A CMOS TDI image sensor consists of M pixels where each pixel is formed by a column of N TDI stages. Each TDI stage contains a photodiode that collects photo-charge and a pre-amplifier that proportionally converts the photo-charge to a voltage. Each TDI stage also has a set of capacitors, amplifiers, and switches for storage of the integrated signal voltages, where Correlated Double Sampling (CDS) technique (true or pseudo) maintains both photo-signal and reset voltages simultaneously. The CDS signal voltages can be passed from one TDI stage to the next TDI stage along a column for summing. The CDS signal voltages of the last TDI stages of M pixels are read out with a differential amplifier. This CMOS TDI structure is especially advantageous for implementing X-ray scanning detector systems requiring large pixel sizes and signal processing circuitry that is physically separated from the photodiode array for X-ray shielding.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains generally to the field of solid-state image sensor and more particularly is a CMOS Time Delay and Integration (TDI) sensor for X-ray image scanning applications.
2. Background of the Invention
This invention is related to Time Delay and Integration (TDI) CMOS linear image sensor suitable for high-speed X-ray image scanning applications. TDI image sensors are used in high-speed line scan applications where the integrated input light signal is very low. In normal line scan application, one way to increase the integrated input light signal is to reduce the scan speed and thus increase the integration time. The TDI sensor allows the line scan detector system to increase the light signal without sacrificing the scan speed. It is normally implemented using charge transfer device, such as charge-coupled device (CCD).
In a CCD TDI array, each detector pixel contains N stages of TDI locations. For example, for an M pixels linear detector, it will contain a two dimensional M by N stages CCD array. The N stages CCD for each pixel is in parallel to the direction of scan. In operation, the first stage of CCD integrates the light signal within one integration time which equals to one line time. The signal charge will then transfer from the first stage to the second stage of CCD while the object under scan also moves from the first stage to the second stage of CCD in synchronization with the movement of the signal charge. The second stage CCD will integrate signal charge during the second integration time for the same object. As a result, at the end of the integration time the signal charge at the second stage CCD will be twice the signal charge as compared with the charge it receives from the first stage. The signal charge of the second stage will then move to the third stage in synchronization with the object movement. Again, the third stage CCD integrates light signal in addition to the signal it receives from the second stage. The process repeats and when it reaches the final N stage CCD, the light signal is multiplied by N times. An output CCD shift register then reads out the M pixels signal in sequence.
Although CCD TDI imaging system has been used extensively in visible high-speed industrial inspection applications and medical X-ray scanning applications, such as CT scan and panoramic dental scan, it does have drawbacks in industrial x-ray inspection applications. In an industrial X-ray inspection system, the detector pixel size is normally quite big as compared with normal CCD sensor pixel size. The required pixel size in such an application ranges from a few tenth of millimeters to a few millimeters. As the pixel size increases, the CCD scanning speed decreases significantly and as a result, make it unsuitable for such an application.
A second drawback for a CCD TDI system is that it is very susceptible to X-ray radiation damage. In medical X-ray scanning applications, the X-ray energy and dose used is normally much lower than that of industrial inspection applications. In medical applications, not only the X-ray dose is regulated by Federal Drug administration (FDA), the energy is normally less than 100 KeV because of soft human tissue. For industrial applications, the energy used can range from 50 KeV to 15 MeV depending on what kind of material needs to be inspected. Since there is no regulation to limit the X-ray dose in an industrial inspection system, the dose can be much higher than that of medical scanning systems. The accumulation of radiation exposure of a CCD sensor under X-ray will increase its dark current, shift its well potentials, and, as a result, reduce its usable lifetime.
The current invention is to implement a CMOS detector system that alleviates the drawbacks of CCD detector in an industrial X-ray inspection system. Since signal charges can not move from one CMOS circuit to another CMOS circuit in charge domain, it is more difficult to implement a TDI sensor using CMOS circuitry. The present invention is a method to implement TDI sensor in CMOS circuitry using charge integrating and summing amplifiers.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a Time Delay and Integration (TDI) image sensing structure that can be implemented using standard CMOS manufacturing processes.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a TDI image sensing detector system that is suitable for bigger pixel-to-pixel pitch, such as in an industrial X-ray detector system, without sacrificing the readout speed.
A further objective of the current invention is to provide an X-ray TDI detector system that the CMOS circuitry can be separated and away from the photodiode detectors so that the CMOS circuitry can be easily shielded from X-ray radiation damage.

CMOS time delay integration sensor for X-ray imaging applications


A biomass harvesting system for harvesting agricultural plant growth from agricultural fields comprises a power source for providing mechanical and electric power to the system, a biomass accumulator for producing discrete units of accumulated biomass, a windrower for feeding biomass to the accumulator, a biomass quality analyzer for sensing and transmitting a set of quality characteristics of the biomass, a soil chemical analyzer for sensing and transmitting in real time soil chemical characteristics of the agricultural field soil, an active tracking system for identifying individual ones of the discrete units of accumulated biomass, and a central processing unit including a memory module storing an executable instruction set therein. The central processing unit executes the instruction set and integrates the sensed biomass quality characteristics and the sensed optimal quantity of biomass residue to remain on the field to determine a biomass quality index of the discrete units of accumulated biomass.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to agricultural harvesting systems in general and more particularly to a system for the selective collection of plant growth commonly known as biomass.
Discussion of the Related Art
In recent years our society and the world in general has become increasingly more and more energy dependent. The resulting rise in energy demands have coupled with rising costs for petroleum based fuels to kindle an increased interest in alternative fuels that once may have been considered too costly to produce. Of particular interest are fuel sources that are considered to be 'renewable.' One of these renewable and alternative energy sources is commonly referred to as biomass.
Biomass generally includes living and recently dead biological material which can be used as fuel or for industrial production. Most commonly, biomass refers to plant matter grown for use as biofuel, but it also includes plant or animal matter used for production of fibers, chemicals or heat. Biomass may also include biodegradable wastes that can be burned as fuel, but it but it excludes organic material which has been transformed by geological processes into substances known as fossil fuels such as coal or petroleum.
Typical sources of biomass include several plants such as miscanthus, switchgrass, hemp, corn, poplar, willow and sugarcane. The particular plant used is usually not very important to the end products, but it does affect the processing of the raw material. Production of biomass is a growing industry as interest in sustainable fuel sources is growing. While the term biomass is also useful to identify plants where some of the plant's internal structures may not always be considered living tissue, such as the wood of a tree, and even though this biomass was produced from plants that convert sunlight into plant material through photosynthesis, the use of the term 'biomass' herein is by definition limited to agricultural plant growth that is harvested on a regular and periodic basis as part of an agricultural enterprise.
A major source of this biomass results from agricultural activities wherein the plant growth is produced specifically as a biomass product or alternatively is the residue of grain based agricultural crops. Traditionally, agricultural crop residues have been left on the field and reworked into the field's topsoil layer with the intent to return those nutrients removed during the crop's growth cycle and stored in the residue. Studies have revealed that sufficient and even optimal tilth levels in the topsoil layer can be maintained by returning only a fraction of the agricultural crop residue from a particular growth cycle. Until recently, there has been no particular incentive to remove the excess residue from agricultural fields other than for other agricultural uses such as bedding materials or low grade feed for agricultural livestock. However, with the interest in biomass as a renewable energy source, biomass can also now be considered an additional income source from the agricultural growth cycle to supplement the income derived from the harvested grains.
The desire to also harvest biomass from agricultural fields is tempered by the necessary caution to refrain from removing an excess of biomass and thus gradually depleting the topsoil nutrient levels after successive years of harvests. The nutrient needs of the topsoil vary geographically and even vary within the boundaries of a particular field such that determining harvestable quantities is location specific problem and not governed by general parameters applicable across an entire field. Such determinations must be made by an intelligent system that analyzes the topsoil layer concurrent with the harvesting of the biomass.
Thus, what is desired is a biomass harvesting system that efficiently removes the maximum quantity of biomass from a field while leaving sufficient biomass to minimize wind and water erosion and maintain soil tilth.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


Apparatus for mixing ingredients in a receptacle includes a lid having an aperture which is positionable on the receptacle. A mixer shaft extends downwardly through the lid aperture and the shaft is movable relative to both the lid and to the receptacle to permit a mixer head connected to the shaft to move downwardly and upwardly within the receptacle after the lid has engaged the receptacle.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,150,967, issued Sep. 29, 1992, discloses a milk shake machine for mixing thick, hard ice cream shakes. The machine incorporates a housing to which a container is locked and sealed, the container being in a suspended, elevated condition. Two gear motors are disposed within the housing, one employed to rotate a shaft and mixing head and the other to move the mixing head vertically within the container.
Also known in the prior art are conventional milk shake machines consisting of an electric motor, shaft, and mixing disc. The device is supported on a stand or hangs from a wall bracket. When one wishes to make a hard ice cream milk shake, a metal cup is manually held under the revolving shaft and disc while the cup is manually manipulated vertically and in a stirring motion. This method is time consuming and inefficient and may even introduce foreign matter into the mixture as a result of the mixing head coming into contact with the sides of the metal cup.
While the milk shake machine disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,150,967 has a number of advantages over the conventional prior art milk shake machines, it too has certain deficiencies, not the least of which is the fact that the cup or receptacle is not positively supported on its bottom, but rather is suspended from its upper end in mid air. This approach can result in spillage if the user does not properly connect the receptacle to the housing. Some difficulties may also arise with respect to cleaning of the housing structure at the point of attachment of the container or receptacle to the housing.


