Photo-detector device for electro-optical sensors, comprising at least a detection and conversion circuit, or pixel (20), having at least a photo-sensitive reception mean (26) and a reset control terminal (11), which is able to drive an element to control the charge dissipation (23) of the photo-sensitive reception mean (26). The pixel (20) is able to convert the current generated by the photo-sensitive reception mean (26) into a voltage signal on a read-out terminal (28). The photo-detector device also comprises a circuit for controlling the reset voltage (40), able to generate a suitable input signal to the reset control terminal (11) by connecting it alternatively to a reset terminal (42) or to an external reference terminal (47), the input signal to said external reference terminal (47) is the type that can be programmed from outside. Furthermore, the circuit for controlling the reset voltage (40) can be shared between a subset of detection and control circuits (20).

Electro-optical sensors are known, comprising a plurality of photo-detector devices suitable to detect light signals by means of a photo-sensitive element, and to transmit them in the form of electrical signals to a calculator unit that processes them, obtaining images. The images are then transmitted to display devices which allow a user to see the images or information deriving from them.
Electro-optical sensors, generally based on silicon technology of the CMOS type (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor), are able to offer a high quality image even in lighting conditions that vary greatly inside the same scene (see for example Seger, Graf, Landgraf—"Vision assistance in Scene with extreme contrast"—IEEE Micro, vol. 13 page 50, February 1993).
It is generally known that the quality of the images can be improved by compressing the signal on a logarithmic scale inside the photo-sensitive element. Solutions are known in which the compression is achieved by connecting to the photo-sensitive junction a MOS type transistor in a diode configuration, as described for example in U.S. Pat. No. 5,608,204.
One disadvantage of this type of electro-optical sensors is that, in the case of poor lighting, the definition of the image is not optimal.
A photo-sensitive element for electro-optical sensors is also known, from EP-A-1.770.985, developed to provide images with a high repetition frequency and high quality, both in cases of poor lighting and also when there is a high range of luminosity inside the same scene, that is, in so-called conditions of high light dynamics.
In the configuration proposed in EP-A-1.770,985, the photo-sensitive junction is polarized at a reference voltage value, called reset condition, set by the user, and then insulated at the start of the signal integration phase, acting on a digital type switch.
The photo-sensitive element proposed in EP-A-1.770,985 comprises a first linear output, of the conventional type, and a second output that allows to map information in the event of high luminosity. The functioning principle is based on the temporal mapping of the instant when the first output reaches the signal level beyond which it is no longer significant, called saturation level. To map this information correlated to the saturation level, a comparator is used which, at the instant of saturation, triggers a switch and freezes in a memory the current value of an external reference signal. This signal has a shape that can be programmed from the outside and is memorized on a capacitor. The signal is therefore used only as a temporal reference, exploiting the point-to-point correspondence between time and voltage.
One disadvantage of this photo-sensitive element is that it is complex, and requires a lot of space to be integrated on a silicon support or substrate, thus limiting the possibility of integration in a reduced space.
An alternative technique for obtaining a response with high light dynamics consists of returning the photo-sensitive junction to the reference voltage, called reset condition, during the integration time, every time the output of the photo-sensitive element reaches the saturation level, and of counting the event in a memory. One example of this kind of technique is found in WO2009/042901, where the total integration time is divided into intervals of different duration, programmable by the user. At the end of every interval, the output of the photo-sensitive element is controlled. If the output has reached the saturation level, the photo-sensitive junction is taken to the original reset status and the event is stored in a support memory; on the contrary, if the saturation level has not been reached, the integration is continued without modifying the status of the photo-sensitive element.
The main disadvantage of this technique is that it is necessary to associate with every photo-sensitive element a memory able to memorize the number of times that the photo-sensitive element has reached the saturation level, and a sophisticated digital control able to discriminate the need for a new reset of the photo-sensitive junction.
Among the various alternatives that exploit information contained inside the same scene there is also the known technique that uses a voltage generator for generating a plurality of reference voltages, in which the voltage generator is combined with a switch circuit for the selective opening/closing of the corresponding circuit. The selective activation of the switches allows to apply the voltage produced by the voltage generator to one and/or the other of plurality of pixels disposed in a matrix so as to selectively control the quantity of charge dissipated by the light falling on the photo-sensitive elements. The sequentiality of reference voltages generated is such as to expand the range of visible luminosity inside the same scene, irrespective of the value of capacities associated with the matrix of pixels.
Using this technique, which provides to use a single generator of reference voltages, has the disadvantage that it allows to polarize the pixels, or a subset of pixels of the matrix, exclusively at a voltage value common to the whole matrix and set by the reference voltage generator. Because of this, for example, it is not possible to manage the reset status of the individual pixel, or of a subset of selected pixels, independently of the status of the other pixels in the matrix. In fact, every single pixel can only be connected or disconnected to/from the single reference voltage by means of a system of switches, without any other possible configurations being provided. Consequently, the reset status of the pixels can only be managed overall with respect to the matrix or other arrangement that comprises them.
One purpose of the present invention is to obtain a photo-detector device for electro-optical sensors that can be integrated into a small-size silicon support element or substrate, achieving a microchip, and that is suitable to supply good quality images at high repetition frequency, both in cases of poor lighting and also when there is a wide range of visible luminosity inside the same scene.
Another purpose of the present invention is to obtain an electro-optical sensor that comprises a plurality of photo-detector devices in which pixels can be disposed according to a matrix, or in another desired disposition, and which allows to manage independently the reset status even of a single pixel, or a desired subset of pixels of the matrix, or other disposition, in order to improve the reading conditions thereof.
The Applicant has devised, tested and embodied the present invention to overcome the shortcomings of the state of the art and to obtain these and other purposes and advantages.

Photo-detector device for electro-optical sensors with variable light dynamics


In order to avoid attempted fraud, the reader is provided with a detector for detecting a conductor wire disposed fraudulently in the insertion passage. The detector comprises a conducting plate (50) disposed across the passage. The plate (50) is fed with A.C. (62). When a fraudulent conductor wire (46) is connected to one of the contact blades (26) of the read head (28), the detector circuit is looped by capacitive coupling between the wire (46) and the plate (50).

Systems for providing goods or services by means of electronic memory cards comprise cards held by users and read/write devices associated with the machines for providing goods or services. In order to obtain goods or service, the user inserts a card into the read/write device so as to enable the device to verify that the card does indeed give access to the goods or services under consideration, and so as to modify the balance contained in the card as a function of the goods or service provided. Under some circumstances, the reader can also be used to verify that the cardholder is the legitimate card owner.
Memory cards are of the prepaid type, i.e. in order to obtain the right to use a card, the user must initially pay the organization providing the goods or services an amount of money which is not less than the amount required to obtain the goods or services authorized by the card. It is therefore tempting for a dishonest person to make a card having the same electronic circuits as a genuine card and containing the same information and/or programs as a genuine card.
Although it is possible to take a genuine card and determine its geometrical characteristics and identify the nature of the circuit it contains, it is, in contrast, impossible or quasi-impossible to determine the information and the programs contained in the circuits in such a card, and in particular it is practically impossible to determine how information progresses during utilization of the card by virtue of the dialog which then takes place between the read/write device and the circuit in the card.
One way for a dishonest person to solve this problem consists in acting directly on the read/write device. To do this, a "fake" card having the same geometrical characteristics and the same external contacts as a genuine card is inserted into the read/write device, but the circuit in the fake card is replaced by conductors which are embedded in the card body and which are connected to contacts external to the card and lying outside the read/write device. The other ends of these wires can the be connected to powerful data processing means capable of receiving and analyzing the electrical signals generated by the read/write device and capable of simulating the signals normally emitted by a card until the entire information interchange procedure has been reconstituted.
In order to counter this attempt at dishonest use, proposals have already been made in French patent number 2,554,262 granted May 18, 1987, to provide the reader device with means for detecting the presence of extraneous conductor wires inserted into the read/write device.
The object of the present invention is to provide an improved embodiment of a read/write device provided with such a detector device.

Memory card read/write device provided with an anti-fraud device


A nut driven by a lead screw and stepper motor has an internal concave recess for holding high viscosity grease that is semi-solid at ambient temperature and spaced from the lead screw. Grease flow ensues with lead screw motion causing a slow flow of grease coating the lead screw with a thin coating of grease as the nut travels back and forth over the lead screw. The nut may be an anti-backlash nut or a single member nut with both having a concave recess about the lead screw for the grease.

