A device for heating a hydrocarbon resource in a subterranean formation having at least one pair of laterally extending upper and lower wellbores therein may include a radio frequency (RF) source. The device may also include an upper wellbore RF radiator to be positioned in the laterally extending upper wellbore and including a plurality of first terminals. The device may further include a lower wellbore RF radiator to be positioned in the laterally extending lower wellbore and comprising a plurality of second terminals. The device may also include an interconnection arrangement configured to couple the RF source and the first and second terminals so that at least one of the upper and lower wellbore RF radiators heat the hydrocarbon resource in the subterranean formation.

Energy consumption worldwide is generally increasing, and conventional hydrocarbon resources are being consumed. In an attempt to meet demand, the exploitation of unconventional resources may be desired. For example, highly viscous hydrocarbon resources, such as heavy oils, may be trapped in tar sands where their viscous nature does not permit conventional oil well production. The American Petroleum Institute (API) gravity and/or permeability of most North American tar sand formations may be unsuitable to permit economic extraction by conventional techniques. Estimates are that trillions of barrels of oil reserves may be found in such tar sand formations.
In some instances these tar sand deposits are currently extracted via open-pit mining. Another approach for in situ extraction for deeper deposits is known as Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD). The heavy oil is immobile at reservoir temperatures and therefore the oil is typically heated to reduce its viscosity and mobilize the oil flow. In SAGD, pairs of injector and producer wells are formed to be laterally extending in the ground. Each pair of injector/producer wells includes a lower producer well and an upper injector well. The injector/production wells are typically located in the payzone of the subterranean formation between an underburden layer and an overburden layer.
The upper injector well is used to typically inject steam, and the lower producer well collects the heated crude oil or bitumen that flows out of the formation, along with any water from the condensation of injected steam. The injected steam forms a steam chamber that expands vertically and horizontally in the formation. The heat from the steam reduces the viscosity of the heavy crude oil or bitumen which allows it to flow down into the lower producer well where it is collected and recovered. The steam and gases rise due to their lower density so that steam is not produced at the lower producer well and steam trap control is used to the same affect. Gases, such as methane, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen sulfide, for example, may tend to rise in the steam chamber and fill the void space left by the oil defining an insulating layer above the steam. Oil and water flow is by gravity driven drainage, into the lower producer well.
Operating the injection and production wells at approximately reservoir pressure may address the instability problems that adversely affect high-pressure steam processes. SAGD may produce a smooth, even production that can be as high as 70% to 80% of the original oil in place (OOIP) in suitable reservoirs. The SAGD process may be relatively sensitive to shale streaks and other vertical barriers since, as the rock is heated, differential thermal expansion causes fractures in it, allowing steam and fluids to flow through. SAGD may be twice as efficient as the older cyclic steam stimulation (CSS) process.
Steam injection EOR methods may be unreliable. For example, the well may not start, as convective flow is typically necessary to convey the steam underground, and this flow may not occur due to shale layers, thief zones, wormholes or other reasons as underground information may be incomplete. Conducted heating may be desired to initiate flow for steam convection, yet the thermal conductivity of oil sands may be unsatisfactorily poor: about 1.5 watts/meter degree Kelvin for oil sand versus 401 watts/meter degree Kelvin for copper. Thus, the conducted heating in oil sand to initiate convective flow may be relatively slow, unreliable, and costly.
Caprock, which generally includes the steam may not be present over the hydrocarbon payzone. This may be especially problematic to oil sand extraction in the Saskatchewan Province, Canada. In permafrost zones, steam EOR may be impractical due to melting at the surface. Steam plants may be difficult to transport, so production delays may occur in steam plant deployment. Additionally, there may be insufficient surface water to make the steam. Often the water rights may be owed by legacy producers inhibiting the entry of new producers.
Many countries in the world have large deposits of oil sands, including the United States, Russia, and various countries in the Middle East. Oil sands may represent as much as two-thirds of the world's total petroleum resource, with at least 1.7 trillion barrels in the Canadian Athabasca Oil Sands, for example. At the present time, only Canada has a large-scale commercial oil sands industry, though a small amount of oil from oil sands is also produced in Venezuela. Because of increasing oil sands production, Canada has become the largest single supplier of oil and products to the United States. Oil sands now are the source of almost half of Canada's oil production, although due to the 2008 economic downturn work on new projects has been deferred, while Venezuelan production has been declining in recent years. Oil is not yet produced from oil sands on a significant level in other countries. Oil sands may be porous microstructures with sand grains in bitumen coated water pores. A nominal oil sand from the Athabasca region of Canada may have 10-13% bitumen and 3.5 to 8% water by weight.
U.S. Published Patent Application No. 2010/0078163 to Banerjee et al. discloses a hydrocarbon recovery process whereby three wells are provided: an uppermost well used to inject water, a middle well used to introduce microwaves into the reservoir, and a lowermost well for production. A microwave generator generates microwaves which are directed into a zone above the middle well through a series of waveguides. The frequency of the microwaves is at a frequency substantially equivalent to the resonant frequency of the water so that the water is heated.
Along these lines, U.S. Published Application No. 2010/0294489 to Dreher, Jr. et al. discloses using microwaves to provide heating. An activator is injected below the surface and is heated by the microwaves, and the activator then heats the heavy oil in the production well. U.S. Published Application No. 2010/0294488 to Wheeler et al. discloses a similar approach. The penetration of heating energies at microwave frequencies may not be large.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,441,597 to Kasevich discloses using a radio frequency generator to apply RF energy to a horizontal portion of an RF well positioned above a horizontal portion of a oil/gas producing well. The viscosity of the oil is reduced as a result of the RF energy, which causes the oil to drain due to gravity. The oil is recovered through the oil/gas producing well.
Unfortunately, long production times, for example, due to a failed start-up, to extract oil using SAGD may lead to significant heat loss to the adjacent soil, excessive consumption of steam, and a high cost for recovery. Significant water resources are also typically used to recover oil using SAGD which impacts the environment. Limited water resources may also limit oil recovery. SAGD is also not an available process in permafrost regions, for example.

Hydrocarbon resource heating apparatus including upper and lower wellbore RF radiators and related methods


A despreading and RAKE combining section despreads a data portion using all spreading codes and RAKE combines the despread signal. An average value calculating section calculates RAKE output average power values of all spreading codes from the RAKE combining result. A threshold setting section sets a threshold value based on the RAKE output average values of the plurality of spreading codes allocated to the own station. A spreading code determining section performs threshold determination between a RAKE output average value obtained from the spreading codes, excepting the spreading codes allocated to the own station, and determines the spreading code, which corresponds to the RAKE output average value exceeding the threshold value, as the spreading code multiplexed into the received signal. This makes it possible to accurately estimate the spreading codes multiplexed into the received signal.

