A liquid crystal display (LCD) cell is provided having transparent plates that are substantially parallel to each other and contain a liquid crystal display material. A plurality of spacers are interposed between the transparent plates to define a distance between the plates. At least one of the spacers exhibits dimensions and properties different than another of the spacers. The different dimensions and properties operate to control the distance at various temperatures to prevent non-uniform color effects and vacuum void formations.

The invention concerns a cell in a chromatic liquid crystal display (hereinafter an xe2x80x9cLCDxe2x80x9d).
A known cell in a chromatic LCD-display, for instance, from SHARP(copyright), includes two parallel plates, arranged behind one another, between which a liquid crystal is to be found. For each individual image element of the display, one electrode is installed per pair of plates. Upon the application of a potential between the electrodes, the liquid crystal therebetween, first impervious to polarized light, becomes transparent for polarized light, which is known as a xe2x80x9cnormally-black-mode LCDxe2x80x9d, so that the image element appears bright or dark, upon being illuminated from the one surface, for example by a light source or by a layer which reflects incident light.
In the case of color-LCD""s, in accord with the state of the technology, there is on one of the two plates (i.e. the first plate) a color filtering layer on the side facing the liquid crystal (inner surface). This surface has the contour of the image element, so that the illuminated image element as seen from outside appears as colored. Advantageously, in this arrangement, every three neighboring image elements are combined with color filters of primary colors into one image point.
Between the color filters of the individual image elements on the inner surface of the first plate an opaque layer (black mask) is placed which completely fills the intervening space between the color filters of the individual image elements. On the one hand, this black mask sharply delimits the individual image elements and so increases the contrast of the entire image. On another hand, the black mask obstructs, upon the control of an image element, the illumination of neighboring elements by random light, which would lead to a falsification of the color.
The color filter and the black mask are normally brought upon the first plate by something like a flex-o-pressure procedure or by photolithography, whereby one after the other, for instance, first all red, then all green, and then all blue color filters and finally, the black mask is laid down. When this is done, the black mask must be placed on the small pixel sizes on the inner surface of the first plate, in order to avoid or limit undesired parallax effects, or to hold as much as possible.
In the case of an LCD-cell of the state of the technology, further disadvantages arise. First, all color filters as well as the black masks must be installed with great precision, have exactly defined contours and be placed in specifically designated areas, since each of them have common delimiting surfaces. This brings about very expensive procedures for manufacturing in clean-room conditions as well as optical quality penalties as a result of manufacturing tolerances. Second, both the color filters as well as the black mask material which are used must be of the highest quality material, since both are separated from the liquid crystal by a thin polyamide layer and otherwise impurities would easily migrate into the liquid crystal by ion diffusion.
The invention provides an LCD-cell for colored liquid crystal displays, which has low sensitivity in regard to the precision of the color filter.
An LCD-cell for a color liquid crystal, in accord with the present invention, comprises a first transparent plate, a transparent second plate arranged parallel to and behind the first plate, a liquid crystal placed between the first and the second plate, at least one color filtering layer of at least a material that transmits specifically light of a definite wave length, and a light impervious layer of light blocking material, which advantageously could also be an opaque material, which possesses openings, whereby the opaque layer and the color filtering layer are placed in planes, essentially parallel to the first and the second plates and outside of the liquid crystal.
By the decoupling of the color filtering and the opaque layer, an LCD-cell in accord with the invention exhibits a number of advantages:
the color filter need not possess the precision of the contour of the current components, that is, be precise as to the placement of the current image element, since this is already sharply deliminated by the black mask. On this account, the color filters can, for example, be installed with a greater manufacturing tolerance and thereby more economical on one or more surfaces,
the color filtering layer does not require any extraordinary purity and/or resistivity to other materials, particularly in regard to liquid crystals, since they no longer come into contact with the liquid crystal,
since the black mask is installed fundamentally alone and upon another surface than the color filter, the black mask can be very precisely installed,
in the case of damage, or for the changing of the colors of the display, principally, the corresponding plane can be exchanged,
due to the defining surface between the color filtering layer and the air, the reflexivity of the color filter increases excellently, and the display appears brighter because of the more strongly changing refractory index.
In a first embodiment of the invention, the LCD-cell includes further a parallel third, transparent plate behind the second plate, whereby the color filtering layer is placed on a surface of this third plate and the opaque layer is placed on another surface lying opposite to this surface.
In a second embodiment of the invention, the LCD-cell possesses likewise a third, transparent plate situated behind the second plate, whereby the color filtering layer is placed on a surface of this third plate and the opaque layer is located on a surface of the second plate which is remote from the liquid crystal.
In an advantageous embodiment of the invention, the openings of the opaque layer are so dimensioned and disposed that they sharply delimit each component to a definite shape, something like a pixel or a segment of an alpha numeric character set, so that the individual components are defined in outline not only by the controlling electrodes, but more exactly by the black mask.
In a further advantageous version of the invention, the color filtering layer possesses various areas of differing materials, which normally allow light of a definite color to pass through, preferably in the colors of red, green and blue. Similarly, in a further advantageous embodiment each color area respectively possesses at least a surface of an opening of the opaque layer and is so arranged, that it covers over this opening in the vision line of the liquid crystal. Thus, varied colored image elements are available, whereby, advantageously, respectively three neighboring image elements exhibit the primary colors.
In a further advantageous embodiment of the invention, spacers are placed between the second plate and the third plate. Behind the second plate for example, in the hollow space so created, is a film for the improvement of the optical characteristics. Such a film is called an xe2x80x9cenhancement filmxe2x80x9d. This film improves, to a certain extent, the luminance of the light, the directional properties thereof, and/or the saturation of the color.
In a further advantageous rendering of the invention, an illumination source is placed behind the second or the third plate and/or an at least partially reflecting layer is placed, which reflects, or allows light to shine in the line of vision of the liquid crystal display.
Finally, a plurality of color filtering layers, advantageously of different materials can be placed in essentially parallel planes, which advantageously only give passage to light of respectively predetermined wave lengths.

LCD-cell with color and light filtering layers

AEG Gesellschaft fur moderne informationsysteme mbH


A process for the manufacturing of a poly (arylether sulfone) polymer comprising reacting in a solvent mixture comprising a polar aprotic solvent and in the presence of an alkali metal carbonate, a monomer mixture which contains: at least one 1,4:3,6-dianhydrohexitol selected from the group consisting of isosorbide (1), isomannide (2) and isoidide (3); at least one dihaloaryl compound of formula (S): X—Ar1—SO2—[Ar2—(T-Ar3)n—SO2]m—Ar4—X wherein n and m, equal to or different from each other, are independently zero or an integer of 1 to 5; X and X′, equal to or different from each other, are halogens selected from F, Cl, Br, I; each of Ar1, Ar2, Ar3 and Ar4 equal to or different from each other and at each occurrence, is an aromatic moiety, T is a bond or a divalent group optionally comprising one or more than one heteroatom; optionally, at least one dihydroxyl compound different from the diol (AA); optionally, at least one dihaloaryl compound different from the dihalo (BB); and optionally, at least one hydroxyl-halo compound [hydro-halo (A′B′)]; being understood that the overall amount of halo-groups and hydroxyl-groups of the monomers of the monomer mixture is substantially equimolecular, so as to obtain a polymer (b-PAES), wherein the reaction is carried out at a total % monomer mixture concentration equal to or more 10% and less than 70% with respect to the combined weight of monomer mixture and solvent mixture.

The development of renewable bio-based chemicals has the potential to reduce the amount of petroleum consumed in the chemical industry and also to open new high-value-added markets to agriculture; 1,4:3,6-dianhydrohexitols are examples of such chemicals.
Interest in the production of 1,4:3,6-dianhydrohexitols, especially isosorbide, has been generated by potential industrial applications including the synthesis of polymers such as notably polyesters, polyethers, polyurethanes and polyamides. The use of 1,4:3,6-dianhydrohexitols in polymers, and more specifically in polycondensates, can be motivated by several features: they are rigid molecules, chiral, and non-toxic. For these reasons, there are expectations that polymers with high glass transition temperature and/or with special optical properties can be synthesized. Also the innocuous character of the molecules opens the possibility of applications in packaging or medical devices.
The industrial production of such monomers is a developing area, quickly making available this feedstock at more and more attractive prices. Moreover, interest in chemicals derived from renewable resources is increasing and becoming a decisive argument: as the carbon contained in bioplastics is not derived from fossilized biomass, but from atmospheric CO2 absorbed by vegetals biomass, these plastics should alleviate the effects of climate change.
Depending on the chirality, three isomers of the 1,4:3,6-dianhydrohexitols sugar diol exist, namely isosorbide (1), isomannide (2) and isoidide (3):

