A search device and an information providing system are structured, to lessen a user's operation load, such that a crawling portion executes a crawling while sequentially changing an expansion header indicating a voice display capacity in an HTTP request into a voice display capacity of a typical model within each of model groups, and registers the obtained result in a search index in correspondence to the model name within the model group, a search service providing portion executes a search from the search index in correspondence to a search condition like a key word from a cellular phone terminal unit and the model name in the HTTP request, and a response portion generates a search result in correspondence to a template, and sends to a Web browser of the cellular phone terminal unit via an HTTP server.

There has been known a cellular phone terminal unit which gobbles down data (contents) such as a sound signaling an incoming call, a melody signaling the incoming call, an awaiting screen or the like at an incoming standby time from an information providing server unit such as an HTTP server or the like via a network, and can be customized in correspondence to a preference of a user (for example, refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-76264 (pages 6-7, FIGS. 1 and 2)).
If the number of the available contents is increased, there is generated a necessity that the contents are classified per directory, for example, per category, per artist, per tune or the like and the data is selected in stages. However, since the display screen of the cellular phone terminal unit is largely restricted in size in comparison with a general-purpose information processing unit such as a personal computer or the like, and the information which can be displayed on one screen is limited, a number of operation until the target contents is found is increased.
Accordingly, there can be considered to use an information search service provided via a network such as an internet or the like for searching the data mentioned above. The information search service collects the addresses of the contents provided by the information providing server unit providing the contents in accordance with a crawling by a search robot, and registers them in a data base per key word of the contents.
If the key word is supplied from the terminal unit of the user, the server unit providing the search service abstracts the address of the corresponding contents to the key word from the data base, and provides as a result of search to the terminal unit (for example, refer to SEO JAPAN, "What is search engine?", 2003, [online], SEO JAPAN, [search on Jan. 9, 2004], internet <URL: http://www.seojapan.jp/search-engines/search-engine.html>).

Search device and information providing system


Provided is a transparent conducting film containing metal nanowires, the conducting film having a preferable optical property, electrical property, and having almost no in-plane resistance anisotropy.

A transparent conducting layer (transparent conducting film) is used in various fields, such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), a plasma display panel (PDP), an organic electroluminescence display, a transparent electrode for a photovoltaic cell (PV) and a touch panel (TP), an electrostatic discharge (ESD) film, electromagnetic interference (EMI) film, and the like. For such transparent conducting films, conventionally, films using ITO (indium tin oxide) have been used.
Recently, touch panels are adopted for smartphones, car navigation systems, vending machines, etc. In particular, since a foldable smartphone attracts attention, there is a desire for a foldable touch panel.
In order to achieve a foldable touch panel, a foldable transparent conducting film, that is, a transparent conducting film having a superior durability of folding is necessary. Therefore, a metal nanowire film has been developed as a transparent conducting film for the next generation.
Patent Document 1 discloses a method for producing a transparent conducting film using a slot die coater having a slot die in the silver nanowire ink coating step. In order to solve the in-plane resistance anisotropy, a shear velocity (printing speed/gap between a slot die head tip and a film) is specified. However, the printing speed is restricted by the ability of a production equipment (in particular, a drying equipment).
Patent Document 2 discloses a slot die coater as a coater used in a silver nanowire ink coating step, and discloses that, in order to solve the in-plane resistance anisotropy, blowing air to the substrate in a direction different from the printing direction, during the drying step, is effective. However, an equipment for blowing air from the different direction is additionally required.
Patent Document 3 discloses gravure printing as a silver nanowire ink coating step, but fails to disclose or suggest a solution for the in-plane resistance anisotropy.

Method for producing transparent conducting film

Abstract: A method for producing a transparent conducting film provided with a conducting layer containing a metal nanowire and a binder resin, comprising steps of: preparing a coating liquid containing the metal nanowire and the binder resin, and coating the coating liquid on one main face of a transparent substrate, the coating step being performed by a bar-coater with a bar which has a bar surface constituted by a material having a friction coefficient of 0.05 to 0.45, wherein when the coating liquid is coated on one main face of the transparent substrate by the bar, a relative moving velocity (coating velocity) V (mm/sec) of the transparent substrate relative to the bar satisfies 2000≥V≥350, a groove formed on the bar has a pitch (P) and a depth (H) which satisfy a ratio P/H of 9 to 30, and on the bar surface, the groove is formed to be inclined in a way so that an angle between the longitudinal direction of the bar and a direction that the groove is formed is in a range of 60° to 88°.


A boot cleaning apparatus comprising a fluid reservoir operatively associated with a frame assembly adapted to be fitted within the interior of the reservoir. The frame assembly includes at least one brush member secured to the assembly and aligned so that a boot or shoe inserted against the brush is caused to be scrubbed and dirt or waste material is removed from the surface of the boot. The sub-assembly is adapted to be removed from the reservoir.

The present invention relates to a footwear cleaning apparatus and in particular, an apparatus for washing and scrubbing boots; namely, rubber or other waterproof boots.
Boot and foot cleaning devices comprising a housing having brushes positioned within the interior of the housing are known. These devices enable a person to scrub dirt from their feet or from their boots from a standing position. For example, each of U.S. Pat. Nos. 747,031 to Bartoszek and 5,321,867 to Probst disclose housings having brushes variously mounted to the interior walls of the housing. However, these prior art devices are not adapted to simultaneously wash the boots unless the device is placed within a shower stall or otherwise near a water supply. Although self-contained water supplies are known from U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,950,269 to Openshaw et al. and 3,641,609 to Hansen, these devices do not clean and wash the entire boot but only the underside or sole of the boot.


There is described a method and apparatus for sending data through one or more packet data networks. A reduced size packet is sent from a packet sending node towards a cache node, the reduced size packet including in its payload a pointer to a payload data segment stored in a file at the cache node. When the reduced size packet is received at the cache node, the pointer is used to identify the payload data segment from data stored at the cache node. The payload data segment is inserted into the reduced size packet in place of the pointer so as to generate a full size packet, which is sent from the cache node towards a client.

Typical file caching methods include a cache receiving a file from a file server, and storing the entire file. Later when a client desires the file, instead of serving the file from the file server, the file is served from the cache. Because the cache is typically a server that is closer to the client, or has higher bandwidth than the file server, the file is served to the client quickly from the cache.
The application of typical file caching methods to files that include streaming media data, for example Video on Demand (VoD) files, can lead to new problems. VoD systems generally either stream content through a set-top box, allowing viewing in real time, or download it to a device such as a computer, digital video recorder, personal video recorder or portable media player for viewing at any time. The data delivered by networks delivering such content can run to very large amounts, and caching can be particularly useful.
This can be understood with reference to FIG. 1, which is a schematic illustration of an exemplary architecture of a VoD system with deployed caches used to reduce the load on a central long-tail server. In the example, it can be supposed that the network uses Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) streaming, where the payload is transported over the User Datagram Protocol (UDP) in Real-Time Protocol (RTP) packets, but it will be appreciated that many other applications and protocols have a similar architecture and will have similar issues.
The architecture of FIG. 1 includes a network 100 having a streaming server 101 and a number of caches 102-106. Clients 107-109 are configured to receive files and/or streaming data from the server 101 or the caches 102-106. The clients use RTSP to set up and control streams of RTP packets. This includes the negotiation of codecs, bitrates, ports etc for the resulting RTP stream. With RTSP the clients can start and stop the streaming, or fast forward or rewind the streamed media clip.
RTP packets are sent in sequence with a sequence number to tell the client the order of the packets. This infers a state into the protocol that the streaming server 101 needs to maintain and increment for each data packet it sends out. The sequence number is also used by the clients 107-109 to detect packet loss which is reported back to the streaming server using the Real-Time Transport Control Protocol (RTCP).
In order to reduce the load on the central server 101 and to save bandwidth in the delivery network 100, some of the content is stored in caches 102-106 closer to the end users 107-109.
The example of RTSP streaming for VoD highlights one problem with caching in general—namely that the caches 102-106 themselves need to understand the protocol and the application. The fundamental principle of a cache is that, when it takes over the role of the central server, it needs to understand the same protocol that the server understands, and know and maintain all required states etc. This applies whether the role of the central server is taken over transparently through re-routing with deep packet inspection, or through other means in the form of some redirection such as DNS based redirection or any redirection given by the protocol. If caching is to be deployed for many different applications, or if the server or protocol is enhanced or upgraded, it is also necessary to upgrade and maintain the caches. It is often the case that there is one cache per application: for example there may be a HTTP cache, a P2P cache and an RTSP cache. In some networks, such as mobile networks for example, caches can be placed in places that are hard to reach. If an upgrade of functionality is needed whenever a new application is deployed this can be costly.
Additional problems may arise if there is mobility in the network so that the client can move around during a session (such as a mobile terminal moving between base stations). Using the example above, suppose one of the clients 107 is receiving data from one of the caches 104. If the client 107 moves location so that it is now receiving data from another cache 105, the session state (in this example, the RTP packet sequence number) needs to be migrated into the new cache 105, which may or may not also include the relevant content, so that the session can continue in the new place. A great deal of application specific knowledge is therefore required in the cache implementation.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Network cache architecture storing pointer information in payload data segments of packets


