In the structure of a vehicle-mounted display system, a pair of racks, that is, a first rack and a second rack, are secured to a sliding chassis which can move forward and backward inside a case. A pair of arms, that is, a first arm and a second arm, are swingably supported by a movable base which rotatably supports a monitor, with a third motor serving as a driving source of the monitor being disposed between the pair of arms. A first gear that engages the first rack and a first motor serving as a driving source of the first gear are installed on the first arm. A second gear which engages the second rack and a second motor serving as a driving source of the second gear are installed on the second arm. When the monitor is drawn in and out, both motors are operated in order to move both gears along their corresponding racks in the same direction, as a result of which the movable base is moved forward and backward. When adjustments are made in the viewing angle of the monitor, both of the motors are operated differently from each other in order to integrally rotate the movable base and the monitor. The invention provides a vehicle-mounted display system which can adjust the viewing angle of the monitor using electrical power by a simple structure.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle-mounted display system where a monitor, such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) device, is accommodated in the body of the system and operable to be drawn out and raised. In particular, the present invention relates to a vehicle-mounted display system which is constructed so that the viewing angle of the monitor in the raised state can be adjusted towards the left and right.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, there has been strikingly widespread use of vehicle-mounted display systems which are constructed so that a monitor, such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) device, is accommodated in the body of the system, and so that the body of the system is mounted to a dashboard inside the vehicle so as to move into and out of the dashboard. In general, such vehicle-mounted display systems are constructed with a movable base which has a monitor installed thereon. The movable may be moved forward in a horizontal direction by a loading mechanism which uses a motor as a drive source. The monitor is disposed at a location reached after the movable plate has moved forward and is raised by a tilting mechanism that uses a different motor as a drive source. In the raised state, the monitor always faces the front side. Consequently, the display screen of the monitor is tilted from the line of sight of a passenger. Thus, when, in particular, the liquid crystal display device is used as a monitor, the display screen of the monitor becomes very difficult to see because of the viewing angle.
To overcome this problem, in recent years, a vehicle-mounted display system has been proposed that can adjust the viewing angle of the monitor towards the left and right by manually operating an angle adjusting mechanism that, in turn, can rotate the monitor in the raised state around a vertical axis. When such an angle adjusting mechanism is used, the posture of the monitor in the raised state can be adjusted to an optimum angle with respect to the passenger, so that the passenger can easily see the display screen of the monitor.
When a vehicle-mounted display system which manually adjusts the viewing angle of the monitor is used, the operations from the drawing out of the monitor to the raising of the motor are carried out using electrical power or a motor as a drive source, but, after these operations have been carried out, the angle of the monitor must be manually adjusted. Therefore, even when the monitor is to be accommodated inside a front panel, the posture of the monitor must be returned manually to its front-side-facing posture. Thus, a troublesome operation must be carried out by the passenger. Additionally, fine adjustments of angles are difficult to carry out because the angle of the monitor is adjusted manually.
Along with the loading mechanism of the movable base and the tilting mechanism of the monitor, a special-purpose rotary mechanism which uses a motor as a drive source may be added in order to adjust the angle of the monitor using electrical power by the rotary mechanism. However, in this case, various mechanisms need to be installed within the limited space of the movable base. This not only results in increased thickness and size of the whole system, but also in an additional problem that the structure becomes very complicated.
Accordingly, in view of the conventional problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle-mounted display system that can easily adjust the viewing angle of a motor by electrical power using a simple structure.
In the present invention, by controlling the directions and amounts of rotation of two motors which are supported by a movable base, the forward and backward movements of the movable base and the adjustments of the viewing angle of a monitor are selectively carried out using both of these motors. This makes it possible to adjust the viewing angle of the monitor using electrical power, and to use a common driving system for moving the movable base forward and backward and for adjusting the viewing angle of the monitor. These are suitable for simplifying the whole structure of the vehicle-mounted display system and for reducing its size.
To this end, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a vehicle-mounted display system comprising a pair of racks which extend along a forward-and-backward dimension of a case so as to be parallel to each other, a pair of gears which engage the racks, a pair of motors for separately and rotationally driving the gears, a movable base for supporting the gears and the motors, and a monitor which is rotatably provided at the movable base. In the vehicle-mounted display system, when the monitor is in a horizontal posture, the amount of movement of both gears with respect to both racks is the same in a same direction. This allows the movable base to move forward and backward along the direction of extension of both of the racks. On the other hand, when the monitor is in a raised posture, the amounts of movement of both gears with respect to both racks are different from each other in order to rotate the movable base within a plane which is parallel to a plane which includes both of the racks.
In the vehicle-mounted display system having the above-described structure, when the amounts of movement of both gears with respect to both racks are made the same in the same direction, the movable base and the monitor move forward and backward along the direction of extension of both of the racks. On the hand, when the amount of movement of one of the gears with respect to its corresponding rack is different from the amount of movement of the other of the gears with respect to its corresponding rack, the viewing angle of the monitor is adjusted as a result of rotating the movable base at the location which it has reached after moving forward. Therefore, by controlling the amounts and directions of movement of the two motors which are supported by the movable base, the forward and backward movements of the movable base and the adjustments of the viewing angle of the monitor can be carried out by a common driving system, so that the whole structure can be simplified and reduced in size.
In one form of one aspect of the present invention, a pair of arms may be swingably axially supported by the movable base and the gears and motors are supported by their corresponding arms, and a rotational biasing force may be applied to both arms in one direction using, for example, springs. Here, it is preferable that the gears be resiliently urged in the direction in which they engage their corresponding racks. When these arm mechanisms are used, the gears and their corresponding racks can be kept engaged by the swinging of the arms when the movable base rotates.
When a pair of arms are swingably axially supported by the movable base and the gears and motors are supported by their corresponding arms, and a rotational biasing force is applied to both arms in one direction using, for example, springs, a driving mechanism for rotating the monitor may be installed at the center portion of the movable base, and the centers of swinging of both of the arms may be set at opposing locations through the driving mechanism. By virtue of this structure, the driving mechanism and both arms can be properly set within the limited space of the movable base. This makes the present invention more effective in achieving size reduction.
In another form of one aspect of the present invention, the pair of racks may be provided so that ends of the teeth thereof face each other or face away from each other, and the pair of gears which engage their corresponding racks may be disposed in the same plane, so that the racks and the gears are not placed upon each other. By virtue of this structure, the amounts of protrusion in the thickness direction can be reduced. Reducing the amounts of protrusion contributes to reducing the thickness of the display system.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a vehicle-mounted display system in which the movable base is rotatably supported, and in which a guide plate which is guided by a guide member and which is movable only in the direction of extension of the guide member is provided. Here, the movable base is moved forward and backward along the direction of extension of the guide member when the monitor is a horizontal posture. On the other hand, when the monitor is in a raised posture, the movable base is rotated with respect to the guide plate. By virtue of this structure, the monitor is reliably moved into and out of the case, and the monitor which is in the raised posture can be reliably rotated.
At least two guide pins may be provided at the guide plate, and one of the guide pins may be made the center of rotation of the movable plate. By virtue of this structure, parts can be used in common, the structure becomes less complicated, and costs can be reduced.


In one embodiment the disclosure relates to a method and a system for determining the corrected wavelength of a photon scattered by a sample. The method includes the steps of determining a wavelength of a photon scattered from a sample exposed to illuminating photons and passed through a tunable filter and correcting the determined wavelength of the photon as a function of the temperature of the tunable filter and as a function of the bandpass set point of the tunable filter. The step of correcting the determined wavelength can further include determining an offset and adding the offset to the determined wavelength of the photon.