The 1,4:3,6-dianhydrohexitols are composed of two cis-fused tetrahydrofuran rings, nearly planar and V-shaped with a 120° angle between rings. The hydroxyl groups are situated at carbons 2 and 5 and positioned on either inside or outside the V-shaped molecule, as shown in scheme 1. They are designated, respectively, as endo or exo. Isoidide has two exo hydroxyl groups, whereas for isomannide they are both endo, and for isosorbide there is one exo and one endo hydroxyl group. It is generally understood that the presence of the exo substituent increases the stability of the cycle to which it is attached. Also, exo and endo groups exhibit different reactivities since they are more or less accessible depending on the steric requirements of the studied reaction. The reactivity also depends on the existence of intramolecular hydrogen bonds.
As per the manufacture of these 1,4:3,6-dianhydrohexitols, to summarize briefly, starch extracted from biomass and in particular from corn starch, is first degraded into d-glucose (1.A) and d-mannose (2.A) by an enzymatic process. The hydrogenation of these two sugars gives d-sorbitol (1.B) and d-mannitol (2.B); sorbitol and mannitol can subsequently be dehydrated to obtain isosorbide (1) and isomannide (2), as shown herein below:

Finally, the third isomer, isoidide (3), can be produced from 1-idose following a similar procedure as above sketched, but 1-idose rarely exists in nature and cannot be extracted from vegetal biomass. For this reason researchers have developed different pathways to isoidide, including isomerisation of isosorbide or isomannide.
Kricheldorf et al. first reported the preparation and characterization of poly(ether sulfone)s containing isosorbide from silylated isosorbide and difluorodiphenylsulfone (DFDPS) in 1995 (H. Kricheldorf, M. Al Masri, J. Polymer Sci., Pt A: Polymer Chemistry, 1995, 33, 2667-2671). Since the silylation step adds significant cost, Kricheldorf and Chatti (High Performance Polymers, 2009, 21, 105-118) modified their polymerization conditions and reported that poly(ether sulfone)s containing isosorbide could be made from pure isosorbide and DFDPS. The highest apparent molecular weight polymer obtained had an inherent viscosity (IV) of 0.65 dL/g, said IV was measured according to following conditions: CH2Cl2/trifluoroacetic acid solution (9/1 v/v) at 20° C., 0.20 dL/g. The glass transition temperature of this polymer was reported as 245° C. No examples were described where the polymerization reaction with isosorbide was conducted with the less reactive dichlorodiphenylsulfone (DCDPS).
There is still a need in the art for an efficient process for the manufacturing of poly (arylether sulfone)s (PAES) polymers comprising recurring units derived from bio-compatible and bio-based raw materials and a variety of dihaloaryl compounds comprising at least one SO2 group, whereby said (PAES) polymers are characterized by having high molecular weights (Mw); having excellent thermal stability, high stiffness and strength, good toughness and attractive impact properties; allowing to provide improved performance relative to current commercial PAES grades for applications such as membrane, medical, aerospace, automotive applications.


The present invention provides a method and an apparatus for determining a position of a terminal, and a storage medium. The method comprises: sending first DCI or a paging message to a terminal, wherein the first DCI or the paging message is used for triggering the terminal to send a signal and the transmission of the first DCI is started at a paging moment of the terminal; and determining a position of the terminal according to the signal sent by the terminal. The technical solution solves the problem in the related art that a position of a terminal is determined only depending on an uplink signal sent by the terminal device in a connected state, and can easily determine the position of the terminal, thereby avoiding unnecessary power consumption of the terminal and helping saving power of a terminal device.

For satisfying a requirement of cellular Internet of things (C-IoT), a new access system named narrow band-cellular Internet of things (NB-IoT) is proposed by the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP). The NB-IoT system focuses on low-complexity and low-throughput radio frequency access technologies, and research objectives mainly include improvement of indoor coverage, support to massive low-throughput user equipment, low delay sensitivity, ultralow equipment cost, low equipment power loss and a network architecture. Both of uplink and downlink transmitted bandwidths of the NB-IoT system are 180 kHz which is the same as a bandwidth of a physical resource block (PRB) of a long term evolution (LTE) system, which is favorable for reuse of a related design of the existing LTE system in the NB-IoT system. In addition, the NB-IoT system also supports three different operating modes: 1) in a stand-alone operation, for example, a frequency spectrum presently used for a global system for mobile communications (GSM) EDGE radio access network (GERAN) is utilized instead of one or more GSM carriers; 2) in a guard band operation, for example, a resource block which is not used within a guard band range of an LTE carrier is utilized; and 3) in an in-band operation, for example, a resource block in a normal LTE carrier range is utilized.
In many NB-IoT applications (for example, fixed asset tracking), it is important to position and track a terminal. In a present NB-IoT system, it is impossible for a base station to determine a position of a terminal device based on an NB-IoT uplink signal from the terminal in an idle state, because the base station cannot know which terminal device sends the NB-IoT uplink signal in advance. The position of the terminal device may be determined only depending on an NB-IoT uplink signal from the terminal device in a connected state. In such case, when the terminal device is in the idle state, for determining the position of the terminal device, the terminal device is required to be switched from the idle state to the connected state in advance, which results in unnecessary power loss of the terminal device.
For the problem in the related art that a position of a terminal may be determined only depending on an uplink signal from the terminal device in a connected state, no effective solution has been proposed.

Method and apparatus for determining position of terminal, and storage medium


A laser scanning unit is provided comprising: a housing; a scanning device; a first pre-scan assembly generating a first light beam and directing the first light beam toward the scanning device; a second pre-scan assembly generating a second light beam and directing the second light beam toward the scanning device; a first post-scan assembly receiving the first light beam reflected from the scanning device and causing a first portion of the first light beam to scan along a first scan path; and a second post-scan assembly receiving the second light beam reflected from the scanning device and causing a first portion of the second light beam to scan along a second scan path. The first post-scan assembly further reflects a second portion of the first light beam in a direction away from the first scan path. A shield is associated with the housing for blocking the second portion of the first light beam reflected by the first post-scan assembly during at least a portion of the scan of the first portion of the first light beam along the first scan path so as to prevent the second portion of the first light beam from entering the second post-scan assembly.

Laser scanning units are known comprising a laser diode for generating a laser beam, a rotating polygonal mirror for reflecting the laser beam along a scan line on a photoconductive (PC) drum, and post scan optics comprising at least one fΘ lens positioned between the rotating mirror and the PC drum. Ghosting light may be generated by reflection of the laser beam at a surface of a lens forming part of the post-scan optics. The ghosting light may be re-reflected off the polygonal mirror toward the PC drum, thereby causing print defects. A shield covering at least a portion of the polygonal mirror is provided so as to block the ghosting light.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,901,000 discloses a shroud provided about a rotatable polygonal mirror. The shroud forms part of a cover, which also includes a rib functioning to cancel noise generated during rotation of the mirror.
There is a need for reducing or blocking ghosting light generated in a laser scanner unit having a single polygonal mirror reflecting a plurality of laser beams impinging upon the mirror and further including opposing post-scan optical assemblies.


An information interaction method for improving user experience includes: receiving a control adjustment instruction, where the control adjustment instruction includes identification information of a control; according to the control adjustment instruction, performing an adjustment on each control, so that the control corresponding to the identification information is adjusted to a center position of an interactive interface.

With continuous development of network technologies, users want to communicate with each other face to face through a network. Therefore, a video conference system based on the Internet Protocol (IP, Internet Protocol) and capable of providing a function of fast and convenient exchange of information such as an image, a voice, and data emerges.
A video conference terminal provides a Graphic User Interface (GUI, Graphic User Interface). By operating the interface, a user may perform service control such as holding a meeting, attending a meeting, and viewing a venue. The GUI integrates interface elements such as a window, a menu, and a control, and receives an instruction input (via a mouse, a keyboard, or a touch screen) by the user, feeds back the instruction to a processor for execution, and then outputs a processing result via a screen in real time.
A GUI in the prior art is as shown in FIG. 1. In the GUI, positions of interface elements such as a window, a menu, and a control are fixed, which is disadvantageous for the user to focus on content being operated, thereby reducing operation efficiency of the GUI.

Information interaction method and interface control system


A flat panel display having a black mask EMI layer isolated from Vcom and tied to zero potential. The flat panel display has an integral metal heater layer and thermal sensor that are in close proximity to the liquid crystals to provide efficient heating and temperature sensing.

