A power door actuation system for a vehicle door includes a power-operated presenter actuator mounted to one of the vehicle body and the vehicle door. The power-operated presenter actuator includes a motor and an extensible member being translatable between a retracted position and an extended position along a first axis in response to selective actuation of the motor. The motor has a motor shaft that extends along a second axis that is substantially parallel to the first axis along which the extensible member translates. Powered movement of the extensible member between its retracted and extended positions results in corresponding movement of the vehicle door between closed and presented positions.

This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
In view of increased consumer demand for motor vehicles equipped with advanced comfort and convenience features, many current vehicles are now provided with passive keyless entry systems to permit locking and release of the passenger doors without the use of traditional key-type manual entry systems. As a further advancement, power door actuation systems have been developed which function to automatically swing the passenger door about its pivot axis between its open and closed positions without any manual intervention with the door by a user. As a result, vehicle manufacturers are foregoing the integration of traditional door handles on the exterior of the vehicle door resulting in cost and weight savings, as well as styling and aerodynamic benefits. In lieu, such door handles are being replaced with wireless key fobs and/or electronic sensors i.e. touch/touchless sensors. For example, a capacitive touch pad may be provided to replace an external handle or unlock switch which is in communication with an electronic latch to command the unlock of the latch and the operation of the power door actuation system(s) to open the door.
Typically, such power door actuation systems include a power-operated device such as, for example, a power swing door actuator having an electric motor and a rotary-to-linear conversion device that are operable for converting the rotary output of the electric motor into translational movement of an extensible member. In many power door actuator arrangements, the power swing door actuator is mounted to the passenger door and the distal end of the extensible member is fixedly secured to the vehicle body. One example of a door-mounted power door actuation system is shown in commonly-owned U.S. Pat. No. 9,174,517 with a power swing door actuator having a rotary-to-linear conversion device configured to include an externally-threaded leadscrew rotatively driven by the electric motor and an internally-threaded drive nut meshingly engaged with the leadscrew and to which the extensible member is attached. Accordingly, control over the speed and direction of rotation of the leadscrew results in control over the speed and direction of translational movement of the drive nut and the extensible member for controlling swinging movement of the passenger door between its open and closed positions. Operation of the power swing door actuator is controlled in coordination with the power release operation of the primary latch assembly via the passive keyless entry system.
Some other door actuation systems, known as door presenter systems, are configured to include a power-operated door presenter assembly operable to "present" the door by opening it only a predetermined amount, or distance, from a closed position to a partially-open position so as to allow subsequent manual movement of the door to its fully-open position.
Because vehicle doors are more frequently being equipped with multiple door actuation systems tending to add weight to the vehicle door, increase costs, and reduce the available space within the door cavity for receiving such door actuation systems, it would be advantageous to provide the door presenter assembly as a compact assembly, thereby minimizing the amount of space needed to accommodate the assembly, while at the same time providing the assembly with the power needed to perform its intended function.
Further, because of vehicle manufactures' design choices trending towards the elimination of door handles, such as exterior door handles, and towards hands-free entry, the problem arises of being able to open the vehicle door in the event of a door seized or jammed condition, for example as occurring as a result of a damaged door or an iced over condition requiring an increased opening force to overcome this seized or jammed condition. Also, the problem of a vehicle condition including a failure of the main power source supplying the electrical energy required for operating the door actuation systems, or other emergency conditions requiring a user to open the vehicle door from the exterior of the vehicle can be exacerbated for a handless door system, since there is no door handle to grasp and move the door. Operating the power swing door actuator with energy provided from a backup energy source including an auxiliary battery or super capacitor arranged within the door designed to supply power to the power swing door actuator during such situations in order to move the door to an opened or presented position where at the door is in a position to be manually moved (for example, an emergency response personnel grasping the door edge and manually moving the door following a vehicle crash), can help overcome this problem. One drawback however associated with opening the door by operating the power swing door actuator is related to the high energy demand placed on the backup energy source by the power swing door actuator due to the high force/torque required to initially move the door as a result of the geometry of the hinge pivot points relative to the action of power swing door actuator between the vehicle door and body (small moment arm).
In view of the above, there remains a need to develop alternative power door presenter systems which address and overcome limitations associated with known power door actuation systems as well as to provide increased applicability while reducing cost and complexity.


A showerhead has at least a first set of nozzles and a second set of nozzles for discharging water. The showerhead discharges water according to one of multiple water delivery functions, where a first water delivery function corresponds to water being discharged through only the first set of nozzles, a second water delivery function corresponds to water being discharged through only the second set of nozzles and a third water delivery function corresponds to water being discharged through the first and second sets of nozzles simultaneously. The spacing between the first set of nozzles and the second set of nozzles is carefully selected so that the third water delivery function corresponds to the integrated nozzles of the first and second sets of nozzles. As a result, the third water delivery function provides a coherent and balanced water flow resulting in a more pleasant feel.

Multi-function showerheads are known in which different sets of nozzles provide different water delivery functions, such that a user can select between the different water delivery functions. Water is discharged from the multi-function showerhead differently for each of the water delivery functions so that the user experiences a desired sensation corresponding to the selected water delivery function. The water delivery functions can include, for example, a stream function, a spray function, a pulse function, and variations thereof. The different water delivery functions can be provided by varying the number of nozzles, the size of openings of the nozzles and the like, in each of the sets of nozzles.
Furthermore, it is known that by using more than one set of nozzles simultaneously, a combined water delivery function can be provided. However, because the nozzles corresponding to the individual water delivery functions are spaced apart from one another and are intended to provide noticeably distinct sensations to the user upon being selected, the formation of the combined water delivery function as the combination of these nozzles results in water being discharged from the showerhead having an incoherent and unbalanced spray pattern, which can result in an unpleasant sensation for the user.


An LED light pipe structure includes a light pipe, a light refraction plate, and a light emitting diode which are integrally formed into one body, so as to enable the light emitting diode inside the light pipe to generate a visible light for illumination, through a voltage of direct-current power source provided by a lamp holder.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an LED (Light Emitting Diode) light pipe structure, and more particularly to an LED light pipe structure wherein a voltage of direct-current power source is provided by a lamp holder to enable the light emitting diode to generate a visible light for illumination which can also be refracted and transmitted in an effective range, such that the light pipe can generate an illumination of good brightness and quality.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, an illuminant tube A commonly used in the existing market includes an incandescent bulb A1 and a fluorescent tube A2, respectively. When the incandescent bulb A1 or the fluorescent tube A2 is connected to a connection end A5 of a lamp holder A4, by a conductive contact end A3 extended at a tail end, heat will be generated from a high temperature to form a light emitting status of the illuminant tube A, through a filament chip A6 at an interior of the illuminant tube A. However, the light emitting status generated from the illuminant tube A will induce a consumption of a lot of energy under a long term of usage, and the high temperature generated from the filament chip A6 for a long time is easy to cause a light source to be dimmed, along with a safety concern during a long period of heating from high temperature.
Accordingly, how to remove the aforementioned shortcomings is a technical issue to be solved by the present inventor.

Abstract: The visible light for illumination generated by the light emitting diode can be refracted and transmitted in an effective range by the light refraction plate, such that the light pipe can generate an illumination of good brightness and quality. In addition, when the light pipe is emplaced in environment of different illumination, the light emitting diode can be replaced with a light emitter of different light source, through that the light pipe can be fixed separately, such that the light pipe can be provided with functions of illuminating and identifying colors.


A method and an apparatus for analyzing heart rate Variability (HRV), and use thereof are provided. A low-cost, portable and wearable signal acquisition device is utilized to acquire electrocardiography (ECG) signals of epilepsy patients for 24 hours before treatment, and a time domain index, a frequency domain index and a nonlinear index of the ECG during a long term and during a short term are calculated with a programmed HRV analysis method, and the efficacy of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) treatment for patients with medically intractable epilepsy is accurately and efficiently predicted based on characteristic parameters for characterizing an effect level of the vagus nerve regulating the heart rate, i.e., vagus nerve activity, thereby avoiding unnecessary costs and avoiding the delay of the optimal treatment timing. In addition, the characteristic parameters obtained by the HRV analysis on the ECG may be utilized to clearly select VNS treatment indication patients.

