An apparatus and method for reading optically encoded symbols which are of types which are not known in advance and which have significantly different illumination and imaging requirements. The apparatus and method use at least two optical scanning assemblies which have different illumination systems, different spatial resolutions and at least partially overlapping depth of field. These optical scanning systems are so located with respect to one another that a target symbol may be read by both scanning assemblies without the apparatus being manually reconfigured or moved during the reading process.

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for reading optically encoded symbols, and is directed more particularly to a method and apparatus for reading optically encoded symbols that uses multiple optical scanning assemblies having differing spatial resolutions and at least partially overlapping depths of field.
Optical readers, particularly bar code readers, are being used in an ever widening range of applications. In those applications where the amount of data is relatively small, the data is conveniently encoded in a one-dimensional (1D) bar code symbol. The reading of data from such symbols requires an optical reader with a spatial resolution that is relatively high in only a single dimension.
For 1D symbols which are relatively large or have relatively low data densities, readers which use 1D illumination sources and photosensitive detectors such as 1D or linear image sensors, are often used. Example of such 1D readers are described U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,187,355 (Chandler) and 5,288,984 (Ito et al). For 1D symbols which are relatively small or have relatively high data densities, on the other hand, readers which use scanning lasers and photosensitive detectors such as photodiodes are often used. Examples of such readers are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,387,297 (Swartz et al) and 4,409,410 (Shepard et al).
In those applications where the amount of data is relatively large, the data is preferably encoded in a two-dimensional (2D) bar code symbol. The reading of data from such symbols requires an optical reader which has approximately equal spatial resolutions in two mutually perpendicular directions.
For 2D symbols which are relatively large or have relatively low data densities, readers which use 2D or flood illumination sources with photosensitive detectors such as 2D or matrix image sensors are often used. Examples of such 2D readers are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,488,679 (Bockholt) and 5,531,366 (Wang et al). For 2D symbols which are relatively small or have relatively high data densities, on the other hand, readers which use rasterized scanning lasers with suitable photosensitive detectors are often used. Examples of such 2D readers are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,545,886 and in International Patent Publication no. WO93/18478 (Durbin et al).
The problem with readers of the above-mentioned types is that, due to the ever widening range of products to which optically readable symbols are being applied, users frequently encounter situations in which their readers are unable to successfully decode symbols of a variety of types, sizes and densities. Significantly, this inability is more often the result of a mismatch between the size or density of the symbol and the resolution and depth of field capability of the reader, than it is the result of an inability of the reader to autodiscriminate and decode symbols of different types.
In view of the foregoing, it will be seen that a need exists for an optical reader that is able to read and decode bar code symbols having a wide range of resolution requirements, and for a method of operating such reader that eliminates the need to manually reconfigure the reader as symbols having different sizes and densities are encountered during use.

Optical reader having multiple scanning assemblies with simultaneously decoded outputs


A pulsating release composition comprising natural microspheres, such as pollen grains or spores, into which are loaded a biologically active is subsequently releasable therefrom in a predetermined location in or on a plant or animal in a series (generally 3 or more) of pulses. In one preferred embodiment, the composition comprises a group of substantially similar loaded micropheres coated with multiple barrier layers alternating with multiple active substance layers in a concentric onion-like structure, the barrier layers being slowly soluble to delay release of active substance from the underlying layer thereof until after the pulse of active substance provided by the overlying layer has subsided. In another preferred embodiment, the composition comprises a plurality of loaded microspheres divided into as many fractions as the desired number of pulses, the loaded microspheres in each consecutive fraction being coated with a barrier layer adapted to dissolve consecutively more slowly to delay release of active substance from such fraction until after the pulse of active substance provided by the prior fraction of consecutively more soluble barrier-coated microspheres has subsided. In another aspect of the invention, the active substance-containing bodies in the compositions may be coated with one or a mixture of absorption-promoting enzymes.

Historically, many methods have been developed to improve the delivery of drugs to their target organs and to allow drug release over prolonged periods of time. These controlled drug release methods generally involved the use of carrier systems to carry the drug to the vicinity of its target organ (usually the blood stream) where it released on initial dose of the drug as rapidly as possible to achieve the desired therapeutic level and then provided for a further sustained release of the drug at a desired substantially constant rate to maintain the same therapeutic level of the drug during the predetermined period of activity.
Our prior co-pending application Ser. No. 07/306,170, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,013,552 which is incorporated herein by reference discloses a composition of matter comprising a plant pollen grain, the pores or interstices of which are loaded (impregnated) with a biologically active substance, which loaded substance is releasable in or on a plant or an animal and is foreign to a naturally occurring pollen grain. That invention was, in part, based on our discovery that pollen grains could be modified by removing their natural contents and substituting or loading therein a variety of biologically active materials, such as drugs, chemicals and other pharmacologically active substances, which could then be delivered to target organs, fluids, sites, surfaces or areas in or on plants and animals, where the substance contained within the pollen grains would be released in a manner akin to the normal release of the natural contents of pollen grains in the pollination process. The use of loaded pollen grains as delivery vehicles was found to be particularly useful in the transfer of molecules, and especially large macromolecules, into the blood stream, since they usually cannot otherwise be absorbed therein or reach the circulatory system. Since the rugged or spiny surface of each pollen grain adheres to tissue surfaces and particularly to mucous membranes, the loaded pollen grains disclosed in said prior application were assured of remaining in contact with the target organ for prolonged periods of time during which the active substance was released in situ. However, no other provision was made to prolong or otherwise control the release of the loaded substance contained therein. It has also been found that spores may be utilized in the same fashion as plant pollen grains.
A number of investigators have observed, though, that the effects of certain hormones, including insulin and native ganodotropin releasing hormone (GNRH), are a function of the rate of change in their serum level rather than in their absolute level. Sensitive assay techniques, such as radioimmunoassay, now show that many natural hormones are released in pulses rather than at a steady rate. It has been found that such pulses occur about every 12-15 minutes for insulin and about every 6 minutes for GNRH. These observations may explain why in cell-free preparations, the initial response to a particular hormone disappears in the continued presence of the stimulating hormone. In in vitro experiments, if the supernatant liquid still containing the hormone to which no response is being elicited is added to a naive preparation (one not previously exposed to the hormone), a response to the supernatant liquid is again observed. This suggests that the hormone is still active and that the rate of change in its concentration may be more important in eliciting a response than its absolute level in the surrounding medium.

Drug loaded pollen grains with an outer coating for pulsed delivery


A container foldably assembled from a single blank of treated corrugated paperboard for carrying iced canned or bottled beverages and food, with hand grips exterior of the container defined by a hole in each corner panel that folds against the end panels of the container. A hook at each end of a strap engages a respective hand grip for carrying the container on the shoulder of a person using the container.

Small containers of various construction have been used for maintaining a cold atmosphere for canned or bottled beverages and foods. Such containers are known as coolers, and are typically used at picnics, parties, tail-gate parties, travel, beach outings, and the like. The coolers are partially filled with ice or a cold-inducing package that is known in the art. The beverages and foods are then placed in the container for being kept cool. A lid closes the cooler.
A coolers loaded with ice, beverages, and food is heavy. Coolers accordingly are typically sized for convenient carrying, such as by a single individual or by two or more persons holding the ends of the cooler. Often the coolers include a handle or hand grip at the ends of the cooler to facilitate carrying. For example, some known coolers are made of a metal skin and plastic inner liner that sandwich a thermally insulative barrier. Such coolers often include a U-shape pivotable handle on each longitudinal end for carrying the cooler. Other coolers are sized for carrying six canned beverages. These coolers typically have plastic walls and a pivotable top for closing the cooler. A handle in these known coolers is molded into the top.
The coolers discussed above are of a type and quality that they are kept for re-use. In some instances however, low cost, disposable coolers are preferred for use. One such inexpensive cooler is made from molded styrofoam, and is typically available in several sizes. The ends in some known styrofoam coolers have wedge-shaped built-up sections on the end walls for hand grips.
Other low cost cartons for foods are known. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 3,904,106 describes a carton formed from a single piece of corrugated paperboard called a blank. A plurality of scores in the blank define several panels that form the walls, bottom, and top of the carton. A corner connector panel attaches to a side and end panels, and a diagonal score divides the corner connector into first and second triangular sections. A locking panel attaches to one of the triangular sections at each end of the blank. A tab extends outwardly from the locking panel for insertion into a slot in a bottom panel. The carton assembles by folding the triangular sections into face contact and sandwiching the first triangular section between an end panel and the second triangular section. The locking panel extends over the upper edge of the first triangular section and into the carton. The tab inserts into the slot in the bottom panel to maintain the carton in its erected position. One embodiment of the carton in the ,106 patent includes a handle cut-out in each end wall. The corner panels in this embodiment each require a separate tab and slot to maintain the carton in its erected position.
While accomplishing the goal of providing a container, the above-discussed low-cost containers still have drawbacks for use as a cooler for iced beverages and foods. The carton described in the '106 patent is not useable as a cooler for iced beverages and foods. First, the carton is not easily carried as an individual container. A single carton would be held and carried awkwardly from the bottom. Second, the carton also requires at least one slot in the bottom panel for securing the tab on the locking panel to hold the carton in its erected position. The slots allow water from the melted ice to flow out of the container. A person would thereby get wet by carrying the carton. The water would leak out into cars, stores, and other places where the container is being used. Third, the cut-out in the end panel (and the slots) create thermal leak paths into the carton. These reduce significantly the thermal insulative performance of the carton. Such cartons are suitable for use in refrigerated storage rooms, but are not desirable for use as a cooler for picnics, parties, and the like.
Styrofoam, while providing a low cost container, also has drawbacks which limit its suitability for use as a cooler. The hand grips are difficult to grasp and a loaded styrofoam cooler is awkward to carry. Styrofoam is brittle, and the walls easily break under load. Although styrofoam provides insulative characteristics, the beads of styrofoam in the walls of the container define interstices through which fluids and thermal energy may pass. Molded styrofoam coolers are necessarily formed in the completed shape, as are the metal coolers discussed above. A stack of such coolers occupies display and floor space, such as at the retail outlet selling the cooler. Finally, the lid for a styrofoam cooler typically is a separate piece which may break or become lost from the cooler.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a leakresistant, easily assembled container with hand grips exterior of the walls of the container for carrying iced canned or bottled beverages and foods.

