A system for providing data communication services includes a cable television (CATV) tap-off device and a CATV gateway device. The tap-off device includes a signal splitter communicably coupled to a tap-off access point and a first signal transceiver and communicates a CATV signal with a CATV network through the splitter. The gateway device is communicably coupled to the signal splitter through a first coaxial cable to communicate the CATV signal with the tap-off device. The gateway device includes a second signal transceiver and is configured to split the CATV signal into a television signal and a baseband data signal. The second signal transceiver communicates the baseband data signal as a transceiver signal over the first coaxial cable to the first signal transceiver. The tap-off access point is configured to transmit a first wireless signal based on the transceiver signal.

A CATV network generally provides data services, for both residential and commercial purposes, that include both broadcast audio and video (i.e., television) programming and data services by providing access to the CATV network through a CATV tap-off device. The CATV tap-off device is frequently located near the perimeter of a property so that the cable service provider has easy access to the device. Since most CATV networks are generally connected to other public networks, such as the Internet, properties are able to enjoy wide-ranging data services through the network connection provided through the CATV tap-off device. The network service from the CATV tap-off device may be extended into a building on a property by installation of equipment for a local area network (LAN). In addition, wireless networking devices, such as WiFi devices, may be incorporated into the LAN to facilitate access to the network.
One problem frequently encountered with such LANs is the difficulty of extending the network to the outside of a building from the inside, or achieving more complete coverage within a building, as WiFi frequencies can be significantly attenuated by walls. One potential solution proposed to overcome this problem of extending the wireless portion of a LAN to the exterior of a building is disclosed in WO2013108938. In that proposed system, the CATV tap-off device includes a wireless access point so that wireless LAN service may be provided within an area of the CATV tap-off. Further, by having several CATV tap-offs connected along a corridor defined by the CATV network lines, each tap-off having a wireless access point, a wireless LAN can be created. However, such a wireless LAN has obvious limitations in that it is unlikely to extend much into buildings adjacent the corridor. The extent that the wireless LAN reaches into the building depends on many factors, including the materials from which the building is constructed, the layout of the building (e.g., how large the floors are, how many floors, etc.), and the types of other potentially interfering devices in use within the building (e.g. microwave ovens, cordless phones, baby monitors, and the like), and the types of interfering devices around the exterior of the building.

System and method for providing data communication services through a CATV tap-off device


A charge pump is proposed. The charge pump is integrated in a chip of semiconductor material and includes a plurality of capacitive elements each one connected to a corresponding circuit node of the charge pump, the circuit nodes being arranged in a sequence from an input node to an output node, a plurality of field effect transistors each one for selectively connecting a corresponding first circuit node with a second adjacent circuit node, each transistor being made in a corresponding insulated body region, and for each transistor first biasing means for equalizing the body region with the first circuit node when the transistor is closed, wherein for each transistor the charge pump further includes second biasing means for equalizing the body region with the second circuit node when the transistor is opened.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a charge pump for an integrated circuit.
2. Description of the Related Art
A charge pump is a particular voltage booster circuit, which is used for generating a voltage higher than its power supply voltage. The charge pumps commonly find application in an integrated circuit, for example, comprising a semiconductor non-volatile memory. In fact, the non-volatile memory requires the application of different voltages according to the operation that must be performed (for example, a high voltage is required for its programming and erasing). In order to avoid using a power supply voltage of high value, the integrated circuit includes one or more charge pumps that generate each required voltage from a power supply voltage of lower value.
Operation of a charge pump is based on the continuous accumulation and transfer of electric charge in a series of circuit stages (made by capacitors), which are cascade-connected. In such a way, the voltage at the capacitors increases from an input terminal (that receives the power supply voltage) to an output terminal (that provides the desired voltage). The stages of the charge pump are selectively connected to each other through electronic switches; generally, these switches are implemented by pass-transistors, for example, of the nMOS or pMOS type.
The pass-transistors can be made by forming the various source and drain regions directly in a common substrate of a chip of semiconductor material in which the non-volatile memory is integrated. However, this structure suffers of a body effect. In fact, the substrate must be maintained at a voltage ensuring that the stray diodes formed with the source/drain regions of the first (or of the last) pass-transistor are reverse biased. Consequently, the reverse voltage between the substrate and the source/drain regions of the next (or preceding) pass-transistors will be higher; this involves an increase of the extension of the corresponding depletion region (and therefore of the junction electric field), so that a higher gate voltage will be necessary to obtain the conduction in the respective channel.
The corresponding increase of the threshold voltage of the pass-transistors requires the use of larger components, so as not to degrade their switching efficiency. In any case, this limits the maximum number of stages that can be used for implementing the charge pump.
In order to avoid such problem, it is preferable to make each pass-transistor in a corresponding body region; the body region is insulated from the common substrate directly (if of a different type) or by a further intermediate region otherwise (with a structure known as triple-well). This allows applying power supply voltages of different values to the body regions of the various pass-transistors.
Several biasing circuits of body regions have been proposed for this purpose, so as to remove (or at least reduce) the body effect in the pass-transistors of the charge pump.
For example, document U.S. Pat. No. 6,026,003 proposes using a secondary charge pump for each pass-transistor; the secondary charge pump (which uses diodes as switches) is fed by the voltage that is output by the respective stage. Nevertheless, such structure is rather complex; besides, it is not able to remove the body effect completely (because a reverse voltage different from zero is in any case applied between the body region and the source/drain regions).
A different solution is described in document US-A-2003/0034826. The proposed structure consists of two charge pumps in parallel, which work out-of-phase. Each switch consists of two pass-transistors in series; the intermediate nodes of the two pairs of pass-transistors of each stage are short-circuited to each other. In this structure, each pass-transistor is controlled by the voltage at the adjacent capacitor of the other charge pump. An auxiliary transistor is associated with the first pass-transistor of each charge pump. The body regions of the first pass-transistors of the two charge pumps and of the respective auxiliary transistors are short-circuited to each other. When a generic pair of pass transistors is closed, the corresponding auxiliary transistor equalizes the body region of the first pass-transistor with the voltage at the respective capacitor. At the same time, the pair of pass-transistors in the other charge pump is opened; the intermediate node of such pair of pass-transistors is however maintained at a correct voltage by means of the short-circuit with the intermediate node of the pair of pass-transistors of the other charge pump.
A drawback of the above described structure is that the proposed architecture is not very flexible and it is strictly dependent on the control method of the pass-transistors that is used. Besides, such solution requires the implementation of each switch by two pass-transistors; in fact, the short-circuit between the intermediate nodes of the two pairs of pass-transistors of each stage must be insulated from the next stage (when the first pass-transistors are opened) in order not to interfere with the operation of the charge pump.

Charge-pump with improved biasing of the body regions of the pass-transistors


An ultra-wideband (UWB) beam forming system is disclosed. In one or more embodiments, the UWB beam forming system includes a plurality of radiating elements forming a circular, cylindrical, conical, spherical, or multi-faceted array and a beamformer coupled to the radiating elements. The beamformer includes one or more transformable reconfigurable integrated units (TRIUNs) configured to independently control individual radiating elements or groups of radiating elements of the plurality of radiating elements.

Narrowband circular and cylindrical Active Electronically Array (AESA) Beamformers (BF) with both omnidirectional (omni) and directional modes are extremely challenging to implement.
The directional mode requires a circular commutating switching network where only about one third of the cylindrical/circular surface is illuminated at any time. The one third active ("tuned on") arc of radiating elements must commutate 360° in azimuth, and the entire Tx/Rx RF power needs to be optimally routed to the one third active arc. Amplitude tapering is required for optimal side lobe levels within the azimuth plane, and differential phase shift is required to steer the directional beam in the azimuth plane about the directional beam's nominal boresight.
The omnidirectional mode of the circular array requires all elements to be illuminated. Cylindrical array phase mode theory allows both amplitude tapering and non-uniform differential phase excitation of adjacent elements for optimal omnidirectional performance as a function of array radius. Cylindrical arrays require an additional amplitude tapering and differential phase implementation in addition to those described above—in the vertical plane.
Historically, it has been impractical to simultaneously meet all of these conditions. Ultra-wide Band (UWB) BFs are even more challenging as they require: time delay (TD) for beam steering and pattern shaping, with is more complicated to hardware implement than the modulo-360° phase shift needed for narrow band systems; and low amplitude ripple in a circular UWB array's omnidirectional mode is a strong function of array radius, as is commonly known in the literature. Furthermore, for optimal UWB omnidirectional mode performance, an adjustable or "elastic" array radius is required, which is impossible to implement within a "static" array lattice configuration. Cylindrical arrays also required time delay for beam steering in the orthogonal, elevation plane. It is also desirable to implement the above concepts in conical arrays.
Traditional "discrete" active Radio Frequency (RF) circuits are problematic in terms of beamformer (BF) hardware implementation because: they are too physically large for higher microwave (μwave)/millimeter wave (mmWave) array BF topologies since typically half-wave element spacing is used to prevent grating lobes (aka parasitic beams); circuit layout compaction due to array radiating element lattice spacing constraints can cause heat flux density/thermal management problems within the BF; and a dual omni/directional mode circular/cylindrical array BF will have a very dense set of RF, DC and digital control signal paths which further exacerbates the packaging and interconnect density challenges within the BF.
UWB simultaneous, independently steered multi-beams in azimuth (and/or elevation) are also difficult to realize in contemporary technology due to the requirement of parallel "banking" of duplicate BFs, with one BF per each beam.
There is a need for an UWB, miniature BF Architecture that incorporates reconfigurable RF signal path switching with commensurate combining/splitting, along with adjustable channel amplitude and TD is required to improve the existing BF architecture.


