A cellular radio communication system includes a first mobile terminal, a base station that performs radio communication with first mobile terminals, a second mobile terminal, and a second base station that performs radio communication with second mobile terminals. In the downlink communication, the base station selects a high data rate mode when the radio interference from the base station to the second mobile terminals that are located close to an edge of a communication area of the second base station is small. The base station selects an interference mitigation mode in the downlink communication when the radio interference from the base station to the second mobile terminals that are located close to the edge of the communication area of the second base station is large. Thus, inter-cell interference control can be performed in collaboration with base stations in the radio communication system without having communication interface between the base stations.

The present invention relates to a radio base station device constituting a radio communication system.
Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) is a user multiplexing scheme that is often used in radio communications. In OFDMA, simultaneous access of a plurality of mobile terminals (MTs) is realized by assigning some of a large number of subcarriers, which are prepared by the Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) scheme, to the mobile terminals as frequency resources. The OFDMA scheme requires assignment of frequency resources used in data communication before data transmission. In a cellular radio system using the OFDMA scheme, a base station (BS) determines the frequency resource assignment, and notifies each mobile terminal of the frequency resource assignment information through a dedicated control information channel.
In the downlink data transmission from the base station to the mobile terminals, first, the base station assigns frequency resources to each mobile terminal according to the amount of data to be transmitted to the particular mobile terminal, and the like. Each mobile terminal is notified by the base station of the frequency resource assignment information through the control information channel, at the same time as the data transmission or prior to the data transmission. The base station transmits data by using the frequency resources assigned to each mobile terminal. The mobile terminal receiving the data from the base station, determines which frequency resources are used for the data transmission, according to the frequency resource assignment information from the base station. Then, the particular mobile terminal receives the data based on the frequency resources determined as described above.
Further, in the uplink data transmission from the mobile terminals to the base station, first, each mobile terminal notifies the base station of a data transmission request and information on the desired data amount to be transmitted. The base station assigns frequency resources to each mobile terminal based on the notification, such as the data transmission request, from the particular mobile terminal. Each mobile terminal is notified by the base station of the frequency resource assignment information through the control information channel. Then, each mobile terminal determines which frequency resources should be used for the data transmission, and transmits data based on the frequency resources determined as described above. The base station receives the data by using the frequency resources assigned to each mobile terminal.
As described above, OFDMA can realize data communication with adaptive bandwidth assignment according to the amount of data to be transmitted, by sharing the information on the frequency resource assignment determined by the base station to the individual mobile terminals, between the base station and the individual mobile terminals.
In the cellular radio system using OFDMA, different frequency resources are assigned based on the mechanism described above. Thus, in general, there is no interference between the mobile terminals that communicate with the same base station. Rather, inter-cell interference is dominant in the environment in which the same frequency resource is assigned to mobile terminals that communicate with a plurality of neighboring base stations, respectively. For this reason, the OFDMA system requires a mechanism for controlling the inter-cell interference.
Fractional Frequency Reuse (FFR) is being studied as an inter-cell interference control scheme in the OFDMA system. In FFR, the inter-cell interference is reduced by dividing the frequency band into a plurality of subbands, and by using different subbands between neighboring base stations or changing the transmission power assignment pattern for each subband between neighboring base stations. The implementation of the FFR technology is described in JP-A No. 510967/2009 and in International Publication No. WO 08/004,299.
In the standardization body 3GPP, radio communication systems using OFDMA and Discrete Fourier Transform-Spread (DFT-S)-OFDMA are standardized as Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) and Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN). Further, 3GPP TS 36.423 V9.1.0, 8.3.1 Load Indication provides an inter-base station (BS) interface X2 to support the inter-cell interference control by FFR, and the like, in collaboration with the neighboring base stations. The inter-BS interface X2 exchanges information about the transmission power, and the like, between base stations.
In the inter-BS interface X2, downlink transmission power information called Relative Narrowband Transmit Power Indication (RNTP) is exchanged between base stations in the smallest unit of frequency resource assignment called a resource block (RB). Each base station learns in which frequency the transmission power of the neighboring base station is large, by using RNTP notified by the neighboring base station. In the frequency in which the transmission power of the neighboring base station is large, in general, the received interference power of the mobile terminal that communicates with the own base station is large. Further, in general, the mobile terminal that is located close to the cell edge is closer to the neighboring base station than the mobile terminal that is located close to the cell center. Thus, the downlink interference power tends to be higher in the mobile terminal that is located close to the cell edge.
Further, in the inter-BS interface X2, the interference information received by a base station in the uplink is exchanged between base stations as an interference overload indication (OI). OI contains the received interference power information of the base station in each RB. Furthermore, in the inter-BS interface X2, the information about sensitivity to the uplink interference is exchanged between base stations as a high interference indication (HII). HII contains information about RB which is not desired to be used for cell-edge mobile terminals in nearby cells. In general, a mobile terminal that is located in the cell edge of a base station, and a mobile terminal that is located in the cell edge of the neighboring base station, can be highly interactive interference sources.
In E-UTRA and E-UTRAN, the communication interface between base stations called the inter-BS interface X2 is used to exchange subcarrier assignment information in each base station as well as transmission power information.
However, the inter-BS interface X2 is not necessarily supported between all installed base stations. For example, in E-UTRA and E-UTRAN, a base station with a relatively small communication area, which is called a femto-cell (Home eNB), does not support the inter-BS interface X2. In such a case, the inter-cell interference control is not likely to be provided in collaboration between base stations. As a result, the throughput is reduced due to inter-cell interference.
When a new femto-cell BS is installed within the communication area in which a macro-cell BS has been installed for improving the area quality, etc., it is desirable that the presence of the femto-cell BS has no influence on the communication quality in the existing macro-cell BS that has been installed based on the communication area design. However, due to interference given by the newly installed femto-cell BS, the state of the interference of the existing macro-cell BS is changed. As a result, the communication quality is unstable in the existing macro-cell BS. Or, the communication quality is unstable in the newly installed femto-cell BS due to the interference from the existing macro-cell BS.


Methods and systems described herein provide for protecting user information in an overlay service. Protecting user information may include redacting personally identifiable information (PII) from information that may be exposed to third parties. Additionally, protecting user information may include opening a second account on behalf of the user using a plurality of unique identifiers in lieu of information identifying the user. This protects users' identities and privacy as their assets are transferred between various institutions.

Overlay management refers to a portfolio management style that analyzes and balances an investor's separately managed accounts. Overlay management software tracks the investor's positions, makes adjustments to ensure that the portfolio remains in balance, and prevents any inefficient transactions from accruing. Additionally, overlay management software may implement part, or all, of the investor's strategies. As part of the strategy implementation, the overlay management software may open accounts (i.e., savings accounts, certificates of deposit, investment accounts, etc.) to increase returns on investment, for example, by taking advantage of a higher introductory interest-rate, a sign-up bonus, or some other incentive. However, in opening these accounts, the overlay management software exposes the investor's personally identifiable information (PII) to abuse and malicious actors.
Aspects described herein may address these and other problems, and generally improve the security, data protection, and privacy of overlay management software by protecting user information and PII.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and system for protecting user information in an overlay management system


Provided is an electric power control device that allows a work vehicle to travel while carrying out a utility work smoothly. An electric power control device includes an operational state information acquisition section for acquiring operational state information indicative of an operational state of a work vehicle, a battery information acquisition section for acquiring battery information indicative of a state of a battery which is mounted on the work vehicle, a storage section for storing in advance operational mode information, a travel unit that causes the work vehicle to travel, a distributed electric power calculation section for calculating distributed electric powers to be distributed to the travel unit and an implement unit that effects the utility work respectively, and an instruction section for instructing the distributed electric powers to a travel control section that controls the travel unit and an implement control section that controls the implement unit, respectively.

Conventionally, there has been used a work vehicle which travels while carrying out a utility work. As an example of this type of work vehicle, there is known a work vehicle that mounts a battery and uses electric power outputted from the battery as an electric power source for traveling and carrying out a work (e.g. Patent Document 1).
A riding lawnmower disclosed in Patent Document 1 uses an output of a battery as an electric power source and includes a wheel motor for rotating wheels, a blade motor for rotating a mower blade, and a current sensor for detecting currents supplied to the wheel motor and the blade motor. A drive control device controls rotational speeds of the wheel motor and the blade motor, based on result of detection by the current sensor.


