There is a need for routine radon screening of homes, especially in states which require radon screening prior to sale, that are compact, inexpensive, do not require a professional to operate, and which, further, can yield a significant measurement in hours or minutes rather than days. The present invention provides for a combination of control of entry of radon by adjusting the separation between and the area of a multi-element shell, into a measuring chamber while excluding light and extraneous particulate material. This permits a design with a faster response time and also provides for the accurate measurement of individual scintillation events in a scintillating medium by imaging of, and discriminating specific energy levels related to the known energies of alpha particles emitted in the decay pathway of radon. This discrimination functions as an alpha-particle spectrometer and will. Thus, other background radioactive disintegrations or cosmic ray events will be filtered out of the signal. The invention will make use of the optics and imaging arrays as are in state-of-the-art mobile phone cameras. Use of camera components of mobile phones will permit cost savings since they are already in very large-scale production.

Radon is a radioactive element which at normal temperature and pressure is a gas. It is colorless, odorless and tasteless which means that its presence and concentration is not readily detectable by human beings. However, due to its radioactivity, it can be harmful if the concentration is too high. At normal concentrations, radiation from radon typically accounts for around half of a person's annual natural radiation dose.
The most stable isotope of radon is Radon-222 which has a half-life of 3.8 days and is produced as part of the decay chain of Uranium-238 which is present throughout the Earth's crust. Being a noble gas, radon readily diffuses out of the ground and into the air around us. The daughter products of radon decay tend to be charged particles which will readily stick to dust or smoke particles in the air. When these particles are inhaled, they can lodge in the lungs and the subsequent radiation from decay of the radon daughter products causes a risk of lung cancer. Consequently, higher concentrations of radon lead to higher risks of cancer.
The concentration of radon in the atmosphere depends, amongst other things, on ventilation. Areas with good ventilation will have lower radon concentrations, whereas a lack of ventilation leads to radon accumulation and thus increases the radiation level in such areas. Radon levels outside therefore tend to be lower than inside buildings. For example, typical radiation doses from radon may be around 10-20 Bq/m3 outside and may be around 100 Bq/m3 inside. Radon levels can also vary significantly due to variations in geographic location (e.g., different geologies), or due to differences in building materials.
Radon decays by emission of an alpha particle with an energy of 5.5 MeV. The resultant Polonium-218 has a half-life of about 3 minutes before emitting an alpha particle of 6.0 MeV. The resultant Lead-214 has a half-life of around 27 minutes before beta-decaying to Bismuth-214 which in turn has a half-life of 20 minutes and beta-decays to Polonium-214. Polonium-214 has a half-life of about 164 microseconds before emitting an alpha particle of 7.7 MeV resulting in Lead-210 which has a half-life of 22 years and is thus relatively stable.
Detection of radon to date has been divided into two main methods. The first method is active detection of alpha particles using a photodiode and the second method is passive detection of alpha particles using a track detector. Typically, the first method requires a large instrument and needs electrical power to be supplied. Such instruments have typically only been used for larger scale, e.g., commercial or industrial measurements as the instruments are bulkier and more expensive. The photodiode is placed in a diffusion chamber of the device. Alpha particles hitting the photodiode create a number of electron-hole pairs which will cause a small current to be generated. These current signals can be detected and counted to provide a measure of the radon concentration within the diffusion chamber. Such active measurements can be provided continuously in time rather than having to wait for the results of a laboratory analysis.
The second method uses much smaller detectors with no power to domestic customers. A passive (i.e., unpowered) track chamber is typically placed in a selected location and left for a predetermined period of time (typically from a few weeks up to about 3 months) after which it is sent back to a lab for analysis. Alpha particles emitted within the chamber leave tracks on a film which is also disposed within the chamber. These tracks can be detected in the lab and counted thus providing a measure of the radon concentration in the air within the chamber.
WO 2008/080753 describes a passive radon detector device with a diffusion chamber rotatably mounted above the detector so that it can be rotated in and out of the "ON" position above the detector. When the chamber is in position above the detector, the detector will detect alpha particles from gas which diffuses into the chamber. When the chamber is rotated out of position (the "OFF" position), the detector is covered (the chamber volume is essentially reduced to zero) and is therefore effectively isolated from radon in the surrounding environment.
US 2009/0230305 describes an active radon detector device which is battery powered. The photodiode detector is mounted on the main PCB and is covered by a sampling chamber, also mounted on the main PCB. The photodiode detects alpha particles within the sampling chamber and sends a detection signal to the processing circuitry on the main PCB. The processing circuitry includes a microprocessor unit.
CA 2424267 A1 discloses a further battery-powered radon detector.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,489,780 describes another active radon detector device in which a pressed metal filter is used as the wall of the diffusion chamber. This filter is mounted directly on the PCB over the photodiode detector, thus defining the sampling volume. The chamber walls are biased to a high voltage relative to the photodiode detector so as to create an electric field therebetween. The device is powered by a combination of an AC power supply and a DC battery pack. In active detectors, it is desirable to create an electric field between the sensor and the walls of the diffusion chamber. For example, in a radon detector, when radon atoms within the chamber decay, the daughter products are typically positively charged particles. Such charged particles have a strong tendency to "plate out", i.e., to attach to nearby surfaces. Once a particle has plated out, it tends to stay put. Thus, the radon daughter products in such active devices tend to be distributed over the inside walls of the diffusion chamber. In the presence of an electric field as described above, those daughter products will drift in the direction of the electric field, i.e., towards the sensor. Therefore, the distribution of daughter products will be strongly concentrated on the surface of the sensor itself.
The advantage of such arrangements is that the sensor senses a much higher proportion of decays from particles which sit directly on its surface than from those distributed around the diffusion chamber walls. This is because for any given decay, the direction of the radiation is random. For particles located on the chamber walls, the sensor only represents a small solid angle of directions in which that radiation will be detected. By contrast, for particles on the surface of the sensor, the sensor represents close to 50% solid angle, i.e., it has close to 50% probability of detecting the radiation from the decay of such particles.
Thus, the electric field between the sensor and the chamber walls greatly increases the number of detected decays of radon daughter products and thereby greatly increases the rate of accumulation of data in the instrument. At typical atmospheric radon concentrations, the number of alpha particles emitted per unit time within the chamber can be very low (at typical radon concentrations, the detector in a chamber with a volume of about 25 cubic centimeters might only be expected to detect in the order of one alpha per hour). It can therefore take a significant amount of time to acquire enough data to provide a statistically reliable measurement. By increasing the rate of detections from radon daughter products, the rate of data accumulation can be increased and therefore a reliable read-out can be provided much faster. The conversion of the raw sensor data to an estimate of the radon concentration relies on a statistical analysis of the probability of sensing decays from various locations within the chamber. This analysis is influenced by a number of factors. One such factor is the probability that a daughter product will plate out on the sensor. This depends in part on the strength of the electric field between the sensor and the chamber walls. Therefore, variations in the strength of that field lead to variations in the probability of daughter products plating out on the sensor and thus variations in the accuracy of the calculated estimate of radon concentration.
It is therefore desirable to provide a regulated bias voltage to the diffusion chamber so that the electric field within the chamber remains relatively constant in strength. In larger instruments which operate from mains power, this can be achieved easily with voltage regulator circuits. However, such instruments are bulkier and consume more power. They are also restricted in that they can only be located in positions which are large enough to accommodate the instrument's bulk and in positions where mains power can be supplied. Battery powered instruments are much more flexible as they can be made smaller and can thus be placed in more restricted spaces. They can also be placed where no mains power (or other external power) is available. However, the voltage provided by typical consumer batteries varies over the lifetime of the battery. For example, a standard 1.5 V alkaline cell typically provides an output voltage of 1.6 V at the start of its life, falling to 1.1 V at the end of its life. Battery powered instruments are also limited by the lifetime of these batteries. If the instrument draws too much power, then either the lifetime of the device will be too short or the instrument will have to be made bulkier to accommodate larger batteries.
The bias voltage required to provide a sufficiently strong electric field within the diffusion chamber may be of the order of 10 V.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,354,214 describes a radon gas sensor instrument comprising a diffusion chamber with conductive walls and with a sensor disposed within the diffusion chamber. The diffusion chamber comprises two metal shells which engage to limit the diffusive inflow of gas and thus selectively allow the entrance of gas such as radon. The electric field drives charged disintegration products such as Polonium-218 toward a photodiode for detection. The low diffusion into the chamber results in a time to reach an equilibrium reading of at least three days.
Thus, prior art active radon sensors either have equilibration times that are short but permit interference from a range of events or particles.
A radon sensor with a chamber coated with ZnS—Ag scintillant and a window abutting a photomultiplier, referred to as the Lucas scintillation cells (1) is commercialized by Pylon Electronics Inc, Ottawa, Canada. A variant has a cylindrical electrode centrally mounted to propel charged radon daughter molecules to the electrode to restrict measurements to primary radon decay events. The scintillation events take place when a disintegration product strikes the wall coated with scintillant, and any light emitted is detected by a photomultiplier tube (2).
While plastic scintillators have been known for many years, there has been no suggestion in the prior art that they would be useful for radon detection. A typical plastic scintillator will yield 3,000 photons for a 5 MeV alpha particle, which will have a range of about 0.1 mm in that medium. Elgen Technology of Sweetwater, Tex., commercializes a range of organic scintillators for different applications.
The present invention is directed to further improvements and simplification of radon detection.