Spectroscopic imaging combines digital imaging and molecular spectroscopy techniques, which can include, Raman scattering, fluorescence, photoluminescence, ultraviolet, visible and infrared absorption spectroscopies. When applied to the chemical analysis of materials, spectroscopic imaging is commonly referred to as chemical imaging. Instruments for performing spectroscopic (i.e. chemical) imaging typically comprise image gathering optics, focal plane array imaging detectors and imaging spectrometers.
In general, the sample size determines the choice of image gathering optic. For example, a microscope is typically employed for the analysis of submicron to millimeter spatial dimension samples. For larger objects, in the range of millimeter to meter dimensions, macro lens optics are appropriate. For samples located within relatively inaccessible environments, flexible fiberscopes or rigid borescopes can be employed. For very large scale objects, such as planetary objects, telescopes are appropriate image gathering optics.
For detection of images formed by the various optical systems, two-dimensional, imaging focal plane array (FPA) detectors are typically employed. The choice of FPA detector is governed by the spectroscopic technique employed to characterize the sample of interest. For example, silicon (Si) charge-coupled device (CCD) detectors, a type of FPA, are typically employed with visible wavelength fluorescence and Raman spectroscopic imaging systems, while indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) FPA detectors are typically employed with near-infrared spectroscopic imaging systems.
A variety of imaging spectrometers have been devised for spectroscopic imaging systems. Examples include, without limitation, grating spectrometers, filter wheels, Sagnac interferometers, Michelson interferometers and tunable filters such as acousto-optic tunable filters (AOTFs) and liquid crystal tunable filters (LCTFs).
A number of imaging spectrometers, including AOTFs and LCTFs are polarization sensitive, passing one linear polarization and rejecting the orthogonal linear polarization. As a result, theoretical efficiency is 50%. Practical efficiency is reduced due to scattering losses, imperfect spectrometer action, absorption losses in polarizing optics, etc. Practical efficiency of 30% peak transmittance or less is more typical. Previous spectroscopic imaging instruments accepted the optical losses associated with polarization sensitive imaging spectrometers.
The efficiency of the of imaging spectrometers is also a function of the system-specific noise caused by background light, room temperature and the wavelength of the scattered light. For example, the LCTF has a wavelength dependent transmission modulation which affect's the accuracy and the efficiency of measuring sharp Raman bands with weak Raman scatterers. Experiments with certain LCTF devices show complicated interactions arising in the material and structure of the imaging devices produce a spatial and spectral modulation of light coming through the imaging device. The modulation produces an apparent background signal that is not uniform and masks the real signal. Another example is temperature. It has been found that the room temperature can cause a band pass shift in the wavelength of the collected scattered photons thereby masking the Raman signal or resulting in an inaccurate as the Raman signal. This effect is specially pronounced in material having weak Raman scattering or samples having a low concentration of the material being studied. Because the ability to detect Raman vibrational features on a uniform background is critical to identifying small signal levels, the background noise can have a detrimental affect on the spectral detection.

Method and apparatus for peak compensation in an optical filter


A three ply mat and matting system for constructing temporary access roads and work surfaces over areas of poor soil conditions. The mats comprise upper and lower layers of longitudinally offset wooden boards separated by an intermediate layer of transverse boards. The upper and lower offsets form opposing upper and lower L-shaped lips with the addition of intermediate transverse boards at the edges of each offset. The mats are joined together to form an easily removable matting system by overlaying a plurality of identical mats, upper L-shaped lip over lower L-shaped lip, to form the mat system over the area to be covered.

Wooden mats have been utilized in the oil and gas industry and the construction industry to provide temporary access roads to construction sites that are otherwise generally inaccessible to heavy trucks and construction equipment because of poor soil conditions. These mats provide access to the construction site for location of drilling rigs and other heavy construction equipment during the drilling and construction phase of operations. When drilling or construction is completed these mats can be removed for utilization elsewhere.
Conventional mats for temporary access roads are constructed of wooden boards. They can be built piece by piece or by use of a plurality of prefabricated mats tied together. Fitting together individual mats that have horizontally projecting interlocking tabs and slots has been the conventional method of tying the prefabricated mats together to form an access road. Individual mats are linked together, tab into slot, to form the matting system.
Waller, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 4,600,336 discloses an interlocking wooden mat assembly with selected planks on the top layer of the mat projecting from the edge to provide a male extension to couple with a corresponding female recess on an adjoining mat.
Penland, Sr., U.S. Pat. No. 4,462,712 discloses a similar flooring system with a plurality of interlocking mats, the mats are locked together by protruding tabs or extensions fitting into corresponding recesses on adjacent mats.
Other methods of matting have been disclosed by Hicks, U.S. Pat. No. 4,875,800 and Pouyer, U.S. Pat. No. 4,889,444. Both disclose a mat and matting method where multiple layers of two-ply mats are laid down and are then secured with a second layer of two-ply mats to lock the system in place.
Conventional mats and matting methods that employ tabs experience the problem of the tabs being broken off during construction or removal and storage. This causes fitting problems on reuse so that maintenance is required to replace the broken tabs before the mats can be reused. The other methods, like Hicks and Pouyer, require laying down the individual mats in a series of layers in order to achieve the locking effect and in order to provide sufficient strength to the mat system. This increases the labor and time involved in installation and removal and therefore the costs of the temporary road.
There has been a need for a temporary matting apparatus and method of construction that eliminates or minimizes the effects of broken tabs or extensions that is present in conventional mats and, at the same time, eliminates the time, cost and expense of laying down the mats in multiple layers to ensure an interlocked mat of sufficient strength.

Method and apparatus for temporary matting for use at construction sites


A system for providing medical treatment to a patient, including a medical treatment apparatus and a remote control device. The medical treatment apparatus has a local processor, and a local communication element connected to the local processor, while the remote control device includes a remote processor, user interface components connected to the remote processor, and a remote communication element connected to the remote processor and adapted to communicate with the local communication element of the medical treatment apparatus in a wireless manner such that information can be transferred between the local processor and the remote processor. The remote control device also includes at least two separate power supplies connected to the remote processor.

The present invention relates generally to handheld devices that perform multiple functions, and more particularly to a handheld device for remotely controlling one or more medical apparatuses in addition to performing other functions for a user.
Today, there are various handheld electronic devices that are routinely carried by a large portion of the population on a daily basis. Examples of these devices include cellular telephones such as those offered by Nokia or Motorola, personal digital assistants (PDA""s) such as those offered by Palm, Inc., handheld electronic games such as the Lunker Bass Fishing game by Radica, garage door openers, and various other handheld electronic devices that perform specific functions for a user. In recent years, technological advances have allowed significant enhancements in such handheld electronic devices including reduced size and weight, longer battery life, simplified user interfaces, and other additional new features and improvements. For example, the addition of a touch screen panel, such as that incorporated into the Palm Pilot personal digital assistant, allows simple menu driven access to personal calendars, address books, to-do lists and email.
Other handheld electronic devices include remote control devices such as those commonly supplied with televisions, video cassette recorders (VCR""s), and DVD players. Using wireless communication, such as radio frequency, infrared or ultrasound, these remote control devices allow a user to control separate electronic equipment without having to be in proximity to or otherwise have access to the controls of the separate electronic equipment.
Various medical apparatus can be controlled with a remote control device as well. Examples of these devices include x-ray machines, operating tables, diagnostic monitors, and drug infusion devices. The medical apparatus remote control devices provide similar advantages to television or VCR remote control devices, obviating the need for a user to be proximal to or have access to the controls of the medical apparatus.
As handheld electronic devices and remote control devices have become widespread in their use, it has become desirable to combine multiple products or functions into single devices. Such devices having multiple functions do exist, but usually the particular grouping of functions are related, such as the xe2x80x9cuniversal remotesxe2x80x9d available for televisions, VCRs, and other home audiovisual equipment remote control devices. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,855,746, for example, Stacy shows a multi-device remote control with an array of keys that are exposed in pre-selected groups by moving a slidable cover. A position of the slidable cover determines which device the remote control device will control and the type of coded control signals that the remote control device will transmit. Other examples of devices having multiple functions include some recent cellular telephones, which have been manufactured with personal computer functions, electronic address and calendar functions, and built-in internet access.
User controlled ambulatory infusion devices can be an ideal use for a remote control. Ambulatory infusion pumps have been developed for delivering liquid medicaments to a patient. These infusion devices have the ability to offer sophisticated fluid delivery profiles accomplishing bolus requirements, continuous infusion and variable flow rate delivery, which can result in better efficacy of the drug and therapy and less toxicity to a patient""s system. An example of a use of an ambulatory infusion pump is for continuous subcutaneous infusion of insulin to diabetic patients. Many diabetics require insulin intake to treat their disease, and continuous subcutaneous infusion of insulin from an infusion pump has been shown in numerous studies to greatly improve the immediate and long term health conditions of those patients. These pumps can deliver insulin on a continuous basal basis as well as a bolus basis as shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,498,843 to Schneider et al.
User controlled ambulatory infusion devices are an ideal use for a remote control since the infusion devices may be located out of reach of a patient, or may be discreetly located beneath clothing or in a carrying pouch. Since the diabetic patient utilizing an ambulatory infusion pump may wish to place the device beneath their clothing, for added comfort and or for privacy, a remote control device is appropriate to adjust various parameters associated with the infusion pump, or simply to review pump status or other pump information. These patients may also carry a glucose measuring device such as a glucometer as well as a cellular phone, pager, PDA or other handheld electronic device not directly associates with the treatment of their health condition. Ambulating with multiple handheld devices such as these can be fraught with issues not the least of which is contusion, and the increased probability of losing one of the devices.
Certain ambulatory infusion devices may be designed to be of limited life or even disposable. For example, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/943,992, filed on Aug. 31, 2001, which is assigned to the assignee of the present application and incorporated herein by reference discloses a remotely controlled, disposable infusion pump. In such cases, it would be desirable to provided a non-disposable remote control device that can be used to control successive disposable pumps.
If a handheld electronic device is to be used for controlling a medical apparatus, such as an infusion pump, certain prioritization of performance may be desired. One such prioritization, for example, relates to power consumption. As most of today""s handheld devices are powered by a replaceable or rechargeable battery, it may be desirable to regulate power consumption and low battery conditions in a specialized manner. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,514,732, for example, Hayes shows power conservation methods for particular commands of a remote control for electronic audiovisual equipment. When a user continually presses a key on the remote control, such as to decrease volume, the remote control is programmed to send a single command signal to the equipment to start decreasing volume when the user initially presses the button, and to send a single command signal to stop decreasing volume when the button is released. Hayes"" method avoids sending a continuous stream of signals to dictate the volume decrease in the equipment, thus reducing the power consumption of the remote control.
Some electronic handheld devices and remote controls include low battery warnings via an audible alert, screen message or other visual low battery indicator. Often, these devices are used until the batteries contain insufficient energy to power the device at which time the batteries are replaced or recharged. However, for controlling medical treatment apparatus, such down time due to lack of new batteries could be very undesirable.
Accordingly, there continues to be a need for remote control devices which can be used with medical treatment apparatus, such as disposable infusion pumps, as well as other functions. The additional functions may be related to the therapy or medical treatment apparatus itself, such as a blood glucose measuring function for the diabetic patient controlling an ambulatory insulin pump. The additional functions may be unrelated, such as PDA, cellular telephone, or game functions. Desired remote control devices, therefore, will obviate the need for a user to carry multiple handheld devices. Preferably, the remote control devices will include power consumption regulations that prioritize power delivery for the medical controlling functions of the devices. In addition, the remote control devices will preferably include battery monitoring which substantially avoids a total loss of power for the medical controlling function. Moreover, such remote control devices will be adapted for use with multiple medical treatment apparatus, such as successive disposable infusion pumps.
In response, the present invention provides a remote control for a medical treatment apparatus that includes functions in addition to control of the medical apparatus, as desired. According to one exemplary aspect, the multi function medical apparatus remote control device includes power consumption regulations that prioritize power delivery for the medical controlling functions of the devices. According to another exemplary aspect, the multi function medical apparatus remote control device includes battery monitoring which substantially avoids a total loss of power for the medical controlling function. According to an additional exemplary aspect, the multi function medical apparatus remote control device adapted for simultaneously or serial use with multiple medical treatment apparatus, such as successive disposable infusion pumps. Also provided as an aspect of the present invention are methods for assuring proper communication between a remote control device a specific device to be controlled.
These aspects of the invention together with additional features and advantages thereof may best be understood by reference to the following detailed descriptions and examples taken in connection with the accompanying illustrated drawings.

