The invention relates to a method for the fragmentation (F) of images (14i) into homogeneous regions (Ri), this fragmentation (F) using iterative merges of fragments Fi and Fj which are as similar as possible according to at least one selection parameter, this similarity being evaluated by a product A*B of two factors A and B, A being consistent with a number of pixels and B being consistent with the selection parameter(s).

To transmit or record digital images, use is commonly made of coding methods which reduce the quantity of information transmitted and, consequently, the bandwidth required for this transmission.
Some of these coding methods call upon segmentation of the images into so-called homogeneous regions, that is to say into regions of uniform character according to one or more criteria such as the chrominance and/or the luminance of the pixels (image elements) of this region.
Subsequently, the transmission of the luminance and chrominance data relating to each pixel of a region can be replaced by a simple transmission of the luminance and chrominance data of the relevant region.
Moreover, this segmentation can be called upon in respect of inter-image coding. Thus, before transmitting or recording the information relating to the state, for example of luminance and chrominance, of a region thus defined, one determines whether this information has already been transmitted or recorded. Stated otherwise, one determines whether this region has already been identified in a previously transmitted image.
If this region has not been identified in an earlier image, all the information relating to this region of the image is transmitted.
Conversely, if this region has been identified during the transmission of a previous image, only a signal representing the displacement of this region with respect to the earlier image is transmitted.
Thus, on reception or on reading, this region is reconstructed from the information already transmitted in respect of a previous image.
For example, consider a series of images all comprising one and the same uniform and stationary blue background. In this case, by considering this blue background to form a single region, the information relating to this region is transmitted only for the first image. Thereafter, the coding of the following images only comprises indications indicating the presence and the location of this region.
Thus, the blue background is recreated for all the images from the information transmitted (or recorded) in respect of the initial image.
A description of a known method of segmenting images is given hereinbelow with the aid of the appended figure.
Represented in this figure are the various steps of a method 10 for the segmentation of images, this segmentation comprising two preliminary operations, one, 20, relating to the luminance and the other, 22, relating to the chrominance or to analogous parameters as described later.
It should be stressed that the operation 22 relating to the chrominance of the pixels is dubbed "fragmentation" while the final partitioning of the image according to criteria of chrominance and of apparent motion of the pixels—described later—is dubbed "segmentation".
The operation 20 comprises the comparison of the luminances of the pixels of a current image 14i with respect to the luminances of the pixels of an earlier image 12i. This comparison determines the motions or the variations of luminance of the pixels of the image 14i with respect to the pixels of the image 12i.
A so-called "optical flow" vector 15p representative of the motion or of this variation of luminance of this pixel P is thus allocated to each pixel P of the current image 14i. To do this, this vector 15p is described by coordinates (dx, dy) characterizing the motion of the image at the pixel P with coordinates (x, y).
During the operation 22, a fragmentation F of the image 14i into fragments F1, F2, . . . FN based on the colour is performed. To do this, the luminance information Yi for the image 14i is used, together with the evaluations 16 and 18 of the apportionment of the red and blue colours via respective signals Ui and Vi for each pixel Pi of the image 14i.
Thereafter, on the basis of the fragments F1, F2, . . . FN thus obtained, the final segmentation of the image 14i is obtained by grouping these fragments Fi into parts Ri, called regions, according to an operation 30 involving motion parameters—this operation being described later.
There are numerous methods making it possible to perform this fragmentation F of the image into fragment F1, F2, . . . FN of homogeneous colour—homogeneity being defined according to the quality of fragmentation demanded.
Moreover, it should be noted that other criteria may be used to perform this fragmentation.
For example, the fragmentation can be performed according to a so-called "texture" criterion based on the spatial distributions of the grey levels in the image. To do this, these textures are characterized by criteria of homogeneity, of contrast, of favoured orientation or of periodicity.
In this description, fragmentation based on the merging, pairwise, of neighbouring fragments of similar colour is used. More specifically, on the basis of two so-called "starting" neighbouring fragments, a new so-called "finishing" fragment comprising the two merged fragments is created.
Thereafter, this method is repeated by considering this finishing fragment to be a new starting fragment.
To determine the sequence of merges—a single merge being performed at each step—we calculate a cost Cfu associated with each envisageable merge.
This cost Cfu, the calculation of which is described hereinbelow, is representative of the difference in colour between the two fragments whose merge is envisaged.
Thus, by merging (Fi∪Fj) the fragments Fi and Fj whose cost Cfu of merging is the lowest among all the envisaged costs of merging, we merge the fragments which are most similar chrominancewise among all the fragments which may be merged.
In this embodiment, the calculation of the cost Cfu of merging between two fragments Fi and Fj is as follows:
      C    fu    =                              N          i                                  N          j                                      N          i                +                  N          j                                [                                    (                                          Y                i                            -                              Y                j                                      )                    2                +                              (                                          U                i                            -                              U                j                                      )                    2                +                              (                                          V                i                            -                              V                j                                      )                    2                    ]
In this formula, N1 is the number of pixels in the fragment Fi and Nj is the number of pixels in the fragment Fj and (Yi−Yj), (Ui−Uj) and (Vi−Vj) represent, respectively, the differences in luminance and in colours between the two fragments Fi and Fj.
On basis of this merge between the two fragments Fi and Fj, a new fragment Fk=Fi∪Fj comprising the pixels of the two starting fragments Fi and Fj is obtained. This new fragment Fk therefore comprises Nk=Ni+Nj pixels.
This new fragment Fk=Fi∪Fj is then characterized by a luminance Yk equal to the mean of the luminances of the merged fragments, weighted by the number of pixels present in each fragment.
More precisely, when merging the fragment Fi with the fragment Fj, the new mean luminance of the fragment Fk is equal to:Yk=(Ni*Yi+Nj*Yj)/(Ni+Nj)
Likewise, we define the parameters Uk and Vk of colour differences of the new fragment Fk as, respectively:
            U      k        =                  (                                            N              i                        *                          U              i                                +                                    N              j                        *                          U              j                                      )            /              (                              N            i                    +                      N            j                          )              ,                      V      k        =                  (                                            N              i                        *                          V              i                                +                                    N              j                        *                          V              j                                      )            /                        (                                    N              i                        +                          N              j                                )                .
Each pixel constitutes a starting fragment for the first fragmentation step. Subsequently, the unmerged pixels remain fragments.
However, a minimum number N of fragments is specified so as to stop the segmentation when this number of fragments is reached.
Thus, we obtain N fragments F1, F2, . . . FN making up the image 14i, each of these fragments comprising a given number of pixels N1, N2, . . . NN.
The cost of the merge between F1 and Fj being proportional to Ni.Nj/Ni+Nj, if we assume an isotropic commencement of merging, then the bigger the number of pixels concerned in a merge, the higher will be the cost of this merge, thus favouring the merging of small fragments and hence an isotropic fragmentation of the image.
Thereafter, in the course of an operation 24, a parametric model characteristic of the motion of all the pixels of each fragment F1, F2, . . . FN as previously obtained is estimated.
To do this, each fragment Fi is characterized by a parametric model 24i of motion linked to the horizontal component dx and vertical component dy of the motion vector 15p of each pixel with spatial coordinates (x,y) of the fragment Fi.
More precisely, an affine model 24 with 6 parameters (a,b,c,d,e,f) is chosen, such that the components dx and dy of the motion vector 15p of a pixel P with coordinates (x,y) are equal todx=a+b.x+c.y , dy=d+e.x+f.y.
Thus, a single model 24 of motion parameters with 6 components describes the motion of all the pixels of the fragment considered.
The parameters a, b, c, d, e and f of the model 24i are determined according to the so-called least squares technique from the motion vectors 15p estimated at each pixel during step 20.
More specifically, on the basis of a starting model 24′i (a′,b′,c′,d′,e′,f′), its parameters are made to vary in such a way as to minimize a deviation Emo between the "real" vectors 15p and the vectors calculated from this model according to the above formulae.
To evaluate this deviation Emo, we calculate the sum of the squares of the differences between the motion vector 15p of each pixel and the vectors reconstructed from the model described previously.
For example, for a vector 15p with coordinates (dx, dy), modelled by a model 24i (a,b,c,d,e,f):Emo=(dx−(a+b.x+c.y))2+(dy−(d+e.x+f.y))2.
The final parametric model (a,b,c,d,e,f) is obtained when this deviation or "variance" Emo is minimal. This variance in the modelling of the motion of the fragment Fi is then designated as Var24i.
Generally, the evaluations described here take no account of so-called "outlying" values, that is to say of values which differ excessively from the globally estimated values.
In parallel, during an operation 26, the fragmentation F can be compared with the segmentation of the previous image 12i.
For example, any correspondences 28 between the location of fragments Fi and Fj and the location of a region R′i, are identified, this region R′i being the final result of the segmentation of the image 12i according to an operation 30 described later.
These correspondences 28 may be used during operations requiring the tracking of object(s) over a series of images, for example in the road traffic field.
Thereafter, during the operation 30, a method of grouping similar to the method of merging described during the operation 22 is performed. Thus, an iterative process is applied involving two neighbouring fragments which minimize a grouping cost Cre, this grouping creating a new starting fragment.
During this operation 30, the cost of merging is evaluated from the models 24i of motion parameters of each fragment.
Thus, the two fragments grouped together at each step of the operation 30 are the fragments exhibiting the greatest similarity of motion among all the pairs of neighbouring fragments.
For example, by considering two fragments Fi and Fj characterized by respective parametric models 24i (ai, bi, ci, di, ei, fi) and 24j (aj, bj, cj, dj, ej, fj), the similarity of motion between these two fragments is calculated as follows, where it is assumed that the fragment Fi is of larger size than the fragment Fj:
A motion vector 15pj/i is calculated for each pixel of the fragment Fj according to the parametric model 24i for the fragment Fi. Thus, for a pixel with coordinates (xj, yj) of Fj, we calculate the vector 15pj/i with coordinates (dxj/i, dyj/i) according to the following formulae:dxj/i=ai+bixj+ciyj dyj/i=di+eixj+fiyj
Thereafter, the motion vector 15pj/j of this pixel is evaluated according to the parametric model 24j for this fragment, that is to saydxj/j=aj+bjxj+cjyj anddyj/j=dj+ejxj+fjyj
Finally, the difference between these two vectors 15pj/i and 15pj/j is evaluated by calculating a difference Δpj/i Δpj/i=(dxj/j−dxj/i)2+(dyj/j−dyj/i)2.
The mean of the Δpj/i of all the pixels of Fj is then calculated so as to obtain an evaluation Δj/i of the difference between the parametric models of the two fragments Fi and Fj.
Subsequently, the fragments Fi and Fj whose difference Δj/i of motion is less than a predetermined threshold—are grouped together—this threshold being all the smaller the greater the agreement between fragments has to be in order for these fragments to be grouped together.
However, during this grouping operation 30, no new motion parameter 24 is calculated in respect of a fragment created by a grouping. This is because these complex calculations would require overly large durations.
This is why, during this operation 30, a motion vector equal to one of the motion vectors of the two grouped fragments is allocated to each fragment created by a grouping.
In this embodiment, the motion parameter of the grouped fragment of smallest size is allocated to the fragment resulting from the grouping.
For example, we consider the grouping between two fragments F′i and F′j such that the number of pixels N′i of the fragment F′i is greater than the number N′j of pixels of the fragment F′j. The calculation is speeded up by allocating a motion vector 24′k equal to the vector 24′i to the fragment F′k obtained through the grouping of F′i and of F′j.
These iterative groupings are performed until a specified number of fragments is obtained.
When this grouping operation is completed, a given number of "final" fragments or of regions Ri which characterize the segmentation of the image according to this method is then obtained.
The set of pixels P included in a region Ri is then homogeneous in terms of motion, this parameter being characterized by a unique model 24i for the entire set of pixels of the region Ri.
Before transmitting (or recording) this segmentation, a marking operation 33 is then performed, in the course of which the regions making up the image 14i are identified. Thus, when the image 16i posterior to the image 14i is analysed, it will be possible to use this segmentation to undertake the operation 26 with the image 16i.
To do this, a last step 35 is required in the course of which this segmentation 35 is assigned a delay corresponding to the lag in the appearance of the next image 16i.
As mentioned previously, the fragmentation F of the image into fragments Fi is stopped according to a number-of-fragments-obtained criterion. Thus, when the number of fragments obtained reaches a certain threshold, the merging method stops.
The present invention results from the finding that this stoppage criterion does not yield an optimized result. Specifically, according to this method, the fragmentation of a very simple image produces an excessive fragmentation of the latter while the fragmentation of a complex image—comprising multiple details—produces an inadequate fragmentation.

