A network node receives from a mobile terminal being served by a first coverage area a measurement report indicating signal level of a second coverage area detected by the mobile terminal. The network node then makes a determination, by considering PLMNs of the mobile terminal and of the coverage areas, of (i) whether the mobile node is a home mobile node of the first coverage area and (ii) whether the mobile node is a home mobile node of the second coverage area. Based on that determination, the network node then selects a handoff threshold. And based on the handoff threshold and the reported signal level, the network node decides whether to trigger handoff of the mobile terminal from the first coverage area to the second coverage area. The network node then triggers the handoff if the decision is to do so.

Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in this section are not prior art to the claims and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
In a typical market area, wireless service providers may operate radio access networks (RANs) each arranged to provide mobile terminals with wireless communication service. Each such a RAN may include a number of base stations that radiate to define wireless coverage areas in which to serve mobile terminals according to a radio access technology such as Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE) or Wireless Operability for Microwave Access (WiMAX)), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) (e.g., 1×RTT and 1×EV-DO), GSM, GPRS, UMTS, EDGE, iDEN, TDMA, AMPS, MMDS, WIFI, and BLUETOOTH, or others now known or later developed. In turn, each base station may be coupled with network infrastructure that provides connectivity with one or more transport networks, such as the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and/or the Internet for instance. With this arrangement, a mobile terminal within coverage of the RAN may engage in air interface communication with a base station and may thereby communicate via the base station with various remote network entities or with other mobile terminals served by the base station or by other base stations.
In general, a wireless service provider may operate one or more such RANs as a public land mobile network (PLMN) for serving mobile terminals that subscribe to service of the provider. For example, a service provider may operate a CDMA PLMN and may provide mobile terminals with subscriptions that allow the terminals to receive CDMA service from that PLMN. As another example, a service provider may operate an LTE RAN as a PLMN and may provide mobile terminals with subscriptions that allow the terminals to receive LTE service from that PLMN. And as another example, a service provider may operate both a CDMA PLMN and an LTE PLMN and may provide mobile terminals with subscriptions that allow the terminals to receive both CDMA service from the CDMA PLMN and LTE service from the LTE PLMN.
In practice, a RAN operating as a PLMN may have an associated PLMN identifier (PLMN ID), and base stations of the RAN may be arranged to broadcast that PLMN ID to indicate that the base stations are part of that PLMN. Mobile terminals that subscribe to service of a wireless service provider's PLMN may then be provisioned with data indicating the PLMN ID of the PLMN and with logic that causes the mobile terminals to prefer service by base stations broadcasting that PLMN ID. Further, mobile terminals that subscribe to service of multiple PLMNs, such as both an LTE PLMN and a CDMA PLMN may be provisioned with data indicating the PLMN IDs of each such PLMN and with logic that causes the mobile terminals to prefer service by base stations broadcasting one or more of those PLMN IDs.
In addition to operating a RAN as its own PLMN, a wireless service provider may also operate a RAN on behalf of one or more other wireless service providers known as "mobile virtual network operators" (MVNOs), to allow the MVNOs to provide wireless communication service without the need to build out RANs of their own. To facilitate this, the service provider may not only operate the RAN as its own PLMN for serving mobile terminals that subscribe to its own service but may also operate the RAN as another PLMN for serving mobile terminals that subscribe to the MVNO. As such, base stations of the RAN may be arranged to broadcast not only their base PLMN ID indicating that they are part of the wireless service provider's PLMN but also an MVNO PLMN ID indicating that they are part of the MVNO's PLMN. Further, mobile terminals that subscribe to service of the MVNO may be provisioned with data indicating the MVNO PLMN ID and with logic that causes the mobile terminals to prefer service by base stations broadcasting that MVNO PLMN ID.
In practice, an MVNO may be a different company than the actual RAN operator or may be the same company as the actual RAN operator. In either case, wireless communication service offered by the MVNO may be branded differently than that offered by the actual RAN operator. Further, the RAN may be configured to provide different levels or types of service to mobile terminals that subscribe to service of the actual RAN operator than to mobile terminals that subscribe to service of particular MVNOs.
In addition, a wireless service provider that functions as an MVNO using base stations of another service provider may also operate its own RAN in certain locations, and may in fact host service for the other service provider in certain locations such that the other service provider would function as an MVNO in those locations. Thus, a service provider may operate a first RAN and provide mobile terminals with subscriptions of a first PLMN having a first PLMN ID, and a second service provider may operate a second RAN and may provide mobile terminals with subscriptions of a second PLMN having a second PLMN ID. Base stations of the first RAN may then be part of the first service provider's PLMN, broadcasting the first PLMN ID and also part of the second service provider's PLMN, broadcasting the second PLMN ID. Further, base stations of the second service provider's RAN may also be part of the second service provider's PLMN, broadcasting the second PLMN ID and might also be part of the first service provider's PLMN, broadcasting the first PLMN ID.
Still further, a wireless service provider may allow one or more of its PLMNs to serve mobile terminals that subscribe to service of other PLMNs, pursuant to a roaming agreement. In particular, a first service provider providing a first PLMN may enter into a roaming agreement with a second service provider providing a second PLMN, according to which the first PLMN will serve mobile terminals that subscribe to the second PLMN, and the second service provider will compensate the first service provider for providing that service. As such, a mobile terminal that subscribes to service of the second PLMN but that is not within sufficient coverage of the second PLMN may instead opt to be served by the first PLMN.

Dynamic selection and use of handoff threshold


A self aligning hitching device having a tongue support mountable on a vehicle or vehicle hitch. The tongue support has a mounting support so that the tongue support can easily be mounted on a vehicle. A tongue is provided that is mounted in the tongue support and is slideably free floating when in the unlocked position. It is at this time the connection is made between the towed & towing vehicles. Both the tongue and tongue support have wedging surfaces that guide the tongue now connected to a wedged or fully seated position at which time a spring biased locking pin secures them both together so that a towing vehicle carrying the tongue support and a towed vehicle connected to the tongue are now joined and ready for a towing movement.

Ever since vehicles, implements or other loads were to be transferred from one location to another by towing there was the requirement that they be connected or coupled together. Problems arose when the load to be towed was of a considerable size and weight. The points of connection were invariably not lined up and therefor the connecting could not be completed. Often many attempts had to be made for alignment or the towing vehicle or the towed load had to be moved until alignment was achieved to enable coupling. These procedures generally involved two people and sometimes produced disastrous results.
Many attempts have been made for alignment by providing sighting means, funnel shaped guides as well as jointed connecters and other means. The devices known to applicant which are considered the most closely related are found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,011,176 and Canadian patent 946,873.
The patent "176" teaches a vehicle with a towing bar, a telescopic arm received in the bar for longitudinal movement and an articulating arm pivotally connected to the telescopic arm for lateral pivoting movement. Once the connection is made and tension put on the hitch the arms line up and the anti pivot collar is slid back to prevent pivoting of the pivoted joint. The telescopic arm may also be fixed in a desirable position in the towing bar. Applicants device differs in that the longitudinal and lateral movement for hookup are provided by a free floating tongue followed by guided movement of the tongue in the tongue support in the initial stage plus a wedging action by engagement of wedging faces on the tongue with wedging faces on the tongue support in the final stage before lock-up of the tongue and tongue support by insertion of the lock-up draw pin which passes through the tongue and tongue support.
The patent "873" teaches a hitch mounted on a towing vehicle with a moveable tongue supported in a tongue support for controlled lateral and longitudinal movement for hook-up. Both movements are controlled by a pin passing through the tongue support and simultaneously through a slot in the tongue. As previously pointed out applicants device differs in that the longitudinal and lateral movements required for hook-up are provided by a free floating tongue followed by a guided movement of the tongue in the tongue support followed by a cooperation of wedging faces on the tongue with wedging faces on the tongue support which places the tongue in the lock-up position to receive the lock-up draw pin for a completed hook-up.


A dielectric antenna is provided which is capable of setting the radiation of electromagnetic waves at a desired angle. The dielectric antenna has a nonradiative dielectric guide (an NRD guide) of a construction in which a dielectric strip is sandwiched between a first planar conductor and a second planar conductor. A dielectric resonator is disposed between the first planar conductor and the second planar conductor along the extension line of the dielectric strip, and a plurality of slots are disposed in the second planar conductor above the dielectric resonator and symmetrically with respect to the dielectric resonator.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a dielectric antenna using a nonradiative dielectric wave guide (an NRD guide) for use for example in an obstruction detector for preventing car accidents, in a radio transmitter, or in another transmitting or receiving device.
2. Description of the Related Art
The inventors of the present invention have filed Japanese Patent Application No. 7-1506 concerning this type of dielectric antenna. In the following description, an XYZ coordinate system is used in which the center of gravity of a dielectric resonator 14 is the point of origin, the extension direction of a dielectric strip 13 is the X direction, and the direction vertical to the principal plane of a conductor 12 is the Z direction.
A conventional dielectric antenna shown in FIGS. 7-9 comprises a first planar conductor 11, and a second planar conductor 12. Disposed between the first planar conductor 11 and the second planar conductor 12 are a dielectric strip 13 and a dielectric resonator 14 spaced from each other along the X axis. One end 13a of the dielectric strip 13 is connected to a waveguide and a transmission circuit (not shown), and the other end 13b is an open end. Provided in the second planar conductor 12 above the dielectric resonator 14 is a single slot 12a substantially parallel to the X axis. In this way, the dielectric strip 13 is placed between the first planar conductor 11 and the second planar conductor 12, thus forming an NRD guide.
As shown in FIG. 10, a dielectric lens 15 is disposed above the slot 12a, and thus a dielectric lens antenna is formed. The electromagnetic waves transmitted from the waveguide and the transmission circuit to the dielectric strip 13 are propagated within the dielectric strip 13 in an LSM (Longitudinal Section Magnetic) mode with their electric field having components within the YZ plane and their magnetic field having components within the XZ plane. The dielectric strip 13 and the dielectric resonator 14 are electromagnetically coupled, so that an electromagnetic wave of an HE111 mode having electric-field components in the X direction occurs within the dielectric resonator 14. The electromagnetic wave generated in the dielectric resonator 14 is radiated through the slot 12a and the dielectric lens 15.
However, when the broadside directional axis provided by the slot 12a is the Z axis, the radiation within the XZ plane ("H plane") along the length of the slot 12a is within a range of approximately .+-.45.degree. with the Z axis as the center. However, the radiation angle within the YZ plane ("E plane") becomes .+-.90.degree. or more, including electromagnetic field components which are not radiated to the dielectric lens 15 ("spill-over loss").