The present invention relates to a liquid crystal flat panel display. More particularly, in one embodiment, the flat panel display of the present invention has layers of Indium Tin Oxide (ITO), or other optically transparent electrically conductive materials, coated on the front and rear external glass surfaces under the front and rear polarizers. The ITO layer at the front of the display acts as an electromagnetic interference (EMI) filter or shield. The ITO layer at the back of the display is used as a heater. Each ITO layer may or may not be overcoated on one or both sides with index matching dielectrics to improve optical transmission through the ITO coatings, and/or reduce the optical reflections at the front and/or rear surfaces of the ITO layers.
In an alternative embodiment, the ITO heater layer is placed on the inside surface of the rear glass plate allowing the ITO heater layer to be closer to the liquid crystal layer. This reduces the thermal resistance between the ITO layer and the liquid crystal layer thus reducing the amount of power necessary to heat the liquid crystal layer. In the preferred embodiment, bus bars are placed along predetermined edges of the ITO heater layer. The bus bars allow for the uniform injection of current into the ITO heater layer. It is also preferred that thermal sensors be placed on the inside portion of the glass and in close proximity to the ITO layer to detect the heat being inputted into the liquid crystal layer.
In another alternative embodiment, an integral metal heater is used instead of the ITO heater layer. The metal heater is applied to the TFT layer and is in close proximity to the liquid crystal layer to provide improved and efficient heating capabilities.
In another alternate embodiment, a black mask EMI layer is interposed between the front and back glass plates. In the preferred embodiment, the EMI layer is isolated from Vcom and tied to zero potential. It is preferred that the integral metal heater be placed behind the black mask EMI layer so that no portion of the heater is visible and no portion of the heater interferes with the pixel apertures.
In another alternate embodiment, integral thermal sensors may also be layered onto the TFT array layer preferably under the black mask EMI layer. In this embodiment, thermal resistivity between the integral heater and the thermal sensor(s) is reduced leading to faster thermal sensor response times. It is appreciated, as discussed in further detail below, that features of the alternate embodiments discussed above may be combined to form additional alternative flat panel display designs. For example, a flat panel display may be configured with all of the inventions of the isolated black mask EMI layer, integral thermal sensor and integral heater combined in one flat panel display.
In addition to the features mentioned above, objects and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent upon a reading of the following description.

Flat panel display having integral heater, EMI shield, and thermal sensors


A tire condition monitoring method and a monitoring system having a simple configuration and that can process data with a high degree of reliability. The method or system determines at a sensor module whether a measured value from a sensor satisfies a preset condition. If determined that the measured value does not satisfy the preset condition, at least one flag is set in the data packet to be transmitted from the sensor module. If, at the receiver, it is determined that the measured value of the received data does not to satisfy a preset condition, whether a flag is included in the received data is determined. If it is determined that the received data includes a flag, the received data is used, and if it is determined that a flag is not included, the received data is discarded.

1. Technical Field
The technology relates to a tire condition monitoring method and a tire condition monitoring system for monitoring tire conditions.
2. Related Art
Systems exist for monitoring tire conditions. For example, tire condition monitoring systems exist that include a sensor module having a sensor that is disposed in a tire and that detects a physical property value of the tire, and a transmitter that outputs the physical property value acquired by the sensor; a receiver that receives information output from the transmitter; and a monitoring device that monitors a tire condition based on the information received from the receiver. In such tire condition monitoring systems, the acquired physical property value data is sent from the transmitter to the receiver.
Additionally, in the field of communications, when communicating data, it is common practice to insert a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) in a data packet as a technology for detecting data errors (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application No. H10-135852A). Also, as a high level of precision is required in the field of communications, in addition to the cyclic redundancy check, for example, in some cases error-correcting codes such as BCH codes or Hamming codes are used (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-319889).
Tire condition monitoring systems display a relatively high degree of tolerance to errors when monitoring a physical property value of a tire. As a result, currently, cyclic redundancy checks are used as a technology for detecting errors in information sent from transmitters to receivers.
By using a technology for detecting errors such as this, even if the data sent from the sensor disposed in the tire is affected by its surroundings and an error occurs in the receiver that is mounted in a vehicle, the data in error can be discovered by a cyclic redundancy check or the like and be discarded. However, in rare cases, anomalous data that differs greatly from genuine data passes through the error detecting test and is accepted as genuine data. The probability of such misdetections occurring is high, especially in tire condition monitoring systems for use in trucks that have many sensor modules. Additionally, it is possible to increase the reliability of the data by using error-correcting codes such as BCH (Bose Hocquenghem Ray-Chaudhuri codes) or Hamming codes, but in this case, the data becomes redundant and the program becomes complicated. A complicated program is a factor that leads to an increase in equipment costs of tire condition monitoring systems.

Tire condition monitoring method and tire condition monitoring system


The invention relates to a method of servicing wind turbines having a hub containing a slewing ring bearing to which a rotor blade is fastened such that the pitch angle is adjustable. The rotor blade is brought into a position pointing vertically downward, lowered by means of threaded rods and hoisting means and attached suspendingly to the hub. The slewing ring bearing is then turned. The rotor blade is then hoisted again and fastened to the slewing ring bearing.

The invention relates to wind turbines with rotor blade adjustment (also called pitch control or pitch adjustment). Such wind turbines have a rotor blade bearing for their adjustable rotor blade—said bearing also being called a slewing ring bearing. The invention relates in particular to the servicing of such wind turbines.
Wind turbines typically have a rotor with a hub on which a plurality of rotor blades are mounted in most cases. In order to adjust the pitch angle of a respective rotor blade, a blade adjustment means is usually provided. This may comprise a slewing ring whose movable part is connected via a rotary bearing to the hub and is thus rotatable about a longitudinal axis of the blade with respect to the hub. The respective rotor blade is fastened to the movable part and is thus likewise rotatable about its longitudinal axis and adjustable in pitch with respect to the hub.
Such slewing rings of the kind used in wind turbines generally form a unit with the rotary bearing and as a unit generally have an inner and an outer ring, as well as rolling elements, spacers or a cage. The part which is adjusted is the freely rotatable part of the unit, which is referred to in the following as the movable slewing bearing part, and which is joined to the rotor blade. The counterpart is rigidly joined to the hub. Adjustment is normally carried out with the aid of a gearbox-motor combination via toothing on the slewing ring bearing.
In wind turbines with electric blade control, the toothing of the rotor blade bearing, i.e., the toothing of the slewing ring bearing in the range between about 0° and 5° blade pitch angle (blade position), may be subject to increased wear and tear. This is due to blade adjustment in the upper load range of the wind turbine.
In wind turbines with blade pitch control, the used portion of the toothing generally amounts to 90°. The blades are moved within the range between 0° and 90°. The range between 0° and 5° is viewed as the working range. Wear and tear is at its maximum in this range. Within the working range, the lubricant applied is displaced by permanent movement of the drive, thus resulting in greater abrasion of the respective locale. When the wear limit is reached, it is necessary to turn the position of the rotor blade bearing with respect to the rotor blade, so that unworn teeth in the toothing on the slewing ring bearing engage with the drive.
Two methods are currently used for turning the rotor blade bearing. In the first method, the rotor of the wind turbine is dismantled. The blades are dismantled singly using two mobile cranes, the movable slewing bearing part is moved and the rotor blade is remounted. In the second method, the rotor blade is dismantled, while the rotor remains mounted, using two cranes or one crane. In the latter case, a frame is used which keeps the blade in balance. The movable slewing bearing part is moved and the rotor blade is then remounted. In both methods, the movable slewing bearing part is moved into the region which was unused until that time.
An alternative, preferably simpler procedure for servicing wind turbines is desirable.

Method and apparatus for turning a rotor blade bearing on wind turbines without using a mobile crane


A heat pump heating and hot-water system includes a water heating heat exchanger for heating water by heat exchange with a heating medium heated by a heat pump unit, an indoor heating unit, a heating circulation circuit for selectively pumping the heating medium to either of the water heating heat exchanger and the indoor heating unit using a heating medium pump, and a hot-water accumulating circuit that sends water in a hot-water storage tank to the water heating heat exchanger and returns water having passed through the water heating heat exchanger to the hot-water storage tank using a water pump. The volumetric flow rate of the heating medium pumped to the water heating heat exchanger by the heating medium pump is higher than or equal to the volumetric flow rate of the water pumped to the water heating heat exchanger by the water pump.

Patent Literature 1 discloses a heat pump heating and hot-water system including a hot-water storage tank for storing hot water heated by a heat pump unit, a radiator for indoor heating by use of hot water heated by the heat pump unit, and a hot-water-supply heat exchanger consisting of a coil-form pipe provided in the hot-water storage tank. In this system, when hot water is supplied, feed-water is heated by the hot-water-supply heat exchanger in the hot-water storage tank to produce hot-water.


A process is disclosed for operating a refinery gas plant such as the unsaturated gas plant of a catalytic hydrocarbon conversion process that results in a reduction of the corrosive effect of acid gases on the gas plant vessels and equipment. The process comprises contacting acidic hydrocarbon feedstreams to an unsaturated gas plant separator zone with lean acid gas absorbing absorbent in an absorbtion zone comprising at least one liquid absorber bed and one vapor absorber bed. The liquid and vapor absorber beds are located upstream of the separator zone. The feedstreams to the gas plant comprise unstabilized, or wild, liquid gasoline and liquid and vapor output streams from the liquid-vapor separator for inter-stage wet gas compressor of the conversion process main fractionator. Accordingly, these feedstreams are deacidified before separation in the USGP deethanizer-absorber, sponge absorber, and debutanizer. This also eliminates the need for deacidification of the gas plant product stream.