A driving directions system loads into memory a limited subset of prerecorded, spoken utterances of geographic names from a mass media storage. The subset of spoken utterances may be limited, for example, to the geographic names within a predetermined radius (e.g., a few miles) of the driver's present location. The present location of the driver may be manually entered into the driving directions system by the driver, or automatically determined using a global positioning system (“GPS”) receiver. As the vehicle moves from its present location, the driving directions system loads into memory new names from the mass media storage and overwrites, if necessary, those which are now geographically out of range. Based on the current location of the driving, the driving directions system can audibly output geographic names from the run-time memory.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to telematics systems, and, more particularly, on demand text-to-speech ("TTS") vocabulary for a telematics system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Telematics applications are continually increasing in popularity, especially in the automotive industry. Such applications can provide numerous functions ranging from airbag deployment notification to emergency services. One pervasive telematics application increasingly found in more and more vehicles is a driving directions system. Once reserved for only high-end vehicles, driving directions systems are increasingly available in lower-end vehicles as well as a variety of vehicle brands, styles and types.
Typical vehicle driving directions systems include a user-interactive display, a processor with memory, and mass storage media. The driving directions systems may further include a global positioning system ("GPS") receiver for detecting the current location of the vehicle. The mass storage media, which are used to store maps and other information, may include CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs, and the like.
The addition of the GPS receiver with the driving directions system allows for, among other things, turn-by-turn directions from one location to another. Because a GPS-based driving directions system is automatically aware of the location of the vehicle, the system can notify the driver when it is necessary to turn and in what direction.
An increasing number of vehicles also provide audible turn-by-turn directions. A number of GPS-based driving directions system utilize audible turn-by-turn directions to increase safety and ease of use. A typical audible driving directions systems may audibly notify the driver of the distance from a turn and the direction of the turn (e.g., left, right). However, these systems omit various other information including, for example, geographic names such as streets, cities, towns, counties, points of interest, and the like.

On demand TTS vocabulary for a telematics system


A system and method for deployment of a plurality of seismic recorder assemblies from a survey vessel on the ocean bottom is disclosed. The seismic recorder assemblies are self contained, autonomous nodal devices which are capable of receiving and recording reflected seismic energy and storing the data locally while operating for an extended period of time. The assemblies each have two or more attachment points for the connection of separate connecting cable segments.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to marine seismic surveying. More specifically, the invention relates to a system and method for deploying seismic recorders.
2. Description of the Related Art
Seismic exploration is widely used to survey subterranean geological formations to determine the location of hydrocarbon formations in the earth. Reflection seismology is used to estimate the properties of the subsurface from reflected seismic waves. In reflection seismology, generated acoustic waves are propagated down through subterranean strata and reflect from acoustic impedance differences at the interfaces between various subterranean strata. The reflected seismic energy is recorded and processed to create an image of the subsurface structures. Because many commercially viable hydrocarbon formations are located beneath bodies of water, marine seismic methods have been developed.
In marine seismic survey systems it is typical to use geophone, hydrophones, or other seismic recorders (also referred to as sensors) to detect reflected seismic energy that is emitted from one or more seismic sources. These recorders are generally deployed in an array that may constitute one or more parallel lines. There are numerous ways seismic recorders can be deployed in a marine environment. In some instances, a streamer carrying seismic recorder sensors is towed near the surface behind a survey vessel. The streamer typically contains wiring to interconnect the sensors. Examples of these types of systems are found in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,450,543 and 5,561,640. Because the survey cable is, in most instances, of unitary design and contains the seismic recorders wired together within the cable, one cannot change the spacing between the seismic recorders within the cable as may be desirable given a specific geological objective of the survey at hand. Also, because the reflected acoustic energy propagates through the water before being received by the seismic recorders in the streamer, noise significantly distorts the reflected energy. Also, because water has no shear strength, the aforementioned method is only capable of recording the vertical or pressure component of the full seismic wavefield.
In other instances, interconnected seismic recorders are placed directly on the bottom in a method typically known as Ocean Bottom Cable, or simply "OBC." The seismic recorders in an OBC system are interconnected by reinforced cables that provide power and transmit data from the seismic recorders to a distal storage device. The rigid cables often allow good coupling with the bottom only along the major axis of the cable, significantly reducing the ability of the system, if equipped with three-dimensional geophones, to record the shear components of the full seismic wavefield. Additionally, one cannot readily change the spacing between the sensors within the cable as may be desirable given a specific geologic objective for a particular survey. Because this system relies on cables for power and telemetry, any damage to the cables or connectors, which is common in the marine environment, prevents the recording of data and contributes significant downtime and increased survey cost while the system is retrieved, repaired and redeployed. Also, the data and power cables contribute significant weight to the system which, combined with the reliability concerns, effectively prevents OBC systems from being deployed in deep water.
In other instances, autonomous nodal recorders are attached to a main cable by individual tethers, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,024,344 to Buckley et al. The tethers interconnect a single attachment point on the recorder to a single attachment point on the cable. There are significant drawbacks with this type of arrangement. It is often necessary to remove the recorders from the main cable when the units are retrieved for charging, downloading and moving and then reattach the recorders immediately prior to re-deployment, which increase the handling effort and cost and also complicate the task of ensuring that the individual seismic recorders are deployed in the desired sequence. There is also a risk that the tethers could wrap around and get tangled in the main cable during deployment and potentially compromise data quality. If the main cable consists of a single length of cable and is damaged, the entire cable may have to be replaced at a significant financial cost and delay of operations. If the seismic recorders attach to the main cable at fixed attachment points, it is difficult to adjust the spacing between recorders, as may be necessary given the objective of a particular survey. Also, because the seismic recorders attach to the main cable only at a single point, the recorders will land on the ocean bottom at a completely random orientation relative to the other recorders and the survey geometry in general.

System and method for deployment of seismic data recorders


An electrical switch includes a rotary switch actuator device, and an actuator locking device. The actuator locking device inhibits the rotation of the rotary switch actuator device when the contacts of the switch are closed. Only when the operator tries to open the switch with an operating handle and the contacts do actually open, a lock release device will release the actuator locking device, and allow the operator to move the operator handle to the position corresponding to the open condition. When the contacts do not open, e.g., because they are welded, the actuator locking device will remain locked and the handle movement is blocked. This provides a robust and safe switch that never gives a false “OFF” indication.

Such a switch is known from US patent application US 2006/0278516. The known electrical switch device comprises a body upon which is mounted a hand lever that rotates about a main axis, cooperating with a transmission shaft able to control the opening or the closing of electrical contacts of the electrical switch device and elastic linking means between the hand lever and the transmission shaft. The device also comprises means for locking the rotation of the hand lever with respect to the body, used when an angular divergence between the hand lever and the transmission shaft exceeds a specified threshold. The purpose of the know patent application is to limit the damage to the hand lever and to the electrical device when an operator attempts to return the hand lever to its "OFF" position whilst the contacts are welded and to prevent the beginning of electrical arcing if the operator should succeed in unsticking the contacts when rotating the hand lever.
The known switch has the disadvantage that its function relies fully on the performance of the elastic linking means, which shall be stiff enough for joining together the rotation of the hand lever and the shaft support in normal operation, and at the same time flex sufficiently when a rotational torque is applied to the hand lever while the shaft support is immobilized due to a welding between the contacts. These essentially conflicting requirements can cause the locking mechanism to malfunction after repetitive use, with the effect that a dangerous situation can arise in which it is possible to rotate the hand level to an "OFF"-position while the contacts are still closed, i.e., actually in the "ON"-position. It is a further disadvantage of the known switch that it puts tight requirements on the strength of the locking device, its corresponding parts in the body of the switch (the teeth) and the protuberance of the hand lever. This limits the maximum force that the device can withstand when the operator tries with a lot of force to unstick the contacts by applying a large rotational torque on the hand lever. Moreover, the known switch does not guarantee that the position of the hand lever is always clearly indicating whether the switch is actually "ON" or "OFF", i.e., when the contacts are closed or open respectively.