Plural slot antenna fed with dielectric strip and dielectric resonators


A new method for improving the mechanical properties and nonlinear optical performance characteristics of gallium selenide crystals (GaSe) is disclosed. A charge of GaSe crystals was doped with indium before being made into a crystal. The indium-doped GaSe crystals have improved physical properties in that they can be cut along the cleave planes and the cleaved surfaces polished without the usual delaminations typically observed in prior art pure GaSe crystals. The indium-doped crystals were tested in a second harmonic generation (SHG) system and found to have nearly twice the SHG efficiency as pure, or undoped, GaSe crystals.

The present invention relates generally to nonlinear optical materials, and more specifically to improving the mechanical properties and nonlinear optical performance characteristics of gallium selenide crystals.
Nonlinear optical (NLO) materials, particularly NLO crystals, are increasingly valuable for such uses as frequency conversion. Frequency conversion converts, or shifts, monochromatic, generally laser, light to a useful higher or lower frequency not directly available from a conventional laser source. Frequency conversion using NLO materials can be achieved through such NLO methods as second harmonic generation (SHG), optical parametric generation and difference frequency conversion with tunable lasers.
Second harmonic generation is generally used to double the frequency (half the wavelength) of far-infrared carbon dioxide lasers. Optical parametric generation is generally used to double the wavelength of various near-infrared solid-state lasers. The frequency conversion process in a crystal material is only efficient along certain crystallographic directions known as "phase matching" directions.
Several NLO crystals such as thallium arsenic selenide (TAS), silver gallium selenide (AgGaSe.sub.2) and zinc germanium phosphide (ZnGeP.sub.2) are being developed as potential candidates for frequency conversion. These crystals are capable of generating the second and higher order harmonic wavelengths necessary for frequency conversion. Second and higher order harmonic wavelengths are also necessary for various other applications in the mid-IR wavelength region. For example, TAS is used for frequency conversion of a CO.sub.2 laser from wavelengths of 10.6 .mu.m to 5.3 .mu.m. However, the use of TAS crystals is limited to low power applications due to its low thermal conductivity. In high power applications, a thermal lensing effect (the index of refraction increases with intensity and temperature in these materials, creating a thermal lensing effect at higher intensities and temperatures) causes cracks in the crystal. A problem with AgGaSe.sub.2 is that it has an absorption peak at .about.2 .mu.m, the desired pump wavelength for applications in the 3-5 .mu.m atmospheric window.
Gallium selenide (GaSe) is a highly efficient NLO material with a wide transmission range from 0.65 to 18 .mu.m and has a substantial potential for use in tunable laser light sources in the mid-infrared range. It can be phase matched for both type I and type II SHG and has been used for difference frequency generation and for optical parametric generation.
A particular advantage of GaSe is its potential applicability for use in high power applications. Not only does GaSe exhibit high thermal conductivity, but its optical axis is perpendicular to its preferred direction of thermal conductivity, thereby desirably increasing its ability to conduct thermal energy away from its optical axis.
The major stumbling block preventing widespread use of GaSe is that it cleaves easily along planes perpendicular to the crystal c-axis, making cutting and polishing optical faces difficult.
Thus it is seen that there is a need for GaSe crystals having improved structural properties suitable for use as NLO crystals, particularly for GaSe crystals having improved fabricability.
It is, therefore, a principal object of the present invention to provide improved GaSe crystals which exhibit a significant reduction in cleaving tendency over prior art GaSe crystals.
It is another object of the present invention to improve the second harmonic generation efficiency of GaSe crystals.
It is a feature of the present invention that GaSe crystals made according to the teachings of the present invention are of a higher optical quality than pure GaSe crystals.
It is another feature of the present invention that the bulk optical transmission characteristics of GaSe crystals made according to the teachings of the present invention are not affected by use of the invention.
It is an advantage of the present invention that it allows cutting and polishing of optical faces of GaSe crystals along arbitrary directions.
It is another advantage of the present invention that GaSe crystals made according to the teachings of the present invention have higher structural integrity and stability than prior art GaSe crystals.
It is a further advantage of the present invention that the ability of GaSe crystals to withstand high thermal energies is not lessened by modifications made according to the teachings of the present invention.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent as the description of certain representative embodiments proceeds.

Modified gallium selenide crystals for high power nonlinear optical applications

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force


In aspects of serial interface for FPGA prototyping, an advanced crossbar interconnect (AXI) bridge structure enables serial data communication between field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) in a system-on-chip (SoC). The AXI bridge structure includes a parallel interface configured to receive AXI data signals from an AXI component implemented at a first FPGA. A transmit (TX) engine is configured to packetize the AXI data signals into an AXI data packet, and transmit the AXI data packet to a second FPGA via a serial link. The AXI bridge structure also includes a receive (RX) engine configured to receive an additional AXI data packet from the second FPGA via the serial link, and extract AXI data signals from the additional AXI data packet. The parallel interface is further configured to provide the additional AXI data signals to the AXI component.

The Background described in this section is included merely to present a general context of the disclosure. The Background description is not prior art to the claims in this application, and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
FPGA prototyping, also referred to as application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) prototyping or system-on-chip (SoC) prototyping, is used to prototype SoC and ASIC design on field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) for hardware verification and software development. When prototyping with FPGAs, the SoC is often partitioned into multiple FPGAs, where each FPGA may implement a specific component of the SoC. Conventional SoC's use a parallel interconnect structure to communicate data between components. This parallel interconnect structure requires multiple data lines and pins, making partitioning of the SoC difficult.


A dental apparatus, in combination with a dental handpiece that incorporates a rotable chucking mechanism with a locking means, and a driving mechanism that rotates the chucking mechanism at high speeds when actuated, comprising a dental bur which has a tool head at one end and a shank segment at the other end, a portion of the shank segment is received and locked in the chucking mechanism, and a barrier and deflecting means mounted intermediate the ends of the dental bur, the barrier and deflecting means upon being rotated by the chucking mechanism forming a barrier or shield and also creating air streams to intercept and prevent air-borne particles generated by dental procedures from being deposited on and in the handpiece.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a dental apparatus that is incorporated in dental burs or tool bits mounted in a handpiece held by a dentist or dental technician to prevent or at least minimize such matters as blood aerosols, saliva, dental debris and the like generated during dental operations to be deposited on or within any part of the handpiece. The dental apparatus of this invention installed on dental burs provide for a barrier and deflecting means which, upon the high speed rotation of the dental bur, will prevent air-borne foreign matter from approaching or contacting the handpiece held in the hands of the dentist or dental technician.
2. Description of Related Art
With the recent spread of Aids (acquired immune defiency syndrome), new exacting procedures are being developed and utilized to minimize the transfer of infectious matter to the dentist, dental technicians, and dental patients. Further, other various pathogens, both blood-borne or saliva-borne, can be present in the dental work area. One procedure calls for steam autoclaving or chemi-claving the handpiece utilized after each use. Even, if such procedure is followed, there is still a probability that some infectious matter is not completely destroyed by the sterilization method. Although so far, little evidence has been uncovered in scientific circles to support that the possibility of contraction of Aids or other infectious diseases from patients by dental personnel through the spray of infected matter or particles, it is only proper to provide as many safeguards as possible to reduce the the contamination of tools such as the handpiece of the dental unit used by the dentist during the treatment of patients.
The prior art has recognized the need for eliminating or reducing the exposure to dental personnel to infectious foreign matter propelled from the patient's mouth during dental operations.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,967,320, an apparatus is disclosed which utilizes an air screen to form a protective envelope about the patient's head to serve as a barrier against air-borne particles. These particles are transported by the air stream downward after being intercepted to a disposable patient drape. This prior art apparatus, although it recognizes the problem, is very cumbersome as the formed envelope is maintained in a fixed position but it can be easily disturbed by the movement of the dentist or his technician.
In U.S. Pat. No. 1,549,165, a protector cap for the dental handpiece has been devised to prevent the entry of foreign matter into the handpiece and the escape of oil from the handpiece mechanism. In this patent, a cap is inserted over the tool and tool holder and directly secured to the handpiece by a spring gripping device. The cap acts as a seal to prevent entry of foreign matter but does not deflect foreign infectious matter or minimize their deposition on the handpiece itself or on the fingers of the dental technician holding the handpiece.
The Applicant has developed a simple low-cost device comprising a barrier and deflecting means which is either attached to or integrally formed with the shank segment of a conventional dental bur or tool bit that is normally inserted by the dental technician into the chucking mechanism of the regular handpiece. The barrier and deflecting means of this invention consists of a bushing with or without a flange extending outwardly therefrom that fits tightly over the shank segment of a conventional dental bur or it could be integrally formed with the shank. Attached to the bushing or flange are a plurality of blades that extend outwardly from the bushing or downwardly from the flange. These blades are twisted so as to provide a down draft upon being rotated at high speed. The barrier and deflection means, upon insertion of the bur in the chucking mechanism of the handpiece, will be positioned just below the bottom edge of the handpiece and well above the tool head of the bur so as to not interfere with the dental operation or mechanisms. The high speed rotation of the dental bur upon actuation of the handpiece mechanism by the dentist or technician, will result in the barrier and deflecting means to form an invisible shield to serve as a barrier to prevent the entry of air-borne matter into openings in the bottom portion of the handpiece. Further, the rotation of the blades will create a downdraft to deflect air-borne particles and matter to prevent their deposition onto the surface of the handpiece as well on the fingers of the dentist or dental technician.
The barrier and deflecting means of this invention incorporated in the dental bur can be made to be disposable as the device is readily removable from the dental bur with a conventional tool and then easily replaced with a new device at a very low cost. It can also be sterilized together with the dental bur if it is not removed or integrally formed therewith. The utilization of the device of this invention may allow for the less frequent sterilization of the close tolerance designed handpiece which should result in reduced service problems as frequent sterilization has a major impact on the life and operation of the handpiece.