Epilepsy as a disease affects the lives of patients. Most patients can control the seizure with one or more drugs in a combination manner. However, some patients are not sensitive to drug treatment, which are referred to as patients with medically intractable epilepsy. The vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) as an auxiliary treatment method can effectively control the epileptic seizures in patients with medically intractable epilepsy, but individual differences in efficacy are great and have high uncertainties. It is found from the statistical analysis that, epileptic seizures in only 5% to 9% of patients with medically intractable epilepsy who have received the VNS treatment can be controlled completely, while about 10% of patients have no change in epileptic seizures after receiving the VNS treatment, and epileptic seizures in other patients may be decreased to some extent. In general, epileptic seizures in 50% to 60% of the patients with medically intractable epilepsy who have received the VNS treatment can be decreased by 50%. In view of the uncertainty and individual differences in the efficacy of the VNS treatment for medically intractable epilepsy, researchers have been trying to screen out patients suitable for the VNS treatment by evaluation before treatment.
There is no clear and quantified method for predicting the efficacy of the VNS treatment for medically intractable epilepsy in clinical practice. The related factors of VNS efficacy have been studied based on electroencephalography (EEG), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and patient demographic characteristics (including gender, age, and the like), clinical history (disease course), seizure characteristics (including seizure type, seizure frequency, lesion location, and the like), and the studied conclusions are inconsistent or even contradictory with each other.
In the conventional technology, as shown in FIG. 1, a systematic and comprehensive preoperative evaluation (including analysis on demographic characteristics, clinical history, seizure characteristics, MRI, EEG, and the like) is firstly required to be performed on patients with medically intractable epilepsy before the VNS treatment, and then the VNS implantation treatment is performed. When two weeks has elapsed after the treatment, the stimulation parameters are gradually regulated in accordance with performances and technical characteristics of the VNS product, based on specific responses of the patients to VNS acute stimulation, and the seizures in the patients are recorded regularly. After the corresponding follow-up period (which is generally set as one year), the patients are classified based on the reduction of seizures, that is, the efficacy. Finally, the preoperative evaluation data for the patient groups with different efficacies is statistically analyzed to find a parameter with statistical differences between the patient groups with different efficacies, so as to serve as a sensitive factor in predicting the efficacy of the VNS treatment for medically intractable epilepsy.
The existing methods based on EEG and MRI have disadvantages of high cost, complicated operation, and high requirements on the professional knowledge of analysts. Overall, studies based on the above methods have not been applied in clinical practice due to the studied conclusions for a same problem being inconsistent or even contradictory with each other. According to the method based on the 24-hour dynamic electrocardiography signal proposed in the present disclosure, a subject is only required to wear a portable dynamic electrocardiography recording box to acquire the ECG in a free movement state of the subject, which results in simple operations. General hospitals charge outpatients 240 yuan for the 24-hour dynamic electrocardiography examination, and the cost is lower compared with about 1,000 yuan of the long-term video electroencephalography and magnetic resonance imaging examination. Due to the 24-hour dynamic electrocardiography acquisition being not limited by activities, the acquisition is simpler and the consistency is better compared with the methods based on the EEG and MRI.
The heart rate variability (HRV) refers to a change in an interval between adjacent heart beats in an electrocardiography (ECG) signal with time. The HRV is generated caused by the regulation of an autonomic nervous system on sinus node automaticity, which makes the heart beat intervals have tens of milliseconds or even greater differences or fluctuations. Since the HRV contains a large amount of information on the neurohumoral regulation, the HRV is a quantitative, non-invasive and repeatable index for indicating the activity and regulation functions of the autonomic nervous system in a cardiovascular system. The HRV analysis may indirectly reflect interactions between sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves.
At present, there is no study and technical solution for predicting the efficacy of the VNS treatment for medically intractable epilepsy by the HRV analysis technology based on the ECG. Since the epileptic disease is related to the cardiac autonomic dysfunction, the autonomic nervous system balance of the patient is broken with the epilepsy seizure and progression, which generally results in the increased sympathetic nerve activity and decreased vagus nerve activity. Based on this, in the present disclosure, a low-cost, portable and wearable signal acquisition device is utilized to acquire ECG signals of epilepsy patients for 24 hours before treatment, a time domain characteristic parameter, a frequency domain characteristic parameter and a nonlinear characteristic parameter of the ECG are calculated with a programmed HRV analysis method, and characteristic parameters for characterizing the vagus nerve activity are selected to accurately and efficiently predict the efficacy of the VNS treatment for medically intractable epilepsy.

Heart rate variability analysis method, device and use thereof


A rocker cam is comprised of a first split body and a second split body, which are joined with a joint split face that contains an axial line of a cam shaft. The first split body has a first pin support portion that supports one end portion of the connection pin, and the second split body has a second pin support portion that is located so as to face the first pin support portion and supports the other end portion of the connection pin. The connection pin is supported at the first and second pin support portions at its both end portions. Accordingly, a separation force that acts on the first and second split bodies of the rocker cam during its repeated rocking movement can be reduced without improperly increasing its rigidity.

The present invention relates to an adjustable valve drive device of an engine, and in particular relates to a technology for properly reducing a stress acting in a direction of separation of first and second split bodies that constitute a rocker cam.
It is generally known that a valve timing or a valve lift of intake and exhaust valves of an engine are changed according to an engine operation state. An example of such an adjustable valve drive device is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-301058, in which an outer ring is provided so as to fit onto an eccentric cam that is provided at a cam shaft, a rocker cam operative to lift (drive) an intake valve is supported at the cam shaft so as to be rocking, the displacement of the outer ring according to rotation of the eccentric cam is transmittable to the rocker cam via a link mechanism that comprises a control link coupled to the outer ring and a link coupled to the rocker cam, and the distance between a rocker support point of the control link and an axial center of the rocker cam is changeable according to the engine operation state.
According to the above-described adjustable valve drive device, the valve opening start timing can be advanced and the valve lift can be increased by reducing the above-described distance at an engine high-speed and high-load state, while the valve opening start timing can be delayed and the valve lift can be reduced by increasing the above-described distance at an engine low-speed and low-load state.
Herein, the rocker cam for the control of the valve timing of the engine needs to be replaced with a new one when its cam profile face has come to wear off in order to maintain the proper performance.
In a multi-cylinder type of engine, however, since a plurality of rocker cams are provided for multi-cylinders, the replacing of the plural rocker cams may need rather troublesome works. For example, when an rocker cam that is located at the center of the engine is replaced, all adjacent rocker cams to this center rocker cam need to be removed first before the center rocker cam is removed from the cam shaft. Meanwhile, it is preferable in the multi-cylinder engine that the eccentric cam be integrally formed with the cam shaft to ensure a precise distance between adjacent cylinders from an aspect of proper assembling.
From the above-described perspectives, it may be considered that the rocker cam is comprised of a first split body with a cam profile face and a second split body without a cam profile, which are joined to one another by a fastening bolt.
Herein, in general, since a tappet for driving (opening) a valve or a cam follower of a rocker arm contact the cam profile face of the rocker cam, there occurs a relatively large acceleration to the rocker cam at a rising initial timing of the cam profile face, i.e., at a transient period from its base circle area to its cam nose area. Accordingly, in a case where the above-described link mechanism is coupled to either one of the first and second split bodies via a connection pin, an improperly large stress is generated between the first and second split bodies when the engine runs at a high speed. This may cause a concern that a joint split face of these bodies opens or slides.
Increasing of a fastening force of the above-descried fastening bolt or thickness of the split bodies for solving the above-described concern may cause another issue of a large size or a heavy weight of the rocker cam instead. Herein, it is preferable that the weight of the rocker cam be as light as possible because of the rocker cam's repeated rocking movement.


The present invention teaches a converter whereby a power driven agitator brush type vacuum cleaner such as a hand held cleaner, may be converted for use with an extended vacuum hose and associated suction tools. The converter incorporates a tool caddy having storage posts upon which the suction tools may be stored both during use of the cleaner in the converted mode or when the converter is not in use.

The present invention generally relates to a floor type vacuum cleaner having a powered brush, such as a hand held cleaner, and more particularly to a converter attachment whereby the cleaner may be converted for use with a suction hose and/or associated cleaning tools.
Suction hose converters for hand held vacuum cleaners, having a powered agitator brush, have become popular for converting such cleaners for use with traditional suction cleaning accessories such as a dusting brush, crevice tool, extension hose, and the like. Heretofore such converters have not included provisions for the convenient storage of the associated accessories for easy access while cleaning.
Prior art converter packages, for hand held powered brush vacuum cleaners, generally include wall storage means for the cleaner and its associated accessories. However when using the cleaner the user must necessarily carry the necessary accessories along in hand, pocket or otherwise.
Accordingly it is an object of our invention to provide a convenient caddy means, as an integral part of the converter, whereby the associated suction tools may not only be easily stored when not in use but may be carried along with the cleaner when the converter is in use.
Another object of the invention is to provide a converter arrangement whereby the accessory tools are stored in an unobtrusive manner such that they do not interfere with the necessary operation and hose manipulation during the cleaning operation.
It is a further object of our invention to provide an improved engagement and disengagement mechanism for attaching the converter to the vacuum cleaner.
These and other objects of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art as the description thereof proceeds.


An inertial sensor assembly has three silicon chips that are each machined to form a respective vibrating inertial sensor, an acceleration sensor and engaging edge formations. The three chips are assembled in an orthogonal arrangement by engaging the edge formations with one another.

