A mine roof support comprises a ground engageable base section, a canopy, a shield section pivotally connected at one end to one end of the canopy and at the other end to one or more members connected to the base section, and hydraulic props for raising and lowering the canopy relative to the base section. An opening is provided in the canopy and a door is mounted with respect to the canopy for pivotable movement between a first position in which it closes or substantially closes the opening in the canopy and a second position in which it is inclined downwards away from said one end and towards the other end of the canopy for guiding material which in use falls through the opening towards a conveyor located adjacent to a mine face being worked.

This invention relates to a mine roof support and more particularly to a mine roof support suitable for use in a special way of mining coal, referred to as sub-level caving.
Mine roof supports include a ground engaging base section, a roof engageable canopy and hydraulic prop means for raising and lowering the canopy relative to the base section. Known roof supports for inter alia sub-level caving also include a shield section which is pivotally connected at one end to one end of the canopy and which is pivotally connected at its other end to one or more members, typically links of a lemniscate linkage arrangement, connected to the ground engaging base section. The shield section of known roof supports for sub-level caving is also provided with an opening which is normally closed by a door, but which, when the door is opened at an appropriate moment, is large enough to permit material which has fallen onto the shield section from above (e.g. by caving of a roof or, if necessary, by shot-firing) to pass through the opening into the space below that opening. In early designs of roof support for sub-level caving, the door was slidable relative to the shield section and material falling through the opening in the shield section was customarily removed by a conveyor supported on the ground engageable base section.
The conveyor for removing material falling through the opening was additional to the mine face conveyor and, in an attempt to do away with the need for this additional conveyor, later designs of roof support for sub-level caving utilised a pivotable door which when open served as a chute to guide the material from above the shield section onto the mine face conveyor.
However, it has been found that these roof supports suffer from the drawback that the angle of inclination of the chute is sometimes too small and the material does not pass along the chute.


A lighting device may include a light emitting device and a sidewall extending away from the light emitting device. In addition, a thermally conductive housing may be spaced apart from the sidewall, and a cavity may be defined between the sidewall and the thermally conductive housing. In addition, a lens may be spaced apart from the light emitting device with the sidewall extending away from the light emitting device to the lens to define a mixing chamber adjacent the light emitting device. Moreover, the thermally conductive housing may be outside the mixing chamber, and the sidewall may be reflective.

There is an ongoing effort to develop systems that are more energy efficient. Because a large portion (some estimates are as high as twenty five percent) of electricity generated in the United States is used for lighting, there are ongoing efforts to provide lighting that is more energy efficient. Solid state light emitting devices (e.g., light emitting diodes) are receiving attention because light can be generated more efficiently using solid state light emitting devices than using conventional incandescent or fluorescent light bulbs. Moreover, lifetimes of solid state light emitting devices may be significantly longer than lifetimes of conventional incandescent or fluorescent light bulb.
Conventional light bulbs, however, generally operate using 120 volt AC electrical power provided through an Edison fixture configured to receive an Edison screw fitting provided on conventional light bulbs. Existing buildings are thus generally provided with Edison fixtures in enclosures configured to receive conventional light bulbs, while solid state lighting devices may require DC power. Moreover, performances and lifetimes of solid state lighting devices may be negatively impacted if proper cooling is not provided, and space provided by conventional fixtures (e.g., lighting cans) for conventional light bulbs may not easily accommodate cooling structures typically provided for solid state lighting devices.
Accordingly, there continues to exist a need in the art for more efficient lighting devices that are compatible with existing AC lighting fixtures.

Lighting devices including thermally conductive housings and related structures


Methods and systems are provided for measuring a thickness of an object. A first portion of a device is positioned on a first side of the object, and a second portion of the device is positioned on an opposite side of the object. The first portion includes at least one first mount and at least one eddy current sensor coupled to the first mount. The second portion includes at least one second mount and at least one target coupled to the second mount. The first mount is magnetically coupled to the second mount such that the eddy current sensor is oriented to interact with the target to enable the thickness of the object to be measured.

The present disclosure relates generally to measurement systems and, more particularly, to methods and systems for use in measuring a thickness of a structure when only limited access is available on a side of the structure being measured.
It is common during a manufacturing process to inspect objects to determine whether the object meets desired design and/or product specifications. For example, a wall of a structure being manufactured may be measured for its thickness. However, depending on the physical constraints of the structure and/or the tool conducting the measurement, accurately measuring the thickness of the wall may be difficult and/or time consuming. For example, there may be limited access to one side of the wall. Moreover, the wall may have varying thicknesses and/or other anomalies.

Method and system for measuring the thickness of an object


A latchably closable horticultural capsule is configured to contain a growing medium, and to be temporarily closed around a branch section of a parent plant during an air-layering propagation process. The capsule includes a first shell portion and a second shell portion pivotally joined together by a central hinge. The first shell portion includes a main shell body having a cup-like shape configured to partially surround the branch section, the main shell body having opposed end walls with notches formed therein. The first shell portion also includes two seal-receiving cups externally attached to the end walls of the main shell body. The seal-receiving cups have hollow notches formed in respective edge portions thereof, and are also configured to partially surround the branch section. The notches of the seal-receiving cups are substantially linearly aligned with one another, and also with the notches of the main shell body.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a horticultural propagation capsule configured to contain a growing medium, and to be temporarily closed around a branch section of a parent plant and left in place during an air-layering propagation process. In addition, the present invention relates to a kit containing the horticultural propagation capsule, and to a method of using the capsule to generate a separate, viable progeny plant from and established parent plant.
Background Art
Plants can be propagated in many ways, but one known and time-tested method is called "air layering." Traditionally, about one inch of bark or phloem of a stem or branch is removed, to expose living tissue underneath, while the remainder of the bark is left attached to the main plant. The bark-stripped area of the branch is then covered with a suitable growing medium such as soil or moist peat moss, and is then wrapped with cloth, tape, or another medium to hold the soil and the moisture in place against the plant stem. Rooting hormone may be mixed into the growing medium.
After a suitable period of time, which may be days or weeks, roots will start to grow out of the covered, bark-stripped area of the plant, until there are sufficient roots that the branch can be cut from the main plant and then transplanted into the ground as a separate, viable plant.

