An air duct is provided for ventilating an electronic device having a processor. The air duct comprises one or more walls that have an irregular surface and that further have a layer of conductive material applied to the irregular surface. Further embodiments of the invention include electronic device enclosures and electronic devices having an air duct featuring an irregular interior surface and having conductive material applied to the irregular surface.

The invention relates generally to electromagnetic compatibility, and more specifically to an air duct designed to reduce electromagnetic radiation.
Modern electronic devices that rely upon computerized circuits or digital logic typically conduct voltage signals within the circuits that change at very fast rates. Because digital logic is usually implemented in terms of ones and zeros, with ones being represented by some positive voltage such as 5 v or 3.3 v, and zeros being represented by zero voltage, such circuits must quickly change state from a positive voltage to zero voltage millions or billions of times per second to provide the capability to quickly calculate or process information.
These rapid changes in voltage state within such circuits can be viewed over time as approximating what is known as a square wave, wherein the voltage changes between states almost instantaneously. In practice, all circuits have limited bandwidth, and so a perfect square wave is not achieved. But, the approximate square wave that appears in most digital logic circuits changes state more quickly with faster circuits and switching times, and contains higher frequency components as it changes state more quickly.
These high frequency components can be easily radiated from a computerized device as electromagnetic fields from the electronic circuit, especially when the wavelength of the high frequency components is short enough to become a significant fraction of the conductive traces or wires that connect the circuit components to each other, which then become effective antennas. Digital signals are rich in spectral content, often containing significant energy over a wide bandwidth of the radio spectrum. These signals must be shielded to reduce emissions to certain levels before a digital electronic product can be sold according to requirements imposed by most countries, and so must be understood and controlled in the design process.
Unfortunately, modern computational devices also typically produce significant amounts of heat, and must be cooled. This is typically achieved by forced air ventilation, which requires that a physical hole exist between the digital circuitry and the outside air. Such a hole can allow electromagnetic radiation to escape in addition to the intended consequence of venting heat, and can become a serious design problem when electromagnetic emissions must be controlled.
What is desired is a system and method for reducing the electromagnetic emissions radiated from a digital electronic device through air ducts or passages.
The present invention provides an air duct for ventilating an electronic device having a processor. The air duct comprises one or more walls that have an irregular surface and that further have a layer of conductive material applied to the irregular surface. Further embodiments of the invention include electronic device enclosures and electronic devices having an air duct featuring an irregular interior surface and having conductive material applied to the irregular surface.

Electromagnetic interference reduction air duct


A substrate has a pair of metal bases, and a first heat insulation layer disposed between the metal bases. A second heat insulation layer is securely mounted on the metal bases, and a pair of circuit patterns are securely mounted on the second heat insulation layer for mounting an LED.

The present invention relates to a substrate for a light emitting diode (LED) used in an electronic instrument such as a portable telephone.
In recent years, it is required that the substrate for the LED has a high heat radiation property, heat-resistant property and high mechanical strength in accordance with the tendencies of a high performance, multifunction, small size of the electronic instrument.
FIG. 15 is a perspective view showing a conventional substrate for an LED. The substrate comprises a metal base 51 made of copper or aluminum, an insulation layer 52 of prepreg adhered on the metal base 51, circuit patterns 53 and 54 made of copper foil on which gold is plated. An LED 70 is mounted on the circuit pattern 53 and connected to the circuit pattern 54 by a wire 71.
The metal base 51 has a high heat radiation property.
FIG. 16 is a perspective view of another conventional double face substrate. The substrate comprises a pair of metal bases 61 made of copper, an insulation member 63 between the metal bases 61, insulation layers 62 of prepreg adhered to both sides of the metal bases 61, circuit patterns 64a and 64b made of copper foil on which gold is plated. An LED 72 is mounted on the circuit pattern 64a and connected to the circuit pattern 64b by a wire.
In the substrate of FIG. 15, circuit patterns can not be provided on the underside of the metal base 51. In the substrate of FIG. 16, since the insulation layer 62 is provided on the underside of the metal bases 61, the heat radiation property is insufficient.
An object of the present invention is to provide a substrate having a high heat radiation property.
According to the present invention, there is provided a substrate comprising a pair of metal bases, a first heat insulation layer disposed between the metal bases, a second heat insulation layer securely mounted on the metal bases, and mounting means for mounting an LED on the substrate.
The mounting means comprises a pair of circuit patterns securely mounted on the second heat insulation layer, the LED is securely mounted on both the circuit patterns.
In another aspect, the mounting means comprises a hole formed in the second heat insulation layer to expose surfaces of metal bases, the LED is securely mounted on both the metal bases.
The substrate further comprises upper and lower electrodes provided on an upper surface of the circuit patterns and on undersides of the metal bases.
One of the metal bases is different from the other metal base in size of a sectional shape.
These and other objects and features of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings.


A trellis encoder for trellis encoding a dual transmission stream. A first multiplexer selectively outputs one of a predetermined first bit of the dual transmission stream and a value stored in a first memory according to an external control signal. A first adder adds the value output from the first multiplexer to the value stored in the first memory, outputs the added value, and stores the added value in the first memory. A second multiplexer selectively outputs one of a predetermined second bit of the dual transmission stream and a value stored in a second memory according to the external control signal. A second adder adds the value output from the second multiplexer to the value stored in the second memory and stores the added value in a third memory. Thus, an initialization is effectively performed before trellis encoding is performed.

1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention relate to a trellis encoder for trellis encoding a transmission stream used for digital broadcasting, and more particularly, to an apparatus for trellis encoding and a method adopted in a transmission system, which generates and transmits a transmission stream into which a supplementary reference signal (SRS) is inserted to improve reception of an Advanced Television Systems Committee Vestigial Sideband (ATSC VSB) way as a United States terrestrial digital television (DTV) system, to trellis encode the transmission stream.
2. Description of the Related Art
An Advanced Television Systems Committee Vestigial Sideband (ATSC VSB) way, which is a United States terrestrial digital television (DTV) system, is a single carrier way and uses a field sync having 312 segments. Thus, reception is poor in a poor channel, particularly, a Doppler fading channel.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of digital a broadcasting transmitting and receiving system according to standards of an Advanced Television Systems Committee Digital Television (ATSC DTV) as a general United States terrestrial digital broadcasting system. The digital broadcasting transmitter of the digital broadcasting transmitting and receiving system shown in FIG. 1 is an enhanced Vestigial Sideband (EVSB) system suggested by Philips and forms and transmits a dual stream including normal data of a standard ATSC VSB system to which robust data is added.
Referring to FIG. 1, the digital broadcasting transmitter includes a randomizer 11, a Reed-Solomon (RS) encoder 12, an interleaver 13, and a ⅔ rate trellis encoder 14 to perform error correction coding (ECC) on the dual stream. The randomizer 11 randomizes the dual stream. The RS encoder 12 is a concatenated coder adding parity bytes to a transmission stream to correct an error occurring in a transmission process due to channel characteristics. The interleaver 13 interleaves RS encoded data according to a predetermined pattern. The ⅔ rate trellis encoder 14 trellis encodes the interleaved data in a rate of ⅔ to map the interleaved data as 8-level symbols.
The digital broadcasting transmitter further includes a multiplexer 15 and a modulator 16. The multiplexer 15 inserts field syncs and segment syncs into data on which ECC has been performed as in a data format shown in FIG. 2. The modulator 16 adds a predetermined direct current (DC) value to data symbols into which segment sync signals and field sync signals have been inserted, to insert pilot tones and shape pulses to perform a VSB modulation on the data symbols and up-convert the data symbols into a signal in a radio frequency (RF) channel band.
Thus, in the digital broadcasting transmitter, normal data and robust data are multiplexed and input to the randomizer 11 using a dual stream way of transmitting normal data and robust data through a channel. The input data is randomized by the randomizer 11, outer encoded by the RS encoder 12 as an outer coder, and interleaved by the interleaver 13. Also, the interleaved data is inner encoded by the trellis encoder 14 in the unit of 12 symbols and mapped as 8-level symbols. Next, field sync signals and segment sync signals are inserted into the 8-level symbols. Pilot tones are inserted into the 8-level symbols to perform a VSB modulation on the 8-level symbols, up-convert the 8-level symbols into an RF signal, and transmit the RF signal.
The digital broadcasting receiver of the digital broadcasting transmitting and receiving system shown in FIG. 1 includes a tuner (not shown), a demodulator 21, an equalizer 22, a viterbi decoder 23, a deinterleaver 24, an RS decoder 25, and a derandomizer 26. The tuner converts the RF signal received through a channel into a baseband signal. The demodulator 21 detects sync signals from the baseband signal and demodulates the baseband signal. The equalizer 22 compensates for a channel distortion of the demodulated signal caused by a multi-path. The viterbi decoder 23 performs ECC on the equalized signal and demodulates the equalized signal into symbol data. The deinterleaver 24 re-arranges the data interleaved by the interleaver 13 of the digital broadcasting transmitter. The RS decoder 25 performs an error correction on the re-arranged data. The derandomizer 26 derandomizes the data error corrected by the RS decoder 25 and outputs a Moving Picture Experts Group-2 (MPEG-2) transmission stream.
Accordingly, the digital broadcasting receiver shown in FIG. 1 performs a reverse process to a process performed by the digital broadcasting transmitter. In other words, the broadcasting receiver down-converts the RF signal into the baseband signal, demodulates and equalizes the baseband signal, and channel decodes the demodulated and equalized signal to restore an original signal.
FIG. 2 is a view illustrating a VSB data frame of a United States digital broadcasting (8-VSB) system into which segment sync signals and field sync signals are inserted. As shown in FIG. 2, one frame includes two fields, and one of the two fields includes a field sync segment as a first segment and 312 data segments. Also, in the VSB data frame, one segment corresponds to an MPEG-2 packet and includes a segment sync having 4 symbols and 828 data symbols.
Referring to FIG. 2, a segment sync signal as a sync signal and a field sync signal are used for synchronization and equalization in the digital broadcasting receiver. In other words, a field sync signal and a segment sync signal are known between the digital broadcasting transmitter and the digital broadcasting receiver and used as reference signals for the equalization in the digital broadcasting receiver.
In the United States terrestrial broadcasting system shown in FIG. 1, robust data is added to normal data of an existing ATSC VSB system to form and transmit a dual stream. Here, existing normal data is transmitted together with robust data.
However, in the United States terrestrial digital broadcasting system shown in FIG. 1, although the dual stream is transmitted through the addition of the robust data, poor reception of a multi-path channel is not improved in the multipath channel according to the existing normal data stream transmission. In other words, the improvement of a normal stream hardly contributes to improving the reception. Also, a turbo stream cannot greatly contribute to improving reception in a multi-path environment.
Techniques for inserting an SRS into a dual transmission stream have been developed to improve reception of a turbo stream. As a result, techniques for appropriately encoding the dual transmission stream including the SRS are required.

