An injection system and method for blending an additive into a main fluid flow stream at a controlled ratio, characterized by a controller wherein the electrical circuitry thereof is contained in an explosion-proof housing having a window through which electromagnetic energy, such as an infrared command signal, can be transmitted. The circuitry contained within the explosion-proof housing includes a receiver for receiving the electromagnetic energy transmitted through the window and a processor or processors for decoding information included in the electromagnetic energy and for carrying out one or more functions based on such information. Also disclosed is an additive injection correction technique, a clean line technique and related and other features of the system and method.

Injection systems and methods heretofore have been devised for blending one or more additives into a main fluid flow stream according to a controlled ratio. Typical additives include fuel additives, catalysts, dyes, lubricants, water treatment chemicals, etc. and typical areas of application include gasoline truck loading terminals, marine terminals, chemical processing plants, water treatment facilities, etc.
Additive injection equipment oftentimes is located in hazardous areas such as fu, el loading terminals where explosive vapors may be present. This usually requires mounting the electrical portions of the equipment inside explosion-proof enclosures. In some fuel additive injection systems, an electronic controller is contained in an explosionproof housing. This presented a problem in that the enclosure would have to be opened to gain access to the therein contained electronic equipment in order to locally change additive rates, adjust meter factors, etc. Before opening the enclosure, rigorous care would be taken to ensure that no hazardous vapors are present, all electrical power is turned off, proper safety practices are followed, etc., and this may require the assistance of other personnel such as a certified union electrician. In another known additive injection system, an external key pad has been provided to perform operations that previously required the opening of the enclosure. However, a key pad is subject to mechanical failure especially when exposed to harsh environmental conditions that may be encountered in a fuel loading terminal or other installation.
In fuel loading terminals genetic gasoline delivered by a pipeline to the terminal in many instances is sold to different gasoline marketing companies. The genetic gasoline becomes the proprietary products of the different marketing companies when their particular additive is blended into the genetic gasoline. Such blending typically takes place when the gasoline is being loaded into a tanker truck for further distribution. Additive injection equipment is used to blend the additive into the gasoline flow at a controlled ratio.
Additive injection systems heretofore used in fuel loading terminals have employed an additive injector including a solenoid valve to control the flow of additive through an additive flow line leading to the main fuel line through which fuel is dispensed from a storage tank to a truck being loaded. On start up of fuel flow, an external switch or automation system sends a permissive signal to the controller for the additive injector to enable the operation of additive feed at a selected ratio. Additive is cyclically injected into the main fuel line in prescribed doses at a rate determined by the rate of flow of fuel through the main fuel line. That is, for each preset quantity, such as 40 gallons (151.4 liters), of fuel that flows through the main fuel line as measured by a flow meter, a prescribed amount or dose, such as 100 cc, of additive is injected into the main fuel line. In this manner the additive is blended into the entire load of fuel ,at a selected ratio.
When additive is being injected, additive flow is measured by a flow meter and the additive flow control valve remains open until the dose amount has been injected. The additive flow control valve then closes stopping additive flow temporarily and until a next dose injection cycle is initiated, at which time the additive control valve is opened once again. Because it takes any solenoid valve a finite amount of time to close, a small amount of additive will flow through the control valve as it is closing. This small amount of additive should be taken into account and corrected for in subsequent injection cycles in order to obtain precise control over the total amount of additive injected into the main stream flow. According to a known correction technique, the next injection dose would be adjusted by any overage (or underage) of a preceding injection dose. That is, if "x" is the desired injection dose and the additive flow meter measured an amount of additive injected during the preceding dose as "x+a", then the amount of additive to be injected in the next cycle would be set at "x-a". In this manner, any overage would be accounted for if "a" were a positive number and any underage would be accounted for if "a" were a negative number.
Although in theory the foregoing correction technique would appear to provide for accurate correction of any overage or underage associated with the finite time required for the solenoid valve to close, the technique is subject to an accumulation of rounding errors. When the amount of overage or underage "a" is rounded to the nearest incremental mount that the system controller is capable of handling, the actual correction will deviate from the needed correction by the rounding error. For a total load of product, the accumulation of these rounding errors may give rise to a substantial variance between the amount of additive sought to be injected and the amount of additive that actually is injected during the loading operation.
A need exists in many applications for obtaining more precise control over the amount of additive injected than that afforded by the foregoing correction technique. In the case of fuel loading terminals, accurate control over the amount of additive injected into the fuel is desired to ensure the integrity of the ultimate product as well as to prevent over injection of high cost fuel additives.


The method for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device includes carrier film feeding steps including feeding long carrier films from continuous rolls, respectively; peeling steps including folding back each of the carrier films at a front end part placed on a carrier film feed path so that the optical films are peeled off from the carrier films, respectively; and bonding steps including bonding the optical films to the viewer side and back side of a liquid crystal panel, wherein in the bonding steps, the optical films are bonded to the liquid crystal panel in such a manner that the number of times the optical film is bonded to the back side of the liquid crystal panel is greater than the number of times the optical film is bonded to the viewer side of the liquid crystal panel.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method and a system for manufacturing a liquid crystal display device.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional process of placing optical films on a liquid crystal panel includes cutting an optical film into a piece and bonding the piece of the optical film (sheet piece) to the liquid crystal panel. In such a bonding process, the tension on the optical film is very low and stable, and therefore, after the bonding, the liquid crystal panel is less likely to be warped due to variations in tension or over-tension. In recent years, an apparatus for simultaneously bonding pieces of optical films to both sides of a liquid crystal panel has been developed, which makes it easy to form uniform bonding states for the front and back sides during the bonding.
On the other hand, it is known that there is a process including feeding a long carrier film from a continuous roll, wherein the continuous roll is a roll of a laminate including the long carrier film and an optical film placed thereon, peeling off the optical film from the carrier film, and bonding the optical film to a liquid crystal panel (hereinafter referred to as "roll bonding process").    (See Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2005-37417).

Method and system for manufacturing liquid crystal display device


An apparatus includes a connection unit configured to connect to a network, a switching unit configured to switch a communication speed when data communication is performed via the connection unit, and a limitation unit configured to limit switching of the communication speed to set a fixed communication speed when a connection form of the network is a specific connection form.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data communication apparatus that performs communication via a network, a control method thereof, and a computer readable storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a data communication apparatus that performs communication via a network, there has conventionally been known a printing apparatus that performs printing based on print data received via the network. Such a printing apparatus may have a power saving mode for reducing or stopping power supply to a printing unit or a display unit in order to reduce power consumption when no print data is received or the printing apparatus is not operated for a predetermined period of time.
In addition to the above power saving method, there is a method for reducing a processing load applied on network communication by setting a speed of communication performed via the network at low, thereby reducing power consumption (as discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-64335).
As a form of network establishment, there is known a spanning tree defined by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, IEEE802.1d. As illustrated in FIG. 4, the spanning tree is used by connecting a plurality of bridges (Local Area Network (LAN) switches) between a router 4001 and a terminal (printer or personal computer (PC)). Even when one of the bridges becomes unusable due to a failure or the like, communication to the router is protected from being disabled by dynamically rewriting a routing table of the other bridges (recalculating path information). In other words, when a bridge 4003 becomes unusable, for example, abridge 4006 changes a path to the router from a path via the bridge 4003 to a path via a bridge 4005 and a bridge 4002.
In the spanning tree, when a routing table of each bridge is to be rewritten, the bridges sequentially rewrite the routing table by using a timer. During this period (until all the bridges complete rewriting of the routing tables), no communication can be performed in a sub-network including each bridge.
Thus, in the spanning tree, when a communication speed is dynamically changed as discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-64335, the routing tables of the bridges are to be rewritten, and hence a period may be generated in which no communication can be frequently performed via the network. As a result, a plurality of terminals in the network is even affected.

Data communication apparatus, control method thereof, and computer readable storage medium


A magnetoresistor includes a thin film of a degenerately doped semiconductor material extending between conductive contacts at opposite edges of the film. The film has a plurality of openings therethrough which are arranged in spaced parallel rows with the openings in each row being between two openings in the adjacent rows. This forms the film into two set of paths which extend around the openings. The openings are selected to be of a size such that when a magnetic field is applied perpendicular to the film, the resistance of the magnetoresistor increases because electron flow through the film between the contacts must be in a substantially circular path around the openings.

Magnetoresistors are resistors whose resistance is varied by applying a magnetic field across the resistor. Magnetoresistors can be used, in conjunction with a permanent magnet, to sense the distance between the magnet and the magnetoresistors. This leads to their potential application in position sensing devices, such as used in the automotive industry. There are essentially two classes of magnetoresistors. One class of these devices, known as magnetodiodes, operates on the bases of selective reCOmbination of electrons and holes. The other class operates on the deflection of the current paths in a rectangular or circular resistor. The performance of the first class of devices depends strongly on the electron-hole recombination rate, and the performance of the second class of devices depends on the carrier mobilities. Both the electron-hole recombination rate and the carrier mobilities are temperature dependent quantities. Thus, to date, most field sensors using these magnetoresistors have large temperature coefficients. In the automotive industry, where there are wide variations in the temperature to which these sensors are subjected, it would be desirable to have a magnetoresistor which not only has a large variation in resistance, but also has a low temperature coefficient.


