Physically-constrained modeling of a heart is provided. Patient-specific data may be used to estimate heart anatomy locations. A model is applied to the data for estimation. For increased accuracy of estimation, the biomechanics of the heart, such as the valve, may be used to constrain the estimation. By applying a dynamic system between estimated anatomy locations of different times, the locations may be deformed or refined. The modeled heart and/or valve may be used to estimate hemodynamics. The resulting velocities or other motion information may be used to emulate ultrasound Doppler imaging for comparing with acquired ultrasound Doppler data. The comparison may validate the modeling.

The present embodiments relate to modeling of the heart or components of the heart, such as the mitral valve. Medical imaging data is used to create patient-specific modeling.
Dysfunctional mitral valves (MV) are found in a large variety of cardiovascular diseases. Mitral valve prolapse for instance, where the leaflets billow into the left atrium due to dysfunctional chordae, is a common cause of regurgitation. A pathological left ventricular (LV) function, such as ischemic or idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy, may yield severe mitral valve insufficiency due to an enlarged mitral annulus or abnormal positioning of the papillary muscles.
Echocardiography is used for MV assessment. The complex appearance of the MV, the fast dynamics, the large morphological and functional variations among patients, and the varying image quality (e.g., low signal-to-noise ratio, signal dropout, and/or time varying appearance) make the automatic modeling of the MV from echocardiography challenging.
Valve models may be generated manually or interactively. The process may be elaborate, tedious, and prone to inter-user variability. Even automatic modeling may have difficulties due to the echocardiography data. Temporal consistency and physiologically realistic deformations are not guaranteed. In contrast, deformable models integrating prior knowledge about the cardiac deformation may estimate the cardiac motion from images. However, their application for valve dynamics is challenged by the very rapid valve motion.

Physically-constrained modeling of a heart in medical imaging


A light spreading device and a backlight module utilizing the same. The backlight module includes a light guide, a plurality of point lights, and a plurality of light spreading devices. The light guide includes an entrance surface. The point lights are disposed near the entrance surface. Each light spreading device, corresponding to one of the point lights, is disposed between the light guide and the corresponding point light.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light spreading device and a backlight module utilizing the same, and in particular, to a backlight module with improved illumination uniformity.
2. Description of the Related Art
When point lights, such as light emitting diodes (LED), are combined with a light guide in a conventional backlight module, the directivities of the point lights usually causes a non-uniformity of brightness due to improperly mixed light of adjacent point lights. In particular, when the point lights are combined with a V-cut light guide, shadows are easily generated, thus deteriorating illumination uniformity.

Light spreading device and backlight module utilizing the same


There is provided a carrier device that has a linkage arm mechanism, in particular, a carrier device that cools the linkage arm mechanism and can reduce the impact of radiation heat from a work that is in a high temperature state. A carrier device is a carrier device that includes a linkage arm mechanism and a pivot shaft, and the linkage arm mechanism includes lower arms and upper arms, and one ends of which are respectively connected to the lower arms, and horizontal movement members that support a work that is connected to the other ends of the upper arms, and cooling plates are respectively arranged between the upper arms, and the horizontal movement members.

Conventionally, the carrier device is known that carries a work such as a substrate in a vacuum space (for example, see patent document 1). The carrier device includes a linkage arm mechanism that horizontally moves the work in the vacuum space.
In addition, the radiation heat is conveyed to a peripheral member of the work because the work that is carried by the carrier device is in a high temperature state. Therefore, the carrier device is known that includes a rail mechanism and in which a cooling path is provided in a guide rail portion of the rail mechanism that is susceptible to the radiation heat from the work in the high temperature state (for example, see patent document 2).


A method and system for producing an indicator for amplitude-versus-offset (AVO) analysis of seismic survey data is disclosed. According to the disclosed method and system, a raw AVO indicator is generated for each of multiple depth points, from the AVO intercept and gradient coefficient values. The indicator is generally a positive amplitude number for those locations having petrophysical importance, while the background neighboring points will have a zero or negative value for the raw indicator. Statistics are derived for a group of depth points that surround the depth point under analysis, in time and in space, from which a probability function may be evaluated, assuming a distribution of values in the background trend of AVO intercept and gradient values, and based upon which the raw AVO indicator will be modified. In one embodiment, the probability function is evaluated to determine the loci of points that are within the background to a certain statistical confidence. The modified AVO indicator is set to zero for points within the loci, so that a depth point having a positive raw AVO indicator but within the statistical spread of points in the survey will not be falsely identified as petrophysically important. According to a second embodiment, the probability function for the depth point under analysis is evaluated, and the result combined with the raw AVO indicator to produce the modified indicator; points within the statistical spread of the background have greatly devalued modified AVO indicators according to this embodiment.

