A device enabling the formation of a belt or suspenders through a sequential engagement of a plurality of removably engageable bodies. The bodies are only engageable and disengageable when positioned at an engagement position substantially perpendicular to adjacent bodies.

1. Field of the Invention
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/719782 filed on Oct. 29, 2012 and which is included herein in its entirety by this reference thereto.
The present invention relates to belts conventionally employed for garments and the like. More particularly, it relates to a belt formable by employing a plurality of belt link components configured to engage with each other to form a continuous belt, suspender, or similar structure. The links are formed to render them removable engageable to adjacent loops in the formed belt as a means for adjusting the overall length of the belt. The links may additionally include indicia disposed on at least one surface, such as alphanumeric characters, images or the like providing a means to display words or symbols using incremental connections of individual link components. Employing indica the device provides for a goal oriented system with incremental rewards such as for encouraging weight loss through belt link awards for achievement or as a teaching aid.
2. Prior Art
Belts and suspenders are functional clothing for the support of pants or encirclement of other clothing being worn by the wearer. Depending on their configuration, belts and suspenders can be low-key or can provide both a fashion statement as well as accomplishing their support function. For example belts and suspenders may be configured to blend in with the supported clothing, or they may be decorated to lean toward high fashion such as having expensive leather, adorned jewelry, and extravagant custom buckles. In either case, many users and consumers will enjoy the use of such an accessory which they can uniquely call their own.
Prior art has shown many attempts to provide unique belts. U.S. Pat. No. 2,451,397 to Marquardt teaches an apparel belt or chain formed of a plurality of ornamental chainlike components intended to be assembled to form the complete article. U.S. Pat. No. 4,642,982 to Gray teaches a chain belt formed of a plurality of wires joining tube components formed in a fashionable manner. US Pub. No. 2007/0294807A1 to Van Cotthem teaches a segmented belt assembly formed of band segments that can be interchanged to form to a particular circumference.
However, these and similar belt like devices merely provide decorative elements upon the overall formed belt or suspenders and fails to otherwise provide any additional useful function.
As such there is a continuing and unmet need for a belt or a similar accessory device formed of a plurality of engaged incremental components, which allow for customization of size and decoration. Further, a belt or suspender type device which would cure some of the shortcomings of prior art should not only provide the user means for customization, such a device should also provide an especially secure means of engagement of the individual inks or belt components so as to provide utility and a secure means to support clothing on the user.
In addition to allowing some users the ability to form customized belts and suspenders which are fashionable, an additional aspect of the device should advantageously provide an incremental system of encouraging achievement through the provision of indicia on individual belt links to encourage users toward an ultimate goal such as providing encouragement for weight loss which is directly related to the ultimate length of the formed belt or suspenders. Such a device, so formed of a plurality of interlocking and interchangeable link components, should provide a user with a means for visibly affirming their success in their weight loss progress, not only with a shorter belt, but with indicia recognizable to memorialize reaching particular levels of success.
The forgoing examples of related art and limitation related therewith, and the noted need for a relief in the art of such shortcomings, are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive, and they do not imply any limitations on the invention described and claimed herein. Various limitations of the related art will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading and understanding of the specification below and the accompanying drawings.


A combined viewing mirror and turn signal lamp assembly (2) for this purpose includes a generally elongated stay (8) connected at one end (8a) thereof with a body of an automotive vehicle, and a rear viewing mirror (10) connected with the opposite end (8b) of the elongated stay. A turn signal lamp (12) is incorporated in a portion (8c) of the stay intermediate between the ends of the stay.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a combined viewing mirror and turn signal lamp for automotive vehicles such as, for example, motorcycles and four-wheeled automotive vehicles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Rear viewing mirrors and front turn signal lamps are respective elements statutorily indispensable to automotive vehicles such as, for example, motorcycles. In view of their different functions and mechanisms, each rear viewing mirror and each front turn signal lamp are generally members separate from each other. Accordingly, each rear viewing mirror and each front turn signal lamp are required to be mounted on the automotive vehicle separately, resulting in increase of time and labor required to mount them on the automotive vehicle. Some four-wheeled automobiles employ a mirror to view not rear but near front of the vehicle body and a turn signal lamp, which are also members separate from each other.
The Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2006-069299, published Mar. 16, 2006, for example, discloses a rear viewing mirror casing, in which a front turn signal lamp is incorporated so that the rear viewing mirror and the turn signal lamp can be assembled in a unitary structure. The unitary structure including the rear viewing mirror and the turn signal lamp, both accommodated in the mirror casing, is mounted on the motorcycle through a support arm having one end rigid with the mirror casing and the opposite end adjustably connected with an associated side portion of the motorcycle, for example, that of a front fairing. According to this structure, since the support arm is capable of undergoing an angular movement relative to the motorcycle, it is not easy to accomplish wiring of an electric cable extending from and to the turn signal lamp through a hollow portion of the support arm.

Combined viewing mirror and turn signal lamp for automotive vehicles


A hierarchical grid (H-Grid) is used to select a customer name after preliminary navigation has been performed. The preliminary navigation serves to identify an action, category or type of page to process or display data associated with the selected customer name. The H-Grid can be used in various ways as a replacement for, enhancement or addition to, key or query-based searching to retrieve a page or perform an action. In a particular example, the H-Grid includes customer names that have data available for display according to a form associated with a selected action or category. When the user clicks a customer name in the H-Grid a current form is populated with the customer's data. Subsequent navigation to other pages of data are populated with the currently selected customer name. This approach can replace the requirement of having the user to perform a search or query to identify the customer name or record.

Computer software provides many functions and benefits and is able to handle many different types of information. As the functionality and complexity of software increases it may be more difficult for a human user to interact with and control the software. In order to improve the usability of software, it is often important to provide an efficient user interface.
One type of task that is typically handled by a user interface is selecting an item from a collection or group of items. For example, the item can be a name of a person, company, department, form, etc. in a table, list, menu or other presentation of the items. Optimizing the item presentation and selection process can produce benefits, especially if there are many items of different categories that are difficult to navigate among in a program that requires several or many item selections in order to perform a task.
Examples of programs that require user selection of many items during the course of a session include Human Resource Management Software (HRMS), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), office productivity applications, etc. In a particular example, a user may wish to view a specific page of information about a single customer's account receivable. In traditional systems, the user might be required to navigate among multiple categories (e.g., Administration, Billing, Account Receivable) that are organized as headings or folders. Within each folder the user may have to further select a subcategory or sub-folder (e.g., Billing Data, Activity, Item List, etc.).
Once the user has navigated to the desired category then a search may be required in order to obtain a specific record or page within that category. The user may have to input numbers or text to identify a specific "key" for a page so that the page can be retrieved based on the key. If the user does not know the key then additional descriptive information can be entered to assist the user to identify the key or the page. The user might also be allowed to form a relational query for a search for the page such as by entering all or a part of a name, date range, numeric range, etc.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Software user interface using H-grid navigation