A TFT in which a channel region is formed of an oxide semiconductor is provided. Threshold voltage shift due to holes photoexcited in the vicinity of a source electrode and a drain electrode is prevented so that reliability is enhanced. A lower semiconductor layer is partially provided between an oxide semiconductor layer and a gate insulating film. The lower semiconductor layer is present in at least one of a source overlapping region where the oxide semiconductor layer overlaps a source electrode and a drain overlapping region where the oxide semiconductor layer overlaps a drain electrode. In contrast, a region where the lower semiconductor layer is absent is provided between the source overlapping region and the drain overlapping region.

As one flat panel, a liquid crystal display device (liquid crystal display, hereinafter also referred to as an LCD in some cases) has been known. A liquid crystal display device is widely used in a monitor of a personal computer and a portable information terminal device etc., making use of its advantages such as low power consumption, small size, and light weight. In recent years, a liquid crystal display device is also widely used in application to a television.
As a liquid crystal controlling method of LCDs, a twisted nematic (TN) mode has been known. Further, a horizontal electric field mode as typified by an in-plane switching mode and a fringe field switching (FFS) mode has been known. According to a horizontal electric field mode, a wide viewing angle and high contrast can be obtained.
An in-plane switching mode is a display mode in which display is implemented by applying a horizontal electric field to liquid crystals provided between opposing substrates. In an in-plane switching, a pixel electrode and a common electrode to which a horizontal electric field is applied are provided in the same layer. For this reason, liquid crystal molecules located right above a pixel electrode cannot fully be driven, resulting in reducing transmittance.
On the other hand, in an FFS mode, a common electrode and a pixel electrode are arranged with intermediation of an interlayer insulating film, and an oblique electric field (fringe electric field) is thereby generated. For this reason, a horizontal electric field can also be applied to liquid crystal molecules located right above a pixel electrode, and thus liquid crystal molecules located right above a pixel electrode can be fully driven. Therefore, transmittance higher than that of an in-plane switching mode, as well as a wide viewing angle, can be obtained.
In an FFS mode, a fringe electric field is generated between a slit electrode for liquid crystal control provided on an upper layer and a pixel electrode provided on a lower layer of the slit electrode for liquid crystal control with intermediation of the interlayer insulating film. The pixel electrode and the slit electrode for liquid crystal control are formed of a transparent conductive film in this structure, and thus a pixel aperture ratio can be prevented from being reduced. A transparent conductive film is formed of an oxide-based material such as indium tin oxide (ITO) containing indium oxide and tin oxide and InZnO containing indium oxide and zinc oxide.
Further, in an FFS mode, a pixel electrode and a slit electrode for liquid crystal control form a storage capacitor. For this reason, unlike a TN mode, a pattern for a storage capacitor need not necessarily be formed separately in a pixel. This also contributes to a high pixel aperture ratio.
As a switching device of an LCD, a thin film transistor (hereinafter also referred to as a TFT in some cases) has been used. Note that, out of two substrates opposed with intermediation of a liquid crystal layer, a substrate mounted with a TFT is referred to as a TFT substrate. Hitherto, amorphous silicon (a-Si) has been used in a channel layer of a TFT. One reason therefor is that, owing to being amorphous, a film with satisfactory uniformity of characteristics can be formed even on a substrate having a large area. Further, another reason is that, since deposition can be carried out at a comparatively low temperature, an inexpensive glass substrate inferior in heat resistance can be used. Being able to use an inexpensive glass substrate leads to cost reduction, which is desirable in liquid crystal display devices for a general television, in particular.
In recent years, however, a TFT using an oxide semiconductor in its channel layer has been actively developed. An oxide semiconductor has an advantage in that a film of a satisfactorily uniform amorphous state can be stably obtained by optimizing its composition. Further, an oxide semiconductor also has an advantage in that a small-size and high-performance TFT can be realized as the oxide semiconductor has mobility higher than that of a-Si. Accordingly, application of an oxide semiconductor film to a pixel TFT (i.e., a TFT for a pixel) of an FFS mode can realize a TFT substrate having an even higher pixel aperture ratio.
Hitherto, a drive circuit that applies a drive voltage to a pixel TFT is provided in a circuit substrate separate from a TFT substrate, and is externally attached to the TFT substrate. Such a structure is concerned with the demand of a narrower frame in liquid crystal display devices. Specifically, in a case where a TFT of a drive circuit is provided in a frame region (i.e., a peripheral region of a display region) of a TFT substrate and the TFT is formed of a-Si, a comparatively large circuit area for the drive circuit is required in the frame region because mobility of a-Si is low. This leads to increase of a frame region, being unable to satisfy the demand of a narrower frame. For this reason, a drive circuit has been externally attached to a TFT substrate.
However, if a TFT of a drive circuit is formed of an oxide semiconductor having higher mobility, a comparatively small circuit area suffices. For this reason, even when a drive circuit is provided in a frame region of a TFT substrate, the demand of a narrower frame can be satisfied. Further, a drive circuit no longer needs to be externally attached, and thus an LCD can be manufactured at a low cost.
An example of using an oxide semiconductor in a TFT is disclosed in Patent Document 1. According to the disclosure, a second gate insulating film is formed on a first gate insulating film, an oxide semiconductor film is formed on the first and second gate insulating films, and a source electrode and a drain electrode are formed on the oxide semiconductor film. A portion between the source electrode and the drain electrode serves as a channel. The second gate insulating film is formed below a channel in the vicinity of the drain electrode. According to this structure, electrostatic capacity of a channel on the second insulating film is smaller than electrostatic capacity of a channel on the first gate insulating film. With this, the channel in the vicinity of the drain electrode has high resistance, and a TFT having a high withstand voltage can be manufactured.

Thin-film transistor, thin-film transistor substrate, and liquid crystal display device


An image forming apparatus includes a memory having stored code data, code data input keys and a preheat changeover key for selectively switching the fixing device to a preheat mode or an operation ready mode, whereby the apparatus is permitted to operate when code data manually entered by the code data input keys are identical with code data previously stored in the memory. The image forming apparatus further includes entered code data release means responsive to operation of the preheat changeover key for switching the fixing device to the preheat mode, release entered code data whereby the apparatus is inhibited from operating. When the preheat key is pressed, the apparatus is switched to the preheat mode and, at the same time, the entered code data is released. Accordingly, the apparatus requires no dedicated button or key for releasing the entered code data, and may put, to practice use, the preheat changeover means which has been conventionally disposed.

The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic copying apparatus, a facsimile or the like, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus having a control function for controlling how often the apparatus is used per operator or per division in a company or the like.
There is known an electrophotographic copying apparatus having a control function (See, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 134656/1983). According to a conventional apparatus having such a control function, a non-volatile memory has stored code data and the operator is prompted to enter code data with ten keys or the like, before making a copy with the apparatus. If the code data thus entered is not identical with one of the previously stored code data, the operator cannot use the apparatus. Accordingly, when different code data are respectively set and stored for a plurality of divisions of a company, an office or the like which commonly use the same apparatus, the number of copies made or the like per division may be controlled.
In such an apparatus having the control function, it is required to release, after use, the entered code data so as to prevent the apparatus from being freely used by other operators or divisions. The conventional apparatus has a special release button for releasing the entered code data.
A conventional electrostatic memory device having the control function requires a dedicated release button as above-mentioned. This results in an increase in the number of buttons or keys at the operation unit. This not only causes the arrangement of the operation unit to be complicated, but also increases the cost of the apparatus by an amount corresponding to such increase in the number of component elements.

Inhibitable image forming apparatus including entered code data release means


The sleeping posture of a user is improved by the use of a cotton cushion (10) which is attached to one of the legs of the user by means of an elasticated tubular bandage (11) and fits between the two knees of the user when the user""s legs are located one on top of the other.