The use of seismic surveys is now fundamental in the search for oil and gas reservoirs in the earth. As is rudimentary in the art, seismic surveys are performed by imparting acoustic energy of a known amplitude and frequency pattern at one or more locations of the earth (either at a land surface or in a marine environment), and then detecting reflected and refracted acoustic energy at other locations. The delay time between the imparting of the acoustic energy at the source location and detection of the same wave at a receiver location is indicative of the depth at which a particular reflecting geological interface is located. The field of seismic data analysis is concerned with techniques for analyzing the detected acoustic energy to determine both the location and also the properties of various geological strata.
A known technique in the generation and analysis of conventional seismic surveys is referred to as amplitude-versus-offset ("AVO") analysis. According to the AVO approach, attributes of a subsurface interface are determined both from the normal-incidence amplitude of reflected seismic energy and also from the dependence of the detected seismic reflections on the angle of incidence of the energy. According to conventional AVO analysis, multiple seismic traces (i.e., time-domain signals at different detection locations) that include a signal from a common reflection point are collected; such a group of traces is commonly referred to as a common-depth point (CDP) gather. Typically, a series of common reflection points for the same source-receiver pairs underlie the same surface location at the midpoint between the source and receiver for multiple offsets; as such, this gather is also often referred to as a common midpoint (CMP) gather.
From the CDP (or CMP) gather, one may derive the amplitude R of a reflected seismic wave from an interface (i.e., the "target horizon") as a function of the angle of incidence .theta. from the normal according to the following relationship: EQU R(.theta.)=A+B sin.sup.2 .theta.
In this case, the coefficient A is the zero-offset response (also referred to as the AVO intercept), while the coefficient B is referred to as the AVO slope, or gradient, as it is representative of the rate of change of amplitude with the square of the angle of incidence.
For a given reflection event from a horizon between two geological formations, the values of A and B will depend upon the physical properties of the two formations. The well-known Zoeppritz equations provide closed form equations for R(.theta.) based upon the compressional velocities (V.sub.p), shear velocities (V.sub.s), and densities (.rho.) of the two formations at the reflecting interface. However, inversion of the Zoeppritz equations to solve for the elastic properties of the formations from reflection data is impractical, due to numerical complexity.
By way of further background, the calculation of theoretical values for A and B for isolated rock interfaces (i.e., at specific horizons) through the use of the linearized Zoeppritz equations and based upon typical values for compressional velocity, density and Poisson's ratio for the strata on either side of the interface of interest, is described in Swan, "Properties of direct AVO hydrocarbon indicators", Offset-dependent reflectivity--Theory and Practice of AVO analysis (Castagna, J. P. & Backus, M. M., eds., Soc. Expl. Geophys., 1993), pp. 78-92. As described therein, variations in the A and B values for particular interfaces from a theoretical A-versus-B trend line for the expected stratigraphic sequences can indicate the location of interfaces in the survey.
Typically, AVO seismic data analysis involves the derivation of so-called "indicators" from the A and B coefficients for reflection depth points in the survey. In order to convey phase information regarding the reflections, the A and B coefficient values as a function of time are frequently converted into complex, or analytical, traces by applying the Hilbert transform to the measured A and B values. A common AVO indicator is generated from such complex traces as the product of the complex AVO intercept value A with the complex conjugate of the AVO slope B; this indicator function thus has the form f(A,B)=AB*. Typically, the amplitude of the indicator function is plotted as a function of time in similar fashion as raw or stacked seismic traces, with each indicator trace associated with a surface location. Variations in the amplitude of the indicators over time can identify the location of geological interfaces, particularly those which correspond to formations potentially bearing oil and gas in producible quantities.
For example, conventional AVO seismic analysis begins with the acquisition of data for a two-dimensional or three-dimensional survey in the usual manner. Conventional seismic data processing is then performed, including such operations as multiple elimination, filtering, prestack migration (i.e., time-domain to depth transformation) and normal move-out (NMO) correction, followed by grouping the signals into CDP gathers. Conventional AVO analysis then performs a regression of the seismic signals in each gather to derive the A and B coefficient values at each depth point, typically through a least-squares fit of the seismic data versus the squared sine of the angle of incidence. Once the A and B coefficient values are determined for each depth in the survey area, indicators such as the product AB* may be plotted as a survey section over surface location and time (i.e., in CMP-time space), similarly as seismic survey sections of other types.
Certain indicators are known as reliable in identifying the location of potential oil and gas reservoirs. For example, the product AB* is known to indicate the presence of hydrocarbon bearing sands of the so-called "Class 3" type. Class 3 sands are relatively shallow formations, and have an acoustic impedance that is less than the acoustic impedance of a neighboring shale, which results in interfaces therebetween for which the A and B coefficients in AVO analysis are both strongly negative; the product AB* at such interfaces is thus a positive value of detectable amplitude, and is a reliable indicator of the presence of the Class 3 sand.
By way of further background, U.S. Pat. No. 5,661,617, filed Dec. 18,1995, entitled "Method and Apparatus for Detection of Sand Formations in Amplitude-Versus-Offset Seismic Surveys", assigned to Atlantic Richfield Company and incorporated herein by this reference, describes a new AVO indicator for common depth points based upon the value of the AVO intercept A and the deviation of the AVO gradient B from a trend line. The indicator described in this application has been found useful for distinguishing hydrocarbon sands from surrounding formations.
By way of still further background, copending application Ser. No. 08/614,744, pending, filed Mar. 13, 1996, entitled "Method and System for Detecting Hydrocarbon Reservoirs Using Amplitude-versus-Offset Analysis of Seismic Signals", assigned to Atlantic Richfield Company and incorporated herein by this reference, describes a new AVO indicator for common depth points based upon the rate of change of the product of the AVO intercept value and the AVO gradient value for the depth point under analysis, along the direction of a deviation vector of the AVO intercept value and the AVO gradient value from a background trend for depth points surrounding the depth point under analysis in time and space. This new indicator, referred to therein as the .DELTA.(AB*) indicator, has proven to be especially valuable in the detection of very deep gas-bearing sands, such sands commonly referred to as Class 1 and Class 2 sands.
Regardless of the particular indicator used in the AVO analysis, potential hydrocarbon reservoirs and interfaces thereof are identified by those locations in the survey for which the indicator value has a significant value. In each of the above cases, as is typical in the art, the AVO indicator is designed to have a large magnitude for depth points that differ, in a petrophysically interesting way, from the background. For example, the simple product indicator AB operates in this fashion, considering that the A and B coefficients are typically negatively correlated with one another at non-hydrocarbon-bearing locations; positive values of the product of the A and B coefficients thus indicate deviations from this negative correlation. Other indicators, including those described hereinabove, operate in a similar fashion to distinguish possible oil or gas bearing locations or interfaces from the background.
In the simple case, one may characterize the background as a best-fit straight line in the A-B plane, and calculate deviations of individual points from the trend line in differentiating hydrocarbon-bearing locations or interfaces from wet or dry formations. As described in the above-incorporated U.S. Pat. No. 5,661,617 and Ser. No. 08/614,744, pending and also in U.S. Pat. No. 5,515,335, filed Aug. 16, 1993, assigned to Atlantic Richfield Company and incorporated herein by this reference, several important statistical characteristics of the values of A and B for each depth point in a portion of a survey may be calculated, such characteristics including the root-mean-square (RMS) of the A and B coefficients, and also the correlation coefficient between A and B over the survey portion of interest. These statistical characteristics provide the analyst with a measurement of the spread of the A and B values in the background trend, from which a statistically adjusted value of the deviation of the AVO indicator for a given depth point from the background trend may be determined.
According to conventional techniques, the criteria used in identifying potential hydrocarbon reservoirs is simply the magnitude of the indicator value. For example, conventional systems display the value of the indicator for each depth point in a survey of common midpoint gathers by way of a color display, where the hue of each point corresponds to the value of the indicator according to a predefined scale. This approach provides the human analyst with a way of readily identifying interesting locations in the survey. This approach has been useful in identifying petrophysically interesting subsurface locations in those cases where the magnitude of the indicator is relatively large. However, heretofore there has been no objective criterion for selection of the indicator threshold, or of the color scale used in the display techniques. As a result, it has been observed in connection with the present invention that conventional AVO indicator analysis techniques are unable, in many cases, to distinguish depth points having a positive AVO indicator but which is not statistically distinct from the background trend (and thus not likely to be interesting to the analyst) from those depth points with positive indicators that are statistically distinct from the background trend. In other words, some depth points in the survey at non-hydrocarbon bearing locations (i.e., within the background trend) may have the same magnitude of AVO indicator as true hydrocarbon-bearing locations, if one considers only the indicator magnitude as the threshold criterion as is conventional in the art.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a method and system for analyzing AVO surveys so as to improve the accuracy of the AVO prediction.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a method and system that may be used with any one of several AVO indicators.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a method and system that may be implemented in an automated fashion.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having reference to the following specification together with its drawings.

Method and system for detecting hydrocarbon reservoirs using statistical normalization of amplitude-versus-offset indicators based upon seismic signals


A client terminal transmits a signal related to an authentication request to a service delivery server through a browser every time an application is started by an instruction from a user. Upon receiving the authentication request from the client terminal, an authentication server executes authentication processing in cooperation with the service delivery server based on authentication information of an application of the client terminal, a session of which has been established, and stored in the service delivery server, and user information related to the user stored in the authentication server.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technology of performing transmission/reception of messages using an information processing terminal.
Description of Related Art
In recent years, with the development of an internet technology, a method of downloading an application such as a game program to a client terminal and processing the application in the client terminal has been spread. For example, it is possible to download a game from a server and to play the game in a smart phone terminal. Usually, the user enrolls as a member and obtains an ID and a password from a service operator that provides a game through a terminal. After that, when the user inputs the ID and the password in the terminal, an authentication server performs predetermined authentication processing, so that log-in becomes available and the user can enjoy the game.
Such log-in processing is performed every time a different application system is used. Therefore, the user is prompted to input personal information such as an ID and a password, and it is troublesome for the user. Therefore, a technology of "single sign on (SSO)" that realizes an access to a plurality of systems with one-time log-in processing has been developed. In SSO, an authentication server issues an authentication ticket that guarantees authentication has been completed. When a browser of the client terminal conducts data communication with an application server, the browser of the client terminal transmits the authentication ticket to the application server. The application server refers to the authentication ticket and confirms the client terminal has been already logged in (for example, see JP 2006-236281 A and JP 2008-059038 A).

Authentication method, authentication system, and service delivery server


These systems comprise sensors formed of an optical fiber conductor (4) fitted inside a sheath (8). The device comprises a support (1) provided with cylindrical revolving rollers (2, 3) made of a soft material which rotate in reverse direction to each other and between which an optical fiber conductor (4) is moved; and a supporting device (7) of the sheath (8) which makes it to be in line with the optical fiber conductor (4) so that it is inserted inside the sheath (8) as it is moved by the rollers (2, 3). It is provided with oil supply means (10) toward the optical fiber (4) to facilitate insertion thereof inside the sheath (8).

More specifically, the invention refers to a device for the assembly of direct anti-pinching systems, these systems being of the type which are based on the modification of the light conductivity of an optical fiber in power window devices for motor vehicles. These systems allow modifying the operation of the motor of the power window device, stopping it or reversing their direction of rotation, when any obstacle has been detected during the movement of the window pane.
In this sense, the applicant is the holder of the patent of invention n° P9800393 which shows a direct anti-pinching system comprising a sensor formed by an optical fiber conductor fitted therein, either in a continuous or discontinuous way, inside a sheath running along the entire length of the doorframe perimeter.
In the patent n° P9801717, also filed in the name of the applicant, the optical fiber conductor is fitted inside a prismatic profile forming loops passing through incisions evenly formed in a lateral portion of the profile. These incisions are provided with an inlet for the entrance of the optical fiber through a hole ending in a recess where the conductor is retained by any appropriate fastening means.
In the patent n° P9901533 of the same holder there is envisaged provision of braided optical fiber in helical form outside of the sheath profile.
In the patent n° P200000208 also filed in the name of the same holder, the optical fiber conductor is partially covered by a sheath of elastic or semi-rigid nature that provides room with no protection having holes so that the conductor may be extended therethrough.
In practice, these systems have shown an extreme effectiveness over other blocking detection means which is combined with a very simple structure. However, the main problem of these anti-pinching systems is that the assembly operations have to be manually performed. Assembling the parts which define the anti-pinching system, especially what is referred to the assembly of the optical fiber inside of the sheath, entails time-consuming and consequently capital intensive productive processes.

Device for the assembly of direct antipinching systems


The specification discloses a progressive gaming system having a central system, at least one prize, a progressive method, and at least one monetary transaction acceptor. The central system is adapted to associate the progressive method with the prize and the monetary transaction acceptor thereby allowing the monetary transaction acceptor to participate for the prize. The progressive method is adapted to determine a participation outcome based at least on the monetary transaction acceptor's contribution percent factor.

