A golf club head includes a head body having a crown portion, a face portion, and a sole portion; at least one regular weight member configured to be detachably attached to the sole portion; and a cover kit configured to be detachably attached to the sole portion. The cover kit includes a cover provided with a decoration and configured to cover at least a portion of the sole portion, and optionally includes at least one auxiliary weight member configured to be attached to the cover. A weight of the cover kit is the same as the weight of the regular weight member. The sole portion is configured to selectively be in one of a first mode in which the regular weight member is attached, and a second mode in which the cover kit is attached.

In recent years, various improvements have been made to golf clubs. For example, JP 2012-500044A proposes a golf club head that can be disassembled into multiple parts to allow the replacement of some of the parts. More specifically, this golf club head is constituted by a main body member and a sub body member, and the sub body member can be detached from the main body member. The sub body member is shaped so as to extend from the heel side of the head to the crown side, and the head design or the like can be changed according to the user's preference by replacing the sub body member.

Golf club head and detachable weighted sole plate and cover plate


An electronic part mounting method, a semiconductor module, and a semiconductor device, which can reduce a mounting area and a device thickness. In an electronic part mounting method for bonding an electrode formed on a substrate and an electrode formed on an electronic part to each other, the method comprises the step of bonding both the electrodes through a metal layer made up of aggregated particles of at least one kind of metal. Then, the metal particles have an average particle size of 1 to 50 nm. Preferably, the metal particles form a metal layer having a thickness of 5 to 100 μm.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic part mounting method, a semiconductor module, and a semiconductor device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Usually, a high-frequency power amplifier is incorporated in a portable communication unit represented by a car phone or a cellular phone based on the PDC (Personal Digital Cellular) system, or a cellular phone based on the PHS (Personal Handy-phone System). As well known, the high-frequency power amplifier is constituted as a semiconductor module, and it is a multistage amplifier comprising a plurality of amplifiers interconnected in multiple stages.
Such a high-frequency power amplifier is formed on one principal surface of a semiconductor chip, and the semiconductor chip including the amplifier is mounted on one principal surface of a wiring board. Electrodes formed on the one principal surface of the semiconductor chip and electrodes formed on the one principal surface of the wiring board are connected to each other by conductive wires.
More specifically, the high-frequency power amplifier comprises, for example, a plurality of field effect transistors electrically connected in parallel. A gate terminal serving as an input portion of the high-frequency power amplifier is electrically connected to a chip-side input electrode formed on the one principal surface of the semiconductor chip.
On the other hand, a drain terminal serving as an output portion of the high-frequency power amplifier is electrically connected to a chip-side output electrode formed on the one principal surface of the semiconductor chip. The chip-side input electrode is arranged at one side of the semiconductor chip, and the chip-side output electrode is arranged at another side of the semiconductor chip, which is positioned in opposite relation to the one side.
A source terminal of the high-frequency power amplifier is electrically connected to a rear-side electrode formed on another surface (i.e., a rear surface) of the semiconductor chip, which is positioned in opposite relation to the one principal surface of the semiconductor chip. The rear electrode is fixedly held at a reference potential. The chip-side input electrode is electrically connected, by an input wire, to a board-side input electrode formed on the one principal surface of the wiring board in facing relation to the one side of the semiconductor chip. The chip-side output electrode is electrically connected, by an output wire, to a board-side output electrode formed on the one principal surface of the wiring board in facing relation to the other side of the semiconductor chip.
One practical semiconductor module is described in "Hitachi Hyoron", No. 4, 1993, pp. 12-26. published Apr. 25, 1993 by Hitachi Hyoron Co. In this semiconductor module (i.e., a MOS power module for the high-frequency power amplifier), power MOSFET's are incorporated in three stages to increase an output.
Non-Patent Reference 1 further discusses various types of semiconductor modules in the packaged form. The semiconductor module assembled in a cellular phone employs a metallic cover and surface mounting for the purpose of size reduction.
FIG. 15 shows the structure of a known semiconductor module employing a metallic cover (hereinafter referred to as a "cap") and the surface mounting. A glass-ceramic substrate 202 is fixed to a principal surface (upper surface) of a heat radiating flange 201 in the form of a rectangular plate by using a solder (not shown).
Active parts, such as power MOSFET's (not shown), and passive parts, such as resistances and capacitors (not shown), are mounted on a principal surface (upper surface) of the substrate 202. The active parts, such as the power MOSFET's, are connected to external terminals by wire bonding.
Further, a cap 203 is attached to the heat radiating flange 201 so as to cover the principal surface of the glass-ceramic substrate 202. Openings are formed in one side surface of the cap 203, and leads 204 having inner ends fixed to the glass-ceramic substrate 202 are led out through the openings. Fins 205 for face fixing are each disposed to project in the form of one step (i.e., an L-like bent shape) outward from a side edge of the heat radiating flange 201.
The fins 205 for face fixing not only serve to transmit heat to a chassis (not shown) on which a high-frequency power module 206 is mounted, but also function as a ground pin. The heat radiating flange 201 is electrically connected to ground wiring on the principal surface of the glass-ceramic substrate 202 through a conductor filled in a through hole formed in the glass-ceramic substrate 202.
JP-A-10-50926 discloses a heat radiating module in which a heat-generating circuit part is placed in a recess formed in a circuit board, and solder bumps of the circuit part are soldered to land electrodes of a circuit board. Further, the thus-obtained circuit board is mounted on a mother circuit board through a heat conductive member, and terminal electrodes provided on a side surface of the circuit board are soldered to land electrodes on the mother circuit board, thereby transmitting the heat generated from the circuit part to the mother circuit board for the purpose of heat radiation.
Meanwhile, in a non-insulation semiconductor device as one of power semiconductor devices for use in inverters, etc., a member used for fixing a semiconductor element serves also as one electrode of a semiconductor device. For example, in a semiconductor device including a power transistor mounted on a fixing member (made of, e.g., a copper—cuprous oxide composite material) by using an Sn—Pb brazing paste, the fixing member (base material) serves also as a collector electrode of the power transistor.
In actual operation, a collector current of several amperes or more flows, whereupon a transistor chip generates heat. To avoid the generated heat from causing instability of characteristics and shortening of the life, the base material is required to have superior heat dissipation and to ensure reliability in a brazed portion. Then, ensuring reliability in the brazed portion requires matching in thermal expansion rate between the semiconductor element and the fixing member.
Also in an insulation semiconductor device, from the viewpoint of realizing the safe and stable operation of the semiconductor element, it is required to efficiently dissipate the heat generated during the operation of the semiconductor device to the outside of a package, and to ensure reliability in the brazed portion.
To clear those conditions, JP-A-8-11503) discloses a semiconductor current controller in which an assembly obtained by mounting a Si chip on a Cu-coated AlN board is integrally brazed to a support member made of Mo by using a solder. With this disclosed technique, since the Cu-coated AlN board is soldered to the Mo support member having a thermal expansion rate (5.1 ppm/° C.) comparable to that of the Cu-coated AlN board, a soldered portion between both the members has superior reliability.
Patent Reference 3 (JP-B-7-26174) discloses a semiconductor module device in which an assembly obtained by mounting a thyristor chip on an alumina board is mounted to a support member made of a composite material in which SiC ceramic powder is dispersed in Al or an Al alloy. With this disclosed technique, since the alumina board is mounted to the support member made of the Al/SiC composite material having a thermal expansion rate (2 to 13 ppm/° C.) comparable to that (7.5 ppm/° C.) of the alumina board, a bonded portion between both the members has superior reliability.

Method for mounting an electronic part on a substrate using a liquid containing metal particles


A film separation apparatus (100) for separating a film (110) attached to a film application surface of a wafer (120) comprises a wafer adsorption unit (31) for adsorbing the wafer with the film application surface up, a release tape supply unit (42) for supplying the release tape (3) onto the film application surface, and a heating unit (80) for pressing and heating only a part of the release tape against the wafer film at an edge of the wafer. Thus, the adhesion between the release tape and the film is increased at the particular part of the release tape. The apparatus further comprises a peeling unit (44) for separating the film from the film application surface of the wafer using a release tape with a part of the release tape having an improved adhesion as a separation starting point. Thus, the surface protective film can be easily separated from the wafer.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a film separation method, for separating a film such as a surface protective film attached to the front surface of a wafer, and a film separation apparatus for carrying out the method.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a semiconductor fabrication process, a wafer size has been increased and, to improve the package density, the wafer thickness has been decreased. In order to reduce the thickness of the wafer, a surface protective film is attached on the front surface of a wafer formed with semiconductor devices, and the back surface of the wafer is ground, in what is called a back-grind process, with the wafer surface adsorbed to an adsorption table.
This back-grind process reduces the wafer thickness to, for example, 50 micrometers. Therefore, the mechanical strength of the wafer after the back-grind process is correspondingly reduced. The surface protective film described above must be separated after the back-grind process. According to the prior art, a release tape is attached over the whole of the surface protective film of the wafer, by an application roller, and is rolled off together with the surface protective film thereby to separate the surface protective film. In view of the fact that the mechanical strength of the wafer is greatly reduced, however, a problem is posed that the wafer is often broken when the release tape is attached to the surface protective film.
In order to solve this problem, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2004-165570 discloses a method in which the direction of the wafer is adjusted in such a manner that the direction of the release tape fails to coincide with the dicing grooves formed on the wafer. Also, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2004-128147 discloses a separation apparatus in which the separation is started from a corner or edge of the wafer.
FIG. 12 is an enlarged sectional view of a wafer, with a surface protective film attached thereon, and indicates that the thickness D0 of the wafer 120 is reduced to D1. As can be understood from FIG. 12, the edge portion 125 of the wafer 120 is chamfered in advance. In order to improve the adhesion by eliminating the gap between the surface protective film 110 and the wafer 120 while at the same time preventing the diameter of the surface protective film from being increased in diameter beyond the wafer size after the back-grind process, what is called an angle-cut process has recently been sometimes executed to cut off the surface protective film 110 in the direction of arrow Z along the chamfered portion of the wafer 120 after the surface protective film 110 is attached.
As shown in FIG. 12, the surface protective film 110, attached on the front surface 121 of the wafer 120 before the back grind process, is configured of a protective film base member 111 and a protective film adhesive layer 112. After executing the angle cut process described above, therefore, the protective film base member 111 of the surface protective film 110 is reduced to a size smaller than the surface 121 of the wafer 120. In such a case, it is difficult to separate the surface protective film 110 in its entirety after the back grind process by simply adjusting or selecting the direction of the wafer 120 or a separation starting point as described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2004-165570 or No. 2004-128147.
Also, the adhesion performance of the release tape changes with the characteristic of the surface protective film constituting an object to be bonded or the specific process executed on the surface protective film after being attached to the wafer. Thus, it may become difficult to attach the release tape to a specific surface protective film or to a surface protective film subjected to a specific process after being attached.
The present invention has been developed in view of this situation, and the object thereof is to provide a film separation method, and a film separation apparatus for carrying out the method, in which even in the case where the surface protective film is cut off along the chamfered portion of the wafer or in the case of a specific surface protective film or a surface protective film subjected to a specific process, the release tape can be easily integrated with the surface protective film and easily separated together with the surface protective film.

