A method of determining mass flow rate and phase distribution of gas/liquid two-phase flows is disclosed. The method uses a Coriolis-based mass flow meter. Flow streams of known mass flow rate and phase distribution are directed through the meter and correlation factors are obtained using an apparent mass flow rate output and an apparent density output from the Coriolis meter. The true mass flow rate and phase distribution of unknown flow streams can then be determined.

The present invention relates to the field of two-phase flow measurement. In particular, the present invention provides a method and apparatus for measuring the relative quantities of gas and liquid in a flowing fluid stream, especially for the measurement of wet steam.
One method of enhancing recovery of hydrocarbons in, for example, oil-bearing reservoirs, is to inject steam. In order to properly manage this enhanced recovery technique, it is necessary to know the "quality" and the mass flow rate of steam that is injected, wherein the "quality" is defined as the ratio of vapor to vapor plus liquid of the injected steam.
Many methods have been proposed for the measurement of steam quality in surface steam lines. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,662,219, to Nguyen, incorporated by reference herein for all purposes and assigned to the assignee of the present invention, discloses a method of using two orifice plates in series to determine steam quality. However, such methods actually provide only an indirect determination of steam quality because they are not directly measuring the mass and/or density of the liquid stream. They are in many cases only accurate over a limited range of conditions.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,689,979 and 4,773,257 to Aslesen et al., also assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated herein by reference for all purposes, discloses a method of measuring the relative amounts of oil and water in a liquid stream. However, no method of determining steam quality is shown or suggested.
A "Q-Bar" device has also been described as being useful in the measurement of two phase streams. For example, the "Steamcheck Energy Monitor" sold by Baker Packers uses the "spike" resonant frequency of a resonating tube to determine steam quality. This device uses only a sample of the steam and has found to have only limited accuracy.
It is desirable, therefore, to devise an improved method of measuring wet steam.

Gas/liquid flow measurement using coriolis-based flow meters


The disclosure relates to a rotating control device used in a drilling system having a non-rotating tubular RCD housing enclosing an elongate passage. A mandrel rotatably extends along the passage about an axis. A seal assembly seals the RCD housing to the mandrel and provides first and second seals against the mandrel's exterior surface. The first and second seals are spaced parallel to the mandrel's axis to create space between the mandrel and the first and second seals. The first seal has a first side exposed to fluid pressure in the RCD housing and a second side exposed to fluid in the space between the seals. The second seal has a first side exposed to fluid pressure in the space between the seals and a second side exposed to fluid pressure at the exterior of the RCD housing. A pressure stepping mechanism supplies fluid to the space between the two seals.

In drilling a well, a drilling tool or "drill bit" is rotated under an axial load within a bore hole. The drill bit is attached to the bottom of a string of threadably connected tubulars or "drill pipe" located in the bore hole. The drill pipe is rotated at the surface of the well by an applied torque which is transferred by the drill pipe to the drill bit. As the bore hole is drilled, the hole bored by the drill bit is substantially greater than the diameter of the drill pipe. To assist in lubricating the drill bit, drilling fluid or gas is pumped down the drill pipe. The fluid jets out of the drill bit, flowing back up to the surface through the annulus between the wall of the bore hole and the drill pipe.
Conventional oilfield drilling typically uses hydrostatic pressure generated by the density of the drilling fluid or mud in the wellbore in addition to the pressure developed by pumping of the fluid to the borehole. However, some fluid reservoirs are considered economically undrillable with these conventional techniques. New and improved techniques, such as underbalanced drilling and managed pressure drilling, have been used successfully throughout the world. Managed pressure drilling is an adaptive drilling process used to more precisely control the annular pressure profile throughout the wellbore. The annular pressure profile is controlled in such a way that the well is either balanced at all times, or nearly balanced with low change in pressure. Underbalanced drilling is drilling with the hydrostatic head of the drilling fluid intentionally designed to be lower than the pressure of the formations being drilled. The hydrostatic head of the fluid may naturally be less than the formation pressure, or it can be induced.
Rotating control devices provide a means of sealing off the annulus around the drill pipe as the drill pipe rotates and translates axially down the well while including a side outlet through which the return drilling fluid is diverted. Such rotating control devices may also be referred to as rotating blow out preventers, rotating diverters or drilling heads. These units generally comprise a stationary housing or bowl including a side outlet for connection to a fluid return line and an inlet flange for locating the unit on a blowout preventer or other drilling stack at the surface of the well bore. Within the bowl, opposite the inlet flange, is arranged a rotatable assembly such as anti-friction bearings which allow the drill pipe, located through the head, to rotate and slide. The assembly includes a seal onto the drill pipe which is typically made from rubber, polyurethane or another suitable elastomer.
For offshore application on jack-up drilling rigs or floating drilling rigs, the rotating control device may be in the form of a cartridge assembly that is latched inside the drilling fluid return riser. In this case, the side outlet may be on a separate spool or outlet on the riser.
The demands made on modern RCDs are pushing the envelope and limit of what is achievable with elastomeric seal solutions. The trend is for RCDs to be able to provide effective sealing at higher pressures and higher rotational speeds. Advances in the drill string rotation equipment like top drives used to rotate the drill string and hence the drilling bit are allowing revolution rates as high as 300 rpm. There is a desire to be able to use RCDs at much higher pressures during well control operations to enable drill string rotation so as to avoid getting stuck which is a common problem. These types of operations could be carried out if the dynamic rating of the seal solution was comparable to the static housing pressure rating of the RCD which is typically 5000 psi for the high-pressure variants. Furthermore, there is a need to increase the service interval for changing out the seal assembly which is typically failing in less than 200 hours. Premature seal assembly failure leads to drilling fluid invasion of the bearing assembly with consequent costly failure.
The problem is being continuously addressed by novel ways of arranging the seals such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 9,284,811 assigned to Schlumberger Technology Corporation. Another method is to force lubricate the bearings and seals of which there are many examples, a recent one being the U.S. Pat. No. 10,066,664 assigned to Black Gold Tools, Inc.
Most modern high-pressure RCDs use elastomeric lip seals or hydrodynamic film seals, with the most common ones in use being the wave seals called KALSI™ seals, marketed by Kalsi Engineering, Inc. of Sugar Land, Tex. USA. The only way to improve the performance of seal assemblies using these types of seals is by reducing the pressure and velocity (PV) experienced by such seal assemblies. PV value is a seal design number calculated by the Pressure in psi multiplied by the surface Velocity of the application. Taking a typical rpm of 200, a typical RCD mandrel diameter of 9 inches, we get a surface Velocity of about 471 sfpm. Considering the modern PV limit of lip seals is around 250,000, it means that it gets difficult to achieve sealing pressures in excess of 500 psi which gives a PV of 471 multiplied by 500 which is equal to 235,500, so close to the PV limit of a lip seal.
Such improvements are the subject of recent applications US20170114606A1 and US20170167221A1, both by Weatherford Technology Holdings. '606 discloses a stepped pressure concept to lower the pressure differential across the seals, thus reducing the PV per seal. The other application '221 discloses a split seal assembly that reduces the individual velocity across each seal by reducing the ratio of rpm by use of independently rotating rings which also reduces the total PV seen per seal. Additionally, these design use methods for pressurizing the internal lubrication fluid for the bearings so as to provide reduced pressure differentials. The drawback of using the Kalsi type seal solution is that they must continuously weep to lubricate the interface and that they are harder seals than lip seals leading to wear on the rotating mandrel which eventually also causes leaks.
Also, these recent seal assemblies involving multiple components are labor intensive to service, as they need to be disassembled piece by piece and rebuilt. There is a need for having a multiple seal solution that can be simply replaced as a cartridge using the same type and diameter of seal which can be easily adapted to the pressure requirements by staging the pressure experienced by each seal so that each seal operates within the PV limits of its design. Such a solution would use a lip type seal which does not allow any leakage when operating under the recommended PV conditions.
A recent staged pressure seal solution for a dual drill pipe is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,720,543 assigned to Reelwell A S. This does not allow for a cartridge replacement of the seal assembly.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a pressure staged lip seal assembly for an RCD application with improved reliability under the difficult operating conditions for a high-pressure RCD. The advantageous design houses all of the seals and pressure staging components in a single cartridge that is easily replaceable for quick servicing.