Electrical switch with positive status indication


A laser ablative recording element comprising a support having thereon a recording layer comprising a pigment dispersed in a polymeric binder, the polymeric binder having an infrared-absorbing material dissolved therein, and wherein the polymeric binder is obtained from an aqueous latex dispersion of a polycyanoacrylate copolymer having the formula: ##STR1## wherein: R is a substituted or unsubstituted alkyl group having from 1 to about 20 carbon atoms;. VA is a repeating unit resulting from the polymerization of a vinyl-containing monomer with a pendant ionizable group; and the weight ratios of x:y range from about 97:3 to about 70:30.

In recent years, thermal transfer systems have been developed to obtain prints from pictures which have been generated electronically from a color video camera. According to one way of obtaining such prints, an electronic picture is first subjected to color separation by color filters. The respective color-separated images are then converted into electrical signals. These signals are then operated on to produce cyan, magenta and yellow electrical signals. These signals are then transmitted to a thermal printer. To obtain the print, a cyan, magenta or yellow dye-donor element is placed face-to-face with a dye-receiving element. The two are then inserted between a thermal printing head and a platen roller. A line-type thermal printing head is used to apply heat from the back of the dye-donor sheet. The thermal printing head has many heating elements and is heated up sequentially in response to the cyan, magenta and yellow signals. The process is then repeated for the other two colors. A color hard copy is thus obtained which corresponds to the original picture viewed on a screen. Further details of this process and an apparatus for carrying it out are contained in U.S. Pat. No. 4,621,271, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
Another way to thermally obtain a print using the electronic signals described above is to use a laser instead of a thermal printing head. In such a system, the donor sheet includes a material which strongly absorbs at the wavelength of the laser. When the donor is irradiated, this absorbing material converts light energy to thermal energy and transfers the heat to the dye in the immediate vicinity, thereby heating the dye to its vaporization temperature for transfer to the receiver. The absorbing material may be present in a layer beneath the dye and/or it may be admixed with the dye. The laser beam is modulated by electronic signals which are representative of the shape and color of the original image, so that each dye is heated to cause volatilization only in those areas in which its presence is required on the receiver to reconstruct the color of the original object. Further details of this process are found in GB 2,083,726A, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
In one ablative mode of imaging by the action of a laser beam, an element with a dye layer composition comprising an image dye, an infrared-absorbing material, and a binder coated onto a substrate is imaged from the dye side. The energy provided by the laser drives off substantially all of the image dye and binder at the spot where the laser beam hits the element. In ablative imaging, the laser radiation causes rapid local changes in the imaging layer thereby causing the material to be ejected from the layer. Ablation imaging is distinguishable from other material transfer techniques in that some sort of chemical change (e.g., bond-breaking), rather than a completely physical change (e.g., melting, evaporation or sublimation), causes an almost complete transfer of the image dye rather than a partial transfer. The transmission Dmin density value serves as a measure of the completeness of image dye removal by the laser.

Heterogeneous image layer for laser ablative imaging


A reducer valve for pressurized gas includes a piston (2) displaceably mounted in a valve housing (3) against the force of a pressure spring (8). At one end, the piston (2) is subjected to pressure by the back pressure via a control pressure line (20) whereby the gas, which flows in from a pressurized gas source via a gas inlet (17), is throttled. The reducer valve is improved so that a specific gas volume remains in the connected pressurized gas source below a minimum pressure. A directional valve (24, 25) is provided in the control pressure line (20) and opens above a predetermined limit pressure.

A reducer valve is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,522,818 and adjusts an approximately constant back pressure independently of the pressure present in the pressurized-gas source. A piston having a valve body configured with a cylindrical shape is displaceably mounted in a valve housing against the force of a compression spring. The forward end of the valve body is provided with a seal disc with which a valve seat within the valve housing can be closed. The pressurized gas, which is at high pressure, flows via the valve seat into the valve housing and is correspondingly throttled depending upon the position of the valve body relative to the valve seat and reaches, via an outflow opening, a consumer connected downstream. The consumer can, for example, be in the form of an automatic lung which emits respirating gas to a carrier of an apparatus as required.
At one end, the piston is subjected to the pressure which is present at the outflow end of the valve body whereby the piston and the valve body are moved in a direction toward the valve seat. For this purpose, a closed volume is formed as a control pressure volume between one end of the piston and the inner surface of the valve housing. The control pressure space is connected to the pressure space downstream of the valve body. In this way, the control pressure space is charged with the back pressure present in the region of the outflow opening. The other end of the piston is at ambient pressure level. With increasing back pressure, the pressure in the control pressure space likewise increases so that a larger force acts on the piston and the valve body and the gas, which flows in via the valve seat, is correspondingly throttled until the back pressure again decreases.
It is disadvantageous in the known reducer valve that the valve body is moved away from the valve seat by the pressure spring for the case that the pressure in the pressurized gas source has dropped below the back pressure and the total residual gas can flow out of the pressurized gas source. Pressurized gases often still contain a certain residual moisture. For this reason, a condensation of water vapor can occur within the pressurized gas source whereby corrosion within the pressurized gas source is facilitated.


A device for moving articles between positions at time intervals. The device includes at least two gates disposed sequentially in the direction of travel of the article which can controllably be opened and closed. Upstream of each gate there is formed a temporary holding area for the article. The two gates (1; 2; 3; 4) are controllable by means of one single drive motor (8) or actuator. The two gates (1; 2; 3; 4) are each associated with one control element (5; 6) rotatable about a respective axis of rotation, and the drive motor or actuator (8) is adapted to move one actuating element (7) that is rotatable about an axis of rotation and which is common to the respective control elements (5; 6) of the two gates.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for moving articles between positions at time intervals, wherein the device includes at least two gates disposed sequentially in the direction of travel of the article which can controllably be opened and closed, and wherein upstream of each gate there is formed a temporary holding area for the article.
A device of this kind is known in connection with the conveying of articles where it is desirable to have, inter alia, adequate separation of the articles, in that the articles are thus virtually sluiced through stages in a conveyor system. However, the known systems require mechanically complex solutions and the use of several actuating motors to get such a device to work in a satisfactory manner.
(2) Description of Related Art
As examples of previously known solutions, reference is made to U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,871,078 and 5,924,546.
One of the objects of the present invention is to find a practical feed solution for articles such as empty packaging, e.g. empty bottles, which are to be selectively fed into a conveyor system consisting of a continuous row of transport containers for conveying individual articles, as described in Norwegian Patent Application No. 20041032. In providing such a device, it has also been an object to reduce the number of drive motors or actuators to a minimum, and to ensure the drive gear is simple and reliable in operation.


A method for generating a list of cases that are ranked by desirability (i.e. an ordinal ranking) based on attributes defined by a decision maker, and providing tools to assist the decision maker in statistically analyzing both the data inputted into a decision problem, the outcomes of the ranking process and the quality and consistency of inputs provided by raters.

Decision makers often have to rank by ordinal preference a myriad of options or cases (hereinafter cases). This process is subject to many types of bias and process failures such that the ranking may not be valid or repeatable and a decision maker may be unduly influenced by his or her prior ratings or those of a fellow decision maker. In addition to the lack of outcome optimization, supporters of alternative cases or their constituents may have particular concern with respect to the perception of fairness or procedural justice and may consider that an outcome was capricious, idiosyncratic, unsubstantiated or discordant with objective measures.
Two-dimensional weighting matrices (i.e. of attribute multiplied by weight) have been used both manually and in conjunction with computer technology in decision making processes. However, the two dimensional weighting matrices approach alone does not provide sensitivity analysis, facilitate a process, provide repeatability and validity, nor allow for diagnostic reporting or illustrate discrepancies between inter- and intra-rater performances. Typically decision making that is based on two dimensional weighting matrices has relied on self-assessment by the raters and is subject to manipulation when the weights are known to the raters. Therefore, the two dimensional weighting matrices approach does not address the types of bias and process failures described above.
Another approach that has been used is conjoint analysis. Conjoint analysis is a statistical technique using a multi-attribute compositional model in which respondents are asked to rank or choose between alternatives based on attributes. This approach is limited to a relatively small set of attributes. As the number of attributes to be considered grows, the number of combinations grows very quickly and the information gathering stage becomes complex.
What is required is a decision support tool to improve the reliability, accuracy and repeatability of decisions involving ranking by ordinal preference.