As a method for demodulating a received signal, attention has been paid to Joint Detection (hereinafter referred to as "JD") that is used. JD is a demodulation method for removing various types of interference such as interference between symbols, interference between codes due to multipath fading to extract a demodulation signal. Here, in order to execute JD accurately, in a receiving apparatus, it is necessary to recognize all spreading codes multiplexed into the received signal. However, regarding multiplexed spreading codes, it is the only spreading codes allocated to a own station that a communication terminal apparatus correctly recognizes, and spreading codes allocated to the other station are not informed from a radio base station. Accordingly, it is necessary to accurately estimate the spreading codes allocated to the other station.
As a method for estimating spreading codes allocated to the other station to execute JD, the following method can be given. A shift amount of midamble codes used in a time slot (hereinafter referred to as "TS") is detected and the number of spreading codes multiplexed in the TS is recognized from the detected shift amount. After despreading a data portion using all spreading codes, average power values (hereinafter referred to as "RAKE output average values) per one symbol are calculated from the RAKE combining result, and RAKE output average values corresponding to the number of recognized spreading codes are selected. These selected spreading codes are determined as being multiplexed in the received signal.
Hereinafter, an explanation will be given of the generation of midamble codes using FIG. 1. Regarding the generation of midamble codes, first of all, it is assumed that two basic codes each having 456 chips are continuously prepared. It is assumed that the midamble code is formed of 512 chips and the basic code, which is shifted by one chip from the right end of continuous two basic codes and corresponds to 512 chips, is generated as a midamble code #1 as illustrated in FIG. 1. Next, it is assumed that the basic code, which is shifted left to the midamble code #1 by 57 and corresponds to 512 chips, is generated as a midamble code #2. Similarly, the basic code is shifted left by 57 chips as ensuring 512 chips to generate a midamble code #3 to a midamble code #8.
A midamble code #9 is a basic code, which is shifted left to the midamble code #1 by 29 chips and corresponds to 512 chips. Similar to the generation of the midambles #2 to #8, the basic code is shifted left by 57 chips as ensuring 512 chips to generate a midamble code #10 to a midamble code #15. Moreover, a midamble code #16 is a code, which is cyclically shifted right to the midamble code #1 by 28 chips and corresponds to 512 chips.
In this way, since the basic code is shifted by a predetermined amount as ensuring 512 chips to generate each midamble code, the midamble code x is hereinafter referred to as midamble shift with a shift amount x or midamble shift x (x:1≦x≦16).
In addition, the number of midamble shifts generated from the basic code is Kcell, and any one of values 16, 8, 4 is given. When Kcell=16, midamble shifts 1 to 16 are used, when Kcell=8, midamble shifts 1 to 8 are used, and when Kcell=4, midamble shifts 1, 3, 5, 7 are used, respectively.
In 3GPP specification TS25.221 V4.4.0 (at the time of using a common midamble where a midamble shift and the number of spreading codes are made to correspond to each other), the number of types of spreading codes allocatable to the respective communication terminals is 16, and a corresponding relationship with the number of spreading codes (the number of spreading codes multiplexed into the same TS) is established. More specifically, this can be explained using FIGS. 2 to 4.
FIG. 2 is a view illustrating a relationship between the midamble shifts and the number of spreading codes when the number of types of common midambles is 16 (Kcell=16). Moreover, FIG. 3 is a view illustrating a relationship between the midamble shifts and the number of spreading codes when the number of types of common midambles is 8 (Kcell=8). FIG. 4 is a view illustrating a relationship between the midamble shifts and the number of spreading codes when the number of types of common midambles is 4 (Kcell=4). In FIGS. 2 to 4, m1 to m16 indicate the shift amount of midamble, and 1 code to 16 codes indicate the total number of spreading codes multiplexed into the received signal in one slot. In the table, "0" indicates that no corresponding relationship between the midamble and the number of spreading codes is established, and "1" indicates that a corresponding relationship between the midamble shift and the number of spreading codes is established. As illustrated in FIGS. 2 to 4, when Kcell=16, one type of spreading codes corresponds to one midamble shift, when Kcell =8, two types of spreading codes correspond to one midamble shift, and when Kcell=4, four types of spreading codes correspond to one midamble shift. A base station inserts the midamble shift, which corresponds to the number of multiplexing spreading codes, into transmission data to transmit to all communication terminal apparatuses in communication. The midamble shift used in this way is hereinafter referred to as common midamble.
Transmission power of the midamble will be next explained using FIG. 5. FIG. 5 is a conceptual view illustrating transmission power and a slot configuration. In a base station apparatus, a midamble portion is inserted between the data portions in one slot and transmitted to the communication terminal apparatus. Regarding the transmission power of the midamble, the same transmission power as the data portion is set as described in 3GPP specification TS25.221 V4.4.0.
FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustration a configuration of a conventional communication terminal apparatus. In the figure, a radio receiving section 12 receives a signal sent from the base station via an antenna 11 and executes a predetermined reception processing (downconvert, A/D conversion, and the like), and outputs it to a delay profile generating section 13 and a despreading and RAKE combining section 19.
The delay profile generating section 13 executes correlation computation to the midamble portion of the received signal using Kcell midamble replica codes to generate Kcell delay profiles, and outputs them to a maximum value detecting section 14 and a path selecting section 16.
The maximum value detecting section 14 detects the respective maximum values based on the delay profiles corresponding to the respective replica codes output from the delay profile generating section 13, and outputs detected Kcell maximum values to a midamble shift determining section 15.
The midamble shift determining section 15 detects a maximum value of Kcell maximum values detected by the maximum value detecting section 14. In other words, a maximum correlation value (hereinafter referred to as "total correlation maximum value") of total correlation values is detected, and the midamble replica code (midamble shift) where the total correlation maximum value is obtained was determined as being used as a common midamble. The determined midamble shift is output to a path selecting section 16 and a spreading code number candidate obtaining section 19.
Hereinafter, a state of a midamble shift determination is illustrated in FIG. 7. FIG. 7 shows a case of Kcell=4, and a vertical axis indicates a maximum correlation value of each midamble shift and a horizontal axis indicates a shift amount of the midamble shift. Maximum values of m1, m3, m5 and m7 used when Kcell=4 detected by the maximum value detecting section 14 are arranged as illustrated in FIG. 7 and m5 indicates a total correlation maximum value as comparison among these maximum values. Accordingly, m5 is determined as being used as a common midamble.
The path selecting section 16 reads the delay profiles of the midamble shifts determined by the midamble shift determining section 15 from the delay profile generating section 13, detects a peak from the read delay profile, selects a path, and outputs the path selection result to a despreading and RAKE combining section 17, and a JD operating section 21.
The despreading and RAKE combining section 17 performs despreading over a plurality of symbols of the data portion using all spreading codes according to the path selected by the path selecting section 16, RAKE combines the despread signal and outputs the RAKE combined signal to an average value calculating section 18. Moreover, the despreading and RAKE combining section 17 despreads an entirety of the data portion, RAKE combines the despread result, and outputs the RAKE combining result to a JD operating section 21.
The average value calculating section 18 calculates power average values per one symbol, namely, RAKE output average values, from the RAKE combining results over the plurality of symbols output from the despreading and RAKE combining section 17, and outputs them to an average value sorting section 20.
The spreading code number candidate obtaining section 19 holds a table (corresponding to FIGS. 2 to 4) where the midamble shifts and the number of spreading codes are made to correspond to each other, obtains candidates for the number of spreading codes corresponding to the midamble shifts output from the midamble shift determining section 15 from the table, and outputs the obtained candidates for the number of spreading codes to the average value sorting section 20.
The average value sorting section 20 selects RAKE output average values equivalent to the total number of spreading codes calculated by the average value calculating section 18 in descending order of level, and outputs the spreading codes equivalent to the selected RAKE output average values to the JD operating section 21.
The JD operating section 21 performs JD operation using the path selecting result output from the path selecting section 16, the RAKE combining result output from the despreading and RAKE combining section 17, and the spreading codes output from the average value sorting section 20, and outputs the operation result to a decoding section (not shown).
As mentioned above, the conventional communication terminal apparatus selects RAKE output average values equivalent to the number of spreading codes corresponding to the midamble shifts determined by midamble shift determination in descending order of level, and estimates the spreading codes corresponding to the selected RAKE output average values as spreading codes multiplexed into the received signal.
However, in the cases excepting for Kcell=16 where no one-to-one correspondence between the midamble shift and the number of spreading codes is established, the number of candidates for the number of spreading codes corresponding to one midamble shift is multiple, so that the number of spreading codes cannot be determined correctly and the spreading code multiplexed into the received signal cannot be estimated. For example, in the case of Kcell=8, the number of candidates for the number of spreading codes to one midamble shift is two, and it is not unclear which spreading code number should be used to select the number of spreading codes from the RAKE output average values.

Communication terminal apparatus and spreading code estimation method

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A medical cover is comprised of a stretchable ply which is effectively adhered, at least in part, to the patient during use of the cover. The cover comprises a cover body defining top and bottom edges and first and second side edges, an inflatable zone defined by said body and which is defined by a border, at least one inflation port in the inflatable zone, and at least one instrument access port through which surgical instruments can be passed. The inflation port is connectable to a source of a sterile pressurized lifting fluid or gas, such as air or nitrogen. In use, the medical cover forms a dome which defines an enclosed aseptic zone in which the atmosphere can be controlled.

The present invention relates to adhesive medical/surgical covers, and in particular, to an adhesive covering which will form a dome to enclose an area over a site (such as an incision site or a wound) on a patient to maintain an enclosed sterile field around the site on the patient.
Surgery typically involves invasive measures. Opening a wound exposes the patient to ambient atmosphere. Although hospitals and surgery centers have gone to great lengths to eliminate airborne pathogens, doing so is virtually impossible. Surgical site infections (SSIs) thus remain a significant issue, even in hospital-based surgeries. Currently SS's cost the United States' healthcare market billions of dollars annually.
To help reduce the incidence of SSIs, surgical or medical covers/incisable films are typically used to cover the area around the surgical site to maintain a surgical/procedural area on the patient clean and sterile during surgical/medical procedures. Medical covers have been made which are adhered to the patient over substantially the full area of the cover. However, such covers leave the surgical site exposed to the ambient atmosphere of the area in which the procedure is being performed. Thus, even these covers leave a patient subject to getting a surgical site infection.
It would be desirable to provide a system which can form or define an enclosed zone over the incision site to isolate the incision site from ambient air and to maintain a substantially sterile zone over and about the incision site to further reduce the possibility of outside pathogens from entering an incision site and infecting a patient.

Adhesive medical cover with an inflatable dome


A floating platform with motion characteristics for offshore deepwater developments with vertical axial symmetry and decoupling of hydrodynamic design features. A motion-damping skirt (120) is provided around the base of the hull (1), which is configured to provide ease of installation for various umbilicals and risers. A retractable center assembly (300) is used in a lowered position to adjust the center of gravity and metacentric height, reducing wind loads and moments on the structure, providing lateral areas for damping and volume for added mass for roll resistance. The center assembly (300) is used to tune system response in conjunction with the hull damping skirt (120) and fins (121). The center assembly (300) also includes separators (350) below the floating platform deck which serve to add stability to the floating structure by shifting the center of gravity downward, the separators (350) capable of being raised and lowered vertical separators alone or as a unit.

