Methods and apparatus are provided for dynamically reallocating a preferred request in one or more specific queues to one or more generic queues. A preferred request in a specific queue can be reallocated to another queue. A specific queue is monitored to determine if a service level target will be satisfied. Thereafter, the preferred request is dynamically reallocated to another queue if the service level target will not be satisfied. The specific queue may be one of a plurality of queues, each having an assigned service level target. A performance level of the specific queue can be evaluated relative to the service level target. For example, the service level target can be a predicted wait time.

For many enterprise applications, finite resources must be allocated among a number of requests for such resources. In an enterprise call center, for example, incoming calls must often be routed to an appropriate call center agent at one or more local or remote call centers. Incoming calls are generally distributed among a number of agents within the call center who are each trained to handle certain types of incoming calls. A call center will normally be capable of handling many different types of received calls. For example, a call center may receive calls relating to each of a multitude of different products and/or services offered by the corresponding enterprise. The services and functions handled by a call center may include taking product orders, providing customer service, providing pricing and/or availability information, or a number of other functions. The types of calls that are supported by a call center are commonly referred to as the "skills" of the call center. Each skill typically has an associated queue for storing received calls until an appropriate agent is available to process the call.
It is often desirable that each of the different skills (and thus queues) associated with a call center be handled differently by the call center. In other words, some of the skills may be deemed by the enterprise to be more important than other skills and hence are to be given more attention or a higher level of service by the call center. Thus, a service level target is often defined for each of the different skills of the call center to indicate a desired level of service for the skill. However, past techniques for achieving the desired service levels for each of the skills of a call center have generally been inadequate. That is, actual performance levels for the different skills have not accurately reflected the desired service level targets defined for those skills.
A call center will often have specific queues for storing received calls having a particular purpose and non-specific queues for storing received calls of a more general purpose. Typically, each specific queue is serviced by a particular call center agent. For example, in the context of a financial institution, a certain broker or employee may be assigned to address all communications from a particular customer. Such requests are often referred to as preferred resource requests. It is generally assumed that only the agent associated with a specific queue (or preferred request) can handle the preferred requests in the specific queue. Generally, the agent associated with a specific queue will sequentially service the preferred requests from the specific queue, at the expense of other queues, such as non-specific queues, that the agent may be qualified to service.
Nonetheless, the specific resource associated with a preferred request may be busy with other requests or otherwise unavailable to handle the preferred request within a time frame that satisfies the service level targets that have been defined for the specific queue. Static time-out periods have been employed for specific queues that will transfer the call to a non-specific queue when the waiting time for the preferred request exceeds a predefined threshold. While such static time-out periods provide a mechanism for limiting the waiting time of a preferred request they do not account for any dynamic factors that may be available in the resource allocation system. A need therefore exists for methods and apparatus for dynamically reallocating a preferred request in one or more specific queues to one or more generic queues.

Methods and apparatus for dynamically reallocating a preferred request to one or more generic queues


Systems and methods for bookmarking multimedia documents include displaying multiple multimedia streams, creating bookmarks comprising time signatures and snapshots of each multimedia stream based upon single action cues from a user, associating snapshots with portions of multimedia streams, displaying bookmarks and displaying portions of a multimedia stream associated with selected snapshots.

1. Field of Invention
This invention is directed to systems and methods for bookmarking live and/or recorded multimedia documents or multimedia streams.
2. Description of Related Art
Various forms of remote interaction with multimedia streams are known. Technologies associated with distance learning or video conferencing allow large numbers of users to view a multimedia presentation in real time, or asynchronously, from remote locations while taking notes or marking important portions of the multimedia stream. Digital multimedia recordings of meetings, seminars and classes are becoming more widely available. Systems and methods for taking notes with respect to various sorts of multimedia recordings using laptops, pen-based and/or tablet type notebook computers, personal digital assistants and the like, have been developed. The NOTELOOK™ and LITEMINUTES™ products, by Fuji Xerox Company, Limited, are examples of such systems and methods. The NOTELOOK™ system is described in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 6,452,615, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Further, various ways of annotating interesting points in a meeting or other video stream have been devised to use various devices, such as described above, keytags or wireless telephones. These annotations are generally time-stamped and/or associated with video streams for browsing through the video streams and/or for retrieving specific portions of the video streams.
Another emerging practice in meetings, seminars, classes and other events is the use of digital cameras to take pictures of presentation slides, whiteboard notations and the people attending the event. While digital cameras can be convenient, the results produced by commemorating an event in this fashion are not ideal because a user has limited positions and angles available to take the pictures. Furthermore, at any particular moment, the user can only take one picture. Often, it is desirable to have multiple pictures from different perspectives at any particular moment, as well as pictures of the presentation slides.
Souvenir i-Recall™ is a web-based application for personal digital assistance and laptops. The Souvenir i-Recall™ product permits the creation of text notes correlated to a multimedia stream. Bookmarks created by Souvenir i-Recall™ do not include images or multimedia snapshots.
The eMarker™ by Sony is a device similar to a keytag that permits a user to mark a song heard on the radio. The user uploads the marks to a server and the marks provide links to information about or related to the content being played on the radio at the time the mark was made.
Minneman et al., "A confederation of tools for capturing and accessing collaborative activity," Proceedings of the ACM Multimedia '95 Conference (1995), incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, describes a system in which a single switch is used to create indexes into a captured meeting. Moran et al., "I'll get that off the audio: A case study of salvaging multimedia meeting records," Proceedings of CHI '97 (1997), incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, also describes applications for indexing captured meetings.
Chiu et al., "Taking notes in meetings with digital video and ink," Proceedings of ACM Multimedia '99 (1999), and U.S. Pat. No. 6,452,615, both of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety, disclose a system for notetaking with digital and ink. In Chiu et al., images can be snapped into note pages and correlated with a video steam of a meeting. Users can snap an image or a sequence of images into a note page for annotation with digital ink. Multiple images annotated with digital ink can be incorporated into a note page, but each image and annotation has a different time stamp.
Abowd et al., "Teaching and Learning as Multimedia Authoring: The Classroom 2000 Project," Proceedings of the ACM Multimedia '96 Conference (1996), incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, discloses an application for indexing a captured meeting using a personal digital assistant. Abowd requires that slide images be preloaded into the personal digital assistant. Other standalone note taking systems that time stamp notes and correlate the notes to audio video are also known. See, for example, Lamming et al., "Activity-based information technology and support of personal memory," (Proc. Information Processing '92) (1992), Whittaker et al., "Filochat: handwritten notes provide access to recorded conversations," Proceedings of CHI '94 (1994), "Dynomite: A Dynamically Organized Ink and Audio Notebook," Proceedings of CHI '97 (1997) and Chiu et al., "An Internet-based system for multimedia minutes," Proceedings of Tenth World Wide Web Conference (2001), all of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.
Davis et al., "NotePals: Lightweight note sharing by the group, for the group.," Proceedings of the CHI '99 Conference (1999), incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, describes notetaking on personal digital assistance and subsequently uploading the notes to a server.

Systems and methods for bookmarking live and recorded multimedia documents


Lighted tubing includes an elongate wall and a light source. The elongate wall defines an interior channel. A conductor may be positioned adjacent to and extending from the light source to conduct light produced by the light source along the wall. A method of securing medical tubing includes the steps of providing medical tubing, providing a light source, attaching the light source to an elongate wall of the medical tubing, and the light source indicating the location of the wall in a dark environment.

The present invention relates to tubing, and more particularly to lighted tubing.
As known to those skilled in the art, medical tubing is commonly used in hospitals and medical settings. There are many accidents every year caused by patients, medical personnel, and visitors tripping over or otherwise dislodging undetected tubing at night. There are also documented deaths that have resulted from disconnected tubing and tubing that has been connected incorrectly. These accidents are unnecessary and unacceptable. At the same time, there are definitely problems with lighting the entire environment at night; patients often need rest, and many people are incapable of obtaining good rest in lit surroundings.


