Astigmatism of a beam of first laser light is cancelled at a position separated from first optical element by a predetermined distance on an optical axis of the beam of first laser light by refracting to transmit the beam of the first laser light by being refracted by rotating by a predetermined angle around an axis orthogonal to the optical axis of the beam of the first laser light, refracting a beam of second laser light to coincide with the optical axis of the beam of the first laser light and rotating by a predetermined angle around a second axis orthogonal thereto.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical pickup apparatus for respectively recording and reproducing information respectively to and from optical disks having different board thicknesses of DVD (Digital Versatile Disk), CD (Compact Disk) or the like, particularly relates to an optical pickup apparatus capable of providing excellent spot light of a beam of laser light eliminating astigmatism and comma aberration.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a background art, according to an optical pickup apparatus using two laser diodes for emitting beams of laser light having different wave length, as shown by FIG. 3, a beam A of laser light emitted from a laser diode 11 is made to transmit a dichroic prism 13 and a deflecting beam splitter 14, further, a beam B emitted from a laser diode 12 is refracted by the dichroic prism 13 to coincide with an optical axis of the beam A, refracted in a direction orthogonal to an information recording face of an optical disk 21 to constitute a parallel beam by a collimator lens 16, deflected from elliptically polarized light to linearly polarized light by a quarter-wave prism 17 and is converged into spot light of the beam of laser light to the optical disk 21 by an object lens 18, and reflected light thereof is refracted in a direction of an optical detecting element 20 by the deflecting beam splitter 14 and is detected by the optical detecting element 20 via a cylindrical lens 19. Therefore, the dichroic prism 13 and the deflecting beam splitter 14 which are expensive optical parts are needed, and there poses a problem that a number of pieces of optical parts is increased and the optical pickup apparatus becomes expensive. Further, in reference to FIG. 4, two parallel flat plate half mirrors 33, 34 are used in place of the dichroic prism 13 and the deflecting beam splitter 14 which are the expensive optical parts of FIG. 3, a beam A of laser light emitted from a laser diode 31 is refracted to transmit by the parallel flat plate half mirrors 33, 34 arranged by angles orthogonal to an optical axis (in the drawing, the parallel flat plate half mirrors 33, 34 are shown simplifiedly two-dimensionally) further, a beam of laser light emitted from a laser diode 32 is refracted by the parallel flat plate half mirror 34 to coincide with the optical axis of the beam A of laser light, refracted by a total reflection mirror 35 in a direction orthogonal to an information recording face of an optical disk 40 to constitute a parallel beam by a collimator lens 36, deflected from elliptically polarized light to linearly polarized light by a quarter-wave plate 37 and is converged to spot light of the beam of laser light to the optical disk 40 by an object lens 38, and reflected light thereof is refracted in a direction of the optical detecting element 39 by the parallel flat plate half mirror 33 and is detected by the optical detecting element 39. However, when the beam of laser light emitted from the laser diode 31 is refracted to pass by the two parallel flat plate half mirrors 33, 34, astigmatism and comma aberration are generated and there poses a problem that excellent spot of the beam of laser light cannot be converged to the information recording face of the optical disk 40.
There is a background art in which a first parallel flat plate half mirror is arranged relative to an optical axis of Z axis of a beam of laser light emitted from one laser diode of two laser diodes having different wave lengths by being inclined around Y axis by an angle q, a second parallel flat plate half mirror having a plate thickness the same as that of the first parallel flat plate half mirror is arranged by being inclined around X axis by an angle q, the beam of laser light emitted from the one laser diode is successively refracted to transmit the first and the second parallel flat plate half mirrors, and the laser beam emitted from other laser beam diode is reflected by the second parallel flat plate half mirror to coincide the optical axes of the beams of laser light emitted from the two laser diodes having the different wave lengths (refer to, for example, JP-A-2001-006205).
Further, there is a configuration in which an inclination adjusting member is brought into contact with a lens, and by conducting electricity to a solenoid coil provided at a movable support member and a magnet provided at a fixed member in a state of bringing the inclination adjusting member into contact with the lens, the movable support member is displaced and an inclination of the lens is adjusted by pressing the lens to the inclination adjusting member (refer, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 3392904).
Further, there is a configuration in which first laser light from a first laser diode is reflected by a parallel flat plate half mirror, a reflected beam of the first laser light is converged by a converging lens, the converged beam of first laser light is shaped by a beam shaping prism and is converged to a first optical disk in correspondence with the first laser light, laser light from a second laser diode transmitted through a parallel flat plate half mirror is provided with astigmatism, second laser light from the second laser diode is converged to a second optical disk in correspondence with the second laser light, and astigmatism generated in passing a beam of the second light through the beam shaping prism is reduced (refer to, for example, JP-A-2001-344801).
Further, beams of respective laser light emitted from laser diodes for emitting two or more of beams of laser light having different wave lengths are converged by an object lens, beams of respective laser light reflected by an optical disk and passing through an object lens are detected by an optical detecting element, positions of returning the beams of respective laser light emitted from the laser diodes on optical paths between the laser diodes and the optical detecting element are made to coincide with each other at a light receiving face of the optical detecting element, and comma aberration is corrected by a hologram optical element (refer to, for example, JP-A-2003-317302).


A method for context-aware text recognition employing two neuromorphic computing models, auto-associative neural network and cogent confabulation. The neural network model performs the character recognition from input image and produces one or more candidates for each character in the text image input. The confabulation models perform the context-aware text extraction and completion, based on the character recognition outputs and the word and sentence knowledge bases.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to optical character recognition (OCR) within the word and sentence contexts of the character. More particularly, the invention relates to a method of text recognition based on both the input image patterns using an auto-associative neural network model, and the contexts of words and sentences using the cogent confabulation model.
2. Description of the Background Art
Military planning, battlefield situation awareness, and strategic reasoning rely heavily on the knowledge of the local situation and the understanding of different cultures. A rich source of such knowledge is presented as natural language text. In 2009, DARPA launched the Machine Reading program to develop a universal text-to-knowledge engine that scavenges digitized text to generate knowledge that can be managed by artificial intelligence reasoning systems. The Machine Reading program limited its scope to text available on the World Wide Web. In real life, text exists in many forms other than ASCII representation. These include printed texts such as books, newspapers and bulletins, as well as hand written texts. There are many occasions when only the scanned or photographed image of the texts is available for computer processing. While machine reading systems bridge the gap between natural language and artificial intelligence, another bridge has to be constructed to link the natural state of texts to a unique encoding that can be understood by computers.
Prior art conventional Optical Character Recognition (OCR) tools or pattern recognition techniques are not enough to meet the challenges in general applications of text extraction. Because the text images are sometimes captured under extreme circumstances, sometimes the images will be noisy, or incomplete due to damages to the printing material, or obscured by marks or stamps. Pattern recognition is extremely difficult, if not impossible, when the image is partially shaded or partially missing. However, such tasks are not too difficult for humans as we predict the missing information based on its context. Most human cognitive processes involve two interleaved steps, perception and prediction. Together, they provide higher accuracy.

Method for context aware text recognition

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force


A metal laminate gasket with a hole to be sealed includes a base metal plate having a first hole corresponding to the hole to be sealed, and a first steel plate laminated on one side of the base metal plate and having a second hole with a diameter greater than that of the first hole. The second hole has an inner surface and is aligned with the first hole when the base metal plate and the first steel plate are laminated. A coating layer is deposited on the first steel plate and has a portion deposited on the inner surface of the second hole.

The present invention relates to a metal laminate gasket suitable for a cylinder head gasket and so on.
Conventionally, in a metal laminate cylinder head gasket, there is a gasket having a steel plate as one of metal plates. FIG. 3 shows an example showing an area around a water hole, in which a plate 11 formed of a stainless material and a plate 12 formed of the above explained steel plate are combined. Generally, upper and lower surfaces of the steel plate are plated to form plated layers 13 for preventing rust. In the figure, numeral 14 shows a coating layer for sealing.
However, no consideration for preventing rust is made at a cut surface 12a of an edge, such as an edge of a water hole punched in the steel plate 12, in which rust and corrosion are likely to occur, because the area is very small and it takes time for processing. However, it is desirous to provide a rust preventing process at the cut surface. A specific procedure for rust preventing process must be avoided because of increasing of cost.
The basic technical feature of present invention is to provide a metal laminate gasket in which a rust and corrosion prevention process is applied to a cut surface around an edge, such as a water hole and so on, in a steel plate.
Another technical feature of the invention is to provide a metal laminate gasket, in which a rust and corrosion prevention process can be made without a specific additional process in providing the rust and corrosion preventing process at the cut surface around the edge in the steel plate.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention.


