An injection molded plastic tank for containing liquids, such as a septic tank, is comprised of mated half tanks which are clamped together at mating flanges. A clamp having a C-shape interior concavity has grooves which engage aligned pairs of nubs on the flange surfaces which are spaced apart from the joint surfaces of each flange. A clamp has one or more flared portions at the clamp leading edge end, leading to the grooves or to the inner concavity, to make easier installation of the clamp. When a clamp reaches its home position, the clamp is locked in place against further motion in one or both directions by interacting features on the tank and clamp.

Large oblong plastic tanks, such as those for containing water or wastewater have in the past been fabricated by molding two dish-shape halves and then mating the halves at a lengthwise planar joint. This kind of construction provides an advantage over one piece plastic tanks in that half tanks may be nested for shipment and storage, potentially reducing handling and transport costs. It also enables closer control of wall thickness and better definition of interior detail. This kind of construction provides an economic and ease-of-handling advantage over typical concrete septic tanks that are heavy and comprised of halves which do not nest for transport.
In the past, half tanks may be joined to each other by adhesives or mechanical means. Adhesives have the advantage of permanency of joint. Examples of tanks made by such means include those shown in Graham U.S. Pat. No. 4,325,823 and U.S. Patent Publication 2001/0019026 of Berg et al. Mechanical joining means provide the advantage of being independent of substrate material properties, joint preparation, environment, and cure time which often relate to bonding or fusing.
Large plastic tanks, including those suitable for septic tank application, have been previously made as injection molded halves which are clamped together for use. See for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,572,372 and 5,878,907 of Graf. Injection molding produces good dimensional control and fidelity, compared to tanks made by fiberglass resin layup or to polyolefin tanks made in one or more pieces by blow molding or rotational molding as shown in Kruger U.S. Pat. No. 8,070,005.
When a septic tank is an assembly of mechanically mated halves, it is important that the seal of the joint between half tanks be sound, to prevent flow into or out of the tank through the joint region. In contrast to typical concrete septic half tanks which are typically mated at the point of installation in the soil, molded plastic septic tanks of the type described in the Graf patents and the present invention can be assembled at a work place remote from the factory and then transported a relatively short distance to the point of use, where they may be lifted from a truck and placed in a pit. Often an assembled tank is dragged across the surface of the earth to the point of installation. Occasionally, a tank may be dropped from a truck bed or other transporter. Thus, the means for holding the halves together must be sufficient to reasonably endure such kinds of mechanical forces.


Mobile equipment includes LEDs supplied with a current to emit red light, green light and blue light, FETs and a booster circuit for controlling the current supplied. The current supplied is controlled to supply all of the LED with a current of a low level to illuminate an object in a shooting mode with light for illumination. Thus in the shooting mode a white spot light illuminates the object, and the object can clearly be confirmed. At the moment of shooting, a current supplied can be increased at a burst to emit white flashlight to illuminate the object. A satisfactory image can thus be obtained. The source of light for illumination can be formed of miniature, light-weight LED, and does not impair in mobility mobile equipment having the source of light incorporated therein.

Conventionally in shooting pictures in dark places a xenon tube is typically used as a source of light for electronic flash for illumination. The xenon tube can emit a sufficient quantity of light. However, peripheral circuitry driving the xenon tube requires a highly voltage withstanding, large-capacity capacitor, a voltage transformer and the like. Consequently, the source of light for electronic flash employing the xenon tube has a physically increased geometry. As such, it has been significantly difficult to mount an auxiliary source of light of this type in miniature mobile equipment having a shooting function. Conventionally for example camera equipped mobile phones are equipped with an auxiliary source of light using a xenon tube to shoot pictures with the camera. The auxiliary source of light is physically large in geometry, as has been mentioned, and has accordingly been detachably attached to a mobile phone, rather than incorporated therein.
As conventional art employing LED, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 5-328210 discloses an illumination device using a light emitting diode (LED) for a TV camera that is synchronized with the TV camera's shuttering operation to emit light in pulse. Furthermore, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 9-68742 discloses a shooting apparatus employing an LED for light for illumination for shooting for synchronization between the LED's illumination period and the camera's shooting period. An illumination device employing an LED of Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 10-48708 synchronizes a charge coupled device (CCD) electronic shutter camera's exposure and of the LED's emission of light in pulse.
The techniques disclosed in these publications do indicate that illumination for shooting is provided by using an LED. However, they only disclose a technique employed to synchronize a timing of driving the LED and that of picking up an image. Furthermore, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2000-66292 discloses that when an apparatus transfers onto a color film the data shot by a camera, it selects one of LEDs emitting different colors of light depending on different background colors and causes the selected LED to emit light to allow a clear record regardless of the color of the background.
While the above mentioned publications do indicate that light for illumination is provided by using an LED, none of the documents indicates that mobile equipment employs an LED to generate and direct white light for illumination to an object.
When a mobile phone is typically used to shoot a picture of an object via a camera, the mobile phone is often positioned to face the object for example to take a picture of the object's face at a short distance in closeup. The shot image can be digitally processed to be adjusted, and the camera equipped mobile phone does not require an auxiliary source of light providing as much a quantity of light as provided by a xenon tube. Accordingly, there is a demand for an auxiliary source of white light smaller in size and consuming less power than the xenon tube.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Mobile equipment and mobile phone with shooting function


A movable, prefabricated wall panel having a rigid frame. Internal to the rigid frame is a structural acoustical core, consisting of a grid with a plurality of individual cells, each filled with insulation media, such as a loose, discrete insulation such as fiberglass, cellulose, etc. The outer surfaces of the cell grid are covered with a skin or screen mesh for confining the loose discrete insulation. This skin or mesh can be a finished decorative outer cover or an intermediate component that is later covered with a decorative outer cover of fabric or other suitable material. A septum may be provided in the panel in the grid and may be made of a pliable, sound absorbing material. Additional acoustic barrier panels may be sandwiched on either side of the cellular grid.

The present invention relates generally to wall panels, and more specifically to acoustical wall panels, such as used as office partitions, and to methods of their fabrication.
It is desirable in many commericial and industrial offices to have a system of modular acoustical dividers that allow privacy while maintaining design flexibility and noise abatement qualities consistent with the desired work environment. To best accomplish these traits it is necessary to produce a panel that consists of a rigid frame, acoustical materials for noise abatement, and an outer decorative cover material for design aesthetics. While it is often desirable to have a soft feel to the exterior of the panel, it is also important to have rigidity across the entire expanse of panel surface so that there is not a great deal of deflection when a force is exerted against the acoustical system within the outer rigid frame. These two traits--soft feel and rigidity for low deflection--can be contradictory in the design of an acoustical system. If the outer surface is soft the inner core must be rigid. Many current panel designs employ a high density fiberglass to achieve rigidity. Others employ a rigid inner septum or barrier of chipboard, metal, wood, or particle board in combination with fiberglass. Both of these approaches are costly with the added cost associated mostly with rigidity in mind.
If either of these approaches are taken to an extreme with too high a density of fiberglass or too thick of a septum material, they can actually detract from the acoustical effectiveness of the design. Rigid materials are often good sound transmitters because they are prone to vibration. As fiberglass insulation increases in density, it becomes a poorer noise absorber of many common sound frequencies found in the office environment. Consider the following results of a standard ASTM test comparing a 3#/cu. ft. density with a 6#/cu. ft. density fiberglass insulation.
______________________________________ Sound Absorption Values Thick- Frequency in Hz ness Density 125 250 500 1000 2000 4000 NRC ______________________________________ 1/2" 3# .10 .39 .34 .54 .74 .86 .50 1/2" 6# .13 .36 .28 .53 .78 .88 .49 ______________________________________
The present invention provides an economical acoustical panel that uses a unique combination of components to achieve improved acoustical performance and to provide the rigidity required for various design specifications. At the same time it can accommodate a range of exterior textures while not compromising acoustical performances or rigidity.
The present invention has a rigid frame of steel, plastic, wood, or other suitable material and has an inner acoustical core with a divider grid defining multiple cells. The core construction has each cell filled with a suitable insulation material such as fiberglass batting or loose, discrete insulation material. A confinement layer may be fastened (stapled, heat sealed, glued) to each surface of the cellular grid to retain the insulation material in the cells. This layering may be a wire screen mesh, plastic mesh, plastic film, cloth, etc. Other features are described in greater detail below.
The present invention provides several significant advantages. The compartmentalized cellular grid is designed to provide the required rigidity. Because the grid comprises mostly open space with each divider grid wall having a minimum of cross-sectional area, it is not as prone to vibrating as is a large, rigid, planar surface when exposed to sound energy. Also, because of the strength provided by this type of geometry, a thin material such as chipboard or other heavy weight paper products can provide rigidity even though these materials are not particularly rigid when a single layer is used in a planar fashion across a frame.
Because of the large percentage of openness in the cellular grid arrangement, the optimum acoustical insulation material may be present in the largest percentage of the panel interior. This material can be chosen for the desired cost/performance combination required regardless of its density or rigidity characteristics.
An additional advantage of this invention is that with the rigidity issue resolved, an intermediate acoustical septum can be located within the core if further noise reduction is desired. This barrier can be of a pliable or viscoelastic nature to abate noise transmission as opposed to a more rigid vibrating member as is used in many existing panel designs.

