In a boundary line recognition apparatus, a boundary line candidate extracting part extracts boundary line candidates from image data obtained by an on-vehicle camera based on known image processing such as pattern matching and Hough transform. One or more kinds of boundary line feature calculating parts calculate one or more likelihoods of each boundary line candidate. The likelihood indicates a degree of probability to be the boundary line. A boundary line feature combining means multiplies the likelihoods of each boundary line candidate and outputs a combined likelihood. A boundary line candidate selecting part selects the boundary line candidate having a maximum likelihood as the boundary line. The boundary line feature calculating part further calculates the likelihood of the boundary line candidate using a dispersion of brightness and an internal edge amount, and changes the likelihood based on an additional likelihood obtained by a driving lane surface feature extracting part.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a boundary line recognition apparatus capable of detecting a boundary line on a driving lane of a vehicle in order to assist the driver of the vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is a conventional driving lane departing warning apparatus to assist a vehicle driver capable of providing a warning to the vehicle driver when a vehicle departs from the current driving lane. In general, such a conventional apparatus is comprised of an image acquiring part, an image processing part, and a warning generation part. The image acquiring part has one or more on-vehicle cameras. The image processing part processes image data transferred from the image acquiring part. The warning generation part generates a warning based on the processing result transferred from the image processing part, and provides the generated warning to the vehicle driver.
The image processing part detects or estimates a boundary line of a driving lane based on image data obtained by the image acquiring part. The warning generation part calculates a right distance measured from the vehicle to a right-side boundary line of the driving lane, and a left distance measured from the vehicle to a left-side boundary line of the driving lane. When one of the calculated distances is not more than a predetermined threshold value, in other words, when the driver's vehicle approaches the boundary line within a distance indicated by the threshold value, the warning generation part generates and provides a warning to the vehicle driver.
In such an apparatus capable of providing a warning to the vehicle driver when the vehicle departs from the current driving lane, an important problem is a wrong detection based on noise. For example, there are various error sources to generate such a wrong detection, for example, a dirty mark on a driving lane, traffic signs painted on a driving lane, a light reflected from a puddle on a road, a shadow of the driver's vehicle, a shadow of a following vehicle, etc.
In order to avoid such a wrong detection caused by the influence from those error sources and extract a target boundary line as a target in warning by eliminating the influence of noise, there has been proposed a conventional technique to calculate a degree of probability of each boundary line candidate which contains such noise, and selects the candidate having a highest probability.
For example, Japanese patent laid open publication No. JP 2005-18148 discloses such a conventional technique to calculate the target candidate having a highest probability based on the number of boundary line candidates, a strength of an edge of the boundary line candidate, a contrast in brightness of an area around the boundary line candidate, etc.
However, the conventional technique disclosed in JP 2005-18148 needs performing an optimum process suitable for each of: (a) the number of boundary line candidates; (b) an edge strength of a boundary line candidate; and (c) a contrast in brightness of an area around the boundary line candidate, etc., and finally combining the results of those process (a), (b), and (c).
This needs complex processing, and makes it difficult to improve those processes and add an additional function to the processes. That is, in order to improve a robust control to perform image data processing, it is generally required to improve each process and add an additional process. However, because combining each of the functions needs performing a complex process, this makes it difficult to perform the combination of the processes and the functions.


The disclosure relates to a method for monitoring the performances of a cable for carrying a downhole assembly in a wellbore, the cable having at least a conductive core and an insulating outer layer, the method including:                performing on the cable a detection operation for detecting the presence of local anomalies of the cable;        generating an electrical model of a predetermined configuration of an installation including the cable and the downhole assembly disposed in the wellbore, the model being defined in function of the detected local anomalies,        estimating a parameter relative to a signal transmitted by the cable between the downhole assembly and a surface equipment in the predetermined configuration on the basis of the electrical model.

The disclosure relates to a method for monitoring the performances of a cable comprising at least a conductive core and an insulating outer layer for carrying a downhole assembly in a wellbore.
Electrical performances of cables such as slickline cables are indeed an interesting parameter to monitor as the communication between the surface and the downhole assembly greatly depends of the electrical integrity of the cable, each current leak on the cable generating a signal loss that may lead to a failure of the operation planned for the cable.
Methods for verifying the electrical performances of cables are already used during the build-up of the cable or, as disclosed in patent application US2013/141100, at the well site.

System and method for monitoring the performances of a cable carrying a downhole assembly


In a lid device opening and closing a fuel lid of a vehicle by a push-push mechanism, a common push lifter can be applied in both cases with and without a mechanism for locking the fuel lid at a closed position. The lid device (20) indirectly locks the fuel lid (10) at the closed position by controlling a displacement of a push rod (22) protruding and retracting from a push lifter unit (24). In order to control the displacement of the push rod (22), an engagement member (56) engaging the push rod (22) is movably supported in a housing (54) of a drive unit (26), and the push lifter (24) and the drive unit (26) are formed as separate members.

The fuel lid (fuel filling aperture lid) opens and closes a fuel filling opening by the hinge, and is attached to a vehicle such that a surface thereof forms an outline of a body of the vehicle in a closed position. In the fuel filling opening, there is disposed a fuel filling aperture to which a cap can be attached. In order to prevent the fuel lid from opening unintentionally, there is a case wherein the fuel lid is designed in such a way as to be lockable at the closed position.
As for the fuel lid device for opening and closing the fuel lid by a push lifter including the push-push mechanism, with a lock function, for example, there are known devices described in Patent Documents 1 and 2. The device described in the Patent Document 1 includes a push lifter, and a fuel lid lock mechanism formed as a separate member relative to the push lifter and disposed in a separated position to lock a fuel lid. In the fuel lid lock mechanism, a main member is fixed to a back surface side of a wall covered by the fuel lid, and a lock pin reciprocally attached to the main member protrudes and retracts from a hole provided on the wall so as to engage and disengage with respect to a locking portion provided in the fuel lid to switch between locking and unlocking of the fuel lid. The device described in the Patent Document 2 comprises a push lifter locking the fuel lid at the closed position, and an electric lock mechanism locking a rod (pin) of the push lifter, and the push lifter and the electric lock mechanism are integrally formed to each other structurally and functionally. In the device of the Patent Document 1, the fuel lid is directly locked in the fuel lid lock mechanism, and in the device of the Patent Document 2, the electric lock mechanism prevents pushing of the push lifter, so that the fuel lid is indirectly locked. Consequently, even if a force pushing the fuel lid acts unintentionally, the fuel lid can be prevented from opening.


A multi-band antenna includes: a conductor reflecting plate having a plate surface; a first antenna element that extends along the plate surface of the conductor reflecting plate to a length according to a first wavelength; and a second antenna element that extends along the plate surface of the conductor reflecting plate to a length according to a second wavelength shorter than the first wavelength. A distance between the first antenna element and the plate surface in a perpendicular direction is equal to a distance between the second antenna element and the plate surface in the perpendicular direction, the perpendicular direction being a direction perpendicular to the plate surface.

In recent years, for example, as a mobile communication base station or an antenna device for a Wi-Fi communication device, a multi-band antenna capable of communicating in a plurality of frequency bands is provided for practical use in order to ensure communication capacity (Wi-Fi is a registered trademark).
For example, a multi-band antenna is disclosed in FIG. 11, FIG. 12, and FIG. 13 of Patent Document 1, or Patent Document 2 and the like. In particular, in the multi-band antenna disclosed in Patent Document 1, there is disclosed a technique for realizing a multi-band antenna by using a plurality of dipole antenna elements supporting each frequency band.
In this multi-band antenna, crossed-dipole antenna elements for high band and low band are arranged alternately on the antenna reflector so as to form arrays. In addition, central conductor fences are provided between the arrays to reduce mutual coupling.

Multi-band antenna and radio communication device


The present disclosure relates to a method, computing device and computer program product for visual representation of radio frequency (RF) propagation of at least radio cell on a floor plan of a building. The floor plan and the at least one radio cell are displayed on a display of the computing device. At least one density zone is defined on the floor plan via a user interface of the computing device. A RF propagation calculation strategy is selected via the user interface of the computing device. The RF propagation for the at least one radio cell is calculated by a processing unit of the computing device, based on the configuration of the radio cell, the position of the radio cell with respect to the density zone and the selected RF propagation calculation strategy. The processing unit of the computing device further adjusts the calculated RF propagation as a function of a scale of the floor plan.

