An improved system for storing tape cassettes which includes, in combination, a tape cassette hanger means along with a rail support cooperating with the hanger means. The hanger means is arranged to be removably attached to the rail support, and includes a pair of rail groove-engaging hook members which extend outwardly from a backing, with the upper hook member having an outer tip of generally arcuate downwardly converging configuration, and with the lower groove-engaging hook member being of generally linear configuration with a horizontally projecting first segment extending outwardly from the base and having a rail groove-engaging flange at the outer tip thereof.

The present invention relates generally to an improved receptacle means for storing tape cassettes, and more specifically to a combination tape cassette receiving and storage system which includes a tape cassette hanger means along with a rail support cooperating with the hanger means. The combination of the present invention provides a safe and effective cassette storage system, and with a feature of one embodiment including a tape-identifying tag which drops into view when the tape is removed for accommodating expeditious and accurate replacement of the tape cassette to its assigned location following removal from the storage system for remote use.
The increasing availability of data and information systems has created a need for recording and storing such data and information. Tape cassettes are widely used as a means for retaining information on a substantially permanent basis, and are available in a number of formats including VHS and Beta formats, among others. As the quantity of such recorded information increases, the need as well as the means for storing quantities of tape cassettes correspondingly increases. Various techniques have been made available for storing such cassettes, including wall panel systems as well as rail storage systems. Since such storage space is normally limited in quantity, efficient means of storing such tapes in a readily accessible fashion is, of course, increasingly desirable.
As tape storage systems become more compact, it becomes increasingly important to provide a means for identifying the location of tapes removed from the system. In accordance with one feature of an embodiment of the present invention, a hanging tag is provided which is disposed in relatively concealed position while the cassette tape is in place, but which falls into prominent view when the tape is removed from its stored position. Thus, when the cassette tape is in place, its own identifying indicia may be utilized to locate the desired tape, but once removed, the identifying tag will become visible in order to expedite and facilitate its proper return.


A holder for a paint pellet gun cleaning squeegee, brush or the like which can be secured to the compressed air tank of a paint pellet gun for neatly and securely maintaining the squeegee on the gun body. The holder is comprised of a body member having a cylindrical shape being of a similar contour to that of the cylindrical compressed air tank of the gun. The body member is adapted to be snapped over the tank and securely held thereon. The body member has tubular members integrally attached thereto, one on each side of the contoured portion. The tubular members are closed on one end and open on the other. The open ends of the tubular members are adapted to receive the cleaning brush or the like and hold it therein while the paint pellet gun is being used. If it is desired to clean the barrel of the paint pellet gun, the cleaning brush or the like is removed from the holder and the cleaning is done. In order to avoid unwanted paint soiling of the clothes, instead of placing the brush on the body of the person, the brush is placed into the tubular members of the holder and securely held therein.

This invention is directed toward a holding device used for holding a gun barrel cleaner and, more particularly, a holding device for holding a paint pellet gun barrel cleaner wherein the holder is adapted to be attached to the compressed air tank of the gun.
Because of the residue remaining in a gun barrel after the firing of the gun, it is necessary to clean the barrel with a cleaning device so as to keep the barrel clean and free from particles which might interfere with the firing of the gun. Many cleaning brushes or the like have been developed for accomplishing this end. It is important that the cleaning device be readily available to the gun bearer so that he may clean the gun when necessary. Accordingly, clip on cleaning devices and the like have been developed for attachment to the gun barrel or, alternatively, holes have been bored into the gun butt for placement of the cleaning device in the gun itself. Similar to real guns and to a greater degree, paint pellet guns also require cleaning.
Paint pellet war, or defending the flag, has become an increasingly popular game wherein paint pellet guns are used as weapons for defending your designated territory. Because the paint pellet ammunition is soft and easily punctured, and due to the occasional misfiring of a paint pellet gun, paint and plastic tends to become lodged in the barrel of the paint pellet guns. The result of such an occurrence is the inability of the participant to defend himself with the gun. Inevitably, if the gun is not cleaned, this malfunction leads to the figurative death of the disarmed participant. Therefore, it has become desirable in such games to carry upon one's person a means for cleaning the paint pellet gun barrel during battle.
There exists elongated swabs, brushes or squeegees which are very effective in cleansing the gun barrel so that the paint pellet gun becomes functional again and thus allows the participant to further engage in battle and defend his flag. However, because the game deals with paint, the brush, squeegee or swab becomes very messy. The current practice is to place the paint-soiled brush or the like in one's pocket or belt strap. However, this tends to stain the participant's clothing with paint thereby making a mess. Also, based on the rules of the game, a participant is disqualified from play in a particular war game if fresh paint is found on any portion of his body and was caused by the fire of the opponent. Because of the confusing nature of the battles, paint upon the clothing from a paint-soaked brush or swab can be mistaken to be a hit by the opponent. Therefore, it would be preferable to store the brush or swab in a manner which does not expose the participant to paint-soaked clothes not caused by the opponent.
While the prior art discloses methods and apparatuses for the storage of gun barrel cleaning implements, none discloses the particular structure and advantages of the holding device of the instant invention. As is evident in the following, no prior art discloses a squeegee, brush or swab holder for use with paint ball guns.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,744,275 to Geltner, for example, discloses a maintenance kit for fire arms. As shown in FIG. 6 of the patent, the maintenance kit is adapted to be stored in the handle or butt of a rifle so that it may be easily accessible to the gun bearer during use of the gun. However, as can be seen, there is no separable attachment capable of storing a cleaner for use with a paint ball gun or any gun to which the present invention may be directed.
U.S. Pat. No. 464,099 to Wehrstedt discloses a cleaning rod for fire arms. As shown in FIG. 1 of that patent, the cleaning rod is attachable to the barrel of the rifle or fire arm by being placed into a hole in the same. Similar to Geltner, however, no separable means is disclosed by which a cleaning device for use with a paint ball gun may be stored.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,399,627 to Malesky et al. discloses a flexible cleaning device having a storage case. The cleaning device is adapted to be used for cleaning a gun barrel and can be stored in the storage case as shown. However, there are no means disclosed for attaching the storage case to the gun, nor is the device even directed towards paint ball gun applications.
In addition to the foregoing, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,800,289, 4,866,871, 4,875,303 and 5,022,176 all disclose apparatuses for cleaning gun barrels or the like, some of which have holding cases for the same. However, none of the devices is directed toward paint ball gun applications nor do any of the devices have separable means for attachment of the cleaning device to a portion of the gun wherein the attachment device is removable from the gun.