A spark plug includes at least one electrode having a sparking end. The sparking end is formed of a high temperature performance alloy including chromium in an amount of 10.0 weight percent to 60.0 weight percent, palladium in an amount of 0.5 weight percent to 10.0 weight percent, and a balance substantially of at least one of molybdenum and tungsten. The sparking end presents a spark contact surface, and at a temperature of at least 500° C., such as during use of the spark plug in an internal combustion engine, a layer of chromium oxide (Cr2O3) forms at said spark contact surface. The layer of Cr2O3 protects the bulk of the sparking end from the extreme conditions of the combustion chamber and prevents erosion, corrosion, and balling.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to spark plugs of internal combustion engines, and more particularly, to spark plugs including high temperature performance electrodes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Spark plugs are widely used to initiate combustion in an internal combustion engine. Spark plugs typically include a ceramic insulator, a conductive shell surrounding the ceramic insulator, a central electrode disposed in the ceramic insulator, and a ground electrode operatively attached to the conductive shell. The electrodes each have a sparking end, such as a tip, disk, rivet, or other shaped portion. Each sparking end presents an outer surface, including a spark contact surface. The spark contact surfaces of the sparking ends are typically exposed planar surfaces located proximate one another and defining a spark gap therebetween. Such spark plugs ignite gases in an engine cylinder by emitting an electrical spark jumping the spark gap between the central electrode and ground electrode, the ignition of which creates a power stroke in the engine.
Due to the nature of internal combustion engines, spark plugs operate in an extreme environment of high temperatures of at least 500° C. and various corrosive combustion gases which has traditionally reduced the longevity of the spark plug. The sparking ends or material adjacent the sparking ends of the electrodes also experience electrical erosion due to localized vaporization resulting from high arc temperatures of the electrical arc during operation of the spark plug. The electrodes may also experience growth of various particulates and oxidation, particularly at the sparking ends. Over time, the electrical spark erosion, particulates, and oxidation reduces the quality of the spark between the center electrode and ground electrode, which in turn affects the performance of the spark plug, and the resulting ignition and combustion.
Existing spark plug electrodes are often formed of a nickel (Ni) material, such as pure Ni or Ni alloys having high resistance to corrosion and oxidation. However, such Ni electrodes experience a significant amount of electrical spark erosion which limits their use in spark plugs.
In attempt to reduce the amount of electrical spark erosion and improve the performance of Ni electrodes, sparking ends formed of precious metal materials have been attached to a base formed of Ni material. The precious metal material is typically a platinum (Pt) material, such as pure Pt or alloys thereof. The sparking ends formed of the Pt material have a low electrical spark erosion rate and thus improve the performance of the electrode. However, the high cost of such precious metals limits their use throughout the entire electrode.
Further, the use of a Pt material in the sparking ends is limited because Pt materials experience balling or bridging due to excessive oxidation upon exposure to sparks and the extreme conditions of a combustion chamber. FIGS. 7 shows prior art sparking ends formed of a Pt alloy and including metal balls formed at the sparking ends. The metal balls typically grow over time and may bridge the spark gap between the central electrode and ground electrode. The bridging typically hinders the performance of the electrodes, which in turn affects the resulting ignition and combustion, including the power output, fuel efficiency, performance of the engine, and emissions.
Sparking ends have also been formed of Iridium (Ir) material, such as pure Ir or alloys thereof. The Ir materials do not experience the balling or spark erosion experienced by the Ni materials and Pt materials. However, the use of Ir materials is limited because such materials experience corrosion in the presence of calcium (Ca) and phosphorus (P). Ca and P are often present in engine oils and oil additives, which the sparking ends are exposed to during operation of the spark plug in an internal combustion engine. Recently, increasing amounts of Ca and P are found in combustion materials as engine manufacturers attempt to reduce friction to increase fuel economy by alloying more engine oil to seep into the combustion chamber.

Spark plug including high temperature performance electrode


A magnetic transducer head assembly comprises a pair of magnetic core halves of generally C-shaped configuration and a coil wound on one of the core halves. The limbs of the C of each core half is in abutment relationship with those of the other core half to define a medium-contacting face and a magnetic gap on the medium-contacting face. The magnetic gap includes an inner gap section and outer gap sections respectively disposed on opposite ends of the inner gap section. Each of the outer gap sections has a gap length much greater than the gap length of the inner gap section and is in the shape of a meandering configuration which is formed by a series of crests on one of the core halves and a series of troughs on the other core half. The tips of the crests of each core half lie on an imaginary plane which is aligned or retracted from a plane defined by the inner gap section.

The present invention relates generally to magnetic transducer head assemblies, and more specifically to a read/write transducer head assembly for recording signals along parallel tracks on a medium such as floppy disk.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,769,469 discloses a transducer head assembly comprising a pair of C-shaped magnetic core halves with the limbs of the core halves being opposed to form a closed-loop magnetic circuit and a medium-contacting face. A read/write gap and a pair of erase gaps are formed on the medium-contacting face. A coil is wound on one of the core halves for read/write operation. To generate erase flux across the erase gaps, a second coil is wound on the other core half.
To simplify the head assembly, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication Sho No. 59-139123 discloses a transducer head assembly which eliminates the second coil by forming a pair of rectilinear erase gaps each extending from each end of the read/write gap at an angle of 45 degrees to it. The azimuth angle of each erase gap makes 90 degrees relative to the fields recorded along opposite edges of a track, making the head insensitive to such fields. With this gap configuration, one of the core halves is trapezoidally shaped and the other is complementarily shaped to form a recess to accept the trapezoid. Since the recess of the other core half has a pair of side protrusions that extend from opposite ends of a center, rectilinear portion which defines the read/write gap with a corresponding portion of the trapezoid, and since the dimensions of the gaps are very small, it is impossible to precisely lap the rectilinear portion of the recess. This is detrimental to the fabrication of a precision magnetic head assembly.

Read/write head assembly with erase gaps of meandering shape


According to the invention, in a system that provides driving support for a vehicle, if a solid body is recognized in an advancing direction of a host vehicle, at least one avoidance target trajectory that allows a collision of the host vehicle with the solid body to be avoided are acquired on the basis of a traveling state of the host vehicle. Then, if the acquired avoidance target trajectories exist in both right and left sides of the host vehicle across the solid body, the control regarding the braking of the host vehicle is performed without performing the control regarding the turning of the host vehicle.

Conventionally, there has been developed a technology of detecting a solid body that exists in front of a host vehicle and electrically operating a brake to avoid a collision with the solid body through a braking force of the brake if the host vehicle is estimated to collide with the detected solid body. However, the avoidance of a collision through the braking force alone leads to the dispersion of the braking force that is generated in accordance with the condition of a traveling road surface and the state of tires, and also constitutes a factor that causes sudden braking. Therefore, there has been developed a technology of performing an avoidance operation through turning if a collision cannot be sufficiently avoided through a braking force (e.g., see Patent Document 1).


Techniques are disclosed for improved monitoring and analysis of VoIP communications, multimedia communications or other types of network traffic in a network-based communication system. In accordance with one aspect of the invention, an endpoint device of the system includes an integrated call synthesis capability. More particularly, the endpoint device is configurable into at least a first mode of operation in which the device responds to one or more commands from a testing server of the system directing the device to participate in a synthetic call or other test communication within the system, and a second mode of operation in which the device is utilizable by a system user to establish an actual communication. Other aspects of the invention relating to kernel timestamping and timestamp post-processing provide improved accuracy for measurements such as jitter, loss and delay.

A number of software-based systems are known in the art for the monitoring and analysis of VoIP networks. These include, by way of example, Chariot™ VoIP Assessor Version 1.0, commercially available from NetIQ Corporation of San Jose, Calif., and NetAlly™ VoIP, commercially available from Viola Networks of Somerset, N.J., formerly Omegon Ltd. Such systems typically monitor and analyze network-level VoIP performance in terms of quality of service (QoS) or compliance with service level agreements (SLAs), using packet-based measurements such as jitter, loss and delay.
Known systems of the type described above generally make use of so-called "synthetic" IP telephones, as opposed to actual IP telephones. A synthetic IP telephone is a software agent that generates VoIP call traffic. Unfortunately, there are a number of significant disadvantages associated with the use of synthetic IP telephones in a VoIP monitoring and analysis system. For example, a given synthetic IP telephone may require a separate installation of computer hardware and software proximate to one or more actual IP telephones and programmed to predict the QoS of the actual IP telephones. In addition, synthetic IP phones merely simulate hardware and software elements of an actual IP telephone, such as network interfaces, codecs, and jitter buffers, and as a result can introduce errors into the system. Synthetic IP telephones are generally configured to run on general-purpose computing platforms, such as personal computers (PCs), and are generally not designed to run on a telephony platform such as a private branch exchange (PBX), enterprise switch or other communication system switch.
Another significant problem with conventional monitoring and analysis systems is that they are often configured such that application-related effects can lead to mischaracterization of the actual contribution of the network to a given measurement. For example, the actual transmit time for sending out test traffic over the network in the conventional systems may be significantly delayed relative to its recorded transmit time if the device on which the synthetic IP telephone is implemented becomes busy with other processing tasks, thereby rendering the resulting measurements inaccurate.
Yet another problem relates to clock synchronization. Conventional techniques typically utilize a clock synchronization approach, in which the system attempts to synchronize the clocks of the devices on which the synthetic IP telephones are implemented, prior to taking any measurements involving those devices. Unfortunately, this approach is problematic in that clock synchronization takes an excessive amount of time, and thus unduly limits the responsiveness of the system to changing network conditions. Moreover, clock synchronization can fail altogether, since it depends on network conditions at the time the synchronization process is carried out, and these conditions may be unfavorable to accurate synchronization. Poor network conditions in a given segment of the network can preclude accurate synchronization of the associated devices, and as a result the system may be unable to analyze this network segment.
Other known network monitoring and analysis systems utilize a so-called "passive" approach which involves monitoring actual random call traffic over the network. This approach has very limited flexibility, in that it relies on actual call traffic generated by actual users rather than targeted traffic generated in accordance with specified test parameters.
As is apparent from the foregoing, conventional systems suffer from a number of significant problems, and may fail to provide optimal accuracy for measures such as jitter, loss and delay. A need therefore exists for improved techniques for monitoring and analysis of VoIP communications and other types of traffic in network-based systems.