Disclosed is a method for fabricating a GaN semiconductor epitaxial layer. The method includes the steps of: (a) providing a substrate within a reaction furnace; (b) setting a temperature range of the substrate to be 200° C.˜1,300° C.; (C) supplying a Ga metallic source on the substrate; (d) changing the supplied Ga metallic source on the substrate, to Ga metal islands; (e) supplying a nitrogenous source to the Ga metal islands after suspending supply of the Ga metallic source; (f) forming GaN islands by reacting the Ga metal islands with the nitrogenous source; and (g) growing a GaN epitaxial layer by basing the GaN islands as a seed.

GaN, which is a semiconductor material of a direct transition type having broad band gap energy of 3.4 eV, is an ideal photoelectric semiconductor material capable of realizing all the wavelengths of light ranging from the ultraviolet band to the visible light band.
There had been much difficulty in forming GaN epitaxial layers of high quality due to non-existence of a substrate, which has a lattice constant consistent with that of GaN, in the course of their growth. A resolution has now become available for fabricating a GaN device of high quality by forming a low-temperature GaN buffer layer between a substrate and a GaN device layer.
However, the GaN crystal formed by means of such method still includes much crystal defect (1×109 cm−2˜1×1010 cm−2), which becomes a bar to stable operation and lifespan of the device. In particular, such crystal defect becomes a cause of electron-hole combination, which becomes phonon dispersion without emission of light, thereby deteriorating the emitting efficiency.
To solve this problem, epitaxial lateral over-growth (ELOG) or pendeo-epitaxial growth has conventionally been used to decrease the crystal defects. However, these methods commonly pose a problem of necessitating a photolithographic process and a subsequent etching process prior to generating a GaN device layer, thereby causing contamination of the substrate and deteriorating the productivity and yield due to the separate etching process and dual growing processes.
Under the circumstances, a new method for growing GaN has become required to fabricate the GaN with a single growing process while decreasing the crystal defects.

Method for fabricating semiconductor epitaxial layers using metal islands


Electrophoresis systems and methods comprise an electrophoresis device, wherein the electrophoresis device comprises a loading channel, an injection channel, and a separation channel. The loading channel is in fluid communication with a first and second sample port. The injection channel is connected to the loading channel to form a first intersection. The separation channel is connected to the injection channel to form a second intersection and in fluid communication with a first and second reservoir, and wherein the injection channel is in fluid communication with a third reservoir. The electrophoresis system further comprises electrodes coupled to the first sample port and the third reservoir, and the first reservoir and the second reservoir, respectively, that are adapted to move the sample into the loading channel towards the third reservoir and form a sample plug in the second intersection, and to further move the sample plug into the separation channel towards the second reservoir.

This invention relates generally to an electrophoresis system and a method for performing microfluidic manipulation. More particularly, this invention relates to a microfluidic chip and a method for introducing sample for electrophoretic separation.
Electrophoresis is widely used analytical techniques in chemical and biological research, such as DNA sequencing, protein analysis and genetic mapping. The term electrophoresis refers to a process in which charged molecules are separated in a given separation medium, such as an electrolyte solution under influence of an electric filed. The charged molecules migrate through the separation medium and separate into distinct bands due to different mobilities within the separation medium.
A variety of electrophoresis apparatus have been commercially available for analysis of a sample. One such type of the electrophoresis apparatus is a capillary electrophoresis apparatus. The capillary electrophoresis can be considered as one of the latest and most rapidly expanding techniques in analytical chemistry. It refers to a family of related analytical techniques that uses electric fields to separate molecules within narrow-bore capillaries (typically 20-100 um internal diameter) or within channels of a microfluidic device.
In a standard microfluidic capillary electrophoresis device, the sample is introduced into a sample reservoir connected to an injection channel. Due to concerns of contamination by carry-over, the sample reservoir can only be used for a single sample. One can have multiple reservoirs, each connected to the injection channel, but due to the small size of most microfluidic devices, you are limited in the number of reservoirs that can fit on a single device. Therefore one is often faced with the tradeoff of either making a more compact (and thus cheaper) device or making a larger device and being able to analyze a greater number of samples per chip.
It is possible to have the injection channel of an electrophoresis directly connected with a capillary or channel where the sample is flowing through. The challenge is the pressure will force some of the sample into the injection channel, pushing back the electrolyte medium that is disposed within. One solution that has been proposed is having a deep mixing channel connected to the injection channel. The deep and narrow mixing channel introduces additional steps (and thus costs) into the fabrication in order to have channels of varying depth on the same device.
Therefore, there is a need for a new and improved system and method for performing microfluidic manipulation and introducing a sample into an electrophoresis device.


A water-releasing cosmetic composition in the form of an emulsion and process for preparing the cosmetic composition are provided. The cosmetic composition includes an aqueous phase and an oil phase. The aqueous phase includes a hydrating agent at a concentration, by weight, of about 1% to about 50%. The oil phase includes a silicone polymer, an emulsifying crosslinked siloxane elastomer gel including an emulsifying crosslinked siloxane elastomer, and a hydrophobic silica. The emulsifying crosslinked siloxane elastomer gel includes an emulsifying crosslinked siloxane elastomer at a concentration, by weight of about 0.5% to about 7% based upon weight of the composition. The hydrophobic silica is at a concentration, by weight, of about 0.1% to about 5%, based upon weight of the composition. The cosmetic composition converts from an emulsion to a plurality of droplets upon rubbing.

For various reasons associated in particular with greater comfort of use (softness, emollience and the like), current cosmetic compositions are usually in the form of an emulsion of the oil-in-water (O/W) type consisting of an aqueous-dispersing-continuous phase and an oily-dispersed-discontinuous phase, or of an emulsion of the water-in-oil (W/O) type consisting of an oily-dispersing-continuous phase and an aqueous-dispersed-discontinuous phase. O/W emulsions are usually preferred in the cosmetics field, because O/W emulsions comprise an aqueous phase as external phase, which gives the emulsions, when applied to the skin, a fresher, less greasy, less tacky, and lighter feel than W/O emulsions.
Many compositions, especially cosmetic compositions, have been developed for easy and comfortable application onto a targeted substrate. Unfortunately, many of these compositions are in fact difficult to apply and do not possess a smooth feel upon application. Moreover, compositions often have a tendency to feel tacky, yielding poor application and spreadability characteristics.
Although glycerin is a fairly low cost humectant, problems arise when incorporating high levels of glycerin in cosmetic compositions. Incorporating high levels of glycerin, generally greater than 5%, results in a cosmetic compositions having a tacky and sticky feel upon application to skin. The tacky and sticky feel is undesirable to consumers. Several approaches, such as using light emollients, powders, or combinations thereof may reduce tackiness; however, the resulting cosmetic compositions may not provide sufficient consumer appeal and may still have residual tackiness that can be felt on the skin after application.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a composition possessing a high level of glycerin without having a tacky feel and that is pleasing to consumers.
A cosmetic composition and methods of using and producing cosmetic compositions that do not suffer from one or more of the above drawbacks would be desirable in the art.