Method for stopping a fragmentation of digital images

Abstract: According to the invention a merge is performed when the product A*B*C is less than a threshold consistent with the selection parameter, C being a factor consistent with the inverse of a number of pixels.


A development device includes a developer carrier supplying developer to an electrostatic latent image carrier which is rotatable. The developer carrier includes a conductive metal core and a conductive elastic layer that is disposed outside a circumference of the conductive metal core and includes a surface having a roughness formed thereon. The surface of the conductive elastic layer satisfies a relationship 1.0<Rz2/Rz1<1.60, where Rz1 and Rz2 are ten-point mean roughenesses in a circumference direction and an axial direction of the developer carrier, respectively, and satisfies a relationship 0.20<Sm2/Sm1<1.00, where Sm1 and Sm2 are mean widths of profile elements of the surface of the conductive elastic layer in the circumference direction and the axial direction of the developer carrier, respectively.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a development device installed in a printer or a photocopier employing an electrophotographic method, and relates to an image forming apparatus including the development device.
2. Description of Related Art
A development device of an image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic printer, a photocopier, a facsimile and a multifunctional device includes a developer carrier carrying a developer thereon and develops an electrostatic latent image formed on an electrostatic latent image carrier with the developer carried on the developer carrier. Here, a surface of the developer carrier is made rough such that an image to be formed on a recording medium has an adequate density. For example, roughness of the developer carrier in a circumferential direction and a mean width of profile elements are defined to obtain the adequate density (See, e.g., Japanese Un-examined Patent Application Publication No. H07-319287).
The image to be formed on the recording medium, however, may not have the adequate density although the roughness of the developer carrier in the circumferential direction and the mean width of profile elements are defined.

Development device and image forming apparatus


An internal combustion engine having a cylinder and piston located therein has a charge motion control valve for controlling kinetic energy within an air charge flowing through an intake runner and into the cylinder of the engine. The charge motion control valve includes an actuator for controlling the position of the valve and an aerodynamic, wing-shaped valve disc being rotatable from a closed position to one or more open positions. The valve disc has leading and trailing segments. The leading segment masks airflow at small opening values of the valve and the trailing segment acts to prevent flow separation when the valve is in a wide-open throttle position.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an engine having a charge motion control valve and induction system which will furnish charge air with high kinetic energy during most engine operating conditions.
2. Disclosure Information
In order to obtain maximum fuel economy with minimum tailpipe emissions, engine designers have striven for engines which tolerate both higher rates of exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) and lean of stoichiometric operation. One method for increasing an engine's tolerance to EGR while promoting highly stable combustion is to increase the combustion burn rate by increasing the kinetic energy or motion of the air charge entering the engine's cylinder. In this case, kinetic energy refers to translational, rotational, and vibrational motion of the air charge. In the past, designers have devised charge motion control valves comprising the familiar butterfly element, either used as a whole round plate situated within an intake runner, as shown in FIG. 8, or a plate having a cutout, as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10.
A problem with the valve plate shown in FIG. 8 is that flow passing over the upper and lower portions of the plate will recombine in trailing vortices, causing loss of downstream energy and velocity as air passes through the intake port and into the cylinder. In other words, the streamlines are not maintained, but are destroyed passing over the plate. FIG. 9 illustrates a plate having a cutout formed in one section thereof, and although the streamlines are maintained at one portion of the intake runner, there is a loss of energy caused by the sharp edged orifice cutout, which causes trailing vortices. FIG. 10, which is also prior art, illustrates a half plate which, once again, suffers from the problem that when the plate is in the fully opened position, air flowing above and below the plate combines into turbulent eddys which reduce flow through the port downstream of the plate. This is undesirable.
The foregoing defects of prior art systems are remedied by a charge motion control valve (CMCV) according to the present invention.

Internal combustion engine having induction system with aerodynamic charge motion control valve