Acoustical wall panel and method of assembly


Workflow definitions are broken into a set of components. Each workflow component has an instance-specific workflow definition that it operates from. Different steps can be injected into different workflow instance-specific definitions, based upon a given state of each individual workflow instance.

Computing systems are currently in wide use. Some computing systems are deployed at end user organizations and they assist the end user organizations in performing the operations undertaken by the organization.
Some such computing systems implement processes that are defined and implemented in various ways. They can, for instance, be defined in metadata and the process can be realized by an instance of a workflow that runs the process. Therefore, the computing system can monitor for triggering events, that trigger the instantiation and running of a workflow, which performs a process. This type of workflow definition can be difficult to manage.
For instance, at any given time during the runtime processing of the computing system, a plurality of different processes can be active. Multiple workflow instances, for example, may be executing multiple different processes (or multiple instances of the same process) during runtime. These workflows may all be in different states. Therefore, if a user wishes to modify the process definition, it can be difficult to apply the modification. The workflows may be defined by a global definition. Attempting to apply a modification to the global definition of a workflow may be disruptive, because the multiple instances of the running workflows may be at different states so the modification may or may not be applied. Therefore, attempting to modify them uniformly cannot be done, simply by changing the global definition.
The discussion above is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.


An original handling apparatus includes a sheet cassette for storing a bundle of originals, an RDF for feeding each bundle of originals stored in the sheet cassette to an exposure position, discharging the exposed original from the exposure position, and circulating the exposed original to the sheet cassette, an operation panel for setting a desired number of circulation cycles of the bundle of originals stored in the sheet cassette, and a microcomputer (including a CPU) for controlling the RDF to allow it to start a next circulation cycle prior to an end of a current circulation cycle in a plurality of circulation cycles.

The present invention relates to an original handling apparatus for feeding an original from a set position to an exposure position and returning the original to the initial set position after exposure.
In a conventional copying machine with an original circulation apparatus of this type, if a plurality of copy sets are required, the originals are circulated by the number of times corresponding to the plurality of copy sets (e.g., U.S. Ser. Nos. 632,312, 777,020 and 780,576). In this case, the processing speed is undesirably decreased at a timing between the circulation cycles. This is because the first original in the second circulation cycle is fed after the last original in the first circulation cycle is discharged.


A LIDAR optical remote sensing system and method analyzes the falling edge profile of a return LIDAR signal that may be indicative of an object or an aerosol cloud, which is generally more diffuse. Using the falling edge profile permits burnthrough to an object that may be obscured by the aerosol cloud. The profile is compared against at least one threshold that may correspond, in various embodiments, to a negative slope of the falling edge, an integrated power under the falling edge, or a range estimate error for varying transmitted power values, varying transmitted pulse lengths and/or varying receiver detector field of view values.

Helicopters are an invaluable resource in a wide variety of operational scenarios, both civilian and military. The ability to take off and land effectively vertically is convenient, especially in remote or cramped quarters.
However, the very features that make helicopter operations so invaluable also cause significant challenges. Helicopter pilots are frequently called upon to land or hover over terrain under adverse topographical, topological, meteorological and even situational constraints. Many landings or near landings (in which the helicopter is called upon to hover just above ground level for a considerable period of time while personnel and/or materials are loaded on or off the helicopter) take place on or over rough terrain, such as mountainous regions, building roofs, expanses of soil or sand or even bodies of water. Such operations may be undertaken at night, in winter, and/or during foggy and/or storm conditions.
As a result, it is not uncommon for such landing operations to take place inside an aerosol cloud. For the purposes of the present disclosure, aerosols are small particles suspended in the atmosphere. In the context of helicopter operations, the aerosol may be as a result of prevailing weather phenomena, such as fog or a snow storm, man-made clouds from industrial pollutants, smoke from combusting biomass, or sand, snow, water or dust particles stirred up into a dense cloud by the rotor wash of the helicopter or of a neighboring helicopter.
Under these conditions, pilots cannot see, easily or at all, nearby objects that provide the visual references that enable them to safely control the helicopter near the ground.
In order to ensure safe flight operations, especially during landing and near landing operations, the ability to detect obstacles, such as the terrain features or objects situated thereon, such as trees, animals and humans, vehicles and structures, within an aerosol cloud, is beneficial.
There have been many reported accidents due to brownout and whiteout conditions arising from helicopter rotor wash in both civil and military aviation.
In recent years, the search for a solution has become a high priority for the military, because of the extensive use of helicopter operations in desert regions.
The United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has initiated efforts for many years to develop technologies to assist pilots see through dust during helicopter landings, including the "Sandblaster" program that hopes to test a landing system in September 2008 that promises safer flying for military helicopters in brownout conditions.
Despite efforts by both military and civilian aviation entities, no effective long-term solution to the brownout/whiteout rotor wash problem, or the problem of detecting obstacles within an aerosol cloud generally, has been developed.
It is generally agreed that active sensors, which have the ability of using certain features to discriminate between aerosol and object response provide promising options.
One approach that has been investigated is LIght Detection And Ranging (LIDAR), an optical remote sensing technology that measures properties of scattered collimated light to find range and/or other information of a distant object, typically using laser pulses.
Other approaches include millimeter-wave (MMW) radar and flash LIDAR and range-gated cameras. All of these mechanisms rely on timing discrimination to suppress aerosol signals.
Like radar technology, which uses radio waves instead of light, in LIDAR, an object's range is calculated by measuring the time delay or time of flight (TOF) between transmission of a pulse and detection of a reflection thereof off of the object.
It is theoretically possible to image a feature of an object about the same size as the wavelength of the transmitted pulse, or larger. Because shorter wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum are used in LIDAR relative to radar, typically in the ultraviolet, visible or near infrared spectra, LIDAR is highly sensitive to aerosols.
By contrast, the longer wavelength of MMW radar permits it to penetrate deep inside aerosol clouds but provides poor spatial resolution. Additionally, there are significant engineering issues in providing a scanning MMW radar within a compact package.
In a flash LIDAR, an avalanche photo diode (APD) is used to measure TOF and the corresponding distance to a different spot of the object in response to a flash pulse directed at the target, thus providing a 3D ranging solution from a single flash.
While both flash LIDAR and range-gated cameras are able to image the full field of view (FOV) in a single shot and provide high resolution and frame rate, they both lack any substantial ability to penetrate aerosol because the light sources in such devices are spread into the full FOV for each shot.
Scanning LIDAR systems thus pose an optimized trade-off between aerosol penetration and resolution.
The difficulty is in discriminating between returns corresponding to an object and returns corresponding to the surrounding aerosol cloud.
Since aerosols play an important role in environment, they have been investigated by both ground-based LIDARs and space-based LIDARs and the fundamentals of LIDAR response to aerosols have been intensively studied. As a result, the principles of the interaction between LIDAR and aerosols have been well established, for example in studies on pollution monitoring and climate research. However, in such circumstances, the aerosol cloud is relatively extensive, ranging on the order of 1 km in extent, and is of small density.
On the other hand, aerosols generated by helicopter rotor wash, or indeed atmospheric aerosols such as fog and snow/dust storms, are relatively dense and tend to be much more closely localized to the helicopter, typically on the order of 0 m to 100 m. Despite this, the aerosol cloud remains much less dense than an object.

Return pulse shape analysis for falling edge object discrimination of aerosol LIDAR


A bowling ball weight block consists of body, tip and head portions, the tip and head portions being located on opposed ends of the body. The body portion is in the form of a cylinder or parallelepiped, the head is in the form of a spherical segment or frustum of a pyramid, and the tip is in the form of a frustum of a pyramid, or cone. The head and tip portions are chosen such that the mass of the tip is not greater than the mass of the head. By utilizing different masses and/or dimensions for the head and tip portions, an asymmetrical weight distribution about the roll axis of the ball can be developed. The weight block exhibits distinct roll characteristics depending on whether it is positioned within a ball in a head-up or tip-up orientation with respect to the ball label.