A method for performing verification includes receiving a design and building for the design an intermediate binary decision diagram set containing one or more nodes representing one or more variables. A first case-splitting is performed upon a first fattest variable from among the one or more variables represented by the one or more nodes by setting the first fattest variable to a primary value, and a first cofactoring is performed upon the intermediate binary decision diagram set with respect to the one or more nodes using an inverse of the primary value to generate a first cofactored binary decision diagram set. A second cofactoring is performed upon the intermediate binary decision diagram set with respect to the one or more nodes using the primary value to generate a second cofactored binary decision diagram set, and verification of the design is performed by evaluating a property of the second cofactored binary decision diagram set.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to verifying designs and in particular to verifying a logic function using a decision diagram. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a system, method and computer program product for case-splitting on nodes in a symbolic simulation framework.
2. Description of the Related Art
Formal and semiformal verification techniques provide powerful tools for discovering errors in verifying the correctness of logic designs. Formal and semiformal verification techniques frequently expose probabilistically uncommon scenarios that may result in a functional design failure. Frequently, formal and semiformal verification techniques provide the opportunity to prove that a design is correct (i.e., that no failing scenario exists).
One commonly-used approach to formal and semiformal analysis for applications operating on representations of circuit structures is to represent the underlying logical problem structurally (as a circuit graph), and then use Binary Decision Diagrams (BDDs) to convert the structural representation into a functionally canonical form.
In such an approach, in which a logical problem is represented structurally and binary decision diagrams are used to convert the structural representation into a functionally canonical form, a set of nodes for which binary decision diagrams are required to be built, called "sink" nodes, are identified. Examples of sink nodes include the output node or nodes in an equivalence checking or a false-paths analysis context. Examples of sink nodes also include targets in a property-checking or model-checking context.
Unfortunately, formal verification techniques require computational resources which are exponential with respect to the size of the design under test. In particular, many formal analysis techniques require exponential resources with respect to the number of state elements in the design under test. Semi-formal verification techniques leverage formal algorithms on larger designs by applying them only in a resource-bounded manner, though at the expense of incomplete verification coverage; generally, coverage decreases as design size increases.
Symbolic simulation is a symbolic exploration approach that has been used to exhaustively check designs for a bounded number of steps, starting at the initial states. This method verifies a set of scalar tests with a single symbolic vector. Symbolic inputs (represented as BDDs) are assigned to the inputs and propagated through the circuit to the outputs. This technique has the advantage that large input spaces are covered in parallel with a single symbolic sweep of the circuit. Symbolic simulation is resource intensive, however, due to the explosion of BDD representations.

Method and system for case-splitting on nodes in a symbolic simulation framework

International Business Machines Corporation


Disclosed is a preservative or antimicrobial system, and methods for its use, that includes at least one ester of salicylic acid and glycerin or a salt thereof.

A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a preservative or anti-microbial system that can be used to inhibit the growth of microorganisms. The preservative or anti-microbial system can be used in a variety of applications (e.g., in topical formulations such as cosmetic or pharmaceutical formulations, cleansing or disinfectant formulations for hard surfaces or for skin or for skin wounds, food formulations, etc.). The preservative or anti-microbial system includes a mixture of esters from glycerol and salicylic acid.
B. Description of Related Art
There are several preservative/anti-microbial systems currently available. Examples of such systems generally include parabens (e.g., methylparaben, ethylparaben, propylparaben, benzylparaben, butylparaben, etc.), which are useful against gram-positive bacteria, isopropynylbutylcarbamate (IPBC), which is useful against mold, imidazolidinyl urea, which is used full against gram-negative bacteria, methylisothiazolinone (MIT), which is useful against gram-negative bacteria, chlorphenesin, which is useful against mold, benzoic acid, which is useful against gram-positive bacteria, yeast, and mold, and caprylyl glycol, which is useful against gram negative bacteria. While these systems are useful in inhibiting the growth of various types of microorganisms, several have drawbacks ranging from toxicity to difficulties in using them to formulate compositions.
One potential alternative to chemical preservatives is to use natural ingredients. However, such ingredients can be costly, not as effective, and can actually be caustic or irritating to skin if used in effective amounts. For instance, Amipreserve by Alban Muller International is a pure natural salicylic acid that is extracted from wintergreen leaves. The maximum recommended amount of Amipreserve to include in a given formulation is 0.5 wt % due to the caustic effects of salicylic acid—in particular the free carboxylic acid group of this molecule. Therefore, additional preservatives or anti-microbial agents are needed in the formulation to effectively inhibit microorganism growth.
As another example, caprylyl glycol is difficult to use with emulsions. In particular, caprylyl glycol can destabilize emulsions by interfering with the interface between the continuous and discontinuous phases of said emulsion. Therefore, it can be difficult to formulate with and oftentimes it has to be added to the formulation post emulsification. Such a procedure adds additional process steps, complexity, and costs to preparing the emulsion.
Oftentimes, in order to produce a broad spectrum preservative or anti-microbial system, several different types of preservatives have to be combined. This increases the costs of the preservative system, adds additional ingredients to the formulation, and can potentially affect the stability of the formulation.


A texture which is not normally generated by a pseudo halftone process is artificially generated by combining quantization values (S307, S308), and a 1-bit code is expressed by the presence/absence of texture.

The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and method, and a storage medium.
Conventionally, the studies for multiplexing, onto image information, another information that pertains to an image have been extensively made.
In recent years, a technique called digital watermarking, which multiplexes, onto image information such as a photo, painting, or the like, additional information including the copyright holder name, permission/denial of use, and the like so as to be hard to visually detect, and distributes such information via a network such as the Internet or the like, has prevailed.
As another application field of such technique, as image forming apparatuses such as copying machines, printers, and the like attain higher image qualities, a technique for embedding additional information into an image to specify the output device model and model number from the image output onto a recording sheet for the purpose of preventing securities such as banknotes, revenue stamps, and the like from being forged is known.
For example, a technique for multiplexing information by embedding additional information in the high-frequency range of color difference and saturation components with low visual sensitivity has been proposed.
However, the conventional multiplexing technique suffers the following problems.
FIG. 16 illustrates the conventional additional information embedding method. As shown in FIG. 16, image information A and additional information B are multiplexed via an adder 1601 to generate multiplexed information C. The adder 1601 may add information in the real space of the image information A or may transform the image information A into that in the frequency domain using, e.g., Fourier transformation, or the like and may then synthesize the additional information B in the high-frequency range of the converted information.
If it is possible to distribute the multiplexed information C generated in this way without undergoing any image processes such as various filtering processes and the like or any encoding processes such as irreversible compression or the like, it is easy even for the conventional technique to decode the additional information B from the multiplexed information C. Also, image information, which is distributed on, e.g., the Internet, can also be decoded via digital filters for improving image quality such as edge emphasis, smoothing, and the like, as long as it has some noise resilience.
Assume that an image forming apparatus has only expression performance as low as two to several gray levels per color. In recent years, ink-jet printers can express several gray levels per color using inks with lower dye densities or by variably controlling the dot sizes to be output, but cannot express a photo-quality image unless a pseudo halftone process is used.
FIG. 17 illustrates an example that executes a pseudo halftone process upon conventional additional information multiplexing. That is, in addition to the arrangement shown in FIG. 16, the multiplexed information is converted into quantized information D by a pseudo halftone process 1701, and the converted information is printed out onto a recording sheet by a printer output 1702, thus obtaining printed information E that has deteriorated considerably.
Hence, decoding additional information from information on a recording sheet for the purpose of preventing forgery amounts to decoding additional information from the printed information E after the series of processes shown in FIG. 17. However, the image information changes to a large extent by the two processes, i.e., the pseudo halftone process 1701 and printer output 1702. Therefore, it is very difficult to multiplex additional information so as not to be visually detectable, and to normally decode the multiplexed additional information from information on a recording sheet.
In the aforementioned multiplexing technique, information is appended in the high-frequency range of an image. However, when the subsequent pseudo halftone process uses error diffusion, the frequency range of the additional information is buried under that of a texture produced by error diffusion due to the characteristics of a high-pass filter unique to error diffusion, and it becomes harder to decode the additional information. Also, in order to accurately decode the information, a scanner device with very high precision is required.
That is, when the pseudo halftone process must be done, the multiplexing method shown in FIG. 17 is not suitable. In other words, an additional information multiplexing method that fully utilizes the characteristics of the pseudo halftone process is needed.
Some examples that combine multiplexing of additional information and redundancy of the pseudo halftone process will be explained below.
As a first example, upon binarization using ordered dithering, additional data is mixed into an image signal by selecting one of dither matrices indicating an identical gray level. However, in ordered dithering, it is difficult to output a photo-quality image unless a printer having a high resolution and very high mechanical precision is used. Small mechanical precision errors are produced as low-frequency noise such as horizontal stripes or the like, and are easily visually detectable on the paper. When the dither matrices are periodically changed, a specific frequency range generated by a regular dither pattern is disturbed, thus adversely influencing image quality. Also, the decoder must decode by estimating the dither matrix used in binarization while pixel values of image information as an original signal are unknown and, hence, it is hard to attain accurate decoding.
As a second example, a method of multiplexing additional information using a color dither pattern method is known. In this method, deterioration of image quality upon switching the dither matrices cannot be avoided as in the above example. Compared to the first example, a larger number of pieces of additional information can be multiplexed, but color tincture changes since the layout of color components changes, and image quality deteriorates considerably in a solid portion. Also, decoding becomes more harder to attain.
In any case, these methods that change the dither matrices suffer the problem that decoding is hard to attain despite the fact that image quality deteriorates considerably.
The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems and has as its object to provide an image processing apparatus and method, which can multiplex additional information onto image information while suppressing deterioration of image quality, and can easily decode the additional information, and a storage medium.
In order to achieve the above object, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an image processing apparatus for multiplexing additional information onto image information, comprising quantization means for quantizing a pixel of interest of the image information by a pseudo halftone process based on error diffusion, and control means for controlling a quantization value of the pixel of interest with quantization values of a plurality of pixels including the pixel of interest forming a specific pattern indicating the additional information.
For example, the specific pattern is a pattern which is not easily generated by the quantization means.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an image processing apparatus and method having a novel function, and a storage medium.