Apparatus for cooling a fluid. The apparatus has an ice storage reservoir (5) and tubes (12, 9) by which a cooling fluid or a cooled fluid may pass through the reservoir (5), where the fluids may exchange heat with the ice. At least one and preferably both of the fluids are air. The fluids may circulate in the storage reservoir (5) either independently or alternately, in which case the same fluid can alternately function as the cooling fluid and the cooled fluid. The apparatus is consequently simplified and therefore more reliable.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for cooling a fluid that comprises
an ice storage reservoir,
means for circulating a cooling fluid within the reservoir where it can exchange heat with the ice, and
means for circulating a fluid to be cooled within the reservoir where it can exchange heat with the ice.
It also relates to an ice storage reservoir which is such that it can be a part of such an apparatus, as well as to banks of tubes or groups of tube banks for heat exchange that can be part of the reservoir so as to ensure the transfer of heat between the cooling fluid or the cooled fluid, on the one hand, and the ice, on the other hand.
Recently, apparatus for cooling fluid have been introduced that comprise an ice storage reservoir for cooling purposes in air treatment installations as, for example, air conditioning, in which the air to be treated notably passes through a heat exchanger, called a "chiller," for exchange of heat with an antifreeze liquid such as glycolated water that is at a temperature less than ambient and circulated for this purpose by a pump between the chiller and the ice storage reservoir. The antifreeze liquid flows in the reservoir so as to be cooled by direct heat transfer with the ice, freely or in a manner guided by baffles. The antifreeze liquid here constitutes the fluid to be cooled by heat exchange with the ice in the reservoir.
Naturally, the ice first has to be frozen, then refrozen again in the reservoir as the ice melts as a result of heat exchange with the fluid to be cooled. For this purpose, one can use two ice making methods, in both cases by means of the flow of a cooled fluid in the reservoir.
A first ice making method uses the direct expansion of an appropriate refrigerant, such as Freon.RTM., as the cooling fluid contained in a closed flow loop that passes through the reservoir and also contains, besides the reservoir, other components of a traditional refrigeration system such as a compressor, a condenser and an expansion device.
A second method uses as the cooling fluid the cooled fluid itself, namely the antifreeze liquid itself such as glycolated water, which fluid, outside the reservoir, flows through a heat exchanger where it is cooled by an evaporating refrigerant, such as Freon.RTM., supplied by a closed loop refrigeration system that also, as is usual, contains a compressor, a condenser and an expansion device. The chilled fluid then returns to the ice storage reservoir where it cools the water to make ice.
The incorporation of an ice storage reservoir into a fluid cooling apparatus is of particular interest in terms of energy cost savings since it offers the possibility of making and storing the ice during periods of the day or week, called "off-peak hours," during which the energy required for this purpose, usually the electric power that operates the compressor of the refrigeration system, is the least expensive. It is thus possible to meet the maximum cooling load during the other periods of the day or of the week, that is, to avoid, to the extent possible, operating the compressor and consequently using electrical power, during those other periods of the day or the week during which, at the same time, energy costs are the highest and the need for cooling in general is greatest. The cooling capacity that is then required to supply the chiller of the associated air conditioning installation is, for the most part, supplied by heat exchange with the cooling fluid, that is, the antifreeze liquid such as glycolated water, with the ice being produced and stored between times. Naturally, even during those periods, the refrigeration system can be operated to provide additional cooling capacity if the need requires.
However, in their currently known embodiments, fluid cooling systems having an ice storage reservoir have a number of shortcomings.
Using glycolated water or other antifreeze liquids as the coolant in the ice storage reservoir and, possibly, as the cooling fluid for making ice, presents disadvantages inherent in using any liquid, that is, the need for appropriate leakproof piping systems to interconnect, for example, the chiller of the air treatment apparatus with flow control and safety valves and with other parts of the flow loop as well as complex and expensive control and regulation devices. One may need to periodically replenish the entire system as well as to maintain the proportion of antifreeze in the liquid. Certain repair or maintenance operations require draining and refilling the system, which procedures require large labor expenditure as well as extended periods during which the refrigeration apparatus is shut down because of malfunction or for preventive maintenance. In addition, the consequences of a possible leak of glycolated water or other antifreeze liquid, such as soiling of and damage to the areas adjacent to the apparatus, are considerable.
When one also uses as the cooling fluid intended for making ice a fluid that is initially liquid and vaporized in piping that is intended to be immersed essentially continuously in the ice within the storage reservoir, it is necessary to take numerous precautions to avoid any leak in this piping, given the danger represented by refrigerants such as Freon.RTM. that refrigerate by expansion and evaporation. In addition, in practice, using expansion and evaporation systems presents difficulties, notably because of the risks of retention of the compressor lubricating oil in other parts of the system, where the oil then remains and gradually accumulates, degrading system operation.
When the cooling fluid itself is an antifreeze liquid such as glycolated water and is used as the cooling fluid intended for making the ice in the storage reservoir, the known refrigeration apparatus also have the drawback of an increased requirement for space due the increased number and individual size of the necessary components.
European Patent Application 0 441 553 [U.S. Pat. No. 5,005,368 issued 9 Apr. 1991 to MacCracken et al.] recently proposed an air conditioning apparatus in which the air to be conditioned itself circulates, as the fluid to be cooled, inside the ice storage reservoir, where it is placed in a direct thermal exchange relationship with the ice. The ice is made in the storage reservoir through the direct expansion of an appropriate fluid which changes from a liquid to a gas during this expansion. The circulation of the air to be conditioned itself inside the storage reservoir as the fluid to be cooled, and the production of the ice through a direct expansion eliminate the drawbacks inherent in the use of an antifreeze liquid such as glycolated water but the drawbacks inherent in the production of cold through direct expansion still remain.


A communications system includes a first communications device cooperating with a second communications device. The first communications device multiplexes a digital speech message and a corresponding text message into a multiplexed signal, and wirelessly transmits the multiplexed signal. The second communications device wirelessly receives the multiplexed signal, de-multiplexes the multiplexed signal digital into the speech message and the corresponding text message, decodes the speech message for an audio output transducer, and operates a text processor on the corresponding text message for display. The corresponding text message is displayed in synchronization with the speech message output by the audio output transducer. A memory is coupled to the text processor for storing the text message, and the text processor is configured to display the stored text message.

Wireless communications devices transporting voice allows multiple parties to remain in contact with one another when deployed in the field. These devices typically use low rate voice encoders (i.e., vocoders) to robustly transmit digital speech to a receiver. On the receive side, low rate voice decoders are used to convert the digital speech back to analog speech.
In noisy environments, the receiving party may have a difficult time hearing the speech message from the transmitting party. This means that the receiving party would have to ask for the speech message to be resent. If the link between the transmitting and receiving party is lost and cannot be reconnected, then the receiving party simply misses out on the speech message. In certain situations the loss of a speech message providing command and control information may be critical. Consequently, there is a need to improve the reliability of the voice link between the transmitting party and the receiving party.
One approach to addressing this problem is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2006/0217159 which provides a wireless communications device that may be selectively operated in one of a voice-to-text operating mode and an audible operating mode. In the voice-to-text operating mode, a speech-to-text converter is used for converting a received speech message to a corresponding text message which is then sent to a display for viewing by the receiving party. Operation in the voice-to-text operating mode may be based on a comparison of a measured ambient noise level and a predetermined threshold. Alternatively, a control signal for selecting the voice-to-text operating mode may be received over an air interface. A disadvantage of this approach is that selection of the voice-to-text operating mode may occur after the receiving party has already missed hearing a received speech message. A secondary disadvantage is that most users have a need to hear the audio in order to recognize the speaker on the other end.