Prior art related to progressive prizes generally utilize gaming devices that typically contain one or more games that can be played for various prizes. Each game has a pay table that consists of one or more pay lines defining all possible outcomes of one play of the game that can result in awarding a prize to a player. A particular game's theoretical pay out percentage, also known as payback percentage, can be mathematically computed from the pay table. The computation compares the prize values for each pay line and the odds the player has to win the prize, to the theoretical sum of all wagers that would need to be played to reach every possible outcome. These concepts are described in detail in Dwight and Louise Crevelt's book VIDEO POKER MANIA!!
The theoretical pay out of different gaming devices may vary considerably. This is particularly true when the class of gaming devices include games such as 21, keno, bingo, roulette, and others where the theoretical pay out is dependent on items such as a deck of cards, the selection of a set of numbers from a superset, etc.
When a gaming device is linked to a progressive prize it is traditionally expected to contribute a portion of its wagers to the progressive prize. In all known prior art, the contribution percent factor is a part of the progressive prize's attributes. This results in the same contribution percent factor being applied to the wagers made on every linked gaming device.
From the perspective of the progressive prize, the sum of all the wagers made on all the linked gaming devices for each theoretical prize award is known as the prize's total wager amount. The contribution percent factor represents the portion of the prize's total wager amount that then determines the progressive prize value. For example if the average prize award were anticipated to be $1,500,000 and the percentage of wagers used to support the prize value were 1.5%, then the prize's total wager amount needed to support the prize value would be $100,000,000. In this example, any gaming device linked to this prize would need a pay line that has a total wager amount of $100,000,000, the pay line's total wager amount being the product of the wager value times the odds of winning. This ensures all participants participating for the prize make the same theoretical monetary investment to win the prize.
The oldest progressive prize computer systems support one progressive prize and require all participating gaming devices to have the same wager amount and odds for winning. This effectively satisfied all the requirements of the progressive prize to game linkage. In these systems, linkage is accomplished by physically connecting a particular gaming device to the network controlled by the progressive prize's computer systems.
Large progressive prize values proved to be a significant attraction for players. However, the limitation presented by the corresponding large total wager amount drove an industry desire for methods that would enable increasing the base of participating gaming devices. The more gaming devices that can be linked to a progressive prize, the easier it is to satisfy the prize's total wager amount thus resulting in timely prize awards that promote more player attraction.
One apparent solution, judging from patent history, was to invent methods that would enable gaming devices that used different denomination coins to participate for a common prize. For example, instead of being limited to linking a few dollar games in a casino to a progressive prize, multiple denomination methods could theoretically enable any denomination game to be linked to a common prize. This increases the participation base and enables the prize to reach its total wager amount more easily. At the same time it overcomes a casino's apprehension towards dedicating too much floor space to the same kind of game.
The control processes of a system illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,116,055 allow gaming devices accepting different coin denominations of the same currency to be played for a common progressive prize. An Electronic Translator appears to translate the unique coin/pulse information normally generated by each game, into a set of information that results in each game making an approximately equal value of dollars to jackpot amount. The results produced by the Electronic Translator appear to make all the gaming devices look the same to the controlling computer system. Thus, this prior art appears to use the same linkage methods employed by older systems, which is accomplished by physically connecting a particular gaming device's Electronic Translator to the network controlled by the progressive prize's computer system.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,885,158 discloses methods for linking gaming devices that accept wagers of the same currency but of different denomination coins to a common progressive prize. The disclosed linkage methods mathematically determine that there is compatibility between the two distinct entities of the progressive prize and the gaming device. This effectively creates a second level of linkage that further qualifies which progressive prizes a gaming device may participate in once it is physically linked to the progressive prize's computer system. While these methods appear to enable increasing the participation base, they have several limitations. For example, one limitation requires that the coin wagered on a gaming device must be a multiple of the coin the prize is based upon. This would prevent a quarter gaming device from participating for a prize based on a one-dollar denomination.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,241,608 discloses a free play apparatus and methods that use a progressive prize's total wager amount and a gaming device's wager amount to compute the odds of a participant winning a progressive prize. The disclosed linkage methods enable the free play apparatus' logic to get a progressive prize's total wager amount via a logical linkage. Once physically linked to the computer system the free play apparatus receives the total wager amounts of any prizes that have been logically linked to it. It then enables the gaming device to participate in the progressive prizes. While this invention effectively eliminates restrictions related to the denomination or currency of a wager, it does nothing to address the limitation related to the potential conflict between a prize's contribution percent and a game's theoretical pay out percentage.
As previously stated, a gaming device connected to a progressive prize has traditionally been expected to contribute a portion of each wager to the progressive prize. It is well known that the contribution percent factor is a part of the progressive prize's attributes. This results in the same contribution percent factor being applied to every linked device. A particular device may have a very high theoretical pay out such as 98%, which pays out on average, 98 dollars for every 100 dollars wagered on this device. The size of the prize's contribution percent factor may hinder the ability to link the device to the progressive prize. The reason is if the progressive prize's contribution percent factor were a value of 2% or more, then it would be impossible to make a profit on a game with a theoretical pay out of 98% or more. This would effectively prevent the device from being linked to that prize.
There exists a need to enable the contribution percent factor to be a part of each device's attributes. Each device could then have a contribution percent factor that is compatible with the device's game's theoretical pay out, thus enabling a wider variety of devices to be linked to each progressive prize. For example, devices with games having very low theoretical pay outs could afford to support a high contribution percent factor while a device with games having a very high theoretical pay out may have a low contribution percent factor. This would enable further increasing a progressive prize's participation base.
Further, there exists a need for allowing any device that accepts a monetary transaction to participate for any progressive prize. Using the methods disclosed in this invention the only device requirement for linkage to a prize would be the ability to accept a monetary transaction. The monetary transaction value may then be used for participation in a prize.
Certain embodiments of the invention incorporate these advantages by disclosing methods of linkage between prizes and devices that enable assigning the contribution percentage to a device. These methods enable any device that accepts a monetary transaction to participate for any prize.
Advantages
At least one embodiment of the present invention enables any device accepting monetary transactions to be linked with at least one prize.
At least one embodiment of the present invention enables assigning a contribution percent factor to each linked device.
At least one embodiment of the present invention enables assigning a contribution percent factor
At least one embodiment of the present invention enables linking a device and prize regardless of the device's currency or denomination of monetary transaction, or theoretical payout.
At least one embodiment of the present invention expands the participation base of a prize.
As the participation base for a prize is expanded, the owner of the prize is afforded more flexibility in determining how the total contribution amount will be distributed to the monetary requirements of the prize.
These and other advantages may be realized by reference to the remaining portion of the specification claim and abstract.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Abstract: The specification also discloses a progressive gaming system and methods having the ability to expand the participation base for a progressive prize to include a wide variety of monetary transaction acceptors. The progressive gaming system and methods may have the capability to accept a monetary transaction value in a plurality of currencies or a plurality of denominations of the same currency. The progressive gaming system and methods may support multiple prizes simultaneously. Each monetary transaction acceptor may be linked to one or more prizes.


In an implanted medical device, a method and apparatus for detecting pressure waves caused by movement of a body organ, muscle group, limb or the like and transmitted through a catheter or lead body to the implanted medical device employing a pressure wave transducer mounted in relation to the proximal end of the catheter or lead to detect the transmitted pressure waves. The system may also include a reference transducer having the same pressure wave response characteristics as the pressure wave transducer but isolated from the proximal connector end for providing a reference signal including common mode pressure wave noise that both transducers are simultaneously subjected to. The pressure wave signal and the reference signal are preferably amplified, bandpass filtered to the body pressure wave of interest and stored, telemetered out or used to trigger a device operation. The pressure and reference wave transducers preferably are piezoelectric crystal transducers or accelerometers in direct or indirect mechanical contact with the proximal connector end of the catheter and is encapsulated from the body within a device connector assembly. Preferably, the catheter is a lead extending into direct or indirect contact with the patient's heart. Cardiac pressure waves and respiration pressure waves are both transmitted proximally through the lead body to the pressure wave transducer. Pressure wave signals may be derived in parallel to detect particular characteristics of the cardiac and/or respiratory cycle to provide timing signal(s) for controlling the device operations.

