A filter is implemented as cascaded stages, and in at least one stage all resistances are implemented as double-sampled switched-capacitor circuits. In a variation, at least one resistance is implemented as a double-sampled switched-capacitor T-network. In a variation, in an integrator stage, a resistance is implemented as a transconductance, and the cutoff frequency of the integrator stage scales with a switching frequency of a DC-DC voltage converter.

DC-DC (direct current) converters convert DC power at one voltage to DC power at a different voltage. DC-DC converters commonly include a feedback amplifier, also called a compensation filter, where "compensation" means that the feedback network gain and phase as a function of frequency ensure that the overall system with feedback is stable. The feedback signal may be voltage or current, and there may be multiple feedback loops.
FIG. 1 illustrates an example DC-DC converter 100. The DC-DC converter illustrated is a switching step-down converter (the output voltage is less than the input voltage). The particular topology is called a Buck converter. Buck converters are particularly suitable for power supplies for battery powered low-voltage microprocessor and microcontroller applications. The circuit illustrated in FIG. 1 converts DC power from voltage VIN to DC power for a load R at voltage VOUT. When switch SW1 is closed, a first end of inductor L is at VIN, and when switch SW2 is closed, the first end of inductor L is at ground. The inductor L stores energy and prevents instantaneous current change. A capacitor C stores energy and prevents instantaneous voltage change, thereby reducing output voltage ripple. In the example circuit 100, output voltage VOUT is compared to a reference voltage VREF by a feedback compensation filter 102. A ramp generator 104 is driven by a clock signal CLK. A comparator 106 compares the output of the compensation filter 102 to the ramp signal. A driver circuit 108 closes SW1 at the start of each clock cycle, and the point at which the comparator 106 switches determines the width of a pulse driving SW1. During the remainder of the clock cycle, the driver 108 closes switch SW2.
In general, there is a need to extend the high frequency response of a DC-DC converter system while maintaining stability. This is especially important, for example, in applications where significant loads such as microprocessors and microcontrollers may be frequently switched in and out of standby mode to reduce power. There are three commonly implemented compensation filters for Buck converters, which are classified according to their bandwidth and their gain and phase response as a function of frequency. A Type-I filter is essentially an integrator, providing good DC voltage or DC current regulation at a relatively low bandwidth. A Type-II filter extends the bandwidth and provides a phase shift to ensure stability at the extended bandwidth. A Type-III filter further extends the bandwidth and provides additional phase shift.
A compensation filter may be implemented as an analog circuit (with external discrete analog components or with integrated analog components). Alternatively, a compensation filter may be implemented as an all-digital circuit. For analog implementations, each higher filter type requires additional passive components (resistors and capacitors). Typically, for analog implementations, many of the passive components are external discrete components, which require space and the additional cost of mounting. Alternatively, the passive analog components may be integrated, but this usually requires significant integrated circuit space and expense. In addition, time constants for filters with integrated analog components may vary by +/−40%, requiring extensive trimming, which increases cost and processing time. In addition, all of the component values need to be variable because all the filter time constants need to track the switching frequency of the Buck converter. For an all-digital implementation, the analog output signal may be converted to digital signals with an analog-to-digital converter, the resulting digital signals may be processed by a digital-signal-processor, and the resulting digital signals may be converted to analog signals by a digital-to-analog converter. Typically, an all-digital filter circuit is physically smaller than an analog circuit, but consumes more power.
There is an ongoing need for improved compensation filters.


A mechanical bracket for mounting a telecommunication antenna on a metallic tower comprises a pipe section to secure the bracket to the tower. The angular position of the pipe section about its longitudinal axis is selected to appropriately orient the bracket. A transversal pivot bridges a pair of spaced apart parallel plates of the bracket. The antenna comprises a pole member with a free end pivotally mounted on the pivot between the two plates. A bolt and nut assembly traverses the pole member and two arcuate slots respectively made in the parallel plates. In operation, the pole member is rotated about the pivot with the bolt sliding in the two arcuate slots, and the bolt and nut assembly is tightened when a desired position for the pole member, and therefore for the antenna, is reached to thereby lock the pole member and the antenna in this position.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mechanical bracket of simple design for mounting on the top of a metallic tower an antenna for, in particular but not exclusively, cellular telephony.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
A conventional device used to mount an antenna for cellular telephony on the end of a metallic tower comprises a plurality of articulated arms. The mechanical articulations between the arms enable correct orientation of the antenna but make the resulting device complex and accordingly expensive. Another drawback of such a conventional device is that it is heavy. The charge on the tower due to each antenna is therefore increased whereby fewer antennae can be mounted on the top of the tower.

Downtilt support bracket for mounting an antenna on a metallic tower


A problem to be solved by the present invention is to prevent smoke emission and ignition of a power semiconductor element that is installed inside a power conversion device connected to a battery in the field of power electronics, for example. A semiconductor holding device according to the present invention includes: a package which houses a power semiconductor element therein and dissipates heat to a cooler from a first surface of the package; a plate covering a second surface opposing the first surface of the package; and a pressing member pressing the plate against the package.

In a conventional semiconductor element holding structure, a spring support member including a leaf spring portion and a supporting portion brings the leaf spring portion into abutment against an upper surface of a semiconductor element, thus fixing the semiconductor element to the heat dissipation plate side with a predetermined elastic force (see, e.g., Patent Document 1). In general, it is often the case that the power semiconductor element provided inside a vehicle-mounted power conversion device is fixed in the same manner as that described above.

Holding and ignition prevention device for semiconductor element, and power conversion device using holding and ignition prevention device


A replacement vibration absorbing device for replacing a wear wrap on a flexbeam includes a sleeve having a plurality of layers of vibration absorbing material, wherein an edge of the sleeve is cut so that the sleeve may be installed around a generally central portion of a flexbeam.

This invention relates to helicopter rotors and, more particularly, to a helicopter rotor blade mounting assembly.
Rotor assemblies used in rotary-wing aircrafts include a rotor hub which mechanically couples a drive shaft to a plurality of rotor blades. Some of these assemblies include a flexible structural member, also referred to as a "flexbeam" for connecting the rotor blade to the rotor hub. A wear wrap is disposed around a central portion of the flexbeam to absorb vibration. During manufacturing of a flexbeam, a wear wrap is positioned and formed around the flexbeam through a complex multistep process; therefore when an aircraft is initially assembled, the flexbeams installed in a rotor assembly include a wear wrap that was fabricated at the factory.
Maintenance of the aircraft requires that these wear wraps be removed and replaced over time. Replacing a wear wrap in the field is difficult because of its complex manufacturing process and rigid dimensional requirements. FIG. 1 illustrates the current process mechanics use to replace a wear wrap in the field. Individual pieces of wear wrap material are added to each surface of the flexbeam separately. Because the wear wrap material must fit within a restricted dimensional envelope, mechanics spend a significant amount of time ensuring that each piece on each side of the flexbeam is the appropriate size and in the correct position.

Vibration absorbing device for flexbeams


Disclosed is a method for using a virtual representation of an indoor environment to identify contents that have been damaged (e.g., by flooding). A virtual representation of a physical scene of an indoor environment is processed to identify a list of contents in the physical scene. The virtual representation may include 2-dimensional representations of the physical scene (e.g., images or video) or a 3-dimensional representation of the physical scene (e.g., 3D digital model). A reference line is determined in the virtual representation that is indicative of a maximum vertical extent of the damage in the physical scene. The position of the reference line is compared with the position of the identified contents in the virtual representation to determine contents that are likely to be damaged. For example, the contents that are at or below a plane represented by the reference line in the virtual representation may be identified as damaged.

A typical process for insurance claims adjustment may often begin with an insured individual contacting their insurance carrier with a description of damage due to a covered occurrence. A representative of the insurance carrier takes note of the described damage and sends a contracted repair person and often a claims adjuster to estimate the cost of the damage and perform any necessary repairs. The insured individual will typically provide some evidence of the type, scope, and extent of the damage through images and video during the initial contact. Corroboration is requested from the contracted repair person or performed by the adjuster, also taking the form of images and video. This in-person corroboration often comprises identification of damaged contents and structures, measurements of damaged areas, and the computation of repair and replacements costs. Once the necessary repair work is completed, the insurance company will cover the costs to the insured.
Because of the heavy reliance on in-person visits to the insured's location to evaluate the damage, the current process to identify damages does not scale well. In certain circumstances, like catastrophic hurricanes and floods, there may be a surge of insurance claims filed in a short period of time. This overload can result in a backlog that delays the repair or replacement of many insured individuals' properties, often escalating the impact of the catastrophic event. These and other drawbacks exist.

Identifying flood damage to an indoor environment using a virtual representation


A rules engine for the examination of selected fields in an addressed data packet has an access control list table of which the entries each define an access control list rule, an action and a chain identifier. The access control list rule may be a basic rule which refers to network addresses and transport layer port numbers. The rules engine also has an extension rule table of which the entries each define an extension rule, a respective action and a respective rule identifier. The extension rule may refer to a particular TCP flag. When a packet arrives, the engine searches both tables. This search is made independently of the ordinary network layer or link layer address lookup. If there is a match in both tables, and the chain identifier matches the extension rule identifier, the rules engine prescribes the action associated with the extension rule. If the chain identifier of a matched access control list rule does not match a rule identifier of a matched extension rule the rules engine prescribes the action associated with the basic rule. In the absence of a match with any access control list rule the action on a packet is based on the result from the ordinary address lookup.

