Author: claimsbot

1.-16. (canceled)
17. A collision protection device for a patient examination table of a medical X-ray device, comprising:
a protective element made of an X-ray transparent material that mechanically shields at least a part of the patient examination table.
18. The collision protection device as claimed in claim 17, wherein the protective element is transparent.
19. The collision protection device as claimed in claim 17, further comprising a securing element that couples the collision protection device to the patient examination table.
20. The collision protection device as claimed in claim 17, further comprising a stand or a base.
21. The collision protection device as claimed in claim 17, wherein the protective element is a longitudinally sectioned cylinder.
22. The collision protection device as claimed in claim 17, wherein the protective element is a cylinder.
23. The collision protection device as claimed in claim 17, wherein the protective element is an elliptical paraboloid, a half-ellipsoid, or a half-sphere.
24. The collision protection device as claimed in claim 17, wherein the protective element is made from plastic.
25. The collision protection device as claimed in claim 17, wherein the protective element is coated with a flexible material.
26. The collision protection device as claimed in claim 25, wherein the flexible material is a foam material.
27. The collision protection device as claimed in claim 17, wherein the protective element is moved by a motor.
28. The collision protection device as claimed in claim 17, further comprising a collision sensor.
29. The collision protection device as claimed in claim 28, wherein the collision sensor is arranged in a feeler.
30. The collision protection device as claimed in claim 17, further comprising a signal output device.
31. A patient examination table of a medical X-ray device, comprising:
a collision protection device; and
a protective element made of an X-ray transparent material and arranged on the collision protection device that mechanically shields at least a part of the patient examination table.
32. An X-ray device, comprising:
a movable robotic arm;
an X-ray emitter arranged on the movable robotic arm;
an X-ray detector arranged on the movable robotic arm;
a patient examination table;
a collision protection device; and
a protective element made of an X-ray transparent material and arranged on the collision protection device that mechanically shields at least a part of the patient examination table against the movable robotic arm.
33. The X-ray device as claimed in claim 32, wherein the robotic arm is a C-arm and the X-ray emitter and the X-ray detector are disposed at opposite ends of the C-arm.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

1. An electric device, comprising:
a connector that is configured to couple to an external device;
a power supply unit that is configured to supply electric power to the external device via the connector;
a connection-detection unit that is configured to detect whether the external device is coupled to the connector; and,
a control unit that is configured to control electric power supplied to the power supply unit from a battery so as to increase electric power supplied to the power supply unit when the connection-detection unit detects that the external device is coupled to the connector.
2. The electric device of claim 1, wherein
the connector comprises a power supply terminal;
the connection-detection unit is configured to detect that the external device is coupled to the connector based on a voltage change in the power supply terminal; and,
the control unit is configured to increase electric power supplied to the power supply unit when the connection-detection unit detects that the external device is coupled to the connector.
3. The electric device of claim 1, wherein
the connector comprises a power supply terminal; and,
the power supply unit is configured to supply electric power to the external device so as to keep a voltage of the power supply terminal constant when a value of a current that flows to the connector is within a specified range.
4. The electric device of claim 3, wherein,
the power supply unit is configured to reduce a voltage of the power supply terminal and limit the value of the current that flows to the connector to a specified upper limit or below when the value of the current that flows to the connector reaches the upper limit.
5. The electric device of claim 1, wherein
the control unit is configured to either reduce or block electric power supplied to the power supply unit when a value of a current that flows to the connector is equal to or above a specified lower limit.
6. The electric device of claim 1, wherein
the electric device comprises a voltage-detection unit that is configured to detect a value of a battery voltage of the battery,
the control unit is configured to perform a specified protective operation when the value of the battery voltage detected by the voltage-detection unit is equal to or below the overdischarge threshold value and to set the overdischarged threshold value in accordance with a result of detection by the connection-detection unit.
7. The electric device of claim 6, wherein
the control unit is configured to notify information related to the battery voltage via a notification unit when the value of the battery voltage detected by the voltage-detection unit is equal to or below the overdischarge threshold value.
8. The electric device of claim 7, wherein
the control unit is configured to set the overdischarge threshold value in accordance with a result of detection by the connection-detection unit such that the overdischarge threshold value while the external device is coupled to the connector is set smaller than the overdischarge threshold value while the external device is not coupled to the connector.