Communications system with speech-to-text conversion and associated methods


An elongate form tie extender aids insertion of form ties in form panel structures for thinner concrete walls. The extender passes through form tie holes and has fastening structure at one end to interconnect a form tie. For use a first form panel is established in forming position and form ties are fastened therein extending toward a second panel established in a temporary position spaced to allow a workman to move between the panels. Form tie extenders are interconnected on form ties in the first panel with one end in paired cooperating form tie holes in the second panel. The second panel is moved to forming position adjacent the first panel with form ties extending between the panels. The form tie extenders are removed and the form ties fastened on the second panel.

There are no patent applications related hereto heretofore filed by either or both of the instant inventors in this or any foreign country.
This invention relates generally to a process for creating forms for concrete walls, formed between spaced form panels having form ties extending through and between the panels, by using elongate form tie extenders.
In the construction of relatively thin, at least somewhat vertical, poured concrete wall panels between spacedly adjacent forms of some areal extent, it has become common in creating form structures for such purpose to use modular form panels with elongate form ties extending between, through and externally of the form panels so that the form ties may be fastened on external surfaces of the opposed form panels to aid support and positional maintenance of the panels. Form ties have long been known for this purpose, their developmental history is long and the ties have become quite sophisticated with several distinct types of ties in common use in the present day concrete arts for particular purposes or benefits. All such ties, however, share common features of an elongate configuration, such as a rod or twisted wire bodies having substantial tensile and some compressive strength, and end portions providing fastening structure for fastening on the exterior surfaces of interconnected form panels, such as enlarged heads, loops or stops. One common and widely used form tie of the present day concrete forming arts provides an elongate steel rod having enlarged heads at each end and a length predetermined for fastening of the heads by wedge type fasteners against the outer surfaces of opposed form panels spaced at a particular predetermined distance. Another common type of form tie used especially in light frame construction provides an elongate twisted wire body with loops and stops at each end to allow fastening on the exterior surface of form panels by rod or wedge-type fasteners passing through the loops.
To use these or similar form ties, however, requires placement of the tie ends from the inside surfaces of the form panels through holes defined in the opposed panels. This in the past has constituted a difficult and time consuming process which the instant invention seeks to simplify and shorten.
Since concrete structures that commonly embody form ties usually are relatively thin and of substantial areal extent, the form panels that create the opposed formed surfaces of such concrete structures must be spaced correspondingly close together, commonly at distances of about four to sixteen inches. In the past when form structures of this type have been constructed, the form panels have been established in place on preformed footings or similar supports established to permanently support the concrete structure to be formed. Form ties then are established in proper position through and between the panels. Depending upon the nature of the form ties they generally have been inserted in predefined holes from the inside of a first form panel, through that panel and spacedly outwardly thereof where they are fastened before placement of the second adjacent form panel. The second panel then has been positioned spacedly adjacent the first panel and the ties inserted from the space between the panels through holes predefined in the second panel and therebeyond so that the second end of the ties may be fastened in place. Some ties may be inserted from the space between pre-positioned panels, especially with some deformation of the tie or use of large tie holes in the panels, but normally this is more difficult, time consuming and less effective than inserting the ties in the first panel before the second panel is moved into spacedly adjacent forming position.
In either case, the pre-positioned form panels for most wall structures are close enough together as not to allow a workman to position himself or effectively move his body therebetween, so the prior tie insertion process required insertion of at least one end of each tie in at least one form panel to be accomplished from exteriorly of the opposed pre-positioned form panels and at a distance from the hole to carry the tie, which is difficult and time consuming. To exacerbate the problem, if tie holes defined in form panels are enlarged to aid tie insertion, they tend to allow exit of substantial amounts of plastic concrete which may make subsequent form removal difficult and create a wall with irregular protuberances. This problem may be further exacerbated by reason of the fact that the ends of ties commonly define or carry enlarged fastening structures that require a hole for their insertion somewhat larger than the tie body. Generally the insertion of ties in a form structure heretofore has required the efforts of at least two workers, even with the use of elongate tools, as normally one worker has moved the tie from exteriorly of the first panel initially carrying it and a second worker has aligned the second tie end that is to be inserted in the second panel to direct the second tie end into the cooperating hole defined in the second adjacent panel.
Our invention simplifies this process by providing particular elongate form tie extenders releasably fastenable for support at the second end of each form tie and a modified method or process for form assemblage that allows the insertion of ties in the second form panel by a single worker moving in the space between two temporarily spacedly adjacent form panels before closer final positioning of the second form panel to form the finally assembled form structure.
These extenders and our process allowed by their use permit form assemblage by one worker rather than two in the same or less time than heretofore was required by two workers to accomplish the assemblage by prior traditional methods.
Our form tie extender provides an elongate rod-like body having connecting structure at one end to releasably interconnect the fastening structure of one end portion of a form tie. The connecting structure may take various forms to interconnect particular form ties, but neither the connecting structure nor the body of the tie extender are larger in cross section than form tie holes predefined in form panels to be serviced, thereby allowing elongate passage of the extender through the form tie holes. The extender has a length such that when an interconnected form tie and extender are carried in cooperating form tie holes defined in spacedly opposed form panels before final positioning, a worker may position himself and effectively move in the space between those form panels.
To use our form tie extender, a first form panel is established in a forming position on an underlying permanent support for a concrete structure to be formed. Form ties are inserted by a worker from the inner surface through the form tie holes in the first panel and spacedly beyond the outer panel surface where they are fastened by appropriate fasteners heretofore used for such purpose. The second form panel then is positioned in a temporary position spacedly adjacent the first panel at a distance somewhat less than the combined length of a form tie and interconnected form tie extender, but sufficient to allow a worker to move between the form panels. The first outer ends of the form tie extenders then are sequentially positioned by a worker between the form panels in cooperating form tie holes pre-defined in the second form panel and the second inner end of each extender is releasably interconnected with the form tie to be carried in that cooperating hole. When all form ties in a particular panel are assembled in this fashion with form tie extenders, the workman exits from between the panels. The second form panel then is moved into forming position on the permanent support spacedly adjacent the first panel so that the form tie extenders and the end portions of interconnected form ties pass through the cooperating form tie holes defined in the second form panel. The extenders then are removed from the interconnected form ties and the form ties fastened on the outer surface of the second form panel in traditional fashion to complete the form structure as heretofore known for forming the desired concrete structure.
In providing such a concrete forming system, it is:
A principal object to create an elongate form tie extender that may be releasably interconnected with the end portion of a form tie to create a combined assemblage of sufficient length to allow a space between adjacent form panels during the form assemblage process that is of sufficient size to allow passage and effective motion of a worker therein when the outer end portions of the interconnected form ties extenders are carried in cooperating form tie holes defined in adjacent form panels.
A further object is to provide such a form tie extender that has connecting structure to allow releasable interconnection with various form ties of the present day concrete forming arts, but yet is of such size as to pass through traditionally sized holes for the form ties defined in commercially available form panels.
A further object is to provide a form assembly process for use with such form tie extenders wherein a first form panel is established in forming position on a permanent support; form ties are inserted through holes pre-defined in the first panel and fastened on the outer side of the panel; a second form panel is established in temporary position spacedly adjacent the first form panel at a distance to allow a worker to pass and effectively move between the form panels; form tie extenders are established in cooperating holes defined in the second form panel and releasably interconnected with form ties projecting through the first panel and into the space between both panels; the second form panel is moved to forming position spacedly adjacent the first form panel while the interconnecting pairs of form ties and form tie extenders remain in the holes initially carrying them; removing the form tie extenders from the associated form ties outside the second form panel and fastening the form ties on the outer side of the second form panel.
A still further object is to provide a form tie extender and method for its use that are of new and novel design, of rugged and durable nature, of simple and economic practice and well adapted to the uses and purposes for which they are intended.
Other and further objects of our invention will appear from the following specification and accompanying drawings which form a part hereof. In carrying out the objects of the invention, however, it is to be remembered that its accidental features are susceptible of change in design and arrangement with only the best known mode of preferred and practical embodiments being illustrated and specified as is required.