One memory cell is formed of a first port access transistor, a second port access transistor and a storage transistor coupled commonly to these access transistors. The first port access transistor is coupled to a first electrode of the storage transistor, and the second port access transistor is coupled to a third electrode of the storage transistor. These first and second port access transistors enter a selected state when first and second port word lines are selected, respectively, to couple corresponding second and third electrodes of the corresponding storage transistor to first and second port bit lines, respectively. A dual-port memory cell of which scalability can follow miniaturization in a process can be provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor memory device, and particularly to a semiconductor memory device including transistors of an SOI (Silicon On Insulator) structure formed on an insulating film. Specifically, the present invention relates to an arrangement of a memory cell array in a multiport semiconductor memory device that can be accessed via multiple ports.
2. Description of the Background Art
In fields of image data processing and the like, system LSIs in which a logic such as a processor and a memory device are integrated on a single semiconductor chip have been widely used for high-speed processing of a large amount of data. In these system LSIs, the logic and the memory device are interconnected via on-chip interconnection lines, so that the following advantages can be achieved.
(1) A load on a signal line is smaller than that on an on-board interconnection line, and data and signals can be transmitted fast.
(2) Since the number of pin terminals is not restricted, a data bus width can be increased, and a band width of data transfer can be increased.
(3) Since various components are integrated on the semiconductor chip, a small-size and light system can be achieved.
(4) Macros prepared in a library can be arranged as components to be formed on the semiconductor chip, so that design efficiency is improved.
For the above reasons, the system LSIs have been widely used in various fields. For the integrated memory devices, the system LSIs employs, e.g., a Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), an Static Random Access Memory (SRAM) and a nonvolatile semiconductor memory device such as a flash memory. For the logics, the system LSI employs, e.g., a processor performing control and data processing, an analog processing circuit such as an analog-to-digital converter circuit and the like, and a logic circuit performing dedicated logical processing.
The memory devices include a dual-port RAM that has two ports each allowing individual access for realizing a fast-access memory system. The dual-port RAM allows write/read of data via one of the access ports while data is being read or written via the other access port.
A dual-port RAM based on an SRAM cell has been widely known. Memory capacities must be increased as a data processing amount increases. Therefore, the dual-portion RAM based on the DRAM memory cell has been developed as disclosed in an article 1 (H. Hidaka, et al., "A High-Density Dual-Port Memory Cell Operation and Array Architecture for ULSI DRAM's", ISSCC, vol. 27, No. 4, 1992, pp. 610-617) and an article 2 (Y. Agata, et al., "An 8-ns Random Cycle Embedded RAM Macro With Dual-Port Interleaved DRAM Architecture (D2RAM)", IEEE JOURNAL OF SOLID-STATE CIRCUITS, vol. 35, No. 11, 2000, pp. 1668-1672).
In the dual-port RAM disclosed in the article 1, one memory cell is formed using one capacitor and two transistors. Bit lines of different ports are arranged alternately to each other for reducing noises due to capacitive coupling between the bit lines. Sense amplifiers are arranged on the opposite sides of the bit lines, and are coupled to divided and undivided bit lines. By utilizing imbalance of the bit line capacitances, a read voltage difference of memory cell data is produced, and the sense amplifiers on the opposite sides amplify data read onto the divided and undivided bit lines in parallel with each other.
In the article 1, a folded bit line structure is used, and a sense amplifier is arranged for each bit line pair so that memory cells may be arranged at a high density. Also, the bit lines of the different ports are arranged alternately to each other for improving a noise margin.
The structure disclosed in the article 2 (Y. Agata, et al., "An 8-ns Random Cycle Embedded RAM Macro With Dual-Port Interleaved DRAM Architecture (D2RAM)", IEEE JOURNAL OF SOLID-STATE CIRCUITS, vol. 35, No. 11, 2000, pp. 1668-1672) likewise uses two-transistor/one-capacitor DRAM cells. In the structure disclosed in the article 2, the memory cells are arranged to provide an open bit structure for reducing an arrangement pitch of the sense amplifiers to reducing the memory cell size. The bit lines for the different ports are arranged alternately to each other, and it is intended to reduce the inter-bit-line capacitive coupling noise by using the bit line of one of the ports as a shield line when the other port is being accessed.
In the structure disclosed in the article 2, the access is made alternately to the two ports, and an internal data transfer operation is pipelined, so that fast access may be achieved. Further, for achieving a fast write operation, data is written into the memory cell before a transfer operation, and sense and restore operations are performed after the data writing so the write time may be reduced.
A memory cell structure that reduces power consumption and achieves a fast operation is disclosed in an article 3 (F. Morishita, et al., "A Capacitorless Twin-Transistor Random Access Memory (TTRAM) on SOI", Proc. CICC, 2005, pp. 435-438) and an article 4 (K. Arimoto, et al., "A Configurable Enhanced T2RAM Macro for System-Level Power Management Unified Memory", Proc. VLSI Symp.).
In the structure disclosed in the article 3, a memory cell is formed of two SOI (Silicon On Insulator) transistors connected in series. A body region of one of the transistors is used as a storage node, and the other transistor is used as an access transistor. A threshold voltage of the transistor for data storage changes according to a potential of the body region. A source node of the data storage transistor is kept at a power supply voltage level. In a data read operation, a current flowing through the memory cell is sensed for performing the data reading.
In the memory cell structure disclosed in the article 3, capacitive coupling between the body region and the control electrode of the data storage transistor is utilized for performing the data writing.
In the structure disclosed in the article 4 (K. Arimoto, et al., "A Configurable Enhanced T2RAM Macro for System-Level Power Management Unified Memory", Proc. VLSI Symp.), the access transistor and the data storage transistor for one memory cell. The data read operation is substantially the same as that disclosed in the article 3, but the data write operation utilizes a GIDL (Gate Induced Drain Leakage) current in addition to the capacitive coupling between the gate and body regions.
In the article 4, this GIDL current is utilized to increase the potential of the storage node nearly to the power supply voltage level.
In the structure disclosed in the article 4, a transistor having a control gate directly connected to a body region is used as a sense amplifier. By directly connecting the gate to the body region, it is intended to use the body effect to do a high-speed sensing of potential changes of a control electrode (bit line) of a sense transistor. Thus, the transistors each having the body region and the gate electrode mutually connected are cross-coupled to implement the sense amplifier. By using the cross-coupled sense amplifier, the sense amplifier is arranged for each bit line pair so that it may be used for both the writing and reading.
As the miniaturization of manufacturing process is further advanced, elements are miniaturized according to a scaling rule, and a power supply voltage is lowered. In a DRAM cell, data is read by sensing a difference (read voltage) between a bit line voltage and a reference voltage. The read voltage depends on a capacitance ratio between a bit line and a memory cell capacitor. For obtaining a sufficient read voltage, a capacitance value of the memory cell capacitor must be determined according to the bit line capacitance.
In the DRAM cell, therefore, the size of the transistor can be reduced according to the scaling rule, but the scaling of the capacitor is impossible. Therefore, a further complicated DRAM process is required for scaling the memory cell in the large-capacity, dual-port RAM of the DRAM cell type disclosed in the articles 1 and 2. For example, it is necessary to form a capacitor of a three-dimensional structure or to form a small roughness on a surface of a capacitor electrode. This results in a problem of further increase in process cost.
In the DRAM-cell-type, dual-port RAM cell, destructive read is performed, and thus data reading destroys storage data of the memory cell. Therefore, when the access is being performed to a memory cell via one port, the access via the one port must be kept until restoring of the data to this memory cell is completed. During this operation, it is necessary to inhibit the access to the same memory cell via the other access port. When the memory cell at the same address is simultaneously access via the two ports, for example, the stored charges in the memory cell capacitor of the DRAM cell disperse to the two ports, so that a read voltage lowers, and a read failure may occur. For preventing this, it is necessary to perform address arbitration for inhibiting the simultaneous access to the word line at the same address for the multiple ports.
Therefore, the access to the same address from the multiple ports is restricted, and efficient access cannot be performed. For avoiding such an address conflict, an external processor or an external logic is kept in a wait state, which lowers the processing efficiency.
In the memories disclosed in the articles 3 and 4, the memory cell is formed of the transistors connected in series so that the scaling of the memory cell size can follow the miniaturization in the manufacturing process. In these articles 3 and 4, consideration is given only to a single-port structure, and no consideration is given to multi-port structures such as a dual-port structure.
Particularly, in the memories (TTRAM; Twin-Transistor RAM) disclosed in the articles 3 and 4, a source node of the transistor for storage in the memory cell is fixed, e.g., to a power supply voltage level. The data is read by sensing the current flowing through a series connection of the storage transistor and the access transistor. Therefore, for arranging the access transistors for different ports relative to the transistor for the data storage, it is necessary to devise the arrangement of the transistors in the memory cell, so that read currents for the respective ports may be equal in magnitude to each other.
Particularly, in the memory cell layout disclosed in the article 3, an active region of the access transistor is arranged parallel to and overlaps in a planar layout with the bit line, and it is difficult in such layout to achieve the two-port structure. Thus, the transistor for data storage and the transistor for access arranged on one column are aligned to each other in a column direction so that it is difficult to arranged the access transistor having two ports symmetrically with respect to the transistor for data storage.


A turbine guide vane system, in particular for a gas turbine is provided. The turbine guide vane system includes a number of guide vane rows and a guide vane carrier, to enable particularly simple replacement of guide vanes, while maintaining a particularly high degree of efficiency, and thus designed for particularly short repair durations. For this purpose, the guide vane carrier has a number of segments, wherein a segment extends over the entire radial extension of the guide vane carrier and the connection of the remaining segments may be detached, and wherein the turbine guide vane carrier includes at least two sections along the axial extension thereof that are connected to one another and have a different number of segments.