Lead screws translate rotary motion from a motor or the like into linear motion through a nut. The motor, lead screw and nut form a lead screw assembly. Since lead screws have large surface areas there is considerable friction between a lead screw and a nut that engages the lead screw and converts the rotational motion of the lead screw into linear motion. Such friction is overcome by lubrication, usually with oil.
Exemplary of the prior art is U.S. Pat. No. 6,220,110 that shows a lead screw having oil lubrication using a ball recirculation block with oil storing means wherein a cavity in the ball recirculation block which being not effectively used for circulating balls is utilized for storing lubrication oil. An oil exuding hole is provided to communicate with the oil stored cavity and a turning passage for balls so as to lubricate the moving balls. In order to prevent the lubrication oil remained at a standstill in a certain region in the cavity by its own gravity from failing to lubricate the balls, there is provided an oil containing element with a plurality of oil absorbing and distribution branches to lubricate the balls just passing by the turning passage. Furthermore, the ball recirculation block is formed of two pieces of plastic members bonded by supersonic wave bonding technique so as to achieve reduction of manufacturing cost and ensure perfect oil sealing effect of the ball recirculation block.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,023,991 a lead screw of the ball follower type is shown to have a screw shaft, a ball screw nut, a plurality of balls contained in the ball screw nut which is in threadable engagement with the shaft so that it is capable of relative movement in the linear axial direction as guided by the rolling of the balls, and a lubricant-containing polymer member that is installed in the ball screw nut in contact with the balls or in slidable contact with screw grooves in the screw shaft. The lubricant seeps out of the polymer member slowly and is supplied not only to the balls but also to the screw grooves, so that it maintains the desired lubricating effect in a consistent and automatic way over an extended period of time.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,752,245 a ring-like lubricant supply device is shown to be fitted into a recess of a nut member. The lubricant supply device contains a lubricant and is formed in an outer peripheral surface with notches. Tubular members each having an outer diameter larger than the diameter of the notch are inserted into the notches, pushing and widening the notches in a circumferential direction. One end of the tubular member is fitted into a recess of a retaining ring and the retaining ring is fixed to a nut member.
In FIG. 1, a prior art lead screw 11 is shown to be axially driven by a stepper motor 13. The lead screw carries a load member 15 wherein precisely measured rotational motion of the screw 11 translates to precise linear motion of load member 15. The 3-piece nut 17 has first and second members 21 and 23 with internal threads driven by the screw 11. The two members are separated by an annular spacer 25 in a well-known anti-backlash configuration. The annular spacer does not contact the lead screw but has portions surrounding tubular extensions of the first and second members 21 and 23. Lubrication is applied directly to the lead screw and the nut tends to push lubricants to opposed ends of the screw where it does no good.
Thus, one of the problems in prior art lead screw lubrication is that excess lubricant is forced toward opposed distant ends of the lead screw, eventually piling up at the ends. An object of the invention was to provide lead screw lubrication with improved anti-friction qualities while preventing excess lubricant from endwise build up.

Lubrication reservoir for lead screw assembly


A secondary battery includes: an electrode assembly; a cap plate; a first terminal plate electrically connected to the electrode assembly, the first terminal plate being on the cap plate; and a current limiting plate between the first terminal plate and the cap plate, the current limiting plate including: a first surface accommodated in a first accommodation portion of the terminal plate, a second surface accommodated in a second accommodation portion of the cap plate, and a third surface extending between the first and second surfaces, wherein a first portion of the third surface is accommodated in the first accommodation portion, and a second portion of the third surface is accommodated in the second accommodation portion.

1. Field
One or more exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a secondary battery.
2. Description of the Related Art
Unlike primary batteries, secondary batteries are designed to be rechargeable. Secondary batteries are used as energy sources of devices such as mobile devices, electric vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles, electric bicycles, or uninterruptible power supplies. Single-cell secondary batteries or multi-cell secondary batteries (secondary battery modules), in which a plurality of battery cells are electrically connected, are utilized according to the types of external devices using the secondary batteries.


A color flame candle and a color flame candle lamp are disclosed. The color flame candle includes a container with one open end, which contains mixed liquid incendiary agent and color-making agent, a hollow candle head, a wick, a sealing means to seal the open end of the container to prevent evaporation or leak of the fuel, a cap, and a decorative external cover. The color flame candle can further include a bottom open end and a base sealed thereon. In the color flame candle lamp, a heat insulator is positioned at the upper open end of the container as a lamp head. The incendiary agent is stored separately in a storage bottle, and is added into the container prior to use. The candle lamp can be refilled and used repeatedly. The color flame candle, or candle lamp generates a pure and colorful flame for a long period of time.

This invention relates to a color flame lighting device, more specifically a color flame candle or a color flame candle lamp, and method of making the same.
In modern society, candles and lamps are no longer simple lighting tools. Instead, they have become ornaments and have been widely used for occasions such as birthday parties or Christmas celebrations to give the proper atmosphere. In an attempt to improve the decorative properties of candles, color flame candles have been invented.
A currently available color-flame candle is a solid device made of paraffin wax plus a small amount of metal salt as color-making agent. The technology of production is rather complex and the cost is high. These candles leave residues after burning, such as wax, and the quality of the flame color is relatively poor.
Another available color-flame candle is disclosed in Chinese Patent No. ZL90101749. Chinese Patent No. ZL90101749 discloses a method of making a color flame candle which aims to solve the above-mentioned problems. This kind of color flame candle uses methanol, ethanol or butanol as the major liquid incendiary agent contained inside the candle. At the top portion of the inner layer of the candle there is a color-making plate, and the color-making candlewick is set in the annular downward curve of the plate, an incendiary wick placed tangent to the center of the candle body. The working principle is that the major incendiary agent inside the inner layer of the candle provides the incendiary wick the needed fuel. When the wick and the incendiary ion of the wick inside the color-making plate burn at the same time, the flame will produce the desired color. However, experiments have shown that this method of producing color flame candles may have one or more of the following problems.
First, The color-making wick and incendiary wick are both made of cotton, processed with rather complicated chemical methods. Considering that cotton is a flammable substance, when the candle is burning, the major incendiary agent of the wick and the cotton wick will produce a yellow flame which in turn makes the color of the flame impure. Additionally, the production process is rather complex, and the cost is high. Second, this kind of candles uses alcohol, a volatile material, as its major incendiary agent. There is no hermetically sealed device for the incendiary agent. The incendiary agent will evaporate completely with time, rendering it useless. Moreover, the inner layer of this kind of candle is made of heavy gypsum, cement or ceramic material, which increase the weight of the candle. Therefore it is difficult to produce small and elegant birthday candles for use with a birthday cake. Finally, two separate wicks, i.e., the incendiary wick and the color-making wick, are required since the incendiary agent and color-making agent of the candle are not mixed together. These two wicks are processed differently, which increases the complexity and cost of production. Consequently, mass production of the color-flame candles is difficult.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a new or improved color-flame candle or candle-lamp.

Color flame candles or lamps and method of making

Room 105, No. 8 Building, Kangshanlixincun, Cangshan District


Identification of segments based upon scoreboards and logos.

The present invention primarily relates to replay detection techniques.
The amount of video content is expanding at an ever increasing rate, some of which includes sporting events. Simultaneously, the available time for viewers to consume or otherwise view all of the desirable video content is decreasing. With the increased amount of video content coupled with the decreasing time available to view the video content, it becomes increasingly problematic for viewers to view all of the potentially desirable content in its entirety. Accordingly, viewers are increasingly selective regarding the video content that they select to view. To accommodate viewer demands, techniques have been developed to provide a summarization of the video representative in some manner of the entire video. Video summarization likewise facilitates additional features including browsing, filtering, indexing, retrieval, etc. The typical purpose for creating a video summarization is to obtain a compact representation of the original video for subsequent viewing.
There are two major approaches to video summarization. The first approach for video summarization is key frame detection. Key frame detection includes mechanisms that process low level characteristics of the video, such as its color distribution, to determine those particular isolated frames that are most representative of particular portions of the video. For example, a key frame summarization of a video may contain only a few isolated key frames which potentially highlight the most important events in the video. Thus some limited information about the video can be inferred from the selection of key frames. Key frame techniques are especially suitable for indexing video content but are not especially suitable for summarizing sporting content.
The second approach for video summarization is directed at detecting events that are important for the particular video content. Such techniques normally include a definition and model of anticipated events of particular importance for a particular type of content. The video summarization may consist of many video segments, each of which is a continuous portion in the original video, allowing some detailed information from the video to be viewed by the user in a time effective manner. Such techniques are especially suitable for the efficient consumption of the content of a video by browsing only its summary. Such approaches facilitate what is sometimes referred to as "semantic summaries".
Babaguchi et al. propose a technique to link live and replay scenes in American football broadcast video. The replay scenes are detected by the sandwiching of digital video effects (DVEs) on either side of the replay segment. Babaguchi et al. note that it is impossible to design a general detector applicable to all DVEs, because there are a considerable number of DVE patterns that appear in everyday broadcasts. The DVE effect taught by Babaguchi et al. is a gradual shot change operation related to spatial aspects. The linking of live and replay scenes is performed based upon the dominant color of the key frame and the ratio of the number of vertical lines to that of horizontal lines on the field, which is representative of the camera angle. In effect, Babaguchi et al. detect replay segments by detecting special transition effects, by the manipulation of two natural scenes from the game, usually as a unique type of wipe. The technique for lining using the technique taught by Babaguchi et al., namely using the ratio, is suitable for the intended application, namely, American Football. In addition, the use of motion vectors and segmented spatial regions are inherently unreliable, and the technique can not automatically detect the transitions if the features of the transitions are not previously known.
Pan et al. propose a technique to detect slow-motion replay segments in sports video for highlights generation. The technique localizes semantically important events in sport programs by detecting slow motion replays of these events, and then generates highlights of these events at multiple levels. A hidden Markov model is used to model slow motion replays, and an inference algorithm computes the probability of a slow motion replay segment, and localizes the boundaries of the segment as well. The technique characterizes the pattern of slow motion as discontinuity on pixel wise intensity-based differences of adjacent frames that could be described by three features, and characterizes boundaries of replays segments as another feature: video-evolution ratio that is extracted from color histograms. The hidden-Markov model is applied to make the final decision on slow motion and the boundary of segments containing slow motion replay. However, the technique taught by Pan et al. is limited only to the detection of slow motion replay segments. The system taught by Pan et al. is unable to detect replay segments that are played back at the regular video rate, which are common in sports broadcast.
What is desired, therefore, is a robust replay detection technique.


