Traditional, programmatic automated remote control of computerized devices requires extensive tailoring for each device type and operating system. A visual-symbolic control method enables largely device-agnostic control of any target device with access to display and a means of user input (keyboard, mouse, touchpad, touch-screen, etc). An image-processing daemon analyzes the displayed image and recognizes its component visual entities (windows, icons, buttons, etc.), creates symbolic entities from extracted attributes of the visual entities, and organizes the symbolic entities into a symbolic object model instance. The functional relationships and hierarchies of the visual entities are captured in the arrangement of symbolic entities in the symbolic object model instance. Visual-symbolic control commands act on the symbolic entities, and, where appropriate, the commands are transmitted to the target device as user-like target-input.

Related fields include electronic digital data processing and, in particular, control of a slave computer by a master computer, remote data access, and remote detection and correction of software faults.
Occasions to control one microprocessor-containing device from another are plentiful and increasing. Enterprise information technology (IT) groups in any industry can greatly increase their efficiency and reduce their companies' overhead if they can install, update, and troubleshoot software on servers without needing to physically visit each server. Technical support for field-installed software and hardware becomes more cost-effective when problems can be diagnosed and fixed remotely, computer-to-computer. Insufficient network connectivity is no longer a primary obstacle to efficient control of remote devices, because both public and private networks have become increasingly ubiquitous, especially in urban areas. Instead, the diversity of operating systems and device technology has become a dominant obstacle.
One approach to the device-diversity problem is to provide some mechanism to configure the remote devices. Such mechanisms have included standardized network protocols such as NETCONF®, software development kits for the various platforms such as Amazon's AWS SDK®, and graphical desktop-sharing systems such as VNC® that enable control of a computer with one OS by another computer with a different OS. Enterprise IT departments typically exercise central control over remote devices through platform-specific application programming interfaces (APIs) provided by the device vendors. Each new device platform, needing to be addressed through its own API, adds cost to the central management system. As new devices and platforms enter the market at an increasing rate, the problem becomes exacerbated. Because of the labor and risk involved in adding another platform that IT will need to support, many enterprises are reluctant to adopt new devices or programs that could potentially boost productivity, Instead, they strive to limit the diversity of hardware and software in use.
Software bugs cost the U.S. economy $60 billion per year, according to a 2003 study by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), despite software companies' typically allocating 50% of development costs to testing. The most common approach to software testing is to run a large number of focused test cases. These test cases could be executed faster and more consistently, and cover more of the program under test, if they were automated. Often, however, the automation itself takes a prohibitively long time; time to create tests that thoroughly cover the scope of operation, and time to maintain the tests as new versions of the software are created.
As diverse as the underlying programs for different device operating systems may be, the graphical user interfaces (GUIs) have been converging on at least some degree of similarity. Manufacturers have found that many customers are more willing to use a new device if the interface looks and feels at least somewhat familiar. Among computers, and increasingly among smaller devices their processors and screens have become able to support it, the "desktop" GUI has gained wide acceptance. The device's display simulates the surface of a desk with various objects on it: folders, books, calendars, clocks, and graphic icons identifying programs, functions, or peripheral devices such as connected printers. By entering an input (typing, clicking touching, gesturing, speaking, etc.) directed at one of these objects, a "folder" can be opened to show its contents; an appointment can be entered on the "calendar"; a calculation can be done on the "calculator"; a program can be started by selecting its icon, and so on. Among simpler devices such as microprocessor-enhanced household or public appliances, "control-board" GUIs are still seen; the user "presses" text-labeled or pictorial buttons to perform an action or expose a new selection of options. In some cases, simple text or numeric values can be entered. As the GUI interface becomes more ubiquitous, software manufactures take pains to ensure that their new devices support a GUI, and further that the GUI is not too dissimilar from established GUIs, so that users adopt the new devices easily.
This increasing ubiquity of the GUI as the device interface offers an opportunity for controlling remote devices without the costly traditional API programming approach by interacting with devices the way a human user would: analyzing the on-screen display and interacting with the visual entities shown. If the complexity and consequent slowness of analyzing and manipulating the image data could be overcome, automated operations such as control of remote devices and software testing could be carried out on multiple platforms with identical, or nearly identical, scripts. Therefore, a need exists to interact with different display-based user interfaces (graphic user interfaces, text "console" interfaces, etc.) in a unified way, largely agnostic to the operating system or other programmatic nuances of the target device being controlled.

Visual-symbolic control of remote devices having display-based user interfaces


An approach is provided for providing biometric information processing using distributed computation. A biometric information processing infrastructure determines to receive an input including, at least in part, biometric information. The biometric information processing infrastructure selects one or more analyses for processing the input. The biometric information processing infrastructure also determines one or more processes associated with the one or more analyses. The biometric information processing infrastructure further determines to derive one or more computation closures from the one or more processes. The biometric information processing infrastructure determines to decompose the one or more computation closures for distribution in one or more computation spaces.

Service providers (e.g., wireless, cellular, etc.) and device manufacturers are continually challenged to deliver value and convenience to consumers by, for example, providing compelling network services. One area of interest has been the development of information and computation spaces (e.g., smart spaces) for distributed information management and computing. By way of example, it is noted that various devices (e.g., mobile devices) with various methods of connectivity are now for many people becoming the primary gateway to the internet and also a major storage point for personal information. This is in addition to the normal range of personal computers and furthermore sensor devices plus internet based providers. Combining these devices together and the applications and the information stored by those applications is a major challenge of interoperability. This can be achieved through numerous, individual and personal information or computation spaces in which persons, groups of persons, etc. can place, share, interact and manipulate webs of information with their own locally agreed semantics without necessarily conforming to an unobtainable, global whole. With the growing use of such information and computation spaces, service providers and device manufacturers are challenged to leverage these information and computation spaces to support complex calculations used in resource intensive applications such as processing biometric information (e.g., natural language processing, voice recognition, and identity determination).

Method and apparatus for processing biometric information using distributed computation


There is provided a surface light source device which is excellent in whiteness and softness of a luminant surface and able to retain reflective appearance from occurring. The surface light source device is effectively applied to back lighting in a liquid crystal display. A fluorescent lamp (L) is disposed in the vicinity of an incidence surface (2) of a light guide plate (1). A prism sheet (4') having prism surfaces formed on both surfaces is disposed along an exiting surface (5). The prism sheet (4') is oriented such that prism rows (4a, 4b) on the inside surface run in the transverse direction of the light guide plate (1) while prism rows (4c, 4d) on the outside surface run in the longitudinal direction of the light guide plate (1). A reflector (3) is disposed along a back surface (6) of the light guide plate (1). Light emitted from the exiting surface (5) is led to the frontal direction by the action of the prism rows (4a, 4b) and then returned toward the light guide plate (1) after having been shifted in the transverse direction by the prism rows (4c, 4d). The history of a path of light emitted from the prism sheet (4') is diversified through this process, thereby improving visual characteristics.

