A container module includes a first container, a second container, a first passage and a second passage, a first fan and a second fan. The first passage and the second passage each are connected between the two containers. The two fans are installed at corresponding two junctions in the corresponding two passages, which can control the drawing and exhausting of the airflow between the two containers.

1. Technical Field
The disclosure generally relates to a container module including a cooling system.
2. Description of Related Art
To quickly establish a cloud operating system, a container is typically used as a room for the cloud operating system. When designing a container for containing multiple computer servers, an air conditioner is located in the container for controlling the temperature to a desirable level to cool the computer servers.
However, if there are multiple containers, each container has one air conditioner. When the air conditioners are operating, high amounts of power are consumed. Additionally, even if some of the containers need less cooling, all air conditioners still operate, wasting power.
Therefore, there is room for improvement within the art.


An antenna device includes a package and at least one antenna. The package includes at least one radio frequency (RF) die and a molding compound in contact with at least one sidewall of the RF die. The antenna has at least one conductor at least partially in the molding compound and operatively connected to the RF die.

A system in package (SiP) is a number of integrated circuits enclosed in a single module. The SiP may perform several functions of an electronic device, and is typically used inside a mobile phone, digital music player, etc. Dies in a SiP may be stacked on a substrate and connected by conductive wires. Alternatively, with flip chip technology, solder bumps may be used to join stacked chips together. This means that a multifunctional unit may be built in a multi-chip package, so that few external components need to be added to make it work.

Antenna device and method for manufacturing antenna device

TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.


A structure for fixing a thrust roller bearing interposed between a shaft and a housing rotating relative to one another comprises a race rest, provided on either the shaft or the housing, for supporting the thrust roller bearig in an unmoved state in the axial direction of the shaft and the housing, and a projection provided at the inner side of an inner race of the thrust roller bearing or the outer side of an outer race of the thrust roller bearing. The race rest has a recess by which the projection is locked to prevent the race and the projection from coming off. The recess can be provided generally in the middle of the face of the rest race whereby the inner or outer bearing will contact the face of the rest race in at least two positions to thereby hold the races stably. A spacer can also be provided between the shaft and the race having the projection to reduce the width of the recess whereby different sized thrust roller bearings can be fixed by the structure.

In FIG. 7, a cross-sectional view of a conventional thrust roller tearing showing only the upper parts is illustrated. The thrust roller bearing comprises an inner race 1, an outer race 2, needle rollers 3, and a retainer 4 for keeping the needle rollers 3 positioned for rotation.
The inner race 1 is provided with a race body 5 composed of a circular thin plate, a cylindrical portion 6 extending axially from the inner periphery of the body 5, and a circular projection 7, disposed at the edge of the cylindrical portion 6 and bent radially outwardly, for preventing detachment of the retainer 4. The outer race 2 is provided with a race body 8 composed of a circular thin plate, a cylindrical portion 9 extending axially from the outer periphery of the race body 8, and a circular projection 10, disposed at the edge of the cylindrical portion 9 and bent radially inwardly for preventing detachment of the retainer 4.
The retainer 4 comprises a pair of circular plates 11 and 12 having a cup-shape cross-section. Each of the pair of circular plates 11 and 12 has a plurality of circumferentially separated pockets. Needle rollers 3 are supported in the pockets of the retainer 4. The retainer 4 is interposed between the inner race 1 and the outer race 2, so that the retainer 4 cannot be separated from the inner race 1 and the outer race 2 with the help of the circular projection 7 of the inner race 1 and the circular projection 10 of the outer race 2.
The above-described thrust roller bearing A operates by being interposed between a vertical face 13a of a shaft 13 and a vertical face 14a of a housing 14. The shaft 13 and the housing 14 rotate relative to one another. For example, the shaft 13 is provided with a circular race rest 15 which engages the cylindrical portion 6 of the inner race 1 of the thrust roller bearing A. The back of the race body 5 of the inner race 1 rests against the vertical face 13a of the shaft 13. The back of the race body 8 of the outer race 2 rests against the vertical face 14a of the housing 14.
As an example, the thrust roller bearing A can be used in an automatic transmission as illustrated in FIG. 7. In such an example, the shaft 13 and the housing 14 may be separated from each other in the direction of their axes. Therefore, a load may or may not be applied on the thrust roller bearing A interposed between the shaft 13 and the housing 14.
When the shaft 13 is separated from the housing 14 in the direction of their axes and the load is not applied on the thrust roller bearing A, the thrust roller bearing A is removed from the race rest 15 of the shaft 13 with the thrust roller bearing A being close to the housing 14 and, finally, the bearing A detaches from the shaft 13 and the housing 14 as illustrated in FIG. 8. This is caused by coherency of a lubricant interposed between the vertical face 14a of the housing 14 and the back of the outer race 2 of the thrust roller bearing A.

Fixing structure for thrust roller bearing


An aircraft panel, notably a fuselage panel of the aircraft, includes at least one opening equipped with a surround intended to accept a closing-off device that closes off the opening. The panel includes at least one exterior surface. The surround surrounding the opening is fixed to the panel, forming an interface for fitting the closing-off device, and includes at least one lip extending towards the center of the opening. The lip supports the closing-off device. The surround has an external face interposed between the exterior surface of the panel and the closing-off device. The surround includes fixing apparatus which works by gripping the edge of the opening of the panel.

The present invention relates to an aircraft panel design comprising an opening equipped with a surround.
The structure of an aircraft generally comprises several panels through which are made openings that are closed off by elements that may or may not be transparent.
FIG. 1 illustrates, in cross section, a known arrangement of the surround 10 of an opening 12 made in an aircraft fuselage panel 14 being fitted with a window 16.
Thus, according to this prior art, the surround 10 used to attach the window-pane 18/window-seal 20 assembly to the opening 12 consists of a single surround component 22 in the form of an angle section straddling the edge 24 of the opening 12.
More specifically, the base 26 of the component 22 has a heel 28 that fits into the opening 12, and a horizontal part 30 pressed against the edge 24 of the opening 12 and fixed to the panel 14.
The heel 28 then comprises a lip 34 extending towards the centre of the opening 12 to support the window-pane 18/window-seal 20 assembly, while a retaining device 33, that rests against a vertical extension 32 of the horizontal part 30, clamps the assembly from the other side.
In this prior-art design, the horizontal part 30 of the surround component 22 is fixed to the edge 24 of the opening 12 at numerous points, 70 to 100 points, to give a rough idea of scale, by piercing the panel and then riveting.
A first disadvantage with the design, in the case of a fuselage panel made of composite, is that the operations of drilling and counterboring the rivet holes are very awkward to perform near the edge 24 of the opening 12, especially in the case of a carbon-fibre-based composite.
Thus, because of the number of holes to be made for each opening 12 in an aircraft and because of the difficulty of performing the machining operations, the costs associated with fixing the surround components 22 for an aircraft are relatively high.
In addition, a second disadvantage is that the rivet holes and the number of them weaken the edge of the opening and impair the mechanical stability of the edge against deformations due to the flexing of the fuselage and to the cabin pressurizing forces.

Aircraft panel comprising an opening equipped with a surround


There is provided an apparatus which can include a plurality of speaker drivers and a control processor. The control processor can be configured to flexibly group the speaker drivers. The control processor can be further configured to perform the tasks of controlling directivity of audio output from at least one group and providing time delay to audio output from at least one speaker driver from at least one controlled group so as to generate at least one sound field associable with a dispersed profile.

Current soundbars are dedicated to audio related functions. Specifically, current soundbars are mostly dedicated to enhancing audio perception of audio signals from media player devices (e.g., MP3 players) to which they are paired with so as to improve user enjoyment/experience.
If a user desires video playback, another device capable of video playback will be required. As such, consumers end up needing a plurality of devices for complete entertainment.
Appreciably, the need for a plurality of devices may lead to clutter.
It is therefore desirable to provide a solution to address the foregoing problem.


Methods and apparatus are disclosed for implementing a mobile digital radio playlist system. The playlist need not be maintained in a vehicle; preferably it is maintained on a user's equipment such as a computer, PDA, MP3 player or the like. The system enables a method of updating such a playlist conveniently, for example while traveling in a vehicle, by capturing indicia of a current song in a mobile digital radio receiver in response to a user capture input; transmitting the captured indicia from the digital radio receiver to a wireless telecommunication device; in the wireless telecommunication device, forwarding the captured indicia to a playlist server; and in the playlist server, forwarding the received indicia to the user's equipment to update the playlist.