An ECU uses a map or the like prepared in advance to calculate a discharge allowable power. Then, the ECU sets a VH upper limit value at the first upper limit value. When the running mode is not at a CD mode (that is, at a CS mode), or when the engine is operating, the ECU proceeds to S60. In contrast, when the running mode is at the CD mode and the engine is stopped, the ECU increases the discharge allowable power, and modifies the VH upper limit value to a second upper limit value that is lower than the first upper limit value.

Hybrid vehicles are attracting attention as environment-friendly vehicles. A hybrid vehicle incorporates a power storage device, an inverter, and an electric motor driven by the inverter, in addition to a conventional internal combustion engine, as the power source for traction.
Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2007-62640 (PTL 1) discloses such a hybrid vehicle having the vehicle running mode switched based on the SOC (State of Charge) of a power storage device. The driver of the hybrid vehicle sets the target SOC taking into account the power usage state at the destination. The period starting from running in which the SOC of the power storage device was at a fully charged state and before the SOC reaches the target SOC is referred to as a running mode in which the engine is stopped and running using the motor generator alone is given priority (hereinafter, referred to as "CD (Charge Depleting) mode". When the SOC reaches the target SOC, the vehicle moves to a running mode in which the engine is operated and the SOC is regulated at the target SOC (hereinafter, referred to as "CS (Charge Sustaining) mode" (refer to PTL 1).

Control device for hybrid vehicle, and hybrid vehicle incorporating control device


The present system for determining the phase and amplitude of a radio occultation signal modifies the traditional Open Loop tracking process to maximize the signal-to-noise ratio, minimize the sampling rate, and also preserve the structure of the radio occultation signals. A radio occultation system includes a transmitter system, a receiver system, and a post-processing system. The receiver system receives the radio signal that is transmitted by the transmitter system through the earth""s atmosphere, where it is occulted, and down converts the received radio occultation signal to generate a down converted signal based on a phase model that uses a refractivity climatology. The receiver system then low pass filters the down converted signal and samples the in-phase and quadrature components of the down converted and low pass filtered signal. The post-processing system receives the in-phase and quadrature components of the down converted and low pass filtered signal, determines the mean residual frequency, and performs additional down conversion of the sampled signal to eliminate aliasing. The post-processing system then re-samples the down converted signal at a higher sampling rate and calculates the accumulated phase and amplitude from the re-sampled signal.

This invention relates to a system that determines the phase and amplitude of an occulted radio signal using open loop tracking.
Radio occultation remote sensing of the atmosphere, termed xe2x80x9cradio occultationxe2x80x9d herein, includes the measurement of the phase and amplitude of a radio signal where the atmosphere or ionosphere of a planetary body is positioned between a transmitter and a receiver. The phase measurements can be very accurate and they contain information about the refractivity of the atmosphere or ionosphere and about the planetary surface.
Radio occultation has been applied to the earth""s atmosphere with the use of Global Positioning System (GPS) transmitters. As shown in FIG. 1, the earth 100, the earth""s atmosphere 102, and the earth""s ionosphere 103 are positioned between an occulted transmitter system, such as Global Positioning System satellite 104, and a receiver system, such as Low Earth Orbiting (LEO) satellite 106, that is equipped with a radio occultation receiver. The Global Positioning System satellite 104 orbits the earth 100 at an approximate altitude of 20,200 km. The Low Earth Orbiting satellite 106 orbits the earth 100 at an approximate altitude of 300-1,000 km. The radio occultation receiver can also be placed on any airborne platform, such as an aircraft or balloon, or can be ground-based. The Global Positioning System satellite 104 transmits a radio signal 108 to the Low Earth Orbiting satellite 106. As the radio signal 108 traverses the earth""s atmosphere 102 and ionosphere 103, the phase and amplitude of the radio signal 108 can be measured by the Low Earth Orbiting satellite 106 and then inverted to compute atmospheric parameters for weather and climate applications. Another application of radio occultation uses ground-based receivers 110 to obtain the phase and amplitude data.
The received signal can be used to compute signal bending angles. The bending angles calculated from the radio occultation signals are further used for determining the atmospheric refractivity, or for direct assimilation into Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models. The determined refractivity is further used for determining pressure, temperature, and humidity or for direct assimilation into Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models. The phase of ground-received radio occultation signals can be used to extract information about atmospheric moisture or for direct assimilation into Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models. The bending angles calculated from the ground-received radio occultation signals can be used to correct radar observations at low elevation angles.
In both of these applications of radio occultation, the receiver systems 106, 110 have used digital Phase-Locked Loop (PLL) signal processing to extract the phase and amplitude from the radio occultation signal 108. In Phase-Locked Loop signal processing, the phase and amplitude are extracted in real time, after down conversion of the input radio occultation signal 108, using a phase model that is recurrently updated by extrapolation of the previously extracted phase. The feedback between the phase model and the input radio occultation signal 108 makes the Phase Locked Loop signal processing an optimal tracking technique for single tone signals that are corrupted with noise. On the other hand, the feedback makes tracking of the received radio occultation signal 108 that has complicated dynamics, such as multiple tone signals, an unstable process and may result in errors in the output phase. Also, the use of feedback results in an inability of the system to track signals, i.e., in the loss of lock, under the conditions of low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and complicated signal structure.
To obtain an accurate calculation of the bending angles of the radio signal occulted by the earth""s atmosphere, multiple tones, contained in the radio occultation signals, must be resolved. For space-received radio occultation signals, multipath propagation in the moist troposphere section of the earth""s atmosphere results in strong fluctuations of both phase and amplitude. In particular, random phase accelerations are much larger than those that can be tracked by the Phase-Locked Loop signal processing in a Low Earth Orbiting (LEO) satellite 106 receiver. For ground-received radio occultation signals, the multipath is caused primarily by signals reflected from the earth""s surface. Reflections from the sea surface cause periodic deep fades in the amplitude of the radio occultation signals. In both applications, the Phase-Locked Loop signal processing is not capable of tracking radio occultation signals without a corruption or loss of lock. Also, the Phase-Locked Loop signal processing is not capable of tracking a threshold of the rising occultations, as it needs time to maintain lock on the signal. In both applications, the radio occultation data are most valuable at low altitudes (elevations).
Open-Loop (OL) tracking has been used in radio occultation studies of planetary atmospheres to complement the Phase Locked Loop signal processing. Open-Loop tracking is basically the raw sampling of the down converted complex signal. In Open-Loop tracking there is no feedback between the phase model used for the down conversion and the received signal. The advantage of Open-Loop tracking is that it is not susceptible to the complicated structure of the input signal and the input signal is never lost. One disadvantage of Open-Loop tracking is the low Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) due to aliasing of the noise into the sampling frequency domain. This disadvantage is especially perceptible when tracking radio occultation signals with low gain antennas, such as those used on micro-satellites.
The above-described problems are solved and a technical advance achieved by the present system for determining the phase and amplitude of a radio occultation signal that modifies the traditional Open Loop tracking process to maximize the signal-to-noise ratio, minimize the sampling rate, and also preserve the structure of the radio occultation signals. A radio occultation system includes a transmitter system, a receiver system, and a post-processing system. The receiver system receives the radio signal that is transmitted by the transmitter system through the earth""s atmosphere where it is occulted and down converts the received radio occultation signal in real-time to generate a down converted signal based on a phase model. The receiver system then low pass filters the down converted signal and samples its in-phase and quadrature components. The post-processing system receives the in-phase and quadrature components of the down converted and low pass filtered signal, determines the mean residual frequency and performs additional down conversion of the sampled signal to eliminate aliasing. The post-processing system then re-samples the additionally down converted signal at a higher sampling rate and calculates the accumulated phase and amplitude from the re-sampled signal. The present system for determining the phase and amplitude of a radio occultation signal therefore obtains a signal-to-noise ratio that is comparable to Phase Locked Loop signal processing, by using Open-Loop tracking.

Method and system for determining the phase and amplitude of a radio occultation signal

University Corporation for Atmospheric Research


A piece of seating furniture, particularly a chair with a resilient frame which, from the side view, is substantially configured Z-shaped and which includes an upper part of the frame, two lower parts of the frame and two middle parts of the frame, each connecting the lower part of the frame with the upper part of the frame. The middle parts of the frame each reach from the respective lower part of the frame in the rear area of a seat surface upwards at an angle to the upper part of the frame in the front area of the seat surface. The distance of the middle parts of the frame to one another at the upper part of the frame is up to a maximum of half, preferably up to a maximum of one third of the width of the seat surface in the front area. Thus, the piece of seating furniture which is particularly easy to stack, enables a large legroom for a person sitting on the piece of seating furniture and wherein the seat surface can be rocked towards the left and the right.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a piece of seating furniture, particularly a chair with a resilient frame, onto which a seat surface can be arranged.
2. Description of the Related Art
Seating furniture, particularly chairs, with a resilient frame are known from prior art as so-called cantilever chairs. A cantilever chair is a chair without rear chair legs, wherein its seat surface resiliently gives under the weight of a person and slightly subsides towards the back. A cantilever chair comprises a supporting frame, wherein the parts of the frame forming the front chair legs are each bent towards the back at the top and at the bottom. At the bottom, the frame runs from the ground to the rear edge of the chair, respectively. At the top, the frame runs parallel to the frame parts reaching from the ground to the rear edge of the chair, respectively, wherein the two sides of the frame are also in parallel to one another. From the side view, the frame of such a cantilever chair is substantially U-shaped. The upper parts of the frame serve as support for the seat, wherein the upper parts of the frame are substantially parallel to one another and wherein the seat surface is substantially arranged between the two upper parts of the frame.
A modification of such a cantilever chair is known from AT 128771, wherein the two upper parts of the frame are not connected with the front bottom parts but with the rear bottom parts of the frame so that, from the side view, the frame of this cantilever chair substantially comprises a Z-shape.
The cantilever chairs known from prior art have the disadvantage that the seat surface is resilient towards the back but swaying in lateral direction is not possible. Another disadvantage, particularly of the U-shaped cantilever chairs, is that they are not perfectly stackable due to the configuration of the frame.