A surface light source device utilizing a light guide plate made of light scattering and guiding material and a prism sheet has been proposed and applied to back lighting for a liquid crystal display and the like.
The prism sheet is a sheet-like member made of optical material, which has a surface provided with a large number of V-shaped groove rows, that is, a prism surface. It is known that this element has a function to alter the propagation-directional characteristics of luminous flux.
FIG. 1 shows the most general usage of a prism sheet in a surface light source device provided with a light guide plate made of light scattering and guiding material. Referring to FIG. 1, a light guide plate 1 made of light scattering and guiding material has a wedge-shaped section. The light scattering and guiding material may be obtained by uniformly distributing a substance of different refractive index in a matrix made of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), for instance.
The side end surface on the thick side of the light guide plate 1 serves as an incidence surface 2 and a light source element (a fluorescent lamp) L is disposed in the vicinity of the incidence surface.
A reflector 3 is disposed along one surface (a back surface 6) of the light guide plate 1. For the reflector 3, a regular-reflective silver foil sheet or a diffuse-reflective white sheet is used. An illumination flux is emitted from the other surface (an exiting surface 5) of the light guide plate 1. A prism sheet 4 is disposed on the outside of the exiting surface 5.
In FIG. 1, the gap between the prism sheet and the light guide plate 1, the pitch of prism rows and the depth of prism and others are exaggerated for the sake of illustration. One surface of the prism sheet 4 is composed of V-shaped prism surfaces 4a, 4b, and the other surface is a flat surface 4e.
In the prism sheet 4 disposed as shown in FIG. 1, the flat surface 4e faces the outside and serves as a luminant surface 4e, from which an illumination flux 4f is emitted. If a well-known liquid crystal display panel is disposed further outside the prism sheet 4, a liquid crystal display of back lighting type is constituted.
As the result of repetitive reflection occurring in the wedge-shaped section of the light guide plate 1, such a surface light source device shows excellent characteristics for the efficiency of light utilization and the uniformity in luminance.
Light introduced from the light source element L into the light guide plate 1 is guided toward an end surface 7 on the thin side, while being affected by a scattering action and a reflecting action in the light guide plate 1. In the process, the light is emitted little by little from the exiting surface 5. The light emitted from the exiting surface 5 has directivity according to the size of particles of different refractive index distributed in the light guide plate 1 (more generally speaking, according to the correlation distance in a structure having uneven refractive index). In other words, the illumination flux emitted from the exiting surface 5 assumes a parallel luminous flux.
The larger the size of the particles of different refractive index distributed in the light guide plate 1 is (more generally speaking, the more the correlation distance is), light emitted from the exiting surface 5 is parallelized more clearly. The preferential propagation direction (the main propagation direction of illumination flux) is generally inclined at an angle ranging from about 25.degree. to 300.degree. with respect to the exiting surface as viewed from the side of the incidence surface 2.
On the basis of the above fact, a description will now be given on a function to alter the propagation directional characteristics of the prism sheet 4 in the conventional surface light source device with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.
FIG. 2 is a view for explaining the behavior of light on a section along "a longitudinal direction" in the structure shown in FIG. 1. In FIG. 2, "a longitudinal direction" means a direction parallel to a light supply direction toward the light guide plate 1, in other words, a direction perpendicular to a running direction of the incidence surface 2. On the other hand, "a transverse direction" means a direction perpendicular to the light supply direction toward the light guide plate 1, that is, the running direction of the incidence surface 2.
As shown in FIG. 2, the prism sheet 4 is disposed along the exiting surface 5 of the light guide plate 1 50 that the prism surface is directed inward. An vertical angle .phi.3 of each prism element on the prism surfaces is preferably about 600.degree..
As described above, when the light supply direction is expressed by an arrow L', the preferential propagation direction of luminous flux emitted from the exiting surface 5 is inclined at an angle .phi.2 of about 60.degree. with respect to a normal extending from the exiting surface 5. When a refractive index of the light guide plate 1 (PMMA matrix) is assumed to be 1.492, the angle .phi.1 of incidence with respect to the exiting surface 5 to provide the angle .phi.2 of about 60.degree. is about 35.degree.. A beam which meets such conditions is called a typical beam. In FIG. 2, the typical beam is denoted by a reference numeral B1.
The typical beam B1 emitted from the exiting surface 5 makes a straight propagation through an air layer AR (having a refractive index n0 of approximately 1.0), and thereafter, is incident on the prism surface 4a of the prism sheet 4 at an angle (.phi.3 of about 60.degree.) close to a perpendicular. It is to be noted that the quantity of light incident on the prism surface 4b on the opposite side is relatively very small.
Subsequently, the typical beam B1 makes a substantially straight propagation through the prism sheet 4 up to the prism surface 4b to be regularly reflected toward the flat surface 4e of the prism sheet 4, impinging on the flat surface 4e at an angle close to a perpendicular to be emitted to the outside. The preferential propagation direction of luminous flux emitted from the exiting surface 5 is altered into a direction substantially perpendicular to the exiting surface 5 through the above process.
However, it is to be noted that the altered preferential propagation direction is not always accurately perpendicular to the exiting surface 5. Namely, the altered preferential propagation direction may be adjusted within a range of angles to some extent through design of the vertical angle .phi.3, material (refractive index) of the prism sheet 4 and material (refractive index) of the light guide plate 1 and others.
FIG. 3 is a sectional view for explaining the behavior of light in another conventional structure utilizing the prism sheet 4. Compared with the structure shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the prism sheet 4 is reversed so that the prism surface face is directed inwardly.
The vertical angle .phi.4 of each prism element consisting of the prism surfaces may be about 70.degree., for instance. In the structure, in which the prism surfaces face outside, an vertical angle to provide desired effects ranges more widely than that in the structure, in which the prism surfaces face inside.
When the light supply direction is expressed by an arrow L', a typical beam B2 is incident on the exiting surface 5 at an angle .phi.1 of about 35.degree., and most of the typical beam is emitted to an air layer AR (having a refractive index n0 of approximately 1.0), similarly to the case of FIG. 2. An angle .phi.2 of emission comes to about 60.degree..
The typical beam B2 makes a straight propagation through the air layer AR and is diagonally incident on the flat surface 4e of the prism sheet 4, making propagation through a refractive path as shown in FIG. 3. Then, the typical beam is emitted from the surface 4c of the prism sheet 4 at an angle close to a perpendicular to the exiting surface 5. It is to be noted that the ratio of beam emitted from the surface 4d is relatively very small. Since the path of light after having been incident on the flat surface 4e varies depending on a refractive index n2 of the prism sheet 4 or a prism vertical angle .phi.4, the preferential propagation direction may be adjusted by adjusting these parameters.
The surface light source devices of such conventional types are excellent in that a thin structure is realized, and that a uniform and bright illumination flux is provided so as to preferentially make propagation in a desired direction.
However, demands on a liquid crystal display of back lighting type have been recently more exacting. Namely, not only a thin structure, a large image area and power-saving properties, but also a visual feeling of high quality has been highly required.
The surface light source devices of conventional types described above do not sufficiently meet such requirements. In particular, the surface light source devices of conventional types do not reach the stage of simultaneously satisfying the level and uniformity of brightness and the sense of softness when the luminant surface (the top surface of the prism sheet) is viewed with the naked eye.
Namely, in the prior art, it is not possible to provide a surface light source device having a luminant surface which is fine and has sufficient whiteness without glaring. Further, irregularities in luminance called a reflective appearance occurs in the exiting surface in the vicinity of the incidence surface, resulting in degradation of display quality.
It is supposed that visual quality is degraded due to the causes as follows. Generally, scattering power of the light guide plate 1 in the surface light source device shown in FIG. 1 is not intensive enough to allow clear observation. The reason is that such enough intensive scattering power given to the light scattering and guiding material, the light scattering and guiding material reduces light guiding capacity and is hard to meet the requirements that the luminance of the luminant surface should be uniform. This tendency becomes more remarkable according as the size of the light guide plate (namely, the size of the luminant surface or the size of an image plane of a liquid crystal display) is increased.
Therefore, as far as it judges from a visual point of view, it is not possible to expect an intensive light diffusing action inside the light guide plate 1. As a result, it is supposed that a remarkable quantity of light reflected from the reflector 3 disposed along the back surface of the light guide plate 1 reaches observer's eyes without undergoing sufficient diffusion.
In other words, the ground of the reflector 3 has a tendency to be seen by the observer's eyes. Accordingly, if a regular-reflective reflector 3 is used, undesirable visual feeling peculiar to a regular reflection surface, that is, insufficiency of so-called "whiteness" or that of so-called "softness", or "glaringness" is caused inevitably.
Further, since less diffused light is transmitted through the prism sheet, rows of prism grooves defined by the prism surfaces may be observed as stripes.
Further, insufficient diffusion of light occurs particularly in a portion close to the incidence surface, and a phenomenon of so-called reflective appearance is caused, resulting in exerting a bad influence on the display quality of a liquid crystal display.
It is supposed that such phenomena and a resultant undesirable sense affecting an observer are caused by not only the level of the light quantity but also a combination of related factors such as color temperature and propagation directional characteristics of illumination flux.
When a diffuse-reflective white sheet is used for the reflector 3, a visual problem is association with "whiteness" is dissolved to some extent. However, when the reflector 3 is formed to have a diffuse-reflective surface, such a reflector exerts a bad influence on the level and uniformity of the general luminance of the luminant surface.
Further, when some irregularities (i.e., local wrinkles or irregularities) are existent on the surface of the reflector 3 in the case where either of the regular-reflective or diffuse-reflective reflector is used, these irregularities are seen through the reflector, and therefore, the degradation of visual quality may occur.
For solving the above problems, the present inventors have previously proposed a structure, in which an additional prism sheet is disposed along the back surface of a light guide plate made of light scattering and guiding material, in addition to a prism sheet disposed along an exiting surface of the light guide plate (PCT/JP96/00561).
According to the above proposal, the additional prism sheet is disposed along the back surface of the light guide plate such that the prism rows run in parallel with the light supply direction. This surface light source device effectively solves the above problems. However, it is unsatisfactory from the viewpoint of a thin structure and the reduction of manufacturing cost that an additional prism sheet is required in addition to the prism sheet disposed along the exiting surface.

Surface light source device and liquid crystal display


The present invention is directed to provide a tape drive capable of securely pressing and holding a thin-type or a thick-type loaded tape cartridge being different in case thicknesses, so as to be vertically immovable.