Medical apparatus remote control and method


An improved Roots type supercharger for use with high performance vehicle engines. The supercharger includes rotors within a casing having rotor lobes with raised apex lands that move in a sealing relationship to the casing inside wall and rotor ends that move in a sealing relationship to the inside wall of casing end plates. A plurality of grooves are formed in at least one of the land, rotor end and end plate inside wall to reduce leakage of gases through those seals. The grooves are preferably formed generally perpendicular to the path of gas leakage through the seal.

This invention relates in general to Roots type supercharger and, more specifically, to improvements in reliability and operation of Roots type superchargers through improvements in gas seals between rotors and the adjacent casing and end plates.
Internal combustion engines have long used superchargers of one type or another to get more air into the engine to permit more fuel to be burned and increase engine power output. A variety of superchargers have been developed, including vane type, turbochargers and Roots type superchargers.
Roots type superchargers have come into widespread use with racing automobiles, motorcycles, boats and the like because of their high efficiency and reliability. In its simplest form, a Roots type supercharger consists of two elongated rotors, each shaped like a FIG. 8 in cross section, running between end plates in an oval-shaped casing, on parallel shafts and geared together so that the rotor lobes are always in near-contact along a line. Clearances between the rotors and between rotors and the casing and end plates are kept to a minimum but with no direct contact. As the rotors rotate they collect air from an inlet in the casing carry it around the outside and direct it to an outlet at higher pressure. The inlet side is a considerably lower pressure than the outlet side.
The space between the outer edge of the rotors and the casing surrounding the rotors and between the ends of the rotors and the casing end plates adjacent to the rotor ends must be kept at a minimum to prevent excessive gas leakage therethrough, which would reduce supercharger performance. Contact must be avoided to prevent wear on the rotors or casing or other damage such as scoring which would increase gas leakage. Gases easily pass between excessively spaced surfaces which provide a smooth walled, uniform width, gas passage. Attempts to add surface seal materials, such as Teflon fluorocarbon strips, at these locations have been largely ineffective due to the difficulty of securing the strips in place and rapid wear due to the wiping action of the seals.
Thus, there is a continuing need for improvements in Roots type superchargers to overcome this gas leakage and sealing problem.

Rotor to casing seals for roots type superchargers


A belt-type continuously variable transmission capable of continuously changing a speed reduction ratio of a driven pulley to a drive pulley, has a speed reduction ratio regulation mechanism that regulates a minimum speed reduction ratio of the driven pulley to the drive pulley. The driven pulley includes a fixed sheave, a movable sheave displaceable in an axial direction with respect to the fixed sheave, and a coil spring that urges the movable sheave toward the fixed sheave. The speed reduction ratio regulation mechanism has a swing arm that adjusts an allowable range in which moving away in an axial direction of the movable sheave with respect to the fixed sheave is possible, and a regulation drive section that drives the swing distal end portion of the swing arm to swing continuously.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technical improvement of a belt-type continuously variable transmission for a working machine.
Description of the Related Art
A belt-type continuously variable transmission for a working machine is a transmission capable of continuously changing a speed reduction ratio of a driven pulley to a drive pulley. In order to enhance the working efficiency of a working machine and the degree of freedom of work, it is preferable that a worker can optionally regulate the working speed of the working unit, and the traveling speed of the traveling unit, in accordance with a working situation.
As a working machine like this, an auger snowplow is cited, for example. A general auger snowplow can scrape up snow by the auger at a front part while traveling forward by a power source, and blow the snow which is scraped up to a distance via a chute by a blower. A load that is applied to the auger and the blower, that is, the load on the snow removal working unit successively changes due to various factors such as the density of snow, a snow removal height, and a snow throwing distance. In this relation, the art in which a belt-type continuously variable transmission is interposed in a working power transmission system from a drive source to a snow removal working unit is known from Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 05-040096, for example.
The belt-type continuously variable transmission known from Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 05-040096 is composed of a drive pulley that is provided at an output shaft of an engine, a driven pulley that is provided at a drive shaft of an auger and a blower, a V-belt that is laid between the drive pulley and the driven pulley, and a tension pulley that is located in the middle of the V-belt. The driven pulley is composed of a fixed sheave provided at the drive shaft, a movable sheave displaceable in an axial direction with respect to the fixed sheave, and a spring that urges the movable sheave to the fixed sheave. The tension pulley is driven by a hydraulic cylinder to advance and retreat with respect to the V-belt.
A worker optionally operates an operation unit in accordance with the quality of snow to be removed. A control device extends and contracts the piston of the hydraulic cylinder by performing drive control of a hydraulic pump in accordance with the operation signal of the operation unit. When the piston extends, and thereby the tension pulley presses the V-belt, the tension of the V-belt increases. In accordance with increase in tension, the movable sheave moves away in the axially longitudinal direction with respect to the fixed sheave. When the piston contracts, and thereby the pressing force to the V-belt by the tension pulley reduces, the tension of the V-belt decreases. In accordance with decrease in the tension, the movable sheave moves closer to the fixed sheave. In this manner, in accordance with the displacement amount of the movable sheave to the fixed sheave, an effective diameter of the driven pulley changes. As a result, the speed reduction ratio of the driven pulley to the drive pulley can be continuously changed.
The driven pulley of an ordinary belt-type continuously variable transmission is provided with a well-known torque cam mechanism. The torque cam mechanism converts a part of torque that is transmitted to the movable sheave from the V-belt into a thrust, and is known from Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 05-060192, for example. It is preferable to also provide the torque cam mechanism in the belt-type continuously variable transmission which is known from Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 05-040096. A belt-type continuously variable transmission can smoothly perform a displacement operation of the movable sheave by including the torque cam mechanism.
However, in order to enhance snow removing workability in the case in which the snow throwing place where snow is thrown from an auger snowplow is narrow, and in the case in which snow removing work is performed in a densely built-up residential area, there is yet room for further improvement. That is, the load on the snow removal working unit can instantly increase and decrease due to various abrupt change factors such as the density of snow to be removed, and the snow removing height. When the load is abruptly decreased, a movable sheave temporarily moves away from a fixed sheave by the action of a torque cam mechanism accompanying the abrupt decreases. Consequently, the rotational speed of a blower can temporarily become a high speed. When the blower has a high speed, the snow throwing distance from the chute becomes long. Even in the case like this, in the densely built-up residential area, a careful operation is required so that thrown snow does not enter the grounds of adjacent houses.
In relation to this, the worker frequently needs to adjust the snow throwing direction and the snow throwing angle of the chute, and the operation is troublesome. In addition, the work is adjusting the snow throwing direction and the snow throwing angle frequently while moving the auger type snowplow forward, and therefore, a burden on the worker is large. In this way, in order to enhance the snow removing workability of the auger snowplow, there is yet room for further improvement. The same also applies to various working machines.
The present invention has an object to provide an art that can enhance workability of a working machine including a belt-type continuously variable transmission.

