This invention presents a novel means to passively achieve a compact moving-coil actuator with a very low natural frequency. The diaphragm and voice coil are mounted in a sealed enclosure from which the air is partially or completely evacuated. This reduces the air spring effect. The diaphragm is supported by a non-linear, buckling, or collapsible support apparatus. By taking advantage of the non-linear stiffness properties of such structures, the stiffness of the actuator can be designed to be small at the operating point, which when combined with the moving mass, yields a low natural frequency.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention is related to the field of acoustic actuators and acoustic control, and in particular, relates to an acoustic actuator mounted in a small sealed enclosure having an extremely low natural frequency.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Often, it is necessary to mount acoustic actuators (such as loudspeakers, i.e., speakers) in relatively small enclosures. This may result from constraints on the space available for mounting or in order for the device to be unobtrusive. However, when a speaker is mounted into a small sealed enclosure, the natural frequency (the fundamental mechanical resonance frequency) is higher than would be exhibited in a large enclosure system due to the air spring effect within the enclosure. This degrades the low frequency performance of the speaker, since speakers radiate sound less effectively below their natural frequency. Consequently, speakers designed for low frequency use are often mounted in very large enclosures. Large volume enclosures have less of an air spring effect, which allows for a lower resonance, improving the speaker""s low frequency performance.
If an active feedback circuit is implemented to regulate the motion of the diaphragm, the loudspeaker""s natural frequency can be tuned to a specific frequency. Such feedback loops have been widely used to control diaphragm motion and create speaker systems with enhanced low frequency performance (see U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,086,473, and 5,588,065). In addition to audio applications, motion controlled speakers have also been successfully implemented in noise control applications where the low frequency response of the actuator is crucial (U.S. Pat. No. 5,771,300). However, this technique has the disadvantage of requiring active feedback circuitry and additional power sources, and may not be practical to implement.
The stiffness contribution from the air volume that occurs when mounting acoustic actuators in small sealed enclosures can significantly increase the speaker system""s natural frequency. As a result, the actuator is less effective at low frequencies. The present invention is an acoustic actuator mounted in a small sealed enclosure having an extremely low natural frequency. This is accomplished in part by partially or completely evacuating the air from the enclosure to minimize the air spring effect. Additionally, a buckling suspension system is utilized that exhibits a non-linear spring rate. The suspension is capable of supporting the large loads associated with the pressure differential across the diaphragm while simultaneously exhibiting a low stiffness on the order of conventional speaker suspensions. The present invention enables the construction of small-enclosure-mounted sub-woofers that perform as well or better than similar large-enclosure-mounted sub-woofers. It is also applicable to noise control systems where low frequency response is critical, e.g., small-volume passive acoustic attenuators for damping acoustic modes in rooms.

Evacuated enclosure mounted acoustic actuator and passive attenuator

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force


A radiographic grid includes a grid housing having first and second side walls, a first cover sheet disposed on the grid housing, and a plurality of x-ray radiation absorbing lamellae disposed between the first and second side walls of the grid housing. Each of the plurality of lamellae has at least one alignment tab protruding from a lateral edge thereof for engaging the cover sheet such that each of the lamellae are maintained in alignment with respect to each other.

The present invention relates to radiographic grids for use in an x-ray apparatus, especially for use in an x-ray mammography apparatus.
It has been well known since the early days of radiography that secondary or scattered x-rays reduce the contrast of the x-ray image. The low difference in x-ray absorption characteristics between cancerous and noncancerous tissue has made mammography particularly susceptible to imaging problems caused by scattered radiation. A conventional Bucky grid consisting of a series of lead foil strips separated by strips of x-ray transparent spacers helps remove scattered radiation from radiographic fields.
The thin strips of x-ray radiation absorbing material are called lamellae and are substantially aligned with the incident course of the radiation from the x-ray source, with the x-rays being transmitted through the gaps between the lamellae. The grid is positioned between the object and image receptor to reduce scatter radiation thereby improving image contrast on the film. The degree of alignment required of the lamellae is a function of the ratio of the height of the lamellae to the width of the gaps between the lamellae. Radiation not aligned with radiation from the source is blocked by the grid from reaching the film.
Bucky grids used in mammography are either stationary flat grids or reciprocating flat grids having an interspace material between adjacent lamellae. U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,335 to Ferlic et al. teaches a reciprocating grid having at least a 90% open area at all positions of its travel to transmission of directly incident x-ray radiation (i.e. radiation perpendicular to the tangent of the direction of travel of the grid at the point of incidence). The x-ray transmitting slots are formed between x-ray absorbing lamellae, which extend radially in directions from an axis through the x-ray source. The spacing between the lamellae of the grid is air to reduce x-ray absorption. At least a 7:1 grid ratio between lamellae height to open air gap width, compared to grid ratios between 2:1 and 5:1 for grids having interspace material between the lamellae, is used to minimize transmission of a scattered x-ray radiation through the grid, thereby enhancing image quality.
The large height to gap ratio with air spaced gaps between the lamellae is obtainable in part by use of radially aligned lamellae, which substantially eliminates grid focus problems. Thus, maximum aligned transmission is achieved at all points of the grids travel. A low density of lamellae in the grid, typically on the order of three to six lamellae per centimeter, reduces the need for exceptionally close tolerances in manufacturing of the lamellae and permits the use of lamellae of sufficient width so as to be substantially self supported between opposed side walls of the grid housing and between a top and a bottom cover sheet so that the interspace material is not necessary for supporting the lamellae.
Although the lamellae are supported independently within the grid housing it has been difficult to maintain the lengthwise straightness of the lamellae as they are assembled. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,335 Ferlic et al teaches that lamellae are individually positioned and aligned with respect to each other in a grid housing and then the cover sheet is substantially covered with an adhesive and pressed down onto the edges of the lamellae. This process is extremely time consuming and subject to the inherent tolerances of the technician assembling the grid. It typically on the order of several hours and even days to assemble a grid as described in the '335 patent. In addition, if the lamellae are not initially positioned straight and parallel to each other or if the lamellae become dislodged from the adhesive and warp, then there is a reduction in the transmission of the primary x-ray radiation and artifacts occur due to the misalignment.
Another method for attaching lamellae within grid housing has been to provide carbon fiber plates having a thickness of 1 mm on the top and bottom of individual tantalum lamellae. The carbon fiber plates have grooves in them to provide the proper spacing between the lamellae and then the lamellae are glued into the individual slots one at a time using an adhesive. This method, like the method above, is extremely time consuming and results in artifacts if the lamellae become dislodged or warped.


A camera system with an autofocus actuator with flex members is provided for actuating the lens of the camera. A set of flex members reside on opposite sides of a lens assembly with a lens. The flex members suspend the lens assembly within the frame of the camera. The flex members may be made of a material with a flexural modulus and ducts to enhance the flexural modulus. The flex members are optimized to provide linear movement of the lens assembly with limited lateral movement. The camera may further include a shuttle driver to move the lens of the camera and actuate a flex in the flex members.

A bar code is a coded pattern of graphical indicia having a series or pattern of bars and spaces of varying widths that encode information. Bar codes may be one dimensional (e.g., UPC bar code) or two dimensional (e.g. a QR code). Systems that read and decode bar codes employ camera systems. These camera systems that read and decode bar codes are typically referred to as imaging-based bar code readers ("bar code readers") or bar code scanners.
In camera systems, it is often desirable to provide an automatic focus ("auto-focus") capability. By way of example, electro-mechanical autofocus assemblies for photo and video cameras are commonly available. In some conventional photo/video camera auto-focus designs, the autofocus assembly ("focus actuator") is integrated in the camera system. Focus actuators traditionally include mechanical slide mechanisms or mechanical linkages that move a camera lens in a linear direction to adjust the focus of the camera system. Auto focus capabilities are advantageous in bar code readers because a camera system in focus of an object can more easily read a barcode.


The invention relates to a method of automatic recognition of an at least partly spelled speech utterance, with a speech recognition unit (2) based on statistical models that include a linguistic speech model (6).