Leak-resistant corrugated paperboard container with exterior hand grips


Live media distribution systems and methods enable scalable and efficient caching of live media content over computer networks. A live media backend generates video fragments for distribution to a content delivery network. The content may originally be streamed live by a live media source. The live media backend determines priority information for the video fragments and attaches a priority identifier to a data envelope for the video segments. The video fragments with the attached priority identifier are sent to a content delivery network. The content delivery network can access the attached priority identifier without analyzing the content of the video fragment to enable intelligent caching of video segments within the media distribution system.

The disclosed technology is related to live media distribution.
Live media distribution across computer networks has developed as a highly desirable form of providing content to users. Live media content originates from many different sources that often stream the content using network protocols to provide a seamless broadcast of the content at a client device. Although live media content is originally broadcast live, it may remain in a computer network for an extended period of time after its original broadcast. For example, live media may be streamed live and then stored for a short period of time in the system to facilitate personal or digital video recording functions over the network. Additionally, the live content may be stored for longer period of times to enable users to view the content after its original live broadcast.
To provide efficiency, scalability and PVR functionality, many distribution systems rely on chunking and caching between sources of live media and the client devices of users. These systems generally use large cache structures to provide the content to service user requests. Because of the large amounts of data that are generated by live sources, the caches are frequently updated as new content arrives. In many cases, older content is replaced with more recent content. This type of caching often results in potentially sub-optimal content being maintained in the system.

Program based caching in live media distribution


An apparatus for cleaning the rollers of a roller conveyor. The apparatus comprises a platform frictionally engaging a plurality of the rollers such that the apparatus is conveyed along the roller conveyor by the rotation of the rollers, and a first cleaning element secured to the platform, wherein the first cleaning element engages a portion of the surface of the rollers as the apparatus is conveyed along the roller conveyor.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to cleaning devices. More particularly, this invention relates to apparatus for cleaning the rollers of a roller conveyor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Roller conveyors are used to convey items from one location to another. A typical roller conveyor is comprised of a plurality of rotating cylindrical rollers evenly spaced throughout the roller conveyor and having generally parallel axes of rotation. The rollers of a roller conveyor may be rotatably driven by conventional means to apply a tractive force to an item placed upon the roller conveyor, thereby conveying the item along the roller conveyor in a direction perpendicular to the axes of rotation of the rollers.
Roller conveyors are commonly found in factories and warehouses. In these environments, especially, debris may accumulate and become encrusted upon the cylindrical surfaces of the rollers. When too much debris has accumulated, the rollers may jam together, which may cause the entire roller conveyor to be shut down.
One current method for preventing debris accumulation on the rollers is to manually clean the surface of each individual roller periodically with cloth and cleaning agents. However, because a roller conveyor may comprise thousands of rollers, this method takes a substantial amount of time to implement and requires substantial manpower. Additionally, the roller conveyor will usually be inoperable while the rollers are manually cleaned. The period of inoperability of the roller conveyor during manual cleaning can result in lost revenues from delayed shipments, delayed production and various other delay-associated costs. Thus, a need exists for a method and apparatus for cleaning the rollers of a roller conveyor that is less time consuming, requires less manpower, requires less down time for the roller conveyor and is less expensive than manual cleaning.


An equipment inspection support system, equipment inspection support method, and program including maintenance and inspection management unit selecting and transmitting to a terminal device inspection item contents stored in contents storage unit, receiving inspection result data transmitted from terminal device; timing determination unit determining status information acquisition timing by status information acquisition device based on inspection item contents transmitted to terminal device by maintenance and inspection management unit and the inspection result data transmitted from the terminal device; status information acquisition unit collecting status information acquired by the status information acquisition device according to status information acquisition timing determined by timing determination unit; result data control unit creating result data correspondence table associating the inspection result data received by maintenance and inspection management unit and status information collected by the status information acquisition unit; and inspection result storage unit storing inspection result data, status information and result data correspondence table.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an equipment inspection system, equipment inspection method, and program therefor; more specifically, it relates to an equipment inspection support system, equipment inspection method, and program therefor using multimodal control in which a plurality of interfaces work together.
2. Background Information
When performing maintenance/inspection work on equipment at a power plant, manufacturing plant or other large plant, an inspection technician brings to the site a paper inspection list on which a plurality of inspection items are printed, and in accordance with this inspection list, performs visual inspection, measurement, and adjustment. In accordance with the inspection list, the inspection technician sequentially locates and visually inspects sections to be inspected, and enters inspection results, such as yes/no and measurement values before and after adjustment, into applicable boxes on the inspection list. After completing such inspection work, the inspection technician brings back the inspection list on which the inspection results are entered to a facility management center, and inputs the inspection results into a management system such as a host computer.
In this case, because there are many pieces of equipment to be inspected at the site or inspection items, work efficiency on site is low, resulting in incorrect entry or omission of inspection results. There may also be cases where, due to error or negligence when an inspection technician has become overly familiar with the operations, non-factual inspection results and measured values may be entered. To prevent such inspection result entry mistakes and skipping of inspection items, an inspection technician may be accompanied by an observer who observes the inspection operation, but this entails the problem of increased labor costs.
As an alternative to having such an accompanying observer, an inspection technician is made to carry a small video camera, record images during the inspection, and bring the images back together with the inspection results. In this case, the inspection technician inputs the inspection results and images from the inspection operation into a management system to store the inspection result data and images in a correlated manner. Thereafter, a person in charge matches the inspection result data and images to check for omissions, input mistakes or the like. In this case, when there are a great number of pieces of equipment and inspection items, the correlation of inspection result data with images for each inspection item is complicated, with the danger of incorrect input.

Equipment inspection support system, equipment inspection support method, and program therefor