Belt-type continuously variable transmission for working machine


A system bus expansion which guarantees the coupling of multimaster-capable multicomputer systems and acts as an interface between spatially separated but mutually disposed system components. The expansion includes a separate expansion module, serving as a receiver and transmitter of addresses, data, commands, and status signals, assigned to each of the system buses that is to be coupled. These expansion modules are connected by a cable. The transmission is effected without changes, so that the two bus sides form a logical unit, and this unit, as well as each side by itself, remains multimaster-capable.

For many fields of application, it is customary and necessary to link a computer with other computers or data stations.
As described, for example, in GDR-WP 208254, this can be achieved through a serial interface. However, this has the disadvantage of taking a great deal of time. Alternatively, the connection can be established through a bus coupling.
Couplings are known between master units on one side of the bus and either slave or master units on the other side. The known technical solutions attempt to expand limited bus systems through their bus parameters (such as bus load, limited bus arbitrage). Because further resources are thus coupled in, the power of the computer systems is increased in this way and/or a better matching of bus or computer systems to the individual technical or engineering application becomes possible. Thus GDR-WP 231672 discloses a technical solution, in which a bus receiver, which is plugged into the system bus of a master cassette and which contains units to establish the status and to activate an extension, is connected via a transmission cable to a bus driver which is plugged into the system bus of the slave cassette and which contains units for accepting the status, for synchronization, and for bus control. The transmission cable contains multiplex lines for data and addresses, interrupt lines, status lines, an extension-activation line, a data enable control line, and a bus access acknowledgment line.
A disadvantage of this technical solution is that it can only establish a coupling between the master cassette on one side and the slave cassette on the other side.
Moreover, a circuit arrangement for coupling system-external microprocessors to a given bus system is also known (GDR-WP 237923). Here, data are exchanged via a two-gate memory through control signals from an interface connected to the given bus system and through an interface connected to the system-external microprocessors. A single circuit delivers acknowledgment signals to the bus systems on request and a command signal to the two-gate memory. The acknowledgment signal for the given bus system serves as a polling signal for a decoder to create interrupts for a particular system-external microprocessor.
The intermediate storage of data is a disadvantage here. This delays data exchange as a whole and restricts the time available for data exchange. Another disadvantage is the effort needed in terms of software to link the coupling arrangement into the overall computer system.
Coupling solutions, where computer units are connected through peripheral processors (German Auslegeschrift 2,924,899), also have these disadvantages: additional interrupts here further impair the time balance.
All the technical solutions share the common disadvantage that either the master units of the system buses to be expanded do not have direct unhindered access to the resources of the units of the respectively remote bus sides or that only the master unit of one bus side can use the resources of the other bus side, but no master unit may be present on the other bus side.

System bus expansion for coupling multimaster-capable multicomputer systems


A method for allowing a portable computer to adjust the load of a wireless base station autonomously is disclosed. The portable computer can communicate in an infrastructure mode and an ad-hoc mode. The portable computer includes a traffic table for storing the performance of various wireless stations and the traffic of other portable computers. Each portable computer measures its traffic to a wireless base station. Then, the portable computer transmits the measured traffic to the other portable computers in the ad-hoc mode and receives the traffic of the other portable computers. A newly connected portable computer acquires the traffic in the ad-hoc mode. When the newly connected portable computer enters into a cell overlap area to connect to any wireless base station, the newly connected portable computer selects a wireless base station having little traffic based on the performance and traffic of wireless base stations instead of a wireless base station that provides a stronger radio field.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to portable computers in general, and in particular to a method for adjusting the load of a wireless base station. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method for allowing a wireless portable computer to adjust the load of a wireless base station autonomously.
2. Description of Related Art
Wireless terminals such as notebook-type portable computers (laptop PCs) or personal digital assistants (PDAs) have a wireless LAN communication device mounted therein and are capable of communicating with a server or other laptop PCs through a wireless base station. Moreover, in a wireless LAN network, multiple wireless base stations is disposed so that the ranges of radio coverage partially overlap with each other. The wireless terminal has a fallback function that automatically decreases a transmission rate so that the communication is not disconnected in order to perform signal processing of noise separated from the signals when the radio field intensity is weak. Thus, when multiple wireless base stations is detected to be connectable, the wireless terminal is configured to automatically connect to a wireless base station which provides the highest radio field intensity and from which a high transmission rate can be expected. Therefore, in a building where the wireless LAN network is installed, when many users carrying their wireless terminals gather in a certain space such as a meeting room, the connection is concentrated on a specific wireless base station which provides a strong radio field.
The number of wireless terminals connectable to one wireless base station is generally limited by the number of IP addresses assigned through the wireless base station. Although the IP addresses are automatically assigned by a DHCP server, a network administrator limits the number of IP addresses handled by a specific wireless base station from the perspective of managing security or the like. Therefore, the number of host addresses that are actually handled by a wireless base station is far smaller than the theoretical number defined in the global address class. Moreover, in some cases, the network administrator limits the number of wireless terminals connected to a specific wireless base station at the same time in order to maintain throughput. Since the IEEE 802.11 standards have no regulations on the time when roaming or disconnection occurs, a wireless terminal having connected to a specific wireless base station generally tends to maintain the connection unless it moves or is suspended. As a result, a number of wireless terminals which do not actually transmit data are connected to a specific wireless base station. Therefore, a wireless terminal which needs to transmit data is unable to connect to the specific wireless base station.
Moreover, even when multiple wireless terminals is connected to a specific wireless base station, only one wireless terminal can actually communicate with the wireless base station at a certain point in time. In order to avoid a collision of frames, the other wireless terminals perform carrier sensing and wait until a wireless channel enters an idle state and then transmit data. Therefore, if the number of wireless terminals connected to a specific wireless base station increases or the transmission of data from the respective wireless terminals is concentrated at a certain point in time, the overall transmission rate of all the wireless terminals connected to the wireless base station decreases. In addition, in the case of a collision of frames, the wireless terminal is unable to receive an ACK frame representing an acknowledgement from the wireless base station, the wireless terminal has to transmit the same data again, which further decreases the transmission rate.
As described above, when a number of wireless terminals connected to a specific wireless base station perform data transmission at the same time, the traffic (unit: bps) which is the quantity of data transmitted per unit period by the respective wireless terminals decreases. Thus, it becomes impossible to perform comfortable wireless communication. In a wireless base station, the throughput (unit: bps) which represents the quantity of data transmitted per unit period is set. For the respective wireless terminal to maintain a predetermined range of transmission rates, it is preferable to adjust the total traffic so that the throughput of the wireless base station has a predetermined margin with respect to the total traffic of the respective wireless terminal.

Wireless portable computer capable of autonomously adjusting load of wireless base station


A liquid medicine filling device includes a container mounting unit, a liquid delivery flow conduit, a ventilation flow conduit, a syringe, a connection flow conduit, a first flow path switching unit, and a second flow path switching unit. The first flow path switching unit may switch between a flow path for filling through which the syringe communicates with a liquid medicine container via the ventilation flow conduit and a flow path for air removal through which the syringe communicates with the connection flow conduit via the ventilation flow conduit. The second flow path switching unit may switch between a flow path for filling through which the liquid medicine container communicates with the liquid medicine storage unit via the liquid delivery flow conduit and a flow path for air removal through which the liquid medicine storage unit communicates with the connection flow conduit via the liquid delivery flow conduit.

The present disclosure relates to a liquid medicine filling device and a liquid medicine filling method for filling a liquid medicine administration device including a liquid medicine storage unit with a liquid medicine.
In recent years, a treatment method for continually administering a liquid medicine to a patient's body by subcutaneous injection, intravenous injection, or the like has been performed. For example, as a treatment method for diabetes patients, a treatment for continually injecting a low amount of insulin into the patient's body is performed. In this treatment method, a portable liquid medicine administration device (e.g., a so-called insulin pump), which may be fixed to the patient's body or clothes to be carried, is used to administer a liquid medicine (e.g., insulin) to the patient throughout the day.
When the liquid medicine administration device is provided to a user, a liquid medicine storage unit in which the liquid medicine is stored is not filled with the liquid medicine in advance. Therefore, when using the liquid medicine administration device, the user needs to perform an operation to fill the liquid medicine storage unit of the liquid medicine administration device with the liquid medicine from a liquid medicine container (for example, a vial) in which the liquid medicine is separately stored.
Also, in order to reduce a thickness of the liquid medicine administration device, it is proposed to form the liquid medicine storage unit of a flexible film. EP Patent No. 2258333 discloses a technology for filling such a liquid medicine storage unit with liquid medicine. In EP Patent No. 2258333, the liquid medicine storage unit is filled with the liquid medicine by using two syringes and a plurality of valves, and then, air in the liquid medicine storage unit is removed.