This invention relates to a method and means for improving the sleeping posture of a user.
Poor sleeping posture creates restlessness, which results in undue stress and creates back pain.
Back pain is the single most common reason given by people taking days off work and is generally blamed on poor quality beds and incorrect sleeping posture.
In addition, back pain is particularly prevalent among geriatric patients in nursing homes where, in order to avoid the problems associated with sleeplessness, it is not uncommon for a patient to be given a xe2x80x9csleepingxe2x80x9d pill every evening and a xe2x80x9cwake-upxe2x80x9d pill every morning.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a method for improving the sleeping posture of, for example, the elderly and infirm, the chronically sick, coma patients, pregnant women, those who suffer arthritis from their hips down, and those who suffer pain or discomfort as a result of old or recent sports injuries to their legs.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide means for improving the sleeping posture of a user.
A number of pillows and cushions have been proposed for this purpose and examples are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,177,806; 4,736,477; 4,889,109 and 5,418,991. Such pillows and cushions have a number of drawbacks and none have achieved common acceptance.
It is accordingly a more specific object of the present invention to provide an improved method and means for improving the sleeping posture of a user.
According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of improving the sleeping posture of a user, said method comprising the provision of a washable, air-pervious cushion to which is attached a tubular elasticated bandage for enabling the cushion to be attached releasably to a leg of the user, and the attachment of the cushion to the leg of the user by means of the tubular elasticated bandage so that the cushion fits between the two legs of the user, thereby facilitating the user sleeping in the semi-foetal position with his or her legs located one on top of the other.
The cushion is preferably attached to that leg of the user which, in the sleeping position, will be the lower leg of the user, the cushion being located adjacent the knee of said leg so that it fits between the user""s knees.
According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided means for improving the sleeping posture of a user, said means comprising a washable, air-pervious cushion to which is attached a tubular elasticated bandage for enabling the cushion to be attached releasably to a leg of a user, such that the cushion can be fitted between the two legs of the user, thereby facilitating the user sleeping in the semi-foetal position with his or her legs located one on top of the other.
The cushion preferably has a cotton or polyester and cotton cover and a filling which is either of cotton or lambswool.

Method and means for improving the sleeping posture of a user


A touch input system includes a substrate configured to support propagation of acoustic signals, a transducer in communication with the substrate and configured to transmit or receive the acoustic signals before or after the propagation, and an array of reflectors disposed on the substrate. Each reflector is oriented on an angle to redirect the acoustic signals along a path toward or away from the transducer. The transducer includes a stepped interface for the redirected acoustic signals. The stepped interface includes a set of interface elements distributed across a width of the acoustic signals and offset from one another along the path to compensate for the angle of the reflectors.

Touch input systems detect touch events, such as a touch from a user's finger, a stylus, or some other device. Touch regions of the touch input systems are often transparent for use with an information display of a computer or other electronic system. Other touch input systems are opaque touch sensors, such as touch or track pads. Touchscreens and other touch input systems are used in a variety of applications, such as information kiosks, retail points of sale, order entry systems (e.g., restaurants), industrial process control applications, interactive exhibits, mobile phones and other personal electronic devices, and video games.
Some touch input systems use acoustic signals to detect touch events. Certain types of acoustic touchscreens, also known as ultrasonic touchscreens, detect touch with high transparency and high resolution, while providing a durable touch surface. Of particular commercial interest are ultrasonic touchscreens using surface acoustic waves (SAW).
SAW touchscreens often have a glass overlay on which transmitting and receiving piezoelectric transducers are mounted. A controller sends an electrical signal to the transmitting transducer, which converts the signal into ultrasonic waves on the surface of the glass. These waves are directed across the touchscreen by an array of reflectors. Reflectors on the opposite side direct the waves to the receiving transducer, which reconverts the waves into an electrical signal. The process is repeated for each axis. A touch absorbs a portion of the waves traveling across the touch region on the surface. The received signals for X and Y are compared to stored digital maps, the change is recognized, and a coordinate is calculated from the center of the "shadow" or touch signal in the form of an attenuation dip in the received signal. For single touch operation, effects that spread out or disperse in time the touch signal are of only secondary importance as they have little effect on the touch coordinate extracted from touch signal centers.
Problems arise for many touchscreens when two or more touch events occur simultaneously. The multiple touches cause two or more X and two or more Y attenuation locations. When the separation between a pair of touches becomes small, such as at the end of a two-finger zoom-out or pinch gesture or at the beginning of a two-finger zoom-in gesture, the shadows or attenuation dips may blur together confounding touch coordinate data.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Acoustic touch signal dispersion response and minimization


An infrared motion sensor system has an infrared (IR) sensor having a predetermined field of view, a target positioned within the field of view of the sensor which emits a spatially or temporally non-uniform pattern of IR radiation, and a processor which receives an output signal from the IR sensor, compares the received output signal to a signature temperature profile signal corresponding to the non-uniform pattern of IR radiation emitted by the target, and detects deviation of the sensor output signal from the signature temperature profile signal, indicating intervention of an object in a monitored volume between the target and sensor. The size of the target may be of the order of human size.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to passive infrared (PIR) motion sensors, and is particularly concerned with a PIR motion sensor system and method which includes a target.
2. Related Art
Passive infrared motion sensors generally consist of several features. An optical element (such as a lens or mirror) and an infrared (IR) detector together define and collect radiation from a field-of-view (intersecting and thus defining a monitored spatial volume), from which the optical element conveys radiation onto an infrared (IR) detector which is generally responsive to mid-IR light in the 6-14 micron wavelength range. The detector, in turn, provides an electrical signal responsive to changes in the effective blackbody temperature of the surfaces of objects within the monitored volume and radiating toward the optical element, which signal is passed to analog processing circuits, which, in turn, create a digital signal that may be directly or indirectly compared to a certain threshold amount of temperature change "seen" by the optical element from within the monitored volume. The digital signal may be further processed by logic circuits in order to provide a desired output indication, for example, of a warmer human crossing in front of cooler objects or background within a monitored volume.
One type of prior art infrared motion sensor system is illustrated in FIG. 1 and comprises an active-beam sensor system in which a pulsed, near-infrared (NIR) light beam is transmitted from transmitter 10 to receiver 12. Each transmitter has an emitter 15 and a lens 16 for directing the NIR light beam towards the receiver. Each receiver has a lens 17 and a detector 18 for receiving light directed by the lens onto the detector. A processor associated with the detector is configured to confirm NIR light transmission through the monitored volume 14 between transmitter 10 and receiver 12. The volume is typically a cylinder of 3 to 10 cm. diameter. Transmission interruption indicates objects moving within the monitored volume. Such active-beam sensors are commonly employed to monitor a facility's perimeter, by installing multiple transmitter/receiver linear segments in different directions so as to form a complete "fence" around the facility. The monitored volume in such systems is much less than human size so that the detector may be triggered by moving objects much smaller than humans.
Another known type of infrared motion sensor is a conventional long-range passive infrared (FIR) sensor 20 as illustrated in FIG. 2. This type of sensor monitors long and narrow static volumes 22, as indicated in FIG. 2, and has an infrared detector 24 and an optical element such as lens 25 which conveys radiation received from the monitored volume onto the detector. Such sensors are often employed to monitor a facility's perimeter by installing multiple PIR sensors whose monitored volumes form linear segments in different directions, so as to form a complete "fence" around the facility. One problem with this type of system is that the detection range cannot be controlled accurately, and will vary widely in response to different temperature, air clarity and other conditions which affect the detected temperature difference between a detected moving body and the background.

Infrared motion sensor system and method


A system and method is presented that uses solar power driven expansion of an electrolytic solution to force the electrolytic solution from a container through at least one pore of an insulator having a fixed surface charge of one polarity into a collection receptacle. The velocities of the cations and anions flowing through the pore differ because of the fixed surface charge of the pore and this produces an electrical charge separation, the streaming potential, as a source of electrical power. Energy absorption spans the full solar spectrum including infrared, visible and near ultraviolet wavelengths.

Solar energy is the most fundamental source of energy. It produces the gradients responsible for renewable energies such as wind and water, and was responsible for production of the organic matter that now constitutes fossil fuel. Chemical conversion of solar energy to electrical energy occurs with biological photosynthesis and with photovoltaic cells. Both operate in a limited range of the solar spectrum. The present invention is an entirely new system and method for solar to electrical energy transduction that can utilize the entire solar spectrum. The streaming potential and the electrokinetic phenomenon utilized for transduction in this invention, has also been used to produce electrical power from wind power (Starzak, U.S. Pat. No. 6,440,600). The foregoing invention uses the pressure differential caused by the flow of wind (or water) over a surface containing pores with fixed surface charge. The pressure differential draws electrolytic solution on the opposite side into the pores to produce the charge separation and streaming potential and current. This is in contrast with the present invention where the expansion of the electrolytic solution by solar heating forces the electrolytic solution through the pores to produce the charge separation, streaming potential, and streaming current. Since wind creates a pressure differential to draw electrolytic solution through the pores and electrolyte expansion forces electrolytic solution through the pores, both methods of electrolytic solution flow in pores can be combined into a single unit to tap both renewable energy sources.
The invention is constructed in sizes that permit its use on individual buildings or larger energy farms. Its component materials are lightweight to make the invention easy to install and maintain. The component materials are inexpensive and the method of construction allows the commercial device to be produced at a competitive retail cost with a short payback period for energy savings.