The invention relates to a moored offshore or self-propelled floating platform with improved motion characteristics for economic offshore deepwater developments. The floating platform of the present invention is capable of being self propelled in mild environments or moored for use in extreme depths and severe wind and wave conditions.
In the development of offshore energy systems such as deepwater oil and/or gas production, long flowlines, power cables and control umbilicals are frequently required between subsea wells and a host platform. The extended lengths pose energy loss, pressure drop and production difficulties.
Costs of structures for deepwater applications are high and costs are frequently increased due to the foreign locations at which they are fabricated. Other difficulties, associated with deepwater offshore operations, result from floating vessel motions which affect personnel and efficiencies especially when related to liquid dynamics in tanks. The primary motion related problem, associated with offshore petrochemical operations, occurs with large horizontal vessels in which the liquid level oscillates and provides erroneous signals to the liquid level instruments causing shutdown of processing and overall inefficiency for the operation.
Prior art for deepwater has generally resulted in facilities that yield expensive solutions for an offshore oil field development. Such prior art includes tension leg platforms (TLP""s), which may incorporate well drilling capabilities to several mini-TLP designs that perform simplified functions; SPARS which are configured much the same as a spar buoy and have dry wellheads, as opposed to subsea trees; deepwater floating production storage facilities (FPSO""s) and their several variations.
Present tendon technology limits the common TLPs to approximately 5,000-ft water depths, which causes them to be stationed long distances from planned deepwater fields and the subsea wells. Systems that are moored by catenary lines can be placed within the deepwater fields within fairly close proximity to the subsea wells.
The principal elements which can be modified for improving the motion characteristics of a moored floating vessel are the draft, the water plane area and its draft rate of change, location of the center of gravity (CG), the metacentric height about which small amplitude roll and pitching motions occur, the frontal area and shape on which winds, current and waves act, the system response of pipe and cables contacting the seabed acting as mooring elements, and the hydrodynamic parameters of added mass and damping. The latter values are determined by complex solutions of the potential flow equations integrated over the floating vessel""s detailed features and appendages and then simultaneously solved for the potential source strengths. It is only significant to note herein that the addition of features which allow the added mass and/or damping to be xe2x80x98tunedxe2x80x99 for a certain condition requires that several features can be modified in combination, or more preferably independently, to provide the desired properties. The optimization is greatly simplified if the vessel possesses vertical axial symmetry as in the present invention which reduces the 6 degrees of motion freedom to 4, (i.e., roll=pitch=pendular motion, sway=surge=lateral motion, yaw=rotational motion, and heave=vertical motion). It is further simplified if hydrodynamic design features may be de-coupled to linearize the process and ease the ideal solution search.
An object of the present invention is a floating platform which contains features which allow the platform motions to be optimized for size and weight to specified hydrodynamic environments and to include features which reduce offshore oil and gas processing operations and field development costs.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a platform which allows the roll hydrodynamics to be determined and optimized and by other features allows tuning of the frequency response for the vertical heave.
An additional object of the present invention is a more efficient self propelled or severe weather moored deepwater floating platform called an SSP with focus upon providing improved vessel motions in wind and wave conditions while exhibiting features which reduce offshore gas/oil field development and operation costs.
The present invention provides for an offshore floating facility with improved hydrodynamic characteristics and the ability to moor in extended depths thereby providing a satellite platform in deep water resulting in shorter flowlines, cables and umbilicals from the subsea trees to the platform facilities. The design incorporates a retractable center assembly which contains features to enhance the hydrodynamics and allows for the integral use of vertical separators in a quantity and size providing opportunity for individual full time well flow monitoring and extended retention times.
The floating platform of the present invention is capable of being self-propelled in mild environments or moored for use in extreme depths and sever wind and wave conditions. The floating platform may be configured to perform the functions of a well-gathering platform, an offshore utility work platform; a remote power or communication transmission hub or relay platform or a satellite separator platform (SSP). The floating platform is hereafter referred to as an SSP despite its adapted use.
A principal feature of the SSP is a retractable center assembly within the hull, which may be raised or lowered in the field to allow transit in shallow areas. The retractable center assembly provides a means of pitch motion damping, a large volumetric space for the incorporation of optional ballast, storage, vertical pressure or storage vessels, or a centrally located moon pool for deploying diving or remote operated vehicle (ROV) video operations without the need for added support vessels.
Hydrodynamic motion improvements are provided by: the basic hull configuration; extended skirt and radial fins at the hull base; a (lowered at site) center assembly extending the retractable center section with base and mid-mounted hydrodynamic skirts and fins, the mass of the separators below the hull deck of the SSP favorably lowering the center of gravity; and attachment of the steel catenary risers, cables, umbilicals and mooring lines near the center of gravity at the hull base. The noted features improve vessel stability and provide increased added mass and damping which improves the overall response of the system under environmental loading.
Key field production items that are satisfied by the invention are: housing large and efficient vertical high-pressure separators with extended retention times which can minimize multiphase flow with upstream primary separation closer to subsea wells which also improves reservoir recovery ratios, providing vertical separators of such dimension that multiple sensors can be used to optimize the liquid gas interface level; providing more economical full pigging ability with individual control of well flowlines; providing individual well flowline chemical injection without added subsea manifolding; simplification of operations and maintenance requirements; and providing for reduced inspection costs below water by the incorporation of a moon pool on the SSP centerline.
The principal cost reductions evolve from: the ability to perform fabrication in relatively shallow water sites; elimination of the necessity of costly offshore deck installation which is typical of certain deepwater alternatives; allowing for short transportation routes to the offshore field by minimizing draft and allowing use of domestic coastal fabrication facilities; providing duplicate functions for structural appendages to minimize fabricated weight and maximize the available flotation per ton of fabrication; and providing pressure control as close to the field as practical for improved economics of pipeline and flowline steel tonnage and installation cost reduction.
The prior art does not disclose methods for: the use of retractable center sections which by their position, structure, appendages, and contents improve the in-place hydrodynamic characteristics while allowing shallow water access when fully raised. The prior art also does not disclose methods of providing increased extended duration vertical vessels or separators below the floating platform deck that serve to add stability of the floating structure by favorably shifting the center of gravity downward while also increasing the roll and heave-added mass and damping of the floating structure for reduced platform motions in wind and waves. The prior art also does not disclose methods of raising and lowering vertical separators alone or as a unit within a center assembly to allow passage to or from shallow waters. The prior art does not disclose methods of providing a one-atmosphere access zone around the operational components of separators suspended from a floating platform. The prior art does not disclose methods of optimizing a vertical separator""s performance by a nearly continuous array of sensors that allow a variable liquid level. The prior art does not disclose extending a skirt at the base of a hull with a diameter and configuration to ease the offshore attachment of steel catenary risers, umbilicals, and cables.
Because of the features which may be provided for, when utilized in the capacity of a floating deepwater oil and/or gas primary separation platform, the SSP performs bulk separation and yields full time test capabilities of each attached well via the flowlines and well control umbilicals. The hull features of the SSP include objects of the invention such as the vertical columns which provide hull-stiffening while serving as mooring line conduits for above water mooring line tensioning, and tension monitoring; facilities for the installation I addition/maintenance of the long vertical separators offshore; benefits afforded by the hydrodynamic hull damping skirt that doubles as a submerged towing rim and a load ring that distributes the transverse mooring loads and provides a foundation for steel catenary risers; umbilicals and cables; the separator supported damping skirt which doubles as separator spacing restraints; and the separator raising and lowering frame systems allowing shallow water fabrication yard access.
Due to the size of the individual first stage vertical separators and slug catchers afforded by the center assembly space and the available extended residence times which can be accommodated, efficient high-pressure separation can be accomplished for the purposes of minimizing transportation of produced reservoir water over long distances. Vertical, as opposed to horizontal, separators minimize motion effects due to the reduced overall elevation significance of internal separator fluid waves without the need for baffles and utilize the nearly unlimited available space within the water column without wasting deck space.
Other functions provided by the SSP, while in the role of an oil/gas platform, are pigging of the flowlines and outgoing gas/oil lines; metering of multiple wells; chemical injection of the incoming and outgoing lines; manifolding to perform the required functions; quarters facilities for the limited crew required for operations; instrument gas generation and controls; satellite and other information transmissions to the host platform(s); electric power transmission; and umbilical control of the satellite wells.
While Individual prior art includes several of the above features, none have addressed the aspect of extended oil/gas separation residence times in vertical separators and variable elevations control of the liquid gas interface by numerous vertically-spaced sensors, which are a solution to the issue of improved high-pressure separation without excessive treatments. Prior art does not address the issue of minimizing the floating structure draft beyond normal ballasting for fabrication yard and tow conditions to site provided by the SSP. The SSP may therefore be fabricated and/or outfitted at common shipyards. Once lowered, the separators and associated equipment increase the draft beyond normal port access and while doing so, improves the floating vessel stability by lowering the center of gravity and increasing roll and heave-added mass and damping.
The manner of achieving improved hydrodynamic motion improvements within the present invention involves the incorporation of the following features:
1. Use of the vertical reactions of the mooring system and the steel catenary and other risers to achieve an operating draft for the facility which is sufficient for reduced motions with minimal conventional ballast;
2. providing a hull water plane area vs. draft ratio which, when tuned to the heave-added mass and damping, provides sufficient free board in design storms and provides adequate vertical heave damping to resist high-frequency response to normal wind and waves;
3. making use of the difference of the vertical wave particle velocities at the surface and at the base of the center assembly to damp out the storm-induced heave motions;
4. use of the retractable center section weight and its content in the full lowered position to decrease the overall system center of gravity;
5. use of the center section in its lowered position to improve the lateral damping in order to offset lateral motion of the primary hull section and minimize roll and sway motions;
6. use of the trapped hydrodynamic added mass due to the center assembly and its contents as well as enhanced damping and added mass features of spaced segments and the lower center section xe2x80x98skirtsxe2x80x99;
7. use of the skirt extending around the lower circumference of the main hull to decrease the floating roll response by added mass and damping;
8. use of vertical gussets supporting the hull xe2x80x98skirtxe2x80x99 as fins to provide added mass and damping and to reduce yaw rotational motions.
9. providing the opportunity to separately tune roll and heave response frequencies by designing the hull skirt to control roll damping and the hull plus center section hull skirts to control heave added mass and damping, thereby allowing the system to be finely tuned for a drier deck in a design limit sea state.