Horticultural propagation capsule and kit containing same


The technology relates to a system for clearing a sensor cover. The system may comprise a wiper comprising a wiper support, a wiper blade, and a sensor cover. The wiper blade may be configured to clear the sensor cover of debris, and the sensor cover may be configured to house one or more sensors. A wiper motor may rotate the wiper and a sensor motor may rotate the sensor cover. The system wiper blade may comprise a first edge attached to the wiper support and a second edge which may be configured to be in contact with the sensor cover. The wiper blade may extend in a corkscrew shape around the wiper support. The wiper motor may be configured to rotate the wiper in a first direction and the sensor motor may be configured to rotate the sensor cover in a second direction opposite the first direction.

Vehicles are often subjected to environmental elements such as rain, snow, dirt, etc. Such environmental elements may cause a buildup of debris and contaminants on components of the vehicles, such as on sensors of the vehicle. The vehicle sensors may each include a cover to protect the internal sensor components from the debris and contaminants, but the cover itself may become dirty over time. As such, the functions of the internal sensor components may be impeded as signals transmitted and received by the internal sensor components may be blocked by the debris and contaminants.


In various embodiments, a method for determining whether a signal includes a wanted signal may be provided. The method may include determining a frequency at which the signal has a signal energy above a first pre-defined signal energy threshold and determining whether the signal includes a wanted signal, based on whether the signal has a signal energy above a second pre-defined signal energy threshold in a pre-defined frequency range in a frequency neighborhood of the determined frequency.

In various applications, it may be desired to know whether a signal includes a wanted signal. For example, when it is determined that a received signal does not include a wanted signal, it may be judged that the resources (for example frequencies, time slots, codes), which do not include a wanted signal, may be used for data transmission. This may lead to an efficient usage of the resources available.

Methods for determining whether a signal includes a wanted signal and apparatuses configured to determine whether a signal includes a wanted signal

Agency for Science, Technology and Research


A method for producing a bio-coal includes the following steps:                (a) lowering the moisture content of a fiber residue obtained after oil extraction of oil palm fruit to less than 25%;        (b) after step (a), cutting the fiber residue;        (c) after step (b), pelletizing the fiber residue into short-fiber pellets;        (d) drying the short-fiber pellets to reduce the moisture content of the short-fiber pellets to below 10%; and        (e) after step (d), carbonizing the short-fiber pellets at a temperature below 300° C.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method for producing a fuel coal, more particularly to a method for producing a bio-coal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Nowadays, large amounts of fuel coal are being consumed by power generation boilers in steel mills and certain large factories. However, combustion of fuel coal causes global warming owing to massive emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. With the rising concerns over environmental issues, replacing fossil fuels with green energy and therefore reducing carbon dioxide emission has become an important topic.
A common type of green energy is biomass. Plants and cash crops, such as miscanthus, willow, millet, hemp, corn, sugarcane, palm tree, and the like, are transformed into fuels. The simplest way is, for example, direct combustion of the biomass to obtain thermal energy. Plants absorb and transform carbon dioxide into organic substances. The organic substances are released back to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide after the plants are oxidized (for example, combusted). Therefore, by using biomass as fuel, carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere can be balanced which is helpful for reducing the greenhouse effect. Moreover, this absorption and release of carbon oxide is a rather faster cycle. Also, the plants as fuel can be grown rapidly and repeatedly.
However, energy released during combustion of untreated plant fiber is less than energy released during combustion of fossil fuels. The energy contained in a substance is defined as calorific value which has a unit of energy per unit mass, such as cal/g. The untreated plant fiber also tends to rot after absorbing moisture in the atmosphere which makes it inconvenient to store and transport.
There remains a need for developing a technique for mass transformation of plant fiber into bio-coal.
Palm tree is a kind of high value cash crop being extensively planted in Southeast Asia where a large number of oil palms are grown. Fruits and kernels in the oil palms have rich oil content. Oil is extracted from the oil palms and then is processed into well-known palm oil. Fiber residue of extracted palm fruits is usually discarded or used as ash fertilizer after combustion, and thus has less utility value.
Therefore, this invention provides a method for producing a bio-coal from the widely available fiber reside of oil palm fruit. The bio-coal is able to satisfy the need for extensive fuel supplement in power generation boilers of large factories.


A subframe for a vehicle, which comprises a first and second longitudinal member, wherein the longitudinal members extend in a longitudinal direction (x) and are relatively offset in a transverse direction (y) of the subframe, a transverse front member connectable to the first and second longitudinal member at a front section of the subframe, a transverse rear member connectable to the first and second longitudinal member at a rear section of the subframe.