Solar to electrical energy conversion using the streaming potential


A merry-go-round with a frame supported for rotation by a plurality of driven wheels, the merry-go-round having a space for a wheel chair and a space for a non-wheel chair bound person. Each separate space on the merry-go-round is associated with a respective crank assembly such that a person in that space can drive one of the driven wheels through a crank. A plurality of smaller wheels secured to the underside of the frame provide additional support for the merry-go-round. The person in the non-wheel chair bound space can stand on the frame, or in an alternate embodiment can sit on a chair. Because the merry-go-round has spaces for both wheel chairs and non-wheel chair bound people, both can use the merry-go-round at the same time.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a merry-go-round apparatus that can accommodate wheel chair bound users. Moreover, the present invention involves a merry-go-round apparatus that can also accommodate non-wheel chair bound users.
2. Background of the Related Art
Merry-go-rounds are generally known in the art for enjoyment by people of all ages, especially young children. Conventional merry-go-rounds employ a rotating structure supported at its center of rotation. Typically, a vertical post is secured in the ground, and a rotational bearing fixed to the merry-go-round rotates around the fixed post. Accordingly, most conventional merry-go-rounds revolve around a point fixed to the ground or some other structure. This structural arrangement renders it difficult to relocate most merry-go-rounds to an alternate location.
Very few, if any, merry-go-rounds are designed to accommodate handicapped individuals. In particular, merry-go-rounds typically lack structure for allowing wheel chair bound persons to occupy and propel the merry-go-round in a rotational direction. As such, most known merry-go-rounds are designed for use solely by non-handicapped children.
Some merry-go-rounds have chairs in which handicapped children could be strapped. Merry-go-rounds of this type, however, normally cannot be rotated by the users strapped to the seats. Rather, this type of merry-go-round is rotated by an individual who pushes the merry-go-round while standing or running next to it.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide for a merry-go-round having a number of practical advantages over conventional merry-go-rounds. For example, an object of the present invention is to provide a merry-go-round capable of being used on any selected flat, hard surface without the need for a fixed point of rotation.
Another exemplary object of the present invention is to provide a merry-go-round that can be used by handicapped people, and more specifically by people in a wheel chair. Yet another exemplary object of the present invention is to provide a merry-go-round that can be driven by wheel chair bound users alone or in combination with non-wheel chair bound users.
It should be understood that the invention could still be practiced without performing one or more of the preferred objects and/or advantages. Still other objects and/or advantages will become apparent after reading the following description of the invention.


A deformable connector provides a concentrated wiping action pressure during the connection process, yet forms a flat mating surface when it is fully mated, and that is also suitable for providing a double density connection between a printed circuit board and a flexible circuit cable, as well as other applications. The connector includes an elastomeric member whose lower surface has a first convex region at one end, a second convex region at the other end, and a concave region in a middle joining the first and second convex regions. The upper surface contains a convex region in its middle that is approximately parallel to the concave region of the lower surface, producing an approximately constant thickness over most of the length of the elastomeric member, thus forming a flat mating surface in its fully mated condition. Conductive runs to be connected to a mating surface are disposed on the lower surface of a flexible circuit or cable affixed to the lower surface of the elastomeric member. A frame member and fastening means apply downward pressure to the convex region of the upper surface of the elastomeric member and thereby cause the first and second regions of the lower surface of the elastomeric member to move outwardly, creating a wiping contact between the plurality of conductive runs and the mating surface. In a preferred embodiment, the ends of the upper surface of the elastomeric member converge toward the outer ends of the lower surface to produce tapered ends for strain relief.

This invention relates to the field of electrical connectors, and more particularly to the field of high density connectors that are deformable and that produce a wiping action between conductors as mating occurs.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,575,166, to Kasdagly et al., discloses a connector that deforms under the pressure of connection to provide a wiping action between its own electrical conductors and those of the two printed circuit cards that it serves to electrically connect. This wiping action and how it is created are described at column 4, lines 10-38, of the '166 patent and shown in (prior art) FIGS. 1A and 1B of the present patent application.
A limitation of connector shown in the Kasdagly '166 patent, and FIGS. 1A and 1B of this patent application, is that the downward pressure of the hard member is distributed evenly over a relatively large area of the soft member during the connection process, producing a correspondingly limited wiping force to the conductor-conductor interface.
Another limitation of the connector shown in the Kasdagly '166 patent is that it is suitable for creating a connection between two printed circuit boards, but it is not suitable for providing a connection between the runs on both sides of a flexible circuit cable and two rows of conductors on a mating surface of another substrate, i.e., a double density connection.
The use of flexible circuit cables has increased steadily in recent years, and consequently so has the need for means of connecting them to conventional electronic circuit boards.
U.S. Pat. 4,789,765, to Berg, discloses a contact device having a resiliently deformable member with a convex-concave-convex geometry on its mating surface, but with an opposite surface that is flat. This geometry prevents flat mating because of its uneven thickness.
What is desired is a deformable connector that provides a concentrated wiping action pressure as it is connected, yet forms a flat mating surface when it is fully mated, and that is also suitable for providing a double density connection between a printed circuit board and a flexible cable, as well as other applications.


A device includes a transmitter for transmitting a first optical signal towards a target, which incorporates an optical parametric oscillator. A receiver is capable of receiving a second optical signal from said target. The second optical signal is the reflected signal from the first signal. The receiver means comprises an optical parametric amplifier. A wavelength matching device matches the wavelengths produced by the optical parametric oscillator with that received from the optical parametric amplifier. The optical parametric amplifier is typically joined with a laser to form an optical parametric amplifier laser, while the optical parametric oscillator is joined with a laser to form an optical parametric oscillator laser.

Laser remote sensing can either be used to sense the particulars about remote solid objects (and as such is called laser radar), or it can be used to sense spectroscopic or aerosol returns (and as such is called lidar which stands for light detection and ranging). There are several methods of remote laser detection involving lidar. These methods include direct detection, absorption, florescence, differential absorption, and Raman scattering which are known to those skilled in the art. Some of the limiting factors to lidar which include wavelength adjustability or agility (most presently used lasers have a fixed frequency); and the general size and weight of the laser equipment. Of the above, the wavelength agility presents the greatest challenges.
The first attempt to overcome the wavelength agility problem included the use of dye lasers. These units, however, require a pump laser (and the dyes used as the lasing medium are toxic). These lasers are also more difficult to adjust than may be desired.
Diode lasers have also been Utilized in an attempt to solve the wavelength agility problem. These lasers, however, have limited tunability. Also, in the infrared range diode lasers must be cryogenically cooled which further complicates these lasers and makes them more expensive.
The third technique attempted to overcome this problem uses an optical parametric oscillator (OPO) as the frequency agile source. OPOs require a pump laser which use flashlamp pumped solid state lasing materials such as Nd:YAG. These pump sources are large and heavy and the beam quality required to pump the parametric oscillators satisfactorily are difficult to achieve, resulting in overall poor parametric oscillator performance.
The receiver in the above lidars typically use filters to separate the transmitted wavelengths. However, with a tunable source, a corresponding tunable receiver is required. In the past, spectrometers have provided the spectral dispersion required by tunable systems. Spectrometers, however, tend to be quite heavy and delicate.


The present invention provides an improved process for the preparation of Dalteparin sodium. The process is simple, commercially viable and industrially advantageous.