Film separation method and film separation apparatus


The present technology relates to an image capture device, a method of image capture, a signal processing device, a method of signal processing, and a program capable of capturing reliably a blinking image capture target. A predetermined image capture timing of an image capture unit is controlled so that image capture is performed N times during an exposure time in which at least a part of a turn-on period in which an image capture target is on overlaps with an exposure time of image capture of at least one time at a timing of dividing a blinking cycle in which the image capture target to be captured by the image capture unit configured to perform image capture at the image capture timing blinks into N equal parts where N represents more than one. The present technology is applicable to, in one example, a camera unit or the like used to capture an image.

A light source for traffic signals or electronic traffic signs is recently being replaced from incandescent lamps or the like to light emitting diodes (LEDs).
LEDs have a faster blinking response speed than incandescent lamps. Thus, in one example, an LED-based traffic signal or traffic sign captured by an onboard camera or the like that is mounted on an automobile or the like may occur flicker, and so the traffic signal or traffic sign may be captured while being turned off.
In a captured image captured by an onboard camera, a traffic signal or traffic sign projected in a turned-off state may cause acceptability as evidence in the event of an accident to be limited in a case where the onboard camera is used as, in one example, a dash cam.
In addition, in a captured image captured by an onboard camera, a traffic signal or traffic sign projected in a turned-off state may cause troubles in drive control including stopping of an automobile in a case where the captured image captured by the onboard camera is used for, in one example, automatic driving of an automobile.
Thus, a method of image capture is developed in which the image capture is performed, in a case where an object having a blinking light source such as traffic signals is used as an image capture target, during the exposure time exceeding a turn-off period in which the blinking light source is turned off (see, e.g., Patent Literature 1).
Further, a method is developed in which the image capture is performed a plurality of times during the period of the frame rate of the output image at the frame rate exceeding a frame rate of an output image to be output that is captured by the onboard camera (e.g., Patent Literature 2). Then, among the plurality of captured images obtained by the image capture performed a plurality of times, one captured image is randomly selected as the output image.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Image capture device, method of image capture, signal processing device, method of signal processing, and program


Lawn debris such as leaves and grass clippings are carried in a rectangular sheet of material. The sheet has a pocket along two of its opposite sides. Each pocket is sealed at each end. Inside each pocket is a rigid pole made of two sections fitting together end-to-end. Each pole has a length equal to about 80 to 100 percent of the length of the sheet.

Moving lawn debris to a point of disposal has been a difficult and time-consuming task for many years. The term "lawn debris" is used herein to include all forms of relatively low density lawn debris, including leaves, grass clippings, twigs, and the like. In the past, lawn, lawn debris was commonly burned. In recent years, it has become more common for lawn debris to be loaded into degradable bags which are then taken to a landfill. A variety of tools and products are used for moving lawn debris, including rakes, blowers, and sheets of material. A sheet is used by first laying it upon the ground, then moving lawn debris upon it, lifting the edges of the sheet, and then dragging or carrying it to the point of disposal. Many types and sizes of sheets are used to carry lawn debris, including tarps, bedding sheets or blankets, and sheets of plastic. However, such sheets lack rigidity. Accordingly, they are difficult for one person to use and are nearly impossible to use for dumping lawn debris into bags.
Sheet-type lawn debris carriers that are specifically designed for carrying and dumping lawn debris have been disclosed. These sheet-type lawn debris carriers comprise a sheet of material with rigid members contained within pockets that run along two opposite sides. After the carrier is filled with lawn debris, the rigid members are drawn together to hold the leaves and to make it easier for a single person to carry. For example, Slater, U.S. Pat. No. 4,296,788, issued Oct. 27, 1981, discloses a carrier with rigid members that are held within open-ended loops or sleeves. Parody, U.S. Pat. No. 4,519,183, issued May 28, 1985, discloses a carrier with rigid members that are held within open-ended loops or channels. Dyer, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 5,147,102, issued Sep. 15, 1992, which is incorporated by reference, discloses a trapezoidal leaf carrier that has wooden dowels within pockets that are heat-sealed or stitched at the ends to hold the dowels in place.
For a variety of reasons, none of the above lawn debris carriers has achieved commercial success. First of all, they take up a large amount of storage space when not in use. Secondly, some of the carriers have rigid members that fall out of the pockets at undesirable times. Thirdly, some of the carriers have rigid members that do not run the entire length of the sheet. As a result, the sheet tends to collapse and make loading difficult. Fourthly, a trapezoidal shape is undesirable because lawn debris does not readily flow in a funnel. Instead, it tends to compact and bridge. Accordingly, a demand exists for a sheet-type lawn debris carrier that takes up much less space when packaged and when not in use and that is easily used by a single person for both carrying and dumping lawn debris.


A distributed clock circuit for clocking high speed data at various different physical locations on a chip while improving setup and hold times. The clock circuit includes a master delay lock loop (DLL) circuit configured to lock a global clock signal with a first data signal, and output a clock delay control signal when the global clock signal is locked. The clock circuit further includes one or more slave DLL circuits, coupled to receive the clock delay control signal to lock a local clock signal with a local data signal, wherein the local clock signal is based on the global clock signal.

The present invention generally relates to digital communications, and more particularly to a delay lock loop (DLL) circuit for improving setup and hold times for a parallel data communication system.
Digital communications promises faster, flexible, and more reliable speeds than conventional analog communications. Accordingly, various time measurements become critical. For instance, in a digital communication system, setup time represents the length of time that a pulse is held in order to produce a state change. Hold time represents the length of time a signal is maintained at a certain input after changing state at another input. Low setup and hold times are important, especially for high speed parallel data.
The setup and hold time windows on high speed data lines can be degraded by clock driver and data driver skew, duty cycle distortion of data drivers, clock and data jitter, and power supply noise. High speed data from different physical locations on a chip suffers not only from poor setup and hold times, but also clock skew in passing clock information to the various different physical locations. Some clock distribution schemes exist for providing synchronized clock signals to different locations, however there is a need for a clock distribution network that also improves setup and hold times for physically separated parallel data.

Distributed clock network using all-digital master-slave delay lock loops


A vehicle weight determination apparatus is disclosed which includes a receiver; a persistent memory storing a plurality of sensor identifiers, a like plurality of axle identifiers and a like plurality of correlation information, such that a given sensor identifier is associated with a given axle identifier and given correlation information. The apparatus also includes a controller for: receiving from the receiver a message comprising a sensor identifier and an air pressure indication, utilitising the sensor identifier to obtain an axle identifier and correlation information, and utilising the correlation information and the pressure indicator to obtain a weight measure associated with the axle identifier. The apparatus may include a display for displaying the weight measure and the axle identifier.

This invention relates to vehicle weighing.
It may be desirable to know the weight of a commercial vehicle for a number of reasons. Firstly, the amount charged for transporting cargo by vehicle is normally based upon distance to destination and on the weight of the cargo. Cargo weight may be determined by subtracting the loaded weight of the vehicle from its empty weight. Secondly, it is inefficient to drive a partially loaded vehicle. To avoid this, a vehicle could be loaded with a variety of different loads, however, in such instance the vehicle can be weighed to ensure the loads do not exceed the maximum capacity of the vehicle. Further, public authorities have an interest in ensuring certain weight restrictions are adhered to on public highways in order to protect the public infrastructure. And fines may be levied on vehicles which exceed specific weight limitations.
While weigh scales can be used to obtain the axle weight, and total weight, of vehicles, scales may not be conveniently available when needed. For this reason, a number of on-board weighing systems have been developed.
Nevertheless, there remains a need for an improved on-board vehicle weighing approach.