Image processing apparatus and method, and storage medium


A reflective image plane module including light directing and reflecting structures and a wafer based active matrix mated thereto. A source of light is directed to the reflective image plane module wherein the wafer based active matrix imparts or encodes information onto a light beam reflected therefrom. The reflective image plane module projects the reflected beam for imaging or viewing, such as through one or more lens. The reflective image plane module includes a prism or mirror which passes the light or light component through a first surface to the wafer based active matrix mated to a second surface and which projects the reflected light from the first surface to be viewed or imaged.. The wafer based active matrix includes a specular reflective back surface and an LC or similar type material formed thereon which is electronically altered to impart the information to the light beam reflected therefrom.. The reflective image plane module can be utilized in various light encoding systems such as a monochrome projector including a single reflective image plane module or a full color system including three reflective image plane modules, one for each color, which then are combined on a screen or before projecting on the screem to form the full color projection image.

The invention relates generally to light encoding systems and more particularly to an active matrix reflective encoding system.
During the last two decades, there have been numerous efforts to develop and commercialize light encoding systems such as flat panel displays to effectively compete with the conventional cathode ray tube (CRT) or to develop products which are not possible utilizing CRT's. Of these efforts, plasma display panels (PDP), electroluminescent displays (EL) and several types of liquid crystal displays (LCD) have clearly been the most successful and have exhibited the most dynamic growth and future potential. One specific type of display, active matrix liquid crystal displays (AMLCD), has demonstrated sufficient performance to address some major market segments.
The cost of AMLCD's is largely determined by the yield of useable devices, where the yield is the percentage of useable devices from the total produced. Yield of AMLCD's is in large part determined by the device design, manufacturing process tolerance and the display size. In general, the larger the display size, the lower the yield and hence higher the cost of the device.
The focus of efforts in recent years has been in developing direct view display sizes large enough to replace existing TV and computer monitors. Pocket TV's have been introduced having one to three inch wide display screens, with the expressed goal of producing larger displays as volume and yield increase. An intense effort is being made to produce a fourteen inch diagonal or larger display. The ultimate goal of some efforts is to produce wall size direct view displays for the TV market. This goal is very likely to be frustrated by the inherent obstacles in producing a CRT or any other type of direct view display of that size.
The AMLCD effort has concentrated on utilizing a matrix of nonlinear devices on a glass or fused silica substrate. The nonlinear devices allow individual control over each display picture element or "pixel" to provide superior optimal performance. The nonlinear devices generally are amorphous or polycrystalline silicon thin film transistors (TFT); however, thin film diodes (TFD) and metal-insulator-metal (MIM) devices also have been employed.
A transparent substrate is considered necessary for these displays, because most liquid crystal (LC) materials require a polarizer at both the front and the back of the LCD device. Further, the conventional position on color displays is that they must be transmissive rather than reflective, because of the light losses inherent in the color reflective mode.
In developing larger size displays, substrate cost becomes important. Amorphous silicon TFT AMLCD's utilize inexpensive drawn glass. Polycrystalline silicon on the other hand, requires either very high temperature glass or fused silica substrates. Either of these substrates is prohibitively expensive in widths over eight inches. The inexpensive amorphous silicon AMLCD substrates are offset by the fact that these displays require separate address devices which result in several hundred interconnections to the display substrate. Polycrystalline silicon AMLCD's allow integration of the addressing circuitry on the substrate which reduces the number of interconnections to a very few.
The first direct view AMLCD utilizing a single crystal silicon wafer was produced in the early 1970's. Work on this development continued into the early 1980's, utilizing standard crystal silicon wafers and wafer fabrication techniques. This work appears to virtually have been abandoned since the display sizes are limited to less than the available wafer size and because the wafers are not transparent. These devices utilized dynamic scattering guest-host or dyed phase change rather than conventional twisted nematic LC material, which required expensive and elaborate photolithography to produce the required diffuse reflective aluminum back surface. These devices do provide fast, high performance and stable displays with integrated address and drive circuitry.
New markets have been recognized which include home theatre high definition TV, audio visual machines and high resolution large area computer aided design (CAD) stations. Each of these markets require very large, high resolution, full color and video speed imaging. In reviewing these markets Applicant has determined that the large area dictates projection systems, either front or rear projection, that the high resolution requires integrated drivers and that projection systems do not require either transparent substrates or large display sizes. Further, these markets all essentially utilize what can be considered light encoding devices. Other types of light encoding devices include wafer or printed circuit board mask sets.
It, therefore, would be desirable to provide an active matrix reflective light encoding system having high resolution, integrated drivers and manufactured with conventional wafer fabrication techniques.


A sway control arrangement configured to control movement of a product storage tank supported on a wheeled chassis assembly is provided. The wheeled chassis assembly includes a leaf spring in support of a frame and a tank on a transverse axle relative to a forward direction of travel. The sway control arrangement includes a master cylinder actuator in fluid communication with a pair of slave cylinders. The master cylinder is mounted between the frame and the leaf spring. The pair of slave cylinders are spaced apart from one another and mounted between the tank and the frame. The master cylinder communicates a fluid signal representative of a movement of the leaf spring relative the frame. In response to the fluid signal, the pair of slave cylinder actuators reduces movement of the tank from generally level alignment relative to the axle.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a vehicular chassis assembly and, more particularly, relates to a vehicular chassis assembly in combination with a secondary suspension system configured to control sway associated with a product load independent of a primary suspension system.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Vehicles and towed trailers are commonly employed to carry one or more storage tanks loaded with product. Conventional suspension systems for certain load-carrying vehicles and/or towed storage tank trailers are known to employ leaf springs having a spring rate configured to provide enhanced ride characteristics of the vehicle or towed trailer.
However, these conventional suspension systems have drawbacks. For example, the leaf springs employed with certain vehicles or towed storage tank trailers are difficult to design with sufficient stiffness and stability against miscellaneous lateral forces acting on the storage tank when cornering a turn, while also providing enhanced ride characteristics for the operator. As these certain known vehicles or trailers maneuver a corner, a center of gravity of the vehicle/trailer moves upwardly in the vertical direction above the axle, where the miscellaneous lateral forces compress the leaf springs and increase opportunities for the loaded storage tank to roll or tip-over.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method of and an arrangement configured for reducing swaying movement, and thereby reducing opportunities of a vehicle and/or trailer carrying a loaded storage tank from tipping over, especially when the vehicle and/or trailer is maneuvering a corner. The arrangement should be simple to manufacture, install and operate. Also, the arrangement should be capable of being employed with a variety of vehicles and/or towed implements or trailers mounted by a storage tank, in addition to those related to agriculture.