A motor vehicle has a body provided with at least one generally horizontal rail having a bent end portion and along which a sliding door is displaceable between a closed position in against the body and an open position out from the body. A sliding-door assembly has a door drive on the body including a flexible toothed belt extending along the rail and having an end and a link assembly fixed to the door, riding along the rail, connected to the belt end, and engaged in the bent end portion of the rail in the closed position of the door. A guide extends along the rail and laterally confines the belt so an actuator on the body can displacing the belt in one sense and thereby tension the belt and move the door in one direction and displace the belt in the opposite sense and thereby longitudinally compress the belt and move the door in the opposite direction. A door latch on the door and a keeper on the body communicating therewith secure the door tightly to the body in the closed position of the door and a closed position of the latch and release the door to ride along the rail in an open position of the latch. A controller connected between the door latch and the door actuator operates the actuator to move the door into the respective open position on displacement of the latch into the respective open position.

A standard motor vehicle has a body provided with at least one generally horizontal rail having a bent end portion and along which a sliding door is displaceable between a closed position in against the body and an open position out from the body. Such a sliding-door assembly is typically provided on minivans intended for passenger use as the back doors, as they allow the passengers in and out of the vehicle through a large opening yet, since the door even when open is relatively close to the vehicle, the vehicle can be relative close to other vehicles or structures while still allowing back-door access.
Normally as the door is opened it moves first outward somewhat, then back along the side of the vehicle. When closed it slides forward and, at the end of its travel, moves inward to fit flush with the vehicle side. To this end the tracks normally have bent-in front ends in which carriages fixed to the door ride.
To prevent air leaks it is essential that the door be closed very tight. Thus its peripheral seal is compressed all around the door. In a manual system this means that the door must be pushed to with considerable force. In a power-closing and-opening system such as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,140,316 and 5,316,365 it therefore becomes necessary to provide a fairly robust closing system to bring the necessary force to bear. For opening there is little problem, as once the latch is released the door pops out as the seal decompresses, but for closing it is necessary to bring enough force to bear that the seal can be compressed all around the door.
Thus these systems use an annular loop of cable that is operated wholly in tension by means of a relatively powerful motor so that it can bring the necessary force to bear. Alternately two different cables are used, one for opening and one for closing, and once again the cables are only effective in tension. During opening one of the cables is passive and during closing the other is passive.


In a predictive action determination apparatus (10), a state observation section (12) observes a state with respect to an environment (11) and obtains state data s(t). An environment prediction section (13) predicts, based on the state data s(t), a future state change in the environment. A target state determination section (15) determines, as a target state, a future state suitable for action determination with reference to a state value storage section (14). A prediction-based action determination section (16) determines an action based on a determined target state.

In recent years, systems for industrial use have become more and more complicated and it is getting difficult to have the relationship between an input and an output pre-described by a program or the like. For this reason, methods for processing an input signal to obtain a correct output has become necessary. An apparatus for determining an output from an input will be herein referred to as an "action determination apparatus". Moreover, an apparatus for predicting, from an input signal, a future state change and then obtaining an output is specifically referred to as a "predictive action determination apparatus".
Known techniques for action determination are divided into three groups. A first group includes techniques for performing action determination only based on a current state, a second group includes techniques for performing action determination based on a change from a past state and a third group includes techniques for predicting a future state and performing action determination.
As techniques for performing action determination only from a current state, there are a technique using the IF-THEN rule, a technique using a neural network, a technique using the memory table reference method and the like. In these techniques, an action for a current state has been pre-described, the current state is judged from an input and then an action is determined with reference to a predetermined description.
However, a correct action can not be always determined only based on the current state. For example, in an interactive robot system, when the question of "Is it OK?" is asked, what the question exactly means can not be understood from the question itself. Only after state changes made by the time when the question is asked are referred to, what the question exactly means can be understood. That is, there are cases where a past state is needed for action determination.
Moreover, there are cases where not only the current or past state but also a future state should be considered. For example, assume that a mobile robot avoids an obstacle. At a stage where the robot has not bumped into an obstacle yet, no problem has occurred. In such a case, only after a future change is considered, i.e., it is taken into consideration that if the robot keeps moving in the same moving direction at the same moving speed, the robot will bump to an obstacle in the future, the robot can take an action of avoiding an obstacle before it bumps to the obstacle.
As techniques related to action determination with consideration of a future state, techniques are disclosed in Patent Reference 1 and Patent Reference 2. In Patent Reference 1, current image data or joint angle data is received as a state from an input signal obtained from an environment by a visual sensor and a joint angle sensor. A system stores a change in an image as an action with respect to a target object and a result of the action by a recurrent neural network and if a similar state is received, a stored action is reproduced. This technique is applied to, for example, autonomous action determination of a robot. Moreover, in Patent Reference 2, an action determination technique in reinforcement learning is shown. An error is predicted from a value in a state and a value in a state one step earlier than the state and the obtained information is used for action determination.
Moreover, in Patent Reference 3, disclosed is a technique in which to achieve safety drive control for a vehicle, a drive route is estimated and if a dangerous point exists on the estimated route in the case where a vehicle continues to be driven at a current speed, the driving speed of the vehicle is controlled to a speed ensuring safety according to a driver's skill before the vehicle reaches the dangerous point.
(Patent Reference 1) Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-59384
(Patent Reference 2) Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-189502
(Patent Reference 3) Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 7-306998
Problems that the Invention is to Solve
As has been described, in Patent Reference 1, it is predicted, using a recurrent neural network, into what kind of state a current state is changed by a self-action. Then, according to a result of the prediction, an action stored with a state as a pair is determined.
However, in Patent Reference 1, a past state change due to a self-action is merely leaned by the recurrent neural network and no prediction is made or no consideration is given for or to a change in the environment not relating to the self-action. Moreover, at a certain point of time, action determination is made based on a current state and a prediction for a state one step later than the current state. However, the state one step later is not necessarily important for the action determination and, therefore, the future state prediction can not be considered to be appropriate for the action determination.
Moreover, in Patent Reference 2, an action determined only from a current state and a predicted value for a state one step later than the current state is not necessarily a desired action. For example, if a robot is desired to avoid a vehicle running toward the robot and the speed of the moving robot is much slower than that of the vehicle, the robot is to bump into the vehicle unless an avoidance action is made many steps earlier. In this manner, when an action determination should be made by looking ahead to future, not only a state one step later but also a future state have to be considered and an action have to be determined. Moreover, for example, like in the above-described case where the robot is desired to avoid a running vehicle, if no change is recognized when a current state and a value for a state one step later than the current state are looked at but a crucial situation is to occur many steps later, an action determined based on the current state and the value for the state one step later might become a useless action.
Moreover, in Patent Reference 3, a drive route along which a vehicle travels in the future is first estimated using map information and vehicle position information and then if a dangerous point exists along the estimated route in the case where the vehicle travels along the estimated route at a current speed, a vehicle speed plan in which a target vehicle speed is set for each point is made. That is, on the assumption that a vehicle travels on a road, it is judged using information for the road whether or not there exists a dangerous point to be a target which should be dealt with. However, if information for a future state such as road information has not been given beforehand, it is not definitely easy even to set up an appropriate target for action determination. Furthermore, in this technique, it is very difficult to determine an action with respect to various situations which have never been experienced.