Refinery processes such as hydrocracking, coking and catalytic cracking produce substantial quantities of sour gases which are typically collected in a gas plant such as an unsaturated gas plant (USGP). FIG. 1 presents a typical process schematic for a fluid catalytic cracking plant incorporating USGP and illustrating the particular unsaturated gas plant downstream of the main fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) fractionator. In the FCC process, feed, such as gas oil (20), is heated in a heater (21) and passed to the bottom of the riser section (22) of the catalytic cracking reactor (23) where it comes in contact with the catalyst recirculated from catalyst regenerator (24) at high temperature, where it is cracked to provide an overhead stream (25) while catalyst is recycled through conduits (26,27). The overhead product, after catalyst separation, passes to the main FCC fractionator (19) where it is separated into a gasoline and light gases fraction (18), light fuel oil (28) and heavy fuel oil (29) and a bottoms fraction (30) which may be recycled (31) to the FCC feed. Overhead (18) passes to an accumulator (17) to provide a reflux stream (16) to the main fractionator. Also from the accumulator wet gases are compressed in compressors (15), cooled (31), and passed (32) to a lower section of an absorber/stripper (33). A "wild" or unstabilized gasoline fraction from the accumulator is passed to an upper portion of the absorber/stripper through conduit (34). The absorber/stripper overhead product is light gases and C.sub.2 - fraction (35); these are passed sponge to absorber 45 for separation of the C.sub.2 - fraction as overhead 46. The bottom fraction is passed (36) to debutanizer (37), where a C.sub.4 - overhead is passed to depropanizer (38) to provide a propane and propylene product (39). The debutanizer bottoms effluent comprises a C.sub.5 + fraction and is passed through conduit (40) to gasoline splitter (41) to produce a light gasoline fraction (42) and heavy gasoline fraction (43), a portion of which is returned (44) to absorber/stripper (33).
In so far as olefinic gases produced in the typical refinery operations described above generally contain acid gases their removal is conventionally conducted as part of the USGP operations. These acid gases are primarily hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide but also include hydrogen cyanide. A large variety of acid gas removal processes are available that separate into processes based upon chemical solvent action including solvents such as monoetholamine (MEA), diethyanolamine (DEA), and hot potassium carbonate; processes depending on physical solvent action such as Selexol, Rectisol, etc.; and processes based on dry adsorbents such as molecular sieves, activated charcoal, iron sponge and the like. Conventionally, in the prior art these acid gas removal processes are installed downstream of the sponge absorber and debutanizer. Consequently, the acid gases are carried through the various upstream separation processes of the USGP including the absorber-deethanizer, sponge absorber and debutanizer. This configuration tends to increase the rate of acid gas induced corrosion of a large portion of the vessels and ancillary equipment in the USGP, leading to increased maintenance operations and plant downtime.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a process for the operation of an USGP in a manner which reduces the corrosive effect of acid gases on plant operations.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a process for the removal of acid gases in the process stream to USGP upstream of USGP gas separation operations.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a unique acid gas absorber apparatus design for high recovery USGP operations.
Another objective is to unload or reduce the required total throughput of the unsaturated gas plant.

Method and means for refinery gas plant operation


A system for managing second-lives of a plurality of electric vehicle (EV) batteries includes a plurality of electric vehicles and a stationary second-life unit. Each electric vehicle includes at least one of the plurality of EV batteries during a first-life of each respective EV battery, in which each respective EV battery is utilized to power a respective one of the plurality of electric vehicles. Each of the plurality of electric vehicles is configured for bi-directional electric power exchange with a power grid via a vehicle-to-grid interface. The stationary second-life unit includes each of the plurality of EV batteries during a second-life of each respective EV battery. The stationary second-life unit is configured for bi-directional power exchange with the power grid. A state-of-health of each of the plurality of EV batteries is individually controlled, during the first-life of each respective EV battery, such that the plurality of EV batteries each have substantially similar states-of-health at a start of the second-life of each respective EV battery.

Electric vehicle (EV) batteries have limited life spans, which are significantly impacted by their operating conditions, including operating temperatures, partial cycles, charging and discharging rates and profiles, etc. Over time and with use EV batteries become no longer able to meet EV performance standards, such as the ability to adequately hold a charge or supply a desired current.
The ability of any particular EV battery to meet given performance standards is sometimes called the state-of-health of that EV battery. The state-of-health of an EV battery is a function of variables related to its design, its manufacture, its history of use, the environmental conditions in which it is used and stored, the charge-discharge rates, profiles and cycles it has experienced, and other factors. Typically, the performance standards for EV batteries to be used in electric vehicles include maintaining 80 percent of total usable capacity and achieving a resting self-discharge rate of only about 5 percent over a 24-hour period. When EV batteries can no longer meet performance standards, they are typically replaced.
EV batteries can, however, have a second-life, as they are still able to perform sufficiently to serve less-demanding applications, such as stationary energy-storage services and other applications that require less-frequent battery cycling. Some EV battery second-life applications include, for example, providing reserve energy capacity to maintain a utility's power reliability at lower cost by displacing more expensive and less efficient assets (for instance, old combined-cycle gas turbines), deferring transmission and distribution investments, and taking advantage of power-arbitrage opportunities by storing renewable power for use during periods of scarcity, thus providing greater grid flexibility and firming to the grid.
Such second-life uses may encounter problems when a plurality of second-life EV batteries having different states-of-health are grouped together to provide stationary storage capacity in these second-life applications. Where the states-of-health of grouped together second-life EV batteries are substantially different, such differences can impact how they perform when connected to the grid. For example, their performance may be inefficient.
Electric vehicle battery second-life system systems and methods are therefore needed for managing the states-of-health of a plurality of EV batteries for respective second-life uses.

Systems and method for EV battery second-life management

Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft


Provided is an apparatus for measuring radioactivity without loss of radioactive particles. The apparatus includes a sampler that collects a radioactive sample from an exhaust pipe, a sample detector that is provided adjacent to the exhaust pipe and includes a particle collecting filter and a first radioactivity detector, a sample transporting pipe that extends from the sample detector and transports the radioactive sample from which the radioactive particles have been removed, a sample transporting pump that is provided at the sample transporting pipe, and a gaseous radioactivity detector that is provided at the sample transporting pipe and detects a radioactivity of the radioactive sample from which the radioactive particles have been removed. The particle collecting filter filters out the radioactive particles from the radioactive sample and the first radioactivity detector detects a radioactivity of the radioactive particles filtered out by the particle collecting filter.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for measuring radioactivity of radioactive particles without loss of the radioactive particles, and more particularly, to an apparatus for measuring radioactivity without loss of radioactive particles, which can accurately measure a radioactivity of radioactive particles included in a radioactive sample collected from air including the radioactive particles when measuring the radioactivity of the radioactive sample.
2. Description of the Related Art
In nuclear power plants, there are radioactive materials that are generated in nuclear fission in a nuclear reactor and in processing a nuclear fuel and radioactive waste. It is very important to accurately measure a radioactivity included in air in order for radioactive materials not to harm the health of the general public and operators of nuclear power plants.
Representative radioactive materials in air are classified into a particulate radioactivity, iodine, and a rare gas, and detected. In conventional nuclear power plants, generally, since a sufficient space for installing a radioactivity detector is not secured near pipes and ducts and it is unable to install a radioactivity measuring apparatus in an area in which pollution of electronic equipment is expected, a sampler for collecting a radioactive sample is installed in each of the pipes and ducts, and a radioactive sample collected by the sampler is transported through a transport pipe that extends by a considerable length. A radioactive detector is installed at an end portion of the transport pipe, and measures a radioactivity of the radioactive sample received through the transport pipe.
However, since particulate radioactive materials included in the radioactive sample have a size and a weight, the particulate radioactive materials are deposited on a bottom of the transport pipe due to gravity, and the particulate radioactive materials are lost due to the roughness of an inner wall, a gap of a joint, or an isolation valve of the transport pipe. For this reason, when the transport pipe is considerably long, a value measured by the radioactivity detector is very inaccurate.
Moreover, since a position at which the sampler is installed is limited to a position which is checked through a flow analysis of a pipe or duct as having a small speed deviation and relatively uniformly distributed radioactive samples, the transport pipe connecting the sampler to the radioactivity detector becomes longer, and particulate radioactive materials are accordingly greatly lost.
It is required to correct an inaccuracy of a measurement value in consideration of the loss of particulate radioactive materials. However, considering all accurate basis data of loss factors generated in construction, such as the specifications of used materials and the position of a joint, is very difficult, and moreover, there is no method that quantitatively, accurately measures a loss rate. There remains a limitation in that an inaccurate measurement value is inevitably used as-is.

Apparatus for measuring radioactivity of radioactive sample without loss of radioactive particles

KEPCO Engineering & Construction Company, Inc.


