A dynamic damper assembly may include a plurality of bodies arranged at predetermined intervals on an outer peripheral surface of a drive shaft, and an elastic body formed to surround each of the bodies and fixing each body to the drive shaft.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a dynamic damper provided in a drive shaft of a vehicle to reduce booming noise occurring when a bending mode of the drive shaft coincides with an excitation frequency of an engine, and, more particularly, to a dynamic damper assembly capable of reducing noise in a multi-frequency band even though only one dynamic damper is mounted to a drive shaft.
Description of Related Art
In general, vibrations occur in a structure or a device when an external force is applied thereto, regardless of whether the structure or the device has or does not have its own power.
For example, when an external force is applied to a device for generating power by transferring explosive power from a four-stroke engine of a vehicle to drive wheels through drive shafts via a transmission, or a structure which does not have its own power, vibrations occur in the device or the structure. These vibrations deteriorate the mounting safety of the engine or structure, and cause interference when the components or related parts thereof are operated, which may lead to the deterioration of accuracy or the risk of malfunction.
The drive shafts for transferring such a driving force are installed between the transmission fixed to a frame and the drive wheels fixed to chassis springs. For this reason, the drive shafts cause bending vibrations such as torsion and whirling, and the explosive vibration of the engine is applied to the drive shafts.
Particularly, a differential is one-sided in a Front-engine Front-drive (FF) vehicle, with the consequence that a Left Hand (LH) drive shaft has a short length and a Right Hand (RH) drive shaft has a long length, as illustrated in FIG. 1. Accordingly, the RH shaft has a low bending natural frequency due to the long length thereof, and booming noise thus occurs when the RH shaft resonates in the excitation range of an engine.
In order to attenuate a resonant frequency and improve Noise, Vibration and Harshness (NVH), a dynamic damper is mounted to the drive shaft. However, since a typical dynamic damper is set to attenuate a single frequency, a secondary anti-resonant phenomenon may occur before and after the frequency attenuated by the dynamic damper.
In order to reduce such secondary anti-resonance, vehicles use dampers made of a material having a relative large loss factor. However, there is a limit to the attenuation of anti-resonance using such materials, and a desired frequency may be offset in a low-temperature region (at a temperature equal to or less than 0° C., or in a cold region) since the rate of change in natural frequency is increased according to a change in temperature. In addition, two dynamic dampers may be mounted to a vehicle in which a considerable degree of secondary anti-resonance occurs, but this is disadvantageous in terms of increases in weight and cost.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.


One embodiment of the described invention is directed to a key management module deployed within a cybersecurity system that operates as a multi-tenant Security-as-a-Service (SaaS) by relying on Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) cloud processing resources and cloud storage resources. The key management module is configured to assign a master key to a subscriber upon registration and, as requested, generate one or more virtual keys, based at least in part on the master key, for distribution to the subscriber. Each virtual key is included as part of a submission into the cybersecurity system and is used to authenticate the subscriber of the submission and verify that the subscriber is authorized to perform one or more tasks associated with the submission before the one or more tasks are performed.

In the past, businesses have relied on application software installed on one or more electronic devices residing in close proximity to its user (hereinafter, "on-premises electronic devices"). Each on-premises electronic device may constitute a type of computer such as a personal computer, a locally maintained mainframe, or a local server for example. As on-premises electronic devices became subjected to cybersecurity attacks (cyberattacks) more regularly, in order to protect these electronic devices, certain preeminent cybersecurity vendors began to develop and deploy on-premises threat detection appliances.
For on-premises deployments, a customer has to purchase threat detection appliances from a cybersecurity vendor, which requires both a significant upfront capital outlay for the purchase of the appliances as well as significant ongoing operational costs. These operational costs may include the costs for deploying, managing, maintaining, upgrading, repairing and replacing these appliances. For instance, a customer may be required to install multiple types of threat detection appliances within the enterprise network in order to detect different types of cybersecurity threats (cyberthreats). These cyberthreats may coincide with discrete activities associated with known or highly suspected cyberattacks.
As an illustrative example, a cybersecurity vendor would need to install one type of on-premises threat detection appliance that is directed to analyze electronic mail (email) messages for malware, normally ingress email messages from an outside source. Similarly, the cybersecurity vendor would need to install another type of on-premises threat detection appliance to analyze web-based content (e.g., downloaded web pages and related network traffic) in effort to detect cyberthreats such as web pages embedded with malware. Herein, "malware" may be generally considered to be software (e.g., executable) that is coded to cause a recipient electronic device to perform unauthorized, unexpected, anomalous, and/or unwanted behaviors or operations (hereinafter, "malicious behaviors"), such as altering the functionality of an electronic device upon execution of the malware.
Cybersecurity vendors have provided threat detection through cloud-based offerings that are self-hosted by these vendors. Herein, the responsibility for the above-described upfront capital outlays and ongoing operational costs is shifted from the customer to the cybersecurity vendor. As a result, the cybersecurity vendor are now saddled with even greater overall costs than a customer itself because the cybersecurity vendor must deploy infrastructure resources sized to handle the maximum aggregate threat detection analytic workload for all of its customers. These overall costs, directed to data processing and storage usage, would need to be passed on to its customers, where any significant cost increases may translate into a significant price increases for the cybersecurity services. As a result, customers are unable to accurately estimate or anticipate the costs associated with current and future cybersecurity needs, given that impact that changes in cybersecurity need, amongst all of the customers, may influence the costs apportioned for processing or storage usage.
Recently, more businesses and individuals have begun to rely on a public cloud network (hereinafter, "public cloud") for all types of services, including cybersecurity services offered by the cloud provider. A "public cloud" is a fully virtualized environment with a multi-tenant architecture that enables tenants (i.e., customers) to establish different cloud accounts, but share computing and storage resources and retain the isolation of data within each customer's cloud account. The virtualized environment includes on-demand, cloud computing platforms that are provided by a collection of physical data centers, where each data center includes numerous servers hosted by the cloud provider. Examples of different types of public clouds may include, but is not limited or restricted to Amazon Web Services®, Microsoft® Azure® or Google Cloud Platform™ for example.
This growing reliance on public cloud platforms is due, in large part, to a number of advantages offered by these platforms, where these advantages may be realized by cybersecurity providers as well. However, deployment of a cybersecurity system as a Security-as-a-Service (SaaS) within a public cloud operating as an Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) poses a number of challenging, given the high number of submissions of data for analysis that may reach into the millions for a subscriber to that cybersecurity system (SaaS-subscriber). Each submission would need to be tracked back to the subscriber for verification and confirmation of compliance with the terms of the subscription, where the keying mechanism offered by public clouds is not equip to monitor submissions associated with different SaaS-subscribers of the cybersecurity system.


A light fixture assembly including a bracket defined by an arcuate base and a clip dovetailed to the bracket within the base. The clip and the bracket define cooperative serrations to permit rotatable adjustment of the clip relative to the base about a longitudinal axis to provide different orientations for a light source within the case.

The present invention relates to a light fixture for a merchandiser, and more particularly to an adjustable light fixture.
Conventional light fixtures generally include a frame or bracket that attach to a portion of a merchandiser (e.g., shelf, mullion, canopy) and that support a light (e.g., LEDs) for illuminating a display area of the merchandiser. Existing light fixtures are often secured to the merchandiser using a magnet or a fastener (e.g., screw or bolt). Typically, conventional light fixtures must be replaced with another light fixture to modify the angle of illumination of the light or other aspects of the light.