Anticoagulants, commonly referred to as "blood thinners" are serving as the mainstay therapy for the prevention and treatment of acute arterial and venous thrombotic disorders. Unfractioned heparin and low-molecular-weight heparins (LMWHs) are used as anticoagulants exclusively for long-term therapy as they are efficacious, safe and more convenient. Each commercially available LMWH is prepared from unique chemical or enzymatic depolymerization of mucosal heparin.
Dalteparin sodium is one such LMWH and a potent anticoagulant that acts through indirect inhibition of thrombin, the key procoagulant that converts fibrinogen to fibrin. Dalteparin sodium is marketed under the brand name Fragmin®.
Dalteparin sodium is produced through controlled nitrous acid depolymerization of heparin sodium from porcine intestinal mucosa followed by a chromatographic purification process and contains:                2-O-sulfo-α-L-idopyranosuronic acid at the non-reducing end and a 6-O-sulfo-2,5-anhydro-D-mannitol at the reducing end of their chain,        mass-average relative molecular mass ranges between 5600 and 6400 daltons (Da), with a characteristic value of about 6000 Da,        degree of sulfation is 2.0 to 2.5 per disaccharide unit,        an anti-factor Xa of not less than 110 IU/mg and not more than 210 IU/mg,        an anti-factor IIa of not less than 35 IU/mg and not more than 100 IU/mg and        the ratio of anti-factor Xa activity to anti-factor IIa activity is between 1.9 and 3.2.
Dalteparin sodium is structurally represented as shown below:
Dalteparin sodium, was first disclosed in WO 80/01383 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,303,651 and is prepared by depolymerization of heparin sodium with nitrous acid or by periodate oxidation followed by sodium borohydride reduction. The use of nitrous acid and sodium borohydride generates nitrite (NO2—), N-nitroso (N—NO) compounds and elemental boron as impurities in the final product. The European pharmacopoeial (Ph. Eur) requirements for permissible limits of nitrite and boron are quite stringent, the limits for N—NO content even though not specified in the Ph. Eur monograph, one needs to control this impurity as it has a structural alert for potential genotoxic impurity. The manufacture of Dalteparin sodium on an industrial scale involves the handling of large amounts of these reagents, hence it is required to control these impurities in order to maintain the quality of Dalteparin sodium as well as to satisfy the regulatory requirements.
Ph. Eur Limits of impuritiesNO2− (ppm)N—NO (ppm)Boron (ppm)5Not specified1
Several processes for the preparation of Dalteparin sodium using varied depolymerisation, reduction, isolation and purification procedures to meet the Pharmacopoeial requirements are known. For example, depolymerizing heparin sodium with nitrous acid in an aqueous medium (U.S. Pat. No. 4,500,519); controlled depolymerization of heparin followed by alcohol precipitation or purification (U.S. Pat. No. 5,019,649, EP 0 014 184 and EP 0 076 279); controlled depolymerization of heparin followed by heat or microwave treatment (EP 1 773 890 B1); preparation of LMWH with a reduced content of glycoserine by oxidation of heparin using permanganate salt (US 2008/0318328). Further there are some Chinese patents or patent applications, for example, such as CN 101942038 B; CN 102558393 B; CN 103232558 A; CN 101942038 A; CN 102558393 A; CN 104045743 A; CN 104045744 A; CN 104098716 A; CN 105884934 A; CN 105440160 A; CN 106317258 A; CN 106699929 A; CN 106986954 A; CN 107141373 A; CN 107236057 A, that disclosed Dalteparin sodium preparation processes varying particularly in purification technology.
The prior art methods involve utilization of higher quantities of sodium nitrite, and sodium borohydride which warrant additional steps and/or chromatographic purification to remove the impurities generated on account of these reagents. Further, the literature procedures utilize higher temperatures during the depolymerisation and prolonged exposure (such as 20-30 min) to UV irradiation or employ heat or microwave treatment to control the N—NO groups which may not be viable during manufacturing and may affect the yields and quality of the final product.
Furthermore, UV irradiation with a high-power lamp for a prolonged duration or with UV wavelength less than 254 nanometre (nm) leads to generation of heat, ozone gas and consequently imparts color to the product.
The applicants found that UV reaction performed by exposing/inserting the UV lamp into the product solution for more than 10 min shows reduction in N—NO content in small scale, but not reproducible on a higher scale.
Hence, there is a need for an improved process for the preparation of Dalteparin sodium which overcomes one or more of the disadvantages of the prior art process(es). Further, a system and/or apparatus may be required to address the issue of color of the product and to have a control on the N—NO content when performed at a commercial scale.

Process for the preparation of Dalteparin sodium


A single-ply of paper in web form continuously forms one-piece statement mailers by first die-cutting appropriate portions of the mailer to form a window for a return envelope, and inset edges for a bang-tail and payment coupon. Non-personalized and personalized information is printed on the single ply in various panels thereof. By repeating sequences of applying glue and folding the web into various panels, a complete statement with personalized and non-personalized information can be provided an addressee. Additionally, fugitive glue lines are provided in the return envelope to space the inserts, i.e., a payment coupon and remittance, from edges of the return envelope to facilitate opening of the envelope by automatic mail openers.

Statements, for example, credit card statement, as well as other types of business forms, are typically produced by printing a statement and inserting the statement, together with a separate return envelope, into an outgoing envelope. Thus, three separate pieces, an outgoing mail envelope, a business return envelope and the statement itself, are used. Personalized information is normally printed on the statement, such as account numbers, payments due, etc., and on the outgoing envelope. Portions of all three parts are also printed with non-personalized generic information, such as advertising information, the name and address of the company forwarding the statement, identifiers for the personalized information and other information. Separate processes and processing are required to print and collate statements of this type and this, of course, involves: substantial costs. It has been found highly desirable to form a single-part statement incorporating into a single-paper ply an outgoing mailing envelope, the statement itself, a payment coupon, if applicable, and a return envelope for the statement. Further, all necessary personalized information may be printed on the various panels of the single ply prior to folding and securing the panels to one another to form an outgoing mailer. Additionally, it is frequently desirable to provide loose inserts in the outgoing mailer for review and use by the recipient.
Still further, one of the many problems when using a return envelope containing a remittance or payment coupon, or both, is that, for high-volume mailers, high-speed letter openers are typically used to open the return envelopes. These openers typically cut off the top and side margins of the envelope in order to open the return envelope on three sides and enable extraction of its contents. Most openers are set to cut or slit at a distance approximately 1/64-inch from the sides and top of the envelope. However, in using the present mailer, the openers are preferably set at 1/4 inch to ensure complete removal of the marginal stubs of the return envelope. Glue systems for mailers and return envelopes, however, are not capable of controlling the width of glue strips or end seams within high tolerances. Ordinarily, the width of the glue on one side will vary substantially, for example, between 0.06 inches and 0.18 inches. As a consequence, inserts, such as a remittance and accompanying payment coupon, frequently tend to orient themselves toward one side of the return envelope and not infrequently are cut during the automatic mail opening process. These inserts, once removed from the envelopes, are normally read automatically by an optical system. Thus, any damage to the insert caused by opening the envelope makes the insert oftentimes unreadable by the optical system, necessitating further processing of the insert by hand.


A method for retrofitting a lighting system includes providing a lighting assembly with a screw-terminal-base connector disposed in a lamp housing. A power-supply conductive wire includes a second length coupling the screw-terminal-base connector to a transformer and a first length coupled to the transformer and coupleable to a power supply. The first and second lengths of the power-supply conductive wire are severed and the transformer is removed. The severed first and second lengths are spliced together. An Edison-base receptacle is mounted to the lamp housing. The second length of the power-supply conductive wire is electrically coupled to the Edison-base receptacle.

Lighting systems, including lighting assemblies with lamp housings and lamps, are commonly used for illumination in residential and commercial settings, as well as for various types of transportation-related illumination. The illumination provided by different lighting systems may vary in many different ways including, for example, color, intensity, beam pattern, or the like. One way to vary the illumination provided by a lighting system is to swap an existing lamp with a different type of lamp. Currently, there are many different types of lamps available. The different types of lamps may vary in a variety of different ways including, for example, size, cost, efficiency, shape, style, color of illuminated light, intensity of illuminated light, beam pattern of illuminated light, or the like or combinations thereof.

Composite lighting systems and methods of making same


A dataset management system organizes datasets using a data relationship graph that serves as a representation of datasets that are related to one another. For example, the data relationship graph includes nodes that each represent a dataset as well as edges that each connect two nodes. Each edge represents a similarity in characteristics of the similar datasets such as a similarity in the datasets' origin, organizational schema, lineage, or data values. When a user is to be provided recommended datasets, the dataset management system identifies candidate datasets by traversing the nodes and edges of the data relationship graph. Amongst these candidate datasets, the dataset management system evaluates users that have accessed the candidate datasets as well as the context in which the candidate datasets were accessed to identify recommended datasets for presentation to the user.

Enterprises tend to have multiple large repositories of data that are generated from multiple systems, applications, processes and products. This data is often sent to and collected in multiple repositories that correspond to a set of homogeneous use cases that need to process the data to generate value. These repositories can be databases, file shares, Hadoop clusters, document stores etc. Typically, ad hoc or organic growth in the number of data repositories and a use case specific funneling of the same data into many different data repositories causes the data landscape for an enterprise to be complex and littered with redundant copies of the same data. This may also render the data un-navigable because the data is not well described and also noisy because valuable data is often hidden within or around data that is not relevant to analysis.
As a result, users must manually derive data sets that are interesting to them. Users and enterprises are therefore often unable to fully leverage the value of the data in their repositories. In cases where such value is ultimately discovered, the process to identify and process the relevant data from among the various data sets is often delayed, slowed, fraught with trial and error and overall very expensive in terms of manpower, time and cost for the users and enterprises.