This invention relates to inertial sensor assemblies.
It is known to micro-machine solid-state inertial sensing devices from monolithic blanks of material such as silicon. Such sensing devices may take the form of oscillating `tuning-forks` demonstrating detectable resonance when subjected to rotational accelerations (a form of solid-state rate gyro) or `spatula` cantilevered masses demonstrating detectable displacements when subjected to translation accelerations (a form of solid-state accelerometer). The material blanks into which such devices are micro-machined are also known to be treated to incorporate the integral analogue and/or digital electrical driving, sensing, processing and signalling devices necessary to render such blanks, on completion, active solid-state inertial sensing devices or `chips`.
These previous devices are micro-machined from essentially two-dimensional planar material blanks so that their resultant tuning forks and spatulas lie in the plane of the material. Since the resultant tuning-fork rate gyro senses rotation about its axis of symmetry, and since the resultant spatula accelerometer senses acceleration normal to its plane of symmetry, an array of such devices micro-machined from a planar blank of material is typically incapable of sensing rotations about more than two axes, or accelerations in more than one.
To sense rotations about three orthogonal axes, two such planar array devices are assembled into a three-dimensional form. To sense accelerations in three orthogonal axes three devices are similarly assembled. If inertial effects are to be measured precisely, the assemblies must be accurately orthogonal in alignment. Since planar array devices are small, it is difficult and costly to make and maintain accurate orthogonal alignment during assembly.
Inertial sensor assemblies are often used in aircraft and missiles, which are subject to high acceleration forces and vibration. It is important that any assembly including planar array devices be assembled in such a way that the accuracy of alignment is maintained during use despite these acceleration and vibration forces. Because the inertial sensor assemblies provide output signals to the navigational and flight control systems of the aircraft or missile, failure of the assembly during a high-force maneuver could have adverse consequences.

Smiths Industries Public Limited Company


A hydro concrete to pipe sealing arrangement consisting of a main sealing sleeve having a first end and a second end, the main sealing sleeve consisting of two halves which interfit with each other to accommodate dimension variations during forming of a concrete casing wall; a rubber sleeve having a first end and a second end, the rubber sleeve being located on an interior of the main sealing sleeve wherein the rubber sleeve is entirely surrounded by the main sealing sleeve; the rubber sleeve having rings located on an interior surface which face towards the first end of the rubber sleeve, wherein the rings will slant in the same direction as a pipe being inserted, the rings being compressed between the pipe and the rubber sleeve; at least two hydro penetration stopping rings formed on an exterior surface of the main sealing sleeve and extending radially opposite from the rubber sleeve; at least two retainer rings embedded within an interior of the rubber sleeve at the first end and the second end of the rubber sleeve, and seals located at the first end and the second end of the main sealing sleeve to create a seal between the pipe to be inserted and the concrete casing wall.

Any building that has a below ground opening such as a basement, will encounter ground water that may penetrate through the basement wall even if the wall is made of concrete. Concrete does have some kind of porous structure. The penetration may be stopped if the outside of the basement wall is coated with a substance like tar or similar materials. The water penetration problem is aggravated when a pipe is passing through the wail. Such a pipe can be a sewer pipe which must be placed through the basement wall at a height somewhat above the location of the main sewer pipe which is located away from the building or house. This arrangement will enable the sewage to flow by gravity from the building into the main sewage pipe. However, the pipe exiting from the basement wall is not water proofed in any way against the influx of ground water into the basement of the building. Various sleeves and seals are known to prevent any ground water from entering into the basement of a building. However, of what is known to the applicant, none are successful to prevent the above known problem.


A garment for supporting a wearer's breasts has a band for encircling a wearer's torso and a pair of cups for receiving at least a major part of a wearer's breast, and a pair of shoulder straps, each shoulder strap extending from a corresponding cup to a back portion of the garment. The garment has a pair of panel portions, each panel portion extending between the band and a corresponding cup of the pair of cups. Each panel portion has a folding portion that is foldable relative to the pair of cups so that the folding portions lie between a wearer's breasts and a wearer's torso, in use. The band, the shoulder straps and the panel portions are arranged such that the weight of a wearer's breasts are supported by both the shoulder straps and the band.

Bras provide support and enhance the shape of breasts. There has been a long sought need for an adequate supportive bra for women with a natural droop in their breasts. Conventional bras do not meet the needs of women whose breasts have acquired a natural droop in their breast due to size, breastfeeding, breakdown of breast tissue or any number of other causes.
Conventional bras are designed to try to defy gravity and uplift a wearer's breasts to create pert, non-sagging breasts. However, it is impossible to create completely upward sloping breasts out of breast tissue that has a natural droop. A woman with naturally dropping breasts must put her breasts into conventional bras that are unlikely to fit as well as they would on a wearer with non-sagging breasts. If it was physically possible to fit naturally drooping breasts into a conventional bra, and have the bra fit and work as it was designed to, women with naturally drooping breasts would have breasts poking straight out in the air, a significant distance out in front of them.
As a result of the natural droop in most women's breasts, conventional bras sit at the lowest sagging point of the breast tissue and try to pull the breast up from that lowest point. Not only does this result in a bra that doesn't fit properly, but it also results in several major design problems. An example of a conventional bra is shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B and is indicated generally by reference number 100. A conventional bra has a band 103, a pair of cups intended for receiving a wearer's breasts 105, and shoulder straps 109.
Firstly, all the weight of the breast B hangs completely on the shoulder strap 109; the resulting pressure on the shoulders of the wearer over time often results in large grooves in the shoulder tissue of the wearer as well as shoulder pain, aching and discomfort, as shown in FIG. 1A. This is an ever greater problem for wearers of conventional bras with larger breasts.
Secondly, the lower section of the bra rubs on the ribcage or torso T of the wearer as the natural droop breast moves during daily life activities to a much greater degree when compared with a firmer non drooping breast. This is again, an even greater problem for wearers with large natural droop breasts where women are known to be rubbed raw from the repeated daily rubbing movement of a conventional bra. This greater range of movement of the naturally drooping breast also means that the lace and overlay fabrics placed on conventional bras around the lower cup and arm sections of the bra results in an even greater chafing effect.
Thirdly, with the complete breast tissue of a naturally drooping breast not being fully enclosed in the cups 105 of a conventional bra, the underside of the breast B that touches the ribcage is not supported at all, as shown in FIG. 1B. This exacerbates the drooping of the breast as there is even more chance of a breakdown of the breast tissue resulting in further sagging.
Furthermore, in conventional bras, breasts that have a natural droop are prone to the significant issue of the wearer's breast tissue "climbing out" of the bra when any physical or bending down activity occurs. It can even result in the breast tissue completely coming out over top of the bra. Even with the wearer wearing a correctly sized bra, this happens because a breast with natural droop has a much greater range of movement during normal everyday activities than a firmer breast with no droop. The "four breast" look that results from breasts "climbing out" can at its worst result in serious health issues caused by damage to the breast tissue, and at its best be uncomfortable and look unsightly and unattractive.
Conventional bras often have a device at the lower edge of the cups to provide support. These devices are commonly known as underwires 107 and are inserted into and held within a fabric sleeve disposed about the periphery of the lower section of the bra cup. They are made from materials, such as bone, metal or plastic and are provided in various forms, shapes and cross-sections. Most commonly, the underwire is formed of relatively thin metallic pieces of rectangular cross section, shaped into essentially semi-circular or U-shaped for that allows the underwire to be fitted within a sleeve disposed about the periphery of the lower half of the bra cup.
These underwire structures have achieved widespread usage; however, a number of significant disadvantages can result from their usage in conventional bras when the breast has a natural droop. In particular due to the natural droop of the breast and the inability of conventional bras to encompass the whole breast, the rigid nature of underwires irritate and further amplify the rubbing and chafing effect of the conventional bra on the ribcage of the wearer.
The daily movement range of a breast with natural droop and the fact that the underwire is required to undertake the strain of the whole weight of the natural droop breast in an effort to pull the breast tissue up towards the shoulder, can result in the underwires snapping. This snapping of the underwires has been known to cause small stab wounds in the breast tissue or rib cage when the broken underwire pokes through the sleeve casing. The weight of the breast tissue with a natural droop breast sitting on conventional bras can also result in a distorting of the underwire outwards resulting in the underwire poking into skin of the wearer under the arms leading to discomfort and sometimes bruising. FIG. 1B shows the position of an underwire 107 of a conventional bra relative to the wearer's breast B, which contributes to the discomfort experienced by the wearer.
The placement of the straps 109 on a conventional bra also often results in the shoulder straps falling off the wearer's shoulders. This is due to the wide strap placement of straps on a conventional bra. Also a factor is the greater range of movement of the naturally drooping breast can put uneven pressure on the bra strap and when combined with the already wide placement of the straps of a conventional bra the strap moves and slides off.
With conventional bras that are made for larger cup sizes, the grading or sizing of the bras is-often just a smaller bra with every pattern piece made larger. When undertaking this grading or sizing of conventional bras, no changes are made to the base cup shape and strap placement and the resulting large cup sized conventional bras end up with very wide shoulder strap placement. No allowance is made for the fact that even though the wearer of the bra has larger breasts, they do not in fact have wider shoulders. This further exacerbates the underlying problem of shoulder straps falling off while wearing conventional bras for wearers with naturally drooping breasts. For women with naturally drooping breasts who also have a large cup size and a large rib size this is an even greater problem.
An adequate supportive and comfortable bra for any woman with a natural droop in her breasts is not available in the market.
An object of at least preferred embodiments of the invention is to provide a garment that addresses at least one of the issues discussed above and/or to at least provide the public with a useful choice.