A container for cryogenic liquids comprises an inner container and an outer container which are positioned with respect to each other and are thermally decoupled from each other by a vacuum insulation layer. In order, with the lowest possible weight and lowest possible costs in series production, to achieve the best possible heat insulation, the inner container and the outer container are in each case composed of prepared fiber-reinforced elements which are in each case wrapped up together with a filament and are thereby connected to one another, and supports which are also composed of a fiber-reinforced plastic are provided on the inner container for the relative positioning of the inner container with respect to the outer container.

The invention relates to vessels for cryogenic liquids, which comprise an inner container and an outer container which are positioned with respect to each other and are thermally decoupled from each other by a vacuum insulation layer. Cryogenic liquids are to be understood as meaning liquefied gases, for example helium, nitrogen or oxygen, but in particular hydrogen. Their temperature in the liquid state is only a few degrees Kelvin. Vessels of this type are used in space travel and will also be used in the future in motor vehicle manufacturing. In these applications, a low weight and best possible heat insulation are important.
When used in motor vehicles using hydrogen as fuel, these requirements are extremely applicable because weight increases the masses to be moved and therefore the consumption of fuel. Added to these, however, are also the typical requirements of everyday use, for example those for increased safety and those for particularly good heat insulation. Since it may be possible for a vehicle in every-day use not to be operated for weeks on end, the evaporation losses have to be minimized.
In principle, there are two possibilities for storing liquid hydrogen: in a pressure vessel—in which case the pressure rises due to evaporation; or under atmospheric pressure—in which case the evaporated gas escapes. Evaporation losses have therefore to be minimized in both cases.
Known generic vessels for liquid hydrogen are composed of metal, generally of a light metal. Nevertheless, and despite storage approximately at atmospheric pressure, for reasons concerned with the required, precise assignment of inner and outer containers, and, in the case of the vacuum prevailing in between, for reasons concerned with strength and safety, wall thicknesses are required which continue to make vessels of this type extremely heavy.
Although a container composed of fiber-reinforced material is known from space travel (U.S. Pat. No. 3,392,865), and although its wall is built up from a series of different layers (including an insulation layer and a gas-collecting layer), it does not involve two containers constructed one inside the other.
It is therefore the object of the invention to design a vessel of the generic type in such a manner that, with the lowest possible weight and lowest possible costs in series production, it offers the best possible heat insulation and also satisfies all other safety requirements.

Double-walled container having supports for positioning the inner and outer walls

Magna Steyr Fahrezeugtechnik AG & Co. KG


A portable expandable screen for blocking passing motorists' and pedestrians' views of accidents on a roadway to prevent rubbernecking and promote traffic flow and increased highway safety. The portable expandable screen has a plurality of panels assembled in a telescoping manner like an accordion. Each panel has an outside surface, an inside surface, an inside edge, and a bottom end. A horizontal track is located on the inside surface at the bottom end of every panel. A small wheel is fixed to the inside edge at the bottom end of every panel, for allowing the small wheel of one panel to be fitted within the track of an adjacent panel. This allows the panels to slide inwardly and outwardly in a telescoping manner to block accidents from view on the roadways.

The invention relates to a screen, and more particularly, to a portable expandable screen for blocking passing motorists' and pedestrians' views of accidents on a roadway to prevent rubbernecking and promote traffic flow and increased highway safety.
Rubbernecking is the phenomena of motorists slowing down to observe an accident or anything unusual on the side of the road. Rubbernecking has gotten so bad that in some areas electronic traffic billboards started carrying messages which read, "Accident Ahead: Please Don't Rubberneck." Displaying this message did not last very long as there was no evidence that it worked and it may have actually piqued drivers' curiosity and caused even more rubbernecking. In rubbernecking, a drivers' eyes involuntarily dart to the side of the road, while their foot instinctively lifts off of the gas pedal. The momentary slow down creates an imbalance in the space between cars, leading to what engineers affectionately card "accordion effect" as drivers halt and then accelerate. And, in a very short time drivers have concocted a traffic jam of their very own. That action shrinks the carrying capacity of the road, almost the same way a closed lane does. The effect bounces backward one car at a time, in a shock wave that lasts independently of the initial problem, so that there's often not even anything for the rubberneckers to see.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,036,249 to Kuntz discloses an accident shield device. U.S. Pat. No. 4,124,196 to Hipskind discloses a portable device for screening off an accident scene from view. U.S. Pat. No. 5,269,623 to Hanson discloses a rapidly deployable traffic screen. U.S. Pat. No. 4,465,262 to Itri et al. discloses a portable expandable barrier. U.S. Pat. No. 6,037,866 to Leibowitz discloses a hazard device for a vehicle. U.S. Pat. No. 4,186,912 to Byrd discloses a accident screen. U.S. Pat. No. 5,595,230 to Guerra discloses a crime scene body shield. U.S. Pat. No. 6,435,253 and United States publication #2002/0117270 A1 both to Steeves et al. discloses an extendable partition assembly.
While these units may be suitable for the particular purpose employed, or for general use, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention as disclosed hereafter.


There are disclosed a method and an apparatus for measuring the surface shape of a golf ball. A positional relationship detection process is performed by radiating laser light from the light generation section onto the surface of the golf ball at a predetermined position and receiving, through use of the light reception section, reflection light of the laser light reflected at the predetermined position on the surface of the golf ball in order to detect the positional relationship among the light generation section, the laser light radiated position on the surface of the golf ball, and the light reception section. The positional relationship detection process is repeated at a plurality of positions on the surface of the golf ball, and variation in the relative radial position of the surface of the golf ball is determined based on a plurality of positional relationships thus obtained. The surface shape of the golf ball, e.g., the surface shape of dimples, can be measured precisely.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for precisely measuring the surface shape of a golf ball, e.g., the shapes of dimples.
2. Related Art
In order to improve the travel performance of a golf ball, a large number of dimples--which may be of a single kind of shape or of plural kinds of shapes--are provided on the surface of the golf ball. In general, such dimples are formed during a molding process in which a molding material is injected into the cavity of a mold that has on its cavity wall surface protrusions corresponding to the dimples, and the injected molding material is then hardened.
Although to the casual observer the dimples of a golf ball appear uniform, the shapes of the dimples are affected by the machining accuracy of a mold, wear of the cavity wall surface of the mold due to prolonged use, distortion of molding material due to hardening, and polishing and painting after molding of the ball. Therefore, measurement must be performed so as to check whether the dimples have been formed into a target or desired shape.
Conventionally, the shapes of dimples have been measured as follows. Light from a lamp such as an incandescent lamp is passed through a slit to obtain a light beam having the cross section of a line (hereinafter called "a line-shaped light"), which is then radiated onto a dimple of a golf ball placed on a base. The image of the irradiated portion is captured through use a camera, and the depth of the dimple is measured from the thus-obtained image. More specifically, when the above-described line-shaped light is radiated onto a dimple at, for example, the central portion thereof (i.e., along the diametrical line), the irradiated portion is displayed on, for example, a monitor screen as having a concave cross-sectional shape. The displayed cross section is then divided at predetermined intervals from one edge to the other edge, and the depth of the dimple is measured at each of the divided portions.
However, when light emitted from a lamp and passed through a slit is radiated as a line-shaped light onto a dimple of a golf ball, the light scatters on the dimple. Therefore, the method of measuring the shapes of dimples based on an image obtained through use of line-shaped light unavoidably decreases the measurement accuracy, and therefore is not suitable for measurement of the shapes of dimples of a golf ball.