An adaptive filter allowing rapid adaptation to a sudden and great change in a system to be estimated is disclosed A memory stores position information indicative of a signal block connected to each of M filter circuits and power information obtained from K filter coefficients generated by each of the M filter circuits. A valid/invalid block selector selects one as an invalid block from the M signal blocks connected to the M filter circuits and determines position information indicative of a selected signal block as an invalid block and a corresponding filter circuit that has been connected to the selected signal block. The position information indicative of the selected signal block is appended to a queue of a shift register and position information is output from a head of the queue. Based on the corresponding filter circuit and the position information received from the shift register, a matrix switch connecting M filter circuits and M signal blocks is controlled.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a circuit using an adaptive filter to estimate an unknown system, and in particular to an adaptive filter suitable for an echo canceller that cancels an echo that may be a problem in the case of long-distance lines having relatively long transmission delay and including devices that couple local two-wire to long-distance four-wire lines.
2. Description of the Related Art
System identification using an adaptive filter is performed by updating the coefficients wi(t) of the adaptive filter to estimate an output signal y(t) corresponding to an input signal x(t) of the system by using a difference e(t)=ŷ(t)xe2x88x92y(t), where ŷ(t) is an output of the active filter.
Taking a learning identification method or normalized LMS (least-mean square) method as an example of system identification method, a conventional echo cancellation method will be described hereafter. Here, it is assumed that an unknown system is an unknown echo path in the case where an echo is created when four-wire lines are converted to two-wire lines. The learning identification method has been described in xe2x80x9cAdaptive Filter Theoryxe2x80x9d by Simon Haykin (Prentice-Hall Information and System Sciences series, 1996).
Consider an adaptive FIR (Finite Impulse Response) filter with N taps, a pseudo echo or echo replica ŷ(t) that is an output of the filter at time instant t is represented by                                                         y              ^                                                  (              t              )                                =                                    ∑                              i                =                1                            N                                                  (                                                wi                                                        (                    t                    )                                                  *                                  x                                                        (                                          t                      -                      i                                        )                                                              )                                      ,                            (        1        )
where wi(t) is a i-th filter coefficient at time instant t and x(t) is a reference signal at time instant t.
Echo cancellation is achieved by subtracting the pseudo echo ŷ(t) from an echo signal y(t) as follows:
e(t)=y(t)xe2x88x92ŷ(t)xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(2),
where e(t) is a residual signal.
The filter coefficient wi(t) is updated so as to minimize the residual signal e(t) as follows:
wi(t+1)=wi(t)xe2x88x92xcexc(t)e(t)x(txe2x88x92i)xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(3) and
xcexc(t)=xcexc0/PX(t)xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(4),
where xcexc(t) is a step size and xcexc0 is a positive constant that has an effect on convergence rate and PX(t) is power of a reference signal x(t). The power PX(t) Is represented by                               PX                                (            t            )                          =                              ∑                          i              =              1                        N                                                                        x                                                  (                                      t                    -                    i                                    )                                            2                        .                                              (        5        )
As is apparent from the above-described equations (1) through (5), generation of pseudo echo, power calculation of reference signal, and update of filter coefficient need the increasing amount of computation and memory in proportion to N. Further, It is known that the convergence rate of LMS-base algorithm such as the learning identification method is inversely proportional to N (see xe2x80x9cAdaptive Filter Theoryxe2x80x9d by Simon Haykin, pp365-444, Prentice-Hall Information and System Sciences series, 1996).
On the other hand, a dispersive region in impulse response of an echo path is only a part of the impulse response region (see FIG. 7). To eliminate an echo, it is necessary to estimate such a dispersive region by adjusting N tap filter coefficients of the adaptive filter. However, it is usually unknown when a dispersive region appears and therefore N is determined on the assumption of longest time interval. Since a dispersive region is only a part of the impulse response region, the filter coefficients provide a fixed delay section and a convergence section where coefficients after the dispersive region converge to zero. For the filter coefficients converging to zero, it is not necessary to calculate the equations (1) and (3). Therefore, these steps can be omitted. In other words, waste can be eliminated by dividing the N taps into valid taps to be subjected to the filter calculation and invalid taps not to be subjected to the filter calculation.
There has been disclosed a system estimator having a matrix switch connected between a series of delay elements and a series of coefficient circuits in Japanese Patent Application Unexamined Publication No. 4-245810. The matrix switch is controlled such that the respective positions of the taps are exchanged to intensively allocate valid taps to the dispersive region, resulting in increased convergence rate and reduced memory.
As an improved one, there has been disclosed a system estimator having a matrix switch connected between blocked delay elements and blocked filter circuits in Japanese Patent Application Unexamined Publication No. 10-229324. Hereafter, the blocked structure and operation of this conventional system estimator will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.
Referring to FIG. 1, echo cancellation is achieved by a subtracter 904 subtracting a pseudo echo ŷ(t) that is an output of an adaptive filter from an echo signal y(t), that is, e(t) =y(t)xe2x88x92ŷ(t), as described before. An adaptation controller 911 updates the filter coefficients of the adaptive filter so as to minimize the residual signal e(t).
The adaptive filter is provided with n input signal blocks 909.1 through 909.n, m filter circuits 910.1 through 910.m, a matrix switch 905 that connects the n input signal blocks 909.1 through 909.n to the n filter circuits 910.1-910.m under control of a controller 906. An input signal x(t) Is divided into the n input signal blocks 909.1 through 909.n, each block including k input signals. Each of the m filter circuits 910.1-910.m inputs k signals through the matrix switch 905 and generates k filter coefficients corresponding to respective ones of the k signals.
The controller 906 monitors m blocks of filter coefficients to control the matrix switch 905 so as to select m blocks from n blocks and connect the selected blocks to respective ones of the m filter circuits.
Hereinafter, an input signal block that is connected to an appropriate one of the filter circuits 910.1 through 910.m by the matrix switch 905 is called xe2x80x9cvalid blockxe2x80x9d. On the other hand, an input signal block that is not connected to any of the filter circuits by the matrix switch 905 is called xe2x80x9cinvalid blockxe2x80x9d. Such a switching operation of valid and invalid blocks, that is, selection operation of taps, is performed by the controller 906 as follows:
Selection 1: selecting one of the valid blocks that Is to switch from valid to invalid: and
Selection 2: selecting one of the invalid blocks that is to switch from invalid to valid.
FIG. 2 shows the functional configuration of the controller 906 for performing the above selection operation: Selection 1 and Selection 2.
In the processing of Selection 1, a minimum coefficient power block detector 813 detects the filter number BN and the position information POS of a block connected to the filter circuit providing the minimum coefficient power. The detected position information POS is stored in a shift register (or FIFO) 814 to append it to a queue stored in the shift register 814,
In the processing of Selection 2, a maximum coefficient power block detector 820 detects the filter number BN and the position information POS of a block connected to the filter circuit providing the maximum coefficient power. The decision section 817 inputs the position information of a candidate from the shift register 814 and the position information corresponding to the filter circuit providing the maximum coefficient power from the maximum coefficient power block detector 820 and determines whether the candidate should switch from invalid to valid. For example, the determination is made depending on whether a difference between the position of the candidate and the position of the filter circuit providing the maximum coefficient power is smaller than a predetermined value (L). When it is determined that the candidate should switch from invalid to valid, the decision section 817 outputs the block number BN and the position information POS to a controller 815 to control the matrix switch 905. Contrarily, when it is determined that the candidate should not switch from invalid to valid, the decision section 817 outputs the position information to the shift register 814 to append it to a queue stored therein. In this manner, it is possible to allocate valid taps intensively to around taps providing the maximum power, resulting in increased convergence rate and high-speed estimation.
However, as shown in FIG. 2, a closed loop is formed between the shift register 814 and the decision section 817 such that the decision section 817 determines whether the candidate should switch from invalid to valid and, if the candidate should not switch from invalid to valid, then the decision section 817 outputs the position information to the shift register 814 to append it to a queue stored therein. Such a closed loop including the decision step makes the adaptive filter difficult to follow an irregular or sudden change of the unknown system, resulting in unstable estimation. For example, in the case where a dispersive region is dramatically changed from a position 1 to a position 2 as shown in FIG. 7, which may be caused by replacing the to-be-estimated system with another system, the adaptive filter fails to adapt to such a change.
In addition, according to the prior art, estimation of dispersive region is independently performed at the initial stage (see xe2x80x9cA fast convergence algorithm for adaptive FIR filters with coarsely located tapsxe2x80x9d by Seiji Ikeda, pp. 1525-1529, Proc. ICASSP""91, 1991). In other words, the conventional adaptive filer is designed without taking a great system change during operation into consideration. In this case, the above-described decision step would adversely influence the system estimation. For example, the convergence rate is greatly decreased.
Further, since the processing of Selection 1 is performed by detecting a block of taps providing the minimum coefficient power, there are cases where a block of taps to be valid is selected as an invalid one when the power of the block is small. Concretely, in the case where a strongly correlative signal such as a voice signal is used to estimate, the filter coefficients are more unstable than in the case where the white noise having no correlation is used to estimate. Therefore, a block of taps to be valid may be erroneously determined to be invalid and is appended to the queue of the shift register 814. This results in reduced convergence rate.
Furthermore, according to the prior art, it is difficult to estimate a system exhibiting a plurality of dispersive regions because it is unknown when a plurality of dispersive regions occur. It is not possible for a single maximum coefficient power block detector 820 to cope with a plurality of dispersive regions. To estimate a plurality of dispersive regions, a plurality of maximum coefficient power block detectors 820 are needed.
An object of the present invention is to provide an adaptive filter allowing rapid adaptation to a sudden and great change in a system to be estimated.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an adaptive filter ensuring stable and rapid convergence even in the case of strongly correlative signal such as voice signal.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an adaptive filter allowing rapid adaptation to a change in a system to be estimated without the need of specific processing at the initial stage of estimation.
According to the present invention, an adaptive filter includes: N signal blocks obtained by dividing a serial input signal by K, wherein N, K is an integer greater than 1; M (M  less than N) filter circuits, each of which generates K filter coefficients for one of the N signal blocks a switch for connecting M signal blocks selected from the N signal blocks to respective ones of the M filter circuits; and a controller controlling interconnection of the switch based on the K filter coefficients generated by each of the M filter circuits. The controller includes: a memory for storing position information indicative of a signal block connected to each of the M filter circuits, power information obtained from the K filter coefficients generated by each of the M filter circuits; a selector for selecting one as an invalid block from the M signal blocks connected to the M filter circuits to determine position information indicative of a selected signal block as an invalid block and a corresponding filter circuit that has been connected to the selected signal block; a shift register for storing a queue of position information, wherein the position information indicative of the selected signal block is appended to the queue and position information Is output from a head of the queue; and a switch controller controlling the switch using the corresponding filter circuit determined by the selector and the position information received from the shift register.
The selector may select one as an invalid block from the M signal blocks connected to the M filter circuits position by selecting a plurality of first signal blocks having relatively great power and a plurality of second signal blocks having relatively small power, wherein one of the second signal blocks, which is most distant from the first signal blocks, is selected as the invalid block.
The selector may include: a power sorter for sorting position information currently corresponding to respective ones of the M filter circuits in order of descending power information; a position comparator for comparing position information of the first signal blocks having higher-order power with that of each of the second signal blocks having lower-order power to produce minimum position differences for respective ones of the second signal blocks; and a maximum selector for selecting a maximum one of the minimum position differences to determine the position information indicative of a selected signal block as an invalid block and a corresponding filter circuit that has been connected to the selected signal block.
The position comparator may include: a position subtracter provided for position information of each of the first signal blocks, for calculating a position difference between a corresponding first signal block and a corresponding second signal block; and a minimum selector for selecting a minimum position difference from absolute values of position differences calculated for respective ones of the first signal blocks.
The position comparator may include: a position subtracter provided for position information of each of the first signal blocks, for calculating a position difference between a corresponding first signal block and a corresponding second signal block; and a positive minimum selector for selecting a minimum position difference from positive ones of position differences calculated for respective ones of the first signal blocks.