Water-releasing cosmetic composition including a hydrophobic silica


A level conversion circuit includes a high-potential-side level conversion unit which is connected between a first high-voltage power supply and a first low-voltage power supply, and converts a high-potential-side voltage of an input signal, a low-potential-side level conversion unit which is connected between a second high-voltage power supply with a lower voltage than the first high-voltage power supply and a second low-voltage power supply with a lower voltage than the first low-voltage power supply, and converts a low-potential-side voltage of the input signal, and an output unit to which an output of the high-potential-side level conversion unit and an output of the low-potential-side level conversion unit are input, and which outputs a voltage level of the first high-voltage power supply and a voltage level of the second low-voltage power supply.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a level conversion circuit, and is applied, for example, to a level conversion circuit of a semiconductor circuit.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the prior art, for example, a level conversion circuit, which is applied to a semiconductor circuit, is configured to have only a positive-side level conversion unit. Thus, in the conventional level conversion circuit, level conversion of only a positive-side output level, relative to an input level, is executed, and a negative-side output level is a ground voltage (VSSL). As a result, there is a tendency that an output voltage difference of the level conversion circuit is small.
In addition, the conventional level conversion circuit is configured such that a maximum output potential difference between a positive level and a negative level (i.e. high power supply voltage VDDH−ground voltage VSSL) is constantly applied across a current path of an output transistor. Consequently, in the case where the output transistor is fabricated by the same fabrication process as other transistors that constitute the level conversion unit, etc., an output amplitude, which is greater than a breakdown voltage across the current path of the transistor, cannot be obtained. The reason is that the breakdown voltage across the current path of the output transistor is determined by the fabrication process.
On the other hand, in order to perform large-amplitude output voltage conversion, it is necessary to increase the breakdown voltage of only the output transistor, thereby to withstand the large-amplitude output voltage that is applied to the output transistor. In this case, however, a fabrication process for increasing the breakdown voltage of only the output transistor is additionally required, leading to an increase in the number of fabrication steps and in manufacturing cost.
As described above, in the conventional level conversion circuit, if the output voltage difference is to be improved, there is a tendency that an overvoltage, which is higher than the breakdown voltage, is applied to the transistor that constitutes the output unit.
Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 11-88147 is an example of documents relating to the present invention. Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 11-88147 discloses an example in which a MOS transistor with a high breakdown voltage is made needless by lowering a voltage which is applied to the MOS transistor that is used.

Level conversion circuit for a semiconductor circuit


There is provided by this invention an apparatus and method for controlling a dc magnetron plasma processing system that automatically adjusts the control signal to the power supply based upon the dynamic impedance of the load to control the output power to the plasma. The output voltage and the output current of the power supply that supplies power to the plasma is sampled over at a sampling frequency at least four to five times higher than the switching frequency and the dynamic impedance of the plasma is calculated based upon the sampled voltage and current from the algorithm

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to any controller for a power supply that utilizes a compensator to shape the response of the control loop to external disturbances, and more particularly to a control means for calculating the dynamic impedance of a DC magnetron based process.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
In plasma processing for the manufacture of thin films for integrated circuits, flat panel displays, glass coatings, etc a fast controller is required to effectively control the power delivered to a wide range of plasma processes. Controllers are designed accounting for the control to output transfer function of the power supply. The transfer function of the power supply depends on the dynamic impedance of the load. The primary function of a controller for a power supply is to achieve and maintain any commanded control signal. The controller is designed accounting for the control to output, and line to output transfer functions of the power supply. The dependence of the controller on load impedance may be in the form of DC gain, or the location of a pole or a zero in the transfer function of the power supply. Any change in the output impedance can significantly influence the performance of the control loop and sometimes even catastrophically by making a previously stable system unstable. As shown in FIG. 1 the dynamic impedance is positive for curves A and B and negative for curve C. The voltage and resistance are a function of the operating point and can change with time. FIG. 2 illustrates how depending on the process and plasma characteristics the plasma load can be modeled as a voltage source in series with a resistance. In the cases where variations in the transfer function due to a change in the dynamic impedance may be limited to the DC gain and could be easily compensated with analog circuitry or digital gain blocks, it is performed by a priori analysis of the transfer functions and implementing lookup tables for different load conditions.
Some controllers utilize DC current and the DC voltage to calculate the DC impedance of the plasma. However, this method has a disadvantage, since it assumes that the plasma represents a load that is only an impedance in nature. In the case of model plasma as shown in FIG. 2 then an approach is to use an empirical value of the plasma voltage and subtract this from the DC voltage and then use this to calculate the actual dynamic impedance of the plasma. This approach has a disadvantage because there are wide ranges of internal voltages that even the same plasma can exhibit.
For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,543,689 issued to Ryusuke Ohta et al discloses a high frequency power source wherein the controller has a memory for storing initial plasma characteristic data and plasma gain, a comparable operation section for calculating control target data from initial plasma characteristic data and detected power data and computing the control gain data from the difference between the control target data and the power control signal data. The control target data is derived by subtracting the initial plasma data from the detected plasma data. However, the process described relies upon an alarm for manual adjustment of the control signal. Such a system has a slow response time and may cause the process to shut down before correction can be made.
These types of control schemes are undesirable because 1) estimation of the plasma resistance is extremely difficult; 2) implementation of the compensation is limited to the DC gain; 3) they are not continuous and dependence may not be monotonic with respect to the load impedance; and 4) the variation in the poles and zeros of the transfer function with the load impedance may still degrade the performance of the system and in some instances may also cause the system to go unstable. Also, faster loop speeds require ability to compensate for load and create transfer functions to create a fairly wide-band system.
It would be desirable if there were provided a controller for a DC power supply that utilized a fast control loop which works for a wide range of plasma processes. It would also be desirable if there were provided method of control which enables adaptive and non-linear control by estimating dynamic impedance of the load.

DC power supply utilizing real time estimation of dynamic impedance

Abstract: R    plasma    =            Δ                                              V        n                    Δ                                              I        n            wherein ΔVn and ΔIn is the maximum difference among samples on one switching cycle. If the dynamic impedance seen is negative in nature then the control signal is compensated accordingly.


A device for assisting a caregiver in delivering therapy to a patient, the device comprising a user interface configured to deliver prompts to a caregiver to assist the caregiver in delivering therapy to a patient; at least one sensor configured to detect the caregiver's progress in delivering the therapy, wherein the sensor is other than an electrode in an electrical contact with the body; a memory in which a plurality of different prompts are stored; a processor configured to determine which of the different prompts should be selected for delivery based on the progress detected by the sensor.