Concrete form assemblage process and form tie extender therefore


A method for sampling a host liquid in a vessel to detect the presence of an undesired liquid in the host liquid and removing host liquid that contains undesired liquid from the vessel, wherein an electrical capacitance probe is employed to detect the presence of the undesired liquid, and the liquid that is passed by the capacitance probe is fed to an incinerator.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method for analyzing a sample of a host liquid held in a vessel for the presence of an undesired liquid, and, if necessary, removing sufficient of the liquid in the vessel to remove the undesired liquid from that vessel.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Although, for sake of clarity and brevity, this invention is described in terms of an ethylene polymerization plant that produces a polyethylene product, this invention is broader in its application than polyethylene production plants.
Ethylene is polymerized to polyethylene homopolymers and co-polymers by a number of different processes to make different polymeric products such as low density polyethylene, high density polyethylene, and linear low density polyethylene which exhibits favorable characteristics found in both low density and high density polyethylenes. For sake of example only, this invention is described herein primarily in terms of a solution phase (solution) polymerization process for making high density polyethylene (HDPE).
Although originally used to make HDPE, the solution polymerization process has been adapted to copolymerization and the making of linear low density polyethylene. The system operates at lower pressures, from about 2000 to about 3000 psig, rather than the earlier high pressure, 50,000 psig, bulk or high-pressure polymerization process, and runs at temperatures of from about 300 to about 550 degrees Fahrenheit (F) using conventional Ziegler-Natta catalyst systems.
In the solution process a hydrocarbon such as n-hexane or cyclohexane, for example, is employed as the host medium (solvent) in which the polymerization reaction takes place. This host liquid solvent keeps the ethylene monomer, catalyst, and the polyethylene product in a fluid state, and also keeps these materials in intimate contact with one another to facilitate the polymerization reaction. The solvent also absorbs much of the exothermic heat from the polymerization reaction, and helps control the rate of ethylene consumption in the reaction.
The ethylene resides in the polymerization reactor for a few minutes, and, as it polymerizes, remains dissolved in the host solvent.
Downstream, the polyethylene is processed for the removal of catalyst followed by solvent separation and recovery for re-use in the reactor. The remaining molten polyethylene is fed to a drying, extruding, and pelletizing system wherein it is converted to solid polyethylene pellets. The pellets are then packaged and marketed as a product of the polyethylene production plant.
The solvent is thoroughly dried of its water content because water, being polar, acts as a poison to the Ziegler-Natta catalyst system. Only a trace of water in the solvent can adversely affect the catalyst. These catalyst systems employ, for example, titanium tetrachloride/trialkyl aluminum or other transition metals such as zirconium and vanadium in place of the titanium. These catalyst systems are well known in the art and more detail is not necessary to inform one skilled in the art.
Heretofore, to determine if water was present in a tank holding a supply solvent, a sample was hand drained by an operator into a clear container, and then visually inspected for the presence of water that naturally separates out from the hydrocarbonaceous solvent. This sample was then passed to a sump that was exposed to the ambient atmosphere. If water was observed by the operator to be present in the sample, solvent was drained from the tank into the atmospherically exposed sump for a period of time. Then another sample was taken by hand and visually inspected for the presence of water. These steps were repeated until no water was seen in the hand sample taken by the operator. This process could require the taking of a number of samples before all the undesired water was removed from the solvent holding tank.
This hand sampling process sometimes led to the removal to the open air sump of more solvent than necessary to remove the undesired water because the operator could drain solvent that did not contain water into the sump before he took his next hand sample. In other words, the operator had no effective, much less accurate, way of determining whether all the water had been removed except by trial and error hand sampling, and this could cause the removal of solvent that was not contaminated with water. This sampling process could, therefore, cause a lot of the solvent, a volatile hydrocarbon material, to be passed into the sump that was exposed to the ambient atmosphere, thereby allowing the solvent to vaporize and enter the atmosphere. Thus, a laborious hand sampling procedure was heretofore employed that not only could waste dry solvent, but delivered to the ambient atmosphere more solvent than necessary or desirable.
Accordingly, it is desirable to be able accurately to detect the presence of even minute amounts of water in as small a volume of solvent sample as possible before that solvent is employed in the polymerization process. It is equally desirable to be able to take a minimum number of samples of solvent, each sample in a minimum volume, during the sampling of that host liquid.
It is just as desirable that any additional solvent that is drained to remove water from the holding tank, is taken from the tank in a manner such that only the minimum amount of solvent is taken that is necessary to remove the water, and that minimum amount of solvent is disposed of in an environmentally friendly way.
This invention accomplishes all of the foregoing.


A method for bonding a porous tantalum structure to a substrate is provided. The method comprises providing a substrate comprising cobalt or a cobalt-chromium alloy; an interlayer consisting essentially of at least one of hafnium, manganese, niobium, palladium, zirconium, titanium, or alloys or combinations thereof; and a porous tantalum structure. Heat and pressure are applied to the substrate, the interlayer, and the porous tantalum structure to achieve solid-state diffusion between the substrate and the interlayer and between the interlayer and the porous tantalum structure.