Radon detection with a three-part diffusion chamber and scintillation coating over an extended surface


An intelligent electric grid management system and method includes at least one feeder line controller, which is arranged between a secondary power transforming station and at least one power supply feeder line to receive high voltage power and a control instruction from the secondary power transforming station and to store and set, in advance, digital code data of each power supply feeder line, a smart meter of a user end, appliance loads, and priority cutoff levels, a plurality of smart meters, which are each connected between the distribution line of each user end and at least one power feeder line, wherein the smart meter and the feeder line controller transmit therebetween a user end load ON/OFF control signal and a load state detection feedback signal through the power supply feeder line by means of the power line communication protocol; and a plurality of intelligent load receptacles, which are connected to the receptacle power line of the distribution line of the user end and the household appliance loads so that based on the power grid overall power requirement state and the priority cutoff level, the feeder line controller controls, through the smart meter by means of the power line communication protocol, each of the intelligent load receptacles to supply or cut off power to the household appliance load connected thereto.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an intelligent electric grid management system and method, and in particular to a system and a method that establish a digital code combination of a feeder line controller, a smart meter, and intelligent load receptacle and use power line communication to manage each load of a user end of an electric grid and set up the sequence of power supplying and cutting off power.
2. The Related Arts
Energy is one of the hottest topics of discussion throughout the entire world. People wish to obtain clean and safe energy or better renewable energy and no longer rely on fossil energy and nuclear energy that has potential risk. However, the power generation efficiency of the renewable energies is still very low and does not completely suits the needs of general consumers. For example, wind power generation is generally limited by seasonal winds and solar power generation is generally limited by weather so that the renewable energies that are limited by weather and time are hard to control and use. In such a period of time, the energy conservation principle of the limited electric power would become an important issue. The development of management techniques that allows for efficient and effective use of intelligent household appliances, smart meters, and intelligent electric grids that are derived from household appliances of user ends would be the best solution to ensure no undesired waste of electric power.
On the other hand, a conventional power supply and distribution system comprises a primary power transforming station, a secondary power transforming station, and power feeder lines. Power is supplied through the power supply lines and power distribution lines to a power distribution panel of each household user. The power feeder lines from the secondary power transforming station are each connected to a transformer that is mounted on a pole or installed as a road-side stand and the transformer is further connected to ten or more household user ends to supply AC single-phase three-line 220V, 60 Hz electric power to each household appliance load of each household user. When the power supply capacity of the entire electric grid and the required power consumption capacity get saturated or the supply and demand are no longer in balance, an emergence measure must be taken by supplying spare power capacity. When the spare power capacity is insufficient or the power consumption reaches a peak, the supply of power must be limited. In some countries, one possible solution is to first cut the power supply to the industrial users, and cutoff and limitation of power supply to the household users are the second step. Or alternatively, the supplies of power to the industrial users and the household users are cut off alternately. This would cause severe influence to certain loads that do not tolerate power supply being cut off. For example, a life support system for patients and a caring system for the elder would be severely affected. For user ends, the inconvenience and trouble would result due to power supply being cut off or limited. This solution that cuts off or limits power supply to the users, globally or locally, is not a radical measure for power capacity management of an electric grid and does not meet the needs for effectively managing power consumption capacity.
Related patent documents are known, such as Taiwan Patent I442663, which discloses an intelligent micro electric grid control and management system and an intelligent power consumption management method, wherein a telecommunication network and a cloud application management platform are involved to allow a user (a household user) to use a mobile phone or a computer, through the network or the cloud management platform, to self-manage household power consumption and supplying or cutting off power supplied to loads. This solution is a system and method that only allow the individual user to manage the user of electrical power by themselves and is not suitable for power consumption management for a large electric grid covered by a secondary power transforming station or a community based electric grid so that it does not help much for the power consumption of the entire electric grid, nor does it for power saving. Further, such a solution of using mobile phones and computers, through networks or cloud management platforms, to individually manage household power consumption and supplying or cutting of power supplied to loads is susceptible to hacker invasion of the networks and damage of the could management platform, leading to severe public security issue of power supply and undesired consequences.
Further, Taiwan Patent I441409 discloses a power monitor system, in which multiple power input energy sources are provided for manipulation of power consumption of individual loads of a single household electricity user. Similarly, load management can be done for individual electricity user and it is not possible to be applied to power consumption management and energy saving for an upper-level large electric grid or a community based electric grid. Further, a complicated control system involving individual computers, programmable logic controllers, and a central control panel must be used. Expansion to an entire power supply grid or a community based electric grid would cause an issue of cost and installation of facility and also an issue of being hard to integrate individual pieces of hardware equipment.
Further, Taiwan Patent I 423550 discloses an intelligent breaker integration management system, device, and intelligent distribution box, in which an intelligent breaker integration management system that is made up of a transformer, an electric meter, and an intelligent breaker integration management device is used to monitor and manage household loads of individual household users. In addition to such a complication arrangement, this system needs an operation unit to work with a plurality of breakers. Increasing the number of loads and load circuits would get beyond the capacity of the operation unit so that the entire set of the device must be replaced. Further, a power line communication device is involved, but only for carrying information of power consumption. For the entire equipment for use of power, the indoor wire arrangement system must be significantly changed. For example, the operation unit needs a plurality of control signal lines extending therefrom to be respectively connected to the breakers in order to transmit the control signals VC1-VCN. The greater the number of the loads controlled thereby is, the greater the number of the wires would be. For loads set up at different locations, wire laying is generally a difficult issue and may cause trouble for installation. Further, in case the number of the power supply load of the electricity supply circuits to which the breakers are connected is not one and is actually multiple, such as multiple sockets being connected to the same power supply circuit covered by one breaker, then cutting of power supply might cause overall power failure of certain important loads, such as life support systems and security systems and lead to undesired consequences. Further, such a management system suffers another problem that the system is only suitable for the control of loads of an individual household and cannot be expanded to an entire electric grid. Further, during power cutoff, there is no way to realize the importance level of individual loads or the priority of power cutoff. Simply relying on system power consumption information carried by the power line communication device might lead to consequences of risking the life safety of the users.
Further, Taiwan Patent I437835 discloses a power line network control system and method, in which device identification code is generated with random numbers and a process of broadcasting is taken to prevent repeating of the electric grid identification code and to handle the issue of division of control network. This allows for rough division of power control network, but cannot divide and recognize detail information related to power feeder lines, smart meters, and electric loads, making it not possible to achieve the effectiveness and need of true electric grid control for a true intelligent power consumption and loads.

Intelligent electric grid management system and method


The present invention provides a method of storing data transferred from an I/O device, a network, or a disk into a portion of a cache or other fast memory, without also writing it to main memory. Further, the data is “locked” into the cache or other fast memory until it is loaded for use. Data remains in the locking cache until it is specifically overwritten under software control. In an embodiment of the invention, a processor can write data to the cache or other fast memory without also writing it to main memory. The portion of the cache or other fast memory can be used as additional system memory.

The latency (time spent waiting) for memory access, both to write to memory and to read from memory, is often a problem for software programs. In current computers, processor cycles are much shorter than the time for memory access. Further, the problem is becoming more severe. Processor speed is increasing exponentially, and memory access is increasing only gradually.
One partial remedy to the problem of memory access latency is a hierarchy of memories. The main memory has a large capacity and is slowest. On top of this are several layers of successively smaller, faster memories, or caches.
The current use of caches presents problems. A read from a cache may fail when the cache does not contain the desired data. The data must then be accessed from the slow main memory. An attempt to write data exclusively to a cache may not be permitted. The transfer of data from an I/O device, from a network, or from a disk may require may require the data to be written to main memory, either exclusively or also to local memory or to a cache. In either case, there is the latency of writing to the slower main memory. Further, there can be a latency in accessing the data. In the first case, the processor must access the data from the main memory for processing, with the resultant latency of access. In the second case, the data written to a cache may be replaced by other data before the replaced data is accessed. When this occurs, the replaced data is written to main memory. To then utilize this data, a processor must access it from main memory.
Therefore, there is a need for a method of storing data from a processor, an I/O device, a network or a disk to a cache or other fast memory without also storing it to main memory. Further, the method must guarantee that the data remains in the cache or other fast memory until it has been used.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

International Business Machines Corporation


A wearable optical display system comprising: a user attachment section; a partially transmissive partially reflective optical part, coupled with said user attachment section, and configured to be facing an eye of said user; and an electro-optical unit, coupled with at least one of said user attachment section and said partially transmissive partially reflective optical part, said electro-optical unit comprising: a plurality of lenses; a plurality of reflectors having a nose-positioned reflector being positioned at a side of a nose of said user, such to allow an unobstructed field of regard to said eye; and a light projection unit for projecting light beams onto said partially transmissive partially reflective optical part via said at least one nose-positioned reflector being interposed along an optical path between said light projection unit and partially transmissive partially reflective optical part, for viewing at least part of a projection of said light beams by said eye.