Satellite radio has been deployed in some motor vehicles and terrestrial broadcast digital radio is expected to follow soon. The mobile satellite digital radio receiver typically is integrated with traditional audio components such as AM/FM analog radio, CD player, MP3, and the like in a vehicle entertainment system. In some cases, wireless telecommunications (cell phones) are being integrated with vehicle entertainment systems as well, for example for "hands-free" operation. All of this functionality packed into a single unit makes for a complex user interface. Many users have not yet even learned how to find a station among the hundreds of satellite digital radio stations already available.
Sometimes, when a user hears a particular song over the satellite radio, they may wish to record that song for playback later. Commercial devices are known for this purpose, such as the "XM radio recorder" The XM radio recorder, essentially a digital audio recorder, is commercially available and can be connected to a satellite radio receiver (as shown in FIG. 1) for recording a song that is received over the satellite radio. Such a unit is relatively expensive, because it is proprietary, and it cannot be used for other purposes.
The need remains for a better way to capture a song (or speech, discussion or other audio broadcast item) played over the satellite radio, or to at least capture metadata that describes such a song, and incorporate it into a playlist so that it can be replayed or otherwise accessed later at other locations. The driver or other occupant of a vehicle ought to be able to capture that information very easily and inexpensively.


There is provided a fall prevention system that is suitable for being worn by a user, comprising a sensor for determining an indication of the risk of the user falling; two or more feedback devices for attachment to respective parts of the user's body, each feedback device being controllable to apply feedback to said respective part; and a controller configured to control the two or more feedback devices such that feedback is applied to a particular part of the user's body in response to the determined indication.

People with an unstable gait are at risk of falling. Unstable gait occurs among many groups of people, for example, the elderly, people with cerebral palsy, bilateral vestibular loss (BVL), dementia or Parkinson's disease, people who have suffered a stroke, an amputation, a bone fracture or a hip replacement, in particular during the period of rehabilitation after the stroke or hip replacement or women who are pregnant.
There are a number of devices available for people to wear that can alert the user that they may be at a temporarily increased risk of falling, for example if they are unbalanced. Particular devices provide a belt that is worn around the user's waist and that vibrates in response to a measurement of the inclination of the user's posture that indicates that the user is unbalanced or at an increased risk of falling. On sensing the vibration, the user is made aware that they are at an increased risk of falling. The type of tactile feedback used in these devices is sometimes referred to as "vibrotactile".
In fall prevention, it is less of a concern to control balance, but rather to warn the user when their balance is temporarily reduced, for example because the person is paying attention to something in addition to walking, or the environmental conditions are suboptimal (for example there is dimmed lighting, an irregular ground surface, an overload of the auditory and visual systems due to too many stimuli, such as conversations, etc.).
In these cases, as the user is distracted, providing continuous feedback to the user on their posture is less effective at preventing falls.
There is therefore a need for an improved fall prevention system and method that overcomes the disadvantages with the known devices.

Fall prevention system having a sensor for determining an indication of the risk of a fall


A cable connector includes a first portion, a second portion, a first electrical prong, and a second electrical prong. The first portion defines a cavity. The second portion is adjacent to the first portion. The second portion includes a mounting structure defining a first cross-sectional void region within the cable connector and a second-cross-sectional void region within the cable connector opposite the first cross-sectional void region. The first electrical prong is disposed, in part, in the first cross-sectional void region and extends from the second portion. The second electrical prong is disposed, in part, in the second cross-sectional void region and extends from the second portion.

Autonomous vehicles can be used to transport people and/or cargo (e.g., packages, objects, or other items) from one location to another. As an example, an autonomous vehicle can navigate to the location of a person, wait for the person to board the autonomous vehicle, and traverse to a specified destination (e.g., a location selected by the person). As another example, an autonomous vehicle can navigate to the location of cargo, wait for the cargo to be loaded into the autonomous vehicle, and navigate to a specified destination (e.g., a delivery location for the cargo).
Autonomous vehicles can include one or more electronic components. Electrical signals can be transmitted to and/or from electronic components using electrically conductive cables or wires.

Hermaphroditic cable connectors for autonomous vehicles


Absorbent article such as a diaper and an incontinence guard includes a pair of belt portions attached to the rear portion or alternatively to the front portion of the article. The belt portions are fastened together around the waist of the wearer, wherein the one belt portion carries a first fastener arrangement intended to be attached against the opposite belt portion. The front portion or alternatively the rear portion exhibits a second fastener arrangement intended to be attached to the belt portions in such a way that the article will assume a pantlike shape, where the belt portions form a part of the waist portions of the pant. The belt portions are attached to the rear portion or alternatively to the front portion of the article via first elastic side panels arranged on the article. The front portion or alternatively the rear portion of the article has second elastic side panels to which the second fastener arrangement is attached.

The present invention relates to an absorbent article such as a diaper and an incontinence guard comprising a liquid permeable topsheet, a liquid impermeable backsheet and an absorbent body enclosed therebetween, wherein the article having a front portion, a rear portion and a crotch portion therebetween, and further is provided with a pair of belt portions attached to the rear portion, alternatively the front portion of the article and which are intended to be fastened together around the waist of the wearer by means of the first fastening means and where said front portion, alternatively the rear portion, is provided with attachment means intended to be attached to the belt portions, in such a way that the article will assume a pantlike shape, where the belt portions form a part of the waist portions of the pant.
Diapers and incontinence guards usually exhibit a garment portion holding an absorbent body in place against the user""s body and attachment means, which hold the garment portion in place also when the user is moving. A common type of attachment means are adhesive tapes or hook and loop fasteners of the touch-and-close type, which directly attach the front and rear portions of the absorbent article to each other. It is further known, through e.g., EP-A-0 287 388, EP-A-0 409 307, EP-A,0 528 282, EP-A0 605 012 and FRA-A-2 586 558, to attach the front and rear portions of the article by means of a belt, wherein the possibilities to adjust the fit are improved.
A conventional diaper for children is in general applied having the child in a lying position. The attachment means are usually arranged on the rear portion and are attached to the front portion. This kind of application often requires the aid from another person. However, for an adult user it is more desirable be able to self apply the incontinence guard. On a common type of belt diaper the belt portions are therefore first attached around the waist.
When the incontinence guard is fixed around the waist in this way, the user may reach after the rest of the incontinence guard between the legs and then the crotch portion of the incontinence guard is applied in the correct position by fastening the front portion of the diaper to the outside of the belt portions using hook and loop fasteners or tape tabs being arranged on the font portion and/or the belt portion. This design makes also possible for nursing personnel to apply the diaper on a standing person or for the user to apply the diaper on himself/herself in a standing position.
One problem is that the belt not properly adapts itself to the shape of the body it has been applied to, which leads to discomfort for the wearer at usage. The forces in the belt are concentrated to the centre potion of the belt and are generated from the fastening means on the belt, There are no forces acting in the upper or lower part of the belt. Often, the lower pat sits too firm and need to be able to loosen up whereas the upper part often needs to be closer to the body.
One way to solve this problem would be to use some kind of elastic material to make the product more flexible, However, the costs for the materials used in these products must be kept low, since these products are principally intended for one single use.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,695,488 describes a product mainly intended for children, which among others exhibit elastic waistbands arranged on the rear portion and which are intended to be attached around the waist portion of an user. However, these elastic waistbands are mainly there to assist on preventing leakage. On the other hand, to design the whole waist band using elastic materials is expensive. It is also difficult to combine a well working fastening system with elastic materials in the belt.
GB 2,292,067 shows a conventional diaper having elastic side portions on the rear portion on which fastening means are arranged. It only exhibits elastic materials in order to make sure that the fastening system itself will fit the wearer better, The document does not show a product being provided with a belt according to the present invention, which first is applied around the waist and then to attach the front portion to the belt portions by means of fastening means preferably arranged on the front portion.
Therefore there is a need for absorbent article provided with a belt, wherein the belt adapts itself to the user using the diaper and also feels comfortable to wear.
The object of the present invention is to provide a belted diaper or incontinence guard being comfortable to wear and which fits persons having different sizes. This object is being solved in that the belt portions are attached to the rear portion alternatively the front portion of the article via firsts elastic side panels being arranged on the article and that the front alternatively the rear portion of the article exhibits second elastic side panels to which fastening means are attached. These elastic side panels allow a flexibility of the position of the belt around the waist and distribute the forces evenly over the belt which gives an increased comfort.


The invention concerns a method and corresponding system for building a phonotactic mode for domain independent speech recognition. The method may include recognizing phones from a user's input communication using a current phonotactic model, detecting morphemes (acoustic and/or non-acoustic) from the recognized phones, and outputting the detected morphemes for processing. The method also updates the phonotactic model with the detected morphemes and stores the new model in a database for use by the system during the next user interaction. The method may also include making task-type classification decisions based on the detected morphemes from the user's input communication.