It is well recognized by the proficient bowler that, for maximum pin fall, the bowling ball should not approach the pins along a line parallel to the length of the lane, but rather should engage the pins along a curved path. To accomplish this end, a torque or spin is established on the bowling ball to generate an irregularity in the roll of the ball sufficient to provide a deviation from a straight path. The skilled bowler applies such a torque at the time of ball release. To accentuate the release, a ball having a non-symmetrical construction can be utilized. In general, such balls have a weight distribution within the ball which becomes assymetrical about the axis of ball rotation during ball travel and accordingly introduces or amplifies the desired deviation from straight-line ball travel. Within weight tolerances set by the American Bowling Congress, The Women's International Bowling Congress, and other organizations, such balls are fully approved for sanctioned competition.
There have been various attempts to construct bowling balls having such characteristics. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,026,069 of May 14, 1912 to Bendelardi discloses a bowling ball having a diametrical hole extending within the ball to allow the insertion of weights by the bowler to adjust the mass configuration of the ball. U.S. Pat. No. 3,400,929 of Sept. 10, 1968 to Fabanich discloses a bowling ball which allows access to the ball core, the core being formed of a spherical weighted insert having a secondary weight portion on its surface which may be adjustably positioned with respect to the roll axis of the ball to vary the roll characteristics of the ball. U.S. Pat. No. 3,441,274 of Apr. 29, 1969 to Collins utilizes threaded, generally cylindrical openings on the surface of the ball which allow the insertion of weight elements of varying composition to modify the roll characteristics of the ball. Each of these approaches are subject to shortcoming, which include intrusion upon the surface finish of the ball, difficulties in maintaining consistent performance, and complexities of manufacture.
It is accordingly a purpose of the present invention to provide a bowling ball weight block of unique configuration which may be formed as an integral part of a finished bowling ball, and which allows consistent performance of the finished product.
Another purpose of the present invention is to provide a bowling ball weight block which may be utilized in a plurality of positions within the ball to create a finished ball product having a corresponding plurality of roll characteristics.
Yet another purpose of the present invention is to provide a bowling ball weight block which may be efficiently and economically manufactured and which can be easily incorporated into the finished bowling ball product.


Disclosed is a distortion compensating and power amplifying apparatus including: a transistor to power amplifies an input signal; a branch circuit to branch the input signal into two signals; distortion compensation means for generating a second harmonic of a fundamental wave for one of branched signals and adding the generated second harmonic to the other branch signal from said branch circuit for input to an input terminal of said transistor; and a termination circuit connected to an output terminal of said transistor and grounding the second harmonic.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a distortion compensating apparatus and particularly to a distortion compensating apparatus applicable to high-frequency power amplifiers for cellular phones.
2. Description of Related Art
In the past, a cellular phone using the CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) system always varies terminal's transmission power. The output distribution often peaks approximately 10 mW when the speech communication is used. In many cases, a CDMA cellular phone terminal uses a DC-DC converter to vary power supply voltages of a power amplifier (PA) at low and high outputs so that the efficiency for low outputs is improved. The longer the terminal operates in low-output mode, the less the terminal consumes electric currents. However, as the cellular phone terminal is equipped with many data processing capabilities, the transmission power distribution is shifting to the high output side.
It is expected to output high power as possible especially at low power supply voltages. This ensures low power consumption for the entire terminal. For this purpose, it is important to further increase a power changeover threshold value that switches between a low output and a high output. In low-output mode, the DC-DC converter is used to set a small power supply voltage (e.g., 1.5 V) to be applied to a power amplifier. It is preferable to maximally increase the power output in this state and operate the terminal as long as possible in the low-output mode. This results in reducing the power consumption for the entire terminal.
However, increasing the power changeover threshold value also increases distortion. It is important to decrease distortion also during low output. Distortion compensation technologies are long proposed, but cannot be directly applied to cellular phone terminals in consideration for increase in the circuit scale.
In recent years, there are proposed technologies to improve the distortion by injecting a second harmonic (non-patent documents 1 through 4). FIG. 13 shows a typical constitution. In FIG. 13, a branch circuit (div) 50 branches an input signal into two outputs. One output is input to the gate of a small source-grounded FET (Field Effect Transistor) 51. The FET 51 generates a second harmonic that is then extracted in a band pass filter (BPF) 52. The second harmonic's phase and amplitude is adjusted in a phase circuit (Ph) 53 and an attenuation circuit (ATT) 54, respectively. The second harmonic is then input to a first input terminal of an addition circuit (add) 55. On the other hand, the other output from the branch circuit 50 is input to a second input terminal of the addition circuit 55. The added output is input to an input terminal of a power amplifier (A) 56. Distortion generated from the power amplifier 56 is decreased in such a manner that the phase circuit 53 and the attenuation circuit 54 optimally adjust the phase and the amplitude generated in the FET 51.
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A No. 65465/1998
[Patent Document 2]
JP-A No. 148949/1996
[Non-Patent Document 1]
K. Joshin, Y. Nakasha, T. Iwai, T. Miyashita, S. Ohara, "Harmonic Feedback Circuit Effects on Intermodulation Products and Adjacent Channel Leakage Power in HBT Power Amplifier for 1.9 GHz Wide-Band CDMA Cellular Phones," IEICE Trans. Electron., vol. E82-C, no. 5, May 1999, pp. 725-729.
[Non-Patent Document 2]
M. R. Moazzam, C. S. Aitchison, "A Low Order Intermodulation Amplifier with Harmonic Feedback Circuitry," IEEE MTT-S Digest, 1996, WE3F-5.
[Non-Patent Document 3]
D. Jing, W. Chan, S. M. Li, C. W. Li, "New Linearization Method Using Interstage Second Harmonic Enhancement," IEEE Microwave and Guide Wave Letters, vol. 8, No. 11, pp. 402-404, November 1998.
[Non-Patent Document 4]
N. Males-Ilic, B. Milovanovic, D. Budimir, "Low Intermodulation Amplifiers for RF and Microwave Wireless System," Asian Pacific Microwave Conference 2001, Proceedings, pp. 984-987.
[Non-Patent Document 5]
S. Kusunoki, T. Furuta and Y. Murakami, "An analysis of higher-order IMD depending on source impedance of a GaAs FET and its application to a design of low distortion MMIC power amplifiers," Electronics and Communications in Japan, vol. 85, No. 4, pp. 10-21, April 2002, John Wiley and Sons, Inc. NY. USA
("Analyzing dependency of high-order intermodulation distortion on gate-connected impedance and improving digital modulation distortion of a power amplifier," the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers: Japanese article magazine vol. J83-C, No. 6, pp. 542-552, June 2000)

Distortion compensating and power amplifying apparatus

Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Japan, Inc.


A graphics system and method for rendering image on a display device. The graphics system receives 3D graphics data including vertices for a triangle. The triangle is tested to determine if it is larger than a maximum triangle size, and if so, it is fragmented into sub-triangles smaller than the maximum size. After this size limiting, a bin bounding box is computed for each triangle. The absolute coordinate of a triangle""s vertices are converted into relative coordinates with respect to an origin (e.g. a corner) of the bin box. Succeeding rendering computations (e.g. computations to determine whether sample positions fall interior to the triangle or to interpolate ordinate values for the interior samples) are performed using the relative coordinates. The positions of samples are also represented in relative coordinates (with respect to the bin box origin).

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of digital signal processing and, more particularly, to a system and method for interpolating sample values based on known values at the vertices of a triangle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Graphics systems are configured to receive a stream of graphics data and generate video output pixels in response to the graphics data. The graphics data stream specifies vertices for triangles which define 3D graphics content. The graphics system may generate an Nxc3x97M array of video output pixels per frame. The graphics system may internally represent pixel positions as K bit integer quantities. The value K is typically chosen so that pixel coordinates may vary from 0 to max{Nxe2x88x921,Mxe2x88x921}. Vertex positions or super-sample positions may be represented as (K+L) bit fixed-point quantities, i.e. L additional bits may be used for fractional positions between pixel positions. In prior art graphics system many of the rendering computations to determine sample (or pixel) colors triangles are performed at (K+L) bits of precision or approximately (K+L) bits of precision. However, hardware elements (e.g. adders, multipliers, multiplexors, etc.) that support (K+L) bit operands may be expensive, may consume a large amount of board area, and may consume a large amount of power. Thus, there exists a need for a system and method which could generate sample/pixel color values with smaller length data operands.
A graphics system may, in one embodiment, comprise a rendering unit, a sample buffer, and a sample-to-pixel calculation unit. The rendering unit may comprise one or more processors (e.g. DSP chips), dedicated hardware, or any combination thereof. The rendering unit may be configured to receive graphics data including three vertices defining a triangle and determine boundary coordinates for a group (e.g. a bounding box) of bins which contains the triangle. Many of positional quantities used to determine sample ordinate values (e.g. color values) for the triangle may be expressed as relative coordinates with respect to an origin (e.g. a corner) of the containing group. Because the relative coordinates have a smaller range of attainable magnitudes, they may be stored with fewer bits than the original absolute coordinates. Rendering computations which use the relative coordinates may use smaller hardware elements than if the absolute coordinates were used.
Relative x and y coordinates may be computed for each of the triangle vertices. The rendering unit may generate relative coordinates for sample positions in the bins of the containing group, and may filter the sample positions to determine interior sample positions which reside inside the triangle. Furthermore, the rendering unit may interpolate sample ordinate values for the interior sample positions based on the relative x and y coordinates of the vertices and vertex ordinate values corresponding to the vertices. The sample ordinate values may be stored in the sample buffer.
The sample-to-pixel calculation unit may be configured to select and filter sample ordinate values from the sample buffer to determine output pixel values. The output pixel values may be transformed into an analog video signal for transmission to a display device.