Recently, as a record medium has been frequently used a digital data storage (referred to as a tape cartridge, hereinafter) which is preferable for back-up of small and medium-sized data and smaller in size and lower in cost in comparison with other record media. The tape cartridge has been specialized for a computer data and developed so that a record capacity can be increased by extending a tape length with thinning a thickness of the tape and/or by improving a record format. As a part thereof, a thick-type tape cartridge employing a wider tape in comparison with a conventional thin-type tape cartridge is being used. Though the thick-type tape cartridge becomes thicker in its case thickness by an increased width in comparison with the thin-type tape cartridge, other basic constructions including a fore and rear case size and a left and right case size are substantially the same.
Though the recording and reading out of information data in the tape cartridges having different vertical thicknesses of their cases as mentioned above are generally carried out by their dedicated tape drives, such a tape drive device as being capable of recording and reading out data in any tape cartridge having different outside shapes by only one tape drive device is known to public in the Patent Document 1. According to the device disclosed in the Patent Document 1, a plurality of tape drives corresponding to the tape cartridges with different outside shapes are installed within a main body so that a subject tape cartridge for recording and reading out can be driven by a suitable tape drive.
The present invention is intended to provide a tape drive which is capable of recording and reading out for a thin-type and a thick-type tape cartridges in common with both. But, a compatible arrangement of these tape cartridges in this way itself is known to public in the Patent Document 2.
Further, such a tape drive is known to public in the Patent Document 3, which has a normally-closed door for a cartridge loading mouth, which can be made to swing toward inside of the tape drive for withdrawal interlockingly with a loading operation of the tape cartridge. Thereupon, it is also known to public in the Patent Document 4, to provide a cartridge loading mouth with a plurality of doors for opening and closing the mouth. Incidentally, in this case, the loading mouth of the drive device is devised to be opened and closed by the plurality of doors for preventing the erroneous loading of a disk cartridge having a wrong thickness.
In the tape cartridge according to the Patent Document 2, in order to absorb a difference between thicknesses of large and small tape cartridges, a recessed portion is formed in a bottom surface of the thick-type tape cartridge. In a condition that the thin-type and the thick-type tape cartridges are loaded within the same tape drive, the recessed portion is defined as a positioning reference for the thick-type tape cartridge, and the bottom surface of the lower case is defined as a positioning reference for the thin-type tape cartridge, so that top levels of the tapes of the thin-type and the thick-type tape cartridges within the tape drive can be maintained constant so as to share upper and lower positions of the tape traveling path.
In the tape cartridge according to the Patent Document 5, the center of the traveling of the tape within the tape drive is defined as a reference position, and memory elements to be arranged in the thin-type and the thick-type tape cartridges respectively are located at the positions spaced apart by the same distance from the reference position. Specifications and properties of the tape, data including settings of devices at the time of filming or the likes are stored in the memory elements.
According to the present invention, a main body of the tape drive is provided at a middle of its front surface with a pocket defined by portions of its upper and lower surfaces and its front surface for loading a tape. This pocket is opened by a shutter adapted to slide in the fore and rear directions along the lower surface of the main body case as well as a front lid swingably supported by the main body case. A tape cartridge employing such an openable and closable pocket is known to public as a DAT tape cartridge disclosed in the Patent Document 6, the Patent Document 8 and so on. The front lid comprises a front face plate for covering a front opening of the pocket along a left and right direction and connection pieces integrally connected thereto so as to extend rearward in the case from left and right ends of the front face plate, so that front lid can be pivotally supported so as to be opened upward about supporting shafts projected inward oppositely to each other from the inside surfaces of the connection pieces between a closed posture for closing the pocket and an opened posture for opening the front surface of the pocket by its raising position above the upper surface of the pocket.
Patent Document 1: JP Laid Open Publication No. 2002-15492 (paragraph 0015, FIG. 1)
Patent Document 2: JP Laid Open Publication No. 5-250841 (paragraph 0024, FIG. 1)
Patent Document 3: JP Laid Open Publication No. 8-315473 (paragraph 0030, FIG. 6)
Patent Document 4: JP Laid Open Publication No. 7-98913 (paragraph 0020, FIG. 3)
Patent Document 5: JP Laid Open Publication No. 7-65583 (paragraph 0020, FIG. 1)
Patent Document 6: JP Laid Open Publication No. 9-7342 (paragraph 0024, FIG. 1)
Patent Document 7: JP Laid Open Publication No. 9-7344 (paragraph 0011, FIG. 7)
Patent Document 8: JP Laid Open Publication No. 11-273301 (paragraph 0015, FIG. 2, FIG. 5)

Tape drive with cartridge thickness detecting sensors

Abstract: The tape drive D accommodates within it a loading frame 28 for receiving and supporting each tape cartridge 40A, 40B being different in case thicknesses and a holder 29 for holding the tape cartridge 40A, 40B by pressing the cartridge. The side wall 31 of the loading frame is provided with a pair of upper and lower sensors 34, 35 for identifying the thin-type and the thick-type loaded tape cartridges. The holder 29 is displaced to a height position matching with the loaded tape cartridge 40A, 40B based on the tape cartridge size detected by the sensors 34, 35.


A driving mechanism, a driving device, and a lens driving device includes a lever member. The lever member includes an arm portion for surrounding a part of a driven member in a side direction. The arm portion has a plurality of displacement output portions to be engaged with the driven member. The lever member is constructed in such a manner that a displacement amount of the displacement output portions in a predetermined first axis direction is set larger than a displacement amount of a displacement input portion to be generated by input of a moving force to be applied by a shape memory alloy actuator. The driving mechanism, the driving device, and the lens driving device enable to obtain a large displacement amount with a reduced size and a reduced weight, and stably move the driven member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a driving mechanism for driving a lens unit constituting an image pickup optical system in e.g. a camera phone for zoom control, focus control, or a like control, as well as a driving device incorporated with the driving mechanism, and a lens driving device incorporated with the driving mechanism.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a high-resolution image pickup device has been developed. For instance, the number of pixels of an image sensor to be loaded in a camera phone or a like device has been spectacularly increased. As the high-resolution image pickup device has been developed, a focus function, a zoom function, or a like function has been demanded, in addition to a basic function, i.e., an image shooting function.
A lens driving device for moving a lens in the optical axis direction is necessary to impart the aforementioned additional functions to the camera phone. In recent years, various applications of a lens driving device incorporated with a shape memory alloy (hereinafter, called as "SMA") actuator have been proposed. The lens driving device is constructed in such a manner that a contraction force is generated by energizing and heating the SMA actuator, and the contraction force is utilized as a lens driving force. Generally, a lens driving device incorporated with an SMA actuator is advantageous in easily reducing the size and the weight of the lens driving device, or obtaining a relatively large magnitude of force.
As a lens driving mechanism incorporated with an SMA actuator, for instance, there are known structures as disclosed in e.g. Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-195998 (D1), Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-130114 (D2), and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-156892 (D3). D1 discloses an arrangement, wherein an SMA wire is spirally wound around an outer surface of a cam cylinder for guiding a lens in the optical axis direction to pivotally move the cam cylinder by a contraction force of the SMA wire. D2 discloses an arrangement, wherein an SMA wire is wound between a lens frame and a fixed portion to move the lens frame by a contraction force of the SMA wire. D3 discloses a lens driving mechanism including a mechanism for magnifying a contraction force of an SMA wire with use of a gear mechanism.
In the case where a high-performance focus function, a high-performance zoom function, or a like high-performance function is provided in a camera phone or a like device, it is necessary to greatly and stably displace a lens while reducing the size and the weight of the lens driving mechanism. Generally, however, a contraction displacement amount obtainable by energizing and heating an SMA wire is at most about several percentages with respect to the entire length of the SMA wire. Considering durability of the SMA wire, an allowable displacement range is at most about 3%. Accordingly, in the approach of directly driving a lens, i.e., a lens frame by an SMA actuator, as proposed in the arrangements of D1 and D2, a movable distance of a lens is relatively small, and it is difficult to obtain a lens moving amount required in high-performance auto-focusing or high-performance optical zooming, despite the advantages that stable lens displacement is secured, and the size and the weight of the lens driving mechanism are reduced. In the arrangement of D3, although a certain lens moving amount is secured, it is difficult to reduce the size and the weight of the lens driving device, because loading a gear mechanism is necessary.

Driving mechanism, driving device, and lens driving device


Embodiments of the present invention comprise methods and systems for automatically adjusting images to conform to preference data.