Conventional methods for constructing spoken language systems involve training speech and language models prior to operation by transcribing speech input and finding existing patterns. This speech is manually transcribed and each utterance is then semantically labeled. The resultant database is exploited to train stochastic language models for recognition and understanding. These models are further adapted for different dialog states. Examples of such methods are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,675,707, 5,860,063, 6,044,337, 6,173,261, 6,021,384 and 6,192,110, each of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
This transcription and labeling process is a major bottleneck in new application development and refinement of existing ones. For incremental training of a deployed natural spoken dialog system, current technology would potentially require transcribing millions of transactions. This process is both time-consuming and prohibitively expensive.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and system for automatically detecting morphemes in a task classification system using lattices


A method for evaluating sleep disorders in mammals and distributing control information related to the sleep disorders through electronic communication networks. The method includes acquiring analog information related to physiological signals through a mobile device from a mammal user. The mammal user is at a geographic location outside of a sleep laboratory staffed by trained technicians. The mobile device is coupled to a sensing device, which is coupled to monitoring region(s) of the mammal. The method includes converting the analog information into a digital format using a signal processing device and transmitting information related to the physiological signals in the digital format to one or more service computers through an electronic communications network. Each of the service computers is operably coupled to a health information service facility. The method determines if the mammal user has related control information at one of the health information service facilities. The related control information is received through the communication network. The method processes the information related to the physiological signals at one or more of the service computers to provide a report associated with the information related to the physiological signals and the mammal user. The method communicates report information in the report associated with the information related to the physiological signals upon indication of receipt of at least control account information of the mammal user based upon the determining the related account information.

The present invention generally relates to ways of monitoring health related disorders. More particularly, the invention provides a method and system for monitoring and controlling signals of sleep disorders acquired from a mammal user. Merely by way of example, the invention is applied using wide area electronic communication network and computer hardware. But it would be recognized that the invention has a much broader range of applicability such as applicability in an enterprise networks and others.
Many diseases afflict humans and other mammals. More than eighty such diseases comprise a class of ills known as sleep disorders. Some sleep disorders pose serious threats to health and well-being, and some are often treatable. Others are believed to be untreatable. As merely an example, sleep disorders are common. Many humans having a sleep disorder are often unaware of their affliction. For example, a single sleep disorder, obstructive sleep apnea, affects 5-15% of American adults and may be reasonably suspected in the 40% of adults who snore and the 5-10% of children who snore. Thus, obstructive sleep apnea is sufficiently common that, ideally, all primary care physicians should perform evaluations for it several times per day and should expect to diagnose it several times per week. Yet, fewer than 1% of patients in primary care carry the diagnosis of sleep apnea (E. M. BALL, et al. Diagnosis and treatment of sleep apnea within the community. The Walla Walla Project. Arch Intern Med. 1997;157(4):419-24.) (N. R. KRAMER, et al. The role of the primary care physician in recognizing obstructive sleep apnea. Arch Intern Med. 1999;159(9):965-8.) (N. C. NETZER, et al. Using the Berlin Questionnaire to identify patients at risk for the sleep apnea syndrome. Ann Intern Med. 1999;131(7):485-91.) (T. YOUNG, et al. Estimation of the clinically diagnosed proportion of sleep apnea syndrome in middle-aged men and women. Sleep. 1997;20(9):705-6.). A major limitation to reducing the public health burden of sleep disorders has been in diagnosing them.
Conventional techniques for diagnosing sleep disorders have limitations preventing them from becoming widely used. For example, if the patient's fundamental problem occurs during sleep, it often follows that observations should be made of the sleeping patient. Such observations are generally not practical in most physician offices. Specialized sleep-monitoring facilities allow assessments of a sleeping patient by collecting a plurality of physiological signals from the patient—a procedure known as "polysomnography." Polysomnography performed in such facilities, however, is often inconvenient for the patients who sleep there overnight and has proven to be expensive as well.
To overcome the limitations of dedicated sleep-monitoring facilities, other conventional techniques may permit collection of physiological signals as the patient sleeps at his or her home. These techniques include a hardware device for recording physiological signals. After recording physiological signals during sleep, the recorded physiological signals are accessed and analyzed, and information related to the analysis is made available to an end-user. Conventional techniques have many limitations in this regard. Logistics surrounding the analysis facility and return of the recording device are a major issue.
In some techniques, a physician's office or other health care facility is an analysis facility. This typically means that the expertise needed to analyze the signals resides within the health care facility. Humans may be the repository of such expertise, but this is problematic because humans ideally need training to performing such analyses, and because human experts are generally expensive. Machines (including software codes running on general purpose computers) may also perform analyses in one or more health care facilities. Such an arrangement places significant burdens on the human caretaker of the machine(s) at each facility. For example, a caretaker should be aware of updates and recalls of the analysis software, and should install updates as they become available. In addition, the caretaker should ensure the computer is properly configured for the software and remains in a validated state, all of which may be challenging, given periodic updates to operating systems, possible corruption of necessary system files, interference from other software, and so on. Physical and usage security also should be maintained around the computer, to prevent accidental or malicious tampering. This is especially difficult for a shared, general-purpose computer. Although some conventional techniques use both humans and machines to perform analyses, such techniques often magnify problems associated with a system, which inherits problems of both humans and machines.
Other approaches attempt to centralize the analysis facility. As merely an example, a company called Sleep Solutions Inc. (herein "Sleep Solutions") sends sleep-monitoring hardware to the patient's home by post or other delivery service. The hardware records physiological signals and is then returned, by post or other delivery service, to the Sleep Solutions analysis facility. The physiological data are analyzed, and the report is made available to the patient's physician over the Internet. There are several difficulties with this method. Postal services may be slow. Overnight delivery is possible with some delivery services, but at considerable expense. Furthermore, equipment may be damaged or lost in transit, which adds to expense and may necessitate a repeat study on the patient. This approach may also require considerable expense to support an infrastructure at the analysis facility to receive diagnostic hardware items, prepare them for the next use, and then distribute them. Still another limitation with the Sleep Solutions system arises in making patient reports available on the Internet. Any transmission of medical information must generally be done securely. Sleep Solutions employs the common combination of username and password at the end-user site. A limitation of this system is well known: many human computer-users have a tendency to choose an easily-guessed password and/or write their password somewhere it might be found.
Another product is offered by SNAP Laboratories, which also uses a centralized analysis facility. SNAP often uses a digital audio tape (DAT) recorder to capture the sounds made by a sleeping patient. The sounds are recorded onto a DAT cassette tape, and the cassette tape is sent by post or other delivery service to an analysis facility maintained by SNAP. This system has all the problems of the system of Sleep Solutions, and further adds costs of a consumable data storage item (the DAT cassette tape).
Other conventional approaches attempt to teach the transmission of physiological data to a remote analysis facility. These approaches, however, often cannot practically be implemented on a large scale, as they contain significant shortcomings, e.g. confidential patient information is open on the network, account information is inadequate, only a portion of information of potential diagnostic utility is transmitted, analysis methods are inflexibly implemented, provisions for technically unsophisticated users are not described, and so on. Depending upon the particular approach, there can also be many other limitations.
From the above, it is desirable to have improved techniques for monitoring health related disorders.

Service center system and method as a component of a population diagnostic for sleep disorders


An apparatus for cameras permitting the taking of in situ pictures in water. A housing has a first opening that is at least open to light relative to an object that is to be observed. A second opening is disposed essentially opposite to the first opening and serves for accommodating a camera. The housing has at least one inlet means for the supply of water.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for cameras permitting the taking of in situ pictures in water.
Due to a natural turbidity from sediments that are dissolved or suspended in water, as are encountered, for example, in flowing water that is affected by tides, but also due to many forms of contamination in lake, river and sea water, it is often possible only with extremely great effort and expense to make adequately sharp underwater photographs or motion pictures, for example of bulkheads, the bottoms of ships, wrecks, or other objects that are located under water. The great difficulty in getting sharp pictures is based essentially on the fact that the particles that are dissolved or suspended in the water make the water so dense that even if the camera is very close to the object that is to photographed, the pictures are so unclear that they are of little or no help in providing any real information about the conditions encountered in the water by the pertaining object. This very disadvantageous and unacceptable condition that is encountered when taking underwater pictures is equally applicable to photograph picture-taking as well as video recording.
As indicated above, it has been attempted to resolve the problem of taking in situ pictures in water by, for example, encasing in a very complicated and expensive manner the region about the object that is to be photographed and then pumping the water out of the casing and thereupon making the necessary photographs in a water-free environment within the casing. The expense of this method increases as the depth of the object that is to be observed in the water increases, and below a certain depth in the water this known method becomes increasingly unattractive due to the increase in pressure and the increasingly more difficult technical problems inherent thereto.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for cameras permitting the taking of in situ pictures in water, which apparatus can be easily attached to underwater cameras, but also to normal cameras that are adapted for the underwater arena, and with which accurate and sharp pictures of the object that is to be observed can be made, whereby the apparatus should have a straightforward construction and furthermore should be capable of being used at nearly any depth of water, with the apparatus also being easy and economical to produce and having both commercial as well as private applications.

Apparatus for cameras permitting the taking of in situ pictures in water


A method of preparation of crystalline aripiprazole monohydrate includes the use of solution enhanced dispersion by supercritical fluid. Specifically, water is introduced to a stream of supercritical fluid which is then allowed to mix with a stream including a mixture including aripiprazole and a solvent. The mixing results in the substantially simultaneous dispersion and extraction of the aripiprazole from the mixture by the supercritical fluid.

