Systems and methodologies that enable restoration of data by software solutions and in the absence of a hardware RAID adapter, via encapsulation of a RAID (Redundant Array of Independent/or Inexpensive Disks) format, by employing a Globally Unique Identifier (GUID) Partition Table (GPT). Third party vendors can employ proprietary data recovery software to access the raw data in case of malfunction of an associated RAID adapter. Moreover, the subject invention can facilitate inter-operability among a plurality of RAID adapters, to move array sets from one controller type to another.

Increasing advances in computer technology (e.g., microprocessor speed, memory capacity, data transfer bandwidth, software functionality, and the like) have generally contributed to enhanced computer application in various industries. Accordingly, requirements to store vast amounts of data in many computer systems, as well as the ever-growing demand to access the data, has pushed system developers to seek ways of providing fast, multiple-user access to the data.
Array of disks are commonly employed for computer-based data storage. One category of disk arrays is referred to as Redundant Array of Inexpensive/Independent Drives (RAID). Within a RAID system, varying levels of data storage redundancy are utilized to enable reconstruction of stored data in the event of data corruption or disk failure. These various types of redundant storage strategies are referred to as RAID levels.
In general, hardware RAID solutions use on-disk RAID formats (e.g., data structures configured to any one of a plurality of RAID specifications) for data access (e.g., read, write, . . . ) on disks used in RAID configurations. If a disk used in RAID configuration is removed from the RAID array, and placed into another machine without employing an adapter, then such disk is typically not recognized because of the custom formats in use. As such, the Operating System (OS) can typically write new data to such disks, and accidentally destroy vital data. Alternatively, even though data may be "recognized" due to the correct partition table and boot sector, nonetheless the remainder of the disk may not be correctly identified due to the data being spread across multiple disks, such as the use of Striping, (e.g., RAID 0.)
Typically, RAID 0 ("striping") places data across multiple disks without redundancy. A common implementation is to simply alternate 64k sections between two disks. For example, disk "0" can have the boot sector and signature for the volume (e.g., stripe logical sectors 0-127 exist at sectors 0-127 on the disk, and stripe logical sectors 256-383 exist at sectors 128-255, and the like), while disk "1" would contain stripe logical sectors 128-255 on its sectors 0-127, and stripe logical sectors 383-511 on its sectors 128-255, and the like. When Disk 0 of such stripe is inserted into a machine without using the hardware RAID adapter, since the first 64k of data is correct, the machine can identify the boot sector (sector 0) and the associated information. The machine can then attempt to boot and fail. On the other hand, if installed as the non-boot partition, the OS can identify a partition table and employ it to describe the disk. Yet, such process can corrupt the file system data, as some file systems are not designated as read-only during the mounting phase. In addition, user confusion can result from receiving an error message, in a form of the display of a "corrupt" file system, for example.
Likewise, when Disk "1" of such stripe is inserted into a machine without using the hardware RAID adapter, the machine identifies the disk as "un-initialized". Accordingly, Windows can write a "signature" into the boot sector (sector 0) of each disk for a unique identification. Since this sector is actually sector 128 of the stripe set, such signature writing can potentially destroy vital data on the disk. In addition, typically the user may not be aware that the disk in question is part of a stripe set, or that the disk may in fact contain useful information, thus subjecting it to potential loss of data.
Similar problematic scenarios can occur for other RAID types (e.g., RAID 5), wherein non-unique IDs can cause other problems, and when using mirroring (e.g., RAID 1). Moreover, when drives are removed from existing systems due to configuration changes, accidental data destruction can occur if the drives are connected to the wrong type of controller.
Therefore, there is a need to overcome the aforementioned exemplary deficiencies associated with conventional systems and devices.

Advanced hardware and software encapsulation of RAID solutions to facilitate data protection


A number of embodiments of outboard motors having catalytic exhaust systems. In each embodiment, an expansion chamber is formed in the drive shaft housing and the exhaust gases are delivered to the expansion chamber from an exhaust pipe that extends at least in part through the expansion chamber and which terminates at its lower end in the lower portion of the expansion chamber. A catalyst bed is positioned at the upper end of the expansion chamber and beneath the engine and through which the exhaust gases must pass for discharge through a further exhaust conduit which extends at least in part through the expansion chamber and which terminates at an underwater exhaust gas discharge. Embodiments are depicted with banks of cylinders having exhaust manifolds that are disposed either adjacent each other, in which case the catalyst bed is comprised of two portions disposed transversely outwardly of the exhaust pipes or wherein the exhaust pipes are spaced from each other and the catalyst bed is comprised of two portions disposed transversely from each other and between the exhaust pipes. An embodiment is also shown having an exhaust pipe with a catalyst bed that surrounds it.

This invention relates to an exhaust gas cleaning device for an outboard motor and more particularly to an improved catalytic treatment for the exhaust gases of an outboard motor.
Because of its compact nature, the design of outboard motors presents a number of problems peculiar to the specific application. The treatment of the exhaust gases in outboard motors is one such example where the design can present numerous problems due to the compact nature of the outboard motor.
With the intention of reducing the pollutants transmitted to the atmosphere from internal combustion engines, it has been proposed to employ catalytic exhaust systems for the outboard motor. These catalytic exhaust systems are particularly important since outboard motors frequently employ two cycle internal combustion engines and such engines may contain a fair amount of lubricating oil along with the other exhaust gas constituents typical with four cycle engines. Thus, catalytic converters are particularly advisable in treating the exhaust gases of outboard motors.
Generally the outboard motor is comprised of a power head in which the internal combustion engine is positioned and that engine has an exhaust manifold that discharges the exhaust gases downwardly into the drive shaft housing through an exhaust pipe. Various forms of silencing devices have been proposed in the drive shaft housing. For the most part, these exhaust systems must be quite compact due to the desire of maintaining a narrow profile for the drive shaft housing and particularly the portions that depends into the body of water in which the outboard motor is operating.
The exhaust gases are also discharged during high speed running through an underwater exhaust gas discharge for added silencing effect. This gives rise to certain problems, particularly when catalytic devices are used in the exhaust system. If any water can find its way back up through the exhaust system and impinge upon the catalyst, fracturing of the catalyst or deterioration of it can readily result.
For this reason, it has been proposed to position the catalytic bed at the upper portion of the drive shaft housing immediately adjacent the power head. With such an arrangement, however, the catalyst has been positioned in the exhaust pipe which delivers the exhaust gases from the engine. However, such positioning of the catalyst can cause restriction to the exhaust gas flow and adversely affect the power of the engine.
In order to avoid this restriction effect and to further protect the catalyst from the water which may enter through the underwater exhaust gas discharge, it has been proposed to provide a system where the exhaust pipe from the engine depends into an expansion chamber and a second exhaust conduit extends in part from the expansion chamber to the underwater exhaust gas discharge. This positioning of the catalyst with the type of constructions previously described has, however, somewhat restricted the size of the catalyst bed and thus problems still exist with this type of arrangement.
Frequently, the engine is also provided with banks of cylinders and for improved exhaust efficiency and exhaust gas tuning, it has been the practice to employ a separate exhaust pipe for each bank. This further complicates the problem of providing effective catalyst area and positioning.
It is, therefore, a principal object to this invention to provide an improved catalytic exhaust system for an outboard motor.
It is a further object to this invention to provide an improved catalytic system for the exhaust gases of an outboard motor wherein the catalyst is positioned where it will not be likely damaged from water entering the exhaust system through the underwater discharge and where the catalytic converter also has adequate cross sectional area to permit effective exhaust gas treatment without raising the exhaust restriction introduced by the catalyst.
It is a further object to this invention to provide an improved catalytic exhaust treatment system for an engine having banks of cylinders and two exhaust pipes.