Packet Forwarding
Packet-based communication systems such as those based on Ethernet standards and others include network units, which can be both hardware and software based, but usually are a mixture of hardware and software processing, and which, among other actions, perform a lookup on fields including address fields within a packet to obtain 'forwarding data' to determine so far as that unit is concerned at least one destination for the packet. Usually the forwarding data is in the form of a bit mask which indicates the port or ports from which the packet or a copy thereof should be sent. The lookup may be based on either 'layer 2' (media access control) addresses or 'layer 3' (network or IP addresses) or both.
Post-Processing
Before a packet is forwarded from a switch it may be necessary to perform other processing operations which may affect the forwarding of the packet and/or copies thereof. For example, the destination port bitmask may need modification in view of VLAN membership rules, spanning tree rules, or trunking rules. The rules are administered by respective 'engines' and a final 'post-processing engine' coupled to the various processing engines and the lookup engine produces a final port bit mask.
Transmission Control
In addition to the use of addressing of data packets, network systems usually employ a transmission protocol which is intended, with the aid of a handshake routine and subsequent codified commands and acknowledgements, reliable data transfer, because an address protocol such as IP does not in itself guarantee the deliver of any particular packet. As is indicated above, one such protocol is TCP, which is implemented as far as a network unit is concerned by means of segments encapsulated within packets. A TCP segment normally includes 'source port' and destination port' numbers which provide connection to processes within a sending host and a receiving host, a sequence number, which is the byte stream number of the first byte in the data sent in the segment, an acknowledgement number, which indicates the sequence number of the next byte that the respective host is expecting from the other host, various other fields including one bit ACK, SYN and FIN flags, a header length field and user data.
Memory Space
Network units are usually realized by means of an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) which has appropriate terminals or pins for coupling to ports and other external connecting elements. Memory space on an ASIC is necessarily limited and it is usual for the ASIC to supplement a comparatively small internal memory by a substantially larger external, off-chip' memory, either a static random access memory (SRAM) or a content addressable memory (CAM).
Access Control Lists
Access control lists (ACLs) refer at least in part to protocol data at a higher level than the network layer and represent an additional processing feature which may be used for checking the security of transmission of data and other purposes. If ACL lists are used, then an ACL search has to be performed on each packet to determine whether there is an ACL match. If there is a match then the forwarding action which is determined by the ACL match must be performed instead of the forwarding action determined by the address lookup (as modified as the case may be by the actions of the other processing engines).
An access control list (ACL) may simply consist of a basic ACL, which when relating to TCP normally consists of five fields identifying the IP destination address (IPDA), the IP source address (IPSA), the TCP destination port number, the TCP source port number and the Protocol. However, other ACLs may comprise the basic 5-tuple ACL along with other flags, such as the SYN, FIN, RST flags or other flags or fields. It is preferable to provide at least one ACL per TCP flow direction and desirable to provide a multiplicity of ACLs per flow direction. Each ACL requires an entry in a database, and a basic ACL is quite long; source port and destination port numbers are (currently) two bytes each, network addresses are four bytes each for IPv4 and 16 bytes each for IPv6. Thus it will be apparent that, since memory space is inevitably limited, the more ACLs are required or desirable per flow, the fewer flows with ACLs can be supported.

Rules engine for access control lists in network units


A docking station may provide an enhanced user interface for mobile communication devices. In one particular implementation, a device may include a base unit configured to provide connections to one or more user interface devices and an interface for connecting to a mobile phone, where the base unit connects the mobile phone to the one or more user interface devices to provide an enhanced interface for the mobile phone.

In an increasingly digitally connected world, telecommunication services play a crucial role in the daily operation of businesses and in consumers' lives. Telecommunication services commonly used by both businesses and consumers include telephone, network (e.g., Internet) connectivity, and television. These services are typically provided to the customer premises by a telecommunication provider through one or more wired or wireless connections.
Mobile communication devices (e.g., cell phones), in particular, are frequently used by consumers to wirelessly receive information (e.g., web and email) and communicate with other consumers. For portability, mobile communication devices are typically made as small and light as possible. While a small device can be convenient for a user to carry, a small device can have limited input/output capabilities, such as a small display and keyboard, and a speaker with a limited audio range.


An integrated, portable, battery-powered, variable-pressure electric liquid pump and power emergency station a chassis; an electrically powered, variable-pressure liquid pump carried by the chassis; one or more rechargeable batteries powering the variable-pressure liquid pump to transfer liquid at variable pressures; one or more AC outlets carried by the chassis and powered by the one or more rechargeable batteries to provide emergency back-up power during power outage; wherein the emergency station includes at least one hardware processor; and one or more software modules that, when executed by the at least one hardware processor, initiates at least one of wireless signaling and wire-based signaling to user-determined outboard equipment to activate user pre-selected functions.

Changing climatic, weather and building patterns in the United States and around the world have placed many homes and commercial properties in closer proximity to flood and wildfire events (https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-californians-were-drawn-toward-the-fire-zones-1544202053?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=1). In California alone more than 1 million housing units are at high or very high risk for fire (Jonathan Cooper, AP SDUT C2 Jan. 5, 2018). The increased frequency with which wildfires occur, longer annual fire seasons, a resultant thinning of community fire-fighting resources and official advice to both create "defensible spaces" and "shelter in place" intensifies the need for self-reliance in the event of such emergencies.
Recent news footage from Northern and Southern California wildfires feature desperate homeowners using garden hoses to protect their properties. Such low-pressure solutions offer limited potential for defense. Moreover, such close-in tactics place amateur responders in intimate range of danger. Rapid fire spread and possible terrain access limitations (smoke, flooding, landslides, power outages, tree or rock falls) might delay or prevent professional or volunteer emergency personnel access to particular home sites or businesses.
While a number of personal portable diesel and gas fueled fire pumps are available for fire suppression and prevention, the nature of their fuel source makes them difficult to use and maintain in a fire situation. Gas and diesel-fueled fire pumps are inherently limited by the size of their fuel tanks, the need to store and access flammable liquids near fire events and the complications associated with water pump priming. Furthermore, starting and regulating an internal combustion engine is a relatively complex process during time-critical events. Patents and products for electrically powered systems are for decidedly industrial or large-scale commercial applications and are of limited portability.
Further, some homeowners, offices and industries find themselves facing multiple emergency situations simultaneously, in succession or episodically; needing to counter flooding, fire, loss of electrical power and/or loss of area water pressure.


An improved control valve for a pressurized water closet, having a housing, a spool rotatable within the housing, a valve stem threading engaging the spool but fixed from rotating relative to the housing and a needle valve extending from the valve stem and into the housing orifice, creating a self cleaning valve adjustable by rotating the spool, which adjusts the depth of the needle valve in the orifice, and thus adjusting the effective opening of the orifice.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved control valve for a pressurized water closet that precisely regulates the refill volume of a toilet bowl.
2. Related Art
The basic components of a pressurized water closet are a water vessel, a flush valve and a flush valve actuator. The aforesaid components are generally installed internally of a conventional water closet. The pressurized water closet is energized by water pressure from a conventional fresh water supply system.
In operation, as the water level rises in the water vessel after flush, air internally of the water vessel is compressed. When water pressure in the vessel equals the supply line pressure or when it causes the pressure regulator valve to shut, in the event of supply line pressure greater than that allowed by the regulator, flow of water into the water vessel ceases and the system is conditioned for operation. When the flush valve actuator is actuated, the flush valve opens whereafter the compressed air in the water vessel pushes the water stored therein into the water closet bowl at relatively high discharge pressure and velocity, flushing waste therefrom with minimum water consumption.
The aforesaid features of the pressurized flush system result in stronger and more effective extraction and drain line carry, cleaner bowls, fewer drain line clogs, no hidden leakage of water between flushes, and smaller sized pipe systems. The system produces a flushing action which clears and cleans a toilet bowl while consuming less than one and six tenths gallons of water while meeting the highest municipal codes. The toilet bowl is emptied by one flush without drain line xe2x80x9cdrop-offxe2x80x9d common to many low water volume, or gravity-flow type toilets.
In operation, actuation of the manual operator creates a pressure differential across a flush valve piston disposed in a flush valve cylinder. The flush valve piston and a flush valve therefore move upwardly at a controlled rate.
Upward or opening movement of the flush valve permits water to be ejected into the toilet bowl from the water vessel under relatively high pressure effecting extraction of the contents of the toilet bowl. Flush commences simultaneously with manual depression of the flush valve actuator and is time controlled so as to produce a prolonged high energy surge of water which carries bowl waste into the sewer.
Closure of the flush valve is timed by the distribution ratio of incoming water to the upper chamber of the flush valve cylinder and the water vessel. When the manual flush valve actuator is released, the fluid flow path from the upper chamber of the flush valve cylinder to ambient is closed. At this point, a predetermined portion of the water supplied under pressure from the water supply system flows directly to the upper chamber of the flush valve cylinder. The remaining portion of water supplied by the system flows to the main chamber of the water vessel. When the upper chamber of the flush valve cylinder is filled, and the flush valve is closed, all incoming water is directed into the water vessel.
Water rising in the water vessel under regulated water system pressure compresses the air entrapped therein until it reaches either the line or regulated pressure of approximately 30 psi, whichever occurs first. At this point, flow stops and the system is ready to be flushed again.
Current control valves for pressurized water closet flushing systems do not permit the ready and simple adjustment of the predetermined portion of the water supplied under pressure while maintaining a flush action independent of actuator depression and a self cleaning action.
Specifically, the present invention provides a ready and simple manual adjustment of the amount of water to be provided in a flush (the refill volume) while maintaining a flush action independent of actuator depression. The present invention also provides a self cleaning action.