A rotational angle detector has a rotary body, a first detecting unit rotating in cooperation with the rotary body, a second detecting unit rotating in cooperation with the first detecting unit, and an auxiliary detecting unit rotating in cooperation with the rotary body and the second detecting unit. The rotational angle detector has a first detecting element, a second detecting element, and a controller. The first detecting element detects rotation of the first detecting unit, and the second detecting element detects rotation of the second detecting unit. The controller detects a rotational angle of the rotary body based on a detection signal supplied from the first detecting element and a detection signal supplied from the second detecting element.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rotational angle detector used for detecting a rotational angle of a steering wheel of a car, for example.
2. Background Art
Recently, functions of cars have been improved, and thus more cars have detected rotational angles of the steering wheels using rotational angle detectors to perform various controls. A conventional rotational angle detector is described with reference to FIG. 4. FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of an essential part of the conventional rotational angle detector.
Rotary body 21 has spur gear 21A in its outer periphery, and has engaging part 21B engaging with a steering shaft (not shown) that penetrates its center. Detecting unit 22 has spur gear 22A in its outer periphery, and detecting unit 24 has spur gear 24A in its outer periphery. Spur gear 22A meshes with spur gear 21A, and spur gear 24A meshes with spur gear 22A. Magnet 23A and magnet 25A are mounted to the center of detecting unit 22 and the center of detecting unit 24 by insert molding or the like, respectively. Of rotary body 21, detecting unit 22, and detecting unit 24, the diameter of gear and the number of teeth of rotary body 21 are the largest, those of detecting unit 22 are intermediate, and those of detecting unit 24 are the smallest.
Wiring board 28 disposed over and in substantially parallel with detecting units 22 and 24 has a plurality of wiring patterns (not shown) on its upper and lower surfaces. Magnetic detecting elements 23B and 25B are mounted to wiring board 28 so that they face magnets 23A and 25A, respectively. Wiring board 28 has controller 29 formed of an electronic component such as a microcomputer. Controller 29 is connected to magnetic detecting elements 23B and 25B.
Thus, the rotational angle detector has the following elements:                a first detecting element including magnet 23A and magnetic detecting element 23B;        a second detecting element including magnet 25A and magnetic detecting element 25B; and        controller 29.
Controller 29 is connected to an electronic circuit (not shown) of a car body through a connector (not shown) or the like, and the steering shaft penetrates engaging part 21B of rotary body 21. In this way, the rotational angle detector is mounted to a car.
When a driver rotates the steering wheel during driving, rotary body 21 rotates, detecting unit 22 rotates in cooperation with rotary body 21, and detecting unit 24 rotates in cooperation with detecting unit 22. Magnets 23A and 25A also rotate in cooperation with these rotations. Magnetic detecting elements 23B and 25B detect changing magnetic forces of magnets 23A and 25A as detection signals composed of sine and cosine waveforms of voltage. These detection signals have sawtooth data waveforms and are fed into controller 29. Since the number of teeth and rotation speed of detecting unit 22 differ from those of detecting unit 24, respective data waveforms of the detection signals of detecting unit 22 and detecting unit 24 have different cycles and shifted phases with each other.
Controller 29 performs a predetermined calculation based on two different detection signals supplied from magnetic detecting elements 23B and 25B and each number of teeth, and detects the rotational angle of rotary body 21. That is, controller 29 detects the rotational angle of the steering wheel. The detected signals are supplied to the electronic circuit of the car body, and are used for various controls of the car. Such a rotational angle detector is disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 2005-3625, for example.
In this conventional rotational angle detector, however, when detecting unit 22 or detecting unit 24 is chipped or broken, controller 29 detects a false rotational angle based on the detection signals from magnetic detecting elements 23B and 25B. In order to address the problem and to attain a long service life by preventing chipping or breakage through strengthening detecting units 22 and 24, the size of detecting units 22 and 24 must be enlarged or a material of high strength must be used.

Rotational angle detector for detecting a rotational angle of a rotating body

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A series-connected heat dissipater coupled by heat-pipe used for the interface cards of a computer system. Wherein, a plurality of additional auxiliary dissipaters are provided onto the insertion slots adjacent to the interface cards, and are connected to the main dissipater through heat pipe, hereby effectively solving the heat dissipation problem of the interface cards, so that the main-machine-board will not be bent and deformed due to the overweight caused by the interface cards.

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates a heat dissipater used for the interface card of the computer system, and in particular to a series-connected-heat-pipe type heat dissipater used for the display card.
2. Related Art
With the rapid progress and development of the computer technology, the operation speed of CPU is ever increasing, thus generating even much more heat. Presently, in addition to CPU, the South Bridge & North Bridge chips on the main-machine-board, and even the graphic chips on the display card, their operation speeds are likewise getting faster, as such requiring the installation of more dissipaters to reduce and keep their temperature within the normal operation range.
In general, the chip sets of the above-mentioned computer system can be classified as the chips disposed on the main-machine-board, such as CPU, South Bridge and North Bridge chips, and the chips disposed on the interface card such as the graphic chip on the display card. However, with the operation speed of the electronic components on the chips getting increasingly faster more than the heat dissipater's capability can catch up to dissipate the heat generated. In comparison, the heat dissipation capability of the heat dissipater is facing increasing challenge. For the CPU, Northbridge, Southbridge chips on the main-machine-board, it is much easier to design and install heat dissipater having more powerful heat dissipating capability, due to existence of large gap between the main-machine-board and the shell. However, for the interface card such as the display card, the gap between the interface cards are rather limited, as such heat is liable to accumulate in the hot air and not easy to dissipate, thus significantly affecting and reducing its heat dissipation effect. In addition, the size of the shell is gradually miniaturized, and recently with the emergence of micro-systems, thus the heat dissipation function and capability of the dissipater for the chips on the main-machine-board are facing increasing challenge.
Moreover, since most of the interface cards are inserted into the insertion slots of the main-machine-board, thus in addition to the problem of the narrow spacings between the inserted interface cards, the arrangement of the inserted cards must also be taken into consideration, even if the two adjacent insertion slots can be reserved for the installation of bigger heat dissipater. Yet with the increasing size of the heat dissipater, its weight is increased correspondingly, so that the bottom insertion slot and the side fixing to shell are not strong enough to support the long and thin design of the interface card, thus resulting in the bending and deformation of the main-machine-board supporting the interface card. And in more serious case, this may affect the normal operation of the computer system.
In this respect, refer to U.S. Pat. No. 6,532,141, wherein, threaded bolts are used to connect and fix a plurality sets of heat-dissipation fins. Though this may be applied to the ordinary chips (such as, Southbridge and Northbridge chips) on the main-machine-board, however, if it is applied on an interface card such as a display card, that would lead to the bending of the display card due to overweight.

Series-connected heat dissipater coupled by heat pipe


A method includes receiving a search request including a search input; and identifying a history information item based on the search input. The history includes information describing a prior state of an object. The method also includes determining whether information describing a current state of the object corresponds to the search input. The method includes outputting a prior-state based search result item that identifies the object and includes information based on the history information item. If the information describing the current state of the object corresponds to the search input, the method includes outputting a current-state based search result item that includes a link for accessing the object.

The disclosure herein relates generally to methods for displaying history information.
Computer systems are known that allow for shared access to objects. As one example, shared storage systems can allow users to create or store objects such as files at a remote server, access the files via a network such as the internet, grant shared access to the files to other users, and in some examples, edit the file using a file creation and editing system that is associated with the shared storage system. As another example, a calendar application can allow a user to create a calendar object and grant shared access to the calendar objects to other users. As another example, a task management application can allow creation of task objects for assigning tasks to other users, thus granting the other users shared access to the task object. Shared access to an object by a second user can include any or all of the abilities to view the object, modify the object, share the object with additional users, make copies of the object, or delete the object. These types of systems are referred to herein as shared access systems. Shared access systems can allow actions to be taken with respect to an object. As an example, online document storage and editing systems are known that store files and allow multiple users who have been granted access to a particular file to take actions such as viewing or editing the file. In some shared access systems, users can be provided with information regarding actions taken with respect to certain objects by other users.

Methods for displaying object history information


Described herein is an optical channel monitor (100), including a plurality of input ports in the form of optical fibers (102) disposed in a vertical “port displacement” dimension. Each fiber (102) inputs a respective optical beam (103) having a plurality of individual wavelength channels. A lens (104) collimates each beam and converges the beams in the port displacement dimension to a focal plane (105). The collimated and converged beams are incident onto a rotatable micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) mirror (106), which selectively directs each optical beam onto a wavelength dispersion element in the form of a grism (108) at a predetermined angle (denoted by φ) in a horizontal “dispersion” plane. The grism (108) spatially separates, in the dispersion plane, the wavelength channels contained within each optical beam (103) by diffraction. The angle at which each channel is diffracted is controlled by the angle φ.

Any discussion of the background art throughout the specification should in no way be considered as an admission that such art is widely known or forms part of common general knowledge in the field.
Optical channel monitors are used in optical communications to monitor various characteristics of individual wavelength channels throughout a network. In wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) systems, multiple channels having different wavelengths are transmitted as a single combined signal. However, there are various optical phenomena that effect optical beams on a wavelength-dependent basis. Such effects include chromatic dispersion and wavelength dependent loss in optical materials. Therefore, it is beneficial to monitor the characteristics of each channel as it propagates through the optical system.
Traditional optical channel monitors can provide an inventory of incoming and outgoing channels and some devices can report on each channel's power and peak central wavelength. Some optical channel monitors include diffraction gratings for spatially separating individual wavelength channels from a WDM signal. Conventional channel monitors use imaging systems having a controlling lens to image a beam at a particular focal point. While these systems are relatively simple in design, the controlling lens necessarily has a large focal length in order to provide good spectral performance. As the scale size of the overall system scales roughly with the focal length, optical channel monitors implementing imaging systems are typically large in size. This is often disadvantageous in optical systems where scale size is an important consideration.
US Patent Application Publication 2009/0303562 (Koeppen et al.) entitled "High-Resolution Spectrally Adjustable Filter" discloses an optical channel monitor including a tiltable reflector such as a MEMS mirror and a diffraction grating for angularly separating individual wavelength channels. This device implements a non-imaging system wherein the optical beam remains essentially collimated throughout the system and is not focused at a point. Koeppen et al provides for a smaller scale size device as there is no focal length limitation to the location of the optical elements. However, such a non-imaging system substantially increases the complexity of design, particularly when multiple input/outputs are used. Furthermore, in this arrangement the size of the tiltable reflector and diffraction grating scales proportional to the number of inputs and outputs in the system.