Relative coordinates for triangle rendering


In a full-adder of complementary carry logic voltage compensation, two input terminals of a first multiplexer are connected to a carry input and a carry inverted phase input respectively; an add signal is connected to a select signal; an input terminal of a first inverter is connected to an output signal of the first multiplexer. Two input terminals of a second multiplexer output an addend and a summand; an output signal of the first inverter is selected; an output terminal of the second multiplexer produces a carry signal; an input terminal of the second inverter is connected to an output signal of the second multiplexer for producing a carry inverted phase signal; two input terminals of a third multiplexer input the summand and carry inverted phase signal; an output signal of the first inverter is a select signal; and an output terminal of the third multiplexer produces a sum signal.

In general, the design of a full-adder is usually simplified by a Karnaugh map, and the simplified result is applied directly to the design of full-adders. However, the voltage of output signals of a circuit will be lost, if the transistor count of such design drops to a minimum of 10 transistors (10T). Particularly, the loss occurred in an application of a serially connected multi-bit adders becomes very important, because the signals may have to be transmitted from the lowest bit to the highest bit in the worst scenario of a serial connection. Therefore, a lower signal driving capability will significantly affect the overall performance of the speed of the whole circuit and consume more power.
A loss of output potential generally occurs at a circuit structure for lowering its transistor count, and a pass transistor logic is used to implement the circuit structure, and thus there will be a loss of potential of an output voltage under certain specific conditions, and this problem is known as a "threshold loss" problem. In a negative-channel metal oxide semiconductor (NMOS), a high signal is transmitted when the NMOS transistor is turned on, and the voltage (Vdd−Vtn) of its output signal will be lost by one Vtn, wherein Vtn is a NMOS-threshold voltage (typically having a value of 0.6˜0.8V for the 0.35 um process, if the cost-effectiveness of the substrate is taken into account). In other words, the electric potential of the output is not equal to the operating voltage, but it has a voltage equal to one Vtn smaller than the operating voltage. The same problem occurs in a positive-channel metal oxide semiconductor (PMOS), and if the PMOS transmits a low electric potential, the voltage of the output signal will be one Vtp greater than the electric potential, wherein Vtp is the PMOS-threshold voltage (which typically has a value of −0.7˜−0.95V, if the cost-effectiveness of the substrate is taken into account for the 0.35 um process). In other words, the outputted electric potential is not equal to the operating voltage, but the voltage is one Vtp greater than the operating voltage. To solve this problem, an inverter is usually added to the circuit structure to provide a complementary control signal. In the meantime, a PMOS and an NMOS are used for transmitting signals and they are known as transmission gates as described in [A. Shams and M. Báyoumi, "A Novel High-Performance COMS 1-Bit Full-Adder Cell" IEEE Trans. Circuits and Systems-II, Vol. 47 No. 5, May 2000.] [N. Zhuang and H. Wu, "A New design of the CMOS full-adder," IEEE J. of Solid state circuits, Vol. 27, No. 5, pp. 840-844, May 1992.]. However, all of these also cause an overall increase of the transistor count and the silicon area and increase the power consumption.
If a circuit structure uses a MOS as a switch component and such switch is used for a serial connection, there will be a signal transmission delay, and the speed of the signal transmission and the number of levels (N) of the serial connection have a loss proportional to the number of levels in square (N2) provided that the serially connected switches have not used a buffer or an inverter for the division and compensation, and this phenomenon is called an "Elmore Delay". Although the aforementioned adder having a high transistor count can overcome the threshold loss problem of the threshold voltage, yet the Elmore delay problem still exists.
However, there are more than 40 present designs of ten-transistor (10T) full-adders as disclosed by [Hung Tien Bui, Yuke Wang and Yingtao Jiang; "Design and analysis of low-power 10-transistor full-adders using novel XOR-XNOR gates" IEEE Transactions on Systems II: Express Briefs, Volume: 49, Issue: 1, pp. 25-30. January 2002] and [R. Shalem, E. John, and L. K. John, "A novel low power energy recovery full-adder cell," in Proc. Great Lakes Symp. VLSI, pp. 380-383, 1999], and the potential of the output signal has a multi-threshold loss, in addition to the loss of two times of Vt (2Vtn+Vtp or 2Vtp+Vtn). The multi-threshold loss of the threshold voltage causes a more serious Elmore delay for driving a serial connection in a ten-transistor full-adder design, and its operating voltage cannot be lower than 2.8V (for a 0.35 um fabrication process), and thus greatly lowering the practicability of adders of this sort.
An adder composed of ten transistors (10T) definitely has advantages on its layout area, but finding a way of maintaining a high performance and a lower operating voltage in such design with a very low transistor count is facing a severe challenge. As to the static energy-recovery full-adder (SERF) having the best performance in a 10T design, the SERF circuit structure as shown in FIG. 1 is taken for example, and its formula based on the algorithm of the full-adder is Sum=(A⊙B).Cin+(A⊕B). Cin; Cout=(A⊕B).Cin+(A⊙B).A. If a primary XNOR logic block 1 inputs an addend A and a summand B and whose potentials are high (A=1, B=1), the two PMOS transistors at the top will be off, and the output Q1 of the primary XNOR logic block 1 can be obtained from the two NMOS transistors at a high potential from the bottom. Since there is a threshold loss of the voltage loss problem if the NMOS transistor transmits a high potential, therefore the maximum potential can reach up to Vdd−Vtn. This output controls a transistor gate of a logic circuit such as a secondary XNOR logic block 2 for finally producing a sum output Sum and a 2-to-1 multiplexer 3 for producing a carry output Cout. In addition, the voltage loss occurs at the secondary XNOR logic block 2 and the NMOS transistor in the 2-to-1 multiplexer 3, and the maximum potential of their carry output Cout can reach up to Vdd−2Vtn, and their minimum potential can rise up to |Vtp| due to the voltage loss of the PMOS transistor in the 2-to-1 multiplexer 3, so that the final output has a multi-threshold voltage loss problem.
The same situation may occur in other disclosed ten-transistor full-adders, and thus the operating voltage of the current 10T full-adders cannot be too low, and the operating voltage cannot be lower than 2Vtn+|Vtp| (or 2|Vtp|+Vtn), or else the full-adders cannot be used in a circuit operated at a low voltage. In addition, a general adder usually uses a plurality of bits connected in series for its application, and thus a transmission with a carry output should be taken into consideration. Under the situation of such circuit having a carry output potential with a poor driving capability, the performance of the serial connection will be not as good. In addition, such design also causes an Elmore delay in a serial connection and results in a low performance, so that the present 10T full-adders have difficulties in their applications. These two drawbacks severely affect the performance of a serial connection.
To solve the foregoing problems, some prior arts use more transistors. In other words, there will be no such problem if both PMOS and NMOS transmit signals at the same time, and this structure is called a transmission gate. For instance, if the aforementioned pass transistor logic uses one NMOS transistor, the structure of the transmission gate will require another inverter (2T) in addition to the use of MOS and PMOS, and thus the transmission gate actually has three more transistors than the pass transistor logic. In other words, the transmission gate cannot be used with the limitation often transistors (10T).
The aforementioned structure still has the Elmore delay problem when the MOS transistor is used for transmitting signals (simultaneously using one NMOS or PMOS or two MOS for the transmission), except that no loss of potential occurs in the transmission gate structure. In addition, the PMOS and the NMOS are connected in parallel while transmitting signals, and thus the resistance of an equivalent transmission is smaller, and the influence of the Elmore effect will become lesser.
In summation of the description above, the present 10T full-adder has two major problems: 1. A multi-threshold loss problem that maintains the operating voltage of a full-adder at a level which is not too low. 2. A serious Elmore delay that causes a low performance and makes the application of the present 10T full-adder very difficult.
Although the design of other full-adders having a higher transistor count can solve the foregoing problem, the design adopts 16˜28 transistors or even more and thus incurring an additional design cost as well as increasing the manufacturing cost for the additional transistors.