Embodiments are directed to facilitating data model acceleration in association with an external data system. In some embodiments, at a core engine, a search request associated with a data model is received. The data model generally designates one or more fields, from among a plurality of fields of interest for subsequent searches. Thereafter, it is determined that an accelerated data model summary associated with the data model is stored at an external data system remote from the core engine that received the search request. The accelerated data model summary includes field values associated with the one or more fields designated in the data model. A search for the received search request is initiated using the accelerated data model summary at the external data. A set of search results relevant to the search request is obtained and provided to a user device for display to a user.

Modern data centers often include thousands of hosts that operate collectively to service requests from even larger numbers of remote clients. During operation, components of these data centers can produce significant volumes of raw, machine-generated data. When a search is issued, processing such raw data can result in inefficient processing and a delay of search results provided to a user.

Facilitating data model acceleration in association with an external data system


A multifunction electromechanical device for an aircraft undercarriage. The device comprises a first shaft (10) mounted to rotate on the aircraft about an axis of rotation (R) that is substantially parallel to a hinge axis (X) of the undercarriage relative to the aircraft and a telescopic second shaft (20) mounted to rotate on the undercarriage extending downwards to the proximity of the wheels carried thereby. The device also includes a transmission (19) for transmitting rotary motion from the first shaft to the second shaft and a transmission (21) for transmitting rotary motion from the second shaft to at least one wheel carried by the undercarriage. With this configuration, if the wheel is not fitted with a brake, there is a specific brake (30) for braking one of the shafts relative to the undercarriage, and a motor (11, 15) for causing the first shaft to rotate.

Most undercarriages are hinged to an aircraft to move between a deployed position in which the undercarriage is supported by a side-brace member, and a folded position in which the undercarriage is received in a wheel bay of the aircraft. Undercarriages are known that include a raising actuator for raising the undercarriage into the wheel bay after takeoff. That actuator is generally in the form of a telescopic actuator.
The aircraft thus carries an actuator of non-negligible power, and thus presenting considerable weight, that is for use that is extremely brief, since it operates for no more than a few seconds during any one utilization cycle of the aircraft, i.e. while raising the undercarriage, and also while lowering it, essentially for the purpose of slowing down the downward movement of the undercarriage.
Proposals have also been made to fit at least one aircraft undercarriage with electric motors suitable for driving the wheels carried by the undercarriage so as to allow the aircraft to taxi independently without having recourse to thrust from its jets, thereby saving fuel.
Nevertheless, that equipment represents additional weight, which weight is also located in the vicinity of the wheels and thus at the end of the undercarriage, thereby increasing its inertia and contributing to increasing the forces involved in setting the wheels into rotation and the resilient return force to which the undercarriage is subjected on touching down.

Multifunctional electromechanical device for landing gear


A chilled reagent container comprises a reagent vessel containing part for containing therein a plurality of reagent vessels, a container lid including a container lid hole through which the reagent vessels contained by the reagent vessel containing part are accessible, and a cooling block for cooling the reagent vessels contained by the reagent vessel containing part, wherein the container lid slides to be changeable between an opened situation wherein the reagent is accessible from an outside and a closed situation wherein the reagent is prevented from being accessed from the outside, wherein the chilled reagent container further comprises a reagent container packing including another hole through which the reagent vessels are accessible and arranged between the container lid and the reagent vessel containing part to be pressed against the container lid.

The present invention relates to a chilled reagent container and a nucleic acid analyzer.
In methods utilizing electrophoresis as used usually now, a cDNA fragment specimen is prepared in advance by a reverse transcription from a DNA fragment or an RNA specimen for determining a sequence, a dideoxy reaction by well known dideoxy method is brought about on the cDNA fragment specimen, and subsequently the electrophoresis is brought about to measure and analyze a pattern in segregation and expansion of a molecular weight. On the other hand, in recent years, a method wherein a plurality of the DNA fragments as the specimens are fixed to a substrate to determine in parallel information of sequences of the fragments is proposed. In Nature 2005, Vol. 437, pp. 376-380, fine grain as carrier medium for the DNA fragments is used, and PCR is performed on the fine grain. Subsequently, the fine grain with the DNA fragments amplified by the PCR is introduced onto a plate including a plurality of holes having diameters corresponding to a size of the fine grain to perform readout with a pyro-sequence method. In Science 2005, Vol. 309, pp. 1728-1732, the fine grain as carrier medium for the DNA fragments is used, and the PCR is performed on the fine grain. Subsequently, the fine grain is dispersed on a glass substrate and fixed thereto, and an enzyme reaction (ligation) is brought about on the glass substrate to introduce a base material with fluorescence dye into the fine grain so that the fluorescence is detected to obtain the information of sequences of the fragments.
As mentioned above, the method wherein the information of sequences of a number of the fragments is determined in parallel by fixing a number of the nucleic acid fragment specimens to the substrate of flat plate, has been developed and come into practical use.
A chemical reaction necessary for a nucleic acid analysis used in these systems is generally comprised of a number of steps using respective reagents different from each other, whereby liquid solutions including the respective reagents different from each other for the respective steps need to be supplied. Further, it is preferable for an amount of reagent necessary for the sequence reaction to be as small as possible. In these reactions, a temperature cycle between low and high temperatures needs to be repeated, and a long time period is necessary for the reaction. Further, since the detection is performed at each of the reactions with a fluorescent microscope, the analysis is continued generally during a period between 1 day to 1 week. Therefore, a mechanism for containing the reagents in chilled condition is necessary.
In many cases, the solution used for the sequence reaction includes the reagent being expensive and/or a DNA sample being precious, whereby it is preferable for the amount of the reagent to be small. Therefore, it is preferable that a chilled reagent container contains a number of reaction reagents and cleaning reagents of respective small volumes.

Chilled reagent container and nucleic acid analyzer


A one-piece bracket for mounting the headrail of a covering for an architectural opening comprises a generally L-shaped piece having a system for retaining the headrail on the bracket and restricting movement of the headrail on the bracket.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a mounting bracket for a head rail of a covering for an architectural opening. The invention particularly relates to a single piece mounting bracket that is hardly visible from the front of the covering and allows for easy mounting and dismounting of the head rail.
2. Description of the Related Art
Numerous mounting brackets are known for head rails of architectural coverings. Typical mounting brackets are shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,353,857, U.S. Pat. No. 5,533,560 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,180,130. Each of these brackets is suitable for mounting a head rail that is generally U-shaped rail and has longitudinally extending front, rear and bottom walls.
One of such headrails is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,353,857. In this headrail the top edge of the front wall 24 of the head rail 20 is provided with a longitudinal front headrail lip 25 that extends horizontally and inwardly from the front wall towards the rear wall 21; the top edge 23 of the rear wall 21 of the head rail has a similar longitudinal rear headrail lip 22 that extends horizontally and inwardly from the rear wall 21 towards the front wall 24. Additionally the rear wall of the bracket is provided with a longitudinal mounting rim 26 that extends horizontally and rearwardly from the rear wall.
The headrails of the other prior art publications are generally the same. Each of these headrail is suitable for being mounted in the bracket of the invention.
The prior art bracket from U.S. Pat. No. 5,353,857 is a generally L-shaped bracket and comprises a top plate 41 and a rear plate 42. The top plate has a ramp portion 43 extending downwardly and at an angle away from front edge 44. A front bracket lip 46 for engaging the lower surface of the front headrail lip 25 extends horizontally and outwardly from the front edge 45 of the ramp portion 43. A spring arm 47 extends downwardly from the front edge 44 of the top plate 41 and towards the rear plate 42 for engaging by its end portion or restraining lip 48 the top of the rear head rail lip 22. A bottom ledge 49 extends horizontally outwardly from the rear plate 42, from the ledge a hook barb 51 extends upwardly for engaging the mounting rim 26 of the head rail.
The headrail is mounted to the bracket by urging the headrail up at an angle toward the corner 53 formed by the intersection of the rear plate 42 and the top plate 41. This forces the rear headrail lip 22 up into contact with the restraining lip 48 of the spring arm, and also allows the hook shaped mounting rim 26 to pass over the hooked restraining barb 51. Upon release the recoil of the spring arm 47 forces the rear headrail lip 22 and the rear wall 21 down, thereby allowing the hook rail 26 to engage the restraining barb 51. The hook barb 51 in combination with the hooked mounting rim 26 prevents any movement from the head rail horizontally either toward or away from the rear plate 42. In a different embodiment in FIG. 10 the hook feature is moved by having a hooked front head rail lip 29, 30 in combination with a hooked front bracket lip 51c. The bottom ledge 49 extends horizontally without hooked barb.
A drawback of this prior art bracket is that general large vertical displacement is needed to mount and dismount the bracket, because the hooked barb and/or hooked front bracket lip has to be cleared before the headrail is mounted or can actually be moved free of the bracket. This requires a delicate manoeuvring and for large blinds with a number of brackets spaced along the headrail a considerable and carefully co-coordinated force is needed. The other prior art bracket as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,180,130 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,530,560 have the same drawbacks caused by hook-shaped engagement members, even though these brackets are different in some other details.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a bracket with the same general characteristics as the bracket of U.S. Pat. No. 5,353,857 but to which a headrail can be more easily mounted.