The invention relates to a method of automatic recognition of an at least partly spelled speech utterance, with a speech recognition unit based on statistical models including a linguistic speech model.
The automatic recognition of spelled speech utterances nowadays still has high error rates. On the one hand, the problem is to detect the boundaries between the individual letters, because a user, when spelling, regularly pronounces the individual letters without pauses i.e. silences between the letters. Furthermore, it is hard to acoustically model the letters representing brief speech units and being without context.
In the field of navigation systems for motor vehicles it is known that an entry mode is rendered available to a user in which navigation dataxe2x80x94for example, place namesxe2x80x94are entered by spelling out (cf. the Carin navigation system).
With the entry of a place name in such a navigation system, to be briefly explained in the following, and after the entry mode for entering place names has been activated, the letters of the respective alphabet that can be entered are shown to the user on a picture screen. By turning a multifunction button, the user can switch to and fro between the individual letters. The selection and thus entry of a letter is effected by pressing the multifunction button. Before the first letter of the respective place name is entered the user is offered all the letters of the respective alphabet to select from. After the user has selected a first letter, the navigation system performs a comparison with a database stored on a compact disc (CD). The result provides information about which letters in the place names that can be processed by the system can follow each other. Thus, after the user has entered a first letter, the comparison with the database will lead to the fact that no longer the total alphabet is selectable for entering the next letter, but only a part of the alphabet. Accordingly, as a second letter there can only be selected by means of the multifunction button a letter belonging to this part of the alphabet. With each entry of a letter, the part of the alphabet that can be selected is reduced in most cases; in exceptional cases such a part may also remain unchanged after a letter has been entered. For the case where a certain entered letter sequence can only be followed by a certain letter or a certain letter sequence, the entry of these letters is no longer necessary for the user, because the navigation system automatically assumes this (these) letter(s) as if it was (they were) entered by the user. The entry mode leads to a faster entry of spelled place names, which is also more comfortable to the user.
It is an object of the invention to improve the method defined in the opening paragraph for automatic recognition of a spelled speech utterance so that, in addition to a more convenient entry, also a reduced speech recognition error rate is achieved.
The object is achieved in that
after the at least partly spelled speech utterance has been entered, the speech recognition unit (2) determines a first recognition result for the speech utterance;
individually recognized letters are sent to the user for him to acknowledge or reject;
after a letter has been acknowledged, the linguistic speech model (6) is adapted, which linguistic speech model, after its adaptation, determines the number of letters that can be allowed as followers of the acknowledged letter and assumes the correctness of letters already acknowledged;
with the adapted linguistic speech model the speech recognition unit determines a further recognition result for the speech utterance, from which result the next letter to be sent to the user is determined, so that he can acknowledge it.
By means of the processing steps, in which the user is requested to acknowledge or reject recognized letters, the system receives a feedback relating to the correctness of the recognition result achieved thus far relative to the speech utterance to be recognized. The speech utterance to be recognized may be a single word or a word sequence, while the entry processed according to the invented method is the whole speech utterance spelled out or partly spelled out. The successive feedback is used for the step-by-step improvement of the statistic modeling used in the speech recognizer by a reduction of the search space. This leads to the fact that with each improvement the probability diminishes that a wrong letter is sent to the user to be acknowledged, which in its turn reduces the required time until the final recognition of the spelled speech utterance. The method thus enhances the convenience to the user. The acoustic models used in the speech recognition unit, which models were estimated on the basis of the spelled part of the speech utterance, need not be adapted according to the invented recognition procedure. Only the linguistic model used each time depends on the just processed position in the speech utterance.
For reducing the search space during the speech recognition, linguistic speech models are normally used. On the one hand, this reduces the computational expenditure for controlling the speech recognition unit and, on the other hand, this also brings in an improvement of the recognition results. However, there is the problem that a long linguistic speech model leads to too large acoustic search spaces. The processing of such a speech model requires very much memory capacity and cannot at present be realized or is inefficient with customary signal processors used for speech recognition applications. Thanks to the invention, the complexity of the linguistic speech model, on the other hand, is minimized. The speech model is successively adapted in dependence on the user""s acknowledgements of letters. Already acknowledged letter sequences are then presupposed as fixed. Only for the letters acknowledged last is there determined with the aid of the linguistic speech model which letters are selectable as following letters. Such a speech model is highly uncomplicated and can easily be converted into the speech recognition procedures used by means of customary signal processors with little calculation effort and memory capacity.
For the case where the user rejects a recognized letter, preferably two alternatives for a further processing are considered. On the one hand, the speech recognition unit can perform a renewed recognition operation with respect to the whole speech utterance after the linguistic speech model has been adapted including this information. The probability that the user is given the correct letter as a next proposed letter is increased considerably. On the other hand, there is also the possibility that the speech recognition unit determines a list N of best recognition alternatives as a recognition result for the speech utterance and that, after the user has rejected a recognized letter, the user is given the respective letter of the second-best solution alternative. This has the advantage that, after the user has rejected a letter sent to him as a recognition proposal, the speech recognition unit need not again perform the speech recognition procedures with respect to the (complete) spelled speech utterance, which achieves that after a rejection of a produced letter the user is given a further letter alternative with a minimum time delay.
If individual position-specific probability values particularly depending on all the previous letters are assigned to separate letters, which fact can be converted as a specification of the linguistic speech model used, the probability is enhanced that already a first proposal for a letter standing at a specific position of the speech utterance is correct and is acknowledged by the user. Here is used to advantage that certain letter combinations occur more often than other letter combinations.
In another embodiment of the invention the degree of exchangeability with other letters expressed by the probability value is taken into account when an alternative to a letter rejected by the user is to be determined. Certain letters, such as, for example, xe2x80x9cdxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9ctxe2x80x9d are acoustically more similar than other letters. This may be converted as information in the linguistic speech model so that, in case the user rejects such a letter, a higher probability than the probability of other letters is assumed, so that a letter defined as acoustically similar to this letter is the correct one and it has actually been entered as part of the spelled speech utterance.
As a further embodiment there is proposed that invalid and wrongly recognized initial letter combinations in the linguistic speech model are defined as invalid and are not proposed to the user and that in such a case the speech recognition unit determines a further recognition result for the speech utterance by means of the adapted linguistic speech model, from which result is determined the letter to be supplied to the user for him to acknowledge. To keep the speech model small, invalid initial letter combinations as such are not included in the speech model until the speech recognizer has falsely hypothesized them. If there is assumed that the entered speech utterance contains only words from a limited number of words, for example, when in a certain entry mode only place names are entered in a navigation system for motor vehicles, by means of this variant of the invention the basic linguistic speech model can accordingly be adapted, because the number of possible speech recognition results relating to the entered speech utterance may really be considered limited. This leads to a reduced search space of the speech recognizer and, finally, to an avoidance of proposed recognition results with initial letters or initial letter combinations which are a priori wrong and are to be disregarded.
The invention relates to an electrical appliance, more particularly a navigation system for motor vehicles, for implementing one of the methods described above. All the electrical appliances that have functional units which include a speech recognition unit are considered, in which also an entry by means of spelled speech utterances is possible.
These and other aspects of the invention are apparent from and will be elucidated with reference to the embodiment(s) described hereinafter.

Method of automatic recognition of a spelled speech utterance

Abstract: To improve this method in such a way that in addition to a convenient entry, also a reduced speech recognition error rate is achieved, there is proposed that

Abstract: after the at least partly spelled speech utterance has been entered, the speech recognition unit (2) determines a first recognition result for the whole speech utterance;

Abstract: after a letter has been acknowledged, the linguistic speech model (6) is adapted, which linguistic speech model, after its adaptation, determines the number of letters that can be allowed as followers of the acknowledged letters and assumes the correctness of letters already acknowledged;

Abstract: the speech recognition unit (2) determines a further recognition result for the speech utterance by means of the adapted linguistic speech model (6), from which result the next letter to be sent to the user is determined, so that he can acknowledge it.


A method of applying a foil indicia on a video cassette including the steps of mounting a video cassette on a conveyor, indexing the video cassette to a stamping position adjacent a first hot foil stamping means and a second hot foil stamping means, applying a foil indicia on a first predetermined surface of the video cassette, applying a second foil indicia on a second predetermined surface of the video cassette, where the first predetermined surface and second predetermined surface are disposed at a substantial angular relation to each other, indexing the video cassette to an exit position, and removing the video cassette from the conveyor. An apparatus for carrying out the method of the present invention is also disclosed.

With the advent of the video cassette recorder and the availability of low-priced, compact video cameras, the use of video cassettes for a variety of purposes, including educational and training purposes, has become widespread. Consumer familiarity with the equipment, and the ease of operation of the equipment has fueled this interest. Thus, there has been created a demand for training tapes which are produced in relatively low volumes, since the number of people involved and having this special interest is, and will always be, relatively low. For example, one might desire a training tape for automotive mechanics, illustrating the manner of overhauling the Lamborghini fuel injection system. Given the low number of Lamborghini servicing organizations, the demand for such a training tape would be relatively low in comparison to the demand for other video cassettes for other purposes.
Nevertheless, within the industry, it is common practice to contract the reproduction of tape cassettes where more than a few copies of the tape is required. These organizations are known as "loaders", who will manufacture or have manufactured for them the cassette shells, and who will load the shells with the tape and then assemble the shells into a finished cassette, applying to the cassette a time stamp indicating the length of the tape, and perhaps other distinguishing or marketing indicia.
Conventionally, the time stamp is added to the cassette by the "loaders" by an in-process hot foil stamping process. This involves feeding the cassettes one at a time, in sequence, along a continuously moving conveyor belt from a loading station to a hot foil stamping press, momentarily stopping the conveyor and stamping a single cassette under pressure of a hot foil stamping press. Next, the stamped cassette is released allowing it to be conveyed to a loading station as the next cassette in sequence is brought under the hot foil stamping press.
Prior to the subject invention, no further identification or marketing indicia was placed in process on any other panel of the cassette by hot foil stamping or any similar process. Rather, it has been the industry practice to apply to the dust door component of the cassette, the hot foil stamp and thereafter assemble the cassette and further process the assembled cassette as described above. Because of the extra handling, increased inventory requirements and added expense, this process has only been used where the number of cassettes to be produced are for a particular customer requiring cassettes in large volumes.
The hot foil stamping technique described above is a manufacturing process whereby transfer of material from a foil onto a substrate is achieved by the application of heat and pressure to the foil and plastic. The transfer is generally in the form of a print, design or marketing indicia, all of which is determined by the particular shape of the die affecting the transfer.
In an actual deposition of the foil indicia, the die is pressed against the substrate on which the indicia is required, sandwiching the foil between the substrate and the die, effecting material transfer from the foil carriage to the substrate. When the transfer of material to the substrate occurs, it is necessary that the die affecting transfer and the foil be in contact with that part of the substrate which must be printed or decorated. Any lack of contact will normally result in an incomplete deposit of material and, as such, a poor quality indicia on the substrate. Thus, proper clamping or stabilization of a video cassette in the above-described process is necessary to effectuate a high quality transfer of indicia onto a video cassette tape.

