An under dock floatation system includes a float having a shape-fit projection for nesting against a concrete dock to rehabilitate a degraded free board of the dock and/or to increase a weight bearing capacity of the dock.

Marinas generally provide docks extending over a body of water to provide walkways for access to boats tied to the docks. A dock can be an expansive system extending in multiple directions to accommodate various boats.
The typical dock utilizes pile glides to move up and down pilings relative to a water surface in response to tidal or wave action. As the dock moves up and down, the dock exhibits a substantially constant vertical distance from its walkway surface to the water surface. This vertical distance is known as freeboard.
Depending on dock size and a load-bearing capacity of the dock, the freeboard of the dock will be from six to thirty-six inches above the water surface. The freeboard should remain constant relative to the water surface, but over time the conventional dock can deteriorate and begin to sink; i.e., lose freeboard.
Due to the extensive, interlinked structure of some dock systems, repairing or replacing all or sections of the dock is no trivial matter. For instance, a ten-foot by four-foot by four-foot section of a concrete dock system may weigh up to ten thousand pounds. In addition to the physical challenge of removing and replacing such a section, the scrap section ultimately adds to landfill waste, which can take years to decompose.
Another drawback with the conventional dock becomes evident when an additional structure is added to the dock. If the additional structure is sufficiently heavy, the structure can exceed the load-bearing capacity of the dock in a vicinity of the added structure, which causes the dock to twist and create an uneven walkway in the vicinity of the added structure. In other words, the freeboard in that vicinity is overcome by the added weight. Thus, the load-bearing capacity of the portion of the dock bearing the additional structure must be increased to recoup the freeboard and level that portion with a remainder of the dock.
One attempt to correct degraded freeboard or to increase load-bearing capacity has included strapping a floatable device under the dock and extending the straps over the top surface of the dock. However, the straps typically connect to the floatable device with metal clamps, bolts and the like to hold the floatable device under the dock. Such metallic devices are subject to degradation in salt or brackish water, which eventually rust and allow the floatable device to break away. Moreover, the straps extending over the top surface of the dock pose a tripping hazard.
Another attempt to solve loss of dock freeboard includes placing an inflatable device under the dock and inflating the device; however, the inflatable device is typically not secured to the dock and any strong current or propeller wash ("prop wash") can blow the inflatable device from under the dock.
Another remedy to regain freeboard includes attaching new wooden structures to the outer edges of the dock but these usually have bolts projecting from the wooden surfaces outwards and upwards of six to eight inches. The projections not only pose a safety hazard but again are subject to degradation due to salt and brackish water.
A system is needed in the marina industry to restore degraded dock freeboard and/or to provide an increased load-bearing capacity for the dock to accommodate additional structures.


A method of extracting from an oil bearing product at below a select temperature. The method includes providing an oil bearing product at a temperature at or below the select temperature. A liquid extraction solvent that is a gas under standard temperature and pressure is provided, with the extraction solvent being maintained at a temperature below its boiling point at ambient pressure and below the select temperature and at substantially ambient pressure. The oil bearing product is contacted with the extraction solvent at ambient pressure for a period sufficient to extract a select amount of the oil from the oil bearing product resulting in a reduced oil content product and an oil bearing extraction solvent. Residual extraction solvent is removed from the reduced oil content product at a removal pressure sufficiently below standard atmospheric pressure that the boiling point of the extraction solvent is below the select temperature and at a temperature between the boiling point of the extraction solvent at the removal pressure and the select temperature.

1. Technical Field
The present invention is directed toward a method of extracting oil from an oil bearing product and more particularly toward a method of extracting oil from an oil bearing product with a chilled liquefied normally gaseous hydrocarbon solvent at ambient pressures.
2. Background Art
Use of hydrocarbon solvents for removing fats and oils from various oil bearing products has been in use for many years. Hexane is one hydrocarbon solvent that has been used extensively. Hexane has the advantage of being in a liquid state under most ambient temperatures and pressures. As a result, extractions can be done without pressure resistant vessels at room or slightly elevated temperatures, which facilitates continuous and high volume extraction processes. However, hexane extraction is not without serious shortcomings. Hexane is a toxic material and may only be present in small concentrations in reduced oil content products or extracted oils for such products and oils to be safe for human or animal consumption. However, because of its relatively high boiling point (69.degree. C. at standard pressure), it is difficult to remove residual hexane from reduced oil content products and extracted oils. Hexane removal is typically accomplished by distillation, thermal flashing or stripping techniques. The relatively high boiling point of hexane means it has a relatively low volatility, approaching that of the extracted oil. The relatively close volatilities and the strong affinity between hexane and extracted oil or reduced oil content products requires relatively high temperatures and severe stripping conditions to strip residual hexane. These high temperatures and severe conditions can degrade and impair important quality characteristics such as color, taste and digestibility of both the extracted oils and the reduced oil content products and thus reduce their economic value. Moreover, even when using high temperatures and severe stripping conditions, it often is not possible to reduce hexane concentrations in a product to acceptably safe, low levels. Moreover, the separated hexane presents an air pollution hazzard which must be carefully controlled and monitored.
As an alternative, use of normally gaseous hydrocarbons under temperatures and pressures to maintain the solvents in a liquid state is known in the art. Illustrative prior art patents include Prevost, U.S. Pat. No. 5,707,673; Franke, U.S. Pat. No. 5,525,746; Hebert, U.S. Pat. No. 5,516,923; Benado, U.S. Pat. No. 5,041,245; Rosenthal, U.S. Pat. No. 2,254,245; and Reid, U.S. Pat. No. 1,802,533.
These normally gaseous hydrocarbon solvents, typically propane or butane, can be more easily separated from extracted oils and reduced oil content products than hexane, primarily because of the relatively greater difference in volatility between these normally gaseous hydrocarbon solvents and the extracted oils and reduced oil content products. While it is well known that decreasing the temperature or increasing the pressure of a normally gaseous hydrocarbon solvent can produce a liquid state, the prior art favors conducting the extractions at elevated temperatures and therefore elevated pressures. Elevated temperatures are preferred to increase the oil solubility and therefore the extraction efficiency. The prior art also teaches that conducting the extraction at elevated temperatures and pressures facilitates separation of the solvent from the extracted oil and reduced oil content products after oil extraction. However, the increased extraction pressure increases capital equipment and energy costs. Moreover, the explosive characteristics of the vapors subject to escape from such pressurized extraction vessels raises significant safety issues. Finally, the need to maintain high pressures in the extractions vessels renders continuous extraction processes very difficult and expensive to construct and maintain.
Even with the relative ease of separating normally gaseous hydrocarbon solvents from extracted oils and reduced oil content products, the prior art does not teach a suitable method for reducing the oil content of products that must maintained at low temperatures, such as frozen fried foods. Prior art methods of flashing the solvent from a reduced content oil bearing product can lead to defrosting and harm to such a product.
The present invention is intended to overcome one or more of the problems discussed above.

Extraction of oil from oil bearing products with a chilled liquefied normally gaseous solvent


Provided are a resin blend for forming a layer-separated structure, a pellet, a method of preparing a resin article using the same and a resin article. The resin blend may include a first resin, and a second resin that comprises an acrylic copolymer containing a silica particle and has a molecular weight distribution of 1 to 2.5. The resin blend can improve surface characteristics of a resin article. Also, the resin blend can realize excellent scratch resistance of a resin article. Further, since an additional coating is not required for manufacturing a resin article, a manufacturing time and/or cost can be reduced, and productivity can be increased.

Plastic resins have various applications including automobile parts, helmets, parts of electric devices, parts of textile spinning machines, toys or pipes because of their easy processability and excellent properties such as tensile strength, modulus of elasticity, heat resistance and impact resistance.
Particularly, home appliance functions as home interior accessories as well as its own function as home appliance and parts of automobiles and toys are in direct contact with a human body, these products are required to be environment-friendly and to have excellent scratch resistance. However, plastic resins are generally decomposed by oxygen in the air, ozone and light and easily changed in color when exposed to an external environment for over a certain period of time. As a result, plastic resins suffer from decrease of weather resistance and strength, which makes them to be easily broken. Thus, an additional coating or plating process has been usually applied to plastic resins to improve these problems and surface properties. In addition, thermal plastic resins are easily contaminated by dust, water or oil. Thus, in order to improve surface characteristics of the plastic resins, coating or plating with anti-contamination agent or UV coating has been suggested. However, such a coating or plating process can drop efficiency and economic feasibility of a manufacturing process of plastic resins or generate large amount of toxic materials during the process or disposal of a product.
Accordingly, various methods have been suggested to improve properties of plastic resins such as scratch resistance, heat resistance and weather resistance without using an additional coating or plating process. For example, a method of adding inorganic particles to high molecule resins has been suggested to improve physical properties such as abrasion resistance and stiffness of the resins. However, this method may deteriorate the processability of plastic resins and impact strength and gloss due to the addition of inorganic particles.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Resin blend capable of forming layer-separated structure for melting process


A method for embedding an advertisement in a video and a computer device, which is configured to: determine a target image, where the target image is an image that is in M frames of images of a target video and that includes a first print advertisement, and M is a positive integer; determine a target area, where the target area is an area in which the first print advertisement is located in the target image; insert a to-be-embedded second print advertisement into the target area to replace the first print advertisement; and convert a style of the target image in which the second print advertisement is embedded, where a style of the second print advertisement in the target image after style conversion is consistent with a style of an image pixel outside the area in which the second print advertisement is located in the target image.