The present invention provides an assembly comprising two plates or covers, one of which being an outermost plate or cover, and both, at least in part having a perforation pattern over a surface area covering an open side of a crucible having a bottom and surrounding side walls containing raw materials, wherein said outermost cover is mounted at a distance farther from the said crucible than said cover covering said open side of a crucible, and wherein both covers are mounted versus each other, so that, when viewed through an axis in a direction perpendicular to the bottom of the crucible from a distance to said outermost cover of at least 10 times the distance between said two plates or covers, its contents cannot be observed as their perforations and the crucible are never forming one line, perpendicular to the plane formed by said bottom.

In physical vapor deposition (PVD) as well as in chemical vapor deposition (CVD) techniques, factors providing deposition of homogeneous phosphor or scintillator coating compositions and homogeneous layer thicknesses over the entire surface thereof, besides use of especially designed electrically heated crucible(s) are related with the distance determining the profile of the vapor cloud at the position of the substrate, as has e.g. been described in EP-Applications Nos. 03 100 723, filed Mar. 20, 2003 and 04 101 138, filed Mar. 19, 2004.
Average values of shortest distances between crucible(s) and substrate are preferably in the range of from 5 to 10 cm. Too large distances would lead to loss of material and decreased yield of the process, whereas too small distances would lead to too high a temperature of the substrate.
Care should however be taken in order to avoid "spot errors" or "pits", resulting in uneven deposit of phosphors or scintillators, due to spitting of the liquefied raw materials present in the heated container(s): besides physical presence of an undesired unevenness at the surface, differences in speed or sensitivity may lay burden on its use as a screen, plate or panel for use in diagnostic imaging, especially when those phosphors are suitable for use in direct radiography as scintillators, in intensifying screens as prompt emitting phosphors or in storage panels as stimulable phosphors, used in computed radiography (CR).

Covering assembly for crucible used for evaporation of raw materials


Air-gap insulated interconnection structures and methods of fabricating the structures, the methods including: forming a dielectric layer on a substrate; forming a capping layer on a top surface of the dielectric layer; forming a trench through the capping layer, the trench extending toward said substrate and into but not through, the dielectric layer; forming a sacrificial layer on opposing sidewalls of the trench; filling the trench with a electrical conductor; and removing a portion of the sacrificial layer from between the electrical conductor and the dielectric layer to form air-gaps.

Integrated circuits comprise active components such as transistors formed in a semiconductor substrate that are wired together to form integrated circuits. The wiring together is accomplished in interconnect levels. Interconnect levels include electrically conductive lines embedded in a dielectric layer with vias connecting the conductive wires in a particular interconnect level to conductive wires in higher or lower interconnect levels or to the active devices.
As integrated circuit size decreases and density increases, the distance between these conductive lines, especially in the same level, decreases. As the spacing between adjacent conductive lines decreases, the resistive-capacitive (RC) coupling induced in one line by a signal in an adjacent line increases, often to the point of negating increases in performance expected by increasing conductive wire density.
Therefore, there is a need for interconnection structures and methods of fabricating interconnection structures that are less sensitive to RC delay.

International Business Machines Corporation


An antenna for receiving and transmitting radio signals, including a reflective unit, comprising a central reflective element; and a plurality of peripheral reflective elements, enclosing the central reflective element to form a frustum structure; and at least one radiation unit, disposed above the central reflective element; where the reflective unit is electrically isolated from the at least one radiation unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an antenna and a complex antenna, and more particularly, to an antenna and a complex antenna having smaller size to be disposed in a cylindrical radome and allowing both multiband and low-frequency operations.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Electronic products with wireless communication functionalities utilize antennas to emit and receive radio waves, to transmit or exchange radio signals, so as to access a wireless communication network. With the advance of wireless communication technology, an electronic product may be configured with an increasing number of antennas. Alternatively, a complex antenna equipped with a plurality of antennas may be used in an electronic product to transmit or receive radio signals. A complex antenna turns on its antenna (s) according to the direction of signal transmission, thereby effectively enhancing spectral efficiency and transmission rate for the wireless communication system, as well as improving communication quality. In such a situation, each of the antennas constituting a complex antenna is preferably a directional antenna, which point energy toward a specific direction for concentration within a targeted area.
An ideal antenna should maximize its bandwidth within a permitted range, while minimizing physical dimensions to accommodate the trend for smaller-sized electronic products. Technically, a complex antenna is disposed in a cylindrical radome, which limits the sizes of the antennas constituting the complex antenna. However, the long term evolution (LTE) wireless communication system includes 44 bands which cover from 698 MHz to 3800 MHz. Because of the bands being separated and disordered, a mobile system operator may use multiple bands simultaneously in the same country or area. In the LTE wireless communication system, band 13 (covering from 746 MHz to 787 MHz) requires lower frequencies, and hence a complex antenna operated in band 13 would occupy larger space. Without adequate size, the complex antenna cannot meet the requirements of multiband or wideband transmission. What's worse, interference between antennas might occur to threaten normal operations of the antennas.
Obviously, providing an antenna of small size that allows multiband and low-frequency operations is a significant objective in the field.


A storage system comprising a plurality of shelf units movable together through a circuit attached to and moved by a flexible drive such as a chain or belt, while being guided and stabilized in orientation by a separate guide track which track followers, retained by each shelf unit, move to maintain a selected orientation of the shelves within a system support or enclosure. Each shelf unit is removable by the user from engagement of the drive and from the system enclosure permitting replacement of the shelves within the storage system without system disassembly.

Frequently, loose, single, unrelated and/or random items, as well as multiple units of similar items are not stored in a container of similar units, but grouped together in an external storage unit, e.g. a shelf, box, etc. not specifically associated with any one such item to be stored. However, shelves as may be associated with furniture or even storage cabinets, e.g. filing cabinets, become filled requiring more units to adequately store the material, and finding the desired item becomes hard to manage among many similar units spread over a large floor area.
In many environments whether home or commercial, the loading of such shelves may vary for each system and for each shelf within a particular system. Moreover, the distribution of load within each shelf is completely arbitrary and top heavy or a high center of gravity may occur, and as a result, gravity cannot be used to define shelf orientation. The shelf system structure and operation must necessarily be easy to operate, agile in handling varying loads, and reliable.
Additionally, replacement of shelves with other or custom shelves may be necessary according to the users requirements, without disassembly of the storage system or unaffected shelves.


The vehicle structure comprises a body defining an engine compartment and a passenger compartment communicating with each other through an opening which the body defines between them, and a panel independent of the body and arranged to close said opening between the engine compartment and passenger compartment. The panel is composed of a rigid element having a mechanical support function and a soundproofing element of cellular structure, an instrument dashboard defining internally the ducts for an aeration system, and other accessories, all directly fixed to and supported by the panel to define with it a self-supporting sub-unit. The sub-unit is preassembled off the assembly line and is then fixed to the vehicle body by inserting it from the passenger compartment side so as to position the panel in the opening, and then fixing the panel to the body.

This invention relates to a vehicle structure which can be partly preassembled, particularly a motor vehicle structure, and a method for the efficient, fast assembly of said structure.
The structure of a motor vehicle comprises the body defining the engine compartment and passenger compartment usually in the front and central part of the vehicle, a separation wall between the engine compartment and passenger compartment and usually constructed of sheet metal to form an integral part of the body, the so-called dashboard comprising the instrument panel and the ducts for the aeration system, and the various accessory elements such as the pedal unit, aeration system etc. These elements are all mounted on the separation wall between the passenger compartment and engine compartment, this wall therefore acting as the dash panel. A soundproofing element usually in the form of a sheet of expanded material is also mounted on said wall, for example on the side facing the passenger compartment.
It is apparent that the operations involved in assembling such a regulated structure are long and laborious, in particular because they have to be carried out manually by suitable personnel along the vehicle assembly line, with results which are consequently of unsatisfactory quality. In order to at least partly obviate this drawback, it is known from Italian patent application No. 67969 A/83 to mount the dash panel and the control elements (steering column, pedal unit etc.) and accessories on a cross-member off the assembly line and then mount this sub-unit on the assembly line on an otherwise conventional vehicle body, i.e. one in which the separation between the passenger compartment and engine compartment is obtained by a sheet metal bulkhead forming part of the body itself. However, such a method does not obviate the drawback of having to mount the soundproofing element on said separation bulkhead on the assembly line, this being a particularly difficult operation because of the limited space available to the operator.
From Italian patent application No. 67794 A/80 it is also known to provide separation between a motor vehicle engine compartment and passenger compartment by a combination of two independent plastics elements fixed peripherally one against the other on their respective concavity sides, the combination then being inserted to close the opening formed in the body between the engine compartment and passenger compartment. One of these elements is constructed of sound-absorbing material, the ducts for the aeration system being defined between the concavities of the two elements. With such a method it is not necessary to mount the normal soundproofing element as the sound absorption of said combination of elements is sufficient to provide good soundproofing of the passenger compartment.
On the other hand, this method necessarily requires the instrument and control panel to be mounted on the assembly line, requires the panel to be suitably shaped, and generally also requires a suitably shaped vehicle body, possibly provided with the necessary connection points for the controls and accessories which cannot be fixed directly to the combination of separation elements.