A video game apparatus has a package medium demodulator for a package medium having an ID such as a disk number and a CPU. The CPU reads a certain program and/or data from the package medium via the package medium demodulator and executes the program and/or processes the data if a disk number designated by data received via an antenna and a communication data demodulator agrees with the disk number of the package medium which is read by the package medium demodulator.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data transmitting and receiving system for receiving data transmitted from a data transmitting apparatus with a data receiving apparatus, a data receiving apparatus for receiving transmitted data, and a data transmitting apparatus for transmitting data.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional apparatus available for processing data and executing programs include personal computers and video game apparatus.
The video game apparatus execute a video game based on an application program stored in a recording medium such as an optical disk or the like. One popular recording medium widely used in recent years is a CD-ROM (Compact Disk Read-Only Memory) as a mass storage medium. Most video game apparatus read an application program stored in a CD-ROM and executes the read application program to play a video game.
The video game apparatus which execute the video game based on the application program stored in the recording medium can be referred to as information processing apparatus which are made interactive by the recording medium.
Recent years have seen many network systems for providing users with various forms of information by way of communications and broadcasts. For example, such network systems include Internet service systems, satellite television broadcasting systems, pager reception systems, etc., and are capable of presenting various items of information to users on a real-time basis.
The video game apparatus described above are usually used without being connected to the above network systems. Even if a video game apparatus is connected to a network system, the video game apparatus is limited to only an ability to use data obtained from the network system.
Information processing apparatus such as video game apparatus will be of high utility value if they can be connected to network systems, can receive real-time data from the network systems, and are interactive with the network systems. Stated otherwise, it is highly advantageous for information processing apparatus such as video game apparatus to be able to keep data of their own and data from the networks mutually related to each other.

Data transmitting and receiving using recording medium ID


Disclosed is a method for removing signal interference in a MIMO-based interference removing apparatus including transmitting a reference signal to at least one receiver; if channel information is estimated by the receiver, receiving the estimated channel information from the receiver as a feedback signal; and producing transmission pre-coding matrix, beam forming matrix, and weighted matrix using the received channel information. Further, the method includes transmitting information containing the transmission pre-coding matrix, the beam forming matrix, and the weighted matrix by including them in a pilot signal to the receiver, and the MIMO-based interference removing apparatus comprises at least one transmitter.

In a multiple antenna wireless LAN environment, wireless APs shares the same wireless resources one another in order to maximize efficiency of the wireless resources. In this case, overall network performance may be deteriorated due to influence caused by inter-user interference and inter-AP interference.
One of the methods to remove the signal interference is done by transmitting frames without the occurrence of interference in transmission and reception of the frames. In this connection, Korean Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2012-0127833 (laid-open published on Nov. 26, 2012) discloses an arrangement for acquiring interference channel information between a station (STA) and its adjacent STA which is a frame transmission target of a wireless LAN AP, deciding a transmission beam vector based on the interference channel information, and transmitting data frames to the transmission target STA in a MINO transmission manner based on the transmission beam vector.
However, in providing the method of removing the interference, prior arts fail to take into consideration of channel estimation error or describe an interference removal method robust to the channel estimation error in a situation where multiple wireless LAN APs and wireless terminals are equipped with multiple antennas.

Method for removing signal interference based on multiple input multiple output

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


A top-blowing lance includes a refining oxygen gas blowing nozzle having a plurality of ejection openings through which oxygen gas is blown into an iron bath in a reaction vessel, the ejection openings being disposed along a circular orbit at intervals, and a burner nozzle having an axis coaxial with the central axis of the circular orbit, forming a flame inside the refining oxygen gas blowing nozzle, and having ejection openings for blowing a powder heated by the flame into the iron bath, wherein an indicator A that indicates the positional relationship between the ejection openings of the refining oxygen gas blowing nozzle and the ejection openings of the burner nozzle satisfies the specified conditions.

From the standpoint of environmental protection, there is an urgent need for CO2 emission reduction in steel production processes. To reduce CO2 emission in steel production processes, several measures are being studied and undertaken, including increasing the amount of cold iron source such as scrap iron, used as an iron source to reduce the blend ratio of hot metal. The reason for an increase in the amount of cold iron source is that in the production of steel products, although vast amounts of energy are required to reduce and melt iron ore and large amounts of CO2 are emitted in the production of hot metal (molten iron) in a blast furnace, cold iron sources only require heat for melting and, thus, the amount of cold iron source used in steel making processes can be increased to reduce energy consumption and CO2 emission. The term "molten iron" as used herein refers to a molten iron source and broadly includes hot metal produced in a blast furnace, molten steel produced from scrap iron in an electric furnace, and molten steel produced by decarburization refining of hot metal, for example.
In a steel production process including a blast furnace and a converter in combination, heat sources that melt a cold iron source mainly include the sensible heat of hot metal and the heat of combustion of carbon and silicon in the hot metal. As such, a large amount of cold iron source cannot be melted in such a steel production process intrinsically. Further, a processing step of preliminary dephosphorization of hot metal has recently been available, and the temperature of the hot metal decreases due to this additional processing step. Furthermore, decrease in the carbon and silicon concentrations of hot metal due to oxidation in preliminary dephosphorization is an unfavorable factor in melting the cold iron source. The preliminary dephosphorization of hot metal is a process of removing phosphorus in the hot metal to a certain extent by preliminarily performing dephosphorization of the hot metal before decarburization refining in a converter. In a steel production process in an ironworks, not only hot metal but also molten steel produced by decarburization of hot metal, for example, is subjected to oxidation refining such as dephosphorization.
In preliminary dephosphorization, decarburization refining in a converter, and oxidation refining in a reaction vessel, therefore, various methods of increasing the heat margin of molten iron such as hot metal or molten steel have been proposed. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 9-20913 proposed a method of adding a carbon source to slag generated during preliminary dephosphorization and blowing an oxygen source into the slag to burn the carbon source, thereby depositing the heat of combustion of the carbon source on the hot metal.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 60-67610 discloses a method of burning carbon monoxide (CO) produced in a converter with oxygen blown through a lance above a molten hot iron bath surface (secondary combustion) and depositing the heat of combustion on the molten iron.
Dephosphorization of hot metal has a problem of fluorine leached out from slag generated in the dephosphorization. Thus, there is a demand for efficient dephosphorization without using a fluorination source such as fluorite.
To this end, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-345226 discloses a method of dephosphorization in a top and bottom blown converter, comprising blowing a mixed powder of CaO and Al2O3 over hot metal through a top-blowing lance while stirring the hot metal by blowing an agitation gas through the bottom.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 11-080825 discloses a method of promoting the slagging of flux to improve the metallurgical reaction characteristics of dephosphorization, for example. In that method, oxygen gas, as well as a fuel gas such as natural gas, and a flux such as calcium oxide, are supplied to hot metal through a top-blowing lance, thereby the flux passing through a flame of the fuel gas can be supplied in a molten state to the hot metal.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-336586 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-92158 disclose a method of providing a top-blowing lance with function of a burner, ejecting a dephosphorization agent through a central hole of the burner, thereby the dephosphorization agent is heated and added to slag to promote slagging to improve the efficiency of a metallurgical reaction.
However, the related art has the following problems. The addition of a carbon source to slag in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 9-20913 increases the temperature of hot metal, but causes contamination with sulfur contained in the carbon source and increases the sulfur concentration of the steel. Having a sufficient combustion time of the carbon source results in a long refining time and increased production costs. Furthermore, combustion of the carbon source increases CO2 emission.
To transport molten iron such as hot metal to a converter or the like, the molten iron may be contained in a reaction vessel such as a torpedo car or a ladle, that has a smaller freeboard than the converter. On the assumption that decarburization is performed, converters generally have a relatively large freeboard (2.0 to 5.0 m) in consideration of splashing during decarburization. On the other hand, the reaction vessel has a freeboard of 0.8 to 2.2 m. In actual operation in an ironworks, oxidation refining such as dephosphorization of molten iron is performed even in a reaction vessel having a relatively small freeboard. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 9-20913 does not give due consideration to the positional relationship between the reaction vessel and a top-blowing lance in such a case.
In the method disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 60-67610, CO generated in the converter and oxygen blown through the lance burn over the hot metal bath surface and heavily damages the refractory of the furnace body.
In the method disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-345226, although added Al2O3 reduces the melting point of CaO and promotes slagging of CaO, an increased Al2O3 concentration of the slag results in damage to the refractory of the furnace body, which brings concern about increase in cost, and decrease in the dephosphorization rate.
In oxidation refining in a converter using the top-blowing lance in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 11-080825, the top-blowing lance height may vary during blowing. Variations in top-blowing lance height result in large differences between the flame length and the lance height. Thus, a powdery smelting agent may be ineffectively heated.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 11-080825 relates to blowing in a converter using the top-blowing lance and does not relate to blowing in a reaction vessel having a relatively small freeboard. In oxidation refining, for example, dephosphorization of molten iron, since a reaction vessel has a smaller freeboard than a converter, the powdery smelting agent may be ineffectively heated with a burner flame in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 11-080825. It is conceivable that combustion is not completed within the lance height, unburned fuel gas reaches the molten iron bath surface, and combustion gas undergoes a decomposition reaction. This decomposition reaction is an endothermic reaction and generally a very unfavorable factor for oxidation refining such as dephosphorization in terms of the deposition of heat on the powdery smelting agent.
In the methods disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 11-080825, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-336586 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-92158, a dephosphorization agent is transported with oxygen gas through a top-blowing lance having a quadruple or quintuple tube structure. Thus, a reactive powder, for example, containing pure iron cannot be blown through the top-blowing lance. Because of a low blowing rate and a low propane flow rate, it is not expected that the hot metal blend ratio is sufficiently reduced.
It could therefore be helpful to provide a top-blowing lance that can efficiently provide (deposit) the heat of combustion of a burner to molten iron without failures as described above and can advantageously reduce the hot metal blend ratio, and a method of refining molten iron and a smelting reduction method for molten metal using the blowing lance.
It could also be helpful to provide a method of refining molten iron including oxidation refining such as preliminary dephosphorization or decarburization refining of hot metal, the method including using a top-blowing lance having a burner function to form a burner flame at the lower end of the top-blowing lance, and while heating a powdery smelting agent with the flame by using the top-blowing lance, blowing the powdery smelting agent over the molten iron, to which a cold iron source has been added, in a converter, wherein the powdery smelting agent can be efficiently heated and the blend ratio of the cold iron source in the hot metal can be consistently increased.
It could therefore be helpful to provide a method of refining molten iron including oxidation refining such as dephosphorization of the molten iron, the method including using a top-blowing lance having a burner function to form a burner flame at the lower end of the top-blowing lance, and while heating a powdery smelting agent with the flame by using the top-blowing lance, blowing the powdery smelting agent over the molten iron in a reaction vessel having a relatively small freeboard, wherein the powdery smelting agent can be efficiently heated and the heat margin of the molten iron in the reaction vessel can be increased.