Adaptive filter and echo canceller using the same


The present invention is an improved serpentine heat exchanger. Two metal sheets are crimped together, sealed at their abutting edges. The sheets have matching depressions which from a serpentine air passageway. Within the passageway are elongated ribs and column like dimples which serve as obstruction to the air flow, directing fluid flow over under-utilized portions of the passageway and generating turbulent fluid flow near heat transfer surfaces.

The field of the invention is that of heat exchangers, and more particularly, heat exchangers for use in domestic furnaces.
In one prior art form of a conventional domestic furnace, air to be heated (room air) is circulated around a serpentine heat exchanger for heat transfer to the conditioned room air. The heat exchanger defines a passageway for the flow of hot combustion gases conventionally produced by burning a fuel such as oil, gas, etc. The hot products of combustion pass through the heat exchanger thereby transferring heat to the conditioned room air, which is exhausted through a suitable flue.
To facilitate the heat transfer, heat exchangers preferably cause a turbulent flow within the fluid streams which exchange heat. Turbulent flow is achieved by superimposing an unsteady fluctuating velocity distribution on a steady mean flow pattern. By providing such a steady mean flow pattern, i.e. an average rate of flow, the furnace can reliably maintain air intake and exhaust. By superimposing an unsteady fluctuating velocity distribution, i.e. shifting subcurrents, on the steady flow pattern, the fluid stream transfers heat through the interface media of the walls of the heat exchanger. Providing a sufficiently turbulent flow assures that the fluid streams interact properly with the interface media for the efficient exchange of heat. However, turbulence also creates stress on the heat exchanger structure. Thus, it is desirable to provide a structurally secure heat exchanger which provides a sufficiently turbulent flow to assure proper functioning of the heat exchanger.
Heat exchangers are classified by the relative direction of the fluid streams which exchange heat. With aligned fluid flow channels, the streams run either parallel or counterflow. Streams with a parallel flow orientation are those which flow in relatively the same direction. Streams with a counterflow orientation travel in relatively opposite directions. With the fluid flow channels positioned relatively transversely, the streams flow with a cross flow orientation. Counterflow represents the most efficient method of transferring heat within a heat exchanger since it assures the greatest temperature differential between the heat exchanging fluid streams.
To most efficiently utilize a furnace, the heat transfer from the combustion products to the conditioned room air is maximized. A serpentine heat exchanger is conventionally used to continuously increase the temperature of the conditioned room air as it flows over the heat transfer surfaces of the heat exchanger. When disposed in a counterflow orientation, conventional heat exchangers maximize their heat transfer efficiency, although certain installations require a more uniform, albeit somewhat less efficient, distribution of heat transfer.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,739,746 (Tomlinson) describes a furnace having a serpentine heat exchanger for selectively providing either a parallel or counterflow heat transfer arrangement. Although the serpentine heat exchanger of the Tomlinson patent provides improved selective functioning, the increasing cost of fuel for furnaces creates a need for heat exchangers which have greater efficiencies in order to minimize heating costs. However, conventional designs do not effectively employ the full advantage of the heat transfer surfaces. Thus what is needed is a heat exchanger which fully utilizes the potential heat transfer surfaces of the heat exchanger.


The face milling cutter of this invention has indexable inserts with double-positive rake. Square inserts for a substantially 0.degree. lead angle are insertable in the body interchangeably with different octagonal inserts that respectively provide for 15.degree., 30.degree. and 45.degree. lead every insert engages a radially outwardly facing relief surface on angles. One relief surface on the body that extends parallel to the cutter axis, and another engages an axially forwardly facing surface on a rear body member. The large area leading surface on each insert flatwise engages a circumferentially facing surface on the body that establishes the rake angles. Every insert has an operative cutting edge that is spaced radially outwardly from the body and has another and longer edge that is spaced axially fowardly from the front surface of the body and serves as a wiper land.

