within each convex hull is also an expensive computation. However, if the image is warped such that convex hulls become rectangles, the computation can be optimized using integral images. Although, one can approximate the convex hulls as rectangles, a warp which sends the vertical vanishing point to infinity accomplishes the necessary rectification of the convex hulls, and is equivalent to tilting the camera so that it is level. However, if the camera is horizontal, the precision at which the (x, y) location can be estimated is greatly reduced. For high vantage points the image may be warped such that the optical axis of the camera is perpendicular to the ground. In this perspective, the ability to localize objects on the ground plane is optimal, but the ability to identify objects of height h is minimal. As a result, the integral image optimization requires many views to get accurate positions of objects which are h meters tall. For large outdoor playing areas, many cameras will be needed, and a significantly high vantage point for an approximate overhead view may not be possible. Additionally, since simultaneous access to the raw pixel data from every camera is needed to localize players, there is a high bandwidth requirement for real-time analysis, as all data must be analyzed at a single location.
The above approaches have exhibited numerous disadvantages. Those relying on a single-camera approach have been either slow (HOG) or unreliable ("blob" clustering). Other approaches have relied on the fusing of all the video data from multiple cameras simultaneously, in order to provide a central processing location with simultaneous access to all pixels from all cameras. Performing player detection on this basis requires significant bandwidth; in fact, the bandwidth of gigabit Ethernet limits these approaches to only two or three high definition (HD) cameras. A disadvantage with this fusion approach is that it does not scale well to a large number of cameras, since all the pixel data must be transmitted to a central location for processing. It would be advantageous, in order to ensure greater player detection accuracy and avoid false detections, if a non-fusion method for detecting players in real-time with minimal latency (for example, latency of one frame) could be scaled to a significantly larger number of cameras.

Real-time player detection from a single calibrated camera


A disc support and transfer mechanism for a disc changer including a magazine for supporting a plurality of discs in generally parallel vertical storage planes, and a disc transfer mechanism for transferring a selected disc from the magazine along a vertical transfer plane aligned with its vertical storage plane, the disc transfer mechanism including a longitudinally movable transfer bar extending over the magazine, the magazine and the frame being mounted for relative movement to position the transfer bar in an initial position above the selected disc resting in the magazine. First and second arms extend vertically down from the bar, the first arm being fixed to the transfer bar and the second arm being pivotably mounted to the transfer bar. The arms are located so that neither arm initially engages the disc. Upon movement of the transfer bar the first and second arms engage and roll the selected disc back and forth along a transfer plane to and from its storage plane; a first cam and a second cam pivot the second arm into and out of engagement with the selected disc responsive to movement of the transfer bar.

Optical discs are often contained in protective cartridges or boxes; however, the cost and bulk of changers for optical discs in cartridges or boxes is such that their use is limited to the professional field. To popularize the use of optical disc changers in the consumer market, it is essential to reduce their cost to the consumer, which means that the discs must be stored in the changer as they are, i.e. without individual protective cartridges.
Many mechanisms for transferring discs or cassettes have been proposed in the past, but these are either bulky or complex or lack the requisite precision, or need an additional mechanism to release the edge of the disc to allow the disc to rotate freely when it is in the operative position.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,750,160 discloses a transfer mechanism which grasps discs to guide their translation and utilizes a lateral movement of the disc into a wider housing provided in the transfer mechanism to allow the disc to rotate freely in the operative position. Such a system requires high precision for the various components, particularly those effecting the return of the disc into a narrow receptacle after playback.
Moreover, any flaw on the edge of the disc or rolling surfaces can set the disc askew and either damage its surface by contact with the walls or cause it to jam.
Finally, it is clear that this transfer system allows the discs to be maintained only approximately in the storage position since the two guiding and holding points have to be very close.
British published Application 2161013A discloses a transfer mechanism which utilizes a sliding transfer member having a pair of guide arms, the gap between the two arms being sufficient to allow the disc to turn freely in the operative position, thereby avoiding the need for a wider housing and lateral movement of the disc to the operative portion.
However, such a system provides only very imprecise guidance of the disc and can only be used with a magazine holding the discs approximately--the two holding points are also very close--and requires partition walls, which add to the cost of the magazine, which reduce the number of discs the unit can contain, and which can cause damage to the surfaces of a disc when the disc is being transferred. A similar system, having the same kind of drawbacks, is proposed in German publication DE-OS 1161052.