Garment for supporting a wearer's breasts


An apparatus for performing volume measurement of a person, animal or object, and methods of making and using the same are described. The apparatus includes first and second chambers in gaseous communication, first and second pressure sensors that measure the air pressure inside the first and second chambers, a pump configured to move air from or to the first and/or second chambers, and a control system connected to the first and second pressure sensors and the pump. The first and second chambers have a volume that is substantially constant when the internal pressure changes. The control system stores values from the first and second pressure sensors, controls air movement to and/or from the first and second chambers, blocks air transfer between the first and second chambers, and determines the volume of the person, animal or object from pressure measurements before and after an air transfer between the first and second chambers.

Analysis of body volume may be very useful in a body conscious society to determine progress on reducing body fat and tracking cosmetic appearance. Weight measurement does not provide a complete picture of physical status due to the different densities of muscle cells versus fat cells. Two individuals may have the same weight and height, but have vastly different body volume and composition. Specific measurements such as waist circumference are often used as a proxy to determine changes in size of a person and expected fat composition. However, it may be useful and/or beneficial for an individual to be able to measure the entire volume of the body to determine the progress that exercise or diet may have on body shape and volume. A critical aspect of tracking such performance is the ability to easily and quickly get the measurement one is tracking.
A number of techniques are available on the market to help individuals determine their body composition. The simplest method is measurement of the circumference of specific body parts such as the waist or arms. This provides some information, but does not necessarily provide a complete picture of body volume. A more complete measurement of body volume can be achieved by a technique known as hydrostatic weighing. Here, a person is submerged in an enclosed, water-filled container. The volume of the water that is displaced by the body is equal to the volume of the body. The water volume displaced can be measured with simple geometric formulas, if the container is shaped regularly. Although the above technique can be accurate, it requires a person to go underwater, and may be unpleasant and/or burdensome for individuals. In addition, hydrostatic weighing is not a practical alternative for daily monitoring of body volume.
There are also other techniques to determine body fat percentage, but not necessarily body volume. These include skinfold measurement using calipers in which specific skinfold thicknesses are measured. Finally, bioelectric impedance analysis is another method to estimate body fat. This technique uses high frequency electric current through the body to measure its impedance. Using the different electrical impedances of fat tissue and muscle tissue, an estimate of body fat can be obtained. However, this technique is greatly affected by the state of hydration of the person, and generally has limited accuracy.
Use of air pressure and air displacement to measure volume is referred to as plethysmography. This technique has the potential to achieve the accuracy of hydrostatic weighing, without the inconvenience of the subject going into water. Although this general technique to determine volume has been discussed at least from the 1940s, there has yet to be a solution that is simultaneously accurate, fast, simple, and relatively low-cost. An ideal solution would allow person to get a volume measurement in a fashion similar to a weight scale, simply entering a chamber and getting a volume measurement in a matter of seconds. The current state of the art in such equipment (e.g., the BOD POD® body composition tracking system, available from Cosmed USA, Inc., Concord, Calif.) has not achieved this level of simplicity, speed, and cost. A medical assistant is necessary to operate the system while the person is being measured, and the overall measurement process may be relatively time-consuming. In addition, the user generally must wear a very tight fitting bathing suit during the measurement. The cost of such a system is prohibitively high for daily measurements or personal use by the general public.
Many prior attempts to design such a device require moving mechanical pistons. Others require movable diaphragms to modify the volume of one or both chambers. These techniques limit speed and significantly add to the manufacturing complexity of the system. U.S. Pat. No. 5,450,750 to Abler uses the following equation to determine the volume of air in a reference chamber:P1V1/T1=P2(V1+ΔV)/T2   (1)
A single chamber of varying volume is used to calculate the air displacement in the chamber. In formula (1), ΔV is the mechanical volume change of the single chamber. Mechanical components used to make such change-in-volume determinations can be expensive, slow, and unreliable, however.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,105,825 to Dempster requires the use of volume changes to compress and rarify the air and measure the resultant pressure changes across two chambers. Again, physical compression and rarefication of air through a volume change requires the chamber walls to be movable mechanically, as opposed to being fixed and/or rigid.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,144,763 to Vogelman describes two chambers, with a valve connecting the two chambers. However, Vogelman uses a single pressure sensor to determine a pressure change. The result is that the pressure must be equal in both chambers before a second pressure measurement can be made. Vogelman introduces Boyle's gas law, which states that for a given mass of gas, the pressure and volume are inversely proportional. By invoking Boyle's law as the primary equation for the measurement, the measurement depends on a single gas mass and its behavior under volume expansion. The use of a single pressure requires the air pressure to fully equalize before a pressure measurement can be useful. However, considering the flow rates and practical behavior of air valves (e.g., the flow rate is proportional to the difference in pressure between the two chambers), the time necessary to equalize pressure between two chambers can be substantial, causing user inconvenience, and more importantly, introducing significant sources of error to the measurement.
This "Discussion of the Background" section is provided for background information only. The statements in this "Discussion of the Background" are not an admission that the subject matter disclosed in this "Discussion of the Background" section constitutes prior art to the present disclosure, and no part of this "Discussion of the Background" section may be used as an admission that any part of this application, including this "Discussion of the Background" section, constitutes prior art to the present disclosure.

Dual chamber volume measurement apparatus and methods of making and using the same


A method for collecting acrylic acid is provided, which includes the step of collecting acrylic acid using an aqueous medium from a reaction gas containing acrylic acid obtained by catalytic vapor-phase oxidation of propane, propylene, and/or acrolein, the step being conducted so as to satisfy the following formula (1) (B/A)<1.25 (1) wherein A represents a weight fraction of acrylic acid to all condensable ingredients in the reaction gas before collecting acrylic acid and B represents a weight fraction of acrylic acid in bottoms of a collection device used in the step of collecting. According to the method, acrylic acid can be efficiently collected from the reaction gas containing acrylic acid obtained by catalytic vapor-phase oxidation.

Acrylic acid can be produced by catalytic vapor-phase oxidation of propane, propylene, acrolein, or the like and obtained by a method for collecting acrylic acid from a gas comprising acrylic acid using a collection solvent.
The conventional methods for the collection of acrylic acid using a solvent from a gas comprising acrylic acid include a method for collecting using water or an aqueous solution as a collection solvent.
In such a collection of acrylic acid using the aqueous solution from the gas comprising acrylic acid, a problem has occurred in that part of acrylic acid is entrained in the moisture contained in the gas discharged from a collection device instead of being collected, and then discharged together therewith.
To solve the problem, studies have been conducted on shape and arrangement of materials in a collection device, the composition of an aqueous solution used for the collection, and so on (e.g., JP 13-19655 A and JP 09-157213 A). However, acrylic acid distilled from the top of the collection column is influenced by operation conditions, so that it is difficult to suppress the loss of acrylic acid from the top of the column stably over long periods. Moreover, the method for employing high-performance packing as materials in the collection device is not a satisfactory method because there is a problem in that clogging tends to occur owing to the polymerization of acrylic acid when acrylic acid is distilled toward the top of the column in an increased amount along with variations in the operation.


Blocks in two different frames are subjected to Hadamard transform by first and second Hadamard transform circuits, and a sum component and a difference component are calculated for the components of the two blocks corresponding to each other to perform three-dimensional Hadamard transform, so that detection is made as to whether or not these blocks include a motion. While the sum component and the difference component are encoded for the block determined as including a motion, a motion detection result, rather than the difference component, is encoded for the block determined as including no motion. As a result, a high compression ratio can be achieved in video encoding with a small-scale circuit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an encoding circuit for achieving a high compression ratio in encoding video signals.
2. Description of the Related Art
The MPEG technique, one of the commonly employed conventional encoding techniques, is based on the principal of orthogonal transformation through inter-frame prediction coding and DCT (discrete cosine transform) and utilizes motion vectors to strengthen correlation between frames, thereby improving prediction accuracy and further enhancing the compression ratio. Another compression method for a DVC (digital video cassette) is based on DCT and an encoding method in which groups of encoding blocks are provided and such groups are combined to average the overall amount of generated codes (DV format). Other techniques include DPCM (differential pulse code modulation) and prediction coding. Further, Hadamard transform is also known as another encoding method.
However, as can be imagined from the basic principle thereof, both the MPEG and DV formats require a large encoding circuit, while other techniques which do not require large scale encoding circuits, such as DPCM and prediction coding, cannot be expected to achieve a high compression ratio.


The present invention provides a switching element in which an organic bistable material is disposed between two electrodes, this element having a high ratio of ON current to OFF current, a high threshold voltage, and a small spread. A switching element in which an organic bistable material layer comprising an organic bistable material having two stable values of resistance with respect to the applied voltage is disposed between at least two electrodes, wherein an organic material layer is provided between the organic bistable material layer and at least one of the electrodes. Electrically conductive fine particles are preferably dispersed in the organic materials layer.