An electronics module includes a housing including a wall. A cable clamp chassis projects outwardly from the housing wall. The cable clamp chassis includes first and second cable receiving locations respectively adapted to receive associated first and second cables. A clamp is secured to the cable clamp chassis by a fastener. The clamp is adapted to secure first and second associated cables in the first and second cable receiving locations. The fastener comprises a two-piece structure including a bolt and a head non-rotatably engaged with the bolt. The housing wall is provided as part of a sheet metal wall structure and the cable clamp chassis is cast metal or another monolithic conductive structure. The two-piece fastener comprises a carbon steel or stainless steel bolt and a cast metal or molded polymeric head that is non-rotatably engaged with a bolt head of the bolt.

Motor drives and other electronics modules require cable strain relief and cable EMI/RFI shield grounding for secure connection of the associated cable to the module and for establishing a low impedance ground path to a desired ground location. Many structures are known for providing the required strain relief and ground path.
Known systems have been found to be suboptimal with respect to the physical location of the cables in cases where more than one cable must be connected to the module, especially when used in connection with a narrow module, which can lead to the multiple cables being positioned undesirably outside of the width of the module where they can interfere with cables of adjacent modules, present an obstacle for mounting of an adjacent module, and generally detract from the proper mounting an installation of the module and its associated cables or adjacent modules and the associated cables thereof.
Another drawback of known cable strain relief and grounding arrangements is that the cable clamping structures for operatively securing the cable(s) to the chassis of the electronics module are sometimes difficult to use, require special tools, are subject to loss of parts, do not work well when cables of different sizes must be accommodated or when some cables are omitted, or have been found to be too complex and/or expensive.
Known structures have not effectively provided for the combination of a module enclosure with a separate cable strain relief structure connected thereto and in which the separate strain relief structure is directly electrically connected to a ground path of a printed circuit board assembly when connected to the module enclosure.
A further drawback associated with known cable strain relief structures is that a need has sometimes been found for a stronger fastener used to clamp the cable(s) in position while still provided the advantages of a fastener locking structure that inhibits unintended reverse rotation of the fastener in harsh environments including vibration and other forces that tend to loosen fasteners.
In light of the foregoing issues and others associated with known cable strain relief and grounding systems for electronics modules, a need has been identified for a new and improved electronics module cable clamping system for strain relief and grounding.

Cable clamping system for strain relief and grounding


This disclosure relates generally to processes sour gas treating for H2S Removal, separation of impurities such as hydrocarbons, BTEX and mercaptans and the Partial Acid Gas Enrichment integrated system from the sour gas field developments, or any application. The combination of innovation schemes comprises one or more absorbers, primary and secondary regenerators. The secondary regenerator functions are, enriching the H2S stream further and to separate the hydrocarbons, mercaptans and BTEX where an additional acid gas enrichment and hydrocarbons removal could be eliminated. Then there is a unique sulfur recovery and tail gas treating with a unique 2-zone reaction furnace, tail gas absorber which operated as partial acid gas enrichment by receiving split acid gas from the SRU and the hydrolysis reactor to hydrolyze sulfur compounds.

This disclosure relates generally to processes sour gas treating for H2S Removal, separation of impurities such as hydrocarbons, BTEX and mercaptans and the Acid Gas Enrichment integrated system from the sour gas field developments, refineries, associated gas, shale gas, SYN GAS from power plants, natural gas processing applications, and early production facility more particularly to processes the mixture of the 100% lean H2S gas stream with impurities such as heavy hydrocarbons, mercaptans, benzene, toluene and Xylene (BTEX). The combination of innovation schemes comprises the H2S Removal and the Acid Gas Enrichment and separation of hydrocarbons from H2S to promote a cost effective options by reducing the number of units in an efficient manner and to achieve near 100% sulfur recovery with significant cost and energy saving. The separated hydrocarbon stream gas is sent to the first zone of the reaction furnace in the sulfur recovery where operates at a higher temperature to destruct the impurities or is sent to the quench system in the tail gas unit. The rich H2S acid gas is sent to the first or second zone of the reaction furnace in the sulfur recovery unit depending on the combustion temperature. With further aspects of the present invention, the innovation scheme is a combination of the main absorber(s) and the primary and the secondary regeneration unit. In summary, by adding the secondary regenerator to the acid gas removal unit with the unique scheme, a separate acid gas enrichment unit and a separate hydrocarbons removal unit could be eliminated and the H2S removal, hydrocarbons removal and acid gas enrichment is integrated in this unique invention. The tail gas absorber can operate as the H2S Enrichment Absorber and can operate at the higher H2S rich loading compare to typical tail gas absorber which ultimately lower amine solvent circulation can be used.

“ENRICH-SMAX”—integrated H2S removal, separation of impurities and partial acid gas enrichment in sour gas processing

Abstract: The acid gas from the primary and the secondary amine regeneration and the acid gas recycle from the tail gas which is preheated and these streams flow to the 2-zones reaction furnace in the sulfur recovery unit to establish a stable low emission and higher recovery.


An energy absorption type steering apparatus, which comprises a steering shaft with a steering wheel mounted on its rear end, a steering column rotatably supporting the steering shaft, a column bracket mounting said steering column for axially forward movement on a vehicle portion, an energy absorption box secured to the vehicle portion, and a deformable member having one end secured to the energy absorption box and another end extending from the energy absorption box and engaging, with an axial play, a projection formed on the steering column, the deformation member having a U-shaped folding portion and also having a flaring plastic deformation portion accommodated in the energy absorption box and flaring toward the aforementioned one end. The plastic deformation portion of the deformable member is restrained between upper and lower walls of the energy absorption box such that the load on the plastic deformation portion is gradually increased as a U-shaped folding portion is progressively shifted with constant radius of curvature.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to improvements in energy absorption type steering apparatus. As used herein the term "energy absorption type steering apparatus" refers to a steering apparatus in which a steering shaft with a steering wheel mounted on its upper (rear) end and having its lower (forward) end coupled via a joint to a steering gear is rotatably supported on a hollow steering column mounted on vehicle such as to permit only forward and downward movement, and an energy absorption unit consisting of a curved plate or the like is provided between the steering column and vehicle, such that with downward forward movement of the steering shaft and steering column during a collision, the plate member of the energy absorption unit undergoes plastic deformation to absorb the energy of collision.
2. Related Background Art
An energy absorption type steering apparatus of this type is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 53-156230. In this apparatus, an energy absorption plate having a folded portion has one end secured to a portion of vehicle and the other end secured to a steering column. When the steering column is displaced forwardly with an impact force at the time of a collision of the vehicle, the folded portion of the energy absorption plate undergoes plastic deformation to absorb the energy of impact.
As an other example, according to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-46972, a W-shaped deformable wire is locked to a steering column and accommodated in an energy absorption box secured to a vehicle portion such as to be restrained by upper and lower walls and left and right side walls, and at the time of a collision the folded end of the deformable member is brought into contact with an end wall of the energy absorption box to cause plastic deformation of the wire.
In the prior art structure disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 53-156230 there is provided no means for restricting the state of plastic deformation of the folded portion. Therefore, it is difficult to provide a fixed plastic deformation resistance of the energy absorption plate for a displacement stroke of the steering column.
In the case of the structure where the deformable wire is accommodated in the energy absorption box, the plastic deformation of the deformable wire can be regulated or controlled by the energy absorption box. Thus, the energy of collision can be reliably absorbed at a fixed rate. In addition, the deformable wire can be readily obtained with a process of bending a single wire. Therefore, the structure is low in cost and is advantageous in that it can be disposed in a narrow space. However, the load characteristic (displacement of column versus deforming force of the deformable wire) is substantially constant at the time of energy absorption. In order to let the deformation be proportional to the displacement of the steering column, the deformable wire should be produced from a non-uniform diameter wire having progressively increasing diameter. This poses difficulties in manufacture.

