A prosthetic device including an upper member having an upper end and a lower end, a wave member having a toe end and a heel end, and a third member having a proximal end and a distal end. In the preferred prosthetic device, the toe end of the wave member is fixedly attached to the upper member and the heel end of wave member is adapted to be deflected.

It is known to use a prosthetic device on a user's lower limb. Conventional lower limb prosthetic devices, however, suffer from one or more shortcomings. For example, conventional lower limb prosthetic devices do not sufficiently deflect and dampen the impact at heel strike. Conventional lower limb prosthetic devices are also undesirably heavy and large. In addition, conventional lower limb prosthetic devices also have undesirable vertical compliance and roll over characteristics. Conventional prosthetic devices are also undesirably complex and noisy and lack durability.
It would be desirable, therefore, if a lower limb prosthetic device could be provided that would sufficiently deflect and dampen the impact at heel strike. It would also be desirable if such an apparatus could be provided that would reduce the weight and size of the lower limb prosthetic device. It would be further desirable if such an apparatus could be provided that would improve vertical compliance and roll over characteristics of the prosthetic device.

Lower limb prosthetic device with a wave spring


A cladding system for walls or ceilings of a building structure consisting of a panel or panels that are sectioned so as to provide a variety of aesthetics. The sections in the panel may be joined along articulated lines of joinder so that an entire panel comprised of a plurality of sections can be expanded or retracted to either cover or selectively expose the wall or ceiling across which the system is mounted. The sections in a panel may be cellular and may thereby form a honeycomb-type panel, and the materials from which the panels are made may vary between being rigid, flexible, hard, soft, flat, reflective, and the like. Panels can be supported with side rails extending along, each side of the panel while not requiring cross rails so that, for example, when a panel is used in a ceiling system and retracted from its expanded condition beneath a ceiling structure, generous access is provided to the ceiling structure for repair or other work on utilities such as plumbing, electrical, and the like that are found embedded in the ceiling. Intermediate rails, parallel to the side rails, can also be provided, if necessary, to support a panel along intermediate portions thereof or between adjacent panels. The supporting rails for the panels can take on numerous configurations so as to support the panels in varied ways depending to some degree upon the particular panel construction being utilized.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to cladding systems and more particularly to ceiling systems and wall coverings for building structures. The system may be a sectional or in some instances cellular system and can in some embodiments be expanded and retracted across a wall or an overlying ceiling structure.
2. Description of the Known Art
Ceilings or walls for building structures take many different forms which can be as basic as wood panels or drywall to, in the case of ceilings, more elaborate designer-type ceilings. Designer-type ceilings may consist of metal or plastic tubes, strips, panels, sheets of fabric or the like which are interconnected in various forms and configurations to obtain a desired aesthetic effect. Such designer systems are typically reserved for commercial establishments. Between the two above-noted extremes are ceiling systems commonly referred to as drop ceilings which incorporate a grid work of interconnected metal support strips defining shelves on which insulating panels are removably seated. Such systems are commonly found in both commercial and residential establishments and are desirable for many reasons which include aesthetics, sound absorption, heat insulation and the fact that the panels are removable to access the ceiling structure above the ceiling system and any utilities such as plumbing, ventilation or electrical that may be found above the ceiling system.
Drywall ceilings, while being one of the most common ceilings found in building structures, have the drawback of being very inflexible and also very plain from an aesthetic standpoint. In order to access the space above a drywall ceiling, holes must be cut in the drywall or the drywall itself removed which can be an expensive process considering replacement. The designer-type systems are also more permanent in nature even though providing a greater variety of aesthetics but have the drawback of being difficult and accordingly expensive to remove and replace in order to repair plumbing, electrical or other such utilities that might be found in the ceiling structure.
Drop ceilings have the advantage of providing accessibility to the space thereabove but are very limited from an aesthetic standpoint and further, access to the space above the drop ceiling is only available through relatively small openings provided in the supporting grid work of the system.
It is to overcome the shortcomings in prior art ceiling systems that the present invention has been developed.

Cladding system and panel for use in such system


A back-light device increases the level of luminance produced by a fluorescent lamp at low and high ambient temperatures by increasing the ballast capacitance at these temperatures. The ballast capacitor can include one or more capacitors made from ceramic or the like. The back-light device can be used with different types of video display apparatuses which employ a transmission-type video display plate.

This invention relates generally to a video display apparatus, and more particularly to a back-light device for illuminating a transmission-type video display plate within the video display apparatus.
A conventional video display apparatus which employs a video display plate such as a transmission-type liquid crystal panel requires that a light source be positioned behind the panel, that is, as a back-light device. Generally, a fluorescent lamp is used as the back-light device. The fluorescent lamp provides a high level of luminance, a high color temperature, a high level of effectivity and is relatively inexpensive. Unfortunately, a significant decrease in the level of luminance produced by the fluorescent lamp occurs at extremely low temperatures and especially at temperatures below the freezing point.
As shown in FIG. 2, the luminance characteristics of a cold cathode fluorescent lamp serving as a back-light device in a conventional video display apparatus varies based on ambient temperature conditions. More particularly, the level of luminance at low temperatures markedly decreases. At about -20.degree. C., the level of luminance of a cold cathode fluorescent lamp is about one fourth the level of luminance produced by the cold cathode fluorescent lamp at normal ambient temperatures of about 25.degree. C.-30.degree. C.
To compensate for low levels of luminance at low ambient temperatures, the level of electric power provided to the back-light device is varied based on the ambient temperature. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, a back-light device 50 includes a battery 14 which supplies a voltage to a voltage regulator 15 which is further modified by a variable resistor 16. Based on ambient temperature conditions, variable resistor 16 is adjusted to provide a suitable voltage to operating circuit 17 which in turn provides a suitable voltage to fluorescent lamp 18 for the latter to produce an acceptable level of luminance.
Another method for adjusting the level of luminance of a fluorescent lamp is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 58-80299. The Japanese application discloses a method for varying the oscillating frequency of a high frequency operating circuit by changing the value of a variable resistor based on the ambient temperature. Current flowing through the fluorescent lamp at low temperatures is increased to compensate for an otherwise low level of luminance.
Video display apparatuses for indoor use are not limited to any particular type of power source and can employ a variety of power sources for supplying power to their components (including direct connections to an electrical wall outlet). Power losses associated with these components is not a significant problem. Video display apparatuses for outdoor which include, for example, pocket size televisions and electronic viewfinders of video cameras are powered by a battery. Significant power losses associated with such video display apparatuses are undesirable and a serious drawback.
The luminance compensation technique illustrated in FIG. 3 requires a division of the voltage between voltage regulator 15 and the rest of the back-light device circuitry. In particular, a relatively large voltage drop is developed across voltage regulator 15. Power consumption increases.
The luminance compensation technique disclosed in the Japanese application requires the impedance of impedance elements which are part of the load be changed to increase or decrease the current flowing through the fluorescent lamp. Furthermore, although the method disclosed in the Japanese application consumes less power than circuit 50 of FIG. 3, the variable resistor required to change the oscillation frequency of the high frequency operating circuit must be adjusted manually (by hand) based on a temperature detector which detects the ambient temperature conditions. The range (width) of oscillating frequencies also must be increased (widened) to provide an adequate flow of current through the fluorescent lamp at low temperatures. An independent oscillation circuit is required. It is also difficult to increase the range of oscillating frequencies when using self-excited oscillation circuits which include transistors.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a back-light device for use with a video display apparatus which is not adversely influenced by low ambient temperature conditions. In particular, it is desirable to provide a back-light device which automatically maintains the level of luminance produced by a fluorescent lamp at a suitable level for video display purposes at low ambient temperatures.

Back-light device for a video display apparatus


An automated digital processing system and method for characterizing the probability of a finger print match for at least one finger including a means for providing at least a plurality of match scores for at least one finger; a means for providing a finger index; a means for providing a number of fingers used in the search; a means for providing a number of times a finger index appears in a subset of probable matches; and a means for providing a number of records in the database. At least two record identification metrics are calculated and a means for calculating a match credibility metric of the calculated record identification metrics is provided based on a function of at least one of: the number of fingers used in the search, the first record identification metric, and the second record identification metric. A means for providing a user with at least one of the record identification metrics is further provided.