Full-adder of complementary carry logic voltage compensation

National Yunlin University of Science and Technology


A warp-knit cloth for a surface fastener, comprising: a foundation design knitted of pile knitting yarns and foundation yarns so as to form pile loops, which serve as engaging elements of the surface fastener, on wales; a marquisette design in which inlaid yarn extend in the wale direction and course direction so as to form squared meshes, which serve as vents, between said wales.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a warp-knit cloth to be used in a surface fastener, and more particularly to a warp-knit cloth for a surface fastener to be used in clothing, shoes and bags, which have air-permeability, and cleaning tools, such as mats and mops, which have air-permeability and water-permeability.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional surface fastener cloth having air-permeability is known from, for example, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Publication No. SHO 63-91009, in which a knit/woven cloth having pile loops on one surface is provided with circular through-holes in a checker-board pattern or a zigzag pattern and is treated at the back surface with coating treatment so that a female member of the surface fastener is formed.
However, with the conventional surface fastener, since in an attempt to keep adequate engaging force, the female member has through-holes spaced apart from one another by a distance larger than the hole diameter to have an increased area for engaging pile loops, high air-permeability cannot be achieved, and especially when used in a cleaning tool, dirt and dust tend to stick to the female member, thus deteriorating the water-permeability.


A unidirectional valve for use with a filtering face mask. The valve can include a flap, and a valve seat. The flap can be cantilevered and can flex away from a seal surface of the valve seat to an open position. The valve can further include a housing that at least partially covers the valve seat and the flap. In some embodiments, the height of the housing is no greater than about 1.25 cm, while the distance between the flap and the seal surface when the flap is in the open position is at least 0.35 cm. A projection can be coupled to an inner surface of the housing, and the height of the projection can generally decrease toward the front of the housing. In some embodiments, the projection can have a profile that substantially follows the profile of the flap when the flap is in the open position.

Persons who work in polluted environments commonly wear a filtering face mask to protect themselves from inhaling airborne contaminants. Filtering face masks typically have a fibrous or sorbent filter that is capable of removing particulate and/or gaseous contaminants from the air. When wearing a face mask in a contaminated environment, wearers are comforted with the knowledge that their health is being protected, but they are, however, contemporaneously discomforted by the warm, moist, exhaled air that accumulates around their face. The greater this facial discomfort is, the greater the chances are that wearers will remove the mask from their face to alleviate the unpleasant condition.
To reduce the likelihood that a wearer will remove the mask from their face in a contaminated environment, manufacturers of filtering face masks often install an exhalation valve on the mask body to allow the warm, moist, air to be rapidly purged from the mask interior. The rapid removal of the exhaled air makes the mask interior cooler, and, in turn, benefits worker safety because mask wearers are less likely to remove the mask from their face to eliminate the hot moist environment that is located around their nose and mouth.
For many years, commercial respiratory masks have used "button-style" exhalation valves to purge exhaled air from masks interiors. The button-style valves typically have employed a thin circular flexible flap as the dynamic mechanical element that lets exhaled air escape from the mask interior. The flap is centrally mounted to a valve seat through a central post. Examples of button-style valves are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,072,516, 2,230,770, 2,895,472, and 4,630,604. When a person exhales, a circumferential portion of the flap is lifted from the valve seat to allow air to escape from the mask interior.
Button-style valves have represented an advance in the attempt to improve wearer comfort, but investigators have made other improvements, an example of which is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,934,362 to Braun. The valve described in this patent uses a parabolic valve seat and an elongated flexible flap. Like the button-style valve, the Braun valve also has a centrally-mounted flap and has a flap edge portion that lifts from a seal surface during an exhalation to allow the exhaled air to escape from the mask interior.
After the Braun development, another innovation was made in the exhalation valve art by Japuntich et al.—see U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,325,892 and 5,509,436. The Japuntich et al. valve uses a single flexible flap that is mounted off-center in cantilevered fashion to minimize the exhalation pressure that is required to open the valve. When the valve-opening pressure is minimized, less power is required to operate the valve, which means that the wearer does not need to work as hard to expel exhaled air from the mask interior when breathing.
Other valves that have been introduced after the Japuntich et al. valve also have used a non-centrally mounted cantilevered flexible flap—see U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,687,767 and 6,047,698. Valves that have this kind of construction are sometimes referred to as "flapper-style" exhalation valves.
In some flapper-style valves, a projection or fin is positioned on an inner surface of the valve housing to reduce sticking of the flexible flap to an inner surface of the housing during use, for example, as a result of breath condensation.

Unidirectional valves and filtering face masks comprising unidirectional valves


Methods and systems for improved optical efficiency and brightness of display systems are provided herein. Embodiments use laser light sources in substantially continuous mode, thereby increasing the maximum overall output of an optical system. Embodiments exploit the small étendue of laser sources to lower the loss of throughput of an optical system. Embodiments enable a scrolling color scheme that allows a display system to be illuminated with two or more colors at any given time, thereby increasing the brightness of the display system. Embodiments can be used with liquid crystal displays and/or digital mirror displays. Embodiments can be used in single-panel and/or two-panel display systems.

The brightness of a projection display system is related to the minimum of the system étendue and the étendue of the light source used in the system. Therefore, when a mismatch between the system étendue and the source étendue occurs, the optical efficiency of the system is suboptimal.
Generally, the cost and size of optical components impose limitations on the increase of the system étendue of a particular projection display system. On the other hand, the source étendue is related to the surface area and emission pattern of the light source.
However, once the source étendue exceeds the system étendue, negligible benefits in terms of brightness can be achieved by increasing the surface area of the light source. To further increase the brightness of the system, the optical flux of the light source would need to be increased (for example, increasing the temperature of an incandescent light bulb), which results in a more expensive display system.
Therefore, methods and systems that enable improved brightness in projection display systems without suffering from the above described limitations are needed.

Laser scrolling color scheme for projection display


A unified document retention management system exposes a retention policy management portal to enable a user to selectively prescribe a unified retention policy to multiple productivity platforms to deploy the unified retention policy across the user selected productivity platforms. Data retention rules of the unified retention policy may define actions to be performed with respect to files that satisfy certain predefined conditions. An exemplary data retention rule prescribes a retention age threshold to files that have been tagged with a particular label. Files may be manually labeled by users and/or may be automatically labeled by the system in accordance with one or more smart label rules. The retention age threshold may be enforced for such tagged files by preventing the files from being deleted and/or modified prior to them reaching the retention age threshold. Then the files may automatically be purged from system storage upon reaching the retention age threshold.

Organizations develop data retention policies to establish procedures for retaining information for operational or regulatory compliance purposes. For instance, an organization may develop a data retention policy to abide by government regulations that require certain financial documents to be retained for at least a predefined minimum retention period. Some conventional productivity platforms include basic data retention policy capabilities. Unfortunately, conventional productivity platforms require users to specifically develop and manage data retention rules that are unique to each individual productivity platform. For instance, although a conventional email platform may enable an administrator to develop a data retention rule with respect to a user's inbox, such a data retention rule will have to be developed within and be unique to this conventional email platform. Therefore, a data retention rule that is developed within the conventional email platform cannot be deployed against other conventional productivity platforms, such as instant message systems, video recording systems, files systems, etc. For businesses utilizing numerous different conventional productivity platforms, successfully implementing a data retention policy across the entire organization may require policy administrators to develop and manage redundant data retention rules. Furthermore, the data retention policy capabilities of these conventional productivity platforms deploy data retention rules in only a rudimentary manner. For instance, a conventional email platform may be configured to deploy a data retention rule for a particular folder, but may be unable to recognize varying characteristics of messages within that particular folder to selectively deploy the data retention rule against some, but not all, of the messages of the particular folder.
It is with respect to these considerations and others that the disclosure made herein is presented.

Unified document retention management system


A cab mounting apparatus for a vehicle includes a front mount connecting between a front side of a cab and a chassis. A rear mount connects between a rear side of the cab and the chassis. The front mount includes a stabilizer link disposed on a front side of the vehicle, a pair of front brackets individually fixed to the front side of the cab, and a pair of connecting arms individually connecting between respective ends of the stabilizer link and the respective front brackets. Each connecting arm is pivotally connected to each front bracket by a hinge member and a bush. The bush has a pair of stopper members disposed on both ends thereof. The bush and the pair of stopper members are integrated into a single unitary body.

