All The Claims

1. A personalized alarm clock system for awaking a user to his or her selected favorite video andor audio footage, comprising:
an alarm clock;
a display housed within said alarm clock;
one or more speakers housed within said alarm clock; and
a removably attachable videoaudio data source having user’s favorite video footage, video footage with audio, andor audio information stored thereon, said removable videoaudio data source attaches to said alarm clock to input the user’s favorite video footage with audio into said alarm clock to be played on said display andor emitted through said one or more speakers.
2. The alarm clock system of claim 1, further comprising a PCMCIA card slot located within said alarm clock.
3. The alarm clock system of claim 2, wherein said videoaudio data source is a PCMCIA card.
4. The alarm clock system of claim 1, wherein said display is a color liquid crystal display monitor.
5. The alarm clock system of claim 4, wherein said color liquid crystal display monitor has a backlit display with brightness control for easy viewing.
6. The alarm clock system of claim 1, further comprising one or more input ports for receiving said selected favorite video and audio.
7. The alarm clock system of claim 6, wherein said videoaudio data source comprises at least one electronic external device connected to said alarm through said one or more input ports, said external electronic device supplies said selected favorite video and audio footage to said alarm clock via said at least one input port to awaken said user upon occurrence of the preset alarm time.
8. The alarm clock system of claim 7, wherein said external electronic device is selected from the group consisting of: PC computer, digital camera, camcorder, digital camcorder, and cellular telephone.
9. The alarm clock system of claim 1, wherein said selected favorite video andor audio footage is selected from the group consisting of: customized videoaudio footage of said user’s family, customized videoaudio footage of said user’s children, prerecorded videoaudio of user’s favorite hollywood celebrity, prerecorded videoaudio of user’s favorite singer, prerecorded videoaudio of user’s favorite music star, prerecorded videoaudio of user’s favorite sports star.
10. The alarm clock system of claim 1, wherein said user’s favorite video footage, video footage with audio inputted into said alarm clock is be played on said display andor emitted through said one or more speakers, upon the arrival of said preset alarm time.
11. The alarm clock system of claim 1, further comprises a CD player and a radio.
12. A personalized alarm clock system for awaking a user to his or her selected favorite video andor audio footage, comprising:
a housing;
a removable videoaudio data source which connects to a videoaudio data access area positioned within said housing, said removable videoaudio data source having user’s favorite video footage, video footage with audio stored thereon;
a control unit positioned within said housing, said control unit is operatively connected to said videoaudio data source;
a display positioned within said housing, said display is operatively connected to said control unit;
one or more speakers positioned within said housing, said one or more speakers is operatively connected to said control unit;
a plurality of alarmtime setting members for setting the current time of the alarm clock and for programming the control unit to store the current time, said plurality of alarmtime setting members positioned within said housing, said plurality of alarmtime setting members causes the control unit to display the current time on said display,
a plurality of alarm control members positioned within said housing, said plurality of alarm control members program an alarm mode or modes such as a videoaudio alarm mode into the control unit; and
whereby when said control unit determines that the preset alarm time has arrived and that the videoaudio alarm mode has been selected, the control unit will read said selected favorite video footage, video footage with audio andor audio footage information stored on said videoaudio data source and have this information played on said display andor emitted through said one or more speakers, depending upon whether the information is video footage, video footage with audio, and audio information.
13. The alarm clock system of claim 12, wherein said data access area is a PCMCIA card slot located within said housing.
14. The alarm clock system of claim 13, wherein said videoaudio data source means is a PCMCIA card.
15. The alarm clock system of claim 12, wherein said display is a color liquid crystal display monitor.
16. The alarm clock system of claim 12, wherein said color liquid crystal display monitor has a backlit display with brightness control for easy viewing.
17. The alarm clock system of claim 12, further comprising one or more input ports for receiving said selected favorite video and audio footage.
18. The alarm clock system of claim 17, wherein said videoaudio data source means is at least one electronic external device connected to said alarm through said one or more input ports, said external electronic device supplies said selected favorite video and audio footage to said alarm clock via said at least one input port to awaken said user upon occurrence of the preset alarm time.
19. The alarm clock system of claim 18, wherein said external electronic device is selected from the group consisting of: PC computer, digital camera, camcorder, digital camcorder, and cellular telephone.