Transfer mechanism for information carriers

d'Alayer de Costemore d'Arc; Stephane M.


An ultrasonic method to measure silver sheath thickness in silver sheathed, ceramic powder core High Temperature Superconductor (HTS) wires and an associated sensor system which is designed and developed for continuous, on-line, real-time measurement during wire drawing.

Since the discovery of high temperature superconducting bismuth-based oxides in the late 1980's, there has been a frenzy of development aimed at manufacturing long lengths of wires and tapes for use in practical superconducting magnets. Currently, the ceramic powder in silver tube process, or more commonly known as Powder-In-Tube (PIT) method, is the only process capable of fabricating long length (more than 10 meters), mechanically robust High Temperature Superconductors (HTS) with good superconducting properties. In the PIT method, superconducting ceramic powders are loaded into a silver tube which is then mechanically worked utilizing extrusion, drawing, swaging, and rolling to produce long wires or tapes. A final heat treatment produces the superconducting phase. The PIT process has been, and continues to be, developed by trial and error, a time-consuming and expensive process. There is an urgent need for improved process quality management and control of PIT HTS manufacturing which would minimize the trial and error.
The development of advanced sensing techniques for process quality control throughout the various stages of HTS wire manufacturing promises to reduce manufacturing costs and enhance HTS wire quality. Uniformity of conductor dimensions and ceramic core density are of critical importance to the in-service performance of HTS wire. All current applications of HTS wire are basically static in nature, such as the large magnets in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) systems. The consequences of failure in these applications are relatively low. In the next generation of HTS wire implementation, the emphasis will be on dynamic, high stress applications such as transportation, power generation and storage where the consequences of failure are substantial. Process quality management will become a prerequisite to HTS wire implementation in these critical applications.
The silver sheath of silver sheathed ceramic powder core HTS wire significantly affects the mechanical properties of the HTS wire in several ways. First, silver sheathed tapes (obtained by rolling the wire) have proven to exhibit the highest critical current density (Jc) among all HTS products except for thin films. Second, the silver sheath is substantially inert and allows the penetration of oxygen during the heat treatment process and does not "poison" the superconductor. Third, the silver sheath provides mechanical strength and integrity to the wire. Its ductility helps in winding the wire to produce useful magnets (otherwise impossible to make out of a brittle ceramic material).
Given the importance of the silver sheath, its dimensional uniformity (implying a uniform ceramic core) is critical to the electrical performance characteristics of the HTS wire. For example, the non-uniformity of the ceramic core often results in a critical defect called sausaging. Sausaging defects typically occur during the last stages of the PIT process and results in a significant decrease in critical current density (Jc).
Consequently, the measurement of silver sheath thickness is important from both process development and in-process monitoring standpoints. Current quality control practices to measure silver sheath thickness in HTS wire employ destructive metallographic characterization techniques. These techniques involve careful sectioning, mounting and evaluation under an optical microscope. These techniques are destructive, inherently time consuming and cannot be used on routine evaluation on production wire. In this context, a sensor for continuous measurement of silver sheath thickness during wire fabrication offers considerable advantages. Presently, such sensors to measure sheath thickness in composite HITS wire do not exist. The development of a nondestructive technique and an associated sensor for real-time measurement during HTS wire drawing promises significant benefits.
Ultrasonic techniques have been shown capable of thickness measurements in a variety of applications. In this technique, the time of flight of an ultrasonic pulse in a material is used to determine thickness, assuming that the velocity of the pulse in the material is known. Ultrasonic techniques are non destructive, rapid and can be automated for real-time, continuous monitoring of HTS wire manufacturing. However, a sensor to measure silver sheath thickness in HTS wire based on such ultrasonic techniques has not been previously developed.

Method and apparatus for measuring silver sheath thickness during drawing of high temperature superconducting wire


A secure on-demand transportation service provides transportation to a passenger at a specified pick-up location. To this end, a transportation request is received from a passenger application running on a passenger's mobile computing device. A vehicle is assigned to provide the requested transportation, and an encrypted data package is generated which includes encrypted information that is unique to the current transportation request. The encrypted data package is provided to a vehicle application and displayed on an externally visible display associated with the vehicle at the pick-up location. The displayed encrypted data package is scanned by the passenger and the passenger application compares the scanned data to previously received data to determine if there is a match. If so, the passenger is informed and a match message is sent. The match message confirms that the vehicle has arrived at the pick-up location and that the passenger has found the vehicle.