Exhaust gas cleaning device for outboard motor


The invention relates to a method for transmitting at least one sequence of Np pulses over Np time windows, each pulse being enclosed within a predetermined time chip Tc. The method according to the invention includes a signal characterization step, in the course of which Np detection windows Dj (for j=1 to Np) encompassing predetermined time chips are examined by performing correlations over the detection windows Dj of the received signal with at least a first and a second sinusoidal signal S1 and S2.The method according to the invention enables to limit the processing time and power needed for carrying out the characterization step, which only requires to examine detection windows defined by a signature of a transmitter by using sinusoidal signals, instead of mapping the whole pulse sequence by a correlation with expected pulses.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for transmitting data in a telecommunication system including at least one transmitter and one receiver, said transmitter being intended to transmit a signal formed by at least one sequence of Np pulses over Np time windows, each pulse being enclosed within a time chip whose position within its relevant time window is defined by a chip number.
So-called Ultra-Wide Band systems (further referred to as UWB systems) are currently studied with the aim of assessing their relevance for future wireless mobile communication techniques. In such a UWB system, each transmitter may be identified by a signature formed by the above-mentioned chip numbers, which signature is in itself quite sturdy and may thus be reliably and accurately communicated to all potential receivers.
The pulses used in UWB systems are very short, having for example a duration lower than 0.1 nanosecond, which offers to such systems bandwidths at least as large as 10 GigaHertz, entailing high flexibility and hence numerous possible applications for such systems.
The above-described signal may form a carrying signal on which information can be encoded by modulation of said carrying signal, for example by performing phase or amplitude modulation of one or more pulse sequences.
2. Description of the Related Art
A major problem which hinders development of such systems lies in the identification, by a receiver, of relevant information carried by incoming signals. In the present state of the art, a signal characterization is often performed by the receiver by correlating a received signal delivered at the output of a receiving antenna, which received signal may be exclusively constituted by noise or, alternatively, may include an incoming carrying signal, with a gliding model of the waveform such a carrying signal should have. Such a gliding correlation enables to obtain an exhaustive knowledge of the received signal, by performing in effect a complete mapping of this signal, which will yield all useful information related, for example, to the phase or to the amplitude of this signal.
Unfortunately, this gliding correlation technique is not realistically applicable as such to the characterization of sequences of Np pulses lasting less than 0.1 ns each and enclosed in time windows having each a width of roughly 100 ns. In such an example, with for example Np=128 and a sampling interval of 10 ps, the scanning of the whole duration of a pulse sequence would require 1.28.106 successive pulse sequences for its completion and would then last 16 seconds, which is not acceptable.
It should also be noted that, during the considerable time required for performing the characterization of a pulse sequence according to the gliding correlation technique described above, communication conditions between the transmitter and the receiver may change, i.e. a communication channel between these devices may be altered, for example due to movements of one or both devices, in the course of a single signal characterization step, with adverse effects on the accuracy of the results yielded by said signal characterization step. The signal carrying the pulse sequences may even disappear before its characterization is completed.

Method and device for characterizing ultra-wide band (UWB) pulse sequences


A method of operating a wireless terminal communicating with a base station over a wireless channel may include determining whether the wireless terminal is in an edge area or an interior area of coverage of the base station. Responsive to determining that the wireless terminal is in an edge area of coverage of the base station, a transmit diversity communications rank indicator may be selected to select diversity communications over the wireless channel between the wireless terminal and the base station. Related wireless terminals are also discussed.

In a typical cellular radio system, wireless terminals (also referred to as user equipment unit nodes, UEs, and/or mobile stations) communicate via a radio access network (RAN) with one or more core networks. The RAN covers a geographical area which is divided into cell areas, with each cell area being served by a radio base station (also referred to as a RAN node, a "NodeB", and/or enhanced NodeB "eNodeB"). A cell area is a geographical area where radio coverage is provided by the base station equipment at a base station site. The base stations communicate through radio communication channels with UEs within range of the base stations.
Multi-antenna techniques can significantly increase data rates and/or reliability of a wireless communication system. Performance may be improved if both the transmitter and the receiver are equipped with multiple antennas, which results in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication channel. Such systems and/or related techniques are commonly referred to as MIMO. The LTE standard is currently evolving with enhanced MIMO support and MIMO antenna deployments. A spatial multiplexing mode is provided for relatively high data rates in more favorable channel conditions, and a diversity mode is provided for relatively high reliability (at lower data rates) in less favorable channel conditions.
In a downlink from a base station transmitting from an antenna array over a MIMO channel to a wireless terminal, spatial multiplexing (according to the spatial multiplexing mode) may allow the simultaneous transmission of multiple symbol streams over the same frequency from different antennas of the base station antenna array. Stated in other words, multiple symbol streams may be transmitted from different antennas of the base station antenna array to the wireless terminal over the same time/frequency resource element (TFRE) to provide an increased data rate. In a downlink from the same base station transmitting from the same antenna array to the same wireless terminal, diversity (according to the diversity mode) may allow the simultaneous transmission of the same symbol stream over the same frequency from different antennas of the base station antenna array. Stated in other words, the same symbol stream may be transmitted from different antennas of the base station antenna array to the wireless terminal over the same time/frequency resource element (TFRE) to provide increased reliability of reception at the wireless terminal due to diversity gain.
The performance of a wireless communication system can thus be improved using multiple antennas at the base station and wireless terminal to provide spatial multiplexing in more favorable channel conditions and to provide diversity gain in less favorable channel conditions. In general, the wireless terminal decides whether to receive in a MIMO diversity mode or a MIMO multiplexed mode, and the wireless terminal reports this decision using a Rank Indicator (RI). For example, a Rank. Indicator of 1 may specify a MIMO diversity mode, and a Rank Indicator of 2 may specify a MIMO multiplexed mode. Moreover, because MIMO downlink channel characteristics vary as a function of many factors including location of the wireless terminal relative to the base station, direction/speed of movement of the wireless terminal, natural and manmade terrain, etc., and because MIMO downlink characteristics and demand for downlink channel capacity may change during a communication, the Rank Indicator (RI) calculations and channel information reporting may be performed by the wireless terminal over the entire band (for example, in 3GPP-LTE, Wi-Max, etc.) at given periods as configured by the base station.
Rank Indicator (RI) choice is generally a function of channel characteristics, correlation between transmit and receive antennas, etc. A conventional approach to choosing a Rank Indicator (RI) is to find Signal to Interference-plus-Noise Ratios (SINRs) for different transmission configurations, and to choose a Rank Indicator for a configuration providing a highest spectral efficiency. In open loop MIMO systems, for example, a wireless terminal may compute a SINR for each possible value of RI and find spectral efficiencies using an exhaustive search of all possible configurations. The wireless terminal may then choose the Rank Indicator for the configuration providing the highest spectral efficiency. If spectral efficiencies of two Rank Indicators are equal, the wireless terminal may then choose the Rank Indicator that maximizes the SINR. The wireless terminal may then repon the selected Rank Indicator (RI). Modulation and Coding Scheme (MSC), and/or Channel Quality Information (CQI) to the base station in a Channel State Information (CSI) report. Similarly burdensome operations may be required for Rank Indicator (RI) and/or Precoder Matrix Indicator (PMI) calculations in closed loop MIMO systems, particularly when the codebook is large.
The requirement for the wireless terminal to periodically determine spectral efficiencies for all possible downlink configurations may place a burden on wireless terminal processing capacity and/or may reduce wireless terminal battery life. Accordingly, there continues to exist a need in the art for methods that reduce a processing capacity required for Channel State Information (CSI) reporting.

Methods of determining rank information and related communications devices and systems


A method, system, and apparatus for providing a communications channel for inter-object communication are provided. According to the method, a request may be received from a first object executing within a managed code environment to transmit data to a second object. In response thereto, an instant message (“IM”) including the data may be transmitted to an IM server computer. The IM may be forwarded to the managed code environment in which the second object is executing. The IM may then be received by the managed code environment, the data contained therein may be extracted, and the data may be presented to the second object. A reverse path may also be utilized for return communication between objects.

With the advent and explosion of computer networking, many computing tasks have migrated from being performed on a two-node system (a client and a centralized server), to being performed utilizing distributed computing. Distributed computing is a programming model in which processing may occur in many different places (or nodes) around a network. Processing can occur wherever it makes the most sense, whether that is on a server, personal computer, handheld device, or other smart device.
In order to enable communication between objects in a distributed computing environment, a number of technical hurdles must be overcome. First, it is necessary for a secure asynchronous communication channel between the distributed objects to be established. However, establishing a secure asynchronous communications channel among devices across network hops and firewalls has often been a challenge. In order to be effective, the communications channel between the distributed objects should support the traversal of any number of network hops, unmanaged firewalls, network address translation ("NAT") devices, and hyper-text transport protocol ("HTTP") proxy devices. Moreover, communications from both objects should be authenticated and logged, if possible.
A number of standards do exist that enable communication between distributed objects. The distributed component object model ("DCOM") and the common object request broker architecture ("CORBA") are examples of such standards. However, these standards generally suffer from the shortcomings described above. In particular, these standards may be difficult to use in the presence of firewalls, NAT devices, and HTTP proxies. Moreover, these standards require the use of complex client and server authentication and logging configurations.
Another way of enabling communication between distributed objects is through the use of web services. Web services send and receive messages using formats and protocols that are described in a way that allows service requesters to easily find out how to make use of the service. Web services also have a number of shortcomings, however. In particular, web services do not inherently provide functionality for authenticating the client and server components that make the requests. Moreover, web services do not provide an asynchronous 2-way communications channel suitable for robust 2-way communication between distributed objects without the developer programmatically implementing custom solutions to these requirements.
It is with respect to these considerations and others that the various embodiments of the present invention have been made.