A feeder device for feeding a unit of media from a stack of media to a receiving apparatus is provided. The feeder device comprises a drive mechanism for driving the media in a feed direction through an opening defined by a gate apparatus. The opening extends from a first to a second edge of the gate apparatus and defines a fixed height greater than the thickness of the media. A flexible blade member is fixedly engaged with the gate apparatus at a fixed end and is cantilevered with respect to the gate apparatus. The blade member defines a length and extends from the first edge toward the second edge to reduce the opening height. The blade member is further configured to have an adjustable flexibility to allow the feeder device to feed media of varying thickness to the printing apparatus. An associated method is also provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a feeder device for a receiving apparatus and, more particularly, to a feeder device for feeding a medium to a device, the feeder device having an adjustably flexible feed gate apparatus, and associated method.
2. Description of Related Art
A printer device such as, for example, a printer as described herein, typically includes a feeder for supplying media, such as individual cards, to the printer, a print engine which includes a transport mechanism for transporting the card through the printer and a printing mechanism for printing on the individual cards, and an exit or output hopper for receiving the printed cards. Further, the feeder generally comprises a card hopper for receiving the stack of cards to be fed, in addition to a drive mechanism for feeding the cards to the print engine. A gate at the exit of the feeder, otherwise known as the outlet opening, can include a separation mechanism for separating individual cards, usually an end card, from the stack in order to feed only one card to the print engine at each feed cycle.
Such a card feeder may be used on other card processing systems, such as a patch lamination system, a magnetic card or smart card encoding system, or the like. The drive system generates the driving force for the end card and the separation mechanism generates a separation force on the stack so as to allow the end card to be separated therefrom. With such a card feeder system, a general intent is to provide a driving force on the end card that is greater than the separation force imparted on the stack under many conditions that can exist in the card feeder. The separation force exerted by the separation mechanism on the stack typically has to be greater than a sticking force that can exist between the end card and the remainder of the cards in the stack. This sticking force may be related to, for example, electrostatic discharge ("ESD") between cards, cut or folded card edges, the weight of the stack on the end card, the thickness of the cards in the stack, or other factors or combinations thereof.
In order to address these concerns in a card feeder, a compromise often must be achieved between the separator mechanism, which exerts the separating force on the stack that must be greater than the sticking force between the stack and the end card, and the drive system, which must provide a driving force greater than the separating force, regardless of the type, thickness, condition, and quantity of the cards in the stack. As such, early card feeder devices implemented a fixed gate having a fixed dimension outlet opening generally corresponding to the thickness of a single card. However, such a configuration is generally effective only for the particular card thickness, and that effectiveness may be limited in instances of, for example, card thickness variation within the stack, or warped cards.
One further development was to provide a gate allowing for height adjustment of the outlet opening in correspondence with the thickness of the card to be fed. In such instances, the gate was provided with a movable blade, such as a cam-operated movable blade. However, the effectiveness of the movable blade configuration was also limited in instances of, for example, card thickness variation within the stack, or warped cards.
Other instances of such a card feeder include a flexible blade affixed to the gate so as to allow the outlet opening to vary in dimension to better accommodate the thickness of the card being fed. The flexible blade more readily accommodates card thickness variations within the stack or warped cards. However, the flexible blade may often be optimized for a particular card thickness or a narrow range of card thicknesses, and thus may not be applicable or effective for different card thicknesses or card thicknesses outside the optimal thickness range.
A further example of a card feeder is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,536,758 to Meier et al. The Meier '758 patent describes a feeder having movable gate with a flexible blade, wherein the gate/blade assembly is adjustable to accommodate various card thicknesses. That is, the cards are fed through an outlet opening in a hopper wall and the flexible blade reduces a height of the outlet opening to less than the thickness of the end card. As a card is passed through the outlet opening, the card contacts the flexible blade and the blade flexes in response. The control gate is movable to adjust the height of the outlet opening, the height corresponding to a particular contact between the card and the blade, where the contact is related to the separating force. Thus, for a particular gate position, the card being fed through the outlet opening may experience a different separating force depending on card thickness.
That is, if the card thickness increases over the card thickness corresponding to the position of the gate, a larger portion of the blade contacts the card fed through the outlet opening. The increased contact with the blade thereby increases the separating force and, depending on the thickness of the card, the separating force can become greater than the driving force provided by the card drive. Such an occurrence may undesirably cause card misfeeds. On the other hand, if the card thickness decreases compared to the card thickness corresponding to the position of the gate, a smaller portion of the blade contacts the card fed through the outlet opening. The thinner card thereby experiences a decreased separating force due to the decreased contact with the blade and, as a result, the separating force can become lesser than the sticking force between cards. Such an occurrence may undesirably cause double-feeding of the cards.
While the Meier '758 patent allows the gate to be moved so as to accommodate varying card thicknesses by varying the separating force, the range of card thicknesses that can be fed at each gate position may be limited or a large number of closely spaced gate positions may be necessary for the card feeder to be effective over a large range of card thicknesses. This limitation may be at least partially due to the particular configuration of the flexible blade, which may have a flexibility only be suitable for narrow range of card thicknesses. That is, the gate adjustment is related to the contact between the blade and the card fed through the outlet opening, which is generally effective for a range of card thicknesses, while the blade flexibility is selected to provide a particular range of separating force. As such, if a particular card has a thickness toward a high end of the thickness range, the blade may not provide a suitable separating force for the card greater than the sticking force between cards, while a card thickness toward a low end of the thickness range may experience a separating force from the blade that exceeds the driving force from the card drive.
Thus, there exists a need for a feeder device capable of supplying media, such as cards, stock, paper, cardboard, etc. to a print engine in a secure, reliable, and efficient manner, without such undesirable occurrences as, for example, multi-card feeding or misfeeds, if the hopper is not empty. Such a feeder device should desirably provide effective media feeding for different types of material, for different thicknesses, and for media throughout the stack of media, from the first media unit to last media unit in the stack.

Feeder device having adjustably flexible gate apparatus and associated method


The present invention relates to the fields of molecular biology and drug delivery. In certain embodiments, the present invention provides compositions that include an siRNA targeted to an interleukin and a neutral lipid, and methods of treating a human subject with cancer involving administering to the subject a pharmaceutically effective amount of an interleukin-8 antagonist or a composition as set forth herein.

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the fields of molecular biology, RNA interference, and oncology. More particularly, the invention concerns compositions comprising an siRNA (or nucleic acid encoding an siRNA) and a lipid component, wherein the siRNA is targeted to a nucleic acid encoding an interleukin. The invention also generally pertains to methods of treating cancer in a subject involving administering to the subject an IL-8 antagonist.
II. Description of Related Art
Ovarian cancer remains a significant cause of death among women in the United States. Recurrence of cancer following treatment of primary disease with surgery and chemotherapy is common. Thus, there is the need for new therapeutic agents in order to improve survival rates and eventually cure patients from this deadly disease.
Interleukin-8 (IL-8) is a potent pro-angiogenic cytokine that is known to be overexpressed in human cancers, including ovarian carcinoma (Lokshin et al., 2006; Xie, 2001; Kassim et al., 2004, and Koch et al., 1992). IL-8 is a small (8 kDa) molecule secreted by multiple sources including monocytes, neutrophils, endothelial and mesothelial cells and is predominantly responsible for recruitment of neutrophils, T-cells, and basophils during immune system activation (Walz et al., 1987; Schroder and Christophers, 1986; Matsushima and Oppenheim, 1989). Activators of IL-8 include tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) (Matsushima and Oppenheim, 1989), acute infections (Roebuck, 1999), and external factors, such as chemicals, chemotherapeutic agents, UV light, and stressful environments resulting in hypoxia and acidosis (Xie, 2001; Roebuck, 1999; Xu et al., 1999; Xu and Fidler, 2000; Lee et al., 1996). The induction of IL-8 expression is mediated by factors including nuclear transcription factor, NF-κB; however, recent studies have shown that IL-8 expression can increase following activation of the Src/STAT3 pathway, independent of NF-κB involvement (Trevino et al., 2006).
IL-8 acts by binding to the seven-transmembrane, G-protein coupled receptors, CXCR1 and CXCR2. Both of these receptors are expressed on a majority of tumor cell types as well as human endothelial cells (Murdoch, 1999; Xu and Fidler, 2000). Previous studies have shown that increased IL-8 expression in vivo leads to enhanced tumor growth, angiogenesis, and metastases (Xu and Fidler, 2000; Karashima et al., 2003; Luca et al., 1997; Kim et al., 2001). In addition, IL-8 increased human endothelial cell proliferation, tubule formation, and survival (Li et al., 2005). Further, blocking IL-8 activity has been shown to lead to decreased tumor growth, microvessel density, and distant metastases (Huang et al., 2002; Mian et al., 2003). Ovarian cancer expresses high levels of IL-8 which has been shown to be associated with poor clinical outcome (Kassim et al., 2004).
Since its initial description in C. elegans (Fire, 1998) and mammalian cells (Elbashir et al., 2001), use of short interfering RNA (siRNA) as a method of gene silencing has rapidly become a powerful tool in protein function delineation, gene discovery, and drug development (Hannon, 2004).
Liposomes have been used previously for drug delivery (e.g., delivery of a chemotherapeutic). Liposomes (e.g., cationic liposomes) are described in PCT publications WO02/100435A1, WO03/015757A1, and WO04029213A2; U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,962,016, 5,030,453, and 6,680,068; and U.S. Patent Application 2004/0208921, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety without disclaimer. A process of making liposomes is also described in WO04/002453A1. Furthermore, neutral lipids have been incorporated into cationic liposomes (e.g., Farhood et al., 1995).
Cationic liposomes have been used to deliver siRNA to various cell types (Sioud and Sorensen, 2003; U.S. Patent Application 2004/0204377; Duxbury et al., 2004; Donze and Picard, 2002). However, it is not clear if or to what degree neutral liposomes may be used deliver siRNA to a cell.
Neutral liposomes have been tested to a limited degree. Miller et al. (1998) evaluated the uptake of neutral unilamellar liposomes; however, this work observed that cationic liposomes are taken up by cells more efficiently than neutral liposomes, thus teaching away from the idea that neutral liposomes may be more effective than cationic liposomes. Neutral liposomes were used to deliver therapeutic antisense oligonucleotides in U.S. Patent Application 2003/0012812 and siRNA in WO 2006/113679.