Trellis encoder for encoding dual transmission stream


A method and a system for recognizing power consumption behaviors of electric appliances in a loop are provided. When a variation value of a power consumption information of the loop exceeds a threshold, a current value of the power consumption information is served as a main loop factor value of the loop, and a similar combinative factor value close to the main loop factor value is looked up in a behavior-factor mapping table. If the similar combinative factor value is not found, the main loop factor value corresponding to a new power consumption behavior is obtained according to the variation value of the power consumption information to reconstruct the behavior-factor mapping table. After obtaining the similar combinative factor value from the behavior-factor mapping table, a current electric appliance power consumption behavior of the loop is determined according to a power consumption behavior combination corresponding to the similar combinative factor value.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a method for obtaining power consumption information, and more particularly, to a method and a system for recognizing the power consumption behaviors of electric appliances by taking a loop as a unit.
2. Description of Related Art
The concepts of environmental protection and energy conservation have been brought up and increasingly focused along with the decrease of petroleum, electricity, and other natural resources. According to statistical data, about 39% of all energy resources is consumed in our residential environment. Thus, smart meters with energy calculation and management functions are used in more and more buildings in order to provide different power consumption information related to the residential environment in real time.
Generally speaking, the most direct method of understanding the power consumption status of each electric appliance in a building is to dispose a measuring device (for example, a small electricity meter) on each electric appliance. In addition, if the power consumption status of each electric appliance is to be collected and analyzed, a radio frequency (RF) communication device or a power line communication (PLC) device needs to be installed on the electric appliance or the panel meter such that the power consumption information of the electric appliance can be sent to a backend platform to be analyzed. However, if there are too many electric appliances in a building, the method of disposing a measuring device and a communication device on each of the electric appliances will be too labor-consuming and cost-consuming.
On the other hand, even though some electric appliances with built-in power measurement devices in the market can obtain their own power consumption information, the prices of these electric appliances are usually too high. Furthermore, external measuring devices and communication devices still have to be disposed on existing electric appliances in a building to obtain the power consumption infoimation thereof if not all the electric appliances in the building are replaced.

Method and system for recognizing power consumption behaviors of electric appliances in a loop


A method of receiving a broadcasting signal in an apparatus for receiving the broadcasting signal, is disclosed. The method includes receiving a first encoding data descriptor describing first encoding data of contents having the first encoding data and second encoding data, in non-real time, receiving the first encoding data in non-real time, according to the first encoding data descriptor, and decoding the first encoding data received in non-real time and the second encoding data received in real time together, according to the first encoding data descriptor, and outputting the contents.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of transmitting and receiving a broadcasting signal and an apparatus for receiving a broadcasting signal.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Digital television (DTV) can provide various services in addition to video and audio services which are inherent functions of TV. For example, the DTV can provide an electronic program guide (EPG) or the like to users, and can provide-contents via a real time or non-real time transport channel. In particular, an apparatus for receiving a broadcasting signal includes a mass storage device. In addition, since the apparatus is connected to the Internet for performing bi-directional communication or a data communication channel, the number of services which can be provided using the broadcasting signals has been significantly increased.
In such an environment, recently, a method of transmitting and receiving a broadcasting signal, which is capable of providing a real-time broadcasting service and a non-real-time broadcasting service, and an apparatus for receiving a broadcasting signal, which is capable of implementing the method, have been developed.
Meanwhile, as a possibility that a scalable video/audio coding scheme is employed as a next-generation broadcasting video codec for the viewing and the recoding of high-quality and high-effect video/audio data is increased, it is expected that various functions using the scalable video/audio coding scheme will be introduced. Conventionally, the limitation and the authority for the viewing and recording of high-quality video/audio data were not separately considered. In the current real-time terrestrial signal is free-to-air, no problem is generated in the viewing of the high-quality or high-resolution video/audio data if a receiver has capability for receiving the high-quality or high-effect video/audio data. However, various problems may be generated in the recording of the high-quality or high-effect video/audio data. For example, conventionally, in the case where high-quality video data is recorded, the quality of the data was graded down. In this case, an additional device such as a transcoder is further necessary. In the scalable video coding scheme, data coded according to video layers (base and enhancement layers) may be separately transmitted. In particular, the unauthorized recording and viewing of high-quality contents (e.g., enhancement layer data) by a unauthorized user need to be prevented.

Method and apparatus for receiving encoding data in non-real time and real time in a broadcast signal


A yoke for universal joint is composed of a cylindrical coupling tube formed by pressing a metal plate and having a slit in a radial direction and serrate grooves on the internal periphery; a pair of flanges integrally formed at an end of the coupling tube and positioned on both sides of the slit; and a coupling arm formed by pressing a metal plate. One of the flanges has a screw hole, while the other flange has a hole, coaxial with the screw hole, for passing a bolt to be screwed into the screw hole. The coupling arm has a penetrating hole in the base portion, and mutually coaxial circular holes at its opposite ends. The yoke is assembled by fitting the other end of the coupling tube into the penetrating hole in the base portion, and connecting the other end of the coupling tube with the base portion of the coupling arm.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a yoke for a universal joint adapted for use for example in the steering device of an automobile for transmitting the movement of the steering column to the steering gear, and a manufacturing method therefor.
2. Related Background Art
The steering device of an automobile is constructed, for example, as shown in FIG. 5.
The movement of a steering wheel 1 is transmitted through a steering shaft 2 and a connecting rod 3 to steering gears 4 which steer the wheels of the automobile.
Because, the steering shaft 2 and the input shaft 5 of the steering gears 4 cannot, in general, be mutually aligned, the connecting rod 3 is usually provided between two shafts 2, 5 and the ends of said connecting rod 3 are connected to the ends of said shafts 2, 5 through universal joints 6, 6 whereby the movement transmission is enabled between the mutually unaligned shafts 2 and 5.
The universal joint 6 incorporated in such power transmission mechanism is conventionally composed, as shown in FIG. 6, of first and second yokes 7, 8 of bifurcate form, and a cross-shaped shaft 9 for movably combining said yokes 7, 8.
In the universal joint shown in FIG. 6, since each yoke is prepared by pressing a metal plate as disclosed in the Japanese Patent Application No. 63-185222, the positional relationship between the coupling arms for supporting the cross-shaped shaft 9 and the flange (to be tightened with a bolt for connecting the yoke for example to the end of the connecting rod 3 is not adjustable but is always fixed. Consequently, the fixation of the bolt on the flange becomes sometimes difficult in certain conditions of use.
For avoiding such drawback, there is already known a structure, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, composed of a combination of a coupling tube 10, coupling arms 11 and a clamping member 12.
The coupling tube 10 is formed by drawing a metal pipe, and is provided with a slit 13 in a radial direction and serrate grooves 14 on the internal periphery, both formed by suitable mechanical working.
The coupling arms 11 are formed by pressing a metal plate in U-shaped form, which is provided with a hole 15 at the base portion, and mutually coaxial circular holes 16, 16 at both ends.
The clamp member 12 is formed by forging and then mechanically working a metal material, and is provided with a screw hole 17 at an end and a hole 18 at the other end for passing a bolt (not shown) to be screwed into said screw hole 17.
The above-mentioned members 10, 11, 12 are combined by fitting the clamp member 12 on an end of the coupling tube, fitting the hole 15 at the base portion of the coupling arms 11 on the other end of the coupling tube 10, and welding the fitted portions, thereby completing a yoke 7 (or 8) for the universal joint.
When such yoke 7 (or 8) is connected to the end for example of the connecting rod 3 (FIG. 5), a serrate portion formed on said end portion of the connecting rod is inserted into the coupling tube 10 while the bolt fitted into said clamp is loosened, and said bolt is then tightened. Thus the yoke 7 (or 8) is firmly coupled to the end of the connecting rod 3.
However, the above-explained yoke of the conventional universal joint has the drawbacks of requiring many (three) component parts and also requiring different methods of preparation for said component parts (drawing for the coupling tube 10, pressing for the coupling arms 11 and forging for the clamp member 12) with a large number of working steps, whereby the manufacturing cost is inevitably increased.