Aripiprazole, 7-(4-[4-(2,3-dichloropheny)-1-piperazinyl]-butoxy)-3,4-dihydro carbostyril or 7-(4-[4-(2,3-dichloropheny)-1-piperazinyl]-butoxy)-3,4-dihydro-2(1H)-quinolone, is a drug useful as an antipsychotic treatment, as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,737,416 and 5,006,528. The structure of aripiprazole is shown below.

Several polymorphic forms of aripiprazole have been identified. These include six anhydrous polymorphic forms, designated types I to VI, two pseudo polymorphs, a monohydrate and a ½ ethanolate. These polymorphic forms have been disclosed, for example, in Patent Publication Nos. US2004058935 and WO 03/026659. Aripiprazole anhydrate may be used for the formulation of therapeutic treatments, however the hygroscopic nature of these crystals has made them difficult to handle, particularly to prevent exposure to moisture. Upon exposure to water, the anhydrous forms take up water and are converted to a hydrous form or hydrate. The hydrates are however less bioavailable and result in a slower dissolution rate than the anhydrous forms. Recently, WO 03/026659 disclosed various polymorphic forms of aripiprazole anhydrate, including an Anhydrate B form having reduced ygroscopicity, and which was thus more amenable to pharmaceutical processing and formulation. This Anhydrate is prepared via a process in which a hydrous form, Hydrate A, serves as an intermediate. This hydrate is prepared from the milling of what is known as Conventional Hydrate, as is disclosed in WO 03/026659. The Hydrate A is then transformed to Anhydrate B through a heating process.
The Hydrate A, also known herein as aripiprazole monohydrate, though demonstrating usefulness as an intermediate, has a low solubility in water and thus also presents certain processing challenges. The known process of preparing it from Conventional Hydrate by milling has obvious drawbacks in reduced processing efficiency and cost. It is therefore desirable to identify a method of preparing aripiprazole monohydrate suitable for use in the preparation of the anhydrate forms.
Generally, the preparation of particles of pharmaceutical compounds of low aqueous solubility has been addressed, for example, by co-formulation with polymers or other excipients that act as carriers, fillers and/or modifiers. In such modes of preparation, the pharmaceutical compound and the polymer or excipient are co-precipitated from a solvent system in which both are dissolved. Alternatively, the particles may be formed using a solution enhanced dispersions (SEDS) system, in which fine particles of a poorly soluble material are coated with a solubility-enhancing material, first starting with a suspension of particles of the pharmaceutical compound in a solution of the coating material. Such a process is taught in Published PCT Application No. WO 96/00610. Using this method, however, the particles must be prepared beforehand and coated in a separate step.
A method for the preparation of particles of poorly soluble materials using supercritical fluids is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,851,453 to Hanna et al. ("Hanna"). Hanna describes an apparatus and method for preparing particles by solution enhanced dispersion by supercritical fluid (SEDS). According to Hanna's method, SEDS processing includes controlling the temperature and pressure of a particle formation vessel into which a supercritical fluid and a mixture including a substance that is either in solution or suspension are co-introduced. The combination of the supercritical fluid and the substance-containing mixture results in the substantially simultaneous dispersion and extraction of the substance from the mixture by the supercritical fluid.
While Hanna gives examples of solids that may be used with the process, there is no disclosure of what properties a solid must possess to be prepared with the process. Furthermore, Hanna does not describe a process for the preparation of a crystalline aripiprazole monohydrate.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,461,642 to Bisrat et al. ("Bisrat") also describes a preparation for particles using a SEDS technique. However, this process is directed toward the preparation of powders for pulmonary administration.
In view of the foregoing discussion and recognition of the problems associated with preparation of pharmaceutical compounds in general, and aripiprazole anhydrates in particular, it would seem desirable to provide a process for the preparation of crystalline aripiprazole monohydrate from unprocessed aripiprazole that provides particles of a size useful for the preparation of an anhydrate form, or for incorporation into pharmaceutical formulations, for example suspensions for intramuscular administration.

Process of making aripiprazole particles


Provided are a laminate film which comprises a photosensitive layer and a first film having a 5% elongation load in the longitudinal direction of the film per unit width at 80.degree. C. of 4 to 90 g/mm and a breaking elongation in the longitudinal direction of the film per unit width of 50 to 1,000%, and processes for preparing a printed wiring board, which comprises laminating the laminate film on a substrate so that the photosensitive layer and the substrate are contacted with each other; and then subjecting a resulting material to exposure and development.

A laminate film 1 to be used for forming a resist film for plating or etching, when a printed wiring board is prepared, is constituted by coating a photosensitive resin composition on a support (base) layer (a base film) 2', followed by drying, to form a photosensitive layer 3, and laminating a coating (covering) layer (a protective film) 4' on the photosensitive layer 3 as shown in FIG. 2(a). In the prior art, the support layer 2' and the photosensitive layer 3 form a transfer layer 5', and the transfer layer 5' is laminated on a substrate 6 of a printed wiring board, on which the transfer layer 5' is to be laminated.
When the conventional laminate film 1 is to be laminated, after peeling (stripping) the coating layer 4', the transfer layer 5' is superposed on the substrate 6 so that the photosensitive layer 3 faces toward the side of the substrate 6, and then the transfer layer 5' is pressurized from the side of the support layer 2' by using a heating roll to effect contact bonding. Therefore, a sectional view after lamination is as shown in FIG. 2(b).
Next, a negative mask (phototool) is placed on the support layer 2', and the photosensitive layer 3 is exposed by irradiation with light for exposure through the negative mask Thereafter, the negative mask is removed, the support layer 2' is peeled (stripped) off, and then the photosensitive layer 3 is developed to obtain the photosensitive layer 3 having the same pattern as that of the above negative mask. By using the photosensitive layer 3 left on the substrate as a resist film, a next plating or etching step is carried out.
As the support layer 2', a film (e.g., a film of polyethylene terephthalate (PET)) having a 5% elongation load in the longitudinal direction of the film per unit width at 80.degree. C. of 100 g/mm or more is used, and the thickness of the film is generally about 20 .mu.m. In order to heighten the tensile strength of the laminate film 1, the support layer 2' is required to have such a thickness, and it is also necessary to increase the hardness of the support layer 2' to a certain extent.
The photosensitive layer 3 is formed from a photosensitive resin composition in which the physical properties of an irradiated portion are changed when UV ray or the like is irradiated, and a suitable composition is selected depending on the purpose of use. The thickness of the photosensitive layer 3 is set to be, for example, 25 .mu.m, 33 .mu.m, 40 .mu.m or 50 .mu.m depending on the purpose. As the coating layer 4', a film of polyethylene or the like is used, and the thickness of the film is, for example, 30 .mu.m.
When the transfer layer 5' is laminated, it should be conformed to the unevenness of a base material so that a non-adhered portion between the photosensitive layer 3 and the base material does not exist.
In recent years, the density of wiring (line and space) of a printed wiring board has been heightened, and high resolution has been demanded. In order to heighten the resolution of the laminate film 1, it is effective to make the photosensitive layer 3 thinner. However, the amount of the photosensitive layer which is conformed to the surface unevenness of a base material is reduced so that in the conventional laminate film 1, a non-adhered portion between the substrate 6 and the transfer layer 5 is enlarged to cause a problem that sufficient production yield cannot be obtained. Also, in the conventional laminate film, the flexibility of the entire transfer layer 5' is made insufficient due to the above thickness and hardness necessary for the support layer 2', and the transfer layer 5' is difficultly conformed to the surface unevenness of a base material on which the transfer layer 5' is to be laminated. As a result, a non-adhered portion between the substrate 6 and the transfer layer 5' is enlarged to cause a problem that sufficient production yield cannot be obtained.
Various means to cope with the problems as described above have been proposed. For example, a method of coating water on a base material and then laminating a laminate film on the base material has been described (see Japanese Provisional Patent Publications No. 21890/1982 and No. 21891/1982).
In this method, in order to adhere a thin water layer to the base material uniformly, the surface of the base material should be cleaned. When through holes with a small size or the like exist in the base material, water held in the through holes and a photosensitive layer are easily reacted to involve drawbacks that developability is lowered and so on.
Also, a method of laminating a laminate film on a base material after forming an adhesive intermediate layer by laminating a liquid resin on the base material has been proposed (see Japanese Provisional Patent Publication No. 154363/1977).
In this method, there are drawbacks that the developability, peeling property (stripping property) and so on of through holes with a small size are lowered, cost is increased by coating the liquid resin, and so on.
Also, a method of laminating a laminate film under reduced pressure by using a vacuum laminator has been known (see Japanese Patent Publication No. 31670/1978 and Japanese Provisional Patent Publication No. 63702/1976).
In this method, an apparatus is expensive, and evacuation takes time. Therefore, the method is not used frequently for forming a common circuit and is utilized only as a laminate of a permanent mask to be used after formation of a conductor. Also, in such lamination of a permanent mask (solder mask), further improvement of conformability to a conductor has been demanded.
An object of the first invention is to provide a laminate film in which a transfer layer is favorably conformed to the surface unevenness of a target on which the transfer layer is to be laminated, resolution can be improved and the production yield of a printed wiring board can be greatly improved without increasing production costs.
An object of the second invention is to provide a laminate film having improved sensitivity, crosslinking density, storage stability and resolution and good peeling (stripping) property of a first film from a photosensitive layer in addition to the effects of the first invention.
An object of the third invention is to provide a laminate film having excellent handling property in addition to the effects of the first and the second invention.
An object of the fourth invention is to provide a laminate film having improved operatability at the time of lamination in addition to the effects of the third invention.
An object of the fifth and the sixth inventions are to provide processes for preparing a printed wiring board, in which a transfer layer is favorably conformed to the surface unevenness of a target on which the transfer layer is to be laminated, resolution can be improved and the production yield of a printed wiring board can be greatly improved without increasing production costs.