A subframe, which is connectable to vehicle bodies, such as passenger car bodies, is a well-known automotive component. Commonly a subframe is made by connecting different parts to thereby form a subframe structure, which may be square formed and enclose an opening. The subframe may carry different parts of the vehicle, such as an internal combustion engine.
Due to the rapid development pace in the automotive industry, where pure electrical and hybrid vehicles are becoming more common, new design needs and requirements arise. For example, reduction of weight of the different parts in the vehicle is important. However, weight reduction must not compromise with the strict safety requirements.
One example of a known subframe may be found in US 2015/0298741 A1, which discloses a subframe built by different parts, where some are extruded parts and the corner nodes are casted parts.


In a free-ink type collector writing instrument, a collector (5) is formed with a passage hole (10) for providing commutation between the interior and the outside air so as to prevent the point assembly from being affected by the variation in inner pressure upon freezing or upon increase or decrease in pressure. At the same time, the passage hole is constructed in a shape so as not to present a stronger capillary attraction than that of an air/liquid exchanger (9) and than that of an ink feeder portion (3,6), whereby the problem of exudation leakage over time can be prevented.

The present invention is directed to improvement of free-ink collector type writing instruments, such as ball-point pens, felt tip pens, fountain pens and the like, having a writing tip as a writing element at the front end thereof, an ink tank for directly storing ink and a collector as a regulator for regulating the inner pressure by making use of capillary effect. In particular, the present invention relates to improvement against the problem of ink leakage from the writing tip due to frozen ink in freezing cold and while in use on an airplane and against the problem of natural ink flow-out.
There have been conventionally known writing instruments which have a collector between the point assembly and the ink tank for the purpose of keeping free-state ink by regulating the pressure inside the ink tank so as to prevent ink leakage from the writing tip and ink flooding through the air vent. The collector type writing instruments delivers an ample amount of ink equivalent to or greater than the initial state of sliver-type writing instruments, and have the advantages in that thick drawn lines can be drawn with little writing pressure without any gradual reduction in ink delivery until ink exhaustion, the ability to load an ample amount of ink, the ability of monitoring the remaining amount of free ink and other features.
However, the collector type writing instrument has the drawback that it has to be designed taking into consideration the problem of ink flooding, which might occur when increase and reduction in air pressure resulting from variations in temperature and pressure and change in height repeatedly occur. Conventionally, collector type writing instruments have been considered to be almost perfect if they can be used from room temperature about 20xc2x0 C. to 50xc2x0 C., which is the conceivable maximum temperature of the air. However, the problem of forward leakage, i.e., ink leakage from the pen tip, resulting from sharp increase and decrease in pressure when the pen is used on an airplane or resulting from a volume expansion occurring due to frozen ink under a storage environment in winter, e.g., xe2x88x9220xc2x0 C. in arctic areas such as Northern Europe, Canada and the like, has come to be known.
This forward leakage problem due to freezing has, conventionally, been handled by increasing the amount of an antifreeze solution to the ink or by using special elements such as a tip rubber seal for the writing tip. Attempts to solve the problem with ink, in most cases, result in adverse influences on safety, drying performance of drawn lines, ink stability and the like. On the other hand, the attempt to solve the problem with a rubber seal, not only increases the parts cost and assembly cost but also causes a problem of the tip being constantly stained with ink by the rubber seal.
In order to solve this forward leakage problem, the applicant hereof has already proposed an invention disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Hei 11 No. 334276 and others. In this invention, the forward leakage problem from the writing tip is solved by leading ink which is pushed out by volume expansion due to frozen ink at a temperature below 0xc2x0 C. or sharp increase in temperature, from the collector interior to the collector exterior.
A collector type writing instrument is configured so that ink inside the ink tank is put into contact with an air exchanger hence the air exchanger is wetted with ink and the interior is isolated from the outside air other than at the air exchanger whereby ink or air is exchanged only through the air exchanger which presents a strong enough capillary attraction. Thus, the collector type writing instrument is a writing instrument using the mechanism that the meniscus created by the strong capillary attraction from the air exchanger, in effect, reduces the pressure inside the ink tank so that no ink will flow out from the tip of the point assembly when the tip is down.
As already mentioned in the preceding application, there has been known a defect. That is, once ink components leak out from the writing tip because of volume expansion due to freezing, they will never return from the writing tip after thawing, and are left as they have been spilt. Further, it was found that this freezing problem could be solved by providing a passage hole in the collector.
However, the preceding application only provides a simple passage hole, so that the following problems occur. That is, when the writing instrument is used under a high temperature high humidity environment or when the writing instrument has been left on a pen holder over long time with its pen tip down, ink oozes out from the passage hole over the passage of time, staining its appearance, or in the worst case, the collector retaining grooves below the passage hole alone are filled up with ink, causing ink to flood out through the air hole. There is also an exudation problem that ink spontaneously oozes and spreads out through the passage hole from the internal ink feed such as an pen core as an ink feeder portion.
Further, it was also found that when the writing instrument is used under a condition in which a sharp change in pressure occurs such as on an airplane, the pressure on the ink tank side acts on the ink and causes the ink to directly flood out in rush through both the air/liquid exchanger and passage hole, whereby ink flows out without making efficient use of the collector""s surplus ink retaining function.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to make improvement of collector type writing instruments of a popular type. That is, it is an object to meet the demands for improvement of writing instruments in their accident prevention capabilities such as prevention against ink leakage caused by increase and decrease in the inner pressure of the ink tank resulting from change in temperature and change in air pressure and the like, prevention against ink flooding and forward leakage when they are stored at shops for long time and prevention against ink leakage due to freezing, to avoid crucial accidents such as pollution of consumer""s clothes and to solve the above problems without degrading the excellent writing performance of the conventional collector type writing instruments without increase in cost.
