A vehicle seat belt system has seat belt webbing that is attached to a tongue adapted to be located in a buckle mechanism fixed to a load-bearing part of the vehicle. A generally vertically extending strap is adapted to be located in a position against a seat back. An adjustable webbing guide connects the generally vertically extending strap to the seat belt webbing; and there is a device for positively locking the webbing guide to the generally vertically extending strap at any one of a plurality of selectable locations on the generally vertically extending strap. A load limiter is operative for a child seat occupant but not operative for an adult seat occupant.

A conventional seat belt system comprises a length of seat belt webbing connected at three points to load-bearing parts of a vehicle. A lap portion of the seat belt webbing passes laterally across the hips of the seat occupant, and a torso portion of the seat belt webbing passes diagonally across the torso of the seat occupant from one hip to the opposite shoulder.
Typically one end of the seat belt webbing is attached to a sill anchor that is bolted to a load-bearing part of the vehicle on one side of the seat, usually between the seat and an adjacent door. The lap and torso portions of the seat belt webbing join at a buckle mechanism on the opposite side of the seat. The shoulder end of the seat belt webbing is attached to a seat belt retractor mounted to a load-bearing part of the vehicle, for example a side pillar or sill, or directly to a load-bearing seat, optionally via a webbing guide.
The seat belt retractor increases comfort for the seat occupant restrained by the seat belt since it allows the seat belt webbing to pay out under relatively low loads to enable limited movement of the restrained seat occupant, for example to reach entertainment controls or storage compartments. The seat belt retractor is biased to keep the seat belt webbing relatively taut about the seat occupant. A locking element locks the seat belt retractor against webbing payout in the event an acceleration sensor senses a crash.
The seat belt webbing is fastened to the buckle mechanism by a buckle tongue that is slidably attached to the seat belt webbing so that the lengths of seat belt webbing making up the lap and torso portions can easily be varied to suit the size and shape of the vehicle occupant.
Known seat belt systems of this sort tend to be unsuitable for vehicle occupants of shorter than average stature, particularly for children, because the shoulder fastening point is fixed to accommodate an average person and is fixed at or above the height of the back of the seat. This is particularly so in rear seat safety restraints. Thus the torso portion of the seat belt tends to be badly positioned for a child or short person and usually passes too close or adjacent to the child's neck. Because the child does not fit into the adult seat belt properly the child's shoulder can roll out of the seat belt during a crash effectively making the seat belt a two-point lap belt only. This is dangerous because the lap portion alone will then take more force in a crash and will be more likely to inflict injuries than when a torso belt portion is combined with the lap portion. In addition there is a danger of the child sliding under the lap portion; this is known as submarining. It is well known that children feel uncomfortable with adult seat belt restraints and often position the torso portion behind their back to reduce discomfort.


A method of manufacturing semiconductor devices whereby first a Ti layer (8) and then a TiN layer (9) are deposited on slices of semiconductor material (20). The slices are placed on a support (30) one after the other in a deposition chamber (22), the support being positioned opposite a target of Ti (32) surrounded by an annular anode (31). Material is then sputtered off the target by means of a plasma (35) generated near the target. The plasma is generated in Ar during deposition of the Ti layer and in a gas mixture of Ar and N.sub.2 during deposition of the TiN layer. After the deposition of the TiN layer, before a next slice is placed in the chamber each time, the target is cleaned during an additional process step in that material is sputtered off the target by means of a plasma generated in Ar. The additional process step is ended the moment the target has regained a clean Ti surface again. It is achieved by this that an extra Ti layer comprising nitrogen is indeed deposited on the TiN layer during this additional process step, but that this is as thin as possible and accordingly contains as little free Ti as possible. Undesirable chemical reactions between free Ti and the conductive layers deposited on the layer comprising nitrogen are suppressed as much as possible thereby.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method of manufacturing semiconductor devices whereby first a Ti layer and then a TiN layer is deposited on slices of semiconductor material by placing the slices on a support one after the other in a deposition chamber, which support is arranged opposite a target of Ti surrounded by an annular anode, material is then sputtered off the target by means of a plasma which is generated near the target in Ar during the deposition of the Ti layer, and in a gas mixture of Ar and N.sub.2 during the deposition of the TiN layer. The target is cleaned in an additional process step by sputtering off material therefrom by means of a plasma generated in Ar each time before a next slice is placed in the chamber.
2. Description of the Related Art
In modern IC technology, a metallization comprising a Ti layer, a TiN layer and a further conductive layer is often provided on a surface of a semiconductor body. The Ti layer serves to obtain a good adhesion and a low contact resistance between the metallization and the semiconductor body. When a layer of Al or of Al alloyed with a few percent of Si or Cu is used as the conductive top layer, the TiN layer serves as a barrier to prevent chemical reactions of the Al with the Ti and the semiconductor material situated underneath the barrier layer. When W is used as a conductive top layer, deposited by means of a usual CVD process (chemical deposition process) for which WF.sub.6 is used, the TiN serves as a barrier to prevent chemical reactions between Ti and F which is formed during such a CVD process.
The depositions are carried out in practice on slices of semiconductor material which are broken or sawn into a large number of separate semiconductor chips at a later stage. A slice is passed through an input station into a first deposition chamber of a sputter deposition device, where the Ti and TiN layers are deposited by the method described above, after which the slice is transported to a second deposition chamber in which, for example, an Al or W layer is deposited, and finally the slice is taken from the device through an output station. When a slice leaves a deposition chamber, a new slice is immediately introduced into the chamber in practice.
During the deposition of the TiN layer, a plasma is generated in a gas mixture comprising Ar and N.sub.2 near the Ti target. A top layer comprising nitrogen is created thereby on the target during this deposition step. Material is sputtered off this target during the extra process step, which material is then deposited on the slice. Thus a Ti layer comprising nitrogen is deposited on the slice, which layer initially consists of TiN and in which the nitrogen occurs in a decreasing concentration seen in the thickness direction of the layer. The layer accordingly merges well with the underlying TiN layer. If such a layer were instead deposited on the next succeeding slice instead of the Ti layer as a first layer of a metallization, then this metallization thereon would on the contrary exhibit a bad adhesion and a high contact resistance.
"Eclipse Newsletter", 10, Jun./Jul. 1992, discloses a method of the kind mentioned in the opening paragraph whereby the additional process step is continued for some time after cleaning of the target, so that another layer of pure Ti is deposited on the slice in addition to the Ti layer comprising nitrogen. This pure Ti layer serves to obtain a good adhesion with a further Al layer to be provided.
It is achieved by the known method that the layer deposited as a first layer on a slice has a good adhesion thereto and a low contact resistance because this layer consists of pure Ti owing to cleaning of the target. The known method has the disadvantage, however, that a further layer comprising free Ti is deposited on top of the TiN layer. If a conductive top layer of Al or Al alloyed with a few percents of Si or Cu is provided thereon, the Al and Ti react with one another, forming compounds with a comparatively high electric resistance. A good adhesion is then indeed obtained, but the conductive Al layer must then be provided to a comparatively great thickness in order to ensure that conductor tracks having a comparatively low resistance can be formed in the layer structure thus created. If a W layer is deposited on the said layer comprising free Ti by means of a usual CVD process (chemical deposition process) in which WF.sub.6 is used, then the free Ti reacts with F formed during such a CVD process. This leads to the formation of TiF.sub.3, to which W has a bad adhesion.

Method of manufacturing semiconductor devices each including a semiconductor body with a surface provided with a metallization having a Ti layer and a TiN layer


Deblurring of digital camera images by estimating the blur function from an image extracted from a video sequence taken about the time of an image capture. The extracted image is selected to be the sharpest of the images of the video sequence, and comparison of this sharpest image with the (down-sampled) captured image provides blur function iterative estimation.