Predictive action decision device and action decision method

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A plasma display device that includes a plasma display panel adapted to display images on a front side thereof, a chassis base including conductive material and arranged behind the plasma display panel, a plurality of circuit boards adapted to drive the plasma display panel, the plurality of circuit boards being fixed on the chassis base with a gap between each of the plurality of circuit boards and the chassis base and a driving circuit portion including a plurality of cables and adapted to electrically connect the circuit boards, wherein the chassis base includes at least one holding unit that is adapted to hold the plurality of cables on one side of the chassis base. The holding unit being adapted to attenuate EMI before it reaches the cables within.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plasma display device, and more particularly, to a plasma display device including at least one holding unit attenuates the electromagnetic interference (EMI) generated in a driving circuit portion that drives a plasma display panel.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a plasma display device includes a plasma display panel that makes use of plasma generated as a result of gas discharge, a chassis base that supports the plasma display panel, and a driving circuit portion that is fixed on the chassis base and drives the plasma display panel. The plasma display panel includes two sheets of glass substrates facing each other, and the space internally formed between the glass substrates forms a discharge space having a plurality of electrodes. Each of the electrodes is applied with voltage that is supplied by the driving circuit portion, thereby displaying an image on the plasma display panel.
The chassis base is bonded to the plasma display panel by means of double-sided adhesive tape that is attached on the front side of the chassis base, while a plurality of circuit boards are fixed on the rear side of the chassis base. The circuit boards are usually fixed onto the chassis base by adjoining a bolt that passes through the binding holes formed in the circuit boards, to a boss installed on the chassis base. The chassis base is formed of a metallic material having a higher mechanical hardness than the plasma display panel, thus being capable of supporting the plasma display panel. The chassis base has excellent thermal conductivity, and thus plays a role of dissipating the heat generated by the plasma display panel. The chassis base is also formed of a material having good electric conductivity, and thus plays a role as a ground shield of EMI that is generated during the operation of the plasma display panel.
The driving circuit portion includes a plurality of circuit boards and a plurality of cables electrically connecting the circuit boards. Each of these circuit boards includes a plurality of driving circuit boards for controlling the electrodes formed on the plasma display panel, a buffer circuit board for intermediating the electrode drive of the driving circuit boards, a logic circuit board for generating control signals based on the image signals applied from an external source and transmitting the control signals to the driving circuit boards, and a power supply circuit board for supplying electric power to each of the circuit boards.
Among these, when a cable is installed alongside with a circuit board having high intensity signals, such as the power supply circuit board, the cable is vulnerably exposed to the EMI generated by the circuit board, and thus, there can be an occurrence of signal distortion or malfunction of the plasma display panel. Furthermore, if the cable is a power line, the EMI generated by the cable itself can affect the function of the circuit board, thereby causing a problem in product reliability of the plasma display device as a whole. What is needed is a design for a plasma display device that prevents EMI generated the plasma display device from disrupting the performance of other circuit elements located within the plasma display device.


Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method, device and computer-readable storage medium for managing virtual machines. In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, tags in a virtual machine system are selected based on condition information input by a user. The virtual machines are retrieved for the selected tags. In this way, less data is required to be transmitted over the network and less data is required to be processed in order to retrieve specific virtual machines.

A virtual machine (VM) refers to a complete computer system having complete function of a hardware system by software simulating and running in a totally isolated environment. In virtual machine technology, dynamic policies are used for operations such as discovering and backing up virtual machines. Generally, a rule engine selects the target virtual machine based on one or more properties of the virtual machine to perform the following operation. This approach is typically has a number of inefficiencies.

Method, device and computer-readable for managing virtual machines


An image transmission device of a multifocal display system is described, for transmitting a set of N composite images based on a set of N primary images to an image reception device. N is greater or equal 2, and each of the N primary images has a focus distance associated therewith. The image transmission device includes processing circuitry configured to partition each of the N primary images into image portions and generate the N composite images by placing each image portion of each of the N primary images into one of the N composite images such that each of the N composite images comprises image portions from two or more of the N primary images. A communication interface transmits the N composite images to the image reception device (103).

Personal display devices make it possible to provide image content to a viewer in applications where the use of conventional display screens would be an encumbrance. Head-mounted display (HMD) devices (also referred to as near-eye display (NED) or near-to-eye (NTE) devices), such as display goggles, are being considered as a useful type of wearable personal display device usable in a variety of fields, with applications ranging from military, medical, dental, industrial, and game presentation, among others. For many of these applications it can be advantageous to have a three-dimensional (3D) or stereoscopic display. However, stereoscopic displays conventionally suffer from mismatched convergence and accommodation cues. This conflict hinders visual performance and causes visual fatigue.
Multifocal displays (MFDs) are one approach that has attempted to address the convergence-accommodation conflict. MFDs typically use rapid temporal (i.e., time multiplexed) and focal modulation of a series of 2-dimensional (2D) images to render 3D scenes. This series of images is typically focused at parallel planes positioned at different, discrete distances from the viewer. The number of focal planes directly affects the viewers' eye accommodation and 3D perception quality of a displayed scene.
Usually, in conventional MFDs the series of 2-dimensional (2D) images is provided from an image generator to an image display controller for displaying the images at different focal planes. In the absence of any transmission errors, where the images are not exposed to any kind of error sources between the image generator (i.e., the source of the images) and the image display controller, those images can be displayed properly. If, however, the transmission channel is imperfect, the images may be corrupted or lost, and the image quality will suffer substantially.
Thus, there is a need for improved multifocal display devices and methods allowing a better handling of image sequences affected by transmission errors.


A method of manufacturing a skin for foamed product involves the steps of: (a) not only preparing a plurality of flat skin forming pieces 2 to 5 by defining a skin 13 for covering an annular foamed body Y into a plurality of skins in radial directions and flatly developing the thus defined skins 131 to 134 while cutting apart at a single position along a circumference, and forming an opening 2a on a single skin surface out of these flat skin forming pieces; (b) overlapping adjacent flat skin forming pieces in such a manner that decorated surfaces of the skin forming pieces confront each other to thereby form a skin body 6 while joining side edges of the flat skin forming pieces 2 to 5 together; and (c) reversing the skin body 6 so that the front side thereof faces outward, joining diametrically opposite portions of both opening end edges of the skin body after such opening end edges have been pulled out of the opening 2a inside out, and pushing the joined opposite portions back through the opening 2a to thereby form an annular skin body 7 having a closed cross section with the front side thereof facing outward.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method of manufacturing an annular skin for foamed product with skin and a method of manufacturing a foamed product using such skin.
2. Description of the Related Art
Some headrests that are mounted on a top of the backrests of seats in automobiles or the like have a hole. Such a headrest with the hole is usually prepared as a foamed product with skin with the middle portion thereof hollowed out so that the back part of the head can rest therein. The entire part of the foamed product is covered with a skin.
A method of manufacturing headrests with the hole of this type involves the steps not only of first preparing a foamed body and then covering a skin over the foamed body, but also of arranging a fastener to the outer periphery. When such a method is employed, the costs of manufacture of the headrests become elevated. Another method of manufacturing headrests with an opening involves skin integrated foaming while using no fastener. However, this method has a difficulty in concealing the outlet seams.
Under such circumstances, e.g., Examined Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei. 4-40181 proposes a method of forming an annular headrest by stitching skin forming pieces one by one.
The art disclosed in the aforementioned publication is characterized as joining the cubic cylindrical opening edges of split pieces of a skin body together and, therefore, this art involves a cumbersome and time-consuming operation. In addition, when the skin forming pieces formed in cylindrical form are joined together from one piece to another, a special sewing machine such as a spot sewing machine must disadvantageously be employed because the diameter of the cylindrical body is small.

Method of manufacturing foamed product with skin and method of manufacturing said skin


Wood composite boards are produced from a wood fiber treated with a slow curing, low alkalinity phenol formaldehyde (PF) resin. The resin treated wood fiber is consolidated and cured in a press using steam injection. The slow curing nature of the resin prevents pre-cure of the resin. The press using steam injection speeds curing so that boards can be produced in press cycles comparable to the curing of wood fiber treated with other resins in a press with no steam injection.