Planning a deployment of radio cells is a complex task, which requires taking into consideration a variety of parameters. The planning is particularly difficult for the deployment of radio cells inside a building. The parameters to take into consideration include: a particular layout of the building, propagation and absorption characteristics of the building, specific radio interface(s) supported by the radio cells, specific characteristics of the radio cells, interferences between radio cells, etc. To obtain an optimal coverage, the deployed radio cells need to be positioned close enough to each other, while at the same time minimizing interferences there between. Also, the position of each radio cell should be selected judiciously to minimize the total number of radio cells required to obtain optimal coverage.
Many software tools have been developed to plan radio cell deployment and simulate radio cell coverage. Such tools were initially designed to support deployment of macro cells in a cellular network. With the advent of small cells, other software tools were developed to support specific constraints encountered in small cell planning and deployment. Small cells may be deployed indoor and/or outdoor, for instance to improve radio coverage provided by a cellular network of a specific Network Operator in a building, around a building or in a business district of a city.
Typically, planning radio cell deployments requires a first step of data collection and memorization (e.g. via a data collection software tool) on the premises of the deployment, followed by a second step where the planning software tool effectively processes the collected data to simulate radio cell coverage. This two steps planning process lacks in flexibility and reactivity.
Furthermore, radio frequencies propagation require complicated mathematical equations to accurately simulate radio cell propagation inside buildings, so as to appropriately take into consideration the multiple parameters which affect RF propagation inside a building. These complicated mathematical equations require such processing capabilities, which cannot be realistically delivered by portable computing devices such as tablets and smartphones. Because of the complexity of the environment, RF propagation calculations inside buildings is usually performed by technicians and engineers specializing in RF propagation inside buildings.
Therefore, there is a need for a new a method, computing device and computer program product for RF propagation calculation and visual representation thereof.

Method, computing device and computer program product for visual representation of RF propagation


An aircraft includes a fuselage and an engine housed in the fuselage. A ram-air engine inlet is formed on an exterior of the fuselage. The ram-air engine inlet is defined, at least in part, by a cowling door. The cowling door is moveable between a closed position and an open position. An intake duct fluidly couples the ram-air engine inlet to the engine. A filter is disposed across the intake duct. A bypass duct is formed in the ram-air engine inlet aft of the intake duct. The bypass duct is operable to be selectively opened and closed.

This section provides background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the disclosure. It should be understood that the statements in this section of this document are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
Ram-air systems of rotor-wing and tiltrotor aircraft may include an inlet filter that cleans air directed into an engine of the ram-air system. Inlet filters separate dust, sand, and debris from the engine-inlet air during operation of the aircraft in harsh environmental conditions. Generally, an engine of a tiltrotor aircraft is housed in the aircraft fuselage; however, it may also be housed in a nacelle that is mounted to a wing. In certain flight conditions, ice particles may form and become entrained in air that is ingested into the ram-air system. Such ice particles may partially occlude the inlet filter and prevent ingestion of an adequate volume of air into the engine.

Method and apparatus for an engine inlet for a ram-air system with an icing bypass


A vehicle windshield wiper comprises; a driving rod which is reciprocated by crank-coupling with a wiper motor, a double arm lever reciprocally swung around a pivot shaft by the driving rod, a driving-side wiper blade which is swung by fixing in the pivot shaft, a driving-side lever which is fixedly secured in a downward extending portion of the pivot shaft, a coupling rod rotatably coupled with the driving-side lever, and a driven-side lever which is swung by reciprocation of the coupling rod and swings a driven-side wiper blade.

The present invention relates to a vehicle windshield wiper whose wiper link mechanism is improved so that a windshield can be wide wiped.
Lately, a safe and comfortable driving is required of a vehicle. Therefore, the vehicle is designed like a slant of nose, and a bonnet and a dashboard are fixed below not to appear in a driver's vision area, resulting in a good view and a wider area of the windshield. Thus, a windshield wiper also should be desirably useful in a safe driving by wiping not only a wipe area provided by the regulation for wipe area, but also an area between a lower view provided by the reglation and a bonnet.
Conventionally, the Japanese utility model open publication No. '86-153658 discloses a vehicle windshield wiper wherein a first wiper blade on the driver's side and a second wiper blade on the passenger's side are coupled with a driving power via a link mechanism to wipe a front windshield. By the link mechanism, the second wiper is adapted to be displaced from passenger's side edge to lower edge on the driver's side at a twice speed of the first wiper blade. This vehicle windshield wiper uses the link mechanism of a tandem drive system wherein two linear swinging levers are coupled by a coupling rod. However, in case of using of the conventional system for wipe angle of 180.degree., undesirably the swinging lever on the passenger's side is short and the link mechanism is so loaded that a vehicle body is not deemed as a rigid body. To widen a swinging angle, the use of a double arm lever is proposed as disclosed in the German patent No. 1164858. However, in a conventional double arm lever, a shaft is provided in either one of two arms composing the double arm lever and a coupling rod is coupled with the shaft. Therefore, the interference occurs between the arm and the coupling rod, resulting in limitation of a fully wide angle for wider wiping. Furthermore, because a driving-side wiper blade and a driven-side wiper blade are reversely swung at the same time, the both wiper blades interfere with each other, so a windshield cannot receive a wide wipe angle to a lower edge thereof.
U.S Pat. No. 4672709 discloses a drive for a tandem wiper system wherein a driver's primary vision area is double wiped by a motor 64. The drive for the windshield wiper system includes a driver's side transmission and a passenger's side transmission. An axis 38 of a tower 36 in the transmission 32 is swung by the motor 64 via a crank arm 68, a drive link 70, a ground link 52, a connecting link 60 and an elongated drive plate 44. Because the tower 36 and the ground link 52 interfere with each other, a windshield is not wide wiped by a passenger's side wiper blade. As a result thereof, a driver's side windshield cannot be wiped to a lower view being a lower edge 14.


An optical device and method for fabricating an optical device. The optical device comprising: a semiconductor material comprising an active layer configured to emit light when an electrical current is applied to the device and/or to generate an electrical current when light is incident on the active layer, wherein the semiconductor material comprises a first surface and an opposed second surface, from which light is emitted from and/or received by the device, and wherein the first surface defines a first structure comprising the active layer and configured to reflect light emitted from the active layer toward the second surface and/or to reflect light received by the device toward the active layer, and the second surface defines a second structure configured to permit light incident on the second surface at an angle outside a critical angle range to the planar normal to pass therethrough.

LEDs convert electrical energy into optical energy. In semiconductor LEDs, light is usually generated through recombination of electrons, originating from a first doped semiconductor layer, and holes, originating from a second doped semiconductor layer. In some infra-red emitting semiconductor materials light can be generated by electron intersub-band transitions rather than electron-hole transitions. The area where the main light generation takes place is referred to herein as the active layer, or more generally as the active region.
A major challenge in the field of LEDs is to extract as much of the emitted light as possible from the semiconductor material into the surrounding medium, which may be air.
There are a number of problems with traditional cuboid-shaped LEDs including: 1) most light emitted from the active layer is outside the angle of total internal reflection, which leads to long path lengths for rays; and 2) they suffer from high absorption due to increased path lengths
An approach used to improve LED performance is called chip shaping. Higher EEs are possible with this approach. However, it does not eliminate the long path lengths within the LED chip, nor the requirement for an external mirror. Also, the technique is less suitable to the widely used gallium nitride (GaN) based LEDs. The reason for this is that the sapphire and silicon carbide (SiC) substrates commonly used in GaN-based LED chips are very hard materials and are very difficult to shape mechanically, for example, with a dicing saw. In LEDs comprising these materials, it seems not to be a practical solution to shape the whole chip.
Another approach to achieving a high EE is to provide an array of "micro-LEDs", thus keeping the average path length within the device short. Such arrangements are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,410,940 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,410,942.
Total internal reflection is a common problem for LED devices, as the refractive index of the substrate materials used is typically much greater than air, which typically surrounds the LED. This allows light to escape from only a very narrow range of escape angles (or critical angle range) around the normal to the exit surface. The escape angle is more limited as the difference in refractive index of the materials becomes larger. For typical LED devices, in the simplest case, only approximately 10% of the generated light is extracted. The design challenge is to create a structure which allows more light to be extracted into the air.
Packaging techniques may also be used to enhance the EE of LEDs. For example, the extraction efficiency can be increased by profiling an encapsulant over a packaged semiconductor LED device. The encapsulant may be epoxy or phosphor crudely shaped like a lens. This can improve the EE by around 5 to 10%. Additional 90° lenses placed on a packaged LED device can be used to improve the EE of the device by around 10 to 20%.
Processing approaches that user planar fabrication techniques are preferred by the LED industry as they are compatible high volume manufacturing. Any modification to an LED design should use such techniques.
Surface roughening of the semiconductor surface still maintains a planar concept, and these designs are still considered to be 'planar' in nature. Optimised surface roughening can currently achieve over 50% EE. However, there are limitations to this planar surface roughening approach. Firstly, the design still results in multiple internal reflections before the light escapes. This results in losses, especially reflections on the contact electrodes, even if the reflections are relatively efficient. Secondly, the design typically includes mirrors as part of the electrical contact on the planar surface to enhance the light extraction. This requires additional manufacturing processes.
Sapphire-based semiconductor devices (i.e. a Sapphire substrate) form the basis for the production of the majority of high production volumes and lower power devices. For the larger and higher power devices, the design requirements mean the material properties of the sapphire substrate become more limiting. Thicker substrates are advantageous to allow more light to escape from the sidewalls of the device. Sapphire has a poor thermal conductivity, so the device becomes hotter as the substrate becomes thicker. In terms of thermal management, the limitations of the sapphire substrate can be overcome by removing the semiconductor layer from the sapphire substrate and bonding to another thermally and electrically conducting substrate—a process known as wafer-lift off. This can provide a good thermal management solution. A mirror on the bonding interface is typically employed to improve the light extraction efficiency especially when combined with surface roughening on the exit surface.
In some cases an additional bonded substrate can be fabricated at angles other than 90° such that the reflections on these angled surfaces enhances the light extraction. This can enable an EE of up to around 65%.
A micro-LED structure is proposed in WO 2004/097947 (U.S. Pat. No. 7,518,149) with a high EE because of its shape. Such a micro-LED 100 is shown in FIG. 1, wherein a substrate 102 has a semiconductor epitaxial layer 104 located on it. The epitaxial layer 104 is shaped into a mesa 106. An active (or light emitting) layer 108 is enclosed in the mesa structure 106. The mesa 106 has a truncated top, on a side opposed to a light transmitting or emitting face 110. The mesa 106 also has a near-parabolic shape to form a reflective enclosure for light generated or detected within the device. The arrows 112 show how light emitted from the active layer 108 is reflected off the walls of the mesa 106 toward the light exiting surface 110 at an angle sufficient for it to escape the LED device 100 (i.e. within the angle of total internal reflection).