Gas turbines are used in many fields for driving generators or driven machines. In this case, the energy content of a fuel is used for producing a rotational movement of a turbine shaft. To this end, the fuel is combusted in a combustion chamber, wherein compressed air is supplied from an air compressor. The operating medium, which is produced in the combustion chamber as a result of combustion of the fuel, is directed in this case under high pressure and under high temperature via a turbine unit, which is connected downstream to the combustion chamber, where it is expanded, performing work.
For producing the rotational movement of the turbine shaft, in this case a number of rotor blades, which are customarily assembled into blade groups or blade rows, are arranged on this and drive the turbine shaft via an impulse transfer from the operating medium. For flow guiding of the operating medium, moreover, stator blades, which are connected to the turbine casing and assembled to form stator blade rows, are customarily arranged between adjacent rotor blade rows. These stator blades are fastened via a blade root on a customarily hollow cylindrical or hollow conical stator blade carrier and on their side facing the turbine axis are fastened via a blade tip on an inner ring which is common to the respective stator blade row. In the case of stationary gas turbines, this inner ring frequently consists of an upper and a lower half which are interconnected via flanges.
In the design of such gas turbines, in addition to the achievable power, a particularly high efficiency is customarily a design aim. An increase of the efficiency can basically be achieved in this case, for thermodynamic reasons, by an increase of the discharge temperature at which the operating medium flows out of the combustion chamber and flows into the turbine unit. In this case, temperatures of about 1200° C. to 1500° C. are aimed at, and also achieved, for such gas turbines.
Such high temperatures of the operating medium, however, lie far above the melting temperature of the component materials which are used in the discharge region of the combustion chamber, for example, so that the critical components have to be intensely cooled and protected with complex coating systems for ensuring the necessary function of the gas turbine. In this case, it cannot be excluded occasionally that despite application of these highly developed and frequently tested technologies for cooling and coating the blades a premature exchange of stator blades becomes necessary since the blade function, as result of partial loss of the coating or closing off of cooling air holes, for example, is impermissibly impaired. In the case of large stationary gas turbines, such an exchange measure can last at best several days, but on average about two weeks, so that as a result an undesired and expensive interruption of the operation of the gas turbine or of a gas and steam turbine power plant, in which the gas turbine is used, is brought about.
A stator blade ring for a turbomachine is known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,300,180. The stator blade ring comprises a stator blade carrier which consists of two clamping rings which in each case are assembled from two 180° large segments. Stator blade segments are clamped between the two clamping rings, forming a stator blade ring. In this case, the stator blade segments are further stabilized on their inner end by means of an inner ring.
It is disadvantageous, however, that for removal of a stator blade segment which is to be exchanged the one or both segment(s) of one of the two clamping rings has or have to be completely removed. This is associated with increased time consumption and greater space requirement.
Furthermore, a turbine stator blade carrier, which extends over the entire axial length of the turbine unit, is known from US 2005/0132707 A1. This is then of a multiply segmented construction in the circumferential direction.

Guide vane system for a turbomachine having segmented guide vane carriers


A method for quantifying clumping in fibrous materials is disclosed herein. In some examples, the method may be utilized for quantifying clumping in keratinous materials such as eyelashes when a composition such as mascara is applied thereto.

Mascara compositions have been used for many years to increase the thickness, length, and overall aesthetic appearance of human eyelashes and/or eyebrows. Consumers often expect particular properties from their mascara products such as adhesion to the lashes, lengthening/curling of the lashes, lack of smudging or flaking, thick lashes, and good separation of clumps of lashes. Particularly, the desire may be for long, luscious, full, soft, and separated lashes. Mascaras generally distribute a smooth and relatively thin (coating thickness) film over the eyelashes producing a satisfactory array of reasonably separated lashes that are darker and thicker than bare lashes, making the eyes more noticeably beautiful. In particular, at least some consumers desire a mascara to increase the volume of the eyelashes to make the eyelashes more noticeable. There are a variety of conventional mascaras available that claim to provide improved eyelash volume. Such mascaras are sometimes referred to as volumizing mascaras or volumizers. But in order to provide the increased volume, the volumizers may be formulated as a relatively thick (i.e., viscous) composition. In some instances, the applicator to apply the thicker volumizing mascara needs to be configured to apply thick compositions (e.g., larger core, increase spacing between bristles), which may not be as good for eyelash separation as applicators with a smaller core or closer bristle spacing.
Eyelash separation is also considered important for improving the appearance and noticability of eyelashes. Some mascara products are known to cause eyelash "clumping." Clumping occurs when two or more eyelashes or eyelash portions stick to one another. Typically, the deposition of mascara has a coating that is 5-15 microns thick. But at least some volumizing mascaras tend to clump too many lashes together in a thick, less separated look which gives the perception of fewer lashes. While it is well understood that some lash clumping will naturally occur since lashes are arranged in both rows and columns above and below one's eye, complete separation of eyelashes is the "ideal" standard to be attained. A mascara product that is deemed by a user to separate well leaves fewer clumps of lashes than mascara that is deemed not to separate lashes well.
Producers of mascara products recognize that consumers desire a mascara product that provides improved volume and separation, and strive to design such a product. But there is currently no readily acceptable way to quantify eyelash clumping such that different mascara products (e.g., formulas, applicators, and the combinations of these) can be compared to one another in a standardized way. Rather, most manufacturers of mascara products rely on consumer opinions (e.g., test panelists) and/or other qualitative methods to determine whether a particular product provides sufficient eyelash separation. Qualitative methods may be sufficient for determining whether consumers perceive a particular product as providing desirable separation, but may not be suitable for product modeling/simulation and/or for supporting advertising claims directed to improved separation, especially when comparing a competitive product.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a method for quantitatively determining the amount of eyelash clumping present when using a mascara product.

Method for quantitatively determining eyelash clumping


A photosensitive material drying device comprising a plurality of far infrared radiation heaters for heating a film are disposed so as to meet at right angles to a direction in which a film is conveyed. The reflectivity of each reflector disposed along the film conveying direction is set so that the reflectivity of each of longitudinally-extending ends of the film is greater than a longitudinally-extending central portion thereof. Therefore, the amount of reflected heat received by the film is associated with the reflectivity. That is, the amount of heat generated from the far infrared radiation heater at longitudinally-extending ends thereof is lower than that at a longitudinally-extending central portion thereof, whereas the amount of heat radiated over the film via the reflector is set such that the amount of heat at the central portion of the far infrared radiation heater is greater than that at the longitudinally-extending ends thereof. Therefore, the amount of heat received by the film becomes uniform along the transverse direction of the film, thereby making it possible to uniformly dry the film and prevent uneven dryness and gloss from occurring.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photosensitive material drying device suitable for use in an automatic developing machine, for example, for drying a photosensitive material with radiant heat.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an automatic developing machine, photosensitive materials such as a photographic film (hereinafter called a "film"), photographic paper, etc. are subjected to developing, fixing and washing processes while being conveyed by rollers, and thereafter are transferred to a drying unit, where a process for drying the photosensitive materials is carried out.
Let's now take a film automatic developing machine as an example. In general, the drying unit is provided with a drying device, which has a plurality of far infrared radiation heaters disposed therein along the direction normal to a film conveying direction, i.e., along the transverse direction of the film, and a plurality of reflectors disposed on the far infrared radiation heater side opposite the film with the film interposed therebetween.
With this drying device, the radiant heat is directly radiated onto the film from the far infrared radiation heaters as far infrared radiation. In addition, the radiant heat is reflected by the reflectors so as to be indirectly radiated onto the exposed film. Afterwards, the film is heated and efficiently dried in a short time.
As represented by the graph in FIG. 8, a surface temperature t of a far infrared radiation heater is normally low at both ends thereof. Therefore, when the lengthwise dimension L of the far infrared radiation heater is set to a value substantially identical to the transverse dimension W of the film as in a conventional photosensitive material drying device (L.apprxeq.W) (see FIG. 9), a difference is developed between the amount of heat applied to transversely-extending ends of the film and the amount of heat applied to the central portion thereof.
When a far infrared radiation heater 72 is disposed in facing relationship to a film 74 along the transverse direction of the film 74 as shown in FIG. 9, far infrared radiations (see arrows 76) are radiated onto the film 74 from the far infrared radiation heater 72 in such a manner that the amount of the far infrared radiations at the central portion of the film 74 increases when compared to the transversely-extending ends thereof. Therefore, the amount of heat radiated onto the transversely-extending ends of the film 74 differs from that radiated onto the central portion thereof even if the surface temperature of the far infrared radiation heater 72 is kept constant along the longitudinal direction of the far infrared radiation heater 72. This creates a difference between the surface temperature at each of the transversely-extending ends of the film 74 and that at the central portion thereof.
Thus, when the surface temperatures of the film 74 are inconstant along the transverse direction of the film 74, an uneven dryness and glossiness is developed on the film 74. This causes a serious problem in view of the quality of the film 74.
Therefore, a photosensitive material drying device was proposed in a Japanese prior application filed by the present applicant, wherein the longitudinal dimension L of a far infrared radiation heater was made sufficiently longer than the transverse dimension W of a film and portions at which the surface temperature of the far infrared radiation heater is kept constant as represented by the graph in FIG. 10, were provided in facing relationship to the film along the transverse direction thereof. While this proposal undoubtedly improves the above problem it means an increase in the longitudinal dimension of the far infrared radiation heater. As a result, there is an increase in both the size and the manufacturing cost of the drying device. Thus, there is still room for improvement.


A minute object manipulating apparatus includes a tool which manipulates a manipulation target object, an observation unit capable of changing the magnification for observating the manipulation target object and tool, a display unit which displays magnified images of the manipulation target object and tool, which are observed by the observation unit, a command input unit to cause the operator to input the manipulation command signal of the tool, and a gain arithmetic unit which decides the manipulation gain of the tool on the basis of the magnification of the observation unit and magnified image information or pixel information on the display unit. The tool is driven and controlled on the basis of the manipulation gain and manipulation command signal.