Switch-mode regulators and methods providing transient response speed-up in the presence of large load transients. Speed-up is achieved by coupling a first MOSFET switch between the regulator output and the input voltage and a second MOSFET switch between the regulator output and the circuit common connection. During normal operation these MOSFETs are off, but in the event of a large load transient substantially disturbing the regulator output, one of the MOSFETs is momentarily turned on to couple the regulator output to the input voltage or circuit ground as appropriate to bring the regulator output within a narrow range around the nominal output voltage. Operation of the MOSFETs is disabled on startup until the regulator output is within a predefined range, and whenever the regulator output exceeds a limit range indicative of a fault condition.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of switch-mode voltage regulators.
2. Prior Art
Switch-mode voltage regulators have inherent limitations in their ability to maintain a constant output voltage in the face of fast load transients. This is particularly true when they are used to power the new generation of microprocessor ICs, which can change their load current demand from hundreds of milliamps to tens of amps in less than 100 nanosec. Switch-mode regulators have difficulty in supplying such load transients due to both the filtering effect of inductors and transformers used in them, and also the parasitic effective series resistance of the output filter capacitors which cause a nearly instantaneous I.times.R output voltage drop when hit with a sudden load current surge.
The standard methods for dealing with these problems are to place additional parallel capacitors at the output to reduce the parasitic effective series resistance of the output filter capacitors, and to decrease the inductance values in the switch-mode regulator. However these solutions are unfavorable in cost and size for the large and sudden transients encountered with the new generation microprocessor ICs. Another method that has at least been suggested is to couple a linear regulator in series from the switch-mode regulator output voltage to the load. This approach should operate well in the presence of occasional large load transients, but the linear regulators are very inefficient and get quite hot if the load transients happen with great frequency, as is the case with modern microprocessors that employ halt-clock and stop-grant states. A linear regulator may be coupled in parallel with the switch-mode regulator, but here again the linear regulator gets hotter than the switch mode regulator, and is inefficient.


Improvements in intrusion detection are disclosed by providing intrusion event filtering and/or generic attack signature processing. These services may be integrated into a system or server that is the potential target of attack, or alternatively may be implemented in a network device. Filtering may be provided using sensitivity levels and suspicion levels. Generic attack signatures describe relatively broad classes of intrusions. Intrusion detection policy information may be used to direct the actions to be taken upon detecting an attack.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to computer security, and deals more particularly with improving intrusion detection using sensitivity/suspicion levels for filtering intrusion events and/or using generic attack signatures as intrusion detection policy.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the computer security field, "intrusion" is a broad term encompassing many undesirable activities. The objective of an intrusion may be to acquire information that a person is not authorized to have (referred to as "information theft"). It may be to cause business harm by rendering a network, system, or application unusable (referred to as "denial of service"). Or, it may be to gain unauthorized use of a system as a stepping stone for further intrusions elsewhere. Most intrusions follow a pattern of information gathering, attempted access, and then destructive attacks.
Some attacks can be detected and neutralized by the target system, although not typically in real time. Other attacks cannot be effectively neutralized by the target system. Most of the attacks also make use of "spoofed" packets which are not easily traceable to their true origin. Many attacks now make use of unwitting accomplices—that is, machines or networks that are used without authorization to hide the identity of the attacker. For these reasons, detecting information gathering, access attempts, and attack accomplice behaviors is a vital part of intrusion detection. (The term "attack" is sometimes used in the art as a distinct type of intrusion, as contrasted to a "scan" or "flood". As used herein, the term "attack" refers generally to all of these types of intrusions, except where specific ones of these intrusions are being described for illustrative purposes.)
As illustrated in FIG. 1, attacks can be initiated from outside the internal network (see elements 130, 135) or from inside the internal network (see elements 110, 115). Particularly vulnerable is an open system such as a public web server or any machine (see element 100) that is placed in service to serve those outside the internal network 115. A firewall 120 can provide some level of protection against attacks from outside. However, it cannot prevent attacks once the firewall has "approved" entry of a host into the internal network (as shown at 125), nor can it provide protection in the case where the attack is initiated from inside the network (as in the case of the attacker at 110). In addition, end-to-end encryption limits the types of attacks that can be detected by an intermediate device such as a firewall because the intermediate device is unable to evaluate the packets in cleartext for evidence of an attack.
An Intrusion Detection System (hereinafter, "IDS") can provide detection of many types of attacks. Common IDS types (illustrated in FIG. 2) currently deployed include sniffers and scanners. Sniffers operate in promiscuous mode, examining traffic that passes through on the local network. Sniffers are placed at strategic points in the network, such as in front of a firewall (see elements 210, 220); behind a firewall (see elements 220, 230); in the network (see element 240); or in front of a host (see elements 250, 260). Sniffers use "pattern matching" to try to match a packet against a known attack which is expressed as an "attack signature". Sniffers work best against single packet attacks: upon detecting that an inspected packet matches a particular attack signature, that packet can be dealt with appropriately (as further described below).
Commercial services such as IBM's Emergency Response Services (see element 200) provide third-party logging and analysis of security alerts detected by a customer's IDS components. In the example of FIG. 2, the sniffer 210 placed before the customer's firewall 220 sends its alerts to this type of third-party alert processing service.
Scanners (see element 270) look at log files for signs of attacks, which may be detected by inspecting a collection of packets. Scanners therefore do not inspect data packets as they are passing through the network. Instead, they operate in a post-processing mode.
The network sniffers and scanners which are currently deployed have a number of limitations. Five of these limitations are:
1. Network sniffers (such as elements 210, 230, 240 in FIG. 2) cannot evaluate data that is encrypted unless the sniffer and the encryption endpoint are located at the same node. Because sniffers are not typically co-located with the packet destination, providing an encryption endpoint at the sniffer is contradictory with the goal of end-to-end encryption (that is, encryption where the endpoints are the client and application server).
2. Processing signature files against every packet is very processor intensive. Many sniffers cannot process all packets, dropping packets that cannot be processed. Some installations deploy multiple sniffers, dividing the signature files into parts which are distributed to the individual sniffers. However, the ability to take real-time action in response to detecting a match against an attack signature still decreases as the backlog of traffic to analyze becomes larger.
3. Network sniffers typically cannot deflect the attacking packet or directly perform other preventative measures when an attack is detected. Thus, a damaging attack might occur even when a network sniffer detects the attack. (Sniffers and scanners typically take no direct action to stop the attacking packets, but rather notify an IDS management system. An IDS management system cannot provide a real-time reaction to prevent damage since the offending packet may reach the target system before the IDS system can respond.)
4. Scanners (such as element 270 in FIG. 2) work by evaluating logs for statistical anomalies and known attacks. Scanners have the ability to detect attacks missed by sniffers because they can react to a pattern of behavior. Because of their reliance on patterns over time, they are not real time. Furthermore, the post-processing analysis may in some cases result in "false positives"—that is, a conclusion that an attack has occurred when in reality the traffic was not attack packets.
5. Current attack signatures are written to cover single specific attacks. This results in IDSs not being able to detect new attacks until a new signature is developed and installed. Since the attack signatures are very specific, as new attacks are discovered, the signature lists can become large. As the signature lists increase, processing time at the IDS also increases, resulting in more missed attacks due to the IDS's failure to keep up with the incoming packet stream. Additionally, the IDS must be reloaded more often to pick up new signatures.
When an attack on a target system occurs, the damage may be extremely costly to repair. Accordingly, what is needed are improved techniques for performing intrusion detection which can increase the security of a target server or system.

International Business Machines Corporation


A method of producing an optoelectronic element with a light emitting component, includes arranging a sacrificial layer at least above a part of a light emitting side of the component, forming at least in a part of an outer surface of the sacrificial layer an inverted optic structure, covering the outer surface of the sacrificial layer by a light transparent layer, transferring the inverted optic structure to an inner side of the transparent layer, and removing the sacrificial layer and forming a gap between the component and the light transparent layer, wherein the light transparent layer includes at the inner side the optic structure.