In general, an engine compartment is mounted in front of a commercial vehicle such as a truck, and a cab in which a driver is seated is mounted over the engine compartment. In order to check various devices/components (engine, other devices, and the like) mounted in the engine compartment, it is required to inspect various devices/components after tilting the cab using a tilting cylinder. When the inspection is completed, the cab is returned to its original portion, and then the cab is locked to a chassis using a locking device for safety.
The cab for a commercial vehicle may be mounted to be supported and tilted on the chassis by a cab mounting apparatus.
The cab mounting apparatus for a commercial vehicle may be configured to connect the cab to the chassis, and to absorb vibrations transmitted from the chassis to the cab while the vehicle is driving, thereby improving ride comfort.
The cab mounting apparatus for a commercial vehicle includes a front mount that connects between the front of the cab and the chassis, and a rear mount that connects between the rear of the cab and the chassis.
The front mount includes a stabilizer disposed on the front side of the vehicle, a pair of front brackets fixed to the bottom of the front side of the cab, and a pair of connecting arms connected between the stabilizer and the respective front brackets.
Each connecting arm may be pivotally connected to the front bracket through a hinge bolt and a bush disposed around the hinge bolt. The bush may be made of a mixture of natural rubber, aluminum, steel, and the like. The bush may absorb relative displacement between the front bracket and the connecting arm, thereby preventing longitudinal movement of the cab, and absorbing vibrations transmitted from the chassis.
A pair of stoppers may be symmetrically attached to both left and right surfaces of the bush, and each stopper may be made of a shock-absorbing material such as polyurethane. Thus, the pair of stoppers may reinforce longitudinal stiffness of the bush, and prevent contact or interference between the connecting arm and the front bracket.
Rubber grease such as NIGLUBE® from NIPPON GREASE CO., Ltd. may be applied between the stopper and the front bracket, thereby preventing frictional contact and noise between the stopper and the front bracket.
As such, the structure of the conventional front mount allowing the pivotal connection of the connecting arm and the front bracket further includes the pair of stoppers and the rubber grease in addition to the hinge pin and the bush, and thus the assembly thereof may be troublesome and the manufacturing costs may be increased.
In the conventional front mount, the bush may fail to sufficiently absorb the relative displacement between the front bracket and the connecting arm, and thus it has disadvantages of failing to prevent the longitudinal movement and vibration of the cab properly, and of low durability.
The rear mount includes a rear bridge disposed across two side members, a pair of dampers disposed between respective ends of the rear bridge and the bottom of the rear side of the cab, and a pair of shock absorbers connected between the respective dampers and the rear bridge.
The pair of shock absorbers may be disposed on both left and right sides of the cab in a lateral direction of the cab, and thus be configured to prevent lateral movement and lateral vibration at the rear side of the cab.
However, the conventional rear mount uses a relatively expensive shock absorber, and thus has a disadvantage of high manufacturing cost. In addition, the conventional rear mount is not sufficient to prevent the lateral movement and lateral vibration effectively.

Cab mounting apparatus for commercial vehicle


A method and device are provided for synchronizing the presentation of audio frames and/or of video frames comprises the detection of presentation time stamps in a stream of frames. The presentation instant indicated by a time stamp is compared with a time delivered by a local reference clock. Depending on a variance and on an average of values of deviation between presentation instants and corresponding times indicated by the clock, the clock can be initialized according to the presentation instant indicated by a time stamp or the presentation of the frames can be adjusted.

The present invention relates to a process and a device for synchronizing the presentation of video frames and/or audio frames generated from a data stream comprising time stamps indicating instants of presentation of the frames. It applies more particularly to a compressed data stream read from a mass recording digital medium. The compressed data stream may be a data stream compressed according to the MPEG-2 standard (ISO/IEC 13812-2), hereinafter the MPEG standard.
The frames are produced by an MPEG decoder from an MPEG data stream broadcast live by a transmission source (broadcasting by satellite, broadcasting by cable or digital terrestrial broadcasting or DVB ("Digital Video Broadcasting")). They belong to an audiovisual program or to several audiovisual programs multiplexed in the data stream.
The frames are synchronized just before their presentation, with respect to a clock generated from the time references forwarded by the transmission source in the data stream. These time references are called "Program Clock References" or PCRS, in the MPEG standard. They are inserted into the MPEG data stream in synchronism with a clock which regulates the MPEG coding of the frames. They make it possible, with the aid of a PLL ("Phase Locked Loop") circuit or the like, to generate on the decoding side a reference clock tied to the program. This clock is called a program clock in what follows.
The data stream also comprises presentation time stamps indicating respective instants of presentation of the frames. These time stamps make it possible to synchronize the presentation of the frames with respect to the program clock. They are called "Presentation Time Stamps", or PTSs, in the MPEG standard. The decoding and the displaying of the frames are then performed by complying with the real-time constraints in such a way that the frames are presented at instants defined by the PTSs in relation to the program clock. Although the video decoding and the audio decoding are separate procedures, each video frame and each audio frame is synchronized with the program clock so that they are presented at one and the same determined instant. Stated otherwise, the video frames and the audio frames are each synchronized with the program clock and are also synchronized with one another.
When the data stream from which the frames are produced is not received in real time, but is read from a mass recording digital medium such as a hard disk or a DVD ("Digital Video Disk"), the concept of real time is lost. Specifically, even if the data stream stored on the medium in the form of an elementary stream (or ES) or a packetized elementary stream (or PES) still comprises the PCRs and the PTSs, the decoding procedure is carried out in a very different manner. Specifically, there is provision for much more considerable buffering than in the case of real-time decoding. Likewise, there is a large difference with regard to the supplying of the data. Specifically, the rate of supply of the data may be much higher and may be in burst mode. This results from the specific way in which the accesses to the hard disk are made with respect to the reading of portions of the data stream.
Moreover, the synchronization must be preserved during reading according to advanced modes of reading ("trick modes") such as fast forward and rewind, and when random accesses to the hard disk are required. Also, the synchronization must be preserved when passing from the presentation of a program received in real time to that of a program read on hard disk, or vice versa, or from the presentation of a first program to a second program read on a hard disk, or else during the insertion of an advertising or other sequence into the presentation of a program ("seamless splicing").

Process and device for synchronizing presentation of audio and/or video frames


Apparatus, and an associated method, is provided to facilitate communications pursuant to an interactive packet radio communication service, such as an interactive gaming service. When data is to be communicated by a gaming device, or other mobile node, request for channel allocation is made. And, packet data generated at the gaming device is buffered at a buffer and selectably manipulated when buffered thereat pending grant of a channel allocation. Because the data is permitted to be manipulated pending grant of the channel allocation, data packets that become obsolete during the pendency are overwritten, or otherwise caused not to be sent, thereby more efficiently utilizing the channel allocation allocated to effectuate the communication service.