Therapeutic targeting of interleukins using siRNA in neutral liposomes

The Board of Regents of the University of Texas System


Control facilities and incidental facilities in fields are flexibly managed. Since identification information enabling to identify uniquely information regarding control facilities of which design timing and architectures are mutually different or facilities incidental to the control facilities is encoded, pieces of identification information are coupled and uniqueness is guaranteed. Further, a parent-child relation between identifiers is constructed and the identifiers are structured as a tree structure based on the structure of the control facilities. A control facility operation management device manages combination of the structured identifiers and information of management target or combination of the structured identification information and identification information of a database.

In recent years, technologies have been developed for high reliability of system operations. In system operation management systems of the related art, information is managed using relational databases (hereinafter abbreviated to "databases") in regard to control facilities in fields and service management platforms (hereinafter "control facilities" will be exemplified) (see PTL 1 and NPL 1). That is, in system operation management systems of the related art, based on information transmitted from sensors or the like serving as facilities incidental to control facilities in fields, business application programs prepared in advance according to fields distribute the received information to intermediate layers or lower layers, store the information in storage devices, and manage control facilities or the like in the fields according to combinations of the information.

Operation management device, operation management method, and operation management system


A brushless motor includes a motor drive unit, a circuit board arranged to drive the motor drive unit having through holes formed in the upper surface and the lower surface; and a motor attachment plate including a plate-shaped base portion and plate-shaped fixing portions to fix the circuit board in place. Herein, each fixing portion includes a support portion for making contact with a surface of the circuit board; an arm portion bent in a direction that is substantially parallel to the rotational axis; and a protrusion portion inserted into a through hole, having at least one overhang extension protruding from the through hole. The overhang extension of the protrusion is bent in a direction that is substantially perpendicular to the rotational axis.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a brushless motor in which a circuit board is fixed to an attachment plate for use in attaching the brushless motor to a motor-carrying device.
2. Description of the Related Art
A brushless motor generates a rotational driving force as an electric current that is supplied to a specified one of a plurality of coils depending on the position of magnetic poles of a rotor magnet. The respective coils are supplied with the electric current through a coil wiring and the like formed on a circuit board.
In addition to the coil wiring, a Hall element for detecting the position of magnetic poles of the rotor magnet and a pattern of a frequency generator coil for detecting the rotational speed of a rotor are formed on the circuit board. The Hall element outputs a hall signal depending on the change in a magnetic flux density of the rotor magnet caused by rotational movement of the rotor. The frequency generator coil outputs a frequency generation signal depending on the change in a magnetic flux density of a frequency generation magnet caused by rotational movement of the rotor. The brushless motor makes use of a control unit that controls the amount of electric current supplied to the respective coils using the hall signal and the frequency generation signal.
Accordingly, if the magnetic flux density of the rotor magnet or the frequency generation magnet is changed due to vibration of the circuit board or other causes, it is impossible to accurately acquire the hall signal and the frequency generation signal. In an effort to prevent vibration of the circuit board, the circuit board is fixed to an attachment plate or the like which is to be attached to a housing or other devices. For example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-158013A discloses a brushless motor in which a circuit board is fixed to a housing thereof.
In the brushless motor set forth in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-158013A, the circuit board having a coil wiring is fixed to the housing. More specifically, the hosing is provided with a support surface for supporting the circuit board and a plurality of protrusions. In a state that the lower surface of the circuit board is supported on the support surface, the protrusions are deformed to restrain the upper surface of the circuit board. By restraining the opposite surfaces of the circuit board in this manner, the circuit board is fixed to the housing against movement.
With the brushless motor disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-158013A, however, the fixing position of the circuit board is confined to the vicinity of a rotational axis of the motor, which means that the peripheral edge region of the circuit board is not in a firmly fixed state. For that reason, the region of the circuit board distant from the rotational axis is susceptible to vibration. As already mentioned above, it is impossible to accurately acquire a hall signal and a frequency generation signal if the circuit board undergoes vibration.
Aside from the brushless motor described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-158013A, it would be thinkable that a circuit board is fixed to an attachment plate by means of screws. More specifically, it would be possible to suppress vibration of the circuit board as a whole by screw-fixing the circuit board to the attachment plate in plural points on the peripheral edge region of the circuit board. In case of screw-fixing the circuit board to the attachment plate, however, a problem occurs in that the number of parts and the number of production steps are increased.


A management server includes a storage unit that stores therein destination physical machine information capable of identifying a physical machine serving as a destination candidate of a certain virtual machine that operates on any one of a plurality of physical machines. The management server includes a control unit that performs the following control. To stop power supply to a first physical machine group performed by a first control unit, the control unit detects. The control unit changes the destination physical machine information such that the destination candidate of the certain virtual machine includes at least a physical machine belonging to a second physical machine group when information capable of identifying the physical machine serving as the destination candidate and stored in the storage unit includes no other physical machine than a physical machine belonging to the first physical machine group.

Some data centers are equipped with a plurality of blade chassis (hereinafter, referred to as chassis) including devices shared by blades, such as a power source unit and a cooling fan. To reduce power consumption, such data centers integrate virtual machine (VM) guests that operate on a blade in a certain chassis into another chassis to turn off the power of the certain chassis, for example. Besides for reduction in power consumption, such data centers turn off the power of a chassis for maintenance of the chassis, for example.
To turn off the power of a chassis, first VM hosts, such as a blade server and a rack server, mounted on the chassis determine a destination of VM guests that operate on the first VM hosts from second VM hosts mounted on another chassis. The first VM hosts then move the VM guests to the destination thus determined. After moving all the VM guests that operate on the first VM hosts to any of the second VM hosts, the first VM hosts turn off the power thereof. Subsequently, the chassis checks that the power of all the VM hosts mounted on the chassis is turned off with management software, for example. The chassis then turns off the power thereof. Some conventional examples are described in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2011-039906 and Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2007-323244.
The conventional technologies, however, may possibly fail to turn off the power of the chassis, thereby failing to reduce power consumption. This problem is not limited to the chassis. Also when turning off the power of physical servers, such as a rack server and a tower server, in which the VM hosts operate to reduce power consumption, the conventional technologies may possibly fail to turn off the power of the physical servers, thereby failing to reduce power consumption.
A VM host in such a data center, for example, is assigned VM hosts serving as destination candidates to which VM guests of the VM host can be moved by an administrator or the like. To move the VM guests, the VM host moves the VM guests to a VM host mounted on a chassis whose power is on among the destination candidates, for example. The VM host then turns off the power thereof.
If there is no other destination of a VM guest that operates on another VM host than the VM host whose power is turned off, the VM host may possibly be specified as the destination. As a result, the chassis fails to turn off the power thereof.

Change the destination physical machine information such that the destination candidate of the certain virtual machine includes at least a physical machine belonging to the second physical machine group


The shooting game includes programmable flip-up targets spaced along a game course, and sensors associated with the targets that detect the presence of a player near the associated target. A. programmable main controller transmits skill level control instructions to each of the target controllers. The target controllers cause the targets to fire paint balls or other items at the player in accordance with the selected skill level. The game may be played indoors or outdoors by one or more players.

This invention relates to shooting games. More particularly, this invention relates to shooting games in which a player travels through a course and shoot at targets.
Games are known in which two or more players travel along a path on a course and fire items such as paint balls, light beams, or dummy ammunition at each other. These games may be played on an indoor or an outdoor course. In either case, these games require at least two opponents or teams of opponents. A single player typically cannot play the game.
Other shooting games are known that use so-called "flip-up" targets. A player fires an item at a specific target surface of the target; a means is provided for keeping score based upon the number of times that the player successfully hits one or more targets. In these types of games, the player typically remains in a single position or within a prescribed area when shooting at the targets instead of traversing a course.