The collector type writing instrument of the present invention to attain the above object is comprised of an ink feeder portion using the capillary attraction of an ink feed core (center core, collector core, collector itself with a slit, or the like) for assuring the flow path of ink from an ink tank to a writing point and a collector disposed between the ink tank of a cup-like shape having a bottom and the writing point for regulating the inner pressure by holding surplus ink utilizing capillary effect, and the examples include ball-point pens, felt-pens in which an ink feed core itself serves as a writing point, markers, fountain pens, small-tube writing instruments and the like.
In general, the collector has a vent portion connected to the outside air, a collector air groove and an air/liquid exchanger capable of allowing ink and air to move between the collector and the ink tank and capable of holding ink by a capillary attraction and is constructed so that air will not enter the ink tank except through the air/liquid exchanger by wetting the collector air/liquid exchanger. A typical collector is composed of a long narrow ink groove and a plurality of vanes radially arranged at appropriate intervals forming gaps or retaining grooves therebetween, so as to provide the function of regulating the inner pressure inside the writing instrument body by allowing ink to move into and out of the retaining grooves. Other than the above, a sliver made up of a fiber bundle, sponge may be used as a collector by subjecting it to an appropriate wettability adjusting treatment.
The first effective means of the present invention is characterized in that a passage hole is formed from the outer side surface of the collector toward the inner hollow of the collector, the passage hole being formed so as to present a smaller capillary attraction than that of the air/liquid exchanger and that of the feeder portion such as a center core. Simply, this configuration is constructed so that no ink will be drawn out from the collector inner hollow toward the outer side surface.
The reason why the capillary attraction of the passage hole is set to be smaller than that of the air/liquid exchanger is that if the capillary attraction of the passage hole is greater, ink is liable to move through the air/liquid exchanger when a sharp increase or decrease in pressure inside the ink tank occurs, hence the passage hole cannot be used efficiently, which easily leads to occurrence of ink flooding, ink leakage and other deficiencies. Reduction of the capillary attraction of the passage hole smaller than that of the feeder portion can be performed by enlargement of the passage hole, elimination of acute portions from the corners of the passage hole, elimination of grooves and projections in the interior wall of the passage hole and other methods.
Next, the effective means for supporting the first means will be itemized hereinbelow. The second effective means is characterized in that, in addition to the above means, the passage hole presents a smaller capillary attraction on the outer surface side of the collector than that on the inner surface side. Illustratively, the passage hole is constructed in a tapered configuration in which the bore diameter becomes greater from the inner side of the collector (on the inner hollow side) toward the outer side (outer side surface) or by making the curvature R of the corners on the inner side greater than that on the outer side.
The third effective means is characterized in that the collector is comprised of a plurality of vanes defining retaining grooves capable of holding surplus ink, and the passage hole is formed at one retaining groove located at a position more rearwards and closer to the ink tank side than the front most retaining groove (preferably at a retaining groove located more rearwards, by skipping one or more grooves, from the front most one to the ink tank side).
The fourth effective means is characterized in that a clearance presenting a capillary attraction smaller than that of the air/liquid exchanger and greater than that of the passage hole is formed around the passage opening on the inner hollow side, between the collector inner wall and the feeder portion. In the case where the collector inner hollow incorporating the feeder portion is comprised of a small-diametric portion and a large-diametric portion located on the tip side, more frontward than the small-diametric portion, the following relationship between the strengths of capillary action can be created: (air/liquid exchanger) greater than (gap at the small-diametric portion) greater than (gap at the large-diametric portion) greater than (passage hole).
The fifth effective means is characterized in that the surface of the passage hole is formed so as to present less wettability with ink than the other part of the collector, by providing a different surface roughness, a different surface treatment or construction with a different material, from that of the other part of the collector. This configuration also provides the function of preventing ink leakage, similarly to the above configurations.
The transparent or translucent ink tank made up of synthetic resin for directly holding ink has the collector press-fitted therein so that ink will not leak out. The ink should contain 40% or more water or solvent as its base and have a relatively low viscosity of 2 to 100 mpaxc2x7s at normal temperature. There are different types of ink: dye ink which can be dissolved in the main solvent; and pigment ink in which as water resistant, light stable coloring agents, pigments such as carbon black, pseudo-organic pigments such as color-coated resin powders, aluminum or other metal powders, inorganic substances such as titanium oxide, mica, or glass fragments and the like, are dispersed. Ink which has been used in the conventional collector type writing instruments can be used. Ink is not particularly limited in the present invention, but ink which is based on an organic solvent such as alcohols, xylene, etc., can also be used for the present invention as long as it can provide the function of a collector type writing instrument.


A socket is provided that is configured to be secured to a surface of a host circuit board by solder using a solder reflow process. The solder reflow process that is used for this purpose may be the same solder reflow process that is used to make electrical connections between the array of electrical contacts disposed on the lower surface of the socket and the array of electrical contacts disposed on the upper surface of the host CB. Because the solder reflow process is an automated process, the process of securing the socket to the surface of the host CB does not have to be performed manually, but can be performed automatically as part of a typical automated surface mount technology (SMT) process of the type that is typically used to mount components on a PCB.