The present invention relates to digital video signal processing, and more particularly to architectures and methods for digital cameras.
Imaging and video capabilities have become the trend in consumer electronics. Digital cameras, digital camcorders, and video cellular phones are common, and many other new gadgets are evolving in the market. Advances in large resolution CCD/CMOS sensors coupled with the availability of low-power digital signal processors (DSPs) has led to the development of digital cameras with both high resolution image and short audio/visual clip capabilities. The high resolution (e.g., sensor with a 2560×1920 pixel array) provides quality offered by traditional film cameras.
FIG. 3a is a typical functional block diagram for digital camera control and image processing (the "image pipeline"). The automatic focus, automatic exposure, and automatic white balancing are referred to as the 3A functions; and the image processing includes functions such as color filter array (CFA) interpolation, gamma correction, white balancing, color space conversion, and JPEG/MPEG compression/decompression (JPEG for single images and MPEG for video clips). Note that the typical color CCD consists of a rectangular array of photosites (pixels) with each photosite covered by a filter (the CFA): typically, red, green, or blue. In the commonly-used Bayer pattern CFA one-half of the photosites are green, one-quarter are red, and one-quarter are blue.
Typical digital cameras provide a capture mode with full resolution image or audio/visual clip processing plus compression and storage, a preview mode with lower resolution processing for immediate display of a sequence of images (video clip), and a playback mode for displaying stored images or audio/visual clips.
Images captured by handheld cameras occasionally suffer from image blur when there is not enough light in the scene and/or when high zoom factors are used. This is a significant problem for today's consumer digital cameras and camera phones. A solution for eliminating blur is required to obtain high quality images.
Image deblurring has been an active research area during the last few decades with numerous algorithms published in the literature. For example, M. R. Banham and A. K. Katsaggelos. "Digital Image Restoration," IEEE Signal Processing Magazine, Vol. 14, Issue 2, pp.24-41, March 1997; D. Kundur and D. Hatzinakos. "Blind Image Deconvolution," IEEE Signal Processing Magazine, Vol. 13, Issue 3, pp.43-64, May 1996; and J. Biemond, R. L. Lagendijk, and R. M. Mersereau. "Iterative Methods of Image Deblurring," Proc. of IEEE, Vol. 78, Issue 5, pp. 856-883, May 1990.
Classical image deblurring algorithms require the knowledge of the blur function. The blur function is used to design a filter that removes the blur from the image. There have been several published algorithms that address the problem of estimating the blur function. They mostly involve assuming a parametric form for the blur and then estimating its parameters from the image. For example, J. Biemond, R. L. Lagendijk, and R. M. Mersereau. "Iterative Methods of Image Deblurring," Proc. of IEEE, Vol. 78, Issue 5, pp. 856-883, May 1990; and M. M Chang, A. M. Tekalp, and A. T. Erdem. "Blur Identification Using the Bispectrum," IEEE Trans. Signal Processing, Vol. 39, Issue 10, pp. 2323-2325, Oct. 1991.
The deblurring model using the blur function presumes the blurred pixel at (m,n), denoted pB(m,n), is given by a two-dimensional convolution of the unblurred image p(m, n) with the blurred image of a single point source; that is, convolution with the point spread function (PSF) or blur function. Denoting the blur function by h(m,n):pB(m,n)=∫support of h p(m−j, n−k)h(j,k) dj dkwhere integration over the blur function variables is interpreted as interpolated summations for sub-pixel values. Then transforming (2-D DFT) to the frequency domain formally gives a deconvolution:P(j,k)=PB(j,k)/H(j,k)where P(j,k) is the 2-D DFT transform of p(m,n), PB(j,k) is the 2-D DFT transform of pB(m,n), and H(j,k) is the 2-D DFT transform of h(m,n). However, this raises division by 0 problems, so a regularization term α would typically be included, such as in a constrained least squares approach:P(j,k)=PB(j,k) H(j,k)*/(|H(j,k)|2+α)A final inverse transform (2-D IDFT) recovers the deblurred image.
An example of a typical parametric blur function comes from a linear blur presumption. A motion vector (Vx, Vy) is estimated, and the blurred pixels are a simple averaging along the motion path such as:pB(m,n)=∫0<t<1 p(m−tNVx, n−tNVy) dtwhere the common motion vector has been scaled to the time interval of the image capture (and blur motion). Of course, this is just a two-dimensional convolution of the unblurred image p(m, n) with the following blur function:h(m,n)=∫0<t<1 δ(m−tNVx) δ(n−tNVy) dtwhich would be interpreted in terms of interpolations for the non-integer pixel locations and Kronecker deltas for the Dirac deltas.
For the handheld camera motion blur case, a typical assumption is to use the linear blur function and estimate two parameters: length and direction of the motion vector. These parameters are estimated from the log power spectrum of the image by locating the minimum points, which are assumed to correspond to the zeros of the blur transfer function. Unfortunately, this approach does not provide an accurate estimate of the blur because hand motion is not really on a linear path. The mismatch between the actual motion and the linear motion model creates numerous artifacts in the deblurred image. FIGS. 2a-2b show deblurring an image using a linear blur function estimate. Note that there are significant artifacts in the deblurred image shown in FIG. 2b. Such a result is not acceptable for consumer quality products.


The present invention discloses glycoxy silanes as a source of silica and silica precipitated by advantageous chemical reactions preferably beginning with biogenic silica. Alkoxy C—O—S1 are hydrolyzed in a controlled fashion to nucleate formation of nanoparticles of silica. The growth rate of the particles is controlled by various parameters such that particles of known sizes, size distributions, specific surface areas and pore sizes and size distributions are recovered.

The open and the patent literature on sol-gel processing of silica containing materials is extensive. Most of the chemical compounds used as a precursors to silica containing materials are either tetramethoxy or tetraethoxy silanes (TMOS or TEOS). These precursor materials combined with either an acid or base catalyst and water to hydrolyze the precursor to form a variety of silica-containing materials. Polymeric silica contains residual alkoxy groups that can be used to form thin films or spinning fibers or used for processing mesoporous silicas or zeolitic materials with the addition of template molecules. Also, secondary alkoxides of other metals for example aluminum, titanium, hafnium and zirconium alkoxides may be added to make mixed-metal sol-gel derived "hybrid materials."
Alternately, organic monomers or polymers or organic functionalized silicon alkoxides such as R—Si(OEt)3 or R2Si(OEt)2 may be used to introduce organic groups into the resulting mixed-metal sol-gel derived "hybrid materials." Organic/Inorganic Hybrid Materials, MRS Symp. Ser. Vol. 519, R. M. Laine, C. Sanchez, C. J. Brinker, E. Giannelis eds. December 1998; Organic/Inorganic Hybrid Materials 2000, MRS Symp. Ser. Vol. 628, R. M. Laine, C. Sanchez, and C. J. Brinker, eds. Mater. Res. Soc., 2001; Organic/Inorganic Hybrid Materials 2002, MRS Symp. Ser. Vol. 726, C. Sanchez, R. M. Laine, S. Yang and C. J. Brinker, eds. Mater. Res. Soc., December 2002; D. W. Schaeffer, Science 243 (1989) 1023-1027.
Precursors of silicon based materials are typically not water soluble and must be hydrolyzed in a solvent that allows them to become miscible in water so that efficient hydrolysis can be obtained. For example, TMOS and TEOS are typically hydrolyzed in water/MeOH or EtOH mixtures to create a single phase solution. Occasionally, researchers have made modified precursors by treating TMOS or TEOS with ligands that transform them into water-soluble materials. TMOS or TEOS are reacted with ethylene glycol or propylene glycol and a catalyst to form water soluble alkoxides that are hydrolyzed to produce silica-modified hybrid materials or mixed metal systems and/or mesoporous materials. See, for example N. Hüsing and U. Schubert, "Formation and Structure of Porous Gel Networks from Si(OMe)4 in the Presence of A(CH2)nSi(OR)3 (A) Functional Group) Chem. Mater. 1998, 10, 3024-3032; V. Torma, H. Peterlik, U. Bauer, W. Rupp, N. Hüsing, S. Bernstorff, M. Steinhart, G. Goerigk, U. Schubert, "Mixed Silica Titania Materials Prepared from a Single-Source Sol-Gel Precursor: A Time-Resolved SAXS Study of the Gelation, Aging, Supercritical Drying, and Calcination Processes," Chem. Mater. 2005, 17, 3146-3153; D. Brandhuber, V. Torma, C. Raab, H. Peterlik, A. Kulak, Nicola Hüsing, "Glycol-Modified Silanes in the Synthesis of Mesoscopically Organized Silica Monoliths with Hierarchical Porosity," Chem. Mater. 2005, 17, 4262-4271; S. Hartmann, D. Brandhuber, N. Hüsing, "Glycol-Modified Silanes Novel Possibilities for the Synthesis of Hierarchically Organized (Hybrid) Porous Materials," Acc. Chem. Res. 2007, 40, 885-894; M. Weinberger, "Organosilica Monoliths with Multiscale Porosity: Detailed Investigation of their formation and their potential as ceramic precursors," Dokter der Wissenschaft, Nov. 9 (2009); M. Weinberger, S. Puchegger, T. Fröschl, F. Babonneau, H. Peterlik, N. Hüsing, "Sol-Gel Processing of a Glycolated Cyclic Organosilane and Its Pyrolysis to Silicon Oxycarbide Monoliths with Multiscale Porosity and Large Surface Areas," Chem. Mater. 2010, 22, 1509-1520; T. Nakamura, H. Yamada, Y. Yamada, A. Gürtanyel, S. Hartmann, Nicola Hüsing, K. Yano, "New Strategy Using Glycol-Modified Silane to Synthesize Monodispersed Mesoporous Silica Spheres Applicable to Colloidal Photonic Crystals, Langmuir 2010, 26, 2002-2007; Y. Suzuki, M. Kakihana, "New Water Soluble and Handy Silicon Precursor for Synthesis of (Y,Ce,Gd)2SiO5 Phosphor," IOP Conference Series: Materials Sci. and Eng. 2009, 1 012012; K. Matsumara, M. Asai, S. Ichinohe, "Preparation of Water-Soluble Organic Silicon Compounds," U.S. Pat. No. 6,077,966, Jun. 20, 2000; and H. Eck, M. Roth, "Aqueous redispersible powders which contain a water-soluble polymer and at least one organic silicon compound and process for preparing the same." U.S. Pat. No. 4,704,416 November 1987.
These examples use alkoxysilanes derived primarily by the direct reaction of alcohols with silicon metal as suggested in reaction (1) below wherein some form of catalyst is used to promote the reaction. Occasionally, the alkoxy silane Si(OR4) is made by a more expensive route, reaction (2), that requires handling toxic and polluting SiCl4. It is important to note that SiCl4 is prepared from reaction of Si metal with HCl, as in reaction (3). Silicon metal is made by carbothermal reduction of SiO2 and carbon as suggested by reaction, (4), however the exact process is more complex and the yields are not quantitative.
SiCl4+4RONa→4NaCl+Si(OR)4  (2)Si+4HCl→2H2+SiCl4 and/or HSiCl3  (3)

Furthermore, the cost of making Si(OR)4 and the resulting commercial production of precipitated silica is usually prohibitive because of the carbothermal reduction step. An exception is the production of precipitated silica used for polishing silicon wafers for chip manufacture where purities equal to or greater than 99.999999 ("eight 9s") are needed and TMOS or TEOS can be distilled to these purities.
For these reasons, existing processes that use TEOS (or TMOS) or water soluble silica modified materials derived by substitution as shown in reaction (5) are usually mere academic exercises that are not suitable for large scale, efficient, commercial use.