Method and apparatus for measuring the surface shape of a golf ball


A stage configuration is provided, wherein a ceramic plate is used as the z-stage body to decrease the use of the metal plates in the conventional configuration, so that the compact structure of the z-stage may decrease the vibrational movements of the z-stage. Further, two Laser interferometer are used to detect a movement of different points along a vertical line of the z-stage sidewall to calculate a movement of the specimen surface, so that a horizontal movement of the specimen surface can be detected more accurately.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a z-stage configuration and application thereof, and more especially, to a z-stage configuration for a scanning electron microscope (SEM) machine, a system for detecting a surface movement of a specimen on the z-stage, and a system for offsetting the SEM vibration.
2. Background of the Related Art
In a SEM machine, a stage is used to carry a specimen for imaging or inspection. The stage includes an x-y stage, a z stage on the x-y stage and an E-chuck structure on the z stage, wherein the x-y stage is used to adjust the lateral position of the specimen, and the z-stage is used to adjust the height of the specimen for focus of an E-beam, the topography of the specimen, or the declined x-y stage.
FIG. 1 illustrates a cross-sectional view of the conventional z-stage structure and the structural relationship to the E-chuck structure. As shown in FIG. 1, the z-stage structure 10 includes a first metal plate 12, a second metal plate 14 and a third metal plate 16. A plurality of C-shape flex clamps 18 clamping a piezo actuator 181 are respectively configured on the four corners of the first metal plate 12 and against the second metal plate 14. A plurality of ceramic stands 20 between the second metal plate 14 and the third metal plate 16 are used to support the third metal plate 16 and electrically isolate the second metal plate 14 from the third metal plate 16, to which a high electrical voltage is applied. The E-chuck structure 22 is placed on the third metal plate 16 where the specimen (not shown) is attached to, and an EM shielding 24 supported by a plurality of stands 26 on the third metal plate 16 is around the E-chuck structure 22.
Further, referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 simultaneously, a plurality of the optical mirror stands 28 are fastened on the two sides of the second metal plate 14. Two mirrors 30 are supported by the optical mirror stands 28 by means of glue or mechanical fastening and joining, and arranged on the two sides of the second metal plate 14. Two Laser interferometers 32 are arranged respectively near the two mirrors 30 to detect the vertical movement of the second metal plate 14 and then to send signals to a controller 34, such that an E-beam column 36 may receive a real-time location of the specimen.
However, the location of the optical mirror 30 and E-chuck structure 22 may have vibration deviation due to high frequency (about 200 Hz) of movement. The vibration deviation may cause the z-stage structure 10 to decline and signals detected by the Laser interferometer 32 to contain errors.

Z-stage configuration and application thereof


In a computer system that has an interface to a telephone network and that executes network applications comprising one or more call flows that provide telephony services to callers who access the computer system via the telephone network, a call flow library provides an interface between the network applications and a client application to enable the client application to externally call and initiate execution of a selected call flow of one of the network applications.

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure as it appears in the United States Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to systems, such as voice messaging systems, in which call flows of a network application are executed to provide telephony-related services, such as Call Answer, Call Forward, Voice Store and Forward, Voice Mail, Bank By Phone, Emergency Number Facilities, Directory Assistance, Operator Assistance, Call Screening, Automatic Wake-up Services, and the like. More particularly, the present invention is directed to methods and apparatus for providing external program access to the executable call flows of a network application.
2. Description of the Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,133,004, issued Jul. 21, 1992 and assigned to the assignee of the present invention, describes a Network Applications Platform commercially available from UNISYS Corporation (xe2x80x9cthe NAP systemxe2x80x9d). The NAP system is a configuration of hardware and software that provides data and voice processing capabilities through applications running on an enterprise server. The NAP system provides the interface between these applications, called network applications, and a telephone network. Network applications running on the NAP system can provide enhanced services for telephone networks, such as Call Answer, Call Forward, Voice Store and Forward, Voice Mail, Bank By Phone, Emergency Number Facilities, Directory Assistance, Operator Assistance, Call Screening, Automatic Wake-up Services, and the like. The NAP can be implemented on UNISYS A Series and ClearPath HMP computer systems running the MCP operating system. Further details of the structure and function of the NAP are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 5,133,004, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
A network application is an application program that executes on a telephony-based system, such as the NAP system, to provide telephony-related services, such as Call Answer, Call Forward, Voice Store and Forward, Voice Mail, Bank By Phone, Emergency Number Facilities, Directory Assistance, Operator Assistance, Call Screening, Automatic Wake-up Services, and the like. A network application comprises one or more call flows which determine the functionality of the application. A call flow defines how a call is processed from the time it is connected until it is disconnected. It determines how a network application will react to various telephony-related events. In particular, a call flow specifies each function or processing step to be executed during a telephone call, the possible results for each function, the decision path to be followed based on the result, and each prompt or voice message to be played during the course of the telephone call. A call flow is comprised of a sequence of call states. As used herein, the phrase xe2x80x9cto play a promptxe2x80x9d and variations thereof means to output the digitized voice of a prompt over a telephone connection or the like so that it can be heard by a caller. A call state is one state, or point, in a call flow. At any given time, each call coming into a network application has a finite call state. At a given call state, a given function is performed and the results of the function point either to a next state, or to an exit state. The function can lead to one or many results.
FIG. 1 illustrates the call flows of an exemplary network application that can be executed on the UNISYS NAP system. In the example shown, the network application comprises two call flowsxe2x80x94CALLFLOW1 and CALLFLOW2. CALLFLOW1 might, for example, provide voice mail services, while CALLFLOW2 might provide automated call answering services. Each box 10-26 in FIG. 1 represents one call state.
On the NAP system, a network application developer can specify different call types to be handled by a network application. Each call type can be serviced by a different call flow and has a unique identifier associated with it. An Incoming Call (INCMG) state 12 is the first call state in every network application. The INCMG call state 12 identifies the type of call received by the NAP system and routes that call to the appropriate call flow of the application. In the example of FIG. 1, a first call type is routed to the voice mail call flow which has a call flow identifier of xe2x80x9c001,xe2x80x9d whereas a second call type is routed to the call answering call flow which has a call flow identifier of xe2x80x9c002.xe2x80x9d The different call types must be specified in the network application, and they must also be defined to the NAP system when the network application is installed and initialized on the system. Once the different call types have been defined, the NAP system is able to identify the different call types and to return the appropriate call flow identifier in the INCMG call state 12 when a call is received, so that the call can be processed by the appropriate call flow. Each call processed by the NAP system is referred to as a dialog.
At each subsequent call state in a call flow, some function is performed. On the NAP system, a call flow can execute two kinds of functionxe2x80x94core functions and custom functions. Core functions are pre-coded functions provided with the NAP system. These functions provide basic telephony services such as initiating a call, playing a voice prompt, collecting digits, and the like. Custom functions are application-specific functions that the application developer creates to perform functions not available using the core functions. For example, the application may require the retrieval of information from an application-specific database. Custom functions can be written in any programming language that the underlying computer system (e.g. UNISYS A Series or ClearPath HMP) on which the NAP system is implemented can execute, such as, for example, LINC, ALGOL, COBOL, C or the like.
Referring to the example of FIG. 1, the voice mail call flow (CALLFLOW1) proceeds to call state 14, at which the Play Prompt (PROMPT) core function is executed to play prompt number xe2x80x9cP1000xe2x80x9d to the caller. This prompt might, for example, play the following voice: xe2x80x9cYou have  less than number greater than  new messagesxe2x80x94Press 1 to review, Press 2 for other options.xe2x80x9d Based on the user""s selection, the call flow will then pass to a next state at which another function will be performed. Ultimately, the dialog established for this call will end at call state 16 which performs the Terminate Dialog core function.
When a call of type xe2x80x9c002xe2x80x9d is received, the call will be routed to CALLFLOW2. At call state 18, this call flow might prompt the caller to xe2x80x9cPress 1 to hear prompts in English, Press 2 to hear prompts in Spanish, or Press 3 to hear prompts in French.xe2x80x9d This time the Play Prompt core function (PROMPT) is combined with a Collect Digits function so that the NAP system will accept a caller""s response. If the caller presses xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d, the call flow will move to call state 20 where a Set Language core function is performed to set the active language to American English. If the caller presses xe2x80x9c2,xe2x80x9d the call flow moves to call state 22 where the Set Language core function is performed to set the active language to American English. If no key is pressed, or an invalid key is pressed, the call flow defaults to step 24 which establishes the American English language as the default. The remainder of the call flow then proceeds until the dialog established for the call terminates at call state 26. As the foregoing illustrates, the INCMG call state, in combination with defined call types, can be used to handle different types of calls within a single network application.
On the NAP system, network applications are created using two personal computer (PC) based applicationsxe2x80x94PC SPIN and PC NAPTool. PC SPIN is a modified form of the SPIN program described in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,493,606, and is used by an application developer to create and modify sets of prompt definitions and related information required to expand and play prompts on the system. PC NAPTool is used by a network application developer to create and edit the call flows of a network application. The PC SPIN and PC NAPTool programs run in the Microsoft Windows environment. Further details concerning the use of the PC SPIN and PC NAPTool programs to create a network application are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 5,493,606 and in co-pending application Ser. No. 08/944,924, filed Oct. 6, 1997, entitled xe2x80x9cEnhanced Multi-Lingual Prompt Management In A Voice Messaging System With Support For Speech Recognition,xe2x80x9d both of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.
Once created, the files and information comprising a network application are transferred from the PC environment to the NAP system. An Installation Manager program takes the transferred information and installs it in appropriate files on the host computer of the NAP system (e.g., UNISYS A Series or ClearPath HMP computer) for use during execution of the network application. In particular, a representation of each call flow of the network application is stored in a CALLFLOWS file. This file specifies the functions to be performed at each call state and the logic that controls the flow of execution from state-to-state. An INSPARAM file contains certain installation parameters associated with the network application. A COREDEF file provides certain default input parameters for certain core functions, particularly those that may require site-specific changes, and a CUSTATTR file contains attributes of all custom functions written for the network application.
A network application executes in a runtime environment on the NAP system. Multiple network applications can be installed and run on a single NAP platform, with each network application running in its own runtime environment. The runtime environment for a given network application includes a core function library (part of the agent) that contains the executable code for each core function, and a custom function library that contains the executable code for each custom function written for the network application. Another interface (not shown) exists to provide access to custom functions written in the LINC programming language.
A primary component of the runtime environment is called the agent. The agent is a software component that (i) performs and controls call flow execution (the next function to be executed is based on the result of the previous function), (ii) passes parameters to various functions, (iii) translates new dialog activity into call states, (iv) saves information from NAP responses for use during call flow execution, and (v) enters call flow information into memory-based state tables. Execution of a call flow by the agent is interpretive; the agent interprets the representation of the call flow contained in the CALLFLOWS file. At each call state, the agent invokes the specified core function or custom function from the appropriate library.
It would be desirable if the call flows of a network application could be called externally from another application program. That other application program could be another network application running in its own environment on the host system or some other non-telephony based application running on the host computer (outside of the NAP environment) or on another computer. For example, the developer of a database application for use by mortgage lenders that identifies delinquent mortgage payments might want to provide the ability to automatically call the delinquent borrower and play a voice prompt reminding the borrower of the delinquent payment. An installed network application may already have a call flow that provides this functionality, and therefore, it would be desirable for the database application developer to be able to make an external call to that call flow, rather than developing new code to perform the same function. Accordingly, there is a need for methods and apparatus for providing external program access to the executable call flows of a network application. The present invention satisfies this need.
The present invention is directed to methods and apparatus for providing external program access to the executable call flows of a network application. More specifically, in a computer system that has an interface to a telephone network and that executes network applications that provide telephony services to callers over the network, the present invention provides an interface between one or more network applications and a client application to enable the client application to externally call and initiate execution of a selected call flow of one of the network applications. This is a powerful tool that enables developer""s of client applications to take advantage of existing telephony-related functionality provided by one or more network applications, avoiding the need to reinvent or reproduce complicated telephony code in the client application. Additionally, the present invention allows new network applications to take advantage of the call flows of other, existing network applications. The present invention thus provides a unique form of code reuse that results in a tremendous savings of time and effort during application development.
According to a preferred embodiment, the methods and apparatus of the present invention are embodied in a call flow library that comprises a set of procedures that enable a client application to call and initiate execution of a selected call flow of a selected network application. Each network application establishes a link to the call flow library, and each linkage has a unique connection index associated therewith. A routing table, which is part of the call flow library, contains an entry for each network application that specifies a name associated with the network application and the connection index associated with its linkage to the call flow library. Each entry in the routing table is identified by a slot number (SLOT #). A client application that wants to execute a particular call flow of a selected network application calls a first procedure (GETLIBINX) of the call flow library that contains programmed instructions that cause the computer system to access the routing table and to return to the client application an indication of the connection index associated with the link between the call flow library and the selected network application. Specifically, in the preferred embodiment, the first procedure uses the name associated with the selected network application to access the routing table and to return the SLOT # of the entry in the routing table for that network application. The SLOT # serves as an indication of the connection index for the selected network application, since it can then be used to retrieve the connection index from the routing table entry that it identifies. Alternatively, the first procedure could return the connection index directly.
The client application then calls a second procedure (CALLFLOW_INTERFACE) that contains programmed instructions for causing the computer system to initiate, via the linkage identified by the connection index indicated by the first procedure, execution of a selected call flow of the selected network application. An identifier of the selected call flow and information needed to initialize the selected call flow for proper execution are passed to the selected network application as input parameters of the second procedure. The call flow library may further comprise a third procedure (REGISTER_APP) that is called by a network application upon initialization of that network application on the computer system. This third procedure contains programmed instructions that cause the computer system to establish a link between the network application and the call flow library and to store, in an entry (identified by a particular SLOT #) in the routing table, a connection index associated with that link. The third procedure also stores in that entry a name(s) associated with the network application.
Additional features and advantages of the present invention will become evident hereinafter.