Composite wood products, such as board, may be formed by consolidating a loose mat of lignocellulosic materials under heat and pressure, until the individual lignocellulosic elements adhere together to form a solid wood-like product. The lignocellulosic materials may take the form of wood materials, such as, particles, chips, fibers and/or the like and it will be understood that these terms are used interchangeably herein. Typically, the materials forming the mat are treated with a binder, such as a resin, before heat and consolidation are applied, to enhance adherence of the materials and improve the resulting properties of the finished product.
Consolidation of the mat is generally conducted in a press. A conventional press for consolidating a binder treated wood composite mat to a particular molded shape, such as, for example, a board, includes two opposing press platens spaced to define a mold cavity. At least one platen is heated through conduction, such as through the use of electric heating coils or by passing a heated fluid or gas medium, such as steam, through conduits heating coils or by passing a heated fluid or gas medium, such as steam, through conduits located in the platen body. Upon contact with the mat, heat is transferred from the platen to the mat by conduction. This process is known as hot pressing.
Urea formaldehyde (UF) resin or isocyanate (MDI) resin have typically been the binder of choice in hot pressing of composite wood products due to lower curing temperatures, reasonably short press cycles and superior properties imparted to the finished product in the short press cycles. Recently, due to significantly lower cost in use, attention has been directed to methods using phenol formaldehyde (PF) resins. However, the properties of composite products hot pressed with PF resins are inferior to those made with UF or MDI resins, and the press time for PF resins is typically found to be significantly longer.
Thus, it is known that certain resins having, for example, rapid curing rates or high curing temperatures, yield composite wood products with inferior properties when produced in a conventional press by hot pressing. U.S. Pat. No. 4,850,849 to Hsu et al. discloses that prior art presses are not capable of producing sufficiently high temperatures within a reasonable time frame to achieve curing of binders such as phenol formaldehyde resin. Additionally, it is believed that the slow transfer of heat by conduction from a conventional platen to a mat, particularly a thick mat, causes temperature differentials across the thickness of the mat. The temperature differentials may cause, for example, resin and fibers at or near the surface of the mat adjacent to the heated platen to be exposed to excessive heat, while materials at the core of the mat may be exposed to insufficient heat. The temperature differential across the thickness of a mat during curing in a conventional press can thus lead to over-curing and/or under-curing of portions of the thickness of the mat, resulting in structural and/or aesthetic flaws in the finished product. Resins with rapid curing rates or high curing temperatures are particularly susceptible to the negative effect on resin curing of temperature differentials across the thickness of the mat. For the foregoing reasons, phenol formaldehyde resins generally have been considered unsuitable for producing thick composite board products in a conventional press.
Also, although conventional presses have been successful in making fiberboard products using only conduction heat (hot pressing), today's manufacturing demands require faster cycle times on the press and the use of stronger high-temperature resins to produce highly detailed, higher density, and thicker fiberboard products. It is known that some of the disadvantages of conventional platens can be overcome by supplying, or injecting, steam directly into a mat through modified press platens provided with steam injection ports for that purpose. This is generally known as "steam injection" pressing. The steam passes from the injection ports into interstitial spaces between the wood particles, chips and/or fibers forming the mat, thus carrying heat quickly and uniformly to the core of the mat. Steam injection pressing has several advantages. Steam injection pressing speeds the curing of typically dimensioned boards using conventional resins, thus significantly shortening press cycles. Steam injection pressing also permits the use of high temperature curing resins, which are not typically suitable for use in conventional pressing, and which may be cheaper, safer and/or result in a stronger bonded product. And steam injection permits consolidation and curing of relatively thick composite boards, which either do not properly cure in a conventional press or do not cure quickly enough to provide a cost competitive product. Thus, steam injection is known to speed curing of resins improve product quality and shorten production time for wood composite products, particularly products having thick dimensions.
The benefits and advantages of steam injection can be significantly enhanced by conducting the injection in a sealed press, i.e., a press that isolates the press cavity from the surrounding atmosphere. This can be accomplished by sealing the perimeter of the cavity. Alternatively, the entire press can be isolated in a sealed chamber. A sealed press significantly reduces or eliminates the loss of valuable steam and facilitates the injection of steam into the mat at elevated pressures.
Relative to binders that cure at moderate temperatures, such as urea formaldehyde resin (UF) or isocyanate resin (MDI), phenol formaldehyde resin binders require high temperatures for curing, and consequently require a longer press cycle to effect curing throughout the thickness of a composite board profile. Because press cycle time is considered to be a major factor in determining the economy of manufacture of wood composite products, resins requiring longer press cycle times have been avoided due to the additional time required to cure the resin. It was thought that the longer press cycles necessitated by the high curing temperature of a resin could be counteracted by rapidly heating a fast-curing resin with steam injection, or with pre-heating followed by steam injection to cure the resin. However, rapid heating, either by high pressure steam injection, or by a combination of pre-heating and high pressure steam injection, is known to cause fast-curing resin to pre-cure.
It is known that the use of a slower curing resin prevents pre-cure of the resin in process equipment adapted to treat wood fibers with resin prior to formation of a mat for consolidation. U.S. Pat. No. 5,629,083 to Teodorczyk discloses the formation of composite wood products with a slow curing PF binder to prevent pre-cure in a blowline process for resin application to wood fibers before mat formation.
A journal publication by Ernest W. Hsu titled A Practical Steam Pressing Technology for Wood Composites, Proceedings of the Washington State University International Particleboard/Composite Materials Symposium, Pullman, Wash., Apr. 10, 1991, discloses that high-temperature curing resins, such as phenol formaldehyde resins, can be cured in a reasonable range of press times by steam injection in a sealed press. A conference abstract attributed to Ernest W. Hsu titled Comparison of Fiberboards Bonded with PF and UF Resins (1995), discloses that press times for phenol formaldehyde resin bonded fiberboard can be substantially reduced, and thus can be made comparable to UF-bonded fiberboard, by manipulating fiber mat temperatures, molecular weight distribution of PF resins and pressing parameters.
Pre-heating a wood composite mat is known to reduce press time and to prevent pre-cure of surface layers of the mat in the press cycle. U.S. Pat. No. 3,649,396 to Carlsson discloses preheating of furnish with a steam saturated air stream to a temperature close to the curing temperature of the binder to shorten press time, and to prevent premature curing of mat surface layers in the press. Carlsson also teaches that pre-cure is to be avoided in preheating.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,246,652 to Hsu et al. discloses that good bonding strength of a phenol formaldehyde binder can be achieved by steam injection. The Hsu et al. '652 patent discloses a method for making phenol formaldehyde resin bonded wood composites with improved resistance to biological attack and fire. The Hsu '652 patent does not distinguish between slow and fast curing phenol formaldehyde resins.
Despite the indication by Hsu that good bonding strength of a phenol formaldehyde binder can be achieved by steam injection, and that high-temperature curing resins can be cured in a reasonable range of press times by steam injection, the use of phenol formaldehyde resins in steam pressing has been found to be generally unsatisfactory, particularly in commercial applications. The generally unsatisfactory results are attributed to low or inconsistent internal bond strength of the consolidated product (see Lim et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,217,665).
As noted above, phenol formaldehyde resins are significantly less expensive to use. Thus, there is a need for a method for making composite board products using phenol formaldehyde resin in a reasonable press time such that the products consistently have suitable properties, such as, for example, high internal bond strength, dimensional stability, durability, etc.

Method for making composite board using phenol formaldehyde binder


An auto-play apparatus has an edit function for thinning out various kinds of music tone control information indicating analog control amounts contained in auto-play data pre-stored in units of parts. A data sequence of music tone control information to be edited is received to detect if the target data and its preceding and succeeding data indicate one of an increment data sequence and decrement data sequence, and thins out the target data to reduce the data volume.

The present invention relates to an auto-play apparatus and, more particularly, to an auto-play apparatus having a function for editing multi-level or continuous-amount music tone control information contained in auto-play data by thinning out this data.
Conventionally, an auto-play apparatus is known. The auto-play apparatus is arranged integrally with or independently of an electronic musical instrument such as an electronic keyboard, electronic piano, or the like. It effects an auto-play on the basis of auto-play data stored in an internal storage device such as a RAM (Random Access Memory) or the like.
In general, auto-play data for automatically playing a certain music piece is made up of 16 parts of auto-play data, Part1 to Part16, including a rhythm part, chord part, melody part, and the like, as shown in, e.g., FIG. 19.
The auto-play data Part1 to Part16 include various kinds of information such as note data containing key numbers, velocity information, and the like used for playing the individual parts, tone color data containing tone color numbers and the like, volume data containing volume values, and the like, music tone control information, and the like.
The music tone control information is normally multi-level or continuous-amount information such as after touch information, pitch bend information, modulation information, volume information, panpot information, expression pedal information, and the like.
Since such multi-level or continuous-amount information includes a very large number of data, this results in a large total volume of auto-play data.
For example, the pitch bend information is generated upon operation of a dial or wheel-like operation member so as to change the pitch of a music piece. Since the information generated by each operation is an analog value, data are generated at very short intervals.
However, the above-mentioned multi-level or continuous-amount music tone control information sometimes has nearly no influence on actual auto-play as long as it has data at certain intervals.
For this reason, in order to reduce the volume of the auto-play data, an auto-play apparatus which edits multi-level or continuous-amount music tone control information by thinning out its data (thinning-out edit function) is known.
However, since the conventional auto-play apparatus with the thinning-out edit function uses a method of thinning out data alternately one by one or a method of leaving only maximum and minimum value data, an auto-play that the user intended cannot be generated.
More specifically, when music tone control information A consisting of data a1 to a10 (FIG. 20) is present in auto-play data, and is edited by thinning out its data, the conventional auto-play apparatus thins out data alternately one by one, and leaves data a1, a3, a5, a7, and a9 of the data a1 to a10 as the music tone control information A. Alternatively, the apparatus leaves, as the music tone control information A, only data a10 corresponding to a maximum value and data a1 corresponding to a minimum value of the data a1 to a10.
As a result, when data are simply thinned out alternately one by one, the data a10 corresponding to the maximum value of the data a1 to a10 may be thinned out. When only the maximum and minimum value data are left, changes between the data a1 and a10 are ignored.
As described above, since the conventional auto-play apparatus with the thinning-out edit function may thin out the maximum or minimum value of multi-level or continuous-amount music tone control information, or ignores changes between the maximum and minimum values, an auto-play that the user intended cannot be generated.