Method and apparatus for synchronizing access to a memory shared among a plurality of processors is described. In one example, each of the plurality of processors includes a primary bus for communicating with the memory and a secondary bus. A synchronization block is coupled to the secondary bus of each of the plurality of processors. The synchronization block includes at least one semaphore for controlling access among the plurality of processors to at least one data segment stored within the memory.

In a data processing system, if more than one process requires access to shared data, a synchronization mechanism is used to coordinate access to the shared data among the different processes. The synchronization mechanism is necessary to prevent one process from modifying the shared data before another process has finished working with the shared data. Synchronization of shared data becomes more complex if the multiple processes run on physically distinct processors in a multiprocessor system that accesses the shared data from a shared memory.
In general, to achieve synchronization of shared data, lock variables, known as semaphores, are used to coordinate access to the shared data among processes. A semaphore is a flag stored in shared memory that is accessible by the processes. If a process accesses and locks a semaphore associated with a segment of shared data, no other process is allowed to access that segment of shared data.
More specifically, a process reads a semaphore associated with a particular segment of shared data to test semaphore state. If the semaphore contains a value of '0', associated shared data is free, and if the semaphore contains a value of '1', associated shared data is locked. The process keeps reading and testing the state of the semaphore until the value of the semaphore indicates that the lock on the associated segment of shared data is free. This continuous reading and testing of the semaphore is known as spin-waiting. If the semaphore indicates the lock is free, the process then races against other processes that were similarly spin-waiting to lock the associated segment of shared data.
Conventionally, a processor uses an atomic swap instruction that both reads semaphore value and stores a '1' into the semaphore to lock an associated segment of shared data in a single step. The process that wins access to the shared data will read a '0' from the semaphore, while the losing process(es) will read a '1' from the semaphore. The winning process then uses the shared data and stores a '0' into the associated semaphore when finished with the shared data.
Some processors, however, do not support atomic read-modify-write or atomic swap operations. In a data processing system having more than one of such processors where each may execute more than one process, semaphores stored in a shared memory are conventionally not sufficient to be used to reliably control access to shared data within the shared memory.
Accordingly, it would be both desirable and useful to provide method and apparatus for synchronization of a shared memory in a multiprocessor system that overcomes one or more above-described limitations associated with semaphores stored in shared memory.

Method and apparatus for synchronization of shared memory in a multiprocessor system


The present invention provides processes for the preparation of compounds of Formula I, which are useful in the preparation of pharmaceuticals for the treatment of inflammatory diseases. The compounds of Formula I are also useful as pharmaceuticals.

Ligands of the estrogen receptor (ER) have been shown to inhibit inflammatory gene expression that typically causes a reduction of cytokines, chemokines, adhesion molecules and other inflammatory enzymes. Accordingly, ER ligands can provide a means to treat inflammation such as the inflammatory component of diseases including, for example, atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction (MI), congestive heart failure (CHF), inflammatory bowel disease and arthritis. Other potential therapeutic indications for these type of molecules include type II diabetes (Cefalu, J Womens Health & Gender-based Med., 2001, 10, 241; Yuan et al., Science, 2001, 293, 1673), osteoarthritis (Pelletier et al., Arthr. & Rheum., 2001, 44:1237; Felson et al., Curr Opinion Rheum, 1998, 10, 269) asthma (Chin-Chi Lin et.al., Immunol. Lett., 2000, 73, 57), Alzheimer's disease (Roth, A. et. al., J. Neurosci. Res., 1999, 57, 399) and autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis.
A common component of chronic inflammatory conditions is polymorphonuclear leukocyte and monocyte infiltration into the site of damage through increased expression of cytokines and adhesion molecules responsible for their recruitment. Overproduction of the cytokine interleukin (IL-6) has been associated with states of chronic inflammation (Bauer M. A. and Herrmann F., Ann. Hematol., 1991, 62, 203). Synthesis of the IL-6 gene is induced by the transcription factor, nuclear factor κB (NF-κB). Interference at this step in the inflammatory process can effectively regulate the uncontrolled proliferative process that occurs in these chronic conditions.
In endothelial cells, 17β-estradiol (E2) inhibits IL-1β induced NF-κB reporter activity and IL-6 expression in an ER dependent fashion (Kurebayashi S. et. al., J. Steroid Biochem. Molec. Biol., 1997, 60, 11). This activity correlates with anti-inflammatory action of E2 in vivo as confirmed in different animal models of inflammation. In models of atherosclerosis, E2 was shown to protect endothelial cell integrity and function and to reduce leukocyte adhesion and intimal accumulation (Adams, M. R. et al., Arterio., 1990, 1051; Sullivan, T. R. et al. J. Clin. Invst., 1995, 96, 2482; Nathan, L. et. al., Circ. Res., 1999, 85, 377). Similar effects of estrogen on the vascular wall also have been demonstrated in animal models of myocardial infarction (Delyani, J. A. et al., J. Molec. Cell. Cardiol., 1996, 28, 1001) and congestive heart failure. Clinically, estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) has been demonstrated to reduce the risk of mortality in patients with both CHF (Reis et. al., J. Am. Coll. Cardio., 2000, 36, 529) and MI (Grodstein, F. et. al., Ann. Int. Med., 2000, 133, 933; Alexander et. al., J. Am. Coll. Cardio., 2001, 38, 1; Grodstein F. et. al., Ann. Int. Med, 2001, 135,1). In ERT, clinical studies demonstrated an influence of E2 on the decrease in the production of β-amyloid 1-42 (Aβ42), a peptide central for the formation of senile plaques in Alzheimer's disease (Schonknecht, P. et. al., Neurosci. Lett., 2001, 307, 122).
3-(1-Naphthyl)-3-phenyl-2-cyanopropanoic acid amides have been shown to activate certain ER pathways and have anti-inflammatory activity as described in, for example, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/833,678, filed Apr. 28, 2004, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. These compounds are useful in treating numerous diseases and disorders characterized as having, for example, an inflammatory component. Thus, new and improved methods for the preparation of these compounds are needed. The processes and intermediates provided herein can help meet these and other needs.

Processes for the preparation of 2-cyano-3-naphthalene-1-yl-3-phenyl-propionic acid alkyl or benzyl esters


A handheld device for testing printer cartridges that interfaces with a computer for processing of test results is provided. Multiple testing devices may be coupled to the computer. In one embodiment, each testing device includes a base board and an adaptor board. The base board includes a host processor and a computer interface. The adaptor board comprises a cartridge-specific socket for retaining a printer cartridge to be tested and test circuitry. The adaptor boards may be interchanged. In another embodiment, the device obtains power from the computer interface. A computer program communicates with the test device and displays the results of the tests through execution of a suitable application or program. In a presently preferred embodiment, the application presents a pass/fail indication to a user and tallies the number of passed/failed cartridges.