Method and apparatus for applying foil indicia on a video cassette


An artificial knee joint (10) with a clamping member (13) is provided with a peg (11) for attachment to a thigh shaft (12). The clamping member is pivotable against a braking member or barrel (19) located inside the knee joint housing when a vertical load (44) is applied to the knee joint to arrest the swiveling movement a leg part (26). The leg part accommodates the lower leg tube of a leg prosthesis as well as a traction strap (36) impelling the knee joint back into the straightened position. By this means an uncontrolled buckling of the artificial knee joint is prevented in the event that a prosthesis wearer stumbles.

The present invention relates to an artificial knee joint with a clamping member including a peg for attachment onto a thigh shaft, a lower leg part accommodating a leg prosthesis and a joint casing interconnecting the clamping member and the leg part for pivotal movement of the joint. The clamping member swivels relative to the joint casing and presses against a braking member located inside the joint casing when a vertical load is applied to the knee joint. When the clamping member presses against the braking member, pivotal movement of the joint and the lower leg part with the prosthesis is arrested. A traction strap connected between the lower leg part and the casing tends to return the joint or impel the knee joint back into the stretched or straightened position from a bent position.
The fundamental objective in a prosthesis is to bring about the natural coordinated movements of the substituted member of the body as closely as possible. In the case of artificial legs there arises especially the problem that the load braking systems known according to the state of the art are incapable of optimally doing justice to the safety requirements of the elderly. Due to friction contact processes, locomotion processes such as develop during the natural walk sequence are interfered with in a non-physiological manner with the consequence that these load braking systems lead to the wearer of the prosthesis having a fall.
Over and above that, in the knee joint constructions according to the state of the art, the reduction in size of the joints has resulted in dimensions in which braking forces that are capable of holding a knee in a bent position, results in an overstraining of the joint construction and of the material. Not infrequently this causes substantial wear of the friction surfaces, noisy working knee joints and an increased need for servicing.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to improve the knee joint referred to above so that an uncontrolled flection or pivoting of the joint under a vertical load is contained during bending movement, while all extension or straightening movements of the knee joint remain freely executable. The automatic engagement of a brake lining is made possible hereby. The construction of the knee joint in particular has to be simple and must operate with minimal wear.


A method for obtaining an uplink signal quality of a neighbor cell includes: a serving Evolved Node B obtaining a downlink transmission path loss of current user equipment in said neighbor cell according to a reference signal power of said neighbor cell and a measurement report result of said user equipment for said neighbor cell, taking said downlink transmission path loss as an uplink transmission path loss of said user equipment in said neighbor cell, and estimating the uplink signal quality of said user equipment in said neighbor cell according to said uplink transmission path loss. Correspondingly, the present invention further provides a method for optimizing handover and an evolved node B.

The LTE network is composed of Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) base stations, namely Evolved Node B (eNB), and an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) of the evolved packet switching center. The coverage range of the LTE system is composed of cellular cells dominated by a plurality of eNBs.
When one user moves in the cellular cell system, the user will unavoidably move from one cell to another cell, which causes the cell re-selection or cell handover. One simple example is that, when one user is calling and moves from the coverage range of a certain cell to the coverage range of another cell, the user is required to automatically carry out handover between cells for the purpose of not interrupting the call. This process is carried out without acknowledge by the user, and with no need of the user involving. As for to which cell the user hands over, and when to carry out the handover, they are all selected by the network side. The handover can include the intra-cell handover, inter-cell handover in the eNB, inter-eNB handover, and the handover between different access systems and so on according to the belongings of the both previous and posterior cells related to the handover. Without loss of generality, the handover procedure can refer to the procedure of the inter-eNB handover, with reference to FIG. 1, comprises:
step 101, the User Equipment (UE) provides the downlink measurement result report to the serving eNB1;
step 102, the eNB1 makes the handover selection, and completes the handover preparation procedure along with eNB2 at the target side of the handover;
step 103, the eNB1 notifies the UE to carry out the handover through the signaling;
step 104, the UE carries out the handover to the eNB2 according to the signaling.
Wherein the procedure of handover selection at the network side in step 102 is required to synthetically consider many factors, wherein the most important factor is the measurement report of the UE in step 101, and when the serving signal quality of local cell is lower than a certain threshold and after the signal quality of a certain neighbor cell reported by the UE is higher than a certain threshold, the network side can notify the UE to carry out the handover. However the network side also should obtain some other assistance information as the reference against some abnormal cases occurring, for example, the network side should include the history information of the UE, such as the time that the UE stays in the last cell in the process of the calling or the traffic, during the handover, to avoid the occurrence of the Ping-Pong handover.
However, in the current handover, a plurality of abnormal cases are unavoidable, for example, the Radio Link Failure (RLF) occurs in the target cell soon after the UE carries out the handover, thereby affecting the system performance, and also affecting the user's experience. Wherein, one of the reasons is that the uplink transmission by the UE in the target cell is not ideal. The main factor considered in the current handover selection is obtained according to the measurement of the downlink serving signal of the neighbor cell by the UE.
Besides, in the LTE system, in order to reduce the amount of the manual maintenance work of the network and to optimize the network capability, the LTE is required to support the Self-Organized Network (SON) function in the demands proposed by the Next Generation Mobile Networks (NGMN) organization at present, and the SON function includes the Coverage and Capacity Optimization (CCO) function of the network, namely the parameter configuration of the cell can be automatically modified through the automatic configuration function and the self-optimization function of the network, thereby achieving the optimization of the network coverage.

Method for obtaining uplink signal quality of an adjacent cell and method for optimizing handoff


This invention relates to the detection and quantitation of target nucleic acids in a heterogeneous mixture in a sample and the methods of use thereof. The detection system includes a chemiluminescent molecule, a chemiluminescent substrate, a dye that is light responsive when intercalated into nucleic acids and nucleic acids. This invention is useful in any application where detection of a specific nucleic acid sequence is desirable, or where the detection of enzymes that modify nucleic acids is desirable such as diagnostics, research uses and industrial applications.