Digital images can express a poor reproduction of a target scene due to various limitations in the sensing technology. Whether captured with a digital camera directly, by scanning a photograph or by some other method, sensor limitations can affect image quality. Aperture, exposure time, lighting conditions, sensor sensitivity and calibration and other factors can affect image characteristics. These variables can affect image sensing and recording such that the recorded image differs significantly from an observer's perception of the actual image target scene. These variations may comprise under-exposure, over-exposure, flatness, bi-modality and others.
An individual's perception of image quality and the accuracy with which an image reproduces it's target scene is also influenced by the subjective preferences of the viewer. While some viewer preferences can be modeled by mathematical functions, other preferences are not easily represented mathematically.
Under-exposed or over-exposed images can be adjusted by reshaping the luminance channel histogram. Generally, peaks and valleys are normalized to obtain a more constant luminance level throughout the image. However, in some scenarios, this technique can produce images that are more objectionable to a viewer than the un-adjusted image.
Human perception of lightness has been well studied. These studies are well documented in works such as: Adelson, E. H. (1993). "Perceptual Organization and the Judgment of Brightness." Science 262(24): 2042–2044; Adelson, E. H. (2000). Lightness Perception and Lightness Illusions. The New Cognitive Neurosciences. M. Gazzaniga. Cambridge, Mass., MIT Press: 339–351; Gilchrist (2002), A. Unified Luminance Anchoring Theory. 2002; and Pentland, E. H. A. a. A. P. (1996). The perception of shading and reflectance. Perception as Bayesian Inference. D. K. a. W. Richards. New York, Cambridge University Press: 409–423.
However, the human preference for various tone renderings of natural images is not well understood. A model for the prediction of human preferences for tone parameters is not presently available. Accordingly, automatic enhancement of image defects to more closely conform to viewer preferences can be difficult or impossible to perform using known techniques.

Methods and systems for digital image characteristic adjustment using a neural network


A high efficiency energy conversion system disclosed herein incorporates a piston assembly including a sealed cylinder for storing a working fluid and an energy conversion element attached to the piston assembly. A kinematic mechanism such as a cam lobe or a scotch yoke may be used as the energy conversion element. In one implementation, the kinematic mechanism may be configured to provide rapid piston expansion in a manner so as not to allow the expanding working fluid inside the piston to achieve thermodynamic equilibrium. In an alternate implementation, the kinematic mechanism is further adapted to generate a compression stroke in a manner to provide the working fluid inside the piston to achieve thermodynamic equilibrium conditions throughout the compression stroke.

The efficiency of thermodynamic systems used for converting thermal energy into work or other useful energy forms is most commonly limited by the theoretical Carnot cycle efficiency for cases of a constant working fluid operating in a thermal engine. However, more complex thermodynamic systems, such as fuel cells, can violate maximum Carnot cycle efficiencies for thermal engines by passing energy through a system where the working fluid chemically changes over time. Nevertheless, these systems are still limited in the most general sense to the assumption of operating near local thermodynamic equilibrium (quasi-equilibrium) at every point in the thermodynamic cycle.
Achieving thermodynamic equilibrium at a point in a thermodynamic cycle requires the rates of heat and mass transport (and chemical reaction for the cases of chemically reacting fluids) for equilibrating a system to be much faster than the rates of change that occur in the system. For example, in a gas piston, the molecular collision rates inside the gas for equilibrating the gas are typically very high relative to piston velocities. As a result, the bulk gas density, pressure and temperature effectively equilibrate almost instantaneously relative to the rate of piston motion, and therefore, the gas tends to remain in thermodynamic quasi-equilibrium (near equilibrium) at every spatial location occupied by the gas. Accordingly, the thermodynamic equilibrium assumption remains valid, and the efficiency of the thermodynamic system remains constrained within the traditional limit.


An implantable orthopaedic component includes an information storage device that contains information related to the component. In the preferred embodiment, the information storage device is an RFID tag that is embedded within the component or within a housing that is configured to be removably engaged to the component. The RFID tag can be pre-loaded with information related only to the implant, or can be configured to allow additional surgery or patient specific information to be added by the caregiver at the time and point of surgery.

Joint endoprostheses have been developed to replace virtually every human joint. As life expectancy increases, people are increasingly likely to require replacement of a joint that simply wears out from years of use. For instance, knee and hip prostheses are becoming more commonplace among the aging population. The success of these orthopaedic components or implants has steadily increased over the years as improvements in materials, manufacturing and design are developed.
It is desirable for manufacturers of orthopaedic components and orthopaedic surgeons to track the products once they leave the manufacturing floor and post-operatively. This tracking can be part of the inventory control for both the manufacture and the end user hospital. It can also form part of the manufacturer quality control and can even expedite patient care by providing valuable information about the associated orthopaedic component. For a variety of reasons, some joint endoprostheses require replacement or revision many years after implantation. Identification of the implant can provide valuable information regarding the implant design and its manufacture.
Until now, tracking the history of an orthopaedic implant has been left to written records or retention in a computer database. Where the records are only used for inventory control, this manner of recording the implant information is usually sufficient. However, many records of this sort are kept handy for a limited time, so that the recorded information may not be available for a revision procedure many years later. Consequently, there is a need for a system to maintain information concerning an orthopaedic implant that is associated with the implant and readily accessible at any point in the life of the implant.

Orthopaedic components with data storage element


A method for identity mapping across web services uses a delegated authorization protocol, such as OAuth. In response to a request from a first user at a first web service, a connection to a second web service is established using the protocol. The second web service responds by sending information associated with a second user of the first web service who previously logged into the second web service from the first web service using the protocol. The second user may be a “contact” of the first user. The information received from the second web service is a access token that was obtained by the second user during that prior login. The access token is provided in lieu of data associated with the second user's account at the second web service. Thereafter, the first web service uses the access token it received to map to an identity of the second user.

1. Technical Field
This disclosure relates generally to user authentication across services operating in a network environment.
2. Background of the Related Art
The problem of mapping identity across web services, especially social networks, can be very difficult. Several options are available to enable re-use of identity across domains. These include protocols such as OpenID, SAML and other proprietary login systems provided by web services. OpenID, for example, is an open standard that allows users to be authenticated by certain co-operating sites (known as relying parties using a third party service, which eliminates the need for webmasters to provide their own ad hoc systems. With OpenID, users create accounts with their preferred OpenID identity providers, and then use those accounts as the basis for signing on to any website which accepts OpenID authentication. Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) is an XML-based standard for exchanging authentication and authorization data between security domains, that is, between an identity provider (a producer of assertions) and a service provider (a consumer of assertions). SAML implements the concepts of Identity Providers (source of assertions), and Service Providers (consumers of assertions). The Service Provider (SP) trusts the Identity Provider (IdP) to authenticate the principal. SAML assumes the principal (often a user) has enrolled with at least one identity provider. This identity provider is expected to provide local authentication services to the principal. At the principal's request, the identity provider passes a SAML assertion to the service provider. On the basis of this assertion, the service provider makes an access control decision. To facilitate SAML, a trusted partnership may be set up that comprises IdPs and SPs exchanging metadata about each other's SAML implementation, including keys to encrypt/decrypt the SAML assertions.
While these protocols have advantages, they each depend on the existence of a central identity provider. Often, however, there are situations where a centralized identity provider is insufficient, for example, if a user does not have an identity with that provider, or if the user does not trust a web service with his or her centralized identity. In these cases, protocols for "delegated authorization" are a better choice to the problem of mapping identity across web services.
One such delegated authorization protocol is OAuth, by which users can authorize creation of temporary access tokens to link their accounts between web services without the need for a centralized identity. OAuth is an open protocol that enables users to share their private data between different Web sites along with their credentials but, at the same time, only expose the data on the original Web site where it is held. In other words, the OAuth protocol allows users to share private resources stored on one Web site with other sites without exposing the users' credentials—for example, usernames and passwords—to Web sites other than the one holding the users' data.
While OAuth also provides advantages, it does not explicitly map identity between domains, and it does not enable persisting of long-term relationships across services.