Instant messaging communications channel for transporting data between objects executing within a managed code environment


An embodiment of the invention provides a data encryption method for an electrical device. The method comprises: generating an identification code corresponding to the electrical device; generating a temporary key according to the identification code; encrypting first data to generate a first secret key according to the temporary key and a first encryption mechanism; and encrypting the first secret key by a second encryption mechanism to generate an encrypted key.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data encryption method and in particular relates to a data encryption method between an electronic device and an external storage device.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the popularization of computers, more and more users store personal data in computers. If the data stored in the computer is not protected by some protection mechanism, the data may be stolen. Also, as users more commonly use internet applications, it is easier for hackers to steal data from a computer via internet connection. Therefore, data protection of data stored on computers is an important issue.
Generally speaking, users can encrypt data by some encryption technology. If the encrypted data is stolen, the encrypted data cannot be correctly decrypted without correct password, and a hacker or thief may be unable to access the correct content of the encrypted data. Most types of encryption technologies ask a user to input a password and encrypt data according to the password. When a user wants to decrypt the encrypted data, he/she only has to input the password to acquire the original data. However, if the user forgets their password, the encrypted data will not be decrypted correctly, which causes an inconvenience for the user. Another type of encryption mechanism is to use a key to encrypt the data. However, if the key is not well kept and stolen by a hacker, the hacker may decrypt the encrypted data using the stolen key. Thus, the encryption mechanism is still not foolproof.

Data encryption method and system and data decryption method


A printing press feeder capable of sheet feeding from the rear, sheet feeding from the front, or stream feeding from the rear, using tracks above a stock support for the feeder, the sheet feeder head being movably mounted on these tracks, and a movable drive connection from a power source to the sheet feeder head for driving of the sheet pickup advancers in the different head positions. The sheet feeder has first and second alternate drive mechanisms, on opposite ends of the transverse drive shaft, the first drive mechanism having a variable speed drive for sheet feeding individual sheets and slowing feed of each sheet as the sheet approaches the print cylinder, and the second drive mechanism having a constant speed drive for stream feeding overlapping sheets to the print cylinder. The press has nonprint lift cylinders engaging the squeegee mount and actuable to lift the squeegee out of print position, but still within the stencil screen frame, to allow the stencil screen frame to cycle without printing. The stencil screen carriage is connected to a drive shaft to be reciprocated, a pinion gear on the drive shaft engaging an elongated gear rack held by a pivotal bearing support, so that rotation of a drive crank will reciprocate the gear rack while rocking it about the pivotal bearing support, to rotatably drive the drive shaft in opposite directions causing rotational reciprocation of the cylinder and linear reciprocation of the carriage.

This invention relates to stencil screen printing machines and sheet feeders therefor.
Stencil screen printing machines and sheet feeders therefor have been known for several decades, see, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,578,779; 2,606,492; 2,866,405; 3,029,927 and 3,120,180.
In operating these machines, the individual sheets are sometimes fed to the print cylinder and screen frame by what is called "stream feed" and sometimes by what is called "sheet feed." Stream feed means the delivery to the print cylinder of sheets in overlapped relationship. Sheet feed means the delivery to the print cylinder of sheets in separated relationship, i.e., each spaced from the next. Feeding of the sheets is normally with shifting suction units to a feed table over which recirculating belts pass. When sheets are stream fed, the sheets are fed from the rear of the stock board on which the stock of sheets is placed. That is, the top sheet in the stack is pushed at its rear edge toward the feed table, i.e., to the moving belts to advance the sheets to the print cylinder. When sheets are sheet red, they may be fed by a pusher mounted at the rear of the stock board, i.e., by pushing the rear edge of the sheet, or by a puller mounted at the front of the stock board, i.e., by pulling the front of the sheet. It would be advantageous to have a stencil screen printing machine which could stream feed from the rear, or sheet feed from the front, or sheet feed from the rear, and capable of changeover between these three variations in a quick, easy manner.
Another feature commonly found on stencil screen printing machines is the capacity of the squeegee to be vertically moved between a lowered print position, a slightly raised return, ink flood position, and a high lift position out of the stencil screen frame. In the print position, the squeegee moves over the stencil screen in engagement therewith, to force ink through the screen and onto a sheet of stock held on and moving with the underlying print cylinder. In the return stroke, the flood position is assumed wherein the squeegee is a small fraction of an inch above the screen to be just out of engagement with the screen so as to flood a new layer of ink onto the screen for the next print stroke. High lift of the squeegee is achieved as with a pair of fluid cylinders, gears, or otherwise, which lift the squeegee subassembly completely out of the screen frame so as to allow changes to be made in the squeegee, changes to or removal of the screen frame, cleaning and/or repair of the screen, and the like. When high lift is accomplished by fluid cylinders, these same cylinders have been known to also be used to hold down the squeegee on the stencil screen during the print stroke.
Sometimes a press operator would like to cycle the press through a print stroke to check the print stroke of the apparatus, but without printing during that stroke. The only way that can presently be attempted is to put the squeegee in high lift condition/position and run the press through the forward stroke. However, if this is done, the next stroke cannot be effectively used to print because it takes too long, for the high lifted squeegee to lower onto the screen, so that the press is already part way through the print stroke by the time the squeegee engages the screen. It would be of significant advantage for a stencil screen printer to have a "nonprint" squeegee position allowing a simulated print cycle of a rapidly moving printer, without actual printing taking place, followed by a full print cycle, as well as having the usual high lift position.
Aside from these above noted shortcomings of conventional stencil screen printing machines, there is another shortcoming or trouble area that involves the print cylinder drive. The print cylinder is rotatably mounted to rotationally oscillate in one rotary direction, and then return in the opposite rotary direction, rapidly and repeatedly. Such a print cylinder is typically rotatably oscillated by having a gear on one end of the cylinder engaging an underlying gear rack mounted in a horizontal slide track below the gear. The gear rack can be oscillated linearly while held securely against vertical and lateral movement, assuring constant full engagement with the gear. However, experience has shown that any small object falling into the gear rack, even small metal shavings, can instantly bind up the drive, score the components and jam the fast moving press to stop it, practically instantaneously, with likely concomitant damage. Significant down time, e.g., several days, also results because the printing apparatus must be substantially disassembled by removal of the squeegee, removal of the print cylinder and other adjacent components to get down to the jammed, damaged gear drive mechanism. It would be highly advantageous to have a dependable print cylinder drive using gear and gear rack components but without the known tendency to be jammed and damaged, causing significant down time and repair costs. Moreover, it would be advantageous to have such a print cylinder drive which is removable and replaceable without having to remove the squeegee subassembly or the print cylinder.


An optical ribbon (20) includes at least one optical fiber and a conformal coating at least substantially encapsulating said at least one optical fiber. The optical ribbon is flat and has a generally curved section (42) which can be routed around components (40) on a printed wiring board (22) or can be used as a built-in ferrule retermination loop.

Generally, current optical ribbon technology limits ribbon geometry to a straight line. When such fiber optic ribbons have to follow a curved path on an optical board, the accuracy of the routing is compromised. In some cases, the fiber optic ribbons may rub against abrasive surfaces such as FR4 laminate or heat sinks. In particular, as telecom system components, such as ASICs and optical transceivers, generate ever-increasing amounts of heat, fans are used to cool the components by generating powerful air flows. These air flows may cause the optical ribbons vibrate against the abrasive surfaces, resulting in possible damage to the optical ribbon.
Forcing prior art optical ribbons into curved paths, or installing the ribbon in a way that forces the optical ribbon to bend in any plane other than perpendicular to its surface, subjects the optical ribbon to permanent torsional stresses that reduce the optical ribbon's life expectancy. Over time, the optical ribbon, in particular, ribbons without jackets, may split. Because all parallel optic transceivers currently on the market feature an interface orientation parallel to the printed wiring board on which the transceivers are mounted, most optical ribbons are in permanent torsional stress.
In addition, when numerous optical ribbons are to be assembled on a board, a constraining assembly sequence must be determined and followed during assembly. Furthermore, height limitations (if no curved ribbon cross-over is allowed) may create significant design constraints when the straight optical ribbons are used.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,496,215 to Shaheen et al. provides a flat optical ribbon which can include a curved pattern (as shown in FIG. 3 of the '215 patent). The optical fibers are embedded in a resin layer in a predetermined pattern. Thereafter, first and second surfaces layers are laminated to the resin. The first and second surface layers provide structural support to the optical fibers to protect the optical fibers from tensile and shear stresses. While this provides the ability to have a flat optical ribbon which can include a curved pattern, the substrates increase the cost of manufacturing the ribbon.
The present invention provides an optical flex circuit and/or cable assembly which overcomes the problems presented in the prior art and which provides additional advantages over the prior art, such advantages will become clear upon a reading of the attached specification in combination with a study of the drawings.

Optical ribbon and method of forming same


A cassette seal for sealing off the gap between a bore hole and a shaft. The seal includes an inner ring which is secured to the shaft and has a groove open radially to the outside. The seal also includes an outer ring secured in the bore hole with a radial projection of a flange-type design that engages with the groove. The groove is defined in the axial direction by end faces turned toward each other. A sealing lip secured in the area of the inner circumference to the radial projection is formed from a polymer material. At least the inner ring is formed from a plastically deformed sheet metal. The sealing lip sealingly contacts the inner ring in the area of one end face. The inner ring is designed in one piece and is provided in the area of both axial ends with ring projections, which are produced by a plastic deformation and project radially to the outside. The outer ring is limited bounded in the axial direction on both sides by range spacers formed from a polymer material. The range spacers are set apart in the circumferential direction and abut on the end faces when the cassette seal is new and unused.