"Ten prints" is a generic term used in the art to mean a set of fingerprints which may be taken either directly from a person's fingers or palms, or may be scanned from a print card. Prints taken directly are obtained by placing the fingers (and/or palms) on a scanner or by inking the fingers, etc. onto a paper card. Each print contains minutia features which have respective X-Y coordinate positions and angles of orientation as conventionally known in the art.
For many civil and criminal applications, such as identification verification, immigration control, etc., it is necessary to match the ten prints obtained from a person to ten print records stored in a database. In conventional automatic fingerprint identification systems (AFIS), the fingerprint features are captured from a person's ten prints to form what is termed a "search record". In a similar manner, the fingerprint features extracted from ten print cards of known identities have been stored in a database as "file records." To determine a match, a search record and the file records are compared in a fingerprint matcher microprocessor and matcher scores are determined as a measurement of how similar the compared minutiae are.
In the prior art, a minutiae matched score is determined for each of the ten fingers (or palm print) relating to the number of individual minutiae of that finger of the search record that compares to the minutiae of the same finger that is in the file record. The higher the score, the more similar the search and file prints are determined to be. The scores are then added for the compared fingers (that may be less than 10) of the search to the file records, and then dividing the score totals by the number of fingers compared, to thus obtain an average matched score. A sorted list may be compiled from candidate file records, and a subset of candidates are selected based on an average score threshold. This subset is then sent to an examiner for review to determine the correctness of the matched prints. Since each potential matched record must be visually verified, the selection of an accurate candidate list is quite important in the process. The amount of time and energy to review a large list of candidate records is a drain on resources that are becoming more stretched as the demand for fast and accurate identification services are required. If the list is too small, the mated candidate may not be in the list since the method of averaging matched scores does not take into account even if a pair of fingerprints is matched. Even if two of the compared finger pairs exhibit high match scores, lower match scores for the rest of the fingers may override the observed results. Thus lower match scores that may result because of operator differences in pressure or technique in obtaining the prints, smudging of the prints or background noise may cancel out the higher match scores for some of the fingers of the sets that are legitimate and valuable in determining the identification of an individual. Solutions to these problems, to date, have included increasing the number of manual examiners required to provide the identification results in a timely fashion or to forego accuracy in lieu of speed.
Thus, an enhanced system and method of identification using, for example, a ten print to ten print search that provides reliable decision logic and accuracy in the initial computer search of prints remains a goal in this area. It would be desirable to have an adaptive multi-level matching and decision logic system and a method that provides decision for the individual pairs of matched prints and records, that better utilizes the resulting scores in a progressive rather than an averaged score to more accurately obtain the desired identification and fast response time.
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that elements in the Figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the Figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help improve understanding of various embodiments of the present invention.

Progressive fingerprint matching system and method


Various embodiments of a technique to estimate and monitor a self-discharge rate for use as a measure of battery health are described herein. In some embodiments, the technique includes a system including a processor and a memory coupled with the processor. The memory is configured to provide the processor with instructions that when executed cause the processor to receive a plurality of snapshots obtained by monitoring a battery system in a quiescent state at a plurality of times. Each snapshot includes a plurality of cell state values at one of the plurality of times. The memory is further configured to provide the processor with instructions that when executed cause the processor to estimate a self-discharge indicator using at least one snapshot in the plurality of snapshots, compare the self-discharge indicator to a threshold, and recommend a remedy for the battery system in response to the self-discharge indicator exceeding the threshold.

Batteries stored for long periods of time can lose capacity from internal self-discharging as a result of irreversible side reactions that consume charge carriers without producing current. Because no cell is a perfect insulator, cells in a battery can noticeably self-discharge to some degree while the battery is idle or in a quiescent state. A quiescent state can occur for example when the battery is not in use and not being charged or balanced. A certain amount of self-discharge in a cell can be compensated for during cell balancing and charging by discharging the other cells to bring them to the same level of state of charge as the self-discharged cell. However, a particular cell's self-discharge rate may exceed what can be compensated for during the balancing and charging process. In this case, it may be necessary to replace the self-discharging cell or to recommend a remedy to address the issue before it causes battery failure. Accordingly, a technique for estimating and monitoring a self-discharge rate would be advantageous for use as a measure of battery health.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Estimation of self discharge rate as a measure of battery health


A heating device for an electric cooktop has at least one long heating conductor, one support body on the top side of which the heating conductor is arranged and fitted, and one supporting means for the support body. The heating conductor is designed as a corrugated flat strip which has, on its bottom side, holding elements which are arranged at a distance from one another and integrally project downward and are pushed into the support body. The supporting means supports the support body, at least in its outer region along an outer edge, at the bottom. The support body consists, as a thin plate, of compressed and adhesively bonded mica material, for example micanite, and is therefore electrically insulating and sufficiently stable.