An assembly for facilitating the insertion of a fresh magazine into a magazine receiver opening of a pistol having a handle frame member to which a pair of opposing hand grips are removably attachable. The magazine insertion guide is secured in position on the butt portion of the frame member by engagement of a plurality projecting securing members that are concealed by, and cooperatively engage interior elements of specially configured hand grips when the grips are attached to the frame member, the exterior surfaces of which mimic the original equipment grips.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an assembly for facilitating the insertion of a fresh magazine into a magazine receiver opening of a pistol.
2. Background of the Invention
A semi-automatic pistol is a type of firearm that uses a magazine for the storage and subsequent delivery of rounds of ammunition, or cartridges, to the chamber. A magazine holds a finite number of rounds. When the magazine is empty, it can be ejected from the firearm and replaced by another full magazine. Compared to a revolver or other type of firearm, a firearm that uses a magazine significantly speeds the process of reloading the firearm, allowing the user rapid access to a relatively large amount of ammunition in a relatively short span of time. An example of a pistol that uses a magazine is described in U.S. Pat. No. 984,519 to Browning, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. Semi-automatic pistols produced in accordance with the Browning patent have been manufactured in large volume for use by the military, use .45 caliber ammunition and are popularly known by the trademark and referred to as the "COLT®45".
The replacement of a magazine requires the user to align the fresh magazine with the pistol magazine receiver opening. If the user is in a stressful environment, however, and especially if time is of the essence, then the proper alignment of the magazine with the pistol magazine receiver opening can become more difficult and time-consuming. Oftentimes, the user will waste precious seconds while attempting to properly align a fresh magazine with the magazine receiver opening and may fumble when trying to align and insert it. Examples of stressful environments for the user include organized competitive events, such as those held by the International Defensive Pistol Association (IDPA) or the United States Practical Shooting Association (USPSA), which are generally timed events. Other stressful environments include law enforcement or military use and/or field training exercises.
One solution to this problem has involved the use of a magazine insertion guide having a wide-angled opening.
Competitive shooters have been known to incur injuries to the portion of their hand that is gripping the pistol in the vicinity of the butt when the other hand fails to get the upper end of the fresh magazine in proper alignment.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,570,370 to Smith et al. discloses a wide-angled bifurcated opening magazine entrance guide extension of a pistol mainspring housing. The extension of the grip and provision of the wide-angled magazine receiver entrance guide is provided in a unitary structure with the pistol mainspring housing. The extended structure is attached to the pistol in the same manner as a stock mainspring housing without any machining alteration of the basic stock pistol.
The device of U.S. Pat. No. 4,570,370 has been commercially produced and cannot be easily installed, removed, and/or replaced by the average gun enthusiast. For example, the device requires the removal and insertion of a main spring housing pin and a main spring cap pin, respectively, each time the user wishes to interchange the device. The tasks are difficult because the user must (1) first align the main spring housing pin with the openings in the grip and the opening through the mainspring housing; and (2) then align the spring cap pin with a housing opening whilst not disturbing the leafspring, which is held in place by the mainspring housing, whose proper situation is delicate, and without which the firearm will not operate. The device has proved difficult to install and remove by the average user and the services of a gunsmith are used.
Furthermore, certain law enforcement agents are required to carry their firearms at all times. However, when these agents arrive at a competitive shooting event, they may wish to switch from a model more suitable for, the constant wear to a model more suitable for competition.
By reason of the inconveniences above, it is an object of the present invention to provide an assembly for facilitating the insertion of a fresh magazine into a pistol magazine receiver opening that can be easily secured to the pistol by the average user and without the aid and skills of a gunsmith.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an assembly for facilitating the insertion of a fresh magazine into a pistol magazine receiver opening, which allows fast and easy interchangeability of several different sized magazine insertion guides with other common elements of the firearm.


A method can be adapted for design and preparation of a matrix nanocomposite sensing film for hydrogen sulphide SAW/BAW detection at room temperature. A matrix nanocomposite can be synthesized by incorporating both single-wall and multi-wall thiolated carbon nanotubes into conductive organic polymers or ceramic nanocrystalline in a properly functionalized manner. A thin organic sensing film can be prepared based on the matrix nanocomposite. The matrix nanocomposite sensing film can be prepared on a surface of a SAW/BAW device by an additive process or a direct printing process. Finally, the sensing film can be consolidated by thermal annealing or laser annealing under ambient conditions in order to obtain the stable sensing film with higher sensitivity and electrical properties for a SAW/BAW based H2S sensor.

Hydrogen sulphide (H2S) is a flammable, irritating, corrosive, typically bad-smelling and extremely toxic gas. Toxicity of the hydrogen sulphide is comparable with hydrogen cyanide, which is considered as a broad-spectrum poison. Hydrogen sulphide can affect different parts and systems such as skin, eyes and throat in the human body, depress the nervous system and eventually cause death. Hydrogen sulphide occurs naturally in the environment, but ultra low levels can be tolerated because the human body can possess a number of enzymes that are able to perform the conversion through oxidation of hydrogen sulphide to sulphate.
It is important to continually sense the hydrogen sulphide to provide safeguards for the employees who work in areas like petrochemical and fuel refinery industry where hydrogen sulphide exists. The detection of hydrogen sulphide is also very beneficial for the biomedical field, especially for determination of H2S content in mouth air and for diagnosis in dentistry. Semiconductor oxides play a significant role for H2S sensing. Tin dioxide-based materials such as pure SnO2, CuO—SnO2 and SnO2—Ag2O can easily sense H2S in air. Copper oxide is a best promoter for the SnO2-based hydrogen sulphide sensors. However, such sensors exhibit the maximum sensitivity at elevated temperatures, (i.e. around 150° C.). At this elevated temperature, irreversible reactions can take place between the gas and the sensing layer, which affects the long-term stability of the sensor.
Some prior art gas sensors utilize a thin solid film on a SAW/BAW device to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks. In such gas sensors, gas molecules are adsorbed onto the surface of solid film due to the interactions like hydrogen bond, electrostatic, pi-pi stacking, Van Der Waals and host-guest relationships. Therefore, the propagation velocity of the SAW/BAW acoustic waves can be alerted and eventually a shift in the phase or resonance frequency of SAW/BAW devices is induced, as a function of the gas. Sputtered inorganic film based on activated tungsten trioxide materials, (e.g. pure tungsten trioxide, doped tungsten trioxide with iridium, gold and palladium), can be developed to form a sensitive film for hydrogen sulphide detection. Such thin films exhibit a good sensitivity toward hydrogen sulphide, but unfortunately the temperature still remains too high, (i.e. around 130° C.).
Furthermore, single-wall and double-wall carbon nanotubes, well known as inert molecules, have been utilized to form the sensing film, but the manipulation of carbon nanotubes exhibits important disadvantages such as low solubility and difficult chemical and physical processing. In addition, covalent and noncovalent functionalization of the carbon nanotubes diminishes the inertness property. The most popular covalent functionalization involves sonication of carbon nanotubes in a mixture of concentrated nitric acid/sulphuric acid, which oxidizes the parent molecule and introduces different groups onto the surface of carbon nanotubes such as carboxyl (—COOH), hydroxyl (—OH) and carbonyl (—C═O). Also, amino carbon nanotubes are available through the intermediate of Curtius transposition or Hoffmann degradation. Therefore, such single-wall and multi-wall carbon nanotubes are functionalized with mercapto groups (—SH) to overcome such disadvantages.
In addition, the functionalization of the molecular architecture of carbon nanotubes has been developed for the synthesis of CNT—CO—NH—(CH2)11-SH. This derivatization involves sonication of carbon nanotubes in nitric acid/sulphuric acid mixture, the addition of thionil chloride to convert carboxylic groups to the corresponding acid chloride, and treatment with α, ω mercapto-amine bifunctional compound to produce the alkanethiol. It has been shown that the mercapto-group is located at the end of alkylic chain with eleven carbon atoms, and that the mercapto-amide groups form a bridge between parent carbon nanotube and alkanethiol. Additionally, a selective thiolation of carbon nanotubes is the synthesis of CNT—CH2—SH, which involves sonication of carbon nanotubes in nitric acid/sulphuric acid mixture for 24 hour to introduce carboxylic groups at the surface of CNTs, and treatment of carboxylic CNTs with sodium borohydride to split carboxylic group into alcoholic groups. The synthesis of CNT—CH2—SH also involves conversion of alcoholic groups to the corresponding chloride groups, and finally treatment of the chloromethylated carbon nanotubes into mercapto methylated CNTs during the reaction with thiourea. The single wall carbon nanotubes can also be functionalized with cysteamine molecules.
In the majority of prior art, the link between carboxylic nanotubes and amine group in cysteamine can be performed using a carbodiimide as a catalyst, (i.e. 1-ethyl-1,3-[3 dimethylaminopropyl]carbodiimide hydrochloride). Recently, conductive organic polymers can be used to prepare organic compounds based sensing films with versatile applications such as gas sensors, solar cells, batteries, antistatic coatings, electro-luminescent devices, electrodes, nonlinear optical devices, transistors, etc. Polythiophene (PT) is an organic polymer, which exhibits high environmental stability, facile routes of chemical or electrochemical synthesis and functionalization, and thermal stability. A variety of derivatives of polythiophenes can be synthesized in the form of poly(3-butylthiophene), poly(3-hexylthiophene), poly(3-octylthiophene), poly(3-thiophenealkanesulfonate), poly(3-dodecylthiophene), and poly(3-perfluorooctylthiophene). Such polythiophene can be functionalized with macrocyclic cavities of crown ethers for detection of metal ions. The polythiophene is also functionalized with chiral primary amine for separation of chiral species, especially chiral amino alcohols. Recent publications relate the synthesis of poly[3-(6-bromohexylthiophene)] and poly[3-(12-bromododecylthiophene)], two types of poly[3(ω-bromoalkylthiophene)] which offer a myriad of ways for new functionalizations through the intermediate of displacement reactions. Synthesis of a novel compound, thieno[n]acene, was also reported. Composite polythiophene/boron trifluoride etherate was used to prepare sensitive film for detection of the following vapors: n-hexane, ammonia, triethylamine, acetone, water, trimethylamine, toluene, alcohols. The sensitivity response is proportional with the polarity of tested vapors. Even such combinations of the polythiophene and the carbon nanotubes often lack in H2S sensitivity, and mechanical and electrical properties. Hence, it is desirable to manufacture miniaturized solid-state sensors with increased performance for H2S sensing.
A need therefore exists for an improved method for the design and preparation of a matrix nanocomposite-based sensing film with high sensitivity, which enables hydrogen sulphide SAW/BAW detection at room temperature. Such an improved method is described in greater detail herein.