Optical wearable display systems have been introduced into the civil market more than 20 years ago. Most applications of wearable display systems targeted the industrial domain. During the last decade, several new wearable display systems were introduced into the market, targeting the entertainment and gaming fields (e.g., Magic Leap®, Microsoft®, Vuzix®, Epson®, Sony®, Lumus®, and others), typically equipped with a binocular optical system delivering a field of view of around 40 degrees. Optical solutions to existing wearable display systems introduced into the market are typically characterized by an optical element (e.g., a special window, a prism or a light guide) positioned in front of a user's eyes, which is used for directing and guiding the light from the display toward the eye of the user. One can appreciate that the positioning of such an element in front of the eyes of the user introduces obstructions, optical distortions, and residual artifacts (e.g., prismatic deviation, reflections, ghosts, etc.), and may further cause safety issues with respect to impact resistance (e.g., concerning safety standards for eye wear devices). Apart from being a functional article that presents images to the user, the eyewear device may also be considered as a fashionable article (e.g., a stylish accessory).
One solution for mitigating obstructions to a user's field of regard (FOR) when wearing a head-worn optical see-through display system is disclosed in PCT patent application publication no.: WO 2016/135757 to Ashkenazi and Shamir entitled "Wearable Optical Display System for Unobstructed Viewing". The wearable optical display system includes a user attachment section, a partially transmissive partially reflective lens, and an electro-optical unit. The user attachment section is for detachably mounting the user wearable optical display system to a head of a user. The partially transmissive partially reflective lens, which is coupled with the user attachment section, is configured to be facing at least one eye of the user. The electro-optical unit is coupled with at least one of the user attachment section and the partially transmissive partially reflective lens. The electro-optical unit includes a processor, and a light projection unit. The processor is coupled with the light projection unit. The light projection unit is configured to transmit light beams onto the partially transmissive partially reflective lens. The electro-optical unit is configured to be positioned with respect to the user attachment section such that when the user wearable optical display system is mounted on the user, the electro-optical unit is located at the glabellar region of the user.

Binocular wide field of view (WFOV) wearable optical display system


A power connector assembly includes a first electrical connector and a second electrical connector mating with the first electrical connector. The first electrical connector includes a plurality of first hollow tubes. Moreover, a plurality of first conducting terminals are disposed within the first hollow tubes, selectively. Each first conducting terminal has a flat contacting part. The second electrical connector includes a plurality of second hollow tubes corresponding to the first hollow tubes. Moreover, a plurality of second conducting terminals are disposed within the second hollow tubes, selectively. Each second conducting terminal has a terminal-clamping part. When the first electrical connector and the second electrical connector are combined together, the flat contacting part of each first conducting terminal is clamped by the terminal-clamping part of the corresponding second conducting terminal, so that electrical connection between the first electrical connector and the second electrical connector is established.

Recently, a power connector assembly has been widely used in a power network, a power transmission system, a power distribution system, a power supply system or an electrical device to be used as an interface of power transmission and connection. For example, a power supply system (e.g. a battery, a power supply or an uninterruptible power supply) and an electrical device (e.g. an industrial computer or a cloud data center) may be in communication with each other through two electrical connectors in order to achieve electrical connection and power transmission.
Conventionally, the power connector assembly comprises a first electrical connector and a second electrical connector. The first electrical connector may be connected with an electrical device through wires. The second electrical connector may be connected with an uninterruptible power supply through wires. Moreover, the first electrical connector comprises at most three cylindrical conducting terminals, and the second electrical connector comprises conducting terminals corresponding to the cylindrical conducting terminals of the first electrical connector. When the first electrical connector and the second electrical connector are combined together, the conducting terminals of the first electrical connector and the conducting terminals of the second electrical connector are electrically connected with each other. Consequently, electrical power can be transmitted through the first electrical connector and the second electrical connector.
With advancement of science and technology, many electrical devices and many power supply systems are developed toward high performance and miniaturization. In other words, it is important to reduce the volumes of the power supply system and the electrical device while increasing the capability of transmitting a higher current between the power supply system and the electrical device. However, since the conducting terminals of the first electrical connector of the conventional power connector assembly are cylindrical, the volume of the first electrical connector is larger, and it is difficult to minimize the conventional power connector assembly. Moreover, in case that the conventional power connector assembly is applied to the power supply system and the electrical device requiring higher electrical power, the conducting terminals of the first electrical connector and the conducting terminals of the second electrical connector should withstand a higher current. For complying with safety regulations, the conducting terminals of the first electrical connector and the conducting terminals of the second electrical connector should be made of the material that is capable of withstanding the higher current. Since this material is costly, the fabricating cost of the conventional power connector assembly is increased. Moreover, since each of the first electrical connector and the second electrical connector of the conventional power connector assembly has at most three conducting terminals, the conventional power connector assembly can only be applied to specified kinds of power supply systems and specified kinds of electrical devices. In other words, the applications of the conventional power connector assembly are restricted.
Therefore, there is a need of providing an improved power connector assembly in order to eliminate the above drawbacks.


A method for classifying an unknown part includes acquiring a broadband frequency response for a plurality of parts in a training set of parts, the training set of parts including a plurality of non-flawed parts and a plurality of flawed parts, performing a statistical analysis on the broadband frequency responses to form a plurality of part subsets, the plurality of part subsets including at least one subset of non-flawed parts and at least one subset of flawed parts, and utilizing the plurality of part subsets to form a blended subset of parts, the blended subset of parts being used to classify an unknown part as either a defective part or a non-defective part. A tool for implementing the method is also described.

The present invention relates generally to pattern recognition systems, and more particularly to, a system and method for improving sorting performance of various parts using cluster analysis.
Various parts are utilized by customers to fabricate more complex assemblies. Customers utilize various testing methods to identify both "good" and "bad" parts prior to the parts being installed into the more complex assembly. The good parts conform to the manufacturer's specifications. Whereas, the bad parts do not conform to the customers specifications.
To identify both the good parts and the bad parts, the customer typically provides an outside testing facility, for example, with a set of known good and bad parts. The set of known good and bad parts is referred to herein as a "training set". The testing facility utilizes a conventional system to collect various data on the training set. The data is then stored in a database in the conventional system. The data collected for each part includes the frequency of a resonance or peak, and the values for that peak, such as amplitude, zero-crossing width, etc. The resultant frequency values for all of the selected peaks are then transmitted to a conventional statistical analysis/pattern recognition (VIPR) tool.
The VIPR tool utilizes the resultant frequencies to identify a Mahalanobis Taguchi System/Mahalanobis Distance (MTS). The MTS Distance is used to identify a subset of frequencies that can be used to find a difference between the provided good and bad parts and optimize a threshold distance to accept as many good parts as possible and reject as many bad parts as possible. This initial MTS test uses only the good parts to create its test and then assigns an "MTS distance" for every part (including the bad parts), which is the distance the part is from the "center" of the good parts.
The MTS Distance is a multi-dimensional value that may be represented as an ellipse in a two-dimensional (2D) figure and as an "egg-shape" in a three-dimensional (3D) figure, with all parts inside the "egg" passing the MTS test (the good parts) and all of the parts outside the "egg" failing the MTS test (the bad parts). Typically 3-7 frequencies (dimensions) are used by the MTS test to identify the good and bad parts. In the case that some bad parts are accepted, an additional "bias test" may be used to reject these additional bad parts. The bias test is performed by calculating an additional MTS distance, using the frequencies for only the bad parts. As a result, two MTS distances are calculated for each part, the distance the part is from the "goods center ellipsoid" and the distance the part is from the "bads center ellipsoid." A ratio of the two MTS distances is used to reject additional parts. More generally, if conventional system determines that the part is closer to the center of the bads center ellipsoid, the part is more likely to be a bad or non-conforming part, and is rejected. The VIPR then returns a list of possible solutions that may include the 3-7 frequencies used to distinguish the good parts from the bad parts. The possible set of solutions is referred to as a "VIPR Score." The VIPR score is a sum of the probabilities of good parts passing and bad parts failing the MTS and Bias tests.
A conventional validation tool utilizes the VIPR score to ensure that all of the above described peaks can be selected properly and also ensure that there are no conflicts or problems with the VIPR solution. The validation tool determines which peaks may be used to predict a window to look for the next peak and organizes the order that the peaks are swept in an optimal way. Each potential sort is given a Validation score that is the sum of the probabilities that the good parts will pass the tests and the bad parts will fail the tests with real data, not just frequencies. A user inputs the solution "into production", meaning that the solution is used on unknown parts received from new production. When the customer's process changes or the results are no longer acceptable data is taken on new, classified parts, and the whole process is repeated.
However, the conventional VIPR system is generally less effective when processing parts having a large process variation. More specifically, the variation in the good parts becomes so large that the variation obscures the differences between the good and bad parts. Therefore, VIPR is forced to group all of these good parts, which may not be that similar, into one large group. Because VIPR utilizes a single large group to identify the good parts, the boundary for the large group may become so large that bad parts may be inadvertently included in the grouping of good parts.