Federated identity mapping using delegated authorization

International Business Machines Corporation


A measuring device (6) subjected to gravitational forces and including at least one laterally oscillating, pendulously suspended, support structure (7) for supporting at least one of a measuring element, and optical element, and a suspension element for suspending the support structure and including at least one hinge formed as a tape hinge (21; 40).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a measuring device subjected to gravitational forces and including at least one laterally oscillating, pendulously suspended support structure for supporting, e.g., an optical device. In particular, the present invention relates to a suspension for such a device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In many scientific and technical applications, the gravity force acting on a measuring system plays not inconsiderable role. In many cases, the action of the gravity force is used directly or indirectly for solving a measurement problem Inclinometer, horizon sensor, accelerometer, leveling devices are examples of measuring devices influenced by gravitational forces. In particular, it is often necessary to precisely align horizontally and/or vertically a measuring device, a display device, an optical device and the like. In particular, optical devices for projection of marks over large distances put high demands to a leveling device in order to keep a projection error over a large distance as small as possible. For some time, in constructional industry and in building technology, apparatuses, which contain optical devices for transmitting marks over large distances, e.g., with a light beam, in particular, with a laser beam, are used. With the help of an optical device, which is contained in an apparatus, a laser beam is splitted, e.g., in two or three laser beam components extending, respectively, perpendicular to each other. With such an optical device, an apparatus for displaying right angles and for laying out horizontally and/or vertically extending marks can be formed.
The prior art discloses different solutions for aligning a laser beam manually or automatically in order to insure an exact horizontal and/or vertical course of a laser beam in case of uneven surfaces. One of the known solution consists in that a support plate for a light source and an optical device, which is arranged in the housing of an apparatus, is manually adjusted horizontally and/or vertically in a desired manner with set screws and level indicators, e.g., bubble or water levels. This solution is constructively relatively expensive. Besides, manual adjustment is laborious and often cannot be effected with a desired precision. The adjustment can be simplified and a high adjustment precision can be achieved by the automatization of the adjustment process, e.g., by providing servomotors connected with the level indicator. However, this solution is associated with relatively high costs, connected with the provision of necessary mechanical and electronic means, and increases the overall cost of the measuring apparatus. In addition, leveling devices equipped with servomotors require a relatively large mounting space and, therefore, are used primarily with large precision apparatuses, e.g., with rotating constructional lasers.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,459,932 discloses a laser indicator which emits at least two mutually perpendicular laser beam. The disclosed indicator is used for transmission of horizontal and/or vertical marks or right angles. With this apparatus, e.g., components can be exactly aligned and controlled horizontally and vertically or arranged at a right angle. The apparatus has relatively small dimensions. The action of the leveling device for horizontal and/or vertical alignment of the laser beams is based on the use of gravitational forces. To this end, the light source and the optical device are arranged on a platform which is attached, in a pendulum-like manner, to a wire suspended from the apparatus housing. The pendulously suspended platform has two lateral degrees of freedom and, thereby, can by itself compensate unevenness of the support surface of the apparatus due to action of the gravitational forces. Damping of the pendulously suspended platform is effected, e.g., with a magnetic means. To this end, magnetized elements arranged on the platform cooperate with magnets arranged in the apparatus housing in the vicinity of the platform. To prevent breaking of a relatively brittle wire suspension under impact loads, at least one spring element is provided between a point, at which the wire is attached to the housing, and a point at which it is connected with the platform. The spring element, e.g., a coil spring, damps all of the impacts applied to the housing and reduces the danger of the wire suspension being broken. The spring element can be serieusly connected with the wire suspension but also can be used instead of the wire suspension. For power supply, there are provided thin conducting wires which connect a power source arranged in the housing with the light source. The conducting wires have a relatively small mass and are arranged in such a way that their influence on the pendulously suspended platform is minimal. Nevertheless, the stiffness of the wire suspension and the mass of the conducting wires create a torque which prevents an exact horizontal and/or vertical alignment of the platform. The insignificant position errors are compensated with optical means.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to improve the apparatus or device described in the above-mentioned U.S. Patent so that the susceptibility of the pendulously suspended platform to impacts is further reduced. A further object of the present invention to prevent, to a most possible extent, interfering oscillation mods such as particularly occurring in wire suspensions. The pendulous suspension of a platform, which supports the light source of the laser and the optical device, should be modified so that preconditions for reducing the influence of the torque of the conducting wires on the pendulous suspension are created. The modified pendulous suspension should be capable of being produced in a simple and cost-effective manner.
These and other objects of the present invention, which will become apparent hereinafter, are achieved by providing a measuring device subjected to gravitionaly forces and including at least one laterally oscillating, pendulously suspended, support structure for supporting at least one of measuring means and optical means, and means for suspending the support structure and including at least one hinge formed as a tape hinge. Tape hinges have, as a result of their lateral tensioning under the action of impact loads, a greater rigidity than a springy pendulous wire or thread suspension a cross-section of which approximates a point. By forming the hinge as a tape hinge, a bendable region is formed in the hinge which is characterized by a fixed laterally extending neutral axis in a narrow predetermined longitudinal region of the hinge. Further, with regard to available materials, a greater selection of material exists for tape hinges than is the case with wire or thread suspensions. Tape hinges despite their relatively greater rigidity, have a high flexibility and a small base stiffness.
During manufacturing of the tape hinge, the oscillation damping aspect is taken care of to a certain degree by the geometrical design of the hinge section. Thereby, additional damping means, e.g., magnetic means, can be reduced in size. The technology for producing the tape hinges is cost-effective and has proved itself. The articulation region of the suspension can be prefabricated with a reproducible stiffness and need not be first formed during the mounting, as is the case with suspension wires, which may result, dependant on the quality of the mounting, in that the hinge stiffness would differ from hinge to hinge. Because the hinge link is prefabricated, it can be easily mounted in the device.
In particular, tape hinges are suitable for a completely automatic mounting, which further reduces manufacturing and assembly costs of a device equipped with a leveling device according to the present invention.
The suspension can, e.g., include a rubber-like material at least in the articulation region. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, which is particularly adapted for a mass production of the suspension, the tape hinge includes plastics or a material compound, in particular, a plastic compound with rubber characteristics. E.g., as a plastic material, polymers such as polyolefine, polypropylene, polyvinyl compounds, or products of polycondensation, such as, e.g., polyamide, and/or their co-polymers can be used. In the articulation region, a tape hinge, which is formed of a thermoplastic material or a material compound with rubber characteristics, has a wall thickness from about 5 xcexcmm to about 400 xcexcm. The longitudinal extent of the articulation region of such tape hinges is smaller than 3 mm.
While a tape hinge can, e.g., be produced as a one-piece part by injection-molding, there is also exists a possibility to form the hinge of several parts. In this case, the hinge has a band-like section and two sections surrounding the band-like section at its opposite ends and having a greater thickness than a thickness of the band-like section. The surrounding sections can be formed of the same material as the band-like section or of a different material. The two surrounding sections serve as suspension or connection regions.
In an advantageous embodiment of the present invention, the tape hinge is provided with conducting wires which serve for supplying power to components supported on the pendulously suspended platform and/or serve as signal lines. Because the power lines or signal lines are connected with the hinge, preferably, are integrated therein, separate conducting wires, the moment of which can influence the leveling function, are eliminated. The advantage of this consists in that expensive compensation means, which is required, e.g., in case of optical devices, can be dispensed with.
It is advantageous when the suspension includes two serieusly connected tape hinges the articulation regions of which are pivoted relative to each by 90xc2x0. In this embodiment of the inventive suspension, the tape hinges are connected with each other in a manner of a universal coupling, and the serieusly connected tape hinges cover both lateral swinging possibilities. Both hinges can be formed as identical separate hinges connected with each other and pivoted relative to each other by 90xc2x0. According to a further embodiment of the invention, both hinges can be formed as a one-piece part.
According to a further embodiment of the invention, the suspension includes at least two serieusly connected frame structures hingedly connected with each other by at least one tape hinge. The frame structures can be reliably secured in the housing and provide a relative large surface for connection with the support structure, i.e., the platform. They have a vertical orientation and provide sufficient space for measuring and optical means arrangeable on the pendulously suspended platform.
For effecting a cardanic suspension, there are provided three serieusly connected frame structures, with each two adjacent frame structures being connected with each other by tape hinges. The hinged connection of the first and second frame structures is pivoted relative to the hinged connection of the second and third frame structures by 90xc2x0. The hingedly connected frame structures are advantageously formed as a one-piece plastic part which, advantageously, is produced by injection-molding.
The suspension according to the present invention for use in a measuring device subjected to gravitational forces can have many applications where a gravitational force influences the measurement. It is particularly suitable for a leveling devices based on the use of a gravitational force for aligning the device or its measuring system precisely in a desired direction circumferentially. The inventive suspension is particularly suitable for apparatuses the leveling device of which is formed for horizontal and/or vertical alignment of a light source arranged on a pendulously suspended platform on which, if necessary, an optical beam splitter connected with the light source can be arranged. It is particularly suitable for multi-axes laser indicator devices which emit at least two mutually perpendicular laser beams and are used, e.g., for marking and controlling of exact horizontal and/or vertical alignment of constructional parts and for display of right angles.