To date, little commercial motivation exists to develop synthetic/processing routes to large quantities of precipitated silicas from these alkoxysilanes because of the multistep, high temperature reaction costs of the starting materials. Consequently, the major route to precipitated silicas is the series of reactions (6)-(8):

This typical industrial process scheme used to make 1000 ton/year quantities of precipitated silica is shown in FIG. 1. Note that considerable CO2 is released into the atmosphere during this process. In addition, considerable amounts of Na2SO4 are produced as waste products that must be disposed of, thereby adding to the costs of the process.
Referring to FIG. 1, the first reaction step produces molten sodium silicate at high temperature that is thereafter acidified with an acid such as H2SO4. The result is an aqueous solution of sodium sulfate and some form of silicic acid, such as Si(OH)4 or oligomers thereof.
This is a high temperature process requiring stoichiometric amounts of base and acid to effect precipitation. Precipitation occurs in an aqueous environment that produces large concentrations of byproduct salts such Na2SO4. The resulting silica powders such as HISIL 223 have salt contamination typically less than 2 wt %.

Glycoxy silanes as a source of silica and silicate precipitates


Electronic Warfare (EW) systems aboard aircrafts are used to protect them from guided missile by denying threat radar systems the ability to track the aircrafts. In a typical operation, a threat radar system transmits RF signals aimed at the target aircraft. The surface of the target reflects a portion of the incident signal back towards the threat radar antenna where the reflected signal is detected, allowing the threat radar system to determine the target""s range, angle and velocity. The present invention relates to EW systems that are dependent on measuring the RF phase of a signal transmitted by a target tracking threat radar. The use of the invented technique will make it possible to implement a robust Electronic Counter-Measures (ECM) technique, known as Cross-Eye, using two airborne platforms. The technique is very effective in preventing a threat radar from tracking a target aircraft and guiding a launched missile to the target aircraft.

The present invention relates generally to radar systems and in particular to high precision range measurement techniques used in radar systems.
Electronic Warfare (EW) generally relates to military action involving the use of electromagnetic and directed energy to control the electromagnetic spectrum or to attack the enemy. The three major subdivisions within EW are Electronic Attack, Electronic Protection and Electronic Warfare Support. Electronic Attack (EA) is the division of EW involving the use of electromagnetic or directed energy to attack personnel, facilities or equipment with the intent of degrading, neutralizing or destroying enemy combat capability.
EW Systems aboard aircraft have long been used to protect the aircraft by denying a threat radar system the ability to track the target aircraft and guide launched missiles to intercept it. In a typical operation, a threat radar system tracking a target aircraft transmits RF signals, such as a sequence of pulses, aimed at the target. The surface of the target reflects a portion of the incident electromagnetic energy back toward the threat radar antenna where the pulse echo is detected, allowing the radar system to determine the target""s range, angle and velocity. Based on this information, the threat radar system can launch and guide a missile to intercept the target.
To effectively counter such radar systems, electronic warfare (EW) systems located on target aircraft attempt to interfere with threat radar signals by generating electronic counter measure (ECM) signals designed to confuse, mislead or overwhelm the tracking functions of the threat radar receiver. One technique used in the EW systems to interfere with the operation of threat radar system is to generate an ECM signal that is out of phase and inverted in amplitude as compared to the signal reflected by the target and received by the threat radar system. This technique is known as a Cross-Eye. Such an inverted signal is than targeted to the receiver of the threat radar to basically nullify the signal reflected by the target and received by the threat radar. To accomplish such electronic counter-measure, the EW system on the target aircraft first accurately determines the phase of a radar signal arriving at two spatially separated distant antennas located on the aircraft. Based on the phase difference of such received RF signal, an EW system can generate and transmit an ECM signal via the same two antennas towards the threat radar system. Such signals can be made to arrive on the threat radar antenna aperture 180 degrees out of phase and with inverted amplitudes.
In conventional EW systems, the two antennas receiving the RF signal from the threat radar are located on a single aircraft. When these antennas on a single platform are used to generate and transmit the interfering signal that is 180xc2x0 out of phase and inverse in amplitude compared to the reflected signal, such amplitude and phase inversion has to be very precise for such ECM system to work effectively. The errors tolerable in phase and amplitude inversion are directly proportional to the separation distance between the two platforms. In the conventional approach, where these antennas are on a single platform and the available separation distance is very short, the tolerable error is so small that the signal parameter values must be matched to within a few tenths of one degree in phase and within a few hundreds of one dB in amplitude. Such low error levels can not be practically achieved, thus making conventional ECM systems of this type ineffective, or at least sub-optimal.
Since both tolerable error values are directly proportional to the length of an imaginary line connecting the antennas, the higher the separation distance between the two antennas, higher the amount of tolerable errors. One solution to increase the tolerable error values is to increase the distance between the antennas. In a situation where two separate airborne platforms such as aircraft or Unmanned Airborne Vehicle (UAV) are available as mounts for the EW antennas, almost any length of baseline can be made available. The increased length allows for higher error tolerance that need be achieved in the matching of the phase and amplitudes of the signals generated by the EW antenna system. It is practically feasible to achieve phase and amplitude inversion with such higher error tolerance, which makes such systems practically useful.
However, to exploit the potential of a longer baseline between antennas requires a solution to the following problem. When an EW system mounts the antennas that generate the ECM signals on two different aircrafts, the local oscillator (LO) signals driving both of these antennas need to be either of same phase or of a known phase difference value so that any resultant errors may be compensated. If not compensated, the resultant phase errors between the signals of the two local oscillators appear as time delays in the radar signal. To take advantage of higher error tolerances available with the use of a longer baseline, a solution to this problem of phase errors between signals from two local oscillators mounted on different UAV platforms must be found.
Other problems and drawbacks also exist.
An embodiment of the present invention discloses a system for precise measurement of range between two platforms, using the global positioning system (GPS) located on both of these platforms, a range-only radar (ROR) located on one platform and a repeater located on the other platform.
According to one aspect of the invention, an electronic counter-measures system is provided with antennas located on two platforms.
According to another aspect of the invention, local oscillators are provided on both platforms.
According to another aspect of the invention, the precise measurement of range is used to calculate phase compensation sequence for one of the local oscillator.
According to another aspect of the invention, a local oscillator on one platform is phase compensated based on the information received from the other platform.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, the platforms are located on airborne vehicles.
Accordingly, it is one object of the present invention to overcome one or more of the aforementioned and other limitations of existing systems for very high precision range measurement.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an electronic counter-measures system using antennas located on two platforms that uses a very high precision range measurement system.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an electronic counter-measures system that overcomes the problems enumerated above associated with antennas located on a single aircraft.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an electronic counter-measures system to overcome the problems associated with low tolerable errors when using antennas located on a single aircraft.
The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute part of this specification, illustrate several embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. It will become apparent from the drawings and detailed description that other objects, advantages and benefits of the invention also exist.
Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description that follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the systems and methods, particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.