Communication system endpoint device with integrated call synthesis capability


This invention pertains to a novel method of fracturing subterranean coal formations as a means for stimulating the production of coalbed methane. A highly conductive proppant pack is emplaced in the fracture during the fracturing treatment that has a particle size gradient ranging from about 40/70 mesh at the leading tip of the fracture to about 12/20 mesh at the trailing base of the fracture. The fracturing process is conventional in the sense that the materials and equipment used in the process are well known. The manner in which such materials and equipment are used to fracture coal degasification wells is new.

This invention pertains to a novel method of fracturing subterranean coal formations as a means for stimulating the production of coalbed methane. A highly conductive proppant pack is emplaced in the fracture during the fracturing treatment that has a particle size gradient ranging from about 40/70 mesh at the leading tip of the fracture to about 20/40 mesh at the trailing base of the fracture. 2. Description of the Prior Art:
Coal is the most abundant fossil energy resource in the world. Its recoverable reserves amount to almost 100 quintillion Btu of energy, nearly 15 times the total energy content estimated for known reserves of petroleum. Petroleum Frontiers, Vol. 3, No. 4, pages 2-3 (1986), published by Petroleum Information Corporation. People have mined coal and used it for heat for centuries. However, it is within the recent past that coal has been recognized for being the origin and source for another hydrocarbon fuel, i.e., coalbed methane. Coalbed gas consists primarily of methane (e.g., 95 percent) but may also contain ethane, propane and higher homologs. The volume of coalbed methane is estimated to be about 400 trillion standard cubic feet (SCF) of gas-in-place. Most of this gas is adsorbed on coal seams buried at a depth of less than about 9000 feet (ft) from the surface, and almost half of it is coal seams buried less than about 3000 ft. This coal is generally too deep to mine but easily penetrated by a wellbore using conventional drilling techniques. Coalbeds are, therefore, reservoirs and source rocks for a huge amount of gas which can be produced, in part, through a wellbore. Methods of recovering the gas (i.e., coal degasification methods) are shown, for example, by U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,471,840, 4,391,327 and 4,301,875.
The U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Bureau of Mines and the Gas Research Institute have funded a substantial amount of research on coal degasification, and the results have been published in the open literature. In addition, periodic coalbed methane symposiums are held at the University of Alabama, and elsewhere, and the results are published as symposium proceedings. Many of the journal articles describe stimulation techniques used by the industry to enhance production of gas. Conventional hydraulic fracturing techniques are the most common. In hydraulic fracturing, a fracturing fluid (e.g., an aqueous gel or an aqueous foam) is injected through a wellbore and against the face of the formation at pump rates and pressure sufficient to hydraulically fracture the formation. Typically, a proppant (e.g., 20/40 mesh sand, sintered bauxite, and the like) is blended with the fracturing fluid and is carried by the fluid into the fracture. When the pump rate and pressure are released, the fractured formation closes or heals onto the emplaced proppant in the induced fracture and a permeable communication channel is thereby established from the tip of the pack of proppant back to the wellbore. The formation fluids flow through this communication channel to the wellbore and are withdrawn.
Some of the previous methods of fracturing coal are shown below.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,471,840 (Lassiter) The coal formation is fractured by injecting (a) a pad fluid, (b) a proppant-laden fracturing fluid, and (c) an overflush of a proppant-free fluid through a well and into a coal seam.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,566,539 (Perlman) The coal formation is fractured by injecting alternating slugs of a proppant-laden fracturing fluid and a acidizing fluid through a well and into the coal seam.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,665,990 (Perlman) Essentially the same technique is used as in the preceding patent, but the focus here is on the amount of fine mesh size proppant (e.g., 100 mesh sand) emplaced in the fracture relative to the vertical thickness of the coal seam and also upon the size of the casing/tubing used to complete the well.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,679,630 (Wyman) The coal seam is fractured by injecting fracturing fluid through perforations located above and/or below the coal seam. The fracture propagates through the adjacent formation and then into the coal seam. This technique allegedly reduces plugging by coal fines.
Major problems have been encountered during the fracturing treatment in the forms of (a) very high high pressure build-up during pumping of the proppant-laden fracturing fluid, and (b) an excessive number of screenouts. A "screen out" occurs when proppant bridges over the fracture and prevents further introduction of fracture fluid into the treatment zone and prematurely stops the treatment. The pressure build-up (i.e., the proppant induced pressure increase) can range from several hundred to several thousand pounds per square inch (PSI) during typical fracturing operations using 12/20 mesh sand proppant and aqueous gelled fracture fluids. Such pressure increases may exceed the pressure limitations of the pumping equipment on tubulars, resulting in a "pressure out", and the pressure increases require additional hydraulic horsepower (i.e., pumping capacity) to pump the fracture fluids at required fracturing pressure and flow rates. This, in turn, substantially increases the cost of the well. Attempts to counter the proppant induced pressure increases by reducing the concentration of proppant in the fracture fluid have been only partially successful, and at an increased cost per well for the larger volumes of fracture fluid. In addition to the cost, the prior fracturing techniques for coal degasification wells are plagued by a tendency to screen out during the treatment.
With prior art fracturing techniques, screen out rates of about 50 to 60 percent on coal degasification wells are not uncommon. The economic loss associated with screen outs is substantial.

Fracture stimulation of coal degasification wells


Aspects of the subject disclosure are directed towards providing contextual information (such as high resolution still images) during an audio or video call. A receiver of the contextual information may send commands to the sending device to specify a desired resolution and frame rate of such images. A receiving user also may determine how to display any video call frames and/or the contextual information on one or more display devices available to the receiving user. Other contextual information such as location-related data by which a user can determine and display a location of the other call participant (or participants) may be transmitted during the call.

Mobile devices are often used to capture events as they are happening and share the events with friends or family who cannot be there in person. A typical way this is done is to capture an image and attach the image to an SMS/MMS message. Video calls are another way to share current events, and video-teleconferencing is becoming quite popular.
However, because of limited bandwidth, a video call typically sacrifices resolution to improve frame rate, which gives the remote person a "blurry" view of the world. While this may be acceptable for a traditional video call in which two people (or possibly groups) communicate over desktop or laptop computers, such a blurry view fails to work well in other scenarios.
For example, scenarios such as video-assisted shopping, apartment viewing, or lecture attendance, where the remote person may want to more carefully examine an object or the like, do not work well with blurry video calls. Such scenarios are increasingly enabled by mobile devices that take video communication into real-world environments. In general, this is because current network bandwidth connectivity limits the quality of the video signal that can be transmitted, and because mobile devices are often subject to a lot of motion as users carry and handle their mobile devices.

Compositing and transmitting contextual information during an audio or video call


The invention relates to a method and system for making reflection holograms and, more specifically, for making reflection holograms from a cylindrical surface of a master. Means are provided to direct substantially monochromatic actinic radiation through a recording medium sensitive to such radiation coupled to the cylindrical surface of the master such that the angle of incidence of the radiation on the master is substantially constant.

1. Field of the Invention.
This invention relates to a method and system for making reflection holograms and, more specifically, for making reflection holograms from a master having a cylindrical surface.
2. Description of Related Art.
Holography is a form of optical information storage. The general principles are described in a number of references, e.g., "Photography by Laser" by E. N. Leith and J. Upatnieks in Scientific American, 212. No. 6, pages 24-35 (Jun., 1965). A useful discussion of holography is presented in "Holography", by C. C. Guest, in Encyclopedia of Physical Science and Technology. Vol. 6, pages 507-519, R. A. Meyers, Ed., Academic Press, Orlando, Fla., 1987.
In brief, the object to be photographed or imaged is illuminated with coherent light (e.g., from a laser) and a light sensitive recording medium (e.g., a photographic plate) is positioned so as to receive light reflected from the object. This beam of reflected light is known as the object beam. At the same time, a portion of the coherent light is directed to the recording medium, bypassing the object. This beam is known as the reference beam. The interference pattern that results from the interaction of the reference beam and the object beam impinging on the recording medium is recorded in the recording medium. When the processed recording medium is subsequently appropriately illuminated and observed at the appropriate angle, the light from the illuminating source is diffracted by the hologram to reconstruct the wavefront that originally reached the recording medium from the object. Thus, the hologram resembles a window through which a real or virtual image of the object is observed in full three-dimensional form.
Holograms that are formed by allowing the reference and object beams to enter the recording medium from the same side are known as transmission holograms. Interaction of the object and reference beams in the recording medium forms fringes of material with varying refractive indices which are approximately normal to the plane of the recording medium. When the hologram is played back by viewing with transmitted light, these fringes refract the light to produce real and virtual images. Such transmission holograms may be produced by methods which are well known in the art, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,506,327, 3,838,903 and 3,894,787 issued to Leith and Upatnieks.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,209,250 discloses of system for making multiple copies from a stationary planar transmission master hologram. A copy medium is transported such that a portion of the copy medium is coupled to the master. Then a beam is directed through the master onto the copy medium exposing the copy medium portion. After exposure, the exposed portion of the copy medium is transported away from the master. This process is repeated to make multiple transmission hologram copies and is referred to as a step and repeat process.
Holograms formed by allowing the reference and object beams to enter the recording medium from opposite sides are known as reflection holograms. Interaction of the object and reference beams in the recording medium forms fringes of material with varying refractive indices which are, approximately, planes parallel to the plane of the recording medium. When the hologram is played back these fringes act as partial mirrors reflecting incident light back to the viewer. Hence, the hologram is viewed in reflection rather than in transmission.
Reflection holograms may be produced by an on axis or an off-axis method. Reflection holograms are produced by the on-axis method when the beam of coherent radiation is projected through the recording medium onto an object therebehind. In this instance, the beam reflected off the object returns and intersects with the projected beam in the recording medium to form fringes substantially parallel to the medium. The on-axis method of producing reflection holograms is described in an article by Yu N. Denisyuk entitled "Photographic Reconstruction of the Optical Properties of an Object in its Own Scattered Radiation Field," published in Soviet Physics--Doklady, 7, pgs. 543-5 (1962). Also see an article by Clark N. Kurtz entitled "Copying Reflection Holograms," published in the Journal of the Optical Society of America, 58, pgs. 856-7 (1968). Reflection holograms are produced by the off-axis method when a reference beam is projected on one side of the recording medium and an object beam is projected on the reverse side of the medium. In this instance, the object beam is formed by illuminating the object with coherent radiation which has not passed through the recording medium. For instance, the original beam of coherent radiation can be split into two portions, one portion being projected on the medium and the other portion being manipulated to project on the object behind the medium. Reflection holograms produced by an off-axis process are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,532,406.
The substantially horizontal fringes which form reflection holograms are much more difficult to record than the perpendicular fringes which form transmission holograms for two reasons. The first reason is the need for higher resolution, i.e., the need to record more fringes per unit length, and thus a need to record faithfully closer fringes. Horizontal reflection holograms require about three times to six times more fringes per unit length than do transmission holograms. The second reason relevant to photopolymers is the sensitivity of horizontal fringes to shrinkage of the recording medium during exposure Shrinkage of the recording medium during exposure will tend to wash out the fringes and, if severe, will prevent a hologram from being formed. This is in contrast to the transmission hologram case, where shrinkage has little or no effect when the fringes are substantially perpendicular or perpendicular to the plane of the medium, and produces only relatively minor image distortion if the transmission fringes are slanted more than 45.degree. from the plane of the medium.
It is an object of this invention to provide a system capable of making reflection holograms by an on-axis method from a cylindrical master.
It is another object of this invention to provide a system capable of making reflection holograms in a continuous fashion, in addition to a step and repeat manner.