Certain organs of the body mechanically expand and contract on a regular basis, most notably the diaphragm and lungs during breathing and the heart as it beats. Muscle groups and body limbs also mechanically expand and contract and move under the control of the central nervous system. When a dysfunction occurs in these body systems, examinations are conducted to determine the nature of the dysfunction and a variety of therapies are prescribed to restore the function. Such examinations include monitoring and the delivery of therapies including drugs and/or electrical stimulation to restore the affected function.
With respect to the heart, the cells of the chambers of the heart relax and contract in an organized and relatively rhythmic cycle due to gradual polarization followed by rapid and organized depolarization of the cardiac cells. The depolarization is accompanied by a relatively forceful contraction of the chamber in a manner described extensively in the literature. Cycles of this type exhibit characteristic electrical signal waveforms of the polarization-depolarization-re-polarization wavefronts referred to as the PQRST electrogram complex. The accompanying relaxation of the heart muscle draws blood into the chambers and the forceful mechanical contraction ejects blood through the valves. The resulting blood pressure waves are audible through the adjacent tissue of the thoracic cavity as a characteristic "lub-dub" sound. In a similar manner, the relaxation and contraction of the diaphragm causes air to be drawn in and ejected from the lungs with a characteristic motion and sound.
For a wide variety of reasons, the detection, display and/or measurement of the electrical signals and the acoustic waves or sounds of these heart and lung cycles have long been of medical interest. In addition, the mechanical motion of the lungs and surrounding thoracic cavity have been the subject of measurement using impedance plethysmography.
Of course, cardiac sounds and the sounds of respiration are commonly listened to by trained medical personnel employing use of passive or active stethoscopes manually positioned over the patient's chest during a medical examination. In this manner, congestion in the lungs, if present, or the characteristic lub-dub sounds of the sequential depolarization of the atria and ventricles of the heart may be listened to. Together with other symptoms, a number of illnesses of the heart and lungs may be diagnosed and treatment prescribed.
Efforts have been underway for many years to develop implantable sensors for temporary or chronic use in a body organ or vessel for a variety of uses, and particularly for measuring aspects of the cardiac and breathing cycles. Catheters and leads are used in conjunction with a wide variety of cardiac medical devices, including implanted and external pacemakers, cardioverter/defibrillators, drug dispensers, cardiac monitors, cardiac assist devices, implanted cardiomyoplasty stimulators, muscle and nerve stimulators, and the like. One or more catheter or lead is attached at the proximal end thereof to a device port or terminal and the distal end segment thereof is introduced into direct contact with the heart muscle or extended within the atrial and/or ventricular heart chamber in contact with blood and in indirect contact with the heart muscle. A condition of the heart or of the blood is sensed and/or a therapy is delivered through the lead or catheter.
For example, a simple cardiac catheter for measuring blood pressure changes includes an elongated catheter body extending between a proximal connector end and a distal end having one or more end openings or a balloon adapted to be introduced into a heart chamber. Drugs or agents may be dispensed through the catheter lumen to a desired location. Blood pressure fluctuations in the column of fluid in the lumen may be measured as long as the distal end opening remains open or the balloon remains capable of flexing with pressure changes. However, unless anticoagulants are continuously dispensed through the catheter lumen, the distal end of the catheter becomes encased in fibrosis interfering with balloon motion and/or closing the end openings within a relatively short time. For this and other reasons, such simple blood pressure measuring catheters cannot be left in place chronically or implanted permanently in association with an implanted medical device.
Catheters have also been proposed including sensors incorporated into the catheter distal tip for measuring various blood parameters. In these cases, the catheter body incorporates electrical conductors and proximal end connector terminals in order to power such sensors and to convey electrical signals from the sensors to an implanted or external medical device.
A lead is a form of a catheter having one or more lead conductors extending between a proximal connector terminal(s) and distal exposed electrode(s) from which electrical stimulation may be delivered or electrical signals of the body may be detected. A pacing lead includes one or more pace/sense electrodes and associated lead conductors. A cardioversion/defibrillation lead includes one or more cardioversion/defibrillation electrodes and associated lead conductors, and may also include one or more pace/sense electrodes and associated lead conductors.
In the context of cardiac pacemakers and/or cardioverter/defibrillators comprising implantable pulse generators (IPGs) and leads of this type, a variety of indwelling sensors have been proposed in combination with the leads for sensing parameters including blood pressure, the rate of change of blood pressure, blood gas concentrations, blood pH, and blood temperature or for sensing the mechanical motion of the heart. The sensed signals as well as the P-wave and/or R-wave of the heart sensed through the pace/sense electrodes in contact with the patient's atrium and/or ventricle, respectively, are employed for a variety of reasons.
In pacemakers, such indwelling sensors have been proposed for use in algorithms for adjusting the pacing rate to meet the demand for cardiac output as related to a characteristic of the sensed parameter that varies with exercise. Other rate-responsive pacemakers have been widely commercialized employing an IPG mounted piezoelectric crystal sensor responsive to the level of patient activity, referred to as an "activity" sensor. The use of an activity sensor and indwelling sensor or two or more indwelling sensors in combination and the processing of the sensor signals to derive a pacing rate control signal are disclosed, for example, in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,188,078.
Still other rate-responsive pacemakers have been commercialized employing impedance variations with respiration as measured between spaced thoracic electrodes as disclosed, for example, in EPO Patent Nos. 0 089 014 and 0 151 689, incorporated herein by reference. The thoracic electrodes may be spaced apart and away from the heart or may include a pacing lead electrode. In the '689 patent, a pacing rate control signal is developed from the variation in the measured impedance as a function of pulmonary minute ventilation.
The use of a variety of sensors in pacemakers is also proposed for detecting capture of the heart by a pacing pulse, i.e., detecting the evoked depolarization in response to preceding pacing pulse. In order to conserve battery power and prolong the life of implanted pacemakers, it is desirable to minimize the energy of the pacing pulse to provide a minimal "safety margin" of the pulse energy over the threshold energy sufficient to capture the heart. The detection of the evoked electrical signal is difficult because the pacemaker sense amplifier is "blinded" by the residual "polarization" energy of the pacing pulse at the sensing electrode for a time period. While the detection of an evoked ventricular depolarization R-wave superimposed on the decaying residual polarization wave may be possible under carefully controlled circumstances, the detection of the much lower amplitude evoked P-wave has not proven possible. Therefore, the alternate use of indwelling sensors of the types described above to detect the change in blood temperature, gas concentration, or pressure accompanying the evoked response has been proposed as described in detail in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,320,643, 5,331,996 and 5,342,406.
In a further approach, a system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,114,628 suggests the use of a mechanical heart motion sensor in contact with the heart to detect capture or LOC. The disclosed sensor in the '628 patent is a moving core, coiled wire inductor transducer mounted within an endocardial or epicardial lead coupled to the IPG.
In the context of automatic implantable cardioverter/defibrillators, fibrillation is typically detected by the continuous detection and analysis of features of the P-waves or R-waves, including high rate, rate regularity, sudden onset of high rate, etc. When the atria or ventricles of the heart are in fibrillation, the associated P-waves or R-waves become chaotic, and the heart chamber is unable to vigorously contract in the normal manner. The confirmation of ventricular fibrillation by detecting the absence of blood pressure is proposed in U.S. Reissue Pat. No. Re 27,652. The confirmation of ventricular fibrillation by detecting the absence of heart motion characteristic of normal contractions along with a R-wave high rate has been proposed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,815,611 and in the above-referenced '628 patent. The use of the indwelling blood pressure sensors, blood gas concentration sensors or temperature sensors to confirm fibrillation by detecting a change in the measured parameter in conjunction with the high rate P-wave or R-wave is also suggested in the prior art.
Implantable cardiac monitors, e.g. the MEDTRONIC.RTM. implantable hemodynamic monitor employ pacing leads attached to the patient's heart for simply monitoring and storing EGM data and an indwelling pressure sensor for developing an absolute pressure signal from the heart. A reference pressure sensor is incorporated into the connector block assembly for detecting ambient atmospheric pressure that is subtracted from the pressure sensor signal to provide the absolute pressure sensor. Patient's suffering from congestive heart failure are candidates for such implantable hemodynamic monitors. Such patient's suffer from episodes of cardiac insufficiency accompanied by labored breathing that is not presently monitored.
The detection of heart sounds rather than the R-wave peak or a pressure sensor signal has also been suggested anonymously in RESEARCH DISCLOSURE No. 37150, entitled "Use of Heart Valve Sounds as Input to Cardiac Assist Devices" (March, 1995) for use in controlling operations of pulsatile cardiac assist devices. The listed cardiac assist devices include intra-atrial blood pumps (IABPs), cardiomyoplasty/cardiac assist devices (of the type described in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,069,680, for example), aortomyoplasty and ventricular assist devices (VADs). The heart sounds are picked up by a microphone, amplified, bandpass filtered and compared to a "signature" sound pattern to derive a control signal timed to the second or "dub" heart sound, which is related to the dicrotic notch of the aortic pressure wave. No specific structure for accomplishing this is disclosed. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,763,646 to Lekholm, a heart sound detector is also proposed to be mounted in one or more pacing leads arranged in or about the heart or to be mounted in the IPG case for acoustically sensing heart sounds transmitted through a fluid filled lumen. The use of a pressure sensor, microphone or accelerometer is proposed for the heart sound detector.
Despite the prodigious effort expended in developing such indwelling sensors, few have been found to be useful or acceptable for chronic use. Typically, the foreign object body reaction encapsulates the sensor and isolates it from the parameter to be detected and measured. In addition, the active sensors require additional lead conductors and are electrically inefficient. Consequently, such sensors are complex in design, difficult to manufacture, relatively expensive, and short lived.
For example, a great deal of effort has been expended in developing indwelling absolute pressure and pressure rate of change sensors as noted above for measuring these parameters in a heart vessel or chamber. Many designs of such chronically or permanently implantable pressure sensors have been placed in limited clinical use. Piezoelectric crystal or piezoresistive pressure transducers mounted at or near the distal tips of pacing leads, for pacing applications, or catheters for monitoring applications, are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,023,562, 4,407,296, 4,432,372, 4,485,813, 4,858,615, 4,967,755, and 5,324,326, and in PCT Publication No. WO 94/13200, for example. These sensors and an improved sensor and operating system are described in detail in commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/394870 filed Feb. 27, 1995, for IMPLANTABLE CAPACITIVE ABSOLUTE PRESSURE AND TEMPERATURE SENSOR and Serial No. 08/394,860 filed Feb. 27, 1995, for IMPLANTABLE CAPACITIVE ABSOLUTE PRESSURE AND TEMPERATURE MONITOR SYSTEM.
Other semiconductor sensors employ CMOS IC technology in the fabrication of pressure responsive silicon diaphragm bearing capacitive plates that are spaced from stationary plates. The change in capacitance due to pressure waves acting on the diaphragm is measured, typically through a bridge circuit, as disclosed, for example, in the article "A Design of Capacitive Pressure Transducer" by Ko et al., in IEEE Proc. Symp. Biosensors, 1984, p.32. Again, fabrication for long term implantation and stability is complicated and unproven.
This concentrated focus on the development of accurate, efficient, reliable and permanently implantable, indwelling pressure sensors on lead bodies has taken place in recognition that the detection of pressure waves, particularly in the cardiac and pleural context, has a great number of applications as described above. However, the indwelling pressure sensor approach requires the implantation of the sensor into the heart chamber, where certain sensor types may become fibrosed and lose the ability to respond to mechanical heart motion or blood pressure changes associated with the contraction of the heart chamber or in association with the lungs or diaphragm where fibrosis may also render it ineffective.
In virtually all approaches, it is necessary to rely on additional components and circuitry which consume more energy, require additional lead conductors, increase the bulk and cost of the system, increase the cost of the implantation, and raise reliability issues. The additional components and circuitry are increased further in dual chamber pacemakers. Very few of the numerous approaches of the prior art have been attempted in an implantable pacemaker system and fewer yet have been proven clinically useful and commercially successful.
Therefore, despite the considerable effort that has been expended in designing such sensors, a need exists for a body implantable, durable, long-lived and low power sensor for accurately sensing pressure waves and related parameters in the body over many years of implantation.