A plasma display device has a first representing unit, a second representing unit, a judging unit, and a selector. The first representing unit lights only one of even display lines and odd display lines which represent one frame, and the second representing unit lights only the other one of the even display lines and the odd display lines. The judging unit judges a condition for an image to be displayed, and the selector selects whichever of the first representing unit and the second representing unit is used to display an image, based on the results of judgment made by the judging unit. Consequently, the service lives of phosphors and a protecting film can be extended and sticking in a screen can be prevented.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plasma display device and a method of driving a plasma display panel, and more particularly to a surface discharge alternating current driving type (surface discharge AC type) plasma display device and a method of driving a surface discharge AC type plasma display panel, having first and second representing units.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, a plasma display device has been practically adopted as a display device and adapted to various apparatuses and systems. A plasma display panel (PDP) is of a self-glowing type and can therefore display images in a well discernible manner. Moreover, the plasma display panel can offer a thin large screen and achieve fast display. The PDP is therefore attracting attention as a display panel taking over the CRT. In particular, a surface discharge AC type PDP is suitable for full-color display and therefore promising in the field of high-quality television. The surface discharge AC type PDP is highly requested to offer high image quality.
An approach to high-quality display images is to attain high definition, high-level gray scale, high luminance, low luminance for black display, or high contrast. High definition is attained by narrowing a pitch between pixels. High-level gray scale is attained by increasing the number of sub-frames (sub-fields) within a frame (field). High luminance is attained by increasing the number of times of sustaining discharge. Moreover, low luminance for black display is attained by minimizing an amount of glow to be emitted during a reset period. A PDP (surface discharge AC type PDP) is demanded to extend the service lives of phosphors and a protecting film and prevent sticking in a screen so as to prevent deterioration of quality of display images. There is also an increasing demand for a plasma display device and a method of driving a plasma display panel in which even when the same steady image is displayed for a long period, ordinary images will not be affected by sticking stemming from the steady image.
Incidentally, a plasma display device is used as display devices for various types of equipment, e.g., an automatic teller machine (ATM) to be installed at banks. In this case, a specified screen is kept displayed until a user (customer) uses the ATM. Even when the plasma display device is used as display devices for other various apparatuses, a specified steady screen may often have to be displayed continuously. When a specified screen is displayed continuously for a prolonged period of time, phosphors and a protecting film that are components of a PDP may deteriorate. Otherwise, sticking of the specified screen occurs in a screen.
Moreover, assume that an input picture is an ordinary-definition television picture consisting of 512 progressive scanning lines and conforming to the NTSC, PAL, or SECAM. In this case, it is unnecessary to switch the display lines. The parity signal is therefore not switched from one to the other. The same display lines remain lit. Assume that the same display lines are continuously lit, and that the display lines being lit are compared with those not lit. A difference in glowing efficiency of phosphors is larger than that observed when the display lines are alternately selected. Assume that the glowing efficiency of the phosphors on the display lines being lit is compared with that on the display lines not lit. In this case, the glowing efficiency of the phosphors on the display lines being lit is much poorer. This may cause shading in the direction of the lines.
Prior arts and the problems thereof will be explained later in connection with drawings.
An object of the present invention is to provide a plasma display device for distinguishing a steady image causing sticking from the other ordinary images by discriminating a representation by odd display lines from a representation by even display lines. In the plasma display device, sticking in a screen in which an ordinary image is displayed is indiscernible. Another object of the present invention is to provide a plasma display device capable of ensuring the extended service lives of phosphors and a protecting film and preventing sticking in a screen.
According to the present invention, there is provided a plasma display device including a first representing unit for lighting only one of even display lines and odd display lines which represent one frame, and a second representing unit for lighting only the other one of the even display lines and the odd display lines, comprising a judging unit for judging a condition for an image to be displayed; and a selector for selecting whichever of the first representing unit and the second representing unit is used to display an image, based on the results of judgment made by the judging unit.
When an image to be displayed is a steady image, the judging unit may use the first representing unit to display the image; and when an image to be displayed is any image other than the steady image, the judging unit may use the second representing unit to display the image. The steady image may be an initial operation image persisting until a predetermined operation is carried out, and images other than the steady image may be a plurality of images designated using the initial operation image. The judging unit may include a display time integrating unit for calculating a display time required by the image to be displayed by integrating time intervals during which the image is displayed, and the judging unit may switch an image display using the first representing unit and an image display using the second representing unit, based on the display time required by the image which is calculated by the display time integrating unit.
The judging unit may include an image comparing unit for detecting a change of the image to be displayed to another, and the judging unit may switch a first representation and a second representation, according to the detected change of the image. The comparing unit may compare the image to be displayed with an image stored in advance in a comparison image storage unit; when the image to be displayed agrees with the image stored in the comparison image storage unit, the first representing unit may be used to represent the image; and when the image to be displayed disagrees with the image stored in the comparison image storage unit, the second representing unit may be used to represent the image. After the image to be displayed is changed to another, if the steady image persists over a predetermined number of frames, the comparing unit may switch the first representation and the second representation.
The image display using the first representing unit and the image display using the second representing unit may be switched in response to an externally supplied switching signal. A first image may be displayed using both the first representing unit and second representing unit, and a second image may be displayed using one of the first representing unit and second representing unit. The first image may be a high-definition television picture, and the second image may be an ordinary-definition television picture. The plasma display device may light one of two display lines lying on and under each scan electrode, and may selectively light only the even display lines or the odd display lines.
Further, according to the present invention, there is provided a plasma display device including a first representing unit for lighting only one of even display lines and odd display lines which represent one frame, and a second representing unit for lighting only the other one of the even display lines and the odd display lines, wherein the first representing unit and the second representing unit represent mutually independent images.
According to the present invention, there is also provided a method of driving a plasma display panel that provides a first representation by lighting one of even display lines and odd display lines and a second representation by lighting the other one of the even display lines and the odd display lines, comprising the steps of judging a condition for an image to be displayed; and selecting whichever of the first representation and the second representation is used to display an image, based on results of the judgment.
When the image to be displayed is a steady image, the image may be displayed using the first representation; and when the image to be displayed is any image other than the steady image, the image may be displayed using the second representation. The steady image may be an initial operation image persisting until a predetermined operation is carried out, and the images other than the steady image may be a plurality of images to be designated using the initial operation image. A display time required by the image to be displayed may be calculated by integrating time intervals during which the image to be displayed is displayed, and the first representation and the second representation may be switched, based on the calculated display time. A change of the image to be displayed to another may be detected, and the first representation and second representation may be switched based on the detected change of the image to be displayed.
The image to be displayed may be compared with an image stored in advance in a comparison image storage unit; when the image to be displayed agrees with the image stored in the comparison image storage unit, the image may be displayed using the first representation; and when the image to be displayed disagrees with the image stored in the comparison image storage unit, the image may be displayed using the second representation. After the image to be displayed is changed to another, when a steady image persists over a predetermined number of frames, the first representation and the second representation may be switched.
The first representation and the second representation may be switched in response to an externally supplied switching signal. A first image may be displayed using both of the first representation and the second representation, and a second image may be displayed using one of the first representation and the second representation. The first image may be a high-definition television picture and the second image may be an ordinary-definition television picture. The plasma display panel may light one or the other of two display lines lying on and under each scan electrode, and may selectively light only the even display lines or the odd display lines.
Further, according to the present invention, there is also provided a method of driving a plasma display panel that provides a first representation by lighting one of even display lines and odd display lines that represent one frame, and a second representation by lighting the other one of the even display lines and the odd display lines, wherein the first representation and the second representation are used to display mutually independent images.

Plasma display device and method of driving plasma display panel, having first and second representing units


A three-dimensional information handling system includes a display device for indicating a virtual three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional screen, and a position and orientation designating device for designating information of a three-dimensional position and a three-dimensional orientation. A position and orientation measuring device serves to measure the three-dimensional position and orientation information which is designated by the position and orientation designating device. A processing device serves to calculate three-dimensional display information on the basis of the three-dimensional position and orientation information measured by the position and orientation measuring device, and serves to control the display device and the position and orientation measuring device. A cursor is indicated on the screen of the display device. The cursor is moved in accordance with movement of the position and orientation designating device. A figure is indicated on the screen of the display. The figure extends from the cursor. The figure is moved in accordance with the movement of the cursor.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a three-dimensional information handling system in computer graphics.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the field of computer graphics, there are various techniques of stereographically indicating three-dimensional graphics information on a two-dimensional screen such as the screen of a CRT. In general, a three-dimensional cursor is used in designating a point within an indicated three-dimensional space and in selecting one of indicated three-dimensional figures (objects). In some cases, it is difficult to understand the positional relation between a three-dimensional cursor and a three-dimensional object on a screen. In addition, selecting one of three-dimensional objects by using a cursor tends to be troublesome.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,812,829 discloses a three-dimensional display device which includes a display, an input section, and a controller. The display indicates a three-dimensional image, a vector cursor, and a pointing image (pointer) extending in a direction of movement of the vector cursor. The controller generates a display signal to execute the indication of the three-dimensional image, the vector cursor, and the pointing image. The controller recognizes the three-dimensional image crossing to the pointing image in response to the pointing signal form the input section.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,808,979 relates to a cursor for use in a three-dimensional imaging system. The cursor includes a reference symbol, a tether symbol, and a pointer symbol.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,835,528 discloses a cursor control system in which hairs passing through a cursor assist the user in unambiguously locating the cursor within a three-dimensional object.

Three-dimensional information handling system

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A seesaw includes a manually rotatable actuator for adjusting the balance of the seesaw to accommodate a weight differential between two riders. After adjusting the seesaw, the actuator automatically locks the adjustment mechanism in place. A rack-and-pinion assembly provides fine adjustment, and a protective cover avoids creating a pinching hazard.

1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention generally pertains to playground equipment and more specifically to a seesaw.
2. Description of Related Art
A seesaw is a well-known piece of playground equipment that comprises a pivotal beam balanced on a fulcrum. Two children typically sit at opposite ends of the beam to teeter up and down.
When the two children are of equal weight, they can sit the same distance away from the fulcrum, and the seesaw will be balanced. If there is a weight difference between the children, the seesaw may be imbalanced.
To compensate for such an imbalance, some seesaws include a feature for adjusting the location of the fulcrum relative to the beam, thereby adjusting the relative distance that each child sits away from the fulcrum. U.S. Pat. No. 2,431,138, for example, discloses a seesaw whose balance can be adjusted by selectively setting the beam upon a fulcrum at different points along the beam. Another seesaw, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,951,406, is balanced by way of an adjustable telescopic beam. Although such adjustable seesaws are effective, they do have their drawbacks.
For the seesaw of the '138 patent, the adjustment mechanism appears to pose a finger pinching hazard as the plank needs to be lifted and set back down in order to adjust its balance. Moreover, two people may be needed at opposite ends of the plank to lift and reposition it. If just one person adjusts the plank, that person would likely lift the plank near its center of gravity, but that is where the potential pinching hazard exists. In operation, if a child "pushes off" especially hard, the child might dislodge the plank from its adjusted position.
For the seesaw of the '406 patent, shot pins help hold the telescopic beam at its adjusted position. If someone fails to install those pins, the seats could unexpectedly slide all the way in or fall out entirely. This could suddenly create a drastic and dangerous imbalance.
Consequently, a need exists for a seesaw that is easier and safer to adjust.