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Optical device having mesas for light extraction enhancement


A print management method implemented in a system including a client computer, a server, and a plurality of printers is disclosed, which includes by the server: (a) receiving, from a client computer, a request relating to a print job; (b) determining whether a predetermined print quality is required for the print job; (c) filtering at least two printers each of which has an in-line spectrophotometer from the plurality of printers; (d) instructing the each filtered at least two printers to conduct a color validation process by using the in-line spectrophotometer; (e) receiving, from the each filtered at least two printers, a result corresponding to the color validation process by the in-line spectrophotometer; and (f) determining at least one candidate of a destination printer for the print job based on whether the each filtered at least two printers meets predetermined print quality, using the result corresponding to the color validation process.

In today's printing devices, a plurality of printing devices can, be available to a buyer or customer that can be used to print a customer's job in either an open market or a print shop. However, each of the plurality of printing devices may not be able to meet the customer's print quality requirements.

Method to determine the best printing device amongst a group of printing devices using an in-line spectrophotometer


In a hierarchically organized distributed file system, resources belong to the containers in which they are located. These resources do not have to be co-located with the, containers in which they are stored, but can be distributed over the file system. To locate a desired resource, the unique name of the resource is determined. Moving upward through the containers in the hierarchically organized distributed file system, the lowest container with a location service is determined. The location service is queried for known instances of the resource. Any instance of the resource returned from the location service can then be utilized. Semantic contexts can also be applied to the network to control access or usage of both the location services and resource instances. The use of semantic contexts allows for improvements in network usage, security, resource allocation, and the like.

This invention pertains to distributed file systems, and more particularly to locating instances of a selected volume over the distributed file system.
In conventional file systems, a client on a workstation can access a specific named volume on a specific named server. As the volume name is human-readable, there could be other volumes in the network with the same name on different servers, but these bear no relation to any other volumes with the same name. Products exist to replicate data between volumes on different servers, but the client is still required to specify which instance of a replicated volume it wants to access.
A Distributed File System (DFS) eliminates the strong tie between a file and the server on which it resides. With DFS, volumes still exist, but they can move between servers or have multiple instances that exist on different servers. The client specifies only the DFS volume name or its Global Unique Identifier (GUID) when accessing files. The advantages of DFS can be generalized to any kind of resource that can be distributed (e.g., printers, scanners, etc.). But without some mechanism to assist the client in finding to which physical server or servers the resource is attached, DFS is of limited value.
There have been several prior attempts to implement distributed file systems. The National Software Works (NSW), implemented by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), included a single global volume distributed across multiple physical machines for file storage, a solution that did not scale well. Cronus, a distributed operating system research project undertaken by Bolt Beranek and Newman (BBN) under contract to the Rome Air Development Center (RADC), used a (statistically) unique name for the object as a clue to its location. But if the object was not known by that host (perhaps because it had been moved), the object would have to be located by broadcasting a message on the network. This approach did not scale well, and broadcasting messages can be difficult in any event. The AFS-3 file system by Transarc Corporation included a single back-end database implementation with a well-known name for the volume location servers. This approach is difficult to generalize, and has a single point of failure (the database). Microsoft used reparse points, which contain the full list of hosts where the volume instances can be found. But if a volume moves or a new instance is added, the reparse points must be modified, which is a difficult task.
Accordingly, a need remains for a mechanism that allows a client to locate instances of a resource given the resource""s naming information that is easily scalable, includes redundancies for continued performance, and is easily updated as volumes are added to or removed from the DFS.
To locate an instance of a resource, the management context for the resource name is consulted. The management context identifies a set of location services that can locate instances of the resource. Each location service knows where all resource instances within its management context are located. One of the location services is then queried for the location of resource instances. The location service returns the location of all known instances of any given resource under the location service""s control. One resource instance is selected. The selected resource instance can be contacted and utilized.
If either the location service or the selected resource instance cannot be contacted, alternative location services or resource instances can be used. As each location service knows of all instances of resources in the location service""s scope, and the data and metadata of each resource instance are substitutable for any other resource instance, the techniques for selecting the location service or resource instance from the given sets are not significant.

Directory-based volume location service for a distributed file system


Embodiments herein include processing systems for food products and related methods. In an embodiment, a food processing system is included with a continuous processing channel divided into a come-up chamber, a main electromagnetic wave (such as microwave) heating chamber, and a cool-down chamber. The continuous processing channel can define at least two separate portions oriented for vertical product movement. In various embodiments, the come-up chamber, the main electromagnetic wave heating chamber, and the cool-down chamber are at least partially filled with liquid. The system can further include a product conveyor mechanism to convey food products to be processed continuously along a conveyance path passing from the come-up chamber through the main electromagnetic wave heating chamber and to the cool-down chamber. The system can further include an electromagnetic wave energy emitting apparatus configured to emit electromagnetic wave energy into the main heating chamber. Other embodiments are also included herein.

Most food products have a tendency to spoil relatively quickly. As such, preservation techniques have been developed over many years to extend the amount of time that a given food product will remain fresh. Food preservation techniques can include dehydrating, freezing, fermenting, pickling, acidification, curing, canning, heat treating, retort sterilization, irradiating, chemical preservation and the like.
Retort sterilization typically involves the application of heat to hermetically sealed packages of food through thermal conduction. Retort sterilization allows for packaged non-frozen and non-dehydrated ready-to-eat foods that can have a shelf life of months to years.
While food preservation techniques, such as retort sterilization, have been successful at preventing food spoilage, it has been found that such techniques can have adverse effects on food products including, diminishing taste and appearance, reducing nutritional qualities, and the like.

Electromagnetic wave food processing system and methods


There is provided a messaging system comprising at least one distributed front-end messaging system and a centralized data store associated with said at least one distributed front-end messaging system, in which system the centralized data store includes means for storing data associated with users of the at least one distributed front-end messaging system, the at least one distributed front-end messaging system further including a respective at least one cache means for storing at least a portion of the centralized data associated with users of said at least one distributed front-end messaging system such that at least one messaging function can be provided to users of said at least one distributed front-end messaging system in dependence on the data stored in said cache means. A centralized messaging system provides access to all stored data associated for all users associated with at least one distributed front-end messaging system.