The invention relates to a heating device as can be used, in particular, for an electric cooker or in an electric cooker, for example as a cooktop, warming plate or as an oven. The invention likewise relates to a corresponding electric cooker comprising at least one heating device of this kind.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,161,648 A and 5,498,853 A each disclose a heating device which can be installed in a cooktop beneath a cooktop plate. A plurality of long or elongate heating conductors are fitted on a flat support body composed of electrically and thermally insulating material. Holding elements which are pushed into the support body and thereby hold the heating conductor upright protrude downward from the heating conductors. In this case, the heating conductor can glow in the visible range at temperatures of up to somewhat above 1.000° C. during operation.
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention is based on the problem of providing a heating device of the kind mentioned at the outset and also a corresponding electric cooker with which problems of the prior art can be solved and it is possible, in particular, to use a stable, expedient and advantageous material for a support body.
This problem is solved by a heating device having the features of claim 1 and also by an electric cooker having the features of claim 25. Advantageous and preferred refinements of the invention are the subject matter of the further claims and will be explained in more detail below. In so doing, some of the features will be described only for the heating device or only for the electric cooker. However, irrespective of this, said features are intended to be able to apply both to the heating device and also to the electric cooker independently and autonomously of one another. The wording of the claims is incorporated in the content of the description by express reference.
The heating device has at least one long heating conductor which, although it can be produced in an elongate manner, is advantageously shortened in the assembled state. To this end, said heating conductor is designed as a corrugated flat strip which has, at least on its bottom side, holding elements which are arranged at a distance from one another. These holding elements project downward or protrude downward. The heating device has an abovementioned support body on the top side of which the heating conductor is arranged and fitted by way of the holding elements being pushed into the support body. In particular, the holding elements are pushed into the support body in this way without recesses, cutouts or the like for the holding elements having been produced or prepared beforehand, or alternatively where such recesses, cutouts or the like can also be produced or prepared beforehand. The heating conductor is easily pushed, by way of the holding elements, into the support body or its top side with appropriate force. In so doing, the heating conductor should be stabilized or held so that it does not tilt, as is known from the abovementioned prior art for so-called radiant heating devices. Said tilting would have a negative effect on the arrangement of the heating conductor on the support body. Furthermore, a supporting means is provided for the support body. Said supporting means supports the support body, at least in its outer region and/or along an outer edge, at the bottom. A relatively thin support body can then be used, which support body is inherently stable but could already be excessively bent due to the load of the heating conductors arranged on it. The supporting means can preferably support the support body at at least one point in the central region or in the center too.
According to the invention, provision is made for the support body to consist of compressed and/or adhesively bonded mica material. Therefore, an insulating material other than that known from the prior art, in particular known and used for radiant heating devices, is used. Mica material of this kind is sufficiently electrically insulating and has sufficiently good thermal insulation properties. Furthermore, it is sufficiently stable to hold the holding elements pushed into it and therefore also the heating conductors.
In an advantageous refinement of the invention, the mica material has, preferably up to approximately 250° C., a coefficient of expansion which is similar to that of the heating conductor. The heating conductor is advantageously an FeCrAl alloy as is known from the prior art for heating conductors of this kind, particularly also when said heating conductors are intended to glow in the visible range during heating operation. The mechanical stability and, respectively, the permanently stable construction of the heating device can be achieved more easily owing to these matched coefficients of expansion. Above the abovementioned temperature of 250° C., the coefficient of expansion of heating conductors of this kind can increase to a certain extent, but this should not present a problem in an advantageous refinement owing to a corrugated shape of the heating conductor. Furthermore, the holding elements can therefore engage more effectively in the support owing to greater expansion at higher temperatures.
The mica material is preferably micanite. Micanite of this kind or mica material in general form is also known, for example, from toasters in which heating coils are wound around a flat plate in order to be mechanically held. However, in this case, the heating conductors are not pushed into the plate itself, but at most pulled into prefabricated cuts. The micanite can comprise muscovite as the main constituent part, or alternatively phlogopite for even higher temperatures.
In one refinement of the invention, provision can be made for the support body to be designed as a plate. It can have, in particular, a planar top side. However, the top side can also be slightly curved, either in a fluted or convex or concave manner. The at least one heating conductor is arranged on the top side and then emits heat upward. The support body is particularly preferably a thin plane-parallel plate. A thickness of between 0.1 mm and 2 mm, in particular 0.2 mm to 0.6 mm, is considered to be advantageous. In the lower thickness range, this can be only just stable, so that the pushed-in holding elements of the heating conductor do not become detached again by themselves. At the same time, not as much mica material is required for a very thin support body.
If the support body is made thicker, it is more inherently stable. Its electrical and thermal insulating properties are then better too. Under certain circumstances, the support body can also be inherently stable in such a way that the supporting means has to be provided only in the outer region or along the outer edge. It can be so thick that the correspondingly short holding elements do not appear again at the bottom side. However, the holding elements preferably emerge from or project beyond the bottom side of the support body again.
In a further refinement of the invention, spacers can be provided in the region of the outer edge of the support body, in particular together with the supporting means. Said spacers can protrude upward beyond the top side of the support body. In this case, the spacers advantageously rest on the top side of the support body. The spacers can particularly advantageously be designed as a substantially continuously encircling ring which allows a distance of the heating device and primarily also the support body with the heating conductors thereon to be maintained from a cooktop plate, which is arranged thereabove, of a cooktop or another cover. If, however, the heating device is used in an oven, in particular as a top heater or bottom heater heating body, and in this case may even be exposed, the spacers on the top side may not be required.
Provision can advantageously be made for the holding elements to be produced separately from the heating conductor as a type of clip and then placed over said heating conductor. These clip-like holding elements are then fitted on the top side of the support body together with the heating conductor, in particular by being pushed into the support body.
However, the holding elements are particularly advantageously integrally formed from the heating conductor or formed on said heating conductor, that is to say the holding elements are connected to the heating conductor in one piece and in one part. Therefore, they consist of the same continuous flat strip material and extend downward from a bottom edge of the heating conductor in one part and in one piece. They are therefore integrally formed from said heating conductor. To this end, the heating conductor can be stamped out of the flat strip material as a strip, where the holding elements are jointly formed on the bottom edge in the process. However, this is also already known in principle from U.S. Pat. No. 5,498,853 A which was mentioned at the outset.
A length of the holding elements can be between 50% and 200% of the height of the heating conductor. In other words, a length of the holding elements can lie between 1 mm and 6 mm, where a height of the heating conductor can generally be a few millimeters, for example 1.4 mm to 7 mm.
According to the invention, the heating conductor is corrugated, preferably uniformly corrugated over its entire length. This corrugation can also comprise the holding elements integrally formed on said heating conductor. A curvature of the holding elements in their longitudinal profile away from the heating conductor, so that they are curved in the manner of a spade or the like, can promote considerably improved strength when inserting or pushing the holding elements into the mica material of the support body. These holding elements which are therefore of more stable design cannot bend so easily when they are pushed into the mica material.
In a further advantageous refinement of the invention, the holding elements can be of tapered design in their longitudinal profile away from the heating conductor or in the direction transverse thereto for the purpose of facilitating piercing of the support body. Said holding elements can therefore have a tapered free tip at the free end. Said tapered free tip can be of directly pointed or somewhat rounded design. Furthermore, a holding element can have a base region which adjoins the bottom edge of the heating conductor. In this region, it is important for the holding element to be well connected to the heating conductor. The holding element has a constant width in the base region, that is to say its side edges are parallel. The tapered free tip then, advantageously directly, adjoins this base region of constant width. A base region of this type can have a length of between 0.1 mm and 2 mm. The base region serves to provide for the holding elements, by way of the base region, to be in the support body when the heating conductor is pushed into the support body by way of the holding elements so that a bottom edge of the heating conductor rests entirely or almost on the top side. The tapered free tip of the holding element, which may possibly have greatly simplified the pushing-in process, then projects beyond the lower side of the support body. When the holding element is inserted into the support body only by way of the base region or is in direct contact with the support body only by way of said base region, and the base region equally has a constant width, the holding element is not pushed out of the relatively stiff mica material so easily. Therefore, the structure is more stable and more durable.
In an advantageous refinement of the invention, an above-described tapered free tip can adjoin said base region. In this case, this tapered free tip can be narrower in its upper region, or where it directly adjoins the base region or extends out of said base region, than the minimum width of the base region. The base region particularly advantageously projects or extends beyond the tapered free tip not only in a direction along the longitudinal profile of the heating conductor but rather on both sides. In particular, the tapered free tip can protrude downward approximately or precisely from the center of the width of the base region. It is considered to be preferred when the base region extends out of the heating conductor in one part and in one piece or is formed with said heating conductor in this way, for example is formed from a flat strip material as part of the holding element in accordance with the abovementioned method. The tapered free tip can likewise advantageously be formed together with the base region as a further part of the holding element.
A base region of this kind can have a width in the direction along the longitudinal direction of the heating conductor or, as it were, have a length which is between 2 mm and 10 mm or between 2 mm and 15 mm. In other words, this width of the base region can be between 100% and 400% of the height of the heating conductor. This is discussed in more detail below.
The base region is advantageously not pushed into the support body or not located in said support body. A support body is preferably produced from reasonably solid material, such as micanite as mentioned at the outset or the like, so that no force has to be applied to push a holding element, even by way of the base region, into the support body. It suffices to push in the holding element. At the same time, said holding element is mechanically weakened to a lesser extent as a result. The base region can be located above the support body or the surface thereof, but as an alternative it can be placed thereon or even be pushed thereagainst on account of the holding element being pushed in by way of the tapered free tip. Therefore, the base region forms, as it were, a support for the heating conductor on the support body and, since the base region has the abovementioned length of approximately 0.1 mm to 2 mm away from the heating conductor, the heating conductor runs, by way of its bottom edge, above the surface of the support body by approximately that amount. This has the advantage that said heating conductor is firstly not cooled on its bottom side by the support body and as a result renders possible improved development of heat, in particular even irradiation of heat upward. Secondly, less heat is input into the support body, which input of heat would otherwise subject said support body to greater thermal and mechanical loading and also would render necessary thermal insulation to a greater extent. Although the development of heat or the heating output is somewhat lower here owing to the widening of the cross section of the heating conductor in the region of the holding element or of the base region, this negative effect is more than compensated for again by the improved irradiation. Furthermore, a defined profile of the heating conductor on the support body or above said support body can also be achieved in this way.
Provision is preferably made for precisely one base region to be provided for each holding element or for all holding elements to each have a single base region. All holding elements are particularly advantageously of identical design, this being able to ensure as uniform a distribution of the heating power over the surface area as possible. In a yet further advantageous refinement of the invention, the heating conductor, by way of its holding elements, in particular the tapered free tips, is pushed into the support body or the surface thereof to an equal extent overall. Uniform production of this kind then also results in heat generation which is as uniform as possible.
It is advantageously possible for the tapered free tip, in the region in which it adjoins the base region, to initially have a constant width to obtain the abovementioned advantage that it is then pushed or embedded into the support body by way of this region of approximately constant width. This region of constant width can form an additional base region, where the additional base region can directly adjoin the base region at the top and merge directly with the tapered free tip at the bottom. The actually tapered region or pointed region then protrudes downward beyond the bottom side of the support body. This can have the effect that this tapered tip cannot be pushed out of the support body so easily on account of its tapering. The additional base region of constant width is specifically located here.
The base region can, at its two ends, run in a straight line in the direction of the heating conductor, that is to say at an angle of 90° to the other bottom edge of the heating conductor, or be beveled or else rounded once or several times. Since it is not intended to be pushed into the support body in the wide configuration in any case, this is not important. Production-related advantages of straight, beveled or rounded shapes can be utilized as desired here.
In one refinement of the invention, a power per unit area of the heating device which lies in the region of the heating conductor or is determined where a heating conductor runs can be at most 4 W/cm2. In particular, a power per unit area can be even lower, for example even lower than 2.5 W/cm2. At such low power densities, it is possible, according to safety regulations, to operate a heating device similarly to an abovementioned radiant heating device beneath a cooktop plate, where it does not require any temperature monitoring in accordance with VDE for this purpose. Therefore, it can be operated in an unsafe manner as it were. Such safety or temperature monitoring would be provided by a so-called safety temperature limiter or rod-type thermostat, as is also shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,498,853 A mentioned at the outset.
The at least one heating conductor advantageously covers a large portion of the surface area of the heating device, for which purpose tracks of the heating conductor can run at a distance of between 5 mm and 20 mm from one another on the support body. They can largely run parallel to one another or run parallel to one another by more than 80%, for example in a meandering or spiral manner.
In one refinement, the electric cooker according to the invention can be an electric cooktop with a cooktop plate and a plurality of heating devices, which are designed according to the invention, arranged therebeneath. An operator control apparatus with which operation of the cooktop can be controlled is provided on the cooktop in a manner which is known per se.
In an alternative refinement, the electric cooker according to the invention can be an oven, where it is advantageously conceivable here for the heating device to be installed as a top heater and/or bottom heater in the oven. The invention can specifically provide a relatively expedient heating device for this purpose.
These and further features are apparent from the claims and also from the description and the drawings, where the individual features can in each case be realized on their own or jointly in the form of subcombinations in an embodiment of the invention and in other fields and can constitute advantageous and inherently protectable embodiments for which protection is claimed here. The subdivision of the application into individual sections and sub-headings does not restrict the general validity of the statements made thereunder.