Shooting game having programmable targets and course for use therewith


A magneto-optical disc recording or reproducing device focusing control servo system which uses a digital signal processor (DSP) to control a pulse width modulation (PWM) circuit so that if the focusing servo is to be in operation alone, such as during a focusing search or seek, fixed clocks of a fixed frequency are used for processing focusing servo signals and after engagement of the focusing servo, focusing servo is effected responsive to focusing servo signals which are formed based upon a reproduced servo pattern of the magneto-optical disc.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a servo signal processing device provided in a recording or reproducing apparatus for an optical disc of a sample servo system, such as a magneto-optical disc, a compact disc or a write-once disc. More particularly, it relates to a focusing servo controlling device in which, when effecting sample servo by itself, such as during a focusing search, the output timing of the focusing servo signals is prompted for improving the phase allowance of the focusing servo loop for stabilizing focusing servo.
2. Description of the Related Art
The optical disc of the type having a sample servo system is well known. With the optical disc of this sample servo type, pre-set servo patterns are provided at a pre-set interval on the recording track. Recording data is recorded or reproduced between servo patterns as servo control is performed based upon playback signals of the servo patterns. The optical disc reproducing apparatus reproducing recorded data from an optical disc of the sample servo system is provided with a digital signal processor (DSP) for digitally processing servo error signals for effecting the servo control.
If reproduction of the recorded data is specified, the optical disc reproducing apparatus causes a laser beam to be illuminated on the optical disc via an optical system. Since the servo patterns are formed at a pre-set interval on the optical disc, the laser beam is irradiated on a servo area having the servo patterns recorded thereon and on a data area having recording data recorded thereon, in this order, as shown in FIG. 21a. One segment is made up of one servo area and one data area such that the optical disc reproducing apparatus reproduces the recorded data with plural segments as one reproducing unit.
The reflected light is produced on irradiating the optical disc with the laser beam. The optical system receives this reflected light and accordingly forms RF signals while also forming tracking error signals and focusing error signals. These signals are sent to an A/D converter which is also fed with channel clocks generated by a phase locked loop (PLL) circuit based upon the repetition frequency of the servo patterns. Specifically, 216 channel clocks are formed for each segment. The A/D converter digitizes the RF signals, tracking signals and focusing signals based upon these channel clocks for forming and outputting R.F data, tracking error data and focusing error data.
The RF data are supplied to a recording data detection system which then samples the RF data with the channel clocks of a pre-set frequency to reproduce recorded data and sends the reproduced data to e.g., an external equipment, such as a computer or a speaker. On the other hand, the tracking error data and the focusing error data are latched and outputted at the timing of reproduction of the servo area shown in FIG. 21a by a tracking error latch pulse and a focusing error latch pulse shown in FIGS. 21b and 21c, respectively.
The DSP is configured for operating based upon a software program routine, and captures latched tracking error data and focusing error data based upon sampling interrupt pulses supplied at the output timing of the latched error data, as shown in FIG. 21d. For correctly reproducing the recorded data, the tracking error data needs to be corrected more speedily than the focusing error signals. Consequently, the DSP processes the tracking error data, captured based upon the sampling interrupt pulses, before processing the focusing error data, similarly captured based upon the sampling interrupt pulses, as shown in FIG. 21e.
The DSP is fed with the channel clocks and counts the number of the channel clocks for each segment. The DSP outputs the tracking error data, processed as described above, at a timing when the count value reaches 128, or "80h" in hexadecimal notation, as shown in FIG. 21f. On the other hand, the DSP outputs the focusing error data, processed as described above, at a timing when the count value reaches 160, or "A0h" in hexadecimal notation, as shown in FIG. 21g.
The tracking error data and the focusing error data are supplied to respective servo systems. The servo systems effect phase compensation on the tracking error data and the focusing error data and accordingly servo-control the optical system in a direction of correcting the tracking errors and the focusing errors. This assures correct reproduction of recorded data in the "just-tracking" and in the "just-focusing" states at all times.
With the optical disc reproducing apparatus for reproducing the optical disc of the sample servo system, the tracking servo and the focusing servo are collectively controlled based upon the playback signals of the intermittently reproduced servo patterns. However, since it is necessary to improve response to tracking errors, tracking error data is processed and outputted in advance of the focusing error signals. If only the focusing servo is to be in operation, such as during focusing search or seek for effecting tentative focusing on the disc surface in advance of reproduction, the tracking servo is not required.
However, if the focusing error data is outputted in such a case at the same timing, it takes a lot of time from the time of sampling by the A/D converter until outputting of focusing error data from the DSP. The result is limitations imposed on the phase allowance of the servo loop and unstable servo states immediately after focusing servo engagement. Thus it may occur that a prolonged time elapses until the servo state becomes stabilized and, in the worst case, the focusing servo, once captured, is disengaged.
In view of this state of the prior art, it is an object of the present invention to provide a servo signal processing device in which, if the focusing servo is to be in operation by itself with the use of the optical disc of the sample servo system, the focusing error data is outputted more promptly for improving the phase allowance of the focusing servo loop for stabilizing the focusing servo.
Moreover, if the focusing servo is to be in operation by itself, e.g. during focus search or seek when tentative focusing is done on the optical disc surface prior to reproduction, the phase locked loop (PLL) circuit for the focusing servo becomes an open loop and is brought to the free running state. Thus, the frequency of the clocks for the focusing servo, outputted from the voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), is varied by about 20%. On the other hand, it takes from several msec to tens of msec from the time the focusing servo is engaged until the PLL circuit is locked. Consequently, if the focusing servo is captured under such conditions to close the PLL circuit to effect phase compensation of the focusing servo, arithmetic operations for the phase compensation filter become inaccurate such that accurate phase compensation becomes impossible. This problem is most acute directly after focusing servo capture when the focusing actuator amplitude is larger and hence the servo state becomes unstable and the focusing servo, once engaged, tends to be disengaged again even after phase compensation.
In view of the state of the prior art, it is another object of the present invention to provide a focusing servo controlling device in which, if the focusing servo is to be in operation by itself with the use of the optical disc of the sample servo system, phase compensation directly after focusing servo capture is accurate to enable stable focusing servo to be achieved.


A vertically adjustable baseball equipment apparatus includes a blow moldable support platform that forms a container indexing recess for capture of an equipment storage container. The container is vertically adjustable. A vertically elongated and telescoping extension handle is perpendicularly affixed and laterally offset on the platform. A pair of larger wheels is attached about one outer edge of the platform, allowing for a cantilevered leverage and support of the equipment container and rolling transport over uneven surfaces such as grass and dirt.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an equipment storage bucket and, more particularly, to such a vertically extendable equipment storage bucket apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Vertically extended work bucket are known in the art, namely:
U.S. Pat. No. 6,715,627 issued Apr. 6, 2004 in the name of Bonner et al.;
U.S. Pat. No. 6,851,566 issued Feb. 8, 2005 in the name of Bonner; and
U.S. Pat. No. 6,886,703, issued May 3, 2005 in the name of Bonner.
Each of these references is incorporated by reference herein as if rewritten in its entirety, and each describes a beneficial task neutral work bucket and teaches various manners in which the work bucket can be elevated or retracted between work and storage positions, respectively. For example, the '627 reference describes a pair of nesting 5-gallon work buckets that are nestably engaged and connected with a linear, vertical sliding track that interconnects the two. In this fashion, the upper bucket can be elevated to allow for raising of a bucket of water while washing cars, cleaning windows, and the like, thereby eliminating bending over and reducing back strain. A plurality of castor-type wheels are shown to allow movement of the utilized bucket around the work area.
In an additional example, the '566 reference again provides for nestable bucket arrangements and provides an improved alternate embodiment of engaging and connecting the upper and lower buckets. The lower bucket forms a guide channel configured with a vertical guide channel and a number of horizontal locking channels. The upper bucket forms an outwardly protruding guide pin. The engagement between and movement of the guide pin into the guide channel provides the linear, vertical sliding interconnection between the two.
In the final example, the '703 reference improves upon the configuration of the guiding and locking channel in which at least two furrow series formed along the inner sidewall of the shell receives a plurality of corresponding ribs formed along the outer sidewall of the container to facilitate vertical adjustment through a stepped, lift-and-rotate motion.
While these references combined teach various and effective ways of providing a general purpose, liquid containing work bucket that can elevate its contents to meet the user and still remain substantially portable about a general purpose work area, it has been found that such designs have drawbacks when applied to certain task specific applications.
One such task specific application deals generally with the game of baseball. In training at baseball in any level, there are two major areas that cannot be ignored: batting practice; and pitching practice.
Many aids for batting practice exist; however, none simulate the presence of a live pitcher sufficiently to function as a complete replacement. Similarly, some aids for pitching practice exits, with none quite the same as facing a live batter. So, for a pitcher and hitter to obtain enough repetitions in a short amount of time to become beneficial training exercises for either, the current method includes a batting practice pitcher taking the pitching mound with a large volume of baseballs, and pitching them one after another at a batter. However, in such an routine the pitcher needs to bend over between each pitch to retrieve another ball, and the features and benefits of the prior art references, if available in this task specific application, would provide analogous benefits.
However, in attempting to utilize the prior art in such a manner, serious drawbacks were discovered making such devices incapable of functioning for such a task specific application.
By way of example, and not as a limitation, the forum in which batting practice usually occurs, i.e. outdoors on a grass and/or dirt field, do not accommodate a castor wheeled, nested bucket. In the storage and retrieval of baseballs a water holding, even nested bucket creates limited wieldability, and the need to connect or nest storage element itself is a great hindrance in that a bucket of baseballs can be used in many drills on many parts of the field (i.e. pitching practice, fielding practice, fly-ball practice, etc.)
Consequently, a need exists for providing a vertically extendable equipment storage bucket apparatus that is specifically adapted for use in baseball and in support of baseball practice activities.

Vertically extendable equipment storage bucket apparatus and method


Apparatuses and methods for locating and retrieving image data from a memory and to subsequently control nozzles of a handheld printer during a printing operation are described herein. The novel methods may include initially determining an index location of an index nozzle of a printer with respect to an image in physical image space, a version of the image being stored in a memory, and the printer having a plurality of nozzles including the index nozzle. Then, based at least in part on the determined index location, the novel methods may include calculating one or more secondary locations with respect to the image in the physical image space of one or more secondary nozzles of the plurality of nozzles. Data stored at corresponding locations of the memory may then be read based at least in part on the index and secondary locations in physical image space, the corresponding locations of the memory being associated with the index and secondary locations in physical image space. And, finally, the novel methods may include controlling the nozzles based at least in part on the reading of data at the corresponding locations of the memory to form at least a first portion of the image on a print medium.