Liquid medicine filling device and liquid medicine filling method


A process for making a catalytic electrode, a process for making an electrochemical cell with a catalytic electrode, and an electrochemical cell made according to the process. The catalytic electrode has an active layer comprising a catalytic material, an electrically conductive material and a binder, and a gas diffusion layer including a material that is permeable to gas entering or escaping from the cell but essentially impermeable to electrolyte. The gas diffusion layer is adhered to the active layer by a patterned pressure bonding process to provide the catalytic electrode in which the entire gas diffusion area is adhered to the active layer, with areas of relatively high and relatively low adhesion. The electrode has a high overall bond strength, and the permeability of the gas diffusion layer remains high it has been adhered to the active layer to provide excellent high power capability.

This invention relates to a catalytic electrode, particularly an electrode with a nano-catalytic material, an electrochemical cell containing the catalytic electrode, and processes for making the catalytic electrode and the electrochemical cell.
There is a wide variety of electrochemical cells that have catalytic electrodes. Examples include, but are not limited to, fuel cells, metal-air battery cells, gas (e.g., hydrogen) generating cells, and electrochemical sensor cells. Examples of such cells are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,242,565; 5,308,711; 5,378,562; 5,567,538; 5,707,499; 6,060,196; 6,461,761; 6,602,629; 6,911,278; 7,001,689 and 7,001,865; and in International Patent Publication No. WO 00/36677.
An advantage of cells with catalytic electrodes is that they can use one or more active materials that are not contained within cell or battery housings, thereby providing long use time (e.g., discharge capacity) with a cell having a minimum volume. There is an ongoing desire to improve the performance of such electrochemical cells, such as by improving electrical characteristics (e.g., operating voltage, power output, energy density, discharge capacity, charging efficiency, cycle life and fade), storage characteristics, leakage resistance, cost, environmental impact of waste disposal, and safety in manufacturing.
One way to improve the electrical characteristics is through the use of a catalytic material having greater catalytic activity. One approach to doing so has been to use nano-catalysts (catalyst materials with particles smaller than one micrometer (μm) because their large surface area provides more reactive sites. To provide good electrical conductivity and low internal resistance within the catalytic electrode and to provide a large reactive surface area with the electrode, the catalytic material is often combined with a porous material with excellent electrical conductivity. Examples of such efforts can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 7,087,341; U.S. Patent Publication No. 2006/0226564; U.S. Patent Publication No. 2006/0269823; U.S. Patent Publication No. 2007/0092784; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/482,290, filed Jul. 7, 2006; and Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. 2006-252,797.
Because of the high reactivity of nano-catalyst materials, it may be necessary to process the nano-catalyst material in an inert environment, such as an Argon atmosphere. This places restrictions on and adds cost to the manufacturing process that can be undesirable, especially for large scale, high speed manufacturing. Previous efforts to control the reactivity of nano-particulate catalyst compositions include processes in which the substrate particles (e.g., an activated carbon) and nano-catalyst particles (e.g., a nano-metal) are treated in a liquid medium (e.g., a lower alcohol such as methanol), and the nano-particles are oxidized by removing the liquid medium and contacting the nano-particles with an oxidant.
Previous efforts have not been completely successful in producing catalytic electrodes and electrochemical cells using catalytic electrodes that have improved performance characteristics and are easy, economical and safe to manufacture.

Process for making a catalytic electrode and electrochemical cell using the electrode


Aircraft turbine engines are controlled by complex electronic devices such as FADEC and PSS units. These devices can be adversely impacted by the engine environment including the condensing of evaporated water. Aspects of the present disclosure include unique heat exchangers to control the temperature of these electronic devices to assure their proper operation.

Aircraft engines require highly reliable systems for control to ensure safe and efficient operation. Reliable control for more sophisticated gas turbine engines, and even some piston engines, is maintained, for example, by a Full Authority Digital Engine Control (FADEC), which controls engine operation. A FADEC receives cockpit commands in the form of a signal indicative of a performance level required from an engine. The FADEC also receives signals from a variety of sensors and other systems around the engine and the aircraft. The FADEC applies a set of control rules to the received signals and determines control signals to send to effectors on and around the engine. The control signals sent by the FADEC direct the effectors in such a way as to produce the required engine performance level. The FADEC performs this control function many times per second.


A server is provided comprising a processor configured to: receive an indication of a location of a first device that is subscribed to a disaster notification service; in response to receiving a disaster alert, detect that the first device is located in an area associated with the disaster based on the indication of the location of the first device; identify a second device that has registered the first device as a friend; and transmit a first indication of the disaster to the first device and a second indication of the disaster to the second device.

If a disaster situation, such as an earthquake, typhoon, or tsunami occurs, it is important to quickly provide disaster information to a disaster area. If a disaster occurs, the fact that the disaster has occurred is generally notified through a broadcasting medium, such as a radio or TV.
With the recent prevalence of a portable electronic device such as a smart phone, a technology is being developed which quickly provides disaster information through the portable electronic device as well as the broadcasting medium.
A service providing disaster information by using the portable electronic device may check the location of the portable electronic device and then transmit disaster information on the current area, quickly.
A disaster alerting service using a portable electronic device does not provide disaster information on other areas excluding an area where the portable electronic device is currently located or on an area where there is user's acquaintance such as their family or relatives.

Method and apparatus for disaster notification


An edge molding is adapted to trace the edges of a shipping container and be placed thereon. The edge molding is configured with a ledge for internesting another edge molding when said edge moldings are mounted on cartons, one carton internesting with another. The edge molding has a nesting rack pivotally mounted to be pivoted and rest outside of the perimeter of the edge molding and pivotal to mount at least a portion of the edge rack within the perimeter of the molding. In this latter position, the rack rests on the edge molding and is capable of supporting a shipping container nested above it without the carton substantially breaching the volume on which the container is nested.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to shipping containers that may be stacked one upon the other and more particularly to internesting shipping containers. Still more particularly the present invention relates to an edge molding for facilitating internesting of stackable shipping containers and to preserve the edges of corrugated fiberboard or plastic containers used as such.
2. Statement of the Problem
Shipping containers used for shipping parts, agricultural products, and an assortment of other articles are often stacked one inside another so that the containers are readily available for use with minimal storage space. This is particularly so where the containers are used over and over again. Where the containers are made of corrugated plastic or thin plastic sheets, use of the containers tends to breakdown the structure of the container. Even where containers are dimensioned with lesser square footage at the bottom or floor of the container and angling upwardly to a greater square footage opening so that one container may nest within another, warping and wear of the containers will tend to cause the nesting to be uneven. Also, warping tends to cause one container to grab another container causing some difficulty in separating the containers. Still further, the edges of such containers made of the various materials tend to breakdown with excessive wear and use. While some containers may be constructed with reinforced edges, wearing through use of other parts of the container requires that the complete container be thrown out, including the reinforced parts that have experienced less tear and breakdown.

Edge molding for nesting stackable shipping containers


A pneumatic tire has a tread rubber which is formed by a nonconductive rubber and includes a conductive portion. The conductive portion comprises a first, second, third and fourth conductive portions. The first conductive portion extends radially inward from the ground-contacting surface and reaches a cap portion. The second conductive portion is provided continuously in the first conductive portion, extends to one side in the tire width direction between the cap portion and a base portion, and reaches a carcass layer. The third conductive portion is connected to the second conductive portion, extends radially inward from an outer surface of the base portion, and reaches the bottom surface of the tread rubber. The fourth conductive portion is provided continuously in the third conductive portion, extends to another side in the tire width direction along the bottom surface, and reaches the carcass layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pneumatic tire which can discharge a static electricity generated in a vehicle body and a tire, to a road surface.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, there have been proposed a pneumatic tire including a tread rubber blended with silica at a high ratio in order to reduce the rolling resistance that largely affects the fuel consumption of a vehicle and/or to increase braking performance (WET braking performance) on a wet road surface. However, compared to a tread rubber blended with carbon black at a high ratio, the electric resistance of such tread rubber is high, and accordingly, static charge generated on a vehicle body or the tire is prevented from being released to the road surface. As a result, problems like radio noises tend to occur.
Accordingly, there has been developed a pneumatic tire structured such that a conductive portion constructed by a conductive rubber blended with a carbon black or the like is buried in a tread rubber constructed by a nonconductive rubber blended with a silica or the like, whereby an electrical conduction performance can be achieved. For example, in a pneumatic tire described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-326614 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2010-115935, a tread rubber formed by a nonconductive rubber is provided with a conductive portion which extends in a tire radial direction from a ground-contacting surface so as to reach a belt layer, thereby forming a conduction route for discharging a static electricity. However, in that tire, since the conductive route is formed via the belt layer, it can not correspond to a case that a topping rubber of the belt layer is formed by the nonconductive rubber.
On the other hand, in a pneumatic tire described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2009-126291, a tread rubber formed by a nonconductive rubber is provided with a conductive portion which extends to an inner side in a tire radial direction from a ground-contacting surface, extends in a tire width direction between a cap portion and a base portion, and is connected to a side wall rubber or a topping rubber of a carcass layer. However, in the conductive portion which is formed as an L-shaped cross section (refer to FIG. 13), since it is formed such a shape as to be biased to one side in the tire width direction, it has been found that uniformity in a lateral direction of the tire is deteriorated.
Accordingly, there can be thought that the conductive portion is formed as an inverse T-shaped form, and the conductive portion is extended to both sides in the tire width direction between the cap portion and the base portion, for improving the uniformity, however, in the case of structuring so, a strain of a shoulder region becomes large in both sides in the tire width direction, and a rolling resistance tends to be increased. On the contrary, in the case that the conductive portion is kept away from the ground-contacting surface in the shoulder regions in both sides, a strain can be lightened, however, since the shoulder region tends to wear by priority, an irregular wear resistance tends to be lowered.