A parallel optical communications module is a module having multiple transmit (TX) channels, multiple receive (RX) channels, or both. A parallel optical transceiver module is an optical communications module that has multiple TX channels and multiple RX channels in the TX and RX portions, respectively, of the transceiver. A parallel optical transmitter module is an optical communications module that has multiple TX channels, but no RX channels. A parallel optical receiver module is an optical communications module that has multiple RX channels, but no TX channels.
The TX portion of a parallel optical communications module comprises components for generating modulated optical signals, which are then transmitted over multiple optical fibers. The TX portion includes a laser driver circuit and a plurality of laser diodes. The laser driver circuit outputs electrical signals to the laser diodes to modulate them. When the laser diodes are modulated, they output optical signals that have power levels corresponding to logic 1s and logic 0s. An optics system of the transceiver module focuses the optical signals produced by the laser diodes into the ends of respective transmit optical fibers held within a connector that mates with the transceiver module.
The RX portion of a parallel optical communications module includes a plurality of receive photodiodes that receive incoming optical signals output from the ends of respective receive optical fibers held in the connector. The optics system of the transceiver module focuses the light that is output from the ends of the receive optical fibers onto the respective receive photodiodes. The receive photodiodes convert the incoming optical signals into electrical analog signals. An electrical detection circuit, such as a transimpedance amplifier (TIA), receives the electrical signals produced by the receive photodiodes and outputs corresponding amplified electrical signals, which are processed in the RX portion to recover the data.
A mid-plane mounting configuration for a parallel optical communications module is one in which the module is mounted on the surface of a host printed circuit board (PCB). A typical mid-plane mounting configuration includes a socket that is mounted on the host PCB and a parallel optical communications module that is mounted in the socket. The socket has a bottom and typically has side walls. Arrays of electrical contacts are disposed on upper and lower surfaces of the bottom of the socket. The parallel optical communications module has an array of electrical contacts disposed on its lower surface that electrically connects with the array of electrical contacts disposed on the upper surface of the socket when the module is mounted on the socket. A well known type of socket that is used for this purpose is a mezzanine-type socket, which is a molded plastic receptacle having an array of electrically-conductive balls, known as a ball grid array (BGA), disposed on its lower surface, and having an array of electrically-conductive spring fingers disposed on its upper surface. Other types of sockets have similar designs. Some sockets have a land grid array (LGA) instead of a BGA on their lower and/or upper surfaces.
The socket is typically secured to the surface of the host PCB by drilling holes through the host PCB and inserting fastening devices (e.g., screws) through the holes formed in the host PCB and through holes formed in the socket to fasten the socket to the host PCB. After the socket has been secured to the host PCB, the optical communications module is mounted on the socket such that the array of electrical contacts disposed on the lower surface of the module is electrically connected to the array of electrical contacts disposed on the upper surface of the bottom of the socket. Securing the socket to the host PCB in this manner reduces mechanical shocks and vibrations to the module that could otherwise damage the module or detrimentally affect its performance due to loss of connectivity between socket and module.
One of the problems associated with securing the socket to the host PCB in this manner is that electrical conductors of the host PCB cannot be routed through the locations where the holes have been drilled in the host PCB. This presents challenges when it comes to designing the routes of the host PCB. Another problem that is caused by drilling holes in the host PCB is that the processes of drilling the holes and using fastening devices to secure the socket to the host PCB are manual processes that are very time consuming and not well suited for automation.
Accordingly, a need exists for a method and apparatus for mid-plane mounting a parallel optical communications module on a host PCB that eliminate the need to drill holes in the host PCB and that allow the module to be secured to the host PCB without having to manually install fastening devices.

Methods, apparatuses and systems for mid-plane mounting parallel optical communications modules on circuit boards

Avago Technologies General IP (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.


A post assembly for a coaxial cable connector comprises, in one embodiment, a post configured to be coupled to a conductor of the coaxial cable. The post assembly has a post extender disposed between the post and an interface port, and a spring configured to urge the post extender toward the interface port.

Connectors for coaxial cables typically connect complementary interface ports to electrically integrate coaxial cables to various electronic devices. It is desirable to maintain electrical continuity through a coaxial cable connector to prevent radio frequency (RF) leakage and ensure a stable ground connection. A connector typically employs a threaded nut to effect the requisite electrical connection between a grounded post and a threaded interface port. More specifically, as the threaded nut is torqued/tightened onto the threads of the port, the face surfaces of the post and port are brought into abutting contact to establish and maintain electrical continuity.
Oftentimes, due to user failure or periodic forces or movement directed toward the connector, the threaded nut backs away from the port, resulting in RF leakage and signal interference. In designs which use the threaded nut as a ground path, either in addition to or in lieu of the ground path created by contact between the post and port, the nut can inadvertently create a path for the ingress or egress of RF energy. When the nut is not fully tightened onto the port, an impedance mismatch can occur adversely affecting signal performance. As a consequence, the nut that is not fully tightened onto the port, poses a problem for maintaining RF signal performance and electrical continuity between the interface port and the post.
Therefore, there is a need to overcome, or otherwise lessen the effects of, the disadvantages and shortcomings described above.

Post assembly for coaxial cable connectors


The application relates to a sample holder (110) and a system (100). The application also relates to a method for processing a biological sample (S) and use of the sample holder or of the system in an analytical method or a diagnostic method. The sample holder (110) comprises a tubular member (111) with a wall that is at least locally transparent and at least locally permeable for reagents, wherein the tubular member consists at least partially of a transparent material.