Methods and apparatus for providing external access to executable call flows of a network application


A guide body for guiding the back surface of toner-image-bearing paper is formed from an insulating material and is disposed so as to face a paper transport path. A paper-transport-path-facing portion of the guide body, which faces the paper transport path, has guide ribs projecting upward toward the paper. A covering metal sheet is configured such that a covering portion thereof partially covers a guide surface of the paper-transport-path-facing portion which faces the paper transport path. The covering metal sheet has slits formed therein and corresponding to the guide ribs. The slits allow the guide surface to be partially exposed therethrough.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image-forming apparatus in which, after a charged-developing agent is affixed to the surface of a recording medium in image-wise arrangement, the image in the developing agent is fixed on the recording medium, thereby forming the image on the recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
An example of this type of image-forming apparatus is a widely known electrophotographic image-forming apparatus. As described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (kokai) No. 2002-328552, this electrophotographic image-forming apparatus includes a photoconductor drum, a charging device, an exposing device, a developing device, a transfer roller, a fixing device, and a transport guide.
The photoconductor drum is disposed in a process cartridge, which partially constitutes image-forming means. The charging device is configured so as to uniformly charge the surface of the photoconductor drum. The exposing device is configured so as to expose the surface of the photoconductor drum which is uniformly charged by the charging device, thereby forming an electrostatic latent image on the surface.
The developing device is configured so as to affix charged toner (developing agent) to the surface of the photoconductor drum on which the latent image is formed, in an image-wise pattern corresponding to the latent image. In other words, this developing device is configured so as to develop the latent image by use of the toner. Hereinafter, an image which is formed through attachment of the developing agent (toner) in image-wise arrangement is simply called a "developing-agent image (toner image)."
The transfer roller is configured so as to electrostatically transfer the toner image from the surface of the photoconductor drum to the surface of the recording medium. The fixing device is configured so as to fix the toner image on the surface of the recording medium through application of heat and/or pressure to the recording medium on which the toner image has been transferred by means of the transfer roller. The transport guide is configured so as to guide transport of the recording medium which has passed the transfer roller, toward the fixing device.
In the image-forming apparatus described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (kokai) No. 2002-328552, the transport guide includes transport ribs and a metal sheet. A static-eliminating member is provided upstream of the transport guide with respect to the recording-medium transport direction.
The metal sheet is grounded. This metal sheet is configured so as to stably transport the recording medium through electrostatic attraction of the non-image side (back surface) of the recording medium which has passed the transfer roller.
The transport ribs are formed from a synthetic resin and provided in such a manner as to project toward the recording medium. The transport ribs are configured so as to lower transport resistance of the recording medium and to restrain occurrence of an abnormal image which could otherwise result from disturbance of the unfixed toner image during passage of the recording medium through the transport guide.
Conceivably, occurrence of an abnormal image is due to an exchange of charges between the back surface of the recording medium and the transport guide at the time the recording medium bearing the unfixed toner image comes in proximity to or in direct contact with the electrically conductive metal sheet.
The static-eliminating member is formed of a grounded, electrically conductive member and is configured so as to eliminate static charges from the back surface of the recording medium. That is, through elimination of static charges from the back surface of the recording medium by means of the static-eliminating member, the recording medium which has passed the transfer roller can be smoothly transported toward the transport guide and the fixing device.
The thus-configured image-forming apparatus encounters extreme difficulty in completely solving the above-mentioned problem of occurrence of an abnormal image during passage of the recording medium through the transport guide.
For example, if the amount of static charges on the back surface of the recording medium is excessively large or small, the above-mentioned abnormal image arises remarkably. This abnormal image arises in the form of streaky "trace of ribs" along the transport direction at positions corresponding to the transport ribs or radial "scatter".
Conceivably, "trace of ribs" arises through the following mechanism. In the case of accumulation of an excessively large amount of static charges on the back surface of the recording medium, the electrostatic attraction between the recording medium and the metal sheet becomes excessively strong. This excessively strong, electrostatic attraction causes strong friction between ends of the transport ribs and the back surface of the recording medium moving in the transport direction. This strong friction generates charges. The thus-generated charges cause adsorption or scatter of the toner; i.e., charged particles. Also, discharge of the charges causes scatter of the toner. As a result, a streaky disturbance of image arises along the transport direction.
Conceivably, "scatter" arises through the following mechanism. In the case of accumulation of an excessively large amount of static charges on the back surface of the recording medium, discharge occurs between the back surface and the transport guide. This discharge causes scatter of the toner; i.e., charged particles. As a result, a radial disturbance of image arises along the transport direction.
Meanwhile, various adverse effects also arise when the amount of static charges on the back surface of the recording medium becomes excessively small as a result of excessive elimination of static charges from the back surface of the recording medium by means of the static-eliminating member, which is located upstream of the transport guide with respect to the transport direction. In this case, the electrostatic attraction between the recording medium and the metal sheet becomes excessively weak, thereby causing loss of stability of transport of the recording medium. In this case, the above-mentioned "scatter" also arises.
Conceivably, "scatter" in this case arises through the following mechanism. Excessive elimination of static charges from the back surface of the recording medium causes a relative drop in an electrostatic adsorbing force with which the toner adsorbs on the recording medium. Then, for example, during transport of the recording medium, a certain (mechanical or electrostatic) impact exerted locally on the recording medium causes scatter of the toner. As a result, a radial disturbance of image arises along the transport direction.
The above-mentioned abnormal image which occurs during passage of the recording medium through the transport guide is particularly likely to occur on the second side of a sheet when both sides of a sheet undergo image-forming. Conceivably, this is because a drop in water content of the recording medium and the occurrence of a curl of the recording medium as a result of passage through the fixing device cause a change in the degree of friction of the recording medium against the transport ribs and in electrostatic propensity of the recording medium.
However, controlling the electrostatically charged condition of the back surface of the recording medium by means of the static-eliminating member is very difficult. This is because the condition of electrostatic charge varies greatly depending on, for example, the environment in which the image-forming apparatus is used, and the material of the recording medium. Also, as mentioned above, the condition of the electrostatic charge could differ greatly between the first side and the second side in double-sided image formation.
In this connection, appropriately controlling the electrostatic attraction between the recording medium and the metal sheet through application of a predetermined bias voltage between the metal sheet and the ground potential is also difficult. This is because the polarity of and the amount of static charges on the back surface of the recording medium could vary depending on the material of the recording medium and the materials of elements disposed in the image-forming apparatus, and thus appropriately setting the polarity of the bias voltage is difficult.
Particularly, when the material of the recording medium and the materials of elements disposed in the image-forming apparatus are positioned close to one another on a frictional electrification sequence, the polarity of static charges on the back surface of recording medium cannot be fixed.
Furthermore, the configuration of the image-forming apparatus becomes complex; for example, necessity arises for a power unit to be connected to the metal sheet, and a circuit for this connection. As a result, provision of an inexpensive image-forming apparatus becomes difficult.