In recent years, characteristics of organic electronic materials have been remarkably improved. In particular, the so-called organic bistable materials where, if a voltage is applied to the material, an electric current in a circuit rapidly increases at a voltage above a certain value and a switching phenomenon is observed have found application for switching elements for driving the organic EL display panels or for high-density memories.
FIG. 8 shows an example of a voltage-current characteristic of an organic bistable material demonstrating the above-described switching behavior.
As shown in FIG. 8, the organic bistable material has two current-voltage characteristics: a high-resistance characteristic 51 (OFF state) and a low-resistance characteristic 52 (ON state), and a nonlinear response characteristic such that if a bias Vb is applied in advance and then the voltage is raised to a threshold voltage (Vth2) or higher, a transition is made from the OFF state to the ON state, and if the voltage becomes equal to or less than another threshold voltage (Vth1), then a transition is made from the ON state to the OFF state and the resistance value changes.
In other words, the so-called switching operation can be performed by applying a voltage of Vth2 or higher or Vth1 or lower to the organic bistable material. Here, Vth1, Vth2 can be also applied as pulse voltages.
A variety of organic complexes are known as the organic bistable materials demonstrating such nonlinear response. For example, R. S. Potember et al. fabricated a switching element having two stable resistance values with respect to a voltage by using a Cu-TCNQ (copper-tetracyanoquinodimethane) complex (R. S. Potember et al. Appl. Phys. Lett. 34, (1979) 405).
Further, Kumai et al. used a single crystal of a K-TCNQ (potassium-tetracyanoquinodimethane) complex and observed the switching behavior caused by the nonlinear response (Kumai et al. Kotai Butsuri, 35 (2000) 35).
Furthermore, Ando et al. formed a thin film of a Cu-TCNQ complex by using a vacuum vapor deposition method, clarified switching characteristics thereof and investigated the possibility of application to an organic EL matrix (Ando et al. Preprints of Applied Physics Association Conference, Spring 2000, Vol. 3, 1236).
Further, with respect to the charge-transfer complexes composed of the above-described two components, Yang et al. obtained with an organic film composed of a single component a switching characteristic similar to that of the charge transfer complexes by sandwiching a very thin Al film with 2-amino-4,5-imidazole dicarbonitrile thin films (Yang Yang et al. Appl. Phys. Lett. 80, (2003) 362). With such configuration, because each complex is a thin film composed of a single component, the composition controllability is significantly improved over that of the conventional charge transfer complexes of two-component systems.
However, the above-described switching element using an organic material composed of a single molecule has the following problems.
Thus, the voltage Vth2 value that causes the transition from the OFF state to the ON state shown in FIG. 8 has a large spread and the characteristic is not stable. The cause of this spread has not yet been clarified. Apparently, very small peaks and valleys are present on the interface of the organic material layer and metal electrodes, and when a transition from the OFF state to the ON state occurs, an electric charge is injected into the organic material film due to electric field concentration on those peaks and valleys. At this time, the peaks and valleys on the interface are determined by the flatness of the organic material film, but because those very small peaks and valleys are difficult to control, the spread of Vth2 values occurs inevitably.
Further, when this switching characteristic is applied to driving other elements, a Vth2 value exceeding the operation voltage of the element to be driven is required for the organic bistable element. The problem is that, for example, in organic EL display panels and the like, this value has to be 10 V or higher, but in the above-described conventional switching elements the Vth2 value is as low as 3–5 V.
Moreover, in applications for organic EL display panels, memories, and the like, the above-described bistable material is usually used in a simple matrix configuration. In such simple matrix configuration, electrodes are locally formed as a pattern on an insulating substrate (usually, a glass substrate is used), the insulating substrate and electrodes appear alternately as a prime layer, and the above-described organic bistable material is formed, for example, by vapor deposition on the substances of two different types.
Here, the above-described organic bistable material is in the form of molecules with a comparatively low molecular weight that have electron-donating groups and electron-accepting groups, and a specific feature thereof is that they easily grow as grains because polarization is high. As a result, though a dense film is formed as small grains on the metal electrodes, larger grains are easily formed on the flat glass substrate having an amorphous structure.
For this reason, the problem associated with the conventional simple matrix configuration is that because the organic bistable film present on the glass substrate forms large grains, a large leakage current is generated on grain boundaries of the organic bistable film present on the glass substrate adjacent to the electrodes and this current increases the OFF current, thereby greatly reducing the ratio of the ON current of switching to the OFF current.
The present invention was created to resolve the above-described problems of the conventional technology and it is an object thereof to obtain an organic bistable element With a large Vth2 value, a small spread, and a large ratio of the ON current to the OFF current in a switching element in which an organic bistable material is disposed between two electrodes.


A sorbent capable of removing trace amounts of oxygen (ppt) from a gas stream at a high temperature above 200.degree. C. comprising a porous alumina silicate support such as zeolite containing from 1 to 10 percent by weight of ion exchanged transition metal such as copper or cobalt ions and 0.05 to 1.0 percent by weight of an activator selected from a platinum group metal such as platinum. The activation temperature, oxygen sorption and reducibility are all improved by the presence of the platinum activator.

There are many efficient sorbents for oxygen at moderate temperatures. Commercial oxygen sorbent (BASF catalyst R-3-11) which is believed to comprise 5-6 metals deposited on a silica support has an upper temperature limit of 250.degree. C. and is degraded by accidental exposure to atmospheric air at room temperature. In Principle, transition metals such as copper and cobalt are capable of reducing trace oxygen contamination in inert gases to sub parts-per-billion (ppb) levels over a wide temperature range (100.degree.-800.degree. C.). The favorable thermodynamics for these two metals is readily apparent from a consideration of equilibrium partial pressures of oxygen over copper or cobalt as shown in the following table.
TABLE I: ______________________________________ EQUILIBRIUM OXYGEN PARTIAL PRESSURES RESULTING FROM FORMATION OF COPPER AND COBALT OXIDES Po.sub.2 based on Po.sub.2 based on Po.sub.2 based on Temperature CuO Cu.sub.2 O CoO (K) (atm) (atm) (atm) ______________________________________ 400 1.0 .times. 10.sup.-31 600 3.0 .times. 10.sup.-18 1.8 .times. 10.sup.-22 700 2.0 .times. 10.sup.-14 2.9 .times. 10.sup.-18 800 1.4 .times. 10.sup.-11 4.1 .times. 10.sup.-15 5.40 .times. 10.sup.-24 900 2.1 .times. 10.sup.-9 1.1 .times. 10.sup.-12 1.37 .times. 10.sup.-20 1000 9.4 .times. 10.sup.-.sup.11 7.19 .times. 10.sup.-18 1100 1.19 .times. 10.sup.-15 1200 8.47 .times. 10.sup.-14 1300 3.13 .times. 10.sup.-12 ______________________________________
These values were obtained from the literature values of free energies of species involved in the overall oxidation reaction and the relationship EQU .DELTA.G.degree.=-RT ln K.sub.p
where .DELTA.G.degree. is the free energy change for the reaction and K.sub.p is the equilibrium constant.
Even though the equilibrium oxygen levels are very low at high temperature (400.degree. C.) the oxidation kinetics are very slow. Oxidation kinetics of transition metals such as copper can be catalyzed by supporting the metals on zeolites. Apparently, the oxidation is catalyzed by acid sites on the zeolite and leads to high rates of copper-utilization (above 75%) at the upper end of the temperature range (500.degree. C.). Cobalt has significantly better oxygen equilibrium removal values. These supported catalysts are stable at room temperature requiring heating to an elevated activation temperature above 150.degree. C.
Furthermore, there are several processes for forming special materials that require oxygen removal to parts per trillion level at temperatures up to 1000.degree. C. For example, processing of some materials and alloys in micro-gravity conditions and of certain semiconductors require high temperature and trace oxygen removal. Cobalt exchanged zeolites are capable of efficient oxygen absorption at temperatures up to the structural stability limit of the zeolite support.
Preparation of transition metal exchanged zeolites is relatively straightforward. However, reduction of such materials is not always practical. The zeolites are only stable up to temperatures of from 600.degree. to 800.degree. C. After extensive treatment of the cobalt containing zeolite sorbents with hydrogen at temperatures from 200.degree. to 650.degree. C. for periods up to 24 hours, there was little change of color of the samples, indicating a substantial lack of reduction.
After exposure of cobalt exchanged zeolite L and 13X sorbents with 4% hydrogen--argon gas mixture at 600.degree. C. for 16 hours followed by contact with oxygen at 600.degree. C. only a small amount of oxygen uptake occurred consistent with lack of reduction. While 600.degree. C. is somewhat outside the stability limit of zeolite 13X, zeolite L is stable at temperatures up to about 800.degree. C. An attempt to reduce cobalt exchanged zeolite L even at 800.degree. C. with hydrogen was not successful.

The United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration


The present subject matter provides foamable suspension gels that foam after release from a container. The foamable suspension gels contain at least one pharmaceutically active agent that is sparingly soluble to insoluble in water, a second pharmaceutically active agent, and optionally a third active agent.