Vehicle structure and the method for its assembly


A process for forming MOS devices having graded source and drain regions. The source and drain regions are lightly doped by ion implantation and then subjected to thermal cycling to diffuse the implanted impurities. The source and drain regions are then heavily doped to form source and drain regions having a heavily doped subregion and a lightly doped subregion. Devices made pursuant to the process, which can be made less than one-half micron, are not subject to gate oxide charging and have high snapback voltages.

The disclosed invention generally relates to CMOS integrated circuit processing techniques for forming source and drain regions, and is more particularly directed to a CMOS process for forming source and drain regions for sub-half-micron devices which can operate at voltages higher than 5 volts.
Advances in CMOS integrated circuit processing have made sub-half-micron active devices possible. As devices are made smaller, the doping of the substrate in which the devices are formed is increased to prevent punch-through. The increased substrate doping produces a steep doping concentration gradient across the source/substrate and drain/substrate metallurgical junctions, which increases the field across the junctions. In N-channel devices, the increased electric field increases impact ionization which generates electron-hole pairs. The generated holes present a problem of "snapback" (parasitic n-p-n bipolar transistor action), while the generated electrons present a problem of gate oxide charging.
Snapback occurs when the lateral parasitic n-p-n bipolar transistor (source-substrate-drain) is turned on by the large impact ionization current from the drain before the substrate-drain diode breaks down. The minimum drain voltage at which snapback occurs, called the snapback voltage, decreases as the drain/substrate electric field increases. The snapback problem is worse where the starting substrate material is N type, since a high P-well sheet resistance results in a high effective base resistivity of the lateral parasitic bipolar transistor.
As the field along the channel becomes high, some electrons generated by impact ionization can acquire sufficient energy (hot electrons) to be injected into the gate oxide. Gate oxide charging, which continues to increase with time during device operation, is detrimental to the long term operation of a device.
An analysis of snapback and other short channel effects are discussed in Physics of Semiconductor Devices, Second Edition, Sze, pages 480-486 (1981).
A further consideration with smaller devices is the increased susceptibility to latch-up conditions.
Another consideration with CMOS processing of sub-half-micron devices is increased threshold voltage resulting from oxidizing the polysilicon gates after they have been patterned. The oxidation encroaches beneath the polysilicon gates adjacent the source and drain regions which, by virtue of the small size of the device, are controlled to underlap the polysilicon gates by a very small amount. If the encroaching oxide extends over sharply defined source and drain junctions, the increased oxide thickness will produce regions in the channels with substantially higher threshold voltages, and also causes problems in controlling threshold voltage variation.

Method of making a latch up free, high voltage, CMOS bulk process for sub-half micron devices


A pressure pulse generator has a pressure pulse source with a membrane that is rapidly displaceable from an initial position for generating acoustic pressure pulses in an acoustic propagation medium. For returning the membrane to its initial position, the acoustic propagation medium adjoining the membrane is maintained at an elevated static pressure in comparison to the ambient pressure. Additionally, a cooling arrangement for the pressure pulse source is provided for eliminating the dissipated heat arising during operation of the pressure pulse source. The cooling system contains a coolant that flows in a closed circulation path through a channel integrated into the pressure pulse source and through a cooling unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention is directed to a pressure pulse generator of the type having a pressure pulse source for generating acoustic pressure pulses in an acoustic propagation medium by rapid displacement of a membrane from an initial position by an electromagnetic, pneumatic or mechanical drive.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Pressure pulse generators of the type described above can be employed for a large variety of purposes, for example in medicine to non-invasively disintegrate calculi situated in the body of a patient, or to non-invasively treat pathological tissue changes. Positive (greater than atmospheric) pressure pulses are employed in the former instance and preferably negative (less than atmospheric) pressure pulses are employed in the latter instance. Further, such pressure pulse generators can be employed, for example, in materials testing to charge material specimens with pressure pulses. The pressure pulse generator is always acoustically coupled to the subject to be acoustically-irradiated in a suitable way, so that the pressure pulses generated in the acoustic propagation medium can be introduced into the subject. The pressure pulse generator and the subject to be acoustically-irradiated must be aligned relative to one another such that the region of the subject to be acoustically-irradiated is situated in the propagation path of the pressure pulses. When the pressure pulse generator provides focused pressure pulses as an output, it must also be assured that the region of the subject to be acoustically irradiated is situated in the focus region of the pressure pulses.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,674,505 discloses a pressure pulse generator of the type initially described. The generator described therein is an electromagnetic shock wave generator that generates positive pulses. In this type of generator, an electrical coil arrangement builds up a magnetic field extremely quickly when charged with a high-voltage pulse. This magnetic field induces a current in an electrically conductive membrane lying opposite the coil arrangement. This current is opposite the current flowing through the coil arrangement is being thus accompanied by a magnetic field opposite the magnetic field associated with the coil arrangement. As a consequence of the resulting repulsion forces, the membrane is suddenly moved away from the coil arrangement. A pressure pulse is thereby introduced into an acoustic propagation medium adjacent the membrane, which gradually intensifies into a shock wave along its propagation path.
A problem in pressure pulse generators of this type is that the membrane must be returned into its initial position after generating a pressure pulse. Only then it is guaranteed that the membrane assumes a defined initial position before generating the next pressure pulse; the membrane lying flush against the coil arrangement in this initial position in the case of electromagnetic pressure pulse generators. Return to a defined initial position is a prerequisite for successively generated shock waves coinciding with adequate precision with respect to their acoustic characteristics. In a pressure pulse generator disclosed in European Application 0 188 750, corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,697,588, the return of the membrane to its initial position is accomplished by charging that side of the membrane facing away from the acoustic propagation medium with negative pressure. Although a reliable return of the membrane to its initial position is guaranteed in this way, a substantial structural outlay must be provided, as must a negative pressure source.
German Published Application 34 43 295 also discloses a pressure pulse generator of the type described above whose membrane is returned into its initial position by the acoustic propagation medium that resides at a static pressure. This technique has the disadvantage that the acoustic propagation medium adjoining the membrane cannot be conducted through a cooler in a circulation loop during operation in the way known from European Application 0 265 741, corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,977,888, without additional outlay. Such cooling is necessary for eliminating the dissipated heat that arises during operation of the pressure pulse source to prevent premature failure of the pressure pulse source because of inadmissibly elevated operating temperatures, particularly due to failure of the membrane subject to high mechanical stresses.


An embodiment of a high-mobility vehicle comprises a vehicle body, a track assembly attached to the vehicle body, arms pivotally attached to the vehicle body, and trackless drive wheels mounted on distal ends of the arms. Another embodiment of a high-mobility vehicle comprises a vehicle chassis, right and left drive motors attached to the vehicle chassis, right and left power transmission mechanisms having high torque and low torque sets of gears, track assemblies coupled to the high torque sets of gears, and trackless drive wheels coupled to the low torque sets of gears.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a high-mobility vehicle which can effectively traverse and maneuver within a wide range of naturally occurring and man-made operating environments. When operated as a remotely controlled system, the high-mobility vehicle can help to ensure the safety of an operator in hazardous environments such as bomb disposal, disaster relief, and response to chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear events.
2. Description of Related Art
There are many working and operating environments that require a vehicle with a high degree of mobility in order to accomplish specific operational objectives. Some operating scenarios are hazardous to humans which may necessitate the use of a high-mobility remotely controlled vehicle. Examples where a high-mobility remotely controlled vehicle would be advantageous include bomb disposal, mine clearance and neutralization, surveillance, environmental remediation, work in and around nuclear power plants, disaster relief, and response to terrorist events such as the release of chemical, biological, or radiological material.


The head support mechanism is divided into the three portions, i.e. a rear portion one end of which can be pivotally mounted, a front portion supporting a slider including a read/write head for reading data from the magnetic recording disk or writing data to the magnetic recording disk, and a flexible hinge portion connecting the rear portion and the front portion. At least one extruded portion is provided on a surface of the front portion opposing to the recording disk at position adjacent to the flexible hinge portion. The extruded portion is coated by a resilient layer made of a material selected from a group consisting of polyimide, rubber, epoxy resin, silicone rubber, polyvinylchloride, polybutadiene and polyetherurethane.