A behavior recognition method includes extracting, by a computer, skeleton information including a plurality of joint positions for each frame of an image, calculating a first set of motion feature amounts from the skeleton information, calculating a plot position by plotting the first set of motion feature amounts on a feature amount space defined by a second set of motion feature amounts, the plot position being a position where the first set of motion feature amounts is plotted on the feature amount space, the feature amount space having a plurality of mapping areas in which respective ranges corresponding to predetermined higher-level behaviors to be recognized are mapped, and expanding, when a degree of divergence from a minimum distance to other distances among distances between the plot position and each of the plurality of mapping areas satisfies a predetermined criterion, a mapping area at the minimum distance from the plot position.

A technique for recognizing behaviors from images has been known. For example, there is a technique for recognizing a target behavior from a recognition result of basic motions of an image according to a rule in which a combination of basic motions that are constituent elements of a complicated behavior is defined.
Related techniques are disclosed in, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2018-147153 and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2005-202653.

Behavior recognition method and information processing apparatus


A rechargeable battery includes an electrode assembly having a plurality of first electrodes each including a first coated region coated with a first active material and a first uncoated region having a first alignment opening and a second alignment opening, a plurality of second electrodes each including a second coated region coated with a second active material and a second uncoated region having a third alignment opening and a fourth alignment opening, a separator between each first coated region and each second coated region; and a case housing the electrode assembly, wherein the first alignment openings are substantially aligned with each other, the second alignment openings are substantially aligned with each other, the third alignment openings are substantially aligned with each other, and the fourth alignment openings are substantially aligned with each other.

(a) Field of the Invention
This disclosure relates to a rechargeable battery.
(b) Description of the Related Art
A rechargeable battery can be discharged and recharged, unlike a primary battery that cannot be recharged. A low capacity rechargeable battery is often used for a small portable electronic device such as a mobile phone or a laptop computer, while a large capacity rechargeable battery is often used as a power storage source or an electrical source for driving a motor such as for an electric vehicle, a hybrid vehicle, and the like.
A rechargeable battery typically includes an electrode assembly including a positive electrode and a negative electrode, and a separator interposed between the positive and negative electrodes, a case housing the electrode assembly, and electrode terminals that are electrically connected with the electrode assembly and which protrude from the case. The electrode assembly often includes several positive and negative electrodes and separators which are wound into a jelly-roll, folded in a zigzag way, or stacked in several layers.
In the electrode assembly, positive and negative terminals are respectively fixed by welding or the like on positive and negative uncoated regions exposed from the separator.
This aforementioned rechargeable battery may have various output performances, cycle-lives, reliability, and the like depending on arrangement and current collecting structure of an electrode assembly. For example, when positive and negative electrodes and a separator are not properly aligned in an electrode assembly, the electrode assembly may cause the rechargeable battery to become defective or short circuit during a subsequent process such as welding or assembly.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the described technology and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.


For IP-based wireless systems in which base stations are connected by an IP network and communication among base stations is not controlled by the centralized management, a new system and method for realizing soft handoff by using encapsulation in order to distribute and gather a reproduced packet by the serving base station with other base stations and to transfer the serving role between the base stations as the mobile station moves is described.

1.1 Technical Field
The invention relates to mobile communication devices. More particularly, the invention relates to base station soft handoff in IP-based CDMA Networks.
1.2 Related Art
Handoff is a process in which a mobile station communicating with one base station (referred to as the serving base station or SBS) is switched to another base station (referred to as the target base station TBS) during a call. Soft handoff is a form of handoff in which a mobile station starts communicating with the target base stations without interrupting the communication with the serving base station. Soft handoff has been shown to be an effective way for increasing the capability, reliability, and coverage range of CDMA networks. Soft handoff also helps reduce outage area size, achieves macro diversity gain, and provides more time for carrying out the handoff procedure.
Soft handoff may be implemented in an IP-based wireless network as illustrated in FIG. 1. The coverage area of the wireless network consists of cells 102, 103, and 104. Each cell is a geographical area that has a single wireless base station BS1, BS2, and BS3, respectively. The wireless network includes an IP network backbone 101 as is know in the art. An example of an IP-based wireless network is CDMA.
Soft handoff may be defined as a mobile station or mobile terminal receiving the same data from two or more base stations at the same time. Also, the mobile station or mobile terminal next combines the copies of the data from the different base stations into a single data stream and regenerates packets for applications associated with the mobile terminal. Soft handoff regions of FIG. 1 are represented by overlapping regions of cells 102, 103, and 104.
FIG. 2 illustrates how conventional centralized wireless networks implement soft handoff. FIG. 2 shows a serving base station 204 and a target base station 205 both communicating with a mobile terminal MS 206. A serving base station 204 is a base station that is acting as a primary base station for the mobile terminal 206. The target base station 205 is a base station that has recently become known to mobile terminal 206 or whose signal power (or other signal characteristic, e.g., signal to noise ratio) is above a threshold. A selection and distribution unit 201 generates packets 202 and 203 and sends them to serving base station 204 and target base station 205, respectively.
Three activities occur in soft handoff including transmission frame synchronization, data content synchronization, and data content combination.
With transmission frame synchronization, the mobile station collaborates with the base stations to synchronize the radio channel frames received (and transmitted) by the mobile station.
With data content synchronization, the centralized Selection and Distribution Unit (SDU) is responsible for distributing traffic, over layer-2 circuits, via different base stations to the mobile station and ensuring that the matching link-layer (and physical-layer) frames sent to different base stations contain copies of the same data. This applies to the forward direction (from the SDU 201 to the mobile terminal 206). In the reserve direction, the mobile terminal 206 ensures that the matching link-layer frames sent to different base stations contain copies of the same data.
With data content combination, in the forward direction, the mobile station combines the radio signals received in the matching frames from different base stations to generate a single final copy of each piece of received data. In the reverse direction, the SDU 201 selects one of the data received from different base stations.
To support the growing number of users of IP networks, base stations are believed to need to become autonomous. However, the current approaches for supporting soft handoff in an IP wireless network do not readily support autonomous IP-based base stations. These limitations include: the inability of mobile terminals to identify copies of the same data due to IP address changes, loss of data content synchronization, the inability to combine duplicate IP packets due to multiple link-layer connections to the mobile station, and the conflict with network layer or above layer mobility support.
First, mobile stations served by different base stations may have to use disjoint sets of IP addresses. This, for example, is likely the case when the mobile stations are served by different base stations that belong to different IP subnets. In such cases, the approach designated in FIG. 2 over, for example, WCDMA networks will cause packets sent from different base stations to the same mobile station to carry different destination IP addresses. Consequently, the mobile station 206's radio system, which operates at protocol layers below the IP layer, will not be able to determine whether two pieces of data, each arriving from a different base station, are copies of the same data. This frustrates the soft handoff requirements of data content synchronization, and data content combination as defined above. Accordingly, mobile stations may experience difficulty in identifying copies of the same data due to IP address changes.
Second, in conventional centralized CDMA networks, data content synchronization is achieved using a centralized control entity—the Selection and Distribution Unit 201. In particular, the SDU 201 ensues that data contents carried in matching frames 202 and 203 sent to different base stations are copies of the same data. In autonomous IP-based wireless base stations, centralized control entities will no longer exist. Consequently, even though the CDMA radio system is capable of synchronizing the link and physical layer frames on the radio channel, it cannot guarantee that the matching frames from different base stations will carry copies of the same data. This is because the copies of the same IP packet may arrive at different base stations at different times and may be transmitted by the base stations to the mobile station at different times. As a result, the mobile station's radio system may not be able to determine which frames received from different base stations contain copies of the same data. This problem is illustrated in FIG. 3.
FIG. 3 shows frames 301-305 from a serving base station and frames 306-310 from a target base station. The mobile terminal 206 receives frame B 301 from the serving base station as frame 1. Due to propagation delay or network delay or other random delays, frame B 309 is not received from the target base station until frame 4, suffering from a random delay 311. Accordingly, when the mobile terminal attempts to combine the first frame received, the mobile terminal will attempt to combine content B from the serving base station with the content X from the target base station. This disruption in the content from the serving base station arriving at the same time as the content from the target base station may be referred to as the loss of data content synchronization.
Different types of synchronizations between the source base station and the target base stations may be used. The types of synchronization include time-stamping the transmissions, transmitting the signals during a predefined window and attempting to synchronize the received transmissions based on pattern matching the received packets.
Third, transporting IP packets over CDMA networks (or over any other network) requires a link layer protocol that is capable of packet encapsulation/framing, i.e., the ability to reassemble IP packets at the receiving host. Today, for example, most proposals for IP-based CDMA networks use the Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) defined by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) for this purpose (see D. Perkins, "The Point-to-Point Protocol: A Proposal for Multi-Protocol Transmission of Datagrams Over Point-to-Point Links" IETF RFC 1134, November 1989.). However, link layer protocols like PPP could, without further innovations, make soft handoff impossible in many cases. For example, a single PPP connection, even when the PPP Multilink Protocol is used, cannot support multiple simultaneous copies of the same traffic stream between a base station and a mobile. Multi-link PPP can be modified to transport multiple copies of the same data simultaneously via different base stations to the mobile station. However, this cannot solve the data content synchronization problem. If a separate PPP connection is used by the mobile station to connect to each different base station, the conventional standard link-layer protocols will not be able to combine the packets arriving at the mobile station from different PPP connections. Consequently, duplicate IP packets have to be delivered to the IP layer. Unfortunately, the conventional standard IP layer protocols cannot combine duplicate IP packets either. As a result, the soft handoff requirement of data content combination as described above is violated.
The transmission control protocol (TCP) (e.g., J. B. Postel, Editor, "Transmission Control Protocol" IETF RFC793, September 1981), which is immediately above the IP layer, can detect and discard duplicate IP packets. However, TCP does not combine IP packets. The user datagram protocol (UDP) (e.g., the UDP (User Datagram Protocol)(see J. B. Postel, "User Datagram Protocol", IETF RFC768, August 1980), which is also immediately above the IP layer, does not even detect duplicate IP packets; it simply passes on each incoming IP packet to the upper layer applications. Consequently, soft handoff cannot be achieved due to the inability to combine duplicate IP packets. This may be understood as an inability to combine duplicate IP packets due to multiple link-layer connections to the mobile.
Fourth, sometimes soft handoff involves IP address change of the mobile station. For instance, if the target base station belongs to the different IP sub-network from the serving base station and starts to take the "serving" role because the mobile station is approaching enough near to the target base station, the IP packets to the Mobile Station have to be directly routed to the target base station that now becomes new serving base station. The IP address of mobile station has to be changed to the new one belonging to the same sub-network address range as that of the target base station. This relates to problems in data content combination if PPP is used, since this makes the migration of the PPP end point on the base station side. Usually this IP address change is managed by the mobility management function in the network layer and works independently from a layer 2 system. In this regard, an unexpected change of the serving base station in link layer breaks IP communication over the link. Here, the network layer mobility management recovers the connection and an expected packet passing route change by the network mobility management breaks the soft handoff processed in the layer 2. This happens when the base station works autonomously and there is no layer 2 anchor point like SDU any more. Instead of such disruption, seamless and smooth handoff for the IP communication is required even in this case.