Face milling cutters with indexable cutting inserts have been known for a number of years and have come into widespread use because they minimize expensive downtime. An indexable cutting insert has a number of identical and alternatively usable straight cutting edges, so that when an operative one of those edges becomes dulled by use the insert can be indexed--removed from the cutter body and reinstalled therein in a different orientation--to bring a new one of those edges to the operative position.
An indexable cutting insert comprises a small block of metal having a pair of opposite larger surfaces that are flat and parallel to one another and having a plurality of smaller flat surfaces, one for each of the edges on the insert, each edge being defined by the intersection of a smaller flat surface with one of the larger ones. (Circular indexable cutting inserts, employed for certain special purposes, are not of interest in connection with the present invention.) By way of example, an indexable insert for cutting with positive rake may be triangular to have three edges, square to have four edges, or octagonal to have eight edges. In connection with the present invention the only insert geometries that are of interest are those that provide either four or eight straight edges, that is, inserts that are essentially square and octagonal.
In operation, a face milling cutter typically rotates on a fixed vertical axis and cuts into a workpiece near a top surface thereof as the workpiece is steadily fed in one horizontal direction in engagement with the cutter. In effect, the cutter somewhat reduces the height of the workpiece to provide it with a finished top surface area that is flat and lies in a plane exactly normal to the cutter axis. As the workpiece is fed in engagement with the cutter, cutting is effected by the peripheral edges on the inserts, which thus produce and successively cut into an arcuate shoulder that extends more or less vertically between the finished top surface and the unfinished one. The angle between this shoulder and the finished flat surface corresponds to the lead angle of the peripheral cutting edges of the inserts. Lead angle, sometimes referred to as the cut-entering angle, is the acute angle between the peripheral cutting edge on the insert and a parallel to the cutter axis which intersects that edge.
An indexable cutter insert is usually configured for one of a number of more or less standardized lead angles, namely: 45.degree., 30.degree., 15.degree. and substantially 0.degree., the last mentioned including lead angles on the order of 1/2.degree. to 3.degree., which are usually close enough to 0.degree. for practical purposes. Apart from requirements that may be imposed by the need for a particular angle for the arcuate shoulder on the workpiece, the selection of lead angle is important because of its bearing on production economy. Other things being equal, the rate of feed of the workpiece can be increased with increasingly large lead angles; but the larger the lead angle, the smaller the possible depth of cut. Thus it is necessary to provide cutters with a full range of lead angles in order to accommodate all of the conditions and requirements likely to be encountered in face milling a variety of workpieces.
The present invention, which provides a face milling cutter having significant economic and functional advantages over those heretofore available, rejects certain heretofore accepted teachings in the face milling art. One of these has to do with a supposed necessary relationship between the cutter body and the lead angle of its inserts.
The following appears in .sctn.74 of "Milling with Indexable Inserts/Programmed Instruction", published by Fansteel-VR/Wesson (no date): "Body selection narrows the range of inserts that can be used. For example, the geometry of the body will determine the lead angle of the insert." Similarly, in "Milling Handbook of High-Efficiency Metal Cutting", copyrighted in 1980 by General Electric Company, the following appears at p. 17: "Selection of the right cutter body can often mean the difference between success and failure in a milling operation. The following are the factors which must be considered: . . . (5) Lead angle . . . "
Provision of a different cutter body for each different lead angle involved a costly inventory problem for a manufacturer of face milling cutter bodies who wanted to provide prompt delivery service. A given cutter body can have only one diameter, is specialized for either right-hand or left-hand cutting rotation, and can have only one combination of radial and axial rake angles. Thus, stocking a complete line of cutter bodies required at least one body for each of the several lead angles and their combinations and permutations with diameter, rotation direction and radial and axial rake angles. Bearing in mind that the cost of a cutter body is almost never less than $200, and is often several hundred dollars, the investment represented by such an inventory is very substantial. Reducing this variety to a small fraction of what it has heretofore been, by enabling a given cutter body to accommodate all of the standard lead angles, is very advantageous to users of face milling cutters as well as to manufacturers of them. Evidently it has not heretofore been obvious how this can be achieved.
Another of the heretofore accepted teachings that has been rejected for the purposes of the present invention relates to the radial and axial rake angles of the cutting inserts. As stated (in solid capital letters for strong emphasis) at p. 24 of the above mentioned General Electric publication: "Select double-negative cutters whenever the workpiece and machine tool will allow, unless positive tooling offers an economic advantage." The face milling cutter of the present invention uses positive radial rake and positive axial rake for all materials and milling conditions, thereby obtaining the economic and functional advantages heretofore recognized as available with double-positive rake--lower cutting forces and lower power consumption--but also achieving further important advantages that had not heretofore been expected, including reduction of cutter body inventory requirements, faster milling with smoother surface finishes, and longer useful life of the inserts between sharpenings.
For the body of the cuter of this invention certain conventional wisdom concerning the geometry of face milling cutter bodies is deliberately disregarded, and specifically the accepted teachings concerning cutter bodies for lead angles substantially larger than 0.degree.. Heretofore the body of a cutter for a lead angle of 15.degree., 30.degree. or 45.degree. has usually had an overall diameter substantially greater than the effective diameter of the cutter. Such cutters were therefore not well suited for automatic tool changer installations, for which both the weight and the bulk of a cutting tool should be as small as possible. The cutter of the present invention has an unprecedented adaptability for use with automatic tool changers because--for every lead angle--its maximum body diameter is smaller than its effective diameter. As will appear from the following description, this favorable body geometry is one of the advantages resulting from the unconventional use of double-positive rake for all materials and milling conditions.
The cost of a set of cutting inserts for a face milling cutter is only a fraction of the cost of the body, and indexable inserts, because of their multiple alternatively usable cutting edges, provide especially favorable economy in terms of tool cost per cut. In fact, users of indexable inserts were heretofore given some encouragement to discard them when all of their cutting edges had been dulled by use, rather than having them resharpened. More recently the materials used in carbide milling cutter inserts have become relatively expensive, so that it is now notably wasteful to discard carbide inserts that are capable of being resharpened.
However, for computer-controlled milling machines, resharpening of face milling cutter inserts has heretofore presented an additional cost that has been significant. When an insert is resharpened, its size is somewhat reduced by reason of the removal of metal from it. If the insert is installed in a body that has a fixed surface which establishes its axial position relative to the body, resharpening effectively raises the operative cutting edge on the insert. If such a cutter is brought to a given axial position during a computer-controlled face milling operation, the cut that it makes with resharpened inserts is not quite as deep as the one it made with the same inserts before resharpening. It is not practical to reprogram the machine after each resharpening of inserts, and therefore cutter bodies intended for use with automatically controlled machines were usually arranged to require individual axial adjustment of the inserts as they were installed, to accommodate reduction in insert size due to resharpening. This was a tedious and time consuming process, requiring that each insert be lightly clamped in the body, then tapped with a mallet to shift it back and forth in the body, checking its position with a gauge after each such shift, until it was finally brought to exactly the desired position, whereupon it was clamped tight. Such adjustment of a set of inserts usually required several hours and thus involved costly labor time as well as unavailability of the cutter.
As pointed out above, the milling cutter body of this invention can be adapted for cutting at any selected lead angle by simply installing a different set of inserts in it whenever the lead angle is to be changed. Obviously, some of the advantages of this versatility would be sacrificed if every change of inserts entailed the tedious and laborious adjustment procedure just described. Thus the versatility contemplated by this invention requires the cutter body to be so configured and arranged as to provide for quick and easy installation of each of the several different inserts intended for cooperation with it, whereby each of the operative edges of every such insert is accurately disposed in a predetermined position and orientation. Furthermore, the body must provide for such facile installation of resharpened inserts as well as of those that are new, without need for tedious or difficult adjustment to compensate for the reduction in insert dimensions that results from resharpening.
Three prior U.S. patents are known to the applicant which hindsight can endow with a semblance of pertinence but which did not in fact offer a solution to the complex of problems addressed by this invention: Markstrum, U.S. Pat. No. 1,927,409 (1933); Connell, U.S. Pat. No. 2,351,491 (1944); and Begle et al, U.S. Pat. No. 2,690,610 (1954).
The cutting inserts disclosed by Markstrum are removable from the cutter body but are not indexable. Each insert is elongated to have a front end portion on which its cutting edge is formed, and it is installed in the body with its length at a marked forwardly and radially outwardly oblique inclination to the cutter axis. The cutter body has a rearwardly projecting, reduced diameter neck portion onto which a nut-like collar is threaded. The collar has a flat front surface that engages a rear end of each insert, so that rotation of the threaded collar to shift it forwardly along the neck effects a corresponding forward shift of all of the inserts. Because the inserts are lengthwise oblique to the cutter axis, their forward axial displacement also involves a radial component that increases the radius of their cutting edge orbits; but the ratio of radial to axial shifting may vary from insert to insert because of the way the inserts are mounted in the body. Each insert is received in a groove in the body that is radially outwardly divergent, and the insert tapers in thickness to have a wedging fit in the groove. Unless the groove surfaces and their mating surfaces on the inserts are machined with an almost unattainable precision, the cutting edges on the several inserts will be at different distances from the cutter axis, and because of this radial run-out the tool would have very poor cutting action. Notwithstanding such pertinence as it might seem to have in the light of the present invention, the Markstrum patent did not in fact teach the art how to overcome the problems solved by this invention, both because the cutter of that patent did not have indexable inserts and because it presented other and more troublesome problems that were not encountered by heretofore conventional cutters with indexable inserts.
Connell discloses two inserted tooth cutter embodiments, one a reamer, the other a milling cutter. Neither has indexable inserts. In the reamer, each insert-receiving slot in the body defines a flat, radially outwardly facing locating surface that is oblique to the body axis, being inclined forwardly and radially outwardly to it; and each of the inserts tapers in radial thickness along its length and engages this locating surface to be displaced radially outwardly in consequence of being shifted forwardly along it. As with the Markstrum device, the Connell reamer body has a rearwardly projecting neck onto which is threaded a collar that engages rear end portions of the inserts to provide for their simultaneous axial shifting. The milling cutter disclosed by Connell does not include the threaded adjusting collar that Connell provides for the reamer. Instead, the means for effecting axial positioning of the inserts requires each insert to be adjusted individually and involves a slot in each insert that would be incompatible with any practical indexable insert geometry.
Begle et al discloses two embodiments of indexable insert milling cutters, but both must be arranged for negative axial rake and negative radial rake and they are thus unsuitable for many industrially important nonferrous metals such as brass and aluminum. In the more nearly pertinent of the two embodiments disclosed by Begle et al, each cutting insert is an octagonal block having opposite and parallel flat faces and providing a total of 16 cutting edges. These octagonal inserts, which provide a 45.degree. lead angle, closely correspond to present-day indexable inserts. The cutter body in which they are installed has fixed circumferential, radial and axial locating surfaces. In this connection the patent says: "It is contemplated that the cutting blades 52 be thrown away or discarded after all the sixteen cutting edges have been used; and if this is done, the necessity of grinding or adjusting the blades is entirely eliminated." As this statement implies, and as is apparent from the patent disclosure, the cutter body has no means for compensating for the reduced size of resharpened inserts, nor is the cutter suitable for other than a 45.degree. lead angle.
The other milling cutter embodiment disclosed by Begle et al includes provision for individual axial adjustment of the inserts to accommodate resharpening, but in this case the inserts, although indexable, are substantially elongated and are thus materially different in shape from now-conventional indexable inserts. The cutter body that accommodates such inserts has great axial length and therefore has weight and bulk that are unsuitable for automatic tool changers.