Matrix nanocomposite sensing film for SAW/BAW based hydrogen sulphide sensor and method for making same


A method for determining a total weight supported by the suspension system of a vehicle in motion starts by obtaining information sufficient to calculate a representative value of a spring constant for the suspension system of the vehicle. Measures are then obtained of the vertical acceleration of the center of mass of the vehicle over a period of time, and these are analyzed to identify a frequency of vertical oscillation of the vehicle. This frequency, together with the spring information, is used to determine an estimate of the total weight supported by the suspension system of the vehicle. Preferably, the measure of vertical acceleration is obtained by processing outputs of at least three motion sensors attached to the vehicle. In one embodiment, the motion sensors include one linear sensor deployed to measure vertical motion information for a part of the vehicle and two angular sensors deployed to measure pitch and roll information for the vehicle.

The present invention relates to weighing vehicles and, in particular, it concerns a system and corresponding method for determining a total weight of a vehicle in motion.
Vehicle weight is known to be a key parameter in road safety. Overloading of vehicles is often responsible for braking failures as well as roll-overs. Overloading also frequently results in shortening of the mean time between failures (MTBF) of various vehicle subsystems, leading to system malfunction and vehicle failures which may lead to accidents. Overloading is also a major cause of damage to road infrastructure.
Although a weight limit is set for every vehicle, the limit is not always observed. Limits may be exceeded either as a result of miss-estimation of the weight loaded into a vehicle, or through intentional overloading to reduce transportation costs. Most commonly, vehicle weight is measured by use of external scales or weigh-bridges. Although there are checkpoints for weighing trucks, they are of limited effectiveness. Firstly, since the checkpoints are positioned in a limited number of locations, such as before certain bridges, they can only monitor a small proportion of the possibly overweight vehicles. Additionally, checkpoints are inefficient, requiring considerable staffing and wasting valuable transport time. Finally, a system of checkpoints cannot provide advanced warning to the operator of the vehicle when he begins a journey with an overloaded vehicle.
In the case of aircraft, overload may cause fatal accidents during take-off or on subsequent center-of-gravity shift. Monitoring the total load of an aircraft is currently done through summation of the weights of several partial loads. In other words, the various loads are added together, either manually or by computer, to estimate the sum total of the weight. As well as the possibility of faulty addition, errors may be introduced during estimation of the weight of the fuel added to the aircraft's tanks, or through error or omission in estimation of the initial weight prior to loading, for example, if some load has mistakenly not been removed from the aircraft.
A number of systems have been proposed for on-board weighing of loaded vehicles. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,158,396 and 4,580,644 teach methods of weight estimation using load cells built into the suspension system of a vehicle. Such methods are intrusive, requiring redesigning of part of the vehicle structure and cannot typically be retrofitted. These systems are also only operative under static conditions. An alternative system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,410,109 requires installation of a piezo-resistive transducer sensor at each vehicle suspension point. This suffers from similar limitations of requiring design modification and only operating under static conditions.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,588,038 discloses a system which can also weigh during motion of the vehicle. The system calculates the weight on each axle by measuring the air pressure in suspension cylinders. Variations due to motion of the vehicle are eliminated by calculating an average value of the measured weight over a period of time. This system also requires adaptation of the existing vehicle systems, making retrofitting difficult.
There is therefore a need for a non-intrusive, retrofitable system and corresponding method for determining a total weight of a vehicle in motion.

Method for determining weight of a vehicle in motion


A task roster. A task roster can include a visual list of component tasks, the component tasks collectively forming a high-level task; a specified sequence in which the component tasks are to be performed; and, one or more visual status indicators, each visual status indicator having a corresponding component task, each visual status indicator further indicating whether the corresponding component task has been performed in the specified sequence. The task roster also can include a component task initiator configured to launch a selected component task in the visual list of component tasks upon a user-selection of the selected component task.

1. Statement of the Technical Field
The present invention relates to user interface technology and more particularly to a flexible user interface for facilitating the performance of tasks in a prescribed order.
2. Description of the Related Art
In complex software products, for instance applications development tools, often users perform important tasks such as creating, mapping and deploying software objects. In many cases, these task ought to be performed in a prescribed order. In particular, these task typically are performed sequentially in order to achieve a higher-order task such as the deployment of a software components.
Conventional software products in which such higher-order tasks can be performed provide for the sequential completion of tasks using the user interface mechanism often referred to as a "task wizard". Traditional task wizards guide users through a pre-defined sequence of tasks. Still, those tasks often must be performed in the task wizard as a unit.
Specifically, when using a task wizard, individual tasks cannot be performed out of order. Furthermore tasks cannot be performed while performing other tasks or processes. In sum, when using a task wizard, a user either performs the prescribed tasks contiguously, or not at all. It is not possible to perform intermediate tasks related to routine tasks performed in arbitrary order. In the context of a software development application, when using a task wizard, coding, editing and debugging cannot be performed out of order.
Still, in many cases, it is neither necessary nor convenient to perform tasks in a contiguous manner. In that regard, in some software applications, it is preferable that tasks can be selected non-sequentially and non-contiguously through a common UI mechanism such as a drop-down menu of task. Notwithstanding, when tasks can be selected from a drop-down menu, the drop-down menu often can include tasks which are not directly related to those tasks which must be performed in sequence. Examples of unrelated tasks can include window control, navigation and clipboard operations.
Despite the myriad of tasks which can be presented in a drop-down menu, however, such drop-down menus neither indicate nor enforce the sequence in which certain tasks must be performed. Notwithstanding, there are high-level tasks in which it is crucial that its component tasks are performed in a prescribed sequence. In these high-level tasks, however, it is not always necessary to perform the component tasks contiguously. Rather, in these high-level tasks it is acceptable to perform the component tasks sequentially, but not necessarily contiguously.

International Business Machines Corporation


An image processing method includes reading a document on which a halftone-processed image is printed, performing smoothing processing on image data acquired by reading the document, setting a target region of a predetermined size to the smoothed image data and then calculating a degree of variation in signal values of a plurality of pixels included in the target region, determining a brightness correction amount for the target region based on the calculated degree of variation and the signal values of the plurality of pixels included in the target region, and performing brightness correction on the target region in the image data acquired by reading the document, based on the determined brightness correction amount.

Field of the Invention
The present disclosure generally relates to image processing and, more particularly, to an image processing apparatus that can correct an image, an image processing method for the image processing apparatus, and a medium.
Description of the Related Art
When a document is read by using an image reading apparatus (scanner) mounted on a copying machine or a multifunctional peripheral, a problem of "show-through" may occur. The show-through refers to a phenomenon in which, when one side (front side) of the document is read by the image reading apparatus, an image of the other side (back side) of the relevant document is included in the read image. Therefore, "show-through" occurs mainly when a certain image is printed on both sides (front and back sides) of the document to be read by the image reading apparatus. The show-through tends to occur when a high-density image exists on the back side. This phenomenon occurs due to a light amount of a light source when reading an image and a thickness (degree of light transmission) of a medium (paper) of the read document. If the show-through occurs, it becomes hard to recognize each image in the read image, i.e., image quality is degraded.
As a technique for reducing the show-through in a read image, processing for decreasing an overall image density (by intensively applying a "background elimination function") may be used. In this case, however, not only the density of the show-through but also the density of each image existing on the front side of the document will decrease. Therefore, a low-density image may possibly disappear.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-160883 discusses a technique for acquiring a variance value for a fixed range including a target pixel and, when the relevant variance value is equal to or less than a predetermined reference value, performing show-through elimination processing. This processing focuses on a point that a low-density portion in an image is expressed with halftone dots, and utilizes a feature that image data for a region expressed with halftone dots indicates a large variance value. On the other hand, show-through components are hard to be expressed with halftone dots when seen from the front side, and thus indicate a small variance value. Therefore, it is determined whether an image includes the show-through components or is a low-density portion on the front side based on whether the variance value is equal to or less than the reference value, and performs the show-through elimination processing only on the show-through components.
However, the technique discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-160883 has a problem that a region where the show-through elimination is performed successfully and a region where the show-through elimination is not performed successfully are generated within the same halftone dot region depending on a relation between a halftone dot period of a document and a reading optical resolution of the document.
If the reading optical resolution of a document is determined, a sampling frequency for reading pixels in the document is determined. In this case, if the halftone dot frequency in the document is around one-half of the above-described sampling frequency (around the Nyquist frequency), a region where halftone dots are not correctly resolved is generated in the image data of the read document. Accordingly, one halftone dot region of the document simultaneously includes a region where halftone dots are unresolved and a region where halftone dots are resolved, and is divided into a region having a small variance value and a region having a large variance value. As a result, there occurs a problem that a region where the show-through elimination is performed successfully and a region where the show-through elimination is not performed successfully are generated within the one halftone dot region.