Nucleic acids are measured to identify molecules of a specific target nucleic acid sequence in a population of heterogeneous nucleic acids, DNA or RNA, or to measure products of reactions where nucleic acids, DNA or RNA, are modified. Such measurements are generally permutations of the following procedures:
a. where the starting nucleic acid is RNA, conversion to DNA is accomplished by a reverse transcription reaction. The oligonucleotide primers for the reverse transcription reaction may be specific for the target sequence or may be general for conversion of all RNA sequences to DNA;
b. amplification of the target nucleic acid by target sequence specific reactions. These include polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with sequence specific primers, and primer extension reactions again with a target sequence specific oligonucleotide primer. Rolling circle amplification of DNA has also been used to amplify specific DNA sequences;
c. physical separation of the heterogeneous nucleic acids. Such physical separations include but are not limited to size fractionation and affinity separation when amplified nucleic acids are produced with derivatized substrates including but not limited to biotinylated deoxyribonucleotide triphosphates;
d. labeling of the nucleic acid. As mentioned in c. above, amplified nucleic acids may be labeled using either derivatized deoxyribonucleotide triphosphates or derivatized oligonucleotide (RNA or DNA) primers; and
e. detection of the nucleic acids. Nucleic acids can be detected either through the labeling moiety, or by physical separation followed by detection with nucleic acid specific dyes.
One of the more common methods for the quantitative detection of target sequences is the sequence specific amplification of the target sequence(s) by PCR, either from DNA or from cDNA after reverse transcription, physical separation by gel or capillary electrophoresis, and detection by fluorescent labeling (e.g. of dsDNA by ethidium bromide or by use of fluorescently labeled primers in the amplification). Another common technique for the quantitative detection of target sequence(s) involves "real time" PCR.
PCR technology is widely used to aid in quantitating DNA because the amplification of the target sequence allows for greater sensitivity of detection than could otherwise be achieved. The point at which the fluorescent signal is measured in order to calculate the initial template quantity can either be at the end of the reaction (endpoint QPCR) or while the amplification is still progressing (real-time QPCR). The more sensitive and reproducible method of real-time QPCR measures the fluorescence at each cycle as the amplification progresses.
The reporter molecule used in real-time QPCR reactions can be (1) a sequence-specific probe composed of an oligonucleotide labeled with a fluorescent dye plus a quencher or (2) a non specific DNA binding dye that fluoresces when bound to double stranded DNA.
Both of these techniques, and others not described in detail, require instrumentation either for physical separation or detection. The requirement for instrumentation and/or separation technologies with their attendant sample handling limits the use of quantitative and qualitative target sequence detection. Accordingly, there is a need for methods of detecting and measuring nucleic acids that do not require expensive, delicate instrumentation either for sample separation or for detection. Such measurements include but are not limited to the identification of molecules of a specific nucleic acid sequence as well as the detection of nucleic acids that are the product of nucleic acid modifying reactions. Nucleic acid modifying reactions include but are not limited to polymerization reactions, ligation reactions, nuclease reactions and recombination reactions.
Fluorescent Intercalating Nucleic Acid Dyes
A common method for the detection of nucleic acids is by staining them with fluorescing intercalating dyes. These dyes have several unique features that make them especially useful: 1) They have a high molar absorptivity; 2) Very low intrinsic fluorescence: 3) Large fluorescent enhancements upon binding to nucleic acids; and 4) Moderate to high affinity for nucleic acids, with little or no staining to other biopolymers. Intercalating nucleic acid stains have fluorescence excitations and emissions that span the visible-light spectrum from blue to near-infrared with additional absorption peaks in the UV, making them compatible with many different types of instrumentation. These dyes are excited with an extrinsic light source that has a spectrum that overlaps with the maximally excitation wavelength of the intercalated dye. They may be used to image both RNA and DNA. Some commonly used dyes are listed below.
Dye NameEx/Em*ApplicationEthidium Bromide300/600Quantitation and Detection ofdsDNAEthidium Bromide510/620Quantitation and Detection ofHomodimer-1dsDNAPICOGREEN ®502/523dsDNAQuantitation ReagentOLIGREEN ®498/518Quantitation and Detection ofQuantitation ReagentssDNA and oligonucleotidesRIBOGREEN ®500/520Quantitation and Detection of RNAQuantitation ReagentSYBR GOLD ® stain495/537Quantitation and Detection ofsingle- or double-strandedDNA or RNA post-electrophoresisSYBR GREEN I ® stain494/521Quantitation and Detection ofdouble-stranded DNA andoligonucleotidespost-electrophoresisAlso useful for real-time PCRassaysSYBR GREEN ® stain492/513Sensitive stain for RNA andsingle-stranded DNApost-electrophoresisSYBR SAFE ® stain502/530Sensitive DNA gel stain withsignificantly reduced mutagenicitySYBR DX DNA BLOT ®475/499Sensitive stain for DNAstain*Excitation (Ex) and emission (Em) maxima are the wavelength, in nanometers, (nm) of light that maximally excites the intercalated dye and the wavelength of light that is maximally emitted when the dye fluoresces, respectively.Resonance Energy Transfer
Energy may be donated to nucleic acid intercalated dye either by photons or by resonance energy transfer. The principle of energy transfer between two molecules can be exploited as a means to provide information about relative changes in their proximity and orientation to one another. Resonance Energy Transfer (RET) is the transfer of excited state energy from a donor to an acceptor molecule. Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) is a distance-dependent interaction between the electronic excited states of two dye molecules in which excitation is transferred from a donor molecule to an acceptor molecule without emission of a photon. This can only occur if the absorption spectrum of acceptor molecule overlaps with the emission spectrum of the donor. Förster determined that the degree of resonance energy transfer between the energy donor and energy acceptor is inversely proportional to the distance between the two molecules to the sixth power. In the case of FRET, an external light source of specific wavelength is used to excite the donor molecule.
Bioluminescent Resonance Energy Transfer (BRET) uses biological molecules such as a luciferase as the donor molecule. Depending on the species of origin, luciferases that use coelenterazine as a substrate generate blue light in the range of 450 to 500 nm. When a suitable acceptor is in close proximity, the blue light energy is captured by RET. The acceptor molecules are generally a class of proteins that have evolved the ability to be excited by blue light and then fluoresce in longer wavelengths typically with maximal spectral emissions above 500 nm. In both FRET and BRET the molecules of interest may be either covalently or non-covalently linked or brought in to proximity by conformational change or by spatial migration or by an alteration in their relative orientations to one another. For instance, the two molecules may be conjugated to two separate proteins of interest. They may then be brought into proximity by their affinity for one another or their affinity for a third molecule. They may also be attached to a protein of interest and then brought closer due to a conformational change within the protein of interest. Generally the two molecules must be within 100 Å of one another for resonance energy transfer to occur and changes as little as 1-2 Å may be detected. Luciferases that have been used in BRET include those from the firefly, Renilla reniformis and Gaussia princeps. A commonly used fluorescent protein is the green fluorescent protein (GFP) from Aequorea victoria. BRET is generally used to measure the degree of affinity or degree of conformational change between two protein domains either covalently or non-covalently linked.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Chemiluminescence proximity nucleic acid assay


An image processing apparatus capable of realizing accurate anti-aliasing with a small memory, without being affected by the order of drawing, and without inducing a drop in the drawing speed, including an anti-aliasing system obtaining edge information from an image after drawing, determining a processing content necessary for the anti-aliasing, and performing the determined processing. Specifically, either of the information of a z-buffer and the information of the normal vector at each pixel obtained at the time of drawing, or both information, is scanned or by the information of normal vectors restored from the information of the z-buffer is used, a state machine for holding the state and a counter for measuring the continuity of an edge are prescribed, the value of which pixel adjacent in which direction to each pixel on each edge and what kind of ratio to use for blending are determined, and the determined values are used for blending. This is performed successively until the pixel values are updated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus which expresses a model by a composite of unit graphics, generates pixel data in a drawing area of a screen coordinate system, performs rendering with respect to a memory, and, when generating an image, generates edge information and performs anti-aliasing and a method of the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Along with recent improvements of the operating speed in computer systems and the strengthening of drawing functions, "computer graphics (CG)" technology using computer resources to prepare and process graphics and images has been the subject of active research and development and has been put into practical use.
For example, three-dimensional graphics express the optical phenomenon when a three-dimensional object is illuminated by a predetermined light source by a mathematical model, add shading or gradation to the object surface based on this model, and further attach patterns to generate a more realistic and three-dimensional-like two-dimensional high definition image. Such computer graphics have become increasingly used in CAD/CAM in the field of development in science, engineering, and manufacture and other various fields of application.
Three-dimensional graphic processing is generally composed by a "geometry sub-system" positioned as a front end and a "raster sub-system" positioned as a back end.
The "geometry sub-system" means a step of geometric processing of the position, posture, etc. of a three-dimensional object displayed on a display screen. In the geometry sub-system, generally an object is handled as a set of a large number of polygons. The geometric processing such as "coordinate conversion", "clipping", and "light source computation" is carried out in unit of polygons.
On the other hand, the "raster sub-system" means a step of painting pixels forming the object. The rasterization is realized by interpolating image parameters of all pixels included inside a polygon based on for example the image parameters found for each vertex of the polygon. The image parameters referred to here include color (drawing color) data expressed by a so-called RGB format, a z-value for expressing distance in a depth direction. etc. Further, in recent high definition three-dimensional graphic processing, also an f (fog) for fostering a sense of perspective and a texture t for expressing the feeling of the material or pattern of the object surface to impart realism are included as image parameters.
Here, the processing for generating a pixel inside a polygon from the vertex information of the polygon is often executed by using a linear interpolation technology referred to as a "digital differential analyzer" (DDA). In the DDA process, the inclination of data to a side direction of a polygon is found from the vertex information, the data on the side is calculated by using this inclination, the inclination of the raster scanning direction (X-direction) is calculated, and the amount of change of the parameter found from this inclination is added to the parameter value of the starting point of the scanning to thereby generate a pixel inside.
Further, in three-dimensional computer graphics, when deciding the color corresponding to each pixel, rendering is performed for computing the color of each pixel and writing the value of this computed color to an address of a display buffer (frame buffer) corresponding to the pixel.
The image generated by such computer graphics is anti-aliased or otherwise processed in order to raise the visual resolution since an aliasing effect of discontinuity of straight lines, polygonal edges, and boundaries of colors occurs. Extraction of the edge information becomes necessary for the anti-aliasing.
Conventionally, edge extraction methods include the method of extracting edges from a generated picture by just filtering, the method of extracting edges by drawing polygons by outlines, etc. Further, the techniques of anti-aliasing include the super sampling method, the method of finding coverage for every pixel, etc.
Summarizing the problems to be solved by the invention, the method of extracting edges by just filtering does not utilize the advantages of the image being made by three-dimensional computer graphics, that is, useful data is generated etc. at the time of generating the image, so a certain degree of edge information is obtained, but edge information accurate enough to be able to be utilized for the anti-aliasing cannot be obtained.
In the method of extracting edges by drawing polygons by outlines, all of the surrounding edges are drawn in units of polygons, so rendering of pixels other than the inherently necessary drawn pixels, such as the surrounding pixels, is necessary. At that part, a drop in the drawing speed is induced. Further, most of the edges of the rendered polygons are not the edges of the drawn object and are overwritten by other polygons, so become useless.
Further, the super sampling method used as an anti-aliasing technique is a method of drawing a large amount of points and then applying a low pass filter (LPF). In this method, if increasing the number of samples, the quality is improved by that extent, but an enormous memory becomes necessary for that amount. Further, when the number of samples is increased, that number has to be rendered, so a serious reduction is caused in the drawing speed as well.
Further, with the method of finding the coverage for every pixel, the size of the memory which become necessary is smaller compared with the technique of super sampling, but the drawing order has a large effect, so correct anti-aliasing cannot be carried out if the drawing order of the polygons is poor and thus a Z-sort technique becomes necessary. Further, even if Z-sorting, there are the problems that the background persistently remains etc. For example, such problems occur at the center of a triangle fan.

