A system for communicating via a wireless link is disclosed. The system may include a watch movement, a wristband, or an appliance. The system may also include a microprocessor having a Bluetooth® low energy radio. The microprocessor may be configured to receive a notification of an event from a Bluetooth® device and, in response to receiving the notification, activate an indicator on the watch movement, wristband, or appliance. Furthermore, the microprocessor may be configured to receive user input and transmit data via a Bluetooth® link to a smartphone or tablet where it may be received by an application.

An entire generation exists today that has never experienced life without a mobile phone. This generation, sometimes called the "Connected Generation" or "Generation C" is always in touch, even when on the move, on account of the proliferation of smart phones, the internet, tablet computers, laptops, etc. More recently social networks have erupted, with the predominant social network sites having over 800 Million subscribers.
Therefore, some people have become dependent upon immediate access to their social networks, and mobile computing platforms have become more and more prevalent. For example, some teenagers text constantly; sending over 10,000 texts a month. Other people spend more time on their social network pages than they do watching television. These people want to know immediately when something occurs in their social networks or when they receive a text so that they cars respond.
Devices—such as smart watches, connected music players (e.g. iPod Touch and iPod Nano devices), smartphones, tablet computers, and eBook readers—have evolved to address this need. Most are connected directly to the internet via Wi-Fi links or via the 3G or 4G network. Others may use classic Bluetooth® wireless technology to extend mobile phone notifications to a smart watch or some other accessory.
These devices have become smaller and more readily available, featuring many of the features of the mobile phone and placing it directly on the wrist. However, these devices suffer from major drawbacks. They generally require frequent recharging and are typically not waterproof. Thus, users are forced to worry about yet another device that they need to recharge and that they cannot use in the shower or the outdoors.
Bluetooth® Low Energy technology has enabled further development of new devices, such as smart watches, by reducing the power consumed by the radio link and thus enabling the use of coin-cell batteries. These watches typically have rich interfaces and display text on the watch face. Users of these devices frequently complain that they cannot read the text on account of its small size, that the digital display is not very elegant, and that they prefer an analog watch.
As low power wireless technology continues to develop and become more ubiquitous, with native mobile device support tor the technology being offered and with Application Interfaces (APIs) to facilitate the creation of new mobile applications, it further opens the door for innovation whereby ordinary devices may be enhanced through the addition of this low power wireless technology.
The connected device platform is a Bluetooth® Low Energy (BTLE) platform that addresses the user's need to stay connected by extending the user's social network to devices such as analog watches, headsets, backup batteries, or even coffee makers. The connected, device platform also offers extended visibility and control over these devices directly from the mobile device, and enables users to respond to events on their mobile device directly from their connected device.
Because of the low power consumption of the Bluetooth® Low Energy connection, these devices may never require recharging and may enjoy a battery life of up to 1 year or more on a single coin-cell battery.
Furthermore, because of its small size, 10 structures, and specialized firmware that can maximize the microprocessor's computational capability, the connected, device platform may directly drive an analog or digital watch display and manage multiple digital inputs and outputs. Thus the connected device platform may be integrated into a connected analog watch movement.

Bluetooth low energy watch with event indicators and activation


Novel, computationally efficient schemes for deterministic wavelet thresholding with the objective of optimizing maximum-error metrics are provided. An optimal low polynomial-time algorithm for one-dimensional wavelet thresholding based on a new dynamic-programming (DP) formulation is provided that can be employed to minimize the maximum relative or absolute error in the data reconstruction. Directly extending a one-dimensional DP algorithm to multi-dimensional wavelets results in a super-exponential increase in time complexity with the data dimensionality. Thus, novel, polynomial-time approximation schemes (with tunable approximation guarantees for the target maximum-error metric) for deterministic wavelet thresholding in multiple dimensions are also provided.

Several studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of the wavelet decomposition as a tool for reducing large amounts of data down to compact wavelet synopses that can be used to obtain fast, accurate approximate answers to user queries. While conventional wavelet synopses are based on greedily minimizing the overall root-mean-squared (i.e., L2-norm) error in the data approximation, recent work has demonstrated that such synopses can suffer from important problems, including severe bias and wide variance in the quality of the data reconstruction, and lack of non-trivial guarantees for individual approximate answers. As a result, probabilistic thresholding schemes have been recently proposed as a means of building wavelet synopses that try to probabilistically control other approximation-error metric, such as the maximum relative error in data-value reconstruction, which is arguably the most important for approximate query answers and meaning full error guarantees.
One of the main open problems posed by this earlier work is whether it is possible to design efficient deterministic wavelet-thresholding algorithms for minimizing general, non-L2 error metrics that are relevant to approximate query processing systems, such as maximum relative or maximum absolute error. Such algorithms can guarantee better wavelet synopses and avoid the pitfalls of probabilistic techniques (e.g., bad coin-flip sequences) leading to poor solutions.

Deterministic wavelet thresholding for general-error metrics


A parameter setting apparatus, which can independently set parameter values for controlling tones in units of parameters. Operation member sets, each including UP and DOWN operation members and a PRESET operation member, are arranged on an operation panel (2) in correspondence with parameters. When a user depresses a given PRESET operation member, a preset value supplier (21) reads out a preset value of the corresponding parameter from preset data stored in a preset memory (6), and supplies the readout value to a working memory (5), thereby rewriting the value of the corresponding one of parameters stored in the working memory (5) with the readout preset value. Upon operation of an UP or DOWN operation member, the value of the corresponding parameter in the working memory (5) is incremented or decremented.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a parameter setting apparatus for an electronic musical instrument, which sets various parameters for controlling tones generated by the electronic musical instrument.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, tone colors, tone volumes, tone pitches, effects, and the like of tones generated by an electronic musical instrument such as an electronic keyboard, a synthesizer, or the like are controlled according to preset parameters (variable control data). Upon setting of the parameters, a parameter setting apparatus is used.
In a conventional parameter setting apparatus, initial data are read out from a memory such as a ROM upon power-ON, and parameters are set on the basis of the readout data. When a parameter value is to be changed, an operation member for incrementing/decrementing the parameter value is operated to increment or decrement the parameter value step by step. In an apparatus which can use preset data upon setting of parameters, a user changes parameter values in advance, and stores the changed values in a memory as preset data. When the user operates an operation member called a registration switch, parameters are set on the basis of the stored preset data.
In the conventional parameter setting apparatus, when parameters are set on the basis of preset data, the parameter values cannot be independently preset. More specifically, when the registration switch is operated, all the parameter values are simultaneously set as preset values on the basis of the preset data, and only a specific parameter value cannot be set as a preset value.

Electronic musical instrument with simplified operation for setting numerous tone parameters


Arrangements to identify, in some form, multiple participants by an interactive surface system utilizing multi-touch technology are disclosed. The interactive surface system could identify, authorize, and allocate space on a surface for a participant based on identifying at least one attribute of the participant such as an object associated with the participant. The method can include searching for a first distinctive attribute of the participant, assigning an identifier to the attribute, and storing the identifier for future use. Other embodiments are also disclosed.

The present disclosure relates generally to interactive surface systems and more particularly to assigning identities to participants and to authenticating participants proximate to a multi-touch interactive surface system.
User friendliness of computers continues to be enhanced by better user interfaces. User interfaces for computer systems have evolved significantly since the personal computer (PC) first became widely available. Early PCs used rather primitive user input devices, where a single keyboard was the only human input mechanism. The vast improvement in microprocessors, available memory, and programming functionality have all contributed to the advancement of user interface designs and the development of user friendly graphic based operating systems and hardware.
One particular area of advancement in user interface technology pertains to surface computing technology. Surface computing allows any number of users to interact with a computer through an interactive surface. The computer can render a graphical user interface ("GUI") on the surface and multiple users may manipulate GUI displayed "objects" directly with their hands using multi-touch technology as opposed to using traditional input devices such as a mouse or a keyboard. In such a manner, the devices through which users provide input and receive output are merged into a single surface, which provides an intuitive and efficient mechanism for users to interact with the computer.
As surface computing becomes more ubiquitous in everyday environments, readers will appreciate advancements in how users may utilize surface computing to intuitively and efficiently perform tasks that may be cumbersome using traditional input devices such as a keyboard and mouse. More specifically in this case, the advancement pertains to the detection of something near an interactive surface, which is sometimes referred to as proximity detection. Generally, as applied to user interfaces, proximity detection is thus concerned with the detection of multiple objects and/or gestures, including inanimate objects, and persons, through the use of a user's hand or finger, for example, when in proximity of a user interface or surface. Such a system is commonly referred to as a multi-touch interactive system. Such a system can include a touch screen, touch tablet or touchpad that recognizes multiple simultaneous touch points and typically has software to interpret such simultaneous touches.
There are several detection technologies that may be utilized for proximity detection in connection with a user interface, including capacitance-based systems, infrared, and various optical-based detection systems. Optical-based proximity detection techniques have been developed that provide for illuminating an entire user interface surface with light and employ a digital video camera to recognize objects that are either in contact or proximate to a graphic display surface, based upon the light reflected from the objects. Interactive surfaces also allow for file sharing where the contents of a file can be projected to each user. The ways to detect objects and share files could be improved if there was better coordination between participants using the interactive surface or proximate to the interactive surface as only limited coordination capabilities exist.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Arrangements for identifying users in a multi-touch surface environment

International Business Machines Corporation


The anchor member (1) includes an anchoring base (2) having a peripheral proximal wall (5) that inwardly delimits a proximal cavity, and a proximal stud (3) including a distal articulation portion (7) received in the proximal cavity, the proximal wall (5) including a peripheral proximal rim (6) ensuring retention of the distal articulation portion (7) in that proximal cavity. According to the invention, the distal articulation portion (7) has a peripheral edge dimensioned to come into the immediate vicinity of the inner surface of the proximal wall (5), and has a convex distal surface (9) whereof the apex is situated substantially at the axis of the proximal stud (3); and the anchor member (1) includes an elastically deformable element (10) placed in the bottom of said proximal cavity, having a curved shape whereof the apex is situated substantially at the axis of the proximal cavity, the surface (9) bearing against this element (10), and the latter being permanently elastically deformed such that it continuously presses the portion (7) against the rim (6).

To immobilize part of the vertebral column, in particular to treat the degeneration of an intervertebral disc, it is well known to use vertebral osteosynthesis equipment comprising anchor members for anchoring to the vertebrae (pedicular screws and/or laminar hooks), connecting rods making it possible to connect said anchor members to one another, and connectors making it possible to connect said connecting rods to said anchor members.
An anchor member is frequently "polyaxial," i.e. comprises a threaded proximal stud articulated relative to an anchoring base, the stud comprising a distal articulation portion and the anchoring base forming a proximal cavity in which said distal articulation portion is received. Patent publication No. EP 0 986 339, in the applicant's name, illustrates an anchor member of this type.
In the known equipment, the proximal studs of the anchor members are, in general, freely movable in the proximal cavities of the anchoring bases, which leads them to adopt by gravity inclined positions relative to the anchoring bases when the anchor members are implanted. These inclined positions are most often bothersome in the implantation site, which is deep and has small dimensions.
The documents US 2003/163133, US 2006/229606, US 2010/100137, EP 0 861 636 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,800,435 show various existing devices that do not resolve this essential drawback.

Anchor member for vertebral osteosynthesis equipment


The invention concerns a piston compressor, particularly a hermetic refrigerant compressor, with a compression chamber, which is limited by a valve plate arrangement having a valve plate with a suction gas opening and a pressure gas opening, a suction valve plate with a suction valve element, and a pressure valve plate with a pressure valve element. It is endeavoured to achieve a good efficiency combined with a simple assembly. For this purpose, it is ensured that the pressure valve plate and the suction valve plate are located on the side of the valve plate facing the compression chamber.

Such a refrigerant compressor is known from, for example, DE 199 15 918 C2. A suction valve is fixed on the valve plate bottom side facing the compression chamber. A pressure valve is fixed on the opposite valve plate upper side, where it is located in a recess. A sealing is located between the cylinder adopting the compression chamber and the valve plate, and an additional sealing is located between the valve plate and the cylinder head cover. Together with a partition wall formed in the cover, this additional sealing ensures that the suction side and the pressure side are separated from each other. For this purpose, it is required that the complete cylinder head arrangement be assembled by means of screw bolts and fixed on the cylinder. In order to achieve a sufficient tightness, high tightening forces are required. Further, only narrow manufacturing tolerances are permitted. When the separation between the suction side and the pressure side is not realised satisfactorily, compressed, and thus hot, gas from the pressure side can reach the suction side, which reduces the efficiency of the compressor.
The tightening forces, which can be achieved with screws, are limited. Also, the forces, with which the parts forming the cylinder head are assembled, cannot in other ways be increased to a value exceeding a predetermined value, as this would cause a too high material strain.

Piston compressor, particularly a hermetic refrigerant compressor


A digital image frame and method for using the same are provided. In one embodiment, the digital image frame is coupled with a computer system via a local area network (LAN). Data is sent between the digital image frame and computer system.

The rapid buildup of telecommunications infrastructure combined with substantial investment in Internet-based businesses and technology has brought Internet connectivity to a large segment of the population. Recent market statistics show that a majority of households in the U.S. own at least one personal computer (PC), and a significant number of these PCs are connected to the Internet. Many households include two or more PCs. Decreases in the cost of PC components such as microprocessors, hard disk drives, memory, and displays, have driven the commoditization of PCs. Although the majority of household PCs are connected to the Internet by dialup modem connections, broadband connectivity is being rapidly adopted, and is decreasing in price as a variety of technologies are introduced and compete in the marketplace. A large majority of households in the U.S. and Europe are viable for at least one or more type of broadband connection, such as cable, DSL, optical networks, fixed wireless, or two-way satellite transmission.
A market for home networking technology has emerged, driven by the need to share an Internet connection between two or more PCs, and to connect all the PCs to productivity peripherals. There has been innovation in local area network (LAN) technology based on end-user desire for simplicity and ease of installation. Installing Ethernet cable is impractical for a majority of end-users, therefore a number of no-new-wires technologies have been introduced. The Home Phoneline Networking Association (HPNA) promotes networking products that turn existing phone wiring in the home into an Ethernet physical layer. Networking technology that uses the AC power wiring in the home to carry data signals has also appeared. Similar to HPNA devices, adapters are required to convert data signals from devices into voltage fluctuations carried on to and off of the AC wires, allowing any AC outlet to become a network interface.
Wireless radio-frequency (RF) LAN technology has also been introduced into the home networking market. Theoretically, wireless technology is the most convenient for the end user to install. There are currently two prevalent standards for wireless networking, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11b and HomeRF. Both of these systems utilize the unlicensed 2.4 Ghz ISM band as the carrier frequency for the transmission of data. Both of these technologies have effective ranges of approximately 150 feet in a typical household setting. Adapters that are RF transceivers are required for each device to communicate on the network. In addition to utilizing Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) protocols, IEEE 802.11b and HomeRF include additional encryption and security protocol layers so that the user's devices have controlled access to data being sent through the LAN.
Due to market competition and the effect of Moore's Law, home networking technology is greatly increasing in performance and availability, while decreasing in price. For example, the IEEE 802.11 technology roadmap shows the introduction of 802.11a at 54 Mbps, also utilizing the 5 Ghz band. It is important to note that LAN data-rates are increasing much faster than wide-area (broadband) data-rates, such as the data-rates provided by "last mile" technologies including DSL, DOCSIS.
While networked PCs with Internet connectivity provide greater convenience for productivity applications, there are other trends that are influencing end user's content experiencing habits. Most notably, the digitization of content across all media types is creating portability and reusability that are affording new uses and content presentation scenarios. For example, Personal Video Recorders (hereafter PVRs are increasing in popularity. These devices are an improvement on VCR "time-shifting" functionality, allowing users to record, pause, and start live broadcast media, almost in real time. These devices digitize terrestrially broadcast television content and store the files on a hard disk drive, providing much faster random access, fast-forwarding, and rewinding. A graphical user interface is provided that allows users to make content preference selections.
The MP3 digital audio format is an audio encoding technology that allows consumers to further compress digital audio files such as those found on Compact Disks, to much smaller sizes with very little decrease in sound quality. For example, the MP3 format allows for compression of audio content to approximately 1 million bytes per minute of audio, at near Compact Disk quality. The smaller size of MP3 encoded audio files has also enabled these files to be shared by users across the Internet, since the transfer of these files takes an acceptable amount of time. In addition to music, many other types of audio content are now available in digital format, such as spoken-word content, news, commentary, and educational content. Digital files containing audio recordings of books being read aloud are available for download directly from their website.
Graphic content such as digital still images and digital multimedia video files are also increasingly available. Digital still and video cameras allow the capture and rapid transfer of images. Digital cameras are gaining popularity in the market because of the increases in media density and convenience provided at the camera, and because of the portability of the digital image files themselves. Products exist that allows users to share digital images across the Internet. One example is the Ceiva Picture Frame provided by Ceiva Logic, Inc.,. The Ceiva product includes a frame housing similar to a conventional picture frame, but with a large LCD 176 in place of a photograph. The device includes a microprocessor 192, memory, and modem. The device must be plugged into a phone line, and it functions by automatically dialing-up to a Internet server where new digital images are stored. Based on user instructions made through a setup function on a website, a group of photos are sent to, stored on, and displayed by the device. In addition to the fact that they include a large LCD 176, digital picture frame 160s are expensive because they must also include enough memory to store a large quantity of digital content files.
Cable, as well as satellite TV services are efficient in providing video content to a wide variety of users. However, most existing cable and satellite systems provide video delivery services on a broadcast model, that is, customers must choose from a set number of audio/video programs that are simultaneously broadcast, with the schedule determined by the broadcast networks. With the overlaying of data services over existing cable lines, there is the opportunity to provide a video-on-demand service whereby customers could order video programming of their choice at any time. However, simple calculation shows that pure video-on-demand cannot be supported by the bandwidth available on the existing networks, due to the high data-rates required to transport high-quality video and audio in real-time.
The convergence of the digitization of graphical content, combined with the proliferation and decreasing cost of networking and data processing components, is providing the opportunity to deliver rich content via the Internet, to a variety of inexpensive devices beyond the personal computer.
What is needed is a system that provides an economically optimal architecture and management system for allowing users to set up preferences for digital images and video, and other services, to be automatically delivered to inexpensive image output devices. Further, the digital image output device should have the capability of being untethered by both AC power requirements and the network physical layer.

Digital image frame and method for using the same


A retainer assembly for retaining a medical device in a container having a perforated wall includes a retainer with a rigid support portion having at least one leg and a flexible, resilient instrument holding portion intimately bonded to the support portion so that the retainer is devoid of cracks and crevices between said portions. Each leg has a free end and an axial passage extending into the leg from that end so that the retainer may be positioned on the container wall with each opening in register with a perforation therein. A fastener extends into the passage of each leg and the underlying perforation from below the wall to anchor each leg to the wall under pressure thereby providing a seal between each leg and the wall. Various retainer embodiments and a method for making same are also disclosed.

This invention relates to a retainer assembly for retaining medical instruments. It relates especially to a retainer assembly capable of holding medical instruments at fixed positions in a tray or other container while maintaining sterile conditions within the container.
There exists in the prior art various retainers and accessories for fixing the positions of articles of one kind or another. These include hooks, pegs, clips, brackets, etc. Such retainers may be used in a wide variety of applications. For example, they are commonly used in the medical field to fix the positions of various surgical instruments, devices and prostheses while those articles are being transported, sterilized and processed in one way or another. Accordingly, we will describe the invention in that context. It should be understood, however, that the present invention has application in other fields is besides the medical field.
Medical instruments are often transported in trays. Prior to use, such instruments are placed in the tray and subjected to sterilization. To improve the circulation of steam throughout the tray, the tray bottom wall and perhaps also the side wall are usually perforated. In order to maintain a separation between the various instruments in the tray, the instruments are supported or retained by posts, brackets or other retainers anchored to the tray. Following sterilization, the tray full of instruments may be transported to an operating room and placed close to a surgical team whose members may withdraw the instruments from the tray as needed for the particular surgical procedure being performed. Usually, the instruments are selectively arranged or organized in the tray so that they can be picked from the tray in the order in which they are needed for the particular procedure. Examples of such trays are disclosed in my U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,424,048 and 5,681,539.
FIG. 1 depicts a typical medical tray shown generally at 10. The tray has a bottom wall 10a and side walls 10b extending up from the bottom wall to define a generally rectangular interior space 12. The tray is usually made of a material able to with stand sterilization, e.g. polyphenylsulphone or a non-corroding metal such as aluminum, stainless steel or titanium. The bottom wall 10a of tray 10 is usually formed with a multiplicity of vent holes 16 arranged in columns and rows to allow for circulation of steam or other sterilizing fluid throughout the interior space 12. As will be described in more detail presently, these holes may also function as anchoring points for the retainers and accessories used to locate various medical instruments within tray 10.
Tray 10 is adapted to contain a plurality of variously shaped medical instruments I. In order to retain these instruments in the tray, assorted retainers or accessories may be employed. These may include known solitary post assemblies 18 as well as conventional elongated retainer assemblies 20 and 20′ having notches or slots for receiving instruments I as shown.
As depicted in FIGS. 1 and 2A, the retainer assembly 20 comprises a unitary retainer 22 molded of a rigid plastic material able to withstand sterilization. The retainer is in the form of an upstanding blade containing notches or slots 22a and having a bottom flange 24 so that the retainer has the general shape of an inverted letter T. Threaded holes 26 extend up from the bottom of retainer 22. These holes are spaced apart along the retainer a distance that is an integral multiple of the spacing between the holes 16 in a given row of holes in tray bottom wall 10a. Thus, retainer 22 may be positioned on the tray wall 10a with its holes 26 in alignment with the vent holes 16 in the tray so that the other components of the assembly 20, namely threaded fasteners 28, may be inserted through the vent holes and turned down into the registering holes 26 in retainer 22 as shown in FIG. 2A.
Instead of being a unitary part as depicted in FIG. 2A, some conventional retainers are composed of two separate pieces which are keyed together. A retainer such as this is shown generally at 22′ in FIGS. 1 and 2B. That retainer comprises a rigid rail 32 molded of a suitable hard plastic material able to withstand sterilization. Spaced-apart threaded holes 34 extend up from the bottom of rail 32 for receiving threaded fasteners 28 to secure the rail to the tray bottom wall 10a in the same manner as retainer 22 described above.
Rail 32 is adapted to receive and support a blade-like instrument holder 38 made of a flexible, resilient, sterilizable material such as silicone. The holder 38 may be formed with slits or cut-outs 38a for holding medical instruments I. In order to mechanically secure the holder 38 to rail 32, the bottom of the holder is flanged to form a key 40 which is shaped and sized to slidably engage in a keyway 42 formed in the upper portion of rail 32.
The posts of assemblies 18 depicted in FIG. 1 may be anchored in a similar fashion to the tray bottom wall 10a using threaded fasteners 28.
Although these prior retainer assemblies perform their instrument retaining function satisfactorily, they may not pass new safety requirements being proposed by the FDA to ensure that medical trays and their contents are free from contamination. That is, more emphasis is being placed on being able to demonstrate the ability to thoroughly clean and sterilize such products. The FDA is particularly concerned with cleaning and sterilization at mating surfaces such as the undersurfaces of the retainer 22 and rail 32 where they meet the tray wall 10a, as well as the opposing surfaces at the boundary between the silicone holder 38 and the rail 32 of the retainer assembly 20′ shown in FIG. 2B. If that holder 38 is flexed laterally, an appreciable may open between the holder and the rail. All of these locations have the possibility of trapping bacterial contamination and protecting same during the sterilization process. In fact, the only way to ensure a proper cleaning of these surfaces is to dissemble all of the retainer assemblies and remove them from the tray 10 so that all of the parts can be sterilized separately. Of course, all of the retainer parts must then be reassembled in the tray for the next operation. Needless to say, this is a tedious task and is not desirable from the standpoint of efficiency. Also, in their disassembled state, the various small parts may be misplaced or lost while being processed.

Medical instrument retainer assembly and method of making the retainer


A liquid crystal display includes a first display panel including a first substrate and a lower alignment layer formed on the first substrate, a second display panel that includes a second substrate facing the first substrate to maintain a predetermined cell gap between the substrates and an upper alignment layer formed on the second substrate, a liquid crystal layer provided between the first and second display panels, a wide view polarizer and a lower polarizer sequentially attached to the outside of the first display panel, and an upper polarizer attached to the outside of the second display panel. An absorption axis of the wide view polarizer is inclined with respect to an absorption axis of the lower polarizer by 45°. An absorption axis C′ inclined with respect to the absorption axis A′ of the lower polarizer by 45° is interposed between the lower polarizer and the liquid crystal panel in the backlit electrically controlled birefringence (ECB) mode.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, liquid crystal displays are one of the flat panel displays that are most widely used. A liquid crystal display includes two display panels on which field generating electrodes, such as pixel electrodes and a common electrode, are formed with a liquid crystal layer interposed between them. When a voltage is applied to the field generating electrodes to generate an electric field, the alignment of liquid crystal molecules is determined and controls the polarization of incident light to display images.
Liquid crystal displays are classified as backlit liquid crystal displays that use a separate backlight as a light source, and reflective liquid crystal displays that reflect external light. A transreflective liquid crystal display, which can be converted into a reflective or backlit liquid crystal display according to demand, has been developed in recent years.
Liquid crystal displays may be classified according to mode as vertical align (VA) mode, twisted nematic (TN) mode, electrically controlled birefringence (ECB) mode on the basis of the characteristics of the liquid crystal. The transmittance of the liquid crystal in the ECB mode is higher than that of the liquid crystal in the TN mode.
However, the luminance of the liquid crystal display in the ECB mode is lower than that of the liquid crystal display in the TN mode. In addition, the viewing angle of the liquid crystal display in the ECB mode is also narrower than that of the liquid crystal display in the TN mode.
Further, the liquid crystal display in the ECB mode is generally provided in the form of a transflective liquid crystal display in order to maximize the transmittance of the liquid crystal display. However, the transreflective liquid crystal display should be manufactured in a production line in which both reflective and backlit liquid crystal displays are produced. For this reason, the process of manufacturing the transflective liquid crystal display is complicated, and more time is required to manufacture the transflective liquid crystal display.

Liquid crystal display comprising a wide view polarizer


Disclosed are methods for detecting neoplastic or damaged cells and for detecting multidrug resistance in neoplastic or damaged cells by detecting an increase in the cell surface expression of a heat shock cognate (HSC70) protein 70 on the surface of such a multidrug resistant neoplastic or damaged cells as compared to the level of expression of the HSC70 protein on the surface of a normal cell.

A commonly used treatment for diseases, such as cancer or those caused by pathogen-infection, is the administration of drugs, e.g., chemotherapeutics and antibiotics. In order to kill the diseased cells, the drug(s) must enter the cells and reach an effective dose so as to interfere with essential biochemical pathways. However, some cells evade being killed by the drug by developing resistance to it (termed "drug resistance"). Moreover, in some cases, cancer cells (also called tumor cells or neoplastic cells) and damaged cells (e.g., pathogen-infected cells), or the pathogens themselves, develop resistance to a broad spectrum of drugs, including drugs that were not originally used for treatment. This phenomenon is termed "multidrug resistance" (MDR). For example, some cancer cells in a tumor evade being killed by chemotherapeutic drugs by becoming multidrug resistant to a broad spectrum of chemotherapeutic drugs, including drugs that were not originally used for treatment.
Patient cross-resistance to different anti-microbial and anti-cancer agents, which are structurally and functionally distinct, can cause problems for both cancer patients and diseased non-cancer patients. Thus, MDR can involve cancer cells, as well as damaged, non-cancerous cells (e.g., cells infected with pathogens including virus and bacteria). The emergence of the MDR phenotype is the major cause of failure in the treatment of infectious diseases (see Davies J., Science 264: 375–382, 1994; Poole, K., Cur. Opin. Microbiol. 4: 500–5008, 2001). Similarly, the development of multidrug resistant cancer cells is the principal reason for treatment failure in cancer patients (see Gottesman, M. M., Ann. Rev. Med. 53: 615–627, 2000).
Multidrug resistance is multifactorial. The classic MDR mechanism involves alterations in the gene by gene amplification for the highly evolutionarily conserved plasma membrane protein (P-glycoprotein or MDR 1) that actively transports (pumps) drugs out of the cell or microorganism (Volm M. et al., Cancer 71: 3981–3987, 1993); Bradley and Ling, Cancer Metastasis Rev. 13: 223–233, 1994). Both human cancer cells and infectious bacterial pathogens may develop classic MDR via mechanisms involving overexpression of P-glycoprotein (both messenger RNA and protein) due to amplification of the gene encoding P-glyocoprotein. The overexpression of P-glycoprotein mRNA or protein in MDR cancer cells or pathogen-infected cells is a biological marker for MDR. Diagnostic tests and therapeutic methods have been developed that make use of the overexpression of P-glycoprotein marker to diagnose and to treat MDR cancer and pathogen infections (Szakacs G. et al., Pathol. Oncol. Res. 4: 251–257, 1998). However, because various normal tissues express different amounts of P-glycoprotein, there are significant problems with side effects, as any therapy that targets P-glycoprotein on the cell surface of MDR cancer cells, would also affect those normal tissues that also have a relatively high level of P-glycoprotein expression, such as liver, kidney, stem cells, and blood-brain barrier epithelium.
"Atypical MDR" is a term used to describe MDR cancer cells or pathogens where the mechanism of multidrug resistance is unknown, novel, or different from the classic mechanism involving P-glycoprotein. For example, human lung tumors are multidrug resistant but do not have alterations in P-glycoprotein (see Cole S. P. et al., Science 258: 1650–1654, 1992). Rather, they express another drug transporter (the multidrug resistance associated protein or MRP1). A new mechanism of MDR was recently described that involves Lung Resistance Related Protein, which is a marker for this type of a typical MDR (Rome L. H. et al., PCT Publication No. WO9962547). Some other a typical markers for MDR include MRP5, which is a novel mammalian efflux pump for nucleoside analog drugs (see Fridland and Schuetz, PCT Publication No. WO0058471) and certain sphinogoglycolipids (see U.S. Pat. No. 6,090,565).
Heat shock proteins (HSPs, also referred to as molecular chaperones or chaperonins) are a family of highly evolutionarily conserved proteins that are normally intracellular in location (reviewed in Kusmierczyk, Martin J., FEBS Lett 505: 343–7, 2001). The heat shock response is thought to be an intrinsic cellular defense mechanism against external stressors from various sources, playing a crucial role in proper protein assembly, folding, and transport. Upregulation of the synthesis of heat shock proteins upon environmental stress (i.e., elevated temperature (heat shock), inflammation, heavy metals, certain drugs, amino acid analogs, environmental toxic pollutants, infections) allow cells to adapt to gradual changes in their environment and to survive otherwise lethal conditions. The events of cell stress and cell death are linked and heat shock proteins induced in response to stress appear to function at key regulatory points in the control of apoptosis (programmed cell death).
HSPs include anti-apoptotic proteins that interact with a variety of cellular proteins. Their expression level can determine the fate of the cell in response to a death stimulus, and apoptosis-inhibitory HSPs, in particular HSP27 and HSP70, may participate in carcinogenesis (reviewed in Garrido, et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 286: 433–42, 2001). For example, HSP70 interacts with the cellular p63 tumor suppressor protein and breast cancer cells sometimes express high levels of several HSPs. Increased HSP70 is an ominous prognostic sign in node-negative breast tumors while HSP27 increases specific resistance to doxorubicin in breast cancer cell lines (Fugua, Breast Cancer Res. Treat., 32: 67–71, 1994).
HSP70 is normally an intracellular protein and not found on the cell surface of non-cancerous cells (Kiang, The Pharmacol. Ther., 80: 183–201, 1998). Some types of human tumors do express HSP70 on their cell surface. For example, HSP70 can be found on the cell surface of primary tumor biopsy material of carcinomas of the lung, colorectum, neurons, and pancreas, as well as liver metastases, and leukemic blasts of patients with acute myelogenous leukemia. However, SP70 is not found on the cell surface of cells from fresh biopsy material of mammary carcinomas (Hantschel, et al., Cell Stress Chaperones, 5: 438–42, 2000).
HSP70 genes form a large evolutionarily conserved superfamily, with multiple different similar genes encoding similar proteins (isoforms). While the classic bacterial and mammalian HSP70-type protein is inducible by stress (e.g., elevated temperature, chemicals, pathogen infection), one isoform, heat shock cognate, HSC70, is constitutively expressed (Huang, et al., J. Biol. Chem. 266: 7537–41, 1991). The bacterial homolog of HSC70 is DnaK. Like HSP70, HSC70 and DnaK function as molecular chaperones and are involved in mediating correct protein folding, preventing premature protein folding or aggregation, and facilitating protein translocation through the cell membrane and secretion (reviewed in Feldman, D E, Frydman J. Curr. Opin. Struct. Biol. 10: 13–5, 2000).
Thus, there remains a need in both humans and animals for treating, detecting, preventing, and/or reversing the development of both classical and a typical MDR phenotypes in cancer cells and damaged non-cancerous cells, regardless of how the MDR arises (e.g., naturally occurring or drug-induced). In addition, the ability to identify and to make use of reagents that identify MDR has clinical potential for improvements in the treatment, monitoring, diagnosis, and medical imaging of multidrug resistant cancer and multidrug resistant damaged cells.

HSC70 directed diagnostics and therapeutics for multidrug resistant neoplastic disease


When encoding a set of texture data elements 30 for use in a graphics processing system, the direction along which the data values of the set of texture data elements in question exhibit the greatest variance in the color space is estimated by using one or more infinite planes 41 to divide the texture data elements in the color space. For each such plane, texture data element values on each side of the plane are added up to give respective sum points 48, 49, and the vector 50 between these two sum points determined. The direction in the data space of one of the determined vectors 50 is then used to derive endpoint color values to use when encoding the set of texture data elements.

The technology described herein relates to methods of and apparatus for encoding and decoding data, and in particular to such methods and apparatus for use when compressing and decompressing texture data for use in computer graphics systems.
It is common in computer graphics systems to generate colours for sampling positions in an image to be displayed by applying so-called textures or texture data to the surfaces to be drawn. For example, surface detail on objects may be generated by applying a predefined "texture" to a set of graphics primitives (such as polygons) representing the object, to give the rendered image of the object the appearance of the "texture". Such textures are typically applied by storing an array of texture elements or "texels", each representing given texture data (such as colour, luminance, and/or light/shadow, etc., values) at a given location (position), and then mapping the texels onto the corresponding elements, such as (and, indeed, typically) a set of sampling positions, for the image to be displayed. The stored arrays of texture elements (data) are typically referred to as "texture maps".
Such arrangements can provide relatively high image quality, but have a number of drawbacks. In particular, the storage of the texture data and accessing it in use can place, e.g., high storage and processing requirements on a graphics processing device (or conversely lead to a loss in performance where such requirements are not met). This is particularly significant for lower power, mobile, and handheld, devices that perform graphics processing, as such devices are inherently limited in their, e.g., storage, bandwidth and power resources and capabilities.
It is known therefore to try to encode such texture data in a "compressed" form so as to try to reduce, e.g., the storage and bandwidth burden that may be imposed on a graphics processing device when using textures.
It is common for texture compression techniques to use block-based encoding, i.e. arrangements in which the overall array of texture elements (the texture map) to be encoded is divided into an array of smaller blocks of texels (such as blocks of 4×4 texels), with each such block then being encoded (compressed), and decoded, separately. This can, e.g., help to make the decoding process more efficient, because the decoder, for example, may need to decode only one or a few of the encoded blocks to determine the value of a texel of interest, rather than the entire encoded texture.
Block-based texture compression techniques typically determine a reduced set or palette of colours (or other data) to be used for a given block of texels, and then store for each texture element (texel) in the block an index into the set or palette of colours, indicating the colour to be used for the texture element (texel) in question. This has the advantage that only an index, rather than a full, e.g. colour, value needs to be stored for each texel.
One known block-based texture compression technique is so-called block truncation encoding (BTC). In this technique the overall texture array (texture map) is subdivided into smaller blocks, e.g. of 4×4 texels, and a number (typically two) of base or primary colour values is determined for each such block, with each texel in the block being set to one of the base colour values. This saves on the data that has to be stored and accessed, but at a cost of lower image quality.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,047,853 describes an improved block truncation coding technique. In this technique, two base colours are again stored for each texel block, but two additional colours to be used for the block are also derived from those two base colours (e.g. by linearly blending those colours). In this way, four colours are provided as a "palette" for the texel block, but only two colour values need to be stored for the block. Each texel in the block is then encoded using two index bits, to indicate which of the four block "colours" should be used for the texel. This system provides improved image quality over basic block truncation coding, but requires more data per block.
There are other block-based texture compression schemes, such as S3TC, BC6 and BC7 that similarly divide the texture into blocks, then define two base "endpoint" colours for each block, form additional colours by interpolating between the two endpoint colours, and then use an index for each texel to select the colour for the texel from the resulting set of colours.
For example, in the S3TC texture compression format, a texture is represented as 4×4 texel blocks. For each block, two endpoint colors are determined, and two additional colors are formed through interpolation between the two endpoints. This results in a palette of four colors for the block that all lie on a straight line in the color-space. A texel index is then used, for each texel, to map the texel to one of the four colors. Each encoded block stores the two endpoint colors for the block and a grid of 4×4 texel indexes for the block.
The most complex step of these types of texture compression process is usually the selection of the two endpoint colors to use. This is usually done by determining a line in the colour space that the texel values can be projected on to. This line is usually derived by computing an average color and a direction vector for the texel block in question. The line in the color-space that the texels in the block are then projected on to is then determined to be the line passing through the average colour point and having the direction of the determined direction vector.
In these arrangements, the best direction vector to use is a vector that lies along the direction in the colour space along which the texels exhibit the greatest variance in their values (i.e. the dominant direction for the texel values in the colour space), and so is traditionally computed using the discrete Karhunen-Loewe Transform (KLT) (also known as Principal Component Analysis).
Thus, a standard method to compute the two endpoint colors to be used when encoding a block of texels (given the uncompressed texture, where every texel is represented, e.g. with an (R,G,B) color tuple, as the input) is as follows:                1. Compute an average color C across the block of texels to be encoded        2. For each texel, subtract the average color C from the texel's color value: T′=T−C        3. From the subtracted texel values in step 2, compute a covariance matrix M        4. Compute M's eigenvalues and eigenvectors, then keep the eigenvector V that represented the most energy. This can be done by computing the eigenvector corresponding to the largest eigenvalue, or by using the "Power Iteration" method to find the dominant eigenvector.        5. Define a parametric line in the color-space that passes through the average colour value C and has the direction of the determined eigenvector V, L=C+t*V        6. Project all the texels onto this line (i.e. determine, for each texel, the point on the line that is closest to that texel). This basically amounts to finding a parameter value t for the point on the line L that is closest to the texel: given a subtracted texel T′=T−C, the parameter can be computed as t=dot(V,T′)/dot(V,V), where dot( ) denotes the usual vector dot-product.        7. Find the highest and lowest points (values) on the line that the texels were projected on to. This basically amounts to finding the lowest (t_low) and highest (t_high) parameter values that resulted from the texels.        8. Then define the endpoint colors as being the highest and lowest points (values) on the line that the texels were projected on to. This basically amounts to defining: E1=C+t_low*V and E2=C+t_high*V
After these two endpoint values have been computed, the, e.g. two, other colour values to use for the encoded block are computed by interpolation from these endpoint colours (e.g. as ⅓ E1+⅔ E2, and ⅔ E1+⅓ E2, respectively). Each texel is then assigned an index corresponding to which of the, e.g., four, colours for the block its colour value is closest to (for fast encoding, this can be done by just rescaling and quantizing the parameter values 't' computed in step 6 above).
In this process, steps 1-4 make up the Karhunen-Loewe transform and the remaining steps make use of the KLT result to perform the actual texture compression.
Using the Karhunen-Loewe transform (and in particular steps 3 and 4 above) to determine the vector direction to use, while providing an accurate estimate of the desired dominant direction for the block of texels to be encoded, is computationally expensive, and prone to numeric instability and the requirement to handle special cases.
For example, when computing eigenvalues, it is necessary to solve a 3rd degree polynomial. Doing this analytically requires several expensive transcendental operations (cube-root, sine, cosine, arctan), and doing it numerically requires relatively complex methods (e.g. Jenkins-Traub) to ensure convergence in reasonable time.
Using a power iteration method to find the dominant eigenvector is simpler. However, this still requires picking a random vector, then repeatedly multiplying it with the covariance matrix until the resulting vector eventually converges to the dominant eigenvector. Care also needs to be taken to ensure that the repetition doesn't result in an overflow or underflow.
Special care is also needed to handle situations like uniform-colour blocks (which result in an all-zeroes covariance matrix; such a matrix has no eigenvectors), and blocks where there are two equally-dominant directions (multiplicity-2 eigenvalues).
This all means that while the existing techniques for deriving the endpoint colours to use when encoding a block of texels, and in particular for determining the direction of the line in the colour space to use when doing that, can accurately identify a good direction to use for this (namely the dominant direction (principal axis) of the texel values in the colour space), those existing techniques are computationally expensive and slow.
The Applicants believe therefore that there remains scope for improved techniques for estimating the dominant direction of a set (e.g. block) of texel values to be encoded (i.e. the direction along which the values of the texels being considered exhibit the greatest variance), and in particular when determining the, e.g., endpoint colours, to use when encoding texture data for use in a graphics processing system.
Like numerals are used for like features in the drawings (where appropriate).

Methods of and apparatus for encoding and decoding data


The present invention is a self contained portable and compact omni-directional monitoring and automatic alarm video device. The device enables automatic omni-directional detection, directional imaging inspection, tracking, real-time alarm transmission, and remote monitoring. The device comprises an omni-directional detection sensor, processor, and directional video imaging camera located inside a rotatable housing. The omni-directional detection sensor enables detection of moving objects near the device's surroundings; the processing assembly enables extraction of information such as the relative direction to the moving object and automatic pointing of the directional video imaging camera in that direction by rotation of the housing. The information acquired by the video camera is then transmitted to a remote control and observation unit.

Nowadays, there is are variety of monitoring systems that can be used to observe a given region of interest (ROI) and transmit information concerning events taking place within the ROI to a control system where the information can be evaluated. Some systems consist of video cameras which transmit continuous video streaming to a security center; there, a watchman monitors the occurrences and reacts when needed; in these systems the watchman monitors simultaneously all the video streaming received from each security camera covering the ROI. Another category of monitoring systems is home self monitoring systems; these systems enable the user to log on to the video camera by a remote computer or a cellular phone, and to watch real time images of the occurrences; some systems also enable remote control over the camera via the computer or the cellular phone. These systems are usually used for monitoring babies, housekeepers, or the elderly and for amusement.
The majority of these monitoring systems acquire optical images using either fixed cameras or cameras that continually scan the ROI or that are mounted on a pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) mechanism that allows them to be aimed, usually from the remote control room. In addition, cameras using special optics enabling omni-directional imaging are also abundant. Many commercial optical systems enabling a wide Field Of View (FOV) are available. Some of these, known as "Fish Eye" lenses, provide about up to 180° FOV. They are also known as half sphere FOV. In addition, some advanced optic lenses enable observation at a selected preplanned FOV, such optics enable almost up to 360° FOV and some enable in addition ZOOM capabilities at predefined ROIs. The information required by the lenses can be displayed on a computer screen in order to assist the observer to orient at the parametrical images.
A short list of publications describing methods and systems for applying Omni-directional optical imaging follows:
U.S. Pat. No. 6,304,285—describes a system comprising a hemispherical mirror and a projector with a changeable wavelength filter which is positioned in accordance to the mirror thus enable the requiring of an 180° FOV.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,790,182—describes a system comprising two mirrors positioned relative to one another at the "Golden Relation" thus providing a wide field of view.
PCT Publication WO 02/059676—describes lenses with asymmetric convex surfaces that enable a wide FOV.
PCT Publication WO 03/026272—describes systems based on lenses having an asymmetric surface and a symmetric surface.
PCT Publication WO 04/042428—describes lenses which enable acquiring an omni-directional FOV and in addition simultaneously provide omni-directional illumination of the lens's FOV.
PCT Publication WO 04/008185—describes systems that enable omni-directional observation using a central asymmetric lens and additional lenses in accordance.
US Patent Application 2003/0071891—describes a system comprised of an omni-directional camera and a higher resolution camera which can be aimed by a host computer.
What is not available in the prior art to the inventor's knowledge is a device comprising an omni-directional sensor assembly to monitor events over a wide ROA, a processing assembly to detect the occurrence of predetermined events that take place within that ROA, means to automatically rotate the device such that a directional video camera contained within the device is aimed at the location at which the event takes place and is used for closer inspection of the event, and processes and sends video images and other information concerning the event to a remote reception or observation unit.
The purpose of the present invention is to provide a self contained, compact, and portable device comprising omni-directional detection and directional inspection means as well as means that enable automatic transmission and documentation of predefined events to a remote receiving and observation unit.
Another purpose of the present invention is to provide means for rotating the housing of the device relative to the base.
Another purpose of the present invention is to provide means for automatic aiming of a directional video camera inside the housing of the device while both the omni-directional detection means and directional video camera are rotating inside the device's housing.
Another purpose of the present invention is to provide means to allow unlimited rotation of the housing relative to the base while avoiding tangling of power and communication wires.
Yet another purpose of the present invention is to save human resources at security centers by filtering the acquired information such that only predefined alerts are sent automatically for the watchman's review.
Further purposes and advantages of this invention will appear as the description proceeds.

Self contained compact and portable omni-directional monitoring and automatic alarm video device


Ammonium nitrate is phase-stabilized against Phase IV.rarw..fwdarw.Phase III transition and the undesired volume changes associated with that phase change by including an effective amount of at least one metal dinitramide salt having the formula MX.sub.n wherein M is a metal cation, X is a dinitramide anion, and n is 1, 2 or 3. The phase-stabilized ammonium nitrate is useful in energetic applications such as solid propellants and explosives.

Ammonium nitrate contains no halogens, burns without smoke production, and is less detonable than other conventionally employed oxidizing materials. Ammonium nitrate is, other than ammonium perchlorate, one of the few readily available, inexpensive, inorganic oxidizers employed in certain energetic applications, thus making it an attractive candidate for such use.
However, the attractiveness of current commercially available ammonium nitrate in energetic compositions is tempered by several severely limiting drawbacks. Such drawbacks include an energetic performance significantly lower than comparable ammonium perchlorate-based compositions, low burning rates with relatively high pressure exponents compared to other oxidizer-containing compositions, and greater hygroscopicity (moisture sensitivity) than ammonium perchlorate.
Also, ammonium nitrate, exhibiting a very low crystal phase stability, passes through five distinct crystal phase changes in the temperature range of about -17.degree. C. to 169.degree. C. The most disadvantageous change or transition is the Phase IV .rarw..fwdarw.Phase III transition, occurring at about 32.3.degree. C. This Phase IV to Phase III transition is characterized by a significant irreversible increase in crystal volume. Thus, repeated cycling of ammonium nitrate-based energetic compositions through the Phase IV to Phase III transition temperature has been said to cause growth of the grain and destruction of grain integrity. The result is an increased porosity and loss in mechanical strength in an ammonium nitrate-based energetic composition.
Over the years, numerous efforts to stabilize ammonium nitrate to prevent or sufficiently suppress the Phase IV.rarw..fwdarw.Phase III transition have been made. In the agrochemical field a wide variety of ingredients have been tried at one time or another to prevent caking.
So too in the energetic composition field, where efforts to stabilize ammonium nitrate against Phase IV.rarw..fwdarw.Phase III transition have included combining ammonium nitrate with such materials as potassium nitrate, zinc oxide, magnesium oxide, potassium fluoride and, for instance, nickel oxide; as well as certain lithium, calcium, barium, and aluminum salts; and other metal salts of the nitrate anion. Further, compounds such as urea, ethylene diamine dinitrate, diethylene triaminetrinitrate, guanidinium nitrate, silicates, and, for instance, melamine have also been investigated as ammonium nitrate stabilizers. None has proven entirely satisfactory. For instance, with regard to potassium nitrate, at least about 9 wt. %, generally about 10-15 wt. %, is introduced into the ammonium nitrate crystal lattice to prevent transition up to about 121.degree. C. However, crystal stability is achieved, for instance, in propellant compositions only at the expense of increased pressure exponents, reduced energy performance, reduced density, and increased smoke, all of which make the use of potassium nitrate undesirable as a phase stabilizer. Ammonium nitrate stabilized with CuO or with about 3 wt. % NiO has been said to show little tendency to cake. However, such CuO and NiO-containing compositions present environmental hazards, sacrifice energetic performance, and present aging and processing problems in energetic formulations. Other metal salts have not sufficiently suppressed the Phase IV.rarw..fwdarw.Phase III transition.
Despite numerous efforts by numerous researchers to develop satisfactory phase-stabilized ammonium nitrate, no prior development has proven entirely adequate. The search for a solution has been complicated because the relative stabilizing effect of a given phase stabilizer is, in general, not predictable.

Phase-stabilized ammonium nitrate and method of making same


A load driving circuit comprises a converting circuit, a converting controller, a load driving modulator, and a charge spike protection circuit. The converting circuit is adapted to be coupled to an output power source and supplies a driving power source to drive a load. The converting circuit has an output capacitance coupled to an output end thereof. The converting controller controls an amount of the driving power source responsive to a current or a voltage of the load. The load driving modulator and the load, connected in series, are coupled to the output end and so the load driving modulator adjusts an electronic state of the load. The charge spike protection circuit is coupled to the output capacitance and at least one connecting node of the load and the load driving modulator to provide a unidirectional charge release path to the output capacitance.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a load driving circuit with charge spike protection, and more particularly relates to a load driving circuit using a capacitance to function the charge spike protection.
2. Description of Related Art
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a conventional LED driving circuit. The LED driving circuit comprises a converting controller 100, a boost converting circuit 160, an output capacitance C, an LED module 150, a lowest voltage selecting circuit 140, and a current balance circuit 145. The boost converting circuit 160 is a direct current to direct current boost converting circuit, comprising an inductance L, a switch SW and a rectifier device D. One end of the inductance L is coupled to an input power source Vin and the other end thereof is coupled to one end of the switch SW. Another end of the switch SW is grounded. A positive end of the rectifier device D is coupled to the connecting node of the inductance L and the switch SW and a negative end thereof is coupled to the output capacitance C. The output capacitance C receives the power transmitted by the boost converting circuit 160 to generate a driving power source Vout to drive the LED module 150 lighting.
The current balance circuit 145 is coupled to every negative end of the LED string in the LED module 150 to balance the currents of the LED strings. Therefore, every LED string lights equally. The lowest voltage selecting circuit 140 is coupled to every negative end of the LED string in the LED module 150 to determine whose voltage is the lowest and accordingly generates a voltage feedback signal VFB. The converting controller 100 generates a switching signal Sc according to the voltage feedback signal VFB to control the switch SW.
The converting controller 100 is packaged in a package structure comprising a drive pin and a ground pin. Therefore, an electrostatic discharge protection circuit is equipped in the converting controller 100 to transmit the electrostatic energy out by the two pins to avoid the converting controller 100 damaged. The current balance circuit 145 has no drive pin (VDD pin) and so it does not have the electrostatic discharge protection circuit for the VDD pin. Therefore, while the electrostatic energy is transmitted into the current balance circuit 145 by the connecting node of the current balance circuit 145 and the LED module 150, the current balance circuit 145 is easily to be damage due to the electrostatic energy.
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a conventional LED driving circuit with electrostatic discharge protection circuit. Compared with FIG. 1, the circuit in FIG. 2 additionally increases a TVS electrostatic discharge protection circuit 155 which is coupled to the ground and the connecting node of the current balance circuit 145 and the LED module 150. The TVS electrostatic discharge protection circuit 155 is composed by the transient voltage suppressor (TVS). A feature of the TVS is to respond faster and so the TVB protects electronic devises from a transient energy before the electronic devises are damaged. Another feature thereof is lower breakdown voltage and so the TVB is applicable to a low-voltage application. When the electrostatic discharge is produced, no matter it is a positive voltage or negative voltage, it can be transmitted to the ground by the TVS in the TVS electrostatic discharge protection circuit 155 to function the electrostatic discharge protection.
At the same time, a cost of the TVB is high, and total cost of system is substantially increased. Moreover, a tolerance of breakdown voltage of the TVB is large. It results that users may use the TVB with a breakdown voltage much higher than a driving voltage to avoid the TVB conducting in a normal voltage range of the driving voltage. Therefore, the breakdown voltage of the TVB may be close to a withstanding voltage of the current balance circuit 145 and so the current balance circuit 145 may temporarily be pressed with a voltage higher than the withstanding voltage. The life spin of the current balance circuit 145 may be shortened. As a result, the circuit needing ESD protection is not equipped with the ESD protection circuit due to the reasons mentioned above and the circuit without ESD protection circuit has lower reliability and can not pass ESD association standards.

Load driving circuit with charge spike protection


A holder securely holds a canopy shade system for providing protection from sun or rain for a worker or during recreation. The holder is attached to a vehicle's trailer hitch via a receiver tube. A cross arm passes through the receiver tuber and is positionable between a squared position with respect to the receiver tube and an angled position. Telescoping extension arms extend outwardly from each end of the cross arm with a leg located on the distal end of each extension arm, each leg capable of holding an implement such as the canopy shade system.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device that received within a typical trailer square hitch receiver found on a vehicle, wherein the device holds accessories such as a framed canopy and wherein the holding apparatus is pivotable between a squared position and an angled position.
2. Background of the Prior Art
Many workers, such as municipal workers and municipal support workers, telephone company technicians, cable technicians, and others spend a large portion of their day working outdoors, either installing an item, such as a traffic light control box for the municipality or repairing the previously installed item. Such workers tend to drive from one job site to another in a pickup truck or van wherein the tools and equipment of the trade are stored. Upon arrival at the job site, the tools, parts, and other equipment needed are unloaded and the work at hand begins. While many workers find this type of work environment particularly enjoyable, Mother Nature can have an adverse effect on a given work day. If the sun is blazing or the rain is pouring, the outdoor worker needs to protect himself or herself from the elements. If the particular job site is surrounded by a grass or other natural area, then the worker can erect a beach type umbrella to help shield the work from the sun or the rain. Although not completely effective, some shade is better than no shade on a hot muggy sun drenched summer afternoon. Unfortunately, many work sites are such that an umbrella cannot be ground inserted. A worker repairing a manhole cover in a downtown street has no effective ability to erect a beach umbrella. Although the worker can carry a standalone base for the umbrella, such bases are bulky, heavy and may take up too much real estate in the work vehicle.
Recognizing the limitations of a beach type umbrella, many workers carry about pop up canopy shade systems. Such canopy shade systems have an easy open frame that unfolds from its stored configuration in very short order onto which a shade canopy s secured. Set up and tear down of such canopies is very quick and easy. While more effective and versatile than a beach umbrella, such canopy shade systems are not without their limitations. Such systems are designed to be ground secured either by passing ground anchors through appropriate openings located at the base of the frame post of the canopy frame or via guy wires that are pin secured to the ground. Much like the beach type umbrella, such securement means are not always available to the worker. If the canopy shade system is not secured, then even a modest wind can carry the canopy shade system away, potentially damaging the device and possibly even causing a traffic accident. Additionally, even if the canopy shade system can be ground secured, a worker will often need to move the device a small amount at a given job site. For example, the job site may be such that the canopy system does not cover the entire area and as the worker moves between one area of the site and the other located a short distance away, the canopy shade system needs to be moved the short distance to provide its protection. Such movement of the canopy can become quite laborious and time-consuming. In such a scenario, the worker may spend more time and effort moving the canopy shade system back and forth than on the actual task at hand.
What is needed is a system that secures a canopy shade system frame irrespective of the ground upon which the canopy shade system is placed. Such a system must hold the canopy frame securely irrespective of weather conditions. Such a system must permit rapid changing of the position of the canopy shade system as the worker moves about the job site and needs the shading effect delivered by the canopy shade system to move with the worker.


A valve for use in an endoscope may comprise a proximal valve stem member having a first lumen extending from a proximal opening at a proximalmost end of the proximal valve stem member to a distal opening at a distalmost end of the proximal valve stem member. A distal valve stem member may have a second lumen with a proximal opening at a proximalmost end of the distal valve stem member. The proximalmost end of distal valve stem member may be received within the distal opening of the first lumen. The distal valve stem may be movable relative to the proximal valve stem.

Endoscopes include functionality to deliver fluids (including air and water) and suction at a site of a procedure. Tubing for delivering fluids and/or suction extends from a handle of the endoscope, through a sheath of the endoscope, and to a distal tip of the endoscope. A combined air/water valve may be used to deliver air or water during the procedure. During a procedure, body fluids, tissues, or other material could enter or build up in the tubing and lead to clogging of the tubing. In order to aid in reprocessing of reusable endoscopes between procedures, pre-processing is performed in an endoscopy suite. For example, water or other fluids are flushed through the tubing after the endoscope is removed from a patient, in order to clear debris from the air/water and/or suction tubing. One option for accomplishing such pre-processing is a reusable cleaning valve. Where reusable air/water and cleaning valves are used, those valves must be subject to reprocessing between procedures. Therefore, a need exists for valves capable of delivering air/water, as well as performing cleaning functions.


The present invention relates to a method for reducing noise in a signal sensing a bending wave propagating in an object comprising the steps of: receiving a sensed signal representative of a plurality of locations of the object, and fitting a function satisfying bending wave propagation properties to the sensed signals, thereby reducing noise contributions to the sensed signals not satisfying the bending wave propagation properties. By doing so, noise contributions not satisfying the wave propagation properties can be suppressed from the sensed signal, thereby improving the signal-to-noise ratio.

The present invention relates to a method for determining an acoustic response attributed to a location of an impact, like a touch event on a surface of an object, and a touch sensing device implementing the method.
Methods to determine the location of an impact on a surface of an object based on analysing acoustic signals are already known in the art. This kind of technology is based on measuring the acoustic signal using one or more sensors to obtain an acoustic signature of the impact and to compare the signature with a predetermined set of acoustic signatures, wherein each predetermined acoustic signature is representative for a given location of the haptic or tactile interface. The location of the impact is then identified based on the similarity of its acoustic signature with one of the predetermined acoustic signatures. FIG. 1 schematically illustrates such a prior art device with an interaction surface 101 and two transducers 103.
It has also been observed, that the predetermined set of acoustic signatures generated by computing the individual acoustic pattern of closely spaced locations 105 on the surface of a haptic interface during the calibration of the device as illustrated in FIG. 1 and described above, can be falsified due to some spurious noise contributions to the sensed signals during the calibration phase. To obtain a desired precision unwanted noise sources need to be identified and the experimental set-up adapted accordingly. This represents a tedious and time consuming activity and in addition it is not always possible to identify all unwanted contributions.
It is therefore the object of the invention to provide a method for reducing noise contributions to sensed acoustic signals.

Method and a touch sensing device for implementing the method


A machine tool for performing a machine tool function including components adapted to cooperate with each other to execute the machine tool function. The machine tool has a number of constituent parts and a number of sheets of damping material. Each component includes constituent parts with sheets of damping material interposed between the constituent parts. The sheets dampen vibration of the machine tool during performance of the machine tool function.

Various machine tools are known which perform material removal processes such as turning, boring, drilling, reaming, threading, milling, shaping, planning, and broaching. Typically, a machine tool is designed to perform a machine tool function which includes one or more of the material removal processes on a workpiece. In a typical machine tool, various components thereof interact in one or more predetermined patterns to execute the machine tool function. The components may move relative to each other while executing the machine tool function.
Known machine tools typically produce a great deal of vibration when operating. The vibration of the machine tool can be so great that it causes a number of problems, such as premature tool failure, poor surface finish, damage to the workpiece, and damage to the machine itself.
In known machine tools, each component is usually formed to have the largest mass feasible. This is because a larger mass is typically thought to assist in absorbing vibration. In order to achieve the largest monolithic mass for a particular component, the component is usually formed by casting. However, casting is relatively expensive and time-consuming.
For example, a machine tool 10 of the prior art is shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B. (As will be described, the remainder of the drawings illustrate the present invention.) As shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, the prior art machine tool 10 includes, among other components, a base 12 and a column 14. In the prior art, the base 12 and the column 14 typically comprise components which are castings and are as large as possible given the design of the machine tool 10, to maximize the vibration absorbed by the components 12, 14.
However, as is well known in the art, the prior art machine tools which include components which are castings still produce relatively large vibrations when operating, resulting in the problems described.
There is therefore a need for an improved machine tool in which vibration of the machine tool is reduced.

Apparatus and method for damping vibration in a machine tool


A method for manufacturing a laminate includes steps of forming a laminated combination of synthetic resin sheet material with a metal foil laminated each other, thermoforming under a pressure the laminated combination while supplying an electric current to the metal foil, and, after termination of the current supply, cooling thus obtained laminate while further applying a pressure, whereby the laminated combination can be uniformly heated into its core part to allow the laminate of uniform quality to be obtained, while shortening manufacturing lead time and minimizing surface roughness.

This invention relates to a method for manufacturing a laminate and an apparatus for manufacturing the same and, more specifically, to a method for manufacturing the laminate by laminating a sheet-shaped synthetic resin material and metal foil into a stack, and thermoforming the stack integrally into the laminate under a pressure while supplying an electric current to the metal foil, and to an apparatus for performing the manufacturing method.

Method for manufacturing laminate and apparatus for manufacturing same


A method generates space vector modulation signals for a multi-level power inverter using space vector pulse width modulation (SVPWM). A reference voltage and a triangle region for the reference voltage are determined. Vertices for a space vector that is closest to the reference voltage is outputted. Then, the vertices are adjusted so that the space vector is in a valid region of the triangle region. Lastly, the space vector modulation signals a, b, and c corresponding to the space vector in the valid region are outputted.

Power inverters can greatly improve the overall efficiency, performance and quality of signals of a power system. Conventionally, two-level inverters are widely used for their low cost and minimal complexity. However, high voltage stress, high harmonic distortions, and instantaneous voltage change rate are some of the challenges facing a two level inverters.
Multilevel (ML) inverters can potentially address these challenges. ML inverters can be used for high-power, high voltage applications due to inherent advantages, such as reduced voltage stress, lower harmonics, lower instantaneous voltage change rate dv/dt and lower common-mode voltage. Modular multilevel converters are used for renewable energy applications. ML inverters are extensively used in high-power applications with medium voltage levels. The applications include use in laminators, mills, conveyors, pumps, fans, blowers, compressors, and so on industry is another driver for advancing multilevel inverter.
ML inverters can generate output voltages with extremely low distortion and lower change rate. Also, ML inverters draw input current with very low distortion, and generate smaller common-mode (CM) voltage, thus reducing the stress in motor bearings. In addition, using sophisticated modulation methods, CM voltages can be eliminated.
ML inverters generally use an array of power semiconductors and capacitor voltage sources to produce output voltages with stepped waveforms. The commutation of the switches permits the addition of the capacitor voltages, which reach high voltage at the output, while the power semiconductors can only withstand reduced voltages. The switches are typically controlled by a modulator implemented in digital circuit.
ML inverter circuits have been around for more than three decades. One cascade inverter connects separately DC-sourced full-bridge cells in series to synthesize a staircase ac output voltage. A diode-clamped inverter uses diodes to block the sources. The diode-clamped multilevel inverter is also called a neutral-point clamped (NPC) inverter as shown in FIG. 1 with an input voltage VCC, and output levels a, b, and c for a conventional inverter.
There are a number of topologies for the analog circuits. In diode-clamped capacitor array, the DC-bus voltage is split into N levels by N−1 series connected bulk capacitors, and diodes are used to clamp the voltage at the switch to output. The middle point n of the capacitor array can be defined as the neutral point.
Space vector modulation (SVM) is a multilevel modulation technique that is widely used. It has been suggested that that the correct designation for the analytical tool to analyzing electrical machines has to be space phasor, instead of a space vector. The space phasor concept is mainly used for current and flux in analysis of electrical machines.
Recent progress in the semiconductor technology has made available fast commutating electronics power devices to be used with high voltages and currents, so extending the application field of voltage source inverters (VSI). Actually, it is not still possible to employ conventional VSI in the high power range due to commutation difficulties and reverse recovery high voltages.
Multilevel power converters are an interesting emerging technology for medium and high power applications including the fields of renewable energy sources and power quality issues as active filtering and reactive power compensators, e.g., static volt ampere reactive (VAR) compensators.
One fast modulation procedure for multilevel SVM three phase converters projects the line phases to a 3-dimensional Euclidean space, and uses a linear transformation to convert the switching states to a 2-dimensional non-orthogonal coordinate. The procedure is computational efficient. However, it requires that a 3 phase reference signal is generated.
Another method uses a modulator design with an iterative search procedure and can take up to N steps for an N−1 level modulator to reach the solution. The computation complexity is significant because of the non-linear trigonometrical operations. It also suffers high latency when the number of levels becomes high.

Method to generate multilevel inverter modulation control signals

Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.


The invention is directed to an OSA having a TO-can-type configuration that is relatively low-cost to manufacture and that has functionality for monitoring and controlling the temperature of the laser diode without the need for additional pins or an increase in the size of the OSA. Thus, the OSA typically includes four or five pins at most. These features of the invention are achieved by providing a thermal control circuit, a temperature sensor and a heater that are integrated along with a laser output power monitor photodiode into the submount assembly substrate.

In optical communications networks, optical transceiver modules are used to transmit and receive optical signals over optical fibers. On the transmit side of the transceiver module, a laser generates amplitude modulated optical signals that represent data, which are then transmitted over an optical fiber coupled to the transceiver module. Various types of semiconductor lasers are typically used for this purpose, including, for example, Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers (VCSELs) and edge emitting lasers, which may be further divided into subtypes that include Fabry Perot (FP) and Distributed Feedback (DFB) lasers.
On the receive side of the transceiver module, an optics system of the module directs light propagating out of the end of an optical fiber onto an optical detector, which converts the optical energy into electrical energy. The optical detector is typically a semiconductor photodiode device, such as a PIN photodiode, for example. Optical transceiver modules typically include one or more laser diodes on the transmit side for transmitting multiple data signals and one or more photodiodes on the receive side for receiving multiple data signals.
Small form factor optical subassemblies (OSAs) known as transistor outline (TO)-cans are used to hermetically package certain components of optical transceiver modules, such as, for example, laser diodes and photodiodes. In a transmitter OSA (TOSA) TO-can, a die attach process that typically uses epoxy or gold-tin eutectic alloys is performed to attach the laser diode integrated circuit (IC) die to a substrate of a submount assembly of the TOSA. Other components such as discrete electrical components and optical elements are typically also attached to the substrate. After the laser diode IC die and other components have been attached to the substrate, the leads of the die are wire bonded to conductors formed in the submount assembly substrate. These conductors are then wire bonded to pins of the TOSA, which will be used to connect electrical components external to the TOSA to the electrical components inside of the TOSA.
After the wire bonding process has been performed, a cap or lid having a transparent window in it is hermetically sealed to the TO-can header in such a way that the lid encompasses the TOSA components in a hermetically-sealed environment. The pins of the TOSA are then electrically coupled by soldering to conductive traces of a printed circuit board (PCB) that is external to the TOSA. Various other electrical components are mounted on the PCB and electrically connected to the traces of the PCB to provide electrical connections between the electrical components on the PCB and the pins of the TOSA.
Typical low-cost TOSA TO-cans have four or five pins on the submount assembly substrate for power, ground, data, laser output power monitoring, and temperature monitoring. The output power of the laser diode is typically monitored by a discrete photodiode that is placed inside of the TO-can and electrically connected to conductors of the submount assembly substrate. In these types of transceiver modules, the temperature of the laser diode is typically monitored by a sensor that is external to the TOSA. No components are included inside of the TOSA for performing temperature control or temperature monitoring because these types of components require that the TOSA have one or more additional pins. These types of TO-cans also do not include components for performing temperature control or temperature monitoring because of space and power constraints of the TOSA.
In more expensive transceiver modules, the TOSAs have a greater numbers of pins. In these types of transceiver modules, components for laser temperature monitoring and/or temperature control are often included inside of the TOSA. In these types of transceiver modules, the TOSA may include a thermo electric cooler, a resistive heater element or a thermistor for measuring the temperature of the laser diode. Consequently, extra pins are provided on the TOSA for sending control signals to and/or receiving output signals from these components. The operating wavelength of the laser diode can be adjusted to a desired wavelength and maintained at that wavelength by adjusting the temperature of the laser diode. Also, as a laser diode ages, the wavelength of light it produces at a given temperature tends to shift. By monitoring and adjusting the temperature of the laser diode as needed, the operating wavelength of the laser can be maintained at a desired wavelength.
These types of TOSAs sometimes also include an additional photodiode for monitoring the wavelength being produced by the laser diode. TOSAs of this type also sometimes also include a discrete electrostatic discharge (ESD) diode that is wire bonded to the conductors of the submount assembly substrate in parallel with the laser diode to protect the laser diode from ESD events. Alternatively, the ESD diode is sometimes clipped to pins of the TOSA. It would be desirable for a variety of reasons to provide low-cost TO-can OSAs with functionality of the type described above for controlling and/or monitoring the temperature of the laser diode. However, as described above, this additional functionality normally cannot be provided in low-cost OSAs without increasing the OSA pin count and the size of the OSA. Accordingly, a need exists for a low-cost TO-can OSA having functionality for controlling and/or monitoring the temperature of the laser diode, and which does not require an increase in pin count or size of the OSA.

Small form factor transmitter optical subassembly (TOSA) having functionality for controlling the temperature, and methods of making and using the TOSA

Avago Technologies Fiber IP (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.