There are many challenges in the topical application of pharmaceutically active agents. One major objective is to achieve percutaneous delivery of the active agent to the site of treatment. The composition should also have desirable cosmetic characteristics. Application should be easy and should not leave a noticeable residue on the surface of the skin. Moreover, the composition should not cause irritation, discomfort, or inconvenience.
Many antifungal and antibacterial agents are used topically to treat epidermal infections. Some antibiotics, such as tetracycline and clindamycin, are also used to treat acne and other skin diseases that are caused, directly or indirectly, by bacteria. One of the side-effects of systemically administered clindamycin is colitis, which can be dangerous and even fatal. Thus, in treating acne, it is desirable to administer clindamycin topically. Cleocin T®, manufactured by Pharmacia-Upjohn, contains clindamycin phosphate, which is inactive in vitro, but is hydrolyzed in vivo to the antibacterially active clindamycin. Cleocin T® is currently available as a gel, a lotion, and a topical solution, and is used for topical treatment of acne vulgaris.
Others have produced topical formulations containing a pharmaceutically active agent that is sparingly soluble to insoluble in water (e.g., benzoyl peroxide) and a second pharmaceutically active agent (e.g., clindamycin). For example, BenzaClin®, manufactured by Dermik Laboratories, and Duac®, manufactured by Stiefel Laboratories, each contain benzoyl peroxide and clindamycin. BenzaClin® and Duac® are currently available as topical gels. Others have described a suspension foam containing benzoyl peroxide and clindamycin, but the foam contains oil and requires a surfactant in addition to a dispersing emulsifier. See, U.S. Patent Publication 2005/0186147.
Lotion, gels and oil-based foams have the disadvantage of extended rub-in and may leave oily residues. The oil can also exacerbate acne. The solution form readily runs off the site of application, and therefore it is difficult to apply controlled amounts using the solution form.
The present subject matter provides a composition having at least one pharmaceutically active compound, which is useful for topical administration as described herein, as a foamable suspension gel that is non-runny, easy to apply, and does not leave a noticeable residue. The present foamable gel composition provides good control of the application of a small amount of product to the desired area.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A circuit (1) is described for detecting a reverse current condition of a DCDC converter (2). This circuit uses a simple logic gate such as an AND gate to sense the voltage on a determined node (7) of the DCDC converter, and the propagation of the gated signal (27) is controlled using the timing control signals SW1 and SW2 of the DCDC converter, together with delay cells (16 and 17), to ensure that the positive or negative state of the sensed voltage at said node (7) is propagated cleanly through the logic gate (18), the flip-flop or latch circuit (19) and the up-down counter (29) to the output timing control circuit (25). The up-down counter is incremented or decremented in dependence on the presence or absence of a reverse current condition at said node, and the count value (24) of the up-down counter determines the duration of the on-period of the second-phase timing control signal SW2.

DCDC converters are used to convert a first DC voltage into a second, usually higher, DC voltage. This may be achieved by applying the first DC voltage to an inductance, and varying or switching the current which flows in the inductance so as to produce a series of higher-magnitude positive-going and negative-going voltage peaks which are then rectified and smoothed by an output capacitor, and output as the second DC voltage to an output load. At certain points in the switching cycle, the circuit may enter a state in which current flows in the reverse direction. Such reverse current is undesirable, because it results in increased power loss. The effects of reverse current are particularly significant in low-power DCDC converters, in which the power loss due to the reverse current may be comparable to or even greater than the power transferred from the input to the output of the converter.
In order to avoid a reverse current condition, while still maximizing the power transfer through the converter, DCDC converters have been proposed which aim to achieve optimum switching timing by dynamically tuning the control timing signals in response to a cyclic variation in voltage at the sensing node of the DCDC converter circuit. For example, the voltage may be sensed at a predetermined time at the end of each forward current (second) phase, and, if no reverse current is detected, the duration of the next forward current flow phase can be increased slightly. If a reverse current is then detected, the duration of the next forward current phase is decreased again slightly. In this way, the DCDC converter switching timing control converges to the desirable situation in which the transition from one phase to the next occurs when there is zero current flowing in the converter. In DCDC converters with a cycle frequency of tens or hundreds of kilohertz, this convergence happens rapidly.
Existing reverse current detectors typically use an analog comparator for sensing voltage. However, comparators in principle require a constant bias current to operate, which increases the current consumption of the reverse current detector. Current consumption of such a comparator is not negligible in low-power converters, and especially at higher operating frequencies of hundreds of kilohertz.
In US2009/0237039A1 it was suggested to connect the reverse current sensing node of a DCDC converter operating in discontinuous mode to the non-inverting input of a flip-flop circuit in a reverse current detector. However, this arrangement also implies a not negligible current consumption in the flip-flop circuit, not least because the new value of the sensed voltage must be clocked through the flip-flop for every cycle.


A portable device and accompanying software provides users with a digital audio workstation with integrated tools take in raw audio data from physical inputs and map the raw data to various virtual outputs. Raw audio data for recording (recording data) is cast in real-time to a remote server. Monitoring data is simultaneously sent to collaborating devices via P2P protocols. The bitrate of the data for P2P transmissions can be adjusted to allow remote multiple users recording simultaneously to hear monitoring data in synchronicity, regardless of the speed of their respective internet connections. Face-to-face collaboration may be facilitated through the streaming of video data as the monitoring data. The low-latency of the P2P monitoring transmissions frees up bandwidth for the real-time streaming of the recording data. Audio recordings are uploaded to a central server, where they may be available to authorized collaborators for editing.

Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) are well established as having taken the place of multi-track tape recorders or other analog systems used for recording, editing and producing audio files. As the number of available commercial devices and application software in this space increases, the recording industry has become increasingly democratized and less reliant on professional, physical recording spaces. However, the performance and accessibility of more recent practices of streaming audio recording still depends heavily on bandwidth and latency limitations. High-speed networking and media compression technologies have made it possible to provide real-time multimedia services over the Internet, allowing remotely located individuals or groups may record streaming audio collaboratively in real-time. However, real-time multimedia transmission experiences several constraints. Because audio/video data is played out continuously, if the data does not arrive in time, the play out process will pause. Accordingly, all of the users participating in the real-time recording, particularly those with slower Internet connections, may not transmit or receive data on a timely or consistent basis, leading to imperfections in recorded audiovisual data. Additionally, web-based content distribution architecture suffers from server overloading when a large number of user requests arrive. These latency and complexity issues may necessitate re-recordings and/or extensive post-processing to synchronize or remove noise in audiovisual data, all of which can be expensive tasks, both in computational and time resources. Further still, collaborative creation may be further complicated by the use of multiple DAWs or interfaces by different users within a single recording session.
Therefore, additional solutions for resolving latency issues in digital audio recording, while still retaining a DAWs' robust functionality and user-friendliness, are generally desired.
In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. The use of the same reference numbers in different figures indicates similar or identical items or features. Moreover, multiple instances of the same part are designated by a common prefix separated from the instance number by a dash. The drawings are not to scale.

Digital audio workstation interface for streaming audiovisual data


There is provided an image editing apparatus, which comprises language image uniting dictionary storing informations on words, on relation between meanings of the words, and on image, a grammer dictionary storing grammer, image editing rule and, a language parsing means to parse a linguistic sentence, an image retrieving means to retrieve image information and an image editing means to edit image, and, being input information on an intended image in natural language, parses the input sentence, retrieves images for expressing the meaning thereof, processes and snystesizes the retrieved images, all automatically, so that, an intended image can be obtained by simple operation.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an image editing apparatus for retrieving and processing plural image parts and synthesizing them to a synthesized image, especially to the one to transfer the contents of natural language imput to a synthesized image.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, with the spread of word processor, it became possible for anybody to make a document so pretty as typeprinting. And, keeping step with this, there is eager demand for a function as to make easily illustration or synthesized image and take it into a document prepared by the word processor.
While, it has been put to practical use to arrange plural image parts on a background image and to edit to one synthesized image.
As a rudimentary method, in the past, functions to draw elementary figures such as a straight line, curve or circle and functions capable of applying simple process thereto were prepared, and these functions were properly combind to make various illustrations or figures. Further, it has been also practiced to store as parts the illustrations, figures or images made by the above described functions, to utilize again to improve the operation efficieny.
For the forming of more complicated synthesized image, it has been necessary, as a rule to store parts of images, to take out them by retrieving, and to combine and edit them retouching the parts or synthesizede images, if necessary.
Referring to the storing and retrieving of image parts, which comprises preparing plural image parts and background images and retrieving them one by one in accordance with the necessity for editing, various methods have been used; a method to use key words, and a method to store the images arranging them to upper and lower class relation, and to trace the relation looking at retrieved images from the top of the class relation to narrow down to the intended image.
As for editing, a procedure to enlarge or to reduce, for example, these background images and image parts, and a procedure to synthesize the parts on the background images were made independently by human agency, requiring complicated operation of input apparatus of a key board or mouse.
As an antecedent of an image editing apparatus using such method, Inoue, Shibata, and Nakasu, Filing system of image parts for image synthesis. The Trans. of the Inst. of Electronics, Informations and Communication Engineers (of Japan) Vol.J72-D II, No.11, PP.1824-1832 (1989-11), for example, can be mentioned.
However, with these method, to retrieve an intended image was not easy, since, by the keyword method matching of keyword needs very long time as the storing of image parts becomes large, and, by the method to arrange images according to their upper and lower relation the performace of the image data base depends much upon the person who prepares it.
With respect to editing, the retrieving, processing and synthesizing of the background images and image parts have to be made independently and inefficiently by hand work, and they required complex operation of various input apparatus as a keyboard or mouse, resulting in quite troublesome work, so that to make an expert of the operation long time of training were necessary.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


Various embodiments are generally directed to techniques to enable use of a transaction card of a user device to perform transactions. Embodiments may include method, techniques, and circuitry to cause a transaction card to extend from a user device to be used to perform the transactions. Further, the transaction card may retract into the housing the user device when not in use.