Messaging systems are well-known in the art. One of the simplest form of messaging system is a voice messaging system. Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) is a term which refers to the integration of computer architectures with telephony systems. A voice messaging system is an example of a CTI system, and a further example is a unified messaging system.
Voice or unified messaging systems have conventionally been deployed in one of three implementations.
In a first voice messaging implementation a voice messaging (or unified messaging) system is co-located with a subscriber's telephone switch, i.e. a subscriber's private branch exchange (PBX). Within a multi-site organization or enterprise this will tend to result in each physical location (which has its own telephone switch) having a separate voice messaging (or unified messaging) system. For an enterprise with many distributed locations, such an arrangement requires the deployment of many (possibly small) systems resulting in considerable IT administrative costs.
FIG. 1 shows two distributed locations each with their own telephone switch, specifically a PBX 102 and 106 respectively, and respective dedicated unified or voice messaging systems 104 and 108. This system provides, at least, the following three typical voice messaging functions: call answering, automated attendant and subscriber access.    1. The call answering feature is initiated when calls are forwarded by the telephone system as a result of the called party not answering (e.g. due to a busy or no-answer condition).    2. The automated attendant feature offers callers a menu for automatically routing a call to the desired answering point, without the need for operator intervention.    3. The subscriber access feature allows subscribers, or mailbox owners, of the voice messaging system to call into the system and retrieve their messages over the phone.
In a second voice messaging implementation, the voice messaging system utilizes a deployment of a central messaging system serving multiple remote locations. This form of deployment requires long-distance telephone connections to be provided between the remote private branch exchanges (PBXs), serving remote locations, and the centralized messaging system.
FIG. 2 shows two locations each having a respective PBX 202 and 204 being served by a single centralized unified or voice messaging system 206 associated with a single centralized PBX 208. The long distance telephone connections generally need to be provided regardless of their use (i.e. it is necessary to purchase enough capacity to handle busy periods). In addition some voice messaging features are lost in the centralized arrangement of FIG. 2. The automated attendant application provides callers into an office or building with the ability to connect to a user. This capability is not provided in the centralized arrangement of FIG. 2: the system providing the automated attendant function handles all users for all systems, and so does not provide service equivalent to a human attendant at the remote site. Additionally, different offices may be located in different countries with different language requirements. A simple example is that a first office may be in Canada and need both English and French languages, whereas another office served from the same centralized facility may have entirely, non-overlapping, language requirements, for example located in Mexico and requiring Spanish. A common and unique numbering plan across all mailboxes across all sites is also needed.
In a third implementation the second implementation is modified such that the long-distance telephone connectivity is provided by an organisation's (existing) data (IP) Wide Area network (WAN), possibly using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). This deployment puts a strict requirement on the bandwidth and more critically the quality of service (e.g. the network latency) characteristics of the corporation's WAN. This most generally is not, and will not, be met for the majority of corporations now or in the near future.
It is an aim of the present invention to provide an improved messaging system. A further aim is to provide such a system offering increased deployment flexibility.

Flexible distributed/centralized architecture for voice/unified messaging system


A rotating recording device, such as an electron beam recorder, is provided with a dual encoder arrangement. A first encoder is employed as a spindle motor controller and located at a first end of a spindle. A second encoder is mounted at a turntable adjacent to a recording surface and used as a position, velocity or clock source for recording the pattern on the substrate. Eccentricity of the mounting of the second encoder is measured against the more accurately mounted spindle control encoder and compensated by a digital clock generating system using a digital phase locked loop.

A magnetic disk drive, such as a hard disk drive, stores data on one or more disks coated with a magnetic medium. For read/write purposes, the surface of the magnetic medium carries a number of generally parallel data tracks, which on a disk type medium, are arranged concentrically with one another about the center of the disk.
An actuator arm positions a transducer or "head" over a desired track, and the head writes data to the track or reads data from the track. As the disk rotates, the actuator arm moves the head in a radial direction across the data tracks under control of a closed-loop servo system, based on position information or "servo data", which is stored within dedicated servo fields of the magnetic medium of the disk. The servo fields can be interleaved with data sectors on the disk surface or can be located on a separate disk surface that is dedicated to storing servo information. As the head passes over the servo fields, it generates a feedback signal that identifies the location of the head relative to the centerline of the desired track. Based on this location, the servo system moves the actuator arm to adjust the head's position so that it moves toward a position over the desired track and/or a desired location within the track of current interest.
One requirement in the manufacture of such a hard disk drive relates to the formation of the servo patterns on the magnetic disk, which are typically in concentric circular patterns. Mastering Systems for forming the servo tracks on a master stamper used in magnetic contact printing have used both stepped translation mechanisms with laser beams and continuous translation mechanisms with electron beams. During the recording of the servo data on the substrate, the substrate is located on a rotating turntable located at the top of a spindle. A spindle control motor rotates the spindle in accordance with control signals provided by a controller. The servo tracks are recorded through exposure to an electron beam or laser beam.
A format signal generator is used to control the electron beam generator or laser beam generator to form the pattern on the disk as it is rotating with the turntable. The control of the format signal generator, and hence the recording on the disk, may be made in accordance with encoder signals from an encoder located at the motor.
Typically, the encoder is provided at a bottom end of a spindle, the end opposite to that of the spindle on which the turntable is mounted. A precise motor control is provided by employing an encoder located in this position. In other words, the encoder at the bottom of the spindle may be mounted such that there is substantially no eccentricity with respect to the axis of rotation of the spindle. This allows for a very precise control of the motor based on the encoder signals.
Although providing for a precisely centered mounting and accurate motor control signals, the location of the encoder at the bottom of the motor is problematic when used to provide a clock, position or velocity source for the format signal generation process during recording. This is due to the mechanical vibrations, however slight, that occur in the rotating portions of the recording system. In particular, the vibrations at the top of the spindle, where the turntable is located, are not synchronized with the vibrations at the bottom of the spindle, where the encoder is located. Because the distances employed in servo tracks are extremely small, such as between 50 to 90 nm, even minute disturbances will create problems of track-to-track phase errors.
Simply moving the encoder adjacent to the recording surface at the top of the spindle does not provide an adequate solution, however. This is because, in practice, providing for a substantially perfectly centrically mounted encoder adjacent to the recording surface has proven to be very difficult to achieve. Hence, an encoder provided adjacent to the recording surface at the turntable exhibits eccentricity during rotation so that the signals are inadequate for providing a precise clock, position or velocity signal employed to control recording.

Rotating recorder with dual encoder arrangement having eccentricity compensation


An electromechanical apparatus suitable for mounting on a vehicle wheel power for generating telemetry relating to the wheel including tire temperature and pressure. The apparatus includes a pendulum mounted to rotate freely relative to the vehicle wheel which is positioned from the wheel hub. When the wheel is set to rotation, the pendulum freely hangs from the wheel hub under the influence of an off center counterweight having sufficient inertia to prevent rotation of the pendulum with the wheel. The pendulum is used to position one or more magnets to be used to excite field coils, which are mounted with respect to the wheel hub to rotate with the wheel. The magnets and rotating coils cooperate to energize a power utilization circuit also mounted with respect to the wheel hub to rotate therewith. The utilization circuit may include such sensors as desired, typically including though a tire pressure gauge and tire and wheel hub temperature gauges. The apparatus is readily extended to incorporate a fire pressurization pump, which may be a solenoid pump powered indirectly from the rotating coils, or by a magnetic button pump.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to vehicle and wheel assembly condition monitoring and, more particularly, to a hub mounted sensor assembly which is self energized.
2. Description of the Problem
Economical truck operation and the reduction of vehicle maintenance costs are greatly aided by keeping the vehicle in close conformance to a manufacturer""s operational specifications. Of particular concern here are those specifications relating to the operating condition of the vehicle axle and tire/wheel assembly. Maintaining proper fire pressure contributes directly to optimum fuel economy and to long fire life. Low tire pressure results in tire sidewall flex which contributes to a heat buildup in the tire. Excessively high tire temperatures promote degradation of the polymers from which tires are constructed which in turn promotes excessive wear of the tire. An axle end temperature which varies above a threshold temperature may indicate the beginning of a wheel bearing problem.
Truck operators routinely check tire pressure during stops, however, the ability to monitor all of these variables, and possibly to adjust tire pressure, while the vehicle is in motion, would be advantageous. However, accessibility to points where these variables can be measured, while the vehicle is in motion, is less than optimal. Typical active sensors, such as air pressure gauges and thermometers, work best if they can be placed in close proximity to, if not direct contact with, the object to be measured. On a vehicle, this means placing air pressure sensors onto the rotating wheel. If the condition is to be monitored from the vehicle""s cab, some communication device must transfer data from the sensor to a read out device in the cab. On contemporary vehicles, in which instrumentation is highly, if not completely, electronic, this usually means providing power to an electronic sender for the wheel mounted sensor and providing a transmission channel for the data back to the cab.
Wheel mounted electronic measurement and transmission system have been suggested which use batteries installed on the rotating wheels or in the vehicle tire to provide power to signal processing electronics and data transmission. Radio transmission can then be used to provide data transmission to the vehicle cab. Such a system obviously requires occasional checks on battery condition.
The prior art also provides for tire repressurization for moving vehicles. An example of such a system which can be mounted on the rotating wheel is U.S. Pat. No. 5,667,606 to Renier. The Renier device uses a pendulum which hangs freely from a rotating wheel hub. The pendulum is attached to a cam on which a cam follower, attached to a piston which rotates with the hub, rides. As the cam follower rides up on the cam it displaces the piston inwardly until the end of the cam is reached, whereupon the cam follower falls off of the cam and is displaced outwardly by a compression spring in order to begin the cycle again. The piston is the active component of a pump which provides pressurized air to a reservoir which feeds fires is under inflated. The system provides no data transmission to an electronic controller or monitoring arrangement.
A system which can provide data to a central controller can be integrated with other vehicle control arrangements, or, at a minimum, can be used to alert the driver of a vehicle of out of specification operation. In addition, an electronic system more readily provides monitoring of diverse conditions. Providing such a system on a rotatable wheel with a minimum of additional maintenance concerns remains desirable.
The invention provides an electromechanical apparatus suitable for mounting on a vehicle wheel which provides power for sensors and telemetry from sensors on a wheel, including tire temperature and pressure. The apparatus includes a pendulum mounted to rotate freely relative to the vehicle wheel positioned from the wheel hub. When the wheel is set to rotation, the pendulum freely hangs from the wheel hub under the influence of an off center counterweight having sufficient mass to prevent rotation of the pendulum with the wheel. The pendulum is used to position one or more magnets to be used to excite field coils, which are mounted with respect to the wheel hub to rotate with the wheel. The magnets and rotating coils cooperate to energize a power utilization circuit also mounted with respect to the wheel hub to rotate therewith. The utilization circuit may include such sensors as desired, typically including a tire pressure gauge and tire and wheel hub temperature gauges. Some embodiments include tire pressurization pumps, which may in turn take one of several forms including solenoid pumps powered indirectly from the rotating coils, or by magnetic button pumps.
Additional effects, features and advantages will be apparent in the written description that follows.