The Internet is a global data communications system that serves billions of people across the globe and provides them access to a vast array of online information resources and services including those provided by the World Wide Web and intranet-based enterprises. Thanks to the ubiquity of the Internet and the wide variety of network-enabled end-user computing devices that exist today, many of which are mobile computing devices, people today increasing depend on online communications (e.g., using various types of end-user computing devices that are configured to operate over a data communication network such as the Internet, among other types of networks). For example, many people today use transportation network companies (e.g., ride-sharing services like Uber, a trademark of Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft, a trademark of Lyft, Inc.) to obtain transport. In general, a passenger employs an application running on their mobile computing device (e.g., smart phone, etc.) to contact a transportation network company in order to contract for a vehicle (autonomous or with a driver) to meet them at a specified pick-up location and provide transport to a desired destination. For the most part, a transportation network company uses an online-enabled platform to connect passengers with ride-providing vehicles. For the purposes of the following descriptions, the service provided by a transport network company will be referred to as an on-demand transportation service.


A plunge type router having a thumb screw depth stop mounted to the base of the router. The depth stop is comprised of a stop member encircled by a scale sleeve, wherein the two cooperate translationally to provide both visual and audible indications of the precise depth-of-cut for the router.

A plunge router is typically designed with a separate motor housing and base that are assembled together to form the overall unit. The base typically rests on a router table or the workpiece surface, and has vertical supports or shafts upon which the motor housing may be mounted. The motor housing is mounted on these supports in a way that allows it to slide up or down relative to the base. This configuration allows the motor to be activated prior to lowering the motor housing toward the base and causing the rotating cutting blade of the router to engage the workpiece. When the proper depth-of-cut is attained, the motor housing can then be locked in this position relative to the base until the cut is finished.
Plunge routers, therefore, need some type of mechanism that prevents further travel of the motor housing relative to the base once the cutting blade reaches the desired depth-of-cut. These mechanisms, often referred to as depth stops, are known in the art and are either inexpensive, such as a simple thumb screw depth stop, or are very complex, such as the more expensive multi-position turret depth stop. One difficulty, in particular, when using a simple thumb screw depth stop is obtaining the desired accuracy needed for the particular depth-of-cut. Some prior art designs use printed scales to measure cutting blade positions, however, when dealing with very fine increments, the operator may have difficulty visually discerning one location on the scale from the next.