Method and system for making a reflection hologram


A mechanism for memory change tracking during migration of a virtual machine (VM) with VM-controlled assigned peripherals is disclosed. A method of the invention includes informing a write tracking module of an interest by a hypervisor of a host machine in a specific memory location associated with a peripheral device that is controlled by a VM managed by the hypervisor, receiving notification from the write tracking module that the identified specific memory location has been modified by the peripheral device, and marking a memory page of the specific identified memory location as dirty in order for the migration of the memory page to be repeated as part of a migration process of the VM to a destination host machine.

In computer science, a virtual machine (VM) is a portion of software that, when executed on appropriate hardware, creates an environment allowing the virtualization of an actual physical computer system. Each VM may function as a self-contained platform, running its own operating system (OS) and software applications (processes). Typically, a virtual machine monitor (VMM) manages allocation and virtualization of computer resources and performs context switching, as may be necessary, to cycle between various VMs.
A host machine (e.g., computer or server) is typically enabled to simultaneously run multiple VMs, where each VM may be used by a local or remote client. The host machine allocates a certain amount of the host's resources to each of the VMs. Each VM is then able to use the allocated resources to execute applications, including operating systems known as guest operating systems. The VMM virtualizes the underlying hardware of the host machine or emulates hardware devices, making the use of the VM transparent to the guest operating system or the remote client that uses the VM.
Often times, a VM may need to be migrated from one host machine to another host machine for a variety of reasons. This migration process may be a "live" migration process, referring to the fact that the VM stays running and operational (i.e., "live") during most of the migration process. During live migration, the entire state of a VM is transferred from one host machine to another host machine. A critical piece of this transmission of state is the transfer of memory of the VM. The entire memory of a VM can often times fall in the order of gigabytes, which can result in a length live migration transfer process. In addition, because the VM is "live" during this transfer, memory may become "dirty" during the transfer. This means that a particular page of the memory that was already transferred has been modified on the VM that is still residing on the source host. Typically, these "dirty" pages are marked so that those particular pages of memory can be transferred again during the live migration process.
One problem with the current state of live migration occurs when a VM has an assigned peripheral device that is solely controlled by the VM. The control of this peripheral device is accomplished by means of a device-specific driver loaded in the VM. The host machine may either not have that device-specific driver or not have support for such an emulated device in the hypervisor. In such a case, this device can only be assigned to one VM on the host machine to control because there is no simple way to synchronize the device with other VMs so that they can also utilize the device.
If a VM with a VM-controlled peripheral device is to be migrated to another hypervisor, a variety of issues may occur when trying to migrate the device and its memory state to another hypervisor. One problem with migration of VM-assigned peripheral devices is that some of the memory state is stored in the peripheral device and not in the VM memory. It is unknown what this state is because the host machine does not have simple access to it. Another problem is that the VM-controlled peripheral device may modify the VM memory, and these modifications are not normally tracked by the hypervisor, making it difficult to identify dirty memory. Yet another problem resulting from migration of VM-controlled peripheral devices is in correctly placing the peripheral device on the destination host machine system in the same state as it was on the origin host machine system.

Memory change tracking during migration of virtual machine (VM) with VM-controlled assigned peripherals


A small-scale application apparatus including an ozone generation apparatus configured to generate ozone gas, the application apparatus being configured to perform ozone usage processing. The ozone generation apparatus includes a load-resonant high-frequency step-up transformer configured to obtain a stepped-up high-frequency voltage and an ozone generator configured to receive the stepped-up high-frequency voltage as an operating voltage to generate the ozone gas having an ozone concentration of at least 200 g/m3 from raw gas containing oxygen gas. The application apparatus receives the ozone gas under a pressure environment of at least 0.2 MPa.

Examples of a conventional ozone generation technology include an ozone generation technology for generating high-concentration ozone gas with high efficiency using discharge. For such an ozone generation technology using discharge, for example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technology achieved by a combination of raw gas and a discharge surface material, and Patent Documents 2 to 6 disclose technologies related to a discharge surface material.
As disclosed in Patent Document 1, in an ozone generator capable of generating high-concentration ozone having a concentration of at least 200 [g/m3], gas resulting from adding nitrogen gas to oxygen gas by 0.1 to several percent is used as raw gas to be supplied. Then, when the nitrogen gas thus added by a trace amount becomes nitrogen oxide gas by discharge, this trace amount of nitrogen oxide gas acts as a catalyst to dissociate a large amount of oxygen molecules to generate high-concentration oxygen atoms. This in turn allows high-concentration ozone to be generated by a three-body collision reaction between the high-concentration oxygen atoms and oxygen molecules generated by the action of the nitrogen oxide.
Conventionally, most commercially available ozone generation apparatuses are classified into a technology for generating ozone from raw gas resulting from adding nitrogen gas to oxygen gas by at least 0.1% (1000 ppm to several percent (ten thousand ppm)) and a technology for generating ozone gas by a chemical reaction between oxygen and a discharge surface rather than raw gas. The technologies are disclosed in Patent Document 1. Many of the conventional ozone generation apparatuses employ the former technology for generating ozone from raw gas resulting from adding a trace amount of nitrogen gas to oxygen gas, in which an amount of oxygen atoms generated by catalytic action of the nitrogen gas (action causing oxygen atoms to be generated by catalytic action based on discharge photocatalysis of generated nitrogen oxide gas and chemical reaction of the nitrogen oxide gas) is much larger than an amount of oxygen atoms dissociated by collision of oxygen molecules of electrons generated by discharge, and high-concentration ozone gas is generated from most of the amount of oxygen atoms.
Therefore, since most of the commercially available ozone generation apparatuses need to add nitrogen gas to raw gas, when ozone is generated, the apparatuses accordingly generate NOx such as nitrogen dioxide and nitrogen monoxide of about several ten to several hundred ppm corresponding to about several to several ten percent of the amount of nitrogen thus added, and a measure to remove NOx that is high in load on the environment is not sufficiently applied to most of the conventional ozone generation apparatuses.
Further, in the technologies disclosed in Patent Documents 2 to 6, ozone is generated by applying a photocatalyst substance to a discharge surface to generate a large amount of oxygen atoms without adding nitrogen gas to raw gas (nitrogen-free ozone generation apparatus and nitrogen-free ozone generation technology), and thus the technologies make it possible to generate ozone gas with high efficiency with little nitrogen gas added to raw gas and in turn make it possible to provide an ozone generation apparatus that prevents NOx such as nitrogen dioxide and nitrogen monoxide from being contained in the generated high-concentration ozone gas and is thus low in load on the environment.

TOSHIBA MITSUBISHI-ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL SYSTEMS CORPORATION


Small, effective, lightweight, vibration damping devices for implements which are subject to impact. These devices have a head and a stem and are fabricated from a soft elastomeric material. The stem is capable of oscillating over a 360.degree. span in directions generally normal to the longitudinal axis of the device. The peripheral part of the head can oscillate around its circumference in directions generally paralleling that axis.