A device configured in a unitary displayless housing, including a computing device that stores, manipulates and communicates energy data, and the displayless external surface of the unitary housing, including status indicator lights to show the status of the device.

The following disclosure relates to energy management, and more particularly to a premises energy management system for management of household consumer appliances, as well as other energy consuming devices and/or systems found in the home, at times called herein as accessories or network accessories. The present disclosure finds particular application to a device which controls operation of the accessories (e.g., consumer appliances, as well as other energy consuming devices and/or systems), and acts as a controller/gateway between a Utility company network and the consumer appliances, as well as other energy consuming devices and/or systems. The controller/gateway device to be discussed below is at times called herein a Home Energy Gateway (HEG).
Currently Utility companies commonly charge a flat rate for energy, but with the increasing cost of fuel prices and high energy usage during certain parts of the day, Utility companies have to buy more energy to supply consumers during peak demand. Consequently, Utility companies are beginning to charge higher rates during peak demand. If peak demand can be lowered, then a potential cost savings can be achieved and the peak load that the Utility company has to accommodate is lessened.
One proposed third party solution is to provide a system where a controller switches the actual energy supply to the appliance or control unit on and off. However, there is no active control beyond the mere on/off switching. It is believed that others in the industry cease some operations of certain appliances during on-peak time.
Additionally, some electrical Utility companies are moving to an Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) system which needs to communicate with appliances, HVAC, water heaters, etc., in a home or office building. All electrical Utility companies (more than 3,000 in the US) will not be using the same communication method and protocol to signal in the AMI system. Similarly, known systems do not communicate directly with the appliance using a variety of communication methods and protocols, nor is a modular and standard method created for communication devices to interface and to communicate selectable operational modes to the main controller of the appliance.
Home energy management (e.g., HEM) systems are being used to reduce energy consumption in homes and buildings, in a consumer friendly/compatible manner. Existing HEMs are commonly placed in one of two general categories:                In the first category, the HEM is in the form of a special custom configured computer with an integrated display, which communicates to devices in the home and stores data, and also has simple algorithms to enable energy reduction. This type of device may also include a keypad for data entry or the display may be a touch screen. In either arrangement, the display, computer and key pad (if used) are formed as a single unit. This single unit is either integrated in a unitary housing, or if the display is not in the same housing, the display and computer are otherwise connected/associated upon delivery from the factory and/or synchronized or tuned to work as a single unit.        In the second category, the HEM is in the form of a low cost router/gateway device in a home that collects information from devices within the home and sends it to a remote server and in return receives control commands from the remote server and transmits it to energy consuming devices in the home. In this category, again, as in the first, the HEM may be a custom configured device including a computer and integrated or otherwise connected/associated display (and keypad, if used) designed as a single unit. Alternately, the HEM maybe implemented as home computer such as lap top or desk top operating software to customize the home computer for this use.
Both of the current existing types have significant disadvantages due to high consumer cost, low flexibility and increased system complexity.
The first category requires a large upfront cost to the consumer, because the cost of providing an integrated display on the HEM very expensive. In addition, the electronics required to drive the display is complex and expensive. Further, from a consumer point of view, they are forced to add one more display screen to their home in addition to the home computer, smart phones, televisions and the displays on pre-existing home devices such as thermostats, appliance displays etc.
The second category of HEM involves a substantial cost to provide the server infrastructure and data transfer. In addition, this type of HEM must be connected continuously with a remote server otherwise energy data logging and energy saving commands for the devices in the home will be lost during service disruptions. In addition, this configuration requires connection to the Internet to access and view data. Therefore this second configuration is very limiting in areas where Internet penetration is very low
These HEMs do not take into consideration that data bandwidth required to support a network of energy consuming devices is much smaller than the data bandwidth required for the networking of consumer electronics products, which is usually high bandwidth and high speed. The networking standards, including the physical layer, networking layer and application layers are therefore not optimized for the end use.
Further, consumers want to be able to view and control energy consumption information through a variety of consumer electronic devices available in the home. To enable this it is required that energy consumption and control information must be easily transferable from the networks of energy consuming devices to networks of consumer electronics devices. In addition, consumers are used to interacting with consumer electronics devices. So the consumer interaction data on a consumer electronics device should be able to flow into the network for energy consuming devices and to enable command and control of the energy consuming devices which has not been a consideration of existing systems.
The present disclosure is intended to address these and other issues.

Low cost and flexible energy management system configured in a unitary housing having a displayless configuration


The infant carrier frame provides additional comfortable lifting points and a contoured shape facilitating easier holding or carrying. Handles are included at the sides, the head end, and the foot end to provide options to enable easier lifting, holding, and carrying in the varying day-to-day circumstances typical of moving an infant around in an infant carrier. The sides of the frame each are formed with an inwardly curved recess. The outside of the recessed section of the frame is padded with a soft cushion material having a textured surface to increase gripping traction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to infant car seats, and more particularly to an ergonomically designed frame for the infant carrier portion of infant car seats, and to an infant car seat incorporating the frame.
2. Description of the Related Art
The infant car seat market is a saturated market. However, many of the improvements therein relating to increasing the manageability of the infant carrier portion have been limited to solutions for functional problems and weight displacement. Unfortunately, such efforts do not focus on other means of increasing the comfort of the parent or caregiver who lifts, holds or carries the infant carrier. While such devices as shoulder straps and differently shaped handles may help to some degree, general weight displacement solutions ignore some of the more glaring sources of parent or caregiver discomfort.
The handle provided with currently available car seats requires that a person carrying the car seat by the handle maintain his or her wrist in a twisted position with the palm of the hand facing either forward or backward and the weight of the carrier below the hips, which can be uncomfortable when transporting the car seat for any extended distance. Regardless of how the weight is displaced or whether the hand is turned inward or outward while carrying the infant carrier, hard fins or protrusions of the plastic frame pressing into the side or leg of the person carrying the infant carrier cause a significant amount of discomfort. The myriad assortment of handle and strap variations available do little to address this common problem. Few are strong enough to carry the infant carrier with an infant aboard in such a way so that the frame of the car seat does not rest upon her or his body at some point, typically the side or leg.
Also, often the parent or caregiver will not utilize the available lifting means at all when lifting the infant carrier out from its base in the automobile or simply from a resting position elsewhere. She or he will frequently instead grasp another section of the frame and support the weight on the hip. The relatively sharp and rigid edges of the carrier make this position relatively uncomfortable, except for short distances. For example, due to the relatively low roof in many cars the typical U-bar handle extending directly upward above the car seat is not practical for the task of lifting the infant carrier out of the base. The job is accomplished much more easily grasping the top and bottom of the infant carrier, or in some circumstances, the two sides.
While these sections may be the optimal gripping points for lifting, holding or carrying in certain situations, currently most infant carriers are not designed to better facilitate such options. Consequently, the parent or caregiver must grasp hard plastic frames that dig into their hands and sides as they lift, hold, or carry the car seat. Hence, there is a need for a special infant carrier frame designed addressing all of the above listed problems.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,354,475, issued Mar. 12, 2002 to Grace et al., discloses an infant carrier for holding an infant while walking. The infant carrier features contoured sides and a lengthwise-aligned U-bar type handle. U.S. Patent Publication No. 2003/0015896, published Jan. 23, 2003, describes an infant seat for holding an infant while walking. The infant seat includes small pads at various locations, such as beneath the handle and on the sidewall, to increase the comfort of the one carrying the invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,277,472, issued Jan. 11, 1994 to Freese et al., discloses an infant car seat with a removable infant carrier section. The base of the seat remains attached to the automobile seat. The car seat also features hand slots in addition to the handle.
Other patents in the field of infant car seats and carriers include U.S. Pat. No. 5,207,476, issued May 4, 1993 to T. H. Payne (infant seat with longitudinally-oriented handle); U.S. Pat. No. 6,378,937, issued Apr. 30, 2002 to D. A. Faudman (retractable infant-seat shoulder strap); U.S. Pat. No. 5,540,365, issued Jul. 30, 1996 to M. E. LaMair (strap suspension system for infant car seat) and U.S. Patent Publication No. 2002/0117520, published Aug. 29, 2002 (portable infant carrier including a mattress pad and a pivotally mounted plate).
None of the above inventions and patents is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. Thus, an infant carrier frame solving the aforementioned problems is desired.