A vacuum cleaner is provided which comprises a housing (100) provided with an electric motor (110) and with an electronic circuit (120) for controlling the electric motor (110), and a suction tube (200) coupled to the housing (100) and comprising a grip (210) with a remote control circuit (220) for controlling the electronic circuit (120), which control circuit (220), in order to provide ease of operation without any disturbances, comprises a capacitive sensor (CS) for detecting the presence of a part of a human body in the proximity of the grip (210), which detection enables the electronic circuit (120) to be controlled by the remote control circuit (220).

Such a vacuum cleaner and such a suction tube are known, inter alia from the Japanese Patent Application bearing the application number 63-106340. The vacuum cleaner described in said Japanese Patent Application comprises a suction tube with an optical unit which forms part of the remote control circuit, which optical unit is adapted to detect whether a user of a vacuum cleaner is holding the grip in a hand. For detecting the hand the optical unit comprises a light-emitting part and a light-receiving part, a light beam generated by the light-emitting part and detected by the light-receiving part being interrupted by the hand of a user of the vacuum cleaner. The remote control circuit controls the electronic circuit in response to the detection of the hand, the electric motor being switched on when the hand is detected and being switched off in the absence of the hand. Since the electric motor of the vacuum cleaner is switched on when a user of the vacuum cleaner holds the grip forming part of the suction tube and is switched off when a user of the vacuum cleaner releases the grip forming part of the suction tube the optical unit, which forms part of the remote control circuit, improves the ease of operation of the vacuum cleaner.
A drawback of the known vacuum cleaner is that the optical unit forming part of the remote control circuit is susceptible to faults.

Vacuum cleaner comprising a suction tube and suction tube provided with a remote-control circuit comprising a capacitive sensor


A tandem-connected rotatable receptacle unit is provided. The unit includes a primary receptacle having a housing, an electric plug with an electric cord disposed at the front end of the housing, and a first slot set formed at the rear side of the primary receptacle for the output of power. The unit further includes at least one tandem connection receptacle having a blade set at the front side of the housing, the blade set being fixed at a round seat. The blades of the blade set are each coupled to a conducting wire electrically coupled to a conducting piece of a first slot set at the rear end of the tandem connection receptacles. The tandem connection receptacle further includes a second slot set at a side wall and a projecting rib provided at the circumference of the round seat, whereby the round seat can be rotated about the round seat for adjusting the direction of a second slot set at the side wall of the housing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a receptacle, and more particularly to a receptacle that permits an independent use or a tandem connection to be a multiple socket board. Moreover, the slots in the individual receptacles are rotatable for adjusting the direction thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a building is complete, a wall socket (receptacle) is installed on a wall at a prearranged place. However, the household appliances are various and distributed indoors at different places. As a result, it is not easy for them to obtain access to power source. Therefore, a socket board with an extension cable is an indispensable electric element for the daily life. With the rapid development of the 3C products, such as computer/communication/consumer electronics, the personal desires are also inspired. To take a personal computer as an example, the host, monitor, printer, scanner, etc. all require power to perform their operations. Thus, a multiple socket board with more and more sockets is developed for meeting different requirements.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, in which a perspective view of a conventional two-slot and three-slot extension cable 40, 50 with a multiple socket board is shown, the sockets (receptacles) are arranged in a fixed structure. In other words, the slots of the socket board are immovably disposed in the same direction. As a result, the adjustment of the direction of the slots is not possible for the conventional socket board.
In the daily life, the electric household appliances are placed in different locations. It often happens that the cable is not in line with the blades of the plug when inserted into the slots. For example, an angle of 90° can even take place. For an extreme case, a dead angle will be created when the direction of the slots of the socket board is non-adjustable. Moreover, the head of some adapters is so big that the adjacent slots are occupied as well. Therefore, it's much unpractical for the inserting action. That is, the plug and the electric cord are undesirably twisted. For a serious case, the power cords of different household appliances are cluttered such that the user can be considerably bothered.
Another problem of the above-mentioned fixed type extension cable with a multiple socket is that an unnecessary space is occupied when the user requires only one socket and the other five or more sockets are not detachable. Thus, this requires further improvements.

Tandem-connected rotatable receptacle unit


A wireless USB device that performs a communication conforming to a wireless USB standard with a plurality of wireless USB hosts includes a reception-time-information receiving unit that receives reception time information indicating a data reception time specified by each of the wireless USB hosts, a configuration determining unit that determines, when the reception-time-information receiving unit receives the reception time information from a wireless USB host, whether a configuration is set for the wireless USB host, and a configuration unit that sets, when the configuration determining unit determines that the configuration is not set for the wireless USB host that transmitted the reception time information, the configuration for the wireless USB host that transmitted the reception time information.

Wireless universal serial bus (USB) is a technical standard obtained by extending USB widely spread as a wire communication standard for a short-range communication so that usability of wireless communication is achieved while security and high speed processing of a wire communication are ensured, and a specification of the wireless USB is formulated by the Wireless USB Promoter Group that is a lower organization of the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF).
The wireless USB employs ultra-wideband (UWB) technology as a wireless technology. The UWB is a wireless communication system using a broad frequency bandwidth of 7.5 gigahertz (GHz) from 3.1 GHz to 10.6 GHz. Physical layers of the UWB have been standardized by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) that formulates standards according to the IEEE 802.15.3a.
Two modulation systems, i.e., a Direct Spread-UWB (DS-UWB) system and a Multiband-Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (MB-OFDM) system, are used for the physical layers of the UWB.
In the DS-UWB system, two bands (dual band), i.e., a low band from 3.1 GHz to 4.9 GHz and a high band from 6.2 GHz to 9.7 GHz are used. A signal is transmitted after Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) or Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK) is performed as primary modulation and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) is performed as secondary modulation. Furthermore, the DS-UWB system employs Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum to transmit a signal.
In the MB-OFDM system, a bandwidth from 3.1 GHz to 10.6 GHz is divided into 14 bands (frequency bands). A signal is transmitted after the QPSK is performed on each of the bands as primary modulation to carry a digital signal on a radio wave and OFDM modulation is performed as secondary modulation to achieve communication that can tolerate interference with a different radio wave. WiMedia PHY is formulated by the WiMedia Alliance as a standard for a physical (PHY) layer using the MB-OFDM.
A transmission power level is controlled in the UWB by using the above modulation systems. Specifically, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) defines that an equivalent isotropically radiated power (EIRP) indicating a regulation value of the transmission power level per 1 megahertz (MHz) in the UWB is set to less than −41.25 dBm. It can be converted into about 0.5 milliwatt (mW) in terms of total electric power, and it is about one twentieth of total electric power of a Personal Handy-phone System (PHS).
WiMedia MAC is formulated by the WiMedia Alliance as a protocol for a Media Access Control (MAC) layer. Thus, the wireless USB conforms to a USB technology based on the USB Specification Revision 2.0 formulated by the USB-IF in addition to a wireless technology such as the WiMedia PHY and the WiMedia MAC. Therefore, if the wireless USB performs communication within a range of less than three meters, the wireless USB can transmit data at 480 megabits per second (Mbps) that is a maximum data transfer rate according to the USB Specification Revision 2.0.
Because the wireless USB has low transmission power that is a characteristic of the UWB, it is considered that the wireless USB is used in a Personal Area Network (PAN) in which it is assumed that a radio wave range is less than 10 meters. Therefore, it is possible to provide a communication technology with less risk of eavesdropping that often occurs in a wireless local area network (LAN) and with high security.
As described above, compared with the wireless LAN, the wireless USB has characteristics of higher speed processing and higher security, and therefore the wireless USB has attracted attentions as a next-generation wireless technology to be used at an office.
However, a communication type of the wireless USB is a hub-and-spoke type including a wireless USB host playing a central part and up to 127 wireless USB devices to be controlled by the wireless USB host. Specifically, each of the wireless USB devices is controlled by one wireless USB host.
Therefore, if the wireless USB technology is used without modification, a plurality of personal computers (PCs) serving as the wireless USB hosts cannot share one printer serving as the wireless USB device.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2007-306057 discloses a technology in which if the wireless USB device performs communication with a wireless USB host when a different wireless USB host reserves a medium access slot (MAS) for transmitting data on the WiMedia MAC, the wireless USB device switches the wireless USB host with which the wireless USB device 5 performs communication.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2007-293708 discloses a technology in which a wireless USB device includes the same number of controllers and buffers called end-points as that of connectable wireless USB hosts, so that the number of the wireless USB hosts that can perform communication with one wireless USB device is physically increased.
The Wireless USB Specification Revision 1.0 created by the Wireless USB Promoter Group defines that a wireless USB host periodically continues to transmit a Micro-scheduled Management Command (MMC) packet that is a control packet.
The MMC packet can contain a connection host identifier (CHID) in 16 bytes that is identification information for identifying the wireless USB host, information about time when the wireless USB host transmits data to a wireless USB device, information about time when the wireless USB device transmits data to the wireless USB host, device control information, and the like, as an information element.
The USB Specification Revision 2.0 defines that a USB device includes at least one configuration descriptor. If the wireless USB device includes a plurality of configuration descriptors, a wireless USB host determines which configuration is to be applied to the wireless USB device.
Therefore, in the technology disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2007-306057, there is no guarantee that each of the wireless USB hosts desires the same configuration to be applied to the wireless USB device, and as a result, there can be mismatch of the configuration, i.e., the configuration applied to the wireless USB device is not a desired one for a wireless USB host.
Furthermore, in the technology disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2007-293708, because the wireless USB device needs to include the same number of the controllers and the end-points as that of the wireless USB hosts, a circuit size is increased.
The present invention is made to solve the above problems, and has an object to provide a wireless USB device and a wireless USB communication system that can prevent mismatch of the configuration with respect to each of the wireless USB hosts without increasing a circuit size in the wireless USB device.