Laminate film and processes for preparing printed wiring board


A fluid guiding device (1) includes a ventilating pipe (10), a barrel (20) and a holding frame (30). The ventilating pipe includes two spring levers (154). A handling tab (156) and an engaging tab (158) extend from a free end of each spring lever, respectively outwardly and inwardly. The barrel forms two jagged members (262) thereon. Each jagged member forms a plurality of parallel teeth (264). The engaging tabs are selectively engaged with corresponding teeth respectively to position the barrel to the ventilating pipe when the barrel is moved to a desired location in the ventilating pipe. The engaging tabs escape from teeth by pulling the handling tabs outwardly to allow the barrel to be movable on the ventilating pipe. The holding frame is secured to the barrel for holding a fluid-driving device thereon.

1. Field
The present invention relates to a fan duct device, and more particularly to a fan duct device for guiding airflow to improve air convection of a heat dissipation device installed within a computer enclosure, wherein a length of the fan duct device is adjustable so that position of a fan mounted on the fan duct can be easily altered.
2. Related Art
In the art of heat management, a heat sink having a fan mounted thereon is frequently employed. Commonly, a heat sink comprises a base for absorbing heat from a heat-generating component and a plurality of fins extending from the base to dissipate heat to an ambient environment. Channels are defined between adjacent fins of the heat sink for flow of air. The fan is mounted to a top or a side of the heat sink to enhance air convection in the channels. However, the heat sink and the fan are usually positioned in an enclosure in which the heat-generating component is set. Whether the fan is used to blow air to the heat sink or to draw heated air away from the heat sink, the air passing through and heated by the heat sink is subject to mixture with fresh air and enter the heat sink again. This adversely degrades the heat discharge ability of the heat sink.
To overcome the foregoing disadvantage of the heat sink/fan combination, a fan duct device has been developed. An end of the fan duct device is mounted with a fan. An opposite end of the fan duct device is engaged with an enclosure of a computer and communicates with an exterior of the enclosure. During operation of the fan, fresh air can be directly drawn into the heat sink from an exterior of the enclosure through the fan duct device when the fan is used to blow air to the heat sink, or the air passing through and heated by the heat sink can be directly discharged to the exterior of the enclosure through the fan duct device when the fan is used to draw heated air away from the heat sink. Therefore, by the use of the fan duct device, the heated air will not mix with the fresh air and flow again toward the heat sink. As a result, a better heat-dissipation efficiency can be achieved.
Unfortunately, the fan duct generally has a fixed configuration and dimension, whereas specification of the enclosure is varied. Consequently, the fan duct device cannot be adjusted to meet an enclosure with a different specification.

Bao'an District, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province

Fu Zhun Precision Industry (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd.


An image forming machine such as a copier or a printer for developing a latent image on a photoreceptor with toner. The image forming machine includes a sleeve for charging the photoreceptor; magnetic particles for forming a magnetic brush on a surface of the sleeve; a driver for driving the sleeve so that the magnetic brush is moved; and a power applying circuit for applying an alternating current between 20 and 500 .mu.A/cm on to a charging area between the sleeve and the photoreceptor; in which the sleeve is located in the vicinity of the photoreceptor so that the magnetic brush is in contact with the surface of the photoreceptor.

The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic copying machine and an electrostatic recording apparatus in which an electrostatic transfer process is used to form an image when a photoreceptor is charged.
In order to charge a photoreceptor such as a photoreceptor drum, a corona charger has been generally used hitherto, wherein high voltage is impressed upon a discharge wire and thereby a strong electric field is generated around the discharge wire for gaseous discharge. The photoreceptor is charged when electric charge ions generated in the course of gaseous discharge are adsorbed onto the surface of the photoreceptor.
A corona charger used in the conventional image forming apparatus mentioned above has an advantage that a photoreceptor is not damaged in the course of charging thereon because the charger does not come into mechanical contact with the photoreceptor. The corona charger, however, has a disadvantage, due to high voltage used therein, that there is a risk of an electric shock or electric leakage and also ozone generated in the course of gaseous discharge is harmful to human bodies and the ozone shortens the life of a photoreceptor. Further, charging voltage by means of a corona charger is sharply influenced by temperature and humidity to be unstable, and noise is caused by high voltage in the corona charger, which is a serious disadvantage on the occasion where an electrophotographic image forming apparatus is utilized as a terminal equipment for communication or an information processing apparatus.
These many disadvantages of a corona charger are caused by gaseous discharge necessary for charging.
Therefore, there are disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication Open to Public Inspection Nos. 133569/1984, 21873/1992 and 116674/1992 (hereinafter referred to as Japanese Patent O.P.I. Publication) the charging devices wherein magnetic particles are adsorbed on a cylindrical conveying carrier which is a charging roller holding therein magnetic objects for forming a magnetic brush, and the magnetic brush rubs the surface of the photoreceptor for charging it, as a charging device capable of charging the photoreceptor without conducting high voltage gaseous discharge carried out in a corona discharge and without giving any mechanical damages on the photoreceptor.
However, the charging devices disclosed in the patents described above have several problems. That is, according to the charging devices, it is impossible to charge a photoreceptor stably and uniformly. To be in more detail, in a transfer region, the magnetic particles on the surface of the cylindrical magnetic particle conveying carrier are formed chain-like along the lines of magnetic force, and charging is performed through these chain-like magnetic particles, however, unless the condition of magnetic particles in the transfer region is stable, charging is not uniformly performed, and dielectric breakdown of the photoreceptor occurs, and uneven charging is conducted. Further, discharge is caused between the magnetic particle chains forming the magnetic brush, so that ozone is generated. Further, when the charging operations are conducted over a long period of time, the magnetic particles are deteriorated. Therefore, after a certain period of time has passed, the charging condition is different from that in the initial copying stage.
In a magnetic brush charging operation, when a magnetic pole of the magnet 23 is arranged at a position where the magnetic pole is opposed to the photoreceptor 10, magnetic particle chains 121 are formed as shown in FIG. 5, and the photoreceptor 10 coming into contact with the magnetic particles is charged through these chains. When these magnetic particle chains are locally contacted with the photoreceptor 10, the contact portions are over-charged, and dielectric breakdown is caused in the photoreceptor, and uneven charging is caused.
As shown in FIG. 6, in a charging device of the prior art, a charging region is set up at a position where the charging roller 22, which is a rotational member to convey the magnetic particles 21, and the photoreceptor drum 10, which is a photoreceptor, are most closely located, and a magnetic pole 23a of the magnet 23 is provided at a position opposed to the aforementioned position where the charging roller 22 and the photoreceptor drum 10 are most closely located. The magnetic particles 21 in the charging region are connected along the lines of magnetic force of the magnet 23 so that they are formed into a chain-shape. In this way, bristles 21A of the magnetic brush are formed. When a bias voltage is impressed between the photoreceptor drum 10 and the charging roller 22, the photoreceptor drum 10 is charged through the conductive bristles 21A of the magnetic brush. As shown by small arrow marks in FIG. 6, electrical discharge occurs in the magnetic brush and between the chains of the magnetic particles 21, so that ozone is generated. When the magnetic particles 21 are used over a long period of time, they are deteriorated, and especially in the initial stage of a copy operation, the electrical resistance of the magnetic particles 21 is lowered, so that the electrical discharge is further facilitated.
As shown in FIG. 7, in the case where an amount of the magnetic particles 21 is small, the bristles 21A of the magnetic brush becomes rough. Therefore, the bristles 21A are not uniformly contacted with the surface of the photoreceptor 10. As a result, the photoreceptor 10 is locally overcharged, which causes dielectric breakdown of the photoreceptor drum 10 which is a photoreceptor, and further uneven charge occurs. In the case where an amount of the magnetic particles 21 is too much, the magnetic particles 21 are deposited on the surface of the photoreceptor drum 10, so that the charging region is unnecessarily extended, and further the electrical resistance of the bristles 21A is unnecessarily lowered and an over-current is caused. Further, the magnetic particles are not sufficiently oscillated, which causes uneven charging.
It is an object of the present invention to solve the problems described above and to provide an image forming apparatus in which dielectric breakdown of a photoreceptor can be avoided and generation of ozone can be prevented.