Resuscitation treatments for patients suffering from cardiac arrest generally include clearing and opening the patient's airway, providing rescue breathing for the patient, and applying chest compressions to provide blood flow to the victim's heart, brain and other vital organs. If the patient has a shockable heart rhythm, resuscitation also may include defibrillation therapy. The term basic life support (BLS) involves all the following elements: initial assessment; airway maintenance; expired air ventilation (rescue breathing); and chest compression. When all these elements are combined, the term cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is used.
There are many different kinds of abnormal heart rhythms, some of which can be treated by defibrillation therapy ("shockable rhythms") and some which cannot ("non-shockable rhythms"). For example, most ECG rhythms that produce significant cardiac output are considered non-shockable (examples include normal sinus rhythms, certain bradycardias, and sinus tachycardias). There are also several abnormal ECG rhythms that do not result in significant cardiac output but are still considered non-shockable, since defibrillation treatment is usually ineffective under these conditions. Examples of these non-shockable rhythms include asystole, electromechanical disassociation, and other pulseless electrical activity. Although a patient cannot remain alive with these non-viable, non-shockable rhythms, applying shocks will not help convert the rhythm. The primary examples of shockable rhythms, for which the caregiver should perform defibrillation, include ventricular fibrillation, ventricular tachycardia, and ventricular flutter.
After using a defibrillator to apply one or more shocks to a patient who has a shockable ECG rhythm, the patient may nevertheless remain unconscious, in a shockable or non-shockable, perfusing or non-perfusing rhythm. If a non-perfusing rhythm is present, the caregiver may then resort to performing CPR for a period of time in order to provide continuing blood flow and oxygen to the patient's heart, brain and other vital organs. If a shockable rhythm continues to exist or develops during the delivery of CPR, further defibrillation attempts may be undertaken following this period of cardiopulmonary resuscitation. As long as the patient remains unconscious and without effective circulation, the caregiver can alternate between use of the defibrillator (for analyzing the electrical rhythm and possibly applying a shock) and performing cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR). CPR generally involves a repeating pattern of five or fifteen chest compressions followed by a pause during which two rescue breaths are given.
Defibrillation can be performed using an AED. The American Heart Association, European Resuscitation Council, and other similar agencies provide protocols for the treatment of victims of cardiac arrest that include the use of AEDs. These protocols define a sequence of steps to be followed in accessing the victim's condition and determining the appropriate treatments to be delivered during resuscitation. Caregivers who may be required to use an AED are trained to follow these protocols.
Most automatic external defibrillators are actually semi-automatic external defibrillators (SAEDs), which require the caregiver to press a start or analyze button, after which the defibrillator analyzes the patient's ECG rhythm and advises the caregiver to provide a shock to the patient if the electrical rhythm is shockable. The caregiver is then responsible for pressing a control button to deliver the shock. Following shock delivery, the SAED may reanalyze the patient's ECG rhythm, automatically or manually, and advise additional shocks or instruct the caregiver to check the patient for signs of circulation (indicating that the defibrillation treatment was successful or that the rhythm is non-shockable) and to begin CPR if circulation has not been restored by the defibrillation attempts. Fully automatic external defibrillators, on the other hand, do not wait for user intervention before applying defibrillation shocks. As used below, automatic external defibrillators (AED) include semi-automatic external defibrillators (SAED).
Both types of defibrillators typically provide an auditory "stand clear" warning before beginning ECG analysis and/or the application of each shock. The caregiver is then expected to stand clear of the patient (i.e., stop any physical contact with the patient) and may be required to press a button to deliver the shock. The controls for automatic external defibrillators are typically located on a resuscitation device housing.
AEDs are typically used by trained medical or paramedic caregivers, such as physicians, nurses, emergency medical technicians, fire department personnel, and police officers. The ready availability of on-site AEDs and caregivers trained to operate them is important because a patient's chances of survival from cardiac arrest decrease by approximately 10% for each minute of delay between occurrence of the arrest and the delivery of defibrillation therapy.
Trained lay caregivers are a new group of AED operators. For example, spouses of heart attack victims may become trained as lay caregivers. Lay caregivers rarely have opportunities to defibrillate or deliver CPR, and thus they can be easily intimidated by an AED during a medical emergency. Consequently, such lay providers may be reluctant to purchase or use AEDs when needed, or might tend to wait for an ambulance to arrive rather than use an available AED, out of concern that the lay provider might do something wrong.
Some trained medical providers, e.g., specialists such as obstetricians, dermatologists, and family care practitioners, also rarely have the opportunity to perform CPR and/or defibrillate, and thus may be uneasy about doing so. Concerns about competence are exacerbated if training is infrequent, leading the caregiver to worry that he or she may not be able to remember all of the recommended resuscitation protocol steps and/or their correct sequence.
Similarly, both medical and lay caregivers may be hesitant to provide CPR and rescue breathing, or may be unsure when these steps should be performed, particularly if their training is infrequent and they rarely have the opportunity to use it.
It is well known to those skilled in the art, and has been shown in a number of studies, that CPR is a complex task with both poor initial learning as well as poor skill retention, with trainees often losing 80% of their initial skills within 6-9 months. It has thus been the object of a variety of prior art to attempt to improve on this disadvantageous condition. Aids in the performance of chest compressions are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,019,501, 4,077,400, 4,095,590, 5,496,257, 6,125,299, and 6,306,107, 6,390,996. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,588,383, 5,662,690, 5,913,685, 4,863,385 describe CPR prompting systems. AEDs have always included voice prompts as well as graphical instructions on flip charts or placards since the earliest commercial versions in 1974 to provide both correct timing and sequence for the complex series of actions required of the rescuer (caregiver) as well as placement of the defibrillation electrodes. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/952,834 and U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,334,070 and 6,356,785 describe defibrillators with an increased level of prompting including visual prompts either in the form of graphical instructions presented on a CRT or on printed labels with backlighting or emissive indicia such as light emitting diodes. AEDs since the 1970s have used the impedance measured between the defibrillation electrodes to determine the state of the AED as well as appropriate messages to deliver to the rescuer (e.g. "Attach Electrodes" if the initial prompts on the unit have been delivered and the impedance remains greater than some specified threshold) or to determine if there is excessive patient motion (as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,610,254.) U.S. Pat. No. 5,700,281 describes a device which uses the impedance of the electrodes to determine the state of the AED for delivering messages such as "Attach Electrodes". Enhanced prompting disclosed in these patents provides some benefit to the rescuer in improved adherence to the complex protocol required of them to successfully revive a cardiac arrest patient, but the enhanced prompting is usually not sufficient in real world situations. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,662,690 and 6,356,785 (and the commercially available OnSite defibrillator) attempts to improve prompting by providing a rescuer-accessible "Help" key that initiates more detailed prompting in cases in which the rescuer or test subject is confused. But testing has shown that with the heightened level of anxiety that accompanies a real cardiac arrest, rescuers rarely remember to press such a Help key. Even notifying the rescuer at the beginning of the protocol to press the Help key does not help a the confused rescuer press the Help key. Furthermore, even if the Help key is pressed, it is necessary to have the rescuer work through a series of user interface interactions via a touchscreen, softkeys or other input means, for the help software to determine at which step the rescuer is in need of additional instructions. Putting the user through these interactions with the help software detracts from the rescuer's ability to provide aid to the patient, and thus delays delivery of therapy.
AEDs have also been solely focused on defibrillation, which, while it provides the best treatment for ventricular fibrillation and certain tachycardias, is of no therapeutic benefit for the 60% of the cardiac arrest patients presenting in pulseless electrical activity (PEA) or asystole. As AEDs are becoming more prevalent in the home, there are also a host of other health problems that occur such as first aid as well as incidents related to chronic conditions such as asthma, diabetes or cardiac-related conditions for which the AED is of no benefit.

Automated caregiving device with prompting based on caregiver progress


A technology for constructing an airbag in which protection of the occupant may be thoroughly assured in case of accident of a motorbike and a technology relating thereto are provided. An airbag apparatus including an airbag which is deployed and expanded in an occupant crush protection area formed in front of an occupant in case of front collision and a cover body is provided on a motorcycle as a motorbike. The cover body can cover and uncover a handle and the airbag, and is torn at a thinned portion when the second component part of the airbag is deployed and expanded, and thus the second component part is uncovered.

Hitherto, a various technologies for protecting an occupant by providing an airbag apparatus on a motorcycle are known. For example, in a motorcycle, a technology in which an airbag stored in a case mounted to a vehicle body frame is deployed and expanded by expansion gas in case of a front collision, whereby restraining the occupant, is publicly known, for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-137777. In this technology, although a possibility of securing a wide protective area for the airbag is presented, in a case of mounting the airbag apparatus on the vehicle body which is opened on all four sides as a motorbike, development of a technology which is further effective for assuring restraint of the occupant by the airbag is highly demanded.


A portable data processing system having a chassis base unit and a chassis cover unit pivotably attached with the chassis base unit is provided. A hand impression is disposed on a bottom surface of the chassis base unit. A portable data processing system having a chassis base unit and a chassis cover unit each having a partial hand impression disposed on respective surface is provided.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to an improved data processing system and in particular to a portable computer having a hand impression that facilitates hand carriage of the portable computer. Still more particularly, the present invention provides a portable computer with a hand impression that facilitates proper gripping of the portable computer when hand-carrying the portable computer.
2. Description of Related Art
A portable personal computer, also commonly referred to as a laptop or notebook computer, is a battery powered mobile computer that has a size typically smaller than that of a briefcase. A typical portable computer consists of a monitor disposed in a cover pivotally attached to a base. The monitor is pivotably extended, or opened, during operation and closed during periods of non-operation or transport.
Portable computers typically cost more than a desktop personal computer having similar storage and processing capabilities due to the higher manufacturing costs associated with the portable computer. As such, various techniques have been implemented in effort to curtail damage due to physical shock, such as dropping or impact, of portable computers. For example, a typical portable computer is insulated with shock absorbing material to reduce damage to internal components when the portable computer is subjected to impact with another object.
Contemporary portable computers may easily slip from a user's grip during transport resulting in aesthetic or operational damage or destruction of the portable computer. Currently, various transport bags are used for securing portable computers when carried. A transport bag may be insulated to further reduce accidental damage to the portable computer. Whenever the portable computer is to be carried in the transport bag, the transport bag is opened, the portable computer is inserted into the transport bag, and restraining straps are extended about the portable computer and latched. However, many users find securing the portable computer in a transport bag to be unduly burdensome, a waste of time, or simply an inconvenience. Thus, often a user will carry a portable computer without securing the portable computer in a transport bag. Without securing the portable computer in the transport bag, the portable computer may slide out of the transport bag depending on the orientation of the transport bag when the bag is opened.
A user will often grip a portable computer near a peripheral edge of the chassis when carrying the portable computer in a closed configuration thus resulting in a greater likelihood of dropping the portable computer during transit. Other users will often balance a portable computer on the palm of the hand when the portable computer is deployed in an operational configuration, for example to carry the portable computer to a colleague so that the colleague may view an item displayed on the portable computer. Carriage of a portable computer in an operational configuration is particularly problematic due to the precarious balance of the portable computer on the user's hand and the user's motion that is transferred to the portable computer.
Thus, it would be advantageous to provide a portable computer with a system that facilitates proper hand carriage of a portable computer. It would be further advantageous to provide a portable computer with a system that facilitates proper positioning of the hand with respect to the portable computer when hand carrying the portable computer. It would still be further advantageous to provide a system that facilitates proper positioning of the hand when carrying the portable computer in either an operational configuration or a closed configuration.