Face milling cutter with indexable inserts


Methods for the treatment or prevention of disease, such as fatty liver disease and obesity, are described including the modulation the amount of CTRP1 in a subject. Novel mouse strains are also described.

Fatty liver is the accumulation of triglycerides and other fats in the liver cells. The amount of fatty acid in the liver depends on the balance between the processes of delivery and removal. In some patients, fatty liver may be accompanied by hepatic inflammation and liver cell death (steatohepatitis). Potential pathophysiologic mechanisms for fatty liver include the following: decreased mitochondrial fatty acid beta-oxidation, increased endogenous fatty acid synthesis or enhanced delivery of fatty acids to the liver, and deficient incorporation or export of triglycerides as very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL). The mechanism involved in the formation of fatty liver must be identified to enable the creation of therapeutic agents able to prevent or treat disease.

Use of C1q/TNF-related protein-1 (CTRP1) to treat fatty liver disease


A system for transmitting graphic information from a writing area to a display device. The method can include the operation of transmitting a signal from a writing device. The signal can be received by a plurality of transceivers, each of the transceivers being placed a sufficient distance from the remaining plurality of transceivers that there is a calculable time difference of the wireless signal received between the plurality of transceivers to enable a determination of the writing device's location and movement. A further operation is displaying the writing device's location and movement on a display device such that the electronic medium shows substantially similar graphic information as compared to the writing area.

The ability to electronically input drawings and text can be an essential step in the employment of modern computer technology to process such data. Presently, there are many methods used to input drawings and text.
For example, text can be entered into a computer with a keyboard. Despite being the most common and mature form of text input, the keyboard has several shortcomings. When text from a non-Roman language is entered it can require a coding method to input non-alphabetic based text. This method is difficult to learn and awkward to use. When the keyboard is small, or the number of keys is limited, as in the case of PDAs and cell phones, the input process can be slowed considerably. Also, incorrect keys pressed lead to inaccurate text inputs. Finally, it is not feasible to use the keyboard to input drawings into a computer.
Another method for inputting data into a computer is to use a mouse. A mouse can be efficacious in drawing simple geometric shapes, such as a rectangle, circle, etc. However, using a mouse can be inefficient. Errors are easy to make when drawing complex curves and shapes. Also, it is inefficient and difficult to input text using a mouse. Though there are devices such as touch screens and tablets that attempt to incorporate graphic and text input into a machine, they have not been able to provide adequate solutions for several problems. Writing and drawing can be limited to often small, confined areas such as a screen. The use of a stylus requires a certain amount of pressure different from that normally applied when writing with a conventional pen. This can be an inconvenience to the user. Editing drawings and text can be tedious at best. It can be cumbersome to carry often bulky screens and tablets when using mobile devices, such as handsets, telephones, and PDAs.

System and method for inputting graphs and words


A flow meter including a variable area obstruction which is mounted in a conduit. Inputs to a differential pressure transducer are positioned in the conduit on opposite sides of the obstruction to measure fluid pressure differential across the obstruction. In one embodiment, a sleeve is secured within the conduit thereof substantially separated from the conduit so as to prevent fluid condensation on the sleeve, and to create a dead end pocket between the conduit and the sleeve for collecting liquids from the conduit end preventing them from contacting the obstruction. The variable area obstruction comprises an elastic membrane that includes first, second and third leaves which extend into the flow stream and are compliant to fluid flow so that an increase in flow rate increases the deflection of the leaves and increases the through flow area through the obstruction. The first leaf is secured at a fixed end adjacent a first portion of the interior surface of the conduit and extends in a first direction to a free end preferably positioned adjacent a second portion of the interior surface of the conduit opposite the first portion. The second and third leaves are located adjacent opposite sides of the first leaf and extend from their fixed ends toward their free ends in directions which are generally opposite to the first direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to flow meters, and in particular to a variable area obstruction in a conduit for use with a pressure transducer, particularly in medical applications, for measuring bi-directional flow rate of fluids such as respiratory gas in the conduit.
2. Prior Art
Long term monitoring of respiratory air flow in critical care patients and in patients during anesthesia is very important for correctly assessing the patient's condition and for selecting the course of his or her future treatment.
The conditions under which this monitoring occurs are not always ideal. For example, in order to monitor this respiratory air flow, a flow meter is typically installed in a breathing conduit in close proximity to a patient. Thus, the flow meter is exposed to a flow of warm air at body temperature that is 100% saturated with water vapor and contains airborne droplets of water, saliva or mucus. These airborne droplets can collect in the flow meter and adversely affect its operation. In addition, since the ambient temperature is always lower than body temperature, water vapor normally condenses on inner surfaces of conduits installed in breathing circuits. The water droplets formed by this condensation glide along the inner walls of the conduit, and frequently collect in, and impede operation of, the flow meter.
Of course, because of the necessity of very accurate and reliable measurements under these circumstances, it is important that the flow meter which is selected meet all of the requirements for proper operation under critical care conditions. In particular, these conditions require use of a very light weight flow meter, with small dead space, with a wide measuring range, and with an accuracy that is not affected by the presence of fluid, including mucus, produced by the patient.
When used in applications where a wide range of breathing flow rates are to be measured, it is very desireable that the flow meter response, as reflected in its output signal, be substantially linear, so that the sensitivity of the meter and accuracy of its readings is the same at low fluid flow rates as at high fluid flow rates. Alternatively, when very low flow rates are being measured, then it is often desireable to produce a flow meter response which changes substantially in response to small changes in the flow rate, thereby enabling more accurate monitoring of the measured flows. In addition, sterility requirements in critical care applications, such as operating room, require that the flow meter be disposable. This dictates a very low production cost, while still necessitating a high sensitivity and accuracy for each individual flow meter.
There are a number of different types of flow meters that are well known among those in the technology and which are acceptable for short term use in applications such as diagnostic pulmonary measurements, due to their linear output signal with respect to the measured flow characteristics. One such device is generally referred to as the Fleisch pneumotachograph, which is the most widely used flow meter for medical applications. This device directs the flow of gas through a bundle of long, small diameter tubes which laminarize the flow. Under laminar flow conditions, the pressure differential is linearly proportional to flow rate. Accordingly, the output signal is generally linear in its characteristics. The sensitivity also remains substantially the same, throughout the range of measurement. However, this device cannot be used for the long term monitoring of respiratory air flow, since moisture or mucus collecting on the bundle of small diameter tubes produces a significant, adverse effect on the output signal of the device. Also, because of the linear response produced throughout the entire range of measurement, this device is not suited for application where a non-linear response is desireable at low flow rates, with a linear response produced at higher flow rates.
Another problem associated with the Fleisch pneumotachograph is its mechanical complexity, which in turn requires a high production cost. The high production cost makes the unit essentially non-disposable. Because it is not disposable, the requirement that the device be cleaned and sterilized after each patient use adds additional cost to the use of this device. The problems encountered in use of the Fleisch pneumotachograph are also experienced in the use of other popular flow meters, such as the ultrasonic, hot wire and turbine pneumotachographs.
Other types of flow meters may be of simple design, but are either too bulky for use in critical care applications, or they produce a non-linear output signal in a flow range where a linear signal is desired, or they have a limited measuring range. These types of flow meters include the fixed orifice, venturi tube and pitot tube meters. More specifically, the fixed orifice flow meter provides an output signal defining a curve which gets progressively steeper as the flow rate increases. This is true since the device operates under turbulent flow conditions, where the pressure differential is proportional to the square of flow rate. This characteristic is undesirable because of drastically reduced sensitivity at low flow rates. Thus, fixed orifice flow meters are generally used in applications having a limited range of flow rates which are likely to be encountered.
Variable obstruction flow meters have also been provided, which combine the simplicity and low cost of the fixed orifice flow meters with better low end sensitivity and linear characteristics that typically have been available only from pneumotachographs. Nevertheless, many existing variable area obstruction designs still suffer from certain drawbacks such as accumulation of moisture or liquids in areas immediately adjacent the variable obstruction. These flow meters have also been known to suffer from resonant vibration or flutter of the leaves which comprise the variable obstruction at low flow rates corresponding to resting breathing of the patient. Furthermore, reduced sensitivity is often experienced at low flow rates due to relatively large leakage area in the obstruction produced by the gaps between the flexible leaves which are apparent when the leaves are in their resting condition. The large leakage area is usually a result of the type of material selected for use as the obstruction, and the manufacturing process selected for producing the obstruction. The material utilized for the obstruction will also determine the obstructions' predisposition to errors caused by unwanted deflection of the leaves due to gravitational or inertial forces.
Based on the above, it would be an important improvement in the art to provide a flow meter having a wide measuring range and accuracy, and which is substantially not affected by the presence of moisture or mucus produced by a patient. It would be a further improvement in the art to provide one embodiment of such a flow meter in which the pressure differential across the obstruction is approximately linearly proportional to the flow rate of fluid in the conduit at very low flow rates as well as at higher flow rates. It would also be an improvement in the art to provide another embodiment of such a flow meter in which the pressure differential across the obstruction varies non-linearly with respect to changes in fluid flow rate in the conduit at very low flow rates, but is approximately linearly proportional to such flow rate changes at higher flow rates. It would be a still further improvement in the art to provide such a flow meter wherein the size of the flow passage in the variable area obstruction is minimized at zero flow condition. It would be a still further important improvement in the art to provide such a flow meter which has a light, simple and inexpensive structure, permitting it to be disposable, while being manufactured in a manner that permits mass production and also maintains the high level of sensitivity and accuracy in each unit produced. A still further improvement in the art would be to provide such a flow meter where the active area of the variable obstruction is substantially the same as the full cross sectional area of the fluid conduit, and the elements of the variable obstruction are shaped in such a manner that they, at maximum deflection, leave a substantially unobstructed passage along the fluid conduit wall.