Predicting and recommending relevant datasets in complex environments


Access to external service providers is provided through portlets, where each portlet accessible by a user is represented on the display of the user device. Through use of a dynamic content channel, e.g., a portlet, a highly customizable content page may be produced for any individual client system. When a portlet is selected on a user device, the content associated with the portlet is retrieved and automatically transformed into data that can be displayed by that user device. Thus, a particular user device is not limited to accessing content in a format identical to that associated with the user interface in use on the user device. Consequently, the user's ability to access a wide variety of content sources independent of the characteristics of the particular user device is further enhanced.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to data representations, and more particularly to a method for the individual representation of data on a variety of different computing systems.
2. Description of Related Art
Many types of user devices communicate over various communication networks. Information requested by a user device over a communication network naturally needs to be provided to the user device in a format understood by the specific user device. Therefore, in many instances information is only accessible to a certain group of user devices. For example, homepages of individuals or companies provided by a web server over the Internet are generally available only to specific user devices, namely computer systems supporting the regular homepage data format HTML (Hyper-Text Markup Language).
However, the access of other user devices to this information may also be desirable. Such user devices may be, for example, handheld computers or mobile telephones. Unfortunately, the Internet browsers that process and display the HTML homepages typically require over 50 Megabytes of storage, which is not available on handheld computers or mobile phones.
Alternative methods are available, for example, that permit mobile telephones to send and receive information from the Internet. Typically, a program executing on the telephone transmits a URL, or a representation of a URL to a server that translates the request, and retrieves the data over the Internet. The server then converts the retrieved content into a format that can be interpreted by the mobile telephone and transmits the data to the mobile telephone for display. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,809,415 of Rossmann entitled "Method and Architecture for an Interactive Two-Way Data Communication Network."
Another similar approach is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,727,159, entitled "System In Which a Proxy-Server Translates Information Received From the Internet Into a Form/Format Readily Usable by Low Power Portable Computers," of Kikinis issued on Mar. 10, 1998. In this approach, a specialized browser must be installed on each device that communicates with a proxy-server that in turn communicates with the Internet. A device that does not have the specialized browser, or cannot execute the specialized browser cannot retrieve or display content using the proxy-server.
Thus, the prior art teaches that it is necessary to develop an independent technique to provide access to particular information. For example, the prior art technique for mobile phones was not used on portable computers and conversely.

Computer-based presentation manager and method for individual user-device data representation


One embodiment is directed to a system for deploying a device to a distal location across a vessel, comprising an elongate introducer sheath tubing member comprising open-cell fibrous wall material defining a lumen therethrough, wherein in a collapsed configuration the sheath has a first cross-sectional outer diameter and a first lumen inner diameter, and in an expanded configuration, the sheath has a second cross-sectional outer diameter and a second lumen inner diameter; and a substantially non-porous expandable layer coupled to a proximal portion of sheath and configured to prevent fluids present in the lumen from crossing the fibrous wall material.

Gaining access to the heart and other parts of the cardiovascular anatomy is a continued challenge in cardiovascular medicine. For example, conventional open-surgical procedures for accomplishing tasks such as valve replacement generally involve a thoracotomy and/or creation of one or more access ports across the wall of the heart itself, which is relatively highly invasive and therefore undesirable. Recent progress has been made in the area of catheter-based percutaneous intervention, wherein instrumentation, such as catheters, guidewires, and prostheses, are brought to the heart, brain, or other tissue structures associated with the cardiovascular system through the vessels connected to such structures. These vascular pathways may be quite tortuous and geometrically small, and thus one of the challenges with percutaneous procedures lies in gaining access, conducting the desired interventional and/or diagnostic procedures, and removing the pertinent instrumentation, without damaging the vasculature or associated anatomy. Conventionally with percutaneous procedures, introducer and dilator sets such as that (2) depicted in FIG. 1, have been utilized to provide a usable access conduit through an arteriotomy or other surgical access to the vasculature. For procedures on large, relatively straight, and relatively undiseased vessels, such configurations may be adequate, but frequently cardiovascular diagnostic and/or interventional procedures are conducted on diseased cardiovascular systems and in tortuous anatomy. There is a need for better access tools and procedures, which may be utilized to establish vascular access in a relatively efficient geometric package (i.e., in a collapsed state), be expanded in situ as necessary to pass instrumentation, prostheses, or other structures (for example, the un-expanded delivery size of a CoreValve® aortic valve prosthesis available from Medtronic, Inc. is approximately 18 French; the un-expanded delivery size of a Sapien® valve available from Edwards Lifesciences, Inc. is between 18 and 24 French, depending upon which size is utilized), and to be re-collapsed before or during withdrawal so that the associated anatomy is not undesirably loaded or damaged during such withdrawal. Various embodiments of the subject invention address these challenges with expandable introducer sheath configurations.


An apparatus and method for rapidly filling fuel tanks with natural gas from a large pressurized storage vessel utilizing a compressor having a cylinder dedicated to removal of natural gas from the storage vessel and supplying it to the fuel tanks while other compressor cylinders at least partially replenish the removed natural gas by charging compressed gas to the storage vessel. The gas removal cylinder and other cylinders are connected to a common drive shaft driven by a single motor. The apparatus and method provide for rapid fueling of large numbers of vehicles using natural gas while significantly reducing capital investment requirements.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention provides an apparatus and method to enhance the delivery rate of natural gas from large storage containers. More particularly, the invention provides a compressor with an evacuator cylinder that delivers natural gas from a large storage facility to a customer while other cylinders of the compressor are used to refill the storage tank with natural gas commonly supplied by pipeline at low pressure.
2. Description of the Related Art
Due to increasing environmental concerns, vehicle manufacturers are under pressure to convert to motor fuels that produce lower amounts of pollutants. Carbon dioxide, a byproduct of the combustion of hydrocarbon fuels, is now considered as a pollutant insofar as this gas contributes to a "hot house effect" which is expected to significantly raise the general temperature of the Earth's environment with potentially disastrous consequences. One method of reducing the production of carbon dioxide has been to use hydrocarbon fuels that have a higher proportion of hydrogen relative to carbon. Natural gas is such a fuel. Therefore, there has been increasing pressure, due to environmental concerns, to convert entire fleets of vehicles so that they can consume natural gas rather than gasoline or diesel fuel.
Under usual conditions, natural gas is supplied by pipeline under low pressure to storage facilities. At the storage facility, the natural gas is compressed, using large compressors, into large storage vessels at pressures up to about 4,000-5,000 psi. Natural gas can then be dispensed from these large storage vessels into the fuel tanks of vehicles. However, as natural gas is removed from the storage vessel, the gas pressure in the vessel declined. As the pressure in the vessel declined, the rate of discharge of natural gas from the large pressure vessel to the fuel tank also declined, especially since the vehicle fuel tanks must be filled to a pressure of at least about 2,400 psi or higher as required. Therefore, storage vessels have so far as known only been capable of supplying gas at a declining rate of flow, as the pressure gradually dropped and approached the vehicle tank pressure. This declining and overall relatively slow rate of filling user vehicles has been a significant impediment to the conversion of vehicles to the use of natural gas since filling a vehicle under these conditions could take several hours.
In order to overcome the slow filling rate obstacle, "fast-fill cascade" systems have been developed. However, these systems also have limitations. In a fast-fill cascade system, natural gas has been supplied via a compressor to a series of compressed gas storage cylinders. These storage cylinders have been initially charged at high pressure, typically about 3,600 psi. The vehicle requiring a refill of fuel was hooked up to one of these compressed gas cylinders. Once the gas in that particular one of the cylinders dropped below a certain pressure or required feed rate, the cylinder was taken out of service. A second cylinder in the series was then brought into service to provide fuel. This cylinder operation was designed to be carried out automatically by controlled valves so that there was a relatively continuous flow of fuel to the vehicle. However, fast-fill cascade systems of this type have been expensive, requiring large numbers of high pressure gas cylinders and associated valving and controls. Further, in order to fuel a large fleet of vehicles, such as the buses for a typical large metropolitan area's metropolitan transit system, a vast number of fast-fill cascade high pressure cylinders would be required. This would require a substantial capital investment. This situation is made worse by the fact that the capital investment is not normally economically justifiable, but is necessitated by environmental concerns. Gasoline or diesel fuel is virtually always cheaper.
There has existed a need for a capability of rapidly fueling vehicles with compressed natural gas (CNG) or vapors from liquid natural gas (LNG) with a short fueling time per vehicle. Further, the means should desirably require relatively low capital investment while meeting safety and environmental standards.

Apparatus and process for fast filling with natural gas


An LED package includes a substrate, an LED, and a cap. The substrate includes a first conductor unit, a second conductor unit, and a non-conductor unit which electrically insulates the first and second conductor unit. The LED is bonded to the first conductor unit. The cap is mounted on the substrate over the LED and comprises a conductive wire which connects the LED to the second conductor unit.