Wheel mounted power generator and wheel condition sensing apparatus

International Truck Intellectual Property Company, LLC


A method and device for sending and receiving a random access sequence, wherein the method for sending a random access sequence includes: determining one or more preset random access resources forming a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH); and sending a first random access sequence on the one or more preset random access resources. By the disclosure, the problem that an access requirement cannot be met by a random access sequence processing method in a related art is solved, and the effect of improving random access efficiency and accuracy is further achieved.

Machine Type Communication (MTC) User Equipment (UE), also called Machine to Machine (M2M) user communication equipment, is a main application form of the Internet of things at the present stage. Low power consumption and low cost are important guarantees to its large-scale application. M2M equipments deployed on the market at present are mainly based on a Global System of Mobile Communication (GSM). In recent years, due to high spectral efficiency of Long Term Evolution/Long Term Evolution-Advanced (LTE/LTE-A), more and more mobile operators select LTE/LTE-A as a direction of evolution of a broadband wireless communication system in the future. Various LTE/LTE-A-based M2M data services will get more attractive. An M2M service may actually be switched from a GSM to an LTE system only after the cost of LTE-M2M equipment may be lower than that of GSM-based MTC UE.
At present, alternative methods for reducing the cost of MTC UE mainly include reduction of receiving antennae of the UE, reduction of a base-band processing bandwidth of the UE, reduction of a peak rate supported by the UE, adoption of a half-duplex mode and the like. However, reduction in the cost means the degradation of performance. It is not allowed to lower a cell coverage requirement of an LTE/LTE-A system, so it is necessary for MTC UE adopting a low-cost configuration to adopt some measures to meet a coverage performance requirement of conventional LTE UE. In addition, the MTC UE may be located in a basement, a wall corner and the like, a scenario where the MTC UE is located is severer than that of ordinary LTE UE. A part of MTC UE needs more performance improvement to compensate coverage reduction caused by penetration loss, so it is necessary to enhance uplink and downlink coverage of a part of MTC UE for the scenario. How to ensure the access quality of a user is the first problem which needs to be considered, so it is necessary to enhance a design of a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) of the LTE/LTE-A system to ensure that the MTC UE may normally access the system.
For the problem that an access requirement cannot be met by a random access sequence processing method in a related art, there is yet no effective solution.

Method and device for sending and receiving random access sequence


An artificial disc nucleus replacement includes two mating halves which are inserted into the patient from opposite lateral sides of the patient's back, and joined together with screws.

1. Field of Endeavor
The present invention relates to devices, systems, and processes useful in disc nucleus replacement.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
A disc nucleus replacement device is designed to replace only the inner portion of the disc (the nucleus). A variety of disc nucleus replacement technologies have been investigated in the laboratory, and some have been implanted in countries outside the US. Various materials are utilized in these implants, including metals and ceramics, injectable fluids, hydrogels, inflatables, and elastic coils.
Early attempts at disc replacement were all nuclear replacements, based on the need to prevent disc space collapse following discectomy. David Cleveland published the first study in 1955, when he injected methyl-acrylic into the disc space at the time of discectomy in 14 patients. James Gardner reported to have "replaced hundreds of damaged lumbar discs with 8×22 mm Lucite pegs, yielding excellent results." Hamby reported reproduction of Cleveland's work in another 14 patients, reported in 1957 at the American Association of Neurological Surgeons meeting. In 1959, Harmon implanted Vitallium Spheres, inserted through an anterior retroperitonael approach, but never reported his results. Nicholson injected silicon rubber inserts into cadaveric discs in 1962, but never proceeded to clinical trials since the implants did poorly in mechanical testing. In 1964, Fernstrom published results of replacing lumbar discs with a metal ball bearing, under local anesthesia. At 30 months, he stated that his results were better than discectomy alone, and comparable to fusion. Similarly, Reitz and Joubert implanted 19 steel balls into 12 patients, and at 8-month follow-up concluded that results were superior to fusion.
Presently, there are several disc nucleus replacement technologies in various stages of development. The following outlines a few of the better-known technologies.
Prosthetic Disc Nucleus (PDN): The Raymedica PDN ("Prosthetic Disc Nucleus") has been implanted outside the US in several experimental series and just recently the PDN-SOLO device has been implanted in the US as part of a non-randomized, prospective clinical trial. The PDN is composed of a hydrogel core in a flexible, inelastic, woven polyethylene jacket. The hydrogel undergoes a cyclic swelling and shrinking, depending on load.
The Newcleus: The Newcleus utilizes an elongated elastic memory-coiling spiral made of polycarbonate urethane. It is inserted through a posterolateral annulotomy after discectomy, and then spirals around within the annulus to fill the nuclear cavity. This device has undergone laboratory and animal investigation, and has been implanted in a small number of patients in Europe.
Aquarelle Hydrogel Nucleus: The Aquarelle Hydrogel Nucleus (by Stryker Howmedica Osteonic) is composed of a polyvinyl alcohol material. Biomechanical testing indicates that it has a performance similar to the intact nucleus. Some implants have been implanted in humans in Europe, and Baboon studies have been initiated in the US.
Other implants include:
Interpore Cross International has developed a one-piece convex surfaced ceramic or metal implant that anchors to the inferior vertebral body as a hemiarthroplasty. It has been implanted in 2 patients, and animal studies in the US have been initiated.
Disc Dynamics has tested a balloon-like implant made of polyurethane, which is implanted through a cannula (tube), and animal studies have been initiated.
Cryolife has tested the Biodisc, a protein hydrogel device that is injected into the nuclear cavity in a fluid form, but it rapidly hardens.
Disc Augmentation Technologies initiated mechanical studies on a thermopolymer that also hardens inside the disc after being injected as a fluid.
Replication Medical's Aquacryl is a hydrogel undergoing mechanical testing.
Ultimately, the results of clinical trials will determine the efficacy of any of these nucleus replacements. Potential problems include migration of the device, end-plate changes, and vitality of the annulus following an annulotomy for insertion.
There remains a significant need for the development of a disc replacement that addresses some or all of the deficiencies in these prior devices.


A weather station with at least one element mounted on bearings on a housing or rack on a vertical axis for alignment with the direction of the wind and with a measuring device, which depending on the angle position of the element aligning in the direction of the wind provides an electrical signal, wherein the measuring device is an opto electric measuring device with at least two light paths. Each of the at least two light paths has its own light-emitting element and which have a common light detector and form a light path configuration, each light path is used to scan a group of markings, which are located around an axis of at least one screen in such a manner that the markings provide a code when scanning that defines the angle area of the position of the element aligning with the direction of the wind. The light-emitting elements determine the angle position of the element aligning with the direction of the wind.

The invention relates to a weather station, in particular, to a weather station that is also suitable for private use. The station has at least one element mounted on bearings on a housing, or rack, on a vertical axis for alignment with the direction of the wind and with a measuring device, which depending on the angle position of the element aligning in the direction of the wind, provides an electrical signal.
Weather stations, especially for private use, are known. In particular, such weather stations are also known that can be used to measure wind direction and wind force, whereby the wind direction is measured by means of a wind vane, the angle position of which is converted to an electric signal, by means of a potentiometer, the slider of which is connected with the wind vane as a driving mechanism.
The signal corresponding to the wind direction and the signal corresponding to the wind force derived from a wind wheel, or impeller wheel, is input to an electronic analysis and control unit, which then sends digital data corresponding to these signals by means of a transmitter of the electronic analysis and control unit to a spatially distant display station.
The object of the present invention is to improve a weather station to the effect of achieving a simplified design, in particular, of the measuring device for generating the signal corresponding to the wind direction with improved sensitivity.
In order to achieve this object, a weather station with at least one element mounted on bearings on a housing or rack on a vertical axis for alignment with the direction of the wind and with a measuring device, which depending on the angle position of the element aligning in the direction of the wind provides an electrical signal, wherein the measuring device is an opto electric measuring device with at least two light paths. Each of the at least two light paths has its own light-emitting element and which have a common light detector and form a light path configuration, each light path is used to scan a group of markings, which are located around an axis of at least one screen in such a manner that the markings provide a code when scanning that defines the angle area of the position of the element aligning with the direction of the wind. The at least one screen and the light path configuration corresponding to the position of the element aligning with the direction of the wind can be swivelled relative to each other around the axis of the screen, and an electronic control and analysis unit is provided that individually activates the light-emitting elements during a measuring or analysis phase and hereby determines the angle position of the element aligning with the direction of the wind.
In the invention, the wind is measured in angle steps or in angle areas, for example in a total of 16 angle areas with the use of a total of four groups of optically scannable markings and accordingly of four light paths, each of which scans the markings of one group. The wind direction is measured in this process fully without contact, so that an accurate display is possible even at low wind forces.
A further special feature of the invention is that the light paths, of which at least one is allocated to one group of optically scannable markings, each has its own light-emitting elements, which can economically be realized in the form of light-emitting diodes, but only one common light detector or receiver for all light paths. The single groups of markings are then scanned successively in time by corresponding activation of its allocated light-emitting element and/or the scanning of the individual groups takes place by pulsed activation of the allocated light-emitting element each with a different pulse frequency, so that the presence of a marking of a particular group can be determined based on the frequency of the received light signal or conversely that the absence of a marking of a particular group can be determined based on the absence of a particular frequency in the received light signal. Also by triggering the light-emitting elements of the various light paths with different pulse frequencies these elements can be activated preferably for a limited time and/or successively in time.