Yoke for universal joint and manufacturing method therefor


A cooking control method and a cooking control system for a food extruder used for producing direct-puffed snacks includes a material supply mechanism, a hydration mechanism, a processing mechanism including an extruder, and a control computer. The control computer determines a specific power consumption value from the electric energy consumed by the extruder and the supplied amount of the dough material, at the time of producing snacks having excellent quality, to designate this value as a reference value, compares this reference value of the specific power consumption value with the actual specific power consumption value, and when the difference is small, controls the number of revolutions of the extruder, and when the difference is large, controls not only the number of revolutions of the extruder, but also the amount of water added and the feed amount of materials, to thereby stabilize the snack quality.

The present invention relates to a cooking control method for a food extruder, used at the time when producing direct-puffed snacks, using corn, rice and pulses as raw materials.
Conventional direct-puffed snacks are produced by using grits of corn, rice and pulses as raw materials, using a single screw extruder or twin screw extruder.
The quality of produced snacks is adjusted by controlling the degree of cooking by means of the extruder. Normally, the control of the cooking degree is performed in such a manner that measured values of a thermometer, a pressure gauge and an ammeter mounted on the extruder, number of revolutions and feed amount, etc., are checked, and a skilled operator personally performs sensory evaluation of products discharged from a nozzle, and takes the above measured values and the results of the sensory evaluation into consideration in order to properly adjust the extruder based on the operator""s experience.
However, the control of the cooking degree of the food extruder in the prior art depends mainly on the experience of the skilled operator, and the control procedure differs depending on the operator. Therefore, the quality of the product is not always constant.
Moreover, a great deal of experience and knowledge are required in order to become a skilled operator capable of producing excellent products, and it is difficult to control the extruder in a stable manner without being a skilled operator.
Furthermore, when a change in the material quality or a change of the material takes place, a long period of time is required for completing the adjustment of the extruder, and there is a disadvantage in that the productivity decreases during the adjustment period.
Also in the quality control, if the number of extruders controlled by one operator is increased, the quality control of the products produced by these extruders decreases, and therefore, there is a possibility that the difference in the quality of the products may increase.
On the other hand, an evaluation related to the quality of the produced puffed snack dough is performed by a sensory analysis. This sensory analysis is performed in such a manner that the quality of eating texture of the snack is divided into five stages, with point 5 being designated as the highest quality stage. If a product is evaluated as point 5 in the sensory analysis, then it is determined that there are no problems with the extruder. However, when a product is evaluated as less than a point 5, control of the extruder becomes necessary.
However, since it is not clear whether a cooking degree is too much or is not sufficient, by considering only the evaluation point, it is not possible to control the extruder based on the evaluation value alone.
The thermometer mounted on the food extruder is used for measuring the internal temperature of the machine itself, and not for measuring the temperature of the product. However, the internal temperature of the machine does not necessarily provide a close correlation with the product quality. Further, the relationship between the pressure and the product quality is not clear.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a cooking control method for a food extruder, which can control cooking based on a measured value of a measuring instrument mounted on the extruder, and which can produce products having constant quality, without relying on the judgment of a skilled operator with respect to an operating state.
The cooking control method for the food extruder according to the present invention is characterized by performing control under computer management using fuzzy control in such a manner that a specific power consumption value is determined by dividing the electric energy consumed by a motor driving a rotational shaft of the food extruder in a unit time by the amount of dough material (hereinafter, also referred to as feed amount) supplied to the extruder in the unit time. The specific power consumption value at the time of producing snacks having excellent quality is designated as a reference value, and a control rule is established such that when a difference between the reference value of the specific power consumption value and the specific power consumption value is small, the number of revolutions of the food extruder is mainly controlled, and when the difference is large, the number of revolutions of the food extruder is controlled as well as the amount of water to be added, and the feed amount of the snack material.
The reference value of the specific power consumption value is a value with which a quality evaluation indicates as providing a snack having excellent quality. The reference value is set and controlled by a quality evaluation method wherein the quality evaluation of snacks is evaluated by physical measurements such as eating texture color tone and volume, thus differing from the conventional method. The eating texture is expressed by an eating texture evaluation value which is evaluated with a membership function value based on measured values of a bubble size of the snack and a cutting stress of the snack. The color tone is expressed by a color tone evaluation value which is evaluated with a membership function value based on a value measured using a spectrophotometric colorimeter. The volume is expressed by a volume evaluation value which is evaluated with a membership function value based on the weight of the snack stuffed in a container having a predetermined capacity. When there is even one defective evaluation value set in advance for each of the eating texture evaluation value, the color tone evaluation value and the volume evaluation value, the snack is estimated as having a defect in quality. When there is no defective evaluation value for each of the eating texture evaluation value, the color tone evaluation value and the volume evaluation value, each of the eating texture evaluation value, the color tone evaluation value and the volume evaluation value is multiplied by a weight coefficient distributed so as to approximate to the sensory evaluation value in the conventional method, so that the quality evaluation value can be obtained from the sum of the eating texture evaluation value, the color tone evaluation value and the volume evaluation value multiplied by the coefficients.
Moreover, the control method of an extruder according to the present invention is characterized in that upper limits, lower limits and adjusting values are determined for each of the number of revolutions, the feed amount of materials and the amount of water to be added, using as central values the specific power consumption value of the motor driving a rotational shaft of the extruder, the number of revolutions, the feed amount of materials and the amount of water added at the time of producing snacks having the most suitable quality evaluation value. The central value of the specific power consumption value is designated as a reference value, and the reference value of the specific power consumption value is compared with the specific power consumption value of the motor driving a rotational shaft of the extruder at the time of actual production of the snack. A result of the comparison is inputted into rules using a fuzzy theory, to thereby control each of the number of revolutions, the feed amount of snack materials and the amount of water to be added.
The rule based on the fuzzy theory is characterized in that each of an upper limit zone, a central zone, and a lower limit zone is set with each of the central values, serving as the reference values of the specific power consumption value, the upper limit and the lower limit, as the specific power consumption values. An adjusting value consisting of a predetermined value can be stepwise added to or subtracted from the number of revolutions within the range between the upper limit and the lower limit, in a manner as follows. When the specific power consumption value of the food extruder exists in the central zone formed of the reference value of the specific power consumption value, being the central value, adjusted with the positive/negative adjusting values, the number of revolutions, the feed amount of the materials and the amount of water added are maintained steady. When the specific power consumption value of the food extruder exists between the central zone and the upper limit, the number of revolutions is set to be the lower limit plus the adjusting value, and the feed amount of the materials and the amount of water added are set to be the central values. When the specific power consumption value of the food extruder exists between the central zone and the upper limit, and the number of revolutions is present at the lower limit plus the adjusting value, the number of revolutions is set to be the lower limit, and the feed amount of the materials and the amount of water added are set to be the central values. When the specific power consumption value of the food extruder exists between the central zone and the upper limit, and the number of revolutions is at the lower limit, the number of revolutions is set to be the lower limit, the feed amount of the materials is set to be the central value, and the amount of water added is set to be the upper limit. When the specific power consumption value of the food extruder exists between the central zone and the upper limit, the number of revolutions is at the lower limit and when the amount of water added is at the upper limit, the number of revolutions is set to be the lower limit, and the feed amount of the materials and the amount of water added are set to be the upper limits. When the specific power consumption value of the food extruder exists at the upper limit or above, the number of revolutions is set to be the lower limit, the feed amount of the materials is set to be the upper limit, and the amount of water added is set to be the upper limit. When the specific power consumption value of the food extruder exists between the central zone and the lower limit, the number of revolutions is set to be the upper limit minus the adjusting value, the feed amount of the materials is set to be the central value, and the amount of water added is set to be the central value. When the specific power consumption value of the food extruder exists between the central zone and when the lower limit, and the number of revolutions is at the upper limit minus the adjusting value, the number of revolutions is set to be the upper limit, the feed amount of the materials is set to be the central value, and the amount of water added is set to be the central value. When the specific power consumption value of the food extruder exists between the central zone and the lower limit and when the number of revolutions is at the lower limit, the number of revolutions is set to be the lower limit plus the adjusting value, the feed amount of the materials is set to be the central value, and the amount of water added is set to be the lower limit. When the specific power consumption value of the food extruder exists between the central zone and the lower limit and when the number of revolutions and the amount of water added are at the lower limits, the number of revolutions is set to be the upper limit minus the adjusting value, and the feed amount of the materials and the amount of water added are set to be the lower limits. When the specific power consumption value of the food extruder exists at the lower limit or below, the number of revolutions is set to be the upper limit, and the feed amount of the materials and the amount of water added are set to be the lower limits.
A cooking control system for a food extruder to be used in the present invention comprises feed means for adjusting the feed amount of the snack materials, hydration means for adjusting the amount of water to be added to the snack materials, processing means for heating and expanding the material dough obtained by mixing a predetermined amount of water in the snack materials with the food extruder to thereby produce the snacks, and control means for controlling the operating condition of each of the feed means, the hydration means and the processing means with a computer. A reference value of the specific power consumption value is obtained by dividing the electric energy consumed in a unit time by the drive motor which rotates the rotational shaft of the food extruder, at the time when the quality evaluations indicate the most suitable snack is obtained, by the amount of dough material supplied to the extruder in a unit time. The specific power consumption value is determined, per feed amount of the material actually supplied, from a ratio of the electric energy consumed at the time of actual production of snacks using the motor to the feed amount of the materials. The above-mentioned control means is controls the number of revolutions of the rotational shaft of the food extruder, when a relative difference between the reference value of the specific power consumption value and the specific power consumption value is small, and controls not only the number of revolutions but also an increase and decrease in the amount of water to be added, and an increase and decrease of the feed amount of the snack material, when the relative difference between the reference value of the specific power consumption value and the specific power consumption value is large.
The control means is characterized by determining each preferable value of the upper limit, the central value, the lower limit and the adjusting value for the specific power consumption value and the number of revolutions of the motor, the feed amount of materials and the amount of water added, based on the quality evaluation value of the most suitable snack, inputting the result of a comparison between the central value of the specific power consumption value and the actual power consumption of the motor, into the rule based on the fuzzy theory, and controlling each of the number of revolutions, the feed amount of snack materials and the amount of water added.
As a result, cooking control for the extruder, which has previously relied on skilled engineers, can be automated, thereby enabling stable production of the expanded snacks having an optimum quality.
The cooking control method for the food extruder according to the present invention will now be described, with reference to the drawings.