Image processing apparatus, method, and medium to perform image smoothing and brightness correction to remove show through


A subscriber station for a serial bus system. The subscriber station encompasses: a communication control device for controlling communication with at least one further subscriber station of the bus system; a transmission/reception device for receiving a message from a bus of the bus system, which message was created by the communication control device or by the at least one further subscriber station of the bus system and is being transferred on the bus; an interference detection unit that is configured to detect interference in the context of transfer of the message on the bus; and an interference processing unit that is configured to evaluate the interference detected by the interference detection unit in terms of the nature and magnitude of the interference, and to adapt communication control by the communication control device to the result of the evaluation of the interference.

CAN bus systems are used, for example in vehicles or in industrial facilities, for communication between control devices. In CAN bus systems, messages are transferred using the CAN and/or CAN FD protocol, as described in the current ISO 11898-1:2015 constituting the CAN protocol specification with CAN FD. Also known as a further variant of CAN or CAN FD is an LVCAN, in which the messages are transmitted at least in part at a transmission level, by the fact that the voltage supply is reduced as compared to the usual level of 5 V, in particular to 3.5 V.
Communication in the bus system generally proceeds in real time. This means that safety-relevant data, which may require a quick reaction by a control device or by actuators that are controlled by the control device, can also be sent over the bus system.
Interference in communications in the bus system can occur during operation of a vehicle or of an industrial facility, however, as a result of certain events. As a solution to this, errors in the context of transmission and reception are counted by the subscriber stations. In a CAN bus system, transmission errors have a greater weighting than reception errors.
If at least one error counter exceeds a value of 127, the subscriber station transitions into the Error Passive state. In the Error Passive state, errors are signaled only with a recessive level. In addition, the Error Passive subscriber station must observe an additional delay time of 8 bit times when transmitting messages. If the transmission error counter exceeds 255, a Bus Off state is initiated, in which the subscriber station cannot participate in bus events until the next reset.
In vehicles, connection of all devices to the Internet (IoT) is now being required. As a result, low-priority data are increasingly being transmitted via the bus of the CAN bus system so that those data can be evaluated at a later point in time.
It is problematic, however, that lower-priority data can also cause the error counters to increment, and thereby cause a subscriber station to transition more quickly into the Bus Off state. In addition, in conditions in which bandwidth must be limited, the low-priority data can jeopardize the real-time capability of the CAN bus system.

Subscriber station for a serial bus system, and method for data transmission in a serial bus system


An interface allows communication between a host device coupled to a host bus and a target device coupled to a target bus. First, the interface receives the address of the target device from the host device via the host bus, where the address has a first width. Next, the interface converts the received address from the first width into one or more address components each having a second width. Then, the circuit accesses the target device by driving the one or more address components onto the target bus. Such an interface allows for a simple, direct communication path between the host bus, such as a system bus, and a target bus, such as an LPC bus. The interface consolidates several tasks into one general purpose interface, providing savings in components used, design complexity, and overall cost of implementation. Further, the length of time required for communications between interfaced busses is substantially reduced.

A Low-Pin Count (LPC) bus is an internal-communication bus for computer systems and has been implemented in recent years to gradually replace the Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus. For example, the LPC Interface Specification 1.0 available from Intel Corporation of Santa Clara, Calif. calls for an LPC interface between a computer system's core logic chipset and motherboard I/O functions.
The LPC bus architecture is a serial, 7-pin simple bus with a 33 MHz clock. There are no defined slots, unlike the ISA and PCI buses, thus only on-board solutions are used in the LPC architecture. Since its speed is limited to 33 MHz, it is not designed for heavy-duty data transfer. Devices that are likely to be found on the LPC bus are legacy devices, such as Super I/Os, and flash boot devices. The LPC bus architecture is software transparent to higher level I/O functions and is compatible with existing peripheral devices and applications. The LPC bus, however, is not readily compatible with other bus architectures, such as register-based memory buses, because of the discrepancy in the bus speeds.
A system bus is a bus architecture designed to facilitate communication between a computer's central processing system and its register based memory system. The bus speed of a system bus is typically not quite as fast as the CPU speed, but is significantly faster than the speed of the LPC bus. As a result, communication between a system bus and an LPC bus cannot be achieved by a simple interface.
In the past, communication between devices that use the system bus and devices that use the LPC bus was indirect and required a significant firmware/software undertaking. This undertaking proved to require a substantially lengthy processing time. Therefore, a need has arisen to eliminate the substantial length of this undertaking by providing a direct path between the system and the LPC busses.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


Methods, systems and computer products are provided for tracking objects within a scene using imperceptible structured light. The imperceptible structured light may be used in environments where humans work and therefore avoids disorienting observers. The structured light patterns are generated dynamically, allowing tracking without physical landmarks. Moreover, the occlusion of the generated landmarks is overcome by determining the position of objects using a determined camera position. The imperceptible structured light may be used in systems without tracking. The tracking may be used without imperceptible structured light.

While the advent of Head-Mounted Displays (HMDs) and affordable real-time computer graphics engines has given rise to much research in the field of Virtual Reality (VR), comparatively little work has been done in the field of Augmented Reality (AR). A VR system immerses the user in a totally synthetic computer-generated environment. An AR system, on the other hand, merges computer synthesized objects with the user's space in the real world. In an AR system, computer generated graphics enhance the user's interaction with, or perception of, the real world. The range of applications that can benefit from this kind of technology include medical care, mechanical design and repair, architecture and interior design, and educational or information display. Such views of the world are frequently generated by acquiring a video image from the real world, then overlaying graphics onto that image.
For AR systems to become truly beneficial, AR systems should provide accurate registration between computer generated graphics and real objects. A virtual object should appear at its proper place in the real world, otherwise it is difficult for the user to correctly determine spatial relationships. Furthermore, the registration of the computer generated graphics should be dynamic in that it can account for changes in the real world. Dynamic registration is particularly important when the user moves around in the environment. The relative position between real and computer generated (synthetic) objects should be constant.
An AR system must also provide a reasonable image generation rate (10 Hz) and stereopsis. Both image generation rate and stereopsis are important for good depth perception. The lack of kinetic or stereoscopic depth cues greatly reduces the believability of an augmented environment.
An AR system should also be simple to set up and use. Users of AR applications should not have to be familiar with the specific techniques used in AR systems. As many of the applications of augmented reality environments involve tasks which are carried out by users who are typically not versed in the intricacies of computer graphics systems, a simple set up and use are important to the proliferation of AR systems.
The AR system should also put minimal constraints on user motion. In many applications the user wants to move without restriction.
Finally, an AR system should have minimal latency. There should be as little as possible delay between the user's movement and the display update. Reduction in latency between movement and reflection of that movement in the environment is generally required for smooth and effective interaction.
Among the requirements for an effective AR system, the accurate registration of the computer generated graphics can have a significant impact on the perception of the augmented reality. To the best of the inventors' knowledge, typical existing AR systems do not convincingly meet this requirement. Typically, two problems that have prevented AR from becoming a common method of delivering applications to clients are registration and occlusion.
Registration refers to the alignment between real and synthetic objects on the image plane. There are many pieces of an AR system that contribute to registration of the final image. One of the most important is the system that tracks the position and orientation of the user's eyes or head, from which the location of the eyes is determined. The output of this system is passed to the image generation system in order to generate a view of the synthetic world that matches the user's view of the real world. This data must be accurate, so that the real and synthetic objects are aligned, and this data must be timely, so that the synthetic objects do not appear to swim back and forth in relation to the real world objects. If precise alignment is achieved, proper occlusion relationships can be established between real and synthetic objects. That is, portions of real objects that are behind portions of synthetic objects in the merged world must be obscured by those synthetic objects in the final image. Synthetic objects that are behind real objects in the merged world must similarly be obscured by those real objects. In other words, the image generation system must know when to paint or not to paint synthetic objects into the final image. Performance of either version of this task requires that the system know the depths of the real objects from the camera. Many applications acquire this data before the system runs and assume that the scene is static. In many applications, this assumption is not valid, so the object's depth must be recomputed or reacquired in real time in order to maintain the illusion of a merged world.
Existing methods of tracking include: magnetic, mechanical, ultrasonic, and optical and other vision-based systems. Magnetic systems are robust but inaccurate in practical environments, due to a distortion of the magnetic field. Conventional magnetic trackers may be subject to large amounts of error and jitter. An uncalibrated system can exhibit errors of 10 cm or more, particularly in the presence of magnetic field disturbances such as metal and electric equipment. Carefully calibrating a magnetic system typically does not reduce position errors to much less than about 2 cm. Despite their lack of accuracy, magnetic trackers are popular because they are robust and place minimal constraints on user motion.
Mechanical systems are accurate but suffer from limited range, ergonomic and safety issues, and by being able to track only one object. Ultrasonic systems are of limited accuracy, suffer from environmental interference (e.g., temperature) and obstruction of emitter and receiver, and are slow. Ultrasonic systems also add sound structure to the environment.
Optical systems can be broken down into categories of inward-looking or outward-looking. Either method may suffer from obstruction of landmarks. Inward-looking may suffer from stability problems and poor accuracy of orientation measurements. Such tracking methods have been used to track the user's head position and orientation or the structure of a scene, but in a relative sense only. That is, either the landmarks or the cameras are assumed to be static, and the other can therefore be tracked relative to the static object.
Another method of tracking is a vision-based tracking system which uses image recognition to track movement. In a video see-through AR system, video images of the user's view are available. However, recovering 3D information from 2D images is generally difficult. One common problem of utilizing image recognition to track movement and register computer generated graphics in a VR system is that an almost infinite number of possibilities may need to be considered for the images to be interpreted correctly. Model-based vision, which assumes a prior knowledge of the 3D geometry of visible objects, reduces the problem from shape recovery to mere camera motion tracking, however, even by simplifying the problem this way, model-based vision methods typically still extract object features from images. This generally involves special-purpose image processing hardware to achieve real-time updates.
Some systems have demonstrated success by using a vision-based tracking of landmarks, physically placed in the scene, which are detected in the camera image. Some systems employ colored dots as landmarks. Other systems, including commercial systems, use LEDs as landmarks.
One problem with this approach is that the landmarks impose constraints on the user's interaction with the world. The landmarks must be in the field of view in order to benefit from the vision-based tracking and the user must avoid them to perform the task at hand. It is not, however, always practical to assume the environment or the user's head to be static. This can lead to occlusion of the landmarks from the user's view. Finally, such tracking systems cannot adapt to these changes, and place restrictions on the lighting of the scene.
Another vision based technique involves determining the structure of a scene by tracking features through a sequence of images of the scene taken from a camera (usually of known intrinsic parameters) at known position and orientation in the world. Similarly, methods have been demonstrated to solve for the camera motion parameters by tracking features in a scene of known geometry (again, usually with known intrinsic camera parameters). These algorithms rely on establishing a set of correspondences between the images. Correspondence between images has been attempted using texture patterns, physical landmarks, natural features, and perceptible structured light patterns. None of these systems, however, are optimal for AR applications. Texture patterns and physical landmarks impose a structure on the environment that is impractical for many applications. Natural features are computationally expensive to track (segment, in the vision literature) and robustness is difficult to achieve.
Extraction of live three dimensional measurements from scenes is desired in a wide variety of applications (e.g., robotics and manufacturing). In controlled environments, an active light (such as a scanning laser) is frequently used. Applications that require human participation in the environment, however, cannot easily use an active light. Perceptible structured light patterns are not practical in environments in which humans must do work, since human users frequently become disoriented and even physically ill when immersed in such environments.
In view of the above, there exists a need for an improvement in AR systems to allow for depth extraction in scenes and highly accurate registration of computer generated graphics while still providing adequate accuracy, freedom of movement of the user, simplicity of setup and use and acceptable latency between motion and reflection of that motion in the augmented environment.