In a conventional video advertisement placement mode, a pre-movie advert is played at the beginning of a movie, or an advertisement is embedded in a video picture when the movie is paused, which is relatively obtrusive and blunt, is antipathetic to a user, and has a low advertising conversion rate (the advertising conversion rate refers to a conversion rate of netizens who enter a promotion website by clicking an advertisement).
In recent years, an advertisement embedding technology in which a commodity, a logo, or a poster picture of an advertiser is seamlessly stitched into a video picture gradually emerges and proliferates. For an effect of the advertisement embedding technology, refer to FIG. 1. A left figure in FIG. 1 is an original video picture, and a right figure is a picture in which a print advertisement is embedded.
From a perspective of a technology evolution process, an embedded advertisement has also experienced a relatively primitive stage to a relatively intelligent stage of development. In an initial stage, an advertisement board and a poster are usually placed in a shooting scenario, and a shot is reserved. Subsequently, due to problems such as advertiser material selection, advertisement position selection, and abrupt market change, an originally existing advertisement needs to be replaced. Therefore, some methods for performing advertisement replacement based on a simple feature parameter after a placeholder is preset in a video or an advertisement position is manually identified are proposed. However, with development of technologies, some methods tend to automatically implement advertisement replacement. For example, after a video is shot and segmented, a candidate advertisement insertion position is simply determined based on preset attribute features such as a shape, a size, a color, and duration of an area in a video, and the advertisement position is stitched and rendered in a manner such as template matching. Actually, how to automatically detect a suitable print advertisement position in a video and seamlessly stitch a to-be-embedded advertisement material into a surrounding environment is still an extremely complex problem. Therefore, how to automatically detect a suitable print advertisement position in a video and seamlessly stitch a to-be-embedded advertisement material into a surrounding environment is a technical problem that needs to be resolved currently.

Method for embedding advertisement in video and computer device


A contour compensator for adding preshoot or overshoot to a transitional portion of a video signal to improve the resolution of a picture. The compensator comprises a window signal generator for generating a window signal corresponding to a portion of the video signal where additional information, such as characters, overlaps the picture. This window signal interrupts the preshoot or overshoot to be added to the transitional portion of the video signal at the point where additional information overlaps the picture. The compensator controls the amount of preshoot or overshoot in a portion of the video signal in which additional information, e.g. a news flash, a weather bulletin, or a movie subtitle overlaps a picture, thereby obtaining a video signal which is contour-compensated without being affected by the additional information.

The present invention relates to a contour compensator for adding preshoot or overshoot to a video signal that includes luminance and chromaticity components. The preshoot or overshoot is added while the video signal is in transition between two levels. More particularly, the invention relates to a circuit for interrupting or controlling the amount of preshoot or overshoot to be added to a transitional portion of the video signal in which supplemental information (such as a news flash, weather bulletin, or a movie subtitle) overlaps the picture.
Resolution of a picture, that corresponds to a video signal reproduced by a tuner of a television receiver or reproduced by a magnetic record/playback apparatus, is enhanced by adding preshoot or overshoot to the video signal when its amplitude is in transition. This addition is called contour compensation and relates to the slope of the video signal's amplitude. For instance, preshoot or overshoot is added to the transitional portion of a luminance signal, such as when the signal changes from a black to a white level to emphasize the contrast between white and black and enhance the picture resolution.
However, depending on the picture's content, such contour compensation may deteriorate picture quality by adding a constant amount of contour compensation to the amplitude of a video signal, that is in transition, regardless of the content of the picture. More specifically, a constant amount of compensation may be added, regardless of the amount of correlation between scan lines of a video signal or the magnitude of a particular frequency component of the video signal. Thus, the amount of contour compensation will be excessive for a picture showing swift movement or including many details and the resulting picture will be rough. Specifically, as the intricacy of a picture increases the magnitude of the high-frequency component also increases. Adding a large amount of preshoot or overshoot to the video signal for this detailed picture causes the picture to deteriorate since the preshoot or overshoot dominates the video signal.
To solve this problem, an improved contour compensator has been proposed which compensates for contour based on the amount of correlation between video scan lines and the magnitude of the high frequency component of the video signal in order to control the amount of contour compensation. For instance, the improved contour compensator increases the amount of contour compensation for a portion of a video signal that has a high degree of correlation, such as in a video portion having slight movement. The contour compensation is also increased in a video portion having a small high-frequency component, such as in a coarse picture having few details. Similarly, the improved contour compensation reduces the amount of compensation for portions of the video signal having a small degree of correlation between scanning lines or for video signal portions having a large high-frequency component, thereby performing proper contour compensation according to the contents of the picture.
Meanwhile, in the video signal, there are times when character information overlaps the periphery of a picture. For instance, when a news flash or weather bulletin overlaps the video signal transmitted from a television station. This additional independent information is usually presented at the bottom of the picture. Further, captions from movies, such as subtitles may overlap the video signal recorded on a magnetic recording apparatus. Video signals having this overlapping information are different from the original signals, and thus experience radical level transitions. If the contour compensation signal is added based upon these radical transitions, which represent an incorrect video signal, the picture becomes unnatural. This unnatural characteristic results from the fact that a video signal containing overlapping information has a different S/N ratio than a video signal without overlapping information. Thus, when a video signal has overlapped information on the picture's periphery, the contour compensation signal or the amount of contour compensation added to the periphery of the picture must be interrupted or controlled.

Contour compensator for video image having overlapping information


Within the unique Triplo-lethal region (Tpl) of the Drosophila melanogaster genome we have found a cluster of 20 genes encoding a novel family of proteins. This family is also present in the Anopheles gambiae genome and displays remarkable synteny and sequence conservation with the Drosophila cluster. The family is also present in the sequenced genome of Drosophila pseudoobscura, and homologs have been found in Aedes aegyptii mosquitoes and the honeybee (Apis mellifera), but it is not present in the sequenced genome of any non-insect species. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that the cluster evolved prior to the divergence of Drosophila and Anopheles (250MYA) and has been highly conserved since. The ratio of synonymous to nonsynonymous substitutions and the high codon bias suggest that there has been selection on this family both for expression level and function. We suggest that this gene family is Tpl, name it the Osiris family, and suggest possible functions. We also suggest that this family of proteins, due to the unique dosage sensitivity, and the lack of homologs in non-insect species, would be a good target for genetic engineering or novel insecticides. The proteins also present an excellent means to test compounds for use as possible insecticides.