Measuring device subjected to gravitational forces and having a pendulous suspension


This invention provides a digital-analog converter circuit capable of appropriately correcting the optical characteristics of the liquid crystals according to the change in design or the preference of the user, and achieving goals of miniaturization, cost-lowering, as well as wide design suitability. The digital-analog converter circuit includes a storage device for storing a voltage characteristic curve, a modulating device for generating a frequency signal in accordance with a data from the voltage characteristic curve stored in the storage device in response to a selected data, a variable resistance device connected between a first power source and a second power source, in which the resistance value of the variable resistance device is changed in accordance with the frequency signal from the modulating device, a holding device for holding a voltage generated at the variable resistance device, and an output device for outputting the voltage to a desired output end.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a digital-analog converter circuit. More particularly, the present invention relates to a digital-analog converter circuit, which is capable of generating a driving voltage according to a γ curve for correcting optical characteristic of liquid crystals.
2. Description of the Related Art
The liquid crystals are driven by changing a voltage applied thereupon. The relationship between driving voltages and the optical characteristic is generally non-linear. In order to correct this non-linear relationship, a γ voltage is provided to the liquid crystals. Such γ voltage in a low-temperature polysilicon (LTPS) liquid crystal display is constituted by a plurality of resistors in serial connection made on a glass substrate and a plurality of intermediate nodes between these resistors. A γ voltage corresponding to an input data can be extracted from such a structure. The γ voltages forms a voltage curve determined by the characteristic of the liquid crystals.
However, such a voltage curve is determined by the resistors in serial connection made with using an exposure mask, the resistors structure is fixed and cannot be changed anymore. Therefore, despite the change in the characteristic of the liquid crystals due to the change of their material under such condition, in order to change the value of the series resistors, the exposure mask must be remade. Furthermore, due to the optical characteristic of the liquid crystals themselves, the picture quality of the liquid crystals can be changed according to the preferences of the user. However, the conventional technique can not fulfill such demand. In addition, in order to fulfill various demands, respective γ voltage generators with different properties would become necessary, which is an obstacle for device miniaturization and cost reduction. Furthermore, this would worsen the design suitability derived from the concept that one design is applicable to various devices. The design compatibility for a plurality of devices would be difficult, and ultimately leading to the increase of cost.


A robust mesoporous metal-organic framework comprising a hafnium-based metal-organic framework and a single-site zirconium-benzyl species is provided. The hafnium, zirconium-benzyl metal-organic framework is useful as a catalyst for the polymerization of an alkene.

Heterogeneous catalysts have many advantages over their homogeneous counterparts including recyclability, easier separation from product streams and, often, greater stability. Accordingly, nearly 80% of industrial processes employ heterogeneous catalysts (Synthesis of Solid Catalysts; de Jong, K. P., Ed.; Wiley-VCH: Germany, 2009). Despite their broad implementation, the design and synthesis of new highly active and selective heterogeneous catalysts remains an important goal. Typically, heterogeneous catalysts are supported on complex materials in which it is difficult to characterize active sites and establish structure-activity relationships in order to rationally design improved catalytic species (Boudart, M.; Djéga-Mariadassou, G. Kinetics of Heterogeneous Catalytic Reactions; Princeton University Press: Princeton, N.J., 1984; Thomas, J. M.; Thomas, W. J. Principles and Practice of Heterogeneous Catalysis; VCH: New York, 1997). Thus, there is still a need for methods to synthesize heterogeneous catalysts in a controlled and well-defined manner and for their computational characterization.
One approach to access well-defined "single-site" heterogeneous catalysts is to employ atomically defined and periodic supports (Coperet, C. et al., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2003, 42, 156; Stalzer, M. M. et al., Catal. Lett. 2015, 145, 3). It is desired to utilize a chemically and thermally robust metal-organic framework (MOF) in lieu of a traditional metal oxide or activated carbon as a platform for supporting homogeneous complexes. MOFs are three-dimensional, crystalline, porous materials composed of inorganic nodes (metal ions or clusters) and organic linkers, and have been investigated for many applications (Furukawa, H. et al., Science 2013, 341, 1230444). Given the periodic structure of MOFs and the potential to determine the precise position of atoms using single X-ray diffraction studies, they are considered to be promising and underutilized catalytic supports.
One class of MOFs that has gained recognition for their exceptional stability is Zr- and Hf-based MOFs, which consist of Zr6 or Hf6 nodes [M6(μ3—O)4(μ3—OH)4(OH)4(H2O)4, M=Zr, Hf] and the tetra-carboxylate linker 1,3,6,8-tetrakis(p-benzoate)pyrene (H4TBAPy) (Cavka, J. H. et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2008, 130, 13850; Feng, D. et al., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2012, 51, 10307; Morris, W. et al., Inorg. Chem. 2012, 51, 6443; Furukawa, H. et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2014, 136, 4369; Mondloch, J. E. et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2013, 135, 10294; Beyzavi, M. H. et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2014, 136, 15861). These MOFs exhibit large 29-30 Å hexagonal mesopores to facilitate mass transport (of both catalyst precursors and reactants/products) throughout the material, and accessible grafting sites in the form of —OH and —OH2 groups, the topology of which has been experimentally and computationally determined (Planas, N. et al., J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2014, 5, 3716). It has been shown that these anchoring sites can be functionalized via atomic layer deposition (ALD), wet impregnation with organometallic precursors, and with carboxylate groups via ligand attachment (Yang, D. et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2015; Deria, P. et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2013, 135, 16801; Deria, P. et al., Chem. Commun. 2014, 50, 1965.
Incorporation of metal complexes into MOFs has been explored using three methodologies: (1) inclusion of metal complexes into MOF pores; (2) covalent attachment onto organic linkers; and (3) covalent attachment to functional groups associated with the inorganic nodes (Meilikhov, M. et al., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2010, 49, 6212; Kalidindi, S. B. et al., Chem. Commun. 2011, 47, 8506; Zhang, Z. et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 134, 928; Li, B. et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2014, 136, 1202; Lee, J. et al., Chem. Soc. Rev. 2009, 38, 1450; Yoon, M. et al., Chem. Rev. 2011, 112, 1196; Meilikhov, M. et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2009, 131, 9644; Larabi, C. et al., Eur. J. Inorg. Chem. 2012, 2012, 3014; Nguyen, H. G. T. et al., ACS Catalysis 2014, 4, 2496. Compared to inclusion complexes, covalent attachment is more likely to lead to catalytic materials broadly useful for demanding heterogeneous reactions. It is believed that attachment to the node is more likely to lead to well-defined and periodic heterogeneous species given that installing appropriate grafting sites on linkers in a regular and controlled manner is often difficult.
Full characterization and preliminary olefin polymerization activity of an organozirconium precursor covalently attached to a Hf-based MOF (Scheme 1) has previously been reported (Bassett, J. M. et al., Acc. Chem. Res. 2010, 43, 323). Supported group 4 metal-alkyl species have been extensively investigated for nearly four decades due to their importance in olefin polymerization, hydrogenation, and other catalytic reactions (Ballard, D. G. H. Adv. Catal. 1973, 23, 263.; Yermakov, Y. et al., Adv. Catal. 1975, 24, 173; Williams, L. A. et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2013, 110, 413; Gu, W. et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2015, 137, 6770).

It is therefore desirable to provide for the synthesis, full characterization, and preliminary olefin polymerization activity of an organozirconium precursor covalently attached to a group 4 metal-based, e.g. hafnium, metal-organic framework.

Transition metal complexes supported on metal-organic frameworks for heterogeneous catalysts


The present invention generally refers to a dispenser for a liquid medium consisting of two components. The dispenser in particular comprises two accomodation compartments for two different components of the material to be dispensed. Each of the accomodation compartments has an outlet and a mixer connected thereto. The mixer is manually adjustable by means of an adjuster and changes the ratio of the supplied components of the medium. Finally, the dispenser comprises a dispenser nozzle for the medium to be dispensed, which is connected to the mixer.

The present invention refers to a dispenser for a liquid medium consisting of two components.
Bottles and cans are available for accomodating liquid media for every day use, such as washing-up liquid, liquid soap, perfumes, sun tan lotion and the like, said bottles or cans being provided with an upper part in which a manually operable pump is disposed, by means of which the content of the container may be pumped to a dispenser nozzle. Containers of this kind are generally known.
A device for dispensing liquid agents to be mixed at a given ratio is known from DE-OS 33 16 922, said device having a plunger-cylinder system having a number of juxtaposed cylinders including a rejection plunger each, said number corresponding to the amount of agents to be mixed. These cylinders are the reservoirs for the agents to be dispensed, and their effective volume is reduced by displacing the plungers upon an increase in consumption. All plungers are moved by a spindle mechanism which can be operated at a hand wheel.
A dispenser for a hair dye is known from EP-A-0 510 352, said dispenser containing a second container, accomodating a hair dye developer, in a first container, accomodating a propellant. The dispenser further comprises an output nozzle and a valve structure having first and second valves, that are connected to both containers and the output nozzle and that are operated simultaneously to enable a simultaneous output of the liquids contained in the first and second containers under the influence of the propellant, wherein the mixing ratio of the container contents is not changed at the output nozzle.

Dispenser for a liquid medium consisting of two components


The present invention relates to a polypropylene composition for thermoforming comprising:                from 50% by weight to at most 90% by weight of a polypropylene A, wherein polypropylene A is a polypropylene random copolymer, based on the total weight of the polypropylene composition; and        from 10% by weight to at most 50% by weight of a polypropylene B, wherein polypropylene B is a polypropylene homopolymer, based on the total weight of the polypropylene composition; wherein the melt flow index of polypropylene B is at most 1.0 g/10 min, as measured according to the method of standard ISO 1133, condition M, at 230° C. and under a load of 2.16 kg; and        wherein the ratio of the melt flow index of polypropylene A to the melt flow index of polypropylene B is at least 80.