Detection of pressure waves transmitted through catheter/lead body


A dual beam confocal microscope is provided. An optical source assembly provides two mutually coherent optical beams differing in frequency by a frequency difference Δf. The two beams are received by focusing assemblies that provide two focused beams to a sample. The focused beams intersect at a beam intersection angle within a target region of the sample. The two focused beams have respective focal regions preferably overlapping with the target region. A detector receives radiation emitted from the sample, including radiation emitted from the target region. The detector output, responsive to received intensity, is filtered with an electrical filter to provide a filtered signal. The electrical filter has a frequency response H(f), where H(f) has a pass band including f=Δf and a stop band including f=0. Optionally, an optical filter and/or a collection assembly can be placed between the sample and detector.

Conventional wide field microscopy is based on formation of a high-magnification image of an illuminated sample using conventional microscope optics. In contrast, confocal microscopy is based upon the selective illumination of a small part of the sample, referred to as a target region, and on the selective collection of light emitted from the target region. Image formation is accomplished by scanning the position of the target region within the sample. Typically, the sample is illuminated with an illumination beam which is brought to a diffraction-limited (or nearly so) focus within the sample. Light emitted by the part of the sample within the focal region of the illumination beam is selectively collected and detected.
It is helpful to define an observation beam as being the beam that would be present if the optical detector in the above selective collection and detection arrangement were replaced by an optical source. Parts of the sample outside the observation beam are generally "not seen" by the detector. Thus the overlap of the illumination beam and observation beam defines the target region. Since it is generally desirable to decrease the size of the target region as much as possible, the illumination beam and observation beam are typically both brought to a small diffraction-limited focus (e.g., using a high numerical aperture (NA) lens having low aberration). Furthermore, the focal regions of the illumination beam and observation beam typically overlap (i.e., the two beams are typically confocal).
In the earliest confocal microscopes, the illumination beam and observation beams are collinear. In fact, frequently the same optical elements define the observation and illumination beams, and the observed signal is separated from the illumination light with a beamsplitter or directional coupler. When a beam is brought to a focus, the resulting focal region typically has an axial dimension several times larger than its transverse dimensions, especially if the focusing numerical aperture is less than 0.5. Here the axial direction is along the beam axis and the transverse directions are perpendicular to the beam axis. Thus, collinear illumination and observation beams typically provide a generally "cigar shaped" target region, having an axial dimension several times larger than its transverse dimensions.
More recently, for example in U.S. Pat. No. 5,973,828, non-collinear illumination and observation beams have been employed. Since the two beams intersect at an angle, the resulting target region is smaller than it would be for collinear beams. In particular, the target region can be roughly spherical and can have a radius on the order of the transverse beam dimensions.
A further variation on non-collinear illumination and observation beams is considered in U.S. Pat. No. 6,369,928, where two non-collinear illumination beams are supplied to the sample. In this arrangement, the illumination beam optics can conveniently define non-collinear observation beams (e.g., illumination optics 1 defines observation beam 2 and vice versa). Alternatively, light emitted from a sample region where the two illumination beams overlap can be selectively collected by optics other than the illumination beam optics.
However, the selective collection of light from such an arrangement poses a number of practical difficulties, especially when fluorescence radiation is of interest. For example, it is generally desirable to collect as much light as possible, and light collection increases as the lens NA increases because light from the sample is usually emitted in all directions. But, aberration of a simple lens also increases as lens NA increases, which usually obliges a lens designer to make a critical trade between resolution, complexity, working distance, and light collection efficiency. Thus high resolution microscope objectives can provide high NA, but the resulting designs are complex and bulky, and tend to provide a short working distance. This trade is applicable to both fluorescence microscopy and reflection/scattering microscopy. Furthermore, fluorescence is often emitted over a broad range of wavelengths, thus fluorescence confocal microscopes usually must further include chromatic aberration in the above trade, which greatly complicates their design. Finally, some applications, such as in vivo imaging require long working distances which are difficult to provide with high NA lenses.
Accordingly, it would be an advance in the art to provide a dual-illumination beam confocal microscope having a less critical trade between light collection, chromatic aberration, complexity, working distance, and resolution.

Dual axis fluorescence microscope with modulated input

Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University


Systems and methods for filling submerged voids with a foam-fluidized fill material in an efficient and economical manner are disclosed herein. The foam fluidized fill material is a granular solid material fluidized with a foam. The foam-fluidized fill material is pumped or gravity-fed through an insertion tube into the submerged void. The insertion tube terminates at a point lying below a surface of the liquid within the void. Since the foam-fluidized fill material is heavier than the liquid, the foam-fluidized fill material exiting the insertion tube sinks to the bottom of the void and expands laterally at the bottom of the void displacing the liquid. The liquid is forced upward and out of the void where it may be collected. Further, as the fill material fills the void, the foam dissipates and the fill material self compacts, making the filled void sufficiently load bearing.