Insect-borne diseases are a huge and growing problem in world health. The most serious of these is malaria, which affects over 300 million people each year, and kills over one million people. Although the mortality occurs among young children in sub-Saharan Africa, malaria still poses a health risk in the United States, with approximately 3000 cases being reported in 2000-2001 alone.
An important part of a multifaceted approach to this problem is control of the insects that act as vectors for the transmission of disease. A primary means of limiting insect vectors is limiting the number of insects in the population through the use of insecticides. There are two large concerns with regard to the use of insecticides. One is the ability of insects to evolve a resistance to insecticides, which happens frequently. The other concern relates to the general safety and efficacy of the use of insecticides, specifically, some insecticides such as the group of insecticide compounds known as the organophosphates, affect vertebrate nervous systems, and therefore pose a risk to human and animal populations. Therefore, tools that help in the discovery of insecticides that have a broad-spectrum effect on insects across species and yet remain harmless to humans and other animals are very useful in this technical field.
An excellent model for the testing of genetic insecticide targets is Drosophila melanogaster. The Drosophila genome has been entirely sequenced and it is one of, if not the, most well studied and documented insects in the world. A wide array of genetic and molecular research methods and tools are available for efficacious use with Drosophila. In addition, many Drosophila genes and proteins are highly conserved across insect species, meaning that research on Drosophila genes and proteins will likely have an impact on other insect species as well.
When the Drosophila genome was surveyed for dosage sensitive regions only one was found which was both triplo-lethal and haplo-lethal. This locus, located in cytological region 83D4,5-E1,2, was called the Triplo-lethal locus, abbreviated Tpl. Stocks carrying a duplication of Tpl on one homolog and a deficiency on the other homolog are viable, and provide a powerful selection for either up or down mutations when crossed to a wild type fly. Using this selection, Keppy and Denell were able to obtain duplications and deficiencies of Tpl, but were unable to isolate point mutations following EMS or formaldehyde mutagenesis. Roehrdanz and Lucchesi were also unable to isolate point mutations of Tpl following EMS mutagenesis, although they did isolate mutations in the Suppressor of Tpl locus, which has been shown to encode the Ell protein, a general transcription elongation factor.
Three hypotheses have been proposed to explain the lack of point mutations at Tpl: 1) the locus is very small so the mutation rate is very low, 2) the locus does not encode a protein so it is less sensitive to single base changes, and 3) the locus consists of a cluster of genes with at least partial redundancy, such that mutating one of the genes does not rescue the lethality caused by a duplication of the entire cluster. The small size hypothesis predicts that as the number of mutagenized chromosomes increases, eventually mutants will be found. However, we have subsequently screened more than 106 chromosomes and still have not isolated point mutants. The non-protein-coding hypothesis predicts that transposon insertions would inactivate the locus, as would inversions with a breakpoint in the gene, and in spite of considerable effort we have never isolated a P element insertional mutation in Tpl. Thus the most likely hypothesis is that Tpl consists of a cluster of genes with at least partial redundancy.
The complete genomic sequence of D. melanogaster has allowed us to test the prediction that the Triplo-lethal region contains a cluster of genes with high similarity. To do that, first we defined the molecular limits of Tpl by isolating and mapping duplications and deletions and then examining the sequence within those limits for repeated genetic units. We describe here the discovery of a multi-gene family in the Triplo-lethal region, consistent with the best hypothesis based on the genetic data. The proteins encoded by this family are novel, although the protein sequences have features that allow us to make predictions about their function. We would expect that a family of genes whose dosage is so critical would be well conserved, and would show evidence for strong selection on expression levels. Comparison of the Drosophila melanogaster gene family with the orthologous genes in Anopheles gambiae allows us to analyse the expression, selection and evolution of the family.

Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska


Molded articles of high-purity alumina fibers, which are porous materials in which heat resistance is high, and in particular, deformation and linear shrinkage in heat cycles at a temperature more than 1700.degree. C. are small. The production method comprising spinning a spinning solution containing an alumina fiber precursor as the main component to obtain precursor fibers, prefiring these precursor fibers at 400.degree. to 1000.degree. C. to form prefired fibers, and then molding and calcining these prefired fibers. Sintering between the fibers can be achieved at a relatively low temperature. In particular, even when no inorganic binder component is added, the molded articles of high-purity alumina fibers can be obtained by a simple process.

(i) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for preparing molded articles of high-purity alumina fibers having high heat resistance which are suitable for high-temperature insulating materials, catalyst carriers and the like.
(ii) Description of the Prior Art
Alumina fibers are materials having high strength and excellent heat resistance, and they are used in a cotton-like state or in the form of molded articles. In particular, molded articles obtained by molding the alumina fibers together with various binder components and matrix components have small bulk density and so they are lightweight. In addition, they have a large insulating effect, and therefore they are suitable for high-temperature insulating materials.
As a method for preparing the molded articles of these alumina fibers, there are known methods which comprise cutting alumina, alumina-silica or alumina-silicaboron oxide ceramic fibers into a suitable length; adding an inorganic binder such as silica fibers, an alumina sol or a silica sol, or an organic binder thereto; and then molding and drying the mixture (e.g., Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Nos. 59-152281, 61-141683 and 64-42373, and other publications). When the molded articles manufactured by these known methods are used at a high temperature, they are to be calcined at a suitable temperature to carry out a binder removal treatment, prior to their use. In short, the above-mentioned known techniques require the employment of the calcined fibers as the raw material to obtain desired strength, heat resistance and the like as well as the binder to supplement the sintering properties of the fibers as an essential component.
However, in the molded articles of alumina, aluminasilica or alumina-silica-boron oxide ceramic fibers prepared by these methods, cracks easily occur as a result of heat shrinkage, when the ceramic fibers calcined at a temperature of 1000.degree. C. or less are used, and therefore they have the substantial problem of heat resistance. On the other hand, when the fibers are obtained by the calcination at 1000.degree. C. or more, a large amount of energy is consumed. When an alumina content is low, heat resistance, strength and the like cannot be improved, and therefore, in such a case, raw materials are limited. Furthermore, when alumina fibers obtained by the calcination at a temperature of 1000.degree. C. or more are used as the raw material, the molded articles of the high-purity alumina fibers can be obtained However, the sintering properties of the fibers themselves are poor, and therefore even if the binder is added thereto, sintering between the fibers is insufficient. In consequence, even if the strength of the fibers is sufficient, the molded articles obtained therefrom have low strength, and crystallization of the fibers, when used, proceeds at a high temperature, so that the fibers tend to fall from the surfaces of the molded articles.
Moreover, another method has been suggested in which precursor fibers of alumina, silica, zirconia or the like are molded and then calcined to obtain a fibrous refractory having high strength. In this case, the consumption of energy can be decreased at the time of the manufacture (Japanese Patent Publication No. 25873/1990). However, in this method, the precursor fibers before the molding adhere to each other during storage, so that it is difficult to disperse them in a fibrous state in a solvent when they are molded. This fact makes it difficult to stably manufacture the uniformly molded articles having high strength at times. In addition, this kind of precursor fibers noticeably shrink at the time of calcination, and therefore they have the problem that the molded articles obtained therefrom are likely to crack.
The problems of the above mentioend technology can be summarized as follows: When the fibers calcined at 1000.degree. C. or more are used as the raw material, sufficient heat resistance and strength cannot be obtained, unless the alumina has a high purity. On the other hand, when the high-purity alumina is used, the sintering properties are insufficient, so that strength deteriorates and the fibers tend to peel from the surfaces of the molded articles. Furthermore, since the fibers calcined at 1000.degree. C. or more are used, a large amount of energy is consumed during the manufacture. Moreover, when the precursor fibers are used as the raw material, it is possible to obtain the molded articles having excellent strength and heat resistance under the small energy consumption. However, it is not easy to handle the precursor fibers, and these precursor fibers adhere to each other during storage and the molded articles cannot be obtained on occasion.
In view of the above mentioned situations of the conventional techniques, an object of the present invention is to provide a method for stably preparing molded articles of high-purity alumina fibers which are light-weight and have high strength and excellent heat resistance. The above-mentioned molded articles are extremely useful as high-temperature insulating materials, base materials for various composite materials, catalyst carriers and the like.

Method for preparing molded articles of high-purity alumina fibers


A light emitting element, used behind a display, comprises LED chips emitting blue light and separated red and green phosphor layers on the LED chip, the layers receiving the emitted blue light and respectively converting the same into precise colors for the display. A portion of the light directly from the LED chip is also combined with the converted light and passed on as lighting for the display. Partial absorption of green light by the red phosphor and red light by the green phosphor, occurring when the red and green phosphor layers are overlapped, is avoided. Light conversion efficiency of the green and red phosphor layers is thereby improved. A light emitting assembly, a display device, and a method for making the light emitting assembly are also disclosed.

Using a light emitting diode (LED) emitting blue light, red and green phosphor powders can be excited to obtain red light and green light, respectively. Because a light-converting efficiency of green phosphor powder is lower than that of red phosphor powder, the green phosphor powder is generally formed on a surface of the LED emitting blue light, and the red phosphor powder is formed on the green phosphor powder. When the blue light emitted by the LED irradiates the green phosphor powder, a portion of the blue light is absorbed by the green phosphor powder and converted into green light. The unconverted blue light continued travels to the red phosphor powder, and a portion of the blue light unconverted is absorbed by the red phosphor and converted into red light. The red light, the green light, and the blue light that are unconverted are combined to form white light.
However, because energy of the green light is greater, a portion of the green light is absorbed by the particles in the red phosphor and converted into red light, resulting in a decrease in the conversion efficiency of the green light. Therefore, there is room for improvement in the art.

Light emitting element, light emitting assembly, display device, and method for making a light emitting assembly

Interface Technology (ChengDu) Co., Ltd.

INTERFACE OPTOELECTRONICS (SHENZHEN) CO., LTD.


Mounted internally of a casing of a manipulating head assembly of an endoscope is a branching passage member to connect a base end of a biopsy channel with a biopsy channel entrance way and a suction passage. The branching passage member is retained in position by threaded engagement with a biopsy channel entrance pipe which is fitted in the biopsy channel entrance way. Further, the branching passage member is provided with restrictive members thereby to restrict movements of the branching member except a movement toward the biopsy channel entrance pipe when the branching member is pulled into the biopsy channel entrance way for engagement with the entrance pipe.