The present invention relates to a cassette seal for sealing off the gap between a bore hole and a shaft.
A known cassette seal is shown in U.K. Patent No. 881,607 having inner and outer rings of a comparatively complicated shape, which are secured inside one another. Limit-stop devices are provided in the inner and outer rings to simplify assembly. These limit stop devices are formed from rubber elastic material and are removed over time during normal use because of the relative movement between the inner and outer rings. The working properties of this known cassette seal are not satisfactory, the medium to be sealed off is not sufficiently recirculated in the direction of the space to be sealed off.
An object of the present invention is to provide a cassette seal that attains a considerably simplified and economic construction and assembly so that the seal comprises fewer individual parts to be secured inside one another. Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved cassette seal where the medium to be sealed off is better recirculated back into the space to be sealed off.


In order to make gauge regulation simple and to make it possible to exchange or grind the card clothing in each individual top bar, the present invention provides a stationary flat unit which is composed of a stationary flat having a plurality of top bars adjustably fitted between two sash-like plates for adjustment in up and down directions, and arms fixed to both side surfaces of the statinary flat. This stationary flat has the effect of reducing the time required for fitting, reducing the frequency of maintenance and prolonging the service life of the card clothing.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a stationary flat to be fitted onto the peripheral surface of a cylinder of a carding engine.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 10, a plurality of stationary flats 33 are fixed on a cylinder 29 of a carding engine 28 between a top 30 and a doffer 31 or between a top 30 and a taker-in 32 (Japanese Patent Application Laid Open Gazette No. 61-1604727). However, since each of such stationary flats is fastened to the cylinder of a carding engine by bolts, it has been very difficult to regulate accurately the gauge of each of the plural stationary flats. Also, in the case where the card clothing of each of such plural stationary flats has worn due to carding action, it has been impossible to grind the card wires. Moreover, in the case where the stationary flats are cleaned and the card wires of a drum are ground and cleaned, the stationary flats must be detached one by one and when they are refixed to the carding engine, it is necessary to reregulate the gauge of each stationary flat. Thus, the trouble has been that complicated operations and a large number of steps are required for grinding, cleaning and refixing.
As a means of solving the above problem of the prior art, a stationary flat proper (a covering plate with metallic card clothing mounted on the inner side thereof) swingably mounted at the proper place of the peripheral surface of a cylinder on an arm has been suggested (Japanese Patent Application Laid Open Gazette No. 62-41322). However, since the above-mentioned stationary flat is a covering plate with a card clothing mounted on the inner side thereof, when the card clothing is partially damaged, it must be replaced in its entirety. Thus, labor and expense are required for replacing and it is impossible to grind card wires while they are on the carding engine.

Stationary flat, top bar and carding engine


A method and apparatus for providing an estimate of uniformity of wall thickness of a centrifugally cast object, such as a pipe cast from molten iron, substantially immediately after the casting process is complete. The volume of molten metal entering the mold over time is determined and correlated with casting machine position and velocity data to estimate wall thickness along the length of the pipe. Process defects can then be identified promptly and corrective action taken.

The process of centrifugal casting of metal objects, and in particular of iron pipe, is well known and has been practiced for a century. A centrifugal casting machine includes a delivery system, such as a trough, and a rotating mold. Molten iron is poured from a machine ladle into the trough. The trough extends into the interior of the rotating mold, generally axially. One end of the mold usually includes a core, such as a sand core, to accurately shape what is called the bell of the pipe. The opposite end of the pipe is referred to as the spigot, and the elongated section in between is the barrel. The molten iron flows down the trough under the influence of gravity. The mold and trough are moved relative to one another to fill the mold with iron, typically from the bell end along the barrel to the spigot. As the mold rotates, centrifugal force disposes the iron circumferentially around the mold in a relatively even manner, Typically, the casting machine is moved via hydraulics or other mechanical means, as is known in the art, to dispose the iron as desired.
Variation in the charge mix (i.e., the source of raw material for the foundry, such as scrap iron), coke, and cupola operation results in variation in the molten iron temperature and chemical composition. The variation in content of the molten iron also manifests itself in the liquidus arrest temperature and the fluidity of the molten iron, which in turn causes variations in frictional forces, surface tension, heat diffusivity, of the molten iron from which each pipe is cast, which themselves may vary from one pour to the next based on pour temperature. All of this results in inconsistency, in the flow rate of iron to the mold. The variation in molten iron content cannot be cost effectively eliminated in a facility using material from recycled or scrap sources.
The casting process can be thought of as governed by two operations, which occur roughly contemporaneously but are controlled independently of one another, One operation tilts the machine ladle to pour the iron, and the other moves the mold relative to the trough to allow distribution of the iron in the mold. The overall volume of molten iron poured for casting, and therefore the weight of the pipe, is determined by the operation of the ladle. The distribution of the iron within the mold is determined primarily by movement of the mold and secondarily by, ladle operation. The applicant hereof has obtained U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,733,424; 8,910,669; 8,960,263, which are directed towards the controlling movement of the mold relative to the trough. These patents disclose an apparatus and method to control casting machine parameters and movement, to account for changing fluidity of the molten iron due to variability in the charge mix and pour temperatures.
As to operation of the machine ladle operation, controls for parameters associated with tilting the machine ladle include machine ladle pouring rate, machine ladle cutback position, and spigot check position. For example, the machine ladle pouring rate sets the flow rate for the molten iron being poured from the ladle. When molten iron is poured from the machine ladle during the casting cycle, there is a delay while the iron (typically under the force of gravity) traverses a trough that terminates in a spout, from which the iron is disposed in the mold. The delay varies based on the size and length of the trough, flow rate, and other factors, but its duration is significant relative to the overall duration of the casting cycle. For example, in a process where the actual casting time is 15 seconds, the delay from pouring the iron from the ladle to its leaving the spout of the trough may be 4 seconds. This delay therefore makes any changes to controls associated with the machine ladle difficult to make "on the fly."
Machine ladles are designed to be linear pour devices so that equal degrees of rotation of the ladle will deliver equal volumes of molten iron. Over time, however, the ladle may become non-linear in its pouring characteristics. Non-linearity in ladle pouring may be introduced by variations in the dimensions of the ladle. Slag, a viscous ceramic substance that is dissolved in molten iron, may come out of solution and deposit in the ladle. It may deposit in various locations in the ladle and cause non-linear pouring in a number of modes. Changes in pour linearity are subtle and are compounded over time. This can cause a decrease in volumetric flow rate of iron even though the ladle pour rate control (degree of tilt of the machine ladle) has not been changed at all.
One mode of non-linearity in pouring is from slag build-up in the ladle lip area. This may cause decreased volume of molten iron at the beginning of the casting cycle. The initial low volume flow would cause bell wall thickness to be less than anticipated. This can be offset by increasing the pour rate, which will also increase the pipe weight and thickness of the pipe wall throughout its length. Casting machine (mold) movement also can be adjusted to restore pipe wall uniformity.
Another mode of non-linear variation in pouring is from slag build-up in the teapot area of the ladle. This may cause decreased volume of molten iron at the end of the cast cycle, Insufficient volume of molten iron at the end of the cast cycle would cause the pipe wall to be thin at the spigot. The spigot wall thickness may be increased by changing the ladle cutback position control, which will allow the ladle to pour for a longer period of time. The longer pour time will increase the volume of molten iron to the spigot end of the pipe, increasing its thickness there.
Non-linear variation in pouring may be generated by erosion of the ceramic ladle lining material. This erosion may cause the ladle to change dimension in any area. As the non-linearity increases, the pipe wall thickness uniformity may vary in a number of ways. Often the only remedy for pipe wall thickness that is not sufficiently uniform is to replace the machine ladle.
In sum, with variability introduced by chemical content of molten iron, changes in pour temperature, and changes in linearity of ladle pouring characteristics, uniformity of results and adherence to specifications can be difficult to achieve even with hydraulic systems controlled by programmable logic controllers (PLCs). The casting operator simply cannot detect changes in the iron or pour characteristic that affect wall thickness uniformity in a timely manner in order to adjust the casting machine controls. Instead, until now when an iron pipe is cast in a centrifugal casting machine, no feedback for its wall thickness uniformity is available for the casting machine operator for hours after casting, because the pipe typically must complete annealing and processing (a period of hours) before it can be measured, usually with an ultrasonic thickness instrument.
Although casting apparatus may operate at different speeds, in one example, the pipe is cast at a rate of 0.75 seconds per foot. Therefore, a 20-foot length of pipe may require only 15 seconds to cast. It will be apparent that hundreds of pipe may be cast before the first pipe has been annealed and sufficiently cooled for the ultrasonic measurement of wall thickness. Further, when one of the casting parameters is altered in an attempt to correct the error, it will require several more hours before it can be determined if the alteration has resulted in the desired correction car has increased variation in pipe wall thickness.
Thus, there is a need for an apparatus and method that provides an accurate estimate of uniformity of pipe wall thickness proximate to completeness of the casting process.