9. The electric device of claim 7, wherein,
the control unit is configured to continue notification via the notification unit until at least one of a first condition and a second condition is satisfied after the value of the battery voltage detected by the voltage-detection unit has become equal to or below the overdischarge threshold value, the first condition being a condition that the value of the battery voltage reaches a set value smaller than the overdischarge threshold value, and, the second condition being a condition that a specified time elapses.
10. The electric device of claim 1, wherein
the control unit is configured to light a light emitting unit in accordance with a preset timing when the connection-detection unit detects that the external device is not coupled to the connector.
11. The electric device of claim 10, comprising an oscillationimpact detection unit that is configured to detect at least either an oscillation or an impact applied to the electric device,
wherein the control unit is configured to light the light emitting unit in accordance with a preset timing for a given length of time when either one of an oscillation or an impact is detected by the oscillationimpact detection unit.
12. The electric device of claim 10, comprising:
a luminance detection unit that is configured to detect a value of luminance surrounding the electric device,
wherein the control unit is configured to light the light emitting unit in accordance with a preset timing when the value of surrounding luminance detected by the luminance detection unit is equal to or below a specified value.
13. The electric device of claim 1, comprising:
a grip portion that is configured to provide a grip for a user; and,
the battery,
wherein the connector is disposed between the grip portion and the battery.
14. The electric device of claim 13, comprising a power-consumption unit that is configured to consume electric power of the battery and disposed on a side of the grip portion opposite to a side where the battery is provided.
15. A method of controlling an electric device that comprises a connector that is configured to be coupled to an external device; and, a power supply unit that is configured to supply electrical power to the external device via the connector, the method comprising:
detecting whether the external device is coupled to the connector; and,
controlling electric power supplied to the power supply unit from a battery so as to increase electric power supplied to the power supply unit when it is detected that the external device is coupled to the connector.

1. A method for the correction of average brightness or brightness uniformity variations in OLED displays, comprising:
a) providing an OLED display having one or more light-emitting elements responsive to a multi-valued input signal for causing the light-emitting elements to emit light at a plurality of brightness levels;
b) measuring the brightness of each light-emitting element at two or more, but fewer than all possible, different input signal values;
c) employing the measured brightness values to estimate a maximum input signal value at which the light-emitting element will not emit more than a predefined minimum brightness and the rate at which the brightness of the light-emitting element increases above the predefined minimum brightness in response to increases in the value of the input signal; and
d) using the estimated maximum input signal value at which the light-emitting element will not emit light more than the predefined minimum brightness and the rate at which the brightness of the light-emitting element increases above the predefined minimum brightness in response to increases in the value of the input signal to modify the input signal to a corrected input signal to correct the light output of the light-emitting elements.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the predefined minimum brightness is zero.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the modification of the input signal to a corrected input signal comprises a linear transformation.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein the modification of the input signal to a corrected input signal is performed with an adder andor a multiplier.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the OLED display has more than one light-emitting element and the corrected input signal improves the brightness uniformity of the OLED display.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the OLED display is a color display comprising light-emitting elements of multiple colors.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the white point of the display is adjusted by adjusting the input signal modifications for each light-emitting element to modify the average brightness of the display for each color of light.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the input signal modifications for each light-emitting element are adjusted to modify the average brightness of the display.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein maximum input signal values at which the light-emitting elements will not emit light above the predefined minimum brightness and rates at which the brightness of the light-emitting elements increase above the predefined minimum brightness in response to increases in the value of the input signal that have been estimated based on the brightness values of light-emitting elements measured at only two different input signal values are employed to modify the input signal to a corrected input signal for the entire range of the multi-valued input signal to correct the light output of the light-emitting elements.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein the brightness of each light-emitting element is measured at more than two different input signal values and the measurements are combined to estimate the maximum input signal value at which the light-emitting element does not emit light above the predefined minimum brightness and the rate at which the brightness of the light-emitting element increases above the predefined minimum brightness in response to increases in the value of the input signal.