1. Field of the Art
This invention relates to medical endoscopes, and more particularly to a branching passage assembly for endoscopes which incorporate a forked branching member in a manipulating head assembly to connect a proximal end of a biopsy channel to a biopsy channel entrance passage and a suction passage.
2. Prior Art
Generally, medical endoscopes are largely constituted by a manipulating head assembly to be gripped and manipulated by an operator, an insertion tube extended out from one side of the manipulating head assembly for insertion into a body cavity, and a flexible light guide cable led out from the manipulating head assembly and provided with a connector at its proximal end which is disconnectibly connectible at least to a light source. Illumination and observation windows of optical image pickup means are provided on a rigid tip end section at the fore distal end of the insertion tube to carry out an endoscopic examination of an intracavitary site of interest under illuminated state.
It becomes possible to insert a biopsy or surgical instrument through an endoscope when a diseased portion or a bleeding site is spotted within a body cavity or when there arises a necessity for sampling tissues. For this purpose, in many cases a biopsy channel is provided in the endoscope and extend between a biopsy channel entrance way which is provided on the manipulating head assembly and an instrument outlet which is opened at the distal end of the insertion tube. The biopsy channel which is extended between the biopsy channel entrance way and the instrument outlet is usually constituted by a flexible tube. The biopsy channel of this sort is also utilized as a suction passage at the time of aspiration of body fluids or the like.
In order to comply with these requirements, a forked branching passage member is provided internally of the manipulating head assembly, thereby to connect a proximal end of a biopsy channel to either a biopsy channel entrance way or a suction passage. Accordingly, the forked branching passage member is internally provided with forked passages in communication with three connecting ends, i.e., a first connecting end to be connected with the biopsy channel, a second connecting end to be connected with the biopsy channel entrance way and a third connecting end to be connected with the suction passage.
Having the construction as described above, the branching passage member has to be retained in a fixed state within the manipulating head assembly of the endoscope. In this regard, it has been known in the art, for example, form Japanese Patent Publication No. 5-3287, to provide a tubular retainer member within a casing of the manipulating head assembly and to stop a branching passage member in the tubular retainer member by means of screws.
Taking into considerations the relations with a pipe of the biopsy channel entrance way and tubes of the biopsy channel and the suction passage, the branching passage member should be fixed in the first place in a position independently of and prior to connecting thereto the pipe and tubes just mentioned. That is to say, the pipe and tubes have to be connected to the branching passage member after fixation of the latter. The suction tube which has no possibilities of damages in use can be connected to the branching passage member securely by the use of an adhesive, and a connection can be made without any difficulty in particular. However, it may be made difficult to connect the pipe of the biopsy channel entrance way, a rigid pipe, to the branching passage member even by a positional deviation therebetween. Further, considering that the biopsy channel has possibilities of being damaged by insertion of a needle-like instrument in use, it should be disconnectibly connected to the branching passage member, and should be easily disconnectible when necessary. Nevertheless, once connected to the branching passage member, the biopsy channel tube should be retained stably in the connected state. Therefore, difficulties are often experienced in connecting the biopsy channel entrance pipe and then the biopsy channel after completely fixation of the branching passage member in the tubular retainer member.

Branching passage assembly for endoscopic biopsy channel


In a DC type C-shaped welding gun apparatus having a transformer mounted thereon, a center tap of the transformer is communicated to a movable gun arm via an ounce metal plate. A rear end portion of a stationary gun arm is pressingly held between a pair of terminal plates via rectifiers. Both terminal plates are disposed such that their center line is offset to one widthwise side of the transformer. The stationary gun arm is thus disposed to one widthwise side of a projected area of the transformer. The ounce metal plate for supplying electric power to the movable gun arm is disposed to the other side of the projected area. In an X-shaped welding gun apparatus, a first gun arm is rotatably supported by a supporting shaft provided on a gun bracket. A second gun arm is directly connected to one of feeder terminals of a transformer to constitute the second gun arm and the transformer into a unit. This unit is rotatably supported by the supporting shaft via a supporting arm, and the other of the feeder terminals is connected to the first gun arm via the supporting arm. The supporting arm is used as a feeder member. The feeder member can thus be disposed within the width of the gun bracket. A pressurizing cylinder is supported on the supporting arm along the transformer. The vacant space around the transformer is utilized as a space for disposing the cylinder to thereby minimize the size of the welding gun.

This invention relates to a C-shaped or X-shaped welding gun apparatus having mounted thereon a transformer.
The welding gun apparatus can largely be divided into two kinds; one is the C-shaped welding gun apparatus and the other is the X-shaped welding gun apparatus.
The C-shaped welding gun apparatus generally comprises a gun bracket, a pressurizing cylinder which is slidably supported on the gun bracket, a movable gun arm which is mounted on a piston rod which extends forwards from the pressurizing cylinder, a stationary gun arm which extends from the side of the pressurizing cylinder towards a front of the movable gun arm so as to lie opposite to a front portion of the movable gun arm, and a transformer which is provided on a rear side of the stationary gun arm.
In this kind of C-shaped welding gun apparatus, the following construction is disclosed in the Japanese Published Unexamined Utility Model Application No. 108582/1990. Namely, the construction is characterized in: that a center tap of a secondary coil of a transformer is connected to a movable gun arm through a feeder relay member and a copper-base alloy plate called an ounce metal plate; that a rear end portion of a stationary gun arm is inserted into a pair of terminal plates with a rectifier interposed between the rear end portion and each of the terminal plates, the terminal plates being connected to both ends of the secondary coil of the transformer and being oppositely disposed in the widthwise direction of the transformer; that both terminal plates are pressingly held or sandwiched between a pair of holding plates which are provided on oppositely external sides of both terminal plates, by means of tightening bolts which extend across the holding plates; and that the rear end portion of the stationary gun arm is thus fixedly pressed between both terminal plates with the rectifiers interposed therebetween so that the stationary gun arm is supplied with electric power directly from the rectifiers. In this construction, the above-mentioned terminal plates are symmetrically disposed on both sides of the widthwise center line of the transformer. The stationary gun arm is arranged to extend from between both terminal plates forwards along the center line of the transformer. On one side of the stationary gun arm the above-mentioned ounce metal plate is disposed so as not to contact the stationary gun arm.
The X-shaped welding gun apparatus generally comprises a gun bracket, a pair of gun arms which are rotatably supported by a common supporting shaft which is provided on the gun bracket, and a pressurizing cylinder for opening and closing both gun arms. In case the X-shaped welding gun apparatus is to be equipped with a transformer, the construction in general is that the transformer is supported on the gun bracket, and that one of the feeder terminals and the other of the feeder terminals of the transformer are respectively connected to one of the gun arms and the other thereof via respective ounce metal plates. In this apparatus, there is a disadvantage in that a space is required for laying out the ounce metal plates in a roundabout manner, thereby making the apparatus large in size. In order to eliminate this disadvantage, the following construction is also disclosed in the Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 99489/1985. Namely, the construction is characterized in: that a bush which is electrically insulated from a supporting shaft is externally fit into the supporting shaft; that one of the gun arms is directly and rotatably supported by the supporting shaft and the other of the gun arms is rotatably supported by the supporting shaft via the bush; that a pair of feeder terminals of the transformer are electrically connected respectively to the supporting shaft and the bush via a respective feeder bar so that electric power is supplied to one of the gun arms via the supporting shaft and to the other of the gun arms via the bush.
In the above-mentioned conventional C-shaped welding gun apparatus, the stationary gun arm is disposed in the widthwise center of a front projected area of the transformer. As a result, the ounce metal plate to be disposed on one side of the stationary gun arm protrudes outside the above-mentioned projected area and, therefore, the width of the welding gun becomes large. This brings about a disadvantage in that this large width becomes a hindrance in inserting the welding gun into a widthwise narrow dented portion to carry out the welding of a workpiece.
In addition, in the above-mentioned conventional X-shaped welding gun apparatus, there is provided on a shaft end side a connecting portion which includes contactors so that each of the feeder bars is connected via each of the contactors to the supporting shaft and to the bush, respectively. This connecting portion protrudes towards the side of the bracket, resulting in a large width of the welding gun. This large width becomes a hindrance to the welding in a narrow place like in the aobve-mentioned conventional C-shaped welding gun apparatus.