A secondary battery including a plurality of electrode assemblies including: a first electrode assembly including a first positive electrode active material; and a secondary electrode assembly including a second positive electrode active material; the first electrode assembly and the second electrode assembly being electrically connected to each other, the first positive electrode active material being different from the second positive electrode active material, and a discharge capacity ratio of the second electrode assembly being in a range of 25% to 80%, based on a total discharge capacity of the first electrode assembly and the second electrode assembly, is disclosed.

1. Field
One or more embodiments of the present invention relate to a secondary battery.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, unlike primary batteries that are not designed to be recharged, secondary batteries are rechargeable (i.e., they may be recharged and discharged). According to the type of external device for which the battery power is used, a secondary battery may be used as a single battery, or a plurality of secondary batteries coupled to form a single battery module.
Recently, demand for a high-output and high-capacity battery has increased because batteries are now used in large sized transportation vehicles, such as hybrid cars, as well as used in small-sized electronic devices, such as cell phones and laptop computers.
In order to comply with such demand, batteries having low resistance have been designed by thin-filming an electrode plate, but the material used has material characteristic limits. Thus, methods of mixing active carbon, which can be a capacitor material, with an active material have been developed to overcome the limit of the materials. However, when active carbon with a large specific surface area is used in a battery, high-rate characteristics of the battery may be improved, but a capacity of the battery is lower than a battery formed of a lithium transition metal oxide.
In this regard, a lithium transition metal oxide, such as a lithium cobalt oxide, an oxide having an olivine crystalline structure, or a lithium nickel cobalt manganese oxide, is used. However, when the lithium transition metal oxide is used in a secondary battery for a large-sized transportation vehicle, such as a hybrid car, characteristics of electric power may still be deteriorated because a possibility of heat generation may be too high or a capacity may be too low due to destruction of the structure of the secondary battery when it is overcharged.


A varnishing head orientable toward a workpiece for a relative movement of a workpiece and application of a surface coating substance on a workpiece surface, the varnishing head comprising an application nozzle provided with a connection to a surface coating substance source, a suction nozzle provided with a suction connection, the application nozzle being formed as a slot nozzle adapted to face the workpiece surface with a small distance from it and having a mouth which is formed by a slot extending transversely to a movement direction, the suction nozzle being open at a distance from the application nozzle as considered in the movement direction in the workpiece.

The present invention relates generally to a varnishing head.
More particularly, it relates to a varnishing head which is formed so as to move over a surface of a workpiece at a small distance from it and thereby to apply a surface coating substance onto the surface, wherein the head is provided with an application nozzle having a connection to a surface coating agent, and a suction nozzle which is open in this region and provided with a suction connection.
The present invention also relates to a varnishing device which is provided with at least two such varnishing heads.
A varnishing head of the above mentioned general type is disclosed in the German patent document DE 42 07 090 C2. It is designed so as to coat services of workpieces at a minimum distance with varnish, paint or a similar coating liquid or paste. The workpiece passes through a recess of the varnishing head along it.
With the suction connection, air passes along the workpiece surface on the application nozzle and is aspirated in the suction nozzle. The dynamic underpressure in the air stream aspirates the liquid into the application nozzle and ejects it against the workpiece surface. Due to the relative movement of the workpiece and the varnishing head, the suction nozzle moves over the freshly coated region and aspirates all excessive liquid, paint, etc. The application nozzle and the aspiration nozzle can operate in a reverse order. In a subsequent device the paint is separated and again returned to the application nozzle.
The known varnishing head operates during coating of small edges in a satisfactory manner. However, for application of a wide coating strips, in particular on a not offset surfaces, it is less suitable. Moreover, during the coating process a relatively large paint quantities are applied, which thereafter must be again aspirated and returned into the circulation.


Disclosed are a mask plate and an assembly method thereof. The mask plate includes a covering bar; a support bar; and at least one mask sheet, the mask sheet includes one mask area, a mask pattern is distributed in the entire mask area; and the covering bar and the support bar are intersected with each other to divide the mask area into a plurality of mask units. Thus, the mask sheet will not produce wrinkle in different degrees upon being stretched, in this way, the accuracy of the deposited or evaporated pattern can be improved, and the yield of the mask plate can be improved as well.

Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display is a self-luminescent display device, and is more and more popular in the market due to the advantages of low power consumption, high display brightness, wide viewing angle, rapid response speed, etc.
Fine metal mask (FMM) sheet is a mask sheet for depositing deposition materials on a substrate to be deposited and forming fine patterns. The FMM sheet generally comprises a plurality of openings for the deposition materials to go through, e.g., a plurality of square slits or strip slits, so as to deposit the deposition materials on the substrate and form the fine patterns.

Mask plate assembly capable of preventing wrinkle and assembly method thereof

ORDOS YUANSHENG OPTOELECTRONICS CO., LTD.


A conference calling system for a wireless communications channel. The system is adapted for use with a channel having first, second and third participants communicating via first, second and third transmitters and receivers respectively. The system includes a circuit for receiving an encoded signal from at least one of the transmitters. A second circuit determines which of the participants is speaking from the received encoded signal. A third circuit is provided for re-transmitting an encoded signal received from the speaking participant to the other participants. In the illustrative implementation, the encoded signals are variable rate speech vocoded signals in which speech is vocoded at full rate, silence is vocoded at 1/8th rate and the 1/2 and 1/4 rates are used as transitional rates. In the illustrative implementation, the speaker's signal is identified by examining the rate of the received vocoded signals. When the speaker's vocoded signal is identified, it is re-transmitted without de-vocoding to the non-speaking participants in the conference call. By re-transmitting the speaker's signal without de-vocoding, the quality of the received signal is preserved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to communications systems. More specifically, the present invention relates to systems and techniques for providing conference calling in digital telephone systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, communications systems transmit voice, video and/or data from one point to another. In certain applications, it is desirable to communicate between multiple points. In a voice context, this is achieved by `conference calling`. Conference calling allows each of a plurality of spatially separated participants to communicate contemporaneously with each other as though present in a shared environment.
In a conventional (land line) telephone system, voice quality for conference calls is maintained through the use of switches and amplifiers which sum and distribute the speech of those speaking to the participants in the conference call.
However, in digital wireless communication systems such as cellular telephone systems, conference calling is somewhat more problematic. This is due to the fact that speech in these systems is generally compressed at some point in transmission. Conference calling in this context conventionally requires decompression of compressed speech so that the signals may be summed as analog signals prior to any re-transmission to conference participants. This is due to the cost and complexity associated with digital signal summing schemes. Unfortunately, the compression, decompression, recompression and re-decompression of speech significantly degrades the quality thereof at the receiver. An excellent illustration of this problem may be found in a CDMA conference bridging system.
CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) modulation is one of several techniques for facilitating communications in which a large number of system users are present. CDMA offers several advantages over other techniques known in the art such as TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access), FDMA (Frequency Division Multiple Access), and AM (Amplitude Modulation) schemes such as ACSSB (Amplitude Companded Single Sideband). The use of CDMA techniques in a multiple access communication system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,307, entitled "SPREAD SPECTRUM MULTIPLE ACCESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM USING SATELLITE OR TERRESTRIAL REPEATERS", the teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference. The use of CDMA techniques in a multiple access communication system is further disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,103,459, entitled "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR GENERATING SIGNAL WAVEFORMS IN A CDMA CELLULAR TELEPHONE SYSTEM", the teachings of which are also incorporated herein by reference.
CDMA systems often employ a variable rate vocoder to encode data so that the data rate can be varied from one data frame to another. An exemplary embodiment of a variable rate vocoder is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,414,796, entitled "VARIABLE RATE VOCODER", the teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference. The use of a variable rate communications channel reduces mutual interference by eliminating unnecessary transmissions when there is no useful speech to be transmitted. Algorithms are utilized within the vocoder for generating a varying number of information bits in each frame in accordance with variations in speech activity. For example, a vocoder with a rate set comprising four rates may provide 20 millisecond data frames containing 20, 40, 80, or 160 bits, depending on the activity of the speaker. It is desired to transmit each data frame in a fixed amount of time by varying the transmission rate of communication. Additional details on the formatting of the vocoder data into data frames are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,511,073, entitled "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR THE FORMATTING OF DATA FOR TRANSMISSION", the teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference.
In a conventional CDMA conference bridging arrangement, the speech signals received from each of the participants are devocoded, summed then revocoded and re-transmitted to the participants. Devocoding involves detecting the rate of the received vocoded signal and decoding it accordingly. One technique for determining the rate of a received frame of vocoded data is disclosed and claimed in copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/233,570, filed Apr. 26, 1994, U.S. Pat. No. 5,566,206, and entitled "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING DATA RATE OF TRANSMITTED VARIABLE RATE DATA IN A COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVER", and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/126,477, entitled "MULTIRATE SERIAL VITERBI DECODER FOR CODE DIVISION MULTIPLE ACCESS SYSTEM APPLICATIONS", filed Sep. 24, 1993, abandoned, the teachings of both of which are incorporated herein by reference. According to these techniques, each received data frame is decoded at each of the possible rates. Error metrics, which describe the quality of the decoded symbols for each frame decoded at each rate, are provided to a processor. The error metrics may include Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) results, Yamamoto Quality Metrics, and Symbol Error Rates all of which are well-known in the art. A processor analyzes the error metrics and determines the most probable rate at which the incoming symbols were transmitted. This rate is used to decode the received signal.
In a conference bridging arrangement, the speech and/or background noise from each conference participant is vocoded and transmitted to a base station by a transmitter at each subscriber station. At the base station, the vocoded signals are received, devocoded, summed, revocoded and re-transmitted to the conference participants. At each subscriber location, the revocoded signals are re-devocoded. As mentioned above, this vocoding, devocoding, revocoding and re-devocoding severely degrades the quality of the received signals.
Hence there is a need in the art for a system and/or technique for maintaining voice quality in wireless digital conference calling systems.