Conventional printing devices rely on a mechanically operated carriage to transport a print head in a linear direction as other mechanics advance a print medium in an orthogonal direction. As the print head moves over the print medium an image may be laid down onto the print medium. Compact printers have been developed through technologies that reduce the size of the operating mechanics. However, the principles of providing relative movement between the print head and print medium remain the same as traditional printing devices. Accordingly, these mechanics limit the reduction of size of the printer as well as the material that may be used as the print medium.
Handheld printing devices have been developed that allow an operator to manipulate a handheld device over a print medium in order to print an image onto the medium. In order to print an image (an electronic or digitized version of which may be stored in memory) onto a print medium using these devices, the operator will "scan" or move the print head of the handheld printing device back and forth across the print medium. Unfortunately, these devices are challenged by the unpredictable and nonlinear movements of the device, which may be provided by the operator. That is, the variations of operator induced movements, including nonlinear movements and rotations of the device itself, make it difficult to determine the precise location of the print head with respect to the image (or the electronic version of the image stored in a memory) to be formed on the print medium. This type of positioning error may have deleterious effects of the quality of the printed image.
For example, unlike in the case of conventional printing devices, it is possible for the print head of a handheld printing device to scan over the same locations on the print medium multiple times, which may result in certain portions of the image being printed multiple times. That is, in order to create an image onto a print medium using a conventional printer, a digitized version of the image to be formed is typically stored in a memory. Based on the stored image, the print head, which typically includes multiple ink nozzles laid out in an array in the case of an ink jet printer, is moved back and forth across the print medium as the print medium is incrementally moved or rotated past the print head in order to print the image. As the print head is being moved back and forth across the print medium, the nozzles of the print head may be selectively activated based on the image data stored in memory in order to deposit ink onto the print medium. Since the print medium and the image to be printed on the print medium has a relatively simple and straightforward relationship with the print head, it is relatively simple to create print images using a conventional system. That is, because of the somewhat mechanical relationships between the print head, the digitized image stored in memory, and the print medium, it is relatively simple to compute, anytime during a print job, the location or locations of the nozzles with respect to the digitized image to be printed. Also because of this straight forward relationship between the digitized image, the print head, and the print medium, every portion of the image to be printed is visited only once during the print job, thus avoiding the double printing problems that may be encountered with handheld devices.
On the other hand, the relationship between the print head, the digitized image, and the print medium is more complex with respect to handheld printing devices since the movements of the print head (or the movements of the plurality of ink nozzles that make the print head) is typically controlled by the user and therefore, the movements may be very irregular and nonlinear. As a result, some portions of the image to be printed may be visited more than once, e.g., the print head scanning over the same locations on the print medium more than once where a portion of the image has been already printed. In order to ensure that each portion of the image is visited only once, the locations of each nozzle with respect to the image to be printed must be known throughout a print job.
The complexity of doing such calculations becomes even more daunting when taking into consideration the number of nozzles being currently incorporated in today's print head. For example, in some printers, either conventional or handheld devices, there could be hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of nozzles on the print head. Thus, a handheld printer may require an enormous amount of computational power in order to determine the locations of each nozzle with respect to the image to be formed. Performing such calculations may not be practical and will likely place an enormous burden on the processing capabilities of the handheld devices and may cause the handheld device to miss or skip an image line.

Controlling a plurality of nozzles of a handheld printer


An undercounter dispenser includes a fixed receiving station and a separate bag tray. The receiving station has a support platform and at least two suspension elements attached to the platform. Each of the elements has at least one attachment fixture. At least one retaining ledge is provided. The ledge is attached to a proximal end of the platform. The bag tray is adapted to slide over the retaining ledge and descend behind the ledge upon insertion into the receiving station. The retaining ledge limits forward and aft movement of the tray within the receiving station. The bag tray has at least one mounting spike that extends upwardly from the tray. First and second side panels are attached to the platform and extend upwardly from the platform. A rear panel is attached to a distal end of the support platform and limits movement of the bag tray within the receiving station.

Plastic and other film produce bags are commonly used in supermarkets, grocery stores and other markets where sanitation and ease of use in limited spaces are important factors. It is efficient to have a ready supply of grocery bags close at hand for use by the checkout operator, however it is also useful if the checkout counter top can remain unobstructed to accommodate the flow of groceries and other goods past the checkout station. For these reasons, a compact, easy to use and easy to refill undercounter bag dispenser can save valuable counter space and improved work flow for the checkout operator.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,584,402, issued to Johnson is directed to a bag storage and dispensing rack and includes a base member with a rack structure that engages the track of the base member and is adapted for supporting a supply of bags. The base member is suspended from a horizontal surface utilizing brackets. The rack is utilized for storing and dispensing a supply of bags and includes the rack with base member wherein the rack includes a tray or rack that is adapted for supporting a supply of bags and is configured such that rack slides into base member from a bag loading position to a bag dispensing position. The supply of bags is mounted to a rack utilizing a post which projects upwardly from surface of rack in order to receive the bags. The bags are of a T-shirt or header style and are supported on rack by the post through an aperture contained within the mouth area of bags. The rack is used for storing and dispensing multiple size T-shirt or header style bags wherein the smaller size bags are disposed on the post on top of the supply of larger bags.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,543,638, issued to Wile, discloses a method and means of dispensing T-shirt type bags from a rack mounted beneath a counter from a tray which slides horizontally into a standard rack. The primary object of the invention is to provide a bag, tray, and rack system which dispenses at least two sizes of T-shirt type plastic bags from a convenient position beneath a counter. The tray has spikes which are used to receive a bundle of plastic bags which have mating holes through the entire pad of bags. The tray slides into the rack described above which receives it and locks into position such that the bags may be pulled out one at a time by tearing each bag away from the spikes while the other bags remain behind. The tray and rack system is formed from quarter-inch steel wire or equivalent and is welded at its junction points. The wire rack is designed to be mountable underneath a checkout counter by means of a series of tabs.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,871,115, issued to Kohn, is directed to an article supporting and dispensing apparatus and specifically for supporting bags on hooks. The housing of the apparatus is adapted to receive racks which slide on holding member within the housing. Hooks are removably mounted to rods of racks and the bags are placed thereon before sliding the racks into housing. Mounting members are utilized to mount the racks which may be located on a wall, counter, or under a counter as well.
U.S. Pat. No. Re. 34,856, issued to Daniels is directed to a method and apparatus for dispensing merchandise bags and even though the bags are dispensed from a roll, the wire structure is shown to dispense T-shirt bags. The racks are designed with brackets (not numbered) that allow for installation beneath a counter. The racks are designed to accommodate a plurality of sizes.
U.S. Pat. 5,060,809 issued to Bayes et al. is directed to a device for holding bags and is designed such that differently sized bags may be mounted for dispensing at the same time. The rack may be mounted on the underside of a horizontal surface such as under a counter.
While other variations exist, the above-described designs for bag dispensers are typical of those encountered in the prior art. It is an objective of the present invention to provide an undercounter dispenser for stacked film bags to optimize use of checkout area counter space. It is a further objective to provide dispenser that uses bag support tray that can be preloaded with bag stacks for ready insertion into the dispenser. It is yet a further objective to provide bag support tray that can be easily adapted to different size bags and bags with differently spaced mounting apertures. It is a still further objective of the invention to provide a receiving station for the bag support trays that will prevent unwanted movement of the tray. Finally, it is an objective of the invention to provide a dispenser that is economical to produce, simple to use and easy to clean.
While some of the objectives of the present invention are disclosed in the prior art, none of the inventions found include all of the requirements identified.


Embodiments of the present disclosure provide voice interaction method and device. The method includes: determining whether a first query statement currently received is a query statement first received within a preset time period; if not, obtaining a second query statement, where the second query statement is a query statement lastly received before receiving the first query statement; obtaining a third sentence vector according to a first sentence vector of the first query statement and a second sentence vector of the second query statement; and obtaining, from a bottom corpus, a first question and answer result corresponding to a fourth sentence vector a similarity between which and the third sentence vector satisfies a preset condition, and returning the first question and answer result. The method provided in the embodiment can return a bottom reply irrelevant to the query statement to the user, thereby improving the user experience.

With the continuous advancement of artificial intelligence technology, human-machine voice interaction has also made great progress, and various voice assistants and human-computer interaction devices are favored by more and more users.
In an existing voice interaction process, after the user inputs a query statement to a machine, the machine searches for a question and answer result matching the query statement in a corpus, and then feeds the question and answer result to the user. However, because the number of Q&A pairs stored in the corpus is limited, the user's query statement cannot get a corresponding question and answer result. Therefore, the machine needs to use the so-called "bottom word" to return. "Bottom word" refers to setting a bottom word set, the set stores a small number of fixed reply statements therein, and a reply sentence can be randomly selected from the bottom word set to reply. For example, the bottom word set can include "I don't understand", "I don't catch on", "Seeking information and studying", "You get me sad there", or the like.
However, a bottom reply is to randomly select a reply sentence from the bottom word set to reply, which causes the reply to be irrelevant to the user's query statement, thereby causing the user experience to be poor.

BAIDU ONLINE NETWORK TECHNOLOGY (BEIJING) CO., LTD.