It is known to produce an optoelectronic element with a light emitting component, wherein the light emitting component is covered by a transparent layer, and the transparent layer comprises at an inner side an optic structure. The optic structure is provided to guide the light emitted by the light emitting component in a predetermined direction.
It is also known to use a sacrificial layer to produce an air gap between a LED and a lens from U.S. Pat. No. 7,052,821 B2 or the article: "Low-cost MEMS packaging using polymer-based air-gaps", E. Uzunlar et al., ECS transactions, 61 "3" page 237-242 (2014), The Electrical Society.
There is nonetheless a need to provide a method of producing an optoelectronic element with a light emitting component.

Method of producing an optoelectronic element


A sliding board, the outsides of which have a running surface and an upper cup, has a foam core created by foaming during its manufacture, and at least one guide element with lateral profiles for arranging and guiding of a binding element on the upper side of the sliding board. The guide element is connected to the sliding-board body by several anchoring elements. The guide element is a plastic part with formed-on anchoring elements, which plastic part is manufactured in one piece. The guide element is bound into the core by the anchoring elements during foaming of the core and is held therein by the hardened foam.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a sliding board, in particular a ski, the outsides of which have a running surface and an upper cup, and which has a foam core created by foaming during its manufacture and at least one guide element with lateral profiles for arranging and guiding of a binding element on the upper side of the sliding board, which guide element is connected to the sliding-board body by means of several anchoring elements.
2. Description of Related Art
It is common to screw metallic rails onto the upper side of finished skis in order to be able to arrange ski-binding parts, for example a front and heel jaw. These rails usually have lateral profiles so that, for example, a base or support plate of the ski-binding part can be moved onto the rail and can be fixed in a desired position by means of a suitable locking mechanism. It is complicated and expensive to fasten the rails on the upper side of the ski.
The basic purpose of the invention is to find help here and to eliminate the subsequent mounting of rails and the like.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A resin-molded electronic circuit device is provided with a protection resin molded with covering electronic components and an electronic circuit substrate and having almost the same coefficient of thermal expansion as that of a metal forming the electronic components and the electronic circuit substrate, and a connector mounted at an end of the protection resin and functioning as an external connecting terminal of the electronic circuit substrate. Since a case for housing the protection resin is unnecessary, it is possible to decrease the number of components and man-hours, and enhance the outside appearance of the electronic circuit device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a resin-molded electronic circuit device, method for making the device. More particularly, invention relates to a resin-molded electronic circuit device in which an electronic circuit substrate having electronic components mounted thereon is covered with resin for protection.
2. Description of the Related Art
For example, in an electronic circuit device used in an ignition device of a two-wheeled vehicle for controlling the ignition time, electronic components, an electronic circuit substrate and so on mounted inside are covered with resin to be protected from water, vibrations and so on.
FIGS. 4 and 5 are respectively plan and sectional views of such a conventional resin-molded electronic circuit device. Referring to the figures, a plastic case 1 is provided with openings on the top and front surfaces, and attachment portions 1a and 1a' on the right and left sides thereof. A connector 4 as an external connecting terminal is connected to an electronic circuit substrate 2 having electronic components 3 mounted thereon. This connector 4 has terminal portions 4a surrounded by a protecting portion 4b made of plastic, and is attached to the front side of the case 1 through the protecting portion 4b to cover the front side of the case 1.
A protection resin 5 is filled into the case 1 in which the electronic circuit substrate 2 and the electronic components 3 through the electronic circuit substrate 2 are positioned and the connector 4 is attached to the front side thereof. The electronic circuit substrate 2 and the electronic components 3 are protected from outside moisture and so on by the protection resin 5, and fixed to reduce vibrations. The electronic circuit substrate 2, the electronic components 3, the connector 4 and the protection resin 5 constitute an electronic circuit device 10.
The production method of the electronic circuit device 10 will now be described. After the terminal portions 4a of the connector 4 are connected by soldering or the like to the electronic circuit substrate 2 to which the electronic components 3 are fixed by soldering or the like, the electronic circuit substrate 2 is positioned in the case 1 and the connector 4 is mounted to the front side of the case 1. Then, a resin material is injected and filled into the case 1 and the case 1 filled with the resin material is heated in a furnace to set the resin material, thereby forming the protection resin 5. In this case, since the coefficient of thermal expansion of the protection resin 5 is different from that of metallic portions of the electronic components, (e.g., reads) if the temperature changes, stresses are produced in soldered portions of the electronic components 3 and the electronic circuit substrate 2. In order to reduce the stresses as much as possible, the protection resin 5 is made of a resin material having flexibility.
in the electronic circuit device 10, it is essential to inject the resin material into the case and limit the change in shape of the flexible protection resin 5 to some extent. though it can be thought of that the electronic components 3 and are covered with the protection resin 5 without the case 1 by injecting the resin material into a metal mold under pressure, such pressure injection is not appropriate since it damages the electronic components 3 and when the resin material is injected under pressure.
However, since the above conventional electronic circuit device 10 needs the case 1, the number of components and the number of operation man-hours are increased, and the protection resin 5 typically leaks out from an opening between the connector 4 and the case 1, thereby impairing the outward appearance of the electronic circuit device 10. Furthermore, when the resin material is injected into the case 1, air bubbles form under the electronic circuit substrate 2 and the electronic components, 3 and have a bad influence on the electronic components 3. Still furthermore, when the case 1 filled with the resin material is carried to the furnace, the resin material spills from the case 1. In order to eliminate the above disadvantages, the production of the electronic circuit device 10 needs more man-hours.
Therefore, it is required that such electronic circuit device 10 does not need the case 1.


A congestion-based adaptive cruise control (ACC) system for a vehicle. A processor may provide control signals for the vehicle to modify at least one of acceleration, deceleration and braking in the vehicle. A radar sensor arrangement, operatively coupled to the processor, is configured to determine (i) a distance value for a front vehicle based on a front vehicle velocity, and (ii) a distance value for a rear vehicle based on a rear vehicle velocity. The processor may be configured to process (i) and (ii) from the radar sensor arrangement to determine a velocity value for the vehicle, and generate at least one control signal based on the velocity value to alter the velocity of the vehicle using at least one of acceleration, deceleration and braking to position the vehicle substantially at a mid-point between the front vehicle and rear vehicle.

The present disclosure is directed to technologies and techniques for automatically controlling a vehicle. More specifically, the present disclosure is directed to positioning a vehicle between other vehicles and in turn distributing vehicle traffic and improving overall traffic performance and safety.
Adaptive cruise control (ACC) (also known as "autonomous cruise control" or "intelligent cruise control") has become popular over recent years in vehicle technology, and is a cruise control system for road vehicles that automatically adjusts the vehicle speed to maintain a safe distance from vehicles ahead. ACC technology is widely regarded as a key component of future generations of intelligent cars. Despite the use of ACC, individual vehicles, as well as vehicles as a collective whole travelling on a road segment, have not been able to effectively deal with congestive driving conditions. Among other effects, traffic "shockwaves" that lead to congestion are often caused by sudden braking of a front vehicle, which in turn causes a cascading and amplifying effect on vehicle braking rearwards, due to poor driver reaction time. What is needed is technologies for mitigating congestive effects by optimizing distances between vehicles.

Congestion-friendly adaptive cruise control


A gasoline detecting device is provided with a suction nozzle arranged adjacent to an element to be inspected, a sensor for detecting gasoline within the sucked air arranged adjacent to the suction nozzle, and a body arranged in relation spaced from the suction nozzle. The body has a sensor drive unit for driving the sensor and for displaying the detection and a suction unit communicating with the suction nozzle. The gasoline detecting device can detect gasoline leakage from the element to be inspected.

The present invention relates gasoline detecting device which can improve a detecting speed of a gasoline detecting device, suitable for inspection of gasoline leakage from an engine or the like.
Generally, in a gasoline engine for a vehicle or the like, inspection of gasoline leakage is executed after assembling of the vehicle.
The inspection is arranged such that air adjacent to the engine is sucked, existence of gasoline in the air is investigated, and it is judged whether or not the gasoline leaks.
A potable or handy gas detector and a concentration meter are known as an detecting device of suction type used in the above-described inspection, in which a pump is used to execute sampling of gas, to measure concentration of the gas, and the like.
An example of the inspecting device will briefly be described. A suction nozzle is mounted adjacent to an engine to be inspected, and a body is arranged at a location spaced from the engine. The suction nozzle and the body are connected to each other by a spaced-portion connecting pipe or the like for leading the sucked air.
A sensor, sensor driving means for driving the sensor and for displaying inspected results, a pump and the like are arranged within the body.
When the air sucked by the pump flows into the body section through the spaced-portion connecting pipe, existence of leakage is displayed depending upon existence of gasoline detected by the sensor.
In the suction type detecting device of the kind referred to above, the body must be arranged within atmosphere different from that of a measuring location. For this reason, a distance from the suction nozzle to the sensor increases so that it is inevitable that the detecting speed is remarkably slowed.
On the other hand, it has been tried to execute such inspection on a manufacturing line. However, the conventional detecting device has the following disadvantages. That is, there are a plurality of measuring locations, and it is required to execute measurement at a single location in short time such as 2 to 3 sec. The conventional detecting device which is slow in detecting speed as described above cannot fulfill such requirement.
As described above, the conventional gasoline detecting device has such disadvantages that the detecting speed is slow, and it is impossible to efficiently execute inspection of gasoline leakage from the element to be inspected.