Method and apparatus for estimating dimensional uniformity of cast object

United States Pipe and Foundry Company, LLC


Disclosed is a loudspeaker module, comprising a module housing formed with an accommodation cavity, and a loudspeaker unit accommodated in the accommodation cavity, wherein the loudspeaker unit comprises a magnetic conductive yoke; a through hole which corresponds to the magnetic conductive yoke and penetrates through inner and outer surfaces of the module housing is provided, near the magnetic conductive yoke, on the module housing, and the magnetic conductive yoke extends into the through hole; and an assembly gap is provided between the magnetic conductive yoke and a hole wall of the through hole. The loudspeaker module further comprises a sealing member, wherein a part of the sealing member is adhered to the outer surface of the housing, and the other part is adhered to a bottom surface of the magnetic conductive yoke so as to seal the assembly gap.

A loudspeaker is an important acoustic component in electronic devices. As an energy conversion device that converts electrical signals into acoustic signals, the loudspeaker is widely used in portable electronic devices such as mobile phones, notebook computers, hearing aids, and the like. With the rapid development of these portable electronic devices, functional requirements for the devices are increasing. Up to now, the development trend of the loudspeaker tends to miniaturization and high power, which put forward strict requirements for the volume and heat dissipation capacity of the loudspeaker itself.
The structure of existing loudspeaker module generally includes a module housing and a loudspeaker unit provided inside the module housing, the loudspeaker unit divides an accommodation cavity inside the module housing into a front sound cavity and a rear sound cavity isolated from each other. For a high-power loudspeaker unit, in order to achieve the purpose of reducing the thickness of the module and increasing the heat dissipation capacity, a through hole is provided on the housing in the existing loudspeaker module, so that a part of the magnetic conductive yoke of the loudspeaker unit may occupy a certain space of the module housing in thickness, and the heat dissipation capacity of the loudspeaker unit can be improved after exposing the part of the magnetic conductive yoke of the loudspeaker unit to outside of the module housing. However, the above structure has the following defects: an assembly gap between the magnetic conductive yoke of the loudspeaker unit and the module housing is not protected; sealing with an adhesive is needed; the adhesive is easy to flow into the loudspeaker when it is applied; core components such as a vibrating diaphragm, a voice coil, and the like are contaminated, resulting in poor performance of the loudspeaker. In addition, the adhesive-applying sealing process is time-consuming and labor-intensive, has low efficiency, and cannot guarantee the sealing performance of the rear sound cavity of the loudspeaker module after the adhesive is applied, thus the product yield is low and a second gluing treatment is often required.
Therefore, it is necessary to provide a new structure of the loudspeaker module to overcome the above-mentioned defects in the prior art.


The present invention provides a method and apparatus to browse the Web without using a web browser. The application server in a transmitting unit converts a web page transmitted from the Internet into video data and provides links to the video data on the basis of the links provided to the web page. In the video server of the transmitting unit, the video data transmitted from the server is compressed by the MPEG2 encoders, and sent with information about the links provided to the video data. A ‘Set-Top Box’, of the receiving terminal outputs the received video data to a display, and establishes an association between the links provided to the video data and a position of a cursor displayed on the screen of the display.

The presently available digital broadcast includes a communications satellite (CS) broadcast, cable broadcast, Internet broadcast, and the like. These digital broadcasts are received by a set-top box (STB), for example. An STB, which is connected to a television, has a function of receiving and converting video signals and an interface for connecting a telephone line and a personal computer.
FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a transmitting unit 10 and a receiving terminal 20 for digital broadcast. The transmitting unit 10 transmits multiplex data (MPEG2-TS), in which video and audio data, computer program, EPG (electronic program guide) data are combined, to the receiving terminal 20. The transmitting unit 10 includes a video server 14 for compressing video and audio data and an application server 12, or a general purpose computer. The receiving terminal 20 includes an STB 22 for receiving a digital data broadcast and a television 24 having a visual output unit and audio output unit. The STB 22 may be built into the television 24.
As shown in FIG. 6(a), the video server 14 comprises MPEG 2 (Motion Picture Expert Group phase 2) encoders 30 which compress video and audio data 1, 2, 3, and 4 including audio data (audio 1, 2, 3, and 4) and video data (video 1, 2, 3, 4) in accordance with the MPEG2 standard;
a multiplexer 32 which multiplexes the compressed video and audio data 1, 2, 3 and 4, EPG and the like;
and a transmitter 34 for transmitting the multiplexed data (MPEG2-TS). FIG. 6(b) shows an overview of the data (MPEG2-TS) transmitted by the transmitting unit 10. In FIG. 6(b), a plurality of MPEG 2 data are included in the same frequency band in a time-division manner.
As shown in FIG. 7, the STB 22 comprises a receiver 40 for receiving the data (MPEG2-TS) transmitted from the transmitting unit 10;
a demultiplexer 42 for separating the multiplexed data (MPEG2-TS);
an MPEG2 decoder 44 for decoding the video and audio data compressed in the MPEG2 standard;
a video decoder 46 for converting the decoded video data into a video signal for television display;
an input device 52 for operating the STB 22;
a communication device 48 for communicating the transmitting unit 10 via communication lines such as telephone lines;
and a microprocessor unit (MPU) 50 for controlling these devices included in the STB 22.
In the case of CS broadcasting, the receiver 40 receives digital broadcast using a parabolic antenna. The received data (MPEG 2-TS), which is the multiplexed data, is separated into video and audio data by the demultiplexer 42. The video and audio data are transmitted to the MPEG2 decoder 44, and the EPG data is transmitted to the MPU 50. The video and audio data are decoded in the decoder 44. The volume of the decoded audio data is adjusted in an amplifier (not shown), and then sent to a speaker integrated in the television 24, for example. The decoded video data is converted into video signals for television display, and then sent to the television 24.
The EPG data transmitted to the MPU 50 is stored in a memory (not shown). The input device 52 is used for selecting a program to watch, changing the display of the EPG, and so on. For example, when an operation button of the input device 52 is pushed, the MPU receives the information that the button has been pushed. For example, when a program to watch is selected, the MPU 50 changes the MPEG2 data transmitted from the demultiplexer 42 to the MPEG2 encoder 44 to the program data selected in the above step. For example, when display control of the EPG data is performed in the input device 52, the MPU 50 transmits the EPG data to the video encoder 46. In the encoder 46, the EPG data is converted into video signals for television display, and then it is displayed on the screen of the television 24. The MPU 50 transmits watched program information to the transmitting unit 10 via the communication device 48. The application server 12 receives the watched program information and then calculates a viewing fee on the basis of the watched program information.
In these days, STBs having the function of not only receiving digital broadcast, but also browsing the Web on the Internet are becoming increasingly common. FIG. 8 is an overview of the connection between the Internet 16 and a receiving terminal 20 and a transmitting unit 10 in a digital broadcast system. Web data is transmitted from the Internet 16 to the receiving terminal 20 via the transmitting unit 10. The term "web data" used herein includes web page data such as HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) file, image file, audio file and the like. The image file includes still picture and motion picture.
FIG. 9(a) shows an example of a web page 60. The web page 60 includes a picture 62, characters 64, and links 70, 72, and 74. The links 70, 72, and 74 are linked to other web pages. As shown in FIG. 9(b), links are provided to diagonally shaded areas 82, 84, and 86. Selecting one of the links 70, 72, and 74 by clicking on it, the user can browse a web page linked to the selected link.
As shown in FIG. 10(a), the web data transmitted from the Internet 16 to the application server 12 is sent to the multiplexer 32 in the video server 14. The web data, EPG data, MPEG2 data, and the like are then multiplexed and sent to the STB 22. An example of the transmitted data (MPEG2-TS) included in the same frequency band in a time-division manner is shown in FIG. 10(b).
As shown in FIG. 11, the STB 22 receives the web data (MPEG2-TS) transmitted from the transmitting unit 10. The received data is separated in the demultiplexer 42, and then transmitted to the MPU 50. The MPU 50 activates a web browser (a software for browsing the Web), and transmits graphic output of a web page to the television 24 via the video encoder 46. An image 80 shown in FIG. 12(a), which is displayed by the web browser, is converted into video signals, and then sent to the television 24. The volume of audio data is adjusted in an amplifier (not shown), and then sent to the television 24.
The input device 52 can be used for selecting one of the links by positioning a cursor 76 shown in FIG. 12(b) in the link and clicking a mouse button, for example. The function of selecting a link using a cursor is provided to the web browser, and the selection of a link is executed by the MPU 50. The MPU 50 sends selected link information to the transmitting unit 10 via the communication device 48. The application server 12 receives the selected link information from the receiving terminal 20, and requests the Internet 16 to transfer a web page linked to this link. When the requested web page is transferred from the Internet 16 to the application server 12, the server 12 sends the web page to the receiving terminal 20 in the same manner as described above.
As stated above, it is possible to browse the Web using an STB. However, as compared to the case where digital broadcast is received, a higher-speed MPU and a larger-capacity memory must be used when the web browser is used. In addition, since there is little compatibility between the MPUs and between the operating systems (OS) used in various STBs, the web browsers may often vary among the STBs. Even if the same web browsers are used in the STBs, functions may vary among STBs due to the addition of function enhancement software such as plug-in software. Thus, the variations between the web browsers may cause a failure of displaying a web page on the screen.