It is common for the vibrations set up in an implement by impact to sting the wielder's hands. This stinging can lead to flinching, an altered grip, and other phenomena which adversely affect a player's performance.
The vibrations can also cause serious injury. For example, the stiff graphite and other high tech handles of modern tennis rackets vibrate at high frequencies, and the result is a higher incidence of debilitating tennis elbow.
Others have attempted to solve the problems attributable to impact-generated vibrations with vibration dampers in or attached to the handle of an implement, see U.S. Pat. No. 3,941,380 issued Mar. 2, 1976 to Lacoste. One drawback of this prior art approach is that the feel of the implement upon impact is deader. This dead feel adversely affects the wielder's performance. Another drawback of this prior art approach to offsetting the effect of impact-generated vibrations is that they act too slowly, and the damage is done before the impact is damped.


A computer program product includes machine readable instructions stored on machine readable media, the instructions for correlating nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) well logging data with other well logging data, the product including instructions for: receiving the NMR well logging data; receiving the other well logging data; determining a tendency of the NMR logging data to correlate with the other logging data and providing output including correlation information. A system is also provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention disclosed herein relates to correlation of well logging data and, in particular, to correlation of bin logs derived from nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements to other logging data.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the field of geophysical exploration, a variety of technologies is employed for logging a well. The variety includes nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), resistivity, saturation and others. Each technology has assets and liabilities. Accordingly, refinements to the various technologies are always in the works. For example, consider well logging using NMR.
In NMR well logging, an NMR probe is disposed into a wellbore. The NMR probe is used to conduct NMR measurements downhole. An improved technique for well logging with NMR involves use of the transverse relaxation time, T2, of media surrounding the NMR probe.
Fluid typing analyses of distributions of relaxation time, T, (e.g., the transverse relaxation time, T2, as well as the longitudinal relaxation time, T1) faces the problem of discriminating individual contributions of water and hydrocarbons, especially when signals from the water and hydrocarbons may not be easily discriminated from each other (that is, the signals are overlapping). For example, in the case of heavy oil, the overlap of the oil distribution with at least one of clay bound water and capillary bound water is very common. When there is no significant contrast in the diffusivity between the fluids, the fluid typing represent a difficult problem to solve, because in presence of a magnetic field gradient, the distribution of the transverse relaxation time, T2, for the various fluids present in the wellbore overlaps and cannot easily be cancelled. Other problems are encountered with regard to distributions of the diffusivity, D, that complicate fluid typing.
Therefore, what are needed are techniques for correlating logging information for at least the transverse relaxation time, T2, the longitudinal relaxation time, T1, and the diffusivity, D, with other types of logging data, such as those disclosed herein.

Method and computer program product for determining a degree of similarity between well log data


Disclosed is a 2-level cache system for a Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) device used as part of a Storage Area Network (SAN) system. The RAID controller of the RAID device contains a level 1 cache contained in the RAID controller RAM, and a level 2 cache is created in a Log-structured File System (LFS) portion of a local hard disk drive of the RAID device. The 2-level cache system provides increased data integrity and reliability, as well as less fragmentation of the data frame, for communications with remote storage devices in a SAN system. The increased performance is due to data caching being done at the RAM and disk level instead of data being sent directly to the transmit buffer. The 2-level cache system delays data transmissions until there is system idle time, thus, providing efficient bandwidth utilization of SAN communications, as well as improved resource allocation at the RAID controller level. The 2-level cache system can avoid transmissions across the SAN communication link, thus, freeing RAID controller resources for other purposes when the data frames do not need to be transmitted. The level 2 cache on the log-structured file system disk records a timestamp of each entry in the level 2 cache, making data recovery after a system malfunction faster and easier.

a. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally pertains to storage systems and more particularly to Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) data storage systems as part of a Storage Area Network (SAN) system.
b. Description of the Background
A Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) data storage system is a method of using multiple physical hard drives to act as a single logical hard drive for interaction with one or more host computers. A RAID storage device consists of an array of one or more hard disk drives controlled by a RAID controller. The RAID controller handles communication with external devices and coordination of the array operation for each of the individual hard disk drives. RAID systems are often used in mission critical jobs due to their flexibility in providing fast data access and hard disk drive fault tolerance.
A Storage Area Network (SAN) is a separate network for the special purpose of interconnecting multiple storage devices for use by one or more host data server computers. A SAN interconnects storage related resources and can be used to centralize data storage, thus providing a single addressing interface for multiple storage devices reducing the management costs and complexity of the data server computer environment. A SAN can incorporate many different types of data storage devices including Network-Attached Storage (NAS) devices and Direct-Attached Storage (DAS) devices. A NAS device is a standalone storage device, such as a RAID device, that connects directly to a Local Area Network (LAN) or Wide Area Network (WAN). A NAS device can be connected directly to the SAN system or incorporated as a sub-network of the SAN system. DAS devices, such as a Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) RAID device connected directly to a host computer data server. The SCSI connection between the RAID device and the host computer data server may be utilized as the SAN connection for the host computer data server. NAS devices typically support Internet Protocols (IP), such as the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the User Datagram Protocol (UDP) over Ethernet and other physical networking media. DAS devices typically support SCSI and Integrated Drive Electronics/Advanced Technology Attachment (IDE/ATA) communication protocols. A SCSI connection can be used to tie multiple storage devices into a SAN system with or without a direct connection to a host computer data server.
Fibre Channel (FC) is a newer technology protocol for storage devices, and is particularly suited to SAN systems. Fibre Channel is beginning to replace SCSI as the transmission interface between clustered data storage devices and host computer data servers. Fibre Channel is more flexible than SCSI and can be used with multiple physical media including optical fiber, ordinary telephone wire, coaxial cable, and other common networking physical media. In addition, Fibre Channel is designed to interoperate with SCSI, Internet Protocol (IP), and other protocols, giving direct connectivity to a wide variety of storage devices through the Fibre Channel connection. Information on the Fibre Channel protocol, and most other communication protocols, is kept by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). ANSI is located at 11 West 42nd Street, 13th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10036, telephone number 212-642-4900, and web site www.ansi.org.
A Log-structured File System (LFS) writes all modifications to disk sequentially in a log-like structure, speeding up both file writing and crash recovery. A traditional file system lays out files near each other once on the disk drive. Thereafter, the files are rewritten over the original blocks whenever a change is made. In contrast, a log-structured file system always writes data blocks sequentially, so the write process always writes data that is next to each other on the disk drive without any intervening head seeks. The log is the only structure on the disk. The log contains indexing information so that files can be read back from the log efficiently.

Cache redundancy for LSI raid controllers


An apparatus includes a head-mountable support structure, a transducer array coupled to the support structure, and a processor configured to control the transducer array to radiate ultrasonic waves toward an ear of a user of the head-mountable support structure. The ultrasonic waves are audible.

Computing devices such as personal computers, laptop computers, tablet computers, cellular phones, and countless types of Internet-capable devices are increasingly prevalent in numerous aspects of modern life. Over time, the manner in which these devices are providing information to users is becoming more intelligent, more efficient, more intuitive, and/or less obtrusive.
Further, the trend toward miniaturization of computing hardware, peripherals, as well as of sensors, detectors, and image and audio processors, among other technologies, has helped open up a field sometimes referred to as "wearable computing." In the area of sound generation, it has become possible to provide wearable speaker systems. Generally, known speaker systems utilize loudspeaker components to generate sound for the user. However, such loudspeaker components typically generate an angle of audible sound that can be nearly 360 degrees, which can result in the sound being heard by others besides the user of the speaker system. Improvements have been made to provide wearable speaker systems that provide more private sound intended only for the user of the speaker system. Such improvements include on-ear and in-ear headphones that are positioned in, on, or around the user's ear to provide sound isolation. Unfortunately, on-ear and in-ear headphones can be somewhat bulky and uncomfortable for the user. Further, some such sound isolation headphones, in particular, in-ear headphones, include a wide range of interchangeable in-ear pads made from different materials and having different shapes and sizes to accommodate different ear sizes and user preferences.
These examples for generating sound for a user are well-known and fairly effective. However, developments and changes in generating sound that can be heard substantially only by a particular user and that can be easily adjusted for different users are contemplated in the present disclosure.

Parametric array for a head-mountable device


The present invention pertains to an ultrasonic energy producing device for reducing the viscosity of oil and separating the water from hydrocarbon bonds.