Printing devices, such as printers for use with computers, facsimile machines and copiers, are typically sold with at least one, and in many cases, multiple ink cartridges. These cartridges include a housing that contains a reservoir of printing ink, either black or color, along with printer nozzles, which allow the ink to be transmitted to the intended medium and electrical contacts for communication between the printer and the cartridge.
Many such cartridges are intended to be disposable; when the cartridge is exhausted of ink, of course, printing becomes impossible. The emptied cartridge must be removed and a replacement cartridge must be substituted therefore to enable further printing. The disposable cartridge must then be disposed of in a proper fashion to reduce spillage of any remaining ink and to reduce any potential adverse environmental impact of the ink and other materials of the cartridge. Unless properly recycled, disposing of the empty cartridge increases the amount of garbage added to landfills.
In response to the negative environmental impact and cost disadvantages of disposable cartridges, refillable cartridges have been developed and welcomed by the marketplace. At present, these refillable cartridges may be refilled by the consumer by purchasing a refill kit including a syringe filled with ink and needle. In use, the cartridge is refilled by insertion of the needle into a refill port provided through the housing of the cartridge and emptying the syringe of ink into the reservoir of the cartridge. In practice, this is a less than ideal solution because this can be a messy procedure. Furthermore, the cartridge may have stopped functioning properly for reasons which are not related to the supply of ink and moreover, not diagnosable by the user.
Many cartridge manufacturers allow customers to return their empty cartridges to the manufacturer. The manufacturer then refills the cartridge and resells the refilled cartridge for a discounted price. Further, many companies obtain empty cartridges, refill them with ink and sell the refilled cartridges for a discounted price, creating competition and lower prices. Refilling an empty cartridge in this manner is a less expensive alternative, with a lesser amount of waste generated. There are numerous printer manufacturers, such as, for example, Hewlett Packard™, Lexmark™, Canon™, etc., and each manufactures multiple cartridges for the many printing devices. Each cartridge has a housing that contains a number of electrical contacts and print nozzles in various proprietary configurations, and is designed or configured such that it may only fit into a particular printing device and no other.
Generally, a printer cartridge comprises a print head that includes a number of microscopic chambers called nozzles. Ink flows from a reservoir in the cartridge into each of the nozzles by some combination of gravity and capillary action. Each nozzle has a small resistive element associated therewith that heats the ink, causing the ink to expand and be expelled from the nozzle. The ink flowing through the nozzle acts as a coolant. In use, the cartridges are properly inserted into a printing device which receives a signal in order to print on the medium. For example, a printer connected to a computer may receive a print signal from the computer, while a facsimile machine may receive a signal over a telephone line. The printing device converts that signal, depending on its driver program, and sends the appropriate control signal to the cartridge or, in the case of a color printing device, to multiple cartridges. Once the control signal is received, each cartridge transfers ink through its print nozzles as the medium passes beneath. When the control signal is complete, the printing device will have generated a document or drawing on the medium. Each use of the cartridge reduces the amount of toner or ink remaining in the cartridge. Depending on the size of the cartridge, a number of documents or drawings can be generated before the cartridge is empty or near empty. The larger the cartridge, the more ink it contains and the more documents can be printed. When empty, the cartridge needs to be replaced or reconditioned and/or refilled.
If the user operates a printer with an empty cartridge, the resistive heating elements in the cartridge may burn out (creating an open circuit) or draw high current (evidence of a short circuit). Because cartridges do fail in this manner, it is very advantageous for an inkjet cartridge re-manufacturer or the like to be able to test the electrical circuitry in a cartridge before refilling it, which reduces loss risks related to the time and cost it takes to perform the refilling step and the cost of the ink if the cartridge is defective and must be discarded. Furthermore, prior art testing devices that are currently available are either costly, complex, and require an AC line voltage power source or stand alone, handheld devices, that have a built in display, provide limited test results information, and require factory servicing to replace the battery power source.
A demand therefore exists for a device and method that allows a user to test a printer cartridge, that is inexpensive and is easily adaptable to various test applications depending on cartridge configuration, and that is convenient and reliable.

Method and apparatus for a printer cartridge tester


An operational amplifier with different power supply voltages includes an input stage and an output stage. The input stage includes a current source for providing a bias current, and a differential input circuit for receiving the bias current and differential input voltage signals, and converting the differential input voltage signal to differential input currents. The input stage is supplied by a first power supply voltage. The output stage includes a load circuit coupled to the differential input voltage signal and for receiving the differential input currents, and outputting a single ended output voltage signal. The output stage is supplied by a second power supply voltage. The second power supply voltage is lower than the first power supply voltage.

A conventional operational amplifier typically includes an input stage and an output stage. The input stage receives differential input signals, and the output stage converts the differential input signals to a single-ended output signal. The input stage and the output stage are powered by a common power supply. For example, in a voltage measuring system, the conventional operational amplifier can be used to detect cell voltages of a multi-cell battery. If a common-mode input voltage level at an inverting input terminal and a non-inverting input terminal is higher than a first value, e.g., 5V, both the input stage and the output stage should be powered by a high-voltage power supply voltage, e.g., 18V, which is higher than the common-mode input voltage. Therefore, both the input stage and the output stage should use high-voltage transistors. A high-voltage transistor is a transistor with an operating voltage threshold larger than the high-voltage power supply voltage, e.g., 18V. Operation above the operating voltage threshold can degrade the reliability of or damage the transistor.
Typically, high-voltage transistors are large in size and have large parasitic parameters, so their use in an operational amplifier will increase the size of the operational amplifier and diminish its performance. Furthermore, it is difficult to shut off high-voltage transistors because their gate-source voltage threshold VGS is less than a second voltage level, e.g., 12V. Therefore, in conventional operational amplifiers, a level-shift circuit is employed to convert a low-voltage control signal to a high-voltage control signal, which is applied at the gates of the high-voltage transistors to shut them off. The level shift circuit further increases the size of operational amplifiers, and also increases their cost. Moreover, the level-shift circuit continues to function after the operational amplifier is shut down, which increases power consumption.

Operational amplifier with different power supply voltages


A robotic surgical assembly includes a drive assembly and a shaft assembly. The drive assembly is detachably mountable to a surgical robot and includes roll, pitch, and clamp/fire inputs configured to drivingly couple with respective outputs of the surgical robot. The shaft assembly is mounted to the drive assembly and configured to detachably couple with a stapler reload assembly that includes a reload roll shaft, a reload pitch shaft, and a reload clamp/fire shaft. The shaft assembly includes a roll shaft, a pitch shaft, and a clamp/fire shaft. The roll shaft is drivingly coupled with the roll input and configured to detachably couple to the reload roll shaft. The pitch shaft is drivingly coupled with the pitch input and configured to detachably couple to the reload pitch shaft. The clamp/fire shaft is drivingly coupled with the clamp/fire input and configured to detachably couple to the reload clamp/fire shaft.

Minimally invasive surgical techniques are aimed at reducing the amount of extraneous tissue that is damaged during diagnostic or surgical procedures, thereby reducing patient recovery time, discomfort, and deleterious side effects. As a consequence, the average length of a hospital stay for standard surgery may be shortened significantly using minimally invasive surgical techniques. Also, patient recovery times, patient discomfort, surgical side effects, and time away from work may also be reduced with minimally invasive surgery.
A common form of minimally invasive surgery is endoscopy, and a common form of endoscopy is laparoscopy, which is minimally invasive inspection and surgery inside the abdominal cavity. In standard laparoscopic surgery, a patient's abdomen is insufflated with gas, and cannula sleeves are passed through small (approximately one-half inch or less) incisions to provide entry ports for laparoscopic instruments.
Laparoscopic surgical instruments generally include an endoscope (e.g., laparoscope) for viewing the surgical field and tools for working at the surgical site. The working tools are typically similar to those used in conventional (open) surgery, except that the working end or end effector of each tool is separated from its handle by an extension tube (also known as, e.g., an instrument shaft or a main shaft). The end effector can include, for example, a clamp, grasper, scissor, stapler, cautery tool, linear cutter, or needle holder.
To perform surgical procedures, the surgeon passes working tools through cannula sleeves to an internal surgical site and manipulates them from outside the abdomen. The surgeon views the procedure from a monitor that displays an image of the surgical site taken from the endoscope. Similar endoscopic techniques are employed in, for example, arthroscopy, retroperitoneoscopy, pelviscopy, nephroscopy, cystoscopy, cisternoscopy, sinoscopy, hysteroscopy, urethroscopy, and the like.
Minimally invasive telesurgical robotic systems are being developed to increase a surgeon's dexterity when working on an internal surgical site, as well as to allow a surgeon to operate on a patient from a remote location (outside the sterile field). In a telesurgery system, the surgeon is often provided with an image of the surgical site at a control console. While viewing a three dimensional image of the surgical site on a suitable viewer or display, the surgeon performs the surgical procedures on the patient by manipulating master input or control devices of the control console. Each of the master input devices controls the motion of a servo-mechanically actuated/articulated surgical instrument. During the surgical procedure, the telesurgical system can provide mechanical actuation and control of a variety of surgical instruments or tools having end effectors that perform various functions for the surgeon, for example, holding or driving a needle, grasping a blood vessel, dissecting tissue, or the like, in response to manipulation of the master input devices.
Surgical clamping and cutting instruments (e.g., non-robotic linear clamping, stapling, and cutting devices, also known as surgical staplers; and electrosurgical vessel sealing devices) have been employed in many different surgical procedures. For example, a surgical stapler can be used to resect a cancerous or anomalous tissue from a gastro-intestinal tract. Many known surgical clamping and cutting devices, including known surgical staplers, have opposing jaws that clamp tissue and an articulated knife to cut the clamped tissue.
Surgical staplers are often configured to use a replaceable single use stapler cartridge. A hospital can have a number of different types (e.g., different makes and models) of surgical staplers, including different hand-held surgical staplers and/or telesurgical robotic system surgical staplers. Each type of surgical stapler, however, may be configured to use a corresponding type of stapler cartridge, thereby resulting in a hospital having to stock different types of replaceable stapler cartridges. Stocking different types of replaceable stapler cartridges results in additional expense in terms of additional inventory and resources to ensure that suitable numbers of each type of stapler cartridge are stocked.

Robotic surgical stapler assembly configured to use stapler reload


A method of treating acute myeloid leukemia, acute lymphoblastic leukemia, high risk myelodysplastic syndrome, and/or HR-MDS/AML in a mammal by administering a solid dispersion comprising an amorphous thienotriazolodiazepine compound of the Formula (1) wherein R1 is alkyl having a carbon number of 1-4, R2 is a hydrogen atom; a halogen atom; or alkyl having a carbon number of 1-4 optionally substituted by a halogen atom or a hydroxyl group, R3 is a halogen atom; phenyl optionally substituted by a halogen atom, alkyl having a carbon number of 1-4, alkoxy having a carbon number of 1-4 or cyano; —NR5-(CH2)m R6 wherein R5 is a hydrogen atom or alkyl having a carbon number of 1-4, m is an integer of 0-4, and R6 is phenyl or pyridyl optionally substituted by a halogen atom.