Method for a wireless communications channel


A device for depositing a free-flowing medium onto a surface of an object along an arcuate depositing curve deviating from the circular shape,. with a depositing device which is connected to a supply for the medium, PA1 with a holding device for the object, with a drive device which between the holding device and the depositing device produces a relative movement such that the depositing device is moved along the depositing curve, PA1 the holding device unmovably holds the object, PA1 there is provided at least one radial cam with which a cam follower is in engagement, PA1 the cam follower is coupled, via a gear transmitting a linear movement, to the depositing device, wherein the transmission of the gear is such that path of the radial cam is converted into the desired depositing path curve course, PA1 and there is provided a drive device for the cam follower.. wherein

The invention relates to a device for depositing a free-flowing medium on the surface of an object along a depositing curve deviating from the circular shape.
Metal tins whose contents are to be packed in an airtight and/or watertight manner are mostly closed with the lid placed on by way of beading the edge of the lid. The lid edge is provided with a rubber coating in order to ensure the required tightness. With round lids, i.e. corresponding to the circular shape, the rubber coating of the edges does not cause any problem. In DE 21 56 238 there it is disclosed for this purpose to rigidly arrange a nozzle and to let a lid rotate about its axis. In order to obtain a uniform deposit the angular speed, which the region to be deposited has, should be as constant as possible.
The depositing of sealing material with noncircular lids is more of a problem. For this it is already known to deposit the fluid sealing means onto the lid edge with a stamp or with a multitude of nozzles (needle valves) arranged next to one another corresponding to the shape of the lid. Both methods do not lead to a satisfactory result. The so-called stamping method does not always lead to a uniform deposit so that the quality of sealing is not satisfactory. With a multitude of nozzles, although a relatively uniform deposit is obtained, there is however the danger that disturbances occur and already with the breakdown of one nozzle the uniformity of the deposit is no longer ensured. Furthermore there arises difficulties when the interruption of operation occurs since the coating medium hardens.
From DE 195 12 649 there has become known a device with which the receiver for a lid is displaceably mounted and comprises a toothed disk corresponding to the contour of the lid, whose neutral line corresponds to the center line of the lid edge to be rubber coated. With the toothed disk there meshes a gearwheel which revolves synchronously with a main drive shaft. With the main drive shaft two radial cams are connected in a rotationally rigid manner, wherein the first radial cam so adapts the position of the square toothed disk with respect to the gearwheel that the teeth of the square toothed disk are always in engagement and the second radial cam displaces the axis of the gearwheel such that the opening of the injection nozzle is continuously located over the center line of the lid edge. This known device although ensuring a uniform deposit by way of a constant relative speed between the stationary depositing nozzle and the moved lid edge, the mechanical effort however is not unconsiderable. Furthermore it requires a complicated equipping and removal of the lid into or out of the receiver device.

Device for depositing a free-flowing medium onto a surface along an arcuate depositing curve


A hard facing chromium-base alloy consisting essentially of 30.0 to 48.0% by weight of nickel, 1.5 to 15.0% by weight of tungsten and/or 1.0 to 6.5% by weight of molybdenum, the balance being more than 40.0% by weight of chromium, and the maximum sum of tungsten and molybdenum being 15.0% by weight. The alloy may also contain one or more of iron, cobalt, carbon, boron, aluminum, silicon, niobium and titanium. When the alloy is used in powder form as a material for hard facing by welding, the alloy may further contain 0.01 to 0.12% by weight of aluminum, yttrium, misch metal, titanium, zirconium and hafnium. 0.01 to 0.1% by weight of oxygen may also be added to the alloy. The alloy has a high degree of toughness, wear resistance and corrosion resistance. The alloy can be used as a hard facing material to be applied to various objects, such as automobile engine valves.

This invention relates to hard facing chromium-base alloys which have a high degree of toughness, wear resistance and corrosion resistance, and powders of the chromium-base alloys which have good weldability for hard facing. This invention also relates to automobile engine valves provided with a hard facing layer of the alloys of the invention, which have a high degree of wear resistance and corrosion resistance.
There are known various wear- and corrosion-resistant hard facing materials such as stellite and other cobalt-chromium-tungsten alloys (to be referred to as Co-Cr alloys), and colmonoy and other nickel-chromium-boron-silicon alloys (to be referred to as Ni-Cr alloys). These alloys are used for hard facing various kinds of structures or machine parts which are subjected to different conditions of use. In recent years the environment in which they are used has become so severe that the wear resistance and corrosion resistance of the known alloys have become insufficient in many applications, and there has been an increasing demand for hard facing materials which have toughness, wear resistance, corrosion resistance and other properties higher than those of Co-Cr or Ni-Cr alloys.
With recent increasing use of high-energy sources such as laser or plasma for hard facing, there has also been a demand for hard facing materials having a high degree of toughness, that is, less susceptible to cracks or fissures which would occur in the hard facing layer in rapid heating and cooling in the hard facing process. With respect to toughness, Co-Cr alloys may be satisfactory with an impact value of 1.0 kgf-m/cm.sup.2. Ni-Cr alloys, however, are poor in toughness with an impact value of 0.15 to 0.2 kgf-m/cm.sup.2, so that cracks may occur in the hard facing layer of the alloys in objects of large sizes or particular shapes.
Japanese unexamined patent application No. 56-9348 discloses a malleable, highly heat-resistant alloy consisting of 10 to 25% by weight of chromium and 10 to 25% by weight of tungsten, the balance being nickel. The alloy has a disadvantage that it is low in hardness and wear resistance.
In an effort to solve the above problems of Co-Cr and Ni-Cr alloys and satisfy the demand for better hard facing materials, the present inventors have conducted various studies and experiments for producing alloys having a high degree of toughness, wear resistance and corrosion resistance, and found that by increasing the amount of chromium in Cr-Ni-W alloy it is possible to increase the hardness of the alloy, and that if molybdenum is added to or substituted for tungsten, the resulting alloy has similar characteristics, and invented hard facing chromium-base alloys which are superior in toughness, wear resistance and corrosion resistance.
Studies and experiments have also been conducted for Cr-Ni-W alloys which can be used in the form of powder for hard facing by plasma or laser welding without deterioration of the shape of the bead formed on the hard facing layer or formation of blowholes in the layer. It has been found out that by adding, if necessary, to the alloy powder one or more of aluminum, yttrium, misch metal, titanium, zirconium and hafnium, and/or by limiting, if necessary, the amount of oxygen contained in the alloy powder, it is possible to certainly prevent formation of blowholes and suppress sputtering which would otherwise be caused under certain conditions of hard facing thereby to improve the shape of the bead formed on the hard facing layer.


Systems, methods and computer program products for providing a combined moduli-9 and 3 residue generator. The methods include receiving a number in binary coded decimal (BCD) or binary format. A modulus-9 residue of the number is calculated. The modulus-9 residue that is calculated includes a modulus-3 residue of the number. The modulus-3 residue of the number is output. If the number is in BCD format, then the modulus-9 residue of the number is output.

This invention is related to the reliability of arithmetic hardware in computer processors, and in particular, it relates to residue checking in computer processors.
One way to ensure reliability in computer processor adders and multipliers is to check the results using a parallel circuit that calculates the residue of the operands and compares an expected residue to the actual residue of the result.
Residue checking may be utilized to provide protection from transient failures and/or early end of life failures in arithmetic circuits.
Modulus-15 residue generators have been utilized with binary/hexadecimal formatted numbers to check arithmetic circuits. The modulus-15 residue of an operand is the remainder of dividing the operand by 15. In this case, the modulus is one less than a hexadecimal systems radix. All powers of 16 have a remainder of 1 in a modulus-15 system. Due to this, the modulus-15 residue of a binary number is simply the sum of its hexadecimal digits. This may be represented as follows:X=Σxj16j;res X=res(Σres(res(xj)res(16j))), where res(16j)=1 for all j; res X=res(Σ(res(xj))); andres X=res(x0+x1+ . . . +xn).
A modulus-15 generator may be implemented by using a counter tree such as a 3:2 counter tree similar to a multiplier's implementation. This may be costly in terms of area and delay.
With the advent of complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS), modulus-3 checking systems have become popular due to their speed and size. In addition, CMOS appears to have fewer transient fails and therefore, may not need as high a degree of checking as that provided by the modulus-15 generator. Modulus-3 checking systems reduce a base-4 system as shown below:X=Σxi4i;res X=res(Σres(res(xi)res(4i))), where res(4i)=1 for all i; res X=res(Σ(res(xi))); andres X=res(x0+x1+ . . . +xn).
A modulus-3 system may also be utilized for checking a base-10 system since every power of 10 has a remainder of 1 when divided by 3. So, just like the binary system, groups of 2 bits can be summed together in the form of a counter tree. A faster implementation of modulus-3 that uses pass-gate multiplexers that are extremely small and fast may also be utilized.
It would be desirable to have a residue generator with the speed of a modulus-3 system with the greater checking capabilities of a higher radix modulus.