The present invention relates to the extraction of oil from wells and particularly to the use of ultrasonic energy to assist secondary recovery of oil from wells. It also pertains to the expedient passage of oil in pipelines and the separation of water from oil molecules containing water.
During the extraction of oil from a well, a time is reached at which the production from the well decreases to an uneconomically low value. This occurs because the quantity of oil remaining in the well is reduced, the remaining oil has a relatively high viscosity, and the pressure in the well has decreased to a low value.
In order to increase production of the remaining oil, or to perform "secondary recovery", various techniques have been proposed. One of these techniques involves exposure of the remaining oil to ultrasonic energy, which has been found to create a temporary reduction in the viscosity of the oil. In order to employ this technique on a practical level, it has been proposed to dispose an electroacoustic transducer element in the region of an oil producing formation of an oil well and to supply the transducer with alternating current at a suitable frequency. One such arrangement is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,322,196 which describes arrangements in which an oscillator and amplifier and associated electrical components for producing the electrical signal are disposed with the well in close proximity to the transducer element.
The reason for disposing the electrical components in proximity to the transducer element is to prevent unacceptably high electrical losses between the power generating components and the transducer itself.
In general, it is considered necessary to connect a power supply to an electroacoustic transducer element by a cable having a relatively short length. For example, a known device for reducing the viscosity of liquids in laboratory and industrial applications is specified to be usable with a cable having a length not exceeding 19 feet.
However, the use of such an arrangement in an oil well has been found to present a number of drawbacks. Thus, for example, all of the electrical components are relatively bulky so that difficulties are encountered in mounting these components for introduction into the well. Moreover, because of the high temperatures which exist within a well having any significant depth, various components of the electrical system will fail after a short period of time.
In the instance of dealing with oil in pipelines difficulties have been encountered in transporting the oil because of its thickness. To overcome this, additives or heat has been used or technology along the lines discussed above has been employed. If the viscosity is reduced in view of the above-noted technology the difficulties of locating and mounting the equipment is again encountered.
In the instance of separating oil from water, when the oil molecule is composed of water an elaborate system is used to separate the oil from this water. The oil is exposed to temperatures in the range of 600 to 1,000 degrees fahrenheit as it is fed into a separation tank which generally holds between 1,000 to 1,500 barrels. In some instances a solvent is also mixed into the oil. The water being heavier than the oil thereby separates and falls to the bottom of the tank. The oil is then siphoned off of the top of the tank for further use. The method is time consuming and uneconomical.


A container, particularly a beverage bottle, can be closed in a bottle opening of a bottle body with a closure made of a plastic material or glass. A fixing element is detachable fastened to the bottle body and holds the closure in the bottle opening. Such a bottle closure solves the problems involving, in particular, wine bottles and which arise when otherwise common bottle cork stoppers are used.

Wine bottles are usually stoppered with natural cork stoppers that can be inserted into the bottle opening. For wine producers as well as for consumers there exists a not-negligible risk that the natural cork stopper will not completely seal the bottle so that either the wine will leak out or air will penetrate in. As a result, in most cases the wine inside the bottle will deteriorate (typical cork flavor!) exposing the wine producer, in particular, to considerable financial losses.
In connection with wine consumption, glass carafes are known which after they are filled with wine from a common wine bottle can be stoppered with a glass stopper.
The object of the invention is to indicate a container, particularly a beverage bottle, wherein the beverage, particularly a sensitive beverage such as wine, can be stored over a long period of time safely and reliably and protected from harmful environmental influences.
According to the invention, this objective is reached by means of a closable container, particularly a beverage bottle. Advantageous further embodiments are covered by the dependent claims.
A fixing element ensures that the closure is kept in axial and/or radial direction. Depending on the configuration of the sealed bottle between the closure and the bottle opening, it is sufficient to fix the closure to keep it reliably in its sealing position. As a result, the beverage bottle can be transported as desired and stored for years.
The use of a closure made of plastic material with a PVC-containing or PVC-free insert can have the drawback that the plastics used may release vapors that can end up in the wine. Moreover, the alcohol contained in the wine can leach out the components from the composite or from the plastic material. A crucial drawback can also be the fact that such closures are not accepted by customers who want to enjoy a high-quality natural product.

Container, particularly a beverage bottle


An apparatus for separating an oil from a refrigerant has a housing, an inlet conduit for receiving a refrigerant/oil mixture, a separator medium, a refrigerant outlet conduit, and an oil outlet conduit. The inlet conduit has an inlet external to the housing and an outlet within the housing and provides means for limiting external sounds transmitted by the housing.

The invention relates to compressor systems. More particularly, the invention relates to systems having refrigerant/oil separators.
Refrigerant compressors come in a wide variety of configurations and are used in a wide variety of applications. Exemplary configurations include various screw-type compressors, scroll-type compressors, and reciprocating compressors. Exemplary applications include use in refrigeration systems, air conditioning systems, heat pump systems, chiller systems, and the like. Typical applications involve closed-loop systems.
Compressor lubrication may be important to control heating and wear. The lubricant (oil) may also help seal the compressor working element(s) relative to the housing and/or each other. There is a tendency for oil to become entrained in the refrigerant as the refrigerant passes through the compressor. For system efficiency, it is desirable to separate this oil from the compressed refrigerant before the compressed refrigerant is passed to downstream system components (e.g., condensers, expansion devices, evaporators, and the like).
A variety of refrigerant/oil separator systems exist. Exemplary systems return separated oil to the compressor. Exemplary systems are pressure driven, returning the oil to suction or near-suction conditions or up to near-discharge conditions.
Sound suppression has also been an important consideration in compressor design. Many forms of compressor mufflers have been proposed.


An accessory for assisting in installing a wiring harness in the form of an installation kit including a rigid tube and an expandable, separable reusable cloth sleeve equal in length to the wiring harness; and a method of installing the sleeve on the wiring harness which includes axially folding the cloth sleeve on the rigid tube, running the tube on the harness, and pulling the sleeve off the tube onto the harness as the tube is withdrawn, installing the wiring harness within an apparatus and thereafter separating the cloth sleeve so that it falls from the wiring harness.

With the advent of the mass produced automobile, techniques are constantly being developed to decrease the total time of production and lower the cost of production through these improved techniques. This has been particularly important in recent years with increased global competition in all world markets. At the same time, automobile designers are incorporating into the automobile a great number of electrical apparatus for monitoring or controlling various componentry associated with the vehicle's performance. Where there were relatively few electrical wires running from the interior control panel of the automobile to the engine compartment, there is now a great number. It has previously been found advantageous to bundle all of these wires coming from various points within the control panel into a single wiring harness of sufficient length to extend into the engine compartment to all points where connection to individual electrical components is desired.
Another option formerly in use was to, in effect, split the wiring harness along its length and to provide a common integrated electrical coupling at each end of the wiring harness formed at the split. Thus the wires from the control panel would terminate at a coupling member, preferably within the interior of the vehicle and just to the rear of the control panel. The main wiring harness would then comprise a complementary coupling member and an extended harness extending into the engine compartment.
In either case, the individual wires in the wiring harness are then held together in a bundle by means of electrical tape wound in continuous fashion around the circumference of the bundle throughout its length, or plastic bayonet type clips may be used to secure the wires at various points along the length of the wiring harness Either way, at some point along the length of the wiring harness, the individual wires extend beyond the bundle of wires as a free wire having at the unbound end an electrical component of some sort for connection to a respective electrical apparatus or electrical control for monitoring some mechanism.
In the prior art of preparing the abovedescribed wiring harness for shipment with the control panel to the place of installation and for installation in the vehicle, it has been the common practice to secure the free ends of the individual wires to the wrapped bundle by means of temporarily strapping them to the side of the wiring harness with paper tape. The paper tape is wound around the wire at the end so as to not only secure the wire but also cover the electrical component to protect it. Often times this means perhaps a dozen separate paper tape windings on a single wiring harness to cover the components. At the installation site, the control panel is first installed and then the wiring harness is inserted through an opening in the dash panel or wall separating the vehicle interior and control panel from the engine compartment.
Often times the opening in the wall is provided with a thick rubber grommet which holds the wiring harness in slight interference fit and protects the relatively soft wires in the harness from abrasion by the edges of the opening in the wall member. It also precludes cold air, dust and noise from passing from the engine compartment into the interior of the vehicle. Conventionally, the rubber grommet is preassembled on the wiring harness so that once the wiring harness has been pulled through to the engine compartment, the grommet is snapped in place in overlapping engagement with the edges of floor pan defining the opening. It is important that during installation when the wiring harness is passed through the floor pan opening, from the direction of the interior compartment to the engine compartment, the entire wiring harness pass through with ease and without pulling, snagging on, or cutting on the individually bundled wires or the electrical apparatus at the free ends of such wires. The paper tape precludes this.
Obviously wrapping the wiring harness with paper tape at a dozen different positions is a labor intensive process. Further, after installation and prior to making the electrical connections, the paper tape must be removed. This also takes additional time coupled with the fact that during the process of removal, if one is in haste or simply pulls on the connector instead of carefully unwrapping the tape, the electrical apparatus themselves may become detached from the free ends of the wire or the electrical connection damaged thus making the harness useless. This means the harness must be repaired, and thus more time is lost. In some cases the entire wiring harness may have to be scrapped. It is also possible that the damage may go unnoticed; thus making the eventual repair all the more costly.
There was also in use prior to the present invention, the practice of wrapping the entire harness in a shrink film. As with the other prior art systems described above, such a technique makes difficult the freeing of the individual wires and electrical connectors.


A mobile station sends reception signal quality information to a plurality of base stations. Each of the base stations determines the condition for processing a signal that is to be sent to the mobile station, processes the signal based on the condition determined, and sends the signal. The condition may be any one or more of a modulation method, an interleave length, a coding ratio, and a puncturing rule. The mobile station receives the signals, demodulates the signals to generate soft decision values corresponding to each signal, deinterleaves the soft decision values to obtain a deinterleaved result corresponding to each soft decision value, code-combines all the deinterleaved results, and subjects the combined results to error-correction decoding processing.