Many mining, excavation, and/or construction projects involve the removal of large amount of material beneath a ground surface, which results in underground cavities or voids. For example, an underground mining operation may remove a quantity of ore-bearing rock from an underground geological formation leaving one or more voids in the formation. These underground voids may be or become unstable and risk collapse of the ground above, causing injury to personnel and/or damage to equipment resting on the ground above the void. Further, a variety of natural phenomenon may also cause underground cavities or voids, which also can unexpectedly collapse.
In order to prevent and/or reduce the risk of collapse, known underground voids that are or are expected to be unstable may be filled with a solid material. Typically, this is accomplished by mixing a fluid or semi-fluid slurry of aggregate material and fines (e.g., cement or fly ash) and/or water together and pumping and/or gravity feeding the slurry through one or more injection points into the underground void until it is filled with the slurry. The slurry is then expected to cure and withstand loads from the ground surface above without or with a lower risk of collapsing.
However, hydraulic placement of the slurry mixture consumes large quantities of water that may be expensive and/or not be readily available at the location of the submerged void and may require a high-energy pump to maintain a sufficient flow rate to keep the slurry mixed until placed within the submerged void. Further, underground voids are often filled or semi-filled with water or other liquid. This may be due to the underground voids lying below an applicable water table for the underground void location, for example. Conventional void filling technologies are not particularly effective at displacing the water or other liquids in the void while simultaneously filling the void with the slurry mixture. For example, the slurry mixture may largely distribute within the water upon impact with the liquid surface and/or the slurry mixture may separate upon contact with the water surface (e.g., the cementious particles may largely float while the aggregate materials sink). As a result, the void may not be effectively filled with the slurry (e.g., it may have an inconsistent compressive strength due to a non-homogeneous composition of the deposited slurry mixture), thus much of the slurry mixture may be forced back up through a point of injection, and/or the slurry may not distribute horizontally within the void very effectively, thus limiting the maximum horizontal spacing of injection points.
As a result, current systems and methods for filling submerged voids or cavities are often expensive to implement and often fail to produce a desired performance in the field. This is often due to segregation of constituent materials of a filling material and resistance of the filling material to move through water-filled cavities.


A battery pack includes a pouch-type bare cell, a protecting circuit module, a top case and a protecting circuit module support part. The pouch-type bare cell has a sealing region positioned in an extraction direction of an electrode lead. The protecting circuit module is positioned in the sealing region and connected to the electrode lead. The top case surrounds the protecting circuit module. The protecting circuit module support part is provided between the top case and the protecting circuit module. Accordingly, the protecting circuit module support part is formed between the top case and the protecting circuit module, so that it is possible to prevent a component mounted on the protecting circuit module from being damaged by an external impact and to prevent the inflow of a foreign matter from the outside of the battery pack, thereby improving the reliability and safety of the battery pack.

1. Field
An aspect of the present invention relates to a battery pack, and more particularly, to a battery pack capable of preventing or inhibiting damage of a component mounted in a protecting circuit module from an external impact.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, secondary batteries refer to rechargeable batteries, unlike primary batteries that cannot be recharged. The secondary batteries are widely used in the field of electronic devices such as a cellular phone, a notebook computer and a camcorder.
Among various kinds of secondary batteries, a lithium secondary battery is widely used because of its high operating voltage and high energy density per unit weight. The lithium secondary battery is manufactured in several shapes, and cylinder-type, can-type and pouch-type secondary batteries are used as representative shapes of the lithium secondary batteries.
The pouch-type secondary battery is formed by inserting an electrode assembly into a pouch and sealing the pouch, and an electrode lead connected to an electrode tab of the electrode assembly is connected to a component such as a protecting circuit module (PCM) or positive temperature coefficient (PTC), thereby forming a core pack. A top case for surrounding the PCM is formed at an upper part of the core pack, and the core pack is built in a hard case or surrounded by a label for packing, thereby forming a battery pack.


The present invention relates to a lockbolt and a method for installing a lockbolt that removes a coating, such as a sealant that has inadvertently flowed into a hole into which the lockbolt is to be installed. The lockbolt and method prevent a coupling surface of the lockbolt from being contaminated by the coating.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lockbolt and, more particularly, to a lockbolt that displaces unwanted material during its installation.
2. Background Information
Lockbolts are commonly used where high-strength fasteners are required, such as aircraft fuel tanks and aircraft cabins. Typically, a lockbolt collar is provided for use with a lockbolt 100, shown in FIG. 1. The collar is slid over that portion of the lockbolt which extends through overlapped plate-like members. When the collar is properly swaged to mate with the lockbolt, the resulting lockbolt joint provides a reliable, high-strength fastener for the members.
Recently, viscous material, such as a sealant, has been applied to fay-surfaces of the plate-like members to reduce the potential of any corrosion forming between the plate-like members. The sealant is typically applied at a thickness of 0.003 to 0.005 inches. When such a significant amount of sealant is used, it causes a ring of the sealant to form inside any prepared holes within the plate-like members (i.e. lap splices), especially when the members are squeezed together. When the lockbolt 100 is passed through one of the prepared holes, swaging threads 102 on the lockbolt 100, which are designed to engage the lockbolt collar, often become contaminated with the sealant. Once contaminated, the swaging threads 102 must be properly cleaned by a mechanic prior to mating the lockbolt collar to the lockbolt 100. This process is tedious and time-consuming, increasing the workload on all the mechanics that are installing the lockbolts 100. If the swaging threads 102 of the lockbolts 100 are not properly cleaned prior to swaging the collar onto the lockbolt 100, then the resulting joint is considered defective and the collar is removed by force and the lockbolt 100 and the collar replaced.
Accordingly, for the foregoing reasons, there is a need in the fastening art for an apparatus and method that eliminates the need to clean the swaging threads of a lockbolt prior to swaging a collar onto the lockbolt after the lockbolt has been inserted into a contaminated area.

Lockbolt and method for wiping material from a lockbolt joint


A radio waves guiding window for a metal case is capable of transmitting radio waves smoothly and contains: a metal case. The metal case includes a modification area defined at a position thereof where corresponds to an antenna, wherein a metal material thickness is formed by ceramizating the modification area in a micro-arc oxidation (MAO) process, and a metal material of the modification area is modified to a metal oxide in the micro-arc oxidation (MAO) process. Accordingly, the metal case has brilliant appearance, transmits the radio waves smoothly, and is simplified.

A conventional electronic product with radio wave communication transmits radio signals through an antenna, but the antenna exposes outside the electronic product. To improve appearance of the electronic product, the antenna is disposed in a metal case of the electronic product. However, a metal or a metal mesh of the metal case shields transmission of the radio signals.
The electronic product with radio wave communication contains mobile phone, walkie-talkie, and wearable electronics. For example, a protective case of the mobile phone is made of any one of plastic material (such as polycarbonate), metal material (such as aluminum alloy, magnesium alloy, or titanium alloy), and glass (such as alkali aluminosilicate glass and gorilla glass). The plastic material is cheap, lightweight and is produced easily, but it cannot dissipate heat efficiently. The metal material reinforces the protective case of the mobile phone and dissipates heat effectively, yet it shields transmission of the radio signals.
To overcome defects of the protective case made of metal material, a radio waves guiding window made of plastic material or glass is configured on the protective case of the electronic product so as to transmit the radio signals excellently. However, an appearance of the radio waves guiding window made of plastic material or glass is not consistent to the protective case made of metal material.
Antenna device and electronic apparatus including antenna device are disclosed in US Publication No. 20140247188 A1 and contain a slot cut on a metal case of the electronic apparatus, and a feed coil is arranged around the slot so as to transmit radio signals. Antenna device and communication terminal device are disclosed in US Publication No. 20140203981 A1 and contain a metal case and a feed coil, wherein the metal case has a cut slit so as to accommodate the feed coil in the metal case, such that the feed coil couples with the metal case and is fixed close to the cut slit.
Antenna structure fixed in metal case is taught in CN Publication No. 103633434 A, and integration mechanism of metal case of electronic apparatus and antenna is taught in CN Publication No. 104584324 A, wherein the metal case has a cut slit, and the antenna is in connection with the metal case.
Nevertheless, the metal case having the cut slit influences appearance of the electronic apparatus. To close the cut slit, a plastic cap covers on the cut slit, but the plastic cap cannot connect with the metal case flatly.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore-described disadvantages.

Radio waves guiding window for metal case and manufacturing method thereof


An example trick mode play process for digital video stores a plurality of most recent reference frames in a corresponding plurality of frame buffers; displaying a current frame during a current frame time interval; determining a next frame for display; inspecting the plurality of frame buffers to determine if the next frame is present in a frame buffers. If the next frame is present, designating the frame for display in the next frame time interval. If the next frame is not present: checking if the frame buffers contain any reference frames needed to decode the next frame; and decoding a next frame using all reference frames needed to decode the next frame which can be found in the frame. This abstract is not to be considered limiting, since other embodiments may deviate from the features described in this abstract.

Digital video encoding such as MPEG (Moving Pictures Expert Group) compliant digital video has become a popular encoding mechanism that permits digital storage, transmission and reproduction of video images such as television programs and movies. The transition from analog to digital has made PVR's (personal video recorders), also known as DVR's (digital video recorders), an increasingly popular technology. PVR's are used to store digital video content using digital technologies such as hard disc drives.
Users of such PVR devices have come to expect such devices to be capable of so-called "trick play" operation that resembles operation of video tape recorders (VTR's). Trick play operation includes, but is not limited to, fast forward, reverse, fast reverse, jump and skip functions. Most digital coding techniques such as MPEG compliant encoding utilize significant levels of compression. Such compression is implemented by use of predictive coding techniques in which certain frames of video are dependent upon and utilize information in other frames of video. For example, MPEG I frames (intra-coded frames) stand alone, while B frames and P frames (Inter-coded frames) are dependent upon and use information presented in other frames.
Such encoding techniques were designed for normal speed forward play of video. Predictive coding techniques complicate trick mode play. Most commonly, when trick play, such as reverse mode trick play, is implemented, the result is a jerky or freeze frame-like image that is sometimes implemented by only playing back I frames (which do not depend on other frames). Sometimes the I frames are repeated to fill in for missing video frames. As a result, trick play is often only a crude approximation of that which can be obtained with analog VTR technology.