Image processing apparatus and method of same


An SS7 Network Preventative Maintenance System for detecting potential SS7 and switched network troubles, automatically analyzing the troubles, providing alarm and corrective action to avoid major network events. Real time monitors on SS7 links at the STP provide information on exceeded link load, exceeded Message Signaling Unit (MSU) frequency and network management status/error conditions in a Stage 1 Process. The Stage 1 Process provides alarm information to a Stage 2 Process which controls all Stage 1 associated monitors for an STP pair. Stage 2 reacts to Stage 1 signals to generate alarm and corrective action information which is passed on to a Stage 3 Process. The Stage 3 Process controls all Stage 2 Processes in the operating company. Stage 3 reacts to Stage 2 output to detect potential or real accompanying network trouble and generates alarm and corrective action information and displays in response thereto. Stage 3 also alerts a Stage 4 process which is connected to all Stage 3 Processes in a region. Stage 4 analyzes data from Stage 3 to determine if similar trouble could happen in another network where upon Stage 4 informs affected Stage 3 Processes regarding the same. Corrective action/trouble verification information is generated and passed on. An Interface to the network""s surveillant system is provided.

The present invention relates generally to switched communications networks using Common Channel Signaling (CCS) and more particularly relates to a system, method and apparatus for monitoring and testing the operation of the CCS network.
One system for providing a Common Channel Signaling Network (CCSN) utilizes Signaling System 7 (SS7) protocol in a Packet Switched Data Network (PSDN) connecting Network Elements (NE) via packet switched 56 KB digital data circuits. In addition to providing call set signaling functions, the SS7 network also provides access to switching control points (SCP) used to permit line identification database (LIDB) queries for credit card verification and 800 database look-up for 800 services. Class services also use the SS7 network to provide custom call features. The latest services using the SS7 network comprise Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN) services. AIN services use the SS7 network to access an Integrated Switching Control Point (ISCP) where AIN service functions are performed.
This network currently employs various Network Traffic Management (NTM) and NE test and provisioning systems to maintain the NEs in the Public Switched Network. However, these systems can only report troubles and provide manual NE trouble resolution tools. The Bellcore SS7 Engineering and Administration System (SEAS) was developed to provide Network Management functions for the SS7 network, but lacks the ability to anticipate troubles and provide corrective action instructions to NE operations personnel. Also, both NTMs and SEAS use information supplied from the NEs or the SS7 switching transfer point (STP) hardware which, when in trouble, can often cannot provide timely status information to maintenance personnel because of excessive NE and STP processor demands. SS7 STPs are especially susceptible to processor delays due to the extremely high volume of SS7MSUs generated and processed during a major trouble condition. For these reasons an SS7 Real Time Monitoring System (RTMS) which is outside of the STP environment is needed to maintain the SS7 network and to ensure SS7 network reliability.
Current telecommunications and data networks using CCS generally utilize the protocol of Specification of Signaling System 7 (SS7) which is described in Section 6.5, LSSGR, Issue 2, July 1987, TR-TSY-000506, a module of TR-TSY-000064. Various methods and techniques for testing and analyzing the operation of such networks have been proposed including, by way of example, in co-pending application Ser. No. 07/953,173, filed Sep. 29, 1992, and commonly assigned with the present invention. Generally speaking, such prior arrangements for testing of SS7 networks have been responsive to malfunctions or else conducted on a routine basis at periodic intervals. Such techniques, while effective for their intended purposes, offer little, if any, assistance in detecting incipient developing problems so rapidly as to permit and provide prevention of network failure before the development of the problem is complete.
Accordingly it is an object of the present invention to provide a communications network preventative maintenance tool that detects potential CCS and switched network troubles, automatically analyzes such troubles and provides corrective action or instructions in time to avoid major breakdown.
It is another object of the invention to provide an SS7 Real Time Monitoring System (RTMS) which is outside of the STP environment and has the ability to anticipate troubles and provide corrective action instructions on a sufficiently rapid basis to detect incipient problems and provide corrective action before a serious network problem develops.
The SS7 Real Time Monitor System of the invention is a multi stage SS7 network preventative maintenance tool that detects potential SS7 and switched network troubles, automatically analyzes these troubles, and provides alarm and corrective action instructions to maintenance personnel in time to avoid a major network event. This is accomplished by placing real time SS7 monitors on links at the Signal Transfer Points (STPs). Information on exceeded Link Load, exceeded Message Signaling Unit (MSU) frequency and Network Management status/error conditions is passed to a Stage 1 controller or process. The Stage 1 process controls link monitors capable of monitoring upwards of 32 link monitors at a single STP. The monitors perform preliminary link analysis on error conditions. If the monitors identify trouble on any of the links, alarm information is sent to a Stage 2 controller or process via the Stage 1 process. The Stage 2 process controls all Stage 1 and associated monitors from an STP pair. If Stage 2 determines that there is an STP pair network trouble, it generates alarm and corrective action information and passes it to the Stage 3 controller or process. The Stage 3 process controls all Stage 2 controllers or processes in the operating company. If Stage 3 determines that there is potential or real company network trouble, it generates alarm and corrective action information and display signals on maintenance terminals in the company""s SS7 control center (SEAC, SCC, etc.). Stage 3 also alerts the Stage 4 controller process.
The Stage 4 process is connected to all Stage 3 processes in the Region. It receives alarm/alert and corrective action information from the Stage 3 processes. It analyzes this data and determines if a similar trouble could happen in another company""s network. The Stage 4 process informs the affected company""s Stage 3 processes that a potential trouble condition may exist in their network. It will also pass along or generate corrective action/trouble verification information relevant to their network configuration.
These four controllers and processes provide a means to achieve a real time SS7 network maintenance/management system capable of preventing major company and Regional SS7 failures. The Stage 5 process is an interface to the Company""s Network Surveillance System (NSS). This interface allows the Stage 3 and Stage 4 processes to get STP status information needed to assist trouble analysis. Also, since the SS7 Real Time Monitor System is capable of identifying troubles in seconds, it can pass alarm and status messages to the NSS system. The NSS system can use this information to anticipate Central Office (CO) alarms and ignore those alarms that it already knows will be generated. This allows the NSS system to concentrate its efforts on fixing the troubles at the CO and working interactively with the SS7 Real Time Monitor System to correct any remaining troubles.

Common channeling signaling network maintenance and testing


Disclosed are a photosensitive resin composition for a color filter and a color filter using the same. The photosensitive resin composition for a color filter includes (A) a dye-polymer composite including a structural unit derived from a compound represented by the following Chemical Formula 1; (B) an acrylic-based photopolymerizable monomer; (C) a photopolymerization initiator; and (D) a solvent.

A color filter is used for a liquid crystal display (LCD), an optical filter for a camera, and the like. A color filter can be fabricated by coating a fine region colored with three or more colors on a charge coupled device or a transparent substrate. The colored thin film can be commonly fabricated by dyeing, printing, electrophoretic deposition (EPD), pigment dispersion, and the like.
The color filter is prepared through many chemical treatments during the manufacturing process. Accordingly, in order to maintain a pattern formed under the aforementioned condition, a color photosensitive resin is required to have a development margin but chemical resistance and thus to improve yield of a color filter.
When a liquid crystal display device is fabricated in a color filter-on-array (COA) method of forming a color filter on a TFT array panel, a transparent electrode needs to be formed on the color filter. The transparent electrode may be fabricated by sequentially forming a transparent conductive layer and a photosensitive resin film on a color filter, exposing and developing the photosensitive resin film, patterning it, and etching the transparent conductive layer using the patterned photosensitive resin film. The color filter is exposed to various chemical solutions such as a stripper and the like and thus should have strong chemical resistance.
In addition, the color filter is typically subjected to a plurality of heat treatment processes and thus should have strong heat resistance.

Photosensitive resin composition for color filter and color filter using the same

Abstract: In Chemical Formula 1, each substituent is the same as defined in the detailed description.


A reference voltage generator includes an input terminal configured to receive an enable signal and an output terminal configured to provide an output signal. A voltage generator circuit is arranged to generate a first output voltage signal, and a pre-settling circuit is arranged to generate a second output voltage. The pre-settling circuit is configured to provide the second output voltage signal at the output terminal in response to the enable signal received at the input terminal, and following a first time period provide the first output voltage at the output terminal.