An image input-output apparatus is provided with a printing function for printing an image specified by print data from an external device and a reading function for reading an original image. The apparatus includes a printing function realizing unit, a discrimination unit, and a control unit. The printing function realizing unit operates in a first mode for realizing the printing function with a relatively small memory capacity and operates in a second mode for realizing the printing function with a relatively large memory capacity. The discrimination unit discriminates whether printing of the image specified by the print data is to be realized by the first mode or the second mode. If it is discriminated that printing is to be realized by the first mode, the control unit is adapted to allow parallel execution of the printing function and the reading function. Otherwise, parallel execution is inhibited.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image input-output apparatus having operation modes such as copying, printing, image reading etc. and a method therefor.
2. Related Background Art
The image input-output apparatus having such plural functions, generally called multi-function printer or multi-function copier (registered trade mark), can be classified into the following two categories.
1) A first type is so constructed as to execute as many functions as possible at the same time. An example of the configuration of the first type shown in FIG. 16.
Referring to FIG. 16, there are provided an image input unit 701; an operation panel 702 for entering various commands; an image processor unit 703 for applying predetermined image processing on the image read by the image input unit 701 in order to enable printing by a printer engine unit 709; an operation panel interface (I/F) 704; a main controller unit 705 for controlling the entire apparatus according to a control program stored in a ROM 707; a network I/F 706 for connection with a network; a ROM 707; RAM's 708, 712 used for example as a work memory; and printer engine 709, and a printer engine I/F 711.
Such apparatus is divided, as shown in FIG. 16, in a section 700 including the image input unit 701, the printer engine 709, the RAM 712, the image processor 703 and a CPU 705a and principally realizing the function of the digital copying apparatus, and a section 721 including a memory composed of the ROM 107 and the RAM 708, the network I/F 706 and a CPU 705b and effecting, in the CPU 705b, conversion of the document data transmitted through the network I/F 706 into a dot pattern printable by the printer engine 709.
For this reason, as shown in FIG. 16, there are provided completely separate two RAM's 707, 712 as the data work memories.
2) A second type is designed for a reduced cost, realizing multiple functions at a cost as low as possible and sacrificing the simultaneous functions in the first type.
However, the configuration as shown in FIG. 16 is inevitably associated with a considerably high cost, because of the necessity of the separate memories mentioned above. For example there is at least a memory capacity of 8.5 Mbytes, including 4 Mbytes for storing the image data entered by a scanner, in binary data of A4 size at 600 dpi, 4 Mbytes for a bit map memory for printing with a full bit map in binary data of A4 size at 600 dpi, and 0.5 Mbytes for a page memory before development into the bit map memory.

Image input-output apparatus and method therefor


The present invention is directed to a method of generating electricity from the unharnessed existing kinetic movement of various self-propelled sources: vehicles, wheeled vehicles, pedestrians, objects and/or wheeled objects with the aid of natural phenomena (i.e., gravity, buoyancy, magnetism, etc.) in combination with supporting undersurfaces, over surfaces and side surfaces upon which or about which they translate. In a first embodiment, floating platforms over which moving objects pass are implanted into a road surface. In a second embodiment, rollers rather than platforms are utilized. In a third embodiment, the moving vehicles, pedestrians and/or objects are provided with magnetic material generating electricity by passing over, under or by magnetized kinetic capturing panels containing coiled metallic wire (“kinetic panels”).

The present invention is directed to a method of generating electricity from the rolling contact between the wheels or tires of self-propelled vehicles and the support surface upon which the self-propelled vehicles translate.
It is well-known that the present high-cost of fossil fuels used in the generation of electricity for both commercial and home use has necessitated the search for new and alternative sources of augmenting electricity-generation. These so-called "clean" or "green" sources, such as wind power, solar power, fuel cells, thermal electric generation (i.e., harnessing the heat of volcanoes and the earth's magma along shallow fault lines), hydroelectricity, harnessing landfill, human waste and other gases, and the like, have been developed to a degree where they are now in common usage across the globe. The present invention is also directed to such a clean source for generating electricity, which may be used to substitute or supplement and augment existing and conventional generating sources, whether of the clean or carbon-based varieties.
It is well-known that electricity is generated or formed when there exists relative motion between a magnetic field and metallic conductors, such as copper wires. The changing magnetic field, or magnetic flux, through an element having an area perpendicular to the direction of magnetic field is given by the product of the magnetic field and the area of the element. The magnetic flux is defined by a scalar product of the magnetic field and the area-element vector. The magnetic flux through a surface is proportional to the number of magnetic field lines that pass through the surface. Quantitatively, the magnetic flux through a surface is defined as the integral of the magnetic field over the area of the surface. The magnetic flux through an open surface is an important quantity in electromagnetism. A change in the magnetic flux passing through a loop of conductive wire will cause an EMF or electromotive force, and therefore an electric current, in the loop. The relationship is given by the well-known equation called Faraday's law. The present invention utilizes this phenomenon to generate electricity.
Prior-art methods of utilizing the kinetic energy of moving vehicles are known. Examples of such prior art are shown in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,239,031; 7,489,045; 7,530,761; 7,541,684; and 7,589,428. All of these prior-art systems require, and are based on, complicated and expensive technology. The invention involves cheaper technology, is more efficient, and is more readily implemented into existing infrastructure.

Conversion of kinetic into electric energy utilizing the universal principles of gravity and magnetism