High precision range measurement technique


A method for extracting data from a computer aided design (CAD) file comprising the steps of displaying at least one part attribute stored in the CAD file on a computer display, ballooning the at least one part attribute, extracting data based upon the ballooned at least one part attribute, passing the extracted data to a user interface for display, editing the extracted data displayed on the user interface, and saving the edited extracted data.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for extracting data from an engineering drawing file format.
(2) Description of Related Art
It is common in the field of manufacturing to make use of an electronic repository of design data such as computer aided design (CAD) software packages for the definition and description of machinable parts. In particular, in the field of aerospace engineering, it is common for engineers and other appropriate personnel to annotate the information contained in a CAD file so as to produce Manufacturing/Quality Work Instructions (MQIs) and to generate First Article Inspection (FAI) documents for use by both internal and external suppliers of parts. With reference to FIG. 1, there is illustrated the present process by which information is manually retrieved from a CAD file and manipulated to be formatted so as to be utilized in an MQI or an FAI.
CAD drawing 11 is manually marked-up or "ballooned" to include balloon numbers 13. A balloon number is a unique identifying number encapsulated in a circle drawn in close proximity to a part number to which it refers. While any manner of uniquely identifying unique parts may be utilized, it is common in the art to utilize such a system of ballooning. Once the relevant parts have been annotated with a balloon number 13, the information recorded upon CAD drawing 11 is manually transcribed into an FAI format 23 as illustrated in FIG. 2. With reference to FIG. 2, there is illustrated an intermediate format 23 known in the art. Intermediate format 23 is a hand written description of the desired parameters transcribed from CAD drawing 11. In the example shown in FIG. 2, intermediate format 23 records a sequence number, a blueprint location 17, and a characteristic of the part. Usually, sequence number refers to the unique number contained inside of balloon number 13. The blueprint location is the coordinate on the blueprint where the part is located. Lastly, there is usually recorded at least one characteristic of each part. With continued reference to FIG. 1, the information recorded upon intermediate format 23 is transferred, usually through a graphical user interface, into a database. This is accomplished through data entry interface 15. Data entry interface 15 is comprised of a plurality of text fields, radio buttons and the like through which information may be entered pertaining to each part delimited with a balloon number 13 on CAD drawing 11. For example, a blueprint location 17, in this case "4D-1", and the feature type 19 designating that the diameter of the part is to be 1.0±0.001 units are entered. Additional information may be entered, including but not limited to, quantity of characteristics 50, feature description 51, safety characteristic 52, nominal size 53, and tolerance 54.
Once all of the information contained in intermediate format 23 has been entered in this manner by a data entry interface 15 into a database (not shown), the data so stored may be used to generate one or more final reports 18. Usually these final reports take the form of either an MQI or an FAI. Final report is created using data displayed and entered upon data entry interface 15. Additional information 56 may then be added to data entry interface 15. Such data may include, but is not limited to, general text that adds clarity to the requirement and drawing notes.
Unfortunately, the process described above is prone to errors as the data is entered by hand, is reformatted, and often times has mental calculations performed upon it by the person or persons entering the data. What is therefore needed is a method for extracting the data contained in a CAD file in an automated fashion so as to remove user error, and avoid excessive delay in moving from the completed CAD file of a part through to the generation of the MQI and the FAI.

Engineering drawing data extraction software


The present invention is a vehicle safety rearview mirror assembly with distortion offset element and method of using the same. The rearview mirror assembly comprises an elongated convex mirror. The convex mirror is independently supported by a double-ball-joint shank and a mounting base affixed on the windshield of the vehicle. The present invention also provides a method to offset the distortion created by the convex mirror. The method combines a safety reference and a safety locker to tell the driver whether and when it is safe to change lanes or make turns. The safety reference includes two opposite end portions of the rearward visual field respectively prescribed by the side windows of the vehicle, and the safety locker includes the central portion of the extended rearward visual field respectively prescribed by the rear window of the vehicle. When another vehicle appears in the safety reference, it is not safe to change lanes or make turns; when the other vehicle appears in the safety locker, it is safe to change lanes or make turns if the front end of other vehicle is entirely visible in the safety locker because by then the distance between the driver's vehicle and the other vehicle is farther than the nearest safety distance.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of vehicle mirror systems which offset the visual distortion created by a convex rearview mirror to the drivers of vehicles. More particularly, the present invention relates to the field of vehicle rearview mirror systems which create a combination of features in order to offset the visual distortion created by a convex rearview mirror and satisfies the federal safety standards, such features including a full-view rearward visual field containing no blind spots for revealing all lanes of uninterrupted roadway traffic, a clarity of image for helping drivers distinguish between one lane and another with vehicles traveling in them, a safety reference to help drivers judge when it is not safe to make a lane change or a turn, a safety locker to help drivers judge when it is safe to make a lane change or a turn, and a nearest distance to prove why it is safe for drivers to change lanes or make turns.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A rearview mirror system is a necessary safety equipment installed on a vehicle. A quick glance in the rearview mirror while operating a vehicle is something most of the drivers do more than once every minute. This probably makes the rearview mirror system one of the most important safety elements of a vehicle.
An increase in motor vehicle operators brings an unfortunate by-product-increased accidents, and even more near-accidents, that are brought about by increasing vehicle population. The Department of Motor Vehicles figures shows the number of registered vehicles exceeds 194.5 million, and the number of licensed drivers exceeds 170 million. According to the statistics of death, injury and collision loss experience resulted from vehicular accidents composed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the collision rate exceeds once in every second, the injury rate exceeds three people in every minute, and the death rate is approximately one person in every 11 minutes. Current cars are coming up with more safety developments, which may have better injury experience that corresponding earlier models. However, collision experience can be expected to remain on the rise without solving the drivers' visual problems. If all blind spots surrounding the vehicle can be completely eliminated, the collision fate will be reduced substantially. Unfortunately, the conventional vehicle rearview mirror system continues to have blind spots which leads to vehicular accidents.
Unless one piece of mirror plate which can provide a full-view rearward visual field all in just one picture, revealing all lanes of uninterrupted roadway traffic, it cannot wholly eliminate the blind spots surrounding the vehicle. However, mere one piece of flat mirror plate cannot provide a full view rearward visual field to the driver, and a multiple mirror plates system cannot provide a full-view rearward visual field all in just one picture either. It is an underlying principle that a convex rearview mirror can provide a full-view rearward visual field all in just one picture, but it also creates a highly visual distortion which can cause visual misjudgments to lead to vehicular accidents. However, if the visual distortion created by the convex rearview mirror can be offset, then all blind spots surrounding the vehicle can be completely eliminated, so that the vehicular accidents will be substantially reduced.
Mirrors with curved surfaces were introduced as early as the 13th century, since the wider viewing angle feature created by convex mirror has been common. The convex rearview mirrors were applied to automobiles in many decades ago, since the visual distortion feature created by the convex rearview mirror has been common. Thousands of motorists by convex rearview mirrors that are supposed to assist in eliminating the blind spots because the wider viewing angle feature created by convex mirror. The NHTSA has strict rules that forbid manufacturers or service garages from installing such convex rearview mirrors because the visual distortion also created by convex mirror. On the one hand, the conventional vehicle rearview mirror system continues the have blind spots, which can lead to vehicular accidents. On the other hand, the wider viewing angle convex rearview mirrors continue to have visual distortion, which can also lead to vehicular accidents.
In attempt to improve upon the conventional vehicle rearview mirror system it has been suggested to use a convex mirror. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,895,435 issued to Shomper discloses a convex vehicle rearview mirror. The convex mirror is attached to the interior sun visor of the vehicle, in front of the driver's seat. Since the convex mirror creates a wider view angle, the driver is able to see a wider rear view. However, this prior use of an interior convex rearview mirror has some problems. First, the sun visor in front of the driver's seat has been specially designed toward the driver's eye level for blocking off the sun light. Therefore any mirror attached to it would be positioned too low and could cause the blockage of the driver's rear view, because the mirror will reflect all the objects which exist in front of it within its viewing coverage including the driver's and even the passenger's heads, which become new blind spots to the driver. Besides, the sun visor can even block the driver's visual sight from seeing the signals while approaching to intersections. In addition, when a mirror has a convex shape, the reflected objects look farther away than they really are, creating a visual distortion which causes visual misjudgments and leads to vehicular accidents. Drivers cannot use such a convex rearview mirror effectively and safely without knowing how to offset that visual distortion created by the convex rearview mirror.
It would be illegal for a manufacturer or service garage to use any devices "which render inoperative the effectiveness" of a federal standard except the convex rearview mirror on the right side of most vehicles, bear a warning about the visual distortion created by convex mirror. However, without knowing how to offset that visual distortion created by convex mirrors, even bearing the warning about the visual distortion under the federal law, a mere full-view convex rearview mirror alone cannot help drivers judge the closing speed, positions and distances of other vehicles. Therefore, a mere full-view convex rearview mirror alone cannot actually help the drivers operate the convex rearview mirrors safely and effectively.
When a mirror has a convex shape, the smaller the radius of curvature, the wider the viewing angle it creates. However, the convex mirror with smaller radius of curvature also creates higher visual distortion. In addition, it reduces the clarity of the image. This is highly undesirable for vehicle drivers, especially to the senior drivers who physically are not active and have customary visual problems caused by aging. According to the statistics from the NHTSA, the total number of licensed drivers exceeds 170 million, wherein 35 million of them are over the age of 65. This portion of older drivers is on the rise because people are living longer. Therefore, to the vehicle driver, a clarity of image becomes one of the major factors of a full-view rearview mirror.
The greater the radius of curvature, the clearer the image that can be produced by the convex mirror. Therefore, a wider viewing angle and a clearer image can be created by elongating the length of a convex mirror to allow a greater radius of curvature. However, the interior dimensions of a vehicle place a limit on the length of such elongated convex rearview mirrors. For example, the driver's seat is located at one side rather than at the center of a vehicle, but the rearview mirror is mounted at the center of the front windshield facing to the rear of the vehicle. Therefore, the driver may see only partial rear viewing coverage of the mirror (less than about 15 degrees) on the driver's side of the vehicle, which leaves blind spots on the left side of the vehicle. Therefore it is often necessary to swing the rearview mirror to adjust its angle, so the driver can obtain an appropriate rearward visual field. However, the close distance between an elongated convex rearview mirror and the front windshield of the vehicle will limit the amount of swinging angle on the elongated convex rearview mirror.
In addition, the prior use of a convex rearview mirror by stick-on, clip-on or attached to the existing devices of a vehicle has some other problems. The existing devices of the vehicle, such as sun visors, have been specially designed for their special functions and installed in special locations. The convex rearview mirror attached to such existing devices may not perform properly. It is preferable to mount the rearview mirror to the front windshield of the vehicle with an independent mirror support means. However, on the one hand a shorter mirror support means is needed to offset the mirror vibration to ensure the safety of the front windshield and stability of the image because the weight of the elongated rearview mirror is substantially increased; on the other hand, an elongated support means is also needed to provide maximum flexibility for adjusting the angle of the rearview mirror.
Moreover, a mere full-view convex rearview mirror alone cannot be safely and effectively used unless an effective method is provided for the drivers to offset the visual distortion created by the convex rearview mirror. Without such a method, the prior art convex rearview mirrors cannot solve the driver's visual misjudgment problems, nor can the federal safety standard be satisfied. Until now, no such safety method is known which can let the drivers know how to offset the visual distortion created by the convex rearview mirror.
Accordingly, there remains a need for a new type of convex rearview mirror for vehicles, which has an elongated length with a long radius of curvature to improve the clarity of the convex rearview mirror. There further remains a need for an independent mirror support device which is specially designed to allow greater adjustability of the elongated convex rearview mirror, both in its height and in its angle, yet provides a vibration-free attachment. There also remains a need for a method which can actually help the drivers to judge whether and when it is safe to make a lane change or a turn. There remains an additional need for a formula to prove why the method is a safe method for drivers to use to offset the visual distortion created by the convex rearview mirror, to satisfy the federal safety standard.