Unit A3, 12/Fl., Kelley Ind. Ctr. No. 12 Fung Yip St.


Methods and cement compositions are provided for sealing a subterranean zone penetrated by a wellbore, wherein the cement composition comprises zeolite, cementitious material, and a mixing fluid.

The present embodiment relates generally to methods and cement compositions for sealing a subterranean zone penetrated by a wellbore.
In the drilling and completion of an oil or gas well, a cement composition is often introduced in the wellbore for cementing pipe string or casing. When the desired drilling depth of the well is reached, a cement composition is pumped into the annular space between the walls of the wellbore and the casing. In this process, known as "primary cementing", the cement composition sets in the annular space, supporting and positioning the casing, and forming a substantially impermeable barrier, or cement sheath, which isolates the wellbore from subterranean zones. It is understood that the performance of the cement composition is important to achieving and maintaining zonal isolation. Throughout the life of a well, especially if zonal isolation is comprised, secondary cementing operations, such as remedial cementing and repairs to existing cemented areas, will be performed on the well.


A transmission/reception device includes a transmission circuit configured to apply a delay to at least one of a positive signal and a negative signal of differential signals to be sent to another device, detect a direction of a differential signal skew between the positive signal and the negative signal, to at least one of which the delay is applied, and control the delay in a manner as to reduce the differential signal skew; and a reception circuit configured to apply a delay to at least one of a positive signal and a negative signal of differential signals sent from another transmission/reception device, detect a direction of a differential signal skew between the positive signal and the negative signal, to at least one of which the delay is applied, and control the delay in a manner as to reduce the differential signal skew.

There is proposed a reception device and a reception method for reducing the phase difference between a positive signal and a negative signal of differential signals, and automatically and optimally adjusting the phase difference between a positive signal and a negative signal.
Furthermore, there is proposed a differential circuit for adjusting the delay difference between two signals transmitted by a differential method to be within a predetermined range, and mitigating the decrease in the amplitude of the differential signals.
Furthermore, there is proposed an automatic test system having the following configuration. First and second driver circuits respectively generate edges. The edges return by being reflected by a mismatch load of the tested device. The time interval between the edge and the reflection is measured. Variable delay circuits that are provided in series to the driver circuits are adjusted so that the signals from the first and second driver circuits reach the tested device substantially at the same time according to the measured time interval.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2007-295021    Patent Document 2: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2005-268844    Patent Document 3: U.S. Pat. No. 6,675,117

Transmission/reception device and information processing device


Methods for determining the concentration of nitrates in several types of water samples by photochemical reduction without the use of toxic materials such as cadmium or hydrazine, and having an approximately 100% reduction efficiency are described. A water sample mixed with a buffered aqueous solution including ammonium salts and EDTA is irradiated using ultraviolet light having wavelengths effective for photochemical conversion of nitrate and nitrite ions (NOx) to detectable species. The resulting species may be quantitatively determined by diazotization using sulfanilamide followed by coupling with N-(1-napthyl)ethylenediamine dihydrochloride which produces a water-soluble azo dye having a magenta color which may be colorimetrically measured at 540 nm from which the nitrate and nitrite concentration in the sample is determined. Nitrite present in the original sample may be colorimetrically analyzed using an unphotolyzed sample and the reaction with sulfanilamide followed by coupling with N-(1-napthyl)ethylenediamine dihydrochloride. When the nitrite concentration is subtracted from the total of the nitrate and nitrite concentration, the sample nitrate may be determined.

Nitrates are major components in fertilizers, explosives and by-products of certain detonated explosives, and may enter discharge waters from the mining and agricultural industries. Nitrates promote the growth of algae and other plant life in slow-moving streams, rivers and lakes resulting in increased turbidity and oxygen depletion, eventually destroying life in such waterways. Large quantities of nitrates in drinking water are harmful to animals and humans as a result of conversion to nitrites by gastrointestinal bacteria since hemoglobin reacts with nitrites in place of oxygen, thereby causing respiratory failure. Methods for removing nitrates from solutions include ion exchange, reverse osmosis and biological methods, which are expensive and nondestructive, thereby generating wastes that must be treated.
Determination of nitrate inn concentration in water is important in environmental and marine chemistry. Nitrate levels in soil are also an important parameter for agriculture. Nitrite ions generated by reduction of nitrate ions may be detected by spectrophotometric measurement. Such reduction has been achieved by passing sample solutions through a copperized cadmium column; however, the eluted solutions contain cadmium and copper which must be eliminated before discharge. An ammonium chloride and disodium ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid buffer having a pH of about 8.5 has been used as a carrier solution for sample solutions. Hydrazine has also been utilized in the reduction step. Nitrite in the original sample may be determined by removing the cadmium column.
Photolysis of nitrates to nitrites or ammonia is known. Water denitrification by stopping the reduction of nitrate at nitrite, lowering the pH of the water, and air sparging the unstable nitrite from of the water has been described. Nitrate photoreduction in sample solutions containing humic acid or hydrazine at a pH of 10 and continuously sparged with argon gas to eliminate oxygen has been performed, and analyzed using an ion chromatograph. The nitrate reduction was found not to exceed 21%. A two-stage process for decreasing the nitrate content of water by reducing nitrates to nitrogen has been reported: photochemical reduction to nitrite; and reduction of nitrite to nitrogen using amidosulphuric (sulfamic) acid.
Spectrophotometric determination of nitrate in samples of river, inland sea and open sea water by photo-induced reduction of nitrate to nitrite in a phosphate-buffered carrier solution at pH 8 flowed through a quartz coil irradiated using a mercury lamp has been studied. The conversion efficiency of nitrate was approximately 50%.
Improved photoreduction efficiency has been achieved by flowing samples in a phosphate-buffer carrier solution having a pH of 7.0 to which the activators ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) or diethylenetriamine-N,N,N′,N″,N″-pentaacetic acid (DTPA) have been added through poly(tetrafluoroethlyene) (PTFE) tubing irradiated with a mercury lamp. The reduction efficiency was found to be 70-84%, with higher conversion efficiencies being obtained using DTPA as the activator.
Total nitrite (reduced nitrate plus any nitrite originally existing in the sample) may be determined by diazotizing with sulfanilamide followed by coupling with N-(1-naphthyl)ethylenediamine dihydrochloride. The resulting water soluble azo dye has a magenta color which may be read at 540 nm, and is known as the Griess test.

Determination of nitrate/nitrite concentration in water by quantitative photochemical reduction using NH


A tile visualization has a window with a swim lane area and a panel area for displaying tiles that represent hierarchical data items. Tiles may be styled as cards. The swim lane displays an active tile and its immediate ancestors in a row or column. The active tile may be identified by a visual indicator. The panel displays one or more levels of the active tile's descendants. The descendants may be arranged in a matrix, or in columns each headed by an immediate descendant. The swim lane and panel are scrollable. A user can navigate up in the hierarchy by activating a tile in the swim lane, or down by activating a tile in the panel. Users may select one or more tiles without activating them.

This invention relates to the field of user interfaces for visualizing, interacting with, and creating or modifying data in general, and in particular data organized into hierarchies.
There are many examples of large collections of data that have a hierarchical structure (for example, a company's employee organization chart). Prior applications for displaying hierarchical data typically require the larger desktop screens and precision of interaction afforded by a mouse to be used effectively. Because of these design factors, hierarchical data visualizations developed for desktop and laptop computers do not transfer well to mobile or other electronic devices with smaller screens, less precise input devices, and fundamentally different basic operating characteristics, such as finger touch and gesture-based interfaces.
Prior desktop visualizations allow for unrestricted or less restricted views and navigation of hierarchical data. They include controls for scrolling, panning, and/or zooming around the view. However, this navigational flexibility adds complexity on small screens, and the visualization controls often consume substantial portions of the very limited screen space.
There is an unmet need to solve the problems of prior hierarchical visualizations when displayed on smaller screens, while maintaining easy and accurate user interaction and the capability to provide both sufficient overview and sufficient detail.