Improvements in integration density of semiconductor devices results in shrinking dimensions of such devices. This may require increased performance with a desire for reduced power consumption. Reference voltage generators, such as band gap reference circuits (BGR), and voltage regulators, such as low-dropout (LDO) regulators, often are used in such shrinking semiconductor devices. For instance, an LDO is typically used to provide a well-specified and stable direct-current (DC) voltage. Generally, a LDO regulator is characterized by its low dropout voltage, which refers to a small difference between respective input voltage and output voltage.

TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY, LTD.


A circuit includes a signal processing circuit for accepting an input and for generating a set of outputs. The input is provided in an input range that has a set of representative values, and each output represents a measure of an association of the input with one or more of the representative values. The signal processing circuit includes a group of output sections, each output section being responsive to the input of the signal processing circuit. Each output section includes one or more sigmoid generators. Each sigmoid generator is responsive to an input of the output section to generate an output that represents a sigmoid function of the input of the output section. Each output section also includes a circuitry for combining the outputs of the one or more sigmoid generators to form one of the set of outputs of the signal processing circuit. An input transformation circuit is coupled to the plurality of output sections. The input transformation circuit is configurable to transform the input of the signal processing circuit for controlling a mapping characteristic from the input to the set of outputs.

This specification relates to signal mapping, for instance to a receiver circuit for communication systems.
Communication systems can be used for information exchange between users. Such systems allow for data transmission over a wide range of distances and via different types of media (e.g., air and wire). Various coding techniques may be used to improve communication performance. Similar coding techniques may be used for storage systems.
FIG. 1 shows an example of a communication system 100 that includes a transmitter 110, a communication channel 120, and a receiver 130. The transmitter 110 receives an input (e.g., a digital bit string) and modulates it into a suitable form (e.g., an analog signal such as electromagnetic waves) for transmission over the communication channel 120 (e.g., air). The receiver 130 receives the transmitted signal and demodulates it back into the digital form for output.
In some applications, signals are coded prior to transmission for various purposes. One such application relates to error reduction and/or correction for signals delivered in the presence of channel noise. In these cases, an encoder 112 may be used to introduce carefully designed redundancy into the input signal to generate coded bit strings (sometimes also referred to as codewords). A mapper 114 establishes a direct mapping between the coded bit strings and a set of symbols, where each symbol corresponds to a respective value of a physical attribute(s) of the analog signal to be transmitted over the channel. At the receiver side, once the transmitted signal is received, a demapper 134 extracts bit estimates from the observed values, and a decoder 136 (or in some other examples, a soft iterative equalizer such as Viterbi equalizer) subsequently decodes the bit estimates to recover the digital signal.
As the received signals can be affected by channel noise, in some examples, it may be useful to first interpret the noisy signal as "soft" bits and then decode these soft bits into digital data. A soft bit provides a measure of reliability of bit estimates—in the case of binary coding, the probability of a received bit having a value of zero or one.


Implementations of systems, methods and apparatus include aspects of resource conservation strategies that may be useful for a USB compliant device that experiences resource limitations over durations longer than contemplated by the USB standards. Implementations of systems, methods and apparatus disclosed herein enable a USB compliant device to selectively process interrupts and/or other overhead resulting from USB communications between a host and the device. By not processing some interrupts and/or other overhead, based in part on the current level of resource utilization, a device can free up resources needed to process relatively high data-rate incoming traffic from the host. In some implementations, when locally implemented techniques prove to be insufficient, the device may optionally request that the host reduce the data-rate on the downlink.

1. Field
The present application relates to regulating communication between devices, and in particular, to resource conservation for data communication protocol compliant devices.
2. Background
The Universal Serial Bus (USB) standard defines a data communication protocol for connecting electronic peripheral devices to a host device. Thus far, there have been three releases of the USB standard (USB 1.0, USB 2.0 and USB 3.0). The USB standard was originally conceived to replace non-standardized serial and parallel data ports on computers, which called for various device drivers to be developed and maintained. However, the ensuing popularity of the USB standard has made USB ports standard features on video game consoles, DVD players, smart phones, and a wide variety of other consumer electronics.
Peripherals are sometimes referred to as functions, and may include other computers and devices such as keyboards, scanners, digital cameras, printers, external storage devices, etc. The USB standard enables plug-and-play capabilities, meaning that peripheral devices can be connected and disconnected from a host without powering down or rebooting the host. Rather, when a device is first connected, the host enumerates and recognizes it, and loads the device driver needed for that device. The host and connected peripheral are then able to communicate data to one another.

Systems, methods and apparatus for data communication


The present invention relates to a combined counterweight hitching device and method thereof, and a counterweight mounting structure. The combined counterweight hitching device is mounted on a turntable tail framework, wherein the combined counterweight hitching device includes a turntable tail framework bottom plate, a lifting oil cylinder, a lifting oil cylinder fixing seat and a hitching driving mechanism, the turntable tail framework bottom plate is fixed on the turntable tail framework, the lifting oil cylinder fixing seat is arranged on the upper surface of the turntable tail framework bottom plate and is hinged with the turntable tail framework bottom plate, the lifting oil cylinder is fixed at one end of the lifting oil cylinder fixing seat, the one end distal to a point on which the turntable tail framework bottom plate is hinged with the lifting oil cylinder fixing seat, a hitching platform is mounted at a piston rod end of the lifting oil cylinder, and the hitching driving mechanism is connected with the lifting oil cylinder fixing seat, and drives the lifting oil cylinder fixing seat to make the hitching platform enter a hitching platform groove on the counterweight to complete a hitching operation. By adopting the combined counterweight hitching device and method, and the counterweight mounting structure provided by the present invention, the mounting and demounting of the combined counterweight are more convenient, and the mounting space is smaller.

At present, medium and large tonnage wheeled cranes are applied more and more widely, and the lifting capability has been improved continuously, resulting in larger and larger self weights of the cranes, which are far more than the stringent requirements on the total weights and axle loads of the cranes. Therefore, in order to comply with this transportation requirement of the wheeled cranes, the most basic operating devices are only carried at a general running state, and other devices need to be demounted and transported separately. In order to ensure rapid transfer, quick and simple assembly and fast operation of the wheeled cranes, the mounting and demounting of the separate transported devices must be simple and convenient, and the purpose of rapid demounting and mounting is achieved while minimizing the time, manpower and material resources.
A combined counterweight is a device, which is widely used in the medium and large tonnage wheeled cranes, needs to be transported separately and aims at improving the lifting performance of the cranes on medium and long arms and on large amplitudes and giving full play to the performance of lifting arms and other main structural members. When the cranes are on the road, the combined counterweight needs to be demounted to meet relevant requirements and needs to be demounted and mounted once each time when the cranes are transferred for a long distance, therefore a method must be found for frequently mounting and demounting the combined counterweight with fast and convenient operation and without relying on auxiliary equipment.
Currently, the counterweight of the wheeled crane is mainly hitched in such a manner that after a piston rod of a lifting oil cylinder stretches into a hitching hole, the lifting oil cylinder is driven by a turntable to rotate to enable a hitching platform at the lower end of the piston rod to enter a hitching platform groove, and the oil cylinder retracts to mount the combined counterweight. After the piston rod enters the hitching hole, the hitching platform at the lower end of the piston rod needs to enter the hitching platform groove, which requires the whole upperstructure of the wheeled crane to rotate, so that the mounting space is large and the working efficiency is low. Meanwhile, to accurately locate the lifting oil cylinder and the mounting hole, a plurality of position detecting devices need to be provided, otherwise at least two operators need to cooperate to mount and demount the counterweight. In addition, in the existing technical solutions, the hitching platform at the lower end of the piston rod is in rigid connection with the piston rod, and the counterweight is located by the oil cylinder, when the counterweight swings slightly, the piston rod bears an offset load force and is subjected to an oil leakage phenomenon or even subjected to failure and breakage if working for a long time.

Combined counterweight hitching device and method thereof, and counterweight mounting structure


A method and apparatus for exception handling in a multi-processor environment are described. In an embodiment, a method for handling a number of exceptions within a processor in a multi-processing system includes receiving an exception within the processor, wherein each processor in the multi-processor system shares a same memory. The method also includes executing a number of instructions at an address within a common interrupt handling vector address space of the same memory. The number of instructions cause the processor to determine an identification of the processor based on a query that is internal to the processor. Additionally, the method includes modifying execution flow of the exception to execute an interrupt handler located within one of a number of different interrupt handling vector address spaces.