A power supply circuit drives a load with first and second power sources. The power supply circuit has a switching network comprising a first switch and an interlock switch. A first circuit section connects the first power source to the load only when both the first switch and the interlock switch are on, and a second circuit section connects the second power source to the load only when both the first switch and the interlock switch are on. The switching network provides isolation between the first and second circuit sections.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems with multiple power sources and, in particular, to power supplies having multiple power sources and a switching network used to selectively turn such power sources on and off.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various types of systems, such as power supplies, employ multiple power sources, which are typically used to drive a load in the system. For example, some power supply circuits have both AC and DC input voltage sources. These sources are typically selectively switched "on" or "off" with switches, to selectively couple or decouple, respectively, the power source to the load.
Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown a circuit diagram of a prior art power supply circuit 100. Circuit 100 contains load R.sub.L1, which may be selectively driven by either AC or DC power. Load resistor R.sub.L1 is shown twice in FIG. 1, but may be physically the same load. To drive the load with AC, AC power source 101 is applied to AC to DC switching supply 102, which provides a DC output 103. DC power source 111 may also be applied to the load. A typical output for DC output 103 and DC power source 111 is -48 V with respect to ground.
Circuit 100 comprises AC connection network 121, DC connection network 123, and power source switching network 122. AC connection network 121 comprises load R.sub.L1, resistors R.sub.12 and R.sub.13, and transistor Q.sub.10. DC connection network 123 comprises load R.sub.L1 (which, as noted above, may be physically the same as load R.sub.L1 of network 121), resistors R.sub.14 -R.sub.17, and transistors Q.sub.11 and Q.sub.12. Switching network 122 comprises three switches: AC switch SW.sub.11, interlock switch SW.sub.12, and DC switch SW.sub.13. As illustrated, each switch (which has one or more "no contact" terminals labeled "NC" in FIG. 1) is shown in the "off" position, so that both AC and DC power sources are "off", or not coupled to the load R.sub.L1. The configuration illustrated may be referred to as the initial position. Interlock switch SW.sub.12 is a double-pole double-throw momentary switch, having dual switches (illustrated as coupled by a dashed line), which move together. AC and DC switches SW.sub.11 and SW.sub.13 are single-pole double-throw switches.
The switches of switching network 122 may be selectively switched to turn on the AC power source 101, to turn on the DC power source 111, or to turn both power sources on or off. There is typically a need to manually turn both AC and DC power sources on or off, which may be referred to as the manual switching function. There is also typically a need for an "interlock switch" capability or function, that ensures that neither power source is on, when the interlock switch is off, regardless of the state of any other switches in the switching network. Further, there is a need to isolate the switches, so that no current flows through the switches from the AC to the DC side of circuit 100, or vice-versa, regardless of the on or off state of the switches.
The interlock capability may typically be required where, for example, circuit 100 is implemented on a circuit board that is part of a power module, which module can reside in a housing or system carrier. Whenever the power module is physically outside of the housing, the interlock switch should be off, for safety and other reasons, to ensure that the system is not energized by either power source when the components are exposed. Thus, the interlock switch may be configured so that whenever the power module is securely seated within the housing, the interlock switch is on, and automatically off otherwise. Whenever the interlock switch is on, the user needs to have the ability to selectively switch the AC and DC power sources on or off. In addition, the switching network needs to be isolated in the sense described above.
In switching network 122, as described below, switch SW.sub.12 is the interlock switch, AC switch SW.sub.11 controls whether the AC power source 101 is on or off (when the interlock switch SW.sub.12 is on), and DC switch SW.sub.13 controls whether the DC power source 111 is on or off (when the interlock switch SW.sub.12 is on). When interlock switch SW.sub.12 is off, both AC and DC power sources are off, regardless of the state of switches SW.sub.11 and SW.sub.13.
To ensure that both power sources are turned off whenever the power module is not fully seated in the housing, interlock switch SW.sub.12 is adapted so that it is only on when pressure caused by filly seating the power module turns it on. Thus, when interlock switch SW.sub.12 is off, as illustrated in FIG. 1, node 131, at the junction of resistors R.sub.12 and R.sub.13 and the base terminal of transistor Q.sub.10, is grounded. Thus, transistor Q.sub.10 is turned off, and no current flows through load R.sub.L1 from the AC power source 101. In this case, AC connection network 121 does not serve to connect or couple AC power soure 101 to load R.sub.L1, since interlock switch SW.sub.12 being off causes AC connection network 121 to fail to allow such a connection.
Similarly, node 132, at the junction of resistors R.sub.14 and R.sub.15 and the base terminal of transistor Q.sub.11, is not coupled to ground, and a current thus flows through resistor R.sub.15, driven by DC power source 111, which gives rise to a voltage at node 132 sufficient to turn on transistor Q.sub.11. This diverts current flowing through resistor R.sub.17 through transistor Q.sub.11 instead of through resistor R.sub.16, and effectively grounds the base terminal of transistor Q.sub.12. Thus, transistor Q.sub.12 is turned off, and no current flows through load R.sub.L1 from the DC power source 111. In this case, DC connection network 123 does not serve to connect or couple DC power source 111 to load R.sub.L1, since interlock switch SW.sub.12 being off causes DC connection network 123 to fail to allow such a connection.
It can be seen that both power sources are turned off as long as interlock switch SW.sub.12 is off, since node 131 is still grounded, and node 132 is not grounded, regardless of the state of switches SW.sub.11, SW.sub.13. Whenever interlock switch SW.sub.12 is off, i.e. whenever the power module is not fully seated in the housing, circuit 100 may be said to be in interlock mode. Alternatively, when interlock switch SW.sub.12 is on, circuit 100 is not in interlock mode, and, therefore, AC switch SW.sub.11 can be used to turn the AC power source 101 on or off, and the DC switch SW.sub.13 can be used to turn the DC power source 111 on or off, as described below.
To turn on the AC power source 101, interlock switch SW.sub.12 must be turned on, and switch SW.sub.11 is also turned on, to activate AC connection network 121. Turning on AC switch SW.sub.11 when the circuit is not in interlock mode decouples node 131 from ground, thereby allowing transistor Q.sub.10 to turn on, which allows current to flow from the AC power source's DC output 103 through load R.sub.L1. Thus, when circuit 100 is not in interlock mode, turning on AC switch SW.sub.11 activates AC connection network 121, which causes AC power source 101 to be coupled to load R.sub.L1.
Similarly, to turn on the DC power source 111, interlock switch SW.sub.12 must again be turned on, and switch SW.sub.13 is also turned on. This couples node 132 to ground, thereby allowing transistor Q.sub.12 to turn on, which allows current to flow from the DC power source 111 through load R.sub.L1. Thus, when circuit 100 is not in interlock mode, turning on DC switch SW.sub.13 activates DC connection network 123, which causes DC power source 111 to be coupled to load R.sub.L1.
In typical usage, switches SW.sub.11 and SW.sub.13 are both turned on, so that both power sources are applied to load R.sub.L1. DC power source 111 may serve as a back-up in case of power failure or irregularities in AC power source 101. During normal operation, DC power source 111, which may be a rechargeable battery, may be constantly re-charged by DC output 103 from AC power source 101. Whenever AC power source 101 fails, for example due to a power outage, DC power source 111 drives load R.sub.L1 with no loss of continuity. Whenever the power module is removed from its housing, pressure is released from the back plane of the circuit board, which contains the pressure-sensitive portion of switch SW.sub.12, thereby causing interlock mode to be established and turning off both power sources.
Switching network 122 also performs the isolation function described above, since no switch configuration provides a current path between nodes 132 and 131. This is accomplished due in part to the fact that interlock switch SW.sub.12 is a double-pole double-throw switch, having two separate switch bars. Thus, switching network 122 is isolated, such that switching network 122 does not provide a current patch between AC connection network 121 and DC connection network 123.
Unfortunately, circuit 100 requires three separate switches in switching network 122 to perform the above-described functions. Each switch required in a circuit such as power supply circuit 100 adds extra expense and complexity (for example, to make switches other than the interlock switch accessible to users), and requires scarce printed-wiring board (PWB) area.