11. The method of claim 1, wherein the brightness of each light-emitting element is measured at more than two different input signal values and each consecutive pair of measurements are combined to estimate the maximum input signal value at which the light-emitting element does not emit light above a predefined minimum brightness and the rate at which the brightness of the light-emitting element increases above a predefined minimum brightness in response to increases in the value of the input signal for each pair, and the estimated values are applied for modification of input signals in each measurement range.
12. The method of claim 1, wherein the estimated maximum input signal value at which the light-emitting element will not emit light above a predefined minimum brightness and the rate at which the brightness of the light-emitting element increases above a predefined minimum brightness in response to increases in the value of the input signal for each light-emitting element are stored as correction values within a lookup table.
13. The method of claim 12, wherein the correction values for each light-emitting element are stored together at single address locations of the lookup table.
14. The method of claim 1, wherein the input and corrected input signals are digital signals.
15. The method of claim 14, wherein the corrected input signal has more bits than the input signal.
16. The method of claim 14 wherein the maximum input signal value at which the light-emitting element will not emit more than a predefined minimum brightness is stored with a first number of bits and the rate at which the brightness of the light-emitting element increases above the predefined minimum brightness in response to increases in the value of the input signal is stored at a second number of bits, and wherein the first and second number of bits are different.
17. The method of claim 1 wherein the maximum input signal value at which the light-emitting element will not emit more than a predefined minimum brightness is stored as a difference from a mean value andor the rate at which the brightness of the light-emitting element increases above the predefined minimum brightness in response to increases in the value of the input signal is stored as a difference from a mean value.
18. The method of claim 1, wherein either or both of the input and corrected input signals are analog signals.
19. The method of claim 1, further comprising a conversion to convert the measurements andor input signals into a linear space before the estimations andor modifications are performed.
20. The method of claim 19, wherein a common conversion into a linear space is performed for all light emitting elements.
21. The method of claim 20, further comprising the steps of calculating the conversion by:
a) measuring the brightness of the light-emitting elements at three or more input signal values;
b) fitting an equation to match the measured brightness values;
c) selecting a desired maximum brightness level at a desired input signal value; and
d) creating an input signal conversion employing the equation and the desired maximum brightness level at a desired input signal value to convert the input signal to a converted input signal having a linear relationship between input signal value and brightness and a maximum brightness level at the desired input signal value.
22. The method of claim 21, wherein the brightness values measured for calculating the conversion are average brightness values of the light emitting elements.
23. The method of claim 19, wherein the OLED display is a color display comprising light-emitting elements of multiple colors and separate common conversions are made for input signals for each color of light-emitting element.
24. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting the two or more different input signal values by driving at least one light emitting element at a first input signal value and then increasing or decreasing the input signal value until the measured brightness reaches a maximum or minimum measured value, and employing the input signal value corresponding to the maximum or minimum measured value as the larger or smaller of the two-or-more different input signal values.
25. The method of claim 24, wherein the OLED display is a color display comprising light-emitting elements of multiple colors and independently selecting two-or-more different input signal values for each color of light-emitting element.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

1. A direct-methanol fuel cell comprising:
an anode, into which an aqueous methanol solution is introduced as a fuel;
a cathode, into which oxidizing gas is introduced;
an electrolyte membrane interposed between the anode and the cathode;
an anode separator which is disposed on the anode side and formed with a fuel passage on a surface opposite the anode;
a cathode separator which is disposed on the cathode side and formed with an oxidizing gas passage on a surface opposite the cathode;
an anode frame seal member disposed in such a manner as to surround the fuel passage between the anode and the anode separator; and
a cathode frame seal member disposed in such a manner as to surround the oxidizing gas passage between the cathode and the cathode separator,
wherein the each seal member is fixed to the each separator, and
the each seal member comprises an ionic polymer represented by the following formula (I).
Where R1 represents a COOH group or an H2PO4 group, the M ion represents Mg2+, Ca2+ or Al3+, m is an integer of 1 to 30 and n is an integer of 10 to 80.
2. The fuel cell of claim 1, wherein m in the formula (I) is 1 to 20.
3. The fuel cell of claim 1, wherein the anode frame seal member is formed by applying a solution containing the ionic polymer to the surface of the anode separator on the side of the fuel passage, followed by drying and the cathode frame seal member is formed by applying a solution containing the ionic polymer to the surface of the cathode separator on the side of the oxidizing gas passage, followed by drying.