Polystyrene is often used to prepare containers for dairy products, such as for yoghurts and puddings. Polystyrene containers are typically formed using a thermoforming process called "Form, Fill, and Seal" (FFS), whereby the forming of the containers, the filling with a dairy product, and the sealing of the container with a lid, are all performed on the same line. Polystyrene has the advantage that it is flexible enough so that it can be easily thermoformed into cups or containers. At the same time, it maintains a certain rigidity, which allows multiple cups to be formed attached to one another, whereby the multiple cups can be easily separated into individual cups by cracking the polystyrene.
However, the polystyrene price is susceptible to irregular market fluctuations, such that the total cost of the containers cannot easily be predicted. Furthermore, polystyrene lacks resistance against fats.
Historically, amorphous polymers are preferred in thermoforming because they have a broader processing window than (semi-)crystalline polymers. Polystyrene, for example, can be thermoformed at a temperature between 127° C. and 180° C., i.e. it has a processing window of more than 50° C. By contrast, polypropylene becomes too fluid above its melting temperature and hence generally is thermoformed at a temperature which must be below the melting point but sufficiently high to be thermoformable. The processing window of polypropylene is therefore only about 3° C. (see J. L. Throne, Understanding Thermoforming, Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich, 1999, page 12).
Polypropylene, however, is of great interest because it offers good mechanical and chemical properties in combination with good economics. Thermoforming companies as well as polymer producers have therefore undertaken major research and development efforts to render polypropylene more suitable for use in thermoforming. So far, however, all efforts to broaden the processing window of polypropylene in thermoforming have been unsuccessful.
There still remains a need in the industry for polypropylenes with improved processability in thermoforming, preferably without sacrificing other properties, such as for example processability in the melt-extrusion step or mechanical properties of the final thermoformed articles. There also remains a need in the industry for polypropylenes that allow an increase in output and productivity of a thermoforming unit.

Polypropylene composition and thermoformed sheet thereof


According to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, a method for index recovery performed by a database server is disclosed.

Corporate business is expanding rapidly with an explosive increase in the quantity of data and the emergence of various environments and platforms. As new business environments arrive, more efficient and flexible data services, information processing, and data management capabilities are required. In response to these changes, research on a database to solve the high performance, high availability and scalability problems that are the foundation of implementing enterprise businesses continues.
In a database management system (DBMS), data can be stored in a data store. In a relational database management system (RDBMS), such a data store may be referred to as a table. Such a table may include one or more rows and each of the one or more rows may include one or more columns.
If the database contains a large quantity of data, it may take a relatively long time to execute a query to retrieve data requested by a user. If the database takes a long time to respond to a query, it can adversely affect the performance of the database. Therefore, various techniques have been studied in this technical field to reduce a processing time for a response to a query, that is, to improve the performance of the database management system.
In order to increase a data retrieval rate from a database, indexing techniques can be utilized. Such an index may refer to a data structure causing an operation rate on a table to be increased in a database field. When the index is utilized, for not only a time spent on data retrieval, the amount of resources also used for data retrieval are reduced.
The database management system uses logging techniques of generating log data to ensure data integrity, confidentiality, and availability. Currently, databases are managed on a large scale, and the amount of transactions executed by accessing the databases is increasing exponentially. Accordingly, the volume of log data is also increasing exponentially.
If the volume of log data increases, the I/O of a disk increases, and this adversely affects the overall performance of the database. Thus, a research on a technique for reducing the volume of log data is required.

Method, server, and computer readable medium for index recovery using index redo log

Abstract: The method is an index redo logging method performed by a database server. The method may include performing a first recovery step of determining, by an instruction for recovering via an index redo log comprising an index physical redo log and an index logical redo log, an index tree structure by applying the index physical redo log, wherein the index physical redo log is generated by first index redo logging corresponding to a change of the index tree structure; and performing a second recovery step of performing an index tree search on the determined index tree structure to obtain physical information of the index logical redo log, and applying the index logical redo log to the determined index tree structure using the obtained physical information, wherein the index logical redo log is generated by second index redo logging corresponding to a data change in the index or generated based on a table redo log by the instruction for recovering.


Example flexible face panels for dock shelters and dock seals at a loading dock are disclosed. An example seal assembly includes a projection panel mountable to extend outward from the wall in proximity with a doorway. A first face panel extends from the projection panel in front of the doorway when the projection panel is mounted to the wall, where the first face panel has a first distal edge spaced apart from the projection panel. A second face panel extends from the projection panel in front of the doorway when the projection panel is mounted to the wall, where the second face panel having a second distal edge spaced apart from the projection panel.

In general, dock seals and shelters prevent the ingress of outdoor environmental conditions or contaminants (e.g., rain, snow, wind, hot/cold temperatures, insects, animals, etc.) into the interior of a building (e.g., the dock area) and/or cargo area of a vehicle during the loading or unloading of the vehicle. Dock shelters and seals may also prevent the egress of conditioned air from within a building and/or a vehicle cargo area to the outdoor environment. In some instances, vehicles (e.g., the trailer or rear portion of a truck) may not be sufficiently centered relative to dock seals or shelters when backed into the seal or shelter to isolate the interior space of a building and adjacent vehicle cargo area from the outdoor environment. As a result, some dock seals and shelters compensate for some range of off-center vehicle positions within which the functionality of the seal or shelter is not compromised. Further, some structures of a seal or shelter, particularly side members, are capable of recovering from repeated impacts from the rear portions of off-center vehicles without sustaining substantial permanent deformation.

Face panels for loading dock seals and shelters


A substrate attachment structure includes a chassis, a substrate and an attachment screw. The chassis includes a hook piece with an engagement prong arranged to face the chassis, and a threaded hole. The substrate includes a screw insertion hole, and a latching hole with a continuous periphery that receives the hook piece of the chassis to sandwich a portion of the substrate between the engagement prong and a part of the chassis. The attachment screw is inserted through the screw insertion hole formed in the substrate and threaded into the threaded hole formed in the chassis to fasten the substrate to the chassis.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a substrate attachment structure. More specifically, the prevent invention relates to a substrate attachment structure for attaching a substrate to a chassis.
2. Background Information
With a conventional substrate attachment structure, a substrate is attached to a chassis. Threaded holes for attachment screws are formed at two locations in the chassis. Screw insertion holes are formed at two locations in the substrate. When the attachment screws are fastened, the substrate is positioned overlapping the chassis, and the two screw insertion holes in the substrate are lined up with the two threaded holes in the chassis. Then, the attachment screws are inserted into the screw insertion holes and threaded into the threaded holes to fasten the substrate and the chassis together. With the conventional substrate attachment structure, two screw fastening locations are used to ensure necessary attachment strength and prevent the substrate from lifting up from the chassis. Therefore, if the substrate is large in size, then more than two locations need to be screwed down to ensure the necessary attachment strength.
With the conventional substrate attachment structure, after the substrate is positioned on the chassis and the screw insertion holes and threaded holes were lined up, the necessary number of the attachment screws has to be threaded in and tightened. Thus, positioning the substrate requires skill. Furthermore, fastening with attachment screws at two or more separate locations according to the size of the substrate is necessary to ensure the necessary attachment strength. As the number of screw fastening locations increased, the number of the screw fastening job also increased. Thus, the screw fastening job becomes complicated, which increases the manufacturing cost.
Meanwhile, with another conventional substrate attachment structure, a substrate is attached to a sheet metal without the use of attachment screws (see Japanese Laid-Open Utility Model Application H2-20384, for example). With the substrate attachment structure, the substrate is hooked at two places on left and right sides to receivers of the sheet metal. An elastic latching protrusion is provided to a distal end of a lead clamper. The elastic latching protrusion is inserted in and latched to holes provided to both the substrate and the sheet metal. The lead damper is utilized to support a lead wire.
The conventional substrate attachment structure fixes the substrate by hooking the substrate to the receivers of the sheet metal. With the conventional substrate attachment structure, an edge of the substrate is hooked to the receivers of the sheet metal. Furthermore, the lead damper is provided near an end of the substrate on the opposite side of the edge of the substrate.
However, depending on the type of electrical circuit formed on the substrate, it is conceivable that hooking the receivers to the edge of the substrate is unsuitable or even impossible. For instance, when electrical or electronic parts are mounted at the edge of the substrate, or when an electrical circuit pattern is formed at the edge of the substrate, the electrical or electronic parts get in the way of hooking the receivers, or the receivers short out an electrical path of the circuit.
In view of the above, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure that there exists a need for an improved substrate attachment structure. This invention addresses this need in the art as well as other needs, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.