1. Field of the Invention
Methods and apparatuses consistent with the present invention relate to a light emitting diode (LED) package that can be used as a backlight unit of an LCD and a lighting apparatus, a manufacturing method thereof, and an LED array module using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
LEDs are popular in the fields of advertising and electronics due to their long lifespan and low power consumption. There have also been attempts to use LEDs in backlight units of LCDs. It is also expected that LEDs will be used in indoor or outdoor lighting apparatuses in the near future. As the application range of LEDs is expanded, there are increasing demands for LED packages which are compact and can easily dissipate heat.
LEDs used in backlight units for LCDs or in lighting apparatuses require high power consumption. However, when the temperature rises, the performance of LEDs exponentially decays. Therefore, thermal management of LED packages is important.
FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating one example of a conventional LED package. Referring to FIG. 1, the LED package includes an LED 1, a heat spreading member 2 on which the LED 1 is mounted, leads 3 and 3′, wires 4 and 4′ for electrically connecting the LED 1 to the leads 3 and 3′, and a body 5 surrounding the heat spreading member 2 and the leads 3 and 3′.
The upper and lower portions of the heat spreading member 2 are exposed. An insulation layer 6 is disposed on the heat spreading member 2. The LED 1 is bonded to the center of the insulation layer 6 by an adhesive 7. First ends of the leads 3 and 3′ are disposed at both sides of the insulation layer 6. The second ends of the leads 3 and 3′ are externally protruded from both sides of the body 5. The wires 4 and 4′ are installed to connect the LED 1 to the first ends of the leads 3 and 3′. Although not illustrated, a cap for sealing up the LED 1 can be installed over the upper portion of the body 5.
The LED package is mounted on a substrate 10 and the second end of the leads 3 and 3′ are mounted on soldering pads 11 and 11′. In addition, solder 12 is disposed between the heat spreading member 2 of the LED package and the substrate 10. The heat generated in the LED 1 is dissipated to the atmosphere through the heat spreading member 2, the solder 12, and the substrate 10.
However, conventional LED packages, such as illustrated in FIG. 1, have relatively long heat transfer paths (e.g. LED-insulation layer-heat spreading member-solder-substrate). As a result, conventional LED packages exhibit low heat dissipation performance due to an increase in thermal resistance, and thus are not suitable for high power LED packages.
Thermal resistance Rth can be represented by Rth=L/(k*A). That is, when the thickness or the heat transfer path L decreases, and when the thermal conductivity k and the heat transfer area A increase, the thermal resistance Rth decreases. However, in a conventional LED package, the heat transfer path is lengthened by the thickness of the package itself and the substrate, and contact thermal resistance between different materials of LED package increases. Therefore, the overall thermal resistance of LED package increases.
When heat dissipation performance of an LED package is low, the LED lifespan is reduced, and peripheral components may deteriorate and become thermally deformed due to the high temperature, which may cause fatal damages to the system.
Additionally, conventional LED packages require many connections by wire bonding process. When an LED array module is formed by using such conventional LED packages, the number of assembly processes required, including a process for soldering the plurality of packages on the substrate, is large, and thus the production cost is high.

LED package, manufacturing method thereof, and LED array module using the same


The disclosed systems and methods for detecting mirror crosstalk between frequency bands equally above and below the center frequency of a Digital Subcarrier Multiplexing system include: a transmitter configured to insert zero-power symbols on half the frequency bands below center frequency, and insert other zero-power symbols, partially overlapping in time with the first zero-power symbols, on the other half of the frequency bands above center frequency. A receiver zeroes out ASE and other noises during the overlapping portion of all the zero-power symbols, then uses the power detected during the remaining portion of each zero-power symbol in each frequency band to accurately evaluate the mirror crosstalk from the corresponding frequency band on the opposite side of center frequency.

In the field of optical communication, as compared to single carrier modulation scheme, digital subcarrier multiplexing (DSCM) has been recognized as a promising solution for high spectral efficiency transmission beyond 800 Gb/s due to its advantages of flexible baud rate feasibility, higher equalization enhanced phase noise (EEPN) tolerance, lower fiber Kerr nonlinear penalty. DSCM has been successfully implemented in ASIC chips and its performance has been demonstrated over data center interconnect (DCI) and long-haul systems.
In comparison to single carrier modulation scheme, the hardware impairment for a DSCM has a strong dependency on the spectral frequency. In particular, a sub-carrier allocated at the signal spectral edges normally suffers from a higher degradation due to hardware impairments. Further, any imbalance between In-phase (I) and Quadrature (Q) data channels will cause an image at the opposite frequency with respect to the original subcarrier center. This mirror image at the opposite frequency causes crosstalk between tone pairs and degrades the performance significantly.
To this end, there is an interest in developing an efficient system and method for monitoring mirror crosstalk that can assist in performing a real-time suppression to the mirror image.

Transmitter and receiver for mirror crosstalk evaluation and methods therefor


The present invention relates to a method for transmitting and receiving data via a first base station supporting a first radio access technology (RAT) and a second base station supporting a second RAT in a radio access system supporting a multi-radio access technology, and the method may include performing a network (re)entry procedure with the first base station; receiving control information required for an access to the second base station located in the vicinity of the first base station from the first base station; performing a scanning procedure for at least one second base station located in the vicinity of the first base station; receiving an instruction message instructing an access to the second base station from the first base station; and performing an access procedure with the second base station.

Multi-RAT Network (or System)
Multi radio access technology (multi-RAT) network is a wireless communication environment in which there exist two or more heterogeneous networks, and a terminal can access two or more heterogeneous networks to simultaneously perform communication.
Heterogeneous network (or heterogeneous system) refers to a network using a communication scheme which is different from that of a specific network on the basis of the specific network. For example, a WiMAX network which is an example of a mobile communication system and a Wi-Fi network which is an example of WLAN may be heterogeneous networks with respect to each other.
Further, RAT is a technology type used in radio access. For example, RAT may include GSM/EDGE Radio Access Network (GERAN), UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN), Evolved-UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), WiMAX, LTE(-A), WiFi, and the like. In other words, GERAN, UTRAN, E-UTRAN, WiMAX and/or WiFi may be intermixed in the same area.
In addition, a terminal capable of accessing two or more heterogeneous networks to perform communication, i.e., capable of supporting multi-RAT, may be referred to as a "multi-system terminal" or "multi-mode terminal."
In recent years, terminals supporting both a cellular network and WLAN have been typically on the market in a broadband wireless communication system. Each system has different characteristics (advantages or disadvantages), and thus may perform a complementary operation, thereby providing enhanced services. The following Table 1 illustrates the characteristics of a cellular network and WLAN.
Table 1
TABLE 1ProsConsNoteWLANHigher BW- LowUncontrolled Mobility- NoWLAN provides -cost for deployment-connection management-Higher BW/LowLow overhead forLimited QoS support- HighlatencyCellularmaintaining connections- power consumption for networkprovides - QoSLow accessdiscovery - Hard to managing interference- support- Mobility/delay for randomSevere performanceconnectionaccess with smalldegradation with the largemanagement- Coordinatesnumber of MSsnumber of MSstheCellularMobilityHigher access delay fordevices to connectManagement-scheduled access- Large controlWLANGuaranteed QoSoverhead for data transmissionsupport Securetransmission
A multi-RAT terminal may typically perform communication via a cellular network, but may also transmit and receive data by using WLAN AP when the WLAN AP is located in the vicinity. Even in this case, when WLAN cannot support QoS in case of a service in which the QoS should be guaranteed such as a phone service, the multi-RAT terminal may transmit data via a cellular network. In other words, a multi-RAT terminal can perform data communication using a more excellent network, and in the aspect of a system, high-speed data transmission is dispersed into WLAN, thereby increasing an overall system efficiency.
However, even if the terminal has a capability for accessing multi-radio access technology (multi-RAT) in a wireless communication environment supporting two or more heterogeneous networks in the related art, it may be impossible to simultaneously transmit and receive data via two or more heterogeneous networks by simultaneously accessing multi-radio access technology. In other words, in case of a terminal supporting multi-radio access technology in the related art, any one wireless access technology is accessed based on a switching mechanism to transmit or receive data via one network. Accordingly, when a terminal having multi-RAT capability transmits and receives data via a specific network and then via a network which is different from the specific network, data transmission and reception via either one network should be terminated.
In other words, according to the related art, a terminal having capability supporting two or more heterogeneous networks can perform communication using different networks, but operates based on a simple switching mechanism, thereby having a limit in the efficiency. For example, since different networks are operated in an independent manner, the management may be inefficiently carried out in the aspect of security/authentication, IP flow mobility, network discovery, and the like.

Data communication method and apparatus via interlock between heterogeneous networks in radio access system supporting multi radio access technology


An apparatus for serializing concurrent requests to multiple processors includes a signal merging tree structure and a traversal mechanism. The tree structure has a root node and leaf nodes for connecting a data consumer to the root. The tree structure serializes concurrent requests in the presence of race conditions, and connects each request producer from among the processors to a respective leaf node. The mechanism enables a producer to transmit a signal from a corresponding leaf node to the consumer at the root node by setting all nodes on a path from the leaf node to the root node to a Boolean true. The mechanism enables the consumer to trace signal submissions of the producers such that submission traversals by the producers and trace traversals by the consumer can be concurrently performed to allow data races between signal submissions by producers and between signal submissions by producers and the consumer.