20. The alarm clock system of claim 12, further comprises a CD player and a radio.
21. The alarm clock of claim 12, further comprises a built in video camera so that the user can make a personalized video which can be displayed on the personalized alarm clock’s screen.

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 method for producing soybean milk, comprising the following steps of:
mechanically pulverizing lipoxygenase-free soybean grains into fine particles;
subjecting the fine particles to heat drying treatment by solely using water vapor having a temperature in a range of 160 to 230\xb0 C. under atmospheric pressure throughout for a time range of 30 to 300 seconds, thereby producing soybean powder; and
mixing the soybean powder with water with a predetermined ratio so that the soybean powder is dissolved in the water.
2. A method for producing soybean milk, comprising the steps of:
mechanically pulverizing lipoxygenase-free soybean grains into fine particles;
subsequently subjecting the fine particles to heat drying treatment with water vapor having a temperature in a range of 160 to 230\xb0 C. under atmospheric pressure throughout for a time range of 30 to 300 seconds to form lumps of soybean powder;
forming granules having controlled sizes by placing the lumps in a space defined by two opposing plates having a predetermined distance therebetween, at least one of the plates having a plurality of substantially parallel grooves in the surface thereof, the plates being in a state of relative rotation; and
mixing the granules with water with a predetermined ratio so that the granules are dissolved in the water.
3. A method for producing soybean milk, comprising the steps of:
preparing a soybean powder material which has been processed into lumps by applying superheated water vapor over fine particles of soybean under an atmospheric pressure in a temperature range of 160-230\xb0 C.;
forming granules having controlled sizes by placing the soybean powder material in a space defined by two opposing plates having a predetermined distance therebetween, wherein each plate has a plurality of parallel grooves on a surface thereof, and at least one of the two plates is rotated; and
mixing the granules with water with a predetermined ratio so that the granules are dissolved in the water.
4. The method for producing soybean milk according to claim 3, wherein the grooves have a pitch of 1.5 to 2.5 mm and a depth of 0.20 to 2.5 mm.

1. A seat belt retractor comprising:
a spool on which a seat belt is taken up; a motor that generates a driving torque for rotating the spool; and a power transmission mechanism that transmits the driving torque of the motor to the spool via a planetary gear mechanism, the seat belt retractor being configured to take up the seat belt on the spool by using the driving torque of the motor,
wherein the planetary gear mechanism includes a sun gear to which the driving torque of the motor is transmitted, a rotatable internal gear member including inner teeth formed along an inner circumferential surface and ratchet teeth formed along an outer circumferential surface, a predetermined number of planet gears each meshed with both of the sun gear and the inner teeth of the internal gear member, and a carrier that rotatably supports the predetermined number of planet gears and transmits the driving torque of the motor to the spool.
the power transmission mechanism includes a clutch pawl set to move between a non-operating position where the clutch pawl is disengaged from the ratchet teeth of the internal gear member thereby allowing the internal gear member to rotate thus disconnecting a power transmission route and an operating position where the clutch pawl is engaged with one of the ratchet teeth of the internal gear member thereby inhibiting the internal gear member from rotating thus connecting the power transmission route,
the internal gear member is formed of a noise suppressing material that suppresses noise generated when the planetary gear mechanism is operating, and
the seat belt retractor further includes a deformation restricting portion that restricts deformation of the internal gear member.
2. The seat belt retractor according to claim 1,
wherein the deformation restricting portion is provided on the carrier.
3. The seat belt retractor according to claim 2,
wherein the carrier includes an annular portion, and
the deformation restricting portion is formed in an annular shape along the annular portion of the carrier so as to restrict deformation of the internal gear member when the internal gear member about to be deformed makes contact with the deformation restricting portion.
4. The seat belt retractor according to claim 3,
wherein the annular deformation restricting portion is continuously formed along the entire circumference of the annular shape thereof, or discontinuously formed along the circumference of the annular shape thereof in predetermined regions of the carrier opposing the respective planet gears.
5. The seat belt retractor according to claim 4,
wherein the annular deformation restricting portion is formed as an annular flange or an annular projection.
6. The seat belt retractor according to claim 1,
wherein the noise suppressing material is a synthetic resin.
7. A seat belt unit comprising:
a seat belt that binds an occupant; a seat belt retractor that retracts the seat belt; a tongue slidably supported by the seat belt; and a buckle with which the tongue is engaged upon being inserted therein, the seat belt being arranged to be fitted on the occupant when the tongue is engaged with the buckle upon being inserted therein,
wherein the seat belt retractor is the seat belt retractor according to claim 1.