A conventional apparatus which manipulates a minute object has an arrangement shown in FIG. 14 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-323203). The apparatus shown in FIG. 14 has a micromanipulator 103 installed in an inverted microscope. The micromanipulator 103 is arranged near a stage 106 provided in the inverted microscope. The distal end of a perforator 104 as a tool is placed in a petri dish 105 mounted on the stage 106.
An objective lens 101 attached to a revolver 102 is arranged under the stage 106. The magnification is changed by rotating the revolver 102 to switch the lens to the objective lens 101 with another magnification power. Observation light which has passed through the objective lens 101 is converted into an electrical signal by a TV camera 108, sent to a monitor device 109, and displayed on it. Simultaneously, direct observation through an eyepiece 107 is also possible.
The apparatus also has a joystick 113 to be operated by an operator as the operation unit of the micromanipulator 103. The tilt direction and tilt angle of the joystick 113 are detected by an angle detector 112 and input to a CPU (control circuit) 111 as an electrical signal. The CPU 111 operates a power amplifier 110 in accordance with the signal from the angle detector 112 to drive the manipulator 103.
As a microscope, a microscope with a zoom lens is also known. When such a device is used, the magnification of an object can continuously be changed. Hence, as compared to the system which switches the objective lens 101 by the revolver 102 shown in FIG. 14, the work can smoothly be executed.
The prior art has the following problems because the observation system does not synchronize with the tools.
More specifically, when the work is done while switching the observation magnification, and the operator moves a tool (e.g., a perforator) by using a command value input means such as a joystick, the tool moving amount observed on the monitor changes even when the input value does not change.
In this case, the operator must perceive the observation magnification and adjust the input command, resulting in very cumbersome work. Especially, when the magnification power is increased, and the same command value as that for a low magnification power is input, the tool moves largely. This makes it difficult to perform fine manipulation.
Normally, the observable working space is small when the magnification power is high. For this reason, the tool or manipulation target object may move out of the visual field in the worst case. Conversely, when the gain is adjusted for minute manipulation, a problem is posed when the operator wants to largely move the tool under a low magnification.


A leak test apparatus that tests for a leak in a workpiece includes a plate; a seal that is able to move relative to the plate and is supported by the plate; a driving portion that supports the plate and moves the plate; and a pressure chamber that is surrounded by the plate and the seal. The seal is formed in a shape that enables the pressure chamber to be communicated with an outside.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a leak test apparatus and a leak test method that tests for a leak in a workpiece by sealing an open portion formed on one side surface of the workpiece.
2. Description of Related Art
A leak test apparatus that tests for a leak in a workpiece such as a cylinder block by sealing an open portion formed on one side surface of the workpiece is used in an engine production line or the like (see Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-328066 (JP 2002-328066 A), for example). The leak test apparatus described in JP 2002-328066 A is provided with a plurality of masking seals and the like on a movable base that is arranged facing one side surface of a workpiece (i.e., an object to be tested). The movable base is connected to driving means such as a cylinder, and the movable base is able to be extended and retracted with respect to the workpiece. The leak test apparatus described in JP 2002-328066 A moves the movable base close to the workpiece with the driving means, and seals all of the plurality of open portions with the masking seals.
The leak test apparatus described in JP 2002-328066 A brings all of the masking seals into contact with the workpiece and compresses them by driving one of the driving means. Therefore, this leak test apparatus is not able to selectively seal only a desired open portion, from among the plurality of open portions. That is, even if the plurality of open portions is to be tested in order, the driving means must compress the masking seals by generating a large enough amount of thrust to be able to seal the plurality of open portions simultaneously.
Here, as the structure of the masking seals described in JP 2002-328066 A, for example, a fixed rubber member 620 that is fixedly attached to a movable base 610, and a movable rubber member 631 that is attached to the movable base 610 via a spring 630, and the like, as shown in FIG. 14A, are conceivable. In this case, a cylinder 640 brings the fixed rubber member 620 and the movable rubber member 631 (via the spring 630) into contact with the workpiece and compresses them, by generating thrust toward the left (i.e., leftward thrust). Thus, with the thrust generated on the masking seals, the cylinder 640 seals a first open portion W11 formed on an upper side of a workpiece W10, and a second open portion W12 that is arranged in a position below the first open portion W11 and offset by a predetermined length to the left from the first open portion W11.
Hereinafter, the thrust required to seal the first open portion W11 will be designated F11, and the thrust required to seal the second open portion W12 will be designated F12. Also, these thrusts F11 and F12 include reaction force generated during the test.
If the second open portion W12 is farther away from the first open portion W11 side by a tolerance (hereinafter also referred to as "distance") d more than a normal dimension (i.e., the dimension of the second open portion W12 shown in FIG. 14A), the rubber members 620 and 631 will abut against the open portions W11 and W12 at the same time, as shown in FIG. 14B. In this case, the cylinder 640 generates the thrusts F11 and F12 on the masking seals by generating a leftward thrust N61 that is equal to the sum of the thrusts F11+F12, thereby sealing the open portions W11 and W12 (see rightward reaction forces H11 and H12 in FIG. 14B).
On the other hand, if the second open portion W12 is closer to the first open portion W11 side by the distance d more than the normal dimension (i.e., the dimension of the second open portion W12 shown in FIG. 14A), the movable rubber member 631 will abut against the second open portion W12 before the fixed rubber member 620 abuts against the first open portion W11, as shown in FIG. 14C. Therefore, in order to seal the first open portion W11, the spring 630 must be pressed all the way by the leftward thrust of the cylinder 640. When the spring constant of the spring 630 is k, the cylinder 640 must also generate a thrust 2kd to absorb the distance d, in addition to the leftward thrust that is equal to the sum of the thrusts F11+F12 (see thrust N62 in FIG. 14C).
Also, one conceivable structure for sealing the open portions W11 and W12 seals both of the open portions W11 and W12 by fixed rubber members 620 and 650, as shown in FIG. 15A, for example. In this case as well, when the second open portion W12 is closer to the first open portion W11 side by a distance d more than the normal dimension (i.e., the dimension of the second open portion W12 shown in FIG. 15A), the cylinder 640 must generate a thrust G to absorb the distance d (see thrust N64 in FIG. 15C).
Here, as shown in FIG. 16, with the thrust generated by compressing the fixed rubber member 650, the compression amount increases linearly from 0 to a predetermined amount, and then increases nonlinearly beyond this predetermined amount. Also, the rubber members 620 and 650 are compressed, so the compression amount of the fixed rubber member 650 is unable to be determined based on the stroke of the cylinder 640.
That is, with a structure such as that shown in FIG. 15A, the compression amount of the fixed rubber member 650 that is necessary to generated the thrust F12 is unable to be ascertained. In this case, it is necessary to increase the natural length of the fixed rubber member 650 and increase the compression amount to ensure the thrust F12 (extra allowance (i.e., extra length) must be provided). That is, the cylinder 640 must further generate a thrust ΔF to overcome the extra allowance (i.e., the extra length of the fixed rubber member 650) (see thrusts N63 and N64 in FIGS. 15B and 15C).
As described above, the leak test apparatus described in JP 2002-328066 A requires driving means having more thrust than the thrust for sealing the open portion.

Leak test apparatus and leak test method


An arrangement is provided for detecting deadlocks in a multithreaded program. When a thread in a multithreaded program performs a resource operation related to a mutually exclusive shared resource, it creates relationships between the thread and the shared resource as well as between the thread and other threads of the multithreaded program. Such created relationships are monitored and used to detect deadlocks.

Multithreading programming has become a common practice. Independent processing tasks may be handled in different threads that proceed in parallel to improve speed and efficiency. Different threads, however, may be synchronized whenever it is necessary. Threads in a multithreaded program may share resources such as objects. Some shared resources may be accessed only in a manner that is mutually exclusive while other resources can be shared on a non-exclusive basis.
Threads in a multithreaded program may get deadlocked if each of such threads tries to acquire one or more mutually exclusive shared resources. For example, consider a multithreaded program having a plurality of threads, including a thread T1 and a thread T2. Assume that thread T1 has acquired resource A and is waiting to acquire resource B. If at the same time, a different thread T2 has acquired resource B and is waiting to acquire resource A, thread T1 and thread T2 are deadlocked. In this case, thread T1 is deadlocked on resource B and thread T2 is deadlocked on resource A. Without detecting such a situation and resolving the deadlock, neither thread T1 nor thread T2 can proceed. As a result, the entire multithreaded program may stall.

Detecting deadlocks in multithreaded programs


A paper processing apparatus includes a discriminating unit. The discriminating unit can discriminate papers inserted into the papers processing apparatus. Discriminated papers are ejected to storage compartments based on discrimination results. Only papers that are discriminated as counterfeit are ejected to one of the storage compartments.