A characteristic of wireless communication is that a signal is received from multipaths. In other words, a signal arrives at a reception point through a plurality of transmission lines in the form of a direct wave, a reflected wave, a transmitted wave, a diffracted wave and the like. As these waves have different signal intensities, phases, and reception levels, fading occurs. In mobile communication, which is communication between the base station and the mobile station, the fading also occurs when a direct wave is shut off because of an obstacle, such as a building, or when the distance between the base station and the mobile station changes.
One approach to avoid the fading is to use the technique of site diversity in a mobile station. The site diversity technique includes receiving signals from a plurality of base stations, demodulating those signals and combining those signals. As a result, even if signal form one base station becomes weak, quality of communications with the other base stations can be maintained.
Another approach to eliminate the effect of the fading is to use CDMA, as a multiple access, separate a multipath fading wave from the signals by RAKE reception and combine the signals while making phases of the signals uniform.
The technique of the site diversity is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. H10-247873 and 2000-4215.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-247873 discloses a technology in which base stations receive an error-correction coded signal from a mobile station, the base stations transmit the error-correction coded signals to a host apparatus, and the host apparatus carries out error-correction code coding, combining, and, error-correction code decoding of the error-correction coded signal. This technology makes it possible to improve the error rate of the received signal without increasing the amount of signal data flowing between the base stations and the host apparatus.
The Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-4215 discloses a technology in which an identical information data are subjected to punctured convolutional coding using mutually different puncturing patterns to obtain data punctured differently, and the data obtained is time-diversity transmitted as diversity branches. A reception unit that receives the punctured data conducts depuncturing the data by using the puncturing patterns that were used at the transmission side, combines the depunctured data, and subjects the combined data to convolution-decoding.
In the technology disclosed in the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-247873, all the base stations send an identical signal to the mobile station. Since the base stations send the identical signal, the quality of those signals, when they are received at the mobile station, vary greatly according to the state of a transmission line between the mobile station and each of the base stations. If the base stations are configured to performs error correction, for example, puncturing using a convolutional code or a turbo code for error correction, of the signal, the higher is the rate of puncturing, the more the signal is influenced by the state of the transmission line.
The technology disclosed in the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-4215 performs same modulation irrespective of the state of the transmission line. As the number of modulation levels of the signals transmitted from the base stations is larger, the phases of these signals are close to each other so that the mobile station cannot satisfactorily demodulate the received signals. As a result, the site diversity can not be achieved sufficiently.

Site diversity transmission/reception apparatus, base station, and mobile station


Various embodiments of and methods for providing therapeutic light or electromagnetic radiation stimulation to a patient are disclosed and described. Therapeutic light stimulation is provided to a patient through a light source, and is configured to trigger or induce resonance or high amplitude oscillations in a cardiovascular system of the patient. Inducing such oscillations or resonance can aid in training autonomic reflexes and improve their functioning.

Low or reduced baroreflex sensitivity in patients is associated with numerous problems and disorders (e.g., hypertension, congestive heart failure, coronary heart disease, hypertension, depression, alcohol or drug use disorders and aging). Reduced baroreflex sensitivity in patients blunts the flexibility of the body's self-regulatory system. Contrariwise, high baroreflex sensitivity in patients is generally associated with health and wellness.
What is needed, therefore, are efficacious and cost effective means and methods for increasing baroreflex sensitivity in patients.
Various printed publications, patents and patent applications containing subject matter relating directly or indirectly to the methods, systems, devices and components described below include, but are not limited to, the following:    Vaschillo, E. G., Vaschillo, B., Lehrer, P. M. Characteristics of Resonance in Heart Rate Variability Stimulated by Biofeedback. Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback. 2006, June; 31(2): 129-142    Vaschillo, E G, Vaschillo, B, Buckman, J F, Pandina, R J, and Bates, M E. The Investigation and Clinical Significance of Resonance in the Heart Rate and Vascular Tone Baroreflexes. In BIOSTEC 2010, CCIS 127, A. Fred, J. Filipe, and H. Gamboa (Eds.), pp. 224-237, Springer, Heidelberg.    Vaschillo, E. G., Bates, M, Vaschillo, B., Lehrer, P. M., et al. Heart rate variability response to alcohol, placebo, and emotional picture cue challenges: Effects of 0.1-Hz stimulation, Psychophysiology, 45 (2008), 847-858.    France C R, France J L, Patterson S M. Blood pressure and cerebral oxygenation responses to skeletal muscle tension: a comparison of two physical maneuvers to prevent vasovagal reactions. Clinical Physiology and Functional Imaging. 2006; 26:21-25.    Vaschillo, E. G., Bates, M. E., Vaschillo, B., Lehrer, P., Udo, Lehrer P, Vaschillo E, Trost Z, France C. Effects of rhythmical muscle tension at 0.1 Hz on cardiovascular resonance and the baroreflex. Biological Psychology. 2009; 81:24-30.    Wheat, A. & Larkin, K. Biofeedback of Heart Rate Variability and Related Physiology: A Critical Review Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback. 2010, 35: 3: 229-242.    Hashmi et al. Effect of Pulsing in Low-Level Light Therapy, Lasers Surg Med. 2010; 42(6): 450-466.    Vaschillo, E. G., Vaschillo, B., Pandina, R. J. and Bates, M. E. (2011), Resonances in the cardiovascular system caused by rhythmical muscle tension. Psychophysiology, 48: 927-936.    Grote et al. Cardio-autonomic control and wellbeing due to oscillating color light exposure, Physiology & Behavior 114-115 (2013) 55-64.    U.S. Pat. No. 4,315,502 to Gorges for "Learning relaxation device," Oct. 11, 1979.    U.S. Pat. No. 8,442,632 to Kullock et al. for "Method and apparatus for affecting the autonomic nervous system," Oct. 21, 1998.    U.S. Pat. No. 6,299,632 to Jalliet for "Method for changing critical brain activity using light and sound," Nov. 30, 1998.    U.S. Pat. No. 6,662,032 to Gavish et al. for "Interventive-diagnostic device," Jul. 6, 1999.    U.S. Pat. No. 5,997,482 to Vaschillo et al. for "Therapeutic method for a human subject," Dec. 7, 1999.    U.S. Pat. No. 7,311,658 to Elliot for "Method and system providing a fundamental musical interval for heart rate variability synchronization," Mar. 25, 2004.    U.S. Pat. No. 7,117,032 to Childre et al. for "Systems and methods for facilitating physiological coherence using respiration training," Oct. 3, 2006.    WO Patent No. 2008131553 to Martel for "Light modulation device and system," Apr. 30, 2007.    WO Application No. 2014170880 to Nissila et al. for "Light therapy apparatus and method," Apr. 18, 2014.
The dates of the foregoing publications may correspond to any one of priority dates, filing dates, publication dates, issue dates and retrieval dates. Listing of the above patents and patent applications in this background section is not, and shall not be construed as, an admission by the applicants or their counsel that one or more publications from the above list constitutes prior art in respect of the applicant's various inventions.
Upon having read and understood the Summary, Detailed Descriptions and Claims set forth below, those skilled in the art will appreciate that at least some of the methods, systems, devices and components disclosed in the printed publications listed herein may be modified advantageously in accordance with the teachings of the various embodiments that are disclosed and described herein.

Methods to trigger high amplitude oscillations or resonance in the cardiovascular system of a patient using electromagnetic stimulation


A method and appaatus for curing a gasket material on a cap, the apparatus having a microwave transmitter, associated wavegide and a device for moving multiple caps through the waveguide. A plastic material is applied to the cap so as to form a gasket. The cap is then moved through the waveguide where microwave energy is absorbed by plastic material. The plastic material then heats from room temperature to a predetermined curing temperature in the waveguide. The cap is then removed and allowed to cool back to room temperature so that the gasket material will harden.

This invention relates to microwave energy curing of material and more particularly to hardening gasket material for closures used, together with a jar, to ensure package and material integrity within the jar.
It is known in the art that perishable material, such as food, is preserved in jars by using a closure comprising a cap and cap gasket to enclose the perishables within the jar. More specifically, during processing, food is placed in a jar. The air within the jar is then evacuated. Next a cap, with a cap gasket, is screwed onto the jar. Caps are typically made from a hardened plastic such as polypropylene. Hardened plastic caps do not seal to glass jars well enough to prevent the outside air from re-entering into the jar. Accordingly, in some applications, a cap gasket material that does seal to the jar is implanted in a groove formed on the inside of the top of the cap. When such a cap is placed on the jar, the cap gasket material will mold to the shape of the jar.
One such cap gasket material is a combination of a vinyl chloride polymer such as PVC powder and a plasticizer that is a member of the phthalate family, such cap gasket material comes in a liquid form. The cap gasket material is first placed in the groove and is then cured by being heated to a 340.degree. F. temperature. After such heating, the cap is cooled to room temperature, more specifically a closure of such type is constructed by the following steps (more detail of this process is explained in U.S. Pat. No. 4,309,744): First, the liquid cap gasket material is injected into a groove on the inside of the top of the cap. Second, the cap and cap gasket are pre-heated in a conventional heating oven to 300.degree. F. Third, the cap gasket, which absorbs microwave energy, and cap are then placed in a 10 kilowatt multi-mode industrial microwave oven and heated until the cap gasket material reaches a curing temperature of 340.degree. F. The cap itself is essentially transparent to microwave energy. Thus, the cap itself remains relatively cool because it does not absorb microwave energy. After the cap gasket material reaches curing temperature by the absorption of microwave energy, the closure is then removed from the microwave oven and allowed to cool, at which time the cap gasket material will harden.
The purpose of the pre-heating step is to prevent temperature gradients from developing within the cap gasket material. That is, if the cap and cap gasket material were inserted into the multi-mode oven at room temperature, as the gasket material absorbed energy to reach 340.degree. F., the cap, being non-absorptive to the energy, would act as a heat sink for the energy absorbed by the gasket material. Thus, the portion of the gasket material on, or adjacent to, the cap would be cooler relative to the portion of the gasket material furthest from contact with the cap. Thus, a temperature gradient would be developed across the gasket material. Temperature gradients may cause uneven hardening in the cap gasket material. Further, if the temperature in the cap gasket material becomes too hot, it may scorch, which results in the cap gasket material turning brown. If the temperature in the cap gasket material does not reach 340.degree. F., the cap gasket material will not cure and accordingly will remain liquid. If the closure is heated too long, the cap may melt and become distorted.
It is desirable, however, to eliminate the pre-heat step. One drawback of preheating is that the preheat oven requires a large amount of floor space. Further, preheating is an additional process step. Another drawback of preheating is that caps side walls may have a thin cross-sectional area that will deform if pre-heated.
Another drawback in using a multi-mode oven is that because it may not always be known how many closures are in process at any given time and because as closures absorb a percentage of the surrounding microwave energy, the requisite processing time may vary from load size to load size. This variation complicates the microwave oven processing procedure by requiring heating parameters to be constantly changed with load variations.
When processing many closures simultaneously, a large amount of floor space may be required to accomplish preheating. A multi-mode microwave oven may require 100-200 square feet of floor space. However, in a production environment, available floor space is typically very limited.
Finally, continuously processing closures having a height greater than 11/2" in a multi-mode microwave oven may not readily be accomplished without requiring elaborate choking structures to reduce leakage of microwave energy.