Dynamic generation of imperceptible structured light for tracking and acquisition of three dimensional scene geometry and surface characteristics in interactive three dimensional computer graphics applications

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill


A log splitting system comprises a splitter box, having entrance and discharge sections, each with top, bottom and sidewalls, and open entrance and discharge ends. A first set of cutting blades in the entrance section divides that section into at least two, first sections. A second set of cutting blades in the discharge section further divides each first section into at least two, second sections. The entrance and discharge sections are hinged at the top and pivot apart for cleaning and service. A ram assembly with a force applying surface contacts a log with the first set of cutting blades. The ram member's surface has surface portions, each sized to fit into one of the splitter box's first section, to further contact the log with the second set of cutting blades, splitting the log into at least four pieces.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for splitting log sections. More particularly, the present invention relates to a hydraulic device coupled to a splitter box device. Most particularly, the present invention relates to a two-stage hydraulic device coupled to a two-stage splitter box device for splitting log sections into small pieces suitable for firewood.
2. Background Information
It is common practice to split logs into smaller pieces to provide firewood that burns readily. This task can be done manually using a mall to strike a wedge which splits the log, but this is labor intensive and requires physical strength and endurance. In recent years, hydraulic cylinders have been used to push a section of log against a stationary wedge to split the log section into smaller pieces. The simple wedge has been replaced by devices having multiple cutting edges to divide the log section into smaller pieces with a single stroke of the hydraulic cylinder. Although numerous variations on the cutting wedge, also termed a splitter box, have been developed, nearly all are subject to plugging and binding when attempting to split the log section into many smaller pieces in a single pass through the splitter box.
Some examples of inventions involving devices or systems for cutting and splitting logs for which patents have been granted include the following.
Connolly et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 4,286,638, describe a machine for cutting a log into a succession of pieces of predetermined length at a cutting station, moving the cut piece to a first splitting station, splitting the first cut piece at the first splitting station while the next piece is being cut at the cutting station, moving the next piece to a second splitting station, splitting the next piece at the second splitting station while a third piece is being cut at the cutting station, moving the third piece to the first splitting station, and splitting the third piece at the first splitting station while a fourth piece is being cut and so on. The production of split wood is thus substantially increased by the use of two splitters combined with means for moving the successively cut pieces alternately to the splitters.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,353,401, Schilling discloses a method and apparatus for splitting a log substantially along the grain into a plurality of sector-shaped segments. The apparatus comprises at least one sector splitter ring having a plurality of blades, a support for locating the splitter ring in a log movement path, means for pushing the log axially along a log movement path, a rotating backplate for supporting one end of the log being pushed along, with the backplate adapted to tilt and allow the backplate-supported end of the log to rotate as the log is pushed through the splitter ring, and guide means adapted to retain the floating backplate in the log movement path. The process comprises forcing one end of a log axially against and through at least one splitting blade, the other end of the log being in contact with a backplate that can tilt, and permitting relative rotation between the log and the splitting blade so that a split occurring in the log from the splitting blade substantially tends to follow the grain in the log.
Barnes et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 4,371,020, describe a process for preparation of long wood strands. Long wood strands are required for the production of structural lumber products. These strands must be split, and a method of splitting logs into longitudinal-grain wood strands comprises the steps of radially splitting a log substantially along the grain of the log into a plurality of sector shaped segments, parallel splitting each of the sector shaped segments along the grain of the segments into a plurality of substantially parallel slabs, and further splitting each of the parallel slabs substantially along the grain of the slabs into a plurality of longitudinal-grain wood strands.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,373,564, Heikkinen discloses a self-propelled and steerable wood processing system for converting a log into firewood wherein the wood processing system has a pick-up mechanism that can be advanced into a pile of logs to be cut with the pick-up mechanism rotatably mounted to permit placing a log on a log deck where it can be fed into a cutting and splitting mechanism for forming the log into firewood.
Sakraida, Jr., in U.S. Pat. No. 4,391,312, describes a log splitting head comprising a baseplate, first and second vertical cutting plates opposed and spaced from each other and mounted to and perpendicular with the baseplate, each including a cutting edge, a horizontal cutting plate mounted to and supported by the first and second cutting plates, and also including a cutting edge, and means for securing the baseplate to the main frame of a log splitting machine.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,421,149, Barnes et al. disclose a process for making long wood strands. Long wood strands are required in structural lumber products and, in order to obtain maximum strength, should be split along the grain. A method of splitting a log into longitudinal-grain wood strands is disclosed comprising the steps of radially splitting the log substantially along the grain of the log into a plurality of sector shaped segments. Radial splitting includes pushing the log axially through at least one sector splitter ring, and further splitting the sector shaped segments substantially along the grain of the segments. The further splitting step includes feeding each of the sector shaped segments through two rows of intermeshing counter rotating discs, pulling each of the segments between the rows of discs and simultaneously splitting each of the segments into a plurality of longitudinal-grain wood strands.
Johnston, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,478,263, describes a mobile self-contained wood processing machine used for the processing of logs into specific lengths and then splitting the lengths into individual pieces suitable for use as firewood or the like. The individual pieces are retained in a unit bin until a desired quantity has been processed. Once the desired quantity is processed, the unit bin is operated to release the stored pieces to a handling cart or to packaging.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,782,866, Valdez discloses a log splitting head, which includes a downwardly sloped top portion having a sharpened leading edge in the form of a V-shaped cutting blade. Beneath the top portion, a first row of vertical cutting blades is provided, each including a sharpened leading edge. Also included is a second row of vertical cutting blades beneath the first row of blades and structurally similar thereto. Separating the two rows of blades is a medial portion having a sharpened leading edge. The sides of the splitting head include two vertical plates having sharpened leading edges. All of these components are arranged in a specific angular configuration designed to accomplish log splitting with maximum efficiency. The entire unit is adapted for attachment to a horizontal platform and enables the splitting of logs into uniformly sized sections.