Rotating control device with multiple seal cartridge


The present invention is a golf putter head wherein the second moment among the three inertial moments described below shows a minimum value in a state in which the head is placed on a horizontal plane at a specified lie angle and loft angle:                First moment: inertial moment of the head about a first axis which passes through the center of gravity of the head, and which is parallel to the face surface and said horizontal plane;        Second moment: inertial moment of the head about a second axis which is an axis in the vertical direction that passes through the center of gravity of the head; and        Third moment: inertial moment of the head about a third axis which passes through the center of gravity of the head, and which is perpendicular to said first axis and perpendicular to said second axis.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a golf putter head.
2. Description of the Related Art
Golf putters are golf clubs that are used mainly to cause the ball to roll on the green and enter the cup. The shapes of such golf putter heads include various types of shapes such as the so-called toe-heel balance type, L type, mallet type, T type and the like. These head shapes include shapes that are devised in visual terms from the standpoint of facilitating stance and the like, and shapes that reduce rotation of the head during hitting and broaden the sweet area by concentrating the weight on the toe side and heel side of the head (for example, see Japanese Patent No. 2613849).
In the hitting of the ball by a golf putter, i.e., in putting, a much more delicate feeling is required than is needed in the hitting of the ball by other clubs, such as so-called driver shots or iron shots. Putting does not involve hitting the ball with a large force as in shots made with other clubs, but instead involves hitting the ball with a relatively short swing and a small force; accordingly, the effect of the delicate feeling on the results is relatively large. Furthermore, since putting involves hitting the ball while aiming at a small cup on a green with a complicated slope, the ball will miss the small cup if there is even a slight error in the direction or speed of the shot. The reason for this is that track along which the ball rolls over the green varies minutely according to the initial speed and hitting direction of the ball, and also according to the fastness, slope and the like of the green. It is necessary to rely on a delicate feeling in order to achieve accurate control of the hitting direction and hitting speed while accurately grasping these various conditions. Accordingly, it is important that the feeling of the putting swing (hereafter also referred to as the "stroke" or the like) be good.


A high temperature electronic system includes an electronics unit configured for exposure to an environment having a temperature greater than approximately 150.0° C. The remote electronics unit includes a transient voltage suppressor (TVS) assembly coupled in operative relationship with at least some electronic components of the electronics unit. The TVS assembly includes at least one TVS device comprising at least one of a punch-through wide band-gap semiconductor TVS die and an avalanche breakdown wide band-gap semiconductor TVS die encapsulated in a flip-chip package at least partially surrounding the die, and coupled to first and second electrodes exposed to a single side of the encapsulation.

The disclosure relates generally to high temperature semiconductor devices, and more specifically, to semiconductor devices for transient voltage suppression in high temperature environments.
At least some known sensitive electronic equipment use Transient Voltage Suppression (TVS) devices to protect the equipment from lightning strikes or electromagnetic interference (EMI). High power TVS devices are typically available only as discrete devices that are electrically coupled together at the circuit board level to attain the electrical characteristics needed in a particular application. Several TVS devices and/or other components are often connected in parallel and/or series to obtain a required breakdown voltage and current carrying capability. Connecting multiple components together on a circuit board increases the area of the board considerably, which also increases a weight of for example, an aircraft and the heat generated by the multiple components.

Method and system for ultra miniaturized packages for transient voltage suppressors


A method and a system for implementing local switching are disclosed. The method includes: after receiving the uplink data sent by a sending MS, determining, according to information carried in the uplink data, information about location of a receiving Mobile Station (MS) that is to receive uplink data; and implementing, according to local switching rules that specify a local switching control mode, local switching for data transmitted between the sending MS and the receiving MS if determining, according to the information about location of the receiving MS and information about location of the sending MS, that the data transmitted between the sending MS and the receiving MS meets local switching conditions. In this way, network transmission resources are saved in the process of transmitting data, transmission delay is shortened, and data transmission efficiency is improved.

With development of radio communication technologies, Packet Switched (PS) domain services such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service are applied more and more prevalently. Therefore, communication systems such as Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) network also support the PS domain services like VoIP. From the perspective of service model, the telephone service of VoIP is a local service, that is, only a small portion of VoIP services occurs beyond the local conversation area. Also, service flows of a similar application scenario exist in a communication network, and some of the service flows are switched in the local area. However, as shown in FIG. 1, as regards service flows (such as VoIP) which can implement communication by local switching only, the service flows still need to be transmitted through a backhaul network and a core network.
In the process of implementing the present invention, the inventor finds at least the following problems in the prior art:
As regards service flows that can be switched locally, if they are transmitted through the backhaul network and the core network, much more bandwidth of the backhaul network and the core network is consumed, and the large transmission delay is reduced.

Method and system for implementing local switching


Described herein is a bacterium having high antimutagenicity against mutagens and belonging to the genus of Lactobacillus. The mutagens may comprise both a base-pair change mutagen and a frameshift mutagen. The bacterium preferably has high intestine reachability and can be Lactobacillus casei.

1Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a novel bacterium belonging to the genus of Lactobacillus, and more specifically to a novel bacterium which belongs to the genus of Lactobacillus, has high antimutagenicity and is advantageously usable in health promoting foods, health care foods and the like.
2Description of the Related Art
Foods are known to contain numerous mutagens. For example, it is known that 3-amino-1-methyl-5H-pyrido[4,3-b]-indole (hereinafter abbreviated as "Trp-P-2") and the like are contained in scorched parts of meat or fish. A nitroso compound is also known to be formed as a result of food poisoning when certain specific kinds of fish and vegetable are taken together. In addition, growth of a mold on a food is known to result in the formation of aflatoxin or the like as a metabolite. Many of these mutagens have already been found to be carcinogens. From the viewpoint of mutating toxicity, canceration and senescence of human cells are said to have a close relationship with foods to be taken. It is therefore desired to eliminate mutagens from foods.
As methods for eliminating these substances contained in foods, methods making use of an enzyme have heretofore been reported. Among these, as one example in which a lactic acid bacterium is employed, there is known the method disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 228224/1987, in which a peroxidase, thiocyanate ions and/or halogen ions are added to a fermented solution of a lactic acid bacterium, said solution being maintained at 10.degree. C. or lower, whereby a fermented food of the lactic acid bacterium is produced.
Reflecting the ever-increasing concern about health in recent years, there is a tendency toward requiring foods not only to replenish nourishing but also to exhibit a positive health-maintaining function. Foods containing a lactic acid bacterium, such as fermented milk, are also attracting interests as health promoting foods or health care foods. As a matter of fact, it has been reported that a fermented milk has ability to reduce influence of a mutagen contained in foods [Akiyoshi Hosono "Japanese Journal of Dairy and Food Science", 35 (6 ), A-283 to A-289 (1986)].
In the above report, however, it is not disclosed clearly what component or components in the fermented milk drink act most effectively, especially how antimutagenicity is associated with a lactic acid bacterium itself.

Japanese Research & Development Association For New Food Materials


A method for performing software discovery by an installer controller is provided and may include detecting, at a computer, an attempt by a software installer to execute on the computer, wherein during execution, the software installer modifies software on the computer. A Software Asset Management (SAM) computer server may be queried for an approval status corresponding to a software package provided by the software installer. The installer controller executes the software installer upon receiving on the returned approval status; aggregates a result from the execution of the software installer based on the software installer modifying the software on the computer; and updates a discovery software signature on the computer when the returned approval status is marked as known.

Software is commonly deployed on computer desktops by an installation package that may be provided by a software vendor. A user invokes an installer program, which extracts and copies files from the installation package and then adds information about the software to platform-dependent locations, such as a registry, where the operating system may manage the software inventory. Exemplary installer programs that the software vendor may use to package and deploy popular software include InstallAnywhere and InstallShield. Actions performed by an installer program are well-defined and may be monitored and customized depending on for example, the requirements of the software vendor or the software management guidelines at a business enterprise's computer environment.
Current Software Asset Management (SAM) solutions for performing software discovery within a computer environment often include distributing a software catalog to agents that are running on client workstations. The software catalog may include a set of discovery rules for the agents to use for each software package or program when scanning filesystems, registries, lists of running processes, and the like. However, computing resources may be unnecessarily used on redundant scans of client workstations, even though no software deployment activities have occurred. Additionally, considering the diversity of software products likely to be found in a business enterprise's computing environment, the maintenance costs associated with the software catalogs may be prohibitive.

Software discovery by an installer controller

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


A method of operating an intelligent programmable logic controller over a plurality of scan cycles includes the intelligent programmable logic controller selecting one or more soft-sensors available in a control program corresponding to a production unit, each soft-sensor comprising a local parameter or variable used by the control program. The intelligent programmable logic controller determines updated soft-sensor values corresponding to the one or more soft-sensors during each scan cycle and stores those values during each scan cycle on a non-volatile computer-readable storage medium operably coupled to the intelligent programmable logic controller. Additionally, the intelligent programmable logic controller annotates the updated soft-sensor values with automation system context information to generate contextualized data.