Food extruder cooking control method and cooking control system


A map-based search application for map-based category navigation includes geographic data, category data, and categorized data comprising at least one item, wherein each item is associated with each of the geographic data and the category data. Accordingly, a user is enabled to search for categorized data that satisfies at least one condition related to the geographic data and at least one condition related to the category data. The invention further comprises a display for displaying a list of results from a search, wherein the list comprises the at least one item.

This application is related to U.S. applications Ser. No. 10/872,266 entitled "STACKABLE ICONS", and Ser. No. 10/872,050 entitled "AUTOMATED SEARCH PARAMETER RESUBMISSION FOR MAP BASED SEARCHES", both of which are also assigned to the assignee of the present invention, and were filed the same day as the present application. The contents of the related applications are incorporated by reference their entirety.
Hierarchical category indices, in which information is arranged in a "tree" taxonomy, have long been well known. For example, naturalists from Aristotle to Linnaeus to Darwin and on down have arranged information about living things according to hierarchical categories. More recently, it has been known to arrange information, such as information in a directory such as a yellow pages directory, according to a hierarchical category index. Even more recently, it has been known to arrange information on the Internet, e.g., on the World Wide Web, according to hierarchical category indices. For example, many of today's web sites include "site maps" that display an organization of web pages in a web site according to a hierarchical category index. Further, numerous known web sites allow users to search for items, such as items in a directory, according to a hierarchical category index.
It is also well known to display maps of indicated geographic areas on the World Wide Web. Moreover, it is known to search for items in a directory, limiting the search to an indicated geographic area of interest. Then, when a search item is found, the location of the item may be indicated on a map of the indicated geographic area of interest.
Users often do not know, however, the specific name, or perhaps even the specific category, of the item for which they are searching. For example, users of online "yellow page" systems often know they want to find, for example, a florist in a particular area, without knowing the names or locations of any florists in that area.
Further, users may want to be able to concentrate their errands in a geographic area, and thus may want to know the locations of several different kinds of businesses in a particular area. To take just one example, a user might want to find dry cleaners, florists, and pharmacies in a particular geographic area. However, prior art systems are unable to present simultaneously this disparate information to a user; prior art yellow pages systems, for example, are unable to display a map showing the locations of all found items in all indicated categories of interest in an indicated geographic area.
Accordingly, there is a need for the ability to search for items according to both a category of interest and a geographic area of interest, and to further display search results according to both the category of interest and the geographic area of interest. A system that meets these needs would provide the benefit of allowing users to search for items in a geographic area according to a category even when they were not looking for a specific item. Moreover, such a system would provide the benefit of providing users with a visual, map-based presentation of all items in the category of interest in the geographic area of interest. Additionally, such a system would provide the benefit of providing users with a visual, map-based presentation of all categories of interest in the geographic area of interest.
Further, particularly in densely populated areas, it often happens that multiple items in a single category are located in the same, or practically the same, location. For example, a single mall, shopping center, or office building may contain many businesses, one or more of which are responsive to a request. For instance, certain office buildings contain many law firms, certain malls have many shoe stores, etc. One reason that prior art systems have not overcome the limitation of not being able to search for all items in a category in a geographic area and then showing the location of found items on a map is that prior art systems do not have the ability to effectively display multiple items at a single location on a map of a geographic area. Accordingly, there is a need for a system that effectively displays information about multiple items in the same location on a map.
The present invention overcomes the limitations of the prior art by enabling a user to search for all items in an indicated category within a geographic area, and then displaying icons representing the locations of found items on a map of the geographic area, and moreover effectively displaying information about items found at the same location on the map.

Hierarchical category index navigational system


A shower chair that is easy to assemble, relatively lightweight in construction making it easy to lift into and out of a shower, is rust resistant, and is easy to clean and reduces the likelihood of residue buildup thereby minimizing potential health concerns. The chair is formed such that it minimizes ridges and crevices and includes rounded seams that improves the effectiveness of cleaning the surfaces of the chair and includes antimicrobial materials that reduces the growth of bacteria.

The subject invention is directed to a new and improved shower and commode chair and more specifically, to a new and improved shower and commode chair that is easy to clean, portable and lightweight and reduces the growth of bacteria particularly in hard to clean areas.
Portable chairs for use in showers and as commode chairs have been developed. Such chairs require cleaning often to prevent health concerns such as the growth of bacteria that can develop along the surface of the chair. Unfortunately, the designs and construction of such chairs often make it difficult to thoroughly clean all of the surfaces of the chair, particularly in areas that are difficult to reach. Accordingly, such chairs are often left unclean after use allowing debris to accumulate or water to remain over a period of time allowing for bacterial to grow creating potential health problems. Particle buildup, such as residue from soap, often cling and buildup such as in areas where two components are positioned in close proximity or mated forming ridges and crevices that promote residue buildup. Three prior art shower chairs are illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3. As shown, such chairs have numerous fittings and connectors 10 for attaching components together. Unfortunately, the use of such connectors results in formation of ridges and crevices where residual can accumulate and build up. These ridges and crevices are often difficult to reach for cleaning or to effectively clean thereby allowing the growth of mold, mildew and bacteria.
Another problem with conventional chairs for use as portable commodes and for use in showers is that often the connectors that are used to attach components together, such as conventional connectors that connect PVC piping together, often become stressed resulting in the formation of hairline cracks that eventually results in breakage. Such breakage has resulted in users sustaining injury. Further, fittings often have gaps that permit water to penetrate into the chair which can also result in bacterial growth.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a shower chair that is easy to assemble, relatively lightweight in construction making it easy to lift into and out of a shower, is rust resistant, and can be effectively cleaned to reduce the likelihood of residue buildup and bacteria growth thereby minimizing potential health concerns.