International Business Machines Corporation


In a system for detecting gaseous emissions (10), a housing (20) encases a mechanical member such as a flanged coupling (21) of a closed mechanical system which contains a fluid such as a gas (11) and receives gas (11) escaping through the flanged coupling (21). A sensor (26) extends through the housing (20) into a cavity (22) formed by the housing (20). A semipermeable membrane (28) forming the union between the sensor (26) and housing (20) allows gas (11) encased by the housing (20) to slowly pass from the housing (20) while preventing foreign matter from entering the housing.

Seals are often used to prevent the passage of a gas from the union of coupled elements in a closed mechanical system containing a gas or liquid. Such seals may be used with couplings such as the flanged union of two pipe ends, the union of a valve stem and valve body, or the union of a compressor impeller shaft and compressor housing. Emission of a gas from a seal generally indicates partial or complete failure of the seal. It is important that the integrity of the seal be restored as quickly as possible. A known method of detecting gaseous emissions requires an individual to manually inspect potential emission sources such as valves, flanges, compressors, and other elements of a closed mechanical system. In this manual method of detection, an individual places a hand-held analyzer which measures gas concentrations in close proximity to the potential emission source. Measured concentrations of any detected gas are applied to formulas to estimate the leak rate of the tested item. There is a problem in attempting to use this manual method of detecting gaseous emissions when attempting to monitor so-called "fugitive" emissions. Fugitive emissions are generally considered to be gases emanating from sources that cannot be easily localized, for example, leaks from various types of industrial equipment including valves, flanges, and compressors. The problem in using the above-described manual method of detecting gaseous emissions is that it is impractical, if not impossible, to adequately monitor numerous potential emission sites and/or remote potential emission sites. For example, in a factory there may be hundreds of thousands of seals in flanges and valves requiring monitoring. Also, potential emissions sites may be at locations extremely remote from any monitoring personnel.


An apparatus for recording and reproducing information on and from an optical record medium including a pick-up unit and a main unit to which the pick-up unit is detachably secured. In order to obtain the optimum operational conditions even when the pick-up unit is exchanged, an electrically erasable and programmable read only memory is provided in the pick-up unit and characteristic data for defining the operational conditions such as a threshold level for converting the read out signal into a bivalent signal and a laser output power is stored in the memory. The characteristic data is read out of the memory and the operational conditions of the apparatus are controlled in accordance with the read out characteristic data. When a new optical record medium having a different optical property than the currently used optical record medium is introduced, the characteristic data stored in the memory is rewritten without detaching the pick-up unit such that the operational conditions of the apparatus are reset in conformity with the new optical record medium.

Field of the Invention and Related Art Statement
This invention generally relates to a technique for setting operational conditions of an apparatus for recording and/or reproducing information on and/or from a record medium by using a pick-up, and more particularly relates to an information recording and/or reproducing apparatus having a faculty for automatically setting operational conditions in an easy and prompt manner.
There have been proposed various kinds of apparatuses of the kind mentioned above. For instance, information writing and reading apparatuses using magnetic disk, optical disk, optical card and magnetooptical magnetic disk as the record medium have been proposed. Such an apparatus is generally composed of a main unit and a pick-up unit In general, the pick-up unit is manufactured separately from the main unit and a pick-up unit and a main unit are assembled to construct an information recording and/or reproducing apparatus. When the pick-up unit in the apparatus becomes out of order, the pick-up unit is detached from the main unit and is replaced by a new one. Since respective pick-up units are not formed completely identical with each other and there are always differences between particular pick-up units mainly due to a possible tolerance in manufacture. In order to compensate these differences, there is provided mechanical and/or electrical adjusting means in the main unit. For example, in a signal processing circuit of the main unit, there is provided a variable resistor which is adjusted when the pick-up unit is replaced by a new one such that the operational conditions of the signal processing circuit are adopted to operational characteristics of the new pick-up unit.
However, since the variable resistor is provided in the main unit, every time the pick-up unit is replaced, it is necessary to access the variable resistor and adjust it in accordance with the operational characteristics of the pick-up unit. This is apparently cumbersome and requires a time consuming labor work of an expert.
In order to avoid such a drawback, in copending U.S. Patent application Ser. No. 07/657,507 filed on Feb. 19, 1991 there is proposed to provide a memory in a pick-up unit and to store characteristic data for setting the various operational conditions specific to the relevant pick-up unit. When such a pick-up unit is assembled with a main unit, the characteristic data is read out of the memory and the operational conditions of the main unit are automatically adjusted in accordance with the read out characteristic data. Therefore, when the pick-up unit is replaced by a new one, it is no more necessary to adjust manually the adjusting means such as the variable resistor provided in the main unit.
For instance, in a system using the optical cards as the record medium, it is sometimes required to change the optical cards and to introduce new optical cards. Usually the new optical cards have different light reflectance and recording sensitivity than the currently used optical cards. Therefore, when the optical cards are changed, it is necessary to change various operational conditions such as a threshold level for converting a signal read out of the optical card into a bivalent signal, a reading laser output power for reading information out of the optical card, a writing laser output power for writing information on the optical card, and a writing pulse width. In such a case, even if the pick-up unit having the memory installed therein is used, the correct operation could not be attained unless the characteristic data stored in the memory is rewritten in accordance with the characteristics of the new optical cards. However, the contents in the memory could not be rewritten in an easy and prompt manner, because it is necessary to remove the pick-up unit from the main unit in order to access the memory.

Apparatus for recording and/or reproducing information on and/or from record medium by using pick-up and method of resetting operational condition of the same


A smoke generator apparatus and method are provided in which the apparatus has a pump connected to a source of liquid smoke agent and to an electrical resistance heating tube incorporated into an electrical circuit. The heating tube has a smoke outlet orifice and a temperature sensor located adjacent the orifice. A switch control circuit has a connection to the temperature sensor and controls the start-up and shut-down operation of the smoke generator by the activation of the pump, electrical resistance heating tube, and the turning on and off of a fluid injector circuit and an air blower for cooling the heater tube. The fluid injector has a source of fluid connected to the heater tube adjacent the orifice and has a valve for activating the flow of fluid from the source of fluid into the heater tube during start-up and shut-down of the smoke generator. The method includes selecting the smoke generating apparatus, switching on the apparatus to activate the gas injector to inject gas into one end of the heater tube and to activate the pump to pump a liquid smoke agent into the heater tube to generator smoke. The air blower activated to cool down the heater tube at shut-down and the fluid injector again injects a fluid, such as a nitrogen gas, into the heater tube at shut-down.

The present invention relates to a smoke generator apparatus and method and especially to the generation of smoke using an electrical resistance heating tube smoke generator.
Although there are a variety of types of smoke generators, only one system is available for firefighter trainers with a flame environment. This system uses a synthetic oil, such as Fyrquel 220 made by AKZO Chemical, Inc., which is the only smoke agent material considered acceptable by the Navy for their fire fighting trainers and more recently for civilian fire fighting trainers. These trainers utilize propane burners which are essentially smoke free and hence have a need for a supplemental machine made smoke for realistic fire fighting training conditions. Another use for high temperature resistance smoke is for periodic leak testing of steam boiler systems that utilize high temperature pressure vessels and piping where cool-down for leak testing is cost prohibitive and can be avoided by using high temperature smoke. So far, smoke agent fluid, such as Fyrquel 220, is the only material considered acceptable for these applications due to its high temperature resistance properties and low toxicity.
This smoke agent fluid, however, requires special design considerations and cannot be used with existing conventional low temperature (500.degree. F. or lower) smoke generators. The reasons are not only the high operating temperatures (1000.degree. F.), but also the tendency of the heated fluid to decompose with high temperature resident heating time, the time that the smoke agent fluid is in contact with heater surface, or the time that an element of fluid is at high temperature, is exceeded and when the heated smoke agent material is exposed to moisture or moist air at high temperatures, such as about 200.degree. F. Hence, it is necessary to avoid or sufficiently minimize stagnant non-flow conditions at high temperatures in start-up and cool-down (shut-off) conditions. The smoke agent fluid is particularly susceptible to moisture contamination during cool-down since the heater tube (or boiling chamber) can have a negative pressure permitting moist air to enter the heating coil.
Only one existing smoke generator is currently able to avoid both high temperature residence time effects and high temperature moisture contamination. This is accomplished by forcing superheated air through a nozzle and then injecting the smoke agent fluid into this high velocity air stream. This method avoids the decomposition/clogging problem but it is expensive due to the high cost of heating and then discarding the air heat source and due to the need for a high pressure air blower. Such a system has a low heating efficiency due to wasted heat of the hot air medium as it exits from the outlet orifice with the smoke generating vapors. This exiting high temperature also tends to interfere with the condensation process required for an effective smoke output.
The conventional "low temperature" smoke generators are not amenable to the use of high temperature smoke agent due to their lengthy warm-up and cool-down times which presents residence heating problems. Another type of smoke generator utilizes a thin wall tube as an electrical resistance heater and has been used successfully for low temperatures of under 550.degree. F. for non-flammable environments. One version of this type of smoke generator requires expensive temperature control considerations due to the low heater mass and long tube length. Either a special fast responding temperature controller that senses resistance changes with temperature distribution along the tube length or a special heat conductive, electrically non-conductive coating is required which permits the use of a point source temperature sensor. The coating, however, also increases the start-up heating time and shut-down cooling time. These two approaches preclude their use as a high temperature smoke generator due to the excessive high temperature residence time during transient start-up and/or shut-down and high temperature moisture contamination during cool-down.
A smoke generator suitable for low temperature smoke generation can be seen in my prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,818,843. This prior smoke generator utilizes a thin wall tube as an electrical resistance heater and utilizes a thin coating over the resistance heating tube which electrically isolates the coils of the coil electrical resistance heating tube while conducting heat through the coils from the hot to the cold end of the coiled electrical resistance heating tube. Other smoke generators can be seen in applicant's U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,547,656 and 4,568,820.
The present invention utilizes a resistance tube heater with a combination of gas injection at the nozzle outlet which atomizes the liquid output during start-up and provides rapid nozzle cooling at shut-down and (2) a high velocity air blower during shut-down for rapid heater cool-down time. This approach permits a continuous pump flow at all phases of operations and cool-down and thus avoids the occurrence of the dangerous hot liquid spray during start-up and lower resident heating time. Thus, the destructive effect of chemical decomposition due to the stagnant type heating is avoided since excessive pump delay as a method of preheating the smoke agent to avoid hot liquid spray would not be required. Also avoided is the stagnant heating of "empty" coils with smoke agent liquid residue coated heater surfaces which tends to breakdown the stagnant layer of liquid agent and eventual clogging of the heater coil.