Variable area obstruction gas flow meter


A vortex polarizer converts light having azimuthal polarization emitted at a light emitting surface of a light emitting diode (LED) into a converted light having linear polarization. The vortex polarizer includes a distribution of fast axes that vary as a function of azimuth angle. Each fast axis rotates a portion of the light having the azimuthal polarization to a portion of the converted light having linear polarization. The vortex polarizer may include linear photoalignment polymer (LPP) aligned to define the distribution of fast axes.

The present disclosure generally relates to display panels, and specifically to display panels that output polarized light in head-mounted displays (HMDs).
A HMD, such as for a virtual reality (VR) system, typically includes an electronic display that emits light to the eyes of the viewer, and an optical block positioned between the display and the eyes. The optical block includes optical components that receive light emitted from the electronic display, and adjust an orientation of the light such that the electronic display appears at one or more particular focal distances from the user. Light emitting devices, such as light emitting diodes (LEDs), are used in electronic display panels to emit light for image production. The quality and efficiency of light interaction (e.g., coupling) with the optical block can depend on the polarization of the light emitted from the light emitting devices relative to the optical properties of the optical components.

Vortex linearization of micro-LED polarization


A method of providing True Continuous Control Monitoring (CCM) of business processes for audit purposes is provided herein. The method includes the following steps: consolidating data from multiple sources, in case the transactional data is located in more than one source, to a single self contained and comprehensive source; identifying, in the single data source, data elements that are required for detection and reporting for each audit rule; translating and streaming, in case required, the transactions data into events, so that every change in a transaction is immediately reflected and identifiable; eliminating duplicate events for the same single transaction; applying the event processing engine to the events, based on event audit patterns derived from audit rules, possibly entered by non-programmers; and generating alert data in audit-style notation, to be reported back to the system, based on alert notifications derived from the event processing engine.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to continuous control monitoring using a complex event processing environment.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In modern enterprise Information Technology (IT) structure, the management and the shareholders receive relatively limited value from traditional audit processes for the following reasons: First, historical, rather than current data is used to assess the level of unmitigated risk in the business processes. Controls deficiencies that are identified have typically occurred in the past and remained unaddressed and therefore seriously undermine the processes control health. Clearly, the more current the data for determining unmitigated risk, the greater the value to management and shareholders due to reduced potential for loss, waste, and mismanagement. Second, traditional auditors are significantly hampered in their detection of serious and pervasive risk, including fraud. Many businesses operate in an environment where data for various business processes are processed using disparate applications. Without appropriate technology, auditors lack the ability and time to efficiently extract the relevant data, and then effectively compile and analyze it for risk relationships otherwise unidentified. This limitation creates additional exposures to management and shareholders that loss, waste, and mismanagement can occur and remain undetected for extended periods of time. Traditional audits are generally cyclical with significant time gaps between engagements, which exacerbate the amount of time that risks can occur and not be corrected.
One emerging solution is continuous control monitoring (CCM). This approach aims to provide the following three objectives: (1) continuous monitoring in the sense that real time data delivered as soon as a transaction is carried out; (2) exhaustive monitoring in the sense that all data sources are monitored simultaneously; and (3) a high level of responsiveness to certain changes tracked, such as audit violation.
Several attempts have been made so far to provide CCM capabilities for audit systems. However, none of the solutions are capable of delivering all of the aforementioned three objectives which are the essential conditions for implementing a so-called "True" CCM. Thus, currently available audit systems which lack real-time monitoring, do not have access to 100% of the data, or do not allow responding as soon as an audit violation is tracked, do not address the specific issues involved in CCM as applied to the audit domain.

Implementing continuous control monitoring for audit purposes using a complex event processing environment

International Business Machines Corporation


Some implementations provide power management techniques for an electronic device that receives power through a USB port. The device may receive power from various different power sources such as a PC, USB hub, and various types of power adapters. To identify a type of power adapter connected to the USB port, the device's USB device controller may be reconfigured to operate in a host mode. A pull-up or pull-down may be placed on one of the D+ or D− lines of the USB port for determining whether the lines are shorted or floating. When the lines are shorted, the power source may be identified as a first type of power adapter that provides a known level of current. When the lines are not shorted, the values of the lines may be compared with known values for one or more pull-ups or pull-downs to attempt to identify other known power adapters.

People commonly use electronic devices for consuming digital media content, communicating, executing applications, and performing numerous other functions. Examples of such electronic devices may include eBook reader devices, cellular telephones and smart phones, tablet computers, portable media players, netbooks, personal digital assistants, and navigation devices, to name a few. These electronic devices rely on electrical power to function. Many such devices can receive power through a universal serial bus (USB) port. For example, a device may receive power through a USB port for charging a battery and/or for powering the device. In some cases, the power may be supplied by another device, such as by connection to a host USB port of a personal computer (PC) or USB hub. In other instances, the power may be supplied by a power adapter that plugs into a wall socket or an automobile 12-volt outlet. Typically, power adapters are specifically designed for charging a particular electronic device. Thus, the power adapter for a first electronic device from a first manufacturer may not be compatible with a second electronic device from a second manufacturer even though the power adapter can be connected to the second device through a USB connection.


A hand tool—typically embodied as a knife—incorporates a blade or implement lock mechanism for securely locking the implement such as a blade in the open position. The lock mechanism locks the blade in the open position and allows it to be released so that the blade may be folded back into the closed position. The locking mechanism incorporates a safety mechanism that prevents the blade engaging lock from becoming unintentionally disengaged.

Many types of hand tools such as knives and multi tools incorporate folding mechanisms that allow an implement to be moved between a folded position in which the implement is safely stowed in the tool handle, and an extended position in which the implement is ready for work. One typical example of such a folding tool is a knife having a folding blade. The knife handle typically has two opposed handle portions defining a blade-receiving groove. A blade pivots on a shaft attached to the handle such that in a folded position the blade is stowed with the cutting portion of the blade retained safely in the groove, and such that in an extended position the blade is extended away from the handle, ready for use.
To increase the safety of folding tools such as knives, many such tools incorporate locking mechanisms of one type or another. When the knife blade pivots into the open position, it's pivotal movement is stopped with a blocking mechanism such as a transverse blade stop pin housed in the handle. Many kinds of knives include a locking mechanism that prevents the blade from unintentionally pivoting back from the open into the closed position.
There are many types of locking mechanisms. One common type is a "liner lock." This kind of mechanism relies upon a resilient lever formed as part of a handle liner. When the blade is pivoted to the open or extended position, the resilient lever engages a cooperatively formed shoulder on the blade and thereby locks the blade in the open position.
There are other types of blade locks in addition to the liner locking mechanisms just described but there is a need therefore for improved locking mechanisms for folding hand tools.
The present invention relates to a hand tool—typically embodied as a knife—that incorporates a lock mechanism for securely locking the implement such as a blade in the open position, and for releasing the lock to allow the implement to be folded back into the closed position. The locking mechanism incorporates a safety mechanism that prevents the blade engaging lock from becoming disengaged unintentionally.


A method for delivering an anchor member into biological tissue comprising: accessing and preparing an insertion site for the anchor member; holding the anchor member at a distal end of an insertion tool; providing the anchor member to the site with the insertion tool; causing a rotational movement of the anchor member about a first axis perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the insertion tool whereby the anchor member engages the tissue at the site by moving about the first axis from a first position substantially aligned with the longitudinal axis to a second position at an angle relative to the longitudinal axis; and withdrawing the insertion tool from the site, leaving the anchor member secured at the site.