The present invention provides a method that allows a developer to add complex dependency logic to an existing database without having to modify the underlying structure of the database. One embodiment of the present invention provides a way to flexibly handle record state transitions by using an event model. The event model is a set of one or more items called an event. Each event in the event model has an associated event type and contains dependency logic that interrelates the events in the event model with one another. Each event represents a set of actions that are optionally contingent upon a condition. The actions and conditions that comprise an event are determine when the event is created. Each event may have a different set of actions and conditions. This enables an event to represent a number of different things. An event can represent anything it is defined to represent. In one embodiment of the present invention an event metamodel is instantiated to represent a number of different event models and the corresponding dependencies that interrelate them. The event metamodel enables the model creator to control what happens to each and every event in the event metamodel without having to modify the underlying structure of the database.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for modeling events.
2. Background Art
A company that sells subscriptions to customers stores information about its customers in a database. The company would like to be able to remind a customer when the customer's subscription is about to end, and to give special offers to certain customers depending on who the customers are and how early or late the customers renew a subscription. Current database systems do not operate efficiently when the database becomes large. Current databases also lack the flexibility to be changed to allow the addition of new types of data to a customer database entry. Problems with existing database systems can be understood by first reviewing database systems.
When data is collected and stored on a computer in an organized manner that collection of data is called a database. In an effort to make the data stored in databases easily retrievable, databases are organized according to a predetermined structure. Unfortunately, once the underlying structure of the database is implemented the process of changing it is cumbersome. To add new relationships to a database the structure of the entire database must often be redefined. As a result, current database models inherently lack flexibility.
Database Organization
Databases are organized according to a data model that specifies the organizational structure of the database. A variety of different data models exist and each organizes data in a different manner. Examples of data models include the relational model, the object oriented model and the physical data model.
Once a data model is chosen the overall design of the database is implemented using that model. This overall design of the database is often referred to as the database schema and is defined by using a special language called a data definition language (DDL).
A database may contain one or more tables that are defined in a file called the data dictionary. Tables help keep the data in the database organized. FIG. 1 illustrates a table 100 that contains information about customers. Each table is designed to store a collection of data and is comprised of a number of rows 101-107. A row is separated into one or more columns 120-124 and each column is designated to receive values that have an associated name 140. When data is placed into the table 100 it is placed in the appropriate column 120-124. For example, values 130-135 represent a series of customer identification numbers. These values are placed in column 120. Once an entry in a column contains an item of data it is referred to as a record. Each table may hold numerous records. When a row 101-107 is filled with data it represents a unique set of records. For example, if data were placed in columns 120-124 of row 101 that data is representative of the customer that has the customer identification number 130.
A disadvantage of the way database tables are organized is that its organizational schema is predetermined and fixed. As a result current databases lack a flexible structure. For example, if a person using table 100 wanted to begin collecting other kinds of addressing information about a customer, such as the customers' work address or electronic mail address, a new column 206 to hold that information is required and must be defined. To define a new column a new table 200 that has an additional column 206 is created. Thus an inherent disadvantage of current database systems is that the user is locked into collecting the kind of information the table is pre-defined to hold. Table 100, for example, can only hold information pertaining to a customer's identification number, a customer's name, a customer's address, a customer's phone number, and a customer's fax number. To enter any other kind of information in Table 100 a new column must be defined.
Another disadvantage of current database systems is that every field in a table is assigned a value even if one does not exist. Referring now to Table 200 in FIG. 1, if data is entered into one of the columns in row 102 data must also entered into all the remaining columns. When no real information exists to input into a column, some other value, such as a NULL value, zero, or some other value. For example, if the value "Bob" is placed in the column 121 of row 102 and the value "14 Main St" is placed in column 122 of row 102 the remaining columns in row 102 are assigned NULL values. Since values are assigned to every row in column 120, the remaining values of each row are filled with NULL values. This occurs regardless of whether additional information is actually entered into Table 200. Once a row is filled with one piece of data the remaining entries for that row are filled with some value. Placing values inside a table even when one is not supplied wastes memory and computing resources.
Data that is stored in the records of a table can form the basis of a relationship between another table in the database as long as the other table has a related record. Data stored in a column (or columns) of a table can form the basis for a relationship between that table and another table in the database having a related column (or columns). For example, the customer table could be related to a table the customer orders table if the customer table contains a series of records having fields with the names "customer identification", "last name", "first name", "street address", "city", "zip code" and the customer orders table has fields with the names "customer identification", "service provided", and "date service rendered." Since both of these tables share a field with the name "customer identification", the tables are both related to the same customer. Using a relationship between columns of two tables, it is possible to join these two tables to provide a single table of information that contains instances of rows from one table combined with related rows from the other table.
Tables may be related via one-to-one, one-to-many, or many-to-one relationships. In a one-to-one relationship, one row in one table is related to a single row in a second table and vice versa. For example, a row in an employee table that contains information about an employee relates to a salaries table that contains the employee's salary information. Since an employee is typically only earning a single salary, there is a one-to-one relationship between an employee's employee table record and the employee's salary table record.
In a one-to-many relationship, a row in one table may be related to many rows in a second table, but each row in the second table matches only one row in the first table. For example, a state table that contains a state identifier and a state name can be related to multiple rows in the employee table. However, a row in the employees table identifies only one state of residence, for example. Conversely, a many-to-one relationship exists where many rows in one table match only one row in a second table, but each row in the second table may match many rows in the first table.
To relate two tables, it is necessary to identify one or more columns that are common to both tables. These columns are typically referred to as keys. A primary key is a unique key within a table and uniquely identifies a row within the table. A foreign key in a second table is comprised of the column(s) containing a first table's primary key information. For example, in the employee table, an employee identifier (employeeID) can be assigned to uniquely identify each employee. The employeeID can be used as a primary key for the employees table. The employeeID can also be used as a foreign key in the salaries table. The employees and salaries tables can be joined by the employeeID columns in each table to have information from both tables available in a single record.
Applications are developed to provide a user with the ability to facilitate access and manipulation of the data contained in a DBMS. A DBMS includes a Data Manipulation Language (DML) such as Structured Query Language (SQL). A DML provides set-oriented relational operations for manipulating data in the DBMS. However, a DML requires a precise syntax that must be used to access and manipulate DBMS data. To use a DML, a user must understand and use the DML's syntax. Instead of requiring each user that wishes to modify a DBMS' data to learn the DML's syntax, applications are written that provide an interface between the user and a DBMS' DML.
A database application typically includes a graphical user interface (GUI) that is comprised of presentation elements such as a form. A form is a self-contained presentation element with predefined areas for displaying, entering and/or changing data. The predefined areas are typically referred to as fields.
Fields in a form can be read-only (e.g., a label field). A form can also have fields in which information is displayed and the user can enter information. For example, in an operation to modify an employee's last name, a text field can be used to display the name currently stored in the database and allow the user to overwrite the display to enter the employee's new last name. When user submits the information, the application can retrieve the user input and update the database accordingly.
To populate the fields in a form, the application developer must associate fields in the database with fields in the form. This process is typically referred to as binding database fields with form fields. In a simple example of a form, the fields contained within the form are bound to fields in a single table.
A form can be more complicated where fields receive data from multiple tables. The application developer designing a form must be aware of the relationship(s) that exist between the tables that are to be bound to the fields in the form. If, for example, the form contains fields from tables that are related via a one-to-many relationship, the application developer must design the form the accommodate multiple rows of information. For example, a form that displays a department and its job listings (which are related via a one-to-many relationship) must be able to display the department information as well as multiple job listings for that department. The form must be designed to display the department and include multiple rows to display the job listings for the department, for example.
The relationship between the department and job listings tables is a one-to-many relationship. That is, there can be many job listings for a given department. The format of the display of information related by a one-to-many relationship is different than that used to display information related by either a many-to-one or one-to-one relationship.
For example, the employees, salaries and state tables are related to each other via many-to-one (e.g., more than one employee can reside in the same state) and one-to-one relationship (e.g., each employee has a salary). Since a row in the employees table is related to a single row in state and salaries tables, the developer can design a form with fields that display information about an employee taken from these three tables. For example, the form can contain fields to display the employee's name, state of residence and salary.
Thus, it can be seen that the design of a form depends on the type of relationships that exist between the tables. Using existing interface design tools, the application developer has been required to have knowledge of these relationships. The application developer must be aware of the structure of a database including the tables, the columns within a table and the relationships between tables. For example, an application developer that is building a form to display output retrieved from a database must associate fields in the form with columns in the database. If the form includes columns from multiple tables, the developer must be aware of the relationships that exist between the tables which includes the type of relationship.
Data Collection
One way to collect information and place it into a database is by using the Internet. The Internet is a worldwide network of interconnected computers. A user accesses the Internet by using an Internet client. An Internet client is a piece of computer software that communicates with the Internet via an Internet provider. An Internet provider is an organization that provides a client (e.g., an individual or other organization) with access to the Internet (via analog telephone line or Integrated Services Digital Network line, for example).
The World Wide Web (WWW) is a portion of the Internet that transfers information using HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP). HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is one of the standard protocols a client uses to communicate with a server on the WWW. Other protocols such as TCP/IP and FTP are also used. A server is the computer where information is stored before it is sent to the Internet client. Servers may store any kind of data. For example a server may store a database or a series of web pages. A web pages is a document that, for example, is programmed using HyperText Markup Language (HTML). HTML is one of the languages Internet clients understand.
A user can send information to the server by using an Internet client. The server can collect this information and add it to a database. This creates a database of user information. The database of user information is a collection of data about users. The information contained in the user database is typically information provided by the user, but it can also be obtained from other sources.
In one embodiment of the invention the user provides information to the server by completing an online form. For example, the user might want to receive a free subscription to an electronic newsletter. To receive the electronic newsletter the user provides the publisher of the newsletter with an electronic mail address, a street address, and credit card information. One way of providing this information is by using a web page that contains an online form. An online form is programmed in HTML by using the FORM element. HTML includes a FORM element that provides the ability to create a web page that has a fill-in form.
An HTML document containing a FORM element permits the user to enter information and send that information to the client. The user enters the information through the use of a limited number of FORM components: checkboxes; radio boxes; pull-down lists; text windows; and menus. The information entered through the FORM components is transmitted as a single unit to a gateway program on the server. In this manner the user can send information to the server. For example, the user can send the information necessary to subscribe to the electronic newsletter. Once the server receives the information provided by the user the server stores it in a database.
In one embodiment of the invention information is obtained from the user by collecting information provided by the HTTP protocol. When a user visits a web site HTTP passes information between the server and the internet client using environment variables. In this embodiment the information contained in these environment variables is collected and then stored on the server for later use. For example, the environment variables USER_NAME, DATE_GMT, and DOCUMENT_NAME all contain useful information about the user. The variable USER_NAME contains the name of the user as it is defined in the users internet client. The variable DATE_GMT specifies the date the user visits a web page and the variable DOCUMENT_NAME provide the name of the document a user is viewing. This information provided by the HTTP protocol is stored in a database and supplemented with information obtained from other sources.


In a bias circuit including a transmission line and an open stub for preventing a microwave signal from passing through, the lengths of the open stub and a transmission line between the open stub and main transmission line are near .lambda./4 but not equal to .lambda./4. A leakage signal caused by the above deviations is fed to a detector portion. In the above construction, circuit size of the bias circuit and the detector portion is minimized.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bias circuit for supplying an amplifier of a microwave band, semimillimeter wave band or millimeter wave band, with a bias voltage. More particularly, the present invention is concerned with a bias circuit for supplying the aforesaid amplifier, to which a detector circuit is connected, with a bias voltage.
2. Description of the Related Art
Usually, an amplifier of a microwave band is provided with a diode detector portion at its output side for automatic level control maintaining a level of an output signal at a constant value.
Conventionally, a signal to be input to the diode detector portion is separated from the output signal of the amplifier using a directional coupler. Thus, the directional coupler is required to be provided at output side of the amplifier. A bias circuit is also required to be provided at the output side of the amplifier for supplying the amplifier with a bias voltage.
Therefore, the size of the circuit in the output side of the amplifier is inevitably large. Furthermore, since a part of the output signal is separated in the directional coupler, a level of the output signal is lowered accordingly.

Bias circuit having signal output to detector portion


Substituted bicyclic imidazo-3-yl-amine compounds are provided, as well as processes for the production thereof and pharmaceutical formulations containing these compounds. The use of these compounds for the production of pharmaceutical formulations and related methods of treatment are also provided.

Pain is one of the basic clinical symptoms. There is a worldwide need for effective pain treatments. The urgency of the requirement for therapeutic methods for providing tailored and targeted treatment of chronic and non-chronic pain, this being taken to mean pain treatment which is effective and satisfactory from the patient's standpoint, is also evident from the large number of scientific papers relating to applied analgesia and to basic nociception research which have appeared in recent times.
Conventional opioids, such as for example morphine, are effective in the treatment of severe to very severe pain, but they often lead to unwanted accompanying symptoms, such as for example respiratory depression, vomiting, sedation, constipation or the development of tolerance. Moreover, they are frequently insufficiently effective in the case of neuropathic pain, suffered in particular by tumour patients.

