Author: claimsbot

1. A film forming apparatus which forms a film on a long substrate, the apparatus comprising:
a film forming unit;
a transport unit which transports the long substrate;
a supply portion which supplies an inspection substrate onto the long substrate; and
a substrate recovery portion which recovers the inspection substrate that was placed on the long substrate and that has a film formed thereon by the film forming unit.
2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the long substrate is a conductive substrate.
3. The apparatus according to claim 1, comprising a plurality of film forming units including said film forming unit.
4. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the plurality of film forming units are controlled so that a film is formed on the inspection substrate by one film forming unit selected from the plurality of film forming units.
5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transport unit is configured to transport the long substrate by a roll-to-roll scheme, and the recovery portion recovers the inspection substrate fallen by a self weight thereof.

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 device for a vehicle for estimating a friction coefficient of a road surface, comprising:
first parameter-acquiring means for finding a first parameter indicating a driving behavior of the vehicle;
second parameter-acquiring means for finding a second parameter corresponding to the first parameter, with a different method from that of the first parameter-acquiring means;
correlation coefficient computing means for statistically computing a coefficient of correlation between the first and second parameters;
population correlation coefficient computing means for computing a correlation coefficient of a current population of the correlation coefficients computed by the correlation coefficient computing means based on a previously computed correlation coefficient of the population; and
friction coefficient of a road surface estimating means for estimating a friction coefficient of the road surface on the basis of the correlation coefficients of the population.
2. The device for estimating a friction coefficient of a road surface according to claim 1, wherein the first and second parameters comprise wheel accelerations of left and right wheels disposed on one of a front side and a rear side of the vehicle.
3. The device for estimating a friction coefficient of a road surface according to claim 2, wherein the first and second parameters comprise values from which variation components of corresponding wheel speeds due to a driving operation of the vehicle are excluded.
4. The device for estimating a friction coefficient of a road surface according to claim 1, wherein the first parameter comprises a longitudinal acceleration computed from a driving force and a braking force of the vehicle, and the second parameter comprises a longitudinal acceleration which is one of computed from a vehicle speed and detected by a longitudinal acceleration sensor.
5. The device for estimating a friction coefficient of a road surface according to claim 1, wherein the first parameter comprises a yaw rate determined by substituting necessary parameters into an equation of state of a kinetic model of a vehicle motion, and the second parameter comprises a yaw rate detected by a yaw rate sensor.
6. The device for estimating a friction coefficient of a road surface according to claim 1, wherein the first parameter comprises a lateral acceleration determined by substituting necessary parameters into an equation of state of a kinetic model of a vehicle motion, and the second parameter comprises a lateral acceleration detected by a lateral acceleration sensor.
7. The device for estimating a friction coefficient of a road surface according to claim 1, wherein the first parameter comprises a yaw rate determined from a vehicle speed and a lateral acceleration detected by a lateral acceleration sensor, and the second parameter comprises a yaw rate detected by a yaw rate sensor.
8. The device for estimating a friction coefficient of a road surface according to claim 1, wherein the first parameter comprises a lateral acceleration determined from a vehicle speed and a yaw rate detected by a yaw rate sensor, and the second parameter comprises a lateral acceleration detected by a lateral acceleration sensor.
9. The device for estimating a friction coefficient of a road surface according to claim 1, wherein the correlation coefficient computing means computes a correlation coefficient by dividing a sum of products of deviations of the first and second parameters by a square root of a product of sums of squared deviations of the first and second parameters.
10. The device for estimating a friction coefficient of a road surface according to claim 1, wherein the friction coefficient on road surface estimating means estimates the friction coefficient on road surface in a variable manner in accordance with a running state of the vehicle.
11. The device for estimating a friction coefficient of a road surface according to claim 1, wherein the friction coefficient of the road surface estimating means sets a determining threshold value for previously determining the friction coefficient on road surface and estimates the friction coefficient on road surface by comparing the determining threshold value with the coefficient of correlation of the population.
12. The device for estimating a friction coefficient of a road surface according to claim 11, wherein the determining threshold value sets a value varying in accordance with a running state of the vehicle.