A programmable logic controller (PLC) is a specialized computer control system configured to execute software which continuously gathers data on the state of input devices to control the state of output devices. A PLC typically includes three major components: a processor (which may include volatile memory), volatile memory comprising an application program, and one or more input/output (I/O) ports for connecting to other devices in the automation system.
PLCs are utilized in various industrial settings to control automation systems. Automation systems typically generate a large amount of data in their daily operations. This data may include, for example, sensor data, actuator and control program parameters, and information associated with service activities. However, conventional automation systems, and PLCs in particular, are not capable of adequately handling this data. For example, in most systems, due to hardware and software limitations, only a small fraction of automation system data can be analyzed and stored. Massive amounts of irrelevant data may be produced while important data points are missed. Compression may be applied at the higher automation layers on unimportant data, while important data is lost while travelling through the automation layers. Moreover, even where there are attempts to avoid the loss of data, there may be significant demands placed on the rest of the computing infrastructure. For example, the PLC data processing may result in a high demand on the network bandwidth as well as storage capacity. Additionally, the context of data may be lost while data passed through automation system layers. This causes several undesired secondary effects on the automation system. For example, if data analytics are performed at higher automation layers based on low quality/fidelity data, important data may be lost causing the automation system to operate inefficiently or sub-optimally.
As a result of insufficient data handling capabilities at the control layer, quality problems are usually detected late. In conventional systems, only a few process variables can be continuously monitored at the higher automation layers (e.g., Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) with adequate fidelity. Although the most relevant sensors (e.g., temperature and pressure of a fermentation tank, or a position sensor in a car door assembly cell) are monitored, many other variables, including important control variables, are ignored even though these variables may also be used to identify certain problems. Examples of important variables that may not be exposed to high automation layers include, without limitation, pressure valve position, coolant flow rate, oscillation control loop count, positioning time, etc. Such variables hold important control knowledge that might indicate quality problems in an early stage.
Additionally, due to insufficient data handling capabilities, control knowledge is not sent to the higher automation layers for business analytics. Typically the control knowledge is hidden inside the control program that runs into the controller or it is available only at the engineering system (e.g. Siemens TIA Portal software) used to write control programs. A great deal of effort is required to rebuild such control knowledge at higher layers of the automation system. In particular, the realization of higher level software functionality in Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition, Manufacturing Execution Systems, or Enterprise Resource Planning systems becomes much more complicated and costly. In turn, this leads to higher development and customization costs of these solutions. For example, consider a valve control program for controlling coolant flow until tank temperature reaches a certain level. One can infer that there has to be a certain correlation between coolant flow rate and temperature decrease (with some delay). To detect such correlations (which can be utilized for predictive process monitoring at higher layers) a pairwise correlation analysis using hundreds of parameters is required.

Using soft-sensors in a programmable logic controller


The present invention provides a method of producing an oil, water, and gas well using a gas carrier/transport system to remove produced liquids and contained solids by altering the flow regime of the production fluids towards or into a flow regime in which gas is the continuous fluid. This can be accomplished by use of supplemental gas flow (hydrocarbon or non-hydrocarbon) and/or stimulation of the production sand or coal bed gas flow with a reduced pressure drop across the well once near or in a gas-continuous flow regime. This invention can be applied to any well with insufficient formation gas pressure to prevent liquid buildup within the well during production. The present invention utilizes a second production pipe (or the annulus between the casing and the pipe), sized to transport compressed gas from the wellhead area down into the production liquid and into the production pipe. This flow of gas will cause the well fluids to flow up the pipe by approaching or entering a gas-continuous flow regime.