Cluster analysis system and method to improve sorting performance


Methods and arrangements for enabling the use of a first device (300) for controlling transfer of media content from a content provider (306) to a second device (302). The first device has a pre-established security association with the communications network. When the network detects a request made by the first device for delivery of media content to the second device, key information is established which enables determination of one or more media keys for encryption of the media content. The network sends key information to the content provider and to the first device. The content provider then delivers media content encrypted by the media key(s) to the second device. Further, the first device forward the media key(s) over a local communication link to the second device for decryption of media content encrypted by the media key(s) when delivered by the content provider.

An architecture called "IP Multimedia Subsystem" (IMS) has been developed to enable multimedia services and sessions for user terminals connected to different access networks. The signalling protocols "SIP" (Session Initiation Protocol) and RTSP (Real-time Streaming Protocol) can be used for initiating media sessions between different parties, as controlled by specific session control nodes in a so-called "IMS core" controlled by an IMS services operator.
Techniques and protocols are also established for multimedia communication between devices in a limited local network using internal addressing and transport means, also referred to as a residential or office network, LAN (Local Area Network), private or home network. The devices in a local network may include any types of entities capable of communication in the network, such as fixed and wireless telephones, computers, media players, servers and television boxes, the latter also called "STB" (Set Top Box).
The architecture called UPnP (Universal Plug-and-Play) can be used for communication in a local network between different devices that may use different operating systems, programming languages, format standards and communication protocols. Further, DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) is a recently developed technology for acquiring, storing and accessing media content from devices in a local network.
In DLNA, different communication schemes have been defined for different scenarios, including the so-called "3-Box" scheme. According to this scenario, which is illustrated in FIG. 1, a first device can be used within a local network 100 for controlling the transfer of media stored on a second device to a third device in the network. Here, a small handheld wireless phone 102 with limited playout capacity is used as a control device to direct either a laptop computer 104 or a media server 106 to stream media content to a TV set 108 in order to play out the content with greater quality as compared to both the handheld device and the laptop computer. The TV set 108 is thus used as a "rendering device".
The concept of IPTV (Internet Protocol TV) has also become widely popular in recent times, where a user can obtain media from an IPTV provider by means of streaming or downloading over the Internet. It is further possible to request media from an IPTV provider using an IMS subscription as credentials for authorising the user and his/her terminal towards the IPTV provider. A user can also obtain the IPTV service to a mobile terminal using a conventional SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card or similar in the terminal.
When utilising an IMS subscription, a corresponding ISIM (IMS SIM) is typically required for gaining access to the IPTV service. FIG. 2 illustrates this situation where an ISIM is installed in a laptop computer 200 or other IMS-enabled communication device, which then requests for media via an IMS core 202 from an IPTV provider 204. After the IMS core 202 has authorised the requested media transfer to computer 200, the IPTV provider 204 can allow media to be streamed or downloaded thereto over a public transport network such as the Internet. Thereby, the user is able to consume TV content on the IMS-enabled device 200 according to his/her IMS subscription and utilising a pre-established security relation with the IMS operator and using the ISIM to provide valid credentials.
In addition, it would be desirable to enable a user to play out content on an external visited rendering device, as obtained from an IPTV provider or from any other provider of any content such as TV programs, films, any visual and/or audio content, game related content, and so forth. For example, a user may stay at a hotel or visit a friend and want to obtain and play out media on a TV set at the hotel or friend's home, using his/her IMS subscription. However, this may not be possible unless the user can insert a movable ISIM into the visited device and use it for accessing the IMS core to be authorised to obtain the media from the provider. Obviously, many user devices such as TV sets are not equipped to receive and handle such an ISIM or corresponding movable credentials tool.
Another problem that can be identified when not being able to use valid IMS credentials or similar for obtaining media to a visited rendering device, is that neither the user nor the content provider can have secure control of the media transfer to the rendering device. For example, the content provider may not know if the content is accessed only by an authorised party, and conversely the user cannot be sure the content is delivered in a proper manner.
Another problem generally associated with media deliveries from an external content provider is that the user is not able to stop the media transfer if, for some reason, he/she is not satisfied with or ready for the delivery. For example, the rendered quality may not be up to expected standard, or the content may be received incompletely or not at all. A visited rendering device may further be unable to play out the received media format in a proper manner. The user may even have requested the wrong media content or type of media by mistake, and so forth. On the other hand, the content provider also cannot discover if the requesting user has stopped receiving media, e.g. due to intentional power-down or unintentional loss of connectivity.

Method and arrangement for enabling play-out of media


The present invention relates to injectable suspensions of bio-active glass and dextran or a dextran derivative for the repair of soft tissue or hard bone in mammals, especially humans. In one embodiment, the dextran derivatives include free radical polymerizable groups, which can be polymerized following injection into a patient.

It has been common practice in plastic, otolaryngological and other surgeries for many years to inject or place within tissues a variety of artificial substances to repair or reconfigure anatomic structures. For example, Teflon polytetrafluoroethylene) particles have been introduced into the vocal cords and more recently into periureteral and periurethral tissues with mixed results. Disadvantages associated with this procedure include long-term progressive foreign body reactions and migration and distant embolism associated with very small particles. Considerable research has been conducted to discover substitutes for Teflon and other conventionally employed artificial materials.
Bio-active glasses have been utilized as bone replacement materials in a variety of reconstructive surgical techniques. These glasses have been shown to develop a strong bond with hard tissue because of a series of ion exchange reactions between the implant surface and body fluids that result in the formation of a biologically active calcium phosphate film at the implant tissue interface. See Hench et al, J. Biomed. Mater. Res., Vol. 5, pp. 117-141 (1971), and Hench et al, J. Biomed. Mater. Res., Vol. 7, pp. 25-42 (1973). Bio-active glasses have also been shown to form firm bonds with soft tissue. See Wilson, et al, J. Biomed. Mater. Res., Vol. 15, pp. 805-817 (1981); Wilson and Merwin, J. Biomed. Mater. Res.: Applied Biomaterials, Vol. 22, No. A2, pp. 159-177 (1988); and Wilson, Low et al, Biomaterials and Clinical Applications, Ed. by Pizzoferrato et al, Elsevier Science Publishers B. V., Amsterdam (1987).
Certain bio-active and bio-compatible glasses and glass-ceramics, e.g., those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,159,358; 4,234,972; 4,103,002; 4,189,325; 4,171,544; 4,775,646; 4,851,046, and 5,074,916 (all incorporated herein by reference), have been shown to develop a unique, strongly adherent, chemical bond with hard tissue (bone) tissue due to the influence on hydroxyapatite of the biologically active calcium phosphate film generated in situ by ion-exchange reactions between the glass or glass-ceramic surface and body fluids. This influence results in a strong fixation of the glass or glass-ceramic to the bone surface. Although as noted above, a variety of such glasses have been shown to bond to various soft tissues, it has been found that several of these glasses result in the formation of an exceptionally thin (i.e., no more than about 1-3 fibers thick), but adherent collagen film which strongly adheres the glass to soft tissue without concomitant adverse side effects.
Failure to observe soft tissue bonding of some glasses was a consequence of inappropriate preparation of material and selection of inappropriate tissue sites, e.g., muscle. When the glass implant is successfully immobilized in appropriate soft tissue during the experimental period and when proper histological specimens are made, soft tissue adhesion to some glasses can be confirmed and evaluated. These particular glass compositions have also been found to advantageously become encapsulated with a thin (i.e., no more than about 1-3 fibers thick) layer of collagen after implantation.

Injectable bio-active glass in a dextran suspension

University of Florida Research Foundation, Inc.


A below main cable work platform support for hanging a work platform below a main cable of a suspension bridge and a method of installation thereof. A plurality of supports attach to each band on a main cable. Each support has a pair of struts bolted to the band, the top of each strut on each side of the band, the struts extending downward, connecting to the ends of a horizontal bar that sits between a pair of suspender cables hanging from each band. A work platform is suspended from the horizontal bar and tie down cables extend downward from the bar attaching below to stabilize the platform against wind and uplift. The method includes the step of screwing a single bolt into each side of a cable band for supporting the support therebelow.