As demand for processing power across different environments continues to increase, the need for multiple processors executing in a multi-processing environment has grown. Additionally, in different environments, the amount of memory could be limited due to cost and/or space restraints. Therefore, in certain multi-processor environments, such as a symmetric multi-processing environment, memory is shared among the different processors and thereby segregated to allow use of different portions of the memory by each of the different processors. However, for symmetric multi-processing, the same operating system is employed for running on both processors.
However, for certain applications, the different processors in a multi-processing environment are running different operating systems. For example, in a communications networking environment, given control cards within network elements may require a number of processors such that each processor is running a different operating system in order to accommodate the various functionality required for these control cards. To help illustrate, one processor could include a real time operating system in order to handle routing of data received within the network element, while a second processor could include a non-real time operating system in order to handle provisioning and configuration of the network element.
Disadvantageously, problems arise in a multi-processing environment wherein multiple processors are designed to share a same memory while executing different operating systems. Examples of such problems are encountered in the handling of exceptions, such as interrupts, by the different operating systems. In particular, the architecture of processors is typically such that they reserve an address space within memory to act as the exception handling vector addresses for handling, at least initially, the exceptions received by the processor. However, different operating systems generally handle their exceptions differently. Therefore, when two processors of a same type are executing different operating systems, there is a conflict in the handling of exceptions as both processors are designed to use the same address space in memory for initial exception handling.
Therefore, in typical multi-processing systems wherein this conflict of exception handling address space arises, a processor queries the memory controller to determine which processor it is (and therefore which operating system it is running) and processes the exception based on this knowledge. Disadvantageously, each time an exception is received, the processor must perform this query of the memory controller, which slows down the processing of these exceptions as this is a query that is external to the processor that can require multiple clock cycles to process.

Method and apparatus for exception handling in a multi-processing environment


A method for the recycling of all types of waste plastic, in particular mixed plastic (MP), in which compactate, in particular agglomerate, is ground from flakes or other plastic parts in at least one refiner stage in the presence of water, from which fine particles are removed from the ground material emerging from the refiner stage with the process water, the remaining ground material is washed and/or mechanically dehydrated and dried or the dehydrated ground material is again ground in another refiner stage in the presence of water and then dehydrated and dried, wherein the grinding of the compactate is performed in at least one refiner stage using a disk refiner (toothed disk refiner), the disks of which have engaging teeth, which are arranged separated on concentric circles, wherein there is a hole between neighboring teeth of a circle and the holes of a circle are each big enough that the particles to be ground or ground up to that point can pass through freely.

A method for the grinding and cleaning of waste plastic, in particular mixed plastic, is known from WO 2006/100044, in which a compactate or an agglomerate is produced from film shavings or other film remainders and chopped plastic parts. The agglomerate drastically reduces the volume of the waste plastic and can thus be easily transported. In this state, it is largely used for power generation. A large portion of dirt, impurities and adherences thereby remain in the agglomerate/compactate. In the known process, knowledge assumes that such a compactate or agglomerate can be easily ground and is suitable for further processing and refining. The grinding preferably occurs in a disk or drum refiner in the presence of water. A fine-particle fraction is removed from the ground material emerging from the refiner. The remaining ground material is washed or mechanically dehydrated and dried. Through further processing, such ground material can be used as a replacement for wood in composite wood boards, as a filler material in various applications and, if the degree of purification is appropriate, even with pure plastic or high-quality sorted recycling plastics for the production of plastic parts. Another area of application is the production of so-called WPC parts (wood plastic composites). During the production of such parts, a mixture of wood and plastic particles is produced either through dry mixture and direct processing or through compounding with the help of an extruder, an agglomerator, a heating mixer or a heating-cooling mixer and processed into shaped parts.
Waste plastic naturally contains a considerable share of pulp that is unusable for many purposes. This pulp originates from adhesive labels, composite packaging or from incomplete separation from free paper. In the case of plastics from waste paper collections, larger amounts of pulp often stick to the plastics. During compacting, the pulp is melted or encapsulated and thereby ends up in the grinding process.
In the case of these materials under the term compactate, one must differentiate between an agglomerate, which comes from a disk, ring die or pot agglomerator, and pellets, which are produced via a sieve mold process. Both processes compact or agglomerate the material in a dry process and create a three-dimensional composite of plastic particles with a defined particle size.
The differences between the aforementioned agglomeration processes and the pelletization processes are that a partial or even complete melting of the plastic takes place in the agglomeration processes, while no melting or only slight melting on the edge takes place in the pelletization processes using sieve molds. Another difference is that a layering of the plastics in layers takes place in the sieve mold pellets, above all in the case of plastics from films, which is not the case with the agglomerates.
However, the most important difference can be found in the aforementioned dirt and adherences. In the case of agglomerates, a large portion of the adherences, in particular pulp and dirt, is melted. In the case of sieve mold pellets, there is partial encapsulation but no melting, since the material is not melted thoroughly.
Sieve mold pellets can only be ground in an unsatisfactory manner with the process described in WO 2006/100044, since the release of individual film flakes takes place easily, which are known in the process described there to be incompletely ground or not ground at all. Only when the three-dimensional deformation of individual film flakes in the sieve mold pellets is sufficiently strong is there a satisfactory grinding result. In the case of an agglomerate that is partially or thoroughly melted, there is always an excellent grinding result according to WO 2006/100044, wherein two-dimensional flakes that are not integrated into the agglomerate but are not melted are nonetheless not optimally ground. If plastic is processed together with pulp in an extruder or in an injection molding machine, the moisture of the pulp leads to steam formation, which makes processing difficult or even impossible. Pulp in ground plastic also has the disadvantage that it attracts moisture hygroscopically and holds it longer than in the plastic material during a drying process, if applicable.
The object of the invention is to specify a method for the recycling of waste plastic, in particular mixed plastic, with which the reuse possibility of the prepared waste plastic is improved and in particular the separation of adherences and/or pulp from the waste plastic is facilitated.

Method for recycling all waste plastics in particular mixed plastics


Systems and methods for processing documents involve directing an imager at a document and automatically capturing the document when predetermined criteria are satisfied. The captured document can then be subjected to image processing, including separating the document into individual data field images and performing optical character recognition (OCR) processing on the individual data fields so extract data that can then be used to determine eligibility for benefits.

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention are directed to systems and methods for capturing and processing documents.
Although technology has provided ways to electronically deliver documents for quite some time, it is still very common to receive documents in paper form. It is also quite common for a person to use the information contained in a document for other purposes. For example, people typically must take information contained on tax forms and enter this information either manually onto paper forms or into tax preparation software for filing. Manual data entry is not only tedious but also subject to keying errors.
One solution is to capture tax forms using the camera that is part of a mobile device. For example, Intuit offers a mobile application called SnapTax, which requires a user to use align a W-2 form within a predetermined area of the camera's screen and then click the shutter button. The data contained on the captured W-2 form is extracted and combined with additional information provided by a user to complete a form 1040A.
Intuit advertises the SnapTax application as being available for persons who do not own a home, only have W-2, interest, or unemployment income, and earned less than $100K (or $120K if married) in 2012. Further, Intuit advertises that the SnapTax application captures a photograph of a W-2 form but does not advertise the ability to capture photographs of interest income statement forms or unemployment income forms.

Systems and methods for capturing and processing documents


An accessory for a barbecue includes a plurality of frames which are arranged in vertically spaced apart relationship and form an array having an outer perimeter and a central cavity. The array is placed on the solid fuel support of the barbecue, and solid fuel such as charcoal is placed around the outer perimeter of the array. The accessory has a base upon which a container is placed to collect juices from the cooking food.

A barbecue (sometimes spelled barbeque) is a device used to cook food over an open fire. The barbecue is typically loaded with solid fuel such as charcoal or hardwood, the fuel is ignited, and the food is placed on a grill over the burning solid fuel. Alternatively, the cooking may be indirect by using the smoke from the solid fuel.


A heat dissipating device of the present invention includes a heat sink (20) and two locking devices (10) for securing the heat sink. The heat sink includes a base (22) for contacting an electronic component. Each locking device includes a spring member, a post (12) and a sleeve (18). The spring member elastically rests on the base. The post extends through the sleeve. The post has one end engaging with the spring member, and an opposite end thereof extending beyond the sleeve for locking the combination. The sleeve has one end tightly grasping the post, and an opposite end thereof preventing the locking device from departing from the heat sink.

As computer technology continues advancing, electronic components of computers are made to provide faster operational speed and greater functional capabilities. When an electronic component operates at a high speed in a computer enclosure, its temperature increases greatly and dramatically, which can make the electronic component operate unstably. It is desirable to dissipate the generated heat quickly, for example, by using a heat dissipating device attached to the electronic component in the enclosure.
Numerous heat dissipating devices for dissipating heat generated by electronic components mounted on a circuit board are known. For instance, China Patent No. ZL 02200386.X discloses a heat dissipating device. The heat dissipating device comprises a heat sink and a locking device for securing the heat sink to an electronic component. The locking device comprises an elongated strap for being received in a slot defined in the heat sink, and two pins each of which has two leaf-shaped barbs at a bottom end thereof. The pins are installed in two ends of the strap. In use, the strap of the locking device is received in the slot of the heat sink. The two pins pass through two holes defined in the circuit board respectively to make the barbs engaged with the rear of the circuit board, and the strap presses the heat sink. Therefore, the heat sink thermally contacts the electronic component. However, the locking device can not be assembled on the heat sink before the heat sink puts to use, and parts away the heat sink during transportation, thereby resulting in much trouble.

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


Provided herein are methods for making foam materials and foam material products having a polyurethane foam matrix defining a plurality of pores, a hydrophilic agent retained within at least a portion of the pores for improving an absorption of the foam material, a salt retained within at least a portion of the pores in an amount sufficient to render the foam material isotonic, a surfactant retained within at least a portion of the pores in an amount sufficient to be released upon contact with a moist surface. Also provided herein are methods for making a multilayer foam by casting a second foam layer on a first foam layer substrate and compressing the second foam layer before the second layer is fully cured to form an interface layer in situ.