Top-blowing lance and method for refining molten iron using the same


A method for operating a transmission (3) is provided, which includes a hydraulic pump drivable on a transmission-input end and at least one form-locking shift element (A, F). One of the shift-element halves is displaceable between a first end position and a second end position with a hydraulic pressure of the hydraulic pump. The current position of the shift-element half is detected with a sensor and is stored as a specified end-position value if the shift-element half is located in one of the end positions, the hydraulic pump is driven, and the shift-element half is actuated, with the hydraulic pressure, towards the current end position. When the hydraulic pressure is less than a threshold value, a deviation is determined between the current position of the shift-element half and the specified end-position value. The hydraulic pressure is increased when the deviation is greater than a threshold value.

DE 10 2005 002 337 A1 describes an eight-speed multi-stage transmission that includes friction-locking shift elements. The shift elements are multi-disk clutches or multi-disk brakes. In the presence of a shift request for a ratio change in the transmission, at least one of the friction-locking shift elements is to be disengaged from the power flow of the transmission device and at least one further friction-locking shift element is to be engaged into the power flow of the transmission device, in order to transmit a torque.
In general, in the presence of a demand to disengage a friction-locking shift element, regardless of the torque presently transmitted via the friction-locking shift element, it is assumed that the friction-locking shift element is actually transitioning into the disengaged operating condition. To the same extent, a demand to engage a friction-locking shift element is also implementable using comparatively little outlay for open-loop and closed-loop control.
For this reason, a simple software-based evaluation of an actuating current of a pressure regulator of a friction-locking shift element is sufficient. During the determination of an appropriate disengagement control signal or an appropriate engagement control signal for transferring the friction-locking shift element into its disengaged operating condition or its engaged operating condition, respectively, it can be easily verified whether a shift change or gearchange was successful via such an evaluation.
Disadvantageously, however, friction-locking shift elements in the disengaged operating condition cause drag torques, which adversely affect an overall efficiency of an automatic transmission to an undesirable extent.
For this reason, transmission devices, such as those described in DE 10 2008 000 429 A1, increasingly include not only friction-locking shift elements but also form-locking shift elements. These types of form-locking shift elements usually include two shift-element halves. The shift-element halves are brought into form-locking engagement with each other via axial displacement of at least one movable shift-element half with respect to the other shift-element half, which is not to be axially displaceable, at dog elements, or the like. Thereupon, the form-locking shift element is engaged and transmits an applied torque. Moreover, it is also possible that both shift-element halves are axially movable with respect to each other.
If the form-locking shift element is to be disengaged from the power flow, the positive engagement between the shift-element halves is disengaged via axial displacement of the movable shift-element half with respect to the axially fixed shift-element half. Form-locking shift elements are used because, in contrast to friction-locking shift elements, essentially no drag torques occur with disengaged form-locking shift elements. Drag torques adversely affect the overall efficiency of a transmission. However, form-locking shift elements, as compared to friction-locking shift elements, are transferable out of a disengaged operating condition, in which no torque is transmitted via the form-locking shift elements, into their engaged operating condition only close to their synchronous speed.
Additionally, form-locking shift elements engaged into the power flow of a transmission device are disengageable from the power flow or transferable into their disengaged operating condition using low shifting forces if the applied torque has an appropriately low value. During gear change operations or gear disengagement operations, a power flow between a transmission input shaft and a transmission output shaft is to be interrupted in the transmission. In this case, a form-locking shift element is to be transferred, if necessary, from its engaged operating condition into its disengaged operating condition. Due to an excessively rapid or faulty build-up of the torque applied at the form-locking shift element, or due to a faulty reduction of the applied torque, the form-locking shift element may not be transferrable into its disengaged operating condition. In addition, it is also possible that mechanical, hydraulic, or electrical malfunctions prevent the disengagement of a form-locking shift element. For this reason, form-locking shift elements, in contrast to friction-locking shift elements, do not necessarily transition into a disengaged operating condition in the presence of an appropriate disengagement control signal.
Additionally, it is also possible that a disengaged form-locking shift element is not transferable into its engaged operating condition within desirably short operating times. This is the case, for example, when the sought positive engagement between the shift-element halves cannot be established due to an out of mesh or tooth-on-tooth position. In the event of such an out of mesh position, dog elements of the shift-element halves rest against one another at their end faces and the differential speed between the shift-element halves is zero. Such an out of mesh position is released only when a torque present at the form-locking shift element is greater than the static friction torque between the end faces of the dog elements of the shift-element halves.
Moreover, the establishment of a complete positive engagement between the shift-element halves or the complete engagement of a form-locking shift element is also preventable by a flank jamming or flank clamping between the flanks of the dog elements. In the event of such a flank jamming, the two shift element halves have an axial overlap of their dog elements. However, the static friction between the flanks of the dog elements of the shift-element halves, which are resting against one another, is so high that the engagement force acting on the shift elements in the engagement direction is not sufficient to overcome the static friction and completely engage the form-locking shift element.
Usually, transmissions including hydraulically actuated, form-locking shift elements include a hydraulic pump, which is arranged on the transmission-input end or on the transmission-output end. Such a hydraulic pump is driven, as is known, starting from a transmission input shaft, with the torque of a prime mover of a vehicle drive train operatively connected to the transmission input shaft and provides a hydraulic fluid necessary for supplying the transmission. If the prime mover is switched off, the hydraulic pressure made available by the hydraulic pump drops to zero. This means, the actuating pressure of the shift elements of a transmission is also reduced and a current operating condition of the transmission may not be maintainable to the demanded extent during unfavorable operating conditions.
If such a transmission does not include hydraulic protection in the form of a hydraulic accumulator or an electrical auxiliary pump, it is possible that, in particular, form-locking shift elements disengage to an undesirable extent or transition into an engaged operating condition.
Sensors are installed in order to be able to monitor the current operating condition of a form-locking shift element. These sensors include, for example, a permanent magnet and a measuring unit for sensing the magnetic field of the permanent magnet. Additionally, the sensors have a ferromagnetic sensor contour, which influences the magnetic field of the permanent magnet depending on the operating conditions of the shift-element halves. Various magnetic field-sensing elements are known, such magnetoresistive sensors or Hall effect sensors. Magnetic field sensors generally include elements sensing a magnetic field or other electronic components, wherein some magnetic field sensors include permanent magnets in a back-biased arrangement.
These types of magnetic field sensors provide electrical signals, which represent the condition of a sensed magnetic field. Some magnetic field sensors cooperate with ferromagnetic objects. With the aid of the magnetic field sensors, magnetic field fluctuations are determined, which are caused by an object moved through the magnetic field of a magnet of a magnetic field sensor. The magnetic field monitored with the aid of the magnetic field sensor also varies, as is known, depending on a shape or a profile of the moving ferromagnetic object. The position determination of the shift-element halves is calculated directly from the raw signals of the sensors with the aid of applicable thresholds.
The values of the sensor signal have a non-negligible scattering, which does not allow for a precise determination of a current dog position. For this reason, a value range of the sensor signal is utilized in each case for the determination, by the sensor, of a current dog position, which is delimited for the relevant dog position by the particular maximum sensor signal that has been received and by the minimum sensor signal that has been received. Additionally, the values of the signal of such a sensor also vary depending on a position change of the overall form-locking shift element of a transmission with respect to the sensor. Such a position change results from gear play, which varies depending on the particular torque to be transmitted via the transmission and depending on manufacturing tolerances of the transmission and of the form-locking shift element.