Portable computer with a hand impression

International Business Machines Corporation


A reduced carbon dioxide emission system and method for providing power for refrigerant compression and shared electrical power for a light hydrocarbon gas liquefaction process.

In recent years, there has been continuing interest in liquefying natural gas and other light hydrocarbon gases at remote sites where there is little or no nearby market for the natural gas. Natural gas located at such remote sites is of market value only if it can be pipelined or otherwise transported to a marketplace. In many instances, it is not feasible to construct pipelines to transport such natural gas. Therefore, in many instances it has been found desirable to liquefy the natural gas on site so that it can be transported by tanker to markets.
A variety of processes for liquefying natural gas are known. In most of these processes, the natural gas is treated to remove acid gases, water and hydrocarbons heavier than about C3 as necessary prior to liquefaction. Known refrigeration processes comprise processes that may use multiple pure component refrigerants, multi-component refrigerants or combinations thereof. Refrigeration processes using one or more refrigerant sections and the like may be used. A variety of such processes are known and could be used with the present invention. All such processes generally require that a compressed refrigerant be made available at a pressure such that upon cooling it can be liquefied and thereafter vaporized to produce the refrigeration required to liquefy the natural gas.
Most such processes are quite energy intensive and require substantial energy input to compress the refrigerant for repeated cycling through a refrigeration zone to produce the refrigeration necessary to at least partially liquefy the natural gas and the like. Further, substantial energy may be required in many instances to recompress the natural gas after treatment to remove acid gases and water from the natural gas or to remove heavier hydrocarbons from the natural gas. All these processes typically require large quantities of electrical power and mechanical energy with the resultant emission of large quantities of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere.
Recently it has been considered that release of CO2 into the atmosphere is detrimental to the atmosphere. Accordingly, it has been deemed desirable that the amount of CO2 emitted in such processes should be reduced. Typically such processes have been operated in areas where there was an abundance of cheap fuel. Therefore, little concern has been directed to limiting the emission of CO2 into the atmosphere since it was more convenient and economical to simply discharge combustion exhaust streams into the atmosphere than to limit the amount of fuel consumed since such fuel is readily available at little or no cost at the liquefaction site. As well known to those skilled in the art, hydrocarbon fuels, especially light hydrocarbon gases, have been used widely for generation of electrical power and for production of mechanical energy via light hydrocarbon gas fired turbines and the like.
Recently, it has become apparent that it would be desirable to provide a system and a process for providing compressed refrigerant and electrical power for a light hydrocarbon gas liquefaction process wherein reduced emissions of CO2 were produced and wherein the mechanical energy and electrical power for the process could be produced on site.

Reduced carbon dioxide emission system and method for providing power for refrigerant compression and electrical power for a light hydrocarbon gas liquefaction process


In an image scanner, an optical image is formed on a CCD image sensor through a lens unit from rays traveling through a picture frame placed in a film carrier, so image signals are picked up from the picture frame. The image signals are corrected with shading correction data that are read out from a memory in accordance with the magnification of the lens unit. The memory previously stores shading correction data for frequently used magnification steps. Shading correction data for less frequently used magnification are previously stored in a hard disc. If the lens unit is set at a magnification for which the memory does not store suitable shading correction data, the suitable shading correction data are read out from the hard disc, and written on the memory.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image scanner for reading out an image photoelectrically from an original, and more particularly to an image scanner provided with a shading correction device.
2. Background Arts
As an image scanner for reading out an image photoelectrically from an original, a reflective scanner for a reflective original and a film scanner for a photographic film have been known. The image scanner comprises a light source for illuminating the original, a photoelectric conversion device that converts an optical image into electric signals, and an image forming lens for forming an optical image of the original on the photoelectric conversion device. As the light source, a halogen lamp may be cited as an exemplar. As the photoelectric conversion device, an image sensor, like CCD (charge-coupled device), has been widely used. In the reflective scanner, the light reflected from the original is projected as an optical image onto the image sensor through the image forming lens. In the film scanner, the light traveling through a picture frame of the photographic film is projected as an optical image onto the image sensor through the image forming lens.
As well known in the art, the quantity of light that travels through the image forming lens is not uniform but decreases with radial distance from an optical axis of the image forming lens, so the brightness decreases toward the edges of the image field, and thus the optical image formed through the lens tends to be darker in its marginal area than its central area. Moreover, the quantity of illumination light from the light source is not always uniform in a perpendicular plane to the optical axis, i.e. on the surface of the original. For these reasons, even if the original has an uniform brightness or an uniform transmittance density, the optical image formed on the image sensor does not have an uniform luminance. Such an evenness is called "shading".
In order to obtain high-quality image, it is usual in the image scanner to process the image signals from the image sensor so as to eliminate the influence of shading. For instance, image signals are detected through the image sensor without placing any original or while placing a reference original having an uniform density, and the value of the image signal of each individual pixel, i.e. a luminance value, is compared to a predetermined reference value. Then, a correction coefficient is calculated for each individual pixel such that the image signals after being corrected with the correction coefficients for the respective pixels have the same value as the reference value. By correcting image signals actually obtained from an original image with these correction coefficients, the influence of shading is eliminated from the image signals. Hereinafter, such a correction process will be referred to as shading-correction.
On the other hand, there are different sizes of photographic picture frames and originals, while it is desirable to maintain the size of the optical image formed on the image sensor as constant as possible in view of the image processing conducted later on the image signals. In addition, in view of the resolving power of the image scanner, it is preferable to form the optical image in a maximum size readable through a photoreceptive surface of the image sensor. For these reasons, it is conventional in the image scanner that the magnification of the image forming lens is controlled in accordance with the size of the original such that the optical image is formed in the maximum size on the image sensor. It is also conventional to form an optical image from a limited portion of the original by adjusting the magnification of the image forming lens appropriately. This treatment is called "cropping".
Because the size of the optical image formed on the image sensor varies with the magnification of the image forming lens, shading conditions of the optical image on the image sensor also varies with the magnification of the image forming lens. Therefore, it is desirable to set up different shading correction values for different lens magnification steps. However, where the image sensor has a great number of pixels, e.g. 3,200,000 pixels, a very large memory capacity is necessary for storing correction values determined for individual pixels with respect to individual magnification values available, e.g. eight magnification steps.
If the illumination light from the light source is well diffused and thus the luminance is well equalized, it is possible to reduce the requisite number of shading correction values. However, since the illuminance decreases as the light is more diffused, it is necessary to increase the light intensity of the light source in order to increase the degree of diffusion of the illumination light. Then, it becomes necessary to use a large size halogen lamp, which results in increasing the size and the manufacture cost of the image scanner.
For the sake of minimizing the image scanner and saving the power consumption, some image scanners use light emitting diodes (LED) as the light source. In that case, a large number of light emitting diodes are arranged in a matrix. Since the light intensity of the light source consisting of the LEDs is insufficient as compared to the halogen lamp, it is also necessary to correct the image signals with shading correction values which vary from pixel to pixel and also vary depending upon the magnification of the image forming lens. Accordingly, a large capacity memory for storing a large volume of shading correction data.


A valve assembly has a valve body, a lower bushing, a valve seat, a lower stem, a disc, and an upper stem. The valve body defines a bi-directional flow path therethrough; wherein the valve body has an inner surface, two flange faces, and further defines an upper orifice and a hemispherical lower orifice along an axis perpendicular to the flow path. The lower bushing is housed in the lower orifice, and the lower bushing is configured to tilt within the lower orifice away from the axis. The lower bushing defines a bushing cavity. The valve seat has an outer surface configured to encapsulate the inner surface and the two flange faces of the valve body. The lower stem is housed in the bushing cavity, and the lower stem is configured for tilting away from and towards the axis perpendicular to the flow path. The disc has a seating surface on at outer circumference, defines a stem receptacle to house the lower stem, and the stem receptacle extends less than a diameter of the disc.