The FIG. 1 shows a structure of a prior suspension assembly 1. The suspension assembly 1 includes a mount plate 2, a load beam 3, a flexure 4 and a slider 5. The mount plate 2 has an aperture 8 provided on one end, through which a shaft 11 (FIG. 2) fixed on a frame of the hard disk drive device is fitted for rotatably positioning the plate 2. One end of the load beam 3 is fixed on the other end of the mount, plate 2. The load beam 3 can flexibly bend at a hinge portion 7. The flexure 4 is attached on a lower surface of the load beam 3, and includes an extended member 9. The slider 5 including a read/write head is supported on the member 9, which provides a gimbal type supporting mechanism for the read/write head. The read/write head is mounted on a lower surface of the slider 5, and writes the data to a magnetic recording disk 10 (FIG. 2) or reads the data from the disk 10.
The small size hard disk drive device has been used as a memory of a portable personal computer. The thickness of the mount plate 2, the load beam 3 and the flexure 4 of the suspension assembly made of stainless steel has been made thinner to allow more disks to be configured on a spindle and to increase the storage capacity of the hard disk device.
A problem resulting from thinning the suspension assembly 1 is that, with left end of the suspension assembly 1 being mounted on the shaft 11 on the frame and with the slider 5 and the head at the right end thereof being landed on the surface of the magnetic recording disk 10, the suspension assembly 1 is entirely bent from its normal position 12 toward the magnetic recording disk 10 when an unexpected shock is applied to the personal computer, as shown in the FIG. 2. A sharp edge of the load beam 3 or a sharp edge of the flexure 4 contacts or collides with the surface of the magnetic recording disk 10, resulting in damage of its surface, so that a desired read/write operation is not performed.
The FIGS. 3(A), (B) and (C) show the movement of the portion of the load beam 3 taken along the line A--A in the FIG. 2. The FIG. 3(A) shows a parallel mode in which the load beam 3 is moved in parallel from its normal position 12 to the disk 10. The FIGS. 3(B) and (C) show a twist mode in which the load beam 3 is twisted in the movement towards the disk 10, and the surface of the magnetic recording disk 10 is damaged by the right side edge 13 or the left side edge 14. The inventors of the present invention have found that the most of the damage is caused by the movement of the twist mode in the FIGS. 3(B) and (C).

Suspension assembly with resilient shock bumpers for a disk drive device

International Business Machines Corporation


A system comprising a database storing schedule information associated with different meeting spaces, at least a first threshold display located proximate at least a first meeting space, an employee tracking system, a processor programmed to perform the steps of receiving employee tracking information including locations and identities, determining the relative juxtapositions of employees with respect to the first threshold display, identifying content to be presented on the first threshold display based on identity of a first employee, a distance between the first employee and the display and the schedule information.

The field of the invention is transitional technology and architecture for distinguishing physical spaces and helping people make psychological transitions when moving among different spaces that are associated with different activities.
One primary goal of most businesses is to increase profits year over year. One way to increase profits is to increase productivity of existing business resources. Thus, for instance, if a design engineer is able to increase her output by 10% this year by using a new CAD software program which expedites generation of CAD images, an increase in her productivity should result in increased profits. As another instance, if employee sick leave can be reduced by 15% from one year to the next by implementing a health improvement program throughout a company, an increase in productivity should increase profits. Thus, businesses are routinely searching for ways to increase employee and team productivity.
During a typical work day a typical employee will participate in various types of activities. For instance, a typical employee that works at an employer's facility may travel to work between eight thirty and nine AM, may have one hour between 9 and 10 AM for personal focused activities in a personal office, may then have a one and one half hour meeting from 10 AM to 11:30 AM, may have another half hour for personal focused work until a lunch meeting from noon until 1 PM, may have another 1 hour for focused work until 2 PM followed by a half hour of meditation, 15 minutes of travel to another facility and 15 minutes of downtime there after prior to a one hour 3 PM meeting and another one hour 4 PM meeting prior to traveling back home at 5 PM. Thus, this employee's day includes three individual focused work periods, four different group meetings, one period for personal rejuvenation (e.g., the meditation period) and various travel and transition times.
Recognizing that much employee time is spent performing focused individual activities and in group meetings and conferences, the computing industry has developed many different hardware and software tools for increasing productivity in those environments. For instance, in the case of individual focused activities, many companies provide computers for use by most of their employees and routinely update software on those computers in an effort to increase individual productivity. One simple way individual productivity has been increased has been by reducing the amount of time required to boot up a personal computer so that a morning transition from travel to individual focused work is expedited. Another simple way that productivity has been increased for at least some employees has been to swap relatively large computer displays for smaller displays thereby enabling an employee to more easily access two or more applications in different windows during focused work, to more easily compare different work product, etc.
In the case of group work activities, the computing industry has developed and continues to develop conference room affordances that help people easily share and organize digital content within a space in an intuitive and efficient manner. For instance, some conference rooms include several large flat panel displays that can present content from one or more personal computing devices used by employees. One example of conference room technology is the MediaScape system by Steelcase which includes two or more large flat panel displays and a control system that enables any of several different conferees within a space to present digital content to others in the space in an egalitarian fashion (e.g., any conferee can take control or give up control of one or more of the displays at any time without requiring authorization from some other conferee).
In addition to the computing industry, other industries have developed products specifically designed to increase individual and group productivity. To this end, workstation desks, specialized task chairs, monitor support arms, keyboard support arms and specialized lighting devices have been developed for creating ideal individual work spaces for focused work. In the case of group meetings, specialized conference tables, chairs, breakout spaces, etc., have been developed.
While computer and environmental affordances have helped employees achieve substantially optimal productivity during at least parts of focused individual or group activity periods, relatively non-productive periods often times occur during transitions from one activity to a subsequent activity. For example, assume eight people (e.g., conferees) are scheduled to meet in a conference room AA at 10 AM for a one hour meeting and that only five of the eight conferees are in room AA at 10 AM when the meeting is supposed to start. Here, while waiting for the remaining three conferees, the five present conferees often effectively waste their time wondering where the other three conferees are, when the other three conferees will arrive or if any of the three conferees is skipping the conference. In some cases present conferees will start trying to contact the missing conferees via phone, text or e-mail. Where at least one conferee is still absent after a period of waiting (e.g., 10 minutes), present conferees may start the meeting without the missing conferee(s). If a missing conferee arrives late after a conference has commenced, often times the conferees that were present when the conference was initiated will stop and fill in the late conferee with information about what has already transpired.
Clearly the transition from prior activities to the conference and conference space described above is inefficient due to the tardy conferees. There are many other reasons why transitions from one activity to another are inefficient. For example, inefficiency can result from conferees being unclear about which of several conference spaces have been reserved for a conference upon arrival, the purpose(s) of a specific conference, topics to be addressed during a specific conference, a target work product to achieve by the end of a conference, who is attending a specific conference, etc. Inefficiency in transition can also result from small talk that always seems to occur at the beginning of a conference, forgetfulness about a previous state of a project associated with a conference, uncertainty about what has transpired since a last conference associated with a project, access to personal content that is or may be important to a project associated with a conference, etc. One other source of transition inefficiency occurs when a prior conference in a space runs long and into a period associated with a next conference or when one conference has to be unnecessarily moved to a different space because the conference runs into the time associated with a next conference where the next conference will be starting late due to one or more tardy conferees.
While transitions into conference are particularly inefficient, transitions out of a conference activity can also be inefficient. For example, in many cases conferees may lose track of time and not optimally wrap up a conference session with summary of content developed and a path forward. Where the end of a meeting is rushed, often times a sub-set of conferees are required to work thereafter to develop a consensus among the conferees about work product and the path forward instead of handling those activities during the session. As another example, sometimes one or more conferees will leave a conference prior to the scheduled end time. Here, in many cases the act of leaving the conference early may be particularly disruptive as other conferees may stop conference activities to summarize content and the path forward while an entire team is present. Where content and the path forward is summarized prior to the end of a session period, often times activities during the remaining portion of the session devolve into small talk and social activities. As conferees leave a space used for a session, often times other employees are waiting to use the space for another meeting and continuing consideration of meeting materials or wrapping up session activities is difficult at best.
In addition to transitions into and out of conference being inefficient, transitions to and from other activities are also relatively inefficient. For instance, a transition from a group conference to a personal rejuvenation session (e.g., a half hour meditation period) is often fraught with inefficiency. For example, where a first employee meditates in her office, it may take the first employee 10 or more minutes to settle down and start actually gaining benefit from her meditation activity. If a second employee enters the first employee's office during the meditation session, the value of the session would likely be reduced appreciably.
As another instance, a transition from a group session in a conference room to a personal office for individual focused work can also be inefficient. In this regard, when an employee leaves a conference and walks to her office, the employee may remain focused on one or more topics addressed during the conference session. On her way to her office, the employee may run into another employee and have a brief conversation about a social activity coming up on the following Saturday and another conversation with a different employee about a new project getting started in a different business unit. Here, when the employee gets back to her office, she will have been mentally pulled in several different directions and it may be difficult to refocus on individual work. For instance, if the employee set three goals for personal focused work at the beginning of her day, it may be difficult to refocus on any one of her three goals when she arrives at her office. Instead, the employee may button up some aspect of the previous conference (e.g., make a call, finish up work product, etc.), may address some aspect of the new project or may start to plan the Saturday social activity. While some inadvertent redirection during an employee's day is often necessary, in most cases such redirection is optional and reduces productivity substantially.
Thus, what is needed is a system that can help people efficiently transition from one activity to another both physically and psychologically. More specifically, what is needed is a system that exists within the space between locations of sequential activities as well as within the time periods between those sequential activities to help prepare people to participate in a next activity regardless of prior activities.