The present invention is relates to fixation devices or anchors and tools and methods for emplacing the same. The present invention, in particular, relates to medical anchors, for example, suture anchors or prosthesis anchors. The invention further relates to a method and apparatus for implanting such devices in biological materials, for example bone. Even more particularly, the present invention relates to a medical anchor which can be inserted through a longitudinally or even curved extending bore hole so that the anchor is initially substantially aligned with the bore hole, and then, the emplacement tool manipulated so that the anchor pivots to form an undercut in the bore hole. The present invention is particularly suitable for the emplacement of anchors adapted to repair ligaments, for example rotator cuff ligaments, interior cruciate ligaments (ACL""s) and other ligaments. The anchor is also suitable for prosthesis fixation.
In applicant""s U.S. Pat. No. 6,117,161, a medical anchor is disclosed which can be emplaced in a groove which extends substantially parallel to the surface of the bone and then rotated along an axis defined by an employment tool and which axis is perpendicular to the extent of the groove to form an undercut in the walls of the groove to secure the anchor.
In applicant""s U.S. Pat. No. 6,102,934, a medical anchor is disclosed which can be emplaced in a borehole so that the anchor is initially substantially aligned with the borehole and then, via an emplacement tool, manipulated so the anchor pivots in two axes to form an undercut in the borehole.
In applicant""s co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/580,777 filed May 26, 2000, a medical anchor is disclosed which can be emplaced in a bore hole so that the anchor is initially substantially aligned with the bore hole and then, using an emplacement tool, rotated about the axis of the tool. A deploy spring causes the anchor to deploy and rotate about an axis perpendicular to the axis of the tool to initially engage the borehole. Further rotation of the tool causes the anchor to cut into the borehole. The rotation by the user and action of the spring causes the anchor to screw into the borehole as it turns on two axes.
Applicant is also aware of U.S. Pat. No. 5,203,787 to Noblitt et al. in which a suture anchor can be emplaced in bone. Applicant is also aware of U.S. Pat. No. 5,569,302 to Johnson for an apparatus and method for attaching an anchor to bone.
The requirement of U.S. Pat. No. 6,117,161 to form a groove into the surface of the bone prior to emplacing the anchor in some instances may be a deficiency. By forming a groove in the bone, the more dense cortical layer of bone is removed, thus compromising the fixation capability of any anchor. Further, the anchor and tool designs of U.S. Pat. No. 6,102,934 and application Ser. No. 09/580,777 filed May 26, 2000 are more complex due to the rotation of the anchor in two axes. Both of these designs typically require a rotational force to be applied to the tool to set the anchor.
Modern trends in surgery include the restoration of bodily function and form, i.e., repair of anatomical structures through the use of minimally invasive surgical techniques. The ability to surgically repair damaged tissues or joints creating as few and as small incisions as possible produces less trauma, less pain and better clinical outcomes in general.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and minimally invasive method for delivering material simply and securely into tissue.
A further object of the invention is provide a method and apparatus for emplacing an anchor into a borehole in substantial alignment with the bore hole and once inserted, activated simply so that it engages with the walls of the borehole by moving to a position substantially at an angle (up to a perpendicular angle) to the borehole.
Such an anchor would be suitable, for example, to repair rotator cuff and other ligament injuries such that the appropriate attachment strength is provided.
It is an object of the invention to provide a method and apparatus to set a surgical anchor with a simple tool motion, preferably without rotation of the emplacement tool.
The present invention comprises an apparatus and method for delivering an anchor member which sets in biological tissue. The apparatus and method for delivering the anchor member into biological tissue comprises the following basic steps:
(a) accessing and preparing the intended insertion sites;
(b) inserting into the site, using an emplacement tool, an anchor member that is set by applying a rotation motion to the anchor member; and
(c) after insertion into the site, causing the anchor member to engage the tissue by moving from a substantially in-line position relative to an insertion hole at the site to an angled position with respect to the insertion hole the angled position can be any angle with respect to the insertion hole up to and including an angle that is perpendicular to the insertion hole.
Steps (a)-(c) may be performed through open or minimally invasive surgical techniques. Preferably, the anchor is caused to rotate by a simple, non-rotational motion of the emplacement tool.
The insertion hole may e a pre-made borehole or may be an aperture formed by the anchor member or the emplacement tool during the step of inserting.

Toggle anchor and tool for insertion thereof


A stream transport protocol supports realtime network communications between communicants operating on respective network nodes. The stream transport protocol supports remote management of client communication sessions, including provisioning of each pair of client network nodes with a respective session definition defining a respective peer-to-peer session over a network connection between the constituent client network nodes of the pair. The stream transport protocol has relatively low computational resource requirements so that realtime communications performance can be achieved using a wide range of computing devices and network connections that currently are available.

When face-to-face communications are not practical, people often rely on one or more technological solutions to meet their communications needs. These solutions typically are designed to simulate one or more aspects of face-to-face communications. Traditional telephony systems enable voice communications between callers. Instant messaging (also referred to as "chat") communications systems enable users to communicate text messages in real time through instant message computer clients that are interconnected by an instant message server. Some instant messaging systems additionally allow users to be represented in a virtual environment by user-controllable graphic objects (referred to as "avatars"). Interactive virtual reality communication systems enable users in remote locations to communicate over multiple real-time channels and to interact with each other by manipulating their respective avatars in virtual spaces.
A successful communications system typically should have relatively low computational resource requirements so that realtime communications performance can be achieved using currently available computing devices and network bandwidth constraints. In addition, such a system typically should be implemented in a way that achieves high connectability between a variety of difference devices across diverse network topologies and provides appropriate control over the transports of streams to the communicating devices so that a desired communications experience can be achieved.

Managing network communications between network nodes and stream transport protocol


A substrate with an electronic component embedded therein includes a core substrate including an insulating body having a first surface and a second surface, opposite to the first surface, a first wiring layer embedded in the insulating body such that one surface thereof is exposed from the first surface, and a second wiring layer disposed on the insulating body to protrude on the second surface, the core substrate having a cavity penetrating a portion of the insulating body from the first surface toward the second surface and having a stopper layer as a bottom surface thereof; an electronic component disposed on the stopper layer in the cavity; a first insulating material covering at least a portion of each of the core substrate and the electronic component; and a third wiring layer disposed on the first insulating material.

The present disclosure relates to a substrate having an electronic component embedded therein.
With an arrival of the 5th generation (5G) era, the number of components that should be mounted on a mainboard of a smartphone has increased. In addition, it may also be necessary to secure a space in which components such as an antenna for 5G communications, a baseband modem, and the like, are mounted, while maintaining compatibility with 4G LTE communications. Accordingly, in addition to miniaturization of each component, miniaturization is being considered by modularizing existing components in a form of a system-in-package (SiP).

Substrate with electronic component embedded therein


Apparatus for controlled raising and lowering of a barrier about a pivot point in which optimum control forces are applied to the barrier throughout its range of operation, and in which sensors are provided to prevent movement of the barrier against a resistive force to thereby prevent damage to the barrier, its operative mechanism, or an external object in its path.

1. Field of the Invention
The automation of gates began primarily as a safety and security matter, and railroad crossing gates were probably among the first to be automated.
The concept quickly emerged as a convenience, but because of the costs involved, was enjoyed primarily by the more affluent. With the advent of inexpensive electronics and infra red controls, automated gates have become available to virtually anyone who wanted them.
Gates, whether for safety, or security, or convenience are typically not space efficient. Whether single or split, every gate is at least as long as the distance between the gate posts. Whether the gate, or components thereof, swing out, or in, or are drawn back along a fence, an inordinate amount of space is required to swing between the open and closed positions, and when a gate is at rest in the open position, storage space is required, which is then simply not usable for any other purpose.
In most settings, there is space available for storage of an opened gate which is very seldom used, and that is the airspace above the gateway. While such space is readily available and clearly alleviates space problems, concerns regarding weight of the unit and safety for those passing under or through the plane of the gate have inhibited use of this valuable space. The present invention addresses these concerns and resolves them in a novel manner.
2. Overview of the Prior Art
Within the scope of the inquiry of automated gates, there are a multitude of combinations and permutations of electric and electro-mechanical devices which are representative of the prior art. Vollmer U.S. Pat. No. 3,500,585 is but one example of a hydraulic unit. Such gates may swing inwardly or outwardly, and many are withdrawn to the left or right, in the plane of the gate, typically by pulling with a chain so that the gate retracts on a track.
When the inquiry becomes more specific to gates which are moved in a vertical plane to achieve an open position, the quantum of prior art quickly recedes.
Already mentioned are railroad crossing gates, although such devices are .not truly gates, but rather light weight warning devices, which are readily, and frequently, violated.
A lift mechanism for railroad crossing gates is shown in Reinitz et. al U.S. Pat. No. 3,394,498. The Reinitz approach, however, provides for very limited movement and is incapable of handling any significant weight and, indeed, was never meant to handle weight. Unlike the present invention, Reinitz et. al, and those who follow the same design, inevitably require that the gate lifted be counterbalanced, and that is simply not necessary within the framework of the present invention.
To the extent that any vertical gate lift mechanism can be considered typical, it would be those gates mounted in vertical tracks and raised and lowered by chain, and such mechanism is far afield from that of the present invention.