Facial feature point reliability generating means generates a reliability map of each facial feature point from a facial image. Initial facial feature point position calculating means calculates the position of each facial feature point in the facial image based on the reliability map. Off-position facial feature point judgment means judges whether or not each facial feature point is an off-position facial feature point not satisfying a prescribed condition. Facial feature point difference calculating means calculates the difference between the position of each facial feature point, excluding those judged as the off-position facial feature points, and the position of a corresponding point of the facial feature point. Facial feature point position correcting means corrects the determined positions of the facial feature points based on the results of the judgment by the off-position facial feature point judgment means and the calculation by the facial feature point difference calculating means.

Techniques for detecting the positions (facial feature point positions) of feature points (facial feature points) of facial organs such as the eyes and the nose from an image in which a face was shot (hereinafter referred to as a "facial image") and outputting the detected facial feature point positions are important for conducting face direction estimation, face authentication, facial expressions recognition, etc. with high accuracy. A variety of methods have been proposed in regard to the detection of the facial feature point positions.
For example, Non-patent Literature 1 describing a technique for detecting facial feature points and outputting facial feature point positions has disclosed a method for correcting the detected facial feature point positions based on a statistical face shape model. In this method, facial feature points are detected first by applying facial feature point detectors (each of which has been constructed for each facial feature point) to a facial area, and a reliability map indicating the suitability as a facial feature point is generated for each of the detected facial feature points.
Subsequently, for each facial feature point, a facial feature point position having high reliability and minimizing the difference from a position indicated by a statistical face shape model is searched for based on a prescribed evaluation function. In this process, a penalty is assigned (specifically, no weight is assigned) to facial feature point positions that are far from the corresponding position indicated by the statistical face shape model. Therefore, plausible facial feature point positions can be acquired even when part or all of the facial feature points are hidden (blocked) by something in the facial image (obstruction).
Patent Literature 1 describing a technique for detecting facial feature points and outputting facial feature point positions has disclosed a method for correcting the detected facial feature point positions based on geometrical arrangement (positional relationship). In this method, facial feature points in a facial image are searched for first within a preset search area based on inputted reliability maps, by which initial facial feature point positions are acquired as the result of the search.
The initial facial feature point positions acquired by the search are corrected based on their positional relationship, by executing a statistical geometric constraint process employing eigenspaces. Subsequently, the search area is reset based on the corrected initial facial feature point positions and the search for the facial feature point positions is executed again within the reset search area. Finally, plausible facial feature point positions are acquired by judging the positional reliability of the initial facial feature point positions and that of the facial feature point positions as the result of the second search.

Facial feature point position correction device, facial feature point position correcting method, and facial feature point position correcting program


Systems, methods, and devices are provided to reduce a likelihood of image burn-in on an electronic display. Such an electronic device may include image processing circuitry and an electronic display. The image processing circuitry may receive image data and analyze the image data for risk of image burn-in and, based at least in part on the analysis of the image data, reduce a risk of image burn-in at least in part by reducing a local maximum pixel luminance value in at least one of a plurality of regions of the image data over time or by reducing a dynamic range headroom of the image data. The electronic display may display the image data with a reduced risk of image burn-in on the pixels of the electronic display.

This disclosure relates to adjusting image data to mitigate image burn-in on pixels of an electronic display.
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present techniques, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
Numerous electronic devices—such as televisions, portable phones, computers, wearable devices, vehicle dashboards, virtual-reality glasses, and more—include electronic displays. As electronic displays gain increasingly higher resolutions and dynamic ranges, they may also become increasingly more susceptible to image display artifacts due to pixel burn-in. Burn-in is a phenomenon whereby pixels degrade over time after emitting a particularly high amount of light over time. To prevent artifacts from appearing on the electronic display due to burn-in effects, the image data may be adjusted over time in response to the existing amount of burn-in that has already occurred. While this may avoid some visual artifacts from appearing due to burn-in that has already occurred, it may not substantially prevent the burn-in effect from occurring in the first place.

Electronic display burn-in detection and mitigation


Systems, methods performed by data processing apparatus and computer storage media encoded with computer programs for receiving information relating to (i) a communication device that has received an utterance and (ii) a voice associated with the received utterance, comparing the received voice information with voice signatures in a comparison group, the comparison group including one or more individuals identified from one or more connections arising from the received information relating to the communication device, attempting to identify the voice associated with the utterance as matching one of the individuals in the comparison group, and based on a result of the attempt to identify, selectively providing the communication device with access to one or more resources associated with the matched individual.

Increasingly, computer-implemented user resources such as searching, voice dialing, access to electronic contact lists, maps, calendars, task lists and the like, are cloud-based. To access such cloud-based services, a user typically provides input to his or her communication device (e.g., smart phone or tablet computer), which communicates the input to a remote server, which in turn processes the input and performs a function and/or returns a result to the communication device, which is then communicated to the user. For example, if the user's electronic contact list is stored in the cloud rather than locally on his communication device, the user could initiate a call with a friend by speaking the command "Call Joe Smith" into his communication device, which would parse and analyze the received command and communicate it as appropriate to a remote server, which would then extract Joe Smith's telephone number from the user's cloud-based contact list and use it to initiate a telephone call from the user's communication device to the communication device associated with Joe Smith's telephone number.


Systems, methods, and computer program products to perform an operation comprising providing a plurality of processing elements comprising one or more operators, the operators configured to process streaming data tuples, establishing an operator graph of a plurality of operators, the operator graph defining at least one execution path in which a first operator of the plurality of operators is configured to: (i) receive data tuples from at least one upstream operator and (ii) transmit data tuples to at least one downstream operator, wherein the first operator executes on a first compute node of a plurality of compute nodes, monitoring a memory use by the first operator on the first compute node, and upon determining that the memory use of the first operator exceeds a memory threshold, moving the first operator to a second compute node, of the plurality of compute nodes.

The present invention relates to computer software, and more specifically, to computer software to move operators in streams computing applications based on memory use by the operators.
Streams computing applications may consist of streams of data flowing through elements of processing that form an operator graph. Many streams computing applications are written such that data structures within operators grow in size the longer the application runs. It is often difficult to determine which operators will grow in size as the data itself (namely, data tuples sent into the operator graph) dictates which data structures will grow in size. For example, consider an application that tracks vehicles distributes its data across a cluster of compute nodes by zip code. While one can reasonably assume that larger cities will have larger data volumes, it is often hard to predict the data volumes of smaller cities and towns. Eventually, in this type of distributed environment, operators may be placed on machines without truly understanding the resource requirements of the operators.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


A triple lumen stone balloon catheter (1) having a tapered distal end (9). A lumen (24) dedicated to transmitting contrast media is dimensioned and adapted to conform to the shape of a kidney in a main shaft of the catheter and conform to the shape of a crescent in a distal end of the catheter. The geometric shaping of the contrast media lumen (24) enables wall thickness to be maintained within acceptable ranges to sustain desirable mechanical characteristics while allowing for enhanced contrast media flow. A method for employing the balloon catheter (1) is also disclosed.

To provide an alternative to surgery, the medical industry devised non-invasive procedures and products that involve utilization of endoscopes. One such product is a stone balloon catheter. Stone balloon catheters generally comprise a sheath or elongate tube having one or multiple lumens with an elastic balloon situated proximal to a distal end of the sheath. One lumen is adapted to communicate with the interior of the balloon so that a fluid or gas source attached to a proximal end of the catheter can be used to infuse either liquid or gas into the balloon to inflate it. Any other lumen provided in the catheter can be used for a variety of purposes such as providing a channel for a guide wire to direct the insertion of the catheter into the patient.
Some of the most recent developments with stone balloon technology involves the use of a triple lumen catheter. Typically, such a catheter will have one lumen dedicated to infusion and aspiration of fluids or gases into or out of the balloon to effectuate inflation and deflation. A second lumen is dedicated to receive a guide wire for placing the catheter. A third lumen is dedicated to infuse contrast media to allow for the fluoroscopic elucidation of the site being evaluated or manipulated.
Triple lumen catheters are used for two primary purposes: 1) diagnostic and 2) therapeutic. A triple lumen stone balloon is designed particularly for use as a therapeutic tool. As the name suggests, a stone balloon is used to remove crystalline objects from a duct. One such duct is the common bile duct of the biliary system consisting of the liver, gall bladder and pancreas.
One of the enduring problems associated with catheter technology is the ability to quickly and effectively deliver contrast media to the desired locus. Due to the combination of limited lumen size and the highly viscous nature of contrast media compositions, high levels of pressure (on the order of several atmospheres), are needed to effectuate delivery of the contrast media.
It is thus, an object of the invention to provide a triple lumen stone balloon that maximizes the ease and efficiency of contrast media delivery while maintaining infusion and aspiration rates for balloon inflation and deflation and lumen size to accommodate a guide wire. It is a further object of the invention to maintain desirable mechanical characteristics of triple lumen balloon catheters while maximizing contrast media flow. These and other objects of the invention will be apparent from a reading of the following summary and detailed description of the preferred embodiment.