A rotary module comprises: a digital camera module (DCM) electrically connected to a main body of an electronic product; a hinge assembly connected to a holding device (HD) and the main body, so as to allow relative rotation between the main body and the flip cover; a flexible printed circuit board (FPCB); and the HD to hold the DCM, and provide a wiring space for winding the FPCB and a hollow sleeve for receiving the hinge assembly. One end of the FPCB is connected to the DCM, and the rest extends along the flat surface of the HD, then winds around the wiring space, and finally connects to a PCB of either the main body or the flip cover. The rotary module could be disposed in an axial sleeve of flip-type cellular phone. When the flip cover is rotated, the HD and the DCM simultaneously rotate with the flip cover.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a rotary module, and more particularly to the rotary module having a digital camera module (DCM).
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, there has been an increased demand in the marketplace for multi-mode cellular phones, particularly the cellular phones with photo-taking mode. With the cellular phone having photo-taking mode, a user can take a picture of anything (without intruding on other's privacies), and transmit the captured image anytime and anywhere.
Most of conventional multi-mode cellular phones are designed by externally connecting the digital camera module to the main body of cellular phone. This external-type digital camera module is generally bulky, and inconvenient to carry. Also, the overall size and weight of the cellular phone are increased after the digital camera module is externally attached to the main body of cellular phone. Now, more and more manufacturers have developed new types of multi-mode cellular phones. For the phones without a flip cover, the digital camera modules are commonly positioned at the main boards. For the phones with the flip covers, the digital camera modules are commonly positioned at the corners of the covers. There remains a need in the art, however, for improving the view finding of photo-taking, the size and the production cost of the cellular phone.

Rotary module with digital camera module


An information processing apparatus which implements a printing control function for generating printing control information for causing an image forming apparatus to execute printing outputting is disclosed. The information processing apparatus includes a core unit and an extension unit which can be added after the core unit is installed. The information processing apparatus further includes a launch processing unit which launches the extension unit; an extension function operation information requesting unit; an extension function operation information encrypting unit; an extension function operation information decrypting unit; and a printing control information generating unit.

In recent years, there has been a trend toward promoting digitization of information, so that image processing apparatuses such as a scanner which is used for digitization of documents, a fax machine, a printer which is used for outputting digitized information, etc., are becoming indispensable equipment units. These image processing apparatuses are often configured as multi-functional machines which are usable as a printer, a fax machine, a scanner, and a copier by including therein an imaging function, an image forming function, a communications function, etc.
Of such image processing apparatuses, in a printing apparatus which is used for outputting digitized documents, a printer is generally used which executes printing outputting based on a printing job generated in an information processing apparatus such as a PC (personal computer), etc. Then, as a software program which implements functions for generating the printing job to be input to the printer, a printer driver which corresponds to respective printer functions is generally installed in the information processing apparatus.
Then, in a related-art printer driver, a method is used for extending functions in a form called a plug-in while leaving a program of a main body that is already installed without re-installing an updated program (see Patent document 1, for example).
Here, FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a printer driver 100 in general. As shown in FIG. 7, in the printer driver 100, which is divided into a core driver 110 and a plug-in 120, functions are implemented by calling the plug-in 120 from the core driver 110 side.
FIG. 8 is a diagram conceptually illustrating a process when the plug-in 120 is called from the core driver 110 side. As shown in FIG. 8, the plug-in 120 has a plug-in interface open to the public, so that the core driver 110 side uses the publicly-open interface to utilize the function of the plug-in 120.
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a publicly-open interface. The core driver 110 starts a plug-in process with an "OpenPlugin( )" command as shown in FIG. 9, and obtains from the plug-in 120 side an interface function table as shown in FIG. 10 with a "GetInterface( )" command. In this way, the core driver 110 may use an interface function which is described in the interface function table to operate the function of the plug-in 120. Subsequently, the plug-in process is completed with a "ClosePlugin( )" command.
As shown in FIG. 9, as an argument of the "GetInterface( )" command, the interface function table such as an "LPPLUGIN_IF_TBL table" is designated which is included in a DLL (Dynamic Link Library) file which makes up the plug-in 120. In this way, the core driver 110 may obtain the interface function as shown in FIG. 10 and utilize an interface of the plug-in 120 as shown in FIG. 11. FIG. 12 is a sequence diagram illustrating a process between the plug-in 120 side and the core driver 110 side in a series of operations as described above.
Commands such as "NeedJimon( )" and "NeedWatermark( )", etc., that are shown in FIGS. 10 and 11 are commands related to drawing, and the interface function table shown in FIG.11 is used by a drawing unit 114. Moreover, of operations shown in FIG. 12, a process on the core driver 110 side is a process of the drawing unit 114.
Patent document
Patent Document 1 JP2008-97574A
In the configuration of the related-art plug-in as described above, the interface function table as shown in FIG. 10 is publicly open, so that there is a possibility of the plug-in being replaced with a malicious dummy DLL (Dynamic Link Library). FIG. 13, which is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 8, is a diagram which conceptually illustrates that a valid plug-in is replaced with the malicious dummy DLL.
As shown in FIG. 13, a file name of a DLL file which has the same interface function as a valid plug-in 120 and which is to be a plug-in thereof may be used, so that the valid plug-in may be taken over by a malicious plug-in. For example, when a security-related plug-in is taken over to be invalidated, security to be applied to a document is not applied, leading to a problem of leakage of information, etc.

Printing control program, information processing apparatus, printing system, and printing apparatus


The present disclosure relates to a measuring device for measuring a dielectric constant of fill substances in containers. The measuring device includes: a transmitting circuit for transmitting a first electromagnetic high-frequency signal and a second electromagnetic high-frequency signal; a receiving circuit for receiving the two high-frequency signals; and an evaluation circuit to ascertain a first phase shift between the transmitting and the receiving of the first high-frequency signal, to ascertain a second phase shift between the transmitting and the receiving of the second high-frequency signal, and to ascertain an amplitude of one of the received high-frequency signals. Based on these three values, the dielectric constant is determined. By determining phase shift at different frequencies, it is possible according to the present disclosure, especially in the case of solid-type fill substances, to determine their dielectric constant uncorrupted, thus without influence of air inclusions or moisture.

In automation technology, such as, for example, in large industrial process plants, measuring devices are often applied, which serve for registering process parameters of process media. The registering of the process parameters is based on measuring principles suitable therefor. Corresponding sensors are applied in, among others, fill-level measuring devices, flow measuring devices, pressure- and temperature measuring devices, pH-redox potential measuring devices, conductivity measuring devices, etc. They register the corresponding process parameters, such as fill level, flow, pressure, temperature, pH-value, redox potential, conductivity and dielectric constant, in the containers or tubes, in which the process medium is located. A large number of these measuring devices are manufactured and sold by the firm, Endress+Hauser.
The determining of dielectric constant (also known as "relative permittivity") is of great interest both in the case of solids, as well as also in the case of liquid fill substances, such as, for example, fuels, waste waters or chemicals, since this value can serve as a reliable indicator of impurities therein. For determining the dielectric constant, the prior art provides, above all in the case of liquid fill substances, the capacitive measuring principle. In such case, the effect is utilized that the capacitance of a capacitor is proportional to the dielectric constant of the medium located between the two electrodes of a capacitor.
Alternatively, it is also possible to determine the dielectric constant of a (liquid) medium in a container interior, in a way, parasitically, in conjunction with its fill level measurement. This requires the measuring principle of guided radar, in the case of which microwaves are guided via an electrically conductive waveguide in the medium. This combined fill level- and dielectric measuring is described in disclosure document DE 10 2015 117 205 A1.
This combining of measuring principles is, however, burdened with the disadvantage that the measuring of the dielectric constant can be corrupted in the case of solids. The reason is that, for example, air inclusions can be present in granular fill substances and moisture can be present in granular or powdered fill substances. In these cases, the state of the art determines an average value of the dielectric constant of the fill substance and the air, or water, as the case may be, even though the dielectric constant of the pure fill substance is really what is of interest.