Vehicle safety convex rearview mirror with distortion offset means and method of using the same


A method for detecting a protrusion in a medical image includes: acquiring a medical image, wherein the medical image is of an anatomical part; segmenting the medical image; calculating a distance map of the medical image; calculating a gradient of the distance mapped medical image; and processing the gradient to detect a protrusion in the medical image. The gradient is processed by: projecting a plurality of rays from a location in the distance mapped medical image; calculating a value for each of the plurality of rays based on features of each of the plurality of rays and the gradient of the distance mapped medical image; summing and scaling the value of each of the plurality of rays; and detecting one of a sphere-like and polyp-like shape using the summed and scaled values of the plurality of rays, wherein one of the sphere-like and polyp-like shapes is the protrusion.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a system and method for detecting a protrusion in a medical image and, more particularly, to detecting a protrusion in a medical image by calculating a distance map of a segmented medical image and processing gradient characteristics of the distance mapped medical image to detect a protrusion in the medical image.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In the field of medical imaging, various systems have been developed for generating medical images of various anatomical structures of individuals for the purposes of screening and evaluating medical conditions. These imaging systems include, for example, computed tomography (CT) imaging, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography (PET), etc. Each imaging modality may provide unique advantages over other modalities for screening and evaluating certain types of diseases, medical conditions or anatomical abnormalities, including, for example, colonic polyps, aneurysms, lung nodules, calcification on heart or artery tissue, cancer micro-calcifications or masses in breast tissue, and various other lesions or abnormalities.
For example, CT imaging systems can be used to obtain a set of cross-sectional images or two-dimensional (2D) "slices" of a region or interest (ROI) of a patient for purposes of imaging organs and other anatomies. The CT modality is commonly employed for purposes of diagnosing disease because such a modality provides precise images that illustrate the size, shape, and location of various anatomical structures such as organs, soft tissues, and bones, and enables a more accurate evaluation of lesions and abnormal anatomical structures such as cancer, polyps, etc.
One conventional method that physicians, clinicians, radiologists, etc., use for diagnosing and evaluating medical conditions is to manually review hard-copies (X-ray films, prints, photographs, etc.) of medical images that are reconstructed from an acquired dataset, to discern characteristic features of interest. For example, CT image data that is acquired during a CT examination can be used to produce a set of 2D medical images (X-ray films) that can be viewed to identify potential abnormal anatomical structures or lesions by a trained physician, clinician, radiologist, etc. A virtual colonoscopy may produce medical images that include normal anatomical structures corresponding to the colon, and a trained radiologist may be able to identify small polyps among these structures that are potentially cancerous or pre-cancerous. However, a trained physician, clinician or radiologist may overlook a medical condition such as colonic polyps due to human error.
Accordingly, various image processing systems and tools have been developed to assist physicians, clinicians, radiologists, etc. in evaluating medical images to diagnose medical conditions. For example, computer-aided detection (CAD) tools have been developed for various clinical applications to provide automated detection of medical conditions in medical images. In general, CAD systems employ methods for digital signal processing of image data (e.g., CT data) to automatically detect colonic polyps and other abnormal anatomical structures such as lung nodules, lesions, aneurysms, calcification on heart or artery tissue, micro-calcifications or masses in breast tissue, etc.
Although such CAD systems are very useful for diagnostic purposes, cost-reduction is difficult to achieve as the amount of data, for example, a radiologist, has to examine is abundant thus leading to lengthy analysis time and high costs of professional charges for the radiologist's interpretation. In addition, many CAD systems suffer from false positives (e.g., incorrectly identifying normal tissues as abnormal) and false negatives (e.g., failing to correctly identify abnormalities). Accordingly, there is a need for a CAD technique that identifies medical conditions such as colonic polyps in medical images accurately so that a medical expert such as a radiologist can efficiently and correctly analyze these conditions in a short amount of time.

System and method for detecting a protrusion in a medical image


A method of reducing noise by cascading a plurality of noise reduction algorithms is provided. A sequence of noise reduction algorithms are applied to the noisy signal. The noise reduction algorithms are cascaded together, with the final noise reduction algorithm in the sequence providing the system output signal. The sequence of noise reduction algorithms includes a plurality of noise reduction algorithms that are sufficiently different from each other such that resulting distortions and artifacts are sufficiently different to result in reduced human perception of the artifact and distortion levels in the system output signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method of cascading noise reduction algorithms to avoid speech distortion.
2. Background Art
For years, algorithm developers have improved noise reduction by concatenating two or more separate noise cancellation algorithms. This technique is sometimes referred to as double/multi-processing. However, the double/multi-processing technique, while successfully increasing the dB improvement in signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), typically results in severe voice distortion and/or a very artificial noise remnant. As a consequence of these artifacts, double/multi-processing is seldom used.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for an improved method of cascading noise reduction algorithms to avoid speech distortion.

Method of cascading noise reduction algorithms to avoid speech distortion


A battery includes a cell and a battery management unit coupled to the cell. The battery management unit is operable to determine whether a battery controller is operating when the cell is coupled to an information handling system that includes the battery controller. In response to determining that the battery controller is not operating, the battery management unit is operable to determine whether the cell comprises a battery voltage that is below a predetermined voltage level.

The present disclosure relates generally to information handling systems, and more particularly to under-voltage protection for a battery used with an information handling system.
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option is an information handling system (IHS). An IHS generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements may vary between different applications, IHSs may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in IHSs allow for IHSs to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, IHSs may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Many IHSs such as, for example, portable IHSs, include batteries to enable their portability. Batteries have an operating voltage range under which the operating of that battery will reduce the life of the battery. For example, the operating voltage of a Lithium-Ion battery may range from 3 to 4.2 volts. If the Lithium-Ion battery is repeatedly discharged below that range, the Lithium-Ion battery will not be able to retain 75% of its rated charge capacity after 300 full charge/discharge cycles at 25 degrees Celsius. In order to conserve batteries and reduce cost, it is desirable to ensure that the life of the battery is maximized.
Typically, the battery may be prevented from being over-discharged by using a battery controller in the IHS to detect a voltage trigger point and, once the battery voltage reaches that trigger point, turn off the discharge field effect transistor (FET) in the battery with the battery controller in order to prevent the drawing of power from the battery.
However, there may be situations where it is desirable to draw power from the battery when the IHS is either not operating or operating in a reduced power mode. When the IHS is not operating or operating in a reduced power mode, the battery controller in the IHS may be disabled and unable to turn off the discharge-FET. This can result in the battery being over-discharged, resulting the problems described above.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide for improved under-voltage protection for a battery.


A method and system are provided for inserting access control rules into an access control list. The access control list may be configured to contain independent rule blocks having ordered access rules. In one example, the method includes creating a new independent rule block and inserting a new access rule into the block if the list is empty. If the list is not empty, a set of mapped independent rule blocks may be created from the list. For each block in the set, the method may attempt to determine a position for the new access rule. Those blocks for which a position cannot be determined may be removed from the set, and the blocks in the set may be merged to form a new independent rule block with the new access rule.

This disclosure relates generally to networked computing environments and, more specifically, to a method and system for automatically updating and creating access control lists.
Many computing resources now exist on networks. Files, programs, webpages, or data, for example, may be stored on a network and accessed remotely. The Internet, local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), wireless networks, and intranets, for example, may have items for which remote access is desired.
Policies dictating access rights may be used with some network resources. Access control rules may be used to enforce policies and permissions regarding access to various network resources. Such access control rules may be grouped into access control lists (ACLs). ACLs may need to be properly ordered and maintained to ensure that the ACL enforces the desired policy for the network. Generally, maintenance of ACLs may be awkward and may use approaches that require specialized knowledge of decision trees or languages. Furthermore, such approaches may not support incremental changes, further adding to the burden of maintaining the ACLs.
Therefore, what is needed is a system and method that addresses the above-identified issues.