In a process according to the present invention, a polysilicon gate electrode and a high resistive polysilicon strip are simultaneously patterned on an active area and on a thick field oxide film, respectively, and the gate electrode and the polysilicon strip are covered with thin silicon oxide films, respectively, then impurities being doped in the active area to form source and drain regions, then the thin silicon oxide film being removed from the gate electrode, then a refractory metal silicide film being formed on the gate electrode, however, the formation of the refractory metal silicide film does not affect the polysilicon strip, because the thin silicon oxide film is left thereon, which results in maintaining the polysilicon strip in the high resistivity and, accordingly, in that the polysilicon strip provides a resistor with a large resistance but occupies a small amount of area.

In the integrated circuit device are fabricated a large number of circuit component elements which are coupled by a conductive pattern so that a predetermined function or functions are achieved in cooperation of the component elements, however, some of the circuit component elements such as, for example, resistors are implemented by the conductive pattern per se.
A typical example of this sort of arrangement is illustrated in FIG. 1. Reference numeral 1 designates a lightly doped p-type single crystalline silicon substrate, and a thick field oxide film 2 is grown on the silicon substrate 1, defining an active area where a component field effect transistor 3 is fabricated. The component field effect transistor 3 has a lightly-doped drain structure (which has been abbreviated as "LDD-structure"), and largely comprises heavily doped n-type source and drain regions 4 and 5, a gate structure 6 formed over that area between the heavily doped n-type source and drain regions 4 and 5, and lightly-doped n-type source and drain regions 7 and 8 extending from the heavily doped n-type source and drain regions 4 and 5. The gate structure is of a self-aligned silicide structure, and largely comprises a thin gate oxide film 9, a multiple-level gate electrode consisting of a lower polysilicon film 10 and an upper refractory metal silicide film 11, and side spacers 12 and 13 provided on both sides of the lower polysilicon film 10. The heavily doped n-type source and drain regions 4 and 5 are overlain by refractory metal silicide films 14 and 15, respectively, and the refractory metal silicide films 11, 14 and 15 aims at improvement in conductivity.
On the thick field oxide film 2 is formed an interconnection which also has a multiple-level structure. Namely, a lower polysilicon film 16 is directly formed on the thick field oxide film 2, and is overlain by a refractory metal silicide film 17. Side spacers 18 and 19 are provided on both sides of the lower polysilicon film 16, and the interconnection is merged into the gate structure 6. The interconnection is adapted to provide a large resistance and serves as a resistor 20. Thus, the polysilicon strip is partially used as the resistor 20 and partially provides the gate structure 6.
The process of fabricating the prior art structure starts with preparation of the lightly doped p-type single crystalline silicon substrate 1. The thick field oxide film 2 is thermally grown on the substrate 1 by using the localized oxidation of silicon technique, and the substrate 1 is placed in a high temperature ambience again to grow a thin silicon oxide film.
On the thin silicon oxide film is deposited a polycrystalline silicon film which is, then, patterned by using the lithographic techniques. Using the polysilicon strip thus patterned as an ion-implantation mask, n-type impurity atoms are introduced into the active area defined in the substrate 1 so that the lightly doped source and drain regions 7 and 8 are formed in the substrate 1. With the n-type impurity atoms, the polysilicon strip is lowered in resistivity.
A silicon oxide film is deposited over the entire surface of the structure, and is anisotropically etched away to form the side spacers 12, 13, 18 and 19. The thin silicon oxide film is simultaneously removed in the anisotropic etching process, and the active area between the thick field oxide film 2 and the side spacers 12 and 13 is exposed. The thin silicon oxide film left on the active area serves as the thin gate oxide film 9.
N-type impurity atoms are implanted into the exposed active area so that the heavily doped source and drain regions 4 and 5 are formed in the active area. The n-type impurity atoms are also introduced in the polysilicon strip, and the polysilicon strip is further improved in the resistivity. After the formation of the heavily doped source and drain regions 4 and 5, a conductive refractory metal is deposited over the entire surface of the structure, and the substrate is placed in a high temperature ambience. In the high temperature ambience, the conductive refractory metal reacts on the polysilicon and the single crystalline silicon, and is converted into a refractory metal silicide film. The non-reactive or residual refractory metal is etched away, and, accordingly, the refractory metal silicide films 11, 14, 15 and 17 are formed on the lower polysilicon film 10, the heavily doped source and drain regions 4 and 5 and the lower polysilicon film 16, respectively.
However, a problem is encountered in the prior art integrated circuit in that the resistor 20 occupies a large amount of area. This is because of the fact that the polysilicon strip is exposed to the ion implantation twice and overlain by the refractory metal silicide. The more impurity atoms a polysilicon strip contains, the lower resistivity it provides. Moreover, a refractory metal silicide is much smaller in resistivity than a polysilicon. The low resistive interconnection should be prolonged to provide an amount of large resistance, and, for this reason, the resistor 20 occupies a large amount of the real estate. This deteriorates the integration density, or the chip size is enlarged so as to fabricate all of the component elements.
A mask layer may provide a solution of this problem. In detail, if a photoresist mask layer is provided on the entire surface of the structure and exposes the upper refractory metal silicide film 17, the upper refractory metal silicide film 17 is selectively removed from the lower polysilicon film. However, this solution makes the process sequence complex and, accordingly, increases the production cost of the integrated circuit. Moreover, a mask pattern is liable to be improperly transferred to the photoresist film, and the resist image tends to deviate from the mask image. This results in fluctuation of resistance due to difference in geometry. The fluctuation may not be material to a digital application, however, it is serious to an analog application. The improper image transfer requests a tolerance, and, for this reason, the occupation area tends to be increased.