Not applicable
Not applicable
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to oil, water, and gas well drilling and production and to coal bed methane production. More particularly, the present invention relates to an improved method and apparatus for producing oil and gas from a well using a gas carrier/transport system to remove produced liquids and/or solids by altering the flow regime of the production fluids towards or into a flow regime in which gas is the continuous fluid (i.e. the rate of upflowing gas in the well is sufficiently high in comparison with liquid production flow to generate plug flow, slug flow, froth flow, foam flow, annular flow, spray flow, or mist flow.) This is accomplished by use of supplemental gas flow and/or stimulation of the production sands or coal bed gas flow with a reduced pressure drop across the well itself. This invention can be applied to any gas, oil, and/or water well with insufficient formation gas pressure to prevent liquid buildup within the well during production. The present invention also relates to an improved method and apparatus for producing heavy and paraffinic oil from a well using a heated gas carrier/transport system to remove produced liquids and/or solids by altering the flow regime of the production fluids towards or into a flow regime in which gas is the continuous fluid. This invention can also be applied to any oil and/or water (liquid) well as a means of enhancing the well""s production. The gas can be either hydrocarbon, non-hydrocarbon, or a mixture of the two.
2. General Background of the Invention
Several patents have issued that are directed to oil, water, and gas well production. Many patents are directed to xe2x80x9cgas liftxe2x80x9d technology. In such a xe2x80x9cgas liftxe2x80x9d situation, a relatively small volume of gas is bubbled through the up-flowing hydrocarbon or non-hydrocarbon liquid, typically aided by or using valves, check valves, plungers, mandrels, or other mechanical devices xe2x80x9cdownholexe2x80x9d which are typically high maintenance devices. Some even refer to the necessity for xe2x80x9cbottom of pipexe2x80x9d filters or screens to remove sand and silt from the production fluids in order to allow these mechanical devices to operate. Some refer to the use of such mechanical devices to minimize the, required xe2x80x9clift gasxe2x80x9d.
All of the designs known to applicant and using these mechanical devices are designed to convert the well production from the bubble flow regime to the plug flow regime by use of these devices, not by gas alone. An early example of such a system is described in the Walter Loomis patent, U.S. Pat. No. 1,554,444 entitled xe2x80x9cSystem for the Recovery of Mineral Oilsxe2x80x9d. The ""444 patent describes a system for causing produced hydrocarbon gas to be reintroduced into the oil well down through the casing, into a mixer, causing the gas to be mixed with the upflowing hydrocarbon liquid inside the production tubing. The heavier components of the hydrocarbon gas will dissolve under pressure back into the hydrocarbon liquid (probably including those hydrocarbonsxe2x80x94propane and heavier), while the rest become mixed back into the oil in a finely divided form. Such an introducing of hydrocarbon gases into the hydrocarbon liquid cause the specific gravity of liquids to be lowered, thus causing the xe2x80x9cliftxe2x80x9d. The lighter hydrocarbon gases are supposed to dissolve in the hydrocarbon liquid at the bottom of the well, enhancing the lift by reducing the specific gravity. As the pressure in the production tubing is reduced as the hydrocarbon liquid rises to the surface, the lighter hydrocarbon gases will return to the vapor phase and further enhance the lift effect. The Loomis patent directed to the need to lift hydrocarbon liquid and does not deal with the need to lift xe2x80x9cproduced waterxe2x80x9d.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,790,450 entitled xe2x80x9cMethod and Apparatus for Operating Oil Wellsxe2x80x9d discloses a system of a mechanical means for causing produced hydrocarbon gas to build up pressure beneath a rubber plug, which will periodically rise and effectively xe2x80x9cswabxe2x80x9d the liquid hydrocarbon up the well pipe. This patent describes one of the early pumping type gas lifts. It uses a rubber plug or piston in the production tubing to lift the liquids out of the well by gas pressure under the piston.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,005,7671 issued to Zublin, there is disclosed a system for causing produced hydrocarbon gas to be mechanically and centrifugally separated from the hydrocarbon liquid down in the well pipe, the gas being returned to the formation and the oil being produced containing a minimum amount of gas.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,034,798 entitled xe2x80x9cMethod of Flowing Wellsxe2x80x9d discloses a system for causing produced hydrocarbon gas by multiple wells to be stored up, and possibly be pressure boosted for proper usage, and to be used as motive gas for depleted wells in the same area.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,090,316 issued to Norman Montgomery and entitled xe2x80x9cGas Lifting Systemxe2x80x9d describes a system for causing produced hydrocarbon gas to lift a plurality of plungers throughout the production tubing, thus reducing the amount of time lost waiting for the plunger to return to the bottom for trapping new volume of lift gas.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,215,087 issued to Harry O. McLeod, Jr. and entitled xe2x80x9cGas Lift Systemxe2x80x9d describes a system for using gas injection, combined with intermittent slugs of a liquid which is both immiscible with the liquid being lifted from the well and does not adhere to the walls of the tubing and casing. This reduces the amount of liquid slippage by the slugs of lift gas.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,873,238 entitled xe2x80x9cMethod and Apparatus for Flowing Crude Oil from a Wellxe2x80x9d, issued to Johnnie A. Elfarr, describes a system for causing steam and/or air to be pumped down into an older formation, whose formation pressure has been depleted, artificially boosting the formation pressure and causing the hydrocarbon liquid to flow upward toward the surface. Steam is especially beneficial as the oil viscosity is high, becoming reduced by the elevated temperature caused by the steam. This system uses multiple downhole valves to effect the claims.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,223,724 issued to Carlo F. Levoni et al. and entitled xe2x80x9cDevice for Cleaning, Widening and Repairing Wells of Drinking Water and Irrigation Waterxe2x80x9d describes a system for cleaning, widening and repairing of a water well.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,275,790 issued to Bolling A. Abercrombie, entitled xe2x80x9cSurface Controlled Liquid Removal Method and System for Gas Producing Wellsxe2x80x9d describes a system for removal of accumulated production liquids. Assuming hydrocarbon gas is being produced from the well inside the casing, an internal production tubing, fitted with a loose fitting plunger, is used to periodically remove any collected liquids in the casing by shutting off the gas production while opening up the inner tubing, causing the gas to divert to the inner tubing, lifting the plunger and bringing the liquid up to the surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,345,64,7 issued to William C. Carmichael and entitled xe2x80x9cApparatus to Increase Oil Well Flowxe2x80x9d describes a system for attaching a pump to the top of the production pipe, thus causing a vacuum on the production oil. This production pipe goes down into an oil sump, lower than the producing sands in the well casing.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,390,061 issued to Charles short and entitled xe2x80x9cApparatus for Production of Liquid from Wellsxe2x80x9d describes a system for causing gas to enter the production tubing through an aspirator into the hydrocarbon liquid contained therein. The bottom of the production tubing should be fitted with a sand screen to prevent entrainment of sand particles. Further up the drill tubing are one or more check valves to prevent downward flow of liquid.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,410,041 issued to Davis et al. and entitled xe2x80x9cProcess for Gas-Lifting Liquid from a Well by Injecting Liquid into the Wellxe2x80x9d describes a system for sealing off any particular zone of the formation with remotely-actuable packers, and using gas to lift any produced hydrocarbons from this very zone. The primary purpose is for formation and drill stem testing.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,478,288 issued to Michael L. Bowyer and entitled xe2x80x9cApparatus with Annulus Safety Valve Through Tubing Injection and Method of Usexe2x80x9d describes a system for effecting safety control valving on both the gas supply line into the well casing and the return production tubing.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,480,697 entitled xe2x80x9cMethod and Apparatus for Converting an Oil Well to a Well with Effluent Raising by Gas-Liftxe2x80x9d, issued to Rene F. Goldaniga et al, describes a system for retrofitting an existing well, converting it to a gas lift system. Included in this patent is the required means for effecting the gas lift system while apparently providing superior flow shut-off capabilities.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,625,801 issued to Wayne C. McLaughlin et al. and entitled xe2x80x9cMethods and Apparatus for Recovery of Hydrocarbons from Underground. Water Tablesxe2x80x9d describes a system for using compressed air to lift hydrocarbon-contaminated groundwater up for collection and recovery.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,711,306 issued to Roy A. Bobo and entitled xe2x80x9cGas Lift Systemxe2x80x9d describes a system for mixing pressurized injection gas with pressurized injection liquid, which is then pumped down the well, during which time the increase in pressure will cause the gas to become compressed. As this injection stream enters the production conduit near the bottom of the well bore, the gas will begin to expand, helping to lift the production fluid.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,787,450 issued to Gregory R. Anderson et al. and entitled xe2x80x9cGas Lift Process for Restoring Flow in Depleted Geothermal Reservoirsxe2x80x9d describes a system for causing a gas lift process in a geothermal well.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,844,156 issued to Frank Hesh entitled xe2x80x9cMethod of Secondary Extraction of Oil from a Wellxe2x80x9d describes a system for repeatedly pressuring (super atmospheric) and depressuring (sub-atmospheric) the well formation by use of a sealed well casing.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,033,550 issued t Kenneth J. Johnson et al. and entitled xe2x80x9cWell Production Methodxe2x80x9d describes a system, targeted specifically at the coal bed methane production, causing lift gas to be fed down injection tubing to a side pocket mandrel and then to a gas lift valve. The objective is to reduce the bottom hole pressure low enough so that the methane gas, impregnated into the coal fines, will be released and carried up by the lift gas to the well head.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,211,242 issued to Malcolm W. Coleman et al. entitled xe2x80x9cApparatus and Method for Unloading Production-Inhibiting Liquid from a Wellxe2x80x9d describes a system for collecting liquids in a chamber down in the well casing, to which two tubing strings are connected; Volumes of the liquid are intermittently lifted out of the well through one of the tubing strings in response to high pressure gas injected into the other tubing string.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,377,764 issued to Alfred R. Jennings, Jr. and entitled xe2x80x9cMeans of Injecting CO2 into Circulation Tubing to Facilitate CO2 Gas Liftxe2x80x9d describes a system for introducing carbon dioxide gas into a viscous hydrocarbon heavy oil in the bottom casing of the well, allowing the carbon dioxide to dissolve in the oil, reducing it""s viscosity and density, thus allowing the less viscous oil to be lifted up the production tubing by means of the gas lift effect with carbon dioxide.
A system for introducing carbon dioxide gas into a viscous hydrocarbon heavy oil in the bottom casing of the well, allowing the carbon dioxide to dissolve in the oil, reducing it""s viscosity and density, thus allowing the less viscous oil to be lifted up the production tubing by means of the gas lift effect with carbon dioxide is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,337,828, xe2x80x9cUse of Carbon Dioxide for Gas-Lifting Heavy Oilxe2x80x9d, issued to Alfred R. Jennings, Jr.
A system for effecting a formation flooding to drive hydrocarbons up to the surface in a well is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,345,655 issued to Bruno Bernhardt, entitled xe2x80x9cMethod of and Arrangement for Obtaining Liquids and/or Gases from Ground or Rock Layersxe2x80x9d.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,464,309 issued to Alfonso R. Mancini et al. describes a system for removing chemical contaminants from groundwater formations; it accomplishes this by a xe2x80x9ctube within a tubexe2x80x9d design, using one of the tubes to supply gas down to the underground site, while applying a vacuum to the other tube and lifting the contaminated water.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,501,279 issued to Arvind K. Garg et al. entitled xe2x80x9cApparatus and Method for Removing Production-Inhibiting Liquid from a Wellborexe2x80x9d describes a system for causing produced water to be removed from a wellbore by use of chambers, valves, and potentially retrievable wirelines. With two production tubes attached to the chambers, one transporting pressurized lift gas down to the wellbore and the other lifting the produced water and methane gas, the pressure at the wellbore can be lowered enough to cause the entrained methane to be released from the carbonaceous subterranean formation.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,547,021 issued to Dennis P. Raden and entitled xe2x80x9cMethod and Apparatus for Fluid Production from a Wellborexe2x80x9d describes a system for assisting in lifting produced hydrocarbon liquid and produced water by means of a vacuum applied to the top of the production tubing; in addition, could possibly supplement lift by providing a lift gas fed from another production tubing to the bottom of the well. This lift gas could also be supplied by delivering down the well casing or the casing/tubing annulus. He also claims usage of eductors and valves.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,620,593 entitled xe2x80x9cMulti-Stage In-Well Aeratorxe2x80x9d, issued t Joseph C. Stagner, describes a system for utilizing in-casing aeration to remove VOC""s from contaminated groundwater.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,634,522 entitled xe2x80x9cLiquid level Detection for Artificial Lift System Controlxe2x80x9d issued to Michael D. Hershberger describes a system for detecting the liquid level in the well production tube, thus aiding in the determination when artificial lift becomes necessary.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,671,813 issued to Paulo Cesar Ribeiro Lima, entitled xe2x80x9cMethod and Apparatus for Intermittent Production of Oil with a Mechanical Interfacexe2x80x9d describes a system foressentially xe2x80x9cpiggingxe2x80x9d oil out of a production tube xe2x80x9cloopxe2x80x9d by sending a mechanical interface down one tube, propelled by pressurized gas, and then up the other tube (which has collected some oil as a xe2x80x9csumpxe2x80x9d), eventually arriving back at the surface having delivered a slug of oil.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,735,346, entitled xe2x80x9cFluid Level Sensing for Artificial Lift Control Systemsxe2x80x9d and issued to James Robert Brewer, describes a system for determining the fluid level in a well casing for controlling artificial lift systems.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,816,326 issued to John P. Slater entitled xe2x80x9cUphole Disposal Tool for Water Producing Gas Wellsxe2x80x9d describes a system for pumping produced water up the casing by use of a mechanical device with multiple mandrels, utilizing production gas to cause the device to xe2x80x9cpumpxe2x80x9d.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,839,514, entitled xe2x80x9cMethod and Apparatus for Injection of Tubing into Wellsxe2x80x9d issued to Thomas C. Gipson describes a system for improved handling of xe2x80x9ccoiled tubingxe2x80x9d in and out of a well.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,893,414 issued to Vladimir M. Shaposhnikov et al. discloses a device for intensification of hydrocarbon production and a hydrocarbons production system.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,906,241 issued to Mehmet Pehlivan et al, entitled xe2x80x9cMethod for Bubbling Extraction of Groundwaterxe2x80x9d describes a system for lifting contaminated groundwater by placing a hole in the extraction pipe a short distance above the static groundwater table, thus causing a bubbling action to aid in the lift of the groundwater by an applied vacuum at the head of the pipe. It is also claimed that this bubbling gas aids in the stripping of contaminants from the groundwater.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,911,278 issued to Donald D. Reitz, entitled xe2x80x9cCalliope Oil Production System,xe2x80x9d describes a system for gas lifting oil from a well by using down-hole valve on the end of the production tubing, and either lifting the oil up some macaroni tubing, or by possibly using an optional plunger or other device to mechanically lift the oil up a production tube.
The present invention provides an improved method and apparatus for producing oil, gas, and/or water from a well. The method of the present invention utilizes a gas carrier/transport system to remove produced liquids and/or solids by altering the flow, regime of the production fluids towards or into a flow regime in which the gas is the continuous fluid. The rate of upflowing gas in the well is sufficiently high in comparison with liquid production flow to generate plug flow, slug flow, froth flow, foam flow, annular flow, spray flow, or mist flow. The method of the present invention is accomplished by use of supplemental gas flow and/or stimulation of the production sands or coal bed gas flow with a reduced pressure drop across the well itself. The present invention can be applied to any oil, gas and/or water well with insufficient formation gas pressure to prevent liquid buildup within the well during production. This invention can also be applied to any oil and/or water (liquid) well as a means of enhancing the well""s production.