Tile visualizations for navigating hierarchical data on mobile devices


There is disclosed a cutting tool comprising a body of a sintered cemented carbide or cermet, ceramic or high speed steel on which at least on the functioning parts of the surface of the body, a thin, adherent, hard and wear resistant coating is applied. The coating comprises a laminar structure of refractory compounds in a polycrystalline, repetitive form, (MLX/Al.sub.2 O.sub.3)/(MLX/Al.sub.2 O.sub.3)/(MLX/Al.sub.2 O.sub.3)/(MLX/Al.sub.2 O.sub.3)/ . . . , where the alternating sublayers consist of metal nitrides (or carbides) and crystalline alumina of the alpha (.alpha.)- and/or the gamma (.gamma.) phase, preferably of metal nitrides and crystalline alumina of the gamma phase, and in said coating the sequence of individual layer thicknesses has no repeat period but is essentially aperiodic throughout the entire multilayered structure. The metal elements in the layers MLX are selected from Ti, Nb, Hf, V, Ta, Mo, Zr, Cr, W, Al and mixtures thereof. The total thickness of said multilayered coating is between 0.5 and 20 .mu.m.

The present invention describes a cutting tool for metal machining, having a substrate of cemented carbide, cermet, ceramics or high speed steel and, on the surface of said substrate, a hard and wear resistant refractory coating deposited by Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD). The coating is adherently bonded to the substrate and is composed of a laminar, multilayered structure of metal nitrides or carbides in combination with alumina (Al.sub.2 O.sub.3), and with the metal elements of the to nitride or carbide selected from Ti, Nb, Hf, V, Ta, Mo, Zr, Cr, W, Al or mixtures thereof. The individual metal nitride (or carbide) and alumina layers have layer thicknesses in the nanometer (nm) range and the stacking of the layers is aperiodic with respect to individual layer thickness.
The process of depositing a thin refractory coating (1-20 .mu.m) of materials like alumina, titanium carbide and/or titanium nitride onto a cutting tool body, e.g., cemented carbides or similar hard materials such as cermets, ceramics and high speed steels, is a well-established technology and the tool life of the coated cutting tool, when used in metal machining, is considerably prolonged. The prolonged service life of the tool may under certain conditions extend up to several hundred percent greater than that of an uncoated tool. Said refractory coatings generally comprise either a single layer or a combination of layers. Modern commercial cutting tools are characterized by a plurality of layer combinations with double or multilayer structures. The total coating thickness varies between 1 and 20 micrometers (.mu.m) and the thickness of the individual sublayers varies between a few microns and a few tenths of a micron.
The established technologies for depositing such coatings are CVD and PVD (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,619,866 and 4,346,123). PVD coated commercial cutting tools of cemented carbides or high speed steels usually have a single coating of TiN, TiCN or TiAlN, but combinations thereof also exist.
There exist several PVD techniques capable of producing refractory thin films on cutting tools. The most established methods are ion plating, magnetron sputtering, arc discharge evaporation and IBAD (Ion Beam Assisted Deposition). Each method has its own merits and the intrinsic properties of the produced coating such as microstructure/grain size, hardness, state of stress, cohesion and adhesion to the underlying substrate may vary depending on the particular PVD method chosen. An improvement in the wear resistance or the edge integrity of a PVD coated cutting tool being used in a specific machining operation can thus be accomplished by optimizing one or several of the above mentioned properties.
Furthermore, new developments of the existing PVD techniques by, i.e., introducing unbalanced magnetrons in reactive sputtering (S. Kadlec, J. Musil and W.-D. Munz in J. Vac. Sci. Techn. A8(3), (1990), 1318) or applying a steered and/or filtered arc in cathodic arc deposition (H. Curtins in Surface and Coatings Technology, 76/77, (1995), 632 and K. Akari et al. in Surface and Coatings Technology, 43/44, (1990), 312) have resulted in a better control of the coating processes and a further improvement of the intrinsic properties of the coating material.
With the invention of the PVD bipolar pulsed DMS technique (Dual Magnetron Sputtering) which is disclosed in DD 252 205 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,698,314, a wide range of opportunities opened up for the deposition of insulating layers such as Al.sub.2 O.sub.3. Furthermore, this method has made it possible to deposit crystalline Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 layers at substrate temperatures in the range 500.degree. to 800.degree. C. Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 exists in several different phases such as .alpha. (alpha), .kappa. (kappa) and .chi. (chi) called the ".alpha.-series" with hcp (hexagonal close packing) stacking of the oxygen atoms, and in .gamma. (gamma), .theta. (theta), .eta. (eta) and .delta. (delta) called the ".gamma.-series" with fcc (face centered cubic) stacking of the oxygen atoms. The most often occurring Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 phases in CVD coatings deposited on cemented carbides at conventional CVD temperatures, 1000.degree.-1050.degree. C., are the stable alpha and the metastable kappa phases, however, occasionally the metastable theta phase has also been observed. According to U.S. Pat. No. 5,698,314, the DMS sputtering technique is capable of depositing and producing high-quality, well-adherent, crystalline .alpha.-Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 thin films at substrate temperatures less than 800.degree. C. The ".alpha.-Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 " layers may partially also contain the gamma (.gamma.) phase from the ".gamma.-series" of the Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 polymorphs. When compared to prior art plasma assisted deposition techniques such as PACVD as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,587,233, the novel, pulsed DMS sputtering deposition method has the decisive, important advantage that no impurities such as halogen atoms, e.g., chlorine, are incorporated in the Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 coating.
Conventional cutting tool material like cemented carbides comprises at least one hard metallic compound and a binder, usually cobalt (Co), where the grain size of the hard compound, e.g., tungsten carbide (WC), ranges in the 1-5 .mu.m region. Recent developments have predicted improved tool properties in wear resistance, impact strength, hot hardness by applying tool materials based on ultrafine microstructures by using nanostructured WC-Co powders as raw materials (L. E. McCandlish, B. H. Kear and B. K. Kim, in Nanostructured Materials, Vol. 1, pp. 119-124, 1992). Similar predictions have been made for ceramic tool materials by for instance applying silicon nitride/carbide-based (Si.sub.3 N/SiC) nanocomposite ceramics and, for Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 -based ceramics, equivalent nanocomposites based on alumina.
With nanocomposite nitride/carbide and alumina hard coating materials, it is understood that for a multilayered coating, the thickness of each individual nitride (or carbide) and alumina layer is in the nanometer range between 3 and 100 nm, preferably between 3 and 20 nm. If a certain periodicity or repeat period of the metal nitride/carbide and alumina layer sequence is involved, these nanoscale, multilayer coatings have been given the generic name of "superlattice" films. A repeat period is the thickness of two adjacent metal nitride/carbide and alumina layers. Several of the binary nitride superlattice coatings with the metal element selected from Ti, Nb, V and Ta, grown on both single- and polycrystalline substrates have shown an enhanced hardness for a particular repeat period usually in the range 3-10 nm.


During calibration trips driving characteristics of a driver are tracked. At the end of each calibration trip, a calibration profile is created for the trip that summarizes the trip and the driving characteristics of the driver during the trip. When the driver enters a destination where he or she wishes to travel to, a calibration profile with driving characteristics is identified. The identified calibration profile created for a calibration trip that is similar to a trip the driver will be taking to reach the destination. A determination is made as to whether the electric vehicle has enough energy to reach the destination assuming the driver expresses the same driving characteristics as those of the calibration profile while traveling to the destination.

Electric vehicles are vehicles that use one or more electric engines for propulsion of the vehicle. The electric engines are powered by rechargeable batteries on-board the vehicle. Because electric vehicles are powered by on-board batteries, their driving range is limited by the amount of charge in their batteries. Currently, the amount of electric charging stations is limited. Therefore, when a driver is planning to travel to a destination, it is important for the driver to know whether the vehicle has enough charge to reach the destination or whether the remaining charge should be used to reach the nearest charging station.
Current systems determine whether an electric vehicle can reach a destination based on whether the destination is within the driving range of the electric vehicle. The systems calculate the driving range of the vehicle by simply entering the current charge of the vehicle's batteries into a formula. However, many factors affect the driving range of a vehicle, such as how aggressive the driver is on the throttle, the driver's braking style, the terrain being driven on, and the vehicle components being used (e.g., air conditioner usage, defroster usage). The current systems do not take these factors into account when determining whether a vehicle can reach a destination. As a result, with the current system it is more likely that a driver may become stranded when attempting to travel to a destination.
Thus, there is a need for a way to be able to accurately determine whether a vehicle has enough energy to reach a destination.

System and method for precise state of charge management


A communication module for a user of a serial bus. The communication module is configured to receive a first message stream, encompassing a multitude of messages, via a first interface, and to provide a respective message of the first message stream as a message of a second message stream, as a function of a configuration state and as a function of at least one property of the respective message of the first message stream, via a second interface.