Energy absorption type steering apparatus


A method of storing a data file, particularly in the MPEG format and including a flow of different frames, comprises a protection system for the data file based on a parameter stored in the data file. Advantageously, the storage method comprises selectively protecting the frames by storing parameters that are associated with corresponding different frames whose values are selected to provide a playing quality level requested by an end user. Also, a method is provided for decoding a data file, particularly of the MPEG type and including a flow of different frames, wherein the data file is stored per above.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to a method of storing a data file, particularly a file in the MPEG format.
Specifically, the invention relates to a method of storing a data file, in particular of the MPEG type and comprising a flow of different "frames", said method comprising a system for protecting said data file, which system takes into account a redundancy factor stored in said data file.
The invention further relates to a method of decoding a data file, in particular an MPEG type of file that comprises a flow of different frames, said data file being stored by a selectively protecting storage method.
The invention relates, particularly but not exclusively, to a method of storing audio/video files in the MPEG format for application to video recorders, this description making reference to this field of application for convenience of illustration only.
2. Prior Art
As is well known, PVRs (Personal Video Recorders) are an expanding branch of the HDD (Hard Disk Drive) market.
In particular, HDDs for use in PVRs are required to exhibit a high storage capacity for storing files of considerable size, as audio/video (AV) files are, to be cost-efficient.
To optimize the storage space taken up, it is common to compress the audio/video (AV) files using different standards. A common compression format is the MPEG (Moving Pictures Experts Group) format.
In particular, the MPEG standard of compression provides for each flow of images to be resolved into a succession of frames, advantageously described as basic images and difference images (i.e., images including differences from the basic ones).
Taking the instance of a moving object against a stationary background, an explanation of the MPEG Standard can be approximated by the following: an image is processed by first storing a complete accurate starting image (basic image); thereafter, only variations of each following image from the basic image are encoded, and only the difference-image stored.
In fact, the images that follow the starting image typically contain an unchanged part (i.e. information that is redundant for the purpose of storing the moving images) of the starting image. The MPEG Standard effectively removes the need to store a large amount of unnecessary data, in particular data concerning the unchanged part of an image, and advantageously reduces the overall size of the compressed audio/video (AV) file, i.e. of the resultant file in the MPEG format.
In particular, the MPEG Standard provides a set of special algorithms for compressing a sequence S of digital images, which algorithms are directed to reduce space and time redundancies in the sequence S.
Space redundancy is reduced by compressing each image independently with mathematical operations such as quantization, discrete cosine transform, and Huffman encoding.
Time redundancy is reduced by utilizing the relation that exists between successive images in the sequence S, each image being expressed as a translation of the preceding and/or the following image in the sequence S.
As an overview, the MPEG Standard provides three types of basic image or basic frame:                I-frame (Intra coded frame), where the whole basic-image is encoded to provide a reference for storing the frames to follow;        P-frame (Predicted frame), where only the difference of information from one other frame, such as the I-frame, is encoded, so a P-frame has a reduced informational contents; and        B-frame (Bidirectionally predicted frame), where image variations due to the motion described by the frame sequence are typically encoded with reference to multiple other frames (P or I).
Any one sequence S starts with an I-frame and goes on as an alternating succession of P-frames and B-frames, as shown in FIG. 1.
It should be noted that I-frames are encoded independently, P-frames are encoded relative to either an I- or a P-type previous frame in the sequence S, and B-frames are encoded relative to two frames, of the I- or P-type, being a previous and a following one in the sequence S.
A typical succession of images could be: I B B P B B P B B I B. . . , this being in particular the order in which the images are displayed. In actual practice, due to the above-outlined definition of the I-, P- and B-frames, an image decoder in the MPEG format is necessary that receives the P-frames ahead of the B-frames, and the I-frames ahead of the P-frames, as in the sequence illustrated by FIG. 1.
As shown in FIG. 2, a system adapted to carry out the MPEG compression just described, indicated as MPEG system 1, comprises at least one sequential encoder CODs effective to receive an initial image IM1 comprising a series of frames in an initial order, and to encode them in accordance with the algorithms of MPEG Standard, to eventually produce the sequence S shown in FIG. 1.
The MPEG system 1 further includes a decoder DEC effective to rearrange and decode such frames to enable display of a final image IM2.
In particular, to encode a B-frame, the encoder CODs is required to retain, in a special memory called the frame memory, the previously encoded (and already decoded) I- and P-frames to which the B-frame is related.
All this requires an amount of memory, specially for encoding and decoding according to the MPEG Standard.
In addition, the MPEG system 1 should be capable of detecting errors and protecting private information. For example, important data can be duplicated and lost packets retrieved.
It should be noted that, in consequence of the hierarchy enforced on the frames by the MPEG Standard, the same error in different type frames would carry different weights. In particular, if one or more bytes in a B-frame becomes corrupted, the ultimate image may include an error that is not perceivable by an end user, but several corrupted bytes in a I-frame can deteriorate a whole sequence of frames.
To give a quantitative idea, take the instance of HDDs as used in a PC, in workstations, or network servers. An error allowance of 1*E−12 to 1*E−14 is specified for such HDDs, depending on the application involved. Such high levels of reliability are achieved by encoding user's data using chained codes, namely:                an internal (or line) code COD-I; and        an external code COD-E with error detecting and correcting facilities.
The internal code COD-I provides periodic up-dating or refreshing for a loop path of a R/W channel, and especially for a timing recovery loop. The internal code COD-I also provides an amount of SNR gain, i.e. enables good performance, with reference to the encoding error, even at low SNR values.
The external code COD-E is more often a Reed-Solomon code (code RS). This code RS has three characterizing parameters:                the length m of the symbol employed;        the interleaving depth IN; and        the number of redundant symbols in each interleave, or redundancy value indicate with 2t.
With the redundancy value given as 2t, a number of errors equal to one half the redundancy value, i.e. equal t, can be detected and corrected.
Actually, codes are known whereby the locations of wrong symbols can be found, marking them by means of "erasures": in this case a number 2t of errors corrected. However, most of the commercially available hard disks are not equipped with such codes.
At the end of external RS-code processing, an encoded data sector 2 has the structure shown in FIG. 3, where the encode parameters are the following values:IN=3 2t=4
This outlines an instance where two errors can be detected and corrected per interleave.
In particular, shown schematically in FIG. 3 are:                a sequence 3 of user's data D1, . . . , Dk;        a memory array 4 where the user's data D1, . . . , Dk are reordained as appropriate; and        encoded data sector 2.
It should be noted that each sector 2 includes essentially three logic sections, containing:                (I) user's data;        (II) redundant data;        (III) symbols of a CRC (Cycle Redundancy Check) code, i.e. a code that only allows detection of errors, if any; actually, two codes CRC1, and CRC2 are appended to each sector 2.
The CRC code is usually employed to check that a sector 2 has been re-read properly. In other words, the CRC code is employed to check if the RS-encoding process has applied wrong corrections.
In conventional systems, the protection must be afforded uniformly to the data stored in a hard disk. Thus, the amount of redundant data is set at a maximum tmax, to provide all-round reliability.
To determine the performance of a hard disk, it is known to calculate the BER (Byte Error Rate) of the system following RS decoding, i.e. after decoding a file that has been encoded by RS coding, according to a corresponding BER input to a decoder DEC where the RS decoding is effected.
It is customary in this field of application to refer to the byte error rate output from the decoder DEC as the "hard" BER, and to the byte error rate input to the decoder DEC as the "soft" BER, as shown schematically in FIG. 4.
Taking an input soft BER of 10−5 to the decoder DEC, the plot of the hard BER against time t is shown schematically in FIG. 5. For example, a hard BER of 10−14 ensures that the system will be a reliable one. In particular, worst-case, best-case, and intermediate hard BERs are plotted, with the worst and best cases being dependent on the error events over the interleaves.
The admissible values for the hard BERs depend on the RS encode/decode applications. In particular, in the instance of audio/video (AV) files, e.g. motion-image or musical pieces, these values are very high due to the requirements for high-fidelity playing. Furthermore, on account of the large size of audio/video files, the demand for accuracy greatly expands the memory requirements of video/audio applications.
Consequently, a need has arisen for a method of storing compressed audio/video files, whereby playing fidelity can be acceptable for an end user, while the storage space requirements of such files can be reduced so allowing the use of hard disk HDD of reduced size, thereby overcoming the limitations of prior art audio/video file storage methods and obviating the need of large inconvenient HDDs.

Data-file storage, particularly for MPEG format files


A power control device which incorporates a microcontroller to control the switching of power of a plurality of outlets. A host computer communicates with the microcontroller through the computer's keyboard interface to instruct the device to turn on or off one or more of the outlets either immediately or at one or more preset future times. An operator communicates with the microcontroller through the computer's keyboard intercede to instruct the device to initiate a sequence of pro-programmed on/off events.