Method and control unit for operating a transmission


The liquid container includes: a container body having a built-in closed storage space for storing liquid, a liquid leading-out path for sending liquid in the storage space to a liquid consumption apparatus, an opening at one end thereof being opened on an outer surface of the container body and an opening at the other end thereof being opened in the storage space, a pressurized fluid introducing path for introducing a pressurized fluid into the storage space, an opening at one end thereof being opened on the outer surface of the container body and an opening at the other end thereof being opened in the storage space, and resistance generation unit arranged in the storage space for giving a resistance to a liquid flow in the storage space.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid container for storing a liquid such as ink fed to a liquid consumption apparatus such as an ink jet recording apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a representative example of a conventional liquid consumption apparatus, there is a liquid ejecting apparatus for ejecting liquid drops from an ejecting head and as a representative example of the liquid ejecting apparatus, there is an ink jet recording apparatus having an ink jet recording head for image recording. The ink jet recording apparatus makes comparatively little noise during printing and can form small dots of high density, so that in recent years, it is used for many types of print including color print.
As a liquid feed method for a liquid consumption apparatus represented by an ink jet recording apparatus, there is a method for feeding a liquid to a liquid consumption apparatus from a liquid container storing the liquid. Furthermore, in the liquid feed method by the liquid container, to enable a user to simply exchange the liquid container at the point of time when the liquid in the liquid container is consumed, the liquid container is generally structured as a cartridge removably mounted on the liquid consumption apparatus.
Generally, the ink jet recording apparatus has a carriage moving back and forth along the recording face of a recording medium having a loaded recording head for injecting ink drops and as an ink feed method from an ink cartridge to a recording head, there is a method with the ink cartridge mounted in the carriage for feeding ink from the ink cartridge moving back and forth together with the recording head to the recording head. Further, as another method, there is a method with the ink cartridge mounted in the case of the apparatus body for feeding ink from the ink cartridge to the recording head via an ink flow path made of a flexible-tube.
Meanwhile, when sending ink in the ink cartridge toward the recording head, there is a method for pressurizing ink in the ink cartridge by a pressurized fluid such as compressed air. By this method, ink can be stably fed against a fluid resistance generated between the ink cartridge and the recording head. As one method for pressurizing ink, there is a method for allowing compressed air introduced into the ink cartridge to make contact with ink and directly pressurizing the ink.
However, in the method for directly pressurizing ink in the ink cartridge by compressed air, a problem arises that when the pressurizing to ink is released, back-flowed compressed air is jetted from the pressurized fluid introducing port formed in the ink cartridge and in correspondence to it, ink leaks from the pressurized fluid introducing port.
An example of a countermeasure for responding to this problem is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-307710 and here, a structure that ink leaking from the air introducing port flows back into the ink tank is proposed when it is pressurized again.


Non-infectious, retrovirus-like particles comprise an assembly of an env gene product, a pol gene product and a gag gene product contain an antigenic marker which is non-retroviral or non-HIV retroviral. In one embodiment, the marker comprises an amino acid sequence containing an epitope inserted into the gag gene product at an antigenically-active insertion site. In another embodiment, the marker comprises an antigenic anchor sequence operatively connected to the env gene product replacing endogenous anchoring function. The corresponding nucleic acid molecules are described. The non-infectious, retrovirus-like particles have utility in in vivo administration including to humans and in diagnosis. The presence of the antigenic marker enables recognition that antiserum containing anti-retroviral antibodies has been generated by exposure to the non-infectious retrovirus-like particles by testing for antibodies specific to the antigenic marker.

Human immunodeficiency virus is a human retrovirus and is the etiological agent of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Since AIDS was first reported in the US in 1981, more than 194,000 people have died of AIDS and over 330,000 cases of HIV infection have been reported in the US alone. Worldwide it is estimated that more than 14 million people have been infected with HIV.
More than 100 AIDS-related medicines are in human clinical trials or awaiting FDA approval but there is currently no cure for the disease.
There is therefore a clear need for immunogenic preparations useful as vaccine candidates, as antigens in diagnostic assays and kits and for the generation of immunological reagents for diagnosis of HIV and other retroviral disease and infection.
Particular prior art immunogenic preparations include non-infectious, non-replicating HIV-like particles. Thus PCT applications WO 93/20220 published Oct. 14, 1993 and WO 91/05860 published May 2, 1990 (Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research), teach constructs comprising HIV genomes having an alteration in a nucleotide sequence which is critical for genomic RNA packaging, and the production of non-infectious immunogenic HIV particles produced by expression of these constructs in mammalian cells.
PCT application WO 91/07425 published May 30, 1991 (Oncogen Limited Partnership) teaches non-replicating retroviral particles produced by coexpression of mature retroviral core and envelope structural proteins such that the expressed retroviral proteins assemble into budding retroviral particles. A particular non-replicating HIV-1 like-particle was made by coinfecting mammalian host cells with a recombinant vaccinia virus carrying the HIV-1 gag and protease genes and a recombinant-vaccinia virta carrying the HIV-1 env gene.
In published PCT application WO 91/05864 in the name of the assignee hereof, (which is incorporated herein by reference thereto) there is described particular non-infectious non-replicating retrovirus like particles containing at least gag pol and env proteins in their natural conformation and encoded by a modified retroviral genome deficient in long terminal repeats and containing gag, pol and env genes in their natural genomic arrangement.
Since there is no vaccine nor effective treatment for AIDS and since such prior art. HIV-like particles contain many of the HIV proteins in their natural conformations, a host immunized therewith may mount an immune response immunologically indistinguishable from infection by HIV. Heat-inactivated anti-HIV antiserum obtained from HIV-infected people and inactivated HIV are currently commercially available as components of many diagnostic methods. For safety, ease of handling, shipping, storage and use it may be preferable to replace such heat-inactivated antisera and antigens by non-infectious HIV and antisera generated by immunization with non-infectious HIV particles as described above. Furthermore, antisera generated by immunization with these non-infectious HIV particles do not require heat inactivation to remove infectious HIV. However, because of the seriousness of HIV infection it is desirable to be able to distinguish between inactivated HIV sand non-infectious, non-replicating HIV particles and antisera generated by virulent HIV and non-infectious, non-replicating HIV particles. Thus in the development of AIDS vaccine candidates, immunogenic preparations and diagnostic methods and kits it would be useful to provide an HIV like particle immunologically or otherwise distinguishable from virulent HIV.

Nucleic acids encoding for non-infectious, replication-defective, self-assembling HIV-1 viral particles containing antigenic markers in the gag coding region


A gland plate includes a rigid, disk-shaped element that includes at least one radially extending wall having a thickness of from about 0.1 to 4 mm.

A mechanical seal comprises a "floating" component which is mounted to be axially movable around the rotary shaft of, for example, a pump, and a "static" component which is axially fixed, typically being secured to a housing. The floating component has a flat annular end face, i.e. its seal face, directed towards a complementary seal face of the static component. The floating component is urged towards the static component to close the seal faces together to form a sliding face seal, usually by means of one or more spring members. In use, one of the floating and static components rotates; this component is therefore referred to as the rotary component. The other of the floating and static components does not rotate and is referred to as the stationary component.
Those seals whose floating component is rotary are described as rotary seals. If the floating component is stationary, the seal is referred to as a stationary seal.
If the sliding seal between the rotary and stationary components are assembled and pre-set prior to despatch from the mechanical seal manufacturing premises, the industry terminology for this is "cartridge seal". If the rotary and stationary components are despatched individually (unassembled) from the mechanical seal manufacturing premises, the industry terminology for this is "component seal".
Mechanical seals are used in all types of industries to seal a variety of different process media and operating conditions. The general industry term which defines the area adjacent to the process media is "inboard". The industry term which defines the area adjacent to the atmospheric side is "outboard".
With the exception of the mechanical seal faces, the most costly item of a cartridge mechanical seal is the gland plate. The raw material for a gland plate is typically either cast metal or a solid metal bar. Alternative materials such as plastic are also occasionally used. Subsequent machining operations on the gland plate raw material are required in order to accurately fit the mating components.
For most types of mechanical seals, typically, one seal gland is employed for each size of seal in both single and double seal formats. With over 30 standard seal sizes, in any given product range and at least two gland formats, a company's gland plate inventory costs can be considerable. Furthermore gland production costs are high due to the number of manufacturing operations required to process a given gland.
There is a need for a seal gland which is of relatively low cost including the use of material which, after the original manufacturing operation, requires no subsequent machining such as turning, milling or drilling.