A heat dissipating module having enhanced heat dissipating efficiency is disclosed. The heat dissipating module includes a heat dissipating member, a base and an air guiding member. The heat dissipating member is installed on a first electronic component for dissipating heat generated by the first electronic component. The base is installed on a side of the heat dissipating member, and the air guiding member is connected to the base. The air guiding member and the base cooperatively guide an air flow passing through the heat dissipating member to a second electronic component located on a side of the first electronic component.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to a heat dissipating module, and more particularly, to a heat dissipating module having enhanced heat dissipating efficiency.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An electronic device is equipped with a fan in general for generating an air flow therein, so as to dissipate heat generated by internal electronic components of the electronic device. Accordingly, the internal electronic components can function normally with an adequate temperature. Since there is a trend for the electronic device to have designs of light weight, thin thickness, short and small size, the certain internal electronic component, such as an automatic voltage regulator, is often located on a lee side of another electronic component relative to the fan. In other words, the certain internal electronic component is often disposed in a position where the air flow is hard to achieve. As a result, the heat generated by the certain internal electronic component can not be dissipated in time, so as to reduce heat dissipating efficiency and to further result in abnormal functioning.
An additional thermal fin is disposed on the certain electronic component located on the lee side of the other electronic component relative to the fan for increasing heat dissipating area thereof, so as to enhance the heat dissipating efficiency of the certain electronic component. Since the thermal fin dissipates heat by heat conducting surface, the aforesaid thermal fin needs to have a specific volume for maintaining heat dissipating efficiency.
However, there is not enough space to contain the aforesaid thermal fin due to the trend of the electronic device for designs of light weight, thin thickness, short and small size. In other words, the constrained internal space of the electronic device constrains the volume of the thermal fin. Accordingly, it reduces the heat dissipating efficiency. In addition, the thermal fin results in an additional expense of materials, so as to increase manufacture cost and to further disadvantage the product in the market.

Heat dissipating module having enhanced heat dissipating efficiency


A pattern matching system for a network security device includes a pattern matching card configured to generate a pattern matching result by matching data of a received packet with a pre-stored pattern of a signature pattern table, and an analyzing engine configured to copy the packet and transfer the copied packet to the pattern matching card and configured to detect a bad traffic based on packet analysis information of the packet and the pattern matching result received from the pattern matching card. The analyzing engine is configured to detect a bad traffic based on a pattern matching result for a single packet and packet analysis information during a single-packet-based analysis and is configured to detect a bad traffic based on a pattern matching result for successive packets and packet analysis information during a multi-packet-based analysis.

In recent years, data transmission and reception through a communication network, especially the Internet, become widespread along with the development of digital processing devices. Among the digital processing devices which transmit and receive data through the communication network, the digital processing device designed to provide data is defined as a server and the digital processing device designed to request and receive data is defined as a client.
In order to detect or block bad traffics which gain access to a server, a network security device such as an IDS (Intrusion Detection System) or an IPS (Intrusion Protection System) can be used. In this network security device, a pattern matching card or an accelerator card which stores signature patterns can be used in order to rapidly detect signature patterns of bad traffics.
However, due to the use of simple pattern matching between a card and an analyzing engine, the conventional method is difficult to cope with patterns which grow complex and is suffering from a high erroneous detection rate.

System and method for pattern matching in a network security device


A method and system for parsing an address is disclosed. The method and system comprise separating the address into a plurality of tokens and providing one or more token meaning discovery passes based upon region specific configuration information to determine the meaning of each token in the address. In so doing, an address can be parsed by a processing system in an efficient and effective fashion. By disclosing the meaning of each token of the address in accordance with a region specific configuration information rule set a parsing process is provided which allows for easy modification as the requirements for the parsing change.

There are applications within processing systems that identifies street addresses that are in human language text. An IBM product, IBM Identity Resolution is an example of a program which identifies individuals and their associated street addresses. Street addresses are human language texts that are not immediately understandable by a computer for further information processing. Street addresses may not be understandable because the addresses may be in different languages, e.g. English, Arabic, Turkish, etc. that are not understandable by the computer.
Furthermore, street addresses may have different sentence structures depending on the country/region they are coming from. For example, although the U.K. and the USA both use English addresses, their address structure is totally different.
A conventional algorithm utilized in many applications for parsing addresses is referred to as a pattern matching algorithm. In this type of algorithm, an address is compared to a finite number of possible patterns and the pattern that matches the address first is used as the correct address. Since the patterns are compared in a previously determined order, an address may match a pattern although it may better match a later pattern. In addition, addresses that were not entered correctly may match wrong patterns or not match at all.
Furthermore, the number of patterns that needs to be in a processing system to allow for accurate matching of the street addresses will grow exponentially when the existence of a new type of address is realized. Hundreds of patterns may be required to represent all possible addresses in a country like the United States. In addition, some addresses such as 1234 East West Street may be difficult to parse with a pattern matching algorithm. For example, an ambiguous US street address is 1234 East West Street. Finally, cities with long histories (for example in Europe) tend to have addresses that are not very well structured. The number of patterns for such cities may be huge.
Accordingly, conventional pattern matching algorithms have the disadvantage of being slow due to numerous lookups per address and the difficulty to implement such an algorithm for a new language/region. Accordingly, what is desired is a method and system for parsing street addresses that overcome the above-identified issues. The present invention addresses such a need.

Method and system to parse addresses using a processing system

International Business Machines Corporation


The present invention is directed to a training bag apparatus. A preferred embodiment of the training bag apparatus includes: (a) a base including (1) a bottom part having an upper surface and a lower surface wherein the lower surface has a rounded edge extending around the lower surface and (2) a top part attached to the upper surface of the bottom part of the base; and (b) a column supported on the top part of the base and extending substantially vertically upward from the top part of the base. The column and the base are an integral one-piece unit and move in the same direction when the column is struck.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to fitness equipment and more particularly to training bags for use in boxing, kickboxing and other martial arts.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Several training bags and/or apparatuses are known for use in boxing and the martial arts. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,027,435 issued to Nadorf (hereinafter "the '435 patent") discloses a freestanding training bag including a pedestal, a vertical post and a striking pad surrounding the post for being struck by a user. The pedestal of the '435 patent is generally hollow and forms a sealed container for any fluid or liquid material such as water. The training bag of the '435 patent is designed so that when the striking pad is struck, the post is angularly deflected away from its substantially vertical orientation while the pedestal does not move. However, as the pedestal is filled with a fluid, it becomes fatigued over time and is prone to leaks.
In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 5,624,358 issued to Hestilow (hereinafter "the '358 patent") discloses a training bag including a fluid-filled pedestal, a column and a striking pad assembly supported by the column. The training bag of the '358 patent is designed so that when the striking pad assembly is struck, the column moves in a direction away from its substantially vertical orientation and the pedestal does not move. The column, though, rebounds and comes right back at the user and if the user is not ready, he or she may be struck by the column. In addition, the design of the training bag apparatus is such that the energy-absorbing element is the flat deck or upper wall of the pedestal of the training bag apparatus. The deck is constantly inwardly and outwardly deformed. Also, the design may cause the upper wall to undergo fatigue and ultimate failure. Further, as the pedestal is filled with a fluid, it becomes fatigued over time and is prone to leaks.
Several other U.S. patents also disclose training bags and/or apparatuses for use in boxing and the martial arts, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,217,489 issued to Nicholson, U.S. Pat. No. 6,110,079 issued to Luedke et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,080,089 issued to Nicholson, U.S. Pat. No. 5,823,898 issued to Wang, U.S. Pat. No. 5,582,561 issued to Gonzalez and U.S. Pat. No. 5,183,451 issued to Hautamaki. One of the common problems with these training bags and/or apparatuses is that they do not give the desired resistance to punches, jabs and kicks required for a novice.
Accordingly, it is one of the purposes of this invention to provide a training bag apparatus which when struck, will not rebound and hit the user.
Another purpose of this invention is to provide a training bag apparatus that is easy to move.
Yet another purpose of this invention is to provide a training bag apparatus that is simple in construction and inexpensive to manufacture.


A radiotelephone handset (400) is adapted to accommodate a plurality of distinctive telephone appearances. The radiotelephone handset (400) includes a housing (402) having a front housing portion (414) and a rear housing portion (416) and a faceplate (104) attached to the front housing portion and having an outer surface (434) having a distinctive user interface appearance and an inner surface (436). The radiotelephone handset (400) further includes a keypad cover (418) movable between a first position and a second position.