Method and apparatus for producing an oil, water, and/or gas well


A magnetic memory device includes a magnetization fixed layer provided above a semiconductor substrate surface and having a fixed magnetization direction. A first magnetization free layer is provided above the magnetization fixed layer, has variable magnetization direction, and has an easy magnetization axis extending along a plane intersecting the substrate surface and along a direction neither parallel nor perpendicular to the substrate surface. A second magnetization free layer is provided above the first magnetization free layer, has a magnetization that antiferromagnetically couples with the first magnetization free layer. A first write line is placed above and electrically connected to the second magnetization free layer, and extends in a direction that pierces the plane. A second write line faces the first and/or second magnetization free layer, and extends along the substrate surface and the plane and in a direction perpendicular to the first write line.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic memory device, such as the arrangement of a memory cell and a write line.
2. Description of the Related Art
A magnetic random-access memory (MRAM) has a feature of having a memory cell of a magnetoresistive element that uses the magnetoresistive effect to store data and use a current to perform a write operation.
A magnetoresistive element is an element that uses the tunneling magnetoresistive effect, generally has a structure wherein one insulating layer is sandwiched between two ferromagnetic layers. One of the ferromagnetic layers is called a reference layer whose magnetization direction is fixed. The other one is called a recording layer whose magnetization direction is not fixed. The tunneling magnetoresistive effect is a phenomenon wherein a tunneling current changes when the magnetization direction of two ferromagnetic layers are parallel and anti-parallel.
By assigning a corresponding parallelism or anti-parallelism of the magnetization direction of the two ferromagnetic layers to "0" data and "1" data, the magnetoresistive element can retain 1 bit of data. A write operation is implemented by changing parallelism or anti-parallelism of a magnetization direction of the recording layer with the reference layer by a magnetic field generated by a current.
In order to realize a large-scale MRAM, the following three problems need to be dealt with: 1) to prevent a current flowing in a write line for writing to a magnetoresistive element of a write target from erroneously writing to a magnetoresistive element adjacent the target element, 2) to retain a high degree of thermal disturbance resistance of a magnetoresistive element, 3) to keep a current low.
As a countermeasure to the problems, a so-called toggle-writing is proposed (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,545,906B1). Toggle writing uses two antiferromagnetically coupled ferromagnetic layers as ferromagnetic layers for recording data. Furthermore, the way it applies a magnetic field at the time of writing data is different from the above general way of writing. Toggle writing improves resistance against erroneous writing to an adjacent magnetoresistive element. However, the intensity of the magnetic field to switch the data retained by a magnetoresistive element is considerably larger than for a single layer recording layer. Therefore, along with miniaturization, the current for writing is expected to be over acceptable level. More specifically, for example, in a generation in which the length of the short side of a magnetoresistive element is less than 50 nm, realization of MRAM is very difficult to achieve.


The present invention provides methods and systems for performing in vivo flow cytometry. In one embodiments, selected circulating cells of interest of a subject are labeled with fluorescent probe molecules. The labeled cells are irradiated in vivo so as to excite the fluorescent probes, and the radiation emitted by the excited probes is detected, preferably confocally. The detected radiation is then analyzed to derive desired information, such as relative cell count, of the cells of interest.

The present invention relates generally to methods and apparatus for performing flow cytometry, and more particularly, it is directed to such methods and apparatus for conducting real-time in vivo quantification of the flow characteristics of a subject's circulating cells.
Current methods for detecting and quantifying various types of cells circulating within a subject's blood stream typically involve extraction of blood from the subject (a patient or an animal) followed by labeling and ex vivo detection. For example, in standard flow cytometry, specific cell populations in a blood sample, drawn from a subject and fluorescently labeled, are passed in single file through a flow stream to be interrogated by a light source (usually a laser). Fluorescence and light scattering signals emitted, or remitted, by the cells in response to the light source can be employed to determine the types and the number of the cells. In another ex vivo conventional technique, known as hemocytometry, cells are counted against a grid while being viewed with a microscope to determine the types of the cells and their numbers.
Such ex vivo techniques, however, suffer from a number of shortcomings. For example, each measurement provides only a single time sample. Consequently, it is difficult to use these techniques to obtain a valid temporal population profile for a cell type of interest that varies unpredictably or rapidly with time, Further, these techniques can suffer from a significant time delay between sample collection and analysis, leading to potential measurement inaccuracies.
Some in vivo techniques for detection of static and circulating fluorescently labeled cells are also known. However, these techniques typically show difficulty, or simply fail, in tracking cells flowing at a high velocity, especially in the arterial circulation, even when they capture images at video rates. In addition, employing these techniques for extracting quantitative information about the number and flow characteristics of a specific cell population can be very tedious.
Hence, there is a need for enhanced methods and apparatus for performing in vivo flow cytometry.

In vivo flow cytometry system and method


Web access over a public network for applications that operate on virtual desktops on a plurality of servers is facilitated. Through the web access the user is provided with the information necessary to establish a connection with an application by way of the virtual desktop. Applications that the user is authorized to access are determined and those applications that the user is not authorized to access are filtered out. The applications associated access control list is used for determining the user's access to discover an application.

Remote computing systems may enable users to access resources hosted by the remote computing systems. Servers on the remote computing systems can execute programs and transmit signals indicative of a user interface to clients that can connect by sending signals over a network conforming to a communication protocol such as the TCP/IP protocol. Each connecting client may be provided a session, i.e., an execution environment that includes a set of resources. Each client can transmit signals indicative of user input to the server and the server can apply the user input to the appropriate session. The clients may use protocols such as the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) to connect to a server resource. Protocols such as RDP typically handle graphics, device traffic such as USB, printer keyboard and mouse and in addition, virtual channels for application between server and a client. The terminal server hosts client sessions which can be in the hundreds in a typical server configuration.
Enabling remote connections to centralized desktops hosted in virtual machines is commonly used for centralized computing scenarios. Deployment of virtual desktops requires load balancing of host computers that host virtual machines, placement of virtual machines on the hosts, and properly orchestrating the startup, wake up, and preparation of virtual machines for receiving connections.
The systems described above generally require that the user computer have a preinstalled client that assists the user in the process of connecting to the remote server and communicating with the remote server over a virtual private network (VPN). In some instances, it would be beneficial to allow a user to connect to similarly connect to remote resources by way of a web browser. However, previous systems that provided users ability to launch remote application programs and desktops through a web page (Remote Desktop Web Access) presented a wide assortment of resources to the users that user may not want to see or the administrators may not want them to see.

Remote application presentation over a public network connection


Methods and apparatus for performing memory access are provided. In one example, an apparatus comprises a hardware processor, a memory, and a bus interface. The hardware processor is configured to: receive, from a host device and via the bus interface, a packet including a host input address, the host input address being defined based on a first host address space operated by the host device; determine, based on the host input address, a host relative address, the host relative address being relative to a first host base address of the first host address space; determine, based on the host relative address, a target device address of the memory; and access the memory at the target device address on behalf of the host device.

Compute systems may include peripheral devices, such as network devices, that add to the functionality of the computing system. In many cases, the peripheral devices are connected to the computing system using an interconnect. The interconnect may implement a standard bus protocol, such as any of the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) family of bus protocols. To communicate with the peripheral device, a host processor of the computing system may transmit packets via the bus to the peripheral device. The packets may be configured to perform access operations (e.g., read and write operations) at the local memory device of the peripheral device to control an operation at the peripheral device. The packets may include host addresses in a host address space in which the host processor operates. The host addresses may be translated into device addresses in a device address space in which the peripheral device operates, to perform the access operations at the local memory device.

PCI-based bus system having peripheral device address translation based on base address register (BAR) index


A method and apparatus for visualization of call categorization, comprising steps and components for: defining or receiving a definition for one or more categories and criteria for each category; receiving or capturing interactions; categorizing the interactions into the categories; determining relations between the categories; determining layout for the categories and relations; and visualizing the layout. The method and apparatus can further comprise steps and components for extracting key-phrases, determining connections between key-phrases, connections between categories based on key-phrases, and connections between categories and key-phrases, and visualizing the categories, key-phrases and connections. The method and apparatus can further comprise steps and components for training models upon which the relations between categories and relations between key-phrases are determined.

Within organizations or organizations' units that mainly handle interactions, such as call centers, customer relations centers, trade floors, law enforcements agencies, homeland security offices or the like, it is often valuable to classify interactions according to one or more anthologies. Interactions may take multiple forms, including phone calls using all types of phone, transmitted radio, recorded audio events, walk-in center events, video conferences, e-mails, chats, access through a web site or the like.
Categories may be defined which relate to various aspects of interactions, such as content of the interactions, customer satisfaction, subject, product, interaction type, up-sale opportunities, high-risk calls, legal threats, customer churn related, or others.
Interactions can then be assigned to various categories, wherein each interaction can be assigned to one or more categories, or to no category. The categorization provides structured information related to the interactions. For example, a category associated with an interaction may be important for answering questions such as what is the general content of the interaction, why are customers calling. General analysis of the categories can answer questions like what are the main contributions to call volume, how can the volume be reduced, and others. The categorization can also be used for taking business actions, such as locating missed opportunities, locating dissatisfied customers, determining how to allocate resources more accurately, such as allocating more agents to handle calls related to one or more subjects of business process optimization, cost reduction, improving quality/service/product, agent tutoring, customer churn preventing, and the like.
However these options provide only a fragment of the capabilities enabled by the categorization. There is thus a need for an apparatus and method for extracting valuable data from a categorization and the interactions assigned to the various categories, particularly in an interaction-rich environment.