Orthopedic implants are often utilized to help their recipients recover from injury or disease. To promote quick recovery, orthopedic implants are designed to cooperate with the body's natural inclination to heal itself. Some orthopedic implants are designed to foster osseointegration. As is known in the art, osseointegration is the integration of living bone within a man-made material, usually a porous structure. Cells in the recipient form new bone within the pores of the porous structure. Thus, the porous structure and the bone tissue become intermingled as the bone grows into the pores. Accordingly, orthopedic implants may include a porous surface to enhance fixation between the orthopedic implant and adjacent tissue. Of course, the faster the surrounding tissue grows into the porous surface, the sooner the patient may begin to resume normal activities. However, the manufacture of the orthopedic implants with porous structures is not without difficulty.
Orthopedic implants are usually made from various metals. One difficulty encountered during manufacturing is bonding separate components, each made of a different metal, together. For example, cobalt is a popular metal used to make orthopedic implants, and other popular metals include alloys of cobalt with other metals, such as chromium. The porous structure may be made from an entirely different metal, such as tantalum. In this case, bonding the porous metal to the orthopedic implant involves bonding tantalum to cobalt or to cobalt-chromium alloys. Bonding these two metals together has proved to be particularly problematic.
Thus, there is a need for an improved method of bonding of porous structures, specifically tantalum, to cobalt and cobalt-alloy implants such that the bond has sufficient strength while the corrosion resistance of the metals in the resulting implant are maintained.

Method for bonding a tantalum structure to a cobalt-alloy substrate


A method for operating a powertrain system including a torque machine mechanically coupled to an internal combustion engine includes, upon detecting a pending fault associated with a power switch configured to control power flow to the torque machine, disabling torque output from the torque machine and executing retry events. The retry events are iteratively executed with a debounce time period preceding each retry event. Presence of a fault associated with the power switch is detected when a quantity of the retry events during a time window exceeds a threshold.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure. Accordingly, such statements are not intended to constitute an admission of prior art.
Known vehicle powertrain system systems include one or more torque actuators coupled to transmissions that transfer torque to a driveline for tractive effort. Torque actuators include internal combustion engines and electric motor/generators. An electric motor/generator may be used in a belt-alternator-starter (BAS) system as a torque actuator in place of an alternator. BAS systems include a serpentine belt to transfer torque between the engine and the electric motor/generator. BAS systems use a high-voltage energy storage system supplying high-voltage electrical power through an inverter to an electric motor/generator.
Inverters employ power switches, e.g., integrated gate-drive transistors (IGBTs) to convert high-voltage DC electrical power to high-voltage AC power that is transferred to an electric motor/generator to generate torque for tractive effort and engine starting. Faults in such systems include line-to-line electric shorts and ground faults in any one of the inverter, the electric motor/generator, and a multi-phase power bus electrically connected between the inverter and the electric motor/generator. Faults associated with power switches and windings of the electric motor/generator may result in excess electric current flow through the various components, and an increased voltage magnitude across a collector and emitter of one or more of the power switches, referred to as desaturation. A desaturation condition is said to exist if the voltage magnitude across a collector and emitter of a power switch rises above a threshold, e.g., 5-8 volts when a gate-emitter voltage is high. Known control system responses to a desaturation fault include an immediate shutdown of the electric motor/generator. Known systems are configured to monitor power switch collector-emitter voltages to detect desaturation faults, and include control systems to effect immediate shutdown of the electric motor/generator upon detection of a fault. Powertrain systems are exposed to external disturbances including electromagnetic interference (EMI) that may trigger false detection of a fault and an associated immediate shutdown of the electric motor/generator that is unnecessary.

Method and apparatus for fault detection in a torque machine of a powertrain system


When first and second region-processing sections (510, 520) calculate in parallel backlight luminances required for an input image halved by a regional image division section (505) included in an area-active drive processing section (5) of a liquid crystal display device, LED data (Db1, Db2) are exchanged for each other, allowing reference to backlight luminances not calculated for one region but calculated for the other region. As a result, when an area is illuminated by surrounding backlight sources, the actual display luminance can be calculated correctly. Thus, pixel display can be provided with correct display tones across the entire screen, thereby preventing a reduction in display quality.

Image display devices provided with backlights, such as liquid crystal display devices, can control the luminances of the backlights on the basis of input images, thereby suppressing power consumption by the backlights and improving the quality of display images. In particular, by dividing a screen into a plurality of areas and controlling the luminances of backlight sources corresponding to the areas on the basis of portions of an input image within the areas, it is rendered possible to achieve lower power consumption and higher image quality. Hereinafter, such a method for driving a display panel while controlling the luminances of backlight sources on the basis of input image portions within areas will be referred to as "area-active drive".
Liquid crystal display devices of area-active drive type use, for example, LEDs (light emitting diodes) of three colors, i.e., R, G and B, and LEDs of white as backlight sources. Luminances of LEDs corresponding to areas are obtained on the basis of, for example, maximum or mean pixel luminances within the areas, and provided to a backlight driver circuit as LED data. In addition, display data (data for controlling the light transmittance of the liquid crystal) is generated on the basis of the LED data and an input image, and the display data is provided to a liquid crystal panel driver circuit. Note that the luminance of each pixel on the screen is the product of the luminance of light from the backlight and the light transmittance based on the display data. Here, light emitted by one LED is incident on a plurality of areas around one corresponding area. Accordingly, the luminance of each pixel is the product of the total luminance of light emitted by a plurality of LEDs and the light transmittance based on the display data.
In the liquid crystal display devices as mentioned above, the display data and the LED data are appropriately obtained on the basis of an input image, the light transmittance of the liquid crystal is controlled on the basis of the display data, and luminances of LEDs corresponding to areas are controlled on the basis of the LED data, so that the input image can be displayed on the liquid crystal panel. In addition, when luminances of pixels within an area are low, luminances of LEDs corresponding to that area are kept low, thereby reducing power consumption by the backlight.
In relevance to such area-active drive liquid crystal display devices, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2005-241678 discloses a configuration including a plurality of backlight sources, in which a screen is divided into a plurality of areas corresponding to the backlight sources, and the backlight sources are controlled independently of each other in accordance with the brightness of their corresponding areas of the divided screen. This configuration allows power consumption to be effectively reduced without having to wait for features of the entire screen to be extracted.

Image display device and image display method


A lubrication system for a gas turbine engine including at least one porous element located in a cavity containing at least one rotating component receiving a flow of the lubricant, the porous element being located across a path taken by a portion of the lubricant expelled from the at least one respective rotating component such that the portion of the lubricant circulates therethrough, the at least one porous element being made of a material resistant to a temperature of the lubricant, the at least one porous element reducing a velocity of the portion of the lubricant circulating therethrough.