Soft handoff in IP-based CDMA networks by IP encapsulation


A radio communication apparatus includes: a receiving unit configured to receive a cognitive signal including system information of each of a plurality of systems; a metric unit configured to prepare metric information indicating relationship degree between the radio communication apparatus and a communication system to which the radio communication apparatus does not belong; a condition determination unit configured to determine whether a restriction should be imposed on transmission by the radio communication apparatus based on the system information and the metric information; and a transmission unit configured to transmit a signal using predetermined radio resources when transmission by the radio communication apparatus is not prohibited.

Conventionally, frequencies are exclusively assigned to systems and carriers in a fixed manner according to specific respective purposes. However, in recent years, as the bands of new systems widen, as the new radio interfaces are becoming sophisticated, and as the standardized speed increases, frequency resources are drying up. It is becoming difficult to assign a new frequency to a new system exclusively in a fixed manner as in the past.
Regarding this problem, in the technique shown in the non-patent document 1, a method is proposed for using software radio and cognitive support pilot channel (CPC: cognition supporting pilot channel).
[Non-patent document 1] "An alternative concept to scanning process for cognitive radio systems: technical and regulatory issues", Martigne, P.; Moessner, K.; Cordier, P.; Ben Jemaa, S.; Houze, P.; Agusti, R.; Deschamps, B.; Bender, P.; Jeanty, L.; Bourse, D.; 16th IST Mobile and Wireless Communications Summit, 2007. 1-5 Jul. 2007, pp. 1-5

Radio communication apparatus and radio communication method in communication system


An improved safety syringe is disclosed herein comprising a locating ring positioned on the distal end of a syringe barrel and a pair of first and second sleeves which interact with a projecting tab on the locating ring to movably retain the first sleeve in retracted and extended positions and wherein in the extended position one of the sleeves enclose the syringe needle in an irreversible locked arrangement.

The majority of syringes used today for medical or laboratory purposes are disposable and are intended to be discarded after a single use. Disposal of these syringes poses a potential hazard for the individuals who use the syringes, as well as for those who dispose of them. With the increased awareness concerning the potential for the transmission of AIDS and other infectious diseases, a number of different devices have been proposed to prevent accidental needle sticks or to otherwise disable the syringe after a single use.
One approach to this problem is to provide a retractable shield which is movable between a retracted position and an extended position. A common feature of these syringes is that when the retractable shield is moved to the extended position, the shield covers the needle and cannot be retracted without the use of extraordinary force.
A number of such constructions have been proposed to satisfy the general requirement that the needle be permanently covered after the syringe has been used. Some of these constructions involve twist-to-lock mechanisms which often require at least two hands to operate and do not readily indicate when the shield has been locked into the extended position. Other syringes lock automatically when the shield is extended. In many of these syringes, the locking mechanism remains exposed and may be manually manipulated to retract the shield after the shield has been "irreversibly" locked.
These devices meet the general requirements for a safety syringe; however, many of them are much too complicated to manufacture economically and efficiently. Certain of these devices require extensive modification of the standard syringe components. This is generally unacceptable due to the large investment most manufacturers have in their present molding and extrusion equipment. Other devices cannot realistically be mass produced using presently known manufacturing techniques. Finally, certain other devices require a large number of manipulative steps during their assembly and thus a large amount of manual labor and cannot be economically mass produced.
Therefore, it is apparent that a need remains for a safety syringe having a retractable shield which is movable between an accessible retracted position and a reliable extended position, and which may be mass produced efficiently and economically.


Compositions that include bis(glyoxime)-transition metal complexes bound to metal oxide solid supports are provided. In some embodiments the compositions include nickel dimethylglyoxime and the metal oxide supports can be alumina or silica. These compositions can be used to make a colorimetric moisture-indicating sensor that changes visible reflection spectrum quantitatively and reversibly according to the amount of moisture in contact with the sensor. Also provided is a method of detecting moisture using the provided compositions.

Moisture indicators are used, for example, to determine the amount of moisture or humidity in the vicinity of the indicator. One type of moisture indicator changes color upon exposure to moisture or humidity. In some embodiments, colorimetric moisture indicators change color reversibly when exposed to moisture or humidity and will revert to their original color upon removal from this exposure. In other embodiments, colorimetric moisture indicators change color irreversibly so that after initial exposure to moisture or humidity the indicator remains colored and does not reversibly change back to its original color state.
Cobalt chloride has been widely used as a moisture-indicating medium. For example, the use of cobalt chloride for determining the moisture content of paper has been disclosed. Silica gel-supports that include iron (II) or iron (III) salts or with copper chloride have also been used as moisture indicators. Also lanthanide-halide based humidity indicators have been disclosed wherein an adsorbent support such as silica gel is impregnated with, for example, europium halide salts. However, cobalt and lanthanides are expensive and cobalt has some environmental concerns. Supports with iron salts or copper chloride do not show strong absorptions in the visible electromagnetic spectrum and are hard to detect.

Method for indicating moisture based on bis(glyoxime)-transition metal complexes


A system for facilitating the removal of a prosthetic hip implant from a femur. The explant system has at least one blade coupled to a handle. The shape of the blade conforms to a portion of the implant so that a cutting tip of the blade can be positioned in a desired position relative to the implant and the femur. A plurality of blades can be provided, each blade configured to conform to a different portion of the implant. Force is applied to the handle so that the cutting tip of the blade cuts through bone growth from the femur into the implant, thereby facilitating removal of the implant.