Broadcast system and method for browsing the web

International Business Machines Corporation


Examples of a plasma film forming method include repeating feeding material gas onto a substrate placed on a susceptor via a shower head provided to oppose the susceptor, performing plasma film formation on the substrate by applying high frequency power to the shower head while providing reactant gas onto the substrate, and performing post-purge of discharging the gas used in the plasma film formation while heating the shower head, for a time longer than 0.1 seconds, a plurality of times in this order.

A film of TiO2 is sometimes formed on a substrate such as a Si wafer by plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PE-ALD) using tetrakis (dimethylamido) titanium (TDMAT) and O2. In order to achieve desired film quality, only high frequency power is sometimes made higher, or only an application time of high frequency power is sometimes made longer, without change in film formation conditions such as the amount of feed of a material gas (source) for film formation, a time for the feed, and a source purge time. For example, the high frequency power is made higher, or the application time of high frequency power is made longer when forming a film with film quality of a low etching rate. In such a case, a TiO2 film is formed which has a film thickness profile in which the film thickness is extremely thicker on the outer portion of the substrate than on the inner portion thereof, which causes poor in-plane film thickness uniformity although the desired film quality can be obtained. The outer portion of the substrate is an annular portion along the outer edge of the substrate, and the inner portion thereof is a portion including the center of the substrate and enclosed by the outer portion.
It is presumed that the film thickness on the outer portion of the substrate increases due to plasma spreading to the periphery of the outer portion of the substrate and due to the field intensity of the plasma increasing in the periphery of the outer portion when strong high frequency power is applied.
In order to adjust the film thickness distribution in the plane of the substrate while achieving the desired film quality, there can be needed complicated adjustment of film formation conditions such as the amount of feed of material gas, the flow rate of reactant gas, the flow rate of carrier gas, a pressure in the chamber in film formation, the distance between electrodes, and the temperature of the substrate. For example, the film thickness in the plane of the substrate is intended to be uniform. Change to dedicated hardware used under the conditions for strong high frequency power is considered when it is unable to adjust the film thickness distribution while achieving the desired film quality under adjustment of the film formation conditions. The change to such hardware increases costs.


Absorbent articles having a liquid permeable topsheet, a liquid impermeable backsheet, and an absorbent core disposed between said topsheet and said backsheet are disclosed. The absorbent articles include a plasto-elastic material joined to or disposed on at least one of component of the absorbent article to impart sizing or shaping capabilities to the article. The plasto-elastic material has substantially plastic properties when said absorbent article is subjected to an initial strain cycle, for example, when the article is placed on a wearer, and has substantially elastic properties when subjected to a second strain cycle such as when the article is subsequently adjusted to conform to the size of the wearer. The absorbent article can be in the form of diapers, pull-on diapers, training pants, sanitary napkins, wipes, bibs, incontinence briefs or inserts.

Disposable absorbent products, such as diapers, training pants, and incontinence articles typically include, stretchable materials, such as elastic strands, in the waist region and the cuff regions to provide a snug fit and a good seal of the article. Pant-type absorbent articles further include stretchable materials in the side portions for easy application and removal of the article and for sustained fit of the article. Stretchable materials have also been used in the ear portions of disposable diapers for adjustable fit of the article. However, it would be desirable to have materials that exhibit substantially plastic behavior prior to and during a shaping strain cycle, for example, when the article is initially put on a wearer, yet exhibit substantially elastic behavior after this initial shaping or donning strain cycle on the article. In this way, such desirable absorbent articles would have the ability to shape or size to the wearer to better fit conform to a wearer's body shape, yet have the ability to maintain the required tension when on a wearer to achieve sustained fit and prevent sagging and/or drooping of the article. Absorbent articles of this kind would allow the user or wearer to "permanently" adjust various areas of the absorbent article, e.g., the crotch or waist region of a diaper, either before, or during the application of the article to the wearer, to adapt the article to a wearer's body shape. In the ease of a diaper, better fit and comfort can also impart better functional performance such as reduced leakage since the diaper would be better fitting. Such features have heretofore not been available for absorbent articles.
There are various approaches to providing desirable stretchable properties in targeted areas of absorbent articles. Stretchable materials may be films or nonwoven fibrous webs that include elastomeric materials. Typically, such materials are stretchable in at least one, and possibly multiple, directions. However, because the films or webs are made entirely of elastomeric materials, they are relatively expensive, and they tend to have more drag on the skin surface, resulting in discomfort to the wearer of the article. Also, because the materials are elastomeric, any applied strain is substantially recovered when the force leading to the strain is removed. Sometimes, the stretchable films are laminated to one or more layers of nonwoven webs. Since typical nonwoven webs typically are made of thermoplastic fibers, they have very limited stretchability and, the resulting laminates provide considerable resistance to stretch without additional processing. It is necessary to reduce this resistance substantially in order to make functional stretch laminates. As a result, such materials, have limited ability to shape, size or conform to the particularities of the wearer's anatomy upon application.
Other approaches to make stretchable materials are also known, including: stretch-bonded laminates (SBL) and necked-bonded laminates (NBL). Stretch bonded laminates are made by stretching an elastomeric material in the machine direction (MD), laminating it to one or more nonwoven substrates while it is in the stretched state, and releasing the tension in the elastomeric material so that the nonwovens gather and take on a puckered shape. Necked-bonded laminates are made by first stretching a nonwoven substrate in the machine direction such that it necks (i.e., reduces its dimension) at least in the cross machine direction (CD), then bonding the elastomeric material to the substrate while the substrate is still in the stretched, necked state. This laminate will be stretchable in the CD, at least up to the original width of the nonwoven before it was necked. Combinations of stretch bonding and neck bonding have also been known to deliver stretch in both MD and CD directions. In these approaches, at least one of the components is in a tensioned (i.e., stretched) state when the components of the laminates are joined together. Again, these materials cannot be used in absorbent articles to impart sizing or shaping features desired by users and wearers of absorbent articles.
Zero strain stretch laminates are also known. The zero strain stretch laminates are made by bonding an elastomer to a nonwoven while both are in an unstrained state. The laminates are then incrementally stretched to impart stretch properties. The incrementally stretched laminates are stretchable only to the extent afforded by the non-recovered (i.e., residual) extensibility of the laminate. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,156,793, issued to Buell et al., discloses a method for incrementally stretching an elastomer-nonwoven laminate web, in a non-uniform manner, to impart elasticity to the resulting laminate. These stretch laminates behave similarly to the materials described previously in that they do not have the inherent ability to be adapted to the size or shape of a wearer.
The art also has provided "elastic" materials by prestraining a substantially plastic film so as to provide films having an elastic-like behavior along at least one axis when subjected to an applied and subsequently released elongation. Such materials, known as Structural Elastic-Like Films, are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,691,035 to Chappell.
However, in all the approaches above, the materials or laminates are made separately and then incorporated into the absorbent article. For example, the stretch laminates described herein must be cut into the appropriate size and shape, then adhesively attached to the desired location in the product in a process sometimes referred as the "cut-and-slip" process. Because of the different stretch properties required for different elements of the product, it is necessary to make a variety of laminates having different stretchability and cut the laminates to different-sizes and shapes. Several cut and slip units may be needed to handle the different stretchability of the stretch laminates and to attach them to different locations of the product. As the number of cut-and-slip units and/or steps multiplies, the process quickly becomes cumbersome, complicated and expensive. These processes are suitable for modern day absorbent article manufacture and are desirable. However, it would therefore be desirable to have absorbent articles having the desired sizing and/or shaping properties, but which can be disposed in or on the absorbent article without the need for such complicated and expensive "cut-and-slip" processes.
One alternative to cut and slip processes used by the art is to print an elastomeric composition onto a substrate. Exemplary disclosures include U.S. Pat. No. 6,531,027 which discusses adhering components of an absorbent article using an adhesive printing process, PCT Application No. 03/039420 which discusses printing first and second elastomeric compositions onto a substrate where decompositions differ in at least one of the following properties: elasticity, melt viscosity, composition, shape, pattern, add-on level, and PCT Application No. WO 03/053308, which discusses printing an elastic adhesive onto an extendable substrate to provide a tensioning force during garment wear.
The polymer arts have provided materials with stretch properties that are useful in absorbent article structures. Such materials include:
Isotactic polypropylene with stereoerrors along the polymer chain as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,555,643 and EP 1 256 594 A1;
Blends of isotactic polypropylene and alpha-olefin/propylene copolymers as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,342,565 and 6,500,563 and WO 03/400201; and
Block-like isotactic-atactic copolymers as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,559,262, 6,518,378 and 6,169,151.
Based on the foregoing, it would be desirable to have absorbent articles with stretchable material having both elastic and plastic properties such that it can be sized or shaped as desired but still retains the desired degree of elasticity to facilitate sustained fit on the wearer. Although not always necessary, it would be desirable to have such a material that can be disposed easily on any specific area of the absorbent article in any desired amount. Additionally, it would be desirable to have such a material or composite haying plastic and elastic properties that can be easily placed in discrete, spaced apart areas of the absorbent article via known techniques such as a "cut-and slip" process.