In a lubrication system of a gas turbine engine, the used lubricant expelled from the rotating components, such as the main bearings, meshed gears of the accessory gearbox and centrifugal air/oil separator, has an increased velocity and circulates along a swirling path, such that the used lubricant typically has a tendency to remain within the cavity containing the rotating component for a given period of time instead of circulating directly to the drains of the scavenge system. As such, the quantity of lubricant which remains in circulation within the lubrication system generally increases the weight of the engine and the size of the reservoir required to contain the lubricant when the engine is at rest. Accordingly, improvements are desirable.


In accordance with the present invention, there is provided various methods of simultaneously fabricating a plurality of semiconductor packages (e.g., cavity type semiconductor packages) wherein the singulation process is achieved using etching techniques as opposed to more conventional cutting techniques such as sawing or punching. Such etching techniques are inherently lower in cost and free from many of the defects induced by other cutting techniques.

The present invention relates generally to semiconductor package technology, and more particularly to a unique manufacturing methodology for a semiconductor package wherein singulation is accomplished by etching as opposed to mechanical cutting (e.g, sawing or punching).
Integrated circuit dies are conventionally enclosed in plastic packages that provide protection from hostile environments and enable electrical interconnection between the integrated circuit die and an underlying substrate such as printed circuit board (PCB). The elements of such a package include a metal leadframe, an integrated circuit die, bonding material to attach the integrated circuit die to the leadframe, bond wires which electrically connect pads on the integrated circuit die to individual leads of the leadframe, and a hard plastic encapsulant material which covers the other components and forms the exterior of the package often referred to as the package body. In a cavity type semiconductor package, the package body is substituted with a prefabricated cavity which is formed on the leadframe, the die being positioned within the cavity and sealed therein by a lid or similar structure which is attached to the cavity.
The leadframe is typically the central supporting structure of a semiconductor package. A portion of the leadframe is internal to the package, i.e., completely surrounded by the plastic encapsulant package body or the prefabricated cavity. Portions of the leads of the leadframe extend externally from the package or are partially exposed within the package body or cavity for use in electrically connecting the package to another component. In certain semiconductor packages, a portion of the die pad of the leadframe also remains exposed within the package body for use as a heat sink.
For purposes of high volume, low cost production of semiconductor packages, a current industry practice is to etch or stamp a thin sheet of metal material to form a panel or strip which defines multiple leadframes. A single strip may be formed to include multiple arrays, with each such array including a multiplicity of leadframes in a particular pattern. In a typical semiconductor package manufacturing process, integrated circuit dies are mounted and wire bonded to respective ones of the leadframes, with the encapsulant material then being applied to the strip so as to encapsulate the integrated circuit dies, bond wires, and portions of each of the leadframes in the above-described manner. The hardening of the encapsulant material facilitates the formation of a mold cap upon the leadframes.
Upon the hardening of the encapsulant material, the leadframes within the strip are cut apart or singulated for purposes of producing the individual semiconductor packages. Such singulation is typically accomplished via a saw singulation process or a mechanical punching operation. In the saw singulation process, a saw blade is advanced along "saw streets" which extend in prescribed patterns between the leadframes as required to facilitate the separation of the leadframes from each other in the required manner. The advancement of the saw blade along the saw streets currently cuts the molded plastic mold cap, thus facilitating the formation of the above-described molded plastic package body upon each of the separated leadframes. With particular regard to cavity type semiconductor packages, the saw blade is advanced along the saw streets which typically extend between the various cavities formed on the strip.
One of the drawbacks associated with the saw singulation process used in relation to the manufacture of semiconductor packages is that the saw blade used in the saw singulation process cuts through copper (i.e., the metal material typically used to fabricate the strip) usually most of the time. As will be recognized, this level of sawing through copper as occurs as a result of the configuration of the strip often results in the premature wear of the costly saw singulation blades. Another drawback of the saw singulation process is that the same also typically results in the burring of the leads of the separated leadframes. Saw generated burrs at the leads often adversely affect solder mounting and joint reliability. In current semiconductor package fabrication methodologies, lead burrs are often controlled by limiting the feed rate of the saw blade along the saw streets and by using specifically developed, high cost saw blades. However, as will be recognized, the use of the high cost saw blades is undesirable due to the resultant increase in production cost, with the reduced feed rates needed to control burring also adversely affecting production speed, and thus efficiency. With particular regard to the punch singulation process, one of the drawbacks associated with the use of such process is the tendency for the hardened encapsulant material or package body of the semiconductor package to chip or crack as a result of the punching operation. As will be recognized, such chipping or cracking of the package body can result in the accelerated failure thereof as a result of, among other things, moisture permeation to the embedded integrated circuit die. Further, punch singulation is typically not preferred for applications using mechanically sensitive die due to the perceived risk associated with impact vibration (e.g., MEMS).
The present invention addresses the above-described drawbacks by providing a semiconductor package having structural attributes which are uniquely tailored such that the singulation process is achieved using etching techniques. Advantageously, etching techniques are inherently lower in cost and free from many of the defects induced by other cutting techniques (e.g., sawing, punching) as highlighted above. These, and other advantages of the present invention, will be discussed in more detail below.


A combustion driven fastener hand tool is disclosed having an extruded front body component including two to three parallel bores. A first bore forms a cylinder for the piston which drives the fastener. A second bore forms a primary combustion chamber in which a fuel and air mixture is ignited and directed into the adjacent piston cylinder. A third bore (or alternately an attached component) forms a pathway for the fuel and air mixture to be directed into the primary combustion chamber. The combustion driven fastener hand tool includes numerous other features affording improvements over the prior art.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to powered fastener driving hand tools. Particularly, this invention relates to a combustion driven fastener hand tool.
2. Description of the Related Art
Powered fastener driving tools, e.g. nail guns, have existed for decades. Perhaps not coincidentally, the first commercial nail gun was introduced in 1950 after World War II wherein the technology for rapidly firing projectiles was greatly advanced. The first nail guns were pneumatic, driven by compressed air. Although pneumatic power is still the most prevalent, over time fastener driving tools have been developed using other means of power, such as electric motors, solonoids, combustibles, e.g gas or explosive powder, have also been developed. Some development of technology related to powered fastener drivers, and particularly combustion driven fastener tools. However, there is still much need for further development.
U.S Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0210974, published Aug. 23, 2012, by Adams, discloses a gas-powered tool motor includes a combustion chamber with an intake valve at one end, an exhaust valve at another end, and a control plate or control valve between two portions of the combustion chamber. A piston or other positive displacement device is in communication with the combustion chamber. The intake and exhaust valves have closure members that are movable along a common axis in tandem between collective open positions for recharging the combustion chamber with the fuel and air mixture and collective closed positions for detonating the fuel and air mixture in the combustion chamber and displacing the positive displacement device. The control plate or control valve supports limited air flows from a first portion of the combustion chamber to a second portion of the combustion chamber even in the closed position of the control valve for supporting two-stage combustion.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need in the art for apparatuses and methods improving the operation of combustion driven fastener hand tools. There is also a need for such apparatuses and methods that operate reliably and efficiently over many uses and at a reduced cost. In addition, there is a need for such apparatuses and methods to allow comfortable and precise control of combustion driven fastener hand tools. There is further a need for such systems and apparatuses to be inexpensively manufacturable and readily servicable. These and other needs are met by the present invention as detailed hereafter.