Conventional, primary total hip replacement is a durable operation in the majority of patients. A hip replacement is a mechanical device with parts, comprising a ball and socket. As with any other mechanical device, a total hip replacement can be subject to various forms of mechanical or biological failure. Such a failure may require a reoperation of the hip replacement to address the cause of failure and its consequences. A reoperation of a total hip replacement is called a revision.
The parts of a hip replacement which move against one another will slowly wear down during the regular use of the replacement. The younger and the more physically active the patient is, the faster the wear. Continual, repetitive movement of the mechanical parts causes small pieces of hip prosthesis to break off. Depending on the type of hip replacement, these particles can be made out of plastic, cement, ceramic, or metal.
Mechanical wear and tear leading to loosening of the prosthesis (implant) is one of the most frequent forms of mechanical failure. However, other forms of mechanical failure are possible, like breakage of the prosthesis, such as may occur during a trauma like a fall or auto collision.
During revision surgery it can be difficult to remove the broken and remaining parts of the implant. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a system that can assist the surgeon in removing the implant in an efficient manner with the least amount of damage to the bone and surrounding tissue.

Femoral hip stem explant system and methods of using the same

SHENZHEN RIDER THINKING TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.


An identification tag is provided comprising a multilayer assembly incorporating, in sequence, a metal backing layer, a bulk structural layer, a piezo-electric layer and an electrode layer. The electrode layer incorporates antennas structures for receiving interrogating radiation comprising a first radiation component at a relatively lower frequency and a second radiation component at a relatively higher frequency. The electrode layer also incorporates a structure for modulating a second signal generated in response to receiving the second component by a first signal generated in response to receiving the first component to generate a modulated signal which is re-emitted as reflected radiation from the tag. The presence of the tag is determinable from modulation components present in the reflected radiation, thereby distinguishing the tag from other objects capable of reflecting radiation, but not modulating it.

The present invention relates to an identification tag, in particular but not exclusively to an identification tag which is responsive to interrogation using radio wave radiation.
Identification tags are conventionally in the order of a few cm""s in size and are used in a number of applications, for example personnel wearable tags and anti-theft tags. Such anti-theft tags are often designed to be interrogated by radio radiation, for example using radio wave radiation having a frequency of several hundred kilohertz; the tags are conventionally attached to items of merchandise in retailing premises so that unauthorised passage of the tags past associated interrogating apparatus triggers an alarm.
Personnel wearable tags are often worn by authorised personnel and are used to provide selective access to facilities, for example equipment and buildings. The personnel tags are frequently in the form of magnetic swipe cards which are interrogated by swiping them physically past magnetic sensors.
Antitheft tags are described in a UK patent application no, GB 2306080A, the tags utilising field effect transistor (FET) technology for mixing interrogating radiation at frequencies of f1 and f2 and thereby generating corresponding mixed radiation at frequencies of f1+A f2 for use in detecting presence of the tags.
Moreover, marker tags for use in surveillance systems are described in a European patent application no. EP 0 142 380 A2. The marker tags each comprise a passive distributed resonant inductor-capacitor circuit exhibiting two electrical resonances, the resonances being detectable for determining presence of the tags.
Furthermore, an identification device is described in a U.S. Pat. No. 5,734,332. The device includes an inactive code carrier, for example a standing acoustic wave component, a frequency mixing section and a double antenna input. The device is operable to receive interrogating radiation at two different frequencies and generate two corresponding received signals. The signals are mixed in the frequency mixing section to generate an intermediate signal having a frequency corresponding to a difference in frequency between the received signals. The intermediate signal is coupled to the acoustic wave device which applies a coded modulation to the intermediate signal. The modulated intermediate signal is then recombined with the received signals to provide a composite signal for emission from the device. Emitted radiation corresponding to the composite signal is detected by equipment interrogating the device, thereby establish presence and identity of the device.
Conventional identification tags suffer from one or more of the following problems:
(a) they do not provide a sufficiently unique response in some applications; this can result in unauthorised personnel gaining access to buildings and equipment;
(b) in anti-theft applications, interrogation equipment associated with the tags are triggered spuriously by objects providing a similar response to that provided by the tags; and
(c) it is sometimes difficult to uniquely identify tags adapted to be interrogated by non-contact interrogation methods, for example using radio wave radiation; and
(d) it is not straightforward to modify identification codes recorded on the tags, for example where the identification tags are affixed to items of merchandise as they proceed through their manufacturing processes, the tags being used for recordal of completed manufacturing processes applied to the items or for quality control purposes.
There is thus a problem of providing each card with an associated unique signature whilst also making it susceptible to non-contact interrogation methods and unsusceptible to counterfeiting.
The inventor has appreciated that it is desirable to improve the reliability of conventional identification tags and associated interrogation equipment by arranging for the equipment to emit a specific form of interrogating radiation and for the tags to be selectively responsive to the radiation. Moreover, the inventor has appreciated that it would be desirable to improve the conventional tags so that information can be recorded on them more easily.
Therefore, according to the present invention, there is provided an identification tag comprising:
(a) transponding means for receiving interrogating radiation and for emitting modulated radiation in response; and
(b) modulating means for modulating the received interrogating radiation in a manner indicative of tag identity to generate tile modulated radiation, the transponding means including first and second structures for receiving first and second radiation components of the interrogating radiation and generating corresponding first and second signals respectively, said first and second components being at mutually different frequencies,
the modulating means including a coupling structure operative to receive the second signal and generate corresponding acoustic radiation and to couple the acoustic radiation to the first structure, the acoustic radiation modulating the first signal in the first structure to generate the modulated radiation, the coupling structure comprising a piezo-electric film for generating the acoustic radiation in response to the second signal.
The invention provides at least one of the following advantages:
(a) the tag is capable of being more reliably identified by a manner in which the modulated radiation is modulated; and
(b) the tag is capable of having its identification characteristics modified by altering the first structure.
In many applications for identification tags, small tag size and low tag cost arm important criteria. Preferably, the coupling structure incorporates a piezo-electric film for generating the acoustic radiation in response to the second signal. This provides the advantage of being a potentially cheap and compact manner to implement the coupling structure.
Acoustic radiation is defined as being mechanical vibrational radiation propagating within a medium.
Advantageously, the film can be of polyvinyl difluoride (PVDF) material which provides a benefit of being mechanically robust.
Conveniently, the tag is operative to be interrogated by radio radiation in a range of frequencies from around 50 MHz to 3 GHz. Thus, the first and second structures can compose radio antennae for receiving the interrogating radiation and emitting the modulated radiation. This provides the advantage that the tag is capable of being physically compact when designed to respond to radiation at this frequency range.
In a first embodiment of the invention, the first structure can incorporate a circular electrode region and the second structure can include a loop antenna. Conveniently, the first structure is spatially within the second structure. This provides the advantage of being a potentially compact arrangement for receiving the interrogating radiation and emitting the modulated radiation.
In a second embodiment of the invention, the first structure can comprise a plurality of electrically interconnected and radially disposed elongate conducting segment tracks, each track operative to function as an acoustic resonator having an associated modal vibrational response and to modulate the first component with the modal response corresponding to a segment track stimulated into resonance by the acoustic vibrations, thereby providing the tag with a signature code modulated onto the modulated radiation. This provides the advantage that the modulated radiation is capable of being modulated by a complex signature by which the tag can be more reliably identified.
In a third embodiment of the invention, the first structure can comprise a launcher electrode connected to the second structure, an interdigitated surface acoustic wave structure and a dipole antenna connected to the interdigitated structure, the launcher electrode operative to couple the second signal to generate surface acoustic waves, the interdigitated structure operative to receive the waves which modulate its electrical characteristics, and the dipole antenna is operative to receive the first component and to generate the first signal which the interdigitated structure is arranged to modulate to provide the modulated radiation. This provides the advantage that the interdigitated structure is capable of modulating the modulated radiation with a signature code, the signature code determined by the manner in which surface acoustic waves propagate through the interdigitated structure.


An automatic bin lid opener system is an apparatus used for opening and closing the top hatch of a storage bin from a control box at ground level to allow the user to avoid climbing ladders to the top of the storage bin. The control box may be operated manually or may be programmed to operate automatically as preferred by the user. The programmable control box may also be operated remotely at great distances via a cell phone using a cell phone application.