Threshold configuration and system for space


Package assemblies for improving heat dissipation of high-power components in microwave circuits are described. A laminate that includes microwave circuitry may have cut-outs that allow high-power components to be mounted directly on a heat slug below the laminate. Electrical connections to circuitry on the laminate may be made with wire bonds. The packaging allows more flexible design and tuning of packaged microwave circuitry.

Technical Field
The technology relates to packaged, high-power microwave circuitry, such as high-power microwave amplifiers.
Discussion of the Related Art
Gallium-nitride semiconductor material has received appreciable attention in recent years because of its desirable electronic and electro-optical properties. Gallium nitride (GaN) has a wide, direct bandgap of about 3.4 eV that corresponds to the blue wavelength region of the visible spectrum. Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and laser diodes (LDs) based on GaN and its alloys have been developed and are commercially available. These devices can emit visible light ranging from the violet to red regions of the visible spectrum.
Because of its wide bandgap, gallium nitride is more resistant to avalanche breakdown and has a higher intrinsic field strength compared to more common semiconductor materials, such as silicon and gallium arsenide. In addition, gallium nitride is able to maintain its electrical performance at higher temperatures as compared to other semiconductors, such as silicon or gallium arsenide. GaN also has a higher carrier saturation velocity compared to silicon. Additionally, GaN has a Wurtzite crystal structure, is a hard material, has a high thermal conductivity, and has a much higher melting point than other conventional semiconductors such as silicon, germanium, and gallium arsenide. Accordingly, GaN is useful for high-speed, high-voltage, high-power, and high-power applications. For example, gallium-nitride materials may be used as active circuit components in semiconductor amplifiers for radio-frequency (RF) communications, radar, and microwave applications.

MACOM Technology Solutions Holdings, Inc.


An image forming apparatus for forming an image on a recording medium includes a fixing unit configured to fix on a recording medium, a toner image formed on the recording medium, through heating and pressurization and a gloss control unit configured to lower gloss of a surface of the toner image by charging the surface of the toner image fixed onto the recording medium and heating the toner image such that toner contained in the toner image reaches a softening point or higher thereof.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and a gloss control method, and particularly to an image forming apparatus for forming an image on a recording medium with electrophotography and a gloss control method for controlling gloss of an image formed on a recording medium with electrophotography.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image forming apparatus for forming an image on a recording medium with electrophotography has been known. Types of recording media on which an image is to be formed have recently been various. For example, bond paper has fine projections and recesses at its surface owing to a material therefor (paper fiber). Meanwhile, coated paper has a smooth surface shape because a coating layer is formed on its surface. Since bond paper and coated paper are different in surface shape from each other, they are different in gloss (glossiness) from each other.
In forming an image (a toner image) on a recording medium, depending on difference between gloss of a portion where an image is formed (an image portion) and gloss of a background portion of a recording medium where no image is formed (a non-image portion), a user may feel disagreeable. In general, gloss of an image formed on a recording medium should be set not to have a user feel disagreeable, depending on a type of a recording medium. On the other hand, there is also a case where difference in gloss is intentionally set between an image portion and a non-image portion and the difference in gloss is utilized as means for improving added value of an output image.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 64-029887 discloses a fixing apparatus in which selection between providing gloss to an image and not providing gloss to an image is made by changing a temperature for fixing an image.

Image forming apparatus and gloss control method

Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.


A base station can enable a terminal in a communication system to monitor a radio link between the terminal and the base station. The base station can transmit a first message to the terminal. The terminal configured to not communicate data with the base station via the radio link during an inactive phase. The first message setting a threshold value for comparison of the threshold value with a duration of the inactive phase.

The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is responsible for the standardization of the UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication Service) system and LTE (Long term Evolution). LTE is a technology for realizing high-speed packet-based communication that can reach data rates of about 100 Mbps on the downlink and about 50 Mbps on the uplink. The base station in LTE, also known as eNB (enhanced Node B) or eNodeB, performs the functions of a conventional radio access network (RNC) node and of a UMTS Node B. In addition, eNodeBs in LTE may interact directly with the core network and with other eNodeBs.
Irrespective of the wireless or mobile communication system used, radio link monitoring is vital to maintain radio connections. By regularly reporting the radio conditions, different types of actions can be taken when radio link failures occur. In e.g. UTRA (UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network), the physical layers estimate the quality of the radio links and report, on radio frame basis, the synchronization status to higher layers. The synchronization status are reported via so called synchronization primitives which are described in greater details in the technical specification 3GPP TS 25.214 V12.2.0 titled: "Physical Layer Procedures (FDD)".
The mechanism of reporting radio link quality status is also specified in E-UTRA (Evolved UTRA), in which a fast and reliable detection of radio problems is considered essential in order to avoid unnecessary interference in uplink, waste of resources in downlink and unnecessarily long delays before e.g. cell reselection or handover of a terminal can take place.
The radio link failure handling in E-UTRA is described in the technical specifications 3GPP TS 36.300 V12.5.0 titled: "E-UTRA and Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) Overall description; Stage 2". The handling of radio link failures described in these specifications consists of two phases as illustrated in FIG. 2a. As shown, the first phase is started upon radio problem detection which may lead to radio link failure detection e.g. after a timer period has expired (the timer is denoted T310 in FIG. 1). In this first phase, user mobility is still controlled and managed by the network. This means the network may perform a handover.
As also shown in FIG. 2a, the second phase is started upon radio link failure detection which may lead to a so called radio resource control (RRC) state transition from a connected mode, i.e. RRC_CONNECTED, to an idle mode, i.e. RRC_IDLE, after the expiry of e.g. a timer, denoted T311 in FIG. 2a. In this second phase, the network loses control over the terminal. Therefore the terminal autonomously may take mobility related decisions in accordance with the specified terminal behavior, cf. section 10.1.6 of above mentioned TS 36.300 V12.5.0.
As mentioned earlier, the judgment (and reporting) of radio problem detection, as well as procedures for its reporting, is handled by the physical layer. The analogy with UTRA refers to the use of the previously mentioned synchronization primitives, e.g. the out of synchronization (out-of-sync) handling.
As an example, for E-UTRA downlink, the terminal monitors radio link quality of the serving base station (or serving cell), in RRC connected (RRC_CONNECTED) mode, in order to indicate radio problems to higher layers. If the terminal is not operating in a so called discontinuous reception mode (DRX mode), the physical layer in the terminal checks, in every frame, the quality of the radio link measured over certain evaluation duration (e.g. 100 ms or 200 ms or any other suitable value) and compares against defined thresholds denoted Qin and Qout. When the radio quality determined by the terminal is worse (or less) than the threshold Qout, the terminal indicates radio problem or the so called out of synchronization to higher layers. The terminal continues indicating radio problems until the quality becomes better than the threshold Qin. It is the higher layer(s) that triggers the start and stop of monitoring i.e. radio problem detection.
In addition to the above mentioned thresholds used to detect radio link problems, there are additional so called higher layer filtering parameters that can be used in order to further increase the reliability of radio link failure detection especially for the cases where the terminal applies DRX and can avoid "ping-pong" between in-synchronization and out-of-sync. These parameters are known as hysteresis counters and timers. It should be noted that additional parameters and coefficients can also be used, but typically timers and counters are used. As an example, UTRA relies on timers and counters, denoted in 3GPP TS 25.331 V12.5.0 by N313 (Successive Out-Of-Sync Reception Max) and N315 (Successive In-Sync Reception Counter). These are configured by higher layers i.e. via the network. They generally count the number of out-of-sync and in-sync indications. For E-UTRA, higher layer filtering parameters such as timers and counters are e.g. described in the technical specification 3GPP TS 36.331 V12.5.0 entitled: "E-UTRA Radio Resource Control (RRC); Protocol specification (Release 12)". One of the timers mentioned in this technical specification and which relates to radio link failure detection and actions to be performed is denoted T310.
As mentioned before, the E-UTRA allows operation in DRX mode in RRC connected mode. DRX is an ongoing work on the LTE network (i.e. on E-UTRAN), and is a mechanism defined to save battery time and resources of a terminal. With DRX a terminal can turn on and off reception of layer 1/layer 2 (L1/L2) control in radio resource control connected state or connected mode, i.e. when the terminal has established an RRC connection with the serving network.
In order to save battery time, the RRC connected mode terminal, while being in sleep mode ('OFF time') during a predetermined DRX cycle period, wakes up at specific timings in order to check/monitor for possible control channels allocated by the base station (e.g. eNB) to determine if there is data to receive, the so called 'ON time'. When there is no data to receive, the terminal switches to the sleep mode and stays in the sleep mode until the next wake-up time. The control channel checked/monitored by the terminal during the wake-up time is known as PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control Channel). When there is data to receive, the terminal receives the data from the base station and sends a response signal (ACK/NACK) indicating a success or a failure in the reception of the data transmitted. As an example, DRX uses one or two predefined cycles (long and/or short cycles) at the beginning of which the terminal should monitor the PDCCH over a certain amount of TTIs (Transmission Time Interval) under a so called 'ON time'. During the 'ON time', the terminal monitors the PDCCH for PDCCH-subframe(s). The number of consecutive PDCCH-subframe(s) at the beginning of the DRX cycle (i.e. during the Active Time) is known as the "On-duration Timer". The On-duration timer in the beginning of each cycle also defines how long a terminal should monitor the PDCCH and is also based on the system frame number (SFN), specified as an integer offset. The PDCCH can carry both downlink assignments as well as uplink grants scheduled by the base station. It should be noted that the same DRX mechanism is used both for the downlink (DL) and the uplink (UL).
Whether the terminal is awake (i.e. monitors the PDCCH) or is asleep after the On-duration period depends on activity, i.e. possible receptions of PDCCH control data during that period. When the terminal successfully decodes a PDCCH assignment or grant, it re(starts) the so called inactivity timer. The inactivity timer extends the time during which the terminal further monitors the PDCCH.
The DRX mode may be configured via higher layers (i.e. by RRC). The terminal may thus be configured to use long DRX cycle or the short DRX cycle or both. The terminal always follows one DRX cycle at any moment even if two DRX cycles (i.e. short and long DRX) are configured. The network (i.e. higher/upper layers) can configure a DRX cycle between e.g. 2 ms and up to e.g. 2.56 seconds depending upon the type of service, e.g. 2-20 ms for voice over internet protocol (VoIP) and e.g. 1-2 seconds for browsing on the Internet.
As mentioned before, when DRX is used, the terminal tries to stay inactive as much as possible during the silent periods of the DRX cycle to save its battery. However, this also implies that the terminal will mainly perform measurements at the wake up instances for e.g. mobility reasons; radio link problem detection (e.g. out-of-sync detection and in-sync detection) etc.
A drawback with this is that due to the insufficient measurement opportunities in DRX mode (depending upon DRX cycle) it is possible that the terminal would be unable to promptly detect the radio link problem.
Furthermore, it is likely that a very large number of terminals are kept in DRX mode and the network can abruptly switch one or several terminals to operate in continuous reception mode in order to transmit data. Thus the terminal(s) should stay well connected in terms of radio link quality and so any radio link problem(s) should be reported to the network promptly. In other words, it is important that the radio link problem detection is designed to work effectively in both DRX and non-DRX (i.e. continuous) modes of operation. But since the number of measurements samples that are required to achieve estimation accuracy equivalent to non-DRX mode can be relatively large, a terminal operating in DRX mode may fail to promptly detect radio link problems due to the insufficient measurement opportunities (i.e. evaluation periods) by the terminal in DRX mode.