Measuring device for dielectric constant determination


A method for providing a Graphic User Interface (GUI) associated with execution of an application in a mobile terminal supporting a multi-tasking function, and an apparatus implementing the same. The method for providing (GUI) in a mobile terminal, preferably includes: displaying an application execution icon region and application execution screen region configured by one or more application execution icons; receiving selection of one from the one or more application execution icons; and displaying a reduction mode execution screen of an application corresponding to the selected application execution icon on the application execution screen region. When using a multi-tasking function of a mobile terminal, the user can view a plurality of application execution screens on one screen, and input an operating command for a plurality of applications on one screen.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for providing a graphic user interface (GUI) in a mobile terminal. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for providing a GUI that is operable when more than one application is being executed in a mobile terminal.
Description of the Related Art
In the conventional multi-tasking function, a plurality of applications are simultaneously executed. However, because the applications are executed as a background, the user cannot view a plurality of applications. Accordingly, when the user accesses one application, the user can display another application in the form of pop-up. However, it is difficult to use two applications at one time, particularly on a small display such as a mobile display, tablet, PDA, etc. In addition, because there are often dependent applications, the user cannot access them in all situations.
With further regard to an event regarding an application being executed as a background occurs during the execution of one application, a function displaying an event alarm in the pop-up form is implemented. However, an interface capable of simultaneously operating a plurality of applications is not provided. Thus, there is a need in the art for a better way to access a display of multiple applications on a display.

Method and apparatus for providing graphic user interface in mobile terminal


Laser light absorbing additive comprising particles that contain at least a first polymer with a first functional group and 0-95 wt. % of an absorber, the weight percentage relating to the total of the first polymer and the absorber and the first polymer being bound in at least a part of the surface of the particles by means of the first functional group to a second functional group, which is bound to a second polymer.

Such an additive is known from WO 01/0719, in which antimony trioxide with a particle size of at least 0.5 μm is applied as the absorber. The additive is applied in polymeric compositions in such a content that the composition contains at least 0.1 wt. % of the additive so as to be able to apply a dark marking against a light background in the composition. Preferably a nacreous pigment is further added to obtain a better contrast.
The known additive has the disadvantage that in many cases, in particular in compositions with polymers that in themselves are only weakly carbonizing, only a poor contrast can be obtained by laser irradiation.
The aim of the invention is, to provide an additive that, also when mixed into polymers that in themselves are weakly carbonizing, produces a composition that is capable of being written with laser light with a good contrast.
This aim is achieved according to the invention in that the additive comprises particles that contain at least a first polymer with a first functional group and 0-95 wt. % of an absorber, the weight percentage being related to the total of the first polymer and the absorber and the first polymer being bound in at least a part of the surface of the particles by means of the first functional group to a second functional group, which is bound to a second polymer.
Upon irradiation with laser light polymeric compositions that contain the additive according to the invention area found to produce an unexpectedly high contrast between the irradiated and non-irradiated parts. This contrast is also significantly higher than when a composition is applied that contains only the absorber and the first or the second polymer.


A portable hoist system includes a base assembly which includes a pintle. Slidably mounted over the pintle is a hoist support assembly. The hoist support assembly includes a substantially vertical tube which is connected at its top portion to a support arm. The support arm is supported with respect to the substantially vertical tube by an angled brace member. On the top of the support arm is located a lifting strap control assembly. The lifting strap control assembly includes a windlass and a guide bar.

The present invention relates to a portable hoist system; more particularly the portable hoist system of the present invention relates to a lifting hoist which may be used on the top of a building, in the cargo space of a vehicle, or on any other application where a light weight portable hoist usable by an individual is required.
In many small to medium sized buildings, air conditioning units for the building are located on the roof. Typically these air conditioning units weigh between 150 and 200 pounds. When it is necessary to change the air conditioning unit or remove it for repair, it is often necessary for the owner of the building to hire a crane service or possibly a helicopter service to lift the air conditioning unit from the roof and then place it on the ground or unto a truck. Alternatively, smaller air conditioning units may be manually lifted from the top of the building, carried over to a ladder resting alongside the building and then slid down the ladder to the ground or to an awaiting truck.
In other situations it is often necessary for owners of pickup trucks to place a load in a cargo space such as the bed of the truckxe2x80x94which load is not easily lifted manually by one or two people. One solution to this problem has been the creation of hydraulic systems which raise and lower a platform from ground level to the level of the truck bed. While first used on large commercial vehicles, these lifts have become smaller over the years and are now sized to be used on pickup trucks and large vans. One manufacturer of these hydraulic liftgates sells them under the brand TommyLift(trademark). While hydraulic liftgates enable the lifting of heavy loads, such systems are expensive and complex, as they include not only a mechanical system of arms and levers, but the hydraulics needed to provide the lifting power and an electrical system to control the operation of the hydraulic lifting system. Accordingly, a hydraulic liftgate system is typically too expensive and too complex for the vehicle owner who does not lift heavy loads on a regular basis. One category of such vehicle owner carries small motorcycles, jet skis or four-wheelers in the bed of their trucks. If help is not available, it is all but impossible for a single individual to unload a motorcycle, a jet ski, or a four-wheeler from the bed of a pickup truck.
A similar situation occurs with the use of an automobile. Oftentimes it may be necessary for the owner of an automobile to load heavy cargo into the trunk. But unlike hydraulic liftgates for trucks, there are no hydraulic systems available for automobiles which facilitate placing a load into the trunk of an automobile.
Small power boat owners also encounter lifting problems with outboard motors or inboard motors. Sailboat owners may experience lifting problems with heavy center boards, mast, booms, or rigging.
Many people who occasionally haul heavy cargo with an automobile or a truck find it handy to load the cargo onto a trailer and then tow the trailer to their destination. But the problem remains of loading and unloading heavy cargo from the trailer.
In the bed of pickup trucks, in the trunks of automobiles, on trailers, in the back of vans, in boats, and on the tops of small buildings, it is not practical or economical to mount a permanent hoist for the lifting of loads. Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for a portable hoist system which may be easily installed on the top of a building, in the bed of a truck, in the trunk of an automobile, in the back of a van, in boats, on a trailer, and in other similar applications and which is light-weight, easily assembled, inexpensive, may be easily moved from place to place by one person, thereby providing an individual with the ability to lift loads generally requiring more than one person to properly manage.
The portable hoist system of the present invention is a light-weight, easily assembled, inexpensive system which may be easily moved from place to place by one person, thus providing an individual with the ability to move loads to or from the roof of a building or to or from the cargo space of a vehicle, a trailer, or any other type transport system.
The portable hoist system of the present invention has a base assembly which includes either a pintle mounted to a plate or a support for a substantially vertical tube. The substantially vertical tube is connected at its top portion to a support arm. The support arm is supported with respect to the substantially vertical tube by an angled brace member. On the top of the support arm is located a cable or strap assembly. The cable or strap assembly includes a windlass and a guide bar or rotating spool.


An electronic system is provided including providing a target semiconductor device connected to a system power supply, measuring the system power supply with the control device for a power usage by the target semiconductor device, and controlling a fan with the control device based on the power usage.