System for and method of controlling sway movement of a product storage tank on a wheeled chassis assembly


A carton for enclosing cylindrical articles includes a dispenser that provides access to at least two endmost articles in an uppermost row, and to at least one article in a lowermost row, when fully loaded. The dispenser is defined by contiguous severance lines that extend across the top wall, side walls, and end wall. The dispenser is opened by tearing the severance lines to define a stopper wall and as a recess in each side wall that, at its lowest point, is spaced at a distance above the bottom wall less than half the height of the carton, with the dimensions and position of the recess being sufficient to expose at least part of the ends of one or more lowermost articles. Each side wall severance line meets the end wall severance line at a distance above the bottom wall no less than half the height of the carton.

Cartons for encasing and dispensing multiple articles such as soft drink cans or bottles are useful for enabling consumers to transport, store, and access the articles for consumption. The consumer commonly removes only one article at a time, but typically prefers the flexibility to easily access two or more articles at a time. To that end, it is desirable to have cartons with dispensers which allow one or more articles to be removed at a time, while continuing to encase the remaining articles. The consumer tears out a portion of the carton to form an opening from which articles may be dispensed.
When the articles contained in the carton are cylindrical, and are disposed in the carton upon their sides, it is important that the articles be constrained such that the remaining articles do not roll out of the dispenser when one is removed. It is also important to restrain all of the articles such that when the carton is first opened, the first article does not unexpectedly and undesirably fall out of the carton. Thus, it can be appreciated that it would be desirable to have a carton with a dispenser that constrains articles to prevent the articles from undesirably rolling from or otherwise exiting the carton when one article is removed, or when the carton is first opened.
It is known to provide a carton having a dispenser for articles, which is provided when part of the carton is substantially detached or torn away from the upper end portion of the carton to expose an endmost article for removal. A problem associated with such known cartons is that a user can have difficulty in grasping articles to remove the articles from the dispenser. For example, there are typically multiple rows or tiers of horizontally disposed articles, one above the other, carried within the carton. Once the endmost article of an upper row of articles is removed from the carton through the dispenser, a user may find it difficult to secure a grip on the endmost article on the lower row of the carton. The present invention and its certain embodiments seek to overcome or at least mitigate the problems of the prior art.
It can be appreciated, therefore, that it also would be desirable to provide a carton having an improved article dispenser that is convenient to use and facilitates access to the articles.


The scheduling of a processing job to be performed by at least a portion of a cluster of processing resources distributed across multiple machines. The processing job is associated with a certain entity having a certain amount of guaranteed processing resources on the cluster. If there are enough processing resources to perform the job, then the job may be initiated. On the other hand, if there are not enough processing resources to perform the job, and there are yet some remaining processing resources that are guaranteed to the certain entity, then one or more other jobs that are associated with other entities are at least partially preempted until there are enough processing resources to perform the processing job.

High performance computing is a term of art in which clusters of servers are used to perform complex processing. Such clusters may even be as large as hundreds or even thousands of servers. Each of such servers may have multiple processing cores. Often, very complex computational jobs may be performed using such clusters. Despite the cluster's ability to perform a large number of processing operations per second, it may perhaps still take a matter of minutes, hours, days, weeks, or even months to solve some computational jobs.
Oftentimes, a cluster is not dedicated to a single computational job at any given moment. Rather, clusters may perform multiple jobs simultaneously with some processing resources (e.g., a server or processor core set) being used for one job, and other processing resources (e.g., another server or processor core set) being used for another job, and so forth for perhaps yet other jobs. Different entities may even request that a particular set of processing resources perform processing jobs.

Computing scheduling using resource lend and borrow


A method, which allows, in an acoustic pulse-echo ranging system, the direct use of a digitized raw echo signal for correlation-based echo distance estimation, where an acoustic pulse having a carrier frequency is transmitted, a digital expected echo shape is provided with a time resolution higher than the carrier frequency, an echo is received from the acoustic pulse, the received echo is sampled and digitized at a sampling frequency higher than the carrier frequency, correlation values are created from the digitized received echo and the digital expected echo shape, the correlation values are weighted by emphasizing stronger correlation values, and the echo distance is determined from the center of mass of the weighted values.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to signal processing and, more particularly, to a method for determining the echo distance in an acoustic pulse-echo ranging system.
2. Description of the Related Art
In level measurement applications, pulse-echo ranging systems, such as time-of-flight ranging systems, are commonly used for determining the distance to a target object (e.g., reflective surface of a material in a container) by measuring how long it takes to receive reflected pulses or echoes after transmission of a burst of energy pulses. Such devices typically use ultrasonic pulses or pulsed radar or microwave signals.
Generally, acoustic pulse-echo ranging systems include a transmitter for transmitting the energy pulses and a receiver for receiving the reflected energy pulses or echoes. Here, the transmitter and receiver may be combined in a single unit. An echo profile is generated from the received energy pulses by amplifying, filtering and envelope shaping, where at some point an analog-to-digital conversion is performed. Echo pulses are identified in the digital echo profile by a signal processor, and the distance or range of the target is calculated based on the transmit times of the transmitted energy pulses and the identified echo pulses. The calculated distance or range is then transmitted over a communication network to a process control system using a communications protocol, such as analog 4-20 mA, HART, PROFIBUS or FOUNDATION Fieldbus.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,334,470 to Bartoli et al. discloses an acoustic pulse-echo ranging system that has a fully digital receiver. Here, the raw echo data are digitized directly, i.e., without prior analog filtering, at high speed and then digitally processed to generate distance measurement. The digital processing comprises buffering, low pass filtering, bandpass filtering, envelope detecting, resampling, logarithmic amplifying, scaling and echo processing.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,856,576 to Preston discloses an echo processing method using autocorrelation. Here, the raw echo data are sampled, digitized and high-pass filtered. A correlation signal is created by adding the filtered signal to a copy of the filtered signal shifted by a time unit. A set of correlation signals is created by repeating the process for a range of time units corresponding to a set of sequential sample points. The correlation signal having the highest correlation strength is identified, and the time shift used to create it is identified as the time of flight of the echo pulse.
Raw echo data that are sampled and digitized at a high sampling frequency without prior analog filtering contains a maximum level of information, such as phase information and/or presence of multiple frequencies. This information, however, will be lost if the digitized raw data are filtered or smoothed during their further digital processing.
On the other hand, correlation of a high-resolution acoustic echo pulse comprising an amplitude modulated carrier with a similar wave form results in another amplitude modulated signal which is just as complex to evaluate. Thus, direct correlation will not help any further.

Method for determining an echo distance in an acoustic pulse-echo ranging system


A rotary compressor or expander include a cylindrical housing chamber, a rotatable cylindrical rotor mounted eccentrically with respect to housing chamber center, a cylindrical rotor liner free to move around the rotor, and a pivoting generally circular arc vane hinged to the rotor liner. Cavity or buckets engraved to the outer surface of the rotor liner together with corresponding inlet nozzle flow provide additional momentum impulse transfer from working fluid to expander eccentric rotor. The inlet of the rotary expander is equipped with a rotating valve synchronous to the eccentric rotor, regulating the admission time and duration of the entering working fluid. The exhaust of the rotary compressor is equipped with either a check valve or a rotating valve synchronizing the fluid discharge time and duration.