The present invention provides optical-fiber communication cables with an improved water-blocking element that reduces or eliminates microbending caused by the water-swellable particulate powders by employing such water-swellable powders in conjunction with a smooth but perforated compression-resistant carrier tape. The water-blocking element is deployed within optical-fiber buffer tubes to water-block the buffer tubes and to minimize microbending that can occur when water-swellable particulate powders press against optical fibers.

Water-blocking in optical-fiber buffer tubes and fiber optic cables typically has been accomplished by using petroleum-based filling gels (e.g., grease). By completely filling all of the free space inside a buffer tube that contains an optical fiber or optical-fiber bundle, the filling gel blocks the ingress of water into the fiber optic cable.
Moreover, being a thixotropic material, the filling gel also tends to mechanically couple the optical fiber(s) to the buffer tube. Such mechanical coupling prevents the optical fiber(s) from retracting inside the buffer tube as the buffer tube is processed during manufacturing, as the cable is installed or otherwise handled in the field, or as the cable is subjected to thermally induced dimensional changes from environmental exposure.
Although relatively effective for controlling cable flooding, the petroleum-based filling gels are inconvenient during cable repair and optical-fiber splicing. The use of such gels requires cleaning the petroleum-based material from optical fibers prior to splicing (and sometimes from equipment and personnel, too), which can be messy and time consuming. Consequently, using conventional filling greases is often undesirable.
Various dry-cable designs have been developed to eliminate filling greases while providing some water-blocking and coupling functions. In either loose tube fiber cables or ribbon cables, a totally dry design eliminates the filling gel from the enclosed buffer tubes. In a totally dry cable, for example, filling gel may be replaced by a water-blocking element, such as a tape or a yarn carrying a water-swellable material (e.g., water-swellable powder). Water-swellable powders are dry to the touch and, when bound to a carrier tape or yarn, can be readily removed during field operations (e.g., splicing).
Optical fibers are sensitive to mechanical loads, which can cause undesirable microbending. Those having ordinary skill in the art know that microbending is induced when small stresses are applied along the length of an optical fiber, perturbing the optical path through microscopically small deflections in the core.
Water-swellable powders consist of finely ground hard particles. The size and hardness of such particulates may be sufficient to cause microbending and optical attenuation in the optical fibers they contact.
Accordingly, there is a need for a more effective solution to dry cable design. In particular, there is a need for a grease-free water-blocking element that reduces microbending losses in optical fibers yet effectively blocks the longitudinal movement of water inside a fiber optic cable and its constituent buffer tubes.


A method for monitoring an elevator controls an image capturing device located inside the elevator to capture a current image inside the elevator when a malfunction of the elevator is detected by one or more monitor devices. The method further analyzes the current image to determines if there are passengers trapped inside the elevator. In addition, the method generates a rescue message and sends the rescue message to an emergency response department through a network upon the condition that there are passengers trapped inside the elevator.

1. Technical Field
Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to elevators, and more particularly to an electronic device and method for monitoring an elevator.
2. Description of Related Art
When an elevator is out of order due to power failure, fire, earthquake, or any other malfunction, any passengers trapped inside the elevator may try to use their mobile phones to contact help. However, it is typical that mobile phones do not work well, if at all, in elevators.