Process of fabricating semiconductor integrated circuit having conductive strips used as resistor and gate electrode of component transistor


A building block that is releasably attachable to another block of compatible design by wedging the tongue of one block into the groove of another block, without the need for any intermediate adhesives, bonding materials or any other means of holding the blocks together. The block includes a body, an outwardly-extending tapered tongue, and two inner surfaces that form a tapered groove therebetween. The tongue and groove have substantially the same taper. The top of the tongue is wider than the bottom of the groove. The base of the tongue is wider than the opening of the groove. A tongue and groove joint is also disclosed as well as methods for forming a tongue and groove joint. A base which includes a plurality of spaced-apart tongues and grooves is provided for use in supporting a plurality of building blocks thereon.

A popular type of toy building block is one that has flat surfaces, such as a cube, which can be stacked upon other blocks of like design. Structures made with this type of block are very unstable and can be toppled with the slightest of disturbances. These blocks must also be carefully balanced upon one another, thus limiting the manner in which they can be stacked.
Another popular type of toy building block are LINCOLN LOG building blocks which have transverse notches. The logs are stacked by engaging the notched sections of adjacent logs. These types of blocks can be stacked in only a very limited set of alignments.
Another popular type of toy building block are LEGO building blocks which have a pattern of projections on the top, and recesses on the bottom for engaging the projections. These types of blocks are stacked upon one another by pressing the projections of one block into the recesses of another. These blocks can be stacked together in a limited number of predetermined locations dictated by the pattern of projections and recesses.
There is a need for further building blocks that can be securely and releasably attached together for building relatively stable structures.


A lithium cobaltate based positive electrode-active material for a lithium secondary cell consisting of lithium cobaltate (LiCoO.sub.2) having 0.5% by weight or less of free cobalt oxide (Co.sub.3 0.sub.4). According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a lithium cobaltate based positive electrode-active material which has excellent discharge capacity and capacity holding rate and gives a high energy density, suitable for a lithium secondary cell.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lithium cobaltate based positive electrode-active material for a lithium secondary cell having excellent energy density and a method of manufacturing same.
2. Discussion of the Background
Along with the recent rapid progress in electronic equipment toward portable and cordless domestic appliances, the use of lithium secondary cells as power sources for such compact electronic appliances has also increased. In 1980, Mizushima et al. reported the usefulness of lithium cobaltate as a positive electrode-active material for a lithium secondary cell "Material Research Bulletin" vol. 15, p. 783-789 (1980)!, and since then, research and development efforts regarding lithium cobaltate based positive electrode-active materials have been made, resulting in many proposals on the subject to date.
These conventional proposals cover techniques for achieving a high energy density for a positive electrode-active material such as, for example, one using the chemical composition LixCoO.sub.2, where, 1.05.ltoreq..times..ltoreq.1.3, of lithium cobaltate, thereby achieving a material rich in lithium (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-127454), one achieving in contrast a higher cobalt concentration by using the chemical composition LixCoO.sub.2, where, 0.ltoreq..times..ltoreq.1, (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-134969), ones doping metal ions such as Mn, W, Ni, La and Zr (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 3-201368, 4-328277, 4-319259 and 4-319260), and one setting out residual Li.sub.2 CO.sub.3 of up to 10 wt % in lithium cobaltate (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-56064).
On the other hand, the known techniques requiring specific physical features of the lithium cobaltate based positive electrode-active material include one using an LiCoO.sub.2 specific area of up to 2 m.sup.2 /g (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-56064), one using amorphous LiCoO.sub.2 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-21066), ones imparting specific particle size properties to LiCoO.sub.2 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 4-33260 and 5-94822), and ones setting forth LiCoO.sub.2 crystal grains having a specific X-ray diffraction intensity (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 3-272564 and 5-36414). Diverse and various proposals for methods of manufacturing a lithium cobaltate based positive electrode-active material include, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 3-285262, 4-249074, 4-123762, 5-54886, 5-54888, 5-62678 and 5-182667.
In general, lithium cobaltate used as a positive electrode-active material for a lithium secondary cell is manufactured, for example, by mixing a lithium salt such as lithium carbonate and a cobalt compound such as cobalt oxide so as to give an atomic ratio of Li/Co within a range of from 0.9 to 1.2, and firing the resultant mixture at a temperature within a range of from 600.degree. to 1,100.degree. C. Physical and chemical properties of the resulting LiCoO.sub.2 delicately and diversely vary with such firing conditions as the heating rate and the firing atmosphere, which exert considerable effects on performance of the positive electrode-active material including such characteristics as discharge capacity and charge and discharge cycle.
The present inventors carried out extensive studies, placing emphasis on the foregoing phenomenon, and confirmed that a composition with a slight content of free cobalt oxide in lithium cobaltate could display excellent energy density performance, and that such a composition could be manufactured under specific firing conditions.
The present invention was developed on the basis of the foregoing findings, and is aimed at providing a lithium cobaltate based positive electrode-active material for a lithium secondary cell having high energy density and a method of industrially manufacturing same.

Lithium cobaltate based positive electrode-active material for lithium secondary cell and method of manufacturing same


An exemplary apparatus for testing planeness of a workpiece is provided. The apparatus includes a platform for supporting the workpiece thereon, a bracket vertically mounted to the platform, and a testing system mounted to the bracket for testing the workpiece. The testing system includes a testing member, a test dial indicator having a sliding pole, and a fine-tuning member for controlling the movement of the testing member. One end of the testing member is connected to the sliding pole. When testing, the fine-tuning member drives the testing member to move toward the workpiece, until the testing member contacts the workpiece. The sliding pole extends together with the testing member. A value is shown by the test dial indicator that indicates the moving distance of the testing member. A distortion value of the workpiece can be obtained according to the value.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates a device for testing planeness of a workpiece.
2. Description of Related Art
A workpiece, such as a flat plate, is easy to be deformed after a punching process or other machining processes. Thus it is necessary to test the planeness of the workpiece.
Typically, a plug gauge is used for testing the planeness of the workpiece. The workpiece is generally placed on a flat support, thus a plurality of clearances is formed between different parts of the workpiece and the flat support. An attempt is made to insert the plug gauge into each clearance. The planeness of the workpiece is unobtainable if the plug gauge cannot fit into any of the clearances. However, using the plug gauge to test each clearance is time-consuming and inefficient.
What is needed, therefore, is to provide a laborsaving and convenient apparatus for testing planeness of a workpiece.

Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (ShenZhen) Co., Ltd.


A liquid crystal alignment agent containing at least two kinds of polymers selected from the group consisting of polyamic acids and imidized polymers and having a structure obtained by dehydration and ring closure of polyamic acid. In the at least two kinds of polymers contained in the liquid crystal alignment agent, the polymer of higher imidization degree has a smaller surface free energy. The liquid crystal alignment agent gives a liquid crystal display device having less stuck image and high pretilt angle.

There have heretofore been known TN type liquid crystal display devices having a TN (twisted nematic) type liquid crystal cell which comprises two substrates each having, on the surface, a liquid crystal alignment film via a transparent electroconductive film and a nematic liquid crystal layer having a positive dielectric anisotropy, the nematic liquid crystal layer being interposed between the two substrates so as to form a sandwich structure, in which liquid crystal cell the major axes of liquid crystal molecules are continuously twisted by 90.degree. in the direction extending from one of the substrates to the other substrate. The alignment of liquid crystal in the TN type liquid crystal devices is made generally by a liquid crystal alignment film imparted with an alignability for liquid crystal molecules by a rubbing treatment. As the material for the liquid crystal alignment film, there are hitherto known resins such as polyimide, polyamide, polyester and the like. Polyimides, in particular, are used in many liquid crystal display devices because of the excellency in heat resistance, compatibility with liquid crystal, mechanical strengths, etc.
When a TN type liquid crystal display device is produced using a liquid crystal alignment film formed of conventionally used polyimide or the like, however, the liquid crystal display device has problems in that it gives defective display due to its low pretilt angle or an image sticking is caused owing to its a large residual voltage. Hence, it has been desired to develop a liquid crystal alignment agent capable of giving a liquid crystal display device which has a liquid crystal alignment film of good liquid crystal alignability and a high pretilt angle and is excellent in low image retention properties.