Method and apparatus for visualization of interaction categorization


A method for determining priorities of scheduling requests including: determining, by a terminal device, that a first time domain resource collides with a second time domain resource, where the first time domain resource is used to transmit a first scheduling request, and the second time domain resource is used to transmit a second scheduling request; determining, by the terminal device, a priority of the first scheduling request and a priority of the second scheduling request according to first priority information of the first scheduling request and first priority information of the second scheduling request; and if the priority of the first scheduling request is higher than the priority of the second scheduling request, sending, by the terminal device, the first scheduling request to a base station.

When a terminal device has an uplink transmission requirement, the terminal device sends a scheduling request to a base station to obtain a time domain resource and a frequency domain resource allocated by the base station. After the base station receives the scheduling request sent by the terminal device, the base station sends downlink control signaling to the terminal device to send information about the allocated resources to the terminal device. The terminal device may communicate with the base station on the resources allocated by the base station.
A Long Term Evolution (LTE) system supports only one service type. The service type corresponds to only one scheduling request. Therefore, the terminal device requires only one scheduling request. In this case, no collision occurs with respect to the scheduling request sent by the terminal device. Different from the LTE system, fifth generation (5G) new radio (NR) supports a plurality of service types. In this case, the terminal device may require different scheduling requests. Therefore, different scheduling requests sent by the terminal device may collide in time domain. The collision of scheduling requests in time domain is a problem to be resolved urgently.

Method for determining priorities of scheduling requests, terminal device, and base station


A method for enriching air with hydrogen for subsequent use by internal combustion engines is discussed. The method begins with supplying a modified form of water. Subsequently, the method continues with electrolyzing the water to produce hydrogen gas. Next, the method involves mixing the gas with air to produce a hydrogen-air mixture, and injecting the mixture into the air intake of a combustion engine. Also discussed is a system for enriching internal combustion engine air intake with hydrogen gas. The system uses modified water, an electrolysis unit for producing hydrogen gas from the modified water. The system mixes the gas with ambient air to create a mixture, and a venturi-based injector introduces the mixture into the air intake system of the engine.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a device and method for supplying hydrogen gas to an air intake system, and more particularly, this invention relates to a device and method for in situ production and utilization of hydrogen gas in internal combustion engines.
2. Background of the Invention
The need for increase fuel efficiency and lower emissions has reached a critical state. State of the art systems for internal combustion engines have become increasingly complex, with the latest developments including an amalgam of hybrid vehicle drive trains, complex fuel reforming systems and alternate fuel storage systems.
Current fuel reforming designs utilize liquid petroleum fuels in attempts to crack those feedstocks to single carbon moieties, or even hydrogen gas. While reforming processes provide a source of clean fuel, hydrogen, green house gases and related pollutants are produced. Further, these systems are extremely complex and therefore expensive to implement at this time.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,089,888 discloses a steam generator coupled with the exhaust from an internal combustion engine connected to a reformer. The outlet from the reformer is connected to a hydrogen separation membrane. The hydrogen product can then be fed to the internal combustion engine for use as a supplemental fuel. This system requires a number of separate subcomponents, each of with must function for the overall hydrogen generator to provide a supplemental fuel. Further, this device uses hydrocarbon based fuel, a costly fuel as its main source of energy.
U.S. Published Application No. 2001/0210008 discloses a system using a distilled water source in combination with a porous electrode with a steam electrolysis chamber to generate a hydrogen feed to supply an internal combustion engine. Since the system uses distilled water, the system relies on the conductivity of pure water, which is low due to a limited source of conductive ions. There is a need to increase the conductivity of the fluid to improve the separation efficiency.
A need exists in the art for a simple fuel additive system for use with internal combustion engines. The system should be adaptable to current technologies. Further, should the system stop working due to loss of additives or system malfunction, the underlying drive trains should continue to function while the alternate fuel system is unavailable. The system should also utilize currently available feedstocks and provide in situ production of the fuel additive.

Hydrogen feed method and systems for engines


A comparing section compares the coordinates of the four corners of a bar code symbol newly detected by a bar code symbol detecting section and stored in a primary buffer, with the coordinates of the four corners of a bar code symbol having been detected and stored in a secondary buffer. If the coordinates of the newly detected bar code symbol differ from those of the detected bar code symbol, a control section causes a decoding section to decode the bar code symbol on the basis of image data stored in a frame memory. On the other hand, if not so, it is determined that the newly detected bar code symbol is invalid, thereby inhibiting decoding of the same to prevent double-reading.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a bar code symbol reading apparatus for reading bar code symbols, and particularly to an apparatus of this type having a double-reading preventing function. The word "double-reading" means an erroneous operation of reading (i.e., decoding) the content of a bar code symbol, then transferring the read data to a host computer or the like, thereafter again scanning and decoding the bar code symbol and transferring the decoded data to the host computer.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the spread of Point of Sales systems (POS), bar code symbols have been found everywhere. There are several tens of types of code systems, which include JAN/UPC/EAN code, ITF (Interleaved 2 of 5) code, CODE 39, NW-7 code, CODE 128, etc., as typical systems. These code symbols are referred to as one-dimensional bar code symbols, and each of them has a data capacity of about ten and several characters.
POS systems are broadly employed in department stores, supermarkets, etc., and bar code symbol reading apparatuses are used as the terminals of the POS systems. It is required to produce a bar code symbol reading apparatus which is cheap, easy to handle, and can perform accurate reading.
The bar code symbol is read basically in the following manner: A light beam is radiated from a light source onto the symbol to thereby scan the same, and then a light beam reflected therefrom is converged onto a light receiving element in the reading apparatus. Subsequently, the output signal of the light receiving element is decoded in an electric circuit comprising a microcomputer, etc., to thereby read the bar code symbol.
There are two types of bar code symbol reading apparatuses--a type of scanning symbols at all times and a type of scanning symbols when a reading switch or the like is operated. In the always scanning type, a "double-reading preventing" function for preventing twice reading of a single bar code symbol is considered especially important. In particular, registers used in supermarkets, etc., must have such a function. If an article with a bar code symbol is kept on a bar code reading apparatus even after the symbol is read, or if the article is removed from the apparatus too slowly, or if the article is moved on the apparatus here and there to read the symbol, a single bar code symbol may be read several times, and thus the number of articles which are bought actually may not correspond to that number of articles which is recorded in the host computer.
To avoid this, in the case of the conventional one-dimensional bar code symbol reading apparatus, two types of double-reading preventing methods have been proposed--one method for judging that a single bar code symbol has been read twice, when the decoded contents of two bar code symbols which have been read successively are identical to each other, and the latter symbol is canceled; the other method for inhibiting reading of the next bar code symbol until a predetermined time period elapses after the content of one symbol is transferred to the host computer.
Recently, the data capacity of the one-dimensional bar code system has been considered too small, and several types of code systems having a large data capacity, which are called "two-dimensional bar code systems", have been developed. One of them, called "data code", is a two-dimensional white/black square pattern, and specifically consists of an L-shaped outer frame, white and black outer frames arranged alternate, and data regions within the outer frames. However, a method for effectively preventing double-reading of such a two-dimensional bar code symbol has not yet been proposed.
If the aforementioned double-reading preventing method suitable for the one-dimensional bar code symbol reading apparatus is applied to the two-dimensional reading apparatus, lots of time is required to compare two-dimensional bar code symbols with each other since they have a data capacity much larger than one-dimensional bar code symbols. Further, decoding two-dimensional bar code symbols is very complicated, and therefore requires much time. Accordingly, the conventional method of comparing decoded data items is not suitable for the two-dimensional bar code symbol reading apparatus.
In addition, in the case of the method for inhibiting reading of the next bar code symbol until a predetermined time period elapses after one symbol is transferred to the host computer, it is very difficult to determine the predetermined time period. If the time period is long, it takes a long time until the next bar code symbol is read, whereas if it is short, a single bar code symbol may be read twice. Moreover, "double-reading" will be performed when the operator has left a sheet with a bar code symbol on the reading apparatus.

Bar code symbol reading apparatus with double-reading preventing function


A method of providing file data for a media file of a pre-determined format from a file system comprising a file record database and a data store, wherein the media file corresponds to a programme consisting of a plurality of segments, and wherein the segments included in the programme are dynamically determined. The method comprising the steps of receiving details of the programme including the duration of the programme, and determining the layout of the media file in the pre-determined format from the received details of the programme, the layout including locations for essence data within the file. A file record for the media file in the file record database is then created. In response to a request for the location of essence data within the file, a location given by determined layout of the media file is returned. Further, in response to an instruction that a segment is to be included in the programme, essence data corresponding to the contents of the segment is obtained. Then, in response to a request for a portion of essence data from the media file corresponding to a time period of the programme, essence data derived from the received essence data according to the determined layout of the media file is returned.