The compound of Formula (1), described herein below, has been shown to inhibit the binding of acetylated histone H4 to the tandem bromodomain (BRD)-containing family of transcriptional regulators known as the BET (bromodomains and extraterminal) proteins, which include BRD2, BRD3, and BRD4. See U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0286127 A1, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The BET proteins have emerged as major epigenetic regulators of proliferation and differentiation and also have been associated with predisposition to dyslipidemia or improper regulation of adipogenesis, elevated inflammatory profile and risk for cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, and increased susceptibility to autoimmine diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus as reported by Denis, G. V. "Bromodomain coactivators in cancer, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and inflammation," Discov Med 2010; 10:489-499, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Accordingly, the compound of formula (II) may be useful for treatment of various cancers, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus.

Method of treating acute myeloid leukemia and/or acute lymphoblastic leukemia using thienotriazolodiazepine compounds


Magnetic-coupling-based wireless power transfer systems and schemes are provided that ensure fast wireless power transfer to charge batteries of electric vehicles (EVs) with high power transfer efficiencies and safety to humans and other animals in or near the EVs. A wireless power transfer system can include a direct 3-phase AC/AC converter with a circuit topology that enables bidirectional power flow. The direct 3-phase AC/AC converter can convert a power input at a low frequency, such as 3-phase 50/60 Hz, into a power output at a high frequency, such as a frequency in a range of 10-85 kHz for wireless power transfer applications.

Wireless power transfer (WPT) by way of induction, or inductive power transfer (IPT), is an emerging technology for transferring electric power in applications ranging from small consumer gadgets to electrically powered vehicles. One of the biggest advantages of WPT is its ability to transfer power across relatively large distances without the need for physical contact. In addition, WPT is capable of operating in hazardous environments as it is resistant to chemicals, particulate debris, and some of the drawbacks of powering or charging via direct electrical connections, such as contact fouling and corrosion. One example of how WPT could be applied is in static and dynamic charging of electric vehicles (EVs). For instance, in static vehicle charging, drivers need simply position their vehicle over a charging element and walk away, without further action. Further examples of WPT applications include systems for material handling and biomedical implants. Of particular importance in these commercial and industrial applications is that WPT can transfer energy without risks such as electrical sparking and electric shock.

The Florida International University Board of Trustees


A processing apparatus, such as a microwave-based processing apparatus. The apparatus includes a vessel having an inner surface defining a chamber configured to hold a reaction mixture, a guide, and a launch coupled to the guide. The guide can be at least partially disposed in the vessel, and is configured to propagate electromagnetic energy. The launch is configured to couple at least a portion of the electromagnetic energy from the guide to the reaction mixture. Example launches include a dielectric window and a projection. Example projections include a metallic projection and a dielectric projection.

The invention relates to processing apparatuses with one or more electromagnetic launches. More specifically, the invention relates to the launching of electromagnetic energy, such as microwave energy, into a reaction mixture, for example, which may include one or more reactants and may include a catalyst, in order to enhance a chemical process.
Electromagnetic and radio frequency (RF) energy, such as microwave energy, can be used in a variety of processes to enhance physical or chemical reactions. For example, RF energy (i.e., energy propagating at about 3 kHz to about 300 GHz) can be used with a catalyst to enhance the chemical reaction of a plurality of reactants. When using microwaves, the process is typically referred to as microwave-assisted or microwave-enhanced chemistry.
One of the challenges of utilizing RF energy, particularly microwave energy, in such processes is to efficiently couple the electromagnetic energy into the reaction mixture being processed. It is typically preferable that the electromagnetic energy be launched in such a way as to avoid or control hot spots in the reaction mixture and to adequately distribute the electromagnetic energy into the reaction mixture so that dead zones can be reduced or controlled.

Processing apparatus with an electromagnetic launch


An antenna comprises at least two or more radiators such as, especially dual-polarized radiators, and at least one additional passive conducting decoupling elements. The decoupling element, in its longest direction of extension, or at least one component of the decoupling element, with its longest direction of extension, extends in the propagation direction of the electromagnetic waves and/or perpendicular to the plane of the reflector.

The invention relates to an antenna having at least two fed radiating elements as claimed in the precharacterizing clause of claim 1.
As is known, in the case of antennas having at least two fed radiating elements, that is to say having a number of fed radiating elements, it is important to achieve as much decoupling as possible between the different radiating elements. Particularly in the case of dual-polarized radiating elements or arrays, a high level of decoupling is desirable between the radiating elements for one polarization and the radiating elements for the other polarization, which is at right angles to it. Such arrays may comprise, for example, a number of elements in the form of dipoles, slots or planar radiating elements, such as those which are known, for example, from EP 0 685 900 A1 or from the prior publication xe2x80x9cAntennenxe2x80x9d [Antennas], Part 2, Bibliographical Institute in Mannheim/Vienna/Zurich, 1970, pages 47 to 50. This document describes, for example, omnidirectional radiating elements with horizontal polarization in the form of a dipole square or a cruciform dipole, in which coupling exists between the two systems which are physically offset through 90xc2x0.
In order to increase the directionality, such radiating elements are normally arranged in front of a reflector. A disadvantage that has been found in this case is that the intrinsically good decoupling in particular between radiating elements with orthogonal polarizations is made worse by arranging them as an array, in particular due to the influences of the reflector.
appropriate decoupling elements have already been proposed in order to compensate for these disadvantages mentioned above.
The previously published DE 196 27 015 A1 has already proposed that decoupling devices in the form of strips or crosses be arranged between the radiating elements, in which case, particularly when using strips, these strips are arranged along the connecting line of two antenna devices, which are arranged offset with respect to one another, in an antenna array. In contrast to already known solutions relating to this, these strips are not arranged transversely with respect to the connection direction between two antenna arrangements, but parallel to the connecting line between two adjacent antenna devices.
The previously published DE 198 21 223 A1 proposes that passive strip arrangements be used as decoupling elements, which are provided such that they are aligned running centrally between in each case two antenna devices, which are arranged offset like an antenna array, between these antenna devices in the transverse direction with respect to the direction in which the radiating elements are fitted, or else are arranged parallel to the direction in which the radiating elements are fitted, and to the side of said radiating elements at the same time. To this extent, this arrangement corresponds to that already proposed in the previously published U.S. Pat. No. 3,541,559, which likewise proposes that the individual decoupling elements be arranged to the side of the individual antennas, like a frame.
Furthermore, GB 2 171 257 A discloses an antenna array which has a number of dipoles arranged vertically one above the other, with a projecting element in each case being arranged above two dipoles which are arranged one above the other, with the aim of improving the decoupling between the dipoles. This antenna array, which is already known from this document, is, in fact, constructed using stripline technology.
The object of the present invention, in the case of antennas having at least two fed radiating elements, in particular in the case of antenna arrays and at the same time in particular in the case of dual-polarized antenna arrays, is to allow a further improved capability for decoupling between the various radiating elements.
According to the invention, the object is achieved by the features specified in claim 1.
Advantageous refinements of the invention are specified in the dependent claims.
It must be regarded as being extremely surprising that, in complete contrast to all the previously published prior art, it is now proposed that conductive decoupling elements be used, with their main extent direction, that is to say with their longest extent in the propagation direction of the electromagnetic wave and/or with their longest extent, being aligned at right angles to a reflector. In this case, the alignment need not correspond exactly to the propagation direction of the electromagnetic wave, and do not correspond exactly to the perpendicular to the plane of a reflector. All that is necessary according to the invention is for the decoupling elements, which are preferably in the form of rods, to be aligned with a component in the propagation direction of the electromagnetic waves, that is to say in particular running at right angles to the plane of the reflector plate, with at least these components representing a greater value than a component at right angles thereto. If the decoupling elements are configured in the form of rods, this means, in other words, that the angle between the longitudinal extent of the decoupling elements and a perpendicular to the reflector plate plane (that is to say to the propagation direction of the electromagnetic waves) is less than 45xc2x0.
The system according to the inventionxe2x80x94and this is particularly surprisingxe2x80x94has critically significant advantages particularly in the case of dual-polarized antennas, which hence comprise, in particular, at least one cruciform dipole or at least one dipole square. In contrast, the coupling elements which are known from GB 2 171 257 A relate only to a dipole arrangement with one polarization, which are also adjacent.
Thus, according to the invention, two mutually perpendicular polarizations are preferably in each case affected, in which no radiating elements located vertically alongside one another, and which could be decoupled, are provided. A further difference to the prior art is that, in the case of dual-polarized antennas, two separate inputs are used, between which the decoupling (or isolation) must be measurable, while, in the case of the improved decoupling with a deeper arrangement with only one polarization, such decoupling is not measurable (as, in fact, there is only one input).
As mentioned, the decoupling elements according to the invention are preferably in the form of rods and/or pins.
The decoupling elements according to the invention can in this case be arranged, for example, between two radiating elements, for example between two or more vertically polarized or horizontally polarized radiating elements, in each case in the region of the connecting line between these radiating elements.
In the case of cruciform dipoles, for example, the decoupling elements according to the invention, which are preferably seated perpendicular on the reflector plate, can be arranged in the immediate area between the individual dipole halves, for example, in plan view, on an angle bisector of a cruciform dipole arrangement.
One or more of the decoupling elements according to the invention can likewise, for example in the case of a dipole square, be arranged within the dipole square, and in this case once again preferably on an angle bisector of the dipole square.
The decoupling elements, which are in the form of rods according to the invention, extend as stated with their greatest longitudinal extent or component in the propagation direction of the magnetic waves and/or at right angles to the reflector plane. In this case, the decoupling elements may have a uniform cross section or widely differing cross-sectional shapes, for example with a round cross section or with a regular cross section or an irregular n-polygonal, for example square or hexagonal cross section, etc.
However, the cross section may in this case also vary over the length of the decoupling elements according to the invention. It is likewise possible for the cross-sectional areas not to be rotationally symmetrical but, for example, to have different longitudinal extents along two mutually perpendicular section axes running parallel to the reflector surface.
Finally, it is also possible for the decoupling elements according to the invention also to be provided, in particular at their end opposite the reflector plate, with formed-out regions or fixtures, which may also extend transversely with respect to the vertical extent component of the decoupling element, and hence transversely with respect to the propagation direction of the electromagnetic waves and/or parallel to the plane of the reflector plate.