Switching network for circuit with multiple power sources


A game towing assembly comprises a flexible adjustable collar adapted to fit snugly about a neck of a slain game animal. A manual towing structure is secured to the collar for pulling the collar along with the slain game animal, so that the slain game animal can travel along the ground.

Numerous towing devices have been provided in prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,547,446 to Sapp; 3,771,808 to Duerst; 3,912,290 to Rich; 4,046,393 to Vadnals; 4,132,427 to McGeen and 4,567,853 to Hayden all are illustrative of such prior art. While these units may be suitable for the particular purpose to which they address, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention as heretofore descried.
The Sapp U.S. Pat. No. 3,547,456 teaches a game-transporting device including a flexible enclosure adapted to hold an animal to be transported. The enclosure has a closable elongated opening for inserting the animal to be transported therein. The enclosure consists of a durable material having a smooth outer surface and manual towing means secured to the enclosure means for dragging the enclosure means containing the animal, along the ground.
The Duerst U.S. Pat. No. 3,771,808 teaches a portable skid for hauling game from the field which comprises a rectangular sheet of plastic having a high tear strength and provided with reinforced apertures along the side margins and forward margin. When not in use, the skid is rolled in a coil and carried on the shoulder by a sling. When in use, the game carcass is placed on the unrolled skid and cords tied between the reinforced apertures on the side margins to form a upwardly open U-shaped channel around the carcass with the narrow bottom web interconnecting the channel side walls functioning as a runner. A rope secured to reinforced apertures in the forward margin is used to drag the skid. In one embodiment of the invention, spaced bands having a stiff pile or fiber surface on the upper surface of a plastic sheet prevent the carcass from sliding off the skid.
The Rich U.S. Pat. No. 3,912,290 teaches that a collapsible sled of the instant invention has been designed with the hunter in mind. It is compact and easy to carry and folds to a size which may be easily carried on a hunter's back. The weight of the sled is minimal inasmuch as its construction is primarily of lightweight metal, such as aluminum, and the cross bars or braces extending between the opposite side runner sections of each sled section are upwardly concave, whereby a killed animal may be at least partially cradled in the sled when the latter is in use.
The Vadnais U.S. Pat. No. 4,046,393 teaches a portable plastic sled for the rescue of injured persons and disabled snowmobiles. The sled is constructed of heave gauge low density polyethylene having a molecular memory and formed to lay substantially flat when unrolled with the exception of the front portion which retains a partial curvature. A transverse bar at the front of the sled includes a socket for attachment of a separate crank, to enable the sled to be conveniently rolled into a tight bundle for stowage aboard a snowmobile or all terrain vehicle. The crank is formed with attachments to permit use as handle for manual towing or as a tow bar for snowmobile towing. The crank also becomes a convenient carrying handle when the sled is rolled up. An integral tail on the sled retains the sled in the rolled up condition and multipurpose clamp lines retain the crank handle to the rolled up sled.
The McGee U.S. Pat. No. 4,132,427 teaches a frame sled that has straps affixed to members thereof for releasably securing an animal carcass to the sled. Pulling straps affixed to the sled at the front thereof facilitate pulling of the sled.
The Hayden U.S. Pat. No. 4,567,853 teaches an animal carrier apparatus including a base portion, an animal support portion, a locking portion and a towing portion. The base portion includes a pair of frame members. Each frame member has a generally quadrangular configuration with upper and lower horizontal sections and end section joining same. The frame members being pivotally connected to one another. The pivotal connection being along the end sections of the frame members. The pivotal connection being at the same respective location on each end section. The pivotal connection enabling the frame members to be pivoted substantially parallel to each other for compact storage. The animal support portion includes spaced transverse strips extending between the upper sections of the frame members and spaced longitudinal strips crossing with the transverse strips. Restraining mechanism is operatively connected to the crossed strips. The locking portion includes a mechanism for maintaining the frame members in a spread configuration with the transverse strips in an extended condition. The towing portion includes a connector extending from forward ends of the frame members, whereby an animal's legs can be inserted through spaces between the crossed strips with its body held by the restraining mechanism and the locking portion maintaining the frame members spread so the connector can be utilized to tow the animal.