The present invention provides a method for suppressing hemolytic anemia by selectively ameliorating reticulocyte increase and iron deposition on spleen caused as the side effects of methionine. The present invention also provides an appetite suppressor with reduced such side effects, where threonine is used as the effective ingredient of the suppressor of hemolytic anemia due to methionine and a combination of methionine and threonine is used as the effective ingredient of the appetite suppressor.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to novel suppressors of anemia and novel appetite suppressors. More specifically, the present invention relates to agents for the prophylaxis (prevention), amelioration (improvement) and/or therapeutic treatment of anemia due to or caused by methionine (methionine-induced anemia). The present invention also relates to methionine-containing appetite suppressors, which exhibit a reduced tendency to elicit anemia. The present invention further relates to feeds, nutritional supplements, foods or drinks, and/or pharmaceutical agents, which contain methionine and in which the tendency or action of methionine to elicit hemolytic anemia is ameliorated or reduced (improved). The present invention additionally relates to methods for suppressing methionine-induced anemia. The present invention also relates to methods for suppressing the appetite.

Suppressors of anemia and appetite suppressors and methods for suppressing anemia and suppressing appetite


Strain detection structures used with bonded wafers and chips and methods of manufacture are disclosed. The method includes forming lower metal wiring structures associated with a lower wafer structure. The method further includes bonding the lower wafer structure to an upper wafer structure and thinning the upper wafer, and forming upper metal wiring structures. The method further includes electrically linking the lower metal wiring structures to the upper metal wiring structures by formation of through silicon via structures to form an electrically connected chain extending between multiple wafer structures. The method further includes forming contacts to an outside environment which electrically contact two of the lower metal wiring structures.

Wafer bonding is a packaging technology on wafer-level for the fabrication of microelectronics and optoelectronics devices. The wafer bonding ensures mechanically stable packages. The bonding process can be, for example, direct bonding, oxide bonding, adhesive bonding, thermal bonding, etc.
Wafer bonding can offer many advantages with respect to through silicon via scaling. However, challenges from strain involved with wafer bonding can affect process yield in a negative way, leading to broken wafers, delamination, etc. For example, chip dicing following the conclusion of wafer stacking can pose a risk of cracking and/or damage to the stacked structure. In addition, or alternative, thermal processes can result in cracking or delamination during the manufacturing processes due to coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) mismatch of materials.

Strain detection structures for bonded wafers and chips


The invention discloses a three-DOF hybrid damping pantograph, comprising an electric driving transmission system fixed on a base, and collector heads, transverse dampers, parallel support frames as well as longitudinal dampers. Square auxiliary holes are arranged on the base, supporting insulators are arranged on four angles below the base; four transverse dampers are symmetrically fixed on the base, and arranged on the outside of the parallel support frames and connected with the parallel support frames through hinges; four longitudinal dampers are symmetrically fixed on the top of the parallel support frames; the collector heads are connected with the parallel support frames by the longitudinal dampers and separators are arranged on the collector heads. The invention can realize bearing and damping spatially in three directions, avoid pantograph detachment, catenary scraping and other safety accidents, and improve the structural stability of the pantograph and adaptability to the catenary.

The pantograph is also called bow collector which is the electrical equipment installed on the electric locomotive roof for receiving electric energy from the catenary. The pantograph is one of the key parts of the electric locomotive and plays a key role in high-speed safe and stable operation of the vehicles. Smoothness between the pantograph and the catenary is highly required for high-speed train during the running process, and a little error often leads to fault. Specifically, the motor train unit will receive power from the catenary by the pantograph to drive the locomotive to go ahead during the running process. The locomotive will be deenergized and out of control, even lead to train derailment when the pantograph and the catenary are detached to each other.
The pantograph for current electric locomotive is divided into double-armed, single-armed, vertical and Ishizu types. Wherein the double-armed pantograph is called "diamond" pantograph, some new railway vehicles have been modified into the railway vehicles having single-armed pantographs at present due to high maintenance cost and risk for pulling electric train wire apart; and some railway vehicles (e.g., shinkansen 300 series vehicles) are reformed into the railway vehicles having single-armed pantographs from these having original double-armed pantographs. The advantage of "Z" (<) shaped pantograph most commonly used is that it has less noise than that from the double-armed pantograph, the electric train wire is not easy to be pulled apart in case of any fault, and such pantograph is a common pantograph at present. The vertical pantograph is also called T-shaped (alary) pantograph suitable for high-speed running due to low wind resistance and capable of reducing noise during train working process, and mainly used for high-speed railway vehicles. Due to high cost, the vertical pantograph has never been used (the vertical pantograph is changed into single-armed pantograph from vertical pantograph when shinkansen 500 series vehicles of Japan are reformed). The Ishizu pantograph was invented by Shizu Ryusuke, the sixth generation president of Okayama Electric Tramway Co., Ltd. on 1951 and also called "Okayama Electric Type" or "Okayama Tramway Type". Other pantographs are of serial-type structures except the double-armed pantograph.
Pantograph-catenary accidents in electric railway power failure and shutdown accidents account for about 80% of all accidents, the calculation of economic loss caused by pantograph-catenary accidents is fairly significant every year. Accidents including pantograph scrapping catenary or catenary scrapping pantograph caused by use of pantograph are currently serious. It shows that one suspension is dropped and the contact stripe of the catenary is knocked out for the mild case, the catenary lead and the messenger wire are dropped for the severe case when the post is dumped and the locomotive pantograph is completely damaged, resulting in catenary power failure and train running interrupted, etc. All these accidents will bring many difficulties and hazards to emergency maintenance in case of some special regional environment conditions. In recent years, innovation is made from the pantograph to the catenary to different levels so as to improve the technical performance of the equipment and reduce pantograph-catenary accidents, but the above problems have not been radically solved due to inherent defects on the structure of the pantograph.
Current collection quality of the pantograph and the contact wire of the electric locomotive mainly depends on the interaction between the pantograph and the catenary. To ensure the smooth flow of the traction current, a certain contact pressure must exist between the pantograph and the contact wire. If the contact pressure between the pantograph and the catenary is too low, the percentage of contact loss will be increased; if the contact pressure is too high, high mechanical abrasion will be produced between the sliding plate and the contact wire. The actual contact pressure between the pantograph and the catenary is composed of four parts: static contact pressure, which is a vertical force applied on the sliding plate through the pantograph ascending device to ascend the sliding plate; an up-down alternating dynamic contact pressure related to the equivalent mass and generated from the pantograph which vibrates up and down during the operation after the contact wire ascends to different levels under the rising function of the pantograph due to elastic difference in the contact suspension; an aerodynamic force, which rapidly increases with the increase of the speed and is generated from the pantograph due to the function of air flow during the operation; and damping force generated from all joints of the pantograph during the pantograph ascending and descending processes. In addition, the electric locomotive may bring large lateral force to the pantograph in case of side wind during the operation.
For the conventional pantograph which has limitation on inherent structure, the collector heads mainly move in vertical direction, preloading and buffering devices for damping are set in vertical direction only, but no damping device is provided in advancing direction and lateral direction of the vehicles. Moreover, the existing pantographs are not provided with head separation devices. The scrapers on the collector heads cannot be separated in case of pantograph-catenary scrapping, so the pantograph-catenary scrapping accident may easily occur. Some potential problems exist due to poor structural stability of the existing pantographs and little consideration of protection measures in lateral force loading and pantograph-catenary scrapping process.

Anhui University of Science and Technology


The the thickness of an opaque coating may be measured using near-infrared absorbance. One measurement method includes transmitting the near-infrared radiation towards the opaque material and determining relative absorbance levels over a range of near-infrared wavelengths. Absorbance wavelengths having relatively high absorbance and relatively low absorbance are then identified and selected. The selected wavelength values are then correlated with known material thicknesses.