13. The device for estimating a friction coefficient of a road surface according to claim 1, wherein
the population correlation coefficient computing means estimates upper and lower limits of the correlation coefficient of the population on the basis of the correlation coefficients computed by the correlation coefficient computing means, and
a correlation coefficient of a current population of correlation coefficients is computed based on the previously computed correlation coefficient of the population, the upper and lower limits, and the correlation coefficients computed by the correlation coefficient computing means.
14. A device for a vehicle for estimating a friction coefficient of a road surface, comprising:
first pararmeter-acquiring means for finding a first parameter indicating a driving behavior of the vehicle;
second parameter-acquiring means for finding a second parameter corresponding to the first parameter, with a different method from that of the first parameter-acquiring means;
correlation coefficient computing means for statistically computing a coefficient of correlation between the first and second parameters;
population correlation computing means for computing a correlation coefficient of a population of the correlation coefficients computed by the correlation coefficient computing means; and
friction coefficient of a road surface estimating means for estimating a friction coefficient of the road surface on the basis of the correlation coefficients of the population,
wherein the population correlation coefficient computing means estimates upper and lower limits of the correlation coefficient of the population in a predetermined manner on the basis of the correlation coefficients computed by the correlation coefficient computing means, wherein the correlation coefficient of the population of a previous time is compared and limited with the upper and lower limits, and a current correlation coefficient of the population is computed based on at least a correlation coefficient computed by the correlation coefficient computing means.
15. The device for estimating a friction coefficient of a road surface according to claim 14, wherein the population correlation computing takes into account a running state of the vehicle and an acquiring state of the parameters, upon computing the correlation coefficient of the population of this time.

1. A time authentication system that uses, as a recording time, a time authenticated by a time authentication authority when recording a call between a plurality of terminal devices each having a voice communication function, wherein each terminal device of said plurality of terminal devices comprises:
means for requesting said time authentication authority to issue a unique background sound data that is determined by said time authentication authority when said time authentication authority receives a request, the unique background sound data being difficult for those other than said time authentication authority to conjecture beforehand;
means for storing the unique background sound data received from said time authentication authority and an electronic certificate electronically signed by adding a first time stamp to a hash of said unique background sound data;
means for reproducing a unique background sound from the unique background sound data;
means for mixing a voice to a terminal device of the plurality of terminal device with the reproduced unique background sound to generate a mixed sound;
means for performing a transmission of the mixed sound to another terminal device of the plurality of terminal devices;
means for recording said call including voices of speakers and the unique background sound from the terminal and the another terminal;
means for storing said call as voice data when finishing recording said call;
means for calculating a hash of said voice data and requesting the time authentication of said voice data of said time authentication authority; and
means for storing a second electronic certificate issued by said time authentication authority, said second electronic certificate electronically signed by adding a second time stamp to the hash of said voice data.
2. A time authentication system according to claim 1, wherein said plurality of terminal devices each perform any one of reverberation mixing and nonlinear mixing to said call and said unique background sound.
3. A time authentication system according to claim 2, wherein said plurality of terminal devices each communicate, by voice, an identifier issued by said time authentication authority, which uniquely corresponds to said unique background sound and is difficult for those other than said time authentication authority to conjecture beforehand, to an other terminal device of the plurality of terminal devices at last part of said call and confirm a repetition of said identifier from said other terminal device, thereby shortening a time available for alteration of a recorded voice.
4. A time authentication system according to claim 1, wherein said plurality of terminal devices each communicate, by voice, an identifier issued by said time authentication authority, which uniquely corresponds to said unique background sound and is difficult for those other than said time authentication authority to conjecture beforehand, to an other terminal device of the plurality of terminal devices at a last part of said call and confirm a repetition of said identifier from said other terminal device, thereby shortening a time available for alteration of a recorded voice.
5. A terminal device having a voice communication function and adapted to use, as a recording time, a time authenticated by a time authentication authority, when recording a call with another terminal device having a voice communication function, said terminal device comprising:
means for requesting said time authentication authority to issue a unique background sound data that is determined by said time authentication authority when said time authentication authority receives a request, the unique background sound data being difficult for those other than said time authentication authority to conjecture beforehand;
means for storing the unique background sound data received from said time authentication authority and a first electronic certificate electronically signed by adding a first time stamp to a hash of said unique background sound data;
means for reproducing a unique background sound from the unique background sound data;
means for mixing a voice to the terminal device with the reproduced unique background sound to generate a mixed sound;
means for performing a transmission of the mixed sound to the another terminal device;
means for recording said call including voices of speakers and the unique background sound from the terminal device and the another terminal device;
means for storing said call as voice data when finishing recording said call;
means for calculating a hash of said voice data and requesting the time authentication of said voice data of said time authentication authority; and
means for storing a second electronic certificate issued by said time authentication authority, said second electronic certificate electronically signed by adding a second time stamp to the hash of said voice data.