Method and system for automatically creating and updating access controls lists


A service provider system connects to systems associated with a group of business-partners. Each of the business-partners sells services, of an extensible set of services provided by the service provider system, to its customers. The service provider system provides a common interface via which the business-partner systems can request one or more services from the extensible set of services. The service provider system exposes subsets of the common interface to each of the business-partner systems by controlling access to the extensible set of services by the business-partner systems.

Networks, such as the Internet, have become an increasingly important part of our everyday lives. Millions of individuals now access the Internet on a daily basis to shop for goods and services, obtain information of interest (e.g., streaming video and/or audio), and communicate with friends, family, and co-workers (e.g., via e-mail). Network service providers own the network equipment via which these individuals connect to the Internet. Business partners oftentimes enter into a business relationship with the network service providers to sell the network service providers' network services to their customers.
Network service providers typically provide undifferentiated or marginally differentiated (e.g., with few options) access to the network via a mostly manual order processing/provisioning interface. A few network service providers have automated this interface, but provide the same interface to all of their business partners.
Accordingly, there is a need for mechanisms that may be used by network service providers to expose arbitrary functionality to business partners to thereby allow the business partners to provide differentiated services to their customers as compared to other business partners of the same network service provider.

Systems and methods for exposing functionality with strict access controls


A system for video detection and enhancement of a sport object during a sport contest. The system includes the sport object configured to phosphoresce at a selected non-visible frequency; a video collection and separation apparatus configured to detect visible light from a scene that includes the sport object and to detect phosphorescence radiation emitted by the sport object at the selected non-visible frequency, configured to separate the detected visible light from the detected phosphorescence radiation, and configured to create a visible light signal from the detected visible light and to create a phosphorescent signal from the detected phosphorescence radiation; an enhancement module configured to receive and to enhance the phosphorescent signal, and a merge module configured to receive and to recombine a resulting enhanced-phosphorescent signal and the visible light signal into a recombined signal.

In many sports, such as football, baseball, basketball, hockey, tennis, and others, a sport object such as a ball or a puck is moved in a specified manner in order to score points and win the contest. The object may be passed or moved between different players of the sport with the objective of scoring points by forcing the object past, through, or into a goal. For instance in football, the football can be handed off or passed between players on the same team to move the football toward the goal line. Among other means, points are scored by a football team if a member of that team crosses the goal line with the football or catches a pass in the end zone. A baseball hit over a wall at the edge of the playing field scores a point, i.e., a run, while a baseball hit within the playing field but sufficiently far away from members of the defending team also has the possibility of scoring. The objective in tennis, on the other hand, is to keep the ball within a specified playing area but hopefully where it is difficult or impossible for the player's opponent to return it to the playing area on the opposite side of the net.
The relatively small size of the sport object and its often rapid movement during play can make it difficult for television viewers to find and follow the object while watching the sport during real-time motion and sometimes even during slow motion replays. Various techniques have been used to detect the position of the sport object and to track its movement. In particular, hockey pucks have been fabricated with infrared emitting diodes mounted flush on their surfaces with the emitted infrared radiation being detected by special cameras. Proposals have also employed optical recognition or pattern recognition techniques.

Video detection and enhancement of a sport object


The present invention relates to a tissue culture process for producing a large number of viable mint plants in vitro. The process of the present invention employs specified pieces of an internodal segment of the stem of the mint plant as the starting material and identifies medium and culture conditions for producing a large number of plants. Such plants can be used for micropropagation, selection of mutants, production of plants with altered levels of endogenous secondary metabolites and for genetic engineering.