The centrifugal pump having a closed type impeller with two cover discs and vanes therebetween. The inner parts of the vanes cooperate with a non-rotating insert part for cutting within the pump inlet. The lower cover disc together with the non-rotating insert part in the pump inlet creates a radial seal.

This invention concerns a centrifugal pump for pumping liquids containing solid bodies, such as rags and other elongated objects.
A centrifugal pump, which sucks the liquid into its center and throws it outwards in the direction of the periphery, has no problems when pumping clean liquids. However, when the liquid contains solid bodies, the problems arise due to the fact that the bodies may get stuck between the pump impeller and the surrounding pump housing, causing a stoppage or at least a decreased pumping action.
One way to solve this problem is to design the pump in such a manner that the impeller rotates beside the flow itself, a so-called vortex type impeller. In this manner the clogging problems may be essentially removed, however, there are other disadvantages, such as a decreased pump efficiency.
Another method used to solve this problem, is to arrange some form of cutting means in front of the impeller which cuts rags and the like, so as to make it possible to pump these bodies. An example of such a solution is shown in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,108,386.
In the known construction the front end of the impeller is provided with two cutting means which cooperate with the inlet of the impeller for cutting the pollutions. However, the under pressure in the pump inlet enables an incoming rag to get sucked into the center of the impeller. Smaller rags may then rotate together with the impeller without making contact with the cutting means. Bigger rags may cause an increasing rotary resistance, sometimes to such a degree that the pump stops.
Another known construction is shown in the Swedish published patent application No. 444,969. Here a central body with cutting means is arranged, which body fills up the space in the inlet, thus diminishing the disk for one rags being sucked into the impeller center. This solution normally works very well, but under certain conditions a rag may stick to the center of the impeller and get stretched outwards to the periphery between the impeller and the housing. The friction which derives from that might lead to an overload of the motor and release of the motor protection device.
The two described impellers are similar in that they are both a so-called open type. This means that the impeller has only one cover disc on which the vanes are mounted and that the impeller is open towards the cutting means. The prevailing opinion has been that only open impellers are possible to use when pumping strongly polluted liquids. But, the closed impeller, which is provided with two cover discs and vanes therebetween, has an advantage in that its efficiency is far better than that of an open impeller.
According to the invention, use of a closed impeller when pumping strongly polluted liquids has been made possible. This possibility allows better efficiency and a longer bearing life. In addition it provides a better cutting result, thus diminishing the risks of clogging and damage.


The use of at least one GnRH analogue for the preparation of a medicament for the prevention and/or treatment of side effects of ovarectomy or symptoms associated with reproductive senescence in female mammals, in particular urinary incontinence, hot flushes, and skin/hair changes are disclosed.

If the endocrine activity of the gonads decreases or if the gonads are removed, women and dogs show similar changes. With the reproductive senescence in women, as well as after ovarectomy in the bitch, symptoms such as urinary incontinence, vasomotor symptoms, in particular hot flushes, changes of the mood, skin and hair increasingly occur. After ovarectomy, as well as at the beginning of the reproductive senescence, corresponding hormonal changes occur with a great increase in serum concentrations of FSH (Follicle stimulating hormone) and LH (Luteinising hormone).
1. Urinary Incontinence in General
Urinary incontinence is defined by the International Continence Society [1] as the objective demonstration of involuntary loss of urine consequent to bladder and/or urethral sphincter dysfunction.
If the anatomical conditions are normal, two different pathophysiological mechanisms can lead to urinary incontinence: an increased tone of the bladder with a normal closure function of the urethra, or an insufficient closure function of the urethra with a normal bladder pressure during the filling phase.
An insufficient closure function of the urethra plays a crucial role in both the urinary incontinence in bitches due to spaying and the stress incontinence in women [2] [3] [4].
2. Removal of the Ovaries (Spaying) in the Bitch
Side Effects
Gonadectomy can lead to side effects. The most common is urinary incontinence, which occurs in one in five spayed bitches. The continuous hair loss, which is due to the shortened life span of the hairs after spaying, can be disturbing to the owner. Less common, and mainly in particular breeds, is the excessive growth of the undercoat which leads to a "baby-coat". If food is offered ad libitum the increased appetite can lead to adipositas and vulvapyodermia. In case of dominant bitches gonadectomy may increase aggressivity.
Endocrine Principles
Twice per year the bitch is on heat for about 3 weeks. Her seasonal mono-oestrous cycle is divided into 4 periods, anestrus, pro-oestrus, oestrus and metoestrus. During anoestrus the plasma concentrations of sexual steroids are very low. The level of progesterone is below 1 ng/ml, and that of estrogen is below 10 pg/ml. Towards the end of anoestrus, about four weeks before the onset of the next heat, slight increases in estradiol concentrations can be measured. At the onset of the heat, starting with pro-oestrus, the internal secretion of estradiol is slightly increased by the growing follicles. At the end of pro-oestrus a sudden increase of the internal estradiol secretion occurs over two to three days, resulting in a peak serum estradiol of 40 to 90 pg/ml. During the pro-oestrous period the follicular growth is stimulated by pulsatile FSH and LH release and 24 to 72 hours after the last LH-peak ovulation is triggered. The actual oestrus, which is characterized by the bitch's acceptance of the male dog, is dominated by an increasing serum progesterone concentration, whereas the estrogen level returns to basal concentrations of less than 10 pg/ml. The corpora lutea produce progesterone for about three months. The progesterone production is independent of whether the bitch is pregnant or not pregnant. The luteal phase is called metoestrus. After the luteolysis, serum progesterone levels are below 1 ng/ml, the bitch is in the period of ovarian quiescence, the anoestrus. During this period the average concentrations of the gonadotropins FSH and LH are about 114 ng/ml and 1.1 ng/ml respectively [5]
With gonadectomy the source of the sexual steroids estrogen and progesterone is removed and afterwards, they are only measurable in very low serum concentrations that are not different from those measured during anoestrus. As there is no longer a feed back mechanism, FSH and LH are secreted unhindered, resulting in average concentrations of 1086 ng/ml and 7.4 ng/ml respectively [5]
Relationship Between Endocrine Changes and Side Effects of Gonadectomy
Until now, the side effects of spaying have been explained as resulting from the missing estrogen secretion. But various observations do not agree with this hypothesis. In sexual intact bitches the endogenous estrogen concentration is elevated only for a short period only once or twice per year. In many bitches which are treated with depot gestagens for suppressing of the estrous cycle for years, the endogenous estrogen concentration is permanently reduced to basal levels. In these bitches with a permanently suppressed ovarian activity most of the side effects seen after spaying, in particular urinary incontinence, do not occur. If low estrogen concentrations would be responsible for the occurrence of urinary incontinence, it could be assumed that the replacement therapy with estrogens would be successful, but in fact, it is effective only in 65% of the cases [6]. Conversely, it would be expected that in sexually intact bitches urinary incontinence does not occur, especially not during the heat. Apart from the many incontinent bitches, due to spaying, seen as patients at the Department of Reproduction, University of Zurich, there are several intact bitches which are incontinent exclusively during estrus. Urodynamic data supports these observations, showing a significantly reduced urethral closure pressure under the influence of estrogens, during the estrus.
Urinary Incontinence of the Bitch
Urinary incontinence is the most common and embarrassing side effect of spaying for both the owner and the dog [3]. In all bitches gonadectomy leads to a significant reduction in the urethral closure pressure within one year. In 20% of the bitches the urethral closure pressure drops below the critical threshold value of 7.5 cm H2O, leading to urinary incontinence [3]. Urinary incontinence also has medical consequences: Due to the lowered urethral closure function the ascension of bacteria, leading to an urinary tract infection, is enhanced. Additionally, the continuous contamination of the perineal region with urine can result in skin ulceration.
Therapy is aimed at improving the urethral closure pressure which can be achieved by conservative or surgical methods. First choice are alpha-adrenergic substances such as ephedrinhydrochloride or phenylpropanolamine, at 1.5 mg/kg BW p.o. two to three times per day. If these medications are given every 8 hours, continence was achieved in 74%, and at least 24% showed some improvement. But, for the owner it is not always possible to administer tablets this frequently. Side effects such as diarrhea, vomiting, anxiety and nervousness are observed only infrequently. Alpha-adrenergic substances are contraindicated in case of glaucoma, cardiac arrhythmia and progressive nephropathy. As an alternative therapy estrogens can be used, which improve the responsiveness of catecholamine receptors of the urethra. But given alone, their effectiveness is inferior to that of the alpha-adrenergic substances, for they were found ineffective in 24% of the cases [3]. The substitution with estrogens in dogs can lead to a bone marrow depression, which can be fatal. Quite a common side effect of the estrogen therapy is recurrence of heat-like symptoms and with it sexual attractiveness to male dogs. These side effects can even be observed after therapy with phytoestrogens.
If therapy with medication is unsuccessful, too much trouble to the owner, accompanied with side effects, or even contraindicated, a surgical or endoscopic procedure can be considered. The injection of collagen into the submucosa of the proximal urethra, under endoscopic control, is successful in 75% of the cases and can be repeated if necessary. But this therapy requires a full anesthesia, it is expensive and its success is dependent on the experience of the surgeon. Even more invasive, and therefore expensive, is a surgical method, the classical retropubic urethropexy for incontinent women [7] which has been adapted for dogs [8]. This colposuspension, which is performed in full anesthesia after laparotomy, is only effective in 53% of the dogs with continence [9].
3. Reproductive Senescence in Women
Occurrence
Declining reproductive function is an inevitable part of the aging process [10]. The dramatic endocrine changes brought about by reproductive senescence have biological, social and cultural implications that profoundly influence the latter half of a woman's life.
Symptoms
Women may experience a number of symptoms such as hot flushes, mood changes and altered sleep pattern during the transition from the reproductive to the non-reproductive stage of life. Menopause is associated with an accelerated bone loss which may lead to the development of osteoporosis in women. Vaginal dryness with its sequelae, such as urogenital infections and impaired sex life, are well known problems of menopause. The incidence of urinary tract infections increases in women with increasing age.
Correlation Between Endocrine Changes and Symptoms of the Reproductive Senescence
As one of the first signs of the impending transition to menopause, in middle aged regularly menstruating women, the frequency of LH pulses decreases and the width of the peak increases before any change in the amount of plasma estradiol [11]. These changes are accompanied by elevated FSH concentrations during the early follicular phase [12] [13] [14].
Following, on the one hand there is a continuous increase of serum PSH and LH, while on the other hand a concomitant decrease in estradiol and estrone can be observed, as yearly examinations of women have shown during the transition from the reproductive to the non-reproductive stage of life [15]. Initial symptoms of the reproductive senescence, such as hot flushes and sweating, already occur in normocycling women and were significantly associated with high levels of FSH and LH and with low levels of estradiol [16]. Exacerbation of the symptoms was consistent with changes in gonadotropin levels [17] [18].
Urinary Incontinence in Women
Urinary incontinence also affects many women of all age groups. The prevalence of incontinence has been estimated to be between 9 and 74% [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [≧] [25].
Until now, the etiology of urinary incontinence is not elucidated, but most likely is caused by several factors. Different studies have shown a correlation between the risk of urinary incontinence and age [26], number of births [20], age of giving birth [25], body mass index [23] [25], race [23] level of education [25], frequency of bed-wetting during childhood [25], physical exercise or menopausal estrogen deficiency [12]. With the development of menopause the frequency of lower urinary tract symptoms, such as urgency, hesitancy and frequency, seem to increase. [27]
The difference of the mean maximum urethral closure pressure is 20 cm H2O between continent and incontinent women of corresponding age. The closure function of the urethra deteriorates in an age dependent relationship in a similar way in continent as well as incontinent women, but is based on different initial values [28] [29] [2] [30].
Urinary incontinence predisposes to urinary tract infections, pressure ulcers, perineal rashes, and urosepsis.
4. Comparison of the Reproductive Senescence in Women and the Side Effects of Spaying in the Bitch
The symptoms associated with reproductive senescence in women have amazing similarities with the side effects of spaying in the bitch. In both species there is an increased incidence of vaginal dryness, mood and behavioral changes, and urinary incontinence. A characteristic feature of urinary incontinence in women, as well as in dogs, is a reduced urethral closure function. In the bitch, spaying is proven to be the trigger for urinary incontinence.
Until now, neither the pathophysiological correlation between spaying and urinary incontinence in the bitch nor the cause of urinary incontinence in women is elucidated. But it can be assumed that similar mechanisms are involved, because for conservative treatment the same substances are recommended in both species.
In reproductive senescence in women as well as after spaying of bitches the levels of FSH and LH increase many times. Because LH receptors are not limited to the genital tract [31] [32] but are also found, among others, in the urinary bladder [33] and the skin [34], a correlation between the increased FSH- and LH levels and the clinical changes after menopause or spaying is most likely. In post menopausal women the number of LH receptors in the bladder decreases, most likely because of a down-regulation of the LH receptors by increased gonadotropin levels [33]. A down-regulation of receptors is also known to occur on a higher level, for example the pituitary gland. Prolonged exposure of GnRH receptors to GnRH results in loss of responsiveness to the hormone, through receptor alteration [35]. The outcome of such a down-regulation of sensitivity to GnRH results in a suppression of circulating levels of gonadotropins [36] [37] [38] [39] [40] [41].
Despite recent progress in understanding the pathophysiology of urinary incontinence, successful management continues to be a challenge. Medical treatment for urinary incontinence in women, or urinary incontinence in the bitch, include estrogen and/or progesterone replacement, supplementation with alpha-adrenergic agonists, beta-adrenergic receptor blocking agents, cholinergic receptor blocking compounds, cholinergic receptor stimulating drugs, nitric oxide synthase substrates, nitric oxide donors or both. Other treatment procedures include behavioral therapy, nerve stimulation, injection therapy, mechanical devices [42] [43] and surgery.
The hitherto existing medical treatments for incontinence have either unsatisfactory success or show severe side effects and can therefore not be administered to patients with e.g. glaucoma, hypertonia and cardiac arrhythmias. Therefore there exists a great need in effective pharmaceutical compositions and medicaments for the successful treatment or prevention of incontinence in female mammals with minimal adverse effects on the treated individual.
It has now surprisingly been found that a compound, or a pharmaceutical composition comprising a compound that modulates the level of biologically active gonadotropins is an effective medicament for the treatment or prevention of urinary incontinence in female mammals.