Triple lumen stone balloon catheter and method


The present disclosure provides an organic light emitting component. The organic light emitting component includes a substrate, an intermediate structure layer disposed on the substrate. The intermediate structure layer includes a display area and a non-display area at a periphery of the display area. The intermediate structure layer further includes a planarization layer, and an anti-shrinkage stop structure disposed at the non-display area and a display structure portion disposed at the display area are both disposed on the planarization layer and spaced apart from each other. The organic light emitting component includes a thin film encapsulation structure layer disposed on the surface of the intermediate structure layer facing away from the substrate. The anti-shrinkage stop structure is disposed between the thin film encapsulation structure layer and the planarization layer, and a free end of the anti-shrinkage stop structure extends into the thin film encapsulation structure layer.

For an organic light emitting display device, in the film encapsulation process, the organic layer is usually an ultraviolet-curable organic material, and the organic layer can usually be formed between a first inorganic layer and a second inorganic layer by inkjet printing. The organic light emitting display device generally includes a display area and a non-display area, and generally, a boundary between the display area and the non-display area is a boundary of the organic light emitting layer. There is a phenomenon of a convex film layer structure at the edge of the organic layer, and a desirable solution has not been proposed yet.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for better understanding of the background of the present disclosure, and thus it may include information that does not constitute related art known to those of ordinary skill in the art.

Organic light emitting component, fabrication method, and display device each having anti-shrinkage stop structures


Systems and methods manage electrical loads in a grid by applying Robust principal component analysis (R-PCA) to decompose annual load profiles into low-rank components and sparse components; extracting one or more predetermined features; constructing a similarity graph; selecting submodular cluster centers through the constructed similarity graph; determining a cluster assignment based on selected centers; and applying the clustering assignment for load analysis.

The present invention relates to electrical load analysis.
Load has been one of the fundamental parts of power systems since the systems exist. Conventionally, load components include electric heaters, Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC), household electric appliances (refrigerators, TV, washer, dryer, dishwasher, etc.), lighting load, induction motors (industrial and agricultural), industrial facilities.
From the perspective of transmission system operators, load bus represents the aggregated load for all the downstream loads within the sub-transmission and distribution systems. Currently, there is an increasing trend to deploy distributed resources in the system, such as PV, demand response, EV, and energy storage. In addition, AC microgrids, DC microgrids or hybrid AC/DC microgrids can also be viewed as aggregated loads. Under this paradigm, originally passive load is becoming more and more active, which places new challenges on load analysis for system operation and planning.
In power systems, there are various load analysis applications, including load forecasting, load modeling, load disaggregation, and load clustering. Within these applications, load clustering serves as an effective intermediate step to improve the performances of others. Considering the intrinsic load pattern similarities, it is not practical and not necessary to fit every single load bus with a unique model in a realistically-sized system. Loads within the same cluster can share the same parameter set for modeling and forecasting. In addition, as load behavior randomness always exists, load clustering helps load modeling and load forecasting to learn a more generalized model.
However, traditional load analysis is facing challenges with the new electricity usage patterns due to demand response as well as increasing deployment of distributed generations, including photovoltaics (PV), electric vehicles (EV), and energy storage systems (ESS). At the transmission system, despite of irregular load behaviors at different areas, highly aggregated load shapes still share similar characteristics. Load clustering is used to discover intrinsic patterns and provide useful information to other load applications, such as load forecasting and load modeling.

Submodular load clustering with robust principal component analysis


A method and system of preventing control word sharing, the method and system including receiving a temporal key, denoted TKi, at a removable security element, receiving an entitlement control message (ECM), the ECM including a control word derivable by the removable security element, deriving the control word from the ECM at the removable security element, combining at least the control word and a value associated with an ID of the removable security element, thereby producing combined control word and removable security element ID data, encrypting the combined control word and removable security element ID data according to an encryption function, wherein the encrypting includes using TKi as an encryption key, and at a time after a removable security element interface has received TKi, but prior to a start of a crypto period with which the control word is associated, sending the encrypted combined control word and removable security element ID data to the removable security element interface. Related apparatus, methods and systems are also described.

With the improvements to the ability of providers of conditional access to prevent attackers from cloning or circumventing the service protection that is provided by smartcards, hackers have increasingly turned to the "card sharing" or "control word sharing" methods of attack. In these attacks, a pirate-customer Alice receives the encrypted content stream from a public source such as a satellite network or CDN, and relies on a central hacker server provided by Eve to provide her with the content decryption keys.
This type of attack is particularly applicable to the timing of key distribution in conditional access systems. For various logistical reasons, it is necessary to allow preparation of the control word needed to access the content seconds before it is actually used to encrypt content. For example, the presence of PVR functionality in a system means that a single device could be processing several streams simultaneously. Furthermore, features such as Picture-in-picture (PIP), and multi-screen systems also increase the number of streams processed. In all these cases, as there is typically only one smartcard or secure chip, and it must be accesses serially, key messages or ECMs can often pile up in a queue. In order to ensure than no matter what the case is, the key is ready in time, it is often necessary to send the key message or ECM early enough to ensure that the key will be ready in time. This provides Eve plenty of time to distribute the control word over the internet to Alice (and others). (Note that the designation of "Alice" and "Eve" follows the convention in use in cryptography, wherein "Alice" is sending a message to "Bob", and "Eve" is trying to eavesdrop. "Mallory" is trying to maliciously attack the exchange between the Alice and Bob. Sometimes Eve and Mallory are used interchangeably.)
Summarizing the above discussion, the control word is available early is due to the bottleneck of getting the smartcard to prepare the control word, and the fact that the smartcard may need to handle several simultaneous streams.
Accordingly, a method and system is presented which makes card sharing attacks more difficult and/or costly. Currently, the control words are ready earlier than they are needed. This is a significant problem, primarily because these control words are in no way unique per user. All valid set top boxes receive the same control word (as they all decrypt the same content stream), and thus this control word doesn't expose Eve to detection.
The use of the term set top box is used herein to refer to any device which has a security element (often a removable security element) such as a smart card or other hardware which receives entitlement control messages (ECMs) and generates control words (CWs) from them. The CWs are sent by the security element to an interface comprised in the device for use in decrypting video. As such, the device to which term set top box refers to may in fact comprise a set top box; a portable video recorder (PVR); a hand held device; a table device; or other device comprising the above mentioned elements. Other hardware and software, as is known in the art are also comprised in the set top box.
Accordingly, it is necessary to deliver ECMs early enough to ensure processing, even if there are several ECMs to process at the same time. Thus, the delivery of these ECMs cannot simply be delayed by the headend.

Method and system for prevention of control word sharing


A reversing marine drive utilizing a gas generator prime mover provided with first and second counter-rotating power turbines. The first turbine is connectable by a differential gear set and a pinion and reduction gear assembly to the ship's shaft to drive the shaft and the screw thereon in the forward thrust direction. The second turbine is connectable by the differential gear set and the pinion and reduction gear assembly to the ship's shaft to drive it and the screw thereon in the reverse thrust direction. A brake assembly is provided in association with each of the first and second power turbines so that when one of the power turbines is driving the screw, the other power turbine is stopped. A master computer may be provided to control the reversing marine drive.

In the field of marine drives, there has for many years existed the problem of how to easily provide the capability for reverse thrust in ships for stopping, maneuvering and the like.
One option has been to provide a reverse gear which can be shifted to reverse rotation of the screw while the prime mover continues to rotate in its original direction. This is only a viable concept in small sizes, not in the thousands-of-horsepower range.
Another option is to stop and reverse the direction of the prime mover. Some marine diesels do this, as well as do steam turbines which have a few rows of reversing blading. This technique is not easily adaptable, however, to gas turbines.
A third option, and perhaps the option most frequently used in modern ships with gas turbine power, is to provide a variable pitch marine propeller, which will generate forward thrust, reverse thrust, or no thrust, depending upon the blade angle, all the while rotating in the same direction. This option also has a number of drawbacks. These variable pitch screws are complicated and expensive with pitch changing mechanism located in the screw hub and extending through a hollow shaft. The size of the screw hub, alone, results in a three to five percent efficiency penalty. The complexity of these screws results in a maintenance burden. Added to this is the fact that much of the mechanism is located outside the ship and the hollow hydrodynamic shaft is difficult to seal. Finally, there is a compromise in cruise efficiency because of the requirement to vary the blade pitch.
The present invention is directed to a simple means of effectively reversing the screw to generate reverse thrust without the attendant limitations of the existing options described above. The present invention utilizes a gas turbine prime mover provided with first and second low pressure, counter-rotating, power turbines. The first power turbine is operatively connected through appropriate gearing to the ship's shaft so as to provide forward screw rotation. The second power turbine is connected through appropriate gearing to the ship's shaft to provide reverse screw rotation. A brake assembly is provided for each power turbine so that only one of the power turbines effectively drives the ship's shaft at any given time.
The marine drive of the present invention requires no reverse gear. All of the gears in the drive of the present invention are in mesh at all times and are loaded. No reverse blading is necessary, nor the attendant difficulty of redirecting gas from the forward to the reverse blading. A conventional fixed pitch screw with a small hub may be employed without compromise, the screw being designed for optimum efficiency at cruise. All of the directional thrust determining mechanism is located within the ship and maintenance is greatly reduced and simplified. Finally, while it is difficult to seal the flow path gases with a rotating turbine case in an aircraft version of a dual rotation turbine, in a marine drive, 99% of the fuel is burned during forward operation when the turbine case is stationary. Zero-leakage seals may be pressed in place during this time. When reverse operation is desired, these seals are retracted and simple labyrinth seals contain the flow path gases. Leakage is not serious in reverse, as efficiency is not a significant consideration because of the short duty cycle.