A communication system includes, at a minimum, a set of communication stations including at least one sending station and at least one receiving station. The communication stations of the set of communication stations that are parties to a communication session during which a communication service is effectuated are interconnected by a communication channel. A sending station sends data upon the communication channel for delivery to a receiving station. And, a receiving station detects delivery of the data, once communicated upon the communication channel, and recovers the informational content thereof.
A wide variety of different types of communication systems have been developed and deployed. Many are regularly utilized to effectuate communication of data between sending and receiving stations. And, with continued advancements in communication technologies, additional, and improved communication services shall likely become available as such advancements are implemented in communication systems. A radio communication system is exemplary of a type of communication system that is used by which to communicate data and that has incorporated advancements in communication technologies. In a radio communication system, the communication channel that interconnects the sending and receiving stations is formed of a radio channel defined upon a radio link, a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. A wireline connection extending between the communication stations of a radio communication system is obviated. And, the communication stations of the radio communication system need not be positioned at locations at which wireline connections are available. Communications by way of radio communication systems are thereby possible even from, and between, locations at which wireline connections are not possible or practical.
Amongst the advancements in communication technologies that have been implemented in radio, as well as other, communication systems are advancements in communication techniques. Digital communication techniques permit communications between communication stations to be effectuated more efficiently and increase the possibility of successful communication of data in adverse communication conditions.
In some communication systems, digital data is formatted into packet datas and, once packetized, the packets of data are communicated to effectuate the data communications. The packet data rates, i.e., the rates at which data packets are communicated, are high enough to permit interactive communication services to be effectuated between communication stations that are parties to a communication session.
An interactive gaming service, for instance, is a type of interactive communication service that is sometimes implemented by way of a packet communication system. Participants in the interactive game that is played pursuant to the interactive gaming service participate in the game through use of appropriate communication stations that permit the effectuation of the gaming service. Packet communication systems that provide for the effectuation of gaming services include both conventional wireline communication systems as well as radio communication systems.
A cellular communication system, an exemplary type of radio communication system, generally provides for packet-based communications. New-generation, cellular communication systems, for instance, second-generation, third-generation, and successor-generation cellular communication systems, provide for packet-based communications. Increasingly data-intensive, packet communication services are available in successive generations of the cellular communication systems. And, increasingly data-intensive gaming services are implementable by way of such cellular communication systems.
A participant in a gaming service effectuable by way of a cellular communication system utilizes, for instance, a mobile station that communicates packet data by way of a radio air interface defined in the cellular communication system and by way of packet connections formed in the network part of the communication system. The data is communicated between the mobile station operated by the game participant and a game server, a communications device positioned at the network part of the communication system. The gaming service is effectuated by way of interactive communications between the mobile station and the game server.
The radio air interface defined in a cellular communication system exhibits characteristics that potentially interfere with the game participant's enjoyment of the gaming service. In particular, the radio air interface is bandwidth-constrained, and packet data is communicated subsequent to allocation of channel bandwidth to permit the data to be communicated. And, the channels that are allocated are generally not dedicated channels, dedicated to the mobile station for the duration of the gaming, or other packet, communication service. Instead, channel allocations are made to the mobile station responsive to request for the allocation and the channel allocations are allocated merely to permit the communication of a packet or group of packets.
Time latency results. That is to say, the mobile station used by the game participant, prior to communication of a data packet, must request the allocation of channel capacity to communicate the data packet. And, when subsequent data packets are to be communicated, the request and allocation procedures must be repeated. The time latency results as the mobile station must request the channel allocation when there is a data packet to communicate and await allocation of the channel prior to communicating the data packet. This latency time results in a time delay that, in some systems, might well exceed a 300-500 ms time delay, depending upon the state of the mobile station. During this period, the data packet or packets that are to be communicated might become obsolete or otherwise no longer need to be transmitted pursuant to effectuation of the gaming service. Additionally, the game server, at which game client software is resident, is not informed of the availability of the channel, when allocated.
As existing schemes by which to effectuate gaming services by way of a packet radio communication system might result in the communication of obsolete, or otherwise unnecessary, data packets, the limited channel availability of the radio air interface is inefficiently utilized.
If a manner could be provided by which better to reserve channel allocations and identify obsolete data packets prior to their communication, improved communications would be permitted.
It is in light of this background information related to communications in a packet radio communication system that the significant improvements of the present invention have evolved.

Apparatus, and associated method, for asynchronously pre-reserving channel to effectuate an interactive packet communication service in a radio communication system


A gear drive system is provided having a first gear and a second gear. The second gear has a first peripheral portion and a second peripheral portion. A first set of gear teeth can be defined peripherally over the first peripheral portion and/or the second peripheral portion. The first peripheral portion and/or the second peripheral portion can be more resilient, resulting in a first backlash between the first set of gear teeth and the teeth of the first gear, less than a second backlash between the second set of gear teeth and the teeth of the first gear. Each gear tooth of the second gear can have a gear tooth spacing between adjacent gear teeth. The gear tooth spacing over the first peripheral portion and/or the second peripheral portion can be less than the gear tooth spacing at portions other than the first peripheral portion and/or the second peripheral portion.

Reciprocating pumps such as diaphragm pumps are typically driven by a motor and coupled thereto by a gear drive. In such systems, a motor can be connected to a gear drive. The gear drive can have a pinion and a ring gear. An eccentric may be coupled to the ring gear and to a plunger. An opposite end of the plunger may drive a diaphragm or a membrane. The load and/or torque on the ring gear can vary during operation of the pump. For instance, at certain positions, the torque and/or force acting on the wheel changes directions.
Conventional gear drive systems have backlash between gears to reduce overheating or damage to the gears. Backlash may be provided in the form of clearance (e.g., a gap) between at least portions of adjacent surfaces of intermeshing gears. However, backlash can cause noise when there are alternating loads and/or torques.

Eccentric gear drive with reduced backlash


Systems and methods are disclosed relating to a vehicle driven by an air driven generator that employs multiphase materials and compressed air.

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to air-driven vehicles and more particularly pertains to a multiphase material generator system for generating electricity to propel a vehicle.
Currently, in the field of vehicles, it has been the general practice to employ a fuel source to propel the vehicle. Such devices have generally proven to be unsatisfactory in operation due to the gross inefficiency associated therewith. Specifically, the tremendous weight involved in the construction of these vehicles, as well as the large amount of fuel required to propel these vehicles even for a short distance, has made the construction of the same an impractical matter. Many of the problems associated with vehicles have revolved around the fact that fuel is a scarce resource and combustion thereof creates environmentally harmful fumes.
Thus, there is a need to develop systems and methods to propel vehicles efficiently, effectively and in an environmentally-safe manner.


A contactless financial transaction card includes a plastic inlay having first and second substantially planar surfaces bounded by a continuous peripheral edge. An integrated circuit carried by the inlay stores card-specific data. An antenna carried by the inlay is operatively connected to the integrated circuit. The foil layer provides the financial transaction card with a decorative metallic reflective appearance and is constructed to permit the antenna to inductively couple with the card reader within the maximum coupling distance. Printed graphics or text may be disposed on or above the metallic foil layer. The card is constructed to inductively couple with a card reader that is spaced from the card in order to support limited-range wireless communication between the card and the card reader up to a maximum coupling distance, beyond which it will not couple.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to contactless financial transaction cards embodying RF proximity components that facilitate wireless data communication with reading devices. More particularly, the invention concerns RF proximity financial transaction cards having one or more metallic foil layers designed to provide a decorative reflective surface.
2. Description of the Prior Art
By way of background, one type of contactless financial transaction card, commonly known as an RF proximity card, contains RF proximity components that allow such cards to be polled by wireless reader devices when the cards are brought into proximity therewith. However, RF proximity cards are generally functionally incompatible with the metallic foil layers that are sometimes used in financial transaction cards to provide decorative reflective surfaces. The foil layers tend to attenuate the RF signals exchanged between card and reader to the point where wireless communication is not possible at any distance from the reader. The present invention provides metallized foil financial transaction cards that can be used for RF proximity applications.

RF proximity financial transaction card having metallic foil layer(s)


An inflator (3) includes an inflator main body (10) which is has a tubular shape and has a plurality of gas injection holes (11) on a circumferential surface, and a steel-made collar member (20) which has a gas jet reception part (28) that is disposed so as to face a gas injection holes formation area (R) of the inflator main body (10) across a space.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inflator and an air bag device.
Priority is claimed on Japanese Patent Application No. 2015-156280, filed Aug. 6, 2015, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Description of Related Art
An air bag device is provided with a bag body to be a cushion and an inflator to supply a gas to inflate the bag body. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses an air bag device provided with an inflator main body which is tubal and has a plurality of gas injection holes on the circumferential surface. Such an air bag disclosed in Patent Document 1 adopts a structure to install a hook at a deflector which rectifies injected gas from the inflator, in order to prevent misalignment of the position with the bag body in the vicinity of the installation place of the inflator main body.
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Patent Application, Publication No. 2015-37919


A method of controlling the sideways motion of a trailer forming part of a combination vehicle, such as a road train, for road transport of heavy goods. The vehicle has a trailer including a semi-trailer body and a dolly mounted beneath the front of the semi-trailer body. The method includes steering at least some of the wheels on said axle sets relative to the dolly frame such that at high speeds, as the vehicle turns towards one side, steering the dolly wheels to induce the dolly to move towards that side and, at low speeds, as said vehicle turns towards that side, steering the dolly wheels to induce the dolly to move towards the opposite side.