Trial writing is made by recording waveform different from that used to record information in a disc. In the trial writing, particularly, the strategy having short cooling time or large cooling power is used to make recording, so that the jitter characteristic having clear difference between jitters in magnitude can be obtained to get stable calculated power. Thus, the recording quality can be ensured and user's convenience is increased.

The present invention relates to optical disc recording and reproduction device and method of irradiating a disc with light to make recording and reproduction of information.
In an optical disc recording and reproduction device, the recording quality is sometimes largely changed due to on scattering in components and discs and variation in temperature. Even when such scattering and change in circumstances occur, there are the techniques for stabilizing the recording quality as follows;
JP-A-2005-93017 discloses that a pulse width Tcp of a short cooling pulse CP is changed in accordance with the ambient temperature of an optical disc which is a phase change type optical information recording medium, so that the recording strategy using a short pulse group is controlled. Thus, deterioration of the recording quality can be suppressed even in the high temperature circumstances in which rapid heating and rapid cooling are impeded.
JP-A-2006-302332 discloses a recording pulse parameter adjustment method in which a recording pulse parameter concerning a most effective shortest record mark shape can be adjusted to shorten the adjustment time and prevent barren recording deterioration.

Optical disc recording and reproduction device and an optical disc recording and reproduction method


Methods are provided for coating a first surface of a device while also preventing coating of a second surface of the device by forming a covering of solid carbon dioxide on the second surface. In one embodiment of the invention, a method is provided for coating a luminal surface of a device while masking the abluminal surface with a covering of solid carbon dioxide. In another embodiment, a method is provided for coating the abluminal surface of the device while covering the luminal surface of the device with solid carbon dioxide.

It has become common to treat a variety of medical conditions by introducing an implantable medical device partly or completely into the esophagus, trachea, colon, biliary tract, urinary tract, vascular system or other location within a human or veterinary patient. For example, many treatments of the vascular system entail the introduction of a device such as a stent, a catheter, a balloon, a wire guide, a cannula, or the like.
For certain applications, the medical device is coated with a therapeutic agent adapted to expose tissue within the body to the therapeutic agent. For many treatments, it may be desirable to employ a medical device having therapeutic agents only on one surface. Alternatively, it may be desirable to employ a medical device having different therapeutic agents on the various surfaces of the device.
For certain medical applications, a coating containing a therapeutic agent is applied to the external surface of a medical device. The medical device may be configured to bring the coating into therapeutically effective contact with the wall of a body vessel. For instance the medical device may be a radially expandable tubular stent formed by a plurality of interconnected members defining open cells extending between an external (abluminal) surface and an internal (luminal) surface. A releasable therapeutic agent may be applied to the abluminal surface of the stent for delivery to a treatment site within a body vessel. The luminal surface defines a tubular lumen extending axially from the proximal end to the distal end of the stent. Such coated stent structures are commonly deployed within a body vessel to maintain patency of a stenosis, and the therapeutic agent may be selected to mitigate or prevent restenosis of the body vessel after dilation.
Coatings have been applied to medical devices by processes such as dipping, spraying, vapor deposition, plasma polymerization, and electrodeposition. Although these processes have been used to produce satisfactory coatings, they have numerous, associated potential drawbacks. For example, it may be difficult to achieve coatings of uniform thicknesses, both on individual parts and on batches of parts. Furthermore, coating material may collect around contact points between the device and the supporting apparatus, which is referred to "webbing" of the coating. When the supporting apparatus is removed from the device, the webbed material may stick to the supporting apparatus, thereby removing some of the needed coating from the device and leaving bare areas. The webbed material may also stick to the device. In addition, coating material may collect or bridge between openings of cellular devices. Upon implantation and expansion of the device, this webbed and/or bridged material may dislodge and then fall through openings in the device. Additionally, these coating processes may require that the coated part be held during coating, which may result in defects such as bare spots where the part was held and which may thus require subsequent coating steps. Furthermore, many conventional processes require multiple coating steps or stages for the application of a second coating material, or to allow for drying between coating steps or after the final coating step.

Process for coating a portion of an implantable medical device


A semiconductor device includes an insulating layer and an interconnection layer having a conductive layer provided over the insulating layer. The interconnection layer is patterned by photolithography. The device further includes a cap-metal layer, which is deposited on the conductive layer and suppresses reflection of light beams at the time of patterning the interconnection layer. The cap-metal layer has any one of the following structures: a double-layered structure having a titanium nitride layer and a titanium layer located between the titanium nitride layer and the conductive layer; a double-layered structure having a titanium nitride layer and an aluminum-titanium alloy layer located between the titanium nitride layer and the conductive layer; and a single-layered structure consisting essentially of an aluminum-titanium alloy. These design ensure accurate interconnection patterning in the photolithography, and provide improved EM and SM immunities of the interconnection.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and a method of fabricating the same. More particularly, this invention relates to a multi-layered structure of a semiconductor device which has an interconnection layer and a layer formed thereon to suppress light reflection.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional semiconductors are fabricated having interconnections formed between the various regions of the semiconductor. These interconnections are typically fabricated from conductive material deposited on the semiconductor substrate during metallization process and effectively form bonding areas between the various substrates. Depending on the type of conductive material used for the interconnection, various electrical and mechanical characteristics are imparted to the semiconductor, such as reflectance, electromigration (EM), stress migration (SM), and interconnection resistance.
Due to the recent high integration of semiconductor devices, there is a demand to reduce the interconnection widths formed during the fabrication of semiconductors to 0.5 .mu.m or narrower. Interconnection miniaturization, however presents certain difficulties in the operational performance of highly integrated semiconductor devices. Such problems include the deterioration of the electromigration performance and stress migration performance, an increase in interconnection resistance and a reduction in precision of photolithographic patterning, caused by the reflection of exposure light (called "halation") at the surface of the interconnection layer. Semiconductor devices which will overcome those problems are therefore widely sought after. The "electromigration" is a phenomenon wherein the interconnection is disconnected by the migration of aluminum atoms due to the flow of electrons. The "stress migration" is the disconnection of the interconnection caused by thermal stress.
FIG. 1 shows the cross section of a semiconductor device having a conventional multi-layered structure. A silicon oxide (SiO.sub.2) film 101 is formed 200 nm thick on a single crystal silicon substrate 100 by the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. An aluminum-silicon-copper alloy layer 102 (Al--Si) (1% by weight)--Cu (0.5% by weight)) is deposited 500 nm thick on the SiO.sub.2 layer 101 by the magnetron sputtering method. A titanium nitride (TiN) layer 103 is formed 20 nm thick on the alloy layer 102 by the reactive sputtering method using titanium (Ti) as a target and a gas mixture consisting of argon and nitrogen as a sputtering gas. According to this reactive sputtering method, titanium sputtered from the target is deposited on the alloy layer 102 while reacting with the nitrogen in the sputtering gas, thus yielding the TiN layer 103. The two layers 102 and 103 form an interconnection layer 104 which is to be patterned by photolithography. The TiN lager 103 serves to suppress reflection of light (e.g., ultraviolet rays) exposed at the surface of the interconnection layer 104 during the photolithography to thereby improve the patterning precision. Such a reflection suppressing layer is generally called "cap metal".
The influence of the light exposed on the surface of the interconnection layer 104 will now be discussed with reference to FIG. 2. The first step of the photolithography is to form a resist 105 (e.g., a positive photoresist) on the interconnection layer 104 (step 1). Light passing through a mask (not shown) is irradiated on a specific area of the resist 105. If no cap metal exists on the surface of the interconnection layer 104, which is in contact with the resist 105 (namely, if the reflectance of the surface of the interconnection layer 104 is high), or if there are undulations on the interconnection layer 104 corresponding to those of the silicon substrate 100, most of the exposure light would be reflected at the surface of the interconnection layer 104 and would be irradiated on a resist 105a around the specific area. This results in inaccurate patterning of the hardened resist that will remain after removal of the unnecessary resist. As a result, the actual size or shape (W1) of the gap between interconnection patterns obtained after etching differs from the desired size or shape (W2).
To address this problem, the cap-metal layer 103 consisting of low-reflectance TiN is formed on the alloy layer 102 in the conventional interconnection layer 104 shown in FIG. 1. If the wavelength of light for measuring the reflectance is 365 nm, which is the same as the wavelength of normal exposure light used in the photolithography, the reflectance of the interconnection layer 104 having the TiN layer 103 is reduced to about 30%, which is considerably lower than that of the interconnection layer that consists only of the alloy layer 102.
While the conventional interconnection layer 104 having the TiN layer 103 is satisfactory in suppressing halation, it does not sufficiently achieve the currently demanded levels of the other performances like the EM immunity and SM immunity.

Semiconductor device having cap-metal layer