Computer-readable media, systems, and methods for automated device activation are described. In embodiments, an activation message is received from a non-provisioned mobile device identifying a user account. In various embodiments, it is determined whether activation is authorized and, if it is determined that activation is authorized, the non-provisioned mobile device is activated. In various other embodiments, it is determined whether activation is authorized by sending a confirmation message to a provisioned mobile device and receiving an authorization message from the provisioned mobile device.

Mobile devices are typically used by consumers in conjunction with a subscription to a particular telecommunications provider. The subscription allows the mobile device to communicate over one or more telecommunications networks in the control of the associated provider or other providers that have agreed to allow telecommunications traffic of the associated provider. Each subscription is associated with a user account including one or more devices associated with the user account. Due to the dynamic nature of technology generally, and mobile device technology in particular, consumers using mobile devices often seek upgraded and newer technology during their subscription. Upon obtaining a new mobile device, the consumer must activate the device and have the device associated with the consumer's user account. Typically, the activation process involves calling a call center associated with the service provider and communicating with a customer service representative to have the new device activated. The typical process is not only time-consuming and occasionally frustrating to the consumer, but is also costly to the service provider because call centers must be staffed. It would be advantageous to provide automatic device activation that allows a consumer to activate a new device where the consumer already has a user account.


A novel palladium-nickel alloy plating solution provides a uniform electrodeposited film with excellent gloss at a high electric current density. A palladium-nickel alloy plating solution comprises a water-soluble palladium salt, a water-soluble nickel salt, ammonia, an ammonium salt, and 3-pyridinesulfonic acid, which are solved in water. Further additives may be added in the solution.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plating solution for electroplating of a palladium-nickel alloy that is excellent in gloss on electric parts, decorative articles, or the like.
2. Description of the Related Background Art
The plating of palladium-nickel alloy shows excellent gloss and excellent corrosion resistance, and, therefore, is frequently used for formation of electric contacts of connector or printed circuit boards as well as for various decorative articles.
For example, one palladium-nickel alloy plating solution is prepared by mixing a water-soluble palladium salt such as dichlorodiamminepalladium in an amount of Pd of 10-50 g/l, a water-soluble nickel salt such as nickel sulfate in an amount of Ni of 10-70 g/l, and 10-70 g/l of an ammonium salt such as ammonium sulfate for stabilization of ammonia with each other, and then by adding aqueous ammonia to adjust a pH to around neutral. This solution, however, has a range of electric current density that is too narrow to obtain a plating film having satisfactory glossiness, so that the productivity of plated products may not be high.


A tool part is held by a clamping mechanism which includes an axially-movable drawbar operably connected to a clamping unit for moving the clamping unit into and out of clamping relationship with the tool part. The drawbar is biased by a spring in the form of compressible gaseous medium for moving the clamping unit into clamping relationship with the tool part.

This invention relates to a tool clamping device for a machine spindle, where said tool clamping device includes a drawbar, at one end of the drawbar a clamping organ is arranged in order to clamp part of a tool coupling at said end, plus a device to exert an axially directed force on the drawbar in a direction away from the clamping device, where the device which is to exert a force on the drawbar includes a housing, a piston which can be displaced axially in the housing plus a compressible pressure medium in the housing. The invention also relates to a machine spindle.
Reference is made to the attached FIG. 1A and the associated descriptive section below for a more detailed explanation of the prior art.
A primary object of the present invention is to present a tool clamping device for a machine spindle which is completely symmetrical and thereby to a large degree free from vibration.
A further object of the present invention is to present a tool clamping device which is capable of withstanding more clamping cycles than the prior art.
An additional object of the present-invention is to reduce the axial length of the tool clamping device, more exactly to reduce the length by approximately 50%.
A further object of the present invention is that the tool clamping device should be easier to assemble in the casing of the machine spindle.
The objects of this invention have been achieved through a tool-clamping device, which comprises a drawbar that is moveable in an axial direction, and a clamping unit operably connected to a first axial end of the drawbar and arranged to be displaced to clamping and non-clamping positions in response to axial movement of the drawbar in clamping and non-clamping directions, respectively. A force-exerting unit is provided for exerting an axial force on the drawbar in the clamping direction. The force-exerting unit includes a housing, a piston disposed in the housing and connected to the drawbar adjacent a second axial end thereof, and a compressible gaseous pressure medium in the housing for biasing the piston in a direction for moving the drawbar in the clamping direction.
The invention also pertains to a machine spindle which includes a casing in which the clamping device is disposed, as well as a push rod for axially displacing the drawbar.

Tool clamping device employing gas spring


Flow-based isolation can be provided in a service network that is implemented over a software-defined network, and particularly in a dynamic open-access network environment. End user premises devices can be configured with one or more service network isolation flows that apply to communications within the service network. Such service network isolation flows can define rules for dropping any outgoing communication that is destined for an IP address within the service network. Such service network isolation flows can also define rules for dropping any incoming communication that originated from an IP address within the service network. By employing service network isolation flows on the end user premises devices to block communications on the service network between end user premises devices, service isolation over the software-defined network and customer isolation within the service network can be provided without the inherent limitations of S-Tag/C-Tag techniques that hinder the scaling of software-defined networks.