A portable electrical device may include a DC to DC converter coupled to a common node, a load coupled to the common node, and a controller configured to control the DC to DC converter. The DC to DC converter may be configured to provide a charging current to a rechargeable battery from an adapter when the controller operates said DC to DC converter in a first adapter supply mode. The DC to DC converter may be configured to provide a battery supply current to the load via the common node when the controller operates the DC to DC converter in a second adapter supply mode. The adapter supply current and the battery supply current may add together at the common node to simultaneously provide a load supply current to the load in the second adapter supply mode.

A wide variety of portable electrical devices are available today including, but not limited to, laptop computers, personal digital assistants, mobile phones, and cordless power tools. Such portable electrical devices may utilize a rechargeable battery for providing power to operate the device in a battery supply mode. An adapter such as an ACDC or DCDC adapter may also be available to supply power to the portable electrical device in an adapter supply mode. The rechargeable battery may or may not be charged in the adapter supply mode depending on the presence and condition of the rechargeable battery. In some instances, it is advantageous to supply a system load of the portable electrical device with power from both the adapter and the rechargeable battery. To do so, some conventional embodiments have controlled the output voltage of the adapter but have not adjusted the output voltage of the rechargeable battery.
Accordingly, there is a need for adjusting the output voltage of a rechargeable battery to enable the rechargeable battery and adapter to simultaneously provided power to a load of the portable electrical device.

Parallel powering of portable electrical devices


The subject-matter of the invention is a glass composition, which is suitable for use in electric lamps, comprising SiO.sub.2, Al.sub.2 O.sub.3, Na.sub.2 O, K.sub.2 O, Li.sub.2 O, SrO, B.sub.2 O.sub.3, and optionally CaO, MgO, TiO.sub.2, P.sub.2 O.sub.5, Sb.sub.2 O.sub.3, Fe.sub.2 O.sub.3, MnO.sub.2, ZnO and/or CeO.sub.2. It is characterized in that its SiO.sub.2 content is 65-73 mass %, Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 content is 0.5 to 2.5 mass %, Na.sub.2 O content is 5 to 9 mass %, K.sub.2 O content is 8 to 12 mass %, Li.sub.2 O content is 0.4 to 1.5 mass %, SrO content is 0.5 to 5 mass %, B.sub.2 O.sub.3 content is 2.1 to 5 mass %. Furthermore in addition to the components listed, it optionally also comprises maximum 2.5 mass % CaO, maximum 3.8 mass % MgO, maximum 1 mass % TiO.sub.2, maximum 0.8 mass % P.sub.2 O.sub.5, maximum 0.5 mass % Sb.sub.2 O.sub.3, maximum 0.25 mass % Fe.sub.2 O.sub.3, maximum 0.25 mass % MnO.sub.2, maximum 5 mass % ZnO, and/or maximum 0.8 mass % CeO.sub.2 with the condition that the total amount of SrO, ZnO and MgO in the composition is at least 1.7 mass %. Stems and bulbs made from the above glass composition and used in electric lamps are also subject matter of the invention.

The invention relates to a glass composition which is suitable for use primarily in electric lamps.
Certain glass parts of electric lamps, for example stems of incandescent and fluorescent lamps, furthermore bulbs of some fluorescent lamps have been manufactured from relatively high (20-29 mass %) lead oxide-containing (PbO) glasses for a long time. The high lead oxide content ensures the expected high electric resistance as well as the satisfactory softness and good workability of the glass material.
However, it is known that a high lead oxide-containing glass can adversely affect the environment both during glass/lamp production process and in the form of waste arising at the users. For reason of environment protection, decreasing or even eliminating the lead content from the mass products made from glasses containing lead oxide has to be sought after. A European patent application No. EP 603 933 describes a lead-free glass composition suitable for use in electric lamps. Although the technical characteristics of the glass compositions described in this patent application (e.g.: electric resistance, thermal expansion, etc.) are closely approaching those of the lead glass compositions, it is a serious disadvantage that they comprise barium oxide in 7 to 11 mass % in addition to the components (SiO.sub.2, Al.sub.2 O.sub.3, Na.sub.2 O, K.sub.2 O, Li.sub.2 O, CaO, MgO) usually applied in the glass compositions. The BaO is less harmful than the PbO taking into account the present regulations of environmental protection, nevertheless it still has a strong poisoning effect and its use has to be avoided owing to reasons of labor hygiene.