In CAN networks, users are able to send the messages defined for and assigned to them at arbitrary points in time. A receiving user checks to what extent the communication on the bus corresponds to a static communication matrix which was specified at the time of development. This means that a user includes a filter which filters out the messages which are relevant for the user and are accordingly specified. If a message is not included in this matrix, it is discarded.
Refinements of the CAN are specified to that effect by meeting the requirements of new technologies and business models. Use cases such as, e.g., autonomous driving, over-the-air updates and the enhancement of the driving sensation have increased requirements with regard to the vehicle communication with respect to, for example, a high data rate, despite minor latency periods. In contrast to the static configuration of the communication dominating in the vehicle thus far, flexible and dynamic communication models are necessary to satisfy the requirements of the future use cases. For example, additional protocols (e.g., Ethernet) are to be transmitted via CAN, which are able to implement this dynamic and flexibility. Due to the new use cases, additionally an increased connectivity of the vehicle network to external systems exists, among other things the cloud. This results in an increased risk of cyber attacks on the vehicle. In particular, Ethernet and service-oriented communication are based on the concept that communication channels may be established or terminated during the run time. Only after a communication channel has been established may it be possible to receive a certain service or to provide the service.


A camera assembly has a mount that defines an optical axis. A lens barrel has a main portion and a tracker protruding outwardly from the main portion. The lens barrel is movable along the optical axis between an extended position and a retracted position relative to the mount. The lens barrel is non-rotatable about the optical axis. A guide extends forward from the mount. A travel stop is mounted to the guide. The travel stop has a skid that is spirally sloped about the optical axis. The tracker defines a segment of the skid that is aligned with the tracker in a direction parallel to the optical axis and is contacted by the tracker in the extended position of the lens barrel. The segment can be shifted helically along the skid by pivoting the travel stop about the optical axis.

The invention relates to photography and photographic equipment and more particularly relates to camera assemblies having a travel stop.
A variety of mechanisms are known for adjusting the focus of adjustable position camera lenses.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,220,308 teaches a camera lens that is focused manually by changing the airspace behind a front element. The front lens element is rotated relative to an axially movable, non-rotatable cam ring. Cams are provided on a collar that is joined to the front lens element. The collar and front element are rotated by the user to move the collar cams against an outer set of cams of the cam ring and vary the airspace. A separate, factory focus adjustment is provided for adjusting the infinity setting of the front airspace. The axial position of the cam ring is adjustable by rotating a focus adjustment ring against the nonrotatable, but axially movable cam ring. Cams are provided on the focus adjustment ring and bear against an inner set of cams of the cam ring. The cam ring focus can be adjusted by moving a gear sector that is joined to the cam ring. The gear sector is meshed with a tool having a pinon gear that is rotated by an axial shaft.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,613,168 is a similar to U.S. Pat. No. 3,220,308, but uses a Y-shaped special tool and of another tool in the form of a member that holds the focusing ring of the lens. Space must be available for those tools during the focus adjustment. In both U.S. Pat. No. 5,613,168 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,220,308, the adjusted lens element rotates relative to the camera body during use.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,910,544 and 4,764,783 disclose focus adjusting mechanisms for non-rotating lenses.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,764,783 teaches a lens focus adjusting mechanism in which different movable parts of a lens mechanism are adjusted relative to each other. U.S. Pat. No. 4,910,544 discloses a prior art camera, in which the position of an internal lens barrel support, relative to the camera body, is adjusted by the use of washers. The invention of this patent replaces the washers with an adjustable member.
The focus adjustment mechanisms described in the above patents all change all of the lens positions available during use.
It would thus be desirable to provide a camera assembly, in which factory lens adjustment does not require extensive access or complex tools.
It would also be desirable to provide a camera assembly, in which a lens in selectively movable between different positions along an optical axis, and the focus at one of those positions can be adjusted independent of the focus at another.
The invention is defined by the claims. The invention, in broader aspects, provides a camera assembly, which has a mount that defines an optical axis. A lens barrel has a main portion and a tracker protruding outwardly from the main portion. The lens barrel is movable along the optical axis between an extended position and a retracted position relative to the mount. The lens barrel is non-rotatable about the optical axis. A guide extends forward from the mount. A travel stop is mounted to the guide. The travel stop has a skid that is spirally sloped about the optical axis. The tracker defines a segment of the skid that is aligned with the tracker in a direction parallel to the optical axis and is contacted by the tracker in the extended position of the lens barrel. The segment can be shifted helically along the skid by pivoting the travel stop about the optical axis.
It is an advantageous effect of the invention that an improved camera assembly are provided, in which factory lens adjustment does not require extensive access or complex tools.
It is also an advantageous effect of the invention that an improved camera assembly are provided, in which a lens is selectively movable between different positions along an optical axis, and the focus at one of those positions can be adjusted independently of the focus at another of those positions.


The present invention includes apparatuses and methods comprising a means for detecting the presence of speakers and microphones coupled to a portable multi-function device (such as Apple's iPhone™). In response, a portable multi-function device can adapt its output depending on the nature of the coupled headset device. In particular, a portable multi-function device containing the present invention can, upon detecting only one speaker in a coupled headset accessory device, combine the multiple channels of a stereo audio signal into a single mono audio signal. Likewise, a portable multi-function device containing the present invention can alert users to the absence of a coupled microphone.

The present invention relates to distinguishing between stereo and mono audio devices (such as headset speakers). More particularly, this invention relates to controlling the output of portable multi-function devices based upon detected conditions.
The widespread popularity of mobile telephones and other portable multi-function devices (e.g., portable MP3 players, portable video players, media-capable mobile telephones) is largely due to their portability. These devices enable users to enjoy media and conduct telephone calls while on the go.
As portable multi-function devices have proliferated, so too have headsets. Headsets contain one or more speakers that can emit sound generated by a portable multi-function device. Headsets capable of emitting one channel of audio are sometimes referred to herein as "mono headsets." Headsets that can emit more than one channel of audio are sometimes referred to herein as "stereo headsets."
Some headsets also include one or more microphones and facilitate a conversation between two people. Headset microphones and their corresponding circuitry can convert sound, which may be produced by a user, to electrical signals which are sent to a portable multi-function device.
Stereo and mono headsets offer different advantages. For example, a stereo headset that includes two speakers is most desirable for listening to recorded media. This is because almost all commercial audio recordings divide audio among two or more stereo channels—a technique that provides a rich and pleasant listing experience. By contrast, telephone conversations only require one channel of audio, and, therefore, only require one speaker. In part, this is because telephones are primarily used for communication, rather than auditory enjoyment. Additionally, telephone users commonly engage in activities that require an awareness of one's surroundings (e.g., driving, bicycling while using a headset). For at least these reasons, some mobile telephone users prefer mono headsets.
However, a problem arises when, for example, a mono headset is used with a portable multi-function device outputting audio in stereo. Stereo audio includes two channels of sound, but mono headsets can emit only one channel of sound. A user listening to a stereo recording on a mono headset would have a severely diminished listening experience because some of the recording would not be heard.
Another problem arises when, due to defect, damage, or any other cause, one or more speakers in a headset do not operate properly. For example, a damaged or defective stereo headset may have only one operational speaker. Similarly, a damaged or defective stereo headset may have one speaker that operates properly, and another speaker that produces distorted or intermittent sound. A user listening to a stereo recording on a defective or damaged headset would have a severely diminished listening experience because distorted or intermittent sound would be produced.
Another problem arises when a headset that does not contain a microphone is used for applications requiring a microphone (e.g., telephone calls). For example, a headset lacking a microphone coupled to a mobile telephone or a portable multi-function device having mobile telephony capability cannot properly carry a telephone call because it cannot receive a user's voice. (Portable multi-function devices having mobile telephony capability, such as Apple Inc.'s iPhone™, which can be used to perform various functions, including those related to communications and entertainment, may also be referred to herein as hybrid devices. iPhone™ is a trademark owned by Apple Inc.) Because portable multi-function devices cannot automatically detect the presence or absence of a headset microphone, users are not alerted when a microphone is not present.
Yet another problem arises when, due to defect, damage, or any other cause, a headset microphone does not operate properly. For example, a damaged or defective headset microphone may fail to convey audio signals, or may convey distorted or intermittent audio signals. The user in such cases may be unaware of the malfunction.
Another problem arises in detecting and responding to a headset being connected or disconnected from a portable multi-function device. For example, some portable multi-function devices, like Apple Inc's iPod™, pause the playback of media signals when headsets are removed. (iPod™ is a trademark owned by Apple Inc.) Such portable multi-function devices utilize a mechanical switch to detect insertion or removal of a headset tip. The mechanical switch is toggled physically by the insertion or removal of the headset tip, regardless of whether a functional headset is coupled to the portable multi-function device's connector. For example, among other things, nonfunctioning headsets or even a loose wire with a headset tip would toggle the switch.

Detecting stereo and mono headset devices