A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the load-bearing portion called the deck is hung below main suspension cables on vertical hangers or suspender cables. The main cables are suspended between towers and form a parabola, the suspenders transferring the load to the cables and the cables transferring the load to the towers.
The main cables are generally braided steel wire and are over-wrapped to form a circular cross section. At specific points along the main cable, bands are installed to carry the steel wire suspenders.
Like any steel that is constantly exposed to the elements, the steel of cables requires periodic maintenance. Generally, maintenance projects require that the bridge be shut down completely or reduced to a minimum number of lanes. Since most bridges carry a significant amount of traffic during most of the day and night, maintenance usually is limited to off-peak traffic times if possible, which extends the duration of the project.
When maintenance is performed on the main cables, workers generally must walk on top of the main cable, using a hand rope parallel above the cable to maintain balance. For safety reasons when the workers are working on the main cable, it is generally necessary to shut down several if not all lanes on the bridge to traffic which is not only inconvenient but also has economic consequences.
In the present disclosure, where a document, act or item of knowledge is referred to or discussed, this reference or discussion is not an admission that the document, act or item of knowledge or any combination thereof was at the priority date, publicly available, known to the public, part of common general knowledge or otherwise constitutes prior art under the applicable statutory provisions; or is known to be relevant to an attempt to solve any problem with which the present disclosure is concerned.
While certain aspects of conventional technologies have been discussed to facilitate the present disclosure, no technical aspects are disclaimed and it is contemplated that the claims may encompass one or more of the conventional technical aspects discussed herein.


A laminated metal sheet for a metal container lid includes a polyester resin layer formed on a metal sheet. The polyester resin layer is composed of an A and a B layer, wherein the melting point of the A layer is lower than the melting point of the B layer by 20° C. or more, the A layer includes a molten layer where the value of the ratio of a peak intensity I0° to a peak intensity I90° is 1.5 or less, the B layer includes an orientation layer where the value of the ratio of the peak intensity I0° to the peak intensity I90° is 3.0 or more, the thickness of the A layer is within the range from 5 μm or more to less than 30 μm, and the thickness of the B layer is within the range from 0.5 μm or more to less than 6.0 μm.

In recent years, laminating resin coating of a can material has been developing. For example, in a beverage can, the bottom and the body of a two-piece can and the body of a three-piece can have been laminated. Reasons for this increase in laminating of the can material include streamlining a manufacturing process through omission of a coating/printing process, reducing environmental impact through the omission of a solvent drying process (baking process), avoiding elution of an environmental hormone such as BPA contained in a coating material, and the like. In particular, with respect to the environmental hormone, a slight amount of the BPA reportedly has an effect on a human body, and thus the regulation of the environmental hormone has been increasingly enhanced. Furthermore, in general, since a food can is greater in the amount of BPA elution than a beverage can, it is predicted that the laminating of the food can will also be promoted.
However, in the actual market, in the case of the beverage can, for example, the laminating of the bottom part and the body of the two-piece can has been developing, while the laminating of the upper lid and the base lid of the three-piece can has not. Also, the laminated lid of the food can is not popularized. It is considered that the laminating of a can lid material has not been developing as described above because problems unique to the can lid are left unsolved. That is, properties required for the can lid material include not only a flavor-retaining property and a barrier property but also a contents taking-out property, or the like. Furthermore, in the EOE, which is a type of the can lid, when the can lid is opened, there exists the case that a film is not cut along a score groove, and a phenomenon in which the film formed in a feather shape remains (feathering) occurs, and a can-opening property is also required. Conventionally, various techniques have been proposed with respect to these requirements.
For example, Patent Literature 1 describes a technique of increasing the degree of crystallization of a laminated film at the time of manufacturing a laminate can lid, and suppressing the adsorption of a taste or aroma component (flavor) thus improving the flavor-retaining property. Furthermore, Patent Literature 2 describes a technique of adding wax to the outer surface of a two-layered film thus improving the contents taking-out property, and acquiring a laminated metal sheet with improved moldability, impact resistance, and appearance. Furthermore, Patent Literature 3 describes a technique of arranging a high orientation layer in the outer surface of a two-layered film, and arranging a low orientation layer in a core portion of the two-layered film thus acquiring a laminated metal sheet capable of corresponding to various processing conditions that occur in the laminated metal sheet in manufacturing a lid, and preventing film fractures in manufacturing the lid. Furthermore, Patent Literature 4 describes a technique of specifying conditions of the EOE in detail thus acquiring a laminated metal sheet from which a lid with improved can-opening property can be manufactured. In addition, Patent Literature 5 describes a technique of arranging a film composed of two layers having respective melting points different from each other on the inner-surface side of a can thus achieving both the scraping resistance of an exterior film and the corrosion resistance of an interior film.
With such techniques, the requirements mentioned above can surely be acquired. However, the raw material for the latest EOE requires further improvements in flavor-retaining property, barrier property, and can-opening property, and it is difficult to achieve simultaneously all the requirements. Consequently, even when the flavor-retaining property and the barrier property can be ensured, the feathering may occur thus decreasing sharply the market value of the EOE. The feathering deteriorates the appearance of the lid and, at the same time, causes insanitary conditions due to contents adhering to the film left on the lid. Thus, improvement is required with respect to the feathering.
On the other hand, Patent Literature 6 describes a raw material constituted of a film composed of two layers each of which adjusts the polyester component and crystallinity thereof, and thereby having the above-mentioned properties in a balanced manner. Furthermore, Patent Literature 7 describes a laminated lid with improved openability, the laminated lid, which is provided with a score processing portion in the panel part thereof, specifying the weight average molecular weight and polydispersity of a resin layer in a score part or in the vicinity of the score part, suppressing the stretch of a film, and suppressing the feathering of the film. In addition, Patent Literature 8 describes a laminated lid that uses a two-layered film, and leaves an orientation layer in the upper layer of the film thus achieving non-repairing properties of the inner-surface of the EOE, and ensuring the corrosion resistance and the feathering suppression thereof.

Laminated metal sheet for metal container lid and method for manufacturing the same


A digital oscillator including an integrator for cumulatively integrating a specified signal and a controller responsive to a control signal for maintaining the output frequency of the integrator within a limit corresponding to the amplitude of the control signal.