Biological samples such as a tissue biopsy are typically prepared by embedding the sample in paraffin, cutting slices thereof, and disposing these on a microscope slide. As this procedure is time consuming and laborious, an alternative approach has been proposed in literature in which the sample is transferred from a biopsy to a microscope slide with the help of an adhesive on the slide (D. L. Troyer et al., "A Novel Method for Preparing Histology Slides Without a Microtome", Anat. Histol. Embryol. 31, 129-131, 2002).
JP 2006 047191 A discloses a sample container being made up of a straw-like capillary which has an uniform outside diameter, and whose one or both aperture edges are closed by using a pressure bonding process, for improving its handlability and appropriately and reproducibly carrying out the cooling process for cryopreservations.
GB 2 289 222 A discloses a device for collecting flatus gas from a human or animal subject, the device comprising a gas-tight collecting tube for insertion into the rectum of the subject and retaining means comprising a pair of O rings locatable in the subject's inter-sphincter groove, for retaining the device in the subject with the O rings, providing a gas-tight seal. The end of the tube inserted into the subject is apertured and covered with a gauze filter to prevent the ingress of solid matter. This end of the collection tube is also covered with a gas permeable bladder with the distal end of the tube being connected to a gas-tight collecting bag.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,919,356 A discloses a portable device for sampling fluid. The device has a puncture device attached to a housing which has an interior and exterior wall. The housing is in fluid communication with the syringe and contains a filtration device comprised of at least one U-shaped hollow fiber membrane. The device also includes a collection chamber. Also in the device is a sensing device including a further hollow fiber membrane, the first and second ends each connected to a first and second plug. Each of the plugs contacts the interior wall of the housing. The further hollow fiber membrane contains a sensing agent. The device is arranged so that a sample is collected through the puncture device and is passed through the filtration device where is it passed through the one or more U-shaped hollow fiber membrane to the collection chamber. From the collection chamber it is passed through the hollow fiber membrane which contains the sensing agent device before being passed to a syringe.
US 2007/0163942 A1 discloses a hollow fiber membrane module comprising a large number of hollow fiber membranes contained in a cylindrical case, wherein one end of each hollow fiber membrane, which is left open, is fixed to the cylindrical case, while the other ends of the hollow fiber membranes are divided into more than one small bundles, with the ends, contained in separate small bundles, being kept together and plugged.
US 2008/0070295 A1 discloses a flask for preparing a fixer-based cytological suspension. The flask is equipped with a filtering element at least partly immersed in the suspension. The filtering element is in the form of a basket-forming filtering material web, whereof the periphery is fixed on the flask and whereof the center is connected to a tube, extending towards the opening of the flask, associated with a position-maintaining element in the flask and adapted to allow through a pipette for drawing the suspension.


A method and apparatus are provided for adaptively and predictively determining probabilities of occurrence for each symbol of a finite alphabet within a symbol string. A plurality of intervals are defined over a portion of the symbol string. As successive new symbols are added to the string, they enter the intervals, and old symbols pass out of the intervals. A probability for each symbol of the alphabet is maintained and updated by the following process. For each new symbol which enters the intervals, it is determined whether the new symbol is a given character of the alphabet, and whether each old symbol leaving each interval is the given character. Accordingly, the number of occurrences of the given character within each interval may change. A probability update value is determined, having a component from each interval determined by whether the number of occurrences of the given character in that interval changed. Preferably the update value is a binary number having a bit position corresponding to each interval. The probability of occurrence of the given symbol is updated using the probability update value.