The invention provides a process for the preparation of an alkylene glycol from an alkene wherein conversion of alkylene oxide to alkylene glycol occurs in an alkylene oxide absorber and optionally in further reactors, and alkylene glycol is extracted from fat absorbent by contacting the fat absorbent with a lean solvent, thereby producing fat solvent, recovering alkylene glycol from the fat solvent and recycling the lean solvent.

Monoethylene glycol is used as a raw material in the manufacture of polyester fibres, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastics and resins. It is also incorporated into automobile antifreeze liquids.
Monoethylene glycol is typically prepared from ethylene oxide, which is in turn prepared from ethylene. Ethylene and oxygen are passed over a silver oxide catalyst, typically at pressures of 10-30 bar and temperatures of 200-300° C., producing a product stream comprising ethylene oxide, carbon dioxide, ethylene, oxygen and water. The amount of ethylene oxide in the product stream is usually between about 0.5 and 10 weight percent. The product stream is supplied to an ethylene oxide absorber and the ethylene oxide is absorbed by a recirculating solvent stream containing mostly water. The ethylene oxide-depleted stream is partially or entirely supplied to a carbon dioxide absorption column wherein the carbon dioxide is at least partially absorbed by a recirculating absorbent stream. Gases that are not absorbed by the recirculating absorbent stream are recombined with any gases bypassing the carbon dioxide absorption column and are recycled to the ethylene oxide reactor.
The solvent stream leaving the ethylene oxide absorber is referred to as fat absorbent. The fat absorbent is supplied to an ethylene oxide stripper, wherein ethylene oxide is removed from the fat absorbent as a vapour stream. The ethylene oxide-depleted solvent stream is referred to as lean absorbent and is recirculated to the ethylene oxide absorber to absorb further ethylene oxide.
The ethylene oxide obtained from the ethylene oxide stripper can be purified for storage and sale or can be further reacted to provide ethylene glycol. In one well-known process, ethylene oxide is reacted with a large excess of water in a non-catalytic process. This reaction typically produces a glycol product stream consisting of almost 90 weight percent monoethylene glycol, the remainder being predominantly diethylene glycol, some triethylene glycol and a small amount of higher homologues. In another well-known process, ethylene oxide is reacted with an equimolar amount or slight excess of water in the presence of a hydrolysis catalyst. In another well-known process, ethylene oxide is catalytically reacted with carbon dioxide to produce ethylene carbonate. The ethylene carbonate is subsequently hydrolysed to provide ethylene glycol. Reaction via ethylene carbonate can improve the selectivity to monoethylene glycol.
Most conventional processes comprise steps of converting ethylene to ethylene oxide, absorbing ethylene oxide from a gas stream into a liquid stream and subsequently reacting ethylene oxide to ethylene glycol. GB 2 107 712 describes a process wherein the absorption and reaction steps are combined: gases from the ethylene oxide reactor are supplied directly to a reactor wherein ethylene oxide is converted to ethylene carbonate or to a mixture of ethylene glycol and ethylene carbonate.
The ethylene glycol-containing solutions that result in the known processes are subjected to water removal, typically in a series of flashing and/or distillation steps. The water removal can be an energy intensive process, particularly if a large excess of water is present in the ethylene glycol-containing solution. Processes wherein the absorption and reaction steps are combined provide ethylene glycol product solutions containing particularly high quantities of water, so the water removal will necessitate significant energy usage.
The present inventors have sought to further improve the manufacture of alkylene glycol from an alkene. In particular, the present inventors have sought to provide a process that reduces the capital costs and/or the running costs of a plant, whilst ensuring high selectivity.

Process for the preparation of alkylene glycol


Technologies for wireless device authentication are disclosed. A described technique includes intercepting, at a gateway device, data from an originating device, the data including a request for a uniform resource locator; determining whether the originating device is a wireless device; determining whether the originating device is in an authenticated state relative to the gateway device; if the originating device is a wireless device and is not in the authenticated state, sending data to the originating device, the data including a uniform resource locator redirection command to cause a browser executing on the originating device to launch an authentication application for authenticating the originating device relative to the gateway device by providing user-specific credential information to the gateway device; receiving the user-specific credential information from the originating device; and marking a network address of the originating device as being in the authenticated state based on a successful authentication.

Network access controllers can be installed within corporate and other networks for controlling access to network resources. Further, users may be required to authenticate to a proxy server prior to accessing the Internet. One widely used authentication scheme is HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) Basic Authentication (Basic Auth). In Basic Auth, a client sends its username and password in unencrypted plaintext to a server such as, for example, a proxy server. The server authenticates the client and subsequently allows the client access to other resources, such as the Internet. In some cases, an Internet Service Provider (ISP) can employ a redirection to steer a new user/device to a welcome website. Such a welcome website can include a mechanism for authentication. For example, a hotel may provide Internet services, but only after a user enters a secret code and accepts services terms via a welcome website.

Providing single sign-on for wireless devices


The steering wheel includes a wheel body and an airbag apparatus disposed on top of a boss. The wheel body is divided into a shaft side division joined to the steering shaft, and a ring side division disposed proximate the ring. The ring side division is rotatable with respect to the shaft side division such that a ring plane is aligned generally vertically. The boss includes an actuator that rotates and moves the ring side division to align the ring plane generally vertically. The actuator completes its operation to align the ring plane generally vertically by the time a driver contacts the inflated airbag in the course of forward motion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a steering wheel used to steer a vehicle, and more particularly, relates to a steering wheel whose ring plane constituted by a top plane of steering wheel can be aligned along generally vertical direction.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional steering wheel includes a wheel body and an airbag apparatus for protection of a driver. The wheel body includes a ring for holding at steering, a boss disposed at the center of the ring and joined with a steering shaft and on which boss the airbag apparatus is disposed, and a spoke connecting the ring and the boss. The wheel body is coupled to the steering shaft in such a manner that a ring plane, i.e. a top plane, of the ring is disposed diagonally downward and rearward. JP2001-277983 A shows such a steering wheel wherein an airbag apparatus is activated upon an impact to inflate an airbag such that the airbag expands from inside of the ring toward outside, and eventually is formed greater than the outer diameter of the ring on top of the ring, thereby preventing a driver from hitting against the ring.
Another steering wheel system is shown in JP 2003-306122 A, wherein the ring supports an inflated airbag in such a stable manner that the airbag hardly moves out of place in the event of bumping against the driver. In this steering wheel system, whenever an airbag apparatus is activated, the ring plane or top plane of the ring is mandatorily aligned along the vertical direction. That is, a front part of the ring is raised upward. Accordingly, the front side of the inflated airbag is stably supported by the front part of the raised ring, which prevents a protection plane of the airbag facing toward the driver from moving forward at its upper edge and enables the airbag to receive the driver with sufficient cushioning property.
However, in the latter steering wheel system, the rotational displacement of the ring plane is conducted at the location of a tilt mechanism arranged on the steering shaft below the steering wheel. With this structure, the turning radius of the movement of the ring plane, that is, the radius from the tilt mechanism to the ring plane is large and so is the downward displacement of the ring before the ring plane is brought close to the upright orientation. Consequently, the moved ring is likely to narrow a space around knees of the driver.
JP 2001-277983 a mentioned above also describes a feature of a steering wheel wherein the entire ring plane aligns itself along the vertical direction by deformation so it is expanded in parallel to the front side of upper body of the driver when the steering wheel contacts with the driver upon an impact. Specifically, when the steering wheel contacts with the driver moving forward, the entire ring plane, which is usually diagonally oriented with the front part arranged upward and rear part downward, is aligned vertically by plastically deforming its predetermined portion, thereby absorbing an impact energy.
In the above steering wheel, however, the portion to be deformed upon the alignment of the ring has a uniform absorption property of the impact energy. The absorption property is not adjustable depending upon the size of a driver, the distance from steering wheel to the seated position of the driver, or the speed of vehicle.


A lock for a motor vehicle includes a locking mechanism with a rotary latch and at least one pawl, a drive motor, a worm connected to the drive motor, a worm gear, wherein the worm gear can be driven by the drive motor and with the aid of the worm, and a transmission stage for transmitting a torque from the worm gear to a pawl, wherein the transmission stage is a gear stage.