People carry many types of cards with them every day to perform day-to-day activities. The cards may include credit cards, debit cards, drivers' licenses, transportation passes, building access cards, and many other types of cards. Since people do not know which of the cards will be needed on any given day, most people carry all the cards that they may need with them every day. With the proliferation of card-capable terminals, people can end up carrying an inordinate number of cards with them every day. These cards are typically carried in a wallet or purse, making the wallet or purse big, bulky, and heavy.

Techniques to provide physical transaction card capabilities for a mobile device


An apparatus may include global control module, the global control module including a digital master clock generator and a master waveform generator. The apparatus may also include a plurality of resonator control modules, coupled to the global control module. A given resonator control module of the plurality of resonator control modules may include a synchronization module, having a first input coupled to receive a resonator output voltage pickup signal from a local resonator, a second input coupled to receive a digital master clock signal from the digital master clock generator, and a first output coupled to send a delay signal to the master waveform generator.

Ion implantation is a process of introducing dopants or impurities into a substrate via bombardment. Ion implantation systems may comprise an ion source and a series of beam-line components. The ion source may comprise a chamber where ions are generated. One type of ion implanter suitable for generating ion beams of medium energy and high energy uses a linear accelerator, or LINAC, where a series of electrodes arranged as tubes around the beam accelerate the ion beam to increasingly higher energy along the succession of tubes. The various electrodes may be arranged in a series of stages where a given electrode in a given stage receives an AC voltage signal to accelerate the ion beam.
LINACs employ initial stages that bunch an ion beam as the beam is conducted through the beamline. A given stage of the LINAC is used to increase ion energy by accelerating ions using, for example, a resonator generating an RF voltage that is applied to a given electrode or set of electrodes at the given stage. The RF voltage generates an oscillating electric field that is coupled into an ion beam being conducted through the LINAC by controlling the phase and amplitude of the RF voltage applied to the given LINAC stage.
A given RF resonator will be tuned to maintain resonance for optimum coupling of RF energy into an ion beam. Because a given LINAC may employ several stages, such as four stages, six stages, twelve stages, or more, a similar number of resonators are to be controlled to accelerate an ion beam through the LINAC. These multiple resonators will need accurate control to remain resonance, such as adjustments on the scale of nanoseconds or less. The more the resonance condition is maintained the greater the ability to accelerate an ion beam is. Moreover a given resonator used to control a given stage of a LINAC may be independent of other resonators linked to other stages. Accordingly, control of multiple resonators to the degree needed to maintain resonance in multiple different stages remains a challenge.
With respect to these and other considerations, the present disclosure is provided.

Controller and control techniques for linear accelerator and ion implanter having linear accelerator


A self-refresh control device may be provided. The self-refresh control device may include a refresh signal output circuit configured to generate self-refresh signals with an oscillator and provide a refresh signal. The self-refresh control device may begin a self-refresh mode in response to a clock enable signal and a self-refresh signal within a self-refresh entry period, and may prevent performance of a new self-refresh operation by delaying an additional self-refresh signal until after the self-refresh entry period has ended.

1. Technical Field
Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to a self-refresh control device, and more particularly, to a technology for reducing a self-refresh current.
2. Related Art
It may be desirable to use high-capacity dynamic random access memories (DRAMs) in mobile electronic appliances. The mobile electronic appliances may include smartphones or the like. Generally, data stored in memory cells of a semiconductor memory device such as DRAM may be changed by a leakage current. Therefore, a refresh operation for periodically recharging data stored in the memory cells is needed.
A memory cell of a dynamic semiconductor memory, such as a DRAM, stores data in a capacitive element. Due to leakage of charges from the capacitive element, the memory cell must be periodically refreshed. The refresh process performs the read operation for restoring a level of charges stored in the memory cell to an original state.
Specifically, a semiconductor memory device, such as Double Data Rate Synchronous DRAM (DDR SDRAM), includes a plurality of memory banks for storing data therein. Each memory bank may include tens of millions of memory cells therein. Each memory cell includes a cell capacitor and a cell transistor. The semiconductor memory device may charge or discharge the cell capacitor to store data therein.
The amount of charges stored in the cell capacitor must be, ideally, constant in so far as an additional control signal is not used. However, the amount of charges stored in the cell capacitor is unavoidably changed due to a difference in voltage between the cell capacitor and the peripheral circuit.
In other words, charges may be leaked outside under the condition that the cell capacitor is charged with electricity, or charges may be received under the condition that the cell capacitor is discharged. Changing the amount of charges stored in the cell capacitor may indicate that data stored in the cell capacitor is changed, resulting in loss of the stored data. The semiconductor memory device may perform the refresh operation to prevent the stored data from being lost.
Different types of refresh methods have been developed. Generally, the auto refresh method uses a refresh timer located outside of a memory chip, such that the memory chip can perform the refresh operation in response to a periodic refresh command from a controller.
The self refresh method uses a refresh timer located inside the memory chip, such that all the memory chips are configured to request a refresh start command from the controller.


A vertical DRAM and fabrication method thereof. The vertical DRAM has a plurality of memory cells on a substrate, and each of the memory cells has a trench capacitor, a vertical transistor, and a source-isolation oxide layer in a deep trench. The main advantage of the present invention is to form an annular source diffusion and an annular drain diffusion of the vertical transistor around the sidewall of the deep trench. As a result, when a gate of the transistor is turned on, an annular gate channel is provided. The width of the gate channel of the present invention is therefore increased.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a vertical DRAM and a fabrication method thereof, and more particularly, to a vertical DRAM with annular sources/drains and annular channels and a fabrication method thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
With the development of modern technology, integration circuits and electrical products have been pushed for size reductions to match the trend of high integration and high density. In a conventional planar trench capacitor DRAM, the source, gate, and drain of a MOS transistor are horizontally located on the surface of the substrate. The distance between the source and the drain determines the length and width of the channel of the gate, which is an important factor affecting the design of the size of the MOS transistor. In a conventional design, the distance between the source and drain occupies larger area and may limit the improvement of the integrations of the semiconductor elements. Therefore a vertical transistor structure is produced.
Generally speaking, the fabrication of a vertical transistor structure involves etching the substrate for producing a deep trench, fabricating a trench capacitor in the deep trench, and locating the drain, gate, and source vertically in the deep trench so that a vertical channel is formed in the upper portion of the deep trench to reduce the horizontal area per transistor. Since a plurality of vertical transistors arranged in a matrix form a vertical DRAM, the vertical transistor can raise the integration of the semiconductor elements. The prior-art fabrications of the vertical DRAM have been disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,583,462 and 6,608,168.
However, the prior-art vertical DRAM has a disadvantage that the width of the channel is too narrow, especially when the size of the trench capacitor is smaller 0.1 μm. A narrow width of the channel may cause the sufficient current to be too small, resulting in a bad performance of the DRAM. According to the prior-art vertical DRAM, after fabricating the capacitor and transistor in the deep trench, most of the upper portion of the deep trench is removed for forming the shallow trench isolation (STI) and defining the active area. Therefore the gate conductive layer, drain, and source of the transistor, and even the capacitor, can only use a portion of the sidewall of the deep trench. As result, the size of the gate conductive layer, drain, and source fix the width of the channel, formed as the transistor opening, in a small portion of the sidewall of the deep trench.

Vertical DRAM and fabrication method thereof


There is provided mechanisms for initiating a beam sweep procedure. A method is performed by a radio transceiver device. The method includes initiating, for a candidate beam set, a beam sweep procedure for communication with another radio transceiver device. Each beam in the candidate beam set has an associated angular spread value. During the beam sweep procedure, beams in the candidate beam set are swept in an order weighted according to the angular spread values.