Wireless USB device and wireless USB communication system


A video server system and method has a modular and expandable system design to deliver a plurality of video streams on user demand and under user control. The video server system and method has a central control module adapted to receive control commands such as SELECT, PLAY, REWIND, PAUSE etc. to select and playback a video from a plurality of videos stored in a storage module. The central control module is a computer motherboard having a first small computer serial interface (SCSI) coupled to the storage device. The central control module also has memory for buffering data blocks of video retrieved from the storage device or devices prior to delivery to the delivery module also included in the system. The delivery module is also a computer motherboard having memory and also having a plurality of video processors for processing the video data prior to coupling the data to a client location. The delivery module additionally has a SCSI interface configured to operate in a target mode so that the central control module transfers video data to the delivery module in the same manner that it would use if it were writing to a conventional SCSI disk drive.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to real time server systems and processes and more specifically to systems and processes for delivering video streams to client locations.
2. Description of the Related Art
With improvements in data storage, retrieval and compression technology, the use of real time server systems generally and video on demand systems in particular is becoming widespread. Video on demand applications include content distribution in hospitality establishments (i.e., hotels, motels, condominiums, and hospitals), karaoke (usually involving playback of a sound recording sometimes accompanied with a playback of visual information) and information kiosks. Video on demand systems store a selection of video files, (generally each corresponding to a movie, a short informational presentation or any other type of video content) and they retrieve (i.e. playback) a selected video file under user control. Thus, using a video on demand system, a user or multiple users, through a client network, select and then access (i.e. "playback") a video file. Further, conventional video on demand systems generally offer users a variety of control functions, similar to those found on a conventional video cassette recorder (VCR) such as PLAY, STOP, PAUSE, REWIND, and FAST FORWARD. It should be understood that as used herein, the term "video" includes content having both audio and visual portions or exclusively audio or exclusively visual content, as well as other types of digital content.
The channel requirements (i.e. the number of video streams supplied by the server) for video on demand systems vary with the specific video on demand application. A large hotel, for example, will require a greater number of channels than a small one or, information kiosks may have a greater or lesser number of clients to service based on the kiosk location and the type of information being provided by the kiosk. Additionally, video on demand systems are sometimes installed in locations which demand increased channel capacity over time. For example, systems installed in hospitality establishments (i.e. hotels, motels, condominiums and hospitals) may initially service a smaller number of rooms or units, but as facility size is increased, or as consumers gain awareness of the service, demand on the system increases. This problem is perhaps even more prevalent in other application areas, such as information kiosks, where the physical infrastructure required to provide additional client locations is not prohibitive.
Further, video on demand systems have varying video storage requirements based on the particular application. Hospitality establishments, for example, generally want to offer a large selection of feature length video movies and thus have fairly high storage requirements. Information kiosks, on the other hand, tend to have much smaller storage requirements, particularly if the information content is short as compared to feature length movies.
Many conventional video on demand systems have a fixed and high cost architecture. In particular, some conventional video on demand systems use a high-end work station or a particularly high speed computer in order to obtain real-time delivery of multiple video streams. Other conventional video on demand systems employ a computer equipped with multiple processors for event multi-tasking in order to meet the processing demand of delivering multiple video streams. These conventional systems are generally quite costly because they use high-end and/or specialized hardware. These conventional systems have the additional drawback that they are generally designed to accommodate a specified maximum number of video streams and are not able to easily expand beyond that capacity.
It is desirable to have a single low cost video on demand system that is modular to meet the varied requirement of various video on demand applications and which is capable of being expanded to meet the growing needs of an individual server location.
Thus, there is a need for a modular, expandable and cost effective method and process to deliver a large number of video and other digital data streams in parallel.
Further, one important component of video on demand systems in particular, and in computing systems generally, is its mass storage component. In the video server (video on demand) context, the mass storage component stores video content. In other types of computing systems, the mass storage component stores other types of digital content such as computer programs, databases, images, data and the like. Regardless of whether the particular application is in a video on demand system or another type of computer system, the size, speed and cost of the mass storage component impact system specification, performance and costs.
One conventional mass storage architecture uses a redundant array of inexpensive disk drives (RAID). These architectures conventionally use an array of drives that are typically smaller, less expensive and less reliable than some high performance, larger and more costly disk drives conventionally available. Some of these conventional RAID systems employ striping wherein a data object is divided into "data stripes" and the data stripes are then interleaved onto an array of disks to achieve improved performance through parallel disk operations. Additionally, each data stripe is sometimes further subdivided into data blocks sized to facilitate disk access. Generally, conventional disk arrays incorporate redundancy in the form of mirroring or a parity-based mechanism in order to obtain increased reliability.
Specifically, conventional RAID level 1 uses mirroring while some higher level conventional RAID systems use a parity block for error correction. The parity block is conventionally generated by exclusive ORing data blocks across a single stripe slice (i.e., across the disk array). Conventionally, each parity block is stored on a different disk than its associated data stripe. Thus, in the event of a disk failure, the data block stored on the failed disk is reconstructed using the parity block (by exclusive ORing the corresponding parity block with all other data blocks within the data stripe slice).
Thus, in a RAID system with N disks, when one disk fails, it requires reading n-1 data blocks from n-1 disks in order to reconstruct one missing data block. Although the n-1 disk read operations may be performed in parallel to reduce the response time if the subsystem performance load allows, it still adds a substantial burden to the performance load when such failure happens. The greater the number of disks (N) in the system, the worse the performance penalty is during failure mode. Therefore, in order to limit the performance penalty, it is desirable to limit the number of disks (N) to a relatively low number.
On the other hand, in order to gain high performance throughput of a RAID subsystem, it is desirable to have a large number of disks (N) during normal data access so that a large number of disk operations can be performed in parallel. This aspect is in conflict with a small N desirable in the failure mode. Thus, there is a need for a RAID system and method that enhances system reliability and performance without introducing unacceptably large performance penalties during a failure mode.

System and process for delivering digital data on demand


A continuous polyvinyl chloride cartridge is insertable in a handrail groove, or adhered to it. A series of inserts bearing braille messages are insertable into, and are captured by, a groove in the cartridge. The cartridge is configured to have edges that are continuous with the braille inserts. The braille inserts have front and rear tapered surfaces to smoothly meet the back wall of the cartridge groove.

The invention relates generally to handrails with braille messages for the blind, and particularly to a continuous cartridge for mounting such braille messages on the handrails.
In a previous application filed by the inventor, Ser. No. 07/942,302, filed Sep. 9, 1992, U.S. Pat. No. 5,284,444, issued Feb. 8, 1994, there was set forth a system of handrails for use in buildings that included a series of braille messages imprinted on the inside of handrails. The handrail carries braille messages that describe a corridor pattern, announces ramps, stairs and offices, and summarizes an entire floor plan.
Providing the braille messages on the handrails requires consideration of the tactile needs of the blind person reading the messages and of the mechanical problems of mounting the braille messages on new or existing handrails. It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a system for effectively adding braille messages to new or existing handrails.

Braille insert in a continuous cartridge for handrails


Disclosed is a composition for treating or preventing amyloid-related diseases including 4-O-methylhonokiol as an active ingredient. More specifically, a pharmaceutical composition including 4-O-methylhonokiol, which is effective for treating or preventing amyloid-related diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, cognitive disorder, defective memory, amyloidosis, etc. is disclosed. The inventors of the present disclosure have found out for the first time that 4-O-methylhonokiol inhibits the production of β-amyloid. It has been confirmed to be useful in treating or preventing amyloid-related diseases. Through animal tests including water maze test and passive avoidance test on mice, 4-O-methylhonokiol has been confirmed to be effective for amyloid-related diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, defective memory, cognitive disorder, and the like. It was further confirmed through acetylcholinesterase activity inhibition test using mouse brain cortex and hippocampus tissue that they are particularly effective in treating or preventing Alzheimer's disease among the amyloid-related diseases.