Recently, television receivers, which use digital signal processing systems, have been developed. A specialized reproduction function which uses digital memories such as still picture reproduction can be simply achieved by constructing a television receiver with a digital signal processing system.
Among the types of digital television receivers, there are those which adopt a clock fH phase-synchronized with the horizontal synchronization signal and those which adopt a clock fsc phase-synchronized with the burst signal, which is a reference for the color subcarrier, as the system clock. When a clock fsc phase-synchronized with the burst signal is used, in the case of color demodulation, the B-Y and R-Y color difference signals can be demodulated by latching the color component to timing synchronized to the clock. Thus, a simple construction of the color demodulation circuit is achieved.
However having the case of a VCR (Video Tape Recorder), in image signals, which contain jitter, the color subcarrier frequency and the horizontal synchronization signal frequency diverge from an interleaved relationship. That is to say, in this case, if clock fsc is adopted, the sampling point of the horizontal synchronization signal is not constant, and the horizontal output pulse is bound to have jitter. For this reason, there is a disadvantage in that the amount of digital data in one horizontal period or one vertical period will not be constant.
Therefore, this type of case requires the adoption of the clock EH type system. However, in the NTSC and PAL systems, a color subcarrier is required in order to execute synchronized demodulation of the AM-modulated signals. For this reason, the design is such that a clock phase-synchronized with the color subcarrier is demodulated by the clock fH.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a prior art color subcarrier demodulation circuit which generates clock fH and, at the same time, demodulates the color subcarrier using this clock fH.
The analog video signal input through input terminal 1 is supplied to A/D converter 2. A/D converter 2 samples the input analog video signal at a clock rate with frequency nfH (hereafter, clock nfH) from waveform shaping circuit 12 (described below), and converts it to a digital signal. The digitized video signal is supplied to horizontal synchronization signal separation circuit 3. Horizontal synchronization signal separation circuit 3 separates the horizontal synchronization signal from the digital video signal and supplies it to phase comparator 4. At the same time, frequency divider circuit 5 divides clock nfH from waveform shaping circuit 12 by n and supplies a signal with frequency fH to phase comparator 4. Phase comparator 4 compares the phases of the two inputs and outputs a phase error signal to loop filter 6. The phase error signal is integrated by a specified time constant in loop filter 6 and is output as control signal CH for digital oscillator 7. A clock of frequency fx is also supplied from crystal oscillator 8 to digital oscillator 7.
FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram showing a practical construction of digital oscillator 7, and FIG. 3 is a waveform diagram illustrating its operation.
Control signal CH is input from loop filter 6 to digital oscillator 7 via input terminal 21. The m1 bit adder 22 adds the output of data flip-flop (hereafter, DFF) 23 and control signal CH and outputs this to DFF 23. DFF 23 supplies the output of adder 22 to adder 22 at a clock of frequency fx which is input via terminal 24. That is to say, control signal CH is cumulatively integrated at every clock cycle by adder 22 and DFF 23. As shown in FIG. 3, a sampled saw-tooth wave with an amplitude of two (2) powered by m1 sampled at a cycle of 1/fx appears at output terminal 25. Since the oscillation frequency f1 of this saw-tooth wave is regulated by the cycle of 1 sample being 1/fx, it can be expressed by the following Equation (1). EQU f1=(CH/2.sup.m1).multidot.fx (1)
As shown by Equation (1), the output of digital oscillator 7 is proportional to control signal CH, the phase error signal from phase comparator 4. The output signal of digital oscillator 7 is converted from a saw-tooth wave to a sine-wave in sine-wave converter (hereafter referred to SIN converter) 9. It is then converted to an analog signal by D/A converter 10, and is supplied to low-pass filter (referred to as LPF, hereafter) 11. LPF 11 eliminates the feed-back component of the input analog signal then supplies the input analog signal to waveform shaping circuit 12. Waveform shaping circuit 12 shapes the waveform of the output of LPF 11 to a binary digital signal. The output clock of waveform shaping circuit 12 is divided into 1/n by frequency divider circuit 5 and is fed back to phase comparator 4. That is to say, a phase-locked loop (PLL) is composed of phase comparator 4, loop filter 6, digital oscillator 7, SIN converter 9, D/A converter 10, LPF 11, waveform shaping circuit 12 and frequency divider circuit 5. A clock nfH of frequency n times is output from waveform shaping circuit 12 by phase-synchronization with the horizontal synchronization signal from horizontal synchronization signal separation circuit 3.
At the same time, the digital video signal from A/D converter 2 is also supplied to burst separator circuit 13. Burst separator circuit 13 extracts the burst signal, which is the reference of the color subcarrier and outputs this to phase comparator 14. Phase comparator 14 compares the phases of the extracted burst signal and the output signal of SIN converter 17 (described below) and supplies a phase error signal to loop filter 15. Loop filter 15 integrates the phase error signal by a specified time constant and outputs the integrated phase error signal as control signal CS for digital oscillator 16. Digital oscillator 16, which has the same composition as digital oscillator 7, cumulatively integrates control signal CS at every cycle of clock nfH from waveform shaping circuit 12. Therefore, the oscillation output of digital oscillator 16 becomes a saw-tooth wave in which the frequency is proportional to phase error signal CS.
The oscillation output of digital oscillator 16 is supplied to SIN converter 17 and converted into a sine wave. The output of SIN converter 17 is output to output terminal 18 and is also fed back to phase comparator 14. Thus, a PLL is comprised phase comparator 14, loop filter 15, digital oscillator 16 and SIN converter 17. The burst signal from burst separator circuit 13, that is to say, a demodulated color subcarrier, which is phase synchronized to the color subcarrier, is output at output terminal 18.
Digital oscillator 16 is operated by clock nfH from waveform shaping circuit 12, and its oscillating frequency fsc1 is expressed by the following Equation (2). Here, m2 is the number of integration bits of digital oscillator 16. ##EQU1##
As shown by this Equation (2), apart from the oscillation frequency of digital oscillator 16 being influenced by control signal CS from loop filter 15, it is also influenced by the output signal CH of loop filter 6. Therefore, there is a problem in that, the oscillation frequency of digital oscillator 16 becomes unstable due to the fluctuation of control signal CH in the state at which the relationship between the horizontal synchronization frequency and the color subcarrier frequency rapidly fluctuate (as in VCR and the like).
To take account of this point, a method of demodulating a color subcarrier corresponding to the rapid fluctuation of the horizontal synchronization signal has been disclosed in the specification of U.S. Pat. No. 4,625,232. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a prior art color subcarrier demodulation circuit to which this method has been applied.
The point at which FIG. 4 differs from FIG. 1 is that divider 19 has been added between loop filter 15 and digital oscillator 16. Divider 19 is designed to divide control signal CS from loop filter 15 by control signal CH from loop filter 6 and supply the division result to digital oscillator 16 as a control signal.
In this case, oscillation frequency fsc2 of digital oscillator 16 can be expressed by the following Equation (3). ##EQU2##
As shown in Equation (3), oscillation frequency fsc2 of digital oscillator 16 is not affected by control signal CH of loop filter 6. Thus, in FIG. 4, the fluctuation of system clock nfH is compensated. Therefore, in the color subcarrier demodulation circuit in FIG. 4, even if the relationship between the horizontal synchronization frequency and the color subcarrier frequency fluctuates rapidly, a stable demodulated color subcarrier can be demodulated.
However, in the composition of FIG. 4, digital oscillator 16 is controlled by the same divider 19 output throughout 1 horizontal period. Therefore, the output phase error of digital oscillator 16 due to the error of the division result produced by the bit limits of divider 19 accumulates throughout one (1) horizontal period. For instance, in the case of the frequency nfH of the system clock being set at 910 times the horizontal synchronization frequency, the phase error also will be 910 times. For this reason, the operation accuracy of divider 19 is required to be sufficiently high. That is to say, it is necessary to increase the bit number of the control signal supplied to digital oscillator 16. This leads to increasing the scale of the hardware.
In in the prior art color subcarrier demodulation circuit described above, the output phase error of the digital oscillator based on the operation error of the divider accumulates throughout one (1) horizontal period. Therefore, there is a problem in that a high operation accuracy of the divider is required, and it is necessary to increase the scale of the hardware construction.

Digital oscillator and color subcarrier demodulation circuit having the digital oscillator


A refrigeration container is provided with a manually operated fresh air vent with a position sensor which provides a signal to the microprocessor based controller indicative of the position of the fresh air vent. The fresh air vent controls both the providing of fresh air to the circulating air in the container and the exhausting a portion of the circulating air. The evaporator fan is run continuously when the air vent is open to prevent the build up of gases produced by the perishable cargo.

Container refrigeration units are controlled by a microprocessor which receives inputs indicating the temperature, humidity, etc. in the conditioned space and controls the refrigeration system responsive to the inputs. Additionally, the microprocessor records the inputs such that the history of the load during the trip is recorded. Accordingly, it is possible to determine when and why a load is spoiled, thawed or the like. Perishable cargo such as fruit, vegetables and flowers produce, and are affected by, gases. Ethylene, for example, is produced in the ripening of bananas and its presence promotes ripening. It is therefore necessary to introduce some fresh air with the recirculating air, where perishable cargo is present, if spoilage or premature ripening of the load is to be avoided.
In a container, the load normally occupies all of the available space such that the flow paths for the conditioned air are located in the floor, ceiling and walls of the container and are often at least partially defined by the load. To minimize the wastage of conditioned space, only the expansion device, the evaporator, the evaporator fan, necessary ducting and sensors are located in the conditioned space. The rest of the refrigeration unit and its controls are located on the exterior of the container and are powered by an external power supply.
In the present invention a manually operated fresh air vent is provided to introduce some ambient/fresh air into the air circulating in the container and to exhaust some air from the container such as is done to provide some fresh air in commercial buildings. When the temperature setting is above freezing, or another temperature indicative of a perishable load, the condenser fan is run continuously independent of the operation of the refrigeration system when the fresh air vent is open. The fresh air vent position sensor of the present invention continuously senses the position of the fresh air vent in the refrigeration container unit. The microprocessor based controller of the refrigeration container unit automatically records the time and position of the fresh air vent as well as the evaporator fan speed. In a preferred embodiment, mechanically keyed tangs transfer mechanical movement of the fresh air door to a rotary electronic sensor such as a sealed Hall effect sensor. The rotary electronic sensor has a output voltage proportional to its mechanical position and its output voltage is used by the controller to determine the position of the fresh air vent door. Relative to the fresh air vent, the microprocessor stores the manual vent position change, the trip start vent position, the power on vent position and the midnight or other periodic logging of the vent position.
It is an object of this invention to monitor the opening, closing and position of a manually actuated vent.
It is another object of this invention to selectively provide a continuous supply of fresh air to a perishable cargo.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a sensor which cannot be improperly assembled as to its position and requires no mechanical calibration. These objects, and others as will become apparent hereinafter, are accomplished by the present invention.
Basically, a refrigeration container is provided with a manually operated fresh air vent with a position sensor which provides a signal to the microprocessor based controller indicative of the position of the fresh air vent. The fresh air vent controls both the providing of fresh air to the circulating air in the container and the exhausting of a portion of the circulating air. The evaporator fan is run continuously when the air vent is open to prevent the build up of gases produced by the perishable cargo.

Fresh air vent position monitoring system


Media is selected for video playback through a first device and audio playback through one or more separate devices connected through a wireless network. Different techniques for synchronizing the audio and video can be selected based on one or more factors to improve media playback.

Network systems can have a variety of connected devices, such as computers, smartphones, tablets, televisions, and the like. A device connected to the network can play media. For example, a computer on a network can download media from the Internet to display a video through a display and output audio through speakers or headphones. Recently, smart televisions have become available with built-in networking functionality that enables media to be streamed directly to a television. Despite this and other advances, effective options for listening to television audio are still limited to wired speakers.