Absorbent pads have variety of uses and are made from diverse materials. Such pads can, for example, be used to contact the skin for absorbing body fluids. Generally, conventional absorbent pads are capable of absorbing moisture or fluids from an adjacent site. However, conventional absorbent pads also exhibit difficulty retaining the absorbed fluids. For example, in the context of a wound dressing, absorbed fluids can leak or discharge from an absorbent pad when the pad contacted by a patient, care provider, bed, furniture, or otherwise, thus requiring changing of the dressing and cleaning of the patient, care giver, bed linens, etc.

Systems and methods for making hydrophilic foams


A high-voltage coaxial cable and a connector are provided. The connector includes inner connector electrode, a connector dielectric enclosing an inner connector electrode, and an external connector housing. The inside electrode of a connector is provided with a tapped hole in one side thereof. The tapped hole corresponds to the threaded single core of a high-voltage coaxial cable. The inside electrode of a connector is selectively assembled with and separated from the high-voltage coaxial cable by selectively screwing the threaded single core into and away from the tapped hole. The connector dielectric is formed along the circumferential surface of the inside electrode, and is provided with a coupling portion. The coupling portion couples the connector with another connector, and is formed to a preset depth in a corrugated shape. The connector housing is formed in a shape that surrounds the connector dielectric.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to a high-voltage coaxial cable and a connector and, more particularly, to a high-voltage coaxial cable and a connector which are capable of, in a high-voltage environment, ensuring flexibility for the wiring of the coaxial cable and the placement of the connector and providing the stability of electrical contact when the coaxial cable is repeatedly assembled with and separated from the connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
A high-voltage coaxial cable is comprised of a central core, an insulating and impedance-matching dielectric substance and additional conductor for shielding and grounding, and is used to transmit high-voltage pulse signals without any dielectric breakdown.
A conventional coaxial cable and connector have a problem in that it is difficult to separate and couple the cable from and with the connector because insulating glue is applied onto the coupled portion of the inside electrode of the connector and the coupled portion of the core of the coaxial cable.
Furthermore, the conventional coaxial cable and connector designed for dielectric substance with circularly terraced cutting for insulation performance have a problem in that it is difficult to replace the connector or the cable individually even when dielectric breakdown occurs in one of the connector and the cable.
Furthermore, the conventional coaxial cable and connector have problems in that insulation performance, which is deteriorated due to the bending characteristic of the coaxial cable in terms of high-voltage characteristics and spatial limitation is imposed on the wiring of the coaxial cable and the placement of the connector.

High-voltage coaxial cable and connector

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


A coating agent for pencils for writing, sketching or drawing or for cosmetic articles of all kinds, including at least one cellulose fraction, at least one binder, at least one plasticizer, and at least one adhesion promoter, wherein the adhesion promoter is designed as a silane having functional groups.

The invention relates to a coating agent and its use.
Coating agents and coatings produced therewith are known in principle. In the following, coatings are understood as meaning immersion caps, rulings and/or complete coatings.
For example, so-called NC lacquer systems are known, which are used for coating or lacquering the surfaces of wood-cased pencils or their shafts.
Known NC lacquer systems for wood-cased pencils consist predominantly of colored or colorless nitrocellulose lacquer, Solvents such as ketones, alcohols or acetates are used for the rapid drying of such coatings. Such coating agents optionally have dispersed pigments, fillers and further additives.
A disadvantage found in such NC lacquer systems is that extruded pencils having shafts based on WPC and/or plastic can not be coated or only poorly or only with difficulty. The coatings on the shafts produced with known NC lacquer systems are poor in adhesion and peel off easily.
A coating agent and system known to improve the haptic sensations is further known from DE 299 08 890 U1, which are provided to be used for the handling surface with gripping surfaces or grip nubs forming raised structures made of plastic material.
The disadvantage here is that such lacquer systems do not wet cleanly on extruded pencils having shafts of WPC and/or plastic in the liquid state and do not sufficiently adhere in the solidified state.
A further known option for coating is the technology in which shafts can be provided completely or in some subregions, such as with so-called immersion caps on the pencil ends.
Although the adhesion problem can indeed be reduced here, the method for applying such films is expensive and requires much effort in terms of process.


A crystalline, gallioaluminosilicate molecular sieve having the offretite structure is synthesized by mixing a substantially gallia-free aluminosilicate hydrogel containing a templating or directing agent with a galliosilicate solultion substantially free of alumina to form a mixture and then crystallizing the resultant mixture, usually in 24 hours or less.

This invention relates to crystalline molecular sieves containing both aluminum and gallium and is particularly concerned with a method for synthesizing a crystalline gallioaluminosilicate having the offretite structure.
Zeolites are well known natural and synthetic molecular sieves that can be defined as crystalline, three-dimensional aluminosilicates consisting essentially of alumina and silica tetrahedra which interlock to form discrete polyhedra. The polyhedra are interconnected to form a framework which encloses cavities or voids that are interconnected by channels or pores. The size of the cavities and pores will vary depending on the framework structure of the particular zeolite. Normally, the cavities are large enough to accommodate water molecules and large cations which have considerable freedom of movement, thereby permitting sorption, reversible dehydration and ion exchange. The dimensions of the cavities and pores in a zeolite are limited to a small number of values and can vary from structure to structure. Thus, a particular zeolite is capable of sorbing molecules of certain dimension while rejecting those of dimensions larger than the pore size associated with the zeolite structure. Because of this property zeolites are commonly used as molecular sieves.
In addition to their molecular sieving properties, zeolites show a pronounced selectivity toward polar molecules and molecules with high quadrupole moments. This is due to the ionic nature of the crystals which gives rise to a high nonuniform electric field within the micropores of the zeolite. Molecules which can interact energetically with this field, such as polar or quadrupolar molecules, are therefore sorbed more strongly than nonpolar molecules. This selectivity toward polar molecules is the unique property of zeolites which allows them to be used as drying agents and selective sorbents.
The pore size of a zeolite can vary from about 2.6 Angstroms for analcime to about 10.0 Angstroms for zeolite omega. The term "pore size" as used herein refers to the diameter of the largest molecule that can be sorbed by the particular zeolite or other molecular sieve in question. The measurement of such diameters and pore sizes is discussed more fully in chapter 8 of the book entitled "Zeolite Molecular Sieves," written by D. W. Breck and published by John Wiley & Sons in 1974, the disclosure of which book is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. The pore size range of 2.6 to 10.0 Angstroms is particularly suited for molecular separation and catalytic processing. Analcime will sorb ammonia while excluding larger molecules whereas zeolite omega will sorb perfluorotributyl amine [(C.sub.4 F.sub.9).sub.3 N] while excluding any molecule having a diameter greater than about 10.0 Angstroms. All of the other approximately 150 zeolites now known have pore sizes falling within the range between 2.6 and 10.0 Angstroms.
In addition to their use as drying agents and selective sorbents, zeolites are widely used as components of chemical conversion catalysts. As found in nature or as synthesized, zeolites are typically inactive because they lack acid sites. In general, acid sites are created by subjecting the zeolite to an ion exchange with ammonium ions followed by some type of thermal treatment which creates acid sites by decomposing the ammonium ions into gaseous ammonia and protons. Activated zeolites have been used in many types of chemical conversion processes with the smaller pore zeolites being used to selectively sorb and crack normal and moderately branched chain paraffins.
Because of the unique properties of zeolitic molecular sieves, there have been many attempts at synthesizing new molecular sieves by either substituting an element for the aluminum or silicon present in zeolitic molecular sieves or adding another element in addition to the aluminum and silicon. The term "zeolite" or "zeolitic" as used herein refers to molecular sieves whose frameworks are formed of substantially only silicon and aluminum atoms in tetrahedral coordination with oxygen atoms. One such class of new molecular sieves that has been created is that in which a portion of the framework aluminum has been replaced by gallium. Specifically, it has been reported in Canadian Patent No. 1,182,096 that gallioaluminosilicate molecular sieves having a structure similar to that of offretite have been synthesized. The synthesis process, as illustrated in Examples 1 through 3 of the patent, involves mixing a colloidal silica gel with gallium (III) oxide, sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, sodium aluminate or aluminum hydroxide, water and tetramethylammonium chloride to form a mixture which is stirred and then heated in a closed vessel at 95.degree. C. or above. According to the examples, crystallization times ranged between 72 and 120 hours. Although such times are not excessive, shorter crystallization times will result in substantial savings in the energy required for crystallization.
Accordingly, it is one of the objects of the present invention to provide a relatively simple and rapid process for synthesizing a crystalline, gallioaluminosilicate molecular sieve having the offretite structure, which sieve may be useful in many types of chemical conversion processes, particularly hydrocarbon conversion processes. This and other objects of the invention will become more apparent in view of the following description of the invention.

Process for synthesizing a molecular sieve having the offretite structure and containing aluminum and gallium