In communications networks, there may be a challenge to obtain good performance and capacity for a given communications protocol, its parameters and the physical environment in which the communications network is deployed.
For example, for future generations of mobile communications systems frequency bands at many different carrier frequencies could be needed. For example, low such frequency bands could be needed to achieve sufficient network coverage for terminal devices and higher frequency bands (e.g. at millimeter wavelengths (mmW), i.e. near and above 30 GHz) could be needed to reach required network capacity. In general terms, at high frequencies the propagation properties of the radio channel are more challenging and beamforming both at the network node at the network side and at the terminal devices at the user side might be required to reach a sufficient link budget.
In general terms, the use of beamforming could imply that the terminal devices will be not only operatively connected to the network node via a beam but also performs a handover between (narrow) beams instead of between network nodes of different cells, or between transmission and reception points (TRPs) of one and the same network node. At higher frequency bands high-gain beamforming with narrow beams could be used due to more challenging radio propagation properties than at lower frequency bands. Each beam will only be optimal within a small area and the link budget outside the optimal beam will deteriorate quickly. Hence, frequent and fast beam switching is needed to maintain high performance. This is hereinafter referred to as beam management. One purpose of so-called beam management is thus for the network node to keep track of its served terminal devices with narrow beams (as used at the TRP of the network node and/or at the terminal devices) in order to increase coverage and throughput.
For example, the so-called new radio (NR) access technology being considered for fifth generation (5G) telecommunications system could utilize so-called massive multiple-input multiple output (MIMO) systems for transmission and reception. This enables both spatial multiplexing and advanced beamforming. Beamforming is typically used with an aim to improve radio link quality and coverage whilst spatial multiplexing might improve user throughput and capacity. With sufficient number of antennas, such as used for so-called massive MIMO systems, both spatial multiplexing and advanced beamforming can be supported, enabling beamformed spatial multiplexing.
Beamforming could be implemented by means of analog beamforming, digital beamforming, or hybrid beamforming. Each implementation has its advantages and disadvantages.
For example, in analog beamforming using a "grid of beams" setup, a fixed set of beams is predefined and the network node at the network-side selects one of these beams for serving its terminal devices at the user-side at each transmission occasion. Due to e.g. the movement of terminal devices the beam choices are updated continuously to follow the changes in position of the terminal devices.
New transmission beams might be tested by transmitting, from the TRP of the network node, reference signals on candidate beams and receiving measurement reports from the terminal devices. Different beam sweep procedures can be used to select which candidate beams to test. One alternative is to perform an exhaustive beam sweep where all beams are repeatedly tested. This is a simple beam sweep procedure to implement and does not dependent on any input information. However, to select all beams as candidate beams might be costly in terms of signaling overhead and may delay the beam switch, thus risking service of the terminal devices to be interrupted.
Another alternative is to prioritize testing of beams close in angle to the used beam. This reduces overhead since the set of candidate beams is reduced to only the neighboring beams (in angular sense) to the beam currently used. However, it could still be challenging to find the best beams to serve the terminal devices in an efficient manner.
Hence, there is still a need for improved beam sweep procedures.


A system for tracking the point of gaze of an observer observing an object comprises a camera for recording an image of an eye of the observer, comprises a means for providing a luminous marker, and means for analyzing the image of the eye to determine the reflection of the marker on the eye and the centre of the pupil. The relative positions of the corneal reflection of the marker and the pupil centre are measured. The marker is repositioned, in dependence on the determined relative positions, to improve correspondence between the corneal reflection of the marker and the pupil center.

A system and method of the above type is known from US patent application US 2006/0110008.
In this document a number of markers are provided and at least one marker of which the corneal reflection is within a threshold distance of the pupil centre is identified or at least two markers having a corneal reflection close to the centre of the pupil. The identified marker or markers are indicative of the observer's point of gaze at the object.
Continuous measurement of the viewing direction or also called gaze is commonly referred to as 'gaze-tracking' (often the more ambiguous term 'eye-tracking' is used). There are various methods to perform gaze tracking Video capture has shown to be a viable option for remote and truly unobtrusive gaze tracking. However, virtually all gaze tracking systems require a user-specific calibration after which the user is allowed only little head movement. Consequently, these systems are confined to desktop usage and not suitable for consumer applications. In consumer applications, user-specific calibration is not a realistic option. Calibration-free gaze tracking is widely pursued by several research centres, often by extrapolating on the basis of existing concepts (more cameras, more processing). The observer can be a human, whether an adult or a child, but also an animal.
US 2006/0110008 attempts to remedy the problem and to provide a calibration-free system and method. In the situation that the eye is gazing at a light source, its reflection in the cornea appears to coincide with the pupil centre. The system and method of 2006/011008 provides a number of markers on the object. In the recorded image of eye the marker having a corneal reflection within a threshold distance of the pupil centre, or a number of markers having a corneal reflection close to the pupil centre are identified. These are used to estimate the direction of gaze.
However, the known system has a number of shortcomings:                each of the markers has to be labelled. This condition requires a number of video frames to be analysed before identification of a marker can be made. This introduces latency in the gaze tracking. Given the motility of the eye, temporal latency quickly gives rise to motion artefacts.        Where one marker is used, there is always an inaccuracy equivalent to the threshold distance in the accuracy of the established gaze direction.        Where more than one marker is used interpolation is required. This requires computation power and introduces inaccuracies.

System and method for tracking the point of gaze of an observer


The chopping type comparator is provided with a capacitor which receives at its one end two input signals to be compared with each other through first and second analog switches alternately switchable between a conductive state and a nonconductive state. A clocked inverter is connected at its input terminal to another end of the capacitor. The clocked inverter is changed to an inactive state when one of the first and second analog switches is made conductive. A third analog switch is coupled between the input and output terminals of the clocked inverter. The third analog switch is made conductive concurrently when said one of the first and second analog switches is made conductive.

The present invention relates to a chopping type comparator driven by an inverter for comparing a pair of input signals with each other.
FIG. 3 is a circuit diagram showing a structure of a conventional chopping type comparator. In the figure, there are provided a pair of input terminals A and B receptive, respectively, of input signal voltages VA and VB to be compared with each other. The comparator is further provided with a control terminal C receptive of a control signal CONT. A pair of analog switches 1 and 2 are comprised of a field effect transistor of the metal/oxide/semiconductor (MOS) structure. Respective one ends of the analog switches 1 and 2 are connected to the input terminals A and B, and respective other ends thereof are connected commonly to each other. The one analog switch 2 receives at its gate electrodes the control signal CONT, and the other analog switch 1 receives at its gate electrode an inverted one of the control signal CONT through an inverter 3. A capacitor 4 is connected at its one end to a common junction node of the analog switches 1 and 2. The other end of the capacitor 4 is connected to an input terminal of a complimentary MOS inverter or CMOS inverter 5. An analog switch 6 is connected between the input terminal and an output terminal OUT of the CMOS inverter 5, and is operated in response to the control signal CONT to switch between a conductive state and a nonconductive state.
In operation of the above described conventional comparator, the analog switches 2 and 6 are placed concurrently in the conductive state when the control signal CONT holds "1" level. Consequently, the input signal voltage VB is applied to the one end of the capacitor 4, and the CMOS inverter 5 is shorted between the input and output terminals thereof through the analog switch 6. In this operation, since the CMOS inverter 5 is composed of a pair of P channel transistor and N channel transistor having substantially the same driving ability, the CMOS inverter 5 has an input/output transfer characteristic terms of a varying input voltage VIN as shown in FIG. 4(a). As seen in the figure, as the input voltage VIN increases at the CMOS inverter 5, its output voltage VOUT is inverted from a high level to a low level when the input voltage VIN reaches a half level of a power supply voltage VDD. Therefore, the input voltage VIN and the output voltage VOUT are both held at VDD/2 because the CMOS inverter 5 is shorted between its input and output terminals through the conductive analog switch 6. Accordingly, when the control signal CONT is turned to "1" level, the capacitor 4 is charged to build up a voltage of VDD/2- VB at the one end thereof through the conductive analog switch 2.
Next, when the control signal CONT is turned to "0" level, the analog switches 2 and 6 are concurrently turned off while the analog switch 1 is placed in the conductive state so that the other signal voltage VA is applied to the one end of the capacitor 4. Consequently, the CMOS inverter 5 receives an input voltage VIN in the level of VDD/2-VB+VA which is a sum of the precedingly charged voltage VDD/2-VB and the succeedingly applied voltage VA. In cases of VA>VB, VIN>VDD/2 is held so that the output voltage VOUT of the CMOS inverter 5 is turned to a low level. On the other hand, in case of VA<VB, VIN<VDD/2 is held so that the output voltage VOUT of the CMOS inverter 5 is turned to a high level. By such operation, the CMOS inverter 5 produces the output voltage VOUT indicative of a comparison result between the pair of signal voltages VA and VB.
In the conventional chopping type comparator, as shown in FIG. 5, the input voltage VIN of the CMOS inverter 5 is held at the intermediate level of VDD/2 while the control signal CONT is turned to "1" level. As shown in FIG. 4(b), the CMOS inverter consumes a great amount of driving current I in case that the input voltage VIN is held around VDD/2. The considerable driving current I flows through the CMOS inverter 5 throughout a period during which the control signal CONT is held at "1" level as shown in FIGS. 5(a) and 5(c). Thus, the conventional chopping type comparator suffers from a wasteful power consumption.

Chopping type comparator with clocked inverter


Provided is an optical fiber scanner capable of generating an image with excellent image quality, which displaces an emission end of an optical fiber by means of an optical scanning actuator and scans light emitted from the optical fiber, in which the optical fiber 31 includes a photonic crystal fiber at least in a propagation path of the light leading to the optical scanning actuator.

Some scanning endoscope apparatuses are known to scan an inspection site by irradiating illumination light toward the inspection site from an optical fiber extending through inside a scope while displacing, by an optical scanning actuator, the emission end of the optical fiber, and to detect light reflected from the inspection site, to thereby observe the image (see, for example, PTL 1).

Optical fiber scanner and scanning endoscope apparatus