Multimode synchronous rendering of audio and video


A method executed by a control device in a software defined network where, according to the method, after establishing a control channel with a switching device, the control device obtains an identifier of the control channel. Then, the control device generates a flow entry, where the flow entry includes a match field and the identifier of the control channel. Further, the control device sends the flow entry to the switching device, where the flow entry is used to instruct the switching device to send, to the control device using the control channel represented by the identifier of the control channel, a data packet that matches the match field. Hence, classification of a new flow is completed on a switching device side.

In an SDN, separation of a data control layer from a data forwarding layer is implemented. A control device has a control function of the control layer, and a switching device has a forwarding function of the forwarding layer. The switching device may be connected to multiple control devices. Generally, two working modes exist between the control device and the switching device, an equal mode and a master/slave mode.
In the equal mode, multiple control devices on an equal footing have same control permission for one switching device, and the control devices are independent of each other. A control device A may deliver a flow entry to the switching device, and a control device B may also deliver a flow entry to the switching device.
The switching device receives a data packet, and searches a flow table for a flow entry including a match field that matches the data packet. If the found flow entry instructs the switching device to send the data packet to the control device, in the equal mode, the switching device needs to send the data packet to both the control device A and the control device B.
In some approaches, there are two processing solutions for the control device A and the control device B after the data packet is received. Solution 1: The control device A and the control device B generate a flow entry respectively, and deliver the flow entries to the switching device. Solution 2: The control device A negotiates with the control device B to determine that one of the two control devices processes the data packet and delivers a flow entry.
Regardless of either processing solution, a waste of control device resources and extra bandwidth consumption of a control channel may be caused, and consequently the control device may become a bottleneck of a network.

Data packet processing method, apparatus, and system in software defined network SDN


A fluid filtration assembly for a dishwasher system includes at least one spray arm assembly configured to distribute fluid within a wash chamber, and a filter assembly including a filter body defining a fluid inlet and a soil outlet thereon. A soil collection chamber is coupled in flow communication with the soil outlet and is configured to receive soil filtered by the filter assembly. A pump is configured to direct fluid to one of the spray arm assembly and the soil collection chamber. A valve assembly is movable between a first position and a second position. The valve assembly is coupled in flow communication with the spray arm assembly and the soil collection chamber. In the first position, the pump is configured to direct fluid to the at least one spray arm assembly. In the second position, the pump is configured to direct fluid into the soil collection chamber.

This invention relates generally to dishwashers and, more particularly, to methods and appliances for circulating fluid in dishwashers.
Conventional dishwasher systems include a main pump assembly and a drain pump assembly for circulating and draining wash fluid, respectively, within a wash chamber defined within the dishwasher system. The main pump assembly feeds wash fluid to various spray arm assemblies for distribution throughout the wash chamber to wash soiled items loaded into dishwasher racks positioned within the wash chamber. Wash fluid sprayed onto the dishwasher items is collected in a sump located in a lower portion of the wash chamber, and water entering the sump is filtered through one or more coarse filters to remove soil and/or sediment from the wash fluid. At least some conventional dishwasher systems further include a filter system in flow communication with the main pump assembly to remove soil and/or sediment of a smaller particle size than those particles filtered by the coarse filters. The main pump assembly draws wash fluid from the sump to re-circulate in the wash chamber, and the coarse and fine filters are used to continuously filter the water in the sump during the re-circulation process. However, a drain pump and a main pump occupy a considerable amount of space within the dishwasher and increase the manufacture cost.

Wash fluid distribution and filtration assembly and method


A method is disclosed for actuating an image output device for the output of slice images, obtained from volume data, of a tissue region including at least one hollow organ section. In at least one embodiment, tangential slice planes at observation points along at least one profile line section through the hollow organ section are determined on the basis of provided volume data. In the process, the profile line section is decomposed into shorter profile line sections such that the generated profile line sections are each situated at least approximately in a plane assigned to the respective profile line section as per a predetermined quality criterion. First tangential slice planes are each assigned to the possible observation points on the associated profile line sections on the basis of these planes. A first tangential slice image is then generated from the volume data for a current observation point on the profile line section on the basis of a first tangential slice plane determined for this observation point. Control commands for the image output device are generated for the output of this slice image and transmitted to the image output device. Moreover, at least one embodiment of the invention relates to an actuation module suitable for this purpose.

In the field of medical technology, image output devices are used to display for a user volume data images, particularly slice images, derived from volume data of a target tissue region. By way of example, such volume data can be obtained with the aid of tomography devices, such as computed tomography scanners, magnetic resonance imaging scanners, or else other imaging devices such as ultrasound installations. There are different display modes for such volume data images obtained from volume data. For example, they show different slice or sectional perspectives of the imaged tissue region in different projections or display depths. These include the multiplanar reconstruction (MPR) and the maximum intensity projection (MIP). The multiplanar reconstruction is a sectional imaging method in which the hollow organ is placed into a plane in a virtual fashion and shown with depth resolution in a virtually three-dimensional fashion. By contrast, the maximum intensity projection is a sectional imaging method in which sections of a tissue region, situated one behind the other or one above the other, are illustrated in a two-dimensional fashion. In the process, superimposed structures are illustrated together and a contrast is formed where that part of the tissue volume which causes the greatest measurement intensity in the imaging measurement produces the highest degree of coloring in the projection illustration. Like a back projection onto a focusing screen, structures positioned behind one another can in this fashion be illustrated in a plane.
An important field of application which uses volume data images generated by the abovementioned imaging devices is the diagnosis of hollow organs or hollow organ sections, e.g. vessels, in particular coronary vessels on the heart or vessels in the brain, or other tubular hollow organs such as the colon or the bronchi. In particular, a problem in diagnosing such structures lies in the fact that lesions can usually be found in edges of the hollow structure or in the walls of the hollow organ. A typical example of such a lesion is a stenotic region in a vessel section.
These days, such hollow organ sections are usually diagnosed using a pre-calculated profile line through the hollow organ. In the following text, a "profile line" is a line which follows the profile of the observed hollow organ. This generally is a central line running right through the middle of the hollow organ, the so-called "centerline". The literature already discloses different relevant methods for pre-calculating such centerlines. Likewise, within the scope of computer aided diagnosis methods, there already are different methods for automatically selecting slice planes through the hollow organ such that possible lesions are illustrated in the view suitable for a post-evaluation. Thus, EP 0 961 993 B1 (=WO 98/37517) describes a method in which regions of an intestine with an abnormal wall thickness are automatically recognized as possible lesions and are then visualized in a particularly marked fashion in a wire model. In the process, slices are also generated along the profile line such that the lesions are clearly identifiable. U.S. Pat. No. 6,643,533 B2 suggests placing slice images along the profile plane through a blood vessel such that in a narrowing the smallest diameter of the blood vessel lies in the slice plane, i.e. the slice plane is selected such that the slice image shows the smallest lumen dimension. In the case of dilation, the slice image can be placed along the profile plane such that the largest diameter of the blood vessel is situated in the slice plane.
During the conventional diagnosis by an expert at an image output device, this centerline is used as a path for a virtual movement through the hollow organ section. Depending on the type of profile line or centerline calculation, this can consist of a number of individual points aligned next to one another, or else it can be constructed as a continuous line or a polygonal chain. During a virtual movement through the hollow organ along the centerline, different slice images can then be displayed on a diagnosis workstation at different observation points which can, for example, be the individual points from which the "centerline" is composed or, in the case of a continuous "centerline", points at a certain step-size and can be observed by the user.
A typical screen surface for such diagnosis is illustrated in FIG. 1. On the left-hand side there is an image display field BF in which four different illustrations of the hollow organ section HO of interest, in this case the right coronary artery, are illustrated. To the right thereof there is a parameter display bar PL, acting as a user interface, on which the observer can adjust certain parameters with the aid of mouse clicks. In this case, a three-dimensional volume image VR of the heart, in which the relevant coronary artery is clearly visible, is displayed at the bottom on the right-hand side of the image display field BF. To the left thereof an orthogonal slice OS is shown at a certain point on the "centerline" along the coronary artery (the "centerline" itself is not illustrated in this case). The two upper images show two tangential slice images TS1, TS2. The orthogonal slice plane and the tangential slice planes are selected such that they respectively are mutually perpendicular. Here, the orthogonal slice plane is situated perpendicular to the profile line at a given point on the profile line and the tangential slice planes correspond to longitudinal slices along the hollow organ section and can be tangent to the profile line at e.g. this point, or can comprise this point. When moving along the "centerline" from one observation point to the next, a new orthogonal slice, which is perpendicular to the "centerline" at the respective observation point, and the two tangential slice images TS1, TS2 perpendicular thereto are illustrated at all observation points. By moving forward and backward along the "centerline", for example by operating virtual pushbuttons on the parameter display bar with the aid of the mouse pointer, the complete hollow organ section can be successively observed within the scope of this profile display.
However, the problem with such a conventional procedure is that there are very big jumps in the tangential planes, particularly in the case of strongly curved structures and/or in the case of structures with frequent changes in curvature. When passing through the structure along the profile line, this leads to a bumpy, very vigorously "shaking" display of the tangential slice images. This harbors the risk of the observer easily losing the focus and the orientation in the image. This can lead to relevant structural changes being overlooked.