Conventional disc and stem butterfly valve throttling assemblies are typically one-piece disc stem models, two-piece through-stem models, or three-piece disc and upper/lower stem models, all which possess certain disadvantages. To note, one-piece disc stem butterfly valve assemblies are limited to construction with one type of material which may not be ideal for all the different parts and functions of the device, and are difficult and expensive to manufacture and repair. These conventional one-piece models are not preferred in many industries, such as the trucking or vehicular industry. Two-piece models, while allowing for the stem and disc to be constructed of different materials, are often cumbersome to assemble, lower flow volume, and, like the one-piece models, also suffer from complicated and expensive repairs. The conventional three-piece design has all the advantages of the one-piece and two-piece models, but is still expensive to manufacture and repair or difficult to disassemble for repair depending upon the particular design. Some of these conventional designs may also require external openings on the valve body to aid in lower stem installation or retention, which results in an additional source for corrosion, entry points for contaminates, and increased difficulties for repair.
Thus, there is a need for functional multiple-piece disc and stem embodiments which allow the use of dissimilar materials for stem and disc components; enable the stem component to be made of a stronger and/or more economical material than the disc component; are rebuildable; and, also allow for easy disassembly for replacement of wear components.


A bandwidth part processing method includes receiving, by a terminal, a first information and a second information from a network device. The first information indicates that at least one default bandwidth part (BWP) corresponds to at least two active BWPs, the second information indicates that the at least two active BWPs correspond to at least one first timer, and the at least one first timer is useable by the terminal to perform deactivation processing on at least one of the at least two active BWPs. The method further includes performing, by the terminal, deactivation processing on the at least one of the at least two active BWPs, and activation processing on a BWP in the at least one default BWP based on the first and second information, or performing deactivation processing on the at least one of the at least two active BWPs based on the first and second information.

In 5G new radio (New Radio, NR), a system bandwidth, namely, a bandwidth of a carrier, may become very high (for example, 200 MHz or 400 MHz). However, some terminals have limited capabilities and cannot support a high bandwidth. Therefore, a network device configures a BWP (Bandwidth Part, BWP), namely, a part of the system bandwidth such as 20 MHz for the terminal, and the terminal can communicate with the network device on the BWP.
To reduce power consumption of the terminal, a concept of a BWP fallback (fallback) is further introduced in NR. Specifically, when a terminal is activated on a relatively large BWP, a timer is started to count an activation time corresponding to the relatively large BWP. If downlink control information (downlink control information, DCI) for scheduling the terminal is not received after the timer expires, a probability that the terminal is scheduled by the network device is relatively low. In this case, the terminal is switched (switch) from the BWP to a relatively small BWP, to reduce power consumption. The relatively small BWP is referred to as a default BWP (default BWP). The power consumption is mainly generated during monitoring of the downlink control information. A higher bandwidth indicates a larger range in which the downlink control information needs to be monitored, and causes higher power consumption.
However, when the terminal supports a plurality of activated BWPs, because different BWPs have different activation duration, one timer in the prior art is not applicable. Therefore, how to perform BWP deactivation processing on the plurality of activated BWPs is a technical problem that needs to be urgently resolved currently.

Bandwidth part BWP processing method and device


A data compression processor including a first memory for storing real number data used for processing and a data compression processor for compressing the real number data read out from the first memory. The data compression processor compresses the digits of the real number data. The invention provides not only a processor which can efficiently execute processing in all fields without increasing the capacity of a memory used for processing, but can also improve the accuracy of data as a result of processing.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a compression processing method of real number data in a processing system and apparatus therefor. More particularly, the present invention relates to a real number data compression processing method and apparatus capable of reducing a memory capacity necessary for processing and preserving real number data.
2. Description of the Related Art
A processing system for executing various processings by the use of real number data has been used in many fields.
The problem with such a processing system is the extent to which the significant digits of the real number data to be handled should be guaranteed, and 15 digits and 64 bits are ordinarily guaranteed at present.
This results from the fact that the digits of the processed data are generally 15 digits when various processings are executed in a memory as a memory means used in the processing system.
When the data after processing are stored and preserved in a suitable medium such as a tape or a disc, however, the data need not always be guaranteed accurate throughout the fifteen digits and in some cases, it will be sufficient if accuracy is guaranteed for ten digits.
Therefore, when the data are preserved, compression processing, which rounds down or cuts off the data to a suitable digit and compresses the real number data, has been carried out.
On the other hand, the data are different from system to system in accordance with the field in which the processing system is employed, and quite naturally, the significant digits of the data are different in accordance with the field in which they are dealt with.
In a processing system associated with daily accounting, for example, the order of the real number data handled is 10.sup.0 or more but in the field of design requiring ultra-high accuracy such as in an LSI design, the order of the real number data is from to 10.sup.-9 to 10.sup.0.
Furthermore, the real number data in processing in the field of architectural design are in the order of 10.sup.-3 to 10.sup.2.
In other words, it is very important in such a processing system to which position of the order the significant digit should be set because the real number data to be dealt with by the system vary even though a hardware used remains the same. Therefore, softwares have conventionally been so designed as to recognize the data value in the order of to 10.sup.-9 to 10.sup.+2, for example, as the significant digit so that processing can be executed in various fields by the use of the same processing system.
In accordance with the conventional system, however, the significant digit of the real number data has been equally rounded down to a predetermined digit. For example, the real number data used for all the processings are limited to 10 digits from the most significant digit and the data of the other digits are all cut off.
As described above, the significant digit of the real number data used in the processing system varies with the field in which the system is used. Even though no problem is encountered when the real number data up to the tenth digit from the most significant digit are used for the real number data in processing the architectural design, such a method is not sufficient and an accurate design cannot be made in the case of an LSI design when the fifth to fifteenth digits from the most significant digit are used as the significant digits.
When a drawing such as a map is depicted and displayed by the use of a CAD system, the real number data in the order of at most 6 digits are used; hence, it is not necessary to secure ten digits as the significant digits and this is a so-called "over-specification" state.
One of the methods of solving these problems is to change the memory capacity in accordance with the significant digits of the real number data required in the respective fields, but such a method is not an economical processing system because the memory capacity becomes great.

Compression processing method of real number data in processing system and apparatus therefor


The present invention reduces adjacent channel interference for a wireless peripheral device. A direct digital synthesizer generates a waveform having intermediate angular changes during a transition time between symbol intervals. After the transition time, the direct digital synthesizer generates the waveform with an angular value that corresponds to the symbol being transmitted. In an exemplary embodiment, a generated waveform is characterized by one of two designated frequencies in response to a value of an input information bit. The waveform is further characterized by at least one intermediate frequency during a transition time between a change of the designated frequency. Another embodiment of the invention utilizes phase changes rather than frequency changes during reduce adjacent channel interference. With another aspect of the invention, methods are provided to determine waveform parameters for reducing adjacent channel power (ACP) to a maximum level of interference.

With the proliferation of wireless computer peripherals, e.g. keyboards and mice, the possibility of interference of associated wireless communications from other wireless computer peripherals is increased. Typically, a wireless computer peripheral is assigned a wireless channel from a set of wireless channels, in which the wireless computer peripheral transmits to an associated computer through a corresponding interface circuit that is configured with the computer. As an example, a wireless keyboard that is associated with a personal computer (PC) may be assigned a 50 KHz radio frequency (RF) channel centered around 27.145 MHz, while a wireless mouse may be assigned another 50 KHz RF channel centered around 27.195 MHz. Because the transmitted signal on the wireless channel is time-limited, with each information bit being allocated a finite time duration, the power spectrum of the wireless channel may span over a wide frequency range with respect to the assigned wireless channel. Even though the power spectrum typically decreases as a function of the frequency difference from the center frequency of the wireless channel, the residual power in an adjacent wireless channel may be significant. If two wireless devices are in close proximity of each other while operating at adjacent wireless channels, adjacent channel interference may be induced. If the level of interference is great enough (as may be gauged by a bit error rate), data communications between each wireless peripheral device to the associated computer may be degraded and even impaired. Consequently, a user of the computer may experience input errors that may or may not be detected by software that executes on the computer and that processes the inputted information.
In addition, several computers, each having an associated set of wireless peripheral devices, may operate in close proximity of each other. For example, multiple computers are often operating in close proximity of each other in an office environment, where each worker has his or her own personal computer. As with a single computer configuration, a wireless peripheral device that communicates with the same computer as another wireless peripheral device may interfere with the other peripheral device, particularly if the wireless peripheral device is operating on an adjacent wireless channel with respect to the other wireless peripheral device. Moreover, wireless peripheral devices that are associated with different computers may interfere with each, thus degrading data communications for workers in close proximity as is typical in an office environment.
In order to reduce adjacent channel interference, a waveform that is transmitted on a wireless channel is typically shaped by a filter, which may be implemented using analog or digital techniques. By shaping the waveform, the corresponding power spectrum may be reduced in the frequency range of an adjacent wireless channel. However, the inclusion of a filter increases the complexity of a wireless peripheral device and increases cost.
The scenarios that are described heretofore show a real need in the art to provide apparatuses, methods, and computer-readable media that reduce adjacent channel interference so that data communications between a wireless peripheral device and an associated computer is more reliable.