This background provides context for embodiments of the present invention and should not be considered as admitted prior art.
Software-defined networking (SDN) is a general term which includes a number of networking technologies. SDN aims to separate the control plane of the network from the data plane of the network to create an agile and flexible network. In a software-defined network, the switch(es) or other components that form the physical topology of the network can communicate with the controller, which is software that manages the control plane of the network, to determine how frames should be directed within the network. In this way, the controller can create, modify, or remove network services dynamically. These services are connections that are provisioned between two network endpoints.
During this provisioning of services, the physical topology of the network remains unchanged. Instead, to provision a service (e.g., between a user's home and an edge switch of a provider), the controller will typically employ knowledge of the network topology including how the endpoints are physically interconnected, current traffic on the network, and any quality of service requirements (among possible other factors) to select and create a virtual network between the endpoints. This is accomplished by programming the appropriate switches or other components to forward frames pertaining to the service so that they traverse a selected path to reach their endpoint. In some implementations, only components located at the edge of the network topology may implement this software-defined networking technique.
FIG. 1 provides a simplified example of an SDN architecture 100. SDN architecture 100 includes a network 130 that consists of a number of interconnected core switches 130-1 through 130-n (where n can represent any integer) that form a switching fabric. A number of entities can connect to network 130 including service providers and end users. Service providers may typically include a network that connects to network 130 via an edge switch 132. In contrast, an end user may typically employ an end user premises device 110 to connect to network 130.
In the example depicted in FIG. 1, a streaming video provider network 140a (e.g., Netflix, Hulu, Sling, etc.), an internet service provider network 140b, and a security provider network 140c are each connected to a particular port of edge switch 132. Additionally, a user's premises (e.g., a home or business location) is shown as including a smart TV 150a, a PC 150b and a security system 150c, each of which is connected to end user premises device 110.
Various protocols and techniques exist for provisioning services in an SDN architecture. For example, a software-defined network may be configured to employ VLAN tags (or other identifiers) within the frames to define to which service the frames pertain. By accessing the VLAN tag in a frame it receives, a switch can determine, based on its programmed rules (or flows), how to forward the frame so that the frame traverses the path that was defined for that service. In this type of environment, frames pertaining to multiple services, including those from different VLANs, can be transferred over the same physical wire but remain isolated due to the VLAN tags they include.
Current standards enable the use of both a service VLAN tag (or S-Tag) and a customer VLAN tag (or C-Tag) within an ethernet frame. The S-Tag generally functions to logically isolate one service provider's communications from another service provider's communications within a software-defined network. The S-Tag would therefore typically be assigned by the network operator. On the other hand, the C-Tag generally functions as a customer-specific identifier that is managed by the service provider. Accordingly, in the context of FIG. 1, the network operator could assign the streaming video provider a particular S-Tag that will be used for communications it sends over network 130 while the streaming video provider could independently assign C-Tags to the end users that have subscribed to the streaming video service.
SDN architecture 100 can represent a dynamic open-access network. In such networks, the end users can select which services they want, and the services will be dynamically provisioned. End user premises device 110 enables this dynamic provisioning of services. For example, in response to the user selecting the streaming video service, end user premises device 110 can be configured to implement VLAN tagging techniques to ensure that a logically isolated "service network" is implemented over network 130 between end user premises device 110 and streaming video provider network 140a.
FIG. 2 provides more detail regarding how end user premises devices can be configured and managed in SDN architecture 100 to provide a dynamic open-access network. In FIG. 2, many end user premises devices 110-1 through 110-n (collectively, end user premises devices 110) are shown, each of which is connected to network 130 (e.g., via a particular switch). A management solution 200 is also shown as being connected to network 130 via a management switch 220. Management switch 220 can represent an edge switch that is connected to network 130 and that is configured to implement VLAN tagging. Management router 210 can represent any router that is physically connected to management switch 220 for the purpose of routing communications between the various VLANs that management switch 220 provides. For example, management router 220 may divide its physical interface into virtual sub-interfaces for terminating the various VLANs.
Within this topology, a service network (or "management network 250") can be defined for allowing management solution 200 to communicate with the end user premises devices 110. This can be accomplished by employing a particular S-Tag for any communications that are sent between management server 200 and one of end user premises devices 110. This S-Tag will isolate communications sent between management solution 200 and end user premises devices 110 from other communications sent over network 130 (e.g., communications sent by the streaming video provider which would include a different S-Tag). Additionally, to prevent one end user premises device 110 from accessing communications sent over management network 250 that pertain to another end user premises device 110, management server 200 can assign a particular C-Tag to each end user premises device 110. Furthermore, each end user premises device 110 will be assigned an IP address within management network 250. Accordingly, the combination of the S-Tag defined for management network 250, the C-Tag assigned to the end user premise's device and the end user premises device's IP address within management network 250 is used to route communications sent over network 130 between management server 200 and end user premises devices 110.
FIG. 3 provides a simplified example of how the IP address, C-Tag and S-tag combination is used to route communications sent by management solution 200 to end user premises devices 110. In this example, it is assumed that, in step 1, management solution 200 has sent a communication (e.g., in the form of a frame) that includes the IP address assigned to end user premises device 110-1 within management network 250. This communication will be received at a particular port of management switch 220 and, in step 2, management switch 220 will deliver the communication to management router 210 to route the communication to management network 250. In step 3, management router 210 employs routing rules 210a to determine which C-Tag to add to the communication. For example, routing rules 210a can map end user premises device 110-1's IP address to a C-Tag. Management router 210 then delivers the communication with the C-Tag to management switch 220 (e.g., to another particular port of management switch 220). In step 4, management switch 220 employs flows 220a to determine which S-Tag to add to the communication so that the communication will be delivered appropriately over network 130 to end user premises device 110-1. For example, flows 220a may map an IP address/C-Tag combination to an S-Tag. Management switch 220 will then send the communication with the S-Tag, C-Tag and IP address over network 130 which in turn will cause the communication to be delivered to end user premises device 110-1. Due to the inclusion of the C-Tag, the communication will not be accessible to other end user premises devices thus providing isolation within management network 250. Finally, upon receiving the communication, end user premises device 110-1 can remove the S-Tag and C-Tag and process the communication appropriately (e.g., by performing any management functionality defined in the communication).
Similar steps can be performed when communications are sent from end user premises device 110-1 to management solution 200. For example, end user premises device 110-1 can employ flows to add the appropriate S-Tag and C-Tag to cause a communication to be delivered to management switch 220. Management switch 220 can then remove the S-Tag and deliver the communication with the C-Tag to management router 210. Management router 210 can then remove the C-Tag and route the communication to management solution 200.
Although the example in FIG. 3 is given in the context of a management network, which is one type of service network that would typically include all end user premises devices, a similar technique and architecture can be employed to implement any service network, which may typically include only a subset of the end user premises devices. For example, if an end user, who is connected to network 130 via end user premises device 110-1, subscribes to the streaming video service, a streaming solution, which is part of streaming video provider network 140a, edge switch 132 and a router could function in a similar manner as management solution 200, management switch 220 and management router 210 respectively to implement a service network that includes end user premises device 110-1. Therefore, in a typical use case, each end user premises device 110 will be part of a management network (which allows the end user premises device to be managed) and may also be a part of one or more other service networks (which could be provisioned dynamically as the end users subscribe to the various services available in the software-defined network).
This architecture and technique have various limitations which make it difficult to scale a software-defined network and particularly a dynamic open-access network. For example, a VLAN tag is defined using 12 bits thus limiting the number of unique VLAN tags to 4092 (some values of the 4096 possible values are reserved). Accordingly, if there are more than 4092 end user premises devices in a service network such as management network 250, more than one S-Tag will be required. More particularly, with a single S-Tag, there will be 4092 unique S-Tag/C-Tag combinations. Thus, to include a second set of 4092 end user premises devices 110 in management network 250, a second S-Tag will be necessary, and so on. As the number of S-Tags increases (or as the number of VLANs that make up management network 250 increases), additional management switches 220 will need to be added to network 130. It will also be necessary to increase the number of management routers 210 to interconnect each of the VLANs. Furthermore, each management router 210 will need to be physically connected to the management switch(es) 220 that provide the VLANs that the router interconnects. Accordingly, from a practical perspective, the use of an S-Tag, C-Tag and IP address to isolate communications between management solution 200 and end user premises devices 110 allows a relatively small number of end user premises devices 110 to exist in a dynamic open-access network. This same limitation exists for any service network.

Flow-based isolation in a service network implemented over a software-defined network


The present invention relates to artificial limbs generally and to joints for the same. In particular, the present invention provides hydraulic functional units (35), generally classified as damping devices as connected between artificial limbs whereby to enable movement of artificial joints to closely correspond with natural human movement. In the provision of realistic joints, as used in prosthetic limbs, an important aspect in attempting to achieve a realistic movement is to provide a different operating characteristic to the joint when under load. Indeed, one of the more important characteristics of an artificial leg for achieving a natural-looking walking gait correspond with those of a so called stabilized knee, i.e. a knee which resists flexion when under load, that is when it is bearing at least some of the weight of the amputee. In accordance with the invention, there is provided hydraulic damper control elements for prostheses which utilize a pressure differential due to the presence a fluid flow as a direct control input for a at least one hydraulic valve (47). The valve can comprise a vortex flow arrangement (47f) to cause fluid flow to circulate about aperture. The valve can comprise a moveable element which abuts a resiliently mounted element which reduces the size of an aperture as the force increases.