Since the start of the industrial revolution, the reciprocating piston engine and, the gas turbine engine have largely dominated the energy and transportation market. Despite many years of research and technological innovations and investments, these engines simple cycle thermal efficiencies are still below 50% and very far from the ideal Carnot cycle theoretical efficiency figure. As a result, these engines needs auxiliary energy recovery devices such as turbochargers, regenerative heat transfer systems or other topping or bottoming combined heat and power cycles to boost their powers and increase their thermal efficiencies. On the other side, for many years, patents on rotary vane combustion engines have claimed that rotary engines possess many advantages over reciprocating engines such as having higher power density, fewer parts, lower weight and fewer reciprocating imbalance. Indeed rotary engines aero thermodynamic configuration naturally bridges the mass flow and rotational speed gaps between reciprocating and gas turbine engines. But for rotary vane compressor and expander engine components to appear on the commercial market firstly seal and wear problems must be adequately addressed. The present invention addresses and eliminates the main problems related with friction, wear, seal, balance and aerodynamic drag that limit the use of single vane rotary compressor and expanders.
In today's industrial applications, rotary compressor and expander features single or multiple vanes that are slidably mounted in generally radial slots in the rotor. The rotor itself is eccentrically mounted in a chamber formed in the compressor or expander housing. The centrifugal force urges the vanes outwardly from their slots to engage the wall of the chamber. Wear of the vane result from this outward force and from the surface contact velocity. The vanes form successive compartments that collect air that is introduced into the compressor or expander. As the vane rotates, the working fluid is moved into a gradually constricted or expanding portion of the chamber where it is either compressed or expanded respectively. This working fluid is then delivered through an exhaust port. Conventional vane rotary devices exhibit at least a couple of significant problems. As each vane slides back and forth within its respective slot, a considerable amount of heat is generated. The friction resulting from such sliding causes the vanes to wear prematurely and leads to loss of performance. As a result, these types of devices require frequent maintenance. Moreover due to constant wear on the vanes, known rotary compressors and expanders are very likely to exhibit gaps at the contact region between the end tips of the vanes and the chamber wall. This can result in fluid leakage which may significantly impair the operation of the compressor or expander.

Pivoting, hinged arc vane rotary compressor or expander

Pars Makina Sanayi Ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi


The present disclosure includes devices and methods for spectroscopic identification of molecules. One device includes a topological insulator layer oriented either above or below two metallic contacts and wherein the contacts are oriented such that a voltage can be applied across the contacts and a current-voltage characteristic can be measured.

Molecule sensing and identification devices (generally referred to as molecule sensors herein) can be utilized in many fields of technology. In the production of molecule sensing and identification devices, issues may arise with respect to the materials chosen to create the devices.
For example, a material, such as graphene, may have excellent sensing capabilities when tested in lab conditions, but the material may not be suitable for use in fabricating a device. For instance, the material may be difficult to manipulate into a layer used to form a portion of the device and/or may be irregular in its structure and/or sensing quality and therefore may not produce a suitable molecule sensing device once manufactured.


In a method of making an ultrasonic transducer, a piezoelectric ceramic material that is at least partially covered by metal plating is provided. A plurality of substantially parallel cuts is formed in the plating so as to define a plurality of transducer elements and a ground element. A plurality of conductors is provided. An end portion of each conductor is operatively connected, such as by ultrasonic bonding, to a respective one of the transducer elements or the ground element. Next, a backing material is bonded to the plurality of transducer elements and the ground element such that the end portion of each conductor is sandwiched between the backing material and a respective one of the transducer elements or the ground element. The conductors are bent to allow for operative connection to an ultrasound system. The operative connection between the conductors and the transducer elements is maintained during the bending step.

Ultrasonic array transducers comprise a plurality of transducer elements that are used to transmit and receive ultrasonic energy to generate an image of a target. Each transducer element operates as an independent point source. Generally, the greater the quantity of transducer elements, the greater the quality of the image. Each of these individual transducer elements must be electrically connected to a cable, which is then connected to an ultrasound system. The electrical connection between the individual transducer elements and the cable is typically made using a wire.
In a typical ultrasound array transducer, the transducer elements are out of plane with the cable. As a result, the wires that electrically connect the cable and the transducer elements must be bent 90 degrees to allow connection to the cable. However, making such a bend is difficult to achieve in a straight transducer array and even more difficult in curved transducer arrays because of the lack of strength of the connection between the wire and the transducer elements. Typical connection methods include ultrasonic bonding and wedge bonding. Bonds formed by such methods are weak, and they do not have the strength to withstand the force imposed by when bending the wire 90 degrees. Consequently, the bonds will fail when subjected to the bending force, causing the wires to become disconnected from the transducer elements.
To avoid this problem, the wires are connected to the transducer elements either by hand soldering ribbon wire or by using flexible circuits that rely on mechanical pressure to make electrical contact. Each of these methods has disadvantages. With respect to hand soldering, the heat generated in the process tends to depolarize the piezoelectric ceramic material of the transducer elements, thereby adversely affecting the performance of the transducer (i.e., low and non-uniform signals). On the other hand, the use of a flexible circuit results in several additional layers being placed between the piezoelectric ceramic material of the transducer elements and a backing material. Because the flexible circuit is located within the acoustic path, it can interfere with acoustic performance of the transducer.
Thus, there is a need for a method of making an ultrasonic array transducer that can minimize such concerns.

Method of making an ultrasonic transducer system


A method for producing a Group III nitride semiconductor light-emitting device includes an n-type layer, a light-emitting layer, and a p-type layer, each of the layers being formed of Group III nitride semiconductor, being sequentially deposited via a buffer layer on a textured sapphire substrate. A buried layer is formed of Group III nitride semiconductor on the buffer layer, at a temperature lower by 20° C. to 80° C. than the temperature of 1000° C. to 1200° C. when the n-type layer is deposited on the buried layer. The texture provided on the sapphire substrate may have a depth of 1 μm to 2 μm and a side surface inclined by 40° to 80°. A preventing layer may be formed of GaN at 600° C. to 1050° C. so as to cover the entire top surface of the buffer layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for producing a Group III nitride semiconductor light-emitting device exhibiting improved light extraction efficiency by using a textured sapphire substrate.
2. Background Art
Recently, Group III nitride semiconductor light-emitting devices have been used for general lighting purposes, and improvement of light extraction efficiency is strongly demanded. One of the well-known methods for improving light extraction efficiency is to texture a sapphire substrate having a c-plane main surface, as is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (kokai) No. 2003-318441 or 2007-19318. When the sapphire substrate is flat without texturing, a light propagating in a direction horizontal to the sapphire substrate inside an element, is confined in a semiconductor layer and attenuated due to repeated multiple reflection. However, the light propagating in a horizontal direction can be emitted outside through reflection and scattering in a vertical direction by providing a texture on the sapphire substrate, resulting in improvement of light extraction efficiency.
One conceivable approach to further improve light extraction efficiency is to increase the texture depth of the sapphire substrate. However, when the texture depth is increased, a large pit is generated on a region where dislocations are concentrated due to bending of dislocation. Such large pit causes the deterioration of the electrical characteristics of the device, for example, the reduction of the electrostatic breakdown voltage.
In addition, to sufficiently improve light extraction efficiency, preferably the depth of the texture on the sapphire substrate is increased, and the inclination angle of a side surface of the texture (the angle of the side surface of the concave portion or the side surface of the convex portion with respect to the main surface of the sapphire substrate) falls within a range of 40° to 80°. However, such approach increases the regions that are not the c-plane on the sapphire substrate, leading to generation of pits on the crystal surface or uneven crystallinity. This results in the deterioration of the electrical characteristics of the device, for example, the reduction of the electrostatic breakdown voltage.
Studies by the present inventors have shown that the pit is generated due to mass transport of a buffer layer. When the temperature increases to the temperature at which an n-contact layer is formed after the formation of the buffer layer on the sapphire substrate, the buffer layer is moved to the c-plane of the sapphire substrate through mass transport. Thus, a region without the buffer layer is generated on the sapphire substrate. Since there are both regions with and without the buffer layer as the seeds of crystal growth, crystal defects are concentrated in the region without the buffer layer, and a pit is generated therein, resulting in the deterioration of the electrical characteristics, for example, the reduction of the electrostatic breakdown voltage.

Method for producing group III nitride semiconductor light-emitting device


The various embodiments described herein provide input devices configured to selectively operate in two different sensing regimes. The first sensing regime is configured to determine positional information for ungloved fingers in the sensing region. The second sensing regime is configured to determine positional information for gloved fingers in the sensing region. The input devices are further configured to switch from operating in the first sensing regime to the second sensing regime responsive to detecting an input gesture that meets each of a set of criteria, where the set of criteria includes a measure of sensor value stability corresponding to the input gesture being beyond a sensor value stability threshold level. So implemented, the input device allows a user to easily switch between two different sensing regimes, and thus can facilitate the use of the device with both gloved and ungloved fingers providing input.