Methods and systems for conjugated authentication and authorization are provided, where two entities are associated through the use of respective conjugated credentials. The credentials of the user and a respective vehicle are both generated in a method that cryptographically binds the two entities and their respective pieces of data together so that the binding of the two entities can be easily verified by a third party without the use of external databases.

In recent years, the awareness of environmental impact in the daily life of the population has taken a renewed interest. It is now common that in the conscience of the population, the carbon print of transportation, together with economic incentives from governments to reduce the purchase price of "green vehicles" has detonated the adoption of green technologies. An example of those green vehicles are electric vehicles and hybrid cars. An electric vehicle (EV) is a car that, generally speaking, has cells or batteries that store energy and use an electric motor for propulsion of the vehicle, implementing regenerative braking to charge the batteries during driving conditions and being capable of being charged by a charging station. Hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) are those which combine an internal combustion engine (which consumes hydrocarbon-based fuel such as gasoline, diesel, natural gas, propane or other) and also has a generator, rechargeable batteries, regenerative braking and an electric motor used for the propulsion of the vehicle. Hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) may or may not use the combustion engine for the propulsion of the car. Hybrid cars are further subdivided in HEVs and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV). In a HEV, the batteries in the vehicle are charged by the generator mechanically connected to the combustion engine and the energy is recovered by the regenerative braking (through the electric motor). In the case of the PHEV, the batteries can be further charged by connecting the vehicle to an external source of electrical power, for example, a power supply or a charging station which uses electricity from the power grid.
For the purpose of this disclosure, where we are concerned with the charging of the batteries on a vehicle by using a public (commercial) charging station, going forward we will refer to the electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles as an electric vehicle EV. With the increase in popularity of EVs, a net of charging stations is starting to proliferate in many cities to accommodate for the increasing demand of users who need to charge the batteries on their vehicles.
Currently, a user has several options to pay at a charging station. For instance, at some stations you can pay using cash, a credit card or a subscription to a chain of charging stations brand is becoming even more popular. With the credit card, a normal security check up is carried to validate the credit card before the transaction is authorized, for example, by requiring the user to enter a personal information number to allow the financial transaction to proceed. In the case of a subscription, the user enters into an agreement with the service provider which is in charge of facilitating the financial transaction between the charging station and the user. The user, after either providing a deposit into an account with the service provider, or by supplying a credit card number and authorization to the service provider to directly charge the credit card, is provided with user credentials that can be used to pay for the charge consumed. The user credentials can be provided to the user by means of a smart card which uses radio-frequency identification (RFID). RFID devices use electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. The tags contain electronically-stored information. Passive tags collect energy from a nearby RFID reader's interrogating radio waves. Another means to provide the user credentials is by providing the user with an application to an electronic device, for example, a mobile device in the form of a cellular phone, or a hand-held device with connectivity to the Internet via WiFi or a cellular network like 3G, 5G, LTE. In addition, the electronic device can also employ other forms of communication which allows for the direct transfer of the user credentials, like the near-field communication (NFC) technology. The electronic device and the application would allow the user, once the user enters a password or uses its biometric authentication (using fingerprint readers, retinal eye scanners, voice recognition systems, hand geometry, facial recognition, etc.), the application transmits the user credentials to the charging station so the purchase of electric charge can be performed.
With the use of a smart card or the application in the electronic device, the cost for the amount of energy used to charge the battery of the EV may be directly transferred into the user's utility account or subscription-based account (i.e. direct billing) or a credit card. Each operator currently provides a smart card which can only be used for the purposes of charging the cost of the electricity consumed with its affiliated charging stations. This poses the problem for the user that, when dealing with more than one charging station operator, an EV user needs to carry several smart cards or, if using an electronic device, it would require the running of multiple applications. However, these cards may be vulnerable to cloning attacks, skimming attacks, eavesdropping, replay attacks, man-in-the-middle attacks etc. If a smart card is cloned, an individual may charge the batteries of an EV or PHEV using the validation data of another valid user's account committing fraud.
FIG. 1 describes a system and apparatus 100 of authorizing charging the batteries of an EV at a charging station in accordance with the prior art. The system 100 comprises an EV 110, a charging station 120 and a service provider 140. The charging station 120 comprises a charging station operator 122 and charging points 124 and 126 are shown. Although in this embodiment the charging station 120 comprises two charging points, it would be evident that the number of charging points can be one or more. The EV 110 is connected to the charging station 120 via the charging point 124. The electrical connection 10 between the EV 110 and the charging point 124 allows for electrical energy to be transferred from the power supply 123 to the batteries of the EV 110, so the batteries of the EV 110 get charged. Regarding electrical connection 10, one of the most common methods to connect the EV 110 to the charging point 124 comprises a cable and a plug (wired connection), there are other methods of transferring the charge that does not require electrical connection 10 to be a physical connection, such as inductive charging (also known as wireless charging or cordless charging). Inductive charging uses an electromagnetic field to transfer energy between an inductor in the charging point 124 and an inductor on the EV 110 through electromagnetic induction.
The charging station operator 122 in charging station 120 provides to the user 130 or the EV 110 with a financial transaction unit 127 to provide a payment method for the energy required to charge the batteries of the EV 110. The financial transaction unit 127 can be in the form of a cash register where cash can be accepted, a smart card radio-frequency identification (RFID) reader device, a credit card unit and other devices that can be used to perform the payment transaction. In the case of using of a credit card, user 130 provides the credit card to the FTU 127 and, if required, enters the personal identification number (PIN). FTU 127 provides the credit card information and PIN number to the charging station operator 122 through communication link 14. The charging station operator 122 sends the credit card information data and PIN number through communication link 17 to a financial institution 150 to validate the credit card of user 130. If the data is properly validated, the financial institution 150 will provide an authorization message through communication link 18 to the charging station operator 122, the charging station operator 122 can authorize the charging operation 10a by issuing a charging instruction through communication link 12 to the power supply 123. The power supply 123 provides the electrical charge through electrical connection 11 to the charging point 124 and the charging point 124 transfers the electrical charge through the electrical connection 10 to the EV 110.
If user 130 employs a subscription-based form of payment, for example: a smart card (with RFID), an electronic device with NFC technology or using an application running on the electronic device, the user 130 provides its user identification data through communication channel 13 to the financial transaction unit 127. The charging station operator 122 receives the user ID data from the FTU 127 through connection 14 and then transfers the user ID data to a service provider 140 through connection 15. The service provider 140 comprises a database with the subscription data and ID data, as well as the financial information related to the user 130. The service provider 140 also comprises a validation processing unit 141 which compares the user ID data received from connection 15 with the contents of its own database to validate the user ID data of user 130. The charging station operator 122 receives an authorization message from service provider 140 through connection 16, which allows the charging station operator 122 to authorize the battery charging operation 10a by issuing a charging instruction through communication link 12 to the power supply 123. The power supply 123 provides the electrical charge through electrical connection 11 to the charging point 124 and charging point 124 transfers the electrical charge through the electrical connection 10 to the EV 110.
If the subscription account of the user 130 requires the service provider 140 to validate or directly charge a credit card related to the user 130, such request and respective authorization is managed through communication link 18 between the service provider 140 and the financial institution 150.
In the example of the prior art, the service provider 140 can comprise an entity that provides services to a chain of charging stations 120, usually associated by sharing the brand name, even though the charging stations can be owned and operated by third parties, which own a franchise, as is the case with conventional gas stations.
Although one charging station 120 is depicted, it would be understood that a service provider 140 can be associated with multiple charging stations (120i to 120n, not shown) in a similar fashion, to support the authentication and authorization functions required by respective charging station operators 122.
The above described prior art allows for any person with the financial means, to charge the EV 110 without any further security verification, which means that if an EV is used by someone without authorization of the associated user 130, the EV 110 can still be charged at the charging stations 120.
Using the prior art security system of payments, a stolen EV could still be charged at the public charging station by the person who stole it by using the regular methods available to purchase energy.
Although existing prior art provides authentication and authorization mechanisms for allowing a user to purchase electrical charge at charging stations, still none of the prior art techniques provide adequate security measures for preventing identity theft of a user account at a charging station, nor preventing an EV or PHEV from being charged in the case that it has been stolen.
Accordingly, there is still the need in the industry for developing alternative authentication and authorization methods which would mitigate shortcomings of the prior art techniques.