Various species of mint plants ("mints") are grown primarily in India, China and Japan commercially for mint oil, menthol, vitamins and other metabolites that are valuable to the pharmaceutical industry. These are used in aromatic oils and herbal medicines. The present invention deals with a tissue culture process for the development of a large number of plants from a specified part of mint plant. The process of the present invention opens up new possibilities for producing somaclonal and physiological variants and for genetic improvement of mints by modern techniques of agrobiotechnology.
Mints are of interest globally because of their valuable secondary metabolites, especially mint oils and menthol for the industry. Since it is a vegetatively propagated crop, mutation techniques have largely been applied to improving in characteristics like disease resistance, yield, metabolites and oil content. However, it is possible to apply tissue culture techniques for the improvement of mints by the selection of somaclonal variants and genetic engineering. The main objective of the present invention is to provide a simple process for large scale tissue culture based micropropagation of mints. Another objective of the present invention is to provide a powerful tool for the isolation of physiological variants, somaclones and mutants and for genetic manipulation of mints.
Plant regeneration by tissue culture techniques is well established. A wide variety of plant species has been successfully regenerated in vitro via organogenesis or somatic embryogenesis. Organogenesis leads to organ formation i.e. shoot (or root), which can be isolated to induce development of roots (or shoots) to produce full plants while somatic embryogenesis leads to the development of somatic embryos (embryos developed without genetic fertilization) which have both shoot and root initially and are capable of developing into whole plants. Although the ability of individual parts of plants and cells to regenerate into complete plants (called totipotency) is a well known phenomenon, each plant or plant part requires specialised studies to invent the conditions that allow such regeneration. Some of the factors controlling growth and differentiation of such cultures have been determined. The establishment of interactions among different groups of phytohormones, and growth regulators alone or in combinations are responsible for certain interrelations existing among cells, tissues and organs. So there seems to be consensus that the success in inducing differentiation depends upon the type of plant part ("explant"), the physiological condition of the explant and physical and chemical milieu of explant during culture. Due to this, the science of tissue culture has been directed to optimize the physiological conditions of source plant, the type of explant, the culture conditions and the phytohormones used to initiate tissue culture. This substantiates the fact that development of a new process for proliferation of plants by tissue culture is not obvious.
One major aspect that has to be investigated on case-by-case basis is the type of plant growth regulators and the amount of plant growth regulators that induce regeneration. Besides, chemical composition of the medium, temperature and other culture conditions play an important role in the induction of organogenesis and somatic embryogenesis and their maturation to healthy fertile plants thereof. The response to medium, hormones and growth conditions differs from plant species to species and variety to variety. Thus inventing conditions for efficient regeneration of plants, requires developing specialised knowledge about a given plant.
Another major area where innovativeness is required in tissue culture, is identifying the plant part that efficiently responds to the culture conditions and leads to prolific regeneration. Not all plant parts of a given species are amenable to efficient regeneration. It is a complex combination of the explant selected identified for regeneration, physiological state of the explant, growth conditions and growth regulators that determines success of a plant in tissue culture. Different explants from a given plant usually show entirely different and often unpredictable response to growth conditions for proliferation. No general principles can be applied to achieve regeneration. In each case, identification of the explant and identification of the culture conditions are innovative steps in the development of a tissue culture method for regeneration of a plant part into a number of plants.
To date, regeneration of many species and cultivars of Mentha has been reported through tissue culture. But the processes described earlier are not very efficient. The starting materials (explant) used in the earlier processes were different. For example, these processes utilised axillary buds, leaf pieces and embryos as the starting material. In this respect several reports on tissue culture of mints have been published. Some of these are also related to the establishment of cell suspension cultures and callus, and are listed below for convenience and reference.
Application of tissue culture techniques for the production and biosynthesis of useful plant constituents has been exploited for the production of alkaloids from excised root culture, callus and by crown gall tissue in a number of plants. (West F R. Jr and Mike E S 1957. Synthesis of atropine by isolated roots and root callus cultures of belladona, Botan.Gaz. 119:50-54; Klein R M 1960, Plant tissue culture: a possible source of plant constituents, Econ. Botany 14: 286-289). Cell suspension and callus cultures of Mentha piperita & M. spicata were reported to enable the production and biosynthesis of secondary metabolites (Lin and Staba 1961, Peppermint and spearmint tissue cultures, callus formation and submerged culture, Leoydia 24:139-145; Wang and Staba 1963, Peppermint and spearmint Tissue culture II: Dual-Carboy culture of spearmint Tissue. Jour of Pharmaceutical Science 52:1058-1062). Such cell suspensions were later reported to biotransform certain precursors into monoterpenes (Aviv D and Gulan E 1978. Biotransformation of monoterpenes by Mentha cell lines: Conversion of pulegone to isomenthone. Planta Medica 33; 70-77; Aviv D, Krochmal E, Dantes A and Gulan E. 1983, Biotransformation of monoterpene by Mentha cell lines: conversion of pulegone- substituents and related unsaturated .alpha.-.beta. ketones. Planta Medica 47: 7-10). Triterpenes were reported to be produced by callus tissue of Mentha arvensis (Karasawa D and Shimzu S 1980, Triterpene acids in callus tissue from Mentha arvensis var. Piperascens.Mol.Agric.Biol Chem.44: 1203-1205). Small quantities of menthol were also detected in suspension cultures and callus cultures with the help of GLC TLC. (Bhaumik C and Dutta P C 1982, Menthol in static and suspension cultures of Mentha arvensis Lin: var piperascens Holmes: Indian Drugs (July) 387-388). These reports did not aim at the regeneration of plants from the above said cultures.
Multiplication of shoots from axillary buds of Mentha spp was reported by tissue culture techniques (Rech E L and Pires M J P 1986. Tissue culture propagation of Mentha spp. by the use of axillary buds. Plant Cell Reports 5: 17-18, Revishankar G A and Venkatraman L V 1988. Rapid multiplication of plants from cultured axillary buds of Mentha piperita. Philippine Jour. of Science 117: 121-129). These reports deal with the multiplication of shoots from pre-existing meristems in axis of leaves, and up to 15 shoots could be obtained from single explant of M.viridis, M.pulegium and M.piperita which are reported as highly responding species for tissue culture. In the case of recalcitrant mints, like Mentha arvensis a few shoots were obtained.
Regeneration of shoots was also reported from leaf explants for M. piperita and M. spicata again, the species known to respond well to tissue culture (Repcakoa K Rychlova M Cellorova E and Honcariv R 1986, Micropropagation of Mentha piperita L. through tissue cultures Herba Hungarica, Tom 25: 77-88; Van Eck J M & Kitto S L 1992, Regeneration of peppermint and orangemint from leaf disc. Plant Cell Tiss.Org. Cult. 30:41-49). These leaf based protocols, however, are not efficiently reproducible and produce only a few shoots per explant.
Regeneration of shoots from callus cultures of Mentha piperita and M.spicata has also been reported. In these cases, the callus was developed either from mature or immature embryos obtained from developed or developing seeds respectively. Although differentiation of shoots from callus was observed, the efficiency was extremely low and only 5 plants could be regenerated from two out of 65 calli. The explant used in this report i.e. seeds are in paucity because mints are propagated vegetatively (Van Eck J M and Kitto S L 1990, Callus initiation and regeneration in Mentha. Hort. Science 25: 804-806) suggesting that the number of shoots obtained and the success rate is poorer than when explants containing pre-existing meristems were used. Regeneration of M. piperita L. from protoplasts was also reported. The regeneration from protoplasts involves the formation of single isolated cells that multiply to give callus and then differentiate to give shoots. However, the regeneration efficiency was very poor (Sato H, Enomoto S. Oka S. Hosomi K and Ito Y 1993, Plant regeneration from protoplasts of peppermint mentha piperita L. Plant Cell Rep. 12:546-550; Sato H, Enomoto S. Oka S, Hosomi K, Ito Y, 1994, the effect of 4-1-phenyl N(4 pyridyl) urea on protoplast culture of peppermint Mentha piperita L. Plant Tissue Culture Lett. 11: 134-138). The technique for the regeneration of plants from protoplasts was recently applied to develop interspecific somatic hybrids between peppermint and gingermint by protoplast fusion through electrofusion. The hybrid was confirmed by analysis of oil content, chromosome number and RAPD based DNA analysis (Sato H, Yamada K, Mii M, Hosomo K, Okuyama S, Uzawa M, Ishikawa H. Ito Y, 1996: Production of interspecific somatic hybrid between peppermint and gingermmnts, Plant Science 115, 101-102).
Wild strains of the bacterium Agrobacterium tumefaciens have been reported to develop crown gall or shooty teratomas on stem of M.piperita. Octopine and succinamopine type T-DNA containing Agrobacterium developed crown galls while nopaline type T-DNA containing Agrobacterium developed shooty teratomas. No attempts were made in these cases to get normal mature plants from such teratomas (Spencer A, Hamill, John D and Rhodes Micheal J C 1990. Production of terpenes by differentiated shoot culture of Mentha citrata transformed with Agrobacterium tumefaciens T37. Plant Cell Rep 8: 601-604).
Table 1 summarises the state of art of tissue culture processes related to mint plant as covered by patents or described in literature. It is then followed by statement describing the process invented by us in contrast to the known state of art.
TABLE 1 __________________________________________________________________________ State of art of tissue culture work on Mentha Mode of Report regeneration Phytohormones Explant Remarks __________________________________________________________________________ 1. Lin & Staba, 1961 Peppermint Callus cultures & BTOA, 2, 4-D, Stem & seeds Culture of stem of and spearmint tissue cultures, submerged culture coconut water peppermint & spearmint callus formation and submerged on medium formed shoot culture, Leoydia 24: 139-145 buds and roots at the nodes where preexisting meristems are available. Culture of stem on auxins (BTOA and 2, 4D) containing medium gave callus which could not be regenerated into plants. 2. Wang and Staba 1963, Suspension cultures 2, 4-D Stem Characterisation of Peppermint and Spearmint Tissue spearmint (Mentha Culture II; dual Carboy culture of Spicata) cell inoculated in Spearmint Tissue. Journal of carboys receiving constant Pharmaceutical Science 52:1058- air flow and agitation. 1062 The effect of certain antifoam and antibiotic compounds on spearmint tissue growth are discussed. Report does not show regeneration of plants. 3. Aviv D and Galun E. 1978, Suspension culture nil Cells Report indicates that cells Biotransformation of lines derived from monoterpenes by Mentha cell different Mentha lines conversion of pulegone to chemotypes were capable isomenthone planta medica 33: to biotransform 70-77 pulegone to isomenthone. No regeneration of plants. 4. Aviv D, Krochmal E, Dentes Suspension culture nil Cells In this report the A, and Galun E. 1983. biotransformation of Biotransformation of certain compounds with monoterpenes by Mentha cell similarities to puleone is lines: conversion of pulegone discussed substituents and related No regeneration of plants. unsaturated .alpha.-.beta. ketones Planta, Medica 47:7-10 5. Karasawa D and Shimizu S. Callus NAA & Kin Stem Describes the effect of 1980, Triterpene Acids in callus NAA and kinetin in media tissues from Mentha arvensis var on the composition of piperascens Mol. Agric. Biol. triterpenes in the callus chem. 44:1203-1205. tissue of Mentha arvensis var piperascens (Japanese mint) & comparison between callus tissue and original plants. Does not show regeneration of plants. 6. Bhaumik C and Dutta PC Callus suspension 2, 4-D, Kin Young leaf Four months old callus 1982, Menthol in static and and isolated cells (fresh) suspension cultures of Mentha including the medium arvensis Lin var pipersens yielded menthol which was Holmes: Indian Drug (July) 387- identified by TLC & GLC 388 techniques. Does not show regeneration of plants. 7. Rech EL and Pires MJP 1986. Regeneration of BAP, Kin Nodal segments A method for rapid Tissue culture propagation of Mentha spp. by multiplication of Mentha Mentha spp. by the use of multiplication of spp. from nodal explant is axillary buds Plant Cell Reports axillary buds discussed. Shoots 5:17-18 produced from preexisting meristems. Process does not work for Mentha arvensis efficiently. 8. Ravishankar GA and Multiplication of 1AA, 2, 4D, NAA, Nodal segments Describes the Venkataraman LV 1988. Rapid axillary buds & IBA Kin multiplication of shoots multiplication of plants from regeneration of via inducing preexisting cultured axillary buds of Mentha plants meristem in nodal tissue. piperita Phillippine Jour of Only 4 shoots per node Science were produced by this 117:121-129 method for M. pipereta. This report does not work for M. arvensis. 9. Repcakoa K, Rychlova M, Regeneration of BAP, Kin Immature leaf Process of regeneration Cellorova E and Honceriv R Mentha piperita was not good because 1986, identification of the Microporpagation of Mentha regenerative explant is not piperita L. Through tissue easy. cultures. Herba Hungarica, Tom 25:7288 10. Van Eck JM and Kitto SL Regeneration of Coconut water Leaf discs Efficiency of shoot 1992, Regeneration of pipperment Mentha plants via BAP, NAA, TIBA formation is very poor. and orange mint from leaf. Plant organogenesis Only a few shoots can be Cell Tissue Organ Culture 30:41- developed from one leaf 49 with lower frequency. 11. Van Eck JM & Kitto SL Callus initiation and NAA, BAP Mature and Regeneration from callus 1990, callus initiation and regeneration of immature embryos raised from mature or regeneration in Mentha. Hort. Mentha plant immature embryo was Science 25:804-806 obtained but differentiation of shoots from callus was very poor. Only 5 plants could be regenerated. Further, the explant i.e. mature or immature embryos is very rare because Mentha is vegetatively propagated crop. 12. Sato H, Enomoto S, Oka S, Isolation & culture BAP, NAA Protoplast isolated Isolated protoplasts were Hosomi K and Ito Y, 1993, Plant of from mesophyll demonstrated to induce cell Regeneration from protoplast of protoplast for cells of Mentha division followed by callus pepperment Mentha piperita L. development of piperita leaves formation & development of Plant Cell Rep. 12:546-550 mature Mentha mature plant. But the plant technique is tricky, tedious & time consuming & cannot be adopted for commercial micropropagation 13. Sato H, Enomota S. Oka S, Isolation & culture 4-PU, BAP, NAA, Protoplast isolated Isolated protoplasts were Hosomi K, Ito Y. 1994. The of Kin and zeatin from mesophyll demonstrated to give calli & effect of 4-1-phenyl N (4 pyridyl) protoplasts for cells then regeneration of whole urea on protoplasts culture of development of of peppermint plant of Mentha piperita. peppermint Mentha piperita L. mature Mentha leaves But the technique of Plant Tissue Cul. Lett. 11:134- plants protoplast isolation & 138 culture is very tricky, tedious & time consuming and not applicable for commercial micropropagation. 14. Sato H, Yamada K, Mii M, Protoplast fusion & 4PU & BAP and Protoplast of Isolated protoplasts of Hosomi K, Okuyama S, Ozawa regeneration of NAA mesophyll cells peppermint & gingermint M, Ishikawa H, Ito Y. 4, 1996: hybrid plants from were fused by electrofusion Production of interspecific peppermint and method and hybrid was somatic gingermint leaves developed by regenerating hybrid between peppermint and plants from fused protoplast. gingermints. Plant Science 115, The hybrid was confirmed 101-102 by analysis of oil content, chromosome number and RAPD based DNA analysis 15. Spencer A, Hamill, John D Genetic -- Intermodal stem Wild strain of the bacterium and Rhodes Michael J (1990, transformation and Agrobacterium tumefaciens Production of terpenes by culture of shoots have been reported to differentiated shoot culture of develop crown gall or Mentha citrata transformed with shooty teratomas on stem of Agrobacterium tumefacienes M. piperita. Octopine and T37. Plant Cell Rep. 8:601-604. succinamopine type T-DNA containing Agrobacterium developed crown galls while nopaline type T-DNA containing Agrobacterium developed shooty __________________________________________________________________________ teratomas.
Novelties in the present invention vis a vis state of art:
The present invention provides for the first time an efficient process for callus mediated organogenesis from an easily obtainable explant of mint plant, giving a large number of mature plants. This is potentially very useful in plant biotechnology for micropropagation, selecting variants and genetic transformation. Further, the invention also provides an improved process for exchange and conservation of disease free mint germplasm. The process of this invention is very simple and is applicable to a wide range of varieties and species of genus Mentha. The process also provides a simple method to alter the composition of essential oil in Mentha plants.
The process of the present invention employs the internodal region (for obtaining fully developed plants) as a starting material (explant), which is different from all the earlier reports (as given in Table 1). The process of the present invention for inducing a high frequency of de novo regenerants leads to whole plant development where the de novo regenerants are from tissues other than preexisting meristems. We could identify an explant that when cultured in suitable medium in the presence of certain combinations of commonly used growth regulators can stimulate a high frequency of differentiation of regenerants. Unlike reports 7 and 8 in Table 1, our process gives a larger number of shoots for all species of Mentha tested. Report 8 in Table 1 gives particularly poor regeneration from Mentha arvensis which is not the case with our process. Unlike reports 9 and 11 in Table 1, the internodal explant used by us is very convenient to obtain.
Earlier art dealing with multiple shoot formation used nodal tissue as the explant which consists of preexisting meristematic tissues in the form of axillary buds. The pre-existing meristematic tissue in such explants, when cultured in the presence of growth regulators starts growing to give a few shoots. The present invention uses internodal explant that does not contain preexisting primordia. The internodal explant gives a large number of shoots when cultured in medium supplemented with sufficient amount of growth regulators. The internodal segment has not been used in any earlier report for the regeneration of plants. Only report 15 given in Table 1 used internodal segment but that was for obtaining teratomas and not normal plants.
The phytohormone combinations and the explants used in the present invention are quite different from those used in any of the reports described in Table 1. The multiple shoot regeneration in our protocol was successful within certain limits of the phytohormone levels. For example, BAP functions efficiently at concentration of 8.88, .mu.M to 88.8 .mu.M with naphthalene acetic acid at 0.54 .mu.M to 5.4 .mu.M. .gamma..gamma. dimethyl allyl amino purine works at 9.84 .mu.M to 78.4 .mu.M with naphthalene acetic acid 0.54 .mu.M to 5.4 .mu.M, and kinetin works at 9.29 .mu.M to 69.3 .mu.M with naphthalene acetic acid 0.54 .mu.M to 5.4 .mu.M. As described in Table 1 these ranges and combinations of phytohormone have not been used earlier for the development of a process for multiple shoot regeneration in mints.