6. A terminal device according to claim 5, further comprising performing one of reverberation mixing and nonlinear mixing to said call and said unique background sound.
7. A terminal device according to claim 6, further comprising:
communicating, by voice, an identifier issued by said time authentication authority, which uniquely corresponds to said unique background sound and is difficult for those other than said time authentication authority to conjecture beforehand, to said another terminal device at a last part of said call; and
confirming a repetition of said identifier from said another terminal device, thereby shortening a time available for alteration of a recorded voice.
8. A terminal device according to claim 5, further comprising:
communicating, by voice, an identifier issued by said time authentication authority, which uniquely corresponds to said unique background sound data, to said another terminal device at a last part of said call; and
confirming a repetition of said identifier from said another terminal device, thereby shortening a time available for alteration of a recorded voice.
9. A time authentication method for conversation voice data for use in a time authentication system that uses, as a recording time, a time authenticated by a time authentication authority when recording a call between a plurality of terminal devices each having a voice communication function, wherein, in said time authentication method for conversation voice data, said plurality of terminal devices each execute a method comprising:
requesting said time authentication authority to issue a unique background sound data that is determined by said time authentication authority when said time authentication authority receives a request, the unique background sound data being is difficult for those other than said time authentication authority to conjecture beforehand;
storing the unique background sound data received from said time authentication authority and a first electronic certificate electronically signed by adding a first time stamp to a hash of said unique background sound data;
reproducing a unique background sound from the unique background sound data;
mixing a voice to a terminal device of the plurality of terminal devices with the reproduced unique background sound to generate a mixed sound;
performing a transmission of the mixed sound to another terminal device of the plurality of terminal devices;
recording said call including voices of speakers and the unique background sound from the terminal device and the another terminal device;
storing said call as voice data when finishing recording said call;
calculating a hash of said voice data and requesting the time authentication of said voice data said time authentication authority; and
storing a second electronic certificate issued by said time authentication authority, said second electronic certificate electronically signed by adding a second time stamp to the hash of said voice data.
10. A time authentication method for conversation voice data according to claim 9, wherein said plurality of terminal devices each perform any one of reverberation mixing and nonlinear mixing to said call and said unique background sound.
11. A time authentication method for conversation voice data according to claim 10, wherein said plurality of terminal devices each communicate, by voice, an identifier issued by said time authentication authority, which uniquely corresponds to said unique background sound and is difficult for those other than said time authentication authority to conjecture beforehand, to an other terminal device of the plurality of terminal devices at the last part of said call and confirm a repetition of said identifier from said other terminal device, thereby shortening a time available for alteration of a recorded voice.
12. A time authentication method for conversation voice data according to claim 9, wherein said plurality of terminal devices each communicate, by voice, an identifier issued by said time authentication authority, which uniquely corresponds to said unique background sound data, to an other terminal device of the plurality of terminal devices at a last part of said call and confirm a repetition of said identifier from said other terminal device, thereby shortening a time available for alteration of a recorded voice.
13. A non-transitory computer readable storage device for storing a program for a time authentication method for conversation voice data for use in a time authentication system that uses, as a recording time, a time authenticated by a time authentication authority when recording a call between a plurality of terminal devices each having a voice communication function, said program causing a computer of each terminal device of said plurality of terminal devices to execute an instruction control method, the method comprising:
requesting said time authentication authority to issue a unique background sound data that is determined by said time authentication authority when said time authentication authority receives a request, the unique background sound data being is difficult for those other than said time authentication authority to conjecture beforehand;
storing the unique background sound data received from said time authentication authority and a first electronic certificate electronically signed by adding a first time stamp to a hash of said unique background sound data;
reproducing a unique background sound from the unique background sound data;
mixing a voice to a terminal device of the plurality of terminal devices with the reproduced unique background sound to generate a mixed sound;
performing a transmission of the mixed sound to another terminal device of the plurality of terminal devices;
recording said call including voices of speakers and the unique background sound from the terminal device and the another terminal device;
storing said call as voice data when finishing recording said call;
calculating a hash of said voice data and requesting the time authentication of said voice data of said time authentication authority; and
storing a second electronic certificate issued by said time authentication authority, said second electronic certificate electronically signed by adding a second time stamp to the hash of said voice data.