Disposable absorbent articles with components having both plastic and elastic properties


Disclosed are process and apparatus for inspecting internal inclusions in internally transmissive substrates. The process involves applying a black coating to one major surface of the substrate, submerging the substrate in a refractive index-matching fluid, and scanning the substrate with a collimated light beam. The scattered light signals produced by the inclusions can be detected by the human eye or by using a light detector. By the use of index-matching fluid and the black coating, the signal-to-noise ratio of the process and apparatus are enhanced. A preferred black coating is one cured from an electron beam or photo polymerizable coating composition applied to the major surface. The process and apparatus are particularly suitable for inspecting internal inclusions in an internally transmissive substrate having considerable amount of surface defects or contoured surface that prevent it from inspection in a gas medium.

Many optical members and devices are required to be free of internal inclusions. For example, the optical devices used in modern photolithographic processes and equipment for the production of semiconductor products must be free of inclusions. Such inclusions could be small gas bubbles, refractory particles and platinum particles and the like introduced into the glass during the preparation process. The inclusions, in micron size or submicron size, are not acceptable in stepper lenses and photomask substrates. It is important that such inclusions be detected in the inspection process before a piece of glass bulk material is processed into the lens or photomask substrate. Inclusion detection in other transparent media, such as in bulk plastic material, for use as window panes, visors, or optical members, is also necessary for many applications.
However, detecting small (micron scale and submicron) inclusions in solid media, such as glass, has been a challenge. The difficulties associated with various practices are sensitivity, resolution, depth of focus, to name a few. Microscopy has the capability to detect inclusion down to the submicron range, yet it has an extremely narrow depth of focus and a small sampling area at high magnification. If used alone, these restrictions make it next to impossible to analyze bulk glass. Diffused reflection/scattering has been used to identify inclusion. After mapping their location, the inclusion can be further determined by microscopy. Nevertheless, the detection limit for the diffused reflection/scattering approach is about 5 microns and as low as 1 μm. In addition, the thickness of the glass is again somewhat restricted by the narrow depth of focus of the microscopy technique.
Small particles suspended in a fluid media, such as a liquid or gas, on the other hand, can be measured routinely by light scattering techniques. The differences between inclusions in a solid glass and particles suspended in a fluid are critical. One difference is that an inclusion in a glass is stationary. Its concentration level is normally very low, thus the signal intensity is so weak that it can hardly be distinguished from noise. Noise is the detected light that is not generated by scattering and/or reflection of the inclusion. In addition, the location of inclusions in glass would be valuable information. Due to the dynamic nature of the suspended particles in a fluid media, their location cannot be mapped.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,388,745 B2 and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2001/0040678, which are relied upon and incorporated herein by reference in their entirety, disclose an apparatus and a process for detecting inclusions in transparent sheets such as glass sheets. The apparatus includes a light source providing a primary light beam, a lens for focusing a majority of the scattered light generated by the inclusion, and a CCD array detector for detecting the focused signals. The lens has a light trap which blocks the primary light beam and prevents it from entering the detector to improve signal-to-noise ratio.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,404,489 B1, which is relied upon and incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, discloses another apparatus and process for detecting inclusions in transparent sheet. The apparatus comprises a laser source providing a primary collimated laser beam, at least one light trap positioned on an exterior surface of the sheet to be inspected and at least one detector for detecting the scattered light signals generated by the inclusions. The light trap blocks the primary laser beam and prevents illuminating the surface contaminants of the glass sheet. In one embodiment as disclosed in this patent reference, two light traps are used. The light detector as disclose in this reference can be a two-dimensional CCD array.
In general, the devices and methods in the above references were to be used for inspection of transparent glass articles having precision surfaces with a low rate of surface defects. The inspection light beam used in these devices enters into the substrates through the side surfaces without appreciable reflection loss and scattering. Moreover, the very few surface defects do not cause significant interference to the inspection of internal inclusions. For substrates having a large number of surface defects, these processes and instruments are not suitable. An example of substrates having a large number of surface defects are those lapped but not precision polished. Those substrates may have a high surface roughness such that when placed in the air, they appear diffuse because of light scattering at the surfaces. If the processes and instruments disclosed in the prior art references are used directly on these substrates, the collimated inspection light beam will be scattered significantly by the surface defects and the light scattering signals generated by internal inclusions will be drowned.
Of course, one way to inspect the internal inclusions of a substrate having large number of surface defects is to first precision polish the surfaces before inspection. This, however, is not always feasible. Besides, if internal inclusions can be detected and located before surface polishing of the substrate, substantial cost savings can be effected by avoiding the costly polishing of a defective product.
Therefore, there remains a genuine need of a method and an apparatus for inspecting the internal inclusions of substrates having considerable amounts of surface defects without the need of precision surface polishing.
The present invention satisfies this need.

Apparatus and process for detecting inclusions


A sound transmission system of a motor vehicle, having an intake sound transmission device which can be coupled via a first tubular connecting element to an air intake manifold which leads to an internal combustion engine and via a second tubular connecting element to a vehicle interior, the first tubular connecting element being assigned a first switchable shut-off device, having a resonator device which interacts with the intake sound transmission device and can be coupled via a third tubular connecting element to the air intake manifold which leads to an internal combustion engine, the third tubular connecting element being assigned a second switchable shut-off device.

DE 103 10 487 A1 has disclosed a sound transmission system of a motor vehicle, in order to set, in an interior of the motor vehicle, a defined sound level to be transmitted from the internal combustion engine into the interior of the motor vehicle. According to DE 103 10 487 A1, the sound transmission system comprises an intake sound transmission device which can be coupled via a first tubular connecting element to an air intake manifold which leads to an internal combustion engine and via a second tubular connecting element to a vehicle interior of the motor vehicle. DE 103 10 487 A1 discloses, furthermore, assigning a switchable shut-off device to the first tubular connecting element, via which the intake sound transmission device can be coupled to the air intake manifold which leads to the internal combustion engine. Here, according to this prior art, the intake sound transmission device is decoupled substantially from the intake sound of the internal combustion engine when the shut-off device is closed, whereas, when the shut-off device is open, the intake sound transmission device is coupled to the intake sound of the internal combustion engine.
Although an interior sound level can already be set in the interior of the motor vehicle by way of the sound transmission system which is known from the prior art, there is a requirement for a novel sound transmission system, by way of which more differentiated influencing of the interior sound level is possible.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche Aktiengeselleschaft


Provided is an optical device capable of bonding each optical part to a substrate with the same applied load by surface activated bonding even if the planar shape sizes of a plurality of optical parts to be mounted on the substrate are different from one another. The optical device includes a substrate, a plurality of optical parts different in planar shape size, bonded to the substrate by surface activated bonding adjacent to one another, and optically coupled with one another, and a plurality of bonding parts provided on the substrate in correspondence to the plurality of optical parts and including metallic micro bumps for bonding each optical part. The total area of the top surfaces of the micro bumps to be bonded to the corresponding optical part of each of the plurality of bonding parts is substantially the same.