Nunnery et al., in a series of patents, including U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,829,865, 4,830,070, 4,834,154 and 4,869,303, describe a wood processor for cutting a log into a series of shorter lengths and subsequently splitting the shorter lengths into individual pieces of firewood or the like. The processor includes a carriage for receiving the log. Clamps engage the log from both sides to secure it in the carriage, which advances the log into contact with a plurality of parallel rotating saws. After the carriage is retracted, a pusher rod moves the cut log pieces along an axis onto a plurality of cradle members, one cradle supporting each log section. The cradle members are tilted to dump the log sections alternately onto opposite sides of the axis of log movement. The logs dumped from the cradles are fed to a plurality of individual hydraulically operated log splitters.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,830,071, Gollahon discloses a wood stump splitting apparatus that includes a splitting chamber for receiving a plurality of various sized wood stumps. The splitting chamber has one wall including a splitter grid. Press is provided for pressing the wood stumps against cutting edges of the splitter grid and pushing the plurality of wood stumps through the splitter grid apertures. Press includes a plurality of longitudinal, spaced-apart pushing members, which push the stumps through grid apertures and ensure complete extrusion of wood pieces and prevent sticking of the compressed wood pieces in grid apertures.
Meyer, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,842,030, describes improvements in log splitting devices, including an improved log-lifting table having multiple attachment points and greater upward radial movement. A multiple-faceted splitting wedge is also disclosed, which has a cutting angle of less than 90 degrees and a splitting angle of greater than 90 degrees.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,875,514, Hollister, Jr. discloses a method and an apparatus for performing the method, wherein a log of wood is split by being forced through a generally conical shaped apparatus, containing a multiplicity of uniquely shaped, spaced, interconnected, and cooperatively operative knives or splitting elements. The method involves forcing a large log of wood through the uniquely shaped knife, or splitting element, arrangement in such a manner that there is in effect a stepped splitting of the wood into relatively uniformly shaped pieces of wood suitable to be used for a variety of purposes including, but not limited to, firewood, and the like.
Hudson, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,961,452, describes a log splitting apparatus with a sensing mechanism arranged with adjustment linkages to vary the position of a cutter blade in accordance with the sensed diameter of a given log to-be-split. A sensing wheel is arranged to ride on the side of the log and is mounted on a pivotable arm, operatively connected to the cutter blade. The pivotable arm is connected to mechanical linkages, so as to automatically position a cutter assembly for producing the splitting of logs substantially in half. An optional multi-blade cutter assembly produces quartering of a log during a single log feeding operation.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,022,445 by Holestine discloses a double-acting hydraulic ram that drives a log section or block through a blade assembly to split the log section into several smaller pieces. The blade assembly is configured to minimize the force required to split the log section into several pieces without jamming. More specifically, the assembly includes a vertical blade having a splitting edge inclined rearward in the direction of movement of the block section toward the blade and horizontal wings cantilevered from the vertical blade. Each wing is swept outward and rearward from the vertical blade and has a leading edge staggered rearward from the splitting edge of the vertical blade. An exit conveyor is provided with a chain and flight members, driven solely by the reciprocating action of the ram for transporting the split pieces to a desired location.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,284,193, Mires et al. disclose a log splitter having a first frame with a wedge fixedly attached thereto and extending outwardly therefrom. A carriage is mounted for reciprocation upon the first frame, and an abutment plate is attached to the carriage and extends outwardly therefrom in alignment with the wedge, so arranged to split a log between the abutment plate and the wedge. A hydraulic cylinder is present for reciprocating the abutment plate and carriage toward and away from the wedge, together with a second frame rotatably mounted to the first frame so that the first frame may rotate relative thereto about an axis. A hydraulic piston-and-cylinder is operably interposed between the first and second frames for rotating the first frame about its longitudinal axis. A log support cradle extends outwardly from the carriage, with rollers on the cradle to ease positioning of a log. The first frame rotates between a loading position, in which a log on the ground is gripped between the abutment plate and the wedge, and a splitting position, in which the log is split, with the log being lifted onto the splitter as the first frame rotates.
Smith, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,711,357, describes an adjustable, multi-wedge, splitting head for a log splitting apparatus equipped with a ram for axially advancing precut logs toward the splitting head in a horizontal direction. The apparatus includes a vertically oriented stationary post and a stationary triangular splitting wedge disposed between the post and the log to be split. The post holds upper and lower multiple splitting wedge assemblies, which can be slideably positioned on the post by hydraulic cylinder/piston units. The triangular splitting wedge severs a log into two pieces. The wedge assemblies then sever the initially produced two pieces into smaller pieces, the number of which corresponds to the number of blades in the assembly positioned to interact with the log.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,791,389, Valdez discloses an apparatus and method for processing relatively large tree logs into relatively small firewood logs using two, spaced apart, cutting stations. The apparatus includes a central conveyor, a transfer station and a splitter station wherein relatively large tree logs are placed sequentially onto an entrance portion of each of the two spaced apart cutting stations and are cut into rounds, which are discharged onto the conveyor and moved to a transfer station. Each round is moved into a splitter station, wherein each round is moved over splitter blades to form firewood logs. The splitter blades are mounted in support members secured to a square frame, having spaced apart opposite sidewalls wherein the distance between each two aligned support members is greater than the distance between opposite sidewalls.
Fager, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,135,178, describes a device for splitting wood that comprises a rotatable and movable cutting device. A splitting blade is positioned on one end of the cutting device, which acts to split the wood when the cutting device is advanced in a direction toward the wood. The cutting device can be rotated to position the splitting blade with respect to the wood to facilitate the desired splitting of the wood. The cutting device is positioned on a positioning carriage, which is moved with respect to the wood that is to be split. The positioning carriage is movably positioned on a moveable carriage to further assist in positioning the splitting blade with respect to the wood to effectively and efficiently split the wood.
While the invention is amenable to various modifications and alternative forms, specifics thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the intention is not necessarily to limit the invention to the particular embodiments described. On the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention., as defined by the appended claims.

TSS16 EZ clean swinging bypass splitter box


A transport cart for attaching to a patient care apparatus having a locking system that converts the forward caster of the transport cart from an omni-directional pivotable caster to a fixed directional device by restraining its pivoting about a vertical axis. The forward caster is located at about the center of the footprint of the combined transport cart/patient care apparatus and the fixed directional movement of the forward caster provides stability in moving the combined apparatus. The locking mechanism may be internal to the caster or may have a pair of pivotable lock arms that contact the patient care apparatus as the two are brought together and the pivotable lock arms pivot to a locked position where they sandwich the caster therebetween to restrain its ability to pivot. The locking mechanism automatically or manually releases the forward caster to again freely pivot when the transport cart/patient care apparatus are separated.