An electrical connector with biased latch and method. The electrical connector has a housing and a latch which extends from the housing. The latch has a latching region and a biasing region. The latching region has a latching projection with a reference surface. The biasing region has a biasing member. The cooperation of the biasing member with a mating electrical connector and the reference surface with the mating electrical connector prevents the unwanted movement of the electrical connector relative to the mating electrical connector.

When assembling an electrical connector to a mating electrical connector or panel, one or more resilient beams or latches are used to secure the parts together. As the electrical connectors are mated, the resilient beams deflect and are moved past mating surfaces of mating beams. In order to facilitate the movement of the flexible beams, the beams must be permitted to move past or overtravel the mating surfaces to permit the beams to move back toward their unstressed. Consequently, when the connectors are mated, the electrical connector has some movement or play relative to the mating connector. While in many circumstances, the movement between the connectors is not harmful, in other circumstances, such as is situations where there are very tight tolerances, the movement of the connectors is not acceptable.
It would be, therefore, beneficial to provide electrical connector with a beam or latch with a biasing member, wherein the biasing member cooperates with the mating connector to bias the beam or latch against a reference surface of the mating connector to accurately and precisely position the connector relative to the mating connector.


A process for the preparation of an aromatic carbonate is disclosed. The process entails reacting an aromatic hydroxy compound of the formula R—(O—H)k, with carbon monoxide and oxygen, optionally in a solvent and in the presence of catalyst components, characterized in that after an initial partial charge of R—(O—H)k to the reaction mixture, the balance thereof is subsequently metered into the reaction mixture at least once in the course of the reaction.

The preparation of DAC by oxidative direct carbonylation of aromatic hydroxy compounds in the presence of CO, O2 and a noble metal catalyst is known (see e.g. DE-OS 27 38 437, U.S. Pat. No. 4,349,485, U.S. Pat. No. 5,231,210, EP-A 667 336, EP-A 858 991, U.S. Pat. No. 5,760,272). Palladium is preferably employed as the noble metal. A cocatalyst (e.g. salts of manganese or cobalt), a base, sources of bromide, quaternary salts, various quinones or hydroquinones and drying agents can additionally be employed. The process can be carried out in a solvent.
However, the known processes do not give yields which are satisfactory for an industrial reaction and produce relatively large amounts of by-products. It is therefore desirable to provide a process which is optimized in respect of yield and product quality.
Since these are processes which are to provide a product on a large industrial scale, small optimizations already mean a great improvement.

Process for the preparation of diaryl carbonates


A deferred error correction code (ECC) scheme for memory devices is disclosed. In one embodiment, a method is disclosed comprising starting a deferred period of operation of a memory system in response to detecting the satisfaction of a condition; receiving an operation during the deferred period, the operation comprising a read or write operation access one or more memory banks of the memory system; deferring ECC operations for the operation; executing the operation; detecting an end of the deferred period of operation; and executing the ECC operations after the end of the deferred period.

Dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) devices are commonly used in nearly all computing systems to provide high-speed access to data used by one or more processors. Some DRAM devices utilize an error correction code (ECC) scheme, such as hamming codes, for ensuring the integrity of data during reads and writes. The use of ECCs allows a DRAM device to detect and, in some cases, correct errors in the data read/written from the underlying memory structures.
An ECC-enabled DRAM controller—typically located inside a system-on-a-chip (SoC)—generates an ECC parity bits and stores the parity bits along with the data in the DRAM data storage. A DRAM device implementing an ECC scheme can implement an inline or out-of-band (OOB) ECC scheme. In an inline scheme, the DRAM controller stores the ECC parity bits as a payload during reads/writes and does not require additional DRAM chips. In contrast, an OOB ECC scheme requires a dedicated DRAM chip (e.g., bank) for storing ECC parity bits.
During reads, a DRAM controller reads the ECC parity bits from the data (e.g., from a portion of the data stored in memory when using an inline scheme). The controller checks for data errors by generating an ECC syndrome based on the read data and compares it to stored ECC syndromes, a match indicating an error.
The above system suffers from the disadvantage of placing a bandwidth penalty due to the fact that some of the data bandwidth between DRAM and SoC is used for delivering the ECC parity bits as payload. The disclosed embodiments solve these and other problems in the art.

Deferred error code correction with improved effective data bandwidth performance


An image capture device includes at least one image capture unit and a calibration unit. A calibration method of the image capture device includes an image capture unit of the at least one image capture unit capturing a first image, the calibration unit executing a global calibration operation on original coordinates of all image points of the first image to generate first rectification coordinates of the all image points, the calibration unit finding a geometric graph including each image point of at least one image point of the all image points according to first rectification coordinates of the each image point of the at least one image point of the all image points, and the calibration unit rectifying the first rectification coordinates of the each image point to second rectification coordinates of the each image point according to a rectification equation corresponding to the geometric graph.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image capture device with a calibration function and a calibration method of an image capture device, and particularly to an image capture device and a calibration method that can execute a global calibration operation on images captured by the image capture unit, and then execute a local calibration operation on the images executed by the global calibration operation to boost accuracy of the global calibration function.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally speaking, an image capture device usually has geometric errors and assembly tolerance due to characteristics of a lens of the image capture device or an assembly process of the image capture device during the assembly process of the image capture device. The prior art provides complicated mathematical models to rectify the geometric errors and the assembly tolerance of the image capture device. That is to say, the mathematical models provided by the prior art are used for simulating physical behavior of the image capture device to reduce the geometric errors and the assembly tolerance of the image capture device.
However, in fact, the mathematical models provided by the prior art cannot completely simulate the physical behavior of the image capture device due to factors of optical characteristics of the image capture device, resulting in images captured by the image capture device having poor quality. Therefore, how to boost accuracy of the prior art executing a calibration operation on the image capture device becomes an important issue.

Image capture device with a calibration function and calibration method of an image capture device


A solar cell of an embodiment includes: a substrate; an n-electrode; an n-type layer; a p-type light absorption layer which is a semiconductor of a Cu-based oxide; and a p-electrode. The n-electrode is disposed between the substrate and the n-type layer. The n-type layer is disposed between the n-electrode and the p-type light absorption layer. The p-type light absorption layer is disposed between the n-type layer and the p-electrode. The n-type layer is disposed closer to a light incident side than the p-type light absorption layer. The substrate is a single substrate included in the solar cell.

A thin-film type Cu2O solar cell of a related art in a substrate configuration generates a small amount of power when sunlight is injected from the p-electrode side. Light needs to be injected from the n-electrode side to obtain sufficient power generation, so that it is inevitable to dispose another glass on the n-electrode as a transparent sealing material that transmits sunlight, but this causes an increase of cost and weight.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Solar cell, multi-junction solar cell, solar cell module, and solar power generation system

TOSHIBA ENERGY SYSTEMS & SOLUTIONS CORPORATION


An illumination light unit has at least one light source that generates illumination light. The unit also includes a reflecting cavity having one or more reflectors and a controlled transmission mirror disposed at an output of the reflecting cavity. The controlled transmission mirror includes an input coupling element, an output coupling element and a first multilayer reflector disposed between the input and output coupling elements. At least some of the illumination light is reflected within the reflecting cavity by the one or more reflectors and is transmitted out of the reflecting cavity through the controlled transmission mirror. The illumination light unit may be used for generating light for space lighting, or for illuminating a display. For example, the unit may be used in a backlight to illuminate a lightguide placed behind a display panel.

Liquid crystal displays (LCDs) are optical displays used in devices such as laptop computers, hand-held calculators, digital watches and televisions. Some LCDs, for example used in as laptop computers, cell phones, and some smaller computer monitor and television screens, are illuminated from behind using a backlight that has a number of light sources positioned to the side of the display panel. The light is guided from the light sources using a light guide that is positioned behind the display. The light guide typically includes some arrangement for extracting the light from the light guide and directing the light towards the display panel. This arrangement is commonly referred to as an edge-lit display.
One important aspect of the backlight is that the light illuminating the display panel should be uniformly bright. Illuminance uniformity is particularly a problem when the light sources used at the edge of the backlight are point sources, for example LEDs. The light guide is typically designed to spread the light within the light guide so that the display has no dark areas. This problem is less acute when extended light sources are employed, for example, fluorescent tubes, although it is still necessary to ensure that the amount of light extracted per unit area is uniform across the display.