The following includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention(s). It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art, or material, to the presently described or claimed inventions, or that any publication or document that is specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of lids for bins and more specifically relates to an automatic bin lid opener system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various grains and dry materials are produced and used extensively in the agricultural business. These materials are produced and stored in volume, usually in silos or bins. Most often, there are multiple storage bins in operation on the average sized farm. The dry material that is usually stored in these bins dictates the design for the bins, which generally has a cylindrical sidewall with a conical shaped bottom that funnels the dry material, such as grain, to a bottom opening. The bottom opening has some type of hatch or closing device. To put the material in the bin, there is a top lid that is opened, which may be used also for introduction of air for aeration of the stored material. When a bin needs to be opened, a farmer or farm hand has to climb a ladder to the top of the bin and remove the bin lid. The task of climbing to the top of these bins can be dangerous, and at the very least, time consuming and laborious. These bins can be thirty feet, forty feet, or higher. These bin lids have been opened this way for as long as there have been bins. The labor and the safety factor are becoming increasingly more of a problem as the age of farmers increase with time. Fewer farmers are entering the field at a young age choosing rather to enter other fields that require less hours and labor. A solution is needed to add convenience, reduce labor, and increase safety when opening bin lids.
Various attempts have been made to solve the above-mentioned problems such as those found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,218,784 to Eugene B. Pollock, U.S. Pat. No. 4,208,839 to James O. Candy, Sr., and U.S. Pat. No. 4,327,522 to William W. Meadows. This art is representative of remote grain bin lid openers. None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the invention as claimed.
Ideally, a remote grain bin lid opener should provide a reduction of labor for the user and be programmable to operate according to pre-programmed settings, while optionally being operable from remote locations via a cell phone, and yet, would operate reliably and be manufactured at a modest expense. Thus, a need exists for a reliable automatic bin lid opener system to avoid the above-mentioned problems.


A band cart storage system and method having a storage cart that defines a storage area for receiving at least one or a plurality of portable and collapsible band carts and also that is capable of providing a platform that is adjustable for supporting instruments, components or even a person, such as a director or drum major, above the ground.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a band cart/drum major storage system and method and, more particularly, to a band cart storage system having a storage cart with adjustable platform and/or a storage cart capable of storing one or more band carts.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many improvements have been made over the years in the use of hand trucks and dollies for material handling and for moving equipment and instruments, such as band instruments, PA systems, amplifiers, speakers and the like. The problems of transporting such instruments, especially during a band competition, have become increasingly difficult. For example, during a typical high school band competition, a high school band will compete against other bands from other high schools. During such competition, it is necessary for the band to enter and exit a competition area, such as a field or an indoor area in an allotted time, such as 9 minutes. During this time, they are obliged to remove their equipment and instruments from the competition area.
Moreover, during a competition, a typical approach is to use a hand dolly, push cart or to attach a trailer, for example, a tractor or golf cart. Such trailers have the disadvantage of being very large and being hard to transport from competition to competition, as well as not being very compact. For example, US Patent Application Publication 2002/0105169 discloses a convertible cart for transporting objects.
It is often the requirement of musicians, such as a musical or rock and roll band, that they must set up extremely quickly and must break down the equipment quickly. As such, it is a requirement for a musical instrument transport cart that the cart be able to be assembled into its proper position for receiving equipment very quickly and easily. Thus, a band cart must be capable of rapid assembly and positioning such that it can carry objects such as amplifiers, band equipment, drums and the like toward, into and away from a competition area.
During competitions or practices, it is sometimes necessary that the director or, perhaps, a drum major or other person be elevated above the ground on a platform so that the band members, for example, can see and be directed by the director or drum major during the competition. It is oftentimes a necessity or desirable to have a director or drum major situated at various distances above the ground during such performance or practice. While director platforms and podiums have been used in the past, such platforms and podiums are typically a fixed distance from the ground and could not be elevated during competition or retracted for storage and transportation. Also, such platforms typically consume a large amount of space and are not capable of providing storage for band carts.
What is needed, therefore, is a system and method for overcoming one or more of the problems of the prior art and that provides certain improvements that are desirable to consumers, such as band directors or drum majors.


An article transport facility includes an article transporting mobile body; an article support for storing an article, the article support being configured to be moved between an article transfer position and an article storage position; an operating device provided on the mobile body for shifting the article support between the article storage position and article transfer position; an operated element supported to be movable in a direction of access between a proximate position adjacent the mobile body standing still in an article transfer location and a remote position away from the mobile body standing still in the article transfer location, the operated element being operable, in the proximate position, to place the article support in the article storage position, and in the remote position, to place the article support in the article transfer position; and a guide device for guiding the operating device in a fore and aft direction to a proper operative position relative to the operated element when the operating device executes a projecting operation.

This invention relates to an article transport facility, and more particularly to an article transport facility including a mobile body movable along a path and having an article holder.
Such an article transport facility includes a plurality of article transfer stations arranged along the path. The mobile body moves along the path to transport articles between the stations, such as by receiving an article from a station or delivering an article to a station.
Article supports for article storage are provided to keep temporarily articles to be transported to the stations. The article supports are usually located in positions for article storage such as at a side of and close to the path, not to interfere with movement of the mobile body. The article supports are shifted from the article storage position to an article transfer position only when articles are transferred to or from the article holder of the mobile body. Specifically, with the mobile body stopped at an article transfer location, the article support adjacent thereto is shifted from the article storage position to an article transfer position to transfer an article between the article support and the holder of the mobile body. Subsequently, the article support is shifted from the article transfer position to the article storage position, whereby the article is stored on the article support or is passed from the article support to the mobile body.
A conventional article transport facility has a guide rail serving as the path installed on the ceiling, a link mechanism pivotable about a horizontal axis relative to the ceiling for supporting the article support to be shiftable between the article storage position and article transfer position, and a hydraulic cylinder disposed between the ceiling and the link mechanism for shifting the article support between the article storage position and article transfer position (see JP 10-45213, for example).
In order to shift each article support between the article storage position and article transfer position, the above conventional article transport facility requires, arranged at a side of and close to the path, the hydraulic cylinder for shifting the article support between the article storage position and article transfer position, in addition to the link mechanism which supports the article support to be shiftable between the article storage position and article transfer position. Consequently, an increased number of components are arranged alongside the path, thereby enlarging an installation space as well as complicating the construction.


A method, apparatus, and computer program product are disclosed in a data processing system for providing a virtualized time base in a logically partitioned data processing system. A time base is determined for each one of multiple processor cores. The time base is used to indicate a current time to one of the processor cores for which the time base is determined. The time bases are synchronized together for the processor cores such that each one of the processor cores includes its own copy of a synchronized time base. For one of the processor cores, a virtualized time base is generated that is different from the synchronized time base but that remains synchronized with at least a portion of the synchronized time base. The processor core utilizes the virtualized time base instead of the synchronized time base for indicating the current time to the processor core. The synchronized time bases and the portion of the virtualized time base remaining in synchronization together.