The disclosure relates to a molecular crowding type electrolyte that comprises at least one type of water-miscible/soluble polymer which acts as molecular crowding agent, a salt and a water. The disclosure also relates to a battery comprising the molecular crowding type electrolyte, and a method of using the molecular crowding electrolyte in electrochemical system such as battery that comprises an anode, a cathode and the molecular crowding type electrolyte.

Nonaqueous Li-ion batteries are the dominant energy storage technologies for electronic devices and electric vehicles owing to their high energy density (250-400 Wh/kg) and stable cycle life. However, potential safety hazard associated with flammable electrolytes used in nonaqueous Li-ion batteries have raised serious safety concerns. Replacing flammable nonaqueous electrolytes with non-flammable aqueous electrolytes is an effective approach to alleviate the safety concerns of the nonaqueous Li-ion batteries and reduce materials and manufacturing costs. Moreover, the voltage window of an aqueous Li-ion battery is limited by the electrochemical stability of water, which limits the energy density of the aqueous Li-ion batteries.
Recently, "water-in-salt" (WIS) electrolytes have been proposed as a new approach to expand the voltage window of the aqueous Li-ion batteries using highly concentrated salts. For instance, 21 m (molality, mol/kg) lithium bis(trifluoromethane) sulfonimide (LiTFSI) aqueous electrolyte was first reported as NIS electrolyte for Mo6S8/LiMn2O4 full battery with an operational voltage of 2.3 V, which is resulted from the decrease in the amount of free water molecules in WIS and the formation of solid electrolyte interphase (SET) created by anion reduction on the negative electrode. To break through the saturation limitation of LiTFSI, hydrated salts such as lithium trifluoro methane sulfonate (LiOTf), lithium bis(pentafluoroethanesulfonyl)imide (LiBETI) and lithium (trifluoromethanesulfonyl) (pentafluoroethanesulfonyl) imide (LiPTFSI) have been introduced to form "water in bi-salt" (21 m LiTFSI-7m LiOTf) for 2.5 V TiO2/LiMn2O4 battery, hydrate-melt (19.4 m LiTFSI-8.3 m LiBETI) for 3.4 V Li4Ti5O12/LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 battery, and monohydrate melt (22.2 m LiTFSI-33.3 m LiPTFSI), respectively.
Based on such fluorinated salt rich aqueous electrolytes, various modifications are subsequently adopted to improve the WIS system, for instance, adding tris(trimethylsilyl) borate (TMSB) into 21 m LiTFSI as interphase-forming additive to stabilize high voltage LiCoO2 cathode for 2.5 V Mo6S8/LiCoO2; reducing pH of 21 m LiTFSI to increase the discharge capacity of LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 in 3.0 V Mo6S8/LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 battery; and introducing non-aqueous solvent dimethyl carbonate (DMC) to 21 m LiTFSI for 3.5 V Li4Ti5O12/LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4, etc. In addition, to overcome cathodic stability limitation of WIS, a fluorinated interphase is pre-coated on graphite/lithium to build 4.0 V aqueous Li-ion batteries with WIS hydrogel. Based on this coating method, the protected graphite is coupled with a halogen intercalated graphite compound to achieve an energy density of 460 Wh kg−1, which is already competitive with the state-of-the-art non-aqueous lithium-ion batteries.
However, the use of highly-concentrated fluorinated lithium salts leads to cost and toxicity concerns. To address these issues, concentrated mixed cation acetate "water-in-salt" electrolyte (32 m potassium acetate (KAc)-8 m lithium acetate (LiAc)) and "water-in-ionomer" gel (50% lithiated polyacrylic acid (LiPAA)-50% H2O) have been proposed to replace the fluorinated salt rich electrolyte. However, owing to the absence of reliable SEI in 32 m KAc-8 m LiAc and the high water content needed (>30%) in LiPAA gel) avoid high rigidity and electrode-electrolyte contact issues, the water stability window is narrow in these non-fluorinated electrolytes, leading to lower energy density and shorter cycle life compared with fluorinated salt (e.g. hydrate melt).
In view of the above, there is also a need to develop low-cost and eco-friendly aqueous electrolytes with a wide voltage-window to achieve safe, high energy and sustainable aqueous batteries.

Molecular crowding type electrolyte and battery comprising the same


Anhydrous processing to convert methane into oxygenates (such as methanol), liquid fuels, or olefins uses an initiator to create methyl radicals. These radicals combine with sulfur trioxide to form methyl-sulfonate radicals. These radicals attack fresh methane, forming stable methane-sulfonic acid (MSA) while creating new methyl radicals to sustain a chain reaction. This system avoids the use or creation of water, and liquid MSA is an amphoteric solvent that increasing the solubility and reactivity of methane and SO3. MSA from this process can be sold or used as a valuable chemical with no mercaptan or halogen impurities, or it can be heated and cracked to release methanol (a clean fuel, gasoline additive, and chemical feedstock) and sulfur dioxide (which can be oxidized to SO3 and recycled back into the reactor). MSA also can be converted into gasoline, olefins, or other valuable chemicals.

Because there have been no adequate chemical methods for converting methane gas into liquids that can be transported efficienty to commercial markets, very large quantities of methane gas are wasted every day, by flaring, reinjection, or other means, at fields that produce crude oil. In addition, numerous gas fields are simply shut in, at numerous locations around the world.
Skilled chemists have tried for at least 100 years to develop methods for converting methane gas into various types of liquids. While various efforts in the prior art could produce relatively small quantities and low yields of methanol or other liquids, none of those efforts ever created yields that were sufficient to support commercial use at oil-producing sites. Such efforts prior to 1990 are described in reviews such as Gesser et al 1985 and Olah 1987 (full citations to all articles and books are provided below), and efforts after 1990 are described in articles such as Periana et al 1993, 1998, and 2002, Basickes et al 1996, Lobree et al 2001, and Mukhopadhyay 2002 and 2003.
As a result, oil and chemical companies are investing (as of early 2004) huge amounts of money to design and build facilities that will use either "liquified natural gas" (LNG), or a processing system called "Fischer-Tropsch". However, both of those systems are very inefficient and wasteful.
LNG processing burns about 40% of a methane stream, to refrigerate the remainder to somewhere between −260 and −330° F., causing it to liquefy so it can be loaded into specialized ocean-going tankers. After a tanker reaches its destination, another large portion of the methane must be burned, to warm the methane back up to temperatures that allow it to be handled by normal pipes and pumps. Therefore, LNG wastes roughly half of a methane stream. Nevertheless, as of early 2004, oil companies had committed an estimated $30 billion to build LNG facilities.
Similarly, Fischer-Tropsch processing burns about 30% of a methane stream to convert the remainder into a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, called "synthetic gas" or "syngas". The syngas is then converted (using expensive catalysts) into heavy oils and paraffins, which then must be cracked and/or distilled to convert them into gasoline and other products. The syngas conversion, the catalyst costs, and the fact that the process makes thick and heavy oils and waxes that require still more processing, all create major inefficiencies, but as of early 2004, companies have committed to building Fischer-Tropsch facilities costing tens of billions of dollars.
The waste and inefficiencies of LNG and Fischer-Tropsch systems, which are receiving billions of dollars in investments, prove the assertion that any methane-to-methanol systems previously proposed, based on small-scale laboratory work, have not been regarded as commercially practical, by any major companies. In addition, it should be noted that most processing systems proposed to date generate large quantities of acidic and hazardous byproducts and toxic wastes. Even if they can be recycled, those byproducts and wastes poses major obstacles to efficient and economic use.
Additional background information is provided in Patent Cooperation Treaty application number WO 2004/041399, arising from application PCT/US03/035396, filed in November 2003 by the same Applicant and Inventor herein. The contents of that published application are incorporated herein by reference.

Anhydrous processing of methane into methane-sulfonic acid, methanol, and other compounds