In only two steps and in 65% overall yield, natural trioxane artemisinin (I) was converted on gram scale into C-10-carba trioxane dimer (3). This new, very stable dimer was then transformed easily in one additional step into four different dimers (4-7). Alcohol and diol dimers (4 and 5) and ketone dimer (7) are 10 times more antimalarially potent in vitro than artemisinin (I), and alcohol and diol dimers (4 and 5) are strongly inhibitory but not cytotoxic toward several human cancer cell lines. Water-soluble carboxylic acid derivatives (8a-10c and 12) were easily prepared from dimers (4-6); they are thermally stable even at 60° C. for 24 hours, are more orally efficacious as antimalarials than either artelinic acid or sodium artesunate, and have potent and selective anticancer activities. Further derivitization of the alcohol dimers (4 and 17), diol dimer (5) and ketone (7) has produced a number of analogs also antimalarially active in vitro at sub-nanomolar concentrations (most notably: pyridine N-oxides (13, 15, 18, 23, 24 and 25), phosphoric acid triesters (26 and 27), sulfonamide (40) and cyclic carbonate (41)). In addition, dimers (13 and 19) are more efficacious (when administered both orally and i.v.) and less toxic (when administered intraperitoneally to mice as a single dose) than clinically-used sodium artesunate, thereby giving them a better antimalarial therapeutic index than sodium artesunate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the formation of a novel, stable C-10 carba trioxane dimer that may easily be transformed into different trioxane dimers. Some of these dimers are 10 times more antimalarially potent in vitro than artemisinin. These anticancer dimers selectively inhibit growth in vitro of several human cancer cell lines without being cytotoxic. The present invention relates also to water-soluble carboxylic acid derivatives that are thermally stable, that are more orally efficacious antimalarials than either artelinic acid or clinically used sodium artesunate, and that have potent and selective anticancer activities. The present invention further relates to antimalarial trioxane dimers that are safer and more efficacious than sodium artesunate.
2. Description of the State of Art
Each year approximately 200-300 million people experience a malarial illness and over 1 million individuals die. In patients with severe and complicated disease, the mortality rate is between 20 and 50%.
Plasmodium is the genus of protozoan parasites which is responsible for all cases of human malaria and Plasmodium falciparum is the species of parasite that is responsible for the vast majority of fatal malaria infections. Malaria has traditionally been treated with quinolines such as chloroquine, quinine, mefloquine, and primaquine and with antifolates such as sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine. Unfortunately, most P. falciparum strains have now become resistant to chloroquine, and some, such as those in Southeast Asia, have also developed resistance to mefloquine and halofantrine; multidrug resistance is developing in Africa also.
The endoperoxides are a promising class of antimalarial drugs which may meet the dual challenges posed by drug-resistant parasites and the rapid progression of malarial illness. The first generation endoperoxides include natural artemisinin and several synthetic derivatives, discussed in further detail below.
Artemisia annua L., also known as qinghao or sweet wormwood, is a pervasive weed that has been used for many centuries in Chinese traditional medicine as a treatment for fever and malaria. Its earliest mention, for use in hemorrhoids, occurs in the Recipes for 52 Kinds of Diseases found in the Mawangdui Han dynasty tomb dating from 168 B.C. Nearly five hundred years later Ge Hong wrote the Zhou Hou Bei Ji Fang (Handbook of Prescriptions for Emergency Treatments) in which he advised that a water extract of qinghao was effective at reducing fevers. In 1596, Li Shizhen, the famous herbalist, wrote that chills and fever of malaria can be combated by qinghao preparations. Finally, in 1972, Chinese chemists isolated from the leafy portions of the plant the substance responsible for its reputed medicinal action. This crystalline compound, called qinghaosu, also referred to as QHS or artemisinin, is a sesquiterpene lactone with an internal peroxide linkage.
Artemisinin is a member of the amorphane subgroup of cadinenes and has the following structure (I); "Art" will be used for shorthand in many of the figures.
Artemisinin or QHS was the subject of a 1979 study conducted by the Qinghaosu Antimalarial Coordinating Research Group involving the treatment of 2099 cases of malaria (P. vivax and P. falciparum in a ratio of about 3:1 ) with different dosage forms of QHS, leading to the clinical cure of all patients. See, Qinghaosu Antimalarial Coordinating Research Group, Chin. Med. J., 92:811 (1979). Since that time artemisinin has been used successfully in many thousand malaria patients throughout the world including those infected with both chloroquine-sensitive and chloroquine-resistant strains of P. falciparum. Assay of artemisinin against P. falciparum in vitro revealed that its potency is comparable to that of chloroquine in two Hanian strains (Z. Ye, et al., J. Trad. Chin. Med., 3:95 (1983)) and of mefloquine in the Camp (chloroquine-susceptible) and Smith (chloroquine-resistant) strains, D. L. Klayman, et al., J. Nat. Prod., 47:715 (1984).
Although artemisinin is effective at suppressing the parasitemias of P. vivax and P. falciparum, the problems encountered with recrudescence, and the compound's insolubility in water, led scientists to modify artemisinin chemically, a difficult task because of the chemical reactivity of the peroxide linkage which is believed to be an essential moiety for antimalarial activity.
Reduction of artemisinin in the presence of sodium borohydride results in the production of dihydroartemisinin (II-1) or DHQHS, (illustrated in structure II below), in which the lactone group is converted to a lactol (hemiacetal) function, with properties similar to artemisinin. Artemisinin in methanol is reduced with sodium borohydride to an equilibrium mixture of α- and β-isomers of dihydroartemisinin. Using dihydroartemisinin as a starting compound a large number of other derivatives, such as,
artemether (compound II-2), arteether (II-3), sodium artesunate (II-4), artelinic acid (II-5), sodium artelinate (II-6), dihydroartemisinin condensation by-product (II-7) and the olefinic compound, structure III,
have been produced.
Artemether (II-2) is produced by reacting β-dihydroartemisinin with boron trifluoride (BF3) etherate or HCl in methanol:benzene (1:2) at room temperature. A mixture of β-and α-artemether (70:30) is obtained, from which the former is isolated by column chromatography and recrystallized from hexane or methanol, R. Haynes, Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 88(l): S1/23-S1/26 (1994). For arteether (II-3), (Brossi, et al., 1988), the α-isomer is equilibrated (epimerized) to the β-isomer in ethanol:benzene mixture containing BF3 etherate. Treatment of dihydroartemisinin with an unspecified dehydrating agent yields both the olefinic compound, (III), and the dihydroartemisinin condensation by-product (II-7), formed on addition of dihydroartemisinin to (III), M. Cao, et al., Chem. Abstr., 100:34720k (1984). Until recently, the secondary hydroxy group in dihydroartemisinin (II-1) provided the only site in an active artemisinin-related compound that had been used for derivatization. See B. Venugopalan, "Synthesis of a Novel Ring Contracted Artemisinin Derivative," Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters, 4(5):751 -752 (1994).
The potency of various artemisinin-derivatives in comparison to artemisinin as a function of the concentration at which the parasitemia is 90 percent suppressed (SD90) was reported by D. L. Klayman, "Qinghaosu (Artemisinin): An Antimalarial Drug from China," Science 228:1049-1055 (1985). Dr. Klayman reported that the olefinic compound III is inactive against P. berghei-infected mice, whereas the dihydroartemisinin condensation by-product (II-7) has an SD90 of 10 mg/Kg in P. berghei-infected mice. Thus, the dihydroartemisinin ether dimer proved to be less potent than artemisinin, which has an SD90of 6.20 mg/Kg. Following, in order of their overall antimalarial efficacy, are the three types of derivatives of dihydroartemisinin (II-1) that have been produced: (artemisinin)<ethers (II, R═alkyl)<esters [II, R═C(═O)-alkyl or -aryl]<carbonates [II, R═C (═O)O-alkyl or -aryl].
Other rational design of structurally simpler analogs of artemisinin has led to the synthesis of various trioxanes, some of which possess excellent antimalarial activity. Posner, G. H., et al., reported the chemistry and biology of a series of new structurally simple, easily prepared, racemic 1,2,4-trioxanes (disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,225,437 and incorporated herein by reference) that are tricyclic (lacking the lactone ring present in tetracyclic artemisinin I) and that are derivatives of trioxane alcohol IV
having the relative stereochemistry shown above. Especially attractive features of trioxane alcohol IV are the following: (1) its straightforward and easy preparation from cheap and readily available starting materials, (2) its availability on gram scale, and (3) its easy one-step conversion, using standard chemical transformations, into alcohol derivatives such as esters and ethers, without destruction of the crucial trioxane framework. See, Posner, G. H., et al., J Med. Chem., 35:2459-2467 (1992), incorporated herein by reference. The complete chemical synthesis of artemisinin and a variety of other derivatives is reviewed by Sharma, R. P., et al., Heterocycles, 32(8):1593-1638 (1991), and is incorporated herein by reference.
Metabolic studies by Baker, et al., demonstrated that β-arteether (II-3), one of the antimalarial derivatives discussed previously, was rapidly converted by rat liver microsomes into dihydroartemisinin (II-1). See Baker, J. K., et al., Biol. Mass. Spect., 20:609-628 (1991). This finding and the fact that the most effective artemisinin derivatives against malaria have been ethers or esters of (II-1) suggest that they were prodrugs for (II-1). The controlled slow formation of (II-1), however, is not desirable in view of its short half-life in plasma (less than two hours) and relatively high toxicity.
Unfortunately C-10 acetal derivatives are often unstable (i.e. easily hydrolyzed) in water. Therefore making hydrolytically stable C-10 non-acetal carba-derivatives has become a high priority internationally.
Over the past thirty years only a few drugs isolated from higher plants have yielded clinical agents, the outstanding examples being vinblastine and vincristine from the Madagascan periwinkle, Catharanthus roseus, etoposide, the semi-synthetic lignan, from Mayapple Podophyllum peltatum and the diterpenoid taxol, commonly referred to as paclitaxel, from the Pacific yew, Taxus brevifolia. Of these agents, paclitaxel is the most exciting, recently receiving approval by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of refractory ovarian cancer. Since the isolation of artemisinin, there has been a concerted effort by investigators to study other therapeutic applications of artemisinin and its derivatives.
National Institutes of Health reported that artemisinin is inactive against P388 leukemia. See NCI Report on NSC 369397 (tested on 25 Oct. 1983). Later anticancer studies that have been conducted on cell line panels consisting of 60 lines organized into nine, disease-related subpanels including leukemia, non-small-cell lung cancer, colon, CNS, melanoma, ovarian, renal, prostate and breast cancers, further confirm that artemisinin displays very little anticancer activity. A series of artemisinin-related endoperoxides were tested for cytotoxicity to Ehrlich ascites tumor (EAT) cells using the microculture tetrazolum (MTT) assay, H. J. Woerdenbag, et al., "Cytotoxicity of Artemisinin-Related Endoperoxides to Ehrlich Ascites Tumor Cells," Journal of Natural Products, 56(6):849-856 (1993). The MTT assay, used to test the artemisinin-related endoperoxides for cytotoxicity, is based on the metabolic reduction of soluble tetrazolium salts into insoluble colored formazan products by mitochondrial dehydrogenase activity of the tumor cells. As parameters for cytotoxicity, the IC50 and IC80 values, the drug concentrations causing respectively 50% and 80% growth inhibition of the tumor cells, were used. Artemisinin (I) had an IC50 value of 29.8 μM. Derivatives of dihydroartemisinin (II-1) being developed as antimalarial drugs (artemether (II-2), arteether (III-3), sodium artesunate (II-4), artelinic acid (II-5) and sodium artelinate (II-6)), exhibited a somewhat more potent cytotoxicity. Their IC50 values ranged from 12.2 μM to 19.9 μM. The dihydroartemisinin condensation by-product dimer (II-7), disclosed previously by M. Cao, et a., 1984, was the most potent cytotoxic agent, its IC50 being 1.4 μM. At this drug concentration the condensation by-product (II-7) is approximately twenty-two times more cytotoxic than artemisinin and sixty times more cytotoxic than dihydroartemisinin (II-1), the parent compound.
While artemisinin and its related derivatives (II 1-6) discussed above demonstrated zero to slight antiproliferative and antitumor activity, it has been discovered that a class of artemisinin dimer compounds exhibits antiproliferative and antitumor activities that are, in vitro, equivalent to or greater than known antiproliferative and antitumor agents. See, U.S. Pat. No. 5,677,468 incorporated herein by reference. Unfortunately, while the in vitro results of these artemisinin compounds are encouraging these compounds do not appear to have significant antitumor activity on the treatment of tumor cells in mice.
There is still a need, therefore, to develop methods for the formation of hydrolytically stable C-10 non-acetal carba-derivatives and structural analogs thereof having antimalarial, and antiproliferative and antitumor activities that are equivalent to or greater than those of known antimalarial, and antiproliferative and antitumor agents, respectively.

Orally active, antimalarial, anticancer, artemisinin-derived trioxane dimers


An improved object recognition method is provided that enables the recognition of many objects in a single image. Multiple instances of an object in an image can now be detected with high accuracy. The method receives a plurality of matches of feature points between a database image and a query image and determines a kernel bandwidth based on statistics of the database image. The kernel bandwidth is used in clustering the matches. The clustered matches are then analyzed to determine the number of instances of the object within each cluster. A recursive geometric fitting can be applied to each cluster to further improve accuracy.

Object recognition systems are typically utilized to find a given object in an image or video sequence. Humans recognize a multitude of objects in images with little effort, despite the fact that the image of the objects may vary somewhat in different viewpoints, in many different sizes/scale or even when the objects are translated or rotated. Objects can even be recognized by humans when the objects are partially obstructed from view. Hence, object recognition systems aim to duplicate the abilities of human vision and understanding of an image.
Object recognition systems are utilized for acquiring, processing, analyzing, and understanding images and, in general, high-dimensional data from the real world in order to produce numerical or symbolic information, e.g., in the forms of decisions. This image understanding can be seen as the inference of symbolic information from image data using models constructed with the aid of geometry, physics, statistics, and learning theory. Many object recognition systems are able to recognize a single object that fills a significant part of the camera's field of view. However, a significantly harder use case presents the challenge of recognizing many objects in a single image, with high accuracy. Products that are displayed and sold on shelves are particularly difficult for current systems to recognize, because these products tend to have similar labeling across a brand, get moved around, and/or become partially blocked by each other. Current day object recognition algorithms can fail to correctly count the number of product facings.
Accordingly, there is a need for a system and method that can recognize many objects in a single image, with high accuracy.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present disclosure.
The apparatus and method components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present disclosure so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.

Method for detecting a plurality of instances of an object