Input devices including proximity sensor devices (also commonly called touchpads or touch sensor devices) are widely used in a variety of electronic systems. A proximity sensor device typically includes a sensing region, often demarked by a surface, in which the proximity sensor device determines the presence, location and/or motion of one or more input objects. Proximity sensor devices may be used to provide interfaces for the electronic system. For example, proximity sensor devices are often used as input devices for larger computing systems (such as opaque touchpads integrated in, or peripheral to, notebook or desktop computers).
Proximity sensor device can be used to enable control of an associated electronic system. For example, proximity sensor devices are often used as input devices for larger computing systems, including: notebook computers and desktop computers. Proximity sensor devices are also often used in smaller systems, including: handheld systems such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), remote controls, and communication systems such as wireless telephones and text messaging systems. Increasingly, proximity sensor devices are used in media systems, such as CD, DVD, MP3, video or other media recorders or players. The proximity sensor device can be integral or peripheral to the computing system with which it interacts.
One issue with some past input devices is that the some proximity sensor devices are limited to reliably receiving input with objects that are at or very near the surface. Specifically, most proximity sensor devices can accurately determine location and/or motion of objects that are either right at the surface, or very near to the surface. However, when the objects are farther away from the surface the device the accuracy degrades, and most devices cannot reliably respond to such objects, and thus simply ignore such objects.
This is of particular issue when users try and use input devices while wearing gloves. Some gloves prevent the finger of the user from getting close enough to have the position of the finger reliably detected. The extent that gloves interfere with use will generally depend on the thickness and dielectric constant of the glove. The thicker the glove, and the lower the dielectric constant of the glove, the more likely that the position of finger will not be reliably detected.
Thus, there exists a need for improvements in proximity sensor device that improves device flexibility and usability. Other desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.

Systems and methods for switching sensing regimes for gloved and ungloved user input


A rotary indexing machine has a fixed machine frame, which is designed for holding a multiplicity of machining units and includes at least one support. The rotary indexing machine has a rotary table rotatable relative to the machine frame about a vertical indexing axis to be arranged on the rotary table The support is designed for the lateral attachment of at least one of the machining units to create free space for machining. The machine frame has high rigidity and stability, a large free space for machining workpieces being created at the same time in the region of the rotary table, and good accessibility of satellites. The indexing devices and the rotary table ensure adjustment or setting-up of the machine.

The present invention relates to a rotary indexing machine having a plurality of machining stations and a plurality of work-holding devices arranged on a rotary table.
The term rotary indexing machine (also called rotary transfer machine or rotary table machine) refers to a machine tool in which a plurality of work-holding devices (called satellites below) are arranged like satellites on a rotary table (also called a plate) rotatable about a vertical indexing axis. Each satellite is provided with at least one clamping device for clamping a workpiece. A plurality of fixed machining stations for machining the workpieces carried on the satellites are provided along the periphery of the rotary table. For the multiple machining of the workpieces, the rotary table is gradually rotated or indexed further from one working position to the next, in the course of which the workpieces arranged on the rotary table are gradually moved further (or indexed) from one machining station to the next, where the workpieces are in each case machined with one or more fixed machining units. This permits multiple machining of the workpieces by means of a multiplicity of machining units in a single set-up.
DE-C2-39 41 480 discloses a rotary indexing machine having an essentially cage-like, one-piece rigid machine frame, in the wall parts of which the machining units are mounted at the various machining stations. So that the workpieces to be machined which are arranged on the rotary table can be positioned as precisely as possible relative to the tools attached to the machining units, the machine frame must be as rigid as possible. The requirements for the rigidity of the machine frame are especially high when a plurality of machining units are arranged at a single machining station, since the frame, during the simultaneous machining with the various machining units, then has to absorb the sum of the reaction and acceleration forces which occur as far as possible in a distortion-free and rigid manner, so that the machining tolerances can be maintained. In order to be able to fulfill the requirement for high rigidity, the machine frame parts of known rotary indexing machines are on the one hand designed to be extremely solid and correspondingly voluminous and on the other hand are arranged as close to the workpiece to be machined as possible, i.e. to the rotary table.
On account of the arrangement of solid, bulky frame parts, such as supports, struts, etc., in the vicinity of the rotary table, the conventional machine frames of rotary indexing machines occupy a considerable portion of the space which would actually be required for the machining of the workpieces. This problem again occurs to a considerable degree in rotary indexing machines having a plurality of machining units at a single machining station, since, inter alia, electrical and hydraulic lines to each of the machining units additionally occupy further space, which is then no longer available for the actual machining of the workpieces. The conflicting requirements, on the one hand to provide a machine frame of high rigidity in order to be able to maintain close tolerances during the machining of the workpieces, and on the other hand to create sufficient free space in the center of the rotary indexing machine in the region of the rotary table for the machining of complicated workpieces as well, are not fulfilled in a satisfactory manner in conventional rotary indexing machines.
The object of the present invention is to provide a rotary indexing machine which has a rigid machine frame and provides a large free space in the region of the rotary table for the machining of workpieces.
The solution of the object is the subject matter of the independent patent claims.
The rotary indexing machine according to the invention has a fixed machine frame, which is designed for holding a multiplicity of machining units and comprises at least one support, and a rotary table rotatable relative to the machine frame about a vertical indexing axis. To create free space for the machining of a workpiece to be arranged on the rotary table, the support is designed for the lateral attachment of at least one of the machining units.
Within the scope of the present description and the claims, the lateral attachment of the machining unit to the support is always to be understood in such a way that the machining unit is attached laterally to the support with regard to a radial direction running toward the indexing axis. The attachment of the machining unit to a side of the support enables the machining unit to be moved laterally past the support away from the indexing axis in the radial direction if required. As a result, free space can be created for the machining of the workpiece where this free space is also required, namely in the center of the rotary indexing machine in the vicinity of the indexing axis. In addition, due to the lateral attachment of the machining unit to the support, the support may also be arranged closer to the indexing axis than would be possible if the machining unit is attached to the inside, pointing toward the indexing axis, of the support, since in the latter case there must of course always be sufficient space for the arrangement of the machining unit between the inside of the support and the workpiece moved past the support on the rotary plate. The arrangement of the supports of the frame closer to the machine center proves to be an additional advantage, since the dynamic rigidity of the machine frame is thereby increased.
The support and the machining unit are preferably designed in such a way that the machining unit having a work spindle can be laterally attached to the support alternatively in a first position with essentially horizontally arranged work spindle or in a second position with essentially vertically arranged work spindle.
Furthermore, the support is preferably designed in such a way that, on one side of the support, two machining units, each with a work spindle provided with a tool, can be attached to the support one above the other in such a way that the two tools can be brought into engagement with the workpiece simultaneously, the workpiece being clamped in a clamping device arranged on the rotary table. By virtue of the fact that the workpiece is machined simultaneously with two work spindles in one working position of the rotary table, the number of working positions required for the machining of the workpiece can be reduced and the efficiency of the rotary indexing machine can be increased as a result.
The two machining units on one support side may each be designed for the traverse of their work spindles in three directions in accordance with three translatory axes of motion. As a result, the workpiece can be machined simultaneously at one machining station by means of two work spindles which are each movable independently of one another with three translatory degrees of freedom.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the support has two sides, to each of which at least one machining unit can be attached. The support is preferably designed in such a way that two machining units, each with a work spindle displaceable independently along three axes, can each be attached to both sides of the support one above the other in such a way that the tools on the two work spindles on one support side can simultaneously be brought into engagement with a workpiece arranged in a working position of the rotary table in front of this support side.
In the embodiment of the invention with a support which has two sides designed for attaching machining units, the two sides are preferably arranged in a wedge shape on an essentially vertically extending section of the support in such a way that the tip of the wedge is directed in the radial direction toward the indexing axis.
Owing to the fact that the support is designed in a wedge shape and is arranged in such a way that the tip of the wedge is directed in the radial direction toward the indexing axis, additional free space is created for the machining of the workpiece where this space is also required, namely in the center of the rotary indexing machine in the vicinity of the indexing axis. Since the thickness of the support increases radially outward, sufficient rigidity and stability of the support is nonetheless ensured.
Due to the narrow design of the support at its radially inner margin, the accessibility of the central part of the rotary indexing machine, in particular of the rotary table, the satellites and the indexing devices, is additionally improved. This proves to be advantageous especially during the adjustment or setting-up of the rotary indexing machine for the machining of a new lot of workpieces, in particular in the case of small lot sizes. On the whole, the ergonomics of the rotary indexing machine are improved by this measure.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the support is designed in such a way that the tip of the wedge encloses an acute angle of less than 90 degrees. The angle enclosed by the tip of the wedge is preferably even less than 45 degrees, an angle of approximately 30 degrees being especially preferred.
In the rotary indexing machine according to the invention, the machining units are preferably arranged on the essentially vertically extending support sections of wedge-shaped cross section. In principle, however, the machining units may also be arranged at other locations of the machine frame.
At the bottom end of the vertically extending section, a support may have a bottom support section for fastening the support to a fixed pedestal of the machine and/or to a fixed base unit of the machine, the bottom support section being angled relative to the vertically extending support section in the direction of the indexing axis of the rotary indexing machine, so that the support overall has an essentially L-shaped configuration. Furthermore, the support, at the top end of the vertically extending section, may have a top support section which is designed for connecting to the other supports of the rotary indexing machine and which in turn is angled relative to the vertically extending support section in the direction of the indexing axis of the rotary indexing machine, so that the support overall has an essentially C-shaped configuration. An annular connecting device may be provided for the connection to the other supports, this annular connecting device being firmly connected to the top support section of each of the supports in order to increase the stability and the rigidity of the frame formed by the supports.
In a further preferred embodiment of the invention, the rotary indexing machine comprises a fixed base unit and a rotary table which is rotatable relative to the base unit about a vertical indexing axis and on which a satellite provided with at least one clamping device for clamping a workpiece is arranged so as to be rotatable about a vertical satellite rotation axis relative to the rotary table. Furthermore, a satellite drive device is arranged on the rotary table, this satellite drive device moving along with the latter and permitting rotation of the satellite about the satellite rotation axis during the rotation of the rotary table about the indexing axis. In this embodiment of the invention, the satellite preferably has a shaft, which leads through the rotary table, is rotatable relative to the rotary table about the satellite rotation axis and is connected to the satellite in a rotationally locked manner and on whose end face facing the base unit a Hirth serration system is arranged. An indexing device is arranged on the base unit, the indexing device having a column or annular disk, which is linearly displaceable parallel to the indexing axis and on whose end face facing the rotary table a Hirth serration system corresponding to the Hirth serration system on the satellite shaft is arranged. The arrangement is such that, to index the satellite, the Hirth serration system of the indexing device can be displaced linearly in the direction of the rotary table in order to mesh with the Hirth serration system of the satellite and thereby effect the indexing of the satellite. To release the indexing, the Hirth serration system of the indexing device can in turn be displaced linearly in the direction away from the rotary table.
In a further preferred embodiment of the invention, the rotary indexing machine has a fixed base unit and a rotary table rotatable relative to the base unit about a vertical indexing axis. Furthermore, the rotary indexing machine comprises drive means for driving the rotary table, the drive means comprising an electrical machine designed as a directly driven rotary spindle and having a stator which is firmly connected to the base unit and a rotor which is firmly connected to the rotary table. The rotary indexing machine in this embodiment of the invention also preferably comprises a measuring device for the exact measurement of the position and the speed of the rotor relative to the stator and a circuit arrangement, comprising a cascade controller with feedback of the speed and position, for controlling the directly driven rotary spindle. A method of constructing a rotary indexing machine in this embodiment of the invention may comprise a step based on the harmonic balance method for optimizing the system parameters of the directly driven rotary spindle and of the circuit arrangement for controlling the directly driven rotary spindle. As an alternative to the directly driven rotary spindle, the drive means for driving the rotary table may comprise a conventional rotary table motor.
A rotary indexing machine according to the invention preferably has a fixed pedestal and a rotary table rotatable relative to the pedestal about a vertical indexing axis, the pedestal for collecting chips, coolants and/or lubricants being designed in a funnel shape and having surfaces inclined downward toward its center at the indexing axis. In this embodiment of the invention, for the disposal of chips, the funnel-shaped pedestal of the rotary indexing machine preferably has a funnel outlet opening onto a chip conveyor belt.
As an alternative to the funnel-shaped pedestal, a rotary indexing machine according to the invention, having a fixed pedestal and a rotary table rotatable relative to the pedestal about a vertical indexing axis, may comprise a chip conveying device arranged below the rotary table for the disposal of chips, this chip conveying device being designed for conveying the chips around the pedestal and/or around a fixed base unit of the rotary indexing machine, the chips being conveyed up to an outlet opening and falling through the latter preferably onto a chip conveyor belt. A fixed collecting device for collecting chips, coolants and/or lubricants is preferably formed and arranged in a funnel shape below the rotary table in such a way that the chips are conveyed to the chip conveying device, leading around the pedestal, essentially by the force of gravity.