Recently, with the rapid increase of aged population, Alzheimer's disease has become an important social issue. Alzheimer's disease is a serious social and economical concern which devastates the patient's life and ruins those of his/her families. According to the Alzheimer's Association, 10.3% of the people aged 65 years or above are suffering from dementia, and 95 billion dollars are expended every year in treating dementia. And, according to a report by the Korea Health Industry Development Institute, the prevalence of the illness is about 8.3% of the people aged 65 years or above, with more than 340,000, in Korea, as of 2000 (reported on May 10, 2005 in Seoul Shinmun).
Dementia is defined as the decline in memory and cognitive function thereby causing troubles in daily activities. It may be largely classified into vascular dementia and senile dementia. Vascular dementia is associated with cerebral hemorrhage, stroke, etc. mainly caused thrombosis. It is known that memory loss or other symptoms occur as the brain cells around the hemorrhage site are damaged. Senile dementia, a.k.a. Alzheimer's disease, prevails over vascular dementia in frequency, and is known to be caused by the accumulation of β-amyloid in the brain and the continued damage of nerve cells resulting from its toxicity [Gandy et al., J. Clin. Invest., 2005]. It is reported that oxygen radicals play an important function in the process [Zhu et al., Brain Research, 2004]. It is also reported that inflammatory response is related with the onset of Alzheimer's disease, which is evidenced by the fact that the occurrence of Alzheimer's disease decreases when non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are administered [Gasparini et al., Brain Research Reviews, 2005].
Down's syndrome is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of an extra 21st chromosome. As it is reported that a larger amount of amyloid protein is accumulated in the brains of Down's syndrome patients than normal people, amyloid is known to be related with Down's syndrome [Crystal et al., Neurobiology of Aging, 1997, Yasuhiro et al., Brain & Development, 1997].
Defective memory, which is one of the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, is reported to be closely related with the cholinergic nervous system. Exposure to organophosphorus compounds at low concentration induces abnormal activation of acetylcholinesterase, leading to decreased acetylcholine and inefficient transmission thereof. It is also reported that accumulation of β-amyloid causes toxicity in the brain cells and lower memory function [Small et al., Curr. Alzheimer Res., 2004].
Mild cognitive impairment is a term coined by neuroscientists to refer to the individuals who have cognitive impairments beyond that expected for their age and education, but that do not interfere significantly with their daily activities. It is considered to be the boundary or transitional stage between normal aging and dementia. Scientists have classified the patients who show poor memory for their age but do not show the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, and diagnosed them as mild cognitive impairment. Those who are diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment need to get help from experts for more accurate diagnosis and treatment, because these individuals tend to progress to Alzheimer's disease. Recently, a research is under way to see if vitamin E and acetylcholinesterase inhibitor are effective for the patients with mild cognitive impairment. This research monitors if the administration of vitamin E or acetylcholinesterase inhibitor can reduce the percentage of the patients with mild cognitive impairment to progress to Alzheimer's disease.
Amyloidosis is also called amyloid degeneration. The name amyloid comes from the early mistaken identification of the substance as starch (ainylum in Latin). Amyloid is a semitransparent wax. When stained with a purple pigment, it exhibits a red color. The substance is frequently found in blood vessel walls or nearby fibers, between spleen or liver cells, or between interstitial tissues of heart muscles or glossal muscles. When the amyloid proteins are in small quantity, it is called amyloid degeneration. But, when they are abnormally deposited in organs and/or tissues, it is called amyloidosis.
At present, cholinesterase inhibitors, e.g., Tacrine, Aricept and Exelon, which reduce the breakdown of choline at synapses and thereby increase the quantity of choline in the brain, are used to treat or ameliorate Alzheimer's disease. However, the effect is only slight and temporary, and many side effects including liver toxicity are involved [Forchetti et al., Prim. Care Companion J. Clin. Psychiatry, 2005].
A large number of research institutes worldwide have tried to find a cure for Alzheimer's disease and other amyloid-related diseases. There have been efforts to find substances that inhibit the generation of β-amyloid or those that inhibit the apoptosis of nerve cells.
4-O-methylhonokiol was first isolated in 1978 [El-Feraly, F. S. et al., Lloydia, 41, p. 493, 1978]. Like magnolol, 4-O-methylhonokiol is known to antibacterial effect and insecticidal effect against mosquito larva and brine shrimp [Nitao J. K. et al., Phytochemistry, 30, p. 2193, 1991]. But, there is no research on the treatment or prevention of Alzheimer's disease or other amyloid-related diseases with 4-O-methylhonokiol.
The inventors of the present disclosure have found out for the first time that 4-O-methylhonokiol inhibits the production of β-amyloid. It has been confirmed to be useful in treating or preventing amyloid-related diseases. Through animal tests including water maze test and passive avoidance test on mice, 4-O-methylhonokiol has been confirmed to be effective for amyloid-related diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, defective memory, cognitive disorder, and the like. It was further confirmed through acetylcholinesterase activity inhibition test using mouse brain cortex and hippocampus tissue that they are particularly effective in treating or preventing Alzheimer's disease among the amyloid-related diseases.

Composition for treating or preventing amyloid-related diseases comprising 4-O-methylhonokiol


Systems and methods are provided for generating, processing and distributing leads, the system comprising a leads processing engine for receiving customer requests, creating leads based upon the customer requests, determining a best available agent or agents for each lead from a pool of available agents based upon one or more selected factors, and offering and/or sending each lead to the best available agent or agents.

With the advent of the Internet and its ease of use to research and book travel, travel agencies had to change their model to successfully compete. In a traditional setting, customers would visit retail storefront or "brick and mortar" travel agency locations and make travel plans while looking at brochures and sitting face-to-face with a travel agent. As the Internet became more and more prevalent in the travel industry, storefront locations began closing and many travel agents were faced with a choice—find a new career or open their own home-based travel agency. Many home-based travel agents own and operate their own business and use a host agency that may provide benefits such as higher commission levels from suppliers, support and technology.
Some host agencies and others in the travel industry have attempted to send leads out to one or more travel agents as part of a large email blast along with details of the customer lead and contact information. Once an email is received, one or more travel agents contact the customer directly and then the customer selects the "best offer". Agents are often charged per lead or share in the commission. Another prior method comprises sending out a mass Instant Message to a large pool of agents, wherein the first to respond gets the lead or simply transferring customer leads by phone common ACD phone systems and typical distribution methods such as longest available or round-robin. A disadvantage of all of these methods used to distribute leads is that none determine and distribute based on which particular agent or agents are most likely to convert not just the current lead but will also generate additional and ongoing sales from these leads thru returning customers and referrals thereby optimizing the ROI for both the selling agent and the company providing the leads.

Systems and methods for determining a likelihood of a lead conversion event


A titanium incudo-stapedial joint prosthesis comprises a body including a generally tubular wall defining a first cavity for receiving a head of a stapes. A generally U-shaped wall is connected to the tubular wall defining a second cavity extending generally perpendicular to the first cavity for receiving an incus. The tubular wall comprises slots to enable the first cavity to be sized to fit the head of the stapes. The general U-shaped wall comprises slots to enable the second cavity to be sized to fit to the incus.

Due to disease, trauma, or congenital malformation, the ossicles of the middle ear are sometimes damaged. The delicate joint between the incus and the stapes is termed the incudo-stapedial joint (ISJ). The ISJ is a cartilaginous joint having a tendency to ossify in older humans. When the joint is interrupted due to erosion of the joint or the incus itself, vibrations can no longer be transmitted from the incus to the stapes. The result is a conductive hearing loss related to the disrupted ossicular chain.
Medical implants have been developed to reconstruct the ossicular chain when a portion of the incus is missing. However, the entire incus had to be removed and replaced with a prosthesis. This approach destroys the natural joint between the incus and stapes and the lever function of the incus in relationship to the malleus and stapes.
One particular implant to address conditions when only the ISJ is eroded or ossified is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,306,299. This prosthesis is made from a hydroxylapatite. Particularly, the prosthesis comprises a block of hydroxylapatite having a cylindrical cavity intersecting with a U-shaped channel. The prosthesis is not adjustable. As such, the prosthesis must be provided in different sizes for different size ossicular chains. The prosthesis cannot be adjusted to conform to varying sized incus and stapes. Because of its mass and lack of features to stabilize its connection to the incus and stapes, it is possible for the prosthesis to migrate and extrude through the ear drum over a period of time. Concerns over the weight of the ceramic material and the overall mass of the prosthesis have been raised. Also, the hydroxylapatite material is inherently fragile, prone to breakage and cannot be easily modified to custom fit the incus or stapes head.
The present invention is directed to an adjustable, titanium ISJ prosthesis.

Titanium incudo-stapedial joint prosthesis