Methods and apparatuses for monitoring a radio link


A buffered access system for loading and unloading media from a storage library system without interfering with the operation of the robotic arm within the storage library, while maintaining the security and integrity of the system, and increasing the overall storage capacity of the storage library. The buffered access system includes an automatic stack loader coupled to the exterior of the library module enabling the operator to stack multiple data cartridges to be input into the library module and to remove data storage cartridges automatically stacked in an output tray. The automatic stack loader retrieves and inserts the data storage cartridges in sequence from and into the library module through a cartridge access port to a turntable mechanism located in the interior of the library module. The turntable mechanism has a rotating platform which holds the data storage media cartridge to be transferred and is positioned by a servo motor to be properly aligned the cartridge with the automatic stack loader or robotic arm. The automatic stack loader and turntable mechanism are controlled by a library control unit which drives the two devices to operate together with the robot arm to transfer a data storage media cartridge between the automatic stack loader to a storage cell or other device within the library module.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to automated library systems and, more particularly, to an automated data cartridge storage library system that includes a buffered access system for automatically loading and unloading data storage cartridges.
2. Related Art
The computer and information industry has evolved to the point where it is necessary and desirable to have a computer facility operate without human operators. Typically, an automated storage library system has been used to store and retrieve data with a robotic media-handling device. These automated library systems typically have library modules with a magnetic tape cartridge capacity of approximately 6,000 cartridges. As a result, there is a continual need to feed or retrieve the magnetic tape cartridges from the library system.
One conventional technique used to load and unload magnetic tape cartridges from a storage library is to configure the storage library with a door to enable an operator to physically enter the device. This enables the operator to climb into the storage library to manually load and unload the cartridges. To provide the operator safe access, the operation of the automated system must be stopped, and all production ceased. In addition, the operator must carry up to 6,000 cartridges through the door and sequentially place each one into its individual storage cell.
One drawback to this approach is that it reduces the operating time of the storage library by the loading/unloading time. In addition, this technique reduces the system integrity due to the high potential for errors associated with the manual placement of cartridges in their respective storage cells. Also, providing operator access to the entire storage library beyond that needed to load/unload particular cartridges reduces the security of the system.
Another conventional technique is to implement a smaller access port which consists of a bank of cartridge slots (cells) mounted to a panel which rotates out from inside the storage area to present itself to the operator on the outside of the library module. This technique does not impact the operational time of the device since the robot mechanism does not have to be stopped during the loading/unloading process. However, this technique is timely since the loading module must be opened and closed 100 to 200 times, depending on the number of data storage cartridges held by the panel, to accomplish a full capacity load. In addition, the storage capacity of the library module is reduced by the number of fixed storage cells replaced by the panel. Lastly, each of the panels have to be monitored with sensing hardware to prevent the robot mechanism from accessing the storage cells on a panel while it is in the open position. An example of a storage library implementing such a technique is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,779,151 to Lind, et al.
A third conventional solution is to implement the storage library with fixed pass-thru panels which enable the operator to pass the cartridges to the interior of the library module in a manner similar to a post office box. In such a system, the cartridges could be loaded and unloaded from the outside of the library module at any time while the robot arm simultaneously accesses the storage cells from the interior of the storage library.
The technique does not require the storage library to stop operation. However, the cartridge identification labels have to face the inside of the storage library so that the robot visual system can scan them. This enables the library module to catalog the cartridges and establish its database. As a result, the cartridge ID labels are unreadable to an operator accessing the storage cells from the opposite side. Furthermore, to prevent the cartridges from sliding out of their storage cells, a latching mechanism has to be employed to hold the cartridges when the outside panel is opened. Lastly, this technique drastically reduces system integrity due to the manual access of the cartridges.
What is needed is a system and method for automatically loading and unloading media from a storage library without human intervention and without interfering with the operation of the robotic arm. The system also needs to maintain system integrity and security, while not decreasing the overall storage capacity of the library system.

Buffered access system for an automated computer media storage library


A variable-cycle engine operates in a two-cycle mode when the rotational speed of the engine is lower than a predetermined speed and in a four-cycle mode when the rotational speed of the engine is higher than the predetermined speed. The engine has a first intake port and an exhaust port which are defined in an upper portion of a cylinder, and a second intake port defined in a lower side portion of the cylinder. When the rotational speed of the engine is lower than the predetermined speed, the engine operates as a two-cycle engine with the second intake valve and the exhaust valve in operation. When the rotational speed of the engine is higher than the predetermined speed, the engine operates as a four-cycle engine with the first intake port and the exhaust port in operation. Alternatively, the engine has an intake port defined in a lower side portion of a cylinder and an exhaust port defined in an upper portion of the cylinder, the exhaust port being openable and closable by an exhaust valve with variable timing. Depending on the rotational speed of the engine, the timing with which the exhaust valve operates is varied, and the engine operates in one of different cycles. The engine is associated with a turbocharger combined with an electric motor. In a lower speed range, the electric motor is energized to assist in turbocharging operation for thereby increasing the torque produced by the engine.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a variable-cycle engine which operates in a two-cycle mode when the rotational speed of the engine is lower than a predetermined speed and in a four-cycle mode when the rotational speed of the engine is higher than the predetermined speed.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Ordinary engines are roughly grouped into two-cycle engines in which the intake, compression, power, and exhaust strokes are performed while the crankshaft makes one revolution and four-cycle engines in which the above four strokes are carried out while the crankshaft makes two revolutions.
In the two-cycle engines, intake ports are positioned in a lower portion of a cylinder liner. Since intake air is drawn and exhaust gases are discharged when the piston is lowered, and the explosion occurs each time the crankshaft makes one revolution, the rotational speed of the output shaft suffers less fluctuations even in a low engine speed range, and the engine can produce a high-torque output.
However, since the intake and exhaust strokes are simultaneously performed in the two-cycle engines, the intake air and the exhaust gases are not fully exchanged particularly in a high engine speed range. Therefore, the two-cycle engines are lower in efficiency and higher in fuel consumption.
In the four-cycle engines, intake air is drawn and exhaust gases are discharged in respective strokes. Therefore, the intake air and the exhaust gases are well exchanged in a high engine speed range. Accordingly, the four-cycle engines are highly efficient, and fuel consumption is lower.
The four-cycle engines suffer larger fluctuations in the rotational speed of the engine output shaft. Therefore, in a low engine speed range, the engine output torque is lower, and the engines do not operate smoothly.

Isuzu Ceramics Research Institute Co., Ltd.