The present invention relates to a power controller for providing power to a personal computer and associated peripheral devices. Current power controllers for personal computers primarily involve protecting the personal computer from power surges, noise that comes from standard AC power, and power outages or blackouts. These power controllers arc generally confined to outlet strips that enable a computer and several peripheral devices to be connected to the power strip which is connected directly to a standard AC wall outlet. The power strips generally include circuitry involving power surge suppression and noise filtration. Some power controllers also include backup power supply in the form of a strong battery that can sustain the computer if a power outage or blackout occurs. This conventional power controller devices function to transmit power to a computer and peripheral devices, but generally fail to involve any operative functions of the computer or its peripheral devices.
In computer systems, there is a problem of how to conveniently turn on the CPU and peripherals from the desktop. This problem is commonly handled by the use of a manually operated master switch on a conventional multi-outlet power strip. This approach however requires that the power strip be located next to the computer, something that is often undesirable. Another approach is to use a power strip which is remotely controlled by a smaller switching unit, located at the desktop. This still suffers the problem of requiring an additional piece of equipment on the desk.
One computer that addresses the issue of powering up a computer from the desktop is the Macintosh II.TM. line of personal computers from Apple Computers.TM.. This line of computers involves a unique device for allowing the computer and its monitor to be switched on directly from its keyboard. A special key on the keyboard sends a signal to the internal power supply of the computer to power up the computer and monitor. The device also allows the computer to be shut down directly from the operating system's menu. This feature of the Macintosh II line of computers has proven very convenient to computer users. However, it has several drawbacks as far as addressing the overall supply of power to any personal computer. First, it can only power up the computer and its monitor. In today's personal computing environment, there arc a host of peripheral devices such as external drives, printers, and special input devices that are externally connected to the computer. Thus, even though the start up feature of the Macintosh II is convenient, any external peripheral devices must still be individually switched on. Second, the internal power supply of the Macintosh II doesn't provide some of the standard features of conventional power strips, such as surge suppression. Finally, the keyboard switching feature only works on the Macintosh II line of computers. Other Macintosh computers as well as other personal computers do not have such a desktop power up feature.
A second problem within the field of power control for computers is the lack of ability to turn on a computer system when no operator is present. This problem can be handled in some situations by plugging the computer system into a timed outlet. This approach does not work with all computers, as some have their own internal "soft" switching and will remain oft after power has been removed and reapplied. Also this requires a separate timer unit which again is often either inconvenient to access or in the way. And finally, such units usually very limited programmability.
A third problem often encountered is that of needing to turn on a computer system from a remote location. This need usually arises when it is necessary to retrieve information from one unattended computer via a phone modem from a computer in another location. One approach has been to use a modem to signal the computer to turn itself on. The major drawback to this approach is that it only works for computers that have the ability to turn themselves when signalled.
There has been a need within the field of power controllers tier computer devices for a unique device that handles basic power control features and additionally handles the power up of computers and peripherals.

Power controller using keyboard and computer interface


A so-called molecular-targeted drug acting on a signal transduction pathway in a cell has been developed. However, a side effect of the molecular-targeted drug is not negligible for a patient. Thus, there has been a demand for a substance that exhibits a significant growth inhibitory effect on a cancer cell with fewer side effects as a health food and a pharmaceutical composition. It has been found that a hexane extract fraction of a watermelon sprout has an effect of specifically inhibiting the cell growth of the cancer cell and such an effect is primarily caused by phytol and lutein. A processed food and pharmaceutical composition having these substances as main components can exert an anticancer action without causing side effects.

Recently, functional studies of various sprouts, such as a soybean sprout, a daikon radish sprout, an alfalfa sprout, a broccoli sprout, a pea sprout, and a red water pepper, have been actively carried out. For example, it is reported that a production of vitamin C after germination significantly contributes to an antioxidant activity in a sprout.
Further, Patent Literature 1 discloses: a health food for preventing cancer, which contains, as an active component, a daikon radish seed or sprout, an aqueous, organic solvent, or organic solvent/aqueous based extract thereof, or a compound contained in the extract or a derivative thereof; a health drink for preventing cancer, which contains, as an active component, a raw daikon radish sprout juice, a daikon radish sprout juice from concentrate, or an aqueous, organic solvent, or organic solvent/aqueous based extract of a daikon radish sprout or seed; and a medicinal composition for preventing cancer, which contains, as an active component, a daikon radish seed or sprout, an aqueous, organic solvent, or organic solvent/aqueous based extract thereof, or a compound contained in the extract or a derivative thereof.
Further, Patent Literature 2 discloses that arctigenin contained in a burdock sprout inhibits the generation of a cancer stem cell.

Processed food and pharmaceutical composition having watermelon sprout-derived substances as main ingredients

HAGIHARA FARM PRODUCTION INSTITUTE CO., LTD.


A navigation system including an information memory device that stores road information for parallel roads and other information required for executing route guidance; a present position detection device that detects a present position of a vehicle by detecting vehicle travel information; and a control device that reads the road information stored in the information memory device on the basis of the present position detected by the present position detection device, and executes matching processing of the present position detection information to the road information to provide route guidance. The control device determines whether parallel roads exist on the basis of the road information stored in the information memory device and, when parallel roads exist, selects the road on which the vehicle is running from the identified parallel roads according to the road information and various indicative or decision parameters. Therefore, the system can perform precise matching of the road travelled of the parallel roads to determine the present position.

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a vehicle navigation system and a recording medium which executes matching processing of present position detection information to road information, and provides route guidance.
2. Description of Related Art
Since traffic density, especially in the urban areas, has been increasing in recent years and surplus land space has been decreasing, a growing number of newly constructed roads have taken on a multilevel structure. Therefore, the position of a vehicle can be mistakenly identified when a navigation system provides navigation guidance in a case where a plurality of the roads run in parallel. For example, according to the highway recognition system proposed in Japanese Patent Publication No.137096/90, the related art discloses a system which starts to check the time when the system determines the velocity of the running vehicle is higher than a predetermined velocity, and determines the vehicle is running on a highway when the velocity lasts longer than a predetermined time. Further, the system according to the related art detects and cumulates the steering movements when the velocity of the vehicle is higher than the predetermined velocity, and determines whether the vehicle is running on the highway depending on whether the steering angle is larger than the predetermined value. Also the related art discloses a system which determines when the vehicle leaves the highway according to the condition that the velocity decreases as a direction indicator functions and the steering angle is larger than the predetermined value. (See Japanese Patent Publications Nos. 137097/90.about.137100/90).
The above mentioned related art device determines that the vehicle is running on the highway when the velocity of the vehicle lasts more than the predetermined time, however, according to recent traffic conditions, when the vehicle runs a main road although categorized as an ordinary road, the velocity of the vehicle can be very high depending on a road section. Therefore, the system can't determine simply by the velocity of the vehicle whether the road on which the vehicle is running is a highway. Further, the place where a highway and an ordinary road run in parallel with a two level structure and also the place where two ordinary roads or two highways run in parallel with a two level structure have been increasing. Under these conditions, the prior system can not determine the road on which the vehicle is running by the velocity of the vehicle.

Vehicle navigation system and a recording medium


A multi master system on chip (SoC) includes a plurality of masters comprising a first master and a second master, each configured to generate a request. A next state generator in the multi master SoC is configured to generate a next state of a round robin pointer in response to the request and a current state of the round robin pointer. The round robin pointer is configured to generate an enable signal to enable a priority encoder for the first master in response to the current state of the round robin pointer. Further, the next state of the round robin pointer is generated such that a priority is maintained for the first master until there is a request from the second master.

In a multicore system, there are several shared resources. One of the most common shared resources is SRAM and typically the design expectation is that it is accessible with zero -wait latency. In such a system, simple fixed priority or round robin scheme may be used to arbitrate accesses from the CPU or masters. However, sharing memory adds overhead in meeting higher clock speeds. One such critical path is generation of a stall signal (READY) to CPU or master. When multiple masters are accessing the same resource, the stall signal of a given CPU depends on accesses from the other masters. This creates long timing paths from one master to other and these paths limit maximum clock speed of the system that can be achieved.

Multi master arbitration scheme in a system on chip


An aircraft passenger compartment suite may include at least one single passenger compartment including at least one single aircraft seat. The at least one single aircraft seat may be configured to seat a single passenger. The aircraft passenger compartment suite may include a combined divan passenger compartment with a combined divan aircraft seat. The combined divan aircraft seat may be configured to seat at least one passenger. The combined divan aircraft seat may have a width greater than a width of the at least one single aircraft seat. The combined divan passenger compartment may include a stowage compartment configured to stow large passenger amenities in a substantially vertical orientation. The aircraft passenger compartment suite may include a privacy divider separating the combined divan passenger compartment and the at least one single passenger compartment.

In commercial transportation vehicles such as passenger aircraft, an aircraft passenger compartment suite may include one or more double aircraft seat compartments. The double seat compartments may separate the aircraft passenger compartment suite into individual passenger environments. The double seat compartments may be accessible from separate aisles. The double seat compartments may be facing the same direction or different directions within the passenger aircraft.

Combined divan aircraft seat for aircraft passenger compartment suites


A folding boat is comprised of a bow section having a bottom, first and second side walls joined to the bottom and upstanding to respective first and second gunwales. The side walls terminate at a forward end forming a prow and the bottom and side walls are joined to a bow section bulkhead at an aft end and having a thwart connecting the side wall gunwales. A stem section has a bottom including a keel, first and second side walls joined to the bottom and upstanding to respective first and second gunwales. The side walls terminate at a stern end and the bottom and side walls join to a bulkhead at a forward end of the stern section and having a thwart connecting the side wall gunwales. A hinge extends across thwarts, permitting the stem section to be folded with respect to the bow section, whereby the respective gunwales are juxtaposed and which may be unfolded again to an extended configuration wherein the respective bow section and stern section gunwales and keels are contiguously aligned. An axle supporting a pair of wheels fastens to the bow section aft bulkhead with the boat in the folded configuration and a tow bar fastens to the prow, whereby the folded boat may be towed manually or with a vehicle. In preferred embodiments a transverse channel between the bow and stem section bulkheads retains a first beam and the stem gunwales retain a second beam capable of supporting parallel outriggers or parallel boats in a catamaran configuration.