1. Technical Field
This application relates to a paper processing apparatus and system, such as a bill-binding machine and system that can sort and count bank bills based on categories thereof, can store the sorted bills in temporary storage compartments, and can bind respective predetermined numbers of the bills into separate bundles with tape.
2. Description of the Related Art
Bill-binding machines are arranged in locations that treat a large numbers of bills. The bill-binding machine can separate the bills inserted into the bill-binding machine according to operator-assigned categories, such as their denominations, whether or not the bills are damaged or counterfeit, and can bind respectively predetermined numbers of the categorized bills into separate bundles with tape. The machine can also pass the bills bound into bundles to an ejected bill storage compartment, and can eject bills exempted from binding to a rejected bill storage compartment. However, the bill-binding machine ejects all bills exempted from binding to the rejected bill storage compartment regardless of the reason for the exemption. There are various reasons that certain bills are rejected, such as a determination that they are counterfeit bills or of an unknown denomination (e.g., foreign bank bills). Therefore, the operator cannot treat the rejected bills uniformly after the rejection, and needs to determine reasons for the rejections for each bill individually.

Paper processing apparatus and paper processing system


A method for managing talk burst authority of a mobile communication terminal for a PTT service comprises detecting a trigger signal generated from a voice activity detector in response to an audio input; activating a voice recognition processor to process the audio input; deactivating the corresponding voice recognition processor after a predetermined time has lapsed; transmitting a talk burst request message to the PTT server, when the audio input is for requesting permission to speak; transmitting the audio input to the PTT server; and storing the audio input in a buffer.

A Push-To-Talk (PTT) service is a service using a half-duplex mode over a radio frequency based communication network (e.g., a cellular communication network) in which only one user is allowed to speak at a time. That is, each user will have to take turn and wait for any ongoing conversation by other parties to the communication to be completed before the user can speak.
The PTT service provides one-to-one or one-to-group conversations according to a user selection. According to one implementation, each user will have to receive talk burst authority before attempting to send voice communication in the half-duplex mode.
The one-to-group conversation utilizes the PTT service for a plurality of parties. When a certain user presses a PTT key by selecting a plurality of users or groups, a session is established between PTT terminals through a PTT server. Thus, all of the selected recipients take part in the session, thereby transmitting and receiving voice (or audio) data.
A mobile communication terminal (hereinafter a PTT terminal) for all the PTT services having the established session can provide PTT communications. However, the PTT terminal must receive talk burst authority to transmit the voice data. The PTT server manages the talk burst authority so as to allow only one user to transmit the voice data.
In the related art, a user must perform a series of operations for pressing or releasing a PTT key on the PTT terminal to request talk burst authority or release talk burst authority. As a result, when the user is in a condition that he can not use his hands or must press and release the PTT key several times, the user is inconvenienced.
Voice recognition may be used instead of pressing the PTT key. That is, a user can speak a designated term (e.g., voice signal) to request and release talk burst authority. The PTT terminal recognizes the inputted voice and confirms whether the corresponding voice is a voice for requesting talk burst authority or releasing it. According to the result of the voice recognition, the PTT terminal transmits a talk burst request message or a talk burst release message to the PTT server.
In case that the talk burst authority is managed using voice recognition, the PTT terminal requires additional resources in order to recognize the voice inputted by the user. For example, the PTT terminal will have to use additional battery power to continuously monitor whether a voice signal is inputted by the user. Furthermore, the PTT terminal requires various software resources and hardware processors for voice recognition to accurately recognize the voice signals inputted.
As a result, additional resources need to be provided to a PTT terminal. Further, there is a high possibility that the battery power of the PTT terminal is rapidly diminished. As such, there is a need for a more efficient system of requesting and releasing talk burst authority.

System and method for managing talk burst authority of a mobile communication terminal


During the stringing of fiber optic cable on utility poles, there is a need for making splices of that cable at each pole where a terminal is to be located for connection of that cable to, e.g., a house. Cable slack is needed for those splices, and certain lengths of slack are optimum. Apparatus and methodology for enabling a lineman to make accurate and convenient optimum length measurements of a slack portion of fiber optic cable during the stringing of the cable on utility poles is disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to installation of fiber optic cable on poles elevated above ground and, more particularly, relates to a safe and convenient technique for providing accurate cable slack lengths at certain locations along the path of that installation.
2. Description of Prior Art
In this modern world of improved communication, it is commonplace to see cables strung on utility poles, high above ground. These cables can be used for TV, telephone, fax, and/or Internet communication, etc. The latest kind of cable to be used for these communication purposes may be a fiber optic cable.
When fiber optic cable is used for this purpose, cable splicing is generally required at certain locations where the cable is to be communicatively-connected to a terminal, typically at the location of each utility pole and elevated above ground. To accomplish this, a certain amount of cable slack is required to be positioned at the top of each utility pole to enable the cable stringer (lineman or technician or installer), positioned high above ground, to make the appropriate splice. Based on experience, a certain amount of cable length slack is optimum for this splicing purpose, e.g., five feet of slack for a particular kind of fiber-optic cable.
Currently, the lineman merely guesses at this length or, if he/she has a tape measure, ruler, or other measuring device, attempts to make an accurate five-foot measurement of the cable while positioned high above ground in an aerial bucket or while hanging from the pole. These prior art techniques are problematical. For example, if the guesstimate of the slack is too long, cable is wasted and, if a sufficient number of cable slack guesstimates are too long, there may not be sufficient overall cable length to finish the stringing of the cable along the poles of the intended installation route. On the other hand, if the guesstimate is too short at any particular terminal location, then there may not be sufficient slack cable to allow the subsequent splice to be properly made; the splice may be prone to failure because the glass fiber strands may break if the cable needs to be bent to, or beyond, its bending limits in order to accomplish the splice. Moreover, juggling a measuring device to measure a length of cable while hovering in an aerial bucket, or while hanging from a utility pole, may not be safe or convenient under all conditions. A better way of making a cable slack measurement under aerial installation conditions is needed. Applicant provides a solution to this problem of the prior art.

Fiber optic cable stack measuring device


An example split-face probe includes a sensor component having a split-face, a housing arranged about the sensor component, and at least one ceramic fitting that supports the sensor component.

This disclosure relates generally to a measurement probe and, more particularly, to a split-face capacitance probe used in high temperature environments, such as environments having temperatures above 400° F.
Turbomachines, such as gas turbine engines, typically include a fan section, a compression section, a combustion section, and a turbine section. Turbomachines may employ a geared architecture connecting portions of the compression section to the fan section.
The turbomachine may include an annular case structure that circumscribes a rotatable array of blades. Tip-timing probes mounted to the case can be used to monitor vibratory stresses within the blades. Tip clearance probes detect tip clearance to the blades. Split-face capacitance probes with circuit boards have been used in areas of the turbomachine having a relatively low temperatures, such as temperatures at or below 400° F. (204° C.). These probes may become damaged if used in other, higher temperature environments of the engine.


A system for a lane keeping feature of a vehicle is provided. The lane keeping feature has a predefined safety requirement criterion for keeping the vehicle within bounds while the lane keeping feature is active. The system comprises a road estimation module and a trajectory planning module. The road estimation module is configured to receive sensor data comprising information about a surrounding environment of the vehicle, and to determine a drivable area based on the sensor data. The drivable area comprises a left boundary and a right boundary extending along a direction of travel of the vehicle, wherein each boundary comprises a plurality of points distributed along each boundary, each point being associated with a confidence level. The trajectory planning module is configured to receive the determined drivable area, and to determine a nominal trajectory for the vehicle based on the received drivable area.

During these last few years, the development of autonomous vehicles has exploded and many different solutions are being explored. Today, development is ongoing in both autonomous driving (AD) and advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), i.e. semiautonomous driving, within a number of different technical areas within these fields. One such area is how to position the vehicle with accuracy and consistency since this is an important safety aspect when the vehicle is moving within traffic.
Lane departures are a critical issue in AD systems and proper solutions to mitigate the risk of lane departures are of utmost importance. Therefore, for all lane support systems or any other steering system, precise and reliable generation of a road model is an important function.
A road model based on data from various sensors (e.g. forward vision, surround vision, LIDAR, radar, map, IMU sensors, etc.) is assumed to describe the drivable lane ahead of the vehicle, where the lane representation uncertainty increases with the distance from the vehicle. This is illustrated in FIG. 1(a). In more detail, FIG. 1(a) illustrates a top view of a vehicle 1′ traveling within a lane, defined by the left and right lane markers 2a′, 2b′, and a lane trace projection 3a′, 3b′ defining the generated lane representation 3a′, 3b′ where the lines 3a′, 3b′ intersect a distance in front of the vehicle 1′. Since the reliability of the lane marker measurements (made by on board sensors) decreases with distance from the vehicle 1′, the lane trace projections 3a′, 3b′ are increasingly curved inwards with increasing distance.
Furthermore, a strategy to mitigate the risk of the vehicle 1′ inadvertently exiting the lane is to define a requirement that the vehicle 1′ is able to come to a full stop within the currently available description 3a′, 3b′ of the target path (e.g. of the lane). This requirement (the vehicle 1′ coming to a full stop within the available lane description) must be fulfilled at all times and all situations which results in strict requirements on in-vehicle systems and devices. Moreover, as a consequence of these strict requirements, the uncertainty or confidence levels of the lane trace estimate 3a′, 3b′ will limit the available distance for the vehicle 1′ to come to a full stop. Consequently, the possible top speed of the vehicle is drastically limited which negatively impacts practicality and user experience of autonomous driving features. Moreover, the allowable vehicle top speed becomes a critical design parameter to consider for road modelling solutions since increasing the allowable top speed may drastically increase the requirements on system software and hardware.
There thus a need for new and improved solutions for lane keeping methods and systems for autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles. In more detail, there is a need for new and improved solutions for lane keeping methods and systems which utilize road modelling modules.