The invention provides a glucose dehydrogenase that is an extremely stable enzyme having a thermostability of 80° C. or more, and that does not substantially act upon saccharides other than glucose (e.g., having a reactivity of less than 3% with respect to maltose, galactose, and xylose). The invention also provides a method for producing such an enzyme, and a composition for quantifying glucose using such an enzyme.

NAD(P)-dependent glucose dehydrogenase (EC 18.104.22.168; hereinafter, "glucose dehydrogenase" is sometimes referred to as "GDH", and "NAD(P)-dependent glucose dehydrogenase" as "NAD(P)-GDH") is an enzyme that is mainly used for blood glucose concentration measurement. This catalyst catalyzes the following reaction.D-glucose+NAD(P)→D-glucono-δ-lactone+NAD(P)H
Glucose oxidase is also known as an enzyme that can be used for blood glucose measurement. However, this enzyme is said to have a problem in that glucose concentration measurement using glucose oxidase is affected by dissolved oxygen concentration because this enzyme may use molecular oxygen as an electron acceptor. Since glucose dehydrogenase is not influenced by such dissolved oxygen, this enzyme has been used as the main enzyme for blood glucose measurement in recent years. GDH enzymes include NAD(P)-dependent GDH, pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ)-dependent GDH, and flavin-dependent GDH. PQQ-dependent GDH, such as Acinetobacter baumannii-derived GDH, has a problem with substrate specificity in that PQQ-dependent GDH is as reactive with maltose as it is with glucose. Examples of known flavin-dependent GDH include Aspergillus terreus-derived GDH. Flavin-dependent GDH has stricter substrate specificity than PQQ-dependent GDH. However, flavin-dependent GDH does not necessarily have sufficient substrate specificity because its reactivity with xylose is about 9% relative to that with glucose. Furthermore, flavin-dependent GDH has a temperature stability of up to approximately 50° C., which is not sufficient.
Among known types of NAD(P)-GDH, Bacillus bacteria-derived NAD(P)-GDH is well known. For example, Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus megaterium, Bacillus cereus, etc., have been reported as strains that produce GDH. Although such bacteria-derived NAD(P)-GDH has a relatively high substrate specificity, its thermal stability is up to approximately 50° C. and is thus not sufficient.
Hyperthermophilic archaea are microorganisms that are systematically classified as Archeae, and that can grow at 90° C. or higher or have an optimum growth temperature of 80° C. or higher. The enzymes derived from hyperthermophilic archaea generally have high heat resistance. Many heat-resistant enzymes have been isolated from hyperthermophilic archaea and industrially utilized. NAD(P)-GDH has also been isolated from hyperthermophilic archaea, and the characteristics thereof have been investigated. Sulforobus solfataricus-derived GDH (Non-Patent Document 1), Thermoplasma acidophilum-derived GDH (Non-Patent Document 2), and Thermoproteus tenax-derived GDH (Non-Patent Document 3) have been reported in 1986, 1989, and 1997, respectively. Although these enzymes have excellent heat resistance, they have poor substrate specificity, compared to bacteria-derived enzymes. When NADP is used as a coenzyme, Sulfolobus solfataricus-derived GDH has a broader substrate specificity, and acts on galactose or xylose more strongly than on glucose at a substrate concentration of 40 mmol/L. When NAD is used as a coenzyme, specificity of Sulfolobus solfataricus-derived GDH for glucose is relatively increased, but its activity toward xylose is still high, i.e., about 26% relative to that toward glucose. When NADP is used as a coenzyme, the activity of T. acidophilum-derived GDH toward galactose is 70% relative to that toward glucose. T. tenax-derived GDH is also highly reactive with xylose. In blood glucose concentration measurement, the use of GDH that has low substrate specificity and high reactivity with substances other than glucose results in inaccurate blood glucose measurement, and is thus extremely disadvantageous. However, NAD(P)-GDH that is derived from hyperthermophilic archaea and that has a high heat resistance of 80° C. or higher and high specificity for glucose has not been known.    Non-Patent Document 1: Giardina P et al., Biochem. J., Vol. 239, pp. 517-522 (1986)    Non-Patent Document 2: Smith L D et al., Biochem. J., Vol. 261, pp. 793-797 (1989)    Non-Patent Document 3: Siebers B et al., Arch. Microbiol., Vol. 168, pp. 120-127 (1997)


A closure latch assembly for a motor vehicle closure panel includes a housing; a ratchet pivotably mounted for movement between striker capture and a striker release positions; a release lever, and a pawl assembly. Pawl assembly includes a first and second pawls. First pawl is pivotably mounted to housing for movement about a first pivot axis between ratchet checking and ratchet releasing positions in response to movement of release lever. Second pawl is pivotably mounted to first pawl for movement about a second pivot axis spaced from first pivot axis. Second pawl is engaged with ratchet locking surface while first pawl is in the ratchet checking position to releasably maintain ratchet in the striker capture position. Second pawl is pivotal relative to first pawl about second pivot axis when first pawl pivots toward the ratchet releasing position to allow ratchet to pivot to the striker release position.

This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
A vehicle closure panel, such as a door for a vehicle passenger compartment, is commonly hinged to swing between open and closed positions and includes a closure latch assembly mounted within the door. The closure latch assembly functions in a well-known manner to latch the door when it is closed and lock the door in its closed position, and to unlatch the door to permit subsequent movement of the door to its open position. As is also well known, the closure latch assembly is configured to include a latch mechanism for latching the door, a lock mechanism interacting with the latch mechanism for locking the door, and a latch release mechanism interacting with the lock mechanism and the latch mechanism for unlocking/unlatching the door. These mechanisms can be manually operated and/or power-operated to provide the desired level of standard features.
The latch mechanism typically includes a pawl that engages a ratchet to releasably maintain the ratchet in a striker capture position, wherein the pawl is pivotal to slide along a surface of the ratchet to allow the ratchet to snap suddenly to a striker release position. The sliding movement of the pawl along the ratchet is initiated by overcoming static friction, and results in sliding friction thereafter, which in turn, causes wear and increases effort required to actuate the latch mechanism. Additionally, upon the pawl sliding to a position whereat the ratchet is released, a sudden popping noise is typically generated from the ratchet snapping suddenly to the striker release position. Further yet, in a crash condition, movement of the pawl from an impact force may result in release of the ratchet to the striker release position.
In view of the above, there remains a desire to develop alternative closure panel latch assemblies which address and overcome limitations associated with known closure panel latch assemblies.
Accordingly, while commercially-available closure latch assemblies are satisfactory to meet all operational and regulatory requirements, a recognized need exists to advance the technology and provide optimized closure latch assemblies having enhanced functionality over an extended useful life, while minimizing the effort required for intended actuation thereof, reducing noise generated by latch assemblies during actuation thereof, enhancing performance during a crash condition, that are reliable and easy-to-use, that are cost efficient in manufacture and assembly, and that minimize package size and weight.

Closure latch assembly for vehicle door panels having a latch mechanism with enhanced pawl configuration