This invention pertains to folding boats which employ a means of hinging hull sections one above the other, and more particularly to folding boats with wheels for both towing by a vehicle and manual portage between bodies of water. There are many patents in the prior an for folding boats with wheels, but none of them provide for both vehicular towing and manual portage. One such patent is U.S. Pat. No. 2,157,186, J. Pinter, Sr. et al. This patent discloses a folding boat with a single swivel wheel which cannot be used on the bumpers of late model vehicles, and which would be very unstable and clumsy for portage. The Levinson U.S. Pat. No. 3,090,973 and Speranya U.S. Pat. No. 4,180,881 show a single trailer hitch which is adaptable to current automobiles, but use springs, wheels, tow-bar assembly and frame added to the boat, increasing the weight and precluding the portage. The Cunningham U.S. Pat. No. 4,936,595 shows practical portage wheels, but no means for towing. Holzbaur U.S. Pat. No. 4,522,143 teaches retractable wheels for a folding boat that is towable, and launchable, but not intended for portage.

Folding boat with detachable land wheels


A broadband fiber transmission system includes a transmission line with at least one zero dispersion wavelength xcexo and transmits an optical signal of xcex. The transmission line includes a distributed Raman amplifier that amplifies the optical signal through Raman gain. One or more semiconductor lasers are included and operated at wavelengths xcexp for generating a pump light to pump the Raman amplifier. xcex is close to xcexo and xcex0 is less than 1540 nm or greater than 1560 nm.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to nonlinear polarization amplifiers, and more particularly to nonlinear polarization amplifiers used to amplify signals propagating in non-zero dispersion shifted optical fibers.
2. Description of the Related Art
Because of the increase in data intensive applications, the demand for bandwidth in communications has been growing tremendously. In response, the installed capacity of telecommunication systems has been increasing by an order of magnitude every three to four years since the mid 1970s. Much of this capacity increase has been supplied by optical fibers that provide a four-order-of-magnitude bandwidth enhancement over twisted-pair copper wires.
To exploit the bandwidth of optical fibers, two key technologies have been developed and used in the telecommunication industry: optical amplifiers and wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM). Optical amplifiers boost the signal strength and compensate for inherent fiber loss and other splitting and insertion losses. WDM enables different wavelengths of light to carry different signals parallel over the same optical fiber. Although WDM is critical in that it allows utilization of a major fraction of the fiber bandwidth, it would not be cost-effective without optical amplifiers. In particular, a broadband optical amplifier that permits simultaneous amplification of many WDM channels is a key enabler for utilizing the full fiber bandwidth.
Silica-based optical fiber has its lowest loss window around 1550 nm with approximately 25 THz of bandwidth between 1430 and 1620 nm. For example, FIG. 1 illustrates the loss profile of a 50 km optical fiber. In this wavelength region, erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) are widely used. However, as indicated in FIG. 2, the absorption band of a EDFA nearly overlaps its the emission band. For wavelengths shorter than about 1525 nm, erbium-atoms in typical glasses will absorb more than amplify. To broaden the gain spectra of EDFAs, various dopings have been added. For example, as shown in FIG. 3a, codoping of the silica core with aluminum or phosphorus broadens the emission spectrum considerably. Nevertheless, as depicted in FIG. 3b, the absorption peak for the various glasses is still around 1530 nm.
Hence, broadening the bandwidth of EDFAs to accommodate a larger number of WDM channels has become a subject of intense research. As an example of the state-of-the-art, a two-band architecture for an ultra-wideband EDFA with a record optical bandwidth of 80 nm has been demonstrated. To obtain a low noise figure and high output power, the two bands share a common first gain section and have distinct second gain sections. The 80 nm bandwidth comes from one amplifier (so-called conventional band or C-band) from 1525.6 to 1562.5 nm and another amplifier (so-called long band or L-band) from 1569.4 to 1612.8 nm. As other examples, a 54 nm gain bandwidth achieved with two EDFAs in a parallel configuration, i.e., one optimized for 1530-1560 nm and the other optimized for 1576-1600 nm, and a 52 nm EDFA that used two-stage EDFAs with an intermediate equalizer have been demonstrated.
These recent developments illustrate several points in the search for broader bandwidth amplifiers for the low-loss window in optical fibers. First, bandwidth in excess of 40-50 nm require the use of parallel combination of amplifiers even with EDFAs. Second, the 80 nm bandwidth may be very close to the theoretical maximum. The short wavelength side at about 1525 nm is limited by the inherent absorption in erbium, and long wavelength side is limited by bend-induced losses in standard fibers at above 1620 nm. Therefore, even with these recent advances, half of the bandwidth of the low-loss window, i.e., 1430-1530 nm, remains without an optical amplifier.
There is a need for nonlinear polarization amplifiers that provide a low noise figure amplification for operation near the zero dispersion wavelength of fibers. There is a further need for a broadband fiber transmission system that includes nonlinear polarization amplifiers which provide low noise amplification near the zero dispersion wavelength of fibers.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide nonlinear polarization amplifiers.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a broadband fiber transmission system with at least one nonlinear polarization amplifier.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a broadband fiber transmission system with reduced fiber non-linear impairments.
A further another object of the present invention is to provide a broadband fiber transmission system that operates over the full low loss window of available and optical fibers.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a broadband fiber transmission system that uses distributed Raman amplification to lower signal power requirements.
These and other objects of the present invention are achieved in a broadband fiber transmission system. The broadband fiber transmission system includes a transmission line with at least one zero dispersion wavelength xcexo and transmits an optical signal of xcex. The transmission line includes a distributed Raman amplifier that amplifies the optical signal through Raman gain. One or more semiconductor lasers are included and operated at wavelengths xcexp for generating a pump light to pump the Raman amplifier. xcex is close to xcex0 and xcex0 is less than 1540 nm or greater than 1560 nm.
In another embodiment of the present invention, a broadband fiber transmission system is provided. A transmission line includes at least one zero dispersion wavelength xcexo and transmits an optical signal of xcex. The transmission line includes a distributed Raman amplifier and a discrete optical amplifier that amplify the optical signal of xcex. One or more semiconductor lasers are included and operated at wavelengths xcexp for generating a pump light to pump the amplifiers. xcex is close to xcex0 and xcex0 is less than 1540 nm or greater than 1560 nm.
In another embodiment of the present invention, a method of broadband amplification provides a broadband fiber transmission system with a transmission line having at least one zero dispersion wavelength xcexo. The transmission line includes a distributed Raman amplifier that amplifies an optical signal through Raman gain. An optical signal of xcex is transmitted. The Raman amplifier is pumped with pump light xcexp. xcex is close to xcex0 and xcex0 is less than 1540 nm or greater than 1560 nm.
In another embodiment of the present invention, a method of broadband amplification provides a broadband fiber transmission system with a transmission line having at least one zero dispersion wavelength xcexo. The transmission line includes a distributed Raman amplifier and a discrete optical amplifier that amplify an optical signal of xcex. An optical signal of xcex is transmitted. The Raman amplifier and discrete optical amplifiers are pumped with pump light xcexp. xcex is close to xcex0 and xcex0 is less than 1540 nm or greater than 1560 nm.

Nonlinear polarization amplifiers in nonzero dispersion shifted fiber


An antenna includes: a differential linear antenna that includes two antenna elements, which have a predetermined length, arranged so as to be separated from each other for to be symmetrical with respect to a line that becomes a reference and provided with voltages having opposite polarities; and a patch antenna having a flat plate shape which is arranged to be parallel to a plane, on which the differential linear antenna is arranged, and in which a feeding point is disposed in an area interposed between virtual planes that are perpendicular to the plane and pass through extended lines of the antenna elements.

Generally, in a system in which data is transferred between devices, in a case where data communication is performed between devices at a speed of several Gbps or higher in compliance with specifications such as a Serial ATA 2 (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment 2; hereinafter also referred to as SATA2), a PCI Express (Peripheral Component Interconnect), or the like, the devices are interconnected in a wired manner, for example, through a cable.
In such data communication, in a case where the communication speed is as high as several Gbps, for example, gold plating having high conductivity is performed for connection terminals of the cable or connectors connecting the cable, and accordingly, high-speed communication at a speed of several Gbps or higher can be performed.
However, in the above-described communication system, in a case where one side is, for example, a portable medium terminal, the cable is pulled out and inserted every time data communication is performed. Accordingly, there is a high possibility that the gold plating formed for the connection terminals and the connectors will be peeled off.
When the gold plating is peeled off, the connection state between connectors is degraded, and accordingly, there is a problem in that it is difficult to stably transmit or receive data at a high speed or it is difficult to transmit or receive data in some cases.
Recently, data communication between devices is performed in a wireless manner (for example, see JP-A-2009-225265).

Antenna, communication module, communication system, position estimating device, position estimating method, position adjusting device, and position adjusting method