A method of controlling nasal hemorrhaging during a nasal procedure without exerting direct pressure on the area of bleeding utilizes a nasal tampon having an expansible sealing cuff. The tampon is inserted into the nasal cavity through the anterior nares until the expansible sealing cuff is disposed beyond the choanae. The expansible sealing cuff is the inflated, and the tampon slightly withdrawn into the nasal cavity so as to wedge the cuff between the choanae and the nasopharyngeal passageway and occlude the choanae. The tampon may also be adapted for connection to a source of suction so as to rapidly and continuously expel fluids from the nasal cavity.

This invention relates to nasal tampons and, in particular, to an improved nasal tampon which is designed to occlude the choanae and at the same time permit aspiration of blood and other fluids seeping from an incision or wound. Although the apparatus of the present invention may be adapted to any of a variety of applications, it is particularly useful during and/or following rhinoplasty or other reconstructive or corrective surgical procedures in the vicinity of the nose.
Traditionally, nasal tampons have been used to arrest nasal hemorrhaging by exerting pressure on the area of bleeding. The general practice has been to pack the nasal cavity with absorbent material such as cotton, gauze and the like until a clot is formed and healing commenced. Use of such tampons typically causes a considerable amount of discomfort to the patient and can additionally damage the nasopharyngeal passageway due to pressure necrosis.
In the case of posterior nasal packing, a gauze or sponge plug secured to a catheter may be inserted through the anterior nares into the nasal cavity. The catheter is guided through the posterior choanae into the oral cavity and an end of the catheter is pulled out through the mouth, so as to draw the gauze or sponge plug up against the posterior choanae. As the sponge or gauze-like material fills with blood and other liquids, it swells and begins to occlude the choanae. However, as the sponge continues to absorb the fluids seeping from the incision or wound, the absorptivity decreases, and eventually, fluids escape the sponge and trickle down the patient's throat. When this occurs, the tampon must be removed, and a fresh tampon inserted. Since the sponge or gauze-like material of the tampon has a tendency to adhere to scabs and/or scar tissue within the nasal cavity, removal of the tampon can and often does result in additional bleeding. Further, while the tampon is being replaced, blood and other fluids are allowed to flow freely from the wound or incision and into the trachea, and down into the stomach which creates coughing, nausea and vomiting.
In an attempt to overcome the problems encountered with these gauze-like types of nasal tampons, catheter-like devices, having inflatable cuffs have been employed in the prior art. These catheters are inserted through the anterior nares in a deflated state, and after being properly positioned within the nasal cavity, the cuff is inflated to exert pressure on the bleeding area, and thereby arrest hemorrhaging. The inflatable cuffs used in the prior art nasal devices typically require use of sufficiently high pressure that may severely injure the tender mucosal membrane by prolonged contact therewith.
Further, if the nasal tampon is to be used during a surgical procedure to control hemorrhaging, it is imperative that sufficient working room is left for the surgeon. Nasal tampons which control bleeding by direct pressure are inappropriate for such surgical procedures, as the area to be operated upon is obstructed by the very nature of these types of tampons.
Aspirating devices are also commonly used to expel blood, mucous and other debris, occasioned by a surgical procedure. Such devices, however, frequently fail to prevent a portion of the fluids from entering the patient's throat. Moreover, direct contact between the intake of an aspirating device and the soft surrounding tissue can cause damage to the nasal mucosa and can contribute greatly to patient discomfort.

Methods for controlling nasal hemorrhaging


A printer having first and second opposed sprockets positioned on opposed sides of a printer platen for feeding from an upstream to a downstream direction continuous-feed paper sheets having continuous-feed edge strips formed along the opposing sides of the paper sheets. An edge strip trimming apparatus includes first and second edge strip trimmers. Each of the edge strip trimmers have edge strip hold-down devices positioned in closely spaced-apart relation to one of the first and second sprockets for holding the edge strip against the sprocket as the paper is fed through the printer. An inclined paper support bed extends inwardly from the edge strip hold-down device to a point underneath the horizontal plane of the paper sheet for progressively diverging the plane of the edge strip from the plane of the paper sheet as the paper sheets are successively fed through the printer. The support bed defines an edge surface. The edge surface extends downwardly, beneath the hold-down device, to ensure that each paper sheet is properly passed through the edge strip trimmer and separated from its respective edge strip.