GNRH analogues for treatment of urinary incontinence


For air-conditioning within a vehicle interior of a motor vehicle, an air vent is provided with at least one air-directing device located in the region of an air outlet opening. The air vent is configured to allow air flowing out of the air outlet opening to flow, by way of the Coanda effect, in a directed manner along a surface which is adjacent to the air outlet opening. The air-directing device and the adjacent surface are inclined in relation to each other by an angle of inclination which is between 23° and 27°, and the directed air has a volumetric flow of between 30 m3/h and 700 m3/h.

The present invention relates to an air vent for a motor vehicle, to an instrument panel having such an air vent, and to a motor vehicle equipped with said air vent.
An air vent for a motor vehicle having at least one air directing device that is situated in the region of an air exit opening is known from US 2017/0021692 A1. The air vent is specified in such a manner that air flowing out of the air exit opening, by means of the Coanda effect, flows so as to be directed along a face that neighbors the air exit opening. The volumetric flow exiting the air exit opening, when viewed in the installed state of the air vent, is directed upward so as to be able to feed air to the upper-body region of a vehicle occupant.
It is an object of the present invention to provide technical means by way of which operation of a generic air vent is enabled in a reliable manner.
The air vent according to the invention for a motor vehicle has at least one air directing device that is located in the region of an air exit opening. The air vent according to the invention permits air flowing out of the air exit opening, by way of the Coanda effect, to flow so as to be directed along a surface adjacent the air exit opening. The air directing device and the adjacent surface are mutually inclined at an inclination angle which is substantially between 23° and 27°, and the directed air has a volumetric flow of substantially between 30 m3/h and 700 m3/h. It is advantageously ensured on account thereof, that the volumetric flow exiting the air vent bears on the adjacent surface and is guided in a defined manner in a specific direction.
According to one preferred embodiment, the air directing device and the adjacent surface are mutually inclined at an inclination angle of substantially 26°, and the directed air has a volumetric flow of substantially between 60 m3/h and 180 m3/h. The air exiting the air exit opening in this case advantageously flows along the inclined face in a particularly stable manner.
According to one further preferred embodiment, the adjacent surface is situated below the air directing installation. On account thereof, it is advantageously possible for the volumetric flow to be directed downward in a simple manner, when viewed in the installed state of the air vent.
A particularly simple construction of the air vent according to the invention is achieved when the air directing device forms a base of the air vent. This base can be configured so as to be flat or curved, in particular be convexly-shaped. Alternatively or additionally, the air directing device can have a pivot axis that is parallel to a base of the air vent, the air directing device being capable of being adjusted about said pivot axis. On account thereof, having the volumetric flow released from the face, or bear on the face, can be advantageously influenced by a user of the air vent.
A particularly aesthetic appearance of the air vent according to the invention is advantageously achieved when the face crossed by the volumetric flow is at least in part an aperture of the air vent.
The aforementioned object is also achieved by an instrument panel which has at least one air vent of the type disclosed above. The aforementioned advantages apply in an analogous manner.
According to one preferred embodiment, the instrument panel according to the invention is distinguished in that the adjacent surface has at least in part an operator part. The operator part thus advantageously serves not only for operating a device that is operatively connected to said operator part, particularly advantageously an air-conditioning system and/or an entertainment device, but simultaneously also as a means for influencing in a desired manner, and a manner based on the Coanda effect, the direction of the volumetric flow leaving the air vent.
The aforementioned object is likewise achieved by a motor vehicle having at least one seat that receives a vehicle occupant, said motor vehicle having an air vent of the type disclosed above or in an instrument panel of the type disclosed above. The aforementioned advantages apply in an analogous manner.
According to one preferred embodiment, the air vent is specified for directing the volumetric flow at least in part to a hip point of the vehicle occupant. The hip point herein is to be understood to be the theoretical hip point, also referred to as the R point or seating reference point (SgRP), which is measured according to the testing method as per standard SAE J 826 of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). On account thereof, it is advantageously possible for the lower region of the vehicle occupant to be swept in a simple manner by the volumetric flow that flows out of the air vent.
The air vent is advantageously situated above a face that is configured as an operator part, wherein the operator part is operatively connected to an air-conditioning system that is situated in the motor vehicle. On account thereof, it is possible for the vehicle occupant to be provided in a simple manner with conditioned air that improves the comfort of travel.
A detailed, nonprejudicial, in particular nonlimiting, description of exemplary embodiments of the present invention is given hereunder with reference to the appended figures which are not to scale. Identical elements have been provided with identical reference signs, unless specified to the contrary.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of one or more preferred embodiments when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft


A method includes configuring a high voltage charging system to operate in a wireless charging mode to charge a battery after a power source has been disconnected from the high voltage charging system, wherein the high voltage charging system comprises a rectifier, a first power converter, a second power converter connected in cascade, and a load switch connected between a voltage bus and a power port configured to be connected to the power source, and configuring the high voltage charging system to operate in a wired charging mode to charge the battery after the power source has been connected to the high voltage charging system.

As technologies further advance, wireless power transfer has emerged as an efficient and convenient mechanism for powering or charging battery based mobile devices such as mobile phones, tablet PCs, digital cameras, MP3 players and/or the like. A wireless power transfer system typically comprises a primary side transmitter and a secondary side receiver. The primary side transmitter is magnetically coupled to the secondary side receiver through a magnetic coupling. The magnetic coupling may be implemented as a loosely coupled transformer having a primary side coil formed in the primary side transmitter and a secondary side coil formed in the secondary side receiver.
The primary side transmitter may comprise a power conversion unit such as a primary side of a power converter. The power conversion unit is coupled to a power source and is capable of converting electrical power to wireless power signals. The secondary side receiver is able to receive the wireless power signals through the loosely coupled transformer and convert the received wireless power signals to electrical power suitable for a load.
As the power of the wireless power transfer system goes higher, there may be a need for achieving a high power wireless power transfer between the transmitter and the receiver. However, for a high power wireless power transfer system, the risk of high current induced overheating has become a significant issue, which presents challenges to the system design of the wireless power transfer system.
It would be desirable to have a high voltage charging system so as to reduce the current flowing through the receiver coil, thereby preventing high current induced heating from damaging the components of the receiver. As a result of having a lower current flowing through the receiver, the long term reliability can be improved.

High voltage hybrid charging system and method


A 3D shipping container engine may obtain item information for one or more items. Once obtained, container specifications may be determined for a container in which to store the one or more items based on the item(s) information. Based the container specifications, 3D additive manufacturing instructions may be provided for the container.

It has become common for merchants to utilize an electronic marketplace that provides users with the ability to order items using an electronic catalog of items. Merchants may utilize various modes of transport to deliver such items to the user. Delivery (e.g., shipping) can be costly to a merchant. Inefficient packaging of one or more items may lead to wasted space. Inadequate or inappropriate packaging may lead to items being damaged, or spoiled, while in transport. The user may lack the ability to ascertain whether the item has been exposed to potentially damaging environments. Conventional techniques can make it difficult to optimize packaging of items for shipment, causing the merchant to pay more shipping costs than necessary.

Techniques for printing 3D shipping containers


Disclosed is an exercise device for use in developing and toning hand, arm, wrist and upper body muscles. The device defines a frictional rotation exercise stick which includes a mounting bar upon which two handgrip elements are rotatably mounted. Located between these two handgrip elements is a center stop collar to prevent one of the handgrip elements from being pushed off of one end of the mounting bar when an inwardly directed force is exerted on the other handgrip element. A cylindrical weight is screwthreaded onto each end of the mounting bar and end stop collars are disposed between these weights and the handgrip elements. Compression bias and friction elements are provided between the end stop collars and the handgrip elements to provide an increase in rotational resistance of the handgrip elements in response to a tightening of the cylindrical weights against the stop collars while retaining a smoothness of operation. The relationship between the handgrip elements, the compression bias means, the end stop collars, the center stop collar and the mounting bar reduces the tendency for rotation of the handgrip elements to be transferred to the cylindrical weights thus preventing a backing off of the compression bias applied. In addition, this structure provides an exercise device which features variable tension resistance and smoothness of operation which promotes efficient exercise.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to exercise devices and more particularly to a device for use in exercising, developing and toning hand, arm and wrist muscles and upper body muscles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various sports including golf, tennis and baseball require that the players have unusually strong wrist, hand and arm muscles. Even football players, especially offensive linemen, require particularly strong hand, arm and wrist muscles to facilitate their blocking assignments. Moreover, a lack of conditioning of certain muscles may result in various chronic ailments which cause pain and lessen enjoyment and abilities in the pursuit of athletic activities. For example, weakness of the lateral epicondyle of the humerus causes the common "tennis elbow" which may hinder the professional athlete in pursuit of his goals for success and which may dissuade the recreational player from enhancing his skills and furthering his enjoyment. Another commonly recognized problem is that of "golfers elbow" which is caused by weakness of the medial epicondyle of the humerus. This condition can also hinder both the professional and recreational golfer in pursuing their respective goals. The most common method of strengthening those muscles has been in the use of free weights which the athlete uses in wrist curl exercises. Such exercises have proven successful in merely strengthening, for example, the wrist. However, they are not particularly useful in strengthening the entire hand, wrist and arm sections and they also have proven detrimental to the flexibility of the joints.
One prior art device has been proposed in an attempt to overcome the above-described deficiencies. This exercise device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,184,234 to Struble. Struble provides a device in which handgrips are mounted on a mounting bar such that they can rotate with respect to one another. Adjustable end members 22 are threaded onto the ends of the mounting bar to maintain the handgrips therebetween and to provide adjustment of the amount of friction which opposes rotation of the grip members. The Struble exercise device, however, is somewhat undesirable in use because, if the user is not careful during adjustment, he may cause the device to disassemble by tightening down on one end while the opposite end loosens, thus pushing the grip members off of the end of the mounting bar. Furthermore, upon extended use, the tension producing parts wear and the device tends to become less resistant to turning and thus frequent adjustment is required. In particular, lock washers positioned between the ends of hand grips and the adjustment knobs have rectangular apertures which fit over rectangularly undercut ends of the central rod. As the hand grips are rotated, the washers also attempt to rotate and wear their central apertures. More rotation is therefor transmitted to the adjustment knobs causing them to loosen and tension to back off. In addition, the rotational motion of the device may become sharp and jerky producing unwanted strain on the muscle groups being exercised. The device is also relatively light in weight. Because of this, the advantages attained in using free weights are not realized during the use of this prior art device. That is, by exercising with relative heavy weights a greater variety of muscles are affected during the exercise and the exercise will provide more effective and acute muscle toning and development.
Other prior devices include those of Lopez, U.S. Pat. No. 4,337,937; Williams, U.S. Pat. No. 3,211,453; Zinken, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,649,008; Petrosky, U.S. Pat. No. 4,982,950; Sloan, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 684,117 and Goddard, British 161,282. However, none of these devices provide the combination of elements of the present invention whereby variable friction resistance is obtained in combination with smooth exercising motion while overcoming the mechanical disadvantages of Struble.


A device for orienting tubular preforms which are fed in bulk by a supply device, including two continuous endless conveyors which are disposed side by side and which are equipped respectively with two parallel lines which are separated horizontally from one another by a distance that is greater than the largest cross-sectional dimension of the preforms. According to the invention, the preform-supply device is disposed above one end of the two conveyors. The two conveyors are moved by drive device in opposing directions in order to pivot any preforms that arrive positioned sideways across the conveyors and to drop the longitudinally-oriented preforms into the space between the two conveyors. The orienting device also includes an endless belt for collecting preforms, which extends beneath the two conveyors parallel thereto and which is used to collect and move the horizontally-laid longitudinally-aligned preforms one after the other.