Traditionally, digital media data has been distributed as a stream; for example, video data may be distributed using a serial digital interface (SDI) standard for streaming data. A characteristic of a stream of data is that it provides sequential access to the data that makes it up, and once a given piece of data has been provided by the stream, it cannot be requested again—the stream has no "memory". The use of a stream to transmit media data is particularly appropriate where the media data is of a live event, such as a sporting or news event, in which case the pieces of data making up the stream only become available to be transmitted as they occur in real time.
It is usual for the content of a programme such as a news programme to be dynamically determined as the programme is broadcast. A conventional system for producing a news programme is shown in FIG. 1. A user interface device 11 allows a user to control a running order 11a for the news programme. The running order 11a is a sequence of segments, which may include live footage provided by cameras 13a to 13b (for example of the news being read), and pre-recorded clips, advertisement breaks and so on provided by data stores 12a to 12c. The user interface 11 can be used to vary the running order as the programme is broadcast, for example by rearranging, omitted, or added to the segments that have not yet been broadcast as required to take account of events that occur (such as newly breaking news stories, problems with live footage and the like). The user interface 11 can also be used to directly manipulate the display of footage via a jog/shuttle dial, as used for example when showing slow motion replays of important parts of sports matches. The media data for the news programme is provided as a stream 14.
However, while media data has traditionally been distributed as a stream, it has become desirable to provide it as a file, for example as an MXF (Material eXchange Format) file, for reasons of cost and convenience (amongst other things). A characteristic of a file is that it allows random access; once a file is made available within a file system, a request may be made to the file system for any arbitrary piece of data from anywhere within the file.
One example of the use of a file to transmit media data is the transmission of a television programme over the Internet. This is now described with reference to FIG. 2.
First, a file corresponding to a programme comprising segments S1 to Sn is provided. The file is then converted into a file comprising converted segments S′1 to S′n, which is a file of a form suitable for transmitting over the Internet. This may for example involve transcoding the file into a different format and/or quality. The conversion of the file is indicated by the bar C.
As noted above, the provision of the programme as a file means that random access to any piece of data within the file may be required. Consequently, the conversion process C expects all segments S1 to Sn of the file to be available within the file system prior to the conversion process beginning. Requiring the entire file to be available introduces a large time overhead for the availability of the converted file for transmitting over the Internet, as conversion can only begin once the entire unconverted file is available, which consequently means that the programme the file represents must have finished. This is a particular problem with programmes such as news programmes as described above, in which the running order for the programme can vary while the programme is being broadcast, meaning that the contents of the programme is not fixed until it is broadcast, and so it not possible to obtain the unconverted file ahead of time.
One partial solution to reducing the time overhead is to reduce the time taken by the conversion process C, by providing additional computing power. However, even if the unlimited computing power were available, with the result that the time for conversion was effectively reduced to zero, the necessity to wait until the programme had finished would still remain.
While random access to data from anywhere within a file is allowed, in order to avoid the delay associated with waiting for the writing of a file to complete, file systems will commonly allow data to be read from a file while its content is still being written to the file system, even though this means that the entire file is not yet available. This are however two problems with this. First, if a request is made for data from the file that has not yet been written to the file system, the file system will return false data, for example blank padding data or garbage data. Second, it is a characteristic of writing to a file in a file system that any part of the file can be written to. This means that while the writing is in progress, data previously read from the file may overwritten. As a result, with known file systems it is not safe to begin reading from a file before it has been completely written to the file system, as until that has occurred any data read from the file cannot be trusted to be correct.
Specialised file formats are known which are intended to be read from while still being written to. Such files consist of a series of segments each containing an index indicating where data can be found in that segment. Thus, if data is written to the file sequentially it can be read sequentially without later parts of the file needing to be referred to. However, the use of these requires that both the writing and the reading of the file occur in a well-behaved manner, which cannot be relied upon. Further, it would be advantageous to provide a solution that can be used with existing devices and the standard file formats they use.
Another solution is to modify the device that implements the conversion process so that it is able to accept streamed data rather than operating upon a file. However, again it would be advantageous to provide a solution that can be used with existing devices and the standard file formats they use.
The present invention seeks to mitigate the above-mentioned problems. Alternatively and/or additionally, the present invention seeks to provide an improved file system that provides file data for a media file in a way that does not require the contents of the entire file to be determined before any file data can be provided.

Methods and systems for providing file data for a media file


A workpiece manipulator assembly for a forging press having a press ram comprises a workpiece rotating mechanism including a rotary drive system for rotating a workpiece in peripheral direction. The rotary drive system is operated by a drive motor running at a preselected constant speed to rotate the workpiece about an axis of rotation. An arresting assembly stops the rotary movement of the workpiece before and during a pressure contact phase for the press ram. The rotary drive system is adapted to rotate a driven worm which produces rotary movement to the workpiece rotating means and is mounted for axial displacement. The arresting assembly includes an axial drive unit for predeterminably controlling axial displacement of the driven worm to effect the arresting of said rotary movement.

Prior to the forging press pressure contact phase during which the workpiece is engaged by the forging jaws of the pres rams, the rotary movement of the workpiece is arrested and stopped so that the ram jaws may radially act on the workpiece. Generally, such a known forging machine is endowed with a high and invariable number of stroke frequencies primarily used to forge long workpieces.
In such prior art forging machines, the workpiece is moved by manipulators both axially and rotatingly in peripheral direction. The rotary drive of the prior art manipulators is insured by a constantly running electric motor acting via a worm drive on a shaft rotating about an axis of rotation.
Corresponding to the required function, the rotary movement of the shaft about the axis of rotation is arrested during the pressure contact phase by the superimposition of a constant worm drive and a brake-spring system. With the known device, the driven worm is axially displaceable and supported axially via mechanical spring assemblies thus enabling the worm to axially move or be displaced in both directions. During the pressure contact phase, to exclude torque at the manipulator shaft axis due to the spring action, a disk brake is used to brake and correspondingly retain the constant rotary movement of the manipulator shaft axis of the worm wheel to the beginning of the pressure contact phase.
Due to the constant advance of the drive motor, the worm is screwed out against spring tension at the braked worm wheel. Upon termination of the pressure contact phase, the brake is disengaged so that the worm is reset again via the tensioned spring. An increased speed is formed over the contact speed at the worm wheel and at the manipulator tongs accordingly. The rotary angle lag resulting from the braking is recovered again.
In the course of the worm resetting movement and in functional relationship with the additionally accelerated masses, one does not only reach the center position due to resetting, but the system swings also into the opposite spring set and partly back again. Prior to the beginning of the new pressure contact time of the next working cycle, the brake is engaged again.
In case of the oscillatory system, spring tension, mass forces and speeds are in a direct physical relationship. A regular operation of the known mechanical brake-spring system may be only insured if the structurally determined parameters are maintained. Already with different ways of machining (roughing and refining), the relationship between contact time and idle time forms a variable resulting in different parameters for the oscillatory brake-spring system.
It is imperative for the oscillatory brake-spring system to be bound to a fixed stroke frequency of the forging machine. Since the rotary mass is different in response to the workpiece size, a mass change is accompanied by a disadvantageous effect on the known brake-spring system. In addition, friction and attenuation are changing in the current operation and wear is caused by the brake required in the rotary drive. Because the brake paths of a friction brake are not constant, the machine function is affected accordingly. Thus, with the known brakespring system the axial displacement of the worm shaft has control but is fixedly determined by the mechanical structure of the system itself. Such known system is not capable of being predeterminable controllable or adaptable to a variable forging sequence.

Workpiece manipulator assembly for forging machines

Eumuco Aktiengesellschaft fur Maschinebau


In order to produce a bone screw having a screw body which is provided with an external thread and which comprises a flow-through mechanism for bone cement that is used for the production of a cement jacket around the bone screw, such that the bone screw will be anchored in a highly stable manner after being implanted in a bone and especially after being implanted in a bone of reduced quality, it is proposed that the flow-through mechanism should comprise at least one longitudinal recess which is formed in the screw body such that it extends transversely relative to the radial direction and/or transversely relative to the peripheral direction.