Tissue culture process for producing a large number of viable mint plants in vitro from internodal segments

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research


A method of manufacturing a watertight brushless fan motor includes first, combining a stator assembly with a stator and a circuit substrate, a case, a die, and an annular member. The stator assembly is mounted on the bearing supporting cylindrical section of the case. The bearing supporting cylindrical section is engaged and the die and annular member are fixed to the case. An insulating resin is poured into the die to mold spaces between the plate-like section and the bearing supporting cylindrical section so that the stator and the circuit substrate are included inside. The resin may be poured under low vacuum. With this arrangement, the watertight brushless fan motor is provided that can prevent occurrence of a crack in the outer surface of the molded part due to molding shrinkage of the insulating resin or expansion and shrinkage of the insulating resin caused by a change in ambient temperature.

The present invention relates to a watertight brushless fan motor and a manufacturing method thereof.
Generally, brushless fan motors include a stator provided with a plurality of stator magnetic poles, a circuit substrate fixed to the stator, a rotor for rotating with respect to the stator, and a case. The case includes a bearing supporting cylindrical section in which a bearing for rotatably supporting the rotary shaft of the rotor is received, a cylindrical housing section for surrounding the outer periphery of the rotor, a plate-like section separated from the circuit substrate with a predetermined space and extending from the end of the bearing supporting cylindrical section in a direction perpendicular to the center line of the bearing supporting cylindrical section, and a plurality of webs for connecting the plate-like section to the housing section. In the brushless fan motor of this type, it is required that the stator and the circuit substrate be made watertight. Then, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 191611/1998, a watertight brushless fan motor has been proposed in which spaces between the plate-like section and the bearing supporting cylindrical section of the case are formed with an insulating resin in such a manner that the stator and the circuit substrate are included inside, thereby forming a molded part.
However, in this conventional watertight brushless fan motor, when the insulating resin is molded, the insulating resin shrinks due to what is called a molding shrinkage or molding sink, or expands or shrinks due to a change in ambient temperature, thereby causing a crack in the outer surface of the molded part.
It is therefore an object of the present invention is to provide a watertight brushless fan motor which can prevent occurrence of a crack in the outer surface of a molded part caused by shrinkage of an insulating resin resulting from the molding shrinkage, or expansion and shrinkage of the insulating resin due to a change in ambient temperature, and a manufacturing method of the watertight brushless fan motor.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a watertight brushless fan motor in which an insulating resin can be molded, with the center line of the cylindrical body of the die of a resin mold aligned over the center line of the bearing supporting cylindrical section of the case, and a manufacturing method of the watertight brushless fan motor.

Method of manufacturing a watertight brushless fan motor


A memory device for recording input 9-bit data comprised of 8-bit video data including a predetermined invalid period and 1-bit color frame information data. A serial-to-parallel converter converts a valid data part of the 1-bit color frame information data to 8-bit data. The video data of the input data is selected when the video data is valid and the 8-bit color frame information is selected when the video data is invalid and 8-bit color frame information data is present. A memory stores the selected 8-bit data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a memory device for recording 9-bit length video data preferred when used for reproducing video data at variable speeds in for example a video server device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Along with the advances in recording technology and image processing technology, A/V server devices which encode large amounts of video data and record them in a randomly accessible recording medium to enable the data to be easily and efficiently edited and transmitted.
One of most basic functions in such an A/V server device is the variable speed reproduction of video data. This is utilized for various purposes such as editing, viewing, and confirmation of video data. Usually, variable speed reproduction is carried out by writing the decoded reproduction video signal in a memory in units of frames and reading and reproducing any of the data in the memory in units of fields in accordance with the reproduction speed.
At this time, the data which is written into and read out from the memory is a total 9-bit length data comprised of the main 8-bit video data and a CFI signal, that is, a 1-bit serial signal which has color frame information of this video data and which is transmitted together with the main video data between principal ICs for processing.
The reason why the CFI signal is necessary in addition to the main video data as the data written into and read out from the memory at the time of such variable speed reproduction will be explained next.
In the video signal, the start point of the valid picture is different between the first field comprising one picture, that is, one frame, and the second field. When taking note of the vertical time direction of this, there is a deviation of one line.
In standard speed normal reproduction, smooth pictures are reproduced by sequentially and regularly outputting the picture of the first field at the timing at which the picture of the first field should be output and then the picture of the second field at the timing at which the picture of the second field should be output.
At the time of variable speed reproduction, however, the data is reproduced in units of fields (field reproduction), so the pictures of the first field and the second field are not always sequentially and regularly output as in standard speed reproduction. That is, it is necessary to output the picture of the second field at the timing at which the picture of the first field should be output and, conversely, output the picture of the first field at the timing at which the picture of the second field should be output.
If the data were to be output without any processing at this time, since, as explained above, there is a deviation of one line in the start points of the pictures in the vertical time direction between the first field and the second field, this amount of shimmy will occur in the vertical direction in the output pictures.
The CFI signal includes, other than the color frame information of the main video data, information indicating the first field or second field (CF0). Therefore, by transmitting this CFI signal together with the video data to the principal ICs, it becomes possible for each IC to carry out the required processing for outputting smooth pictures based on this information.
In general, however, the data which is input and output in a memory IC generally consists of 8 to 16 bits. For this reason, when, as in the memory device explained above, the data to be written into or read out from the memory consists of 9 bits, the video data cannot be efficiently recorded. Namely, when such a memory is used, the input or output of the data requires either use of two 8-bit memory ICs or one 16-bit memory IC. In either case, the remaining 7 bits worth of memory space becomes wasted, so there was a disadvantage of expensive cost. Further, the number of memory ICs used is increased in comparison with the required storage capacity, so there also existed the disadvantage of the increase of size of the device.

Memory device for storing 9-bit video data formed of 8-bit video and 1-bit color frame information, the latter being converted to 8-bit data