Substituted bicyclic imidazo-3-ylamine compounds


The invention is a child resistant and easy to use blister package for containing a solid medicament that utilizes a dual compartment cavity assist mechanism as an opening feature. The multi-section blister card package has an opening feature comprising a pre-formed dual compartment cavity in the blister container sheet which is adjacent to the cavity containing the product and a corresponding weakened area such as perforation or score in the backing closure sheet in the area covering the dual compartment cavity. The blister is opened by applying pressure on the dual compartment cavity at the underside of the backing score line. The pre-formed second cavity assists in forming a pull tab on the opposite side of the blister, allowing for easy access to separate and pull the backing material towards the product cavity and thus exposing the product cavity for product removal.

Blister card packages are one form of container commonly used for the packaging of medicaments, particularly for unit-dose packaging where the delivery of individually packaged dosage units to the consumer or patient is desirable. A suitable blister card package provides a container for the delivery of solid medicaments that is tamperproof, airtight, uses conventional materials and equipment to produce and is thus economical.
Generally, a conventional blister card package provides a container for individual dosages of the medicament separately packaged for delivery of the individual dosage to a patient. Typically, a blister card package contains a number (usually about 6-8) of individual dosages on a card where each dosage is separately contained and can be separated by perforations such that it can be readily detached. The blister card package is usually constructed of several layers. The top layer is a container sheet or container formstock constructed of a rigid material having integrally formed cavities or wells designed to hold the dosage form. The container sheet is sealed to a closure sheet (or lidstock) generally constructed of a foil and paper laminate. The blister package can be designed for removal of the dosage form from the container in a variety of ways. In some packages, the dosage is removed by pressing it through the closure sheet, where the closure sheet is made from a rupturable material. In other designs, the closure sheet is designed to be peeled off from the container sheet to remove the dosage form. Alternatively, the blister is scored to form a weakened area enabling the user to tear the blister and expose the cavity containing the tablet.
In designing a suitable blister card package, it is desirable that the package be tamper resistant and airtight but be easily opened by adults. At the same time, it is often desirable that the package be child-resistant and not easily opened by children. A problem with many conventional blister packages is that they are difficult to open, particularly by seniors or others with impaired dexterity but even by a healthy adult. In a rupturable package, the tablet or capsule may be damaged during opening. In a peel-apart package, the layers can be difficult to manipulate and separate because the layers are thin and tightly sealed. Thus, there is a need for a blister card package design which allows easy access by adults, including seniors, yet passes child resistant testing. There is also a need for a blister card package which meets these requirements and which utilizes conventional materials and can be manufactured using conventional equipment.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,294,361 discloses a blister strip package having two cavities; a first cavity for containing the dosage form, and a second cavity laterally aligned with the first cavity which is covered by an unsealed area in the closure sheet having scored lines for disruption of the closure sheet. In operation, the second cavity is completely inverted to bear upon the covering sheet to disrupt it at the scored lines forming a pull tab to peel the closure sheet from the container sheet.

Cavity assist easy to open child resistant blister package


Non-human animals, cells, methods and compositions for making and using the same are provided, wherein the non-human animals and cells comprise a humanized B-cell activating factor gene. Non-human animals and cells that express a human or humanized B-cell activating factor protein from an endogenous B-cell activating factor locus are described.

Autoimmunity results when an organism's natural mechanisms for preventing its immune system from attacking its own cells and tissues break down. Diseases, disorders and conditions caused by breakdown, and by the aberrant self-directed immune responses that result, are referred to as autoimmune diseases. Notable examples of autoimmune diseases, disorders and conditions include diabetes mellitus, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and some allergies. Autoimmune diseases are estimated to be among the ten leading causes of death. Investment in the development of therapies for autoimmune diseases is in the multi-billion dollar range and critical in vivo systems to test, develop and validate candidate therapeutics are necessary to ensure treatment safety and effectiveness. Further, such in vivo systems are necessary in determining if new treatments can sustain long term improvement in patients and, perhaps, can even provide cures for many diseases that remain unaddressed. Such in vivo systems also provide a source for assays in human hematopoietic and immune system related functions in vivo, identification of novel therapies and vaccines.

Non-human animals having a humanized B-cell activating factor gene


One aspect of the present disclosure relates to a system that can modulate the intensity of a neural stimulation signal over time. A pulse generator can be configured to generate a stimulation signal for application to neural tissue of an individual and modulate a parameter related to intensity of a pattern of pulses of the stimulation signal over time. An electrode can be coupled to the pulse generator and configured to apply the stimulation signal to the neural tissue. A population of axons in the neural tissue can be recruited with each pulse of the stimulation signal.

Through neural stimulation, an electrical signal can activate or suppress a part of an individual nervous system to replace and/or augment a biological function of the individual (e.g., a motor function, a sensory function, an autonomic function, an organ function, and/or a cognitive function). Traditionally, the electrical signal has included trains of identical electric pulses (e.g., constant frequency, amplitude, and interpulse interval), each providing a regular intensity stimulation. However, these trains of identical electric pulses often do not mimic normal biological functions. For example, when responding to a sensory input, normal afferent neurons can generate non-constant patterns of action potentials synchronously on a population of axons. When a regular train of identical pulses is applied to these afferent neurons, a corresponding regular train of synchronous action potentials can be transmitted to the brain. The regular train of action potentials can be interpreted by the brain as foreign, resulting in a tingling sensation or other abnormal sensory perception.

Patterned stimulation intensity for neural stimulation


A water filter outer shell having an improved sleeve and top cover. The top cover and sleeve are formed with interior and exterior conical surfaces, the lower half of the conical surface of the outer shell having exterior threads. The top cover is fastened by screwing interior and exterior threads near the conical surfaces of the top cover and outer shell to eliminate three components from the known device. The tightness and water permeation seal are thus stronger and more effective. The structure has lower production costs to improve market competition.

This invention relates to an improved structure for a water filter outer shell, specially relating to an improvement that has lower costs of production.
The known water filter outer shell structure consists of a flange position on the exterior wall near the tubular opening conical wall surface with an O-ring seated against the conical surface of the interior wall by a top cover over the upper extend of the outer shell. There is an exterior thread formed along the outer wall of the aforesaid top cover as well as a sleeve that has a matching inner thread and which can be inserted on the outer shell and further screwed onto the top cover. The inner lip at the lower edge of the sleeve tightly secures the top cover to the outer shell as well as produces an interior generated binding force secured outward to the outer shell, increases the internal resistance pressure of the outer shell. This, therefore, reduces the tubular wall thickness of the outer shell and, furthermore, increases the water permeation seal.