14. A voice recording system that uses, as a recording time, a time authenticated by a time authentication authority and records a call between a plurality of users, the voice recording system comprising:
first and second terminal devices adapted to be connected to each other through a network,
wherein the first and second terminal devices each comprise:
means for requesting to said time authentication authority a unique background sound data that is determined by said time authentication authority when said time authentication authority receives a request, the unique background sound data being difficult for those other than said time authentication authority to conjecture beforehand;
means for storing the unique background sound data received from said time authentication authority and an electronic certificate electronically signed by adding a first time stamp to a hash of said unique background sound data;
means for reproducing a unique background sound from the unique background sound data;
means for mixing a voice to the first terminal with the reproduced unique background sound to generate a mixed sound;
means for performing a transmission of the mixed sound to the second terminal;
means for recording said call including voices of speakers and the unique background sound from the first terminal and the second terminal;
means for storing said call as voice data when finishing recording said call,
means for calculating a hash of said voice data and requesting the time authentication of said voice data of said time authentication authority; and
means for storing a second electronic certificate issued by said time authentication authority, said second electronic certificate electronically signed by adding a second time stamp to the hash of said voice data.
15. The time authentication system according to claim 14, wherein, when the recording of said call begins, the electronic certificate is electronically signed.

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 display correction method for a vehicle navigation system, the vehicle navigation system including a gyroscope, a display screen and an e-map database, the gyroscope generating an angle of driving direction, the e-map database including plural road links, the display correction method displaying a sign, which is indicative of a vehicle, on a display location of the display screen, the display correction method comprising the steps of:
(A) extracting a current display location;
(B) reading both a first road link corresponding to the current display location and at least one second road links connected to the first road link from the e-map database;
(C) extracting a next vehicle location;
(D) selecting road links which have a distance smaller than a first specific distance from the next vehicle location, from the first and second road links to thereby generate a first set of road links;
(E) if the first set of road links contains one or more road links, setting the angle of driving direction generated by the gyroscope to become a next angle of driving direction;
(F) selecting road links which have an angle difference smaller than a first specific angle from the next angle of driving direction, from the first set of road links to thereby generate a second set of road links;
(G) if the second set of road links contains the one or more road links, computing vertical distances from the next vehicle locations to each of the one or more road links in the second set of road links, selecting a road link with a shortest vertical distance, and setting a projection point of the next vehicle location on the road link with the shortest vertical distance to become a next corrected location; and
(H) displaying the sign, which is indicative of the vehicle, on the display screen at a next display location which indicates a position of the display screen corresponding to the next corrected location.
2. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the steps:
(G1) if step (F) determines that the second set of road links does not contain one or more road links, computing a weight W respectively for the first and second road links in step (B), where the weight W is a function W=f(R,\u0394\u03b8), for R indicates a vertical distance from the next vehicle location to a road link and \u0394\u03b8 indicates an angle difference between the angle of driving direction and the road link;
(G2) selecting road links which have a distance smaller than a second specific distance from the next vehicle location, from the first and second road links to thereby generate a third set of road links, the second specific distance being greater than the first specific distance;
(G3) selecting road links which have an angle difference smaller than a second specific angle from the next angle of driving direction, from the third set of road links to thereby generate a fourth set of road links, and determining if the fourth set of road links contains one or more road links; and
(G4) if step (G3) determines that the fourth set of road links contains one or more road links, selecting one with a smallest weight, setting a projection point of the next vehicle location on the road link with the smallest weight to become the next corrected location, and executing step (H).
3. The method as claimed in claim 2, further comprising the step: (G31) if step (G3) determines that the fourth set of road links does not contain any road link, setting the next vehicle location to become the next corrected location, and executing step (H).
4. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein steps (G1) to (G4) are executed if step (D) determines that the first set of road links does not contain any road link.
5. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the weight W is computed by an equation:
W=(0.5\xd7R25)+(0.5\xd7\u0394\u03b8180).
6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the vehicle navigation system further comprises a global position system (GPS), which is implemented on the vehicle in order to receive plural satellite signals and accordingly generate data of GPS coordinates, a velocity and a GPS quality indicator; and a velocity measurement device, which is implemented on the vehicle in order to measure a driven speed of the vehicle and accordingly generate a velocity signal; wherein when the GPS quality indicator contains a value smaller than a first specific value, the next vehicle location in step (C) is computed based on the velocity signal generated by the velocity measurement device and the angle of driving direction generated by the gyroscope.
7. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the GPS further generates data of a head angle such that when the GPS quality indicator contains the value greater than or equal to the first specific value and the velocity exceeds a first specific velocity, the data of the head angle of the GPS for correcting the angle of driving direction generated by the gyroscope is computed to thereby generate a corrected angle, and the next angle of driving direction in step (E) is set by adding the corrected angle to the angle of driving direction generated by the gyroscope.
8. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein when the GPS quality indicator contains the value greater than or equal to the first specific value and the velocity exceeds a second specific velocity, the data of the velocity of the GPS for correcting the velocity signal generated by the velocity measurement device is computed to thereby generate a corrected velocity, and the second specific velocity is greater than the first specific velocity.
9. A vehicle navigation system with a display correction, comprising:
a gyroscope, which is implemented on a vehicle in order to determine in which direction the vehicle is being driven, thereby generating an angle of driving direction;
a global positioning system (GPS), which is implemented on the vehicle in order to receive plural satellite signals and accordingly generate data of GPS coordinates, a velocity, a head angle and a GPS quality indicator that are associated with a current location of the vehicle; an e-map database, which has at least one map and plural road links;
a display screen, which displays a sign indicative of the vehicle and the at least one map; and
a controller, which is connected to the e-map database, the gyroscope, the GPS and the display screen in order to display the sign, which is indicative of the vehicle, on the display screen by executing the steps of: (A) extracting a current display location; (B) reading both a first road link corresponding to the current display location and at least one second road links connected to the first road link from the e-map database; (C) extracting a next vehicle location; (D) selecting road links which have a distance smaller than a first specific distance from the next vehicle location, from the first and second road links to thereby generate a first set of road links; (E) if the first set of road links contains one or more road links, setting the angle of driving direction generated by the gyroscope to become a next angle of driving direction; (F) selecting road links which have an angle difference smaller than a first specific angle from the next angle of driving direction, from the first set of road links to thereby generate a second set of road links; (G) if the second set of road links contains the one or more road links, computing vertical distances from the next vehicle location to each of the one or more road links in the second set of road links, selecting a road link with a shortest vertical distance, and setting a projection point of the next vehicle location on the road link with the shortest vertical distance to become a next corrected location; and (H) displaying the sign, which is indicative of the vehicle, on the display screen at a next display location which indicates a position of the display screen corresponding to the next corrected location.
10. The system as claimed in claim 9, further comprising:
a velocity measurement device, which is implemented on the vehicle in order to measure a driving speed of the vehicle and accordingly generate a velocity signal.
11. The system as claimed in claim 10, wherein when the GPS quality indicator contains a value smaller than a first specific value, the next vehicle location in step (C) is computed in accordance with the velocity signal generated by the velocity measurement device and the angle of driving direction generated by the gyroscope.
12. The system as claimed in claim 11, wherein when the GPS quality indicator contains the value greater than or equal to the first specific value and the velocity exceeds a first specific velocity, the data of the head angle of the GPS for correcting the angle of driving direction generated by the gyroscope is computed to thereby generate a corrected angle, and the next angle of driving direction in step (E) is set by adding the corrected angle to the angle of driving direction generated by the gyroscope.
13. The system as claimed in claim 12, wherein when the GPS quality indicator contains the value greater than or equal to the first specific value and the velocity exceeds a second specific velocity, the data of the velocity of the GPS for correcting the velocity signal generated by the velocity measurement device is computed to thereby generate a corrected velocity, and the second specific velocity is greater than the first specific velocity.