Optical element for lateral light spreading in edge-lit displays and system using same


A figure filling device fills a figure in memory defined by X-Y coordinate scan line by scan line with reference to a specified pattern. In the filling of a new scan line, the coordinate data for the ends of the new scan line, for the ends of the previously processed scan line and for the reference point of the previous pattern are subjected to a certain processing so that the coordinate data for the reference point of the new pattern is determined. The filling device determines the address in the memory corresponding to the coordinates for the reference point of the new pattern and the address on the memory corresponding to the coordinates for the ends of the new scan line. A filling pattern is read out of the pattern address in the memory and the scan line data is read out of the scan line address on the memory so that they are subjected to a predetermined operation. The result is written to the scan line address.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a figure filling device applied to display units and printers and particularly relates to a figure filling device capable of pasting arbitrary tiling patterns in so-called "scan line fill" processing where scanned lines on the memory defined by X-Y coordinates are filled one by one.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, software for attractive presentation for use on office automation machines such as personal computers, word processors and workstations has become available. Such software not only expresses characters, graphs and tables but also more complicatedly shaped figures on the display screen. When such displayed images are printed, all figures are represented as polygons with their internal areas filled, since printers usually have much higher resolution--several times the resolution of display units. Specifically, a line having a width of one pixel is too thin to use because of high resolution, and it is necessary to always use thick lines or squares as processing units. There are several methods to fill the inside of polygons including squares, but any method requires scan line fill at the last stage. Therefore, the throughput of the entire system largely depends on the speed of the scan line fill processing.
Conventional software as described above is capable of filling figures not only with a single color but also with arbitrarily tiling patterns by referring them. A tiling pattern is a rectangular pattern with a certain size placed like a tile to fill the area subjected to fill processing. To keep proper continuance of patterns, it is necessary to sequentially determine the location to be referred to in the tiling pattern when performing scan line fill.
Conventional methods to determine the pattern reference location are described here. One of such methods limits the tiling patterns to those with 16.times.16 or 32.times.32 pixels for simple processing. For example, suppose 16 bits constitute one word and 16.times.16 pixels make a tiling pattern in a monochrome device treating one pixel as one bit. In this case, regardless of the X coordinate of the start point of the scan line, the same word data is always used for horizontal direction. It is necessary to determine firstly which of the 16 word data in the Y direction is to be selected, but this can be decided by the lower four bits of the Y coordinate of the start point, and the calculation is quite simple.
In another method where tiling patterns can be of any size, the processing becomes quite troublesome. Firstly, it is required to determine the point on the tiling pattern to which the drawing start point of the scan line corresponds. The X coordinate of the drawing start point is divided by the vertical width of the tiling pattern to obtain the remainder, which is used as the X coordinate on the pattern. Then, the Y coordinate of the drawing start point is divided by the height of the tiling pattern to obtain the remainder, which is used as the Y coordinate on the pattern. This means that two divisions are required. Divisions are generally performed by a restoring method. In this method, the dividend and the divisor are aligned for the number of digits first, and the divisor is shifted to the left one bit by one bit to obtain the number of shifts required until the divisor exceeds the dividend. Then, with shifting the divisor to the right, the dividend is subjected to subtraction. If the result is negative, the divisor is added again. The value left after such shifting and subtraction repeated for the number of shifts as determined above is the remainder.
As mentioned above, recent software programs feature desk top publishing, desk top presentation or other similar functions and are capable of fine and beautiful drawing. Naturally, any size of tiling patterns can be defined in such programs. Therefore, it is required to improve the speed of scan line fill processing. In addition, with WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) becoming popular, it is desired that the image on the display screen and the image provided by the printer give the same impression. To obtain the same impression image irrespective of the resolution of the printing device such as a printer, the resolution can be arbitrarily changed. It is required to change the size of the filing pattern in addition to the conversion of the coordinate data for the figure in order to obtain the same image using different devices with different resolutions. Therefore, it is now becoming more important to fill the figures using arbitrary tiling patterns.
In an application of scan line fill, scan lines each having a length of some dots are continuously drawn (for filling). A typical example is the outline font where the outline of a character is expressed with straight and curved lines and the coordinates of those segments are kept as the original information. The outline font is now becoming popular as one of the basic functions for word processors. Drawing in the outline font function is deemed to be filling of polygons, and can be reduced to the drawing for each of the horizontal lines, or in other words, the scan line fill. Since a character usually has a size of 60 dots.times.60 dots approximately, it is easily understood that the number of dots continuously existing on a single scan line is often several dots. Further, in division into scan lines, adjacent segments are continuously generated. The segment filling processing itself requires only a short time since each segment has only a dozen dots at most. Therefore, the essential point in such application is the speed of calculation to determine the reference start point of the filling pattern. When the conventional method is used to determine the remainder, it takes time in proportion to the number of significant digits of the dividend and the divisor; this means that even when the filling itself requires only a few clocks, determination of the pattern reference start point needs some tens of clocks, resulting in lengthy processing time.

Scan line full figure filling device for display units and printers


The current disclosure is directed to systems and methods for automatically converting multi-dimensional, complex data sets to musical symbols while representing the converted data in an animated graph. The system groups the data into a number of subsets of data according to a set of user-configured rules and maps the grouped data points to musical notes according to configurable mapping parameters.

Computers with visual displays are commonly used to process and/or monitor complex numerical data sets and to produce graphs from live data feeds in real-time. However, visual displays are often overused in complex, data-intensive situations, and might fail to discover hidden patterns in such situations. For example, in financial industry, a trader must constantly view multiple screens displaying multiple different graphical representations of real-time market data for different markets.
Human ears provide a very good alternative and supplementation to the visual way of reception information for visualization and understanding complex data sets. Data sonification can effectively display large and multi-dimensional data sets which can help in uncovering otherwise hidden correlations and patterns. It can also be used in presentations to an audience so that they can quickly understand the implications of patterns in data they are introduced to for the first time. It can also provide way of presenting data that is more entertaining than just showing the data graphically.
Accordingly, there is a need for a sonification system, in particular, a musical sonification system that complements visualization and provides users with alternative and additional ways of identifying and extracting physical signatures represented in the data. In particular, there is a need for a musical sonification and visualization system and method that is capable of improving visual perception when accompanied by audio signals and data exploration of large multi-dimensional data sets.

Systems and methods for musical sonification and visualization of data


A separation carrier comprising β-1,3-glucan and/or methyl cellulose; a running buffer comprising the separation carrier; a method of capillary electrophoresis or microchip electrophoresis, wherein a sample comprising macromolecular compounds is run in the presence of the running buffer; a method of capillary electrophoresis or microchip electrophoresis, comprising the step of injecting the sample by an electrical injection or application of pressure; and a method for analyzing macromolecular compounds by the method of capillary electrophoresis or microchip electrophoresis. According to the present invention, it is possible to achieve high resolution quickly. Therefore, the methods are useful in the High Through-put screening analysis of proteins or sugar chains in gene analysis, proteome analysis or glycome analysis, and applicable in medical diagnostic apparatuses and the elucidation of biological functions, mechanisms of onset of diseases, etc.

With human genome analysis, it has been expected that genome functions will be elucidated. Specifically, it is expected that by transcriptome analysis, proteome analysis, metabolome analysis, glycome analysis, etc., for example, expression of transcription products based on nucleotide sequence information and functions of gene products (proteins), in vivo metabolites, sugar chains, etc., will be elucidated to thereby elucidate the mechanisms of onset of diseases. Additionally, by the elucidation of the mechanisms of onset of diseases, applications to the prevention, treatment, etc. of such diseases are expected.
Currently, regarding proteome analysis, for example, profiling of protein by two-dimensional electrophoresis, etc. are conducted. However, the aforementioned two-dimensional electrophoresis has drawbacks such that the procedures are complicated, that long operating time is required, and that large volume of sample is required.
Additionally, in some cases, capillary electrophoresis and microchip electrophoresis may be used to analyze proteins or sugar chains. However, when analyzing a protein by the capillary electrophoresis or microchip electrophoresis, since the protein may be adsorbed in some cases to the capillary. Therefore, there is a drawback that the development thereof may be interfered, which makes it difficult to analyze it.
Furthermore, since conventional electrophoresis has a limitation as to shortening the separation time in order to achieve high-speed separation, electrophoresis is conducted under high voltage. However, there is a drawback of reduced resolution due to the high voltage exerted in some cases.
Accordingly, there is a need for the establishment of techniques for High Through-put screening analysis of macromolecular compounds, specifically, proteins and sugar chains, of which operations are simple and by which high resolution can be obtained quickly.