Surfaces of many different materials are coated in a variety of applications for aesthetic reasons and also for protecting a surface of an underlying substrate. For a number of reasons, it is desirable to determine a thickness of the coating applied to the surface.
For example, it may be desired to apply at least a minimum, predetermined thickness of a coating, such as a paint or a primer material on the surface, since optimal adhesion of the paint coating is generally a function of the paint thickness. In addition, applying at least a minimum thickness of paint or primer to a surface ensures that any underlying visual features on the surface do not "bleed through" the coating. This may be important in instances where projecting a professional image to customers is important, and to instill a feeling of customer confidence, such as through company signage or commercial airline tail art. This is also important for ensuring that a product, such as a motor vehicle or an airplane, displays a finish quality that is favored by the customer.
Further, applying at least a minimum thickness of the paint or primer may also provide a desired amount of protection from corrosion, or other deterioration of the underlying surface and substrate. For example, many surfaces that are painted are subject to environments that are conducive to corrosion, such as marine vessels that operate in water, which may include salt water. Further, motor vehicles and airplanes often operate in rainy or humid environments. Therefore, it is desirable to provide at least a minimum amount of protection against the corrosive effects of these environments.
In some applications, weight is an important consideration. For example, it is desirable to minimize weight of an airplane to reduce fuel consumption. Since the exterior surface area ("wetted area") of the airplane may be significantly large, a paint and primer applied to the exterior surface can be a significant factor in the total weight of the airplane.
Therefore, it may also be desired in some applications to limit thickness of paint or primer coating on a surface to a predetermined maximum thickness.
In order to ensure that a minimum, predetermined thickness of paint or primer coating is applied and that a maximum, predetermined thickness of paint or primer coating is not exceeded, it would be desirable to nondestructively determine thickness of a paint or primer coating on a surface. Currently known nondestructive measurement techniques are limited in their applicability.
In one known method, eddy current testing is used to determine paint thickness on metal substrates. As is known, eddy current testing detects electrical currents, known as eddy currents that propagate within the metal substrate. As a result, eddy current testing can only be used to determine thickness of paint or primer that is coated onto a surface of a metal substrate.
In another known method, ultrasound testing is used to determine thickness of a paint or primer coating on a surface of a composite or plastic substrate. However, ultrasound testing is not as reliable as eddy current testing, and also exhibits reduced accuracy for coating thicknesses below approximately 0.002 inches ("2 mils").
Therefore, there is an unmet need in the art for a simple, reliable, nondestructive method for determining a paint thickness regardless of the substrate on which the paint is coated.

Method of measuring thickness of an opaque coating using near-infrared absorbance


Systems, methods, and computer-readable media for a jewelry generation service are provided.

Name necklaces and other personalized jewelry have been a popular gift category for many decades. Initially, name necklaces were purchased at jewelry stores and hand made by using saw blades to cut name patterns from sheets of silver or gold. With the rise in popularity, lasers began to be used to cut the name patterns. With the growth in ecommerce, the availability of these items increased dramatically, and the price of items dropped due to increased competition. A challenge, however, has been for a consumer to see in advance exactly how its name is going to appear when the custom item is physically delivered. During the online shopping experience, a majority of web sites may simply present one or, perhaps, a couple of different sample items using one or two names. This gives the consumer a very broad idea of what font is being used without specifically showing exactly how the consumer's name (or names) will actually appear. The problem is compounded when dealing with items that have complex paths, charms, shapes, and/or embedded names.


In a document feeder, a driving control unit feeds a document by a switch-back feeding unit, guides again the document from a document feed path to a bidirectional feed path, and then discharges the document from the document feed path to a document discharging section, when the feeding of the document is in a double-sided scanning feeding mode and in a status during first side feeding. The driving control unit feeds the document by the switch-back feeding unit and then discharges the document from the document feed path, when the feeding of the document is in the double-sided scanning feeding mode and in the status during second side feeding. The driving control unit discharges the document from the document feed path without feeding the document in the switch-back manner, when the feeding of the document is in the double-sided scanning feeding mode and after the second side feeding.

In the prior art, an image scanner mounted on a copier, a scanner, or a multifunction device having the functions of the former is known to have a document feeder (ADF), feeding a document from a document input tray to a document discharge tray through a feed path. In addition, a document feeder, which reverses the leading end and the trailing end of a document by inverting the document during feeding the document so as to scan the document on both of a first side and a second side of which images are printed and then feeding the document so as to scan both sides of the document, has also been known (for example, see JP-A-8-85649).
FIG. 49 shows a route of a document feeder of the prior art. As shown, a document P placed on a document input tray 100 with a first side (of a first page) is being directed upward is fed by a pickup roller 101 to a transfer path 102. In the transfer path 102, the document P is fed by suitably disposed feed rollers 103 so that its first side is scanned by an image scanning unit while passing through a scanning position X by image sensor such as CCD or CIS. When the document p having first side read is detected at its trailing end by a sensor, reversible rollers 104 are stopped while nipping the trailing end of the document.
As shown in FIG. 50, the document P is fed to a return path 105 by allowing the discharge rollers 104 to rotate reversely. The document P enters again the upstream side about the scanning position X of the feed path 102 through the return path 105. Then, when the document P is fed by the feed rollers 103 and passes through the scanning position X, a second side of the document P is scanned by the image scanner. When the sensor detects the trailing end of the document P of which the second side has been scanned, the discharge rollers 104 are stopped again in a state where they nip the trailing end of the document and then the document P is fed back through the return path 105. The document P entering again the feed path 102 through the return path 105 is in a state where the leading end and the trailing end thereof are reversed again, that is, a state where the first side is opposed to the scanning position X. The document P is fed along the feed path 102 and is discharged to the document discharge tray 106 with the first side facing downward. Accordingly, both surfaces of the first side and the second side of the document P are scanned and the document P is discharged to the document discharge tray 106 in the order in which documents are piled on the document input tray 100.
The pickup roller 101, the feed roller 103, and the discharge roller 104 rotate in a predetermined direction with rotary power from a motor. The pickup roller 101 and the feed roller 103 always rotate in one direction, that is, in a direction in which the document P is fed from the upstream side to the downstream side. On the other hand, the discharge roller 106 rotates in two directions so as to perform a switch-back feeding operation. For example, as shown in FIG. 50, when the document P is nipped by the feed roller 103 and the discharge roller 104, the document feeding direction of the feed roller 103 and the document feeding direction of the discharge roller 104 are necessarily equal to each other. When the document is nipped by the feed roller 103 on the upstream side of the scanning position X and the discharge roller 104, the document feeding direction of the feed roller 103 and the document feeding direction of the discharge roller 104 are necessarily equal to each other. Accordingly, for example, a motor for driving the feed roller 103 and a motor for driving the discharge roller 104 are provided separately, the feed roller 103 always rotates in one direction, and the discharge roller 104 changes its rotation direction at a predetermined time. Alternatively, an electronic clutch is provided to transmit driving power to the pickup roller 101, the feed roller 103, and the discharge roller 104 from a single motor and to cut off the driving power to rollers not involved in feeding the document P at a predetermined time.


A method of block puncturing for turbo code based incremental redundancy includes a first step (1200) of coding an input data stream into systematic bits and parity bits. A next step (1202) includes loading the systematic bits and parity bits into respective systematic and parity block interleavers in a column-wise manner. A next step (1204) includes selecting a predefined redundancy. A next step (1206) includes outputting bits from the block interleavers in a row-wise manner in accordance with the selected predefined redundancy.

Convolutional codes are often used in digital communication systems to protect transmitted information from error. Such communication systems include the Direct Sequence Code Division Multiple Access (DS-CDMA) standard IS-95, the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), and next generation wideband communication systems. Typically in these systems, a signal is convolutionally coded into an outgoing code vector that is transmitted. At a receiver, a decoder, such as a Viterbi decoder as is known in the art, uses a trellis structure to perform an optimum search for the transmitted signal bits based on maximum likelihood criterion.
More recently, turbo codes have been developed that outperform conventional coding techniques. Turbo codes are generally composed of two or more convolutional codes and turbo interleavers. Correspondingly, turbo decoding is iterative and uses a soft output decoder to decode the individual convolutional codes. The soft outputs of the decoders are used in the decoding procedure to iteratively approach the converged final results.
FIG. 1 shows a typical turbo encoder that is constructed with one interleaver and two constituent codes which are recursive systematic convolutional (RSC) codes, but can be block codes, also. A turbo encoder is shown which is a parallel concatenation of two RSCs with an interleaver, π, between them. The output, Ck, of the turbo encoder is generated by multiplexing (concatenating) the information bits, bk, and parity bits, p1k and p2k, from the two encoders. Typically, the parity bits are punctured as is known in the art to increase code rate. Each RSC has a one parity bit output, but the number of parity bits of the RSC can be more than one.
Typically, the encoded data is transmitted to a receiver, which uses error detection. If an error is detected, the receiver can request that the transmitter, such as a base station for example, retransmit the data using an Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ). In other words, if a receiver is not able to resolve the data bits in time, the radio can request the transmitter to resend that portion of bits from the block or a portion of a frame of data that failed so as to be properly decoded. There are several known techniques to provide ARQ. In addition, there can be ARQ combining of different transmissions. Further, the receiver can attempt to provide error correction as well as error detection. This is referred to as a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ).
Two known forms of HARQ are Chase combining and Incremental Redundancy (IR). Chase combining is a simplified form of HARQ wherein the receiver simply requests a retransmission of the same codeword again. IR is more complicated in that it provides for a retransmission of the code word using more parity bits (that were punctured during the previous transmission), lowering the overall code rate. Conventional means of defining a puncturing pattern, such as a rate matching algorithm or alternatively a classical code puncturing matrix, as are known in the art, are unable to provide the necessary smooth and flexible transition between changing coding rates, as are envisioned for next generation communication products.
What is needed is an improved turbo coder that utilizes a unified puncturing scheme, which allows flexibility in choosing coding rates for the initial and subsequent transmissions. It would also be advantageous to provide this improvement using any of the combined ARQ techniques. It would also be of benefit to provide an improved turbo coder with a minimal increase of computational complexity or implementation effort.

Block puncturing for turbo code based incremental redundancy