An underwater light display system for providing a decorative light display on the surface of a container holding a body of water and/or objects located within a body of water is provided. An exemplary system comprises a shell and a light assembly. The shell comprises a bottom and a top portion. In accordance with an exemplary embodiment, the light assembly is preprogrammed to produce variable light patterns and is secured to the interior surface of the top portion so as to direct light downward. In accordance with an exemplary embodiment, the light assembly may further comprise a plurality of lenses configured to direct light. In accordance with an exemplary embodiment, the light assembly further comprises a weight having a lens configured to direct light.

Water recreation has become a favorite pastime. As such, swimming pools, ponds, spas/jacuzzis and the like have become commonplace in residences and businesses, such as hotels. As the popularity of swimming pools and ponds have increased, it has become desirous to find ways to enhance their beauty and festive ambience. Prior art lighting systems for swimming pools, ponds, spas/jacuzzis are rigid and/or quite limited in their ability to provide unique underwater light displays to achieve enhanced ambience.

Method and system for underwater light display


An ink jet printhead includes a number of nozzle devices formed on a substrate. Each nozzle device has a nozzle chamber, a nozzle opening through which ink from the nozzle chamber is ejected, a movable element in contact with ink in the nozzle chamber to cause the ejection of ink and thermal bend actuator. The thermal bend actuator has a proximal end anchored to the substrate and a distal end connected to the moveable element. The actuator includes a first portion adjacent the proximal end and having a conducting heating circuit layer for heating the actuator. A second end portion of the actuator extends to the movable element and is in contact with ink in the chamber. A dielectric slot electrically isolates the first and second portions so that electric energy in the heating circuit layer is not conducted by the actuator to the ink in the chamber.

Recently, for example, in PCT Application No. PCT/AU98/00550 the present applicant has proposed an inkjet printing device which utilizes micro-electromechanical (MEMS) processing techniques in the construction of a thermal bend actuator type device for the ejection of fluid from a nozzle chamber.
In any such thermal actuator type device, it is often the case that the thermal bend actuator is operated via the selective resistive heating of an element. The utilization of conductive heating elements near a fluid supply may lead to problems whereby the fluid supply interferes with the electron flow in the conductive element and electrolysis results. This can result in a general breakdown of the actuator leading to catastrophic failure.

Inkjet printhead having thermal bend actuator heating element electrically isolated from nozzle chamber ink


The present invention relates to a multiple band-type antenna and method of producing the same. In the present invention, a connector member formed by cutting a cylindrical metallic rod and a first helical antenna are integral through a connection member. A space forming an impedance transformer is formed at the connection member for thereby widening a band region based on a series inductance effect. A helical antenna and a whip antenna are additionally installed at a center of the dielectric surrounding the inner and outer sides of the first helical antenna and the connection member for thereby enhancing an efficiency of the antenna by overcoming the unbalance problems encountered in the conventional art.

In a general feeding structure of a conventional small-sized antenna used in wireless communications, a coaxial line is directly brought into contact with an antenna to perform feeding. For monopole antennas, a + part of a coaxial line is brought into contact with an antenna to perform feeding. For dipole antennas, + and − parts of a coaxial line are brought into contact with an antenna to perform feeding.
These methods cause an unbalance condition between feeding lines of an antenna, so impedance matching becomes quite difficult. Additionally, a contact point between the antenna and the feeding line frequently varies, so the characteristics of the antenna are not constant, thus reducing the efficiency of the antenna.
As depicted in FIG. 1, U.S. Pat. No. 4,772,895 circular plateloses an antenna 500 that broadens the frequency response. The antenna 500 includes a feed port 550 having a signal feed portion and a ground portion, a first helical antenna element 520 having opposed ends and exhibiting a first pitch and a second electrical length, one end of the first helical antenna element 520 being coupled to the signal feed portion of the feed port, and a second helical antenna element 540 having opposed ends and exhibiting a second pitch and a second electrical length.
The second helical antenna element 540 is coaxially wound around a portion of the first helical antenna element 520, one end of the second helical antenna element 540 is coupled to the ground portion of the feed port 550, and the second pitch is equal to approximately ½ of the first pitch and the second electrical length is equal to approximately ⅓ of the first electrical length.
The antenna 500 is provided with a cylindrical spacer means 530 that is coaxially situated between the first and second helical antenna elements 520 and 540 to electrically insulate the first and second helical antenna elements 520 and 540. The spacer means 530 is sufficiently thin such that the first helical antenna element 520 is tightly coupled to the second helical antenna element 540 so as to broaden the frequency response exhibited by the first helical antenna element 520.
In the conventional antenna, the spacer means is situated between the first and second helical antenna elements, and is used to ground the antenna elements. The conventional antenna is problematic in that it cannot overcome the unbalance condition that is a problem in the conventional antenna, thus causing low efficiency, and it is difficult to miniaturize.
With respect to the unbalance condition, helical antennas are chiefly classified into normal mode antennas and axial mode antennas. The case where the circularly shaped circumference of the helical antenna is considerably smaller than a wavelength corresponding to a working frequency falls under normal mode. Generally, helical antennas used in wireless communications devices have normal mode.
The characteristics of the normal mode helical antenna are that the characteristic impedance is considerably large and the radiation resistance value corresponding to actual radiation power is small. Accordingly, the input impedance value is considerably large in total and considerably different from the output impedance, 50 Ω, so the reflection loss is increased. This is the inherent unbalance condition of the conventional helical antenna that is used as a general wireless communications receiving antenna.
As illustrated in FIG. 2, U.S. Pat. No. 5,661,495 circular plateloses an antenna device 200 having circuits 230 for transmitting and/or receiving radio signals as well as a chassis 250 and a feeding point providing the electrical coupling of the antenna device to the communication equipment, which includes a hollow helical antenna 210 fixed externally on the chassis 250 and an antenna rod 220 slidable through the helical antenna 210, the helical antenna being coupled constantly via the feeding point to the circuits 230.
Meanwhile, the bandwidth of the helical antenna 210 is increased, a tuned ground surface is arranged near the feeding point, a direct Galvani electrical contact is not formed, and the ground surface is coupled to the protective earth of a communications device and can catch mirror current.
In the conventional antenna device, when the antenna rod is extended from a housing, the antenna rod and the helical antenna are coupled in parallel to the circuits 230. When the antenna rod 220 is retracted into the chassis 250, only the helical antenna is coupled to the circuits 230.
Meanwhile, a circuit equivalent to the case where a helical antenna is installed in a general cylindrical structure chiefly consists of a feeding part and the parallel resonance parts of L and C. This conventional helical antenna reduces the length of the conventional monopole antenna but has the same resonant frequency as the conventional monopole antenna. In this case, the Q value is increased due to the parallel resonance of L and C, so a band of frequencies is narrowed.
Accordingly, with reference to a graph showing the electrical characteristics of a conventional helical antenna in Voltage Standing Wave Ratios (VSWRs) and a Smith Chart showing impedance measurement data, as shown in FIGS. 4a and 4b, as the VSWR value is increased and the impedance value is away from the center of the Smith Chart, the reflection loss of the antenna is increased and the bandwidth of the antenna is narrowed.
The bandwidths of the conventional antennas having structures shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 are each defined as a band of frequencies having a VSWR value equal to or less than 2. Accordingly, the conventional antennas each have a VSWR value ranging from 5 to 18 and the impedance value of the Smith Chart is considerably away from a value of 50 Ω situated at the center of the Smith Chart, so it can be appreciated that the reflection loss value of the antenna increases and, therefore, the conventional antennas each have a relatively narrow band of frequencies.
Additionally, the conventional antenna is problematic in that the efficiency of the conventional antenna is deteriorated because the unbalance condition that is a problem in the conventional antenna is not overcome.