A magnetic disk medium of a discrete track recording (DTR) structure and a disk drive using the magnetic disk medium are disclosed. The magnetic disk medium of the DTR structure has positional-error detection servo patterns in a servo region, the positional-error detection servo patterns being formed of null servo patterns. This enables magnetic regions included in the servo region to occupy substantially 50% of the area of the servo region.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disk drive, and more particularly to a disk drive utilizing a magnetic disk medium of a DTR structure.
2. Description of the Related Art
Attention has recently been paid to a magnetic disk medium (hereinafter referred to simply as "the disk medium") as a patterned medium of a discrete track recording (DTR).
The disk medium of the DTR structure comprises a first surface section effective as a magnetic recording section, and a second surface section ineffective as the magnetic recording section (see, for example, Jpn. Pat. Apple. KOKAI Publication No. 8-293110). The first surface section is a projected magnetic region on which a magnetic film is provided. The second surface section is a non-magnetic region or depressed magnetic-recording-incapable region. Namely, the second section, which is a depressed section, is configured as substantially a non-magnetic region even if a magnetic film is provided thereon.
In this type of disk medium, servo regions with servo data recorded therein can be embedded in the surface of the medium, without using a standard servo track writer.
The servo data contains, as well as sector address data and track address data, servo pattern data for detecting a positional error in a track (this may hereinafter be referred to as error detection servo pattern). The error detection servo pattern includes a servo pattern called a null servo pattern, as well as a burst servo pattern (see, for example, PCT National Publication No. 2002-516450).
The null servo pattern enables the formatting efficiency of each sector on a disk medium to be improved, and enables the total area of the servo regions on the medium to be reduced. The null servo pattern contains a synchronization region and a positional error region, and can acquire, using an asynchronous digital decoder, a positional error signal without being synchronized with a read signal.
The null servo pattern is written on a disk medium by a servo track writer. On the other hand, in disks of the DTR structure, conventional burst servo patterns are generally embedded.
In disks of the DTR structure, however, it is not easy to embed servo patterns in a disk by a transfer forming method, since the ratio of the entire area of the data regions to that of the servo patterns is high. More specifically, it is difficult to apply uniform pressure during a transfer forming process and hence to form uniform servo patterns. As a result, the accuracy of head positioning using the resultant servo patterns may well be degraded.

Disk drive using magnetic disk medium of discrete track recording


An image with sufficient gray-scale representation and high resolution is formed on a medium to be recorded, such as an intermediate transfer body, using a thermal printer employing thermal transfer ink. When thermal transfer ink of a thermal transfer ink ribbon 18 is thermally transferred onto an intermediate transfer body 12 by a thermal head 14, gray-scale values of pixels of a filter image having a threshold value pattern used to determine whether each of a plurality of pixels of an original image is an object to be printed, based on gray-scale values of the pixels, are compared with the gray-scale values of the pixels of the original image, and then the gray-scale values of the pixels of the original image are converted based on the result of the comparison. A gray-scale conversion table in which energy applied to the pixels at the time of printing is prescribed corresponding to the gray-scale values of the pixels is compared with the converted gray-scale values of the pixels of the original image, and the converted gray-scale values of the pixels of the original image are further converted on the basis of the result of the comparison. In addition, the application of a current to the thermal head 14 is controlled according to the converted gray-scale values of the pixels of the original image.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming method and an image forming apparatus, and more particularly, to an image forming method that forms images by thermally transferring, for example, ink of a thermal transfer ink ribbon onto a medium to be recorded and then by recording the images by transferring the images onto the medium using heat and pressure, and to an image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in representing a multi-gradation using a color material, such as a thermal transfer ink ribbon or an ordinary thermal paper, on which only two gray-scale values per unit pixel can be represented in a thermal printer for forming images by controlling the intensity of a current passing through a thermal head, the images with the multi-gradation are obtained through a halftoning process, such as a dither method or an error diffusion method. However, the dither method has a disadvantage in that a dither matrix becomes large and the resolution becomes lowered as the number of gray-scale values to be desired increases. In addition, the error diffusion method has been used for a line thermal printer (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-86786). However, the error diffusion method is not common for a thermal printer has a great effect of accumulated heat on a thermal head.
In addition, there has been proposed a method of representing a multi-gradation by controlling an area per dot recorded on a recording medium, using a print system including an ink ribbon having an adjusted application thickness of ink, a recording medium having a substrate and a porous-surface layer formed on the substrate, the porous-surface layer having a specific range in size, a thermal head provided with a plurality of heating resistors formed in a line at regular intervals, temperature gradient of each of the heated heating resistors being such that temperature is the highest at a middle portion thereof and becomes lower toward ends thereof, and a gray-scale control circuit for controlling ink fusion areas heated by the heating resistors by controlling the intensity of a current passing through the thermal head (see Japanese Patent No. 2850930 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-85171) This method enables multi-gradation images with higher resolution and higher quality as compared to the dither method. However, the method has a restricted application to only a special porous recording medium.
On the other hand, a method of forming images on a variety of recording media by first forming the images on an intermediate transfer medium having an image receiving layer and an adhesive layer and then by transferring the images on a recording medium using heat and pressure has already been put to a practical use (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-79765) According to this method, there is no effect on the intermediate transfer medium even if the recording medium is changed. Also, since this method may consider only transferability of the images onto the recording medium, it allows formation of the images on various kinds of recording media as compared to a direct printing method. In addition, in this method, since a heat roller made of soft heat-resistant rubber is used to transfer the image onto the recording medium, it is possible to form the images on a recording medium having more or less unevenness.
In addition, there has been proposed a melt type color thermal transfer recording method in which a thermal head having a plurality of heating elements arranged therein in a main scanning direction is used, a recording paper moves relative to the thermal head at least in a sub-scanning direction vertical to the main scanning direction, driving of each of the heating elements is controlled during the relative movement, the length of ink dots in the-sub scanning direction changes depending on the density of pixels to be recorded, and a halftone color image is recorded on the recording paper by cyan, magenta, and yellow ink dots, wherein at least cyan and magenta are so arranged as to be different in their densities of pixels in the sub-scanning direction (see Japanese Patent No. 2577115 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 5-116356). This method can prevent the variation of the color tone of images and the occurrence of pattern moirs due to any deviation of color registration in the sub scanning direction.
However, the porous-surface layer is required to be formed on a surface of the recording medium in order to form the images by the dot area gradation. On the other hand, in the method of forming the images using the intermediate transfer medium, the porous-surface layer is not formed since an intermediate transfer layer to be transferred must be transparent and smooth. Accordingly, in the method of forming the images using the intermediate transfer medium, the images must be formed using a sublimation thermal transfer method that can represent gradation for each dot or the dither method or the error diffusion method using the thermal transfer ink ribbon, or must be formed on the smooth intermediate transfer layer by unstable and variable narrow dot area gradation. In addition, in this method, when the dot gradation is recorded on the intermediate transfer medium having no porous-surface layer, dots are formed with weak printing energy when forming images at low density. Accordingly, it is difficult to form the dots reliably, unstable spots may occur in the images, and images having granularity may occur. Moreover, since the images are apt to be affected by deviation of characteristics of the thermal head, irregularity of sensitivity of the intermediate transfer medium, environments, such as ambient temperature, it is difficult to achieve high-quality images.
The sublimation thermal transfer method can obtain a smooth gradation characteristic and allows images to be formed with high precision since this method does not require an area gradation by a dot modulation. However, since dye-based ink is used in this method, a problem may occur in the durability of the dye due to mismatch with the recording medium, thus requiring to choose a proper recording medium.
In addition, in the method in which at least cyan and magenta are arranged so as to be different in their densities of pixels in the sub-scanning direction, since the density of images is represented by varying the length of dots, the number of gray-scale values is too small to record images of photographic quality, and accordingly, it is difficult to achieve high-quality images.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to form images on a medium to be recorded with sufficient gradation representation and high resolution using thermal transfer ink.

Image forming method and image forming apparatus