A method of human-computer interfacing provides efficient intuitive controls in a three-dimensional space. The method provides a three-dimensional space, characterized by a z dimension approximately parallel to the user""s direction of view, and x and y dimensions approximately orthogonal thereto. A control has x and y coordinate sets, and a z coordinate set that spans a range of values. The range can be infinite, making the control accessible at all depths, or can be a finite range, making the control accessible from that range of depths. Movement of a cursor into the control""s region initiates user interaction according to the control. The control depth reduces the precision of depth perception required to find the control. Once the user is in the control region, the effective depth for interaction can be relative to the depth when the user entered, providing control interaction independent of entering depth.

This invention relates to the field of human-computer interfaces, specifically those relating to multidimensional displays and navigation, interaction with multidimensional environments and objects, and methods of intuitively interfacing therewith.
Computing technology has seen a many-fold increase in capability in recent years. Processors work at ever higher rates; memories are ever larger and always faster; mass storage is larger and cheaper every year. Computers now are essential elements in many aspects of life, and are often used to present three dimensional worlds to users, in everything from games to scientific visualization.
The interface between the user and the computer has not seen the same rate of change. Screen windows, keyboard, monitor, and mouse are the standard, and have seen little change since their introduction. Many computers are purchased with great study as to processor speed, memory size, and disk space. Often, little thought is given to the human-computer interface, although most of the user""s experience with the computer will be dominated by the interface (rarely does a user spend significant time waiting for a computer to calculate, while every interaction must use the human-computer interface).
As computers continue to increase in capability, new interface methods are needed to fully utilize new modes of human-computer communication. Preferably, such new methods can build on interface methods learned by users in real-world situations and in two-dimensional computer interfaces. Specifically, users have become accustomed to two-dimensional computer interfaces, with control panels, menus, and buttons. Users are also accustomed to three-dimensional interfaces in real-world situations, visual and tactile depth perception aid in finding and manipulating such controls. For example, the controls of a car radio are always in some understandable relationship to the usual position of the driver. Such simplistic relationship can be undesirable in a three-dimensional computer environment, however, where the user can desire that controls be available during three-dimensional navigation free of the requirement of experiencing the environment through a windshield.
Interfaces using three dimensions allow for a more natural human interface experience compared with contemporary two-dimensional computer interfaces. A few three-dimensional display interface standards exist, for example OpenInventor, OpenGL, and direct3D. See xe2x80x9cOpenGL(copyright) Programming Guide, Third Editionxe2x80x9d, OpenGL Architecture Review Board. At least one haptic interface standard exists, Ghost. See the webpage at sensable.com/products/ghost.htm. These standards, while suitable for three-dimensional display and interaction, do not allow the user to apply experience gained in real-world controls, and in two-dimensional interfaces. Attempts to provide intuitive, familiar controls in a three-dimensional interface generally either require explicit transitions out of the three-dimensional interface (sacrificing the intuitiveness of the interface) or encounter significant problems related to depth perception in three-dimensional spaces (the user has difficulty finding the controls in the depth of the three-dimensional space).
Fuller realization of the entertainment and productivity benefits possible from computer technology requires improved interfaces. Accordingly, there is a need for improved methods of human-computer interfacing that offer more intuitive navigation and control of the computer, providing the user an intuitive interface incorporating familiar control concepts with three-dimensional spaces.
The present invention provides a method of human-computer interfacing that provides efficient implementation of intuitive controls in a three-dimensional space. The method comprises providing a three-dimensional space, characterized by x and y dimensions, together defining a plane approximately orthogonal to the user""s direction of view into the space. A z dimension, approximately parallel to the direction of view, further characterizes the three-dimensional space. Objects in the space can be defined by x, y, and z coordinate sets. A control is provided having x and y coordinate sets as any other object. The z coordinate set of the control, however, spans a range of values, giving the control an increased depth. The control""s range of z can be infinite, making the control accessible at all depths, or can be a finite range, making the control accessible only from that range of depths. Movement of a cursor into the region corresponding to the control initiates interaction with the user according to the control. The increased depth makes it easier for the user to access the control, since it reduces the precision of depth perception required to find the control. Once the user is in the region corresponding to the control, the effective depth for interaction can be relative to the depth when the user entered the control region, providing control interaction independent of entering depth.
The present invention also can comprise haptic feedback to further enhance the human-computer interface. Haptic feedback can provide force feedback allowing the user""s sense of touch to enhance control of the interface. The ability to readily find controls, without fine precision depth perception, combined with consistent haptic feedback, can provide an efficient and intuitive human-computer interface. The present invention can also comprise a plurality of controls, each corresponding to its range of z coordinates. The interface can provide a set of controls, easy to find and intuitive to use, to the user. Different ranges of z coordinates can allow the set of controls available to the user to be specific to the region of the space. For example, the interface can provide one set of controls when the user is outside a specific region, and another when the user navigates inside the region.
The interface can further provide haptic feedback communicating transitions into a control region of the space. The user can feel such transitions in advance, and is allowed to avoid unwanted transitions into a control""s region by controlling the cursor responsive to the haptic feedback.
Advantages and novel features will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following description or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Human-computer interface including efficient three-dimensional controls


A functionalized polyamine effective to retard the setting rate of a slurry of hydraulic cement is disclosed. A slurry of hydraulic cement in water which includes the functionalized polyamine, which is a polyethylene amine having attached thereto moieties selected from the group consisting of carboxylic acid groups and phosphonic acid groups, is useful to cement a conduit in a subterranean formation penetrated by a wellbore wherein it is desirable to retard the setting rate of the cement to enable placement of the slurry.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to hydraulic cement compositions. It further relates to hydraulic cement compositions which include an additive to retard the rate of hardening of a water slurry of a hydraulic cement composition. Such an additive is referred to in the art as a set retarder. This invention also relates to a method of delaying the set of a water slurry of a hydraulic cement composition. This invention still further relates to a method of cementing a subterranean formation penetrated by a wellbore.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Hydraulic cements, i.e., inorganic cements that harden or set under water, are customarily admixed with water and emplaced as aqueous slurries. The amount of water employed may vary rather extensively dependent largely upon the fluidity of the slurry required and upon the necessary ultimate strength. Additives may be employed to modify the properties of the basic cement slurry.
Ordinary Portland cement, when mixed with water and subjected to elevated temperatures, begins to hydrate immediately and sets in a short time to an extent that its ability to be pumped over a long period of time is limited.
In cementing operations, particularly in moderate and high temperature environments, such as may be encountered in well cementing, it is often necessary, or at least highly desirable, to retard the rate at which a cement slurry would normally set in order to provide a thickening time of sufficient duration to permit placement of the cement slurry where desired. It is a prime requisite of cements that they have the property of remaining fluid and pumpable for a period of time at elevated temperatures to permit placement before setting begins.
Cement compositions having retarded setting rates are useful for a number of purposes including the placement of them in boreholes which penetrate subterranean earth formations, such as wells. In well cementing practice, Portland cement is normally mixed with water, based on the weight of the dry cement, to form a slurry which is pumped into the well to the desired point behind the casing where it is allowed to harden. Inasmuch as wells are frequently of great depth, extended times are required to mix the cement slurry and pump it to the desired point. It is important, therefore, that the cement employed have a thickening time long enough to allow placement of the cement slurry in the desired location in the well before it becomes stiff and unpumpable. Experience has shown that the elevated pressures and temperatures encountered in cementing wellbores which penetrate subterranean formations accelerate the normal setting rate of cement to the point that the placement time of the cement approaches or exceeds the thickening time of the cement thus rendering difficult or impossible the placement of the cement slurry in the desired location in the well. Successful placement of the slurry, therefore, requires that the slurry remain fluid and pumpable at high temperatures for several hours before it begins to harden. However, after the slurry has been pumped into place, it is desirable that hydration or set proceed at a rate at which the slurry will attain its final set and develop considerable strength within about 24 hours.
Various methods of retarding the setting rates of cements have been employed in order to make possible the placement of cement in wells. In general, cements for use in wells are coarsely ground materials prepared by (1) altering the composition of the cement itself, (2) adding various special retarding agents to the cement, or (3) a combination of methods 1 and 2. Set retarding agents which have been employed include casein, sodium carboxymethyl cellulose, carboxymethyl hydroxyethyl cellulose, dextrin, starch, compounds of boron, bicarbonates and tartrates, water soluble gums, lignosulfonates, copolymers of acrylic acid and 2-acrylamido, 2-methylpropane sulfonic acid and combinations of these and other materials.

Functionalized polymers containing amine groupings and their use as retarders in cement slurries