A short wavelength laser light source, such as a blue light source and a green light source, is being developed in the field of laser projectors, high-density optical storage devices, etc. The short wavelength laser light source is a laser light source that employs a system referred to as SHG (Second Harmonic Generation). The SHG system short wavelength laser light source converts infrared light of the fundamental wave oscillated by a semiconductor laser into second harmonics by a wavelength conversion element and outputs blue or green laser light.
Regarding the SHG system short wavelength laser light source, an optical device is being developed, in which a laser light emitting element and a wavelength conversion element are mounted on a silicon substrate. Such an optical device is well known as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H6-338650 (paragraph 0013, FIG. 12, etc.). The optical device is also referred to as an optical module.
FIG. 4 is an external appearance perspective view of a conventional optical device (SHG device) 1, which is an SHG system short wavelength laser light source.
The optical device 1 has a plate-shaped single silicon substrate 10, and a laser light emitting element 20 and a wavelength conversion element 30 as optical parts. The laser light emitting element 20 and the wavelength conversion element 30 are optically coupled to each other and mounted on the silicon substrate 10 adjacent to each other. Optical coupling means that the positional relationship is determined for each other so that light emitted from one of the optical parts can enter the other optical part directly.
The laser light emitting element 20 is a chip-type semiconductor laser configured to emit infrared light, etc. The wavelength conversion element 30 is rectangular in shape and has an optical waveguide 31 inside thereof as indicated by the broken line. The optical waveguide 31 contains, for example, LN (lithium niobate: LiNbO3), which is a ferroelectric substance single crystal material, as its main component and to which MgO is added. The optical waveguide 31 is formed along the lengthwise direction at the center part of the wavelength conversion element 30.
When a drive current is supplied to the laser light emitting element 20 from outside, the optical device 1 emits infrared light L1, which is the fundamental wave. The infrared light L1 is input to the optical waveguide 31 of the wavelength conversion element 30 and converted into harmonics and green or blue laser light L2 is emitted. The laser light L2 emitted from the optical waveguide 31 of the wavelength conversion element 30 is transmitted to an external optical system by an optical fiber, etc., not illustrated schematically.
An outline of a method for mounting the laser light emitting element 20 and the wavelength conversion element 30, which are optical parts, on the single silicon substrate 10 when manufacturing such an optical device is explained by using FIG. 5 and FIG. 6.
FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the optical device 1. FIG. 6 is a schematic longitudinal sectional view along VI-VI line in FIG. 4. However, for the silicon substrate 10, the laser light emitting element (LD) 20, and the wavelength conversion element (PPLN) 30, it is not necessary to illustrate their internal structures, and therefore, their sectional views are not illustrated.
As illustrated in FIG. 5, on the surface of the silicon substrate 10, bonding parts 40 and 50 for mounting the laser light emitting element 20 and the wavelength conversion element 30 are formed. As illustrated in FIG. 6, the bonding parts 40 and 50 have micro bump structures in which micro bumps (hereinafter, simply referred to as "bumps") 41 and 51, which are a large number of small metallic projections configured by a metal material, such as gold (Au), are provided at predetermined pitches. In FIG. 6, in order to make the micro bump structure of the bonding parts 40 and 50 easy-to-understand, the bumps 41 and 51 are exaggerated in size.
On the undersurfaces of the laser light emitting element 20 and the wavelength conversion element 30, for example, Au films 22 and 32 are formed as metal films in the shape of a belt at the portions in opposition to the bonding parts 40 and 50, respectively, as illustrated in FIG. 6. However, the Au films 22 and 32 are not illustrated in FIG. 5.
The laser light emitting element 20 is arranged in a predetermined position on the bonding part 40 and pressure is applied thereto. Due to this, the laser light emitting element 20 is bonded to the silicon substrate 10 by surface activated bonding. Similarly, the wavelength conversion element 30 is arranged in a predetermined position on the bonding part 50 and pressure is applied thereto. Due to this, the wavelength conversion element 30 is bonded to the silicon substrate 10 by surface activated bonding. In this example, the bonding part 50 is formed as two parallel patterns not passing through the portion of the optical waveguide 31 illustrated in FIG. 4.
In more detail, the bumps 41 and 51 of the bonding parts 40 and 50 and the Au films 22 and 32 are cleaned by argon plasma before bonding and their surfaces are activated, respectively. Then, the laser light emitting element 20 and the wavelength conversion element 30 are adsorbed individually by a pressure tool, not illustrated schematically, and mounted on the bonding part 40 or the bonding part 50 of the silicon substrate 10. Then, a load (pressure load) is applied at normal temperature without heating. Consequently, the top surfaces of the bumps 41 of the bonding part 40 and the Au film 22 on the undersurface of the laser light emitting element 20, and the top surfaces of the bumps 51 of the bonding part 50 and the Au film 32 on the undersurface of the wavelength conversion element 30 come into contact with each other, respectively. Because of this, the bumps 41 and 51 are crushed slightly and surface activated bonding is performed. By the surface activated bonding, metal atoms and molecules of the bumps 41 and 51 of the bonding parts 40 and 50 and the metal atoms and molecules in the vicinity of the bonding surfaces of the Au films 22 and 32 are diffused toward the opposite sides and firm diffusion bonding is performed.
In the optical device such as this, if the positional relationship between the laser light emitting element 20 and the wavelength conversion element 30 optically coupled with each other are not adjusted with high precision, the optical coupling is not sufficient and it is no longer possible to input the infrared light L1 from the laser light emitting element 20 to the optical waveguide 31 of the wavelength conversion element 30 efficiently. Consequently, in order to obtain laser light with high output power, the center adjustment of the axis of emitted light of the laser light emitting element 20 and the axis of incident light of the wavelength conversion element 30 is very important.
Further, the wavelength conversion element 30 has the shape of a long plate, and therefore, if unwanted stress is applied when it is mounted onto the silicon substrate 10, the wavelength conversion element 30 is easily bent. If the wavelength conversion element 30 is bent, the optical waveguide 31 inside thereof is also bent, and as a result, transmission loss of the incident infrared light L1 increases and it is no longer possible for the wavelength conversion element 30 to function sufficiently.


A hinge assembly for pivotably attaching a door to a home appliance includes a hinge bracket having a body; a hooking member that releasably engages a receiving feature of the home appliance; and a securing member fixed to the body. A fastener secures the securing member to the appliance in an operating position of the door and such that removal of the fastener releases the securing member from the home appliance so that the hooking member can be disengaged from the receiving feature to allow removal of the door from the home appliance, and the engagement of the hooking member with the receiving feature supports the weight of the door when the fastener is removed such that the receiving feature of the appliance supports the weight of the door to maintain a temporary vertical position of the door.

Many home appliances, such as built in ovens, have one or more doors that swing open about a vertical axis. The door is often heavy and requires substantial attachment of the hinges to the body of the appliance.
Such a door is preferably removable to allow installation separate from the appliance main body, repair, or replacement. Due to the substantial weight of the door, installation or removal can be difficult or even dangerous for one person. This is because it can be difficult to support the weight of the door while removing the fasteners that attach the door to the body of the appliance.

Removable side hinge with temporary holding feature for a home appliance


A method is described for data transmission by user equipments adapted to transmit data using resource blocks allocated by a radio network. The radio network is adapted to allocate resource blocks to a dedicated one of the user equipments or to a plurality of the user equipments. The method comprises the step of allocating at least one of the resource blocks that is not allocated to any dedicated user equipment to a first plurality of the user equipments. The allocation is signaled to the user equipments. A first user equipment of said first plurality obtains data for transmission. At least a first part of the data is transmitted by the first user equipment using said at least one resource block. Devices embodying the invention and methods of operating the devices are also described.

In many communication systems, for example in mobile communication networks, a plurality of devices shares resources on a common medium for transmission. One option of avoiding resource conflicts is to perform a scheduling or allocation of resources to selected devices while other devices are not allowed to use the same resources. Dynamic allocation of the resources during operation of the communication network can significantly increase the transmission efficiency so that the resources are not left unused if some of the devices have presently no or only a small amount of data to transmit while others require more resources. Dynamic allocation is particularly suitable if a single instance controlling the allocation is in communication with the plurality of devices sharing the medium. An example are user equipments in a cell or another area of a wireless communication system being controlled by a radio base station or a radio network controller.
Dynamic allocations are simplified if the resources are subdivided into resource blocks which can be allocated individually or in groups. Depending on the transmission technology, a resource block can for example be defined by a frequency range and a time interval in which a device is allowed to transmit data.
One example is the uplink transmission in LTE (Long Term Evolution) of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System which is based on DFT-spread OFDM (Direct Fourier Transform spread Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing), often referred to as Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA). The LTE uplink is divided into resource blocks in time and frequency dimension as shown in FIG. 1. In the time dimension, subframes can be subdivided into two slots each as illustrated by their subdivision in the figure. In the frequency dimension, more than one resource block may be simultaneously allocated to one user, e.g. to user #2 having 3 allocated resource blocks in the example. LTE systems use a single carrier property which means that resource blocks allocated to a user equipment are consecutive in the frequency dimension.
In LTE, the uplink Resource Blocks (RB) are dedicated to users by means of uplink scheduling grants (SG) being transmitted on the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH). The uplink grants are addressed to the Cell-Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) of the user equipments. More details about this procedure can be found in Technical Specification 3GPP TS 36.321 V8.5.0 (2009-03) of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol specification.
For initiating a transmission, a user equipment (UE) 20 first requests uplink resources by transmitting a Scheduling Request (SR) 22 as illustrated in FIG. 2. In LTE this can be done using the Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH). The radio network, e.g. the eNB (Evolved Node B) 24 controlling the cell where the user equipment is located, selects the resource blocks to be allocated to the user and can select also the uplink transport format, defining parameters associated with the uplink transmission, like e.g. transport block size, physical layer coding, and modulation.
In this way, the eNB 24 performs uplink link adaptation and is aware of the format of the uplink (UL) transmission before it is received. A benefit of this procedure is that no uplink physical control channel is required to carry the information in contrast e.g. to TFCI (Transport Format Combination Identifier) signaling in WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access). This reduces the uplink control signaling and improves coverage. In reply to the SR 22 the radio network represented by the eNB 24 in FIG. 2 sends a scheduling grant (SG) 26 indicating the selected RB. When the UE has received the SG it can start uplink data transmission 28 on the allocated uplink resources.
Despite the benefits of dynamic allocations as illustrated by the LTE uplink access scheme, there exist drawbacks. The scheduling request and scheduling grant before a transmission increase both the latency and signaling overhead in the communication system and thus reduce the transmission efficiency.

Transmission method and devices in a communication system with contention-based data transmission