Method for actuating an image output device, method for determining tangential slice planes, actuation module and slice plane determination unit


A hand tool is disclosed that includes a first handle that provides at one end a first hinge joint extending in a first direction and a hollow tube extending in the other direction. A fixed work element is attached at a distal end of the tube. A second handle is aligned with the first handle and provides a second hinge joint that extends in rotational engagement with the first hinge joint and includes a first set of gear teeth facing the tube. A hinge pin is pivotally engaged with and aligns the first and second hinge joints. As such, the second handle is rotatable toward and away from the first handle about the pin. A transfer rod is rotatably held within the hollow tube and extends therethrough to a movable work element that is positioned adjacent to the fixed work element. A toothed gear segment is fixed to the transfer rod and includes a second set of gear teeth that engages the first set of gear teeth. As such, as the second handle is rotated about the hinge pin, the first set of gear teeth drive the toothed gear segment to cause the rod to rotate within the hollow tube. The movable work element thereby approaches towards, and alternately retreats from, the fixed work element. The work elements may form any of a wide variety of tools, and the hollow tube and transfer rod may be of suitable length for positioning the work elements distally from the handles.

Hand tools with offset work elements have been known in the prior art, and are taught in such patents as U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,845,798 to Keiser, Jr., on Feb. 16, 1932; 541,294 to Smith on Jun. 18, 1895; 1,093,726 to Pearson on Apr. 21, 1914; and my previous 5,157,996 issued on Oct. 27, 1992. The need for such tools arises when a workpiece is positioned such that it is difficult to reach or manipulate with more conventional tools due to interference from nearby objects. In the case of dentistry, for example, the structures of the mouth make it difficult to adequately work on teeth such as molars with a conventional pair of pliers. Vehicle engine work also offers many difficult-to-reach workpieces. As a result, such prior art devices were developed to allow an operator easier access to difficult-to-reach workpieces.
While such prior art tools are useful in certain applications, frequently a degree of mechanical leverage needs to be exerted on a workpiece that cannot be attained from the conventional handle arrangements found in the prior art. Further, conventional handle arrangements, such as those found on a conventional pair of pliers, often require the wrist of the user to bend at nearly a 90.degree. angle during use, which is not only uncomfortable over an extended period of time but also reduces the amount of force that the person can exert to the tool.
None of the prior art devices with offset work elements allows for increased mechanical advantage to the user while, at the same time, providing vertically aligned handles for improved comfort of the user. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides further related advantages.


A variable timing camshaft drive assembly for an internal combustion engine utilizes a single cam phaser, driven by an engine crankshaft, capable of operating multiple camshafts carried on multiple banks of an engine. The cam phaser is carried on a hub extending from a mounting member attached to an engine block. The cam phaser includes an input sprocket and an output sprocket separated by a phasing device capable of altering the phase angle of the sprockets relative to one another. A first timing chain connects a drive sprocket of the crankshaft with the input sprocket of the cam phaser and a second timing chain connects the output sprocket of the cam phaser with the driven sprockets of the camshafts. As the phasing device alters the phase angle between the input and output sprockets, the phase angle between the camshafts and the crankshafts is altered.

Internal combustion engines commonly employ rotatable camshafts, driven by an engine crankshaft, to operate engine intake and exhaust valves of the engine. These camshafts may operate with fixed timing relative to the crankshaft or may be operated with a phasing device capable of altering the phase angle of the camshafts relative to the crankshaft.
Such phasing devices are commonly attached coaxially at an end of an associated camshaft to phase the associated camshaft or a pair of camshafts on a single cylinder bank. However, adding a cam phaser to a camshaft increases its length and may require cylinder head modifications to accommodate the lengthened camshaft. In addition, engines having multiple cylinder banks, require multiple cam phasers, one phaser for each bank, which increases engine cost and complexity.


An apparatus for fresh airflow determination includes an operating conditions module that interprets a MAF value, a current operating condition and a charge flow value. The apparatus further includes a volume estimation module that determines an apparent plumbing volume of an air intake assembly in response to the MAF value, the current operating condition and the charge flow value. The apparatus further includes a volume reporting module that provides the apparent plumbing volume.

The technical field generally relates to internal combustion engines having air intake assemblies. Environmental concerns have caused increased regulation and, therefore, exhaust gas regeneration (EGR) has become commonplace on many vehicles. Forced induction engines have increased air intake system plumbing, and therefore, increased maintenance of the plumbing. Many air intake systems are designed and installed in the aftermarket and, therefore, have an unknown volume. Therefore, further technological developments are desirable in this area.

Apparent plumbing volume of air intake and fresh airflow value determination


A microwave plasma processing apparatus for producing plasma from processing gas by a microwave and processing a wafer or similar semiconductor by the plasma. The apparatus includes a mechanism which allows the areas of radiation ports formed in an upper electrode to be changed independently of each other. This allows a plasma distribution in a plasma processing chamber to be controlled in any desired manner.

The present invention relates to a microwave plasma processing apparatus for producing plasma from processing gas by a microwave and processing a wafer or similar semiconductor substrate by the plasma.
In the semiconductor devices art, plasma processing technologies are extensively used for treating wafers or similar semiconductor substrates accurately. Among them, a microwave plasma processing apparatus using a microwave implements an inherently high plasma density and reduces processing time. Japanese Patent Publication No. 5-3734, for example, proposes an apparatus of the type having a waveguide and a plasma processing chamber. A microwave propagated through the waveguide is emitted into the plasma processing chamber in which a wafer or similar semiconductor substrate is positioned, thereby generating plasma in the chamber. Specifically, the microwave is radiated into the chamber on the basis of a microwave distribution which is set up in the waveguide and can be readily estimated by computation. Ideally, the plasma density distribution conforms to the microwave distribution emitted into the chamber. A method of controlling the microwave distribution in the waveguide is taught in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication Nos. 62-122217 and 4-84426.
The method taught in the above Laid-Open Publication No. 62-122217 chances or controls the microwave distribution in the waveguide by inserting a plurality of variable tuner rods into the waveguide. The method disclosed in the other Laid-Open Publication No. 4-84426 controls the microwave distribution by moving a variable deflection plate disposed in the waveguide. In any case, it has been customary to control the plasma distribution indirectly through the control over the microwave distribution in the waveguide.
However, controlling the plasma distribution through the control over the microwave distribution in the waveguide is not a direct implementation. With this kind of method, it is difficult to control the plasma distribution in a desired manner. Specifically, the plasma distribution in the processing chamber is determined by the distribution of microwave radiation which is, in turn, determined by the interaction of the microwave and the gas or gas plasma in the chamber. Stated another way, the plasma distribution depends on the gas to be used. Therefore, it is extremely difficult to control the plasma distribution only through the control over the microwave distribution in the waveguide.


This sound system includes a plurality of sound devices connected via a network, each sound device including: an audio acquirer; a sound source localizer that performs sound source localization; a sound source information exchanger that acquires sound source information relating to the audio acquired by another device; a sound source determiner that determines, when a sound source in the sound source information coincides with the sound source specified by the sound source localizer, whether or not a second sound pressure level of the sound source in the sound source information is higher than a first sound pressure level of the sound source specified by the sound source localizer; and a filter processor that performs filter processing of the audio of the sound source specified by the sound source localizer when the second sound pressure level is higher than the first sound pressure level.

The present disclosure relates to a sound system including a plurality of sound devices (microphone array speaker systems).
A sound system, in which the position of a sound source such as a speaking person is specified to appropriately acquire the audio output from the sound source, is known. Conventionally, a technique is proposed in which a plurality of microphones that acquire audio spoken by a speaking person are disposed in a specified direction, and an angle formed between the direction in which the speaking person has spoken toward the microphones, and the direction in which the microphones are disposed, are calculated based on the audio acquired by the microphones.
In recent years, a microphone array speaker system which is provided with a plurality of microphones and speakers and realizes an audio conference system or the like is proposed. If a plurality of microphone array speaker systems (sound devices) is installed in an open space or the like, it is possible that the sound collection areas corresponding to the sound devices may overlap. For example, a portion of the sound collection area of a first sound device and a portion of the sound collection area of a second sound device may overlap. In this case, if a speaking person located in the overlapping sound collection area speaks toward the first sound device, the audio is appropriate for the first sound device, whereas it becomes unnecessary audio (noise) for the second sound device.
An object of the present disclosure is to provide a sound system which, when a plurality of sound devices acquire audio of the same sound source, can appropriately process the audio.