An apparatus for urging livestock animals includes at least one alleyway which is defined by a frame having a stationary portion and a reciprocating portion. The reciprocating portion includes a paddle assembly including spaced pairs of pivtobably mounted paddles. The reciprocating frame swings between a rear position and a forward position. The paddles are mounted to the reciprocating frame such that the paddles may pivot forward but not backward to permit forward motion of a livestock animal and to apply force to the hind quarters of the livestock animal when the reciprocating frame moves forward or to prevent rearward movement of the livestock animal in the alleyway.

Specialized trailers or transportable units having alleyways and a squeeze chute have long been used to conduct livestock through a procedure such as vaccination. A primary objective of such units is to move livestock through alleyways and squeeze chutes as quickly as possible without harming or over-stressing the livestock. Traditional methods for motivating cattle to move through alleyways tend to subject cattle to significant stress. Typically, a veterinarian receiving livestock animals from an alleyway into a squeeze chute for procedures such as vaccinations would much rather work with a relatively calm, unstressed animal. Accordingly, what is needed is an apparatus for gently and efficiently urging livestock through an alleyway while inducing a minimum of stress.


Video streaming is delivered through a communication network to one or more client computing devices/systems. A number of video display or bandwidth control profiles are used in part to control an amount of bandwidth used by each client to stream video at various quality levels or audio-only. Video display profiles can be configured according to a particular device/system being used to stream video.

As communication networks and video transmission techniques continue to advance, video streaming capability has enabled users to view live and pre-recorded broadcasts, such as on-demand television series, sporting events, and other video events using devices such as smartphones, tablet computers, and laptop computers. However, transmitting video can be costly in terms of consuming large amounts of bandwidth, which may lead to an unacceptable video streaming experience. Routine maintenance and testing of network equipment such as routers, hubs, switches, bridges and cabling is recommended to provide a quality streaming experience.
Data usage is the amount of data, sometimes referred to as bandwidth that customers consume when sending, receiving, downloading, or uploading information. Customer data usage may encompass the transmission of images, personal videos, streaming video, movies, photos, online time, call time, application and system updates, etc. Packet-switched networks, such as the Internet, wireless communication, ADSL and CATV, provide infrastructure that enables video streaming operations.
The widespread use of content distribution networks (CDNs) are utilized in attempting to efficiently provide content to requesting clients. Currently, there is not a mechanism in place to manage data bandwidth for streaming video while a customer has lost focus while watching streaming video, either by reducing the size of a playback window or sending a media player to the background. Unfortunately, the same amount bandwidth is consumed regardless of the user focus. By allocating unnecessary amounts of bandwidth, a service provider may find difficulty in maintaining service quality across a customer base.

Correlating video quality with video playback view