A method for register transfer level power estimation in chip design includes the steps of: (A) parsing all possible condition branches of conditional statements in a register transfer level code, and establishing power modes inducible by each of the possible condition branches; (B) selecting a plurality of representative input vector sets from input vector sets recorded in the chip specification, and constructing linear characterization formulas corresponding to the power modes based on the selected input vector sets; and (C) calculating power values from the linear characterization formulas that correspond to the power modes, and obtaining an average power consumed by the chip from the calculated power values.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method and computer program product for power estimation, more particularly to a method and computer program product for register transfer level power estimation in chip design.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the increasingly complicated functionality of chips, the number of logic gates in a logic chip also increases quickly, thereby resulting in higher power consumption of the chip. Moreover, after the logic chip is implemented, the power consumption of the chip is oftentimes found not complying with system specifications, and requires repeated modification of the design of the internal components of the chip so as to obtain a chip with lower power consumption. However, considerable costs and time have to be spent at each implementation of the logic chip. Therefore, if the power consumption of a chip can be estimated in advance by a simulation method prior to implementation of the chip, the required implementation costs can be reduced effectively.
A conventional method for simulating the power consumption of a logic chip is to estimate the power consumption of the chip at the gate-level. The gate-level circuit of the logic chip is composed of a plurality of logic gates, and the toggle count of output signals at the logic gates is correlated to the power consumption of the chip. Therefore, by compiling statistics of the switching activity of the output signal at each logic gate, the power consumption of the chip can be obtained.
The output signals at the logic gates are switched because the input signals inputted into the logic chip will change with clock cycles. Therefore, once the input signals change, the outputs of the logic gates of the logic chip will also vary.
To illustrate using an example, reference is made to FIG. 1, which shows a gate-level circuit inside a chip. The gate-level circuit includes a first NAND gate 41, a second NAND gate 42, a first NOR gate 43, a second NOR gate 44, and a NOT gate 45.
The logic chip can receive an input of four signals x1, x2, x3 and x4. The value of each of these input signals may be 0 or 1, and may vary with different clock cycles. For the sake of illustration, an input vector pi=[x1, x2, x3, x4] is used to represent the value of each of the input signals x1, x2, x3 and x4 during the ith clock cycle.
During the first clock cycle, the input vector is p1, and the value thereof is [0, 1, 1, 0]. Besides, at this stage, the output of the first NAND gate 41 is 0; the output of the second NAND gate 42 is 1; the output of the first NOR gate 43 is 0; the output of the second NOR gate 44 is 0; and the output of the NOT gate 45 is 1.
After the first clock cycle, i.e., during the second clock cycle, the input vector p1 switches to p2, and the value of p2 is [1, 0, 1, 0]. At this stage, since the input signal switches, the output of the first NAND gate 41 will switch from 0 to 1, the output of the second NAND gate 42 will switch from 1 to 0, and the output of the first NOR gate 43 will switch from 0 to 1, whereas the outputs of the second NOR gate 44 and the NOT gate 45 will not switch.
The fan-out of an input signal xj refers to the logic gates that may be affected when the input signal xj switches. As shown in FIG. 1, when the input signal x1 switches, the outputs of the second NAND gate 42 and the first NOR gate 43 may be caused to effect switching. When the input signal x2 switches, this may cause the outputs of the first NAND gate 41, the second NAND gate 42, and the first NOR gate 43 to switch. Switching of the input signal x3 may cause the outputs of the first NAND gate 41, the second NAND gate 42, the first NOR gate 43, the second NOR gate 44, and the NOT gate 45 to switch. Similarly, switching of the input signal x4 may cause the outputs of the first NOR gate 43, the second NOR gate 44, and the NOT gate 45 to switch. Therefore, when the first clock cycle switches to the second clock cycle, the logic gates of the logic chip have a total toggle count of 3. Thus, by computing the number of switching activities that occurred at the logic gates, the power consumption of the logic chip under these two input vectors can be inferred.
However, it should be noted that there are many ways of switching the input vector p1 during the next clock cycle. In particular, the input vector p2 is not limited to [1,0,1,0], and may have 16(=24) possibilities, including [0, 0, 0, 0], [0, 0, 0, 1], and [0, 0, 1, 0]. In addition, during the first clock cycle, the value of p1 is also not limited to [0, 1, 1, 0] as mentioned above. Therefore, two input vectors of any two clock cycles may have many possible combinations, and some specific combinations may enable the logic chip to execute specific functions. For instance, switching from one input vector [0, 0, 0, 1] to [1, 1, 1, 1] may represent that the logic chip is being switched to a power-save mode, whereas switching from one input vector [1, 0, 0, 0] to [1, 1, 1, 0] may represent that the logic chip is executing a logic operation, such as multiplication.
However, if the input vector switches from [0, 0, 0, 0] to [1, 1, 1, 1], and this switching activity does not activate the logic chip, such change in the input vector has no meaning for the logic chip. When estimating the power consumption of a chip, all the meaningful input vector switching activities of the logic chip have to be considered so as to obtain a value that can represent the average power consumption of the logic chip.
Although estimation of the power consumption of the chip at the gate level of the chip has a high accuracy, as the input at the gate level of the chip will have a large number of input signals and will not be having only four input signals as in FIG. 1, simulation performed at this level will be very time-consuming due to consideration of the activities of such a large number of input signals.
To describe the internal circuitry design of a chip, apart from using gate level as a basis, the register transfer level (hereinafter referred to as RT-level), a higher level, can also serve as the basis. At the RT-level, a register transfer level code (hereinafter referred to as RTL code) is used to describe the internal circuitry design of the chip. In this RTL code, an input vector qi=[x1, x2, . . . , xn-1, xn] can also be used to describe the values of all the signals x1, x2, . . . , xn-1, xn of the RTL code during the ith clock cycle.
FIG. 2 lists a typical RTL code written using Verilog programming language. The illustrative RTL code is primarily used to calculate the greatest common divisor (GCD) of two integers u, v. In the example shown in FIG. 2, the elements included in the input vector qi are a value of an input signal start, a value of a state control register state, and values of two data registers u, v.
It is noted that in the typical RTL code as shown in FIG. 2, condition decisions, such as if-then-else statements and case-switch statements, are generally included.
Reference is made to FIG. 3, which illustrates a conventional RT-level power estimation method. This method was proposed in the paper entitled "Clustered Table-Based Macromodels for RTL Power Estimation" in Proc. of Great Lake Symposium on VLSI by R. Corgnati, E. Macii, and M. Poncino in 1999. The aforesaid method includes the following steps.
In step T1, a power model is built based on the RTL code, logic circuit diagram, and characterized input vector sets of a chip. The building of the power model involves a plurality of look-up tables to record all each switching activity to be generated by the logic chip. The size of the look-up tables is determined based on the number of the input signals of the chip, and increases exponentially according to the number of input signals.
In step T2, the model built in step T1 is used to calculate, one by one, the power values to which all the meaningful input vector sets of the logic chip correspond, and an arithmetic mean of the power values thus obtained is calculated to obtain an average power value representative of the logic chip.
Since such a conventional RT-level-based method is simpler than the logic computations included in the logic gate level of the chip, it takes less computing time compared to power estimation at the gate level. However, with the advance of technology, the number of circuits within a chip is becoming larger and larger. When the functionality of the chip becomes so complicated that the number of input signals becomes large, the lookup tables adopted by the prior art will become so large that the aforesaid method will become impracticable.
In addition, the lookup table-based method fails to take into account that some conditional expressions are often used at the RTL code design stage of the logic chip, and these conditional expressions will cause the logic operation modes of the chip to vary with different combinations of the input signals. For example, the logic chip may perform a simple logic operation mode at one input signal combination, and a complicated multiplication operation mode at another input signal combination. Different operation modes indicate that the circuit will have different switching activities, and different switching activities will consume different amounts of power to result in the occurrence of varying power modes. Therefore, using such a method to estimate power consumption of a chip will result in substantial errors.
In sum, the conventional method ignores the diversity of operation modes of large logic chips, and the frequencies of occurrence of the operation modes may vary to a great extent with different input signals, so that the frequencies of the induced power mode are very different. In addition, when the operational clock frequency is increased, or when the control signals and data signals become more complicated, such a difference will become more obvious, thereby resulting in relatively large errors during power estimation.

Method and computer program product for register transfer level power estimation in chip design


A direct memory access controller adaptable to control a direct memory access transfer in a data processing system which includes at least a central processing unit and a system bus, comprises a register coupled to the system bus for outputting a transfer terminate request signal which instructs a normal termination when the central processing unit is operating and a write operation is carried out with respect to the register from the central processing unit, and a transfer termination part coupled to the register for stopping to accept a new transfer request signal or stopping to generate a transfer request signal responsive to the transfer termination request signal so as to make an instructed channel inactive.

The present invention generally relates to direct memory access controllers, and more particularly to a direct memory access controller which controls a direct memory access between an input/output control unit and a memory or between two memories.
FIG. 1 shows a data processing system which includes an example of a conventional direct memory access controller (hereinafter simply referred to as a DMAC). The data processing system has a DMAC 1, a central processing unit (CPU) 2, an input/output control unit 3, and memories 4 and 5 which are coupled via a system bus 6 which includes an address bus, a data bus and a control bus.
When making a desired data processing on this data processing system, a data transfer is made between the input/output control unit 3 and the memory 4 or 5 or between the memories 4 and 5. In order to improve a data transfer rate of the data transfer, a direct memory access (DMA) transfer is made between the input/output control unit 3 and the memory 4 or 5 or between the memories 4 and 5 by hardware and not through the CPU 2. This DMA transfer is controlled by the DMAC 1 so that the DMA transfer takes place during a time when the CPU 2 does not make access to the system bus 6 or by stopping the operation of the CPU 2. When making the DMA transfer, it is desirable that the DMA transfer can be terminated with an arbitrary timing.
When controlling the data transfer between the input/output control unit 3 and the memory 4 or 5 by the conventional DMAC 1, the data transfer is started responsive to a transfer request signal REQ from the input/output control unit 3 and the data transfer is terminated in a normal termination at an intermediate stage of the data transfer responsive to an interrupt request signal DONE from the input/output control unit 3. The data transfer between the memories 4 and 5 can be started responsive to a trigger signal which is continuously generated within the DMAC 1.
However, the memories 4 and 5 do not have the function of generating the interrupt request signal DONE. For this reason, once the DMAC 1 starts the DMA transfer, there is a problem in that it is impossible to terminate the DMA transfer at an intermediate stage of the data transfer in a normal termination unless an abnormality such as a bus error occurs.
On the other hand, a Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 61-133460 discloses a method of interrupting the DMA transfer at an intermediate stage of the data transfer by a terminate signal which is supplied directly from the input/output control unit to the DMAC via a signal line which is provided exclusively for the terminate signal. In this case, the DMAC stops operating responsive to the terminate signal which is supplied directly to the DMAC and not through the CPU which carries out the main control of the data processing system. For this reason, the CPU may not be aware that the DMAC has stopped operating. As a result, this method introduces problems when it is necessary to make some kind of a decision or discrimination in the CPU before stopping the operation of the DMAC.