The invention relates to a printer which feeds continuous feed paper sheets through the printer by means of edge strips which are formed on opposite sides of the paper sheets. Such printers range from very expensive, high speed line printers to very inexpensive printers sold primarily for small business and home use. Such printers use paper which is in a continuous length, but with spaced-apart, laterally-extending perforation lines. The paper can be separated into individual sheets when desired by tearing along the perforation line.
According to the applicant's pending U.S. patent application, Ser. No. 947,751, filed on Sep. 21, 1992, the paper sheets are automatically separated by using a particular length of continuous-feed paper. The length of continuous-feed paper includes pre-separated sheets of paper attached solely by edge strips located on opposite side edges of the paper. As the edge strips are removed, the paper sheets separate and become disconnected from the continuous length.
The edge strips are separable from the paper sheets by means of perforation lines which extend along the length of the paper sheets. The perforation lines define the edge strip and paper sheets on opposite sides thereof. The edge strips have holes which extend along its length at regularly spaced-apart intervals which match the spacing of sprocket teeth on the axially-extending peripheral surface of sprocket wheels which are positioned on opposite sides of the printer at the paper platen.
The edge strips are usually manually torn from the paper sheets after the paper has been removed from the printer. This is a tedious, time consuming job. For this reason, those trimming the edge strips manually tend to try to remove the edge strips from a number of sheets at the same time by fan folding the sheets, if they are not already fan folded. If too many layers are stripped at the same time, the edge strip can fail to separate cleanly, and can either leave a ragged remnant of the edge strip attached to the paper sheet, or can tear into the paper sheet, thereby requiring that sheet to be re-printed.
The invention of this application relates to an improved edge strip trimmer for particular use with a length of continuous-feed paper according to the applicant's pending U.S. patent application, Ser. No. 947,751. Since this particular length of continuous-feed paper does not include laterally-extending perforation lines for attaching the top and bottom edges of the paper sheet to adjacent sheets, the top and bottom edges of the sheet tend to sag when passed through the printer and respective edge strip trimmers. This creates a problem, since each sheet must pass over a support bed of the edge strip trimmer to be separated from its edge strip. If the top or bottom edge of the sheet sags, the sheet may pass under instead of over the support bed of the trimmer. Thus, the edge strip will not be trimmed, and the sheets will not be properly separated.
The edge strip trimmer of the present application eliminates this problem by proving an lengthened and curved support bed for ensuring that each sheet of paper is properly fed through the edge strip trimmers.

Printer with edge strip trimmer including a downwardly extending edge surface


A floor finish applicator including a cart having wheels and a body member constructed and arranged to receive a source of floor finish. The floor finish applicator also includes a pump coupled to the cart and operable to deliver floor finish to a floor, a floor finish feed conduit in fluid communication between the pump and a container supporting floor finish, and a transmission assembly coupled to the cart. The floor finish feed conduit supplies floor finish to the pump. The transmission assembly includes an axle coupled to and driven by a wheel of the cart, a drive gear connected to the axle, a drive shaft having a driven gear for engaging the drive gear and driving the pump, and a hand-actuated spring-loaded clutch for selective engagement of the pump and the drive shaft with the axle.

Pull-behind floor finish applicators are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,979,756; No. 3,457,015; No. 3,981,596; No. 4,124,315; and No. 4,471,713. Other floor finish applicators of this type are available from Fast-Trak Inc. as Ultra-Trak floor finish applicator and Hillyard, Inc. of St. Joseph, Mo. as Multi-Flo applicator.
These applicators involve mechanisms which have numerous components and/or do not provide for a separate mopping function. For example, the applicators described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,979,756 and No. 3,981,596 include pressurized tanks with complex delivery systems. These involve time consuming cleaning operations. Those described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,457,015 and No. 4,124,315 do not provide for a separate mopping function.
A pull-behind floor finish applicator should be simple in its construction so as to be economical to produce. It should also be capable of applying floor finish in those places where the application cannot readily be achieved.
The prior art does not provide a floor finish applicator which has a minimum number of parts, yet can apply floor finish in floor areas which are both readily accessible by a mobile machine and those which are not.


A method and implementing computer system are provided which allows for significantly improved input/output (I/O) subsystem designs in all systems which include serialized I/O transactions such as so-called Express specification systems. Transaction control methodology is implemented to improve Express design requirements for Express devices such as an Express switch, Express-PCI bridge, endpoint, and root complex. This is accomplished by utilizing improved transaction ordering and state machine and corresponding buffer design and improved flow control credit methodology which enables improved processing for controlling transactions flowing through Express devices including Express switches and Express-PCI bridges. An Express-PCI/PCIX transition bridge design is also provided, along with the flow control credit methodology and implementation within the Express-PCI/PCIX bridge design to enable efficient interfacing between Express and legacy or existing PCI/PCIX systems.

The present invention relates generally to information processing systems and more particular to a methodology and implemention for buffer management and transaction control for serialized input/output transactions.
In computer systems today, the predominate input/output (I/O) subsystem in Notebooks, desktops, and servers is based on either the so-called PCI (peripheral component interconnect) or PCIX bus (see the Revision 2.3 PCI Local Bus Specification dated Mar. 29, 2002, and the Revision 1.0a PCIX Addendum to the PCI Local Bus Specification dated Jul. 24, 2000). However, in order to keep pace with the growing need to provide improved performance and scalability needs of the future, the PCI-SIG (Peripheral Component Interconnect Special Interest Group) is adopting a new PCI interconnect called xe2x80x9cPCI Expressxe2x80x9d, herein after referred to as xe2x80x9cExpressxe2x80x9d. Express is also referred to as xe2x80x9c3GIOxe2x80x9d in some versions of the Express specification. Express is a serial point-to-point switched fabric interconnect that utilizes the same programming model as the current PCI and PCIX bus definitions. PCI and PCIX provide a set of transaction ordering rules that define the requirements as to whether a second transaction of various transaction types must be allowed or not allowed to bypass a first transaction of various transaction types. These transaction ordering rules result in significant complexity in PCI and PCIX devices, especially for PCIXxe2x80x94PCIX (and PCIxe2x80x94PCI) bridges. Express also introduces the concept of multi-port switches. The Express specification defines an Express switch as a logical assembly of multiple virtual PCIxe2x80x94PCI bridge devices that have one primary interface and multiple secondary interfaces, with each external interface being an Express serial interface. An Express switch by definition is even more complex than today""s typical PCIXxe2x80x94PCIX bridge (which are themselves very complex devices). Express carries over the transaction ordering rules of PCI essentially unchanged, such that when adding the serial nature and other features of Express, this results in very significant complexity for Express devices and introduces other problems.
Thus, there is a need for an improved method, circuit, and system for Express switches, Express-PCI bridges and other Express devices to improve transaction ordering and buffer management requirements for data consistency, and also to avoid data transfer congestion and deadlocks.
A method and implementing computer system are provided which allow for much improved input/output (I/O) subsystem designs for use in serialized I/O transaction systems including Express systems. To achieve improved scalability, Express adds to PCI/PCIX a serial point-to-point signaling capability at the Express link and chip interface. This invention defines means to greatly improve Express design requirements, making the design of Express devices such as an Express switch, Express-PCI bridge, endpoint, or root complex more efficient, less complex and therefore less costly. This is accomplished by improving the requirements for input buffer designs and transaction credit types and credit control for managing the flow of transactions across a serial I/O link. An improved transaction credit and flow control is provided which results in significant performance improvements as transactions flow through Express devices and over Express links.

Transaction credit control for serial I/O systems


According to one embodiment, a nonvolatile memory device includes a selection element layer and a nanomaterial aggregate layer. The selection element layer includes silicon. The nanomaterial aggregate layer is stacked on the selection element layer. The nanomaterial aggregate layer includes a plurality of micro conductive bodies and fine particles dispersed in a plurality of gaps between the micro conductive bodies. At least a surface of the fine particle is made of an insulating material other than silicon oxide.

In recent years, a phenomenon was discovered in which certain metal oxide materials have two states of a low resistance state and a high resistance state when a voltage is applied to the material due to the resistivity prior to the voltage application and the size of the applied voltage; and new nonvolatile memory devices utilizing such a phenomenon are drawing attention. Such a nonvolatile memory device is called ReRAM (Resistance Random Access Memory). Three-dimensional cross-point structures in which memory cells are disposed at the intersection points between WLs (word lines) and BLs (bit lines) have been proposed as the actual device structure of ReRAM from the viewpoint of higher integration. Even higher integration is desirable for ReRAM.

Nonvolatile memory device and method for manufacturing same