Multiple bands type antenna and method for producing the same


A method and an apparatus for adjusting a view for a target device, an electronic device, and a computer-readable medium are provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure. A specific implementation of the method includes: determining whether a currently playing video is a video of a first type in response to detecting a change of a posture of the target device; and adjusting a display direction of the video-stream-play view to match the posture of the target device and adjusting a display position and/or transparency of the at least one video-stream-play interactive control in response to determining that the currently playing video is the video of the first type. This implementation achieves matching of the view with the posture of the target device and enhances adaptability of the video-stream-play interactive control with the adjusted video-stream-play view.

Continuously developing electronic devices and various applications have caused enormous changes in people's daily life and especially have enriched people's recreational life. People can enjoy leisure activities such as watching videos and listening to music of interest by means of electronic devices and various applications installed thereon. In a scenario where a user watches a video stream by means of an electronic device and an application installed thereon, when the video is displayed horizontally, other elements such as some interactive controls may often be present on the screen.

Method and apparatus for adjusting view for target device, electronic device and medium

BEIJING BYTEDANCE NETWORK TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


The present invention relates to a substantially pure population of viable bile duct progenitor cells, and methods for isolating such cells. The present invention further concerns certain therapeutic uses for such progenitor cells, and their progeny.

During the early stages of embryogenesis cells are totipotent and are capable of multidirectional differentiation. As development proceeds, the totipotent cells become determined and committed to differentiate into a given specialized cell type. Final differentiation is associated with the acquisition of specialized cell functions. Thus, the differentiated somatic cells maintain their specialized features throughout the life span of the organism, probably through sustained interactions between the genome and its microenvironment and cell--cell interactions (DiBerardino et al., 1984, Science 224:946-952; Wetts and Fraser, 1988, Science 239:1142-1144; Fisher, 1984, PNAS 81:4414-4418).
Because of the tremendous potential of progenitor cells to differentiate into distinct lineages, there has always existed a need for a continuous source of these isolated pluripotent progenitor cells. The pluripotent progenitor cells could be extremely useful in the treatment of different disorders that are characterized by insufficient or abnormal functioning of the fully differentiated cells in a given organ, as for example in the human pancreas or liver.

Method of isolating bile duct progenitor cells


A technology is disclosed that provides an imaging control device and the like capable of actualizing immersive zoom enlargement. The technology includes: an imaging unit 701 that includes at least two optical systems disposed at an interval of a predetermined baseline-length; a calculating unit 704 that, based on a predetermined reference zoom magnification, a desired zoom magnification in relation to the predetermined reference zoom magnification, and a distance from the imaging unit to a subject, calculates an immersion distance from a virtual position in which the imaging unit should be disposed to actualize the desired zoom magnification to an actual position of the imaging unit and calculates, based on the immersion distance, an interval between the at least two optical systems when the at least two optical systems are disposed on an extension line of a line connecting together the at least two optical systems to actualize a desired zoom magnification that is similar to that when the imaging unit is disposed in the virtual position and the desired zoom magnification is actualized; and a control unit 705 that changes the predetermined baseline-length to the calculated interval and disposes the at least two optical systems. The imaging unit images the subject in the above-described disposal state.

Various attempts are being made to achieve optimal left-right binocular parallax adjustment in stereo cameras having left and right imaging optical systems. For example, an intersection position of optical axes of left and right video cameras is matched with a position of a subject by a steric effect adjustment mechanism using a drive motor, based on focus information. Alternatively, a baseline-length between left and right imaging optical systems of a stereo image imaging device and an angle of convergence are controlled using zoom magnification information, and an appropriate binocular parallax is generated (refer to Patent Document 1 to Patent Document 4).
In addition, a disclosure is made in which a value derived by a baseline-length before change in zoom magnification being multiplied by a reciprocal of the amount of change in the zoom magnification is set as a new baseline-length, and a point of intersection between the optical axes of left and right imaging optical systems is set in an angle of convergence of the same position as that before the change in baseline-length. As a result, the amount of deviation is controlled to differ only slightly from that before the change in zoom, thereby facilitating natural stereo image fusion by an observer (refer to Patent Document 5). Here, natural fusion refers to an observer perceiving an image for the right eye and an image for the left eye as a stereo image.

Imaging control device, immersion position information generation device, imaging control method, immersion position information generation method

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGMENT CO., LTD.


A control system and a control method, used for controlling a motor. The control system includes a central processing module and a drive control module. In a period in which a voltage is not applied to any phase coil of the motor, the drive control module collects voltages of the phase coil, converts the voltages of the coil into digital signals and stores the digital signals. The central processing module reads the digital signals from the drive control module, accumulates the digital signals to obtain an accumulated value, and determines the operating condition of the motor according to a relationship between the accumulated value and a preset threshold, thereby improving the reliability of the motor control.

In the conventional technology, a controller determines a theoretical position according to a back electromotive force of a motor coil, and then sends a drive signal to a motor according to the theoretical position to control the operation of the motor. However, during the operation of the motor, there is a situation where the theoretical position of the motor determined according to the back electromotive force does not match an actual position of the motor when the motor is stuck or stalled, while the controller still sends the drive signal to the motor according to the theoretical position, so that the motor cannot run to a target position according to the requirements of the controller, resulting in unreliable control.
Therefore, there is a need to improve the conventional technology to solve the above technical issues.

Hangzhou Sanhua Research Institute Co., Ltd.


The invention relates to an immunoassay for trypsinogen-2 wherein an amount of analyte in a sample is measured, said analyte being either trypsin-2 complexed with alpha-1-antitrypsin (trypsin-2-AAT) in serum, or trypsinogen-2 in urine. According to a preferred embodiment, the trypsin-2-AAT complex or free trypsinogen-2 are measured by non-competitive methods employing at least two different antibodies. The methods are useful for the diagnosis of patients with pancreatic disease, especially pancreatitis.

The publications and other materials used herein to illuminate the background of the invention, and in particular, cases to provide additional details respecting the practice, are incorporated by reference.
The trypsinogens are serine proteases secreted by exocrine cells of the pancreas (Travis J and Roberts R. Biochemistry 1969; 8: 2884-9; Mallory P and Travis J, Biochemistry 1973; 12: 2847-51). Two major types of trypsinogen isoenzymes have been characterized, trypsinogen-1, also called cationic trypsinogen, and trypsinogen-2 or anionic trypsinogen. The trypsinogen proenzymes are activated to trypsins in the intestine by enterokinase, which removes an activation peptide from the N-terminus of the trypsinogens. The trypsinogens show a high degree of sequence homology, but they can be separated on the basis of charge differences by using electrophoresis or ion exchange chromatography. The major form of trypsinogen in the pancreas and pancreatic juice is trypsinogen-1 (Guy CO et al., Biochem Biophys Res Commun 1984; 125: 516-23). In serum of healthy subjects, trypsinogen-1 is also the major form, whereas in patients with pancreatitis, trypsinogen-2 is more strongly elevated (Itkonen et al., J Lab Clin Med 1990; 115:712-8). Trypsinogens also occur in certain ovarian tumors, in which trypsinogen-2 is the major form (Koivunen et al., Cancer Res 1990; 50: 2375-8). Trypsin-1 in complex with alpha-1-antitrypsin, also called alpha-1-antiprotease, has been found to occur in serum of patients with pancreatitis (Borgstrom A and Ohlsson K, Scand J Clin Lab Invest 1984; 44: 381-6) but determination of this complex has not been found useful for differentiation between pancreatic and other gastrointestinal diseases (Borgstrom et al., Scand J Clin Lab Invest 1989; 49:757-62).
Trypsinogen-1 and -2 are closely related immunologically (Kimland et al., Clin Chim Acta 1989; 184: 31-46; Itkonen et al., 1990), but by using monoclonal antibodies (Itkonen et al., 1990) or by absorbing polyclonal antisera (Kimland et al., 1989) it is possible to obtain reagents enabling specific measurement of each form of trypsinogen.
When active trypsin reaches the blood stream, it is inactivated by the major trypsin inhibitors alpha-2-macroglobulin and alpha-1-antitrypsin (AAT). AAT is a 58 kilodalton serine protease inhibitor synthesized in the liver and is one of the main protease inhibitors in blood. Whereas complexes between trypsin-1 and AAT are detectable in serum (Borgstrom and Ohlsson, 1984) the complexes with alpha -2-macroglobulin are not measurable with antibody-based assays (Ohlsson K, Acta Gastroenterol Belg 1988; 51: 3-12).
Acute pancreatitis is a severe and potentially lethal disease requiring rapid diagnosis. Determinations of amylase in serum or urine are routinely used for this purpose, but these methods are hampered by lack of specificity, which limits their clinical usefulness. Therefore, the use of other pancreatic markers, e.g. proteases and lipases have gained interest (Ogawa et al., Nippon Geka Gakkai Zassshi 1985; 86: 1241-4). Determination of trypsinogen-1 and -2 in serum (Itkonen et al., 1990) and trypsinogen-1 in urine (Lake-Bakaar et al., Lancet 1979; ii: 878-80) have been used for diagnosis of pancreatic disease.
In the present invention it has been shown that patients with pancreatic disease have strongly elevated concentrations of trypsinogen-2 complexed with alpha-1antitrypsin in serum and free trypsinogen-2 in urine. Accordingly, this discovery has proved to be very useful in the diagnosis of pancreatitis.