Auto-play apparatus using processing to thin out tone generation control data


A system, method and computer program product are provided for optimizing an altered hardware design utilizing power reports. In use, a first hardware design is synthesized. Additionally, a first power report is generated for the synthesized first hardware design. Further, the first hardware design is altered. Further still, the altered hardware design is synthesized. Also, a second power report is generated for the synthesized altered hardware design. Furthermore, the altered hardware design is optimized utilizing the first power report and the second power report.

Hardware designs have traditionally proven useful in the creation of circuits and other electronic hardware. For example, files created utilizing hardware design languages have oftentimes been used for designing and testing circuits and other electronic hardware. However, traditional techniques for optimizing altered hardware designs have generally exhibited various limitations.
For example, traditional techniques that alter hardware designs oftentimes result in inefficient or defective hardware designs that may have to be retimed. However, traditional techniques for optimizing such altered hardware have proven to be time-consuming and difficult to perform, and can result in inefficiencies if performed incorrectly. There is thus a need for addressing these and/or other issues associated with the prior art.

System, method, and computer program product for optimizing an altered hardware design utilizing power reports


A bicycle rack used to attach a bicycle to the rear of a motor vehicle. The bicycle rack is fixedly attached to the bicycle when the bicycle is operated as well as when it is transported on the motor vehicle. The bicycle rack includes two swing arms movable from a first position when the bicycle is being utilized to a second transverse position used to attach the bicycle rack and the bicycle to the rear of a motor vehicle. A plurality of retractable cables is used to assist in attaching the bicycle rack and the bicycle to the rear of the vehicle.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a bicycle rack or carrier utilized to attach a bicycle to a vehicle for transporting the bicycle from a first location to a second location. More particularly, the invention relates to a bicycle rack that remains attached to the bicycle at all times allowing the rider to enjoy an unimpeded ride with the added convenience of a portable bicycle rack.
2. Description of the Related Art
Cycling is a very efficient and effective mode of transportation, optimal for short to moderate distances. Bicycles provide numerous benefits compared to motor vehicles, including a means of exercise, an alternative to the use of fossil fuels, reducing air and noise pollution, as well as reducing traffic congestion.
However, there are certain instances in which the cyclist requires transporting the bicycle from a first location to a second location remote from the first location, and does not choose to or cannot ride the bicycle to this second location. For example, this would occur if the cyclist wishes to bring the bicycle on a vacation and therefore must transport the bicycle to the vacation location. Additionally, there are times in which inclement weather would prevent or make it very difficult for the cyclist to ride his or her bicycle.
In these instances, when a vehicle is utilized to transport the bicycle from the first location to the second location, the vehicle must be equipped with a bicycle rack. Generally, the bicycle rack is secured to the top of the vehicle or mounted on the trunk or hatch back door of the vehicle. Unfortunately, the use of either the roof bicycle rack or the rear mounted bicycle rack would create problems. For example, and with respect to the roof bicycle rack, the bicycle must be lifted onto the top of the vehicle, thus inconveniencing the bicycle rider, and possibly scratching the vehicle. When the vehicle is driven with the bicycle on top of the vehicle, the effective height of the vehicle is increased, as well as elevating the center of gravity, thus hindering the safe operation of the vehicle.
With respect to rear mounted bicycle racks, when the bicycle is attached to the rack, the bicycle protrudes from the rear of the vehicle, thereby substantially increasing the effective length of the vehicle. Additionally, while both the roof bicycle rack and the rear mounted bicycle rack can be detached from the vehicle when a bicycle is not being carried by each respective rack, this is generally not done, thereby unnecessarily producing drag on the vehicle as well as, in the case of the rear mounted bicycle rack, potentially shielding the license plate as well as the tail lights from view.
As previously described, conventional bicycle racks are permanently attached to, or removably attached to, the rear or top of a vehicle. Therefore, unless these bicycle racks are attached to the vehicle, the bicycle cannot be transported from the first location to the second location. Consequently, since there are instances when the bicycle rider would unexpectedly be forced to transport the bicycle from the first location to the second location, it is important that a bicycle rack be developed which is physically attached to the bicycle when it is being ridden, and can be affixed to the rear of a vehicle when the bicycle is to be transported between the two locations. For example, if the bicycle becomes inoperable or inclement weather would prevent the bicycle rider from riding the bicycle, any vehicle which would then be utilized to transport the bicycle must be provided with either a roof bicycle rack or a rear mounted bicycle rack. Unless that vehicle is so equipped, it could not transport the bicycle.


An autogyro includes a frame and a rotor hub coupled to the frame. The autogyro also includes a connector coupled to the rotor hub and configured to couple the rotor hub to a ground-based pre-rotator device to rotate the rotor hub during a vertical take-off operation. The autogyro further includes a plurality of rotor blades coupled to the rotor hub, each rotor blade configured such that rotation of the rotor hub, during the vertical take-off operation, results in twisting the rotor blade from a first blade pitch distribution to a second blade pitch distribution.

An autogyro is an aircraft that flies due to a lifting force generated by an unpowered rotor in a state of autorotation. Autorotation is achieved due to an upflow of air that causes the rotation of the unpowered rotor. The upflow (e.g., upward inflow) generated by the forward motion of the aircraft combined with the angular motion of the rotor generates a system of airloads on rotor blades of the unpowered rotor that sustains the rotation of the rotor to generate the lifting force. That system of airloads remains in equilibrium and generates a lifting force, as long as there is a sufficient mass of air flowing upwards through the unpowered rotor. That upflow is induced by the motion of the aircraft due to the action of a thrust generating device (e.g., a propeller or a jet engine), the action of gravitational force, or both. As compared to a helicopter, an autogyro generally has an unpowered rotor typically with a fixed pitch (e.g., a fixed mast pitch and fixed rotor blade pitch) and requires some length of runway for both take-off and landing. A takeoff run is used to provide the upwards air flow through the rotor so that the rotor enters into autorotation and generates a sufficient thrust for a liftoff.
In order to enable the autogyro to take-off vertically (referred to as a jump take-oft), the rotor is rotated (e.g., pre-rotated) by a power unit so that the rotor begins generating lift before the autogyro begins to move in a forward direction. Autogyros may include a separate pre-rotator device on-board the autogyro or may use power from the autogyro engine (which otherwise produces power for the thrust propeller) via a clutched drive system. Such pre-rotator solutions are not optimized for cruise and carry a weight and performance penalty.
Additionally, preforming jump take-offs adds complexity to the rotor system. The rotor is either pre-rotated to very high speeds, as compared to rotational speed during cruise, or the rotor is configured to include mechanical (e.g., active) rotor blade pitch control. In operation, the rotor blade pitch is initially set to zero lift pitch to reduce the drag on the rotor and to reduce the requirements for spinning-up the rotor. Once the rotor has been spun-up, the pitch of the rotor blades is suddenly increased, which increases the angle of attack of the rotor blades causing the autogyro to vertically ascend in a "jump take-off" maneuver.
Such configurations to perform jump take-offs significantly increase the complexity of the rotor because the rotor is configured to physically (e.g., mechanically) adjust the pitch of the rotor blades or the rotor is designed to withstand relatively high angular velocities to generate a lifting force for a jump take-off at a relatively low blade pitch typical for autorotating rotors. As a result, the weight, cost, and maintenance of the autogyro increase to the point where the autogyro is nearly as costly as a helicopter.

System and method for vertical take-off in an autogyro


A multi-functional hairbrush with storage compartments for grooming, storing and organizing small beauty accessories, the hairbrush having a hollow brush head and main chamber, a brush lid portion attached hingedly to the hollow brush head, a plurality of spring clips mounted removably therewithin. The hairbrush also has a slot chamber positioned underneath the main chamber and a flat comb portion fitting within the slot chamber and inserted removably therewithin. The hairbrush has a hollow, elongated handle portion and an elongated chamber, with handle lid portion attached hingedly to the handle portion. The elongated chamber also as a plurality of spring clips mounted removably therewithin.

Conventional hairbrushes are formed as an elongated member typically including a handle portion and a head portion. Commonly, the head portion further consists of a bristle segment in which numerous bristles are inserted into a substantially flat structure. Hairbrushes are preferred by lots of hairdressers, beauty professionals and regular customers alike. In many cases, users may need a variety of beauty accessories such as combs, lipsticks, mascaras, a mirror etc., at the same time.
There is a need in the marketplace for an all-in-one hairbrush that also provides easy to use storage spaces for beauty accessories. Beauty professionals and end users alike can simply store and carry the hairbrush, and their various grooming needs can be fulfilled. Also, the storage compartments in the hairbrush helps organize those beauty accessories that are usually smaller in size.
Additionally, the storage compartments concept can also be applied to other brushes such as brushes for clothes, cleaning brushes, sanding brushes, etc.

Multi-functional hairbrush with storage compartments


Convertible furniture for children for use in different configurations as either a table or child's seat. The furniture comprises a base, vertical supports, and a removable top. The top includes a rotating fabric sling seat for very young children. With the top removed, the furniture may be inverted for use as a play table. Rockers, rocker locks and means to prevent seat rotation are also disclosed. The vertical supports are telescopically extendable to adjust the height of the furniture.