The invention relates to a bone screw having a screw body which is provided with an external thread and which comprises flow-through means for bone cement that is used for the production of a cement jacket around the bone screw.
Bone screws of this type are, for example, employed as anchoring screws in a stabilisation system when several bone elements have to be connected together. The formation of a cement jacket around the bone screw following the implantation process increases the stability of the anchorage. This is of particular importance when the bone is of reduced quality, such as is the case for osteoporosis of the bony tissue for example.
A bone screw comprising a longitudinal channel along which there is provided a plurality of radially extending transverse channels that are in contact with this longitudinal channel is known from EP 0 305 417 B1.
Based upon this prior art, the object of the invention is to provide a bone screw which, in comparison with the bone screws known from the prior art, will be anchored in a highly stable manner after being implanted in a bone, and especially after it has been implanted in bones of reduced quality.
In accordance with the invention, this object is achieved in the case of a bone screw of the type mentioned hereinabove, in that the flow-through means comprises at least one longitudinal recess which is formed in the screw body such that it extends transversely relative to the radial direction and transversely relative to the peripheral direction.
By virtue of a recess which is constructed and arranged in this manner and by means of which bone cement can be introduced into the intermediary space between an implanted bone screw and the bone bed, a uniform cement jacket can be formed around the screw. As a result of this feature, the bone screw in accordance with the invention will be anchored in a highly stable manner. Each of the areas between the turns of the external thread can be supplied with bone cement and a highly effective flow of bone cement can be achieved by means of such a longitudinal recess which is formed substantially along the length of the screw body. By contrast, in the case of the bone screw of EP 0 305 417 B1, an individual radial channel basically has to be provided for each of the intermediary spaces. Moreover, in order to also enable a cement jacket to be built-up in the region around the frontal end of the screw, the longitudinal channel used there must extend through the whole of the screw body. Construction of the screw in the form of a self-tapping screw is thereby adversely affected. By contrast, in the case of the bone screw in accordance with the invention, a longitudinal recess basically suffices, and a cement jacket can also be formed about the frontal end of the bone screw by means of appropriate recesses in the turns of the external thread.
It is expedient if the at least one longitudinal recess is arranged such that it is perpendicular to the radial direction and especially so, if it is arranged to be perpendicular to the peripheral direction.
It is particularly advantageous if the flow-through means comprise a hollow channel formed in the screw body and if a longitudinal recess is connected to the hollow channel. Consequently, bone cement introduced into the hollow channel can flow out directly from the body of the screw via such a longitudinal recess without encountering substantial barriers to the flow of material so as to form a uniform cement jacket around the bone screw. It is thereby ensured that the bone screw in accordance with the invention will be anchored in a highly stable manner after the implantation process. It is expedient if a longitudinal recess is connected to the hollow channel in the longitudinal direction of said recess so as to minimise the resistance encountered by the flow of bone cement.
It is particularly advantageous if the dimensions of a longitudinal recess in the longitudinal direction thereof are such that it extends over a plurality of turns of the external thread. Due to this feature, the bone cement can be supplied to the whole of the screw body using essentially just one longitudinal recess.
In a particularly advantageous embodiment, a longitudinal recess has corresponding recesses associated therewith in the turns of the external thread. This enables the bone cement to flow between different intermediate regions i.e. the regions between adjacent turns of the thread so as to enable the bone cement to be distributed uniformly and thus produce a uniform build-up of the cement around an implanted bone screw. It is expedient if a turn of the external thread is broken-through in the vicinity of a longitudinal recess so as to enable the bone cement to flow therethrough.
For manufacturing purposes, it is particularly expedient if a longitudinal recess is in the form of a slot. This feature enables the recess to be produced in a simple manner by a machining process, for example, a milling process. It is advantageous if a plane of the slot is substantially perpendicular to the peripheral direction of the screw body. In particular hereby, the slot is formed by an upper slot plane and a lower slot plane which are in parallel with one another. Due to the construction perpendicular to the peripheral direction, the slot plane can be oriented in the radial direction. This enables an efficient flow of bone cement when the screw body is rotationally symmetrical. Furthermore, it is also expedient if a plane of the slot is disposed substantially radially relative to the screw body.
It is particularly advantageous if a plane of the slot is located substantially longitudinally relative to the screw body. On the one hand, this ensures that such a longitudinal recess is easy to produce, and it also ensures an efficient flow of bone cement on the other.
For the purposes of forming a cement jacket which will ensure a high degree of stability for the anchorage, it is particularly advantageous if a plurality of longitudinal recesses are arranged over the periphery of the screw body. This feature ensures that the regions between the turns of the external thread taken with reference to the periphery of the screw body will be uniformly supplied with bone cement.
In one advantageous variant of this embodiment, three longitudinal recesses are arranged along the periphery of the screw body. On the one hand, this enables the number of break-throughs in the turns of the external thread and in the body of the screw to be kept low, and it also enables uniform application of the bone cement on the other.
Hereby, it is of especially great advantage if the plurality of longitudinal recesses are substantially symmetrical relative to a longitudinal axis of the screw body. In this manner, the bone cement, which is introduced into the body of the screw, flows uniformly via the longitudinal recesses into the regions between the turns of the external thread and forms a uniform cement jacket.
In a particularly advantageous embodiment, the bone screw in accordance with the invention comprises successive sections in the longitudinal direction of the screw body which differ in regard to the construction of the outer surfaces thereof. Due to these outer surfaces being constructed such as to have differing geometrical shapes, a particularly highly stable anchorage is attainable by, on the one hand, forming one or more sections which will ensure that the thread is held firmly in the bone and, on the other hand, forming sections which will exhibit a sealing effect in regard to the outward flow of the bone cement. In this manner, a cement jacket can be built-up which will increase the anchoring forces in every direction by virtue of it interlocking with the bone in the manner of meshing gears. The volume of bone cement that needs to be supplied can be precisely metered by appropriate selection of the dimensions of the sections. Consequently, problems associated with the heating effects produced by reactions in the cement are, to a great extent, avoided.
It is expedient if a frontal section of the screw body is substantially conical or is in the form of a truncated cone. An effective self-tapping function of the thread is thereby obtained. On the other hand, such a section is effective as a seal for preventing unintentional outflow of the bone cement.
Hereby, it is expedient if the envelope of the turns of the external thread is substantially conical or is in the form of a truncated cone in the frontal section thereof so as to obtain an effective self-tapping function for the thread. It is expedient if the envelope of the screw body is substantially conical or is in the form of a truncated cone in the frontal section thereof so as to produce a sealing effect for preventing unintentional outflow of the bone cement.
Furthermore, it is advantageous if a central section of the screw body is substantially cylindrical. The thread of an implanted screw will be held firmly in the bone by virtue of such a cylindrical section. Hereby, it is expedient if the envelope of the turns of the external thread in the central section is substantially cylindrical, and likewise, if the envelope of the screw body in the central section is substantially cylindrical.
It is of particularly great advantage if a hollow channel in the screw body is led through the central section, and especially if it is extended up to or close to the frontal section. The hollow channel does not then need to be continuous so that the self-tapping effect at the frontal end of the thread will not be adversely affected although, on the other hand, the bone screw can nevertheless still be uniformly coated with bone cement so as to form a cement jacket. For the same reasons, it is advantageous if the at least one longitudinal recess is arranged substantially in the central section.
It is expedient if a rear section of the screw body is substantially conical or is in the form of a truncated cone. By virtue of such a conical end region of the bone screw in accordance with the invention, a sealing effect for preventing unintentional outflow of bone cement from the bone bed in the case of an implanted bone screw can again be achieved.
Hereby, it is of particularly great advantage if the envelope of the screw body is substantially conical or is in the form of a truncated cone in the rear section so as to obtain the aforesaid sealing effect and if the envelope of the turns of the external thread is substantially cylindrical in the central section. Firstly hereby, one can achieve the sealing effect and secondly, the effect upon the bone caused by the boring action of the screw will not be increased thereby. It is expedient hereby if the envelope of the turns in the rear section and that of the turns in the central section coincide.
For production reasons, it is advantageous if the angle of the cone in the frontal section substantially corresponds to the angle of the cone in the rear section.
In order to form a uniform cement jacket around the bone screw and, in particular, to anchor the bone screw in accordance with the invention with great stability even in the case of bony tissue affected by osteoporosis, provision is made for the turns of the external thread to be provided with longitudinal breakthroughs in a region in which there are no longitudinal recesses. By virtue of this feature, substantially all of the regions surrounding the screw body can be supplied with bone cement since the bone cement is able to flow out from those intermediary spaces which are supplied via the longitudinal recesses and through the longitudinal breakthroughs into those regions that cannot be directly supplied. Thus, for example, a cement jacket can thereby be formed even round the frontal section of the bone screw in accordance with the invention.
It is quite particularly expedient and particularly easy for manufacturing purposes if a surface of the screw body between adjacent turns of the external thread is substantially parallel to the longitudinal direction of the screw body. A larger intermediary space is therefore made available for the bone cement, this thereby enabling, in particular, an effective flow of bone cement into the regions between the individual turns of the external thread for the purposes of distributing the cement around the periphery of the screw body.
For production purposes, it is particularly simple if the hollow channel is in the form of a blind bore.
A multiplicity of ways of utilising the screw are provided if the screw body is provided with an internal thread. In particular thereby, a screw head that may be adapted for a particular application can then be utilised, for example, a spherical head for a polyaxial tension mechanism. It is expedient hereby, if such a screw head is provided with a channel which is connectable to the hollow channel in the screw body so as to enable the bone cement to be supplied to the hollow channel in this manner.
It is of particularly great advantage if the screw body comprises a coupling element for a bone cement applicator. Such a coupling element may, for example, be arranged in a screw head which is formed in one-piece with the screw body or is connected thereto, or, it may be arranged directly in the screw body. It is advantageous if the coupling element comprises a seating arrangement for a nozzle of a bone cement applicator so as to enable bone cement to be injected into the screw body in a simple manner.
An especially stable arrangement for the anchorage is obtained if a diameter of the screw body is greater than a pitch of the external thread. Furthermore, a highly stable anchorage will be obtained if a bone screw in accordance with the invention comprises approximately seven to twelve peripheral turns of the external thread.
It is advantageous if the external thread is constructed in such a manner that the bone screw is self-tapping so as to enable universal usage thereof in this manner.
The following description of preferred embodiments of the invention will serve for a more detailed explanation thereof in conjunction with the drawing.