A letter printing system includes: a data processing unit for receiving an instruction to print document data containing letter data of a plurality of letters, generating print data and outputting the print data to a printing unit; and the printing unit for performing, for each letter, printing on a paper sheet for envelope and a paper sheet for enclosure according to the print data and outputting the paper sheets in the order of printing, wherein the data processing unit determines a letter boundary of each letter in the document data and sequentially outputs print data of each letter to the printing unit, and the printing unit adjusts the order of pieces of page data forming the print data of each letter according to a predetermined order of output of the paper sheet for envelope and the paper sheet for enclosure for performing inserting and sealing operation, and performs printing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a letter printing system including a data processing unit, which receives an instruction to print document data containing letter data of a plurality of letters, generates print data from the document data and outputs the print data to a printing unit, and the printing unit, which performs printing on a paper sheet for envelope and a paper sheet for enclosure according to the print data inputted from the data processing unit and outputs the paper sheets in the order of printing.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, letter producing systems are known. Such a letter producing system receives an instruction to print letter data, which is generated on a computer with an application program, such as Microsoft Word®, then, a printing unit of the system performs printing on a paper sheet for envelope and a paper sheet for enclosure, and an inserting and sealing unit of the system forms an envelope from the printed paper sheet for envelope and inserting and sealing the printed paper sheet for enclosure in the formed envelope, thereby producing a letter.
In a case where the inserting and sealing unit of the letter producing system is configured, for example, to automatically feed the paper sheets for one letter outputted from the printing unit in the order of output, recognize the first-fed paper sheet as a paper sheet for enclosure and the last-fed paper sheet as a paper sheet for envelope, form an envelope by folding the paper sheet recognized as the paper sheet for envelope, and insert and seal the paper sheet recognized as the paper sheet for enclosure in the formed envelope to produce a letter, it is necessary that the printing unit performs printing on the paper sheet for enclosure before printing on the paper sheet for envelope. However, letter data to be printed is usually generated without considering the order of printing to accommodate to the above-described inserting and sealing operation, and the order of page data for envelope and page data for enclosure forming the letter data often does not correspond to the order of printing accommodating to the inserting and sealing operation.
In order to address this problem, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-225379 (hereinafter, Patent Document 1) proposes a method that allows printing page data in a predetermined order that is different from the order of the page data generated with an application program. In this method, when an instruction to print document data formed by pieces of page data is received, a printer driver once spools all the pieces of page data forming the document data sent from the application program and performs necessary sorting on the entire spooled data, and outputs the sorted data to the printing unit.


A remote keyboard has keys which are illuminated for identification under a dim motherboard. For a first embodiment of the invention, the identifying symbol or symbols on each key cap of the keyboard is formed from luminescent material. Alternatively, the symbol or symbols on each key cap are formed from a translucent material in which tritium is embedded. Tritium, which has a half-life of about 12.5 years, emits low-energy beta particle radiation. The radiation, which is of sufficiently low energy that it may be blocked by a piece of paper, may be rendered innocuous by placing clear plastic radiation shields over each key cap. For a second embodiment of the invention, the key caps themselves are molded from luminescent material, while the symbols are formed from contrasting black or dark-colored non-luminescent material. A third embodiment of the invention utilizes fiber optics to convey light from at least one low-power source, such as a light-emitting diode, to each of the various key caps, each of which is molded from a translucent material. The symbols on the key caps are of a color which contrasts with that of the key caps. Black letters on light colored translucent key caps are the preferred combination. Another embodiment of the present invention for backlighting a keyboard is to use a transparent projector pane positioned beneath translucent or transparent key caps on which identifying symbols are printed. Light from a light source at the edge of the projector pane is transmitted throughout the pane. An aperture beneath each key top projects light up through the key caps, illuminating the symbols.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to computer keyboards. More specifically, the present invention relates to remote computer keyboards using either luminescent keys or a lighted keyboard for improved viewing in a dark room.
2. State of the Art
The computer industry has been using remote keyboards for a number of years. Such keyboards typically employ a transmitter, operating within a narrow band of the electromagnetic spectrum, which communicates with a receiver directly coupled to the central processing unit. Signals received from the keyboard are translated into standard keyboard signals understood by the central processing unit. The reason for using a remote keyboard is to remove the necessity of a connection cord between the keyboard and the computer console. A remote keyboard permits the user to submit typed data to the central processing unit anywhere within the range of the transmitter receiver combination. Although infrared band frequencies are generally used from communications between remote computers and central processing units, other frequency bands may also be used successfully. When infrared energy is used for communications between a central processing unit and a remote keyboard, the keyboard must generally remain in the same room and be in a direct line of sight with the infrared receiver. As illustrated in drawing FIG. 1, a typical conventional QWERTY-configured remote keyboard 100 is shown. The keyboard 100 is contained within an enclosure 101 having an portion 101b and a bottom portion 101b. A plurality of key caps 102, which includes keys for space, shift, control and, backspace functions, is surrounded by the upper enclosures 101a. The keyboard 100 also has an infrared transmitter 103 which is coupled to the key caps 102 via an encoder device (not shown). The keyboard 100 is interfaced to a central processing unit 105 via a receiver 104 and decoder device (not shown).
It is readily acknowledged that remote keyboards are generally difficult to use in dark rooms because it is difficult for a computer operator to identify individual keys in the dark. Although most computer users consider themselves typists, such users will typically look at the keyboard when little used keys or key combinations must be pressed. The lack of complete standardization of keyboards exacerbates this problem. Certain multikey combinations, such as Ctrl, Alt, Del, used for a warm boot operation require the operator to remove his hands from the normal typing position. Once the hands are removed, it may be somewhat difficult to return to the normal position and resume touch typing. Thus, it may be concluded that at least the average typist is at a disadvantage in a dark room because he cannot identify individual keys of the keyboard. Although cathode ray tube computer monitors generate sufficient light to illuminate the keyboard at close distances, as the operator distances himself from the monitor, the intensity of illumination drops rapidly.
Computer operators having a remote keyboard have the same problem as an individual attempting to make a telephone call on a telephone with an unlighted keypad. Fortunately, most telephone manufacturers now provide backlighting for telephone keypads so that the numbers are identifiable in the dark. The same may be said for an individual attempting to utilize a television control device in a dimly lit room. Remote control manufacturers for various electronic devices have responded to this problem by providing control keys with identifying markings which fluoresce or luminesce.
Another example of a lighted viewing area is a backlit computer LCD screen which is used, in portable PC computers. Portable LCD computer screens without backlighting are difficult to view under normal lighting conditions, and nearly impossible to view in a dark room. Portable computer manufacturers use backlit computer LCD screens to allow users to see the LCD screens in dark and low light conditions.

Cordless computer keyboard with illuminated keys


An evolved Node B (eNB) for allocating resources for a device-to-device (D2D) link between User Equipments (UEs) is described. The eNB includes a processor and instructions stored in memory that is in electronic communication with the processor. The eNB allocates resources for a D2D signal. The D2D signal is transmitted or received by the UE in uplink spectrum in a case of Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD) or in uplink subframes in a case of Time Division Duplexing (TDD).

Wireless communication devices have become smaller and more powerful in order to meet consumer needs and to improve portability and convenience. Consumers have become dependent upon wireless communication devices and have come to expect reliable service, expanded areas of coverage and increased functionality. A wireless communication system may provide communication for a number of wireless communication devices, each of which may be serviced by a base station. A base station may communicate with wireless communication devices.
As wireless communication devices have advanced, improvements in communication capacity, speed, flexibility and/or efficiency have been sought. However, improving communication capacity, speed, flexibility and/or efficiency may present certain problems.
For example, wireless communication devices may typically communicate with each other by way of a base station. However, only communicating via a base station may offer limited flexibility. As illustrated by this discussion, systems and methods that improve communication flexibility may be beneficial.

Allocating and determining resources for a device-to-device link


A storage device allows expanding user utilizable applications by storing information permitted to be read according to a certificate and information permitted to be read according to information determined by a user. An information distributor receives a certificate from the storage device and after verifying the certificate, transmits data of a license and access control conditions to the storage device. After receiving data of a certificate from an information browser, verifying the certificate and imposing a limit on access based upon one of access control conditions, the storage device transmits data of the license and the other to the information browser. The information browser permits utilization of the license under the limitation defined by the access control condition. The certificate includes either or both of a certificate approved by a certificate authority and a PIN (personal identifying number) determined by the user.

The present invention relates to a storage device carrying the security function and a host apparatus to which the storage device is connectable and more particularly, to a memory card having a flash memory chip as a storage medium and to a cellular phone and a PDA (personal digital assistant) to which the memory card is connectable.
Nowadays, many providers are marketing small-sized memory cards of various standards. In general, the small-sized memory card has a memory capacity of several of mega to several of giga and it is connected to or inserted into a portable terminal, camera, AV (audio and visual) apparatus or information terminal so as to be used for storage and distribution of data and reception/transfer of data between apparatus.
Internally, the small-sized memory card has an interface connectable with external apparatus in a wireless/wired fashion, a non-volatile rewritable memory and a single or a plurality of controllers for controlling the former two and is fed with an external power supply, so that it can afford to perform operations such as read, write and erase of data.
As one of small-sized memory cards of this type, a secure MMC (multiMediaCard) is available. It should be understood that "Multimedia card" is a registered trademark by Infineon Corp. The secure MMC has a function to verify a certificate of the other party of communication in order to read private data out of a memory, different from an ordinary memory and dedicated to storage of private data, and transmit the read-out private data to only a legal or authorized communication partner.