In a lock for a motor vehicle, which is also referred to as a locking system, a locking mechanism is usually installed, wherein the locking mechanisms consist of a rotary latch and at least one pawl. The rotary latch located in the lock interacts with a lock holder. The lock holder is either attached to the chassis of the motor vehicle or the door, flap, sliding door, etc. During a relative movement between the rotary latch and the lock holder the rotary latch is pivoted and simultaneously engaged with the pawl, whereby the locking mechanism is locked. The pawl is usually pre-tensioned by a spring, according to the embodiment.
In order to initiate an opening process, i.e. unlocking of the lock, a triggering lever is used according to the lock construction. During operation of the triggering lever, the pawl is disengaged from the rotary latch, so that the rotary latch can execute a pivoting movement again. The rotary latch is hereby moved mainly by means of a spring element and/or on the basis of tensile stress resulting from the lock holder and/or from the force of the door seal. An operating lever is used to operate the triggering lever. The operating lever can be an internal operating lever or an external operating lever, for example.
Some lock variants no longer have a triggering lever, the locking mechanism is operated by means of an electrical drive here. A pertaining door handle can have an electrical switch, for example, by means of the operation of which a signal is transmitted to an electromotor. A worm gear transmission is preferably used to open the locking mechanism, consisting of an electromotor, a worm and a worm gear, as a very great transmission ratio can be achieved here. A worm gear transmission enables very precise control of the locking mechanism, while providing high triggering forces.
Purely electrical locks may have no mechanical connection between the external door handle or the internal door handle and the locking mechanism, wherein the safety function to open the locking mechanism an accident and potential outage of electrical supply energy may be provided by means of an additional battery and/or further electrical components. Other locks which are not purely electric contain a mechanical connection between the external door handle or the internal door handle and the locking mechanism as a safety function to open the locking mechanism after an accident.
From DE 19 614 122 A1 a motor vehicle flap lock or door lock is known which comprises a drive element consisting of an electromotorized worm drive with a drive spindle and a worm gear, a tappet, a pawl and a rotary latch. The tappet is located on the worm gear and is moved during movement of the drive against an operating surface on the pawl. The pawl is configured as a double-sided lever, wherein the lever is pivotably accommodated around an axis. A ratchet nose located on the side of the pawl lever turned away from the drive element engages into a main ratchet on the rotary latch when the lock is locked and thus prevents the rotary latch from making a pivot movement. The rotary latch is mounted around an axis. By moving the tappet against an operating surface of the pawl, the pawl lever moves around its axis, so that the ratchet nose of the pawl is moved out of the main ratchet of the rotary latch.
Furthermore, a motor vehicle door latch with an electronic opening drive has become known from DE 10 319 744 A1. Two electromotors which sit on a common shaft drive a worm gear by means of a worm. A tappet pin is located on the worm gear, wherein the tappet pin is moved against the pawl during operation of the electromotors and thus the worm gear. The pawl is constructed as an L-shaped lever with two lever legs, wherein a rotary axis is attached in the intersection point of the two lever legs. If a movement is exerted on the pawl by the tappet pin, the pawl rotates around the axis and disengages from a rotary latch.
A bolting arrangement for motor vehicle doors is known from DE 69 734 211 T2. On the one hand, a figure is described in which an electromotor drives a gear wheel. A pin is arranged on the gear wheel, wherein the pin moves the pawl during a rotary movement of the gear wheel. The pawl is L-shaped and pivotably mounted around an axis. During operation of the pawl by the pin, the pawl moves out of a main ratchet position on the rotary latch. A further figure of this patent describes an electromotor, wherein the electromotor moves a gear rack by means of a gear wheel. This gear rack acts on a pawl mounted around an axis with one end. During movement of the gear rack on the pawl the pawl is moved out of the main ratchet of a rotary latch. The retraction of the gear rack into a starting position is caused on the one hand by an externally induced torque on the rotary latch and/or on the other hand by a spring attached to the gear rack.
The locking systems known from the state of the art are usually based on a bolt located on a worm gear being moved against a lever-type pawl, wherein the pawl is pivotably mounted on an axis. Due to the force acting on the pawl, the pawl is placed into a pivot movement and a ratchet nose located on the pawl is disengaged from a rotary latch. The force transmitted by the bolt to the pawl usually has no uniform force progression as during the movement process the position of the bolt changes and a change to the lever ratios on the pawl also occurs, so that the induction force of the bolt on the pawl varies.


A two axis drive lugged belt and lugged pulley drive system driving a driven member independently in two, mutually perpendicular areas with the drive in each direction operational alone or simultaneously for vector movement of the driven member. Both X-Y axis are directly belt-driven by respective motors and with the axis considered "Y" the primary hysteresis minimizing drive is directed primarily to the lugged belt of substantial length in the "Y" axis. This is with the "Y" drive lugged belt routed around six pulleys to move the "X" axis carriage mounting and guide structure, with the belt attached at two points, at opposite sides of one end of the "X" axis carriage mounting and guide structure. The drive motor for the "Y" drive lugged belt is directly coupled to one of the six pulleys that is gear meshed to another of the six pulleys assuring precise synchronous counter-rotation of the paired set of pulleys at one corner of the "Y" drive. There is a second set of gear meshed pulleys at an "X" direction displaced corner from the corner set of motor driven pulleys. One side of one dual leg of the drive lugged belt is twisted and opposite end belt connections are reversed for proper belt lug engagement with the lugged pulleys of each set pair of gear meshed pulleys. The lugged belt is attached to opposite ends of the "X" axis carriage with the opposite ends of the belt in close adjacency at one end of the "X" axis carriage and with the inside section of a belt loop segment clipped to the other end of the "X" axis carriage.

This invention relates in general to belt driven X-Y component positioning systems, and more particularly, to a lugged belt and lugged pulley driven linear X-Y positioner.
Many machines have systems for linear positioning of work pieces and various other articles to perform work such as assembly, testing, packaging, palletizing, welding, bonding, dispensing, etc. Most linear positioning used today requires at least some form of remote control permitting the rate of movement, accelerations and positioning accuracy to be remotely controlled and predictable. The technology of many linear positioning systems is quite old such as shown with many examples including milling machines and other machine tools. Machines such as these use heavy, precision made components to provide a means to drive and guide an object in a straight line and motor driven screws power driving objects in their movements. Many new drive components that have become available in recent years provide many design opportunities for drive system improvements. Stepping motors, for example, are now available with positioning capabilities as high as twenty five thousand steps per revolution of the motor output shaft to thereby permit linear drive systems a greater range of drive design considerations in more direct methods of power conversion (as opposed to conventional lead screws and/or gear drives) while maintaining considerable resolution. Another advantage with more direct drives is that they permit the motor drive to operate at a lower frequency providing higher linear positioning speeds and reduced noise levels. One direct drive approach is the use of a timing belt driven directly by a timing belt pulley attached to the motor shaft. Heretofore, the disadvantage of such a drive is that if the timing belt becomes very long the elasticity thereof causes some hysteresis in the drive system directly reducing positioning accuracy. It should be noted that with a timing belt drive (i.e. lugged belt and pulley drive) that hysteresis error is directly related to the linear force required to move the load and the length of the timing belt.
It is therefore a principal object of this invention to provide a lugged belt and pulley drive with high positioning accuracy.
Another object with such a lugged belt drive is to minimize hysteresis and the effect of hysteresis in the drive system.
A further object is to provide such belt drive improvements in a lugged belt driven positioning X-Y positioning system.
Still another object is to provide such a lugged belt driven X-Y positioning drive divided into three sectors having high positioning accuracy in a relatively low cost drive system.
Features of the invention useful in accomplishing the above objects include, in a lugged belt and pulley X-Y article positioned drive system, a two axis drive lugged belt and lugged pulley drive system driving a driven member independently in two, mutually perpendicular axes with the drive in each direction operational alone or simultaneously for vector movement of the driven member. Both X-Y axis are directly belt-driven by respective motors and with the axis considered "Y" the primary hysteresis minimizing drive is directed primarily to the lugged belt of substantial length in the "Y" axis. This is with the "Y" drive lugged belt routed around six pulleys to move the "X" axis carriage mounting and guide structure, with the belt attached at two points, at opposite sides of one end of the "X" axis carriage mounting and guide structure. The drive motor for the "Y" drive lugged belt is directly coupled to one of the six pulleys that is gear meshed to another of the six pulleys assuring precise synchronous counter-rotation of the paired set of pulleys at one corner of the "Y" drive. There is a second set of gear meshed pulleys at an "X" direction displaced corner from the corner set of motor driven pulleys. One side of one dual leg of the drive lugged belt is twisted and opposite end belt connections are reversed for proper belt lug engagement with the lugged pulleys of each set pair of gear meshed pulleys. The lugged belt is attached to opposite ends of the "X" axis carriage with the opposite ends of the belt in close adjacency at one end of the "X" axis carriage and with the inside section of a belt loop segment clipped to the other end of the "X" axis carriage. In this drive system a driven member is moved independently in two mutually perpendicular axes that are directly belt driven by their respective motors with this specification directed primarily to the design of the "Y" axis drive that uses a lugged belt of substantial length. The effect of hysteresis (or backlash) is substantially reduced in this drive system with four precision spur gears attached to four rear lugged pulley drive shafts with each meshed set assuming precise synchronous counter-rotation of each set, This forces the lugged belt to remain synchronous within each belt sector minimizing the effect of belt stretch by dividing the "Y" axis lugged drive belt into effectively three independent sections.

Lugged belt driven linear X-Y positioner