This invention relates generally to children's furniture, and particularly to a piece of furniture convertible for several uses.
As children grow and develop over the first several years of their lives, their needs change. Particular to this invention, it is desirable to have a single piece of furniture that can be adaptable to meet their changing size and abilities.
During the early stages of their development, it is customary to place small children in flexible seats suspended from a frame, or in high-chairs when eating. As they develop the ability to support their own weight and sit erect, it is common to place them at small tables, either for eating or playing. The cost of purchasing several different articles of furniture, as well as the space they consume, can be burdensome.


A pressure controlling system for an insufflator includes a plurality of parallel connected, solenoid controlled valves. Each valve has in series therewith a gas flow limiter with the limiters arranged in digital succession. The valves are in parallel with one another and in series with the gas flow line so that solenoid opening of one or more of the valves controls gas flow in an on-off fashion with gas flow continuing through the respective flow limiting means to determine total flow rate in a digital manner.

Laparoscopic surgery, performed through very small incisions in the patient, has markedly lessened patient trauma and hospitalization time. In performing laparoscopic surgery it is often desirable to apply internal gas pressure, usually carbon dioxide or argon gas to expand the working space. Such gas expansion procedure is referred to as insufflation, and the pressure within the insufflated space must be controlled quite precisely. The instruments for introducing and releasing gas are known as trochars, and are essentially hollow spikes which are stabbed through the patient's epidermis and into the working area. Too much pressure can cause obvious damage, while too little pressure can allow the pointed tips of the trochars to engage internal organs with consequent damage.
Commercial insufflators generally have some means for measuring internal pressure, and often for automatic regulation of pressure. However, such pressure has generally been controlled by analog devices which inprecise in nature.


A switching mode power supply preventing a first switch from being falsely triggered. The switching mode power supply detects a peak of an input signal and starts timing a period of time since the arrival of the peak of the input signal is detected. The first switch starts performing the on and off switching operations when the period of time expires.

An input signal can be converted into an output signal by turning a switch on and off in a switching mode power supply (SMPS). As a common control method to turn on the switch, the current flowing through a primary winding coupled to the switch is detected, and a zero-crossing detecting signal is then generated based on the current and is further compared with a zero-crossing threshold signal so as to decide whether to turn on the switch or not. However, as the zero-crossing detecting signal usually has a ripple, and due to the effect of the ripple, the zero-crossing detecting signal can reach the zero-crossing threshold signal easily when the value of the zero-crossing detecting signal is close to the value of the zero-crossing threshold signal, and the switch is turned on as a result. This turning-on operation induced by the ripple is not expected and should be avoided. What's worse, the ripple fluctuates up and down continually, which in turn causes the switch to be turned on and off repeatedly, and as a result, the current flowing through the primary winding increases all the way and is eventually out of control.
FIG. 1 schematically illustrates an SMPS 100 where the above-mentioned false turning-on operation occurs. As shown in FIG. 1, the SMPS 100 comprises a switching circuit 11. The switching circuit 11 comprises a primary winding LP and a first switch S1, and by turning the first switch S1 on and off alternately, the switching circuit 11 operates to convert an input signal with a peak into an output signal VOUT. More particularly, the switching circuit 11 is implemented with a boost switching converting topology as shown in FIG. 1 to convert a voltage VFIL received at an input terminal of the switching circuit 11 into an output voltage VOUT with a value greater than the voltage VFIL. The SMPS 100 further comprises a zero-crossing detecting circuit 14 which comprises an auxiliary winding LA. The auxiliary winding LA is coupled to the primary winding LP to sense the current IL flowing through the primary winding LP and then generates a zero-crossing detecting signal VZCD based on the current IL. The SMPS 100 compares the zero-crossing detecting signal VZCD with a zero-crossing threshold signal VZCD_TH with a comparator CMP1 and then turns on the first switch S1 when the zero-crossing detecting signal VZCD decreases to the zero-crossing threshold signal VZCD_TH.
It can be known from the operating principle of an SMPS, the zero-crossing detecting signal VZCD is equal to −VFIL/N when the first switch S1 is on and is equal to (VOUT−VFIL)/N when the first switch S1 is off, wherein N is the turns ration between the primary winding LP and the auxiliary winding LA. Thus, if the output voltage VOUT is close to the voltage VFIL, the value ((VOUT−VFIL)/N) of the zero-crossing detecting signal VZCD is relatively small and is close to the zero-crossing threshold signal VZCD_TH when the first switch S1 is off. On the other hand, the SMPS 100 further comprises a filtering circuit 12 and the filtering signal VFIL generated by the filtering circuit 12 based on the input signal has a ripple. Thus, the zero-crossing detecting signal VZCD can reach the zero-crossing threshold signal VZCD_TH easily, which in turn causes the first switch S1 to be turned on falsely.
Thus, a switching mode power supply and its corresponding driving circuit and driving method are desired to at least address the above-mentioned issues.

Switching mode power supply preventing false triggering of a switch

Chengdu Monolithic Power Systems Co., Ltd.


The invention relates to a separation matrix comprising at least 11 mg/ml Fc-binding ligands covalently coupled to a porous support, wherein:                a) the ligands comprise multimers of alkali-stabilized Protein A domains, and        b) the porous support comprises cross-linked polymer particles having a volume-weighted median diameter (d50,v) of 56-70 micrometers and a dry solids weight of 55-80 mg/ml.

Immunoglobulins represent the most prevalent biopharmaceutical products in either manufacture or development worldwide. The high commercial demand for and hence value of this particular therapeutic market has led to the emphasis being placed on pharmaceutical companies to maximize the productivity of their respective mAb manufacturing processes whilst controlling the associated costs.
Affinity chromatography is used in most cases, as one of the key steps in the purification of these immunoglobulin molecules, such as monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies. A particularly interesting class of affinity reagents is proteins capable of specific binding to invariable parts of an immunoglobulin molecule, such interaction being independent on the antigen-binding specificity of the antibody. Such reagents can be widely used for affinity chromatography recovery of immunoglobulins from different samples such as but not limited to serum or plasma preparations or cell culture derived feed stocks. An example of such a protein is staphylococcal protein A, containing domains capable of binding to the Fc and Fab portions of IgG immunoglobulins from different species. These domains are commonly denoted as the E-, D-, A-, B- and C-domains.
Staphylococcal protein A (SpA) based reagents have due to their high affinity and selectivity found a widespread use in the field of biotechnology, e.g. in affinity chromatography for capture and purification of antibodies as well as for detection or quantification. At present, SpA-based affinity medium probably is the most widely used affinity medium for isolation of monoclonal antibodies and their fragments from different samples including industrial cell culture supernatants. Accordingly, various matrices comprising protein A-ligands are commercially available, for example, in the form of native protein A (e.g. Protein A SEPHAROSE, GE Healthcare, Uppsala, Sweden) and also comprised of recombinant protein A (e.g. rProtein A-SEPHAROSE, GE Healthcare). More specifically, the genetic manipulation performed in the commercial recombinant protein A product is aimed at facilitating the attachment thereof to a support and at increasing the productivity of the ligand.
These applications, like other affinity chromatography applications, require comprehensive attention to definite removal of contaminants. Such contaminants can for example be non-eluted molecules adsorbed to the stationary phase or matrix in a chromatographic procedure, such as non-desired biomolecules or microorganisms, including for example proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, bacteria and viruses. The removal of such contaminants from the matrix is usually performed after a first elution of the desired product, in order to regenerate the matrix before subsequent use. Such removal usually involves a procedure known as cleaning-in-place (CIP), wherein agents capable of eluting contaminants from the stationary phase are used. One such class of agents often used is alkaline solutions that are passed over said stationary phase. At present the most extensively used cleaning and sanitizing agent is NaOH, and the concentration thereof can range from 0.1 up to e.g. 1 M, depending on the degree and nature of contamination. This strategy is associated with exposing the matrix to solutions with pH-values above 13. For many affinity chromatography matrices containing proteinaceous affinity ligands such alkaline environment is a very harsh condition and consequently results in decreased capacities owing to instability of the ligand to the high pH involved.
An extensive research has therefore been focused on the development of engineered protein ligands that exhibit an improved capacity to withstand alkaline pH-values. For example, Gülich et al. (Susanne Gülich, Martin Linhult, Per-Åke Nygren, Mathias Uhlén, Sophia Hober, Journal of Biotechnology 80 (2000), 169-178) suggested protein engineering to improve the stability properties of a Streptococcal albumin-binding domain (ABD) in alkaline environments. Gülich et al. created a mutant of ABD, wherein all the four asparagine residues have been replaced by leucine (one residue), aspartate (two residues) and lysine (one residue). Further, Gülich et al. report that their mutant exhibits a target protein binding behavior similar to that of the native protein, and that affinity columns containing the engineered ligand show higher binding capacities after repeated exposure to alkaline conditions than columns prepared using the parental non-engineered ligand. Thus, it is concluded therein that all four asparagine residues can be replaced without any significant effect on structure and function.
Recent work shows that changes can also be made to protein A (SpA) to effect similar properties. US patent application publication US 2005/0143566, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, discloses that when at least one asparagine residue is mutated to an amino acid other than glutamine or aspartic acid, the mutation confers an increased chemical stability at pH-values of up to about 13-14 compared to the parental SpA, such as the B-domain of SpA, or Protein Z, a synthetic construct derived from the B-domain of SpA (U.S. Pat. No. 5,143,844, incorporated by reference in its entirety). The authors show that when these mutated proteins are used as affinity ligands, the separation media as expected can better withstand cleaning procedures using alkaline agents. Further mutations of protein A domains with the purpose of increasing the alkali stability have also been published in U.S. Pat. No. 8,329,860, JP 2006304633A, U.S. Pat. No. 8,674,073, US 2010/0221844, US 2012/0208234, U.S. Pat. No. 9,051,375, US 2014/0031522, US 2013/0274451 and WO 2014/146350, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties. However, the currently available mutants are still sensitive to alkaline pH and the NaOH concentration during cleaning is usually limited to 0.1 M, which means that complete cleaning is difficult to achieve. Higher NaOH concentrations, which would improve the cleaning, lead to unacceptable capacity losses.
There is thus still a need in this field to obtain a separation matrix containing protein ligands having a further improved stability towards alkaline cleaning procedures. There is also a need for such separation matrices with an improved binding capacity to allow for economically efficient purification of therapeutic antibodies.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