Assay of free and complexed trypsinogen-2


A slide driver assembly for use in a multi-station or a single-station progressive tooling die includes die sections that are operative to move between an open position and a closed position to perform a first operation on a work piece located between the die sections. A slide driver performs a second operation, such as a trimming operation, on the work piece as the die sections move between the open position and the closed position.

This invention relates to tooling dies and, more particularly, to progressive dies. Progressive die tooling is widely known and used in forming parts. Typically, progressive die tooling includes an upper die and a lower die that together define a single station or a series of stations for performing various operations to form a part. For example, one station might punch a hole through a desired location of the part, stamp a portion of the part into a desired shape, or insert a fastener into the part.
It is often desirable to trim the part to remove, for example, a rough edge produced at one of the stations. Typically, the progressive die tooling includes one or more trimming tools that are pneumatically operated to trim the part. The trimming occurs when the die is open or closed to avoid interfering with the movement of the die and the operations of the stations. For example, one or more trimming tools might be actuated to trim various portions of the part.
Disadvantageously, using trimming tools often requires that the die pauses for a time in the open or closed position while the trimming tools trim the part. The pause increases the cycle time, which adds to the expense of producing the part. Additionally, if the portions to be trimmed are close together, some of the trimming tools may have to wait for earlier trimming tools to finish in order to avoid interfering with each other, which adds even more pause time. Furthermore, the trimming tools also typically occupy a significant amount of space in or along the die, which adds to the cost of the die. Thus, there is a need for a more compact die tooling that is capable of trimming a part without delaying the opening and closing of the die. This invention addresses those needs while avoiding the shortcomings and drawbacks of the prior art.


In some embodiments, the invention involves receiving remotely originating data (ROD) and creating a customized identification (CID) which is at least partially created through encrypting the ROD as a function of a platform key (PK) and a random number (RN) of a computer system receiving the ROD. Further, content is received which includes at least one watermark in which at least part of the CID is embedded. Authentication comparison data (ACD) is created which is at least partially created through decrypting data embedded in the watermark. In some embodiments, content includes first and second data sets, wherein the first data set is used to create a watermark key (WK) and the second data set is extracted utilizing the WK and the ACD includes at least part of the second data set.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to digital watermarks and, more particularly, to watermarks with values derived from remote platforms. In some embodiments, the watermarks are used in connection with multiple levels of indirection.
2. Background Art
Processor serial numbers (PSNs) are numbers in a processor die to identify the processor. Operating systems, programs, and chipsets may also have similar serial numbers to identify them. The serial numbers are typically unique, but be merely one of a large number of serial numbers so it would be highly unusual for another given processor, operating system or chipset to have the same number in a given situation.
PSNs can be used for authentication. For example, a client (user) can send a PSN to a vendor, which PSN is stored at the vendors site. Then, as part of a future transaction, a vendor can compare the stored PSN with the PSN currently received from the client. If there is a match, the transaction is allowed to continue.
However, allowing remote sites to store PSNs has raised privacy concerns. A solution to the privacy concern was provided by MIT computer science professor, Ronald Rivest, who suggested a way to have electronic commerce without providing unique identifiers. Hereinafter, it will be called the Rivest Scheme. Professor Rivest suggested, first, to eliminate the serial number from the CPU (processor). There is no serial number, and so it can't be queried for, or used as an identifier for the user of the CPU. Second, we give each CPU a unique secret key Ki. These secret keys may be 128-bit AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) keys, for example. No two chips have the same key Ki. The keys might be randomly generated by the CPU manufacturer. (It is assumed that the CPU manufacturer can be trusted not to reveal the key. However, the CPU chip could generate Ki and store it in nonvolatile memory without revealing it, or the variation on the following scheme could be devised.) There is no way for a user of the CPU to determine Ki; it can't be "read out" like a serial number.
Third, we give the CPU two new instructions: a "challenge" instruction and a "decrypt and compare" instruction. The "challenge" instruction causes the CPU to do a randomized encryption of a supplied challenge, and return the resulting ciphertext. The "decrypt and compare" instruction causes the chip to determine if two such ciphertexts could have been produced on the current CPU from the same challenge.
Random numbers are generated (e.g., by the chip from thermal noise). There may be a new instruction that causes the chip to return a register (or several registers) full of random bits.
The "challenge" instruction works as follows: the chip takes in a (say) 64-bit challenge c. It then generates a (say) 64-bit random number r, using the random number generation circuitry already announced. It then returns as the result of the challenge instruction the ciphertext:C(c,r)=AES(Ki,cr)
That is, it returns the encryption using the AES algorithm, under control of the key Ki, of the plaintext consisting of the concatenation of the challenge c with the random value r. (The first 64-bit half of the plaintext is c, the second 64-bit half of the plaintext is r.) The resulting 128-bit ciphertext C(c,r) is returned by the chip in an appropriate register or set of registers. The AES algorithm (not yet chosen) takes in 128-bit plaintext values and returns 128-bit ciphertext values, under control of a 128 (or 192 or 256)-bit key.
The "decrypt and compare" instruction takes in two values C1 and C2, and decrypts them using the chip's secret key Ki, to obtain (c1,r1) and (c2,r2), where C1=C(c1,r1) and C2=C(c2,r2). That is, C1 was produced (or could have been produced) by the challenge instruction on input challenge c1, and C2 has produced (or could have been produced) by the challenge instruction on input challenge c2. The chip returns "true" if c1=c2, and returns "false" otherwise.
Note again that the challenge instruction is randomized—it returns (with very high probability) a different result every time it is invoked, even if it is invoked with the same challenge. Thus, it is not usable as a way of producing a unique "serial number" for the chip. For example, the result of running the challenge instruction on input challenge "0" is always changing, so that it can't be used to identify the chip.
Although the scheme proposed here involves an encryption operation, it is not possible to use the chip to "get at" the underlying AES encryption and thus perform encryption efficiently. This is important if one must live with the current set of (defective, in my mind) export control laws on encryption. Chips with this scheme on them could presumably be exported without difficulty.
Now: how does a manufacturer use these instructions to provide software that can only be run on a particular CPU? The "serial number management" or "key management" process that we had before for dongles now becomes the following three-step process. First, the user runs a challenge instruction on some challenge on his CPU. The challenge might be supplied by the manufacturer, or chosen randomly by the user. Second, the user then informs the manufacturer of the challenge c and the response C1=C(c,r) that he obtained from the chip. Third, the manufacturer supplies the user with custom software that has embedded within it the ciphertext C1 and a test of the form: give the challenge c to the chip, apply the "challenge" instruction, and then use the "decrypt and compare" instruction to compare the result of the challenge instruction and C1. If the "decrypt and compare" instruction returns "true", then proceed to execute the software. Otherwise, abort.
Software produced this way will only run on the CPU that produced the original response C1. This allows one to protect against software piracy, in that a manufacturer can produce software that runs on only one CPU. (The scheme extends easily to handle the case that the user owns multiple CPUs, by embedding multiple ciphertexts in the software, and seeing if any of them compare successfully.) Note that manufacturers cannot get together off-line to compare what they know, since all they have are ciphertexts produced using unknown keys for plaintexts of which they only know half. There is no way to "link" together different results of the "challenge" instruction, without using the very same chip on which those results were produced.

Digital watermarks with values derived from remote platforms


A system of simulating resistive loads adapted for testing working characteristics of power supplies includes a power supply (100), a linking apparatus (10) and a resistance loading apparatus (40). The power supply has a plurality of outputs (120). The linking apparatus is electrically connected to the outputs of the power supply. The resistive load apparatus is electrically connected to the linking apparatus. The resistive load apparatus includes a plurality of resistance matching selectors.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems of simulating resistive loads, and particularly to a system of simulating resistive loads for testing performance of power supplies.
2. General Background
Conventionally, most of electronic apparatuses are not equipped power supplies themselves on account of volumes and costs. The electronic apparatuses need outer power supplies to offer electrical energy. The power supplies can affect performance of the electronic apparatuses.
Currently, the power supplies have no same standard. Dissimilar electronic apparatuses have dissimilar power supplies. An improper use of a power supply to an electronic apparatus will likely damage the electronic apparatus. Power supplies must be tested before being used to electronic apparatuses. Resistances are always used to simulate loadings of electronic apparatuses.
What is needed is to provide a system of simulating resistive loads which conveniently tests performance of power supplies.