A major problem exists in the use of single and multiple trailers being towed one behind the other in truck-trailer or road train configurations. These vehicles are commonly referred to as combination vehicles, typically comprising either a rigid truck or prime mover and one or more semi-trailers and converter dollies.
In this specification the following explanations apply to certain terms:                a) A "semi-trailer" is a towed vehicle unit of a heavy goods combination vehicle whose means of attachment to the preceding vehicle unit (a prime mover, another semi-trailer, or a converter dolly) results in some of its vertical load being imposed on said preceding unit through a tow coupling and whose rear is supported by a single axle or multiple axle bogie (tandem, tri, quad, etc.) located towards the rear.        b) A "converter dolly" (also called a "dolly") is a towed vehicle unit of a heavy goods combination vehicle whose tow coupling to the preceding vehicle unit (a rigid truck, a prime mover or another semi-trailer) results in little or none of its vertical load being imposed on said preceding vehicle unit through the tow coupling and whose rear is supported by a single axle or multiple axle bogie (tandem, tri, quad, etc.) located at or near to the centre of the main load carrying area. The main load bearing or carrying area of a converter dolly usually incorporates a tow coupling device so that the dolly may be mounted beneath the front of a semi-trailer body, thereby converting the semi-trailer into a trailer with two axle groups of which the front axle group is steered by connection to the preceding vehicle unit. Internationally, a converter dolly is also known as a pivoting bogie, a dolly truck or a special truck. A converter dolly may also be adapted to carry goods.        c) A "trailer" in a heavy goods combination vehicle is a towed vehicle unit that can be either a semi-trailer, or a combination of a converter dolly plus a semi-trailer, or a converter dolly adapted to carry goods.        d) A "motor vehicle" in a heavy goods combination vehicle is a vehicle unit which is motorised for propulsion and is built to tow one or more trailers. One of the trailers may be a powered trailer. A motor vehicle can be a prime mover or a rigid truck.        e) A "powered trailer" in a heavy goods combination vehicle is a trailer with a largely self-contained means of generating propulsion through one or more of its wheels. In a combination vehicle one or more of the trailers may be a powered trailer.        f) A "prime mover" is a vehicle unit of a heavy goods combination vehicle built to tow a semi-trailer or a converter dolly. A prime mover may also carry a load.        g) A "rigid truck" is a non-articulated motor vehicle built to carry a load and, in a heavy goods combination vehicle, tow a trailer.        h) A "vehicle unit" is either a trailer, a semi-trailer, a converter dolly, a motor vehicle, or a powered trailer. Thus a combination vehicle has a plurality of such vehicle units connected by an articulated coupling between each adjacent vehicle unit.        i) A "heavy goods combination vehicle" is a heavy goods or road transport vehicle with at least one articulation point.
A dynamic characteristic unique to combination vehicles is a tendency in a steering manoeuvre for each trailer in the combination to experience a higher level of lateral acceleration than the unit preceding it. This is referred to as rearward amplification and is a serious safety issue particularly in rapid path-change manoeuvres or abrupt steering events as it can lead to rear-trailer rollover. Rearward amplification improves with fewer articulation points and is strongly influenced by a range of mechanical properties, including trailer and dolly wheelbase dimensions, the type of tow coupling between vehicle units and the location of tow coupling points, tyre cornering stiffness, suspension mechanical properties, centre-of-gravity height and all-up weight.
Current designs and attempts to increase loads in trailers have led to rollover incidents in which a second or subsequent trailer overreacts to a steering deviation by the driver through the rearward amplification mechanism and rolls over. Particularly prone to this is the rearmost trailer, and to a lesser extent the rear trailer set if two or more semi-trailers are connected together in roll through a turntable (in which case the relevant vehicle units are said to be roll coupled).
An aim of the present invention is to provide a means of steering the wheels on the dollies of such trailers, not being the first vehicle unit in the combination vehicle, which reduces the likelihood and danger of such rollovers and allows safe transport of current and greater loads in trailers.

Operation of self-steering axles on semi-trailers


The ramp consists of a wire rail formed as a helix. The rail extends between a first elevation where the ball enters the ramp to a second, lower elevation where the ball exits the ramp. A straight rail extends through the center of the helical rail for the length thereof. The helical rail is dimensioned such that the distance between it and straight rail is less than the diameter of the ball. As a result, the ball will contact both the straight rail and helical rail simultaneously as it rolls down the helical rail by the force of gravity.

The invention relates, generally, to pinball games and, more particularly, to a play feature for such games.
The typical pinball game consists of an inclined playfield supporting a plurality of play features such as targets, bumpers, ramps and the like, a rolling ball and player controlled flippers. The player operates the flippers to direct the ball at selected play features thereby to score points and control play of the game.
As will be apparent, the success of a manufacturer's line of pinball games depends, in part, on its ability to create new and exciting play features and game schemes that will attract players to its games. Thus, it is necessary for game designers to continuously develop new features for use in their games.
Many existing games have multiple levels which support the rolling ball that are defined by elevated ramps, play features, playfield sections or the like. Thus, mechanisms for transferring the ball between the different levels are required. While numerous ramps and ball raising and lowering devices have been developed, a new apparatus for moving a ball quickly from a first elevation to a second elevation is desired.

Helical monorail ramp for a pinball game


Online manual display mechanisms that display a portion of a manual during execution of an application program are available conventionally. However, those manuals are not easy to use because manual display cannot be performed so as to follow execution of an application program or a proper portion cannot be opened. The invention provides a unified means for realizing a function displaying a manual portion corresponding to a manipulation for each program by providing, as a manual management mechanism, a graphical user interface to be used for registering manipulation units and a manual as well as APIs that can be referred to by an application program during its execution. The invention also provides a means for downloading a manual from its storage site over the Internet.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for displaying an online manual of a program for supporting routinized maintenance manipulations and control manipulations in a storage system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
With conventional online manuals, a portion of the manual is displayed when the corresponding application program is executed, and such functions as indices, movement to the next page, and page return are provided. Those manuals do not relate to the execution itself of the application program. Even when an on-line manual is referred to at any procedure, the initial menu picture of the manual is always displayed first. The manual is manipulated in such a manner that a jump is made from the initial menu picture to a portion to be referred to.
In Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei. 8-212161 entitled xe2x80x9cBusiness Manual Making Support Systemxe2x80x9d as an example of such manuals, a means for storing explanatory sentences of business specification information and a business manual in a system. A means is proposed that displays particular manual information from a particular picture by adding, to each of the explanatory sentences of the business specification information, information indicating a menu item on the screen in response to selection of which each of the explanatory sentences should be displayed.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei. 5-298045 entitled xe2x80x9cHyper Media Help Systemxe2x80x9d proposes, for hyper media that are linked to each other via hyper links, a system in which an inference means outputs a help message suitable for a manipulation state using a knowledge base when an instruction to display a help message is made.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei. 10-21037 entitled xe2x80x9cAuto-help Systemxe2x80x9d proposes a system that determines a proper help item based on an input command and history information and extracts and displays help information by searching an online manual.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei. 7-249033 entitled xe2x80x9cManipulation Help Execution Apparatusxe2x80x9d proposes a method that judges a manipulation state in response to an input manipulation, issues a command based on the manipulation state, and performs an adaptive help function.
In the above conventional online manuals, when an operator who is not familiar with manipulations or when an operator uses a function first, it is difficult to find a proper statement in referring to a manual description relating to a manipulation unless he knows the configuration and the contents of the manual.
Specifically, in the method of the publication No. Hei. 8-212161, it is necessary to a dictionary that is dedicated to the system based on an existing manual for each application system and store the generated dictionary.
In the method of the publication No. Hei. 5-298045, since a state is judged by the inference means and then a message is selected, the operation is indecisive. Therefore, this method is not suitable for a program for maintaining and controlling a storage system that supports routine work that is performed based on a manual or a manipulation procedure document that has been read many times.
In the method of the publication No. Hei. 10-21037, a displayed content of an online manual for the same manipulation may vary depending on the manner of selection from extracted help items. Therefore, this method is not suitable for a program for maintaining and controlling a storage system that supports routine work that is performed based on a manual or a manipulation procedure document that has been read many times.
In the method of the publication No. Hei. 7-249033, the apparatus operates in response to a manual input of an operator. Therefore, when a manipulation unit transition occurs with no input manipulation, that is, when a computer receives a state notice (e.g., occurrence of an abnormality in a storage system) from a storage system, this method cannot cope with, for example, a case of displaying a description relating to the abnormality in a manual or a manipulation procedure document. Further, being of such a type that a manipulation help execution apparatus is incorporated in a system, this method is not suitable for a case where a common method deals with a plurality of applications.
To solve the above problems, according to the present invention, a process of issuing a state transition message in response to a transfer from one procedure to another to monitor a state transition between manipulation procedures and device state notices is buried in a program that defines a process of an application, whereby a transition state between manipulation procedures is managed at each time point as the application is executed. A mechanism of determining a related page of a manipulation procedure document based on a transition state between manipulation procedures at a time point of online manual display and instructing a viewer tool (for displaying a manipulation procedure document) to display the determined page is also incorporated in the program. Further, at a time point of online manual display, information indicating a corresponding relationship between the version of the manual to be displayed and the version of the program is referred to. If they do not conform to each other, a proper version of the manual concerned is downloaded from a storage site of the manual over the Internet. This enables display of a manual that is not installed in the computer originally.