Provided are a recording paper comprising a support paper coated on one side with a recording layer and a method of preparing the same: with the recording layer comprising 60-95 weight % of a pigment and 40-5 weight % of a water base binder and having a thickness of from 3 to 30 .mu.m; wherein the surface roughness by ten point height on the recording layer surface is from 1 .mu.m to 4 .mu.m, the specular glossiness the recording layer surface at 75 degrees according to JIS P8142 is from 70% to 100%, and the part extending to the depth of at least 3 .mu.m below the top surface has a hole distribution curve having at least peak showing an average pore diameter within the range of 0.1 to 1.0 .mu.m and a height ranging from 0.1 to 1.0 ml/g with respect to pore volume when measured with a porosimeter of mercury intrusion type.

Hitherto, wood free paper and the like represented in non-coated papers have been prevailingly used as transfer papers for xerography This is because images of higher quality cannot be obtained when general coated papers for graphic arts, including art paper and coat paper, are used in xerography. In other words, although the formation of an ideal toner image on a coated paper can be expected theoretically since the coated paper can uniformly contact with a photoreceptor because of its very high surface smoothness, the recording quality practically provided by the coated paper is almost equal to that provided by non-coated papers.
One of reasons therefor is that a coated paper causes the so-called blister phenomenon, or a phenomenon such that the base paper thereof swells at the surface part contacting with the coated layer, to lower the image quality. This blister phenomenon originates in that a general coated paper for graphic arts has insufficient gas permeability because the coated layer thereof comprises various adhesives in considerably large amounts in order to secure high surface gloss after printing and high surface strength upon printing. The insufficient gas permeability of the coated paper makes it difficult to let out the vaporized moisture in the base paper upon fixation with a heating roll during the copying operation, and so the vaporized moisture causes the swelling of the base paper at the surface part contacting with the coated layer.
As preventive measures taken against the blister phenomenon, for instance, Tokko Hei 5-82940 (the term "Tokko" as used herein means an "examined Japanese patent publication") proposes the method of controlling the air permeability of a coated paper, the so-called porosity, to no more than 4,000 seconds, and Tokkai Hei 1-245265 (the term "Tokkai" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application") proposes the adjustment of the gas permeability of a raw paper and the water vapor permeability of a coated layer to their individually specified ranges;
Another reason why coated papers cannot provide images of high quality when they are used as transfer papers for xerography is that images formed on coated papers have uneven gloss. In general, after-copy gloss of a paper having low glossiness tends to increase with an increase in quantity of the toner transferred, because thorough fusion of color toner is necessary to satisfactory color development. In a case where the glossiness of a paper itself is heightened as described in Tokko Hei 5-82940, on the other hand, glossiness of halftone and highlight areas having a relatively small quantity of toner becomes all the lower for the uneven adhesion of toner although high glossiness can be obtained in the background area and the solid area having a very large quantity of toner. As a result of it, the gloss balance of an image as a whole becomes unsatisfactory.
Even if only the surface of a coated layer is improved, therefore, uniform and high image gloss akin to that obtained by a photographic printing paper cannot be ensured in a full-color image independently of the quantity of toner transferred.
As for the ink jet recording paper, on the other hand, Tokko Sho 63-22997 discloses the invention in which attention is directed to the void structure of a coated layer. In order to achieve the gloss akin to that of a photographic printing paper according to that inventions however, it is necessary to perform a surface treatment using a supercalender, a gloss calender or the likes Further, the achievement of high glossiness requires an excessive surface treatment, and thereby voids are destroyed to make it impossible to retain the original void structure.
Thus, there has yet been known any recording paper which can match a photographic printing paper in image quality when it is used as not only a transfer paper for xerography but also an ink jet recording paper to be applied to a recording system different from xerography.
In order to develop transfer papers for xerography which can provide full-color images of high quality, the Inventors have made intensive studies, and found that when not only the surface of a coated layer has a special void structure, e.g., by adjustment of the pigment/binder ratio in the coated layer to a specified range but also the surface roughness and glossiness of the coated layer are properly controlled, the paper provided with such a coated layer can be a highly satisfactory full-color transfer paper for xerography, and what is more, suitable for an ink jet recording paper, thereby achieving the present invention.

Recording paper and method of preparing the same


A method of ascertaining the orientation of molecules in a biological specimen by total internal reflection includes focusing illuminating light through an objective in different positions in a plane of a pupil of the objective so as to generate a plurality of respective differently oriented evanescent fields in the specimen. Respective different fluorescence intensities resulting from the differently oriented evanescent fields are correlated with respective different orientations of molecules in the specimen.

In total internal reflection microscope, the refractive behavior of light when transitioning from an optically denser to an optically less dense medium is utilized. For the transition from coverslip (n1=1.518) to water (n2=1.33), for example, the result is a critical angle of 61°, or the total reflection angle. Under total reflection conditions (angle=61°), a standing evanescent wave forms in the medium having the lower refractive index. The intensity of this wave decreases exponentially with distance from the interface. As a result of this, fluorophores located farther from the interface are not excited. The background fluorescence is considerably reduced, thereby improving image contrast and at the same time greatly raising resolution. A prerequisite for utilization of the phenomenon described above is a sufficiently large difference in refractive index between the coverslip and medium.
US 2002/0097489 A1 discloses a microscope with evanescent illumination of a specimen. The microscope contains a white-light source whose light is coupled, for evanescent illumination, via a slit stop through the microscope objective into the specimen slide carrying a specimen. The illuminating light propagates in the specimen slide by total internal reflection, illumination of the specimen occurring only in the region of the evanescent field projecting out of the specimen slide. Microscopes of this kind are known as TIRFM (total internal reflection fluorescent microscopes).
Because the evanescent field projects only approximately 100 nm into the specimen, the Z resolution of TIRF microscopes is extraordinarily good.
DE 101 08 796 A1 discloses a high-aperture objective, in particular for TIRF applications. The objective is made up of a first lens having positive refractive power and a second lens having negative refractive power, the focal length ratio between the two lenses being in the range from −0.4 to −0.1, and the total refractive power being greater than zero. The objective furthermore contains two positive lenses whose ratio of diameter to focal length is greater than 0.3 and less than 0.6. The objective furthermore contains a negative lens and a converging lens; the negative lens faces toward the front group and the focal length ratio of the negative lens and the converging lens is between −0.5 and −2.
DE 102 17 098 A1 discloses an incident illumination arrangement for TIRF microscopy. The incident illumination arrangement contains an illumination source that, in operation, emits a polarized illumination ray bundle that propagates at an angle to the optical axis, and a deflection device that deflects the illumination ray bundle and couples it into the objective parallel to the optical axis. In this incident illumination arrangement, provision is made for the illumination ray bundle emitted by the illumination source to have s and p polarization directions with a phase difference, and for the deflection device to reflect the illumination ray bundle x times, where x=((n×180°−d)/60°).
DE 101 43 481 A1 likewise discloses a microscope for total internal reflection microscopy (TIRM). The microscope comprises a microscope housing and an objective. The illuminating light proceeding from an illumination device can be coupled in via an adapter insertable into the microscope housing.
US 2004/0001253 A1 discloses a microscope having an optical illumination system that allows an easy switchover between evanescent illumination and reflected illumination. The illumination system contains a laser light source whose light is coupled into an optical fiber. Also provided is an outcoupling optical system that focuses the light emerging from the fiber into a rear focal point of the microscope objective. The optical fiber is displaceable in a plane perpendicular to the optical axis of the microscope objective.
DE 102 29 935 A1 discloses a device for coupling light into a microscope in which, in the field diaphragm plane, laser light is directed onto the sample through a light-guiding fiber incoupling system embodied as a slider. This is suitable in particular for the TIRF method.
In the investigation of biological specimens in particular, especially the investigation of the molecular structure of cells, there exists a need to ascertain the orientation of the molecules or dipoles in the specimen. It would be particularly advantageous if such orientations could be ascertained using apparatuses that are already in use in any case for investigation of the biological specimens.

Method for ascertaining the orientation of molecules in biological specimens