Modern consumer electronics, such as game consoles, notebook computers, smart phones, personal digital assistants, and location based services devices, as well as enterprise class electronics, such as servers, storage arrays, and routers, are packing more integrated circuits into an ever shrinking physical space with expectations for decreasing cost. Contemporary electronics expose integrated circuits to more demanding and sometimes new environmental conditions, such as cold, heat, and humidity requiring the overall system to provide robust thermal management solutions. Higher performance, more functions, lower power usage, and longer usage of battery power are yet other expectations placed upon contemporary electronics.
As more functions are packed into integrated circuits and more integrated circuits into a package, more heat is generated degrading the performance, the reliability, and the lifetime of the integrated circuits as well as the overall system. Numerous technologies have been developed to meet these new requirements. Some of the research and development strategies focus on the system power supplies, ventilation, and enclosure fans while others focus on the integrated circuit technologies and associated integrated circuit packaging. Other focus on other forms of thermal management solutions, such as heat sinks/slug, heat spreaders, or localized fans directly over the integrated circuit. Yet other solutions may use a combination of solutions.
More specifically, enclosure fans are often used to evacuate warm air from enclosures in which electronic systems are contained. For example, most computer systems include one or more cooling enclosure fans to aid circulating air inside the enclosures and for maintaining the temperature inside the enclosures within an acceptable range. The increased airflow provided by the enclosure fans typically aids in eliminating heat that may otherwise build up and adversely affect system operation. Employing enclosure fans is especially helpful in ensuring proper operation for certain integrated circuits, such as central processing units (CPUs), with relatively high operating temperatures.
Control of fans in a system typically involves a fan control unit executing a fan control algorithm. A fan control algorithm may determine the method for controlling one or more fans that are configured to evacuate warm air from the electronic system. These requirements and functions also apply to localized fans over an integrated circuit.
Fan speed is usually determined by system software looking at the processor status. This needs a lot of effort to optimize (and debug) the operational efficiency of the fan. The processor may utilize a signal conveying to the system its status (busy or idle). If only one bit is used for this signal, only two statuses may be indicated, resulting in problems.
For example, when a processor is busy, such as when performing numerous and lengthy floating point calculations, the fan needs to run fast in order to cool down the processor. Conversely, when the processor is idle, the fan may run at a lower speed or revolution per minute (RPM) or may even be turned off consuming less power and/or increasing the battery life usage of the electronic system.
With current technology, the fan speed is fixed at one or two modes depending on processor's status (idle or busy). Although the processor may consume and throw off different amounts of power/heat depending on how busy it is (e.g. 40W, 60W, or higher), the fan in the busy mode will turn at one speed and use a constant amount of power. This may result in the system using extra power unnecessarily.
Sometimes processor operation will cause more heat than the fan can handle. The inability to remove excessive heat from electronic systems may lead to permanent damage of the system as well as the integrated circuits. The economic impacts may be best illustrated in the following example. As a product goes through various life cycle phases, such as design, design testing, manufacturing pilot runs, production test, and final production, the cost increases by an order of magnitude from one phase to the next phase of the life cycle when a change is required to a major electronic component of the electronic system.
Designing cooling solutions for systems is also a time-consuming process for the thermal design engineer. Typically, a controller card is required to be designed and built for controlling the fan speed and other functionality, such as failure detection and alarm settings. Often times, the design and construction of multiple control cards are required so as to test them in real world applications to obtain the right combination of fans, fan speeds, alarm settings, etc. Multiple iterations of installing sample fans in a system, determining the adequate fan speeds and power required, and testing the fans in the system, for example, are costly and inefficient.
Thus, a need still remains for an electronic system with a dynamic thermal management solution providing lower power consumption, longer battery life operation, lower cost manufacturing, improved yield, and higher reliability for the electronic systems. In view of the ever-increasing need to save costs and improve efficiencies, it is more and more critical that answers be found to these problems.
Solutions to these problems have been long sought but prior developments have not taught or suggested any solutions and, thus, solutions to these problems have long eluded those skilled in the art.

Electronic system with dynamic thermal management


Various screening systems are disclosed, including a system including a radiation detection component, a toxic chemical detection component, a toxic chemical agent sampling component, a bio-threat detection component, a puffer-based bio-threat sampling component, an explosive detection component, and an X-ray based imager, such that it automatically screens mail for the presence of multiple threat agents, such as chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive threats. An automated sample arm collects a sample when a sampling substrate contacts a portion of the item of mail while there is relative motion between the automated sample arm and the item of mail. The sample is conveyed to a detector and the sampling substrate is regenerated by heating it.

Ever since letters contaminated with weapons-grade Bacillus anthracis (anthrax) spores passed through the United States Postal Service (USPS) in the fall of 2001 and the "letter bombs" mailed in the 1980s, there has been a heightened awareness that chemical, biological, radiological or explosive threats could be hidden in an item of mail. Thus, there is an ongoing need to develop new technologies to address such potential threats. Due to the volume of mail that must be screened, it is desirable that any such screening technology be cost effective.
The USPS is not the only organization that delivers mail and parcels. Commercial shippers and the U.S. military also manage the shipment and delivery of large volumes of parcels. It would be desirable to provide a screening technology that is sensitive and cost effective. Such a technology will preferably be capable of screening for chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or explosive (CBRNE) threats. Similarly, such a technology would be useful for screening luggage and cargo prior to transportation.

Mail parcel screening using multiple detection technologies


A movable iron core, a primary attracting and holding coil, a resistor electrically connected to an upstream start-up electric contact, and an auxiliary attracting and holding coil electrically connected to the upstream start-up electric contact are included. The movable iron core displaces a pinion from a separated position to a contact position. After the pinion is displaced from the separated position to the contact position, the upstream start-up electric contact is electrically disconnected from another start-up electric contact to cut off a current to the motor, and the movable iron core displaces the pinion from the contact position to an engaged position with the magnetomotive force of the primary attracting and holding coil and a magnetomotive force of the auxiliary attracting and holding coil. After the pinion is displaced from the contact position to the engaged position, main electric contacts are electrically connected to resume electric connection to the motor.

There has been known an electromagnetic switch device for a starter in which a pinion is pushed toward a ring gear, by displacing a movable iron core with the use of a magnetomotive force generated in a coil, to be engaged with the ring gear while the pinion is rotated slowly, and, after the pinion is engaged with the ring gear, a motor is rotated by switching from a start-up electric circuit to a main electric circuit as an electric circuit for allowing a current to flow into the motor, with the use of a changeover contact interlocked with the displacement of the movable iron core. (see Patent Literature 1, for example).

Electromagnetic switch device for starter


For example, a plurality of elliptical candidate areas that become candidate areas of detecting objects are set in an image, characteristic values such as average values of luminance of the pixels inside and outside the set candidate areas are compared, and a candidate area whose difference of the characteristic values is determined to be the maximum is detected as the area of the detecting object. In addition, central moment of the detecting object is calculated, and the inclination of the detecting object in the image is detected based on the calculated central moment. Further, two specific points such as eyes of the driver included in the detecting object are detected, and the inclination of the detecting object in the image determined by the detected two points is detected.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing method using an image processing device which detects a specific detecting object from an image including a plurality of two-dimensionally arranged pixels, an image processing system to which the image processing method is applied, an image processing device used in the image processing system, and a computer program product for realizing the image processing device, and more particularly relates to the image processing method, the image processing system, the image processing device and the computer program product for improving accuracy of detection of detecting objects.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a device for supporting driving of a vehicle such as an automobile, there is proposed an image processing device for imaging a face of a driver by using an on-vehicle camera mounted on a vehicle disposed at a position capable of imaging the face of the driver and performing image processing for detecting an outline of the face, positions of eyes and nostrils of the driver from the image acquired (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-234367). By using such a device, it is possible to constitute a system capable of detecting a condition of the driver and performing driving support such as a warning, in accordance with the condition of the driver, such as an inattentive driving and a drowsy driving.
However, with a movement of the vehicle, illuminance and angle on beams such as solar beams are always changed, and an irradiation condition of the beams to the face of the driver is not uniform. Therefore, it is requested that the face of the driver is detected by various methods and a condition of the driver is detected comprehensively. In addition, in a conventional system, when the driver inclines his/her face, a problem is that there is a high possibility that error is generated in detection.

Image processing method, image processing system, image processing device, and computer program product


Envelope limiting for a polar modulator. A system is provided that intelligently compresses the amplitude modulation in a polar modulator so that it can be implemented with a single-stage variable gain amplifier. Limiting the amplitude modulation range on the low side prevents collapse of the transmit signal's time-varying envelope and eases circuit implementation. Limiting the amplitude modulation range on the high side reduces the peak-to-average ratio of the waveform and thereby improves the efficiency of the radio transmitter.

Modern communications systems increasingly rely on digital modulation techniques for reliable system performance. These techniques modulate a carrier signal by varying its phase and/or amplitude.
The heterodyne architecture is standard for radio transmitters. It uses rectangular (in-phase and quadrature-phase) data and I/Q modulation to generate the transmit signal. This architecture handles phase and amplitude modulation equally well, but also produces spurious mixing products, delivers only moderate linearity, and suffers from poor efficiency.
A more efficient radio transmitter architecture is referred to as a polar modulator. This architecture eliminates several circuits, avoids mixing operations, and improves efficiency. It also introduces a new challenge, separate amplitude and phase control. The separate control is complicated by some modulation formats that null the envelope of the transmit signal. It would therefore be advantageous to reduce the amplitude modulation while still preserving the quality of the transmit signal.