The preforms are introduced into the plant one after another in a vertical position, neck uppermost, pushed to cause them to enter a gripping and loading member of the plant, such as a notched horizontal wheel. For correct feed, it is necessary not only for the preforms to be pushed positively into the gripper member, but also for them to arrive at this member without any discontinuity, all arranged in the required vertical position, and without the preforms being nested inside one another.
Commonly, in order for all these conditions to be met simultaneously, the preforms, contained in a loading hopper, are taken therefrom via elevator, and are then conveyed to the start of the plant under gravity using a chute conveyor in the form of guides; at the top of this chute conveyor there is an orientation device comprising an input hopper into which the preforms are tipped in bulk from the elevator, together with the actual orientation mechanism proper (commonly consisting of orienting rollers) and various elements intended for introducing the preforms into the chute conveyor one by one and for eliminating any preforms nested inside one another, etc.
In very high capacity plants capable of producing several thousand, if not several tens of thousand containers per hour, the device for orienting the preforms is not only positioned at a very great height but is also very large in size, and its opening may be situated at a height of several meters. It is therefore necessary for it to be associated with appropriate equipment (walkway with guard rails, ladder, etc.) so that the supervisory and maintenance personnel can have perfectly safe access to the orientation device and to the devices associated therewith (the elevator connecting the loading hopper to the input hopper, etc.) which are located at a height. This equipment, generally made of metal, is very expensive and very bulky. Furthermore, the preform feed device arranged in this way occupies a great deal of space.
What is more, the chute conveyor essentially consists of two parallel guides on which the preforms rest via their flange. Owing to the inclination of the guides and because of the approximately horizontal position of the flanges due to the fact that the preforms are situated generally vertically the flanges rest on the guides at just two symmetrically opposed points on their periphery, and therefore in a way that is not very stable; what this means is that the movement of the preforms under gravity along the guides is uneven because of non-constant friction and is accompanied by a swinging of the preforms, this being something that may have consequences detrimental to correct and uniform operation of the plant (as it may cause preforms to jam, to be ejected, etc.).
The users of such plants therefore have a pressing need for feed devices which are less expensive and less bulky while at the same time are capable of moving the preforms along more uniformally and without the possibility of incidents.
It is precisely an object of the invention to meet these requirements and to propose means which are better able than the current devices to meet the various requirements of current practice.

Device for orienting bulk-fed tubular preforms


A distributorless ignition coil has two high voltage secondary windings wound around a primary winding, with each secondary winding being electrically connected to a respective spark plug. A shield surrounds the secondary windings. The secondary windings share a common center tap between them, and the center tap is electrically connected to the shield, which thus acts as a conductor to convey current back to an end of the shield that conveniently may be connected to ignition components to complete the electrical path, thus obviating the need for an interior wire extending from the center tap inside the coil to the end of the coil case.

Ignition coils are components that use the coupling between a primary winding and a secondary winding to transform relatively low voltages from the battery into high voltages that are supplied to the spark plugs in vehicle gasoline engines. The spark plugs start the internal combustion process that drives the rods and hence, crankshaft and axles. In older systems, a single ignition coil is provided, and a distributor sends the pulses from the coil through respective high voltage spark plug wires to the spark plugs in the cylinders in accordance with a timing that is established by the distributor.
In relatively modern engines, an engine can have several ignition coils, one for each cylinder or for each pair of cylinders, thereby advantageously eliminating the need for distributors and high voltage wires and also providing more precise control of the engine timing. One example of such an ignition coil system is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 6,556,118, owned by the present assignee and incorporated herein by reference.
When such a coil is used to energize two spark plugs (either for two different cylinders or for a single cylinder in an engine that has two spark plugs per cylinder), two secondary windings surround the low voltage-carrying primary winding that is wound on an interior ferromagnetic core, with the secondary windings being radially spaced from the primary winding. Each secondary winding, owing to the inductive coupling between it and the primary winding and the different numbers of winding turns between the primary and secondary windings, produces a high voltage that is sent to a respective spark plug.
As understood herein, the ends of the secondary windings that are opposite the ends which are connected to the spark plugs must be connected to ground (in a three conductor system) or to the positive pole of the battery in a two conductor system to complete the electrical path. The present invention also understands that if these ends are located axially between oppositely-wound secondary windings, somehow electrical connection must be made from the middle of the ignition coil to the end, for connection to ground or battery positive. As critically recognized by the present invention, owing the relatively small size of modern ignition coils, the space available to run a lead from between the secondary windings and past one of the high voltage secondary windings to an end connector is limited, making electrical connection using a lead internal to the ignition coil difficult and problematic. Having made these critical observations, the invention below is provided.

Ignition coil with secondary winding center tap connected to shield


A system and method for data recipient invoked electronic commerce allowing data subjects to provide information over a network and data recipients to receive such information relating to the needs of s data subject such as purchases, distribution of application information and the like. The system includes a server having software which gathers the information from a data subject to complete a transaction over a network. The system has a data subject data structure that stores information for registered data subjects. The software is able to access the data subject data structure and enter the data subject's information during subsequent transactions. Having the software obtain and enter the data subject's purchasing information, the data subject does not have to enter the same information every time the data subject desires to effect a transaction over the network. In alternate embodiments, the same technology can be applied to other arenas where a user may have to enter the same repetitive information.

The essence of electronic commerce is the exchange of information. The most common form of electronic commerce entails the purchase of products over the Internet using a credit card. Information necessary to consummate a credit card transaction includes the data subjects name, address, credit card information, and the amount to be charge. While the term "electronic commerce" is generally associated with the purchase of goods and services over the Internet, the term encompasses other transactions as well. For example, applications for insurance, college admissions, and loans are transactions that are not purchase transactions. Hence the term "transaction" is generally used herein to describe all manner of interactions over a network of the type noted above. The common element to all transactions is the transfer of data from one party to another.
A person want to send personal data (the "data subject") can either type in the required information each time a transaction is consummated or store the data for retrieval. Typing in data is not only inefficient and prone to errors, but discourages electronic commerce. Using a local software solution is generally considered undesirable, as most such software programs are proprietary to a particular payment system, require the data subject to become skilled in the operation of the program, and are perceived as slow or unwieldy.
Recently, wireless Internet services have been developed to allow data subject use of wireless network communication devices such as wireless phones and PDAs (personal digital assistants) to send and receive information over the Internet. Wireless devices generally have limited memory making wallet software that is resident on a network communication device impractical. Even if wallet software for wireless devices could be written compactly, updating such software could prove very difficult. Many of these phones use proprietary software, so custom wallet software would need to be provided.
Similarly, cable television systems have evolved into two-way networks in which the data subject uses a network device to send and receive information over the cable network. The cable network communication device may be a set-top box or a remote unit. Like the wireless device, memory is limited and wallet software is impractical.
Therefore, a need exists for a system that allows a data subject to send data information to a data recipient over a common network in a manner that offers security, allows access from any network communication device that has access to the common network, and allows system upgrades without dependency on changing software on the data subjects' network communication device.

Method and apparatus for data recipient storage and retrieval of data using a network communication device


A system and method for implementing optimized multiplexing and power saving in a broadcast/multicast network. According to various embodiments, frame and slot structures are designed in such a way so as to adapt based upon the bit rate variation of the input stream, while at the same time not compromising the receiver's power consumption.

This section is intended to provide a background or context to the invention that is recited in the claims. The description herein may include concepts that could be pursued, but are not necessarily ones that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, what is described in this section is not prior art to the description and claims in this application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
The issue of power consumption in handheld devices such as mobile telephones has become increasingly problematic in recent years and is expected to continue to be an issue in the future. In particular, increased power consumption in such terminals increases terminal temperature. In many devices, however, the internal temperature has already reached its uppermost limit. Additionally, increased power consumption shortens the terminal's usage time unless the terminal's battery capacity is not correspondingly increased. However, terminals have been becoming both smaller and thinner in recent years, and this trend will likely continue. This trend has led to the unfortunate situation where terminal batteries need to be smaller at the same time that power consumption is increasing.
In response to the above constraints, a number of different mechanisms have been developed for broadcast and multicast systems with the goal of decreasing the power consumption of broadcast/multicast receivers. In radio communication systems, the radio spectrum is a scarce resource and therefore should be used in the most efficient manner possible.
In broadcasting systems, the data rate of an input stream coming to a device is not precisely known at a given moment. Instead, only the statistical behavior of the input stream is known. This can result in a capacity allocation problem, when several input streams having unknown characteristics (e.g., unknown bitrates) are multiplexed into one signal that will be transmitted over a broadcast/multicast system. A number of systems have been implemented to address the above. The issue of power consumption has been conventionally addressed in part, for example, through the use of different time division multiplexing (TDM) systems. In these systems, either the transmitter, the receiver, or both devices may power off portions thereof according to the particular TDM arrangement being used. Another option for addressing the power consumption issue has been to use frequency division. In frequency division arrangements, a used frequency band is divided into smaller sub-bands, and the transmitter or receiver uses only one or more of these sub-bands, thereby leading to smaller power consumption.

System and method for implementing optimized multiplexing and power saving in a broadcast network