Electronic device and method for monitoring an elevator


Disclosed herein are a data processing system and method of operating a data processing system that arbitrate between conflicting requests to modify data cached in a shared state and that protect ownership of the cache line granted during such arbitration until modification of the data is complete. The data processing system includes a plurality of agents coupled to an interconnect that supports pipelined transactions. While data associated with a target address are cached at a first agent among the plurality of agents in a shared state, the first agent issues a transaction on the interconnect. In response to snooping the transaction, a second agent provides a snoop response indicating that the second agent has a pending conflicting request and a coherency decision point provides a snoop response granting the first agent ownership of the data. In response to the snoop responses, the first agent is provided with a combined response representing a collective response to the transaction of all of the agents that grants the first agent ownership of the data. In response to the combined response, the first agent is permitted to modify the data.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to data processing and, in particular, to a data processing system and method for resolving conflicts between memory access requests. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a data processing system and method for resolving conflicts between requests to modify a cache line in a shared state.
2. Description of the Related Art
A typical symmetric multiprocessor (SMP) data processing system architecture includes a system bus coupled to a plurality of agents, at least one of which (e.g., a memory controller) provides an interface through which a system memory can be accessed. In many data processing system implementations, at least one of the agents, for example, a processor, has one or more associated caches for storing data and/or instructions (hereinafter, both referred to as data) associated with system memory addresses at relatively low access latency as compared to the system memory. Thus, data are available for read and write access by the agents from multiple sources (i.e., caches and system memory) having different associated access latencies.
In data processing systems that cache data, proper system operation depends upon the coordination of accesses satisfied by multiple possible data sources to ensure that read and write accesses to each system memory address are ordered such that agents requesting read access receive correct data. To provide the required coordination of data accesses, a cache coherency protocol is employed, which specifies the possible cache states for data and the caching behavior of the agents. In addition, a bus protocol is employed that, inter alia, specifies the transactions agents issue in response to certain internal operations and the snoop responses agents are required to provide in response to snooping transactions on the system bus. Such snoop responses are compiled to produce a combined response indicating what action, if any, one or more agents are to take in response to the transaction.
Traditional implementations of cache coherency protocols, such as the well-known MESI (Modified, Exclusive, Shared, Invalid) protocol, have required an agent to gain exclusive access to data prior to modifying a locally cached copy, for example, by issuing a read-with-intent-to-modify (RWITM) transaction on the system bus. The RWITM transaction requests that the initiating agent be provided an up-to-date copy of a target cache line and that other agents invalidate their copies of the cache line, if any.
To decrease the latency of stores to cache lines that are held non-exclusively (e.g., in the Shared (S) state), some coherency protocol implementations permit an agent to issue a Dclaim transaction on the system bus to inform other agents that it desires to modify its locally cached copy of a target cache line and that other cached copies of the cache target line, if any, should be invalidated. Thus, a Dclaim differs from a RWITM in that an agent issuing a Dclaim is not requesting a copy of the target cache line. The agent issuing the Dclaim transaction can proceed with its store without violating coherency if it receives a combined response to the Dclaim transaction indicating that all other agents have received the transaction and will invalidate any cached copies of the shared cache line.
In data processing systems that support Dclaim transactions, a central issue that must be addressed by the coherency and bus protocols is how to arbitrate between multiple agents that desire to store to a shared cache line within a relatively small time window. In data processing systems in which transactions on the system bus are strictly ordered (i.e., each transaction issued on the system bus receives a combined response representing the collective response of all the agents prior to the next transaction being issued), conflicts between agents desiring to store to a shared cache line are typically resolved in favor of the agent that first gains ownership of the system bus. That is, the first agent to issue a Dclaim transaction on the system bus receives a combined response indicating that the agent can proceed with its store operation and all other agents must invalidate their copies of the cache line, if any. Thus, all other agents desiring to store to the shared cache line must wait until the store operation completes and then issue a RWITM transaction to acquire the modified cache line for subsequent modification.
The present invention recognizes that arbitration between multiple agents desiring to modify a shared cache line is more complex in data processing systems that pipeline bus transactions (i.e., one or more other transactions may be issued on the system bus prior to the agent issuing an earlier transaction receiving a combined response). The additional complexity arises from the fact that a first agent that desires to modify a shared cache line may be required to provide a snoop response to a second agent""s Dclaim transaction prior to receiving a combined response to its own Dclaim transaction. However, without receiving the combined response to its own Dclaim transaction, the first agent does not have enough information to indicate in its snoop response whether the second agent""s modifying operation can proceed.
The present invention also recognizes that the coherency and system bus protocols must somehow protect the ownership of a shared cache line by an agent that wins ownership of the shared cache line during arbitration. That is, once the coherency protocol has granted ownership of a shared cache line to a first agent for purposes of modification, the coherency protocol cannot permit another agent to gain ownership of the same cache line until the first agent has completed modification of the cache line and all other agents have agreed to invalidate their cached copies of the line, if any.
In view of the foregoing, the present invention provides a data processing system and method of communication in a data processing system that arbitrate between conflicting requests to modify data cached in a shared state and that protect ownership of the cache line granted during such arbitration.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a data processing system includes a plurality of agents coupled to an interconnect that supports pipelined transactions. While data associated with a target address are cached at a first agent among the plurality of agents in a shared state, the first agent issues a transaction on the interconnect. In response to snooping the transaction, a second agent provides a snoop response indicating that the second agent has a pending conflicting store request, and a coherency decision point provides a snoop response granting the first agent ownership of the data. In response to the snoop responses, the first agent is provided with a combined response representing a collective response to the transaction of all of the agents that grants the first agent ownership of the data. In response to the combined response, the first agent is permitted to modify the data. To maintain coherency, the first agent also invalidates other cached copies of the data, if any, preferably by issuing on the interconnect one or more kill transactions specifying the target address associated with the data.
Because the first agent is unaware of its ownership of the data until receipt of the combined response, the coherency decision point protects the grant of ownership to the first agent until the combined response is received by the first agent. Following receipt of the combined response, the first agent can assume responsibility for protecting its ownership of the data until modification of the data is complete, other agents acquiesce to invalidation of their cached copies of the data, if any, and no other agent has an intention to modify a locally cached shared copy of the target cache line. The coherency decision point and the first agent preferably protect the first agent""s ownership of the data by providing appropriate snoop responses to conflicting transactions, if any.
Additional objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed written description.

Data processing system and method for resolving a conflict between requests to modify a shared cache line

International Business Machines Corporation


A pointing device includes two lenses with wide and narrow view angles respectively. In a short distance range, the pointing device utilizes the lens with wide view angle to increase visible range. In a long distance range, the pointing device utilizes the lens with narrow view angle to increase size of a formed image of a reference point. In addition, the pointing device senses images through both of the lenses with wide and narrow view angles to obtain rotational information. The pointing device can provide not only positional information but also angular information.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pointing device, and more particularly, to a pointing device with multiple view angles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An interactive multimedia system generally comprises a monitor, an interactive module, and a pointing device. Take a video game console, Wii, for example. The Wii console is the interactive module, and the Wii remote is the pointing device. The interactive module controls contents displayed on the monitor according to positional information provided by the pointing device. The pointing device senses a reference point to obtain the positional information, and provides the information to the interactive module. More specifically, the reference point is a light source near by the monitor, and the pointing device comprises a lens, an image sensing device, and a processor. The light source is sensed by the image sensing device through the lens for generating an image. The processor then obtains the positional information according to a position of the reference point in the image.
A sensing range of the pointing device is determined by selection of lenses. For example, when utilizing a lens with wide view angle, the pointing device has a wider sensing range, and the reference point has less possibility to be out of the sensing range. However, an image of the reference point formed in the pointing device is smaller, such that the pointing device can not be placed far away from the reference point. On the contrary, the pointing device utilizing a lens with narrow view angle can be placed at a longer distance from the reference point. However, the reference point has higher possibility to be out of the sensing range. Therefore, in the prior art, manufacturers of the pointing devices are not able to give consideration to both the sensing distance and the view angle of the pointing device.

Pointing device with multiple view angles


The present invention generally relates to a method and device for handling of audio/video signals originating from a mix of analog and digital sources of audio/video signals. In particular, the present invention relates to optimization of hardware resources and of wiring needed for the interconnection of various analog and digital sources of audio/video signals.

Manufacturers of consumer devices for reception and decoding of radio-frequency modulated audio/video signals for rendering of audiovisual services (e.g. satellite receivers, cable receivers, terrestrial receivers, digital televisions or mobile cell phones with integrated satellite, cable or terrestrial receivers), tend to minimize hardware resources of those devices in order to reduce production costs and ensure a competitive market price. In particular, processing and memory resources are tailored to the strictly needed.
While the current trend is to a full-digital consumer electronic equipment, there are still many devices in consumer households that do not comply to the latest digital interconnection standards and interfaces, such as HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface). Consumers are reluctant to change perfectly functioning devices with analog audio/video inputs and outputs for new devices just because their recently bought flat-screen digital television equipment does not allow to connect their existing equipment. Therefore, manufacturers still need to supply their latest digital consumer electronic devices with additional analog audio/video inputs for backwards compatibility.
For consumers, the interconnection of the mix of analog and digital equipment, having different connection interfaces, is not easy to master and results in undesired quantity of unaesthetic and dust-retaining wiring.
There is thus a need for optimization of the interconnection of analog and digital equipment and of the hardware resources needed in digital audio/video devices to connect to existing analog audio/video devices that avoids additional and complex wiring.

Method for handling of audio/video signals and corresponding device