Portable telephones are generally well-known in the art. Portable telephones includes radiotelephones, such as cellular radiotelephones, cordless radiotelephones and personal communicators. Portable telephones traditionally communicate with a remote base station to provide wireless communications for a user. Portable telephones have become a widely accepted form of wireless communications in the cordless and cellular radiotelephone markets and are rapidly finding applications in new types of communications systems such as personal communications systems (PCS).
Because of such wide acceptance, differentiating the appearance of individual portable telephones has become an important requirement for the customer, the manufacturer, and the distributor of the portable telephone. Customers desire a unique appearance to satisfy their personal tastes and preferences. Manufacturers desire a unique appearance to provide a variety of telephone appearances to their customers, and to provide a unique appearance for the manufacturer's own product. Distributors and retailers desire a unique appearance to differentiate themselves and their products in the marketplace and to promote their name brand. The desires of manufacturers, sellers and users to have a unique-looking portable telephone are eventually communicated to the manufacturer so that the particular unique-looking portable telephone can be produced.
A portable telephone is conventionally produced by assembling radiotelephone circuitry, including transceiver circuitry and user interface circuitry, within a housing. The user interface circuitry includes a display, a keypad, an earpiece and a microphone. The housing traditionally includes a rear housing, having a standard molded form, mated to a front housing having a different standard molded form. The front housing is adapted to provide a particular appearance by means of its molded contour, texture or color. Typically, the user interface elements are mounted inside the front housing and electrically connected to transceiver circuitry mounted in the back housing. The display and keypad may also each have a particular appearance. A particular front housing, a particular display and a particular keypad are selected by the manufacturer to give the portable radiotelephone an overall particular appearance.
A disadvantage of conventionally producing the particular unique appearances of portable radiotelephones is that the unique appearance of a portable radiotelephone must be known by the manufacturer before the portable telephone is manufactured. At selected locations throughout a production line, the appropriate front housing, keypad and display, etc. are appropriately assembled to produce the appropriate particular appearance for the portable telephone.
While this manufacturing technique was acceptable in the past when relatively few particular appearances for portable telephones were needed, the large growth in the telecommunications industry has created a demand for a very large number of unique appearances for portable telephones. Today, a typical manufacturer may be required to track literally hundreds of portable telephone models, each having a unique look. The task of managing such a demand has prompted the need for a new way to manufacture portable telephones to achieve a variety of unique appearances that meet the market demand without burdening the production flow.
Furthermore, convention-ally-produced portable telephones do not permit the user of the portable telephone to alter the appearance of the portable telephone once manufactured or purchased. Aftermarket companies have tried to meet the customer's need for the customer's own unique look by providing accessories, such as cases for holding portable telephones. However, these cases are clumsy, add weight, and have a limited effect on the appearance of the portable telephone.
One known portable telephone design attempts to provide an easily changeable faceplate. This design permits the user to alter the appearance of the portable telephone after manufacture or purchase. The portable telephone includes a removable, snap-fit faceplate and a housing. The snap-fit faceplate includes a lip and tabs which fit into slots on the housing. The manufacturer or user may alter the appearance of this portable telephone by unsnapping the snap-fit faceplate from the housing and substituting another snap-fit faceplate sized to fit the housing.
The success of such a portable phone with a snap-fit faceplate has been limited by the inherently insecure nature of the attachment of the snap-fit faceplate to the housing. The snap-fit faceplate may come loose when the portable telephone is subjected to jarring, such as when the portable telephone is dropped. Moreover, attempts to make the attachment of the snap-fit faceplate more solid by making the snap-fit connection more secure defeat the goal of an easily changeable faceplate.
Other known methods of attaching a faceplate to a portable telephone housing include using one or more screws as well as more permanent methods such as adhesive. None of these known methods has successfully permitted the user to readily alter the appearance of the portable telephone after manufacture or purchase.
Accordingly, there is a need for a portable telephone adapted to accommodate a plurality of distinctive telephone appearances that overcomes the disadvantage of conventionally produced portable telephones.

Radiotelephone handset having a faceplate to accommodate a plurality of distinctive telephone appearances


A nonlinear resistor ceramic composition includes zinc oxide as main component, and, as subcomponents, with respect to 100 mol of zinc oxide in terms of respective elements, more than 0.05 to less than 30 at. % of oxide of Co, more than 0.05 to less than 20 at. % of oxide of Sr, more than 0.01 to less than 20 at. % of oxides of rare earth except for Sc and Pm, more than 0.01 to less than 10 at. % of oxide of Si and does not include Al, Ga and In. Alternatively, a nonlinear resistor ceramic composition includes zinc oxide as main component, and, as subcomponents, with respect to 100 mol of zinc oxide in terms of respective elements, more than 0.05 at. % and less than 30 at. % of an oxide of Co, more than 0.05 to less than 20 at. % of oxide of Sr, more than 0.01 to less than 20 at. % of oxides of rare earth except for Sc and Pm, more than 0.01 to less than 10 at. % of oxide of Si and more than 0.01 to less than 10 at. % of calcium zirconate in terms of CaZrO3. By the present invention, deviations of various characteristics can be made small and grain growth of grains is suppressed with lowering CV product.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a nonlinear resistor ceramic composition suitably used for, for example, a nonlinear resistor layer of a multilayer chip varistor, and an electronic component in which said nonlinear resistor ceramic composition is used as the nonlinear resistor layer.
2. Description of the Related Art
A varistor as an example of an electronic component having a nonlinear resistor layer is used, for example, to absorb or remove an external surge (an abnormal voltage) such as a static electricity or so or a noise, and to protect IC circuits of electronic apparatuses or so.
Recently, the digital signal has become faster and the communication speed has become faster. Particularly, when the varistor is used in the extremely high speed signal line such as HDMI and a capacitance of the varistor is large, the transmitted signal is attenuated due to this capacitance, as a result, the transmitted signal becomes blurry; hence there are problems that the precise transmission is interfered.
Also, since the driving voltage of the circuits has become lowered, thus when the varistor voltage is high, there are problems that the surge and the noise cannot be suppressed so that it was impossible to protect the circuits.
Therefore, in order to attain the precise signal transmission with suppressing the surge and the noise in low voltage driving circuit, the varistor having small capacitance and low varistor voltage is demanded, that is, the varistor having small product of the capacitance "C" and the varistor voltage "V" (CV product) is demanded.
JP Patent laid open No. 2002-246207 discloses a nonlinear resistor including ZnO as a main component, and, as subcomponents, Pr, Co, Cr, Al or so, Si, Ca and Sr in specific ratio. However, JP Patent laid open No. 2002-246207 does not describe a capacitance of the resistor with nonlinear voltage characteristic, thus it is not clear whether the CV product can be made small.

Nonlinear resistor ceramic composition and electronic component


An electronic apparatus includes a clock oscillator which supplies a clock signal, a processor which generates an internal clock on the basis of the clock signal supplied from the clock oscillator, and a control unit which controls a frequency of the internal clock in accordance with a ratio of an executable instruction count per unit time to a clock count per unit time of the internal clock generated by the processor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of controlling the clock frequency of a processor and, more particularly, to a method of controlling power in an electronic apparatus having a processor.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a method of saving the power of an electronic apparatus such as a computer, the operating clock frequency (or operating speed) of a processor (e.g., a CPU) is decreased to suppress power consumption of the processor. According to this method, the use ratio of the processor, the battery capacity, and the heat generation state of the processor are monitored, and power saving control is executed on the basis of these pieces of information.
For example, when a flag representing a busy state or the like is set in a predetermined memory area every time the processor accesses an I/O device or memory, the operating system (OS) (or driver software accessory to the OS) acquires the degree of load on the processor on the basis of the flag set count, obtaining the use ratio of the processor. When the OS determines that, for example, the use ratio of the processor is low, the OS decreases the clock frequency of the processor in power saving control.
The OS tends to recognize a value higher than the substantial use ratio of the processor owing to stall processing. This phenomenon readily occurs particularly for a high I/O access count or a large number of cache errors.
That is, even for a substantially low use ratio of the processor, the OS determines that the use ratio is high, and hardly decreases the clock frequency of the processor. In this case, power consumption of the processor cannot be efficiently suppressed.
The substantial use ratio of the processor may be detected by arranging specific hardware. However, newly arranging specific hardware undesirably leads to a high cost and large mounting space.
Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 11-353052 discloses the following processor operating speed control method. The ratio between the performance index and power consumption index of a computer is used as an energy index. The CPU operating speed (operating frequency) is increased/decreased on the basis of the energy index, and power management processing which balances power saving and performance is executed. However, the technique of this reference is not designed to save power by paying attention to the substantial use ratio of a processor.

Clock frequency control method and electronic apparatus