1. Technical Field
The invention generally relates to computers and, more particularly, to symmetric multiprocessing (SMP).
2. Description of the Related Art
The shared memory concept became the architecture of choice for general-purpose multi-processor machines over the last decade. One of the reasons was the simplicity of the programming model. On one side, the number of processors in symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) is steadily growing and, on the other side, smaller SMP configurations are already common as workstations and about to enter the domain of personal computers.
A description will now be given regarding scalability limitations in current SMPs.
There are different types of limitations to scalability in parallel shared memory programs. Intrinsic limitations are a property of the algorithm and result from data dependencies. The intrinsic limitations of an algorithm define the amount of coordination between parallel tasks and, thus, an upper bound for the amount of parallelism that can be achieved. A second set of limitations results from the system executing the parallel program, and these can be classified into explicit and implicit scalability limitations. The impact of explicit and implicit limitations depends on the system executing the program, not on the algorithm.
Explicit scalability limitations are a result of the time required by a coordinating operation in the program. An example is the time between the release of a lock (also called mutex) by one thread and the successful acquisition of another thread that was waiting for this lock.
Implicit scalability limitations are the result of coordination operations between parallel tasks that are not stated in the program, but which are part of the architecture of the system. One of the important implicit scalability limitations is the maintenance of cache coherence in an SMP system.
Amdahl's law expresses how serialization of even a small fraction of a computation impacts scalability:
  Speedup  =      1                            Fraction          enhanced                          Speedup          enhanced                    +              (                  1          -                      Fraction            enhanced                          )            Coordination overhead contributes often directly to the un-enhanced fraction.
For an algorithm which partitions the workload into 2% that is serial, and 98% that is perfectly parallelized, the intrinsic limitations allow a speedup of at most 50. The serial workload may include the task of partitioning the data into packages that can be processed independently. Here the total compute cost required by the serialized version of the algorithm is presumed to be identical to the total compute cost of the parallel algorithm, i.e. coordinating operations such as thread creation or lock acquisitions are presumed to be instantaneous.
The explicit scalability limitations add another contribution, e.g., the creation of threads is not instantaneous. If it is presumed that the scheduling of threads involving a conditional variable and a lock requires 1% of the total cost of the algorithm, then the speedup is limited to 33.3. For example, on an IBM S80 (24 processors, 450 MHz each), the lock transfer between two processors through the load reserve—store conditional primitive requires roughly between 500 and 1000 clock cycles, depending on contention. This cost was determined through a micro benchmark (in assembler) and also within the context of an application using the pthread library. For the experiments, rescheduling of "spinning" threads was disabled to minimize the impact of contact switches. The program ran in the 1:1 thread model (i.e., each thread has its own kernel thread). The compute cost of explicit coordination operations increases the total compute cost of the parallel algorithm compared to the serial algorithm, while potentially reducing the elapsed time due to using multiple processors. In our example, the total compute cost of the parallel program is 101% of the serial execution.
Implicit scalability limitations further increase the total compute cost without being visible in the program. Implicit scalability limitations include, for example, the overhead of coherence traffic. If it is presumed that implicit scalability limitations add another 1% of serial execution, the speedup for our example is already limited to 25.
FIGS. 1A through 1C are plots illustrating results (runtimes) 100 110, and 120, respectively, for a benchmark derived from a practical task, VLSI net building. Net building finds electrically connected components in a very large-scale integration (VLSI) layout. A VLSI design includes multiple so-called cells in which nets are built independently. Additionally, cells interact with each other. The benchmark neglects these interactions to create independent tasks so that parallelism is not influenced by data dependencies of the problem; this minimizes intrinsic scalability limitations. Thus, this benchmark has no significant intrinsic and no significant explicit scalability limitations.
FIG. 1A illustrates the runtimes 100 using 1, 8, 12 and 24 POSIX-threads for different memory managers which all stop to improve for more than 8 processors. The curve 110 is the result using 1, 8, 12 and 24 processes (using fork), and the curve 120 shows the theoretical optimum derived from a sequential run. As the result for multiple processes compared to the theoretical optimum shows, locality and cache capacity are not an issue for this particular workload, although it used a few hundred megabytes (MB) of memory per task (maximum speedup 22.3 with separate processes compared to a theoretical optimum of 24). The limitation of scalability to 8 CPUs or less for multi-threaded execution results in this case predominantly from maintaining cache coherence, an implicit scalability limitation.
A description will now be given regarding typical SMP cache coherence implementations.
Multiple processors with local caches and shared memory are often connected by a shared bus or fabric and use a "snooping" protocol to maintain cache coherence. A processor that writes to a cache line invalidates all other copies of the memory location covered by the altered cache line that reside in other caches. In a snooping protocol the writing processor broadcasts the invalidation on the bus or fabric and all caches including a copy of the affected memory location invalidate it by setting an "invalidation bit".
The access to the shared memory typically uses write serialization based on interconnect fabric atomicity. The same principle is in larger systems applied hierarchically if several central processing units (CPUs) share a cache. In IBM's Power 4 systems, 2 processor cores share a level 2 cache, and groups of processors on a module share a processor bus and a level 3 cache. The modules are connected with an additional level of busses.
Depending on the form of implementation, there are two structural limitations to scalability. A shared bus provides a mechanism for serialization, but the serialization of access to the shared bus is a point of contention. More complex fabrics avoid the single point of contention, but increase the latency of broadcasting operations.
Directory based systems do not broadcast invalidations. The directory (which may be distributed itself) serves as an arbitrator and routes invalidations to nodes that have copies. Here, the latency of broadcasting operations is also a limiting factor.
Current cache consistency/coherence models have two common properties. The time at which a local cache observes an invalidation depends on how fast it is transmitted through the bus or fabric, not directly on program semantics. The instruction set architecture provides a form of synchronizing instruction that establishes a barrier at which all processors have a common opinion on the state of the memory. Such a barrier ensures completion of operations, but does not prevent premature invalidations.

International Business Machines Corporation


A computer implemented method, computer system and computer program product are provided for aspect-based sentiment analysis. According to the method, at least one sentence and at least one aspect are received by one or more processing units. At least one opinion snippet of the at least one sentence is determined based on the at least one sentence and the at least one aspect, through a trained aspect-sentence fusion model, by one or more processing units. A sentiment prediction of the at least one opinion snippet is calculated by one or more processing units for the at least one aspect.

The present invention relates to data processing, and more specifically to opinion snippet detection for aspect-based sentiment analysis.
Aspect-based sentiment analysis (ABSA) is used to predict a sentiment polarity towards a particular aspect in a sentence. The term aspect means attributes or components of a product or service, and this task has been widely addressed by the neural attention mechanism, which computes attention weights to softly select words for generating aspect-specific sentence representations.

Opinion snippet detection for aspect-based sentiment analysis


A method of manufacturing a seamless inflatable ball contains: 1) inflating air into a preformed body so as to form a spherical body and covering a medium layer on the spherical body so as to form a semi-finished part; 2) forming a fluidic surface material on the medium layer of the semi-finished part in a predetermined thickness so as to produce a spherical portion with a covering layer; 3) placing the spherical portion into two ball molds; and 4) partially discharging air out of the spherical body and inflating the air into the spherical body repeatedly. In the step 3), the spherical portion is clamped in the two ball molds, and after the fluidic surface material is dried or is solidified to form a solid layer on the spherical portion, the spherical portion is removed from the two ball molds, thus forming a sphere.

A conventional air inflatable ball contains a spherical body in which air is inflated. The spherical body includes a surface layer made of leather, plastic, rubber or artificial leather. The surface layer is adhered or sewed on the spherical body, thus causing complicated connection. In addition, the surface layer is detachable from the spherical body easily, and water flows into the spherical body through the surface layer easily.
To solve above-mentioned problem, a seamless inflatable ball is developed, wherein a covering layer is connected on the spherical body and is made of plastic, rubber or articular leather in a heat melting manner so as to form a semi-finished body, and the semi-finished body is placed into two ball molds so that the covering layer is connected on the spherical body tightly.
A manufacturing method for a seamless manmade leather ball is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,862,757. The seamless manmade leather ball includes a preformed body in a semi-sphere shape, and the preformed body has a first adhesion sheet and a second adhesion sheet which are fitted on a spherical body, and the spherical body is placed into two ball molds to be shaped, wherein a surface layer is covered on the spherical body. However, a connection gap between the first adhesion sheet and the second adhesion sheet is heated and is pressed so as to form the seamless manmade leather ball. Nevertheless, air cannot be discharged out of the seamless manmade leather ball, and the surface layer is removed from the spherical body easily.
In addition, the gap cannot be eliminated and an outer surface of the seamless manmade leather ball is rough, thus the seamless manmade leather ball cannot roll smoothly.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore-described disadvantages.

Method of manufacturing seamless inflatable ball