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. Method for controlling a matrix display screen with lines (li) and columns (cj) that intersect to form an image point (Pi,j), including application of a line selection voltage (VLS) to a line during a line selection time (Tls), and simultaneously a voltage corresponding to a grey level (G) to be displayed at the associated image point to a column, characterised in that the said grey level is chosen from among 2q levels and is numerically coded according to a non-linear law in accordance with the brightness perception of a human eye, the different voltages (Vci, Vci+1) to be applied to the columns are chosen in a strictly increasing series of (2n+1) voltages where n is an integer \u22671, these voltages being distributed in N=2n pairs of consecutive voltages, each pair being used to display a range of grey levels and in that the line selection time (Tls) is subdivided into one or several groups of 2(q-n) time intervals where (q-n) is an integer >1, each group having the same duration, the distribution of these 2(q-n) time intervals into a group for a pair of voltages, being done according to a non-linear law with a transfer function close to the inverse of the transfer function previously used to code the grey levels for the corresponding grey levels range, the voltage applied to a column for a pair of voltages and a group of time intervals being determined either using one of the values of the pair of voltages throughout the duration of the group, or switching from one value of the pair of voltages to the other, at least once during the duration of the group at the end of a time interval.
2. Method according to claim 1, characterised in that the coding law of a grey level G is such that:
G=(2q\u22121)\xd74.5\xd7PG
for PG\u226750.018 and
G=(1.099\xd7PG)0.45\u22120..099(2q\u22121)

for PG>0.018, where PG is a relative weight assigned to the grey level.
3. Method according to claim 2, characterised in that for a given pair of voltages, a given range of grey levels, a given group of time intervals and a given grey level to be displayed, the voltage of the pair leading to the highest brightness is applied for a time interval given by:
\u0394t=\u03c4 (PG\u2212PGinf)(PGsup\u2212PGinf) where \u03c4 is the duration of a group of 2q-n time intervals, PG is the weight of the grey level to be displayed, PGsup and PGinf are the weights of the grey levels corresponding to the upper and lower limits respectively of the range of grey levels associated with the pair of voltages.
4. Method according to claim 1, characterised in that when the line selection time is subdivided into two groups of time intervals, the time intervals in the two groups are distributed symmetrically about the middle of the line selection time.
5. Method according to claim 1, characterised in that during the line selection time, the line selection line is free of voltage transients.
6. Method according to claim 1, characterised in that the display screen is a flat panel with electron source.
7. Control device for a matrix display screen according to the method in claims 1 to 6, characterised in that it comprises:
a numeric data source (20) capable of supplying binary words coded on q bits according to the non-linear law in accordance with the brightness perception by a human eye and representing the codes for 2q grey levels to be displayed,
a screen controller (21) receiving synchronisation signals from the data source (20) and managing signals capable of driving a line sweep generator (22) and a column driving voltage generator (23) that receives codes of the grey levels to be displayed for each column, and that is used to generate the voltages of the voltage pairs and if necessary to switch from one voltage in a pair to the other, using a discrete voltage generator (24) and in that
the binary words are subdivided into two sub-words, one with n bits corresponding to the high order bits and the other with q-n bits corresponding to low order bits, the column driving voltage generator (23) comprising a combinational logic stage (15) controlling a set (16) of analogue switches (CA) to pre-select a pair of voltages output by the discrete voltage generator (24) from the n high order bits of a binary word and a signal output by a counter (13) initialised at each line selection time and to switch from one of the voltages in the pair to the other when the counter (13) has reached the value corresponding to the q-n low order bits of the binary word.
8. Control device according to claim 7, characterised in that the counter (13) receives a set of non-linearly distributed pulses corresponding to the pair of voltages output from a pulse generator (11) connected to the screen controller through a multiplexer (12) also receiving the n high order bits of the binary word output by the data source (20) as an address.
9. Control device according to claim 7, characterised in that the combinational logic stage (15) receives the n high order bits of the binary word output by the data source (20) through an offset register associated with memory flip-flops (10).
10. Control device according to claim 7, characterised in that the combinational logic stage (15) is connected to the counter (13) through a comparator (14) that makes a comparison between the signal output from the counter (13) and the q-n low order bits of the binary word output by the data source (20).