1. Technical Field
The invention relates to the field of multiprocessor systems, and more specifically to a method, apparatus, and product for providing an efficient virtualized time base in a scaleable multi-processor computer system.
2. Description of Related Art
A symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) data processing system has multiple processor cores that are symmetric such that each processor core has the same processing speed and latency. An SMP system has one operating system that divides the work into tasks that are distributed evenly among the various cores by dispatching one software thread of work to each processor core at a time. Thus, a processor core in an SMP system executes only one thread at a time.
A simultaneous multi-threading (SMT) data processing system includes multiple processor cores that can each concurrently execute more than one thread at a time per processor core. An SMT system has the ability to favor one thread over another when both threads are running on the same processor core.
Known systems can include one or more shared processor cores where the shared processor cores are shared among the various processes that are being executed by the system. The processor core may be an SMT processor core. A shared processor core may be part of a logically partitioned system and shared among the various partitions in the system. The number of virtual partitions and the amount of system capacity allocated to each partition may be defined or modified at boot time by the system operator.
These systems typically include firmware, also called a hypervisor, that manages and enforces the partitioning and/or sharing of all the processor cores in the system. For example, a hypervisor may dispatch a virtual partition to one or more physical processor cores. The virtual partition includes a definition of the work to be done by each physical processor core as well as various settings and state information that are required to be set within each physical processor core in order for the physical processor core to execute the work. Thus, each virtual partition can be a "virtual" SMP system.
In known shared processor systems, the hypervisor supervises and manages the sharing of each physical processor core among all of the logical partitions. The hypervisor assigns a dispatch time slice to each logical partition. The hypervisor will service all of the logical partitions by dispatching logical partitions to the physical processor cores. The hypervisor services the logical partitions by granting time to each logical partition during which the logical partition will be executed on one or more of the physical processor cores. The hypervisor may dispatch more than one logical partition at the same time to different groups of physical processor cores.
Each logical partition will be defined by particular configuration data that is needed by a physical processor core to process that logical partition. The configuration data includes particular data, register values, states, settings, and information. All of the configuration data is stored by the hypervisor in the hypervisor's memory. When a particular logical partition is to be dispatched to a physical processor core, the hypervisor will retrieve the configuration data for that partition, restore all the settings to the registers and state in the processor core, and resume processing from the point that the partition was last suspended. Once the time slice that was granted to that physical partition has expired, the hypervisor will save the current values for all of the configuration data back into its memory to be retrieved at a later time for further processing of the logical partition.
Each processor core includes its own Time Base (TB) register. The TB register is a free-running 64-bit register that increments at a constant rate so that its value represents relative time. The TB registers are initially synchronized across all processors in an SMP system so that all processors in the system have the same relative time. The time indicated by the TB register is the time that has elapsed since the machine was restarted.
The TB register is a shared resource across all threads in a multi-threaded processor, and the constant rate that it increments, is known to software executing on each thread. The hypervisor also maintains a Real-Time Offset (RTO) for each logical partition. The RTO is the wall-clock time at the time when the TB started incrementing from zero. The RTO remains static until updated by the hypervisor.
The hypervisor can convert the TB value to a current wall-clock time by multiplying the period of the TB increment by the TB value, and adding the RTO. The hypervisor maintains the RTO as part of the configuration data for each partition. When operating system software wants to change its wall-clock time, it informs the hypervisor, and the hypervisor simply modifies the RTO for the partition, it does not modify the hardware TB. Often software tasks only require relative time, which can be determined simply by reading the current value stored in the TB.
A logical partition may be dispatched simultaneously to one or more physical processor cores. These processor cores may be located within the same chip, or within different chips in the same machine. In addition, a logical partition may be dispatched to a particular processor core at one time and then dispatched to a completely different processor core at a later time. The two processor cores may be located within the same chip, or within different chips in the same machine.
A partition obtains the current relative time by reading the value that is currently stored in the TB register of the processor core that is currently executing the partition. If a partition is suspended and then resumed on a second processor core, the partition will obtain the current relative time using the value that is stored in the TB register included within the second processor core.
Software running in different logical partitions is allowed to have different wall-clock times, but all threads in all partitions must always observe time to be advancing, both wall-clock time and relative time. Small forward jumps in time are allowable, but backward jumps are not.
The TB registers must be synchronized across all physical processors which are executing the same logical partition, since the operating system or dispatched processing threads could read the TB from the different processors running the partition, in any order, and must always observe time to be advancing. Since all processors running the same partition must have their TB registers synchronized, and the hypervisor can dispatch any logical partition to any physical processors in the machine, the TB registers must be synchronized across all processor cores in the entire machine.
Since the TB registers are synchronized across all processors within the same machine, a suspended logical partition which is resumed on a different processor in the same machine would see a forward jump in time by the amount of time that the partition was suspended. The time slices allocated for dispatching partitions will keep this forward jump acceptably small.
If the TB registers were not synchronized, then resuming a suspended partition on a processor with a different TB value could appear as a large forward or backward jump in time, which is not allowed by the architecture. Because the TB in processor cores in different machines generally have different values, a limitation of the prior art is that logical partitions are limited to running on processors within the same machine. It is desirable to be able to suspend and resume logical partitions on the same or a different machine.
With the prior art, permitting each logical partition to change the value of the TB in all of its processor cores every time it is dispatched is not an acceptable situation. If a TB value in one core in a partition is changed, the values of all of the TBs in that partition will no longer all be synchronized to each other. The values in the TBs would need to be resynchronized to each other by suspending all partitions that are executing in the machine, stopping all TB values from moving forward, updating the required TB values in the other cores running that partition, restarting counting by all time bases, then resuming all partitions. This approach is unacceptable because it affects the performance of the machine since the processing of the logical partitions is suspended, and it results in an apparent drift in time between this machine and other machines and clocks due to the frequent pausing of the TB registers.
One possible solution would be to have the hypervisor firmware intercept all software accesses to the TB via an interrupt, and apply an additional offset which is maintained by the hypervisor for each partition. However, this would negatively impact performance due to the overhead of handling an interrupt for every access to the TB.
Therefore, a need exists for a method, apparatus, and product for a virtualized time base in a scalable multiprocessor system which provides precise monotonically non-decreasing time synchronization across all software threads in a logical partition when suspended and resumed on the same or a different machine, while maintaining real time correlation to other machines or clocks.

Method, apparatus, and product for an efficient virtualized time base in a scaleable multi-processor computer

International Business Machines Corporation


The present disclosure relates methods and compositions useful for prevention of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSv) in animals, including animals of the species Sus scrofa. The present teachings relate to swine wherein at least one allele of a CD163 gene has been inactivated, and to specific methods and nucleic acid sequences used in gene editing to inactivate the CD163 gene. Swine wherein both alleles of the CD163 gene are inactivated are resistant to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSv). Elite lines comprising homozygous CD163 edited genes retain their superior properties.

Viral infections are a major source of morbidity and mortality in the livestock industry. In particular, Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) is a panzootic infectious disease of pigs, causing major economic losses to the world-wide pig industry. PRRS manifests in pigs of all ages but primarily causes late-term abortions and stillbirths in sows and respiratory disease in piglets. The causative agent of the disease is the positive-strand RNA PRRS virus (PRRSv). PRRS is the most economically important disease of domestic swine in North America, Europe and Asia, costing producers in North America more than $600 million annually.
Currently, there are no effective treatment programs for acute PRRS. As a result, when incidence of PRRS is detected on a farm, depopulation, sufficient cleaning/disinfection, and proper disposal of the carcasses must be used to eliminate the virus. In more extreme cases, whole herd depopulation-repopulation has been documented as an effective method of eliminating the PRRSv from endemically infected herds; however, this method results in significant loss.
Vaccines for PRRSv do exist; however, these vaccines have been unable to control the disease largely due to the genetic diversity within the structural proteins of the virus. Consequently, prevention of infection is currently the best control measure. As a prophylactic measure, farms in a country or zone where PRRSv exists must use stringent control measures, involving an assessment of the health status of replacement gilts and boars, as well as 45-60 days of isolation and acclimatization for incoming stock.
In recent years, more attention has been given to the role CD163 may play in the occurrence of PRRS. Despite the significant heterogeneity in strains of PRRSv, strains of PRRSv all share a tropism for CD163-positive cells. Although CD163 is a virus receptor, the CD163 scavenger receptor is also involved in the adhesion of monocytes to endothelial cells. Functions and a detailed description of CD163 are provided in Onofre, Gabriela et al., ACTA MEDICA, 2009, 52, 57-61.
CD163 is a 130 kDa type 1 membrane protein considered to be a fusion receptor for the PRRS virus; it is mapped to chromosome 5 in pigs. The basic transcript encodes for a protein of 1076 amino acids. There are five reported isoforms of CD163; three of the isoforms display different splicing forms of their cytoplasmic domains. Generally, however, the genomic molecule sequence of CD163 comprises 17 exons coding for a peptide signal sequence, nine scavenger receptor cysteine-rich (SRCR) domains, two proline serine threonine (PST) linker domains, a cytoplasmic domain, and a short cytoplasmic tail. CD163 has been described as the receptor for PRRSv. Domain 5 (SRCR5) of the protein is the interaction site for the virus. Exon 7 of CD163 encodes the SRCR domain 5 (SRCR5) that serves as an interaction site for the PRRSv in vitro. Burkard (Burkard, C., PLoS Pathog. 2017, 23, 13, e1006206) demonstrated that removal of CD163 exon 7 confers PRRSv resistance to porcine macrophages. The guides used in that work (set forth as targeting sequences including the PAM in SEQ ID NOs: 272 and 273), however, may lack sufficient activity and specificity for gene editing as part of a commercial breeding program. Further work by Whitworth and colleagues included creating a 123 bp deletion in Exon 7 using guides as set forth (including the PAM) in SEQ ID NO: 354 and SEQ ID NO: 211 (Whitworth, K. M., Biol. Reprod., 2014, 91, 1-13). Whitworth et al. (Whitworth, K. M., Nature Biotechnology, 2016, 34, 20-22) reported the preparation of PRRSv resistant pigs by knocking out the function of CD163.
Genome editing includes altering the genome by deleting, inserting, or substituting specific nucleic acid sequences. The alteration can be gene- or location-specific. Genome editing can use site-directed nucleases, such as Cas proteins and their cognate polynucleotides.
Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) and CRISPR-associated proteins (Cas) constitute the CRISPR-Cas system.
Cas9 is an exemplary Type II CRISPR Cas protein. Cas9 is an endonuclease that can be programmed by the tracrRNA/crRNA to cleave, in a site-specific manner, a DNA target sequence using two distinct endonuclease domains (HNH and RuvC/RNase H-like domains) (see U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2014-0068797, published 6 Mar. 2014; see also Jinek, M., et al., Science, 337:816-821 (2012) and Karvelis et al. Genome Biology (2015) 16:253.
The foregoing CD163 edits, while demonstrating some indication of efficacy against PRRSv, cannot be made as precisely and effectively as the edits disclosed herein. There is a need to improve the health of a porcine herd by editing the CD163 gene using guides for improved editing activity and reduced unintended edits, while conferring resistance to PRRSv.

Methods for improving the health of porcine species by targeted inactivation of CD163