An antibacterial composition obtained by reacting formaldehyde and a compound having two NH moieties. The product is used to protect food and other items from contamination by E. coli 0157:H7 and other bacteria.

Hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) or "hamburger disease" is a growing problem in the United States. It causes severe stomach cramps, bloody diarrhea and is often fatal in children and the elderly. The disease is caused by a bacteria designated as Escherichia coli 0157:H7. Major outbreaks can develop before health authorities have a chance to intervene because symptoms do not appear until two to seven days after eating contaminated food and many people infected with the E. coli 0157:H7 initially interpret the symptoms as flu and wait for it to pass. In children this delay often results in a progression into late stage infection, which then develops into HUS in about 20% of such cases. About two percent of those contracting HUS die. A well-publicized incident in 1993 involving one particular restaurant in Kings County, WA resulted in well over 400 adults and children becoming infected after eating beef. Two of the children died, several became very ill and one lapsed into a coma. The disease is not confined to undercooked meat and poultry products. A 1991 outbreak of E. coli 0157:H7 in the Fall River, Mass. area caused about 23 people to become severely ill after drinking fresh pressed apple cider but no deaths occurred. Direct infection of tissue can also occur in flesh wounds.
At the present time the U.S. population experiences about 20,000 foodborn cases of E. coil 0157:H7 infection each year and that number is growing. The E. coli 0157:H7 is an especially virulent bacteria. An individual needs only to be infected with a few of the bacteria to suffer food poisoning symptoms because they can grow in the intestine, eventually causing ulcers in the intestinal lining. The bacteria also produce toxins, related to the highly poisonous Shiga toxin, which then enter the blood stream through the intestinal ulcers. The bacterial toxins travel to the kidneys, are trapped there and damage the kidneys, causing HUS. People with HUS have no kidney function and must undergo dialysis for the remainder of their lives or have a kidney transplant.
A number of different antibiotic compounds are known which can eliminate bacterial contamination in food, can disinfect pharmaceuticals and medical equipment, and cure systemic or topical bacterial infections in animals and plants. However, since a low infectious dose is sufficient to cause illness from highly virulent bacteria, merely sterilizing an item once does not make it completely safe because food and other items can easily become recontaminated sometime after the initial sterilization treatment. Chlorine dioxide has recently been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a dip for killing E. coli and Salmonella on beef. However, its anti-bacterial activity disappears after a short time due to chemical reactions between chlorine dioxide and the organic compounds in the beef so it cannot offer long-term protection against recontamination. The present invention offers a way to kill highly virulent bacteria and to protect the treated item from future bacterial contamination. It also provides systemic and topical treatments for bacterial infection.


An organic electroluminescent display device includes a plurality of pixels, each one of the plurality of pixels including: a switching transistor that is connected to a gate line and a data line; a driving transistor, wherein a data voltage of the data line passing through the switching transistor is reflected into a gate of the driving transistor; a sampling transistor that samples a threshold voltage of the driving transistor, wherein a gate of the sampling transistor is connected to a control line, and the sampled threshold voltage is reflected into the gate of the driving transistor; an initializing transistor, wherein a gate of the initializing transistor is connected to a previous or next gate line, and an initialization voltage passing through the initializing transistor is reflected into the gate of the driving transistor; and an organic light emitting diode that is connected to the driving transistor, wherein a driving current of the organic light emitting diode is adjusted according to a voltage of the gate of the driving transistor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an organic electroluminescent display device, and more particularly, to an organic electroluminescent display (OELD) device and a method of driving the same.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Until recently, display devices have typically used cathode-ray tubes (CRTs). Presently, many efforts and studies are being made to develop various types of flat panel displays, such as liquid crystal display (LCD) devices, plasma display panels (PDPs), field emission displays, and electro-luminescence displays (ELDs), as a substitute for CRTs. Of these flat panel displays, organic electroluminescent display (OELD) devices are self-luminescent display devices. The OELD devices operate at low voltages and have a thin profile. Further, the OELD devices have fast response time, high brightness, and wide viewing angles.
FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram illustrating an OELD device according to the related art, and FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram illustrating another OELD device according to the related art.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a pixel of the OELD device of FIG. 1 includes first to fourth transistors Tr1 to Tr4 and a capacitor C1. A pixel of the OELD device of FIG. 2 includes first to fourth transistors Tr1 to Tr4, and first and second capacitors C1 and C2. For convenience' sake, the OELD devices of FIGS. 1 and 2 are referred to as first and second OELD devices, respectively.
In each of the first and second OELD devices, the first transistor Tr1 is switched by a gate voltage Vg1 or Vg2 applied to a gate line to write a data voltage Vdata to the pixel in each frame. The second transistor Tr2 functions to sample a threshold voltage Vth of the third transistor Tr3. The third transistor Tr3 functions to supply a driving current IOLED to an organic light emitting diode OLED. The fourth transistor Tr4 functions to supply an initialization voltage Vinit to the pixel.
The configuration of the pixel of each of the first and second OELD devices is provided to cope with a variation of the threshold voltage of the third transistor Tr3 due to a variation of a property of the third transistor Tr3 in operation and/or due to a variation of a manufacturing process.
A first driving voltage Vdd_EL is connected to the organic light emitting diode OLED, and a second driving voltage Vss_EL is connected to the third transistor Tr3.
A method of driving the first and second OELD devices is explained with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.
FIG. 3 is a timing chart of gate voltages and control voltages to drive the OELD devices according to the related art.
Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3, the fourth transistor Tr4 is turned on per frame F according to an initialization control voltage Init1, Init2, Init3, or Init4, and the initialization voltage Vinit is applied to the gate of the third transistor Tr3. Then, the second transistor Tr2 is turned on according to a control voltage Con1, Con2, Con3, or Con4, and the threshold voltage Vth of the third transistor Tr3 is sampled to the gate of the third transistor Tr3. Then, the first transistor Tr1 is turned on according to the gate voltage Vg1, Vg2, Vg3, or Vg4, and a data voltage Vdata is written into the pixel. The third transistor Tr3 adjusts the driving current IOLED, which flows through the third transistor Tr3, according to an amount of the data voltage Vdata. Accordingly, the driving current IOLED is supplied to the organic light emitting diode OLED, and light is emitted from the organic light emitting diode OLED according to an amount of the driving current IOLED.
The driving current IOLED is expressed as a following formula, IOLED=½*μ*COX*(W/L)*(Vgs−Vth)2. In the formula, μ is a mobility of the third transistor Tr3, COX is a capacitance of the third transistor Tr3, W/L is a ratio of width to length of a channel of the third transistor Tr3, and Vgs is a gate-source voltage between the gate and source of the third transistor Tr3.
The sampled threshold voltage Vth by the sampling operation of the second transistor Tr2 is reflected into the formula, for example, into the gate-source voltage Vgs. Accordingly, the driving current IOLED does not depend on the threshold voltage Vth of the third transistor Tr3. Therefore, the organic light emitting diode OLED emits light irrespectively of the variation of the threshold voltage Vth of the third transistor Tr3. This type of driving method is referred to as a voltage compensation driving method.
However, the voltage compensation driving needs a predetermined time in driving each row line. For example, an initializing period for the initializing operation needs about 3 microseconds (μs), a sampling period for the sampling operation needs about 8 microseconds (μs), and a data writing period for the data writing operation needs about 4 microseconds (μs). A sum of the initializing period, the sampling period and the data writing period is about 15 microseconds (μs). Accordingly, a row line drive period for the voltage compensation driving needs at least about 15 microseconds (μs).
However, when the related art OELD devices have a Full HD (High Definition) resolution, for example, 1900*1080 resolution, and is driven with a frequency of 120 Hertz (Hz), a row line drive period is about ( 1/120)*( 1/1080)=7.7 microseconds (μs). Accordingly, the row line drive period of the related art OELD devices is much less than the row line drive period required for the voltage compensation driving. Accordingly, the related art OELD devices can not normally perform the voltage compensation driving.
As described, since the short row line drive period is allotted in driving the related art OELD devices, there are many limits to displaying images.