The present invention relates to a transport cart for transporting a patient care apparatus from one location to another within a medical facility and, more particularly, to an apparatus and system to facilitate the movement of a transport cart and the patient care apparatus when coupled together.
During the care of patients in a medical care facility, particularly infants, the infant is often maintained in a specialized environment provided within an infant care apparatus, such as an incubator or a combination incubator and warmer. An example of an infant incubator is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,936,824 of Koch et al and entitled "Infant Incubator With Air Curtain". A combination apparatus that combines the function of the infant incubator along with the function of an infant warmer is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,213,935 of Mackin et al and entitled "Infant Warming Apparatus".
In either types of the aforedescribed infant care apparatus, the infant is normally resting on a bed within the apparatus, however, there are times where the infant must be moved from one location to another within that medical care facility. While it is, of course possible to remove the infant from the particular infant care apparatus and thereafter transport the infant by means of a separate vehicle, it is more advantageous to move the infant care apparatus itself with the infant still contained therein. In such manner, the various services and treatment being provided to the infant need not be discontinued, such as monitors and the like, and also there is less disruption and consequent stress to the infant since the infant can remain in the protective environment throughout the move rather than being removed therefrom during the move and eventual return back to the protective environment of the original infant care apparatus.
Accordingly, to facilitate or carry out the move of the infant care apparatus containing the infant, there can be used a transport cart that basically docks with the infant care apparatus and both the infant care apparatus and the transport cart are coupled together and moved as a unitary apparatus. The infant care apparatus is, during the move, thereby disconnected from the normal electrical power and gases, such as oxygen and air, supplied by the medical facility and those basic needs are thereafter provided by the transport cart. The transport cart normally has batteries to supply the electrical power and gas tanks to supply the needed gases to the infant care apparatus. As such, the transport cart and the infant care apparatus are moved together without any loss of service or care to the infant.
One of the difficulties, however, with the use a docking transport cart with an infant care apparatus is that the combined transport cart and infant care apparatus becomes difficult to steer since the overall apparatus is larger then just an infant care apparatus and still must be steered by the user to negotiate the combination transport cart/infant care apparatus through the hospital corridors and through doors to reach the ultimate destination. Thus, the overall combination is rather unwieldy and is difficult to maneuver through the hospital. Since the infant care apparatus may have four caster wheels contacting the floor and the transport cart may also have three or more caster wheels and it is difficult to coordinate all of the caster wheels in moving that combination transport cart/infant care apparatus through the health care facility.
As such, the movement of a combination transport cart/infant care apparatus having conventional casters on both pieces of apparatus experience a phenomenon known as "fish tailing" which makes the movement of such apparatus very difficult and hard to control. On the other hand, if the apparatus were provided with fixed wheels, that is, the wheels rotate about a fixed axis and are capable of only unidirectional movement, the apparatus is also difficult to maneuver since the ability to turn or change direction is substantially impaired. The advantage of having a centrally located, fixed direction wheel in moving a combination transport cart/infant care apparatus is well described in U.S. Patent Application Publication 2006/0016009, published Jan. 26, 2006 and the disclosure of that Patent Application is hereby incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
There are certain casters having a directional braking system such that the wheel is provided with a brake lever to enable the user to alter the function of the caster from omni-directional to a fixed direction movement. Such devices normally have some brake lever that must be activated by a user to change the operation of the caster or some other device operated manually by means of a cable. In any event, the change in function of the caster requires some action on the part of the user and, while feasible, the caster itself adds additional complexity and cost to the apparatus.
It would be, therefore, advantageous to have a system that allows the best of both worlds, that is, when moved individually, the transport cart and infant care apparatus have casters the enable those apparatus to be moved omni-directionally rolling on the casters, however, when the two apparatus are coupled together, one of the casters is converted to a fixed direction wheel to gain the advantage of a centrally located, one fixed direction wheel so that there is a stability to moving the transport cart/infant care apparatus.
It would be further advantageous if the conversion of a caster from omni-directional movement to a fixed direction movement could be accomplished automatically and without the deliberate intervention of a user.

Caster locking system for medical transport cart


Disclosed are a shadow detection method and device. The method includes a step of obtaining a depth/disparity map and color/grayscale image from a two-lens camera or stereo camera; a step of detecting and acquiring plural foreground points; a step of projecting the acquired plural foreground points into a 3-dimensional coordinate system; a step of carrying out, in the 3-dimensional coordinate system, a clustering process with respect to the projected plural foreground points so as to divide the projected plural foreground points into one or more point clouds; a step of calculating density distribution of each of the one or more point clouds by adopting a principal component analysis algorithm so as to obtain one or more principal component values of the corresponding point cloud; and a step of determining, based on the one or more principal component values, whether the corresponding point cloud is a shadow.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a shadow detection method and device, and more particularly relates to a method and device for detecting and removing shadow by utilizing a color image/grayscale image and depth map/disparity map captured by a two-lens camera or stereo camera.
2. Description of the Related Art
Shadow is a kind of familiar natural phenomenon, and often exists in a color image or grayscale image captured by a well-used camera. FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate that shadow exists in a grayscale image and depth image captured by a two-lens camera, respectively. The existence of shadow brings a lot of difficulties and restrictions to computer-based image processing. In particular, in object detection performed on an image, the existence of shadow may negatively influence the accuracy of the object detection. For example, a segmentation method is easily influenced by shadow, thereby generating a segmentation error. In addition, an object detection algorithm or object tracking algorithm is also easily influenced by shadow, thereby generating an incorrect detection result or incorrect tracking result. As a result, a shadow detection and removal technique used for a video or single-frame image has attracted attention.
Well-used shadow removal methods are carried out on the basis of a color image or grayscale image, for example, an intelligent edge matching method, a texture-based method, or a color-and-texture-based method. However, these kinds of methods may be dramatically influenced by environmental background complexity, and may be easily influenced by lighting conditions.
In U.S. Pat. No. 8,294,794 B2, a shadow removal method used for a vehicle-mounted camera is disclosed. In this method, an edge of an input image is recognized, and at same time, a corresponding edge of a corresponding illumination-invariant image is recognized. By respectively determining the existence states of the two edges in the two images, it is determined whether shadow exists. This method is mainly based on an edge detection technique. In this method, an input image and its corresponding illumination-invariant image are utilized at the same time for detecting edges, respectively. On the basis of the difference between the detected edges, it is determined whether shadow exits. However, in this method, it is necessary to obtain the corresponding illumination-invariant image, and the removal of shadow is restricted by the obtention of the corresponding illumination-invariant image and the quality of the corresponding illumination-invariant image.
In U.S. Pat. No. 7,133,083 B2, a dynamic shadow removal method is disclosed in which at least one camera, one projector, and one screen are utilized. A spatial relationship among the camera, the projector, and the screen is calculated, and then by calculating the difference between a projected image and an image captured by the camera, it is determined whether shadow exists. In this method, it is necessary to use at least one camera, one projector, and one screen, and it is also necessary to build the spatial relationship among the camera, the projector, and the screen. The main idea of this method is building a predicted image according to projected contents, then comparing the predicted image and an actually-captured image, and then, on the basis of the difference of the two images, determining whether shadow exists. However, in this method, it is necessary to know the projected contents in advance. Furthermore, the application of this method is very limited; for example, this method is only suitable to be used in shadow detection of a projection exhibition system.
Moreover, in a doctoral thesis entitled "Detection, Tracking, and Identification of People using Stereo Vision" written by Yong Zhao of Brown University, a shadow removal method using background models on the basis of a depth map is disclosed. In this method, two background models are used, namely, a depth background model on the basis of a depth map as well as an appearance background model on the basis of a RGB/grayscale image. First, on the basis of the appearance background model, appearance foreground is detected which probably includes shadow. Second, it is determined whether the appearance foreground overlaps with the depth background model. If the appearance foreground overlaps with the depth background model, then that means the overlapped part is shadow. The main idea of this method is that shadow cannot change the depth of background. However, this method relies on the quality of the two background models too much, and it is difficult to acquire a dense depth background model by utilizing a well-used two-lens camera. As a result, this method is not valid in some cases.


A clamshell style printing apparatus for printing on print media, including linerless media, and a method for controlling a printing apparatus. The printing apparatus includes a main circuit board assembly located within a printer housing member that mounts relatively low speed electronic components, and which includes a dual-sided circuit board. A control board assembly is electronically coupled to the main board assembly via a SIMM connector and mounts relatively high speed electronic components, such as a microprocessor, RAM, ROM, system clock and Ethernet controller. The printer apparatus defines a print media path that extends from a print media supply to a cutting mechanism and includes a subassembly for mounting the printhead and a rotary cutter element that is movable between opened and closed positions. An alignment mechanism maintains alignment of stationary and rotary cutter members when the subassembly is moved to the closed position. A key defining a slot and forming part of the subassembly is engageable with the pin forming part of the stationary cutter member. When adapted to print on linerless media, the printer includes a base member which includes an integral portion defining a recess for a platen roller and a portion defining a guide plate for guiding a leading end of the print media from the printing station to a cutting station. The portions are covered with a release coating, such as a plasma coating or Teflon.RTM.. To further reduce sticking of media to printer components, the rotary cutter element is Teflon.RTM. coated. The control system includes sequences for unjamming the printer or to inhibit operation of components, such as the cutter in the event print media has been improperly fed.

Printers of the type to which this invention pertains have many applications and uses. They may be used as part of a point-of-sale terminal and, in this application, are used to print receipts, etc. Printers of this type may also be used to generate labels on which alphanumeric characters or symbology, i.e., bar codes are printed.
These types of printers often utilize thermal print technology to print indicia on print medium. Thermal printing involves a thermal printhead which uses heating elements to produce localized heating on thermal reactive print medium to produce indicia on the print media. In order to effect the printing process, the print medium must be clamped between a platen and the thermal printhead.
At least some of these printers utilize a rotary cutter to severe the printed, media portion from the media supply. In order to facilitate threading of the print media, it is desirable that the cutter components separate. However, in order for a rotary cutter mechanism to function properly, the components, i.e., the rotary cutter and stationary blade must be maintained in predetermined alignment. This has proved to be difficult in the past when one of the two components is mounted to a subframe that rotates to an open position. If the alignment between the rotary cutter and stationary blade is disturbed as a result of opening and closing the printer, a service call or readjustment is required.