An overvoltage protection device for protecting electrical low-voltage installations, having a lower device part and at least one upper device part, wherein the lower device part has input and output terminals for the electrical conductors to be connected and contact elements connected to the input and output terminals. The upper device part has at least one overvoltage protection element. An intermediate device part is additionally provided which can be fitted onto the lower device part and onto which the upper device part can be fitted. The intermediate device part has mating contact elements corresponding to the contact elements of the lower device part and also has contact elements connected to the mating contact elements. The intermediate part has at least one longitudinal element connected between two mating contact elements, and the upper device part has mating contact elements corresponding to the contact elements of the intermediate device part.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an overvoltage protection device for protecting electrical low voltage installations, with a lower device part and at least one upper device part, the lower device part having input and output terminals for electrical conductors and contact elements which are connected to the input and output terminals and which are made especially as plug sockets, and the upper device part having at least one protection element.
2. Description of Related Art
Electrical circuits normally work free of noise with the voltage which is specified for it, i.e., the rated voltage. This does not apply when overvoltages occur. Overvoltages are all voltages which are above the upper tolerance limit of the rated voltage. They also include mainly transient overvoltages which can occur due to atmospheric discharges, as well as due to switching operations or short circuits in power supply networks and can be coupled conductively, inductively or capacitively into electrical circuits. In order to protect electrical or electronic circuits, especially electronic measurement, control and switching circuits against transient overvoltages, overvoltage protection elements which capture and limit overvoltage peaks have been developed and have been known for many years.
The required measures for protection of the power supply of installations and devices are classified into various stages depending on the choice of arresters and the ambient influences which can be expected. The overvoltage protection devices for the individual stages differ by the level of the discharge capacity and the protection level.
The first protection stage (type 1) is generally formed by a lightning stroke current arrester which is installed as an extremely powerful protection device in the central power supply of a building. An important component of such a lightning stroke current arrester is a spark gap with at least two electrodes, when the spark gap is struck an arc forming between the two electrodes.
The second protection stage (type 2) generally forms a varistor-based surge arrester. The protection stage again limits the remaining residual voltage via the lightning stroke current arrester. Depending on the risk potential of the installation which is to be protected or of the building which is to be protected, in the individual case it can be sufficient if the second protection stage is started.
The third protection stage (type 3) is called apparatus protection and is generally installed directly upstream of the device which is to be protected. With the apparatus protection a residual voltage which is safe for the connected device is achieved. These overvoltage protection devices exist in different designs, especially also as switchgear cabinet module.
In MSR technology, as a result of the high sensitivity to overvoltages the overvoltage protection devices often have overvoltage protection elements with combined protective circuits, one overvoltage limiting component being used for coarse protection and one overvoltage limiting component being used for fine protection. The components which can be especially gas-filled surge arresters, spark gaps, varistors or suppressor diodes are often connected indirectly in parallel, between the overvoltage protection elements there being longitudinal elements as decoupling resistors which must be adapted to the respective protective circuit, i.e., to the overvoltage protection elements used.
This invention is used especially in overvoltage protection devices which are used for apparatus protection and which are made as a switchgear cabinet module. However, the invention is not limited thereto and can be implemented fundamentally also in overvoltage protection devices of type 1 or of type 2.
For reasons of modularity and flexibility and to facilitate repair efforts, switchgear cabinet modules are often made in at least two parts, one of which is a permanently installed base element as a lower device part and the other is comprised of at least one interchangeable protective plug as an upper device part. The base element is used to fasten an overvoltage protection device on a mounting rail and to connect the individual electrical conductors, for which the base element has corresponding input and output terminals, which can be made in any connection technology, for example, screw terminals, tension spring terminals, direct clamp-type terminals, or quick connect terminals. Depending on the version, this overvoltage protection device can be made as two-wire, three-wire or four-wire protection. The protective plug has the actual overvoltage protection circuit with the overvoltage protection element or elements which are matched to the respective application. Fundamentally two or more protective plugs can also be plugged onto a corresponding wide base element next to one another in the longitudinal direction of the mounting rail.
To easily make mechanical and electrical contact of the lower device part with the respective upper device part, the lower device part has plug sockets connected to the terminals and the upper device part has corresponding plug pins so that the upper device part can be plugged onto the lower device part without tools. In addition, the known overvoltage protection device has another changeover contact as transducer for remote reporting of the state of at least one protection element, as a result of which comfortable remote monitoring is possible. Moreover, for example, German Utility Model DE 20 2004 006 227 U1 and corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 7,411,769 B2 disclose that the upper device part has an optical state display which can be mechanically actuated. In this way, the state of the overvoltage protection device can also be easily read off directly on the device.
An overvoltage protection device underlying the invention has already been fundamentally described in German Patent DE 33 46 753 C2. This type of overvoltage protection device has been marketed for many years by the assignee of the present application under the product name "PLUGTRAB PT" (see, Phoenix Contact brochure "Overvoltage Protection TRABTECH 2007, pages 60 and 61). One important feature of this overvoltage protection device is the possibility of being able to insert and withdraw individual protective plugs in an impedance-neutral manner, as a result of which sensitive signal circuits, such as for example, terminal measurements or bus systems, are not influenced when the protective plug is replaced. For this purpose, in the lower device part, there are longitudinal elements, especially decoupling resistors, in the line paths which run continuously between input and output terminals which are assigned to one another. Since the base element also remains installed in the through wiring when the protective plug is replaced, interrupt-free and impedance-neutral withdrawal and insertion of the protective plug for test and replacement purposes are thus possible.
Even if the aforementioned overvoltage protection devices have greatly proven themselves in practice, they have the disadvantage that, not only are a plurality of protective plugs matched to the respective application, but also a large number of different base elements must be made available which have longitudinal elements which are matched to the protection circuit which is located in the protective plug. The number of base parts which are to be made available by the manufacturer of the overvoltage protection devices in the prior art is reduced in that the longitudinal elements are also integrated in the plug-in upper device part; but this results in that the impedance of the electric circuit or signal circuit is changed when the protective plug is inserted and withdrawn.


A gas barrier laminate having an undercoating (A) which comprises a main resin, an isocyanate type curing agent and an alkaline compound of a polyvalent metal; and a barrier layer (B) of a polycarboxylic acid polymer forming an ionic crosslinking due to the polyvalent metal among the carboxyl groups; formed on at least one surface of a plastic base material (P), wherein a region (b) free of the alkaline compound of the polyvalent metal is formed in the undercoating (A) on the side of the barrier layer (B), the content of nitrogen in the region (b) being larger than the content of nitrogen in the undercoating (A) other than the region (b), the gas barrier laminate having excellent gas barrier property, retort resistance, producibility as well as excellent flexibility without developing interlayer peeling even if it is folded and featuring excellent interlayer adhesion.

A variety of materials have heretofore been proposed and, particularly, polyvinylidene chloride, polyacrylonitrile and ethylene/vinyl alcohol copolymer have been known as gas barrier resins. From the standpoint of environmental problems, however, it is a trend to refrain from using the polyvinylidene chloride and polyacrylonitrile. The ethylene/vinyl alcohol copolymer, on the other hand, has gas barrier property that greatly varies depending on the humidity, i.e., has a problem of a decrease in the gas barrier property under highly humid conditions.
In order to impart gas barrier property to the packing materials, there has been known a method of using films obtained by depositing an inorganic material on the surface of a base material. Such films, however, are very costly and involve problems in regard to flexibility of the vapor-deposited film and adhesiveness to the base material.
In order to solve the above problems, there have been proposed a gas barrier resin composition obtained by reacting a polycarboxylic acid polymer, a crosslinking agent having 2 to 4 functional groups that react with the carboxyl groups, and metal ions of a valency of two or more so that the polycarboxylic acid polymer forms crosslinked portions due to the crosslinking agent and crosslinked portions due to the metal ions having a valency of two or more, the weight ratio of the polycarboxylic acid polymer and the crosslinking agent being from 99.9/0.1 to 65/35 (patent document 1); and a gas barrier film obtained by forming a gas barrier coating on at least one surface of a thermoplastic resin film, the coating being formed of a polyacrylic acid that is crosslinked with a crosslinking agent containing an epoxy compound having three or more epoxy groups per a molecule thereof, and the crosslinking agent being contained in an amount of 1 to 100 parts by mass per 100 parts by mass of the polyacrylic acid (patent document 2).
The gas barrier materials disclosed in the above patent documents 1 and 2 must be crosslinked to a high degree at a high temperature of not lower than 150° C. or by being heated for extended periods of time accompanied by such problems as seriously affecting the plastic base material, and requiring a dip treatment or a spray treatment at the time of ionic crosslinking with metal ions, lowering the productivity, and consuming large amounts of energy and water. Besides, the gas barrier materials are not still satisfactory in regard to flexibility and retort resistance.
As a gas barrier laminated film on which dry-printing can be effected at a relatively low temperature, further, there has been proposed a gas barrier laminated film comprising a layer (a) formed from a coating solution (A) containing a polycarboxylic acid polymer without heat treatment and a layer (b) formed from a coating solution (B) containing a water-soluble polyvalent metal salt and an aqueous resin, the layer (a) of the coating solution (A) and the layer (b) of the coating solution (B) forming at least a pair of lamination units abutting to each other (patent document 3).
The gas barrier laminated film disclosed in the above patent document 3 can be dry-printed at a relatively low temperature; i.e., the gas barrier laminated film is obtained without affecting the base material. With this laminated film, however, the polycarboxylic acid polymer that is applied first is fixed and does not sufficiently migrate into the layer (a) of the polyvalent metal layer. Therefore, the crosslinking with polyvalent metal ions is not attained to a sufficient degree, and the gas barrier property is not still satisfactory unless the ionic crosslinking ratio is enhanced by employing a dip treatment or a spray treatment which is the conventional method as the treatment after the printing.
The present inventors have, further, proposed a gas barrier material having a barrier layer comprising a polycarboxylic acid polymer, the surface layer of the barrier layer forming a chemical bond stemming from an isocyanate group, and the content of nitrogen in the surface layer being at least 1 atom % or more per the total amount of carbon, oxygen and nitrogen (patent document 4).
The above gas barrier material is obtained by applying a gas barrier layer-forming coating material containing a high hydrogen-bonding polymer onto an isocyanate compound-containing layer that has been formed in advance and, thereafter, vaporizing the solvent in the coating material so that a surface layer forming a chemical bond stemming from the isocyanate group is formed on the barrier layer. Therefore, the gas barrier material offers an excellent effect of forming an anti-blocking layer with the isocyanate compound-containing layer as an anchoring layer in addition to exhibiting excellent gas barrier property, retort resistance and producibility.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Gas barrier laminate and method of producing the same