Numerous techniques and systems have been developed for improving the efficiency of data storage or transmission of data between remote points. Data often comprises a string of coded symbols from a predetermined symbol set, referred to by the term "alphabet". A well-known example is the American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII), which codes alphanumerics, punctuation marks, and various special command characters, in terms of binary values. Of course, any other symbol set, which could include numerals, punctuation or diacritical marks, or binary or other representations thereof, fall within the scope of the present subject matter. The term "alphabet" will be used in its broadest sense, to cover any such symbol set.
Some types of symbols, such as ASCII symbols, are all of equal length, In a character based data communications environment, however, not all possible characters appear with equal frequency. It is known to be inefficient to assign codes of equal length to all characters (like ASCII codes), regardless of their frequency of occurrence. To improve efficiency, various data compression schemes have been used. These schemes generally encode symbols with codes whose bit lengths increase, in a general sense, as the probability of occurrence of the symbol decreases.
Such a technique of data compression or encoding is referred to as "entropy encoding". In entropy encoding, more probable events are represented by codewords characterized by a relatively small number of bits, whereas less probable events are represented by a relatively large number of bits. The correct assignment of codeword lengths is dictated by information theory concepts, and is based on the estimated probability of occurrence of the events. The better the probability estimate, the more efficient the codeword length assignment, and the better the compression.
It would be possible to calculate a frequency-of-occurrence distribution by accumulating a quantity of data, calculating overall probabilities for each symbol in the data, and encoding the data in bulk before transmission. However, it is preferable that the probability of occurrence of a symbol of an alphabet in a symbol stream be predicted causally, i.e., based on occurrences of symbols prior to the symbol to be encoded, but not on occurrences of symbols subsequent to the symbol to be encoded. This is because coded symbols are decoded as they are received. At the time of arrival of a given coded symbol, only the previously received coded symbols are available to the receiver.
Generally, the probability of an event or occurrence is initially determined as an estimate from previous data or an initial estimate based on intuition, mathematics, assumptions, statistics collections, or the like. The predictive value of the initial estimate is then measured by subsequently occurring events.
In some prior technology, probabilities of occurrence for the symbols are determined before data processing, and then remain fixed. Data are encoded in accordance with these fixed probabilities. These systems have the drawback that results obtained are based on probability values which generally do not reflect the actual rates of occurrence of the characters, since these rates vary with the positions in the data stream of the characters. As a consequence, the data stream is not coded with optimal efficiency.
One prior art data compression system relies on the frequency of a symbol occurrence in both an encoding and decoding device. In Kenemuth, U.S. Pat. No. 4,516,246, "Data Compression System", a series of characters in a data stream are encoded in compressed form by using a histogram of a sample of a symbol stream to determine the frequency of symbols in the stream. The method is adaptive, inasmuch as the frequency, or histogram, is reevaluated upon the arrival of a new symbol. However, this method has a shortcoming that encoding is based on a frequency distribution within a past interval of fixed size. This limits the sensitivity to symbol trends or tendencies.
Other prior art adaptive data compression systems rely on an adaptation of the rate probability estimation. In Duttweiler, U.S. Pat. No. 5,028,258, "Adaptive Probability Estimator for Entropy Encoding/Decoding", more accurate estimation of probability estimates are obtained by controllably adjusting the adaptation rate of the probability estimator. That is, an adaptation rate is optimized by matching it to the actual probability values being estimated. In particular, the adaptation rate is optimized to be proportional to the inverse of the smallest probability value being estimated. This method is also adaptive to the extent that the probability estimation of the lag symbol occurrences is variable. However, since the probability estimations are based on the relative frequencies of past symbol occurrences, but not on their distribution over time, actual trends in symbol occurrence frequency may still not be anticipated.
In the related Chamzas et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,023,611, "Entropy Encoder/Decoder Including a Context Extractor", more accurate estimation of probability estimates are obtained by adjusting the configuration of the interval of a context extractor used to define the context of symbols. While this method improves on the fixed-interval method, it must necessarily ignore the effects of the non-chosen intervals at each point in time.
Therefore, to overcome the drawbacks of the conventional techniques described above, a data compression technique for use in a data communications environment should preferably weight the occurrences of the symbols so that trends in symbol occurrences are taken into account in calculating probabilities, preferably giving heavier weight to occurrences in the more recent past. Such a technique should be able to efficiently compute the best code assignments for all possible symbols based upon the distribution of symbols which have already been transmitted. It should be able to detect changes in the frequency distribution of symbols in a symbol stream and adapt its encoding scheme accordingly.

Adaptive computation of symbol probabilities in n-ary strings

International Business Machines Corporation


A reusable security tag is provided which is reversibly operable in a first magnetic condition to trigger a detector when the tag is within communication range of the detector, and a second magnetic condition in which the detector is not triggered when the tag is within communication range of the detector. The tag includes an optical indicator which has a first optical characteristic when the tag is in the first magnetic condition, and a second optical characteristic when the tag is in the second magnetic condition.

The invention relates to methods and apparatus for theft deterrence. More particularly, the invention relates to article surveillance techniques and systems.
Article surveillance systems are known in the art. Theft from retail establishments is a major problem, and article surveillance systems attempt to address this problem. To control theft, tags are secured to merchandise, and these tags must be removed or deactivated prior to removal of merchandise from a store or controlled area. If a tag is not removed or deactivated before merchandise is removed, detection equipment or a sensor near an exit will detect the tag and trigger an alarm and/or cause doors past the sensor to become locked.
Various designs of article surveillance systems are known in the art. The tag may include, for example, an electrical circuit which is designed to be resonant at a particular frequency, and the detection equipment may include, for example, two antennas. One of the antennas radiates electrical signals in a band of frequencies that includes the resonant frequency of the tag. The other antenna is tuned to receive signals. Antenna pairs (also known as pedestals) can be positioned to bracket a path or exit such that the only way for a person to exit out of a store or leave a secured area requires passing in between the two antennas. One such antenna pair is described in greater detail in U.S. Pat. No. 6,061,552 to Cerasini et al., which is incorporated herein by reference.
Some tags are permanently deactivatable by applying excessive energy to a resonant circuitry. The excess energy causes a resonant circuit to become deactivated by, for example, causing normally non-conductive material to become conductive. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,006,856 to Benge et al., which is incorporated herein by reference. Various designs for devices for deactivating tags are described in the following U.S. patents which are incorporated herein by reference: U.S. Pat. No. 5,949,318 to Copeland et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,990,794 to Alicot et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,011,474 to Coffey et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,061,552 to Cerasini et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,281,796 to Canipe et al.
Some tags are capable of being reactivated after being deactivated (e.g., they are reusable). These designs typically involve use of magnetic principles. Attention is directed to the following U.S. patents which relate generally to anti-theft tags, deactivation devices, and pedestals and which are incorporated herein by reference: U.S. Pat. No. 3,895,368 to Gordon et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 3,995,900 to Humble et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,063,229 to Welsh et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,510,489 to Anderson et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,660,025 to Humphrey; U.S. Pat. No. 4,686,516 to Humphrey; U.S. Pat. No. 5,313,192 to Ho et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,495,230 to Lian; U.S. Pat. No. 5,729,200 to Copeland et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,942,978 to Shafer; U.S. Pat. No. 5,955,951 to Wischerop et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,963,173 to Lian et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,307,474 to Lian et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,320,507 to Strzelec et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,339,378 to Seidel; U.S. Pat. No. 6,351,216 to Frederick et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,352,606 to DiMarco et al.
Attention is also directed to an article titled xe2x80x9cAntishoplifting Labels,xe2x80x9d by Joseph Ryan, Jr., appearing in the Working Knowledge column of Scientific American magazine, May 1997 issue, page 120. This article describes an antishoplifting system that includes a pedestal that brackets a store entrance or checkout aisle and contains a unit that transmits low radio frequency pulses; e.g., 58 kHz. The system further includes a product label including a resonator configured to vibrate at a frequency identical to the transmitted frequency; e.g., 58 kHz, when passed through the pedestal. The product label includes a magnetized strip adjacent to the resonator to ensure that the oscillations of the resonator remain precisely at the transmitted frequency; e.g., 58 kHz. A deactivation device can turn off a label when merchandise is paid for by demagnetizing the strip or altering its magnetic properties such that the resonator either will not vibrate or will do so at a frequency different from the transmitted frequency. A receiver inside one of the pedestal arms turns on between each transmitted pulse (e.g., during an 11 millisecond interval between each transmitted pulse) so that it can pick up the identical signal emitted by the label. If it receives a signal at least four times, an alarm is triggered.
Surveillance tags bearing coded indicia such as bar codes are known in the art. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,979,758 to Swartz et al., which is incorporated herein by reference.
The invention provides a reusable security tag, which is reversibly operable in a first magnetic condition, to trigger a detector when the tag is within communication range of the detector, and a second magnetic condition, in which the detector is not triggered when the tag is within communication range of the detector. The tag includes an optical indicator which has a first optical characteristic when the tag is in the first magnetic condition, and a second optical characteristic when the tag is in the second magnetic condition.
One aspect of the invention includes a surveillance system comprising a tag selectively switchable between an active state and an inactive state, the tag including an optical indicator configured to provide an optical indication of whether the tag is in the active state or the inactive state; a first antenna; a second antenna; a transmitter coupled to the first antenna and configured to transmit energy having a predetermined characteristic in an area between the first and second antennas, the tag providing a predetermined detectable output in response to the energy from the transmitter if the tag is in the active state; and a receiver coupled to the second antenna and configured to provide an alarm signal in response to detecting the detectable output of the tag in the area.

Security tags with a reversible optical indicator

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


The present invention addresses method, apparatus and computer program product for stabilization of the direct learning algorithm for wideband signals. Thereby, a signal to be amplified is input to a pre-distorter provided for compensating for non-linearity of the power amplifier, and the pre-distorted output signal from the pre-distorter is forwarded to the power amplifier. Parameters of the pre-distorter are adapted based on an error between the linearized signal output from the power amplifier and the signal to be amplified using an adaptive direct learning algorithm, and the linear system of equations formed by the direct learning algorithm are solved using a conjugate gradient algorithm, wherein, once per direct learning algorithm adaptation, at least one of the initial residual and the initial direction of the conjugate gradient algorithm are set based on the result of the previous adaptation.

In wireless mobile communication a wideband mobile communication system using complex modulation techniques is known, wherein such technologies often require linear power amplifiers PA for its radio frequency RF transmissions. However, in general, low power consumption is aspired for mobile systems. Therefore, a power amplifier may be operated at compressed regions.
In general, a power amplifier and an associated low power analog transmitter in radio devices behave non-linearly when operated at compressed regions. Since non-linearity may cause severe problems in regard of control of the system, it is expedient to eliminate or at least abate the non-linearity thereof. One possible approach that solves the non-linearity issue is to conduct a considerable back off, so that the operation region becomes linear. However, this is very inefficient and does not yield desired power savings.
Further, digital baseband pre-distortion has been recognized as a cost effective technique for linearizing power amplifiers PA. According to this technique, the PA input signal is distorted by a pre-distortion means whose characteristics are basically the inverse of those of the amplifier. That is, a Digital Pre-Distortion DPD algorithm applying orthogonal polynomials used for control in radio devices that allows the RF signal to operate in the compression region is known. Operating in compressive regions enables power savings due to increased efficiency. However, operating in such regions will also increase the inter modulation IM products. However, Increase of IM products in general violates the 3GPP specifications.
Thus, the primary role of the DPD algorithm is to reduce the IM products, so that the radio device can operate efficiently in compliance with the 3GPP specifications.
In general, there are two broad categories of DPD algorithms:                a) DPD algorithms that compute the correct PA model or the inversion model in a single try;        b) DPD algorithms that compute the correct PA model or the inversion model adaptively using many tries.
Both categories yield the correct answer. Category a) can be used to implement a 'Direct-' as well as an 'Indirect Learning Algorithm'. In a direct learning algorithm DLA, the non-linearity is modeled from input to output, i.e. model equations from input variables describe the output. In an Indirect Learning Algorithm ILA, the non-linearity is modeled from the output to input, i.e. equations that consist of the output signal describe the input. Typically, in an ILA method, the inverse non-linear model is computed in a single try. Hence, no extra effort is required to compute the inverse model.
With the direct learning algorithm the non-linear model is obtained rather than the inverse model. Hence, an iterative process is normally pursued to obtain the inverse. With category a) algorithms, this inversion process is fixed to a pre-determined value (i.e. 2, 3, . . . , 5 etc). Examples are the fixed