In the provision of realistic joints, as used in prosthetic limbs, an important aspect in attempting to achieve a realistic movement is to provide a different operating characteristic to the joint when under load. Indeed, one of the more important characteristics of an artificial leg for achieving a natural-looking walking gait correspond with those of a so called stabilised knee, i.e. a knee which resists flexion when under load, that is when it is bearing at least some of the weight of the amputee. It can be said that the test is somewhat subjective if one were to view an amputee with an artificial leg, but mere observation is one of the best tests; a strange gait is generally immediately apparent; this can cause unwelcome stares to amputees, who when fitted with a pair of long trousers would otherwise not be noticed when in a crowd. Reference is made to literature associated with the Advanced Prosthetics course by J. Boender at Strathclyde University, which provides a detailed review of artificial knee joints.
Early prosthetic limb systems; dating from the 1950's were provided with friction brake devices. For example, in GB779087, when utilized in a knee joint application, there was a provided a shin and knee joint mechanism which included a drum fixed to the shin, with one or more bands connected to the thigh and embracing the drum so that the bands gripped the drum to lock the knee when the leg was bearing weight, actuating means associated with the shin and thigh operated to release the lock just before the foot left the ground in walking, with a connection between the shin and thigh permitting relative axial movement between the shin and thigh. In this device, however, an axial load on the limb produced a small rotation of the radius arm or arms causing the brake band or brake shoe to grip the drum and to resist knee flexion. Indeed, the resistance would frequently become so great such that the knee became automatically locked once sufficient load had been applied. Later devices were combined with a pneumatic piston and cylinder assembly which applied lower degrees of resistance to flexion and/or extension of the knee to control the motion of the shin during the swing phase.
In recent years, however, such friction-based systems—which required regular servicing and adjustment have been replaced by hydraulic dampers with external control, which provide resistance to flexion during a stance phase as well as a swing phase of operation by means of a piston and cylinder, assembly. Hydraulic artificial knees provide stability to the prosthesis when the patient's weight is borne on the prosthesis, and collapse must be prevented. To prevent collapse of a free artificial knee joint the joint must receive appropriate information to inform it of its required mode of function. The hydraulic knee joint operates by utilising a volume of incompressible fluid to the knee joint, whereby to provide mechanical stability.
One example of such an arrangement is the hydraulic "S-N-S" knee control system manufactured by Mauch Laboratories, Inc. In some situations, however, this system required an amputee to make a knee-extending movement before flexion could be initiated. Additional problems arose through external wear and through the fact that they require actuation, which is, of course dependent upon movement being regular. As is known, when walking, one will vary one's gait to go down stairs, to cross steps, to avoid obstructions and the like. In some cases mechanical switching of the valve will not be effected properly. U.S. Pat. No. 5,376,137 to Blatchford is an example of a weight activated knee joint with hydraulic amplification of weight application triggered pivotal movement, whilst U.S. Pat. No. 6,106,560 to Ultimate Knee teaches of a weight activated knee joint with mechanical amplification of weight application triggered pivotal movement.
Whilst recent hydraulic devices are believed to be much improved they are complex and costly to manufacture; they are manufactured to high tolerances. If mechanical external valve control is provided, then there will be problems as discussed above. Alternatively, electronic control and flow control valves can be provided—that are expensive to purchase and maintain—which enable amputees to walk with a pre-determined gait yet will not necessarily be reactive to uneven surfaces.
To assist in the understanding of the problems addressed by the present invention, reference shall now be made to standard testing techniques, as employed to assess the fitness of an amputee to walk with or without assistance. FIG. 1 is a graph that represents the maximum knee flexion angle in swing at various walking speeds for three known devices of prosthetic knee joints, (Source: "What are the benefits of the C-Leg?" (J. Kastner, R. Immervoll, H. Kristen & P. Wagner)). The graph shows a clear change of at least 10° in angular variation of knee flexion movement as an increase in walking speed for the computer controlled device yet a change of 20° over a speed change of 2 km/h for a known mechanically controlled device. The plot of knee flexion for a normal gait, i.e. for a person with the full use of their own limbs is shown for comparative purposes. It can be seen that the variation in knee flexion angle is more or less absent, for a control person, with full use of their own legs, despite an increase in speed to approximately double that of the initial speed. In simple terms, to the casual observer, the person wearing such artificial limbs would be seen to have an ungainly gait due to a delay in knee extension needed to prepare the limb for weight acceptance. In another study "User-adaptive control of a magneto-rheological prosthetic knee" (H. Herr and A. Wilkenfeld) which appeared in Industrial Robot: An International Journal Volume 30, Number 1, 2003, 42-55, where a computer controlled prosthesis—a Rheo Knee—was tested. A horizontal response was produced but the study was limited to below 5 km/hr limit, which is less than normal walking speeds.
Certain prostheses provide joints that use a weight activated safety mechanism which is energized by forces present in weight bearing, a weight bearing on the artificial limb, that can be detected and be made effective in implementing a change in resistance to limb pivoting. Such a movement can be the compression of one of the members that form a mechanical chain from the amputation stump to the ground, and which can be detected by strain gauges, by small amounts of telescopic deformations, or limited ranges of pivotal movements such as the knee or ankle and can typically be detected as relative displacements of two suitably chosen points. The pivotal movements can be amplified mechanically (including hydraulically) or electronically and/or can be made to be more sensitive to forces transmitted through a heel of an artificial foot as opposed to those input through a fore part of a foot.
Problems arising from the use of weight activated knee joint control mechanisms include the fact that the residual weight taken by the artificial limb on toe off can be inhibitive to the release of the weight-activated mechanism. Typically an apparatus or means is supplied to cause a threshold value of weight required to activate the knee stability. This threshold is easily overcome by force entry through the heel and is not easily overcome by force entry through the toe. Nevertheless, this threshold takes away from the ease of activation on heel strike, which subtracts from the total ease of use of the artificial limb, and low grades of attention will be needed at all times.
The same threshold also makes it difficult to find instant effortless stability of the knee, when extension after mid swing is incomplete the respective foot is susceptible of hitting the ground too early. This is particularly true when traversing rough pathways. Typically the weight-activation class of knee joints do not provide security against collapse in such conditions or in the event of accidental use.
One difficulty to be overcome by users of prosthetic lower limbs is that it is counter intuitive to place one's body weight onto the device to secure the same body weight against sudden collapse. This is not a problem in certain types of knee which default to a weight acceptance mode; the knee stability is deactivated by a mechanism that detects hyperextension of the knee joint, which typically goes together with a load on a fore-foot part of the prosthesis, but which can also be provided by voluntary hip femoral stump hip extension. Again there is a small movement that can inform the knee design of a required change of status, and also here various similar signal amplification means can be employed, i.e. mechanical, electronic, hydraulic.
Whereas the weight activated mechanisms have their weight application input parameter present throughout an activation period, the hyperextension that deactivates the knee stability mode is removed as soon as the joint commences its permitted free flexion to support the required free knee flexion for swing, as required in the use of a free knee, which requires the joint to have a memory, for a period as long as the knee is in free flexion mode, being a preceding condition of hyperextension. This period corresponds to the first half of the pendulum swing movement of the shank of the prosthesis relative to the thigh member. Additionally, the memory mode must be deactivated on knee extension in order to return the knee joint to its default state, where it must be ready to take an amputee's weight.
FIG. 2 details a switching function of the Mauch SNS prosthesis, wherein the memory function is determined by a mechanical arrangement (as opposed to an electronic timer arrangement, for example). Specifically, the memory comprises an eccentric toggle (H1), that resumes a gravitational neutral position unless prevented by an open state of a valve member (H3), which is energized by hydraulic pressure (H4) caused by a flex movement of the free knee. It is notable that this linkage is not instantaneous; release of the memory function takes a time frame independent of the time it takes to reapply weight on the prosthesis. In the event of an inadvertent early reapplication of weight on the prosthesis, the toggle would likely not be in a position to allow closure of the valve, which could be painful and perhaps cause an amputee to fall over following knee collapse in such circumstances. In effect, the memory of this prior teaching is continued for a longer period than desired whereby to cause at the very least a non-natural gait, with an increased likelihood of a fall occurring due to the time required for a change in state being far greater than desirable.
In the case of hip prostheses, it would be advantageous if the hip were furnished with a hydraulic apparatus which would immediately take a load on heel strike, and allow the patient to sink into the fluid of the hydraulic apparatus with such a speed that the socket remains substantially more in a position of a neutral pelvis.


The present disclosure is directed to a multi-compartment container with a number of separate compartments, each of which is opened by depressing a separate button. The compartments may be used to hold any number of things, including, solids, gels, pastes, cosmetics or any other non liquid substance. In the present disclosure, the compartments may be opened independently or simultaneously. In addition to containing the desired substance, each compartment also comprises a reflective surface or mirror.

Typically, containers having two compartments may include independent storage compartments that can hold various combinations of products such as fluids, powders, or pastes that are stored in a separated state until the user of a container decides to utilize any of the products. These types of containers typically only provide a single means for opening or closing either of the two compartments, which may render the containers cumbersome for use, especially with the risk of spillage of the contents of either compartment when both products of each compartment are accessible, but not necessarily desired for use. Additionally, existing two compartment containers are constructed with only a single mirror, again, making it awkward to use the products for application when a mirror is desired, since access to at least one product may always be hindered by the position of the mirror when it is located in the other compartment,
Furthermore, as existing containers with two compartments typically require exposure of both products, the product not being used may be exposed for an unnecessary length of time and thus reduce the shelf life, usability, or effectiveness of the particular product.


A C-RAN includes a plurality of remote units (RUs), each being configured to exchange RF signals with at least one UE. The C-RAN also includes a central unit communicatively coupled to the plurality of RUs via a fronthaul interface. The central unit is configured to determine sets of data to be sent to a plurality of remote units across the fronthaul interface. The central unit is also configured to determine a mapping of each of the sets of data to at least one of the plurality of remote units. The central unit is also configured to add a respective indicator, based on the mapping, to each set of data, wherein each respective indicator indicates each remote unit that the respective set of data is intended for. The central unit is also configured to broadcast the sets of data, each with the respective indicator, to the plurality of remote units.

In a cloud radio access network (C-RAN), geographically-separate remote units are controlled by a centralized unit and provide wireless service to user equipment (UEs). In a C-RAN, the centralized unit may communicate with the remote units via a fronthaul network (also referred to as a "fronthaul interface"). It may be desirable to implement a fronthaul network of a C-RAN with certain functionality described herein.

Fronthaul interface for use with a cloud radio access network


Precisely aligned assemblies can be complex, time consuming, labor intensive, and expensive and a need exists for better alternatives. Systems and methods described herein yield high precision printed circuit board assemblies (PCBAs) that contain pre-built alignment features to address this need. The work of precisely locating components on the PCBA to a final position in the overall assembly is already built in to the board. Locating features are used to precisely position one or more components, such as optical components, electro optical components, or mechanical components in assemblies. The locating features may be used to constrain the positions of those components, such as by kinematic coupling, solder wetting dynamics, semiconductor cleaving, dicing, photolithographic techniques for etching, constant contact force, and advanced adhesive technology to result in optical level positioning that significantly improves or eliminates assembly alignment challenges.

Components, including optical components (e.g., reflectors, lenses, optical fibers, etc.), electro optic components (e.g., LEDs (light-emitting diodes), lasers, waveguides, detectors, emitters, VCSELs (vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers), etc.), or other precision components are often mounted in a mechanical stackup approach in order to form a precisely aligned assembly. Alternatively, a great deal of effort is spent actively aligning each and every assembly. Often times in the stackup approach, each component must each be individually manufactured to high precision tolerances in order to achieve the desired final alignment in the overall assembly, thus increasing complexity, time, and cost of the entire assembly. For example, high volume thixomolded automotive headlamp brackets may require secondary machining operations to add precise alignment features requiring additional fixturing, setup, and labor, and thus increasing the total assembly cost. In another example, the lenses in mobile phones must be actively aligned for each individual camera module with significant effort and expense.
There is a need for less complex, less time consuming, and less expensive assemblies and techniques to align components in assemblies with greater precision and increased assembly efficiency (e.g., camera modules, automotive LED headlamps, fiber optic assemblies, electro-optic assemblies, fine pitch electronic assemblies, etc.).

Systems and methods for precision placement of components