Organic electroluminescent display device and method of driving the same


A production method of an electrophotographic photosensitive member which has high productivity when producing a surface layer in which depressed portions which are independent respectively are formed on an electrophotographic photosensitive member surface, and can produce highly uniform depressed portions in a photosensitive member surface, characterized by producing the surface layer by (1) a coating step of producing a coating liquid for a surface layer containing a binder resin and a specific solvent, and coating it on a surface of a cylindrical supporting member, (2) a condensation step of holding the cylindrical supporting member on which the coating liquid for a surface layer is coated, and condensing the surface of the cylindrical supporting member, and (3) a drying step of baking the cylindrical supporting member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a production method of an electrophotographic photosensitive member.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, research and development of electrophotographic photosensitive members (organic electrophotographic photosensitive members) using organic photoconductive substances have been conducted briskly.
Fundamentally, an electrophotographic photosensitive member includes a supporting member and a photosensitive layer formed on the supporting member. The photosensitive layer which constructs an organic electrophotographic photosensitive member uses a charge generation material and a charge transport material as a photoconductive material, and uses a binder resin as a resin which binds these materials. As layer structure of the photosensitive layer, there are laminated structure that respective functions are functionally separated into a charge generation layer and a charge transport layer, and monolayer structure that these materials are made to be solved or dispersed in a monolayer. Most electrophotographic photosensitive members adopt construction of a laminated photosensitive member, in this case, a charge transport layer becomes a surface layer in many cases, and a protective layer may be provided in order to make the surface layer highly durable.
Since a surface layer of an electrophotographic photosensitive member (hereinafter, simply a "photosensitive member" in some case) is a layer in contact with various members or a sheet, various functions such as mechanical strength or chemical stability of a material which constructs the surface layer to contact are requested. Many proposals for these requests have been made from an aspect of improvement of materials which construct a surface layer.
Among the above-mentioned proposals, a proposal of functional enhancement of a photosensitive member surface by performing convexoconcave processing of the photosensitive member surface is made. For example, in Japanese Patent Publication No. H07-97218, a production method of a photosensitive member which forms a trench in a surface by surface finishing which makes film-shaped abrasive rub with the photosensitive member surface is disclosed. In addition, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H02-150850, a proposal of producing a depressed portion on a surface by performing sandblast treatment is made. Although Japanese Patent Publication No. H07-97218, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H02-150850 are production methods of processing a photosensitive member surface after formation of the photosensitive member surface, as another method, a photosensitive member that a convexoconcave form is produced on a photosensitive member surface in a forming step of a surface layer of the photosensitive member is disclosed (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. S52-92133).
While a photosensitive member that a convexoconcave form is formed in a photosensitive member surface like Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. S52-92133 is proposed, a production method of not forming a liquid droplet trace in a photosensitive member surface is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-10303. Description in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-10303 points out that a surface condenses with heat of vaporization of a solvent at the time of photosensitive layer coating, traces of condensation occurring at that time remain as pores in a photosensitive member surface, and they are a factor of black spots on an image, and toner filming. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-175008 also expresses a production method of a photosensitive member which prevents whitening by the same condensation as that in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-10303.

Process for forming an electrophotographic photosensitive member with depressed portions by condensing a surface of a surface layer on which a coating liquid is present


A furnace for heating a glass sheet therein has a gravity bending zone for bending the glass sheet due to gravity, a press bending zone for bending the glass sheet under pressure, and an annealing zone for annealing the bent glass sheet. In the gravity bending zone, the glass sheet on a ring mold is preliminarily bent due to gravity. After the preliminarily bent glass sheet has been fed from the gravity bending zone into the press bending zone, the glass sheet is transferred from the ring mold to a movable lower mold assembly. The lower mold assembly is lifted to press the glass sheet against a fixed upper mold for finally bending the glass sheet. Thereafter, the lower mold with the finally bent glass sheet is lowered until the glass sheet is placed on the ring mold. Then, the glass sheet is fed with the ring mold into the annealing zone in which the glass sheet is annealed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of and an apparatus for bending sheets of glass for use as a laminated sheet of glass.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Heretofore, it has been customary to form laminated sheets of glass for use as automobile front windshields or the like by conveying two sheets of glass on a ring mold through a furnace and preliminarily and then finally shaping the sheets of glass while they are in the furnace.
Various known apparatus for manufacturing such laminated glass sheets are disclosed in Japanese laid-open patent publications Nos. 63-156025, 1-230439, 2-38331, 2-38332, and 2-55240, for example. The apparatus shown in Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 63-156025 has a gravity bending zone and a press bending zone in a furnace. While sheets of glass are being conveyed on a ring mold through the furnace, they are first preliminarily shaped or bent by gravity in the gravity bending zone, and then finally shaped in the press bending zone by an upper mold which is lowered toward the ring mold. Thereafter, the bent sheets of glass are annealed on the ring mold. In the apparatus shown in Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 1-230439, a presser is mounted on a carrier on which a ring mold is supported, and an auxiliary press in a press bending zone is actuated to press opposite sides of glass sheets to shape between the ring mold and the presser. The apparatus disclosed in Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 2-38331 has two parallel furnaces, one for preliminarily shaping glass sheets and one for finally shaping glass sheets, and a feeder for feeding the glass sheets between these furnaces. Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 2-38332 discloses a heater disposed in an upper mold which cooperates with a ring mold in pressing glass sheets to shape in a press bending zone. According to the apparatus disclosed in Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 2-55240, sheets of glass are pressed to shape between an upper mold and a ring mold in a press bending zone, and then edge regions of the glass sheets are tempered with a special cooling mold.
In either one of the above conventional apparatus, the ring mold which has been used to convey or preliminarily bend the glass sheets is used again to finally bend the glass sheets in the press bending zone. Therefore, the ring mold is required to be rugged enough to withstand the pressure that is applied when the glass sheets are pressed to shape in the press bending zone. As a result, the ring mold is relatively heavy and a large expenditure of energy and time is needed to move the ring mold. The fact that the ring mold has a shape complementary to the shape of a final laminated glass sheet product makes the ring mold unsuitable for the preliminary shaping of glass sheets. Moreover, inasmuch as the ring mold doubles as a lower mold at the time the glass sheets are pressed to shape by the upper mold and also as a support for the glass sheets when they are conveyed, the upper mold has to be moved downwardly and upwardly for pressing the glass sheets. The requirement to lift and lower the upper mold results in a complex overall apparatus construction.

Method of and apparatus for bending sheet glass


Annularly or helically ribbed or corrugated semi-rigid thermoplastic pipe is modified to have a smooth outer wall. The ribbed or corrugated pipe is passed through a heated sleeve to squash and smooth the outer profile of corrugated pipe or bend over ribs of ribbed pipe and mold a smooth outer skin of the pipe. Apparatus for forming the modified pipe includes a travelling mold tunnel for the production of ribbed or corrugated pipe and a smoothing sleeve downstream thereof. The smoothing sleeve has a heater to heat it sufficiently to mold the smoother outer skin.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of modifying the profile of rigid or semi-rigid pipe formed of thermoplastic material, or rigid or semi-rigid, multi-walled plastic pipe and a method and apparatus for the manufacture of such pipe.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Rigid or semi-rigid plastic pipes have a variety of uses not least among which are uses as electrical conduit and drainage pipe which are frequently buried and may therefore be under considerable crushing pressures.
When plastic pipe was first utilized for such above identified uses, it tended to have a single, rather thick, smooth wall to withstand pressure.
Pipe having annular or helical corrugations in its wall was found to have advantages in withstanding pressure and the manufacture of such pipe was described and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,981,663 issued to Manfred Lupke on Sep. 21, 1976. This patent is merely exemplary of a large number of patents relating to corrugated single-walled plastic tube and its production.
For various reasons including greater strength and, for smooth unfouled flow in drainage pipe, it became conventional to utilize double- walled corrugated pipe in which the outer wall was corrugated and the inner wall was smooth. Such pipe and a method and apparatus for its production are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,226,580 issued to Gerd Lupke on Oct. 7, 1980. Again this patent is merely exemplary of the prior art.
More recently, the use of ribbed pipe has become popular for similar uses. Ribbed pipe comprises a single wall having annular or helical ribs upstanding therefrom. Such pipe may be made with considerable strength and for some purposes it may have advantages over double-walled, corrugated pipe. The disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 4,712,993 issued Dec. 15, 1987 to Manfred Lupke is exemplary of ribbed pipe and one method of its manufacture.
The outer profile of both ribbed and corrugated pipe is ridged and, for some pipes, may cause appreciable inconvenience. For example, ribbed or corrugated pipe of large diameter having prominent ribs or corrugations may be difficult to drag over the ground due to the great frictional affect of the ribs or corrugations. It is known to the applicant to form corrugated pipe in a mold such as to initially mold corrugations with a somewhat flattened crest. Such flat topped corrugations may slightly mitigate any problems arising in stacking or moving tube. Nevertheless, the corrugations are still present and still may inhibit easy movement and stacking, and, indeed, the flat topped corrugations may even slightly reduce some of the advantages of corrugated pipe. Moreover, dirt and other detritus may accumulate in the troughs.
Thus, there appears to be problems of, firstly the provision of strength and, secondly, the easy maneuverability of large diameter pipe. Either problem alone may be mitigated by existing technology but, together, the solutions to one problem seem irreconcilable with solution to the other problem.
Generally, the problems are greater for ribbed pipe which was developed, inter alia, for the strength imparted by steep, deep annular or helical ribs. Any mobility difficulties are correspondingly greater. Moreover ribbed pipe does not have a second skin separated from the first skin by air gaps. Such skins as are present in corrugated pipe may have advantages in insulation and may also provide additional surety against puncture leading to pipe leakage where this is desirable. Such advantages of insulation and insurance against puncture have, hitherto, not been possible for ribbed pipe.
The present inventor has addressed these problems.

Method of modifying corrugated or ribbed pipe to have a smooth outer wall