Disclosed are a control device and a control method that are used with an internal combustion engine in which the air-fuel ratio in the vicinity of an ignition plug differs from the overall air-fuel ratio in a cylinder, and capable of properly fulfilling demands concerning various capabilities of the internal combustion engine by accurately reflecting each of the demands in the operation of each actuator. Three physical quantities, namely, a torque, an efficiency, and an air-fuel ratio, are used as controlled variables for the internal combustion engine. Target values for the controlled variables are then set by integrating at least some of demands concerning a capability of the internal combustion engine into the three physical quantities. Further, in accordance with the target values for the three controlled variables, namely, the torque, the efficiency, and the air-fuel ratio, three operation amounts, namely, an intake air amount adjustment valve opening, an ignition timing, and a fuel injection amount are set, and a fourth operation amount for adjusting the air-fuel ratio distribution in the cylinder is set.

A technology known as being related to internal combustion engine torque control is disclosed, for instance, in JP-A-2003-301766. This technology calculates an indicated torque demanded by a driver in accordance with an accelerator opening and determines a target air-fuel ratio in a control device. Next, this technology corrects the demanded indicated torque in accordance with torque efficiency relative to ignition timing and torque efficiency relative to the target air-fuel ratio, and determines a target throttle opening in accordance with a target air amount that is derived from the corrected torque. Further, this technology calculates an intake retard correction amount from the target air amount and engine speed, calculates an ignition timing retard amount from the corrected torque and an estimated torque derived from the intake retard correction amount, and determines a final ignition timing from the ignition timing retard amount and a basic ignition timing derived from an in-cylinder air amount. Moreover, this technology determines a target fuel injection amount from the in-cylinder air amount and target air-fuel ratio. In other words, the technology disclosed in JP-A-2003-301766 sets a throttle opening, an ignition timing, and a fuel injection amount, which are three typical operation amounts, in such a manner as to achieve both the demanded indicated torque, which is demanded by the driver, and the target air-fuel ratio, which is demanded internally by the control device.
Two different modes of air-fuel mixture combustion in an internal combustion engine are known: homogeneous combustion and stratified charge combustion. Homogeneous combustion takes place while air and fuel are uniformly mixed within a cylinder. On the other hand, stratified charge combustion takes place while a rich air-fuel mixture layer is formed near an ignition plug with a lean air-fuel mixture layer formed around the rich air-fuel mixture layer. In homogeneous combustion, the concentration of an air-fuel mixture is uniform within a cylinder so that the air-fuel ratio in the vicinity of the ignition plug is equal to the overall air-fuel ratio (average air-fuel ratio) in the cylinder. In stratified charge combustion, on the other hand, the fuel gathers around the ignition plug so that the air-fuel ratio of a combustion gas near the ignition plug differs from the overall air-fuel ratio in the cylinder.
It is conceivable that the technology disclosed in JP-A-2003-301766 is designed for an internal combustion engine in which homogeneous combustion occurs. As for an internal combustion engine in which homogeneous combustion occurs, the technology disclosed, for instance, in JP-A-2003-301766 can be used to exercise torque control by adjusting three actuator operation amounts, namely, the throttle opening, ignition timing, and fuel injection amount. Torque can be controlled by adjusting an intake air amount, ignition timing, and combustion air-fuel ratio. In the case of homogeneous combustion, however, the air-fuel ratio in the vicinity of an ignition plug coincides with the overall air-fuel ratio in a cylinder. Therefore, torque control can be exercised by determining the intake air amount from the throttle opening and determining the overall air-fuel ratio in a cylinder from the intake air amount and fuel injection amount.
As for an internal combustion engine in which stratified charge combustion occurs so that the air-fuel ratio in the vicinity of the ignition plug differs from the overall air-fuel ratio in the cylinder, proper torque control cannot be exercised by adjusting the above-mentioned three operation amounts alone. If the air-fuel ratio in the vicinity of the ignition plug varies in a situation where the overall air-fuel ratio in the cylinder remains unchanged, the combustion rate varies. As a result, the relationship between torque and ignition timing (hereinafter referred to as the torque-ignition timing characteristic) varies. Therefore, when torque control is to be exercised in this type of internal combustion engine, it is necessary to adjust the air-fuel ratio in the vicinity of the ignition plug (i.e., actual combustion air-fuel ratio) in addition to the overall air-fuel ratio in the cylinder. However, such an adjustment cannot be made by controlling the above-mentioned three operation amounts alone. To achieve a target torque while achieving a target air-fuel ratio, it is necessary to use another operation amount in addition to the above-mentioned three operation amounts.
As regards the technology disclosed in JPA-2003-301766, it can be considered that the demanded indicated torque is a demand concerning drivability, and that the target air ratio is a demand concerning exhaust gas. Drivability and exhaust gas control both are capabilities of the internal combustion engine. In addition, the internal combustion engine has various other capabilities such as fuel economy and knock control. There is a demand for each capability. If, for instance, a target capability is fuel economy, there may be a demand for combustion efficiency enhancement or a demand for pump loss reduction. If the target capability is exhaust gas control, on the other hand, there may be a demand for increasing an exhaust gas temperature or a demand for facilitating a reaction in a catalyst. As described above, various capabilities concerning the internal combustion engine exist, and various demands on different levels may be issued in relation to each capability. However, the technology disclosed in JP-A-2003-301766 meets only some of such demands and still needs further improvement to accommodate a variety of demands about the internal combustion engine.

Control device for internal combustion engine


The invention broadly comprises a computer-based method for tracking Internet-related revenue, including: recording, in an Internet-based system, a sign obtained from a business entity; correlating a first item purchased through the system with the sign; and compensating the business entity for the purchase of the first item. The registering, correlating, and compensating are performed by at least one specially programmed general-purpose computer. In some aspects, the sign is regarding an offer to sell a second item. In some aspects, the second item is real estate. The invention further broadly comprises a computer-based system for tracking Internet-related revenue, including: registration, posting, tracking, and assignment elements to: register, in an Internet-based system, a sign advertising an item for sale, obtained from a retail establishment; post the item in the system; track revenue from the system in response to the posting; and assign a portion of the revenue to the retail establishment, respectively.

It is known to track business referrals and subsequent income on the Internet. However, to date, retailers providing signs or other tangible items that eventually lead to downstream sales on the Internet have not been compensated beyond the initial purchase of the sign or tangible item. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,968,513 B1 (Rinebold) discloses an online interactive system comprising a business referral and income generation system linked to one or more listed websites of businesses in a particular locality. Revenue is generated by way of such methods as: merchants listing their web sites in one or more web site directories for multiple communities; banner ads; local and national coupons issued by merchants; classified job listings; classified realty listings; "4 Sale" ads; and fees for supplemental services called "Extended Services" serving to provide interactive capabilities to static web sites. The system enables accounting of and compensation of authorized agents of the system who refer advertisers. The agents use an identifying account number to order advertising services online at the system. Once a client places an ad, listing or coupon using an agent's identification number, the agent is compensated by receiving a referral fee based on the revenue generated to the system, as a result of the client ordering advertising services from the system.
Unfortunately, Rinebold makes no provision for retailers. This invention creates a referral system whereby an agent is compensated for online revenue that they helped create with some type of sales activity. However, the agents in this invention do not sell "For Sale" signs or any other tangible product; they sell advertising space on the website either directly or with coupons. The coupons have an account number that identifies the agent and affords the tracking of any revenue generated by the use of the coupon. The agent is then compensated for the revenue that stems from the use of the coupon. The distributor of the coupon is compensated if and when such an individual pays for listing their personal property that they wish to sell.
Thus, Rinebold does not disclose a compensation process based on the sale of a tangible item, specifically, a "For Sale" sign, and correlation of the tangible item with an Internet site. In contrast, the compensation process in Rinebold is based on coupons or other advertising elements (i.e., not a tangible product from a retailer) that are related to an Internet site and is initialized by the purchase of the advertising element. Alternately stated, Rinebold does not teach incremental revenue and Rinebold's activities are completely linked to an Internet site and there is no sale of a marketable commodity could serve as the catalyst for generating incremental revenue.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,853,979 B1 (Bass) discloses a method of marketing a good or service which includes a "For Sale" sign that has a preprinted website address on it. Sellers of a good or service can post information about the good or service on the website. Consumers can visit the website to view the information by reference to a unique identifier, such as a number, listed on the sign. The website may be adapted to allow consumers to browse all available goods within a particular category. The website owner may charge a fee to the seller, consumer, or both. The website may also be adapted such the sale of the product is consummated online, the provider receives payment from the buyer and then forwards the payment to the seller. The provider may then deduct a fee for this service.
Unfortunately, Bass only teaches compensating parties involved in an Internet transaction and does not teach compensating the retailer of the "For Sale" sign or other tangible product for incremental revenue generated by the sale of the product. It does not teach or suggest the generation of revenue other than the sale of the product to be listed by the seller and the possible fee that may be charged to the seller or buyer who uses the online service. Thus, the only compensation that is taught by this patent is the fee that the website provider might collect.
U.S. Patent Application No. 2004/0078305 A1 (Weller) discloses a product tracking and income distribution method that determines, via a code, which store and/or sales representative assisted with a product sale that a consumer purchased over the Internet. The apparatus uses an Internet site with a database for storing codes that retrieves and holds detailed product information, retailer profiles, and potential representative's identities. When a consumer views a product within a traditional retail store and is interested in buying the product, a master code is generated by the store that details the store profile, product details, and sales representative (if applicable) involved with the product viewing. The consumer uses the code and places an order online. The code utilized by the consumer ensures the store earns a preprogrammed viewing fee and the sales representative earns his/her commissions from the predetermined commission of the product code purchase.
Unfortunately, Weller teaches "tracking," on the Internet, a sale of a product offered by a retailer, but does not have any teachings regarding downstream sales activities. Instead, Weller only teaches compensating an employee of the retailer for a product sold by the retailer (via the Internet).
U.S. Patent Application No. 2005/0171838 (Eglinton) discloses an internet-based and tangible referral system that enables individuals and other business entities to market products in return for compensation which is paid as a result from any sale or sales lead that is generated by the individual or business entity. A uniquely modified version of the printed web page or electronically transferred document, which explicitly or non-explicitly identifies the relationship or the offer, is instrumental to the tracking and fulfillment of commissions paid to the individual or business entity.
Unfortunately, Eglinton teaches businesses utilizing a website and associated software to facilitate the online sale of their products or services by compensating individuals who print and distribute/display advertisements for their business, but does not address items sold by a retail establishment.
In general, a retailer is not able to financially participate in revenues generated via the Internet for a product sold by the retailer, for example, a real estate "For Sale" sign. In fact, it is possible that a retailer may sell a product that contains advertising or promotions for competitors of the retailer.
Thus, there is a long-felt need to provide a method and system for compensating a retail establishment for downstream Internet revenue associated with an item sold by the establishment, in particular, a "For Sale" sign.

System and method for tracking internet related revenue


A networked sensor system that simultaneously acquires, processes, and transmits sensor data under the control of a central processing unit. The system includes sensors connected to sensor processing modules. The sensor processing modules are serially coupled together and to the central processing unit by a fiber optic network. The central processing unit can change the sensor sampling rate by changing a global clock rate, can describe the number and layout of sensor processing modules and their associated sensors allowing for reconfiguration in accordance with a desired application, and can download code to the sensor processing modules for modifying processing functions for a given application. The global clock also allows for synchronous sampling throughout the network. Sensor gain in the sensor processing modules is dynamically programmed by the central processing unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to continuous, real time, high speed, programmable data collection and processing. More particularly, the present invention is directed to a network of intelligent sensor processing modules (SPs) which simultaneously acquire, process and transmit sensor data under the control of a central processor.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Sensors are used in many environments for many reasons. They can detect noise, vibrations, faults, light, heat, etc. Sensor systems are systems of sensors that receive and forward information. One existing system cables analog outputs to a single location. The sensors are grouped together to form centralized hubs (localizers) which are connected together. This results in long cable runs between the sensors and localizers. In addition, this poses cost installation problems due to the cost of running all the cables from the sensors to the localizers. The system then splits the outputs between an analog summing amplifier and a localizer. The localizer interfaces directly with individual transducers. The localizer includes an analog conditioner which filters and rectifies the sensor outputs. An analog sum is output from each sensor group to an analyzer. The analyzer performs real time detection of transients on coherent sums of each sensor group. Rack and equipment space is required by each of the localizers as well as the central processor. Another problem is electromagnetic interference (EMI) which can contaminate low level sensor signals over the long cable runs.
Another existing system uses a distributed acquisition method for lower bandwidth sampling. The raw individual data samples are serially transmitted. The number of sensors are constrained by the sampling rate and transmission bandwidth. Increasing the sampling rate decreases the number of sensors that can be received over one medium, so potentially a large number of cables might have to be utilized to bring all of the data back to a central location. All of this data is transmitted to a central location where it is to be processed. The central processor must transfer and process large amounts of data. Space must be available to accommodate a large central processing system and the related procurement costs are high.
Neither of the above-mentioned systems, nor any similar systems, reduce cabling, cabling costs or central processor complexity while increasing configuration flexibility, sampling rates, and the number of sensors. Further, none of the systems known in the art provide a network of sensors that simultaneously acquire signals, process commands, process the data into sums and energy footprints, and transmit sensor data under the control of a central processor.


A module includes: a duplexer including an antenna terminal; a first wiring connecting the antenna terminal to an antenna; a second wiring coupled to the antenna terminal without the first wiring; and an inductor coupled to the second wiring.

Electronic components installed in communication devices such as mobile phones are required to be small in size and have good frequency characteristics. To obtain good frequency characteristics at high frequency, a duplexer is formed with an acoustic wave filter. For example, in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2012-89996, a ladder-type filter using a Film Bulk Acoustic Resonator (FBAR) is used for the duplexer. A Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) filter, or a boundary acoustic wave filter may be used as the acoustic wave filter. To improve frequency characteristics, it is important to match the impedance between the duplexer and an antenna. A passive element such as an inductor is used as a matching element. To downsize the electronic component, the duplexer and the matching element may be mounted on a single substrate.
However, the impedance matching may be difficult due to a wiring in the substrate in the conventional techniques. When a large matching element is connected for impedance matching, the size reduction is difficult.


An adjustable golf swing training device is provided together with a method for its use to guide a golfer through a golf swing with proper hip turn and body rotation. The device comprises an adjustable belt to be affixed to the golfer which is movable with the golfer during a golf swing, a stake for affixing the training device to a ground mass, and a resilient cord. The resilient cord includes a first end which is affixed to the stake and a second end which is adjustably affixable to the belt. The resilient cord is stretchable to create a bias on the belt which is sufficient to guide the golfer through a down swing with proper hip turn and body rotation.

Various mechanical devices have been proposed and used in the past to improve the swing of the average golfer. These devices, though operative to some degree, have proven to be rudimentary in design and thus awkward in their use. Indeed, these prior art devices generally require multiple attachments to the user which may distort the natural feel of the club and impede, rather than guide, the golfer's movements. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,893,736 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,134,589 issued to Tesi and Arena, respectively, require the attachment of rope segments to belt loops located adjacent the hips of a golfer. As disclosed in the '736 and '589 patents, the segments are used to restrain the rotational movements of a golfer during his or her swing.
These prior art devices also suffer from a lack of or limited adjustability thus proving undesirable to users. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,870,317 issued to Wilson discloses an elastomeric training device used in conjunction with a belt, a rope segment and a stake. Conventional devices of this type often require adjustments in the stabilizing segments to arrive at the proper tension. Often, these necessary adjustments are not apparent until the golfer takes an address position over the golf ball or practice tee. For the golfer to then adjust his or her stance, the golfer must leave the address position and physically move the stake a distance closer or farther away, depending on the amount of adjustment needed.
As set forth above, these conventional training devices have proven difficult to use and, in many cases hinder--rather than guide--the user's movements. For these reasons, such devices have seen little use and have had limited success.


Spur cancellation systems and related methods are disclosed for radio frequency (RF) receivers and other implementations. Disclosed embodiments effectively remove spurs caused by digital clock signals or other spur sources by determining which spurs will fall within a channel selected to be tuned, utilizing a spur cancellation module to generate a cancellation signal, and subtracting this cancellation signal from the digital information. The cancellation signal can be initially generated with a known frequency and estimated values for unknown spur parameters, such as amplitude and phase. Digital feedback signals are then used to adjust the spur parameters. If the spur frequency is not known precisely, digital feedback signals can also be used to adjust the frequency of the cancellation signal. Where multiple receive paths are provided within a multi-receiver system, multiple spur cancellation modules can be used to remove spurs generated by digital clocks within each of the receive paths.

Current radio frequency (RF) receiver integrated circuits (ICs) often convert analog signals associated with broadcast channels to digital information and then perform digital processing on this digital information to generate digital data associated with a selected channel. As part of this digital processing, digital clocks are utilized to operate analog-to-digital converters and digital processing blocks. These digital clocks, however, can generate undesirable spurs at frequencies within the broadcast channels being tuned. Frequency planning can be used to adjust digital clock frequencies among a number of specific pre-determined clock frequencies to cause such interfering spurs to fall outside the frequency range for the channel to be tuned. However, this frequency planning can be difficult to achieve, and where multiple receive paths are included within a single integrated circuit or multi-chip package in order to tune multiple different channels at the same time, frequency planning can become practically impossible to achieve for certain combinations of channels and digital clock spurs being selected and generated by the digital clocks associated with the different receive paths.


The claimed subject matter provides a system and/or a method that facilitates analyzing and/or recognizing a handwritten character. An interface component can receive at least one handwritten character. A personalization component can train a classifier based on an allograph related to a handwriting style to provide handwriting recognition for the at least one handwritten character. In addition, the personalization component can employ any suitable combiner to provide optimized recognition.

Technological advances in computer hardware, software, and networking have lead to efficient, cost effective computing systems (e.g., desktop computers, laptops, handhelds, cell phones, servers . . . ) that can communicate with each other from essentially anywhere in the world. Such systems continue to evolve into more reliable, robust and user-friendly systems. As a consequence, more and more industries and consumers are purchasing computers and utilizing them as viable electronic alternatives to traditional paper and verbal media for exchanging information. Many industries and consumers are leveraging computing technology to improve efficiency and decrease cost. For instance, consumers can scan and store documents, create an album of digital images with text overlays, search and retrieve specific information (e.g., web pages with various types of data), upload pictures from digital cameras, view financial statements, transmit and/or receive digital facsimiles, exchange correspondence (e.g., email, chat rooms, voice over IP . . . ), etc.
As a result, such computing systems and/or devices have incorporated a variety of techniques and/or methods for inputting information. Computing systems and/or devices facilitate entering information utilizing devices such as, but not limited to, keyboards, keypads, touch pads, touch-screens, speakers, stylus' (e.g., wands), writing pads, . . . However, input devices that leverage user handwriting bring forth user personalization deficiencies in which each user can not utilize the data entry technique (e.g., writing) similarly.
A user's handwriting can be as unique as the user, wherein such uniqueness can be used for identification purposes. Commercial handwriting recognition systems implemented within various computing systems and/or devices attempt to reduce the impact of writer variation through utilizing large training datasets including data from a plurality of disparate users. Even when handwriting samples from as many as 1500 users are available, there is sufficient variation in the handwriting to uniquely identify each of the users.
From a machine learning perspective, such variation makes handwriting recognition difficult for computers. While intra-user characters (e.g., from the same user) have small variations, inter-user characters (e.g., from different users) have large variations and contribute to recognition errors. As a result, learning from training data obtained from one set of users (even hundreds of users) does not necessarily produce models that generalize well to unseen handwriting styles. The computer recognition experience using a generic (e.g., writer-independent) recognizer can be especially poor for users with rare writing styles. One explanation for the poor performance can be that the trained generic recognizer is incomplete as it has not learned to recognize unseen user's writing style(s).
A pragmatic approach to improving recognizer performance on unseen writing styles is writer adaptation (or personalization). Personalization enables the recognizer to adapt to a particular user's handwriting by collecting and learning from additional data samples from the user. Clearly, there is a trade off between the number of training samples needed from the user, the achieved reduction in error rate, and the perceived inconvenience to the user. The larger the amount of training data, the better the personalized recognizer, but the more inconvenience for the user based on input of samples, and/or training utilizing such samples.

Allograph based writer adaptation for handwritten character recognition


Systems and methods for removeably adding a cargo bay floor to the interior cargo bay of cargo aircraft bay are disclosed. The system includes a rail disposed in a cargo bay of a cargo aircraft with the rail extending longitudinally along both a length of a forward portion and an aft portion of the fuselage. The system includes a cargo floor segment configured to be removeably attached to the rail. When attached, the cargo floor segment can transform between a first arrangement with the cargo floor segment translatable along the rail, and a second arrangement with the cargo floor segment fixedly secured to a location along the rail. The cargo floor segment is configured to, when secured to the rail, define a section of a floor of the cargo bay of the cargo aircraft. Multiple floor segments can be used together to form a continuous floor for the aircraft.

Renewable energy remains an increasingly important resource year-over-year. While there are many forms of renewable energy, wind energy has increased an average of about 19 percent annually since 2007. The increase in global demand in recent years for more wind energy has catalyzed drastic advances in wind turbine technology, including the development of larger, better-performing wind turbines. Better-performing wind turbines can at least sometimes mean larger turbines, as generally turbines with larger rotor diameters can capture more wind energy. As turbines continue to improve in performance and efficiency, more and more wind farm sites become viable both onshore and offshore. These sites may be existing sites, where older turbines need replacement by better-performing, more efficient turbines, and new sites.
A limiting factor to allow for the revitalization of old sites and development of new sites is transporting the wind turbines, and related equipment, to the sites. Wind turbine blades are difficult to transport long distances due to the terrestrial limitations of existing air vehicles and roadway infrastructures. Onshore transportation has traditionally required truck or rail transportation on existing infrastructure. Both are limited by height and width of tunnels and bridges. Road transport has additional complications of lane width, road curvature, and the need to pass through urban areas that may require additional permitting and logistics, among other complications. Offshore transportation by ship is equally, if not more so, limiting. For example, delivery of parts can be limited to how accessible the offshore location is by ship due to various barriers (e.g., sand bars, coral reefs) and the like in the water and surrounding areas, as well as the availability of ships capable of handling such large structures.
Whether onshore or offshore, the road vehicle or ship options for transporting such equipment has become more limited, particularly as the size of wind turbines increase. Delivery is thus limited by the availability of vehicles and ships capable of handling such large structures. The very long lengths of wind turbine blades (some are presently 90 meters long, 100 meters long, or even longer) make conventional transportation by train, truck, or ship very difficult and complicated. Unfortunately, the solution is not as simple as making transportation vehicles longer and/or larger. There are a variety of complications that present themselves as vehicles are made longer and/or larger, including but not limited to complications of: load balancing of the vehicle; load balancing the equipment being transported; load balancing the two with respect to each other; handling, maneuverability, and control of the vehicle; and other complications that would be apparent to those skilled in the art.
Further, whether onshore or offshore, delivery of parts can be slow and severely limited by the accessibility of the site. Whether the site being developed is old or new, the sites can often be remote, and thus not near suitable transportation infrastructure. The sites may be far away from suitable roads and rails (or other means by which cargo may be transported) to allow for easy delivery of cargo for use in building the turbines at the site and/or other equipment used in developing the site. New sites are often in areas without any existing transportation infrastructure at all, thus requiring new construction and special equipment. Ultimately, transportation logistics become cost prohibitive, resulting in a literal and figurative roadblock to further advancing the use of wind energy on a global scale.
Existing cargo aircraft, including some of the largest aircraft ever to fly, are not able to transport extremely largo cargo, even if that cargo is, in all dimensions, smaller than the aircraft itself. This limitation is often the result of cargo aircraft, even those purpose-built to be cargo aircraft, not fully utilizing their overall size as cargo bay volume. This constraint has many causes, one of which is related to the ability of the aircraft to takeoff and land without excessive runway length. Larger and heavier aircraft take more energy to accelerate during takeoff, as well are more energy to decelerate upon landing. Accordingly, traditional solutions involve increasing the lift provided by the aircraft's lifting surfaces to allow the aircraft to get off the ground at a slower speed and, conversely, to allow the aircraft to approach the runway at a slower speed (while still being able to abort and climb, if necessary). A person skilled in the art will recognize other challenges that exist when trying to maximize an amount cargo bay volume being used and will likewise appreciate that often it may not even be desirable to maximize cargo bay volume usage.
Cargo aircraft that are designed to carry significantly oversized payloads generally have cargo bay arrangements (e.g., size, shape, installed hardware) specifically tailored to load and secure the oversized payloads, which can result in designs that forgo a traditional flat cargo bay floor in favor of more efficient use of the available cargo bay volume. However, the lack of a traditional flat cargo bay floor can significantly limit a cargo aircraft's ability to carry more traditional payloads that would otherwise be loaded into a traditional floored cargo bay by being rolled using external devices (e.g., a forklift) into the cargo bay and subsequently secured to the floor using traditional methods, such as nets or tie-downs. Further, the lack of a traditional flat cargo bay floor can make it more difficult for humans and machines to navigate around in the cargo bay because of the lack of an expansive, flat floor.
Accordingly, there is a need to develop cargo floors that have the versatility to be used in conjunction with wide varieties of cargo payloads while still providing the benefits of more traditional flat floors.

Removable cargo floor systems and methods for cargo aircraft


Systems and methods for determining a risk-reduced word price for editing. The editing can be of a document, for example, that has been translated by a human or a machine. A system and method may include providing to one or more preferred editors a first portion of editing jobs from a batch job. In some aspects, the system and method may include receiving an editing time of the one or more preferred editors editing the first portion of editing jobs. In further aspects, the system and method can include calculating a word price for editing a remaining portion of editing jobs of the batch job based on the editing time.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure generally relates to systems and methods for determining a risk-reduced word price for an editor to edit an editing job. More particularly, but not by way of limitation, the present disclosure relates to systems and methods for determining a benchmark based on the editing time of a preferred editor editing a first editing job, and determining a risk-reduced word price for the remaining editing jobs of a batch job based on the benchmark.
2. Description of Related Art
In the field of editing, an editor can be provided content (e.g., a text document) that requires editing. The editor generally edits the content and may be paid based on the number of words edited (i.e., based on what is commonly referred to as a word price). Oftentimes, it is difficult to determine the amount of work needed to edit the content before editing because of such factors as the initial quality of the content, the technological area of the provided content, as well as other factors understood in the art, many of which are not known prior to the editor undertaking the editing job. This presents a risk to the editors and a risk to the individual/company setting the word price because a relatively simple editing job can be priced the same as a relatively difficult editing job. For a relatively simple editing job, the editor can be at an advantage because they can complete the editing job rather quickly and at the set word price. Alternatively, the individual can be at a disadvantage for a complex editing job because it can take a longer time to complete the editing job, yet at the same word price.
In the field of language translation and post-translation editing, language translation services may generally be performed in two steps—the initial attempt at translation by a translator (sometimes performed by a machine—a "machine translation"), followed by a round of post-translation edits to correct any mistakes in the translation. Previously, post-translation editors would negotiate a word price (e.g., 10 cents per word) for performing post-translation edits before they see the content to be edited. This involves some risk for the post-translation editor because they don't know if the translated content requires minor corrections and can be edited quickly or requires major corrections and will take a long time to edit. Hence, they are taking a risk in negotiating a fixed word price to perform post-translation edits because they do not know the length of time required to edit the content (they get paid per edited word, not per hour).

Systems and methods for monitoring post translation editing


The invention recognizes the deleterious effects of trace, and even undetectable amounts of multivalent cations on the separation of mixtures of polynucleotides, especially double stranded polynucleotides, and provides an improved method for separating such mixtures on wide pore, non-polar separation media by eliminating multivalent cations from the all aspects of the separation process. This is accomplished by using components in the separation process which are materials which do not release metal cations. In addition, the use of cation capture resins and other methods to remove residual traces of multivalent cations from eluting solvents, sample solutions, separation media, and system components is described. It is also important to remove any traces or organic contaminants from solvents solutions and system parts. Taking similar steps to remove residual traces of multivalent cations and organic impurities from the separation process, the invention may also be used in a batch process to separate mixtures of polynucleotide fragments.

Separation of polynucleotide mixtures is a focus of scientific interest, and numerous researchers have been attempting to achieve technical improvements in various aspects of polynucleotide separation. Anion exchange separation and reverse phase ion pair chromatography are among the most frequently used methods for separating polynucleotide mixtures.
Samples containing mixtures of polynucleotides can result from total synthesis of polynucleotides, cleavage of DNA with restriction endonucleases or RNA, as well as polynucleotide samples which have been multiplied or amplified using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) techniques or other amplifying techniques.
Previous work has focused on developing rapid, high resolution separations, developing separations based on the size of the polynucleotide fragment rather than the base sequence of the fragment, and on developing the ability to collect separated pure fractions of polynucleotides.
W. Bloch (European patent publication No. EP 0 507 591 A2) demonstrated that, to a certain extent, length-relevant separation of polynucleotide fragments was possible on nonporous anion exchanger separation media using eluting solvents containing tetramethylammonium chloride (TMAC). Y. Ohimya et al. (Anal. Biochem., 189:126-130 (1990)) disclosed a method for separating polynucleotide fragments on anion exchange material carrying trimethylammonium groups. Anion exchangers with diethylaminoethyl groups were used by Y. Kato et al. to separate polynucleotide fragments (J. Chromatogr., 478:264 (1989)).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,585,236 (1996) to Bonn et al. describes a method for separating polynucleotides using what was characterized as reverse phase ion pair chromatography (RPIPC) utilizing columns filled with non-polar, nonporous polymeric beads. High resolution, rapid separations were achieved using an ion pairing agent (triethylammonium acetate), and acetonitrile/water eluting solvent gradient. This work is important because it is the first example of a size dependent, sequence independent chromatographic separation of double-stranded polynucleotides by Matched Ion Polynucleotide Chromatography (MIPC). Such separations are comparable to those effected by gel electrophoresis, which is currently the technology most widely used for polynucleotide separations. Bonn's work makes it possible to automate separations of polynucleotides based on their size alone. This method differs from traditional reverse phase processes. Therefore, the term Matched Ion Polynucleotide Chromatography (MIPC) has been applied to the Bonn process to distinguish it from previously known reverse phase processes.
The invention of parent application Ser. No. 08/748,376 is based on the discovery that trace levels of multivalent metal ions, even when present below the limits of detection, interfere with the MIPC separation process. Special steps to prevent, remove or complex any trace multivalent ions result in enhanced separation of polynucleotides and lower the detection threshold. The inventions of provisional applications Ser. No. 60/049,123 filed Jun. 10, 1997; and Ser. No. 60/063,835 filed Oct. 30, 1997 under 35 U.S.C. .sctn.111(b) are based on the discovery that nitric acid passivated stainless steel, titanium, and PEEK (polyetherether ketone) surfaces were, contrary to popular belief, sources of multivalent metal ion contamination in the MIPC process. The deleterious effect of multivalent metal cations on polynucleotide separations as observed herein has not been previously reported. We believe that all chromatographic processes which are capable of separating polynucleotides on non-polar, wide pore separation media are impaired by the interference of multivalent metal ions.

Process for performing polynucleotide separations


A variable period amplitude grating mask for use in making a long period Bragg grating is realized by a helically coiled spring. Stretching or compressing the spring changes the periodicity of the mask. A photosensitive optical waveguide, planar or fiber, is positioned within the spring coils along the major axis of the spring. Actinic radiation is incident on the masked waveguide, and induces an index perturbation in the waveguide having the periodicity of the mask. Different spring coil sizes and/or orientation of the waveguide with respect to the mask provide linear and nonlinear (chirped) grating periods. A device and method are described.

Since the discovery of the photosensitivity effect in germania fibers wherein he refractive index of an optical waveguide can be increased by exposing the waveguide to a light source, a variety of devices such as optical filters, WDMs, reflectors, and others, have been made and proposed. These devices often employ a long period grating (on the order of a few hundred microns) which couples light over a narrow band of wavelengths from the core layer of a waveguide to the cladding layer thereby acting as a wavelength selective loss element. An application for this type of device is, for example, the flattening of the gain spectrum of an erbium doped fiber amplifier. Various methods have been described for inducing periodic variations in the index of refraction in the core region of a photosensitive optical fiber, including the use of interferometric fringe patterns, phase masks, point by point index variation, and others. A discussion of the background, methods, and photoinduction process involved in making fiber gratings can be found in Hill et al., Photosensitivity in Optical Fibers, Annual Review of Materials Science, 23, 1993, 125-157. More recently, several articles by Vengsarkar et al. have been published which describe the theory and manufacture of long period fiber gratings and their use as band rejection filters, gain equalizers and sensors. In Vengsarkar et al., Long-period fiber gratings as band-rejection filters, in Proceedings of Conference on Optical Fiber Communications, OFC '95, post-deadline paper, PD4-2, 1995, and Bhatia et al., Optical Fiber Long Period Grating Sensors, Light News, Fiber and Electro Optics Research Center, Virginia Technical Institute and State University, pp. 6-11 (Winter 1995), both of which are herein incorporated by reference, a set-up is proposed for fabricating a long period grating in a hydrogen loaded (3.4 mole %) germanosilicate fiber exposed to 248 nm radiation from a KrF excimer laser through a chrome plated amplitude mask having a periodic rectangular transmittance function. The use of a chrome plated amplitude mask as suggested in these publications is limited to attempting to provide a fixed period grating designed for a particular loss wavelength. Further, the chrome on silica masks have a damage threshold of about 100 mJ/cm.sup.2 -pulse before the chrome is ablated, limiting the light source fluence used and the mask longevity.

Variable period amplitude grating mask and method for use


A display device having a transmissive area and a reflective area includes a first substrate, a reflective electrode formed on the first substrate, wherein the reflective electrode is disposed in the reflective area, a second substrate facing the first substrate, a plurality of color filters formed on the second substrate, wherein the plurality of color filters have light holes in the reflective area, and a common electrode formed on the second substrate, wherein an area of the tight holes is more than about 20% of an area of the color filter in the reflective area.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a transflective liquid crystal display and a panel having the transflective liquid crystal display, and more particularly, to a transflective liquid crystal display having increased reflectivity and a method of fabricating the same.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display (LCD) device includes a pair of display panels provided with electric field generating electrodes, a polarizer and a liquid crystal layer interposed between the two display panels. In response to changes in the electric filed that are applied to the liquid crystal layer, an arrangement of liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer is changed to control the transmittance of light. The polarizer can block or transmit the light transmitted through the liquid crystal layer to display an image.
Since the LCD device is not self-emissive, light is provided to liquid crystal to display images. The light can be provided to the liquid crystal externally, or a light emitting device can be installed in the LCD device to provide internal light to the liquid crystal.
The LCD device can be a transmissive LCD device, a reflective LCD device and a transflective LCD device according to light sources including, for example, an internal light source, an external light source, or a combination thereof. An example of external light can be natural light such as, for example, daylight. An example of internal light can be artificial light such as, for example, light emitted from a lamp of a backlight unit.
The transmissive LCD device displays an image by using the internal light emitted from a backlight unit disposed behind an LCD panel. The reflective LCD device displays an image by using the external light that enters the LCD panel through the front side of the LCD panel. The transflective LCD device can be operated in a transmittance display mode in places without sufficient external light, and can be operated in a reflection display mode in places with sufficient external light. In the transmittance display mode, the transflective LCD device displays an image by using internal light. In the reflection display mode, the transflective LCD device displays an image by using external light.
The transflective LCD device includes a transmissive area and a reflective area in each pixel. The light emitted from the backlight unit in the transmissive area passes through color filters one time. The external light that enters the LCD panel in the reflective area passes through color filters two times.
The color tone can be affected by a difference of the number of times light passes through color filters when light passes through color filters in the transmissive area and the reflective area, respectively. Thus, a two-tone technology or a light hole technology can be used to reduce the difference of the color tone. The two-tone technology includes color filters in the transmissive area that are thicker than color filters in the reflective area. The light hole technology forms light holes in the color filters corresponding to the reflective area.
In the light hole technology, the size of the light holes can vary according to the color filters to obtain high color reproducibility. For example, when the color filters comprise red, green and blue color filters, the green color filter may have a largest light hole, and red color filter may have a smallest light hole. The reflectivity in the transflective LCD device is linearly proportional to the size of the light hole.
Therefore, the size of the light hole of the color filters can be controlled to obtain high reflectivity and to reduce yellowish color.

Transflective liquid crystal display and panel therefor


A display device having electronic album function and the method thereof is disclosed. The present invention includes an Electronic Photo Frame (EPF) controller which checks the existence of the memory and reads image data from the memory if any, an interface device which converts the interface format of the image data from the EPF controller, transmits it to main controller and sends interrupts to the main controller when there is a transmission error, and a counter which counts the number of interrupts transmitted to the main controller. When the number of interrupts with the same clock exceeds a predetermined number, the main controller ignores the interrupts, resets the interface device and reloads the image data from the memory. Otherwise, the main controller performs the regular interrupt routine.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device, and more particularly, to a display device having electronic album function and method thereof.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
The function of Electronic album (or Electronic Photo Frame: EPF) is to substitute traditional paper albums by storing lots of photo frames in the memory device and displaying the stored photo frames when needed, thereby reading, writing, storing or displaying digital photo frames stored in the memory device or through data communication directly/indirectly with nearby peripherals such as Television (TV), Personal Computer (PC), Personal Data Assistant (PDA) and Portable Multimedia Player (PMP), etc. Moreover, the function of the electronic album is added to more and more display devices, which can be set to display video data captured from broadcasting programs, thumbnail images from internal/external memory devices, slides, or full screens.
FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a traditional display device having electronic album function. An antenna (101) receives specific broadcasting signals in a tuned frequency range. The tuner/IF (102) demodulates IF signals from the received broadcasting signals. The switch (103) chooses one of the signals from the tuner/IF (102) and external devices. The tone controller (104) controls the tone of the audio signals from the signals chosen by the switch (103). The amp (105) amplifies the output of the tone controller (104) and sends the amplified signals to the speaker (106). The chroma processor (111) adjusts colors of the characters and icons of the signals from the switch (103) to be displayed on the display device. The power supply (107) provides powers to all elements of the device. The main controller (109) receives power from the power supply (107) and outputs a corresponding control signal according to an input from the remote control (108). The format converter (112) converts signals from the chroma processor (111) to displayable signals. The image amp (113) amplifies the signals from the format converter (112). The deflection controller (114) adjusts deflections of the amplified image signals from the image amp (113). The display (115) displays the inclined image signals from the deflection controller (114).
The EPF controller (118) checks whether there is a memory and reads stored image data from the memory (119) if any. The interface (116) transfers the image data from the memory (119) to the main controller (109) as well as requesting an interrupt to the main controller (109).
FIG. 2 is a flowchart for operating the traditional display device having electronic album function. First of all, when a user sends a command using a remote control (108), the power supply (107) provides powers to all elements of the device and the main controller (109) sends a control signal to the tuner/IF (102) to select a channel chosen by the user.
Now, operations of the traditional display device having electronic album function are explained. After a user turns on the display device (S101), the main controller checks if the user selects the electronic album function (S102). If the user selects the electronic album function while executing a regular operation (e.g., displaying broadcasting program) (S103), the main controller (109) displays a list of pictures read from the memory (119) (S104). It is recommended to display it as thumbnail images. The main controller checks if the user selects a certain picture (S105). If the user selects a picture, the main controller (109) loads the picture from the memory (119) (S106). Then, the controller (S10) checks if the loading is finished (S107). The controller displays the loaded picture on the display (S108). However, if the selected picture is not successfully loaded from the memory (119), the interface (116) periodically sends an interrupt signal to the main controller (109) (S109), thereby locking up the main controller (109) (S110).
The traditional display device having the electronic album function explained above checks whether there is a memory if the image data is not loaded within predetermined time. The controller recognizes it if there is actually no memory present. When it is totally impossible to read the image data from the memory even though there is a memory, the controller stops the reading operation realizing that the memory has a defect. But, when the controller cannot read the image data from the memory due to noise or cable vibration, etc., or the controller lost the image data due to the other commands from the user, the interface continuously sends an interrupt signal to the main controller (109) resulting lockup of the device.
Therefore, it is highly desired to develop a display device having an electronic album function which prevents from malfunctions such as the device lockup by sensing irregular interrupts, resets the corresponding element, and quickly restarts the device.

Display apparatus having electronic album function and method thereof


A stationary flat horizontal support member has an active circular area with a center point which defines a zero point of intersecting orthogonal X and Y axes. A first flat horizontal plate is disposed above and spaced from the member. The first plate is movable along either or both X and Y axes which are vertically aligned with the corresponding X and Y axes of the member. The first plate has an active circular area with a center and having a home position at which the center of the first plate is vertically aligned with the center point. The first plate is supported above the member in such manner that the first plate can be moved and held in an position with respect to either one or both of the X and y axes by an operator in an almost frictionless manner. Once the operator releases the hold, the first plate is automatically returned to zero position. A first dispacement signal monatonically related to the displacement of the center of the first plate from the center point of the member along the X axis and a second displacement signal monatonically related to the displacement of the center of the first plate from the center point of the member along the Y axis are both produced.

Many computers use a hand operated pointer device such as a mouse, trackball or joystick to manipulate graphics, menus, windows and the like in combination with a keyboard. Since the user employs both the device and the keyboard, it is necessary to move a hand back and forth between keyboard and device, a time consuming and awkward operation.
If such devices could be operated using a foot rather than the hand of the operator, this operation could be eliminated. However, the inventors found that no known device could be successfully operated by foot. The mouse, conventionally supported on a pad, initially functioned well until the mouse ran off the pad, with no way for the operator to pick it up without using his hand. The pad and mouse became dirty and unusable quickly unless frequent cleaning steps were employed. The trackball became clogged with dirt and inoperative almost immediately during use. The joystick was not adaptable for foot operation.
The present invention is directed toward a new type of device, a dimensional continuous motion controller, which can be easily operated either by hand or by foot, and, when operated by foot, eliminates the awkward and time consuming hand operation described above.

Dimensional continuous motion controller


The present invention enables siloxanes which have a detrimental effect on the quality of products during semiconductor production to be efficiently removed from silicon compound gases, and enables minute amounts of siloxanes in these gases to be accurately measured to a few ppb, thus allowing for improvements in quality control by offering silicon compound gases of high purity. Diatomaceous earth M filled into a removal column 2 is heated by heating means provided on the removal column 2, while an inert gas such as nitrogen or helium is fed from an inert gas delivery pipe 13 via a pressure regulator 5 and an entry valve 6 into the removal column 2, and is allowed to flow out through an outlet valve 8 in order to thermally activate the diatomaceous earth M. After activation, the removal column is cooled to a temperature of 60-0.degree. C., at which temperature a silicon compound gas S such as silane is fed through the pressure regulator 5 and the entry valve 6 into the removal column 2 so as to come into contact with the activated diatomaceous earth M. As a result, high-purity silicon compound gas which has been purified by removing siloxanes is let out through a gas vent pipe 9, from which it can be delivered through the outlet valve 8 to an area of use.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for removing siloxanes which have a detrimental effect on the quality of products and are contained in silicon compound gases such as monosilane, disilane, halides thereof, silicon tetrafluoride, silicon tetrachloride and the like which are useful as semiconductor material gases; and also relates to an analyzing method and analyzing apparatus for analyzing semiconductor material gases such as monosilane, disilane, halides thereof, silicon tetrafluoride, silicon tetrachloride and the like for the concentrations of siloxanes mixed therein, which can be effectively used to evaluate the quality of the gases.
This application is based on Patent Applications Nos. Hei 9-36724 and Hei 9-46594 filed in Japan, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
2. Background Art
Silicon compound gases such as monosilane, disilane, halides thereof, silicon tetrafluoride, silicon tetrachloride and the like have been widely used in the semiconductor industry as materials for epitaxial growth or growth of silicon oxide films and nitride films. However, the presence of impurities contained in the above-mentioned silicon compound gases can have a considerable influence on the quality of the produced semiconductors. Specifically, the presence of oxygen-containing impurities such as water (H.sub.2 O) or carbon dioxide (CO.sub.2) and the like can cause crystal defects which can lower the performance to the point of inadequacy. In particular, monosilane is known to have a tendency to react with water to produce detrimental siloxanes (H.sub.3 Si--O--H.sub.3 Si). For this reason, measures for preventing the intermixture of water have been taken.
Additionally, the siloxanes which have been produced and intermixed must be removed by purification in order to reduce the concentration to extremely low levels when using the above-mentioned silicon compound gases, and various methods have been proposed therefor. For example, an adsorption removal method using active alumina has been disclosed in Japanese Patent Application, Second Publication No. Sho 63-19443, an adsorption removal method using silica gel has been disclosed in Japanese Patent Application, Second Publication No. Hei 4-81523, and a removal method using getter metals has been disclosed in Japanese Patent Application, First Publication No. Hei 5-170405.
However, the above-mentioned conventional siloxane removal methods require the use of special agents such as getter metals, or the agents are difficult to activate favorably, so that they can contact monosilanes and cause the monosilanes to decompose and form hydrogen or disilanes. Additionally, since the adsorbents must be cooled to extremely low temperatures of below the ice point (0.degree. C.) in order to increase the removal effect, the costs can rise so as to inflate expenditures and the operations are difficult to handle. Furthermore, even with the proposed removal methods given above, the removal of siloxanes from silicon compound gases such as monosilane, disilane, halides thereof, silicon tetrafluoride, silicon tetrachloride and the like has not attained the levels (content: a few ppb or less) which are held to be desirable in the semiconductor industry.
Additionally, the silicon compound gases such as monosilane, disilane, halides thereof, silicon tetrafluoride, silicon tetrachloride and the like without the siloxanes which are not desirable for retaining the quality of products are put to effective use as material gases for epitaxial growth or growth of silicon oxide and nitride films in the production of semiconductors. However, even after removal of siloxanes, trace amounts of siloxanes which have a detrimental effect of the quality of semiconductors remain mixed into the silicon compound gases. Therefore, due to increases in the scale of integration of semiconductors, the elimination of this siloxane content and the development of silicon compound gases to higher purity has been desired. In correlation therewith, the development of analysis techniques having lower minimum limits of sensitivity (a few ppb or less) for detecting siloxanes in silicon compound gases has become an essential prerequisite. That is, the development of high-quality material gases for the production of semiconductors containing extremely minute amounts of siloxanes is possible only after the establishment of an analysis method having a lower minimum limit for detection of siloxanes of only a few ppb or less as a method for analyzing gases to evaluate their quality.
Conventionally, silicon compound gases have been analyzed for siloxane content by using thermal-conductivity-detecting gas chromatography (hereinafter referred to as "TCD-GC") as a detection means. With this method, samples are analyzed by separating the components using as a separation column a stainless steel tube which is filled with Porapack P or Porapack Q (both products of Waters Corp.) composed of porous macromolecular agents such as divinylbenzene (DVB). According to this method, the detection sensitivity for siloxanes is merely 0.5-1 ppm (500-1000 ppb), which leaves impossible the detection of a few ppb which is required as described above.
Since the conventional TCD-GC analysis methods require the separation column to be heated to a temperature of 70-80.degree. C. in order to conduct an analysis for siloxanes, the present inventors pinpointed the heating temperature as the likely cause of the minimum detection limits, and therefore measured the changes in the siloxane content by guiding gas discharged from the separation column to a mass spectrometer while changing the column temperature. The results are shown in FIG. 13. The separator which was used was Porapack P, the gas which was used was monosilane, of which 5 cc were collected for analysis at each temperature.
As is clear from FIG. 13, the amount of siloxanes from the column changes according to the temperature of the separation column, even if the same gas is analyzed. That is, when the temperature is high, the amount increases, so that the content of siloxanes was confirmed to be approximately 700-1200 ppb when the separation column had a temperature of 70-80.degree. C. at which the gases are analyzed in TCD-GC, and was confirmed to achieve approximately 7000 ppb at a temperature of 100.degree. C. On the other hand, at the lower temperatures, the content was lower, e.g. the content at 60.degree. C. was approximately 300 ppb, and the content at 40.degree. C. was approximately 60 ppb. This phenomenon is believed to be caused by reactions between trace amounts of residual water adhered to the macromolecular separator in the separation column and the silicon compounds which are introduced, which results in the production of siloxanes, of which the rate of production increases as the temperature rises.
Additionally, when analyzing silicon compound gases for siloxanes according to a conventional TCD-GC technique using heated separation columns, the amount of siloxanes extracted from the column changes depending on the temperature of the separation column, so that it is difficult to determine the true value. Furthermore, when the separation column used in this analysis method has a heating temperature of 70-80.degree. C., the content of siloxanes is 700 ppb or more, which makes it impossible to detect the siloxane content in silicon compound gases in minute amounts of a few ppb, which is expected to become an essential requisite in this field.

Method of removing siloxanes from silicon compound gases and apparatus therefor


A plunger for a retracting needle syringe includes a hollow elongate body portion having a proximal end, a distal end, and a side wall therebetween defining a cavity. The distal end includes a distal wall having an inside surface and an outside surface. A stopper, at the distal end of the body portion, includes a peripheral portion performing a seal with the inside surface of a syringe barrel and at least one radial element extending from about a center of the outside surface of the distal wall to the peripheral portion. The distal end of the body portion includes at least one primary chamfer in the cavity at an intersection of the inside surface of the distal wall and the side wall. The chamfer is positioned under the at least one radial element for supporting the distal wall and the radial element when a hollow sleeve in the syringe barrel cuts through the end wall plunger. A secondary, smaller chamfer on each side of the primary chamfer is also provided.

Hypodermic syringes are widely used in the medical field for administering medicaments and for drawing body fluid samples. Generally, hypodermic syringes include a needle having a sharpened distal point for penetrating vial stoppers or patient's skin. The needle is attached either fixedly or removably to a syringe barrel. Hypodermic syringes and needles have been used for many years with few problems reported when the vast numbers and needles being used are considered. More recently, with the recognition of viral diseases that are transmitted by body fluids and greater sensitivity of the need to protect health care workers from inadvertent contact with previously used needles (commonly referred to as "sharps") as well as the need to reduce criminal misuse of improperly disposed of needle and syringes, syringes and needles that include provisions to prevent reuse have been developed.
Devices intended to prevent reuse of needles and syringes include a variety of sharps collector systems that are widely used in health care facilities. Other developments include needle attachments that may be readily broken off by practitioners once the syringe has completed its intended use. A variety of shielding mechanisms has been developed; some of which are currently commercially available. While many of these developments have reduced the incidence of inadvertent exposure of healthcare workers to sharps, many of these devices can be overcome by an individual determined to obtain and misuse a hypodermic syringe and needle. As a result of this problem, further developments in the art of hypodermic syringes have resulted in syringes with needles that withdraw into the body of the syringe once their intended use is completed.
Current conventional syringes are considered by users to be virtually fault-free and reliable. They are used for a variety of different procedures involving both "one-shot" fill and inject procedures, as well as more complex mixing, measuring and delivery functions. In order for a retracting needle syringe to replace these functional, utilitarian and reliable conventional syringes, the retracting needle syringe should not significantly interfere with the users' current practices, it needs to be substantially reliable and its cost should not be prohibitive. Current conventional syringes are often manufactured at rates of several hundred per minute and their cost is generally not a significant factor in their usage. Additionally every year, hundreds of millions of small capacity (one milliliter) syringes are used outside of the normal controlled health care environment by diabetics and other self-injectors who must daily accurately inject small amounts of medication or other liquid, often only a few tenths of a milliliter. These small capacity syringes are usually physically small, with an overall length of less than five inches and an inside bore diameter of about one-quarter inch. In light of the discussions above, one skilled in the art of high volume manufacturing recognizes that assembling hundreds of millions of most of these relatively complex devices with their retraction elements contained in such a small space as a one-quarter inch diameter bore is a difficult task.
The need thus exists for a selectively retracting needle syringe that is compatible with a small capacity syringe without retracting needle features, that is capable of being manufactured at high volumes and is sufficiently non-complex to be reliable in use when produced at volumes of hundreds of millions per year. Such a device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,432,087; 6,679,863 and 6,689,106. The invention disclosed herein represents an improvement of the plunger and stopper of the syringes described in the aforementioned U.S. patents and any other design of single-use syringe using a barrel or needle assembly based cutting element intended to cut through the stopper and the plunger from the distal end of the plunger rod assembly.


A processor assembly includes a computer processor, a voltage converter, and a converter-power connector. A carrier structure holds these components in rigid relationship with each other.

Herein, related art may be discussed to put the invention in context. Related art labeled "prior art" is admitted prior art; related art not labeled "prior art" is not admitted prior art.
To facilitate computer repairs and upgrades, computers are often designed with modular components. One such modular component includes a processor and a voltage converter, both mounted on a carrier structure, e.g., daughterboard. This processor-converter assembly is mated with a motherboard so that processor pins engage corresponding sockets. Once the processor assembly is in place, a connector at the distal end of a cable connected to the voltage regulator is mated with a cable connected to a computer power supply. This process is subject to human error in that the power connection can be subject to damage or even forgotten. The present invention addresses the problem of making the installation of a processor-converter assembly more foolproof. Other features of the invention are apparent from the description below with reference to the following drawings.

Processor and power converter assembly with rigidly connected power connector

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A touch panel acquires position information indicating the position of contact with or approach to an operation surface in every period divided by predetermined intervals. An action judging unit judges whether or not an action by contact with or approach to the operation surface of the touch panel is a first predetermined action. An operation determining unit determines a start page of automatic page-turning in which display pages of a document to be displayed are changed from one page to another in sequence on the basis of the position information and the information indicating the history of the position information when the action judging unit judges that action by the contact with or the approach to the operation surface of the touch panel is the first predetermined action.

As electronic documents have come into widespread use in recent years, more and more people are reading electronic documents using electronic document readers. Many of the electronic document readers are equipped with a touch panel in which display functionality and input functionality are combined together.
When reading an electronic document, a user is required to perform an action, such as touching an icon, in order to turn displayed pages (to change displayed pages). Accordingly, actions are complicated by the user's eye movement. With the aim of eliminating the complication, various methods have been proposed about the page changing of the electronic document reader.
For example, PTL 1 discloses a display apparatus in which, when a given turning action is performed, a preset number of pages are turned to display. The number of pages turned at the same time is set by a distance over which multi-touching fingers have slid.
PTL 2 discloses an electronic book viewer which displays a cursor indicating the current read position in order to prevent a user from reading a wrong line or row. The electronic book viewer includes a page bar which visually shows where the currently displayed page is located in an electronic book. When a point displayed on the page bar is slid, pages are turned correspondingly.

Electronic apparatus, document display method and computer-readable recording medium having program recorded thereon


A selectable cartridge is provided consisting of a cartridge head, a dual-bed propellant chamber, a primer, and a tube. The invention enables the user to select a launch velocity prior to chambering the round. A high-velocity projectile is launched by mechanically rotating the base cap and rotation band such that holes along the primer align with the larger of two propellant beds. A low-velocity projectile is launched by rotating the base cap and rotating band a quarter turn from the high-velocity setting such that the holes along the primer align now align with the smaller propellant bed. The invention is suited for use in shotguns.

Shotgun cartridges fall into two broad yet distinct categories. The first category includes designs which launch dense-metal bullets or projectiles at velocities typically greater than 300 meters-per-second. The second category consists of designs which launch lower-density bullets, projectiles, and aggregate filled bags at velocities typically lower than 150 meters-per-second. Cartridge design optimizes launch velocity within a category to maximize the desired terminal effects, namely, lethal penetration at high velocity and non-lethal impact at low velocity. Single-velocity cartridge designs severely limit the utility of ammunition. More importantly, single-velocity designs fix the response level of the user irrespective of the threat or situation.
Adjustable velocity ammunition is confined to large caliber shells. These inventions include rigidly-attached, segmented propellant beds and various selection mechanisms.
Grandy U.S. Pat. No. 3,283,719, 1966 describes a multi-bed propellant chamber to achieve multi-range capability irrespective of gun barrel length. A plurality of independent propellant charges are arranged in eccentric beds with respect to the longitudinal axis of the shell. The effective range of the projectile is increased by increasing the number of charges ignited. This design suffers four deficiencies. First, the eccentric arrangement of propellant charges produces an asymmetric pressure field which promotes damage to the projectile. Second, a plurality of primers are required to ignite the several propellant charges thereby making the design incompatible with single-point, centered firing pins employed in conventional gun systems. Third, the disc used to shield non-initiated propellant beds from the ignited charge is likely to remain in the gun barrel thereby interfering with the firing cycle. And fourth, noninitiated propellant charges are susceptible to temperature buildup leading to its undesired ignition. This problem is pronounced where the propellant bed, shell case, and gun breach are in close proximity. This deficiency precludes application of Grandy type devices to weapons with high rates of fire where the gun breach is subjected to extreme temperature elevations.
Romer U.S. Pat. No. 4,619,202, 1986 describes another multi-bed propellant chamber which achieves multi-range capability. Two or more independent circular propellant charges are arranged coaxially with respect to the longitudinal axis of the shell casing. Mechanical initiation of the lower most propellant bed is achieved by a firing pin. Electrical initiation via an electronics circuit allows for selective ignition of a plurality of propellant beds thus achieving the desired velocity. Propellant beds are mechanically secured in series with the base of the projectile. This invention suffers from three deficiencies. First, the coaxial arrangement and construction of the propellant beds is prone to generating debris which in turn enters the gun barrel thereby interfering with the firing cycle. Second, attachment of the propellant beds to the projectile to facilitate the transport of the non-initiated beds from the gun barrel adds parasitic mass and alters the aerodynamic characteristics of the projectile. Both events adversely impact projectile performance in terms of reduced range and altered flight dynamics. And third, reliance on an electronic ignition circuit to achieve selectability precludes use in conventional handguns, shotguns, and rifles which employ a mechanical firing pin.
As is apparent from the inventions above, neither facilitates the following: a mechanically-based selector mechanism housed within a sealed cartridge; a selector mechanism based on a rotatable multi-chamber propellant bed; a selector mechanism compatible with single-pin firing systems and based on a single, mechanically initiated primer; and a selector design and propellant bed arrangement which result in the debris free ignition of a single propellant bed.
It is therefore the primary object of this invention to provide a selectable cartridge that:
A. Provides the mechanical selection of one of two propellant beds thereby facilitating either a low-velocity or a high-velocity launch.
B. Incorporates a single primer system compatible with conventional firing pins.
C. Incorporates a coaxial bed arrangement in which a low-velocity bed and a high-velocity bed are contained in a single unit operating in a debris-free fashion.
D. Incorporates a propellant bed arrangement in which a thermally insulated high-velocity bed remains in the cartridge after discharge of the low-velocity bed.
E. Incorporates a propellant bed arrangement which is launched with the projectile from the barrel when the high-velocity bed is discharge thereby functioning as the wad in a conventional shotgun round and expelling the non-initiated propellant contained in the low-velocity bed.
F. Maintains the optimum flight characteristics of the projectile.


A flexible user input system, comprising a computing system having a display device and a flexible user input device with a touch screen display member, the flexible user input device configured to concurrently display at least two user input interface representations.

Keyboards are typically configured for a single language. In some instances, the same keyboard can be used for multiple languages by having one key represent different letters, characters, and/or symbols in another language. However, such a keyboard is typically limited to, at most, three languages as each key becomes overcrowded with multiple characters and/or symbols printed on each key. Furthermore, such keyboards cannot be easily interchanged for use with other languages without replacing all the keys on the keyboard, thereby resulting in replacement of the entire keyboard itself.


A browser for requesting and receiving documents from a network includes a cache which stores a plurality of documents and has a user-defined storage limit. At least one of the plurality of documents stored in the cache is designated as a keep document. When a document is requested and received from the network, it is stored in the cache. The cache then determines whether the amount of storage used by the cache exceeds the storage limit. If the storage limit is exceeded, the cache deletes the oldest documents not designated as keep documents until the amount of storage used by the cache is within the storage limit.

The present invention is directed to an Internet browser that includes an enhanced cache for user-controlled document retention. More particularly, the present invention is directed to an Internet browser that includes an option to allow a user to specify the duration that documents should reside in the cache.
Accessing the Internet through a personal computer is rapidly increasing in popularity. One popular section of the Internet, referred to as the World Wide Web (the "Web"), includes multimedia home pages composed of text, graphics, and multimedia content such as sound and video.
The Web operates on a client/server model. The personal computer user runs a Web client, or browser, on their computer. The Web browser contacts a Web server and requests data information, referred to as documents. A document on the Web can include both Hypertext Markup Language ("HTML") files and embedded data that may be required by the HTML files. Examples of embedded data includes images, video files and audio files. The Web server locates and then sends the documents to the Web browser, which displays the documents on the computer by interpreting the HTML that is used to build home pages on the Web.
Many browsers exist for accessing the Web. Examples of browsers include the Netscape Navigator from Netscape Communication Corp. and the Internet Explorer from Microsoft Corp. The typical browsers include cache functions. A cache is a temporary storage area for network data (the actual data is stored on the network) that improves data throughput. A cache can be any combination of random access memory ("RAM") and nonvolatile storage, e.g., disk memory, flash memory, tape, etc. A typical cache includes expiration rules, which cause data to be removed when the cache storage becomes too large. A typical cache also includes consistency rules, which determine when the cache checks to see if the temporary copy of the data is up to date with the actual data on the network.
Referring to FIG. 1, a typical browser that includes a cache function is illustrated. Browser 8 is typically implemented in software and is executed on a general purpose computer (not shown). The general purpose computer includes a processor for executing the browser 8 software, and memory for storing the browser 8 software.
Browser 8 shown in FIG. 1 includes a browser interface 10, a resolver 12 and a cache control 16. Browser 8 is coupled to the Internet 14 through communication equipment (not shown) associated with the computer in a known manner. Browser 8 is also coupled to a disk drive 18 which is part of the computer. Cache control 16, resolver 12 and disk drive 18 together form a cache for browser 8. The cache uses disk drive 18 as storage, but it could also use any other combination of RAM and nonvolatile storage that is available to the general purpose computer.
A computer user 20 operates browser 8. Browser interface 10 is the graphical interface through which user 20 interacts with browser 8. User 20 requests and receives documents from Internet 14 through browser interface 10.
Resolver 12 intercepts all document requests from browser interface 10 and determines if the requested document is stored in disk 18. It does this by first requesting the document from cache control 16. Cache control 16 retrieves the document from disk 18 if the requested document is stored in disk 18, and sends the document to resolver 12 which in turn sends the document to browser interface 10. If the document is not stored in disk 18, cache control 16 informs resolver 12 of this. Resolver 12 then requests the document from Internet 14. When the document is received from Internet 14, it is sent to browser interface 10. A copy of the document is also sent to cache control 16 where it is stored in disk 18.
A typical cache in a browser has a limit to how much data cache control 16 can store in disk 18. For example, in one known browser, the amount of storage in disk 18 is limited to a user-definable number of megabytes of disk space. When the limit is reached, cache control 16 automatically deletes the oldest data in order to store new documents. Because a typical cache indiscriminately deletes data based on the duration of time that it has been stored, the embedded file part of a document can be deleted while the HTML file part of the document remains stored in the cache, and vice versa.
For various reasons, a user might want to always keep specific documents stored in the cache. For example, Web pages might become unavailable over the Internet, or might be unexpectedly deleted, or the user's connection to the Internet may be disrupted. In addition, a Web page server might be frequently overloaded so that a long delay is required when retrieving the Web page. If these Web pages are always stored in the cache, they are always available to user 20 regardless of their availability on the Internet, and are available without unnecessary delay. However, with existing browsers such as browser 8, this option is not available to user 20 because Web pages may be automatically deleted when the limit of storage available to cache control 16 in disk 18 is reached.
Based on the foregoing, there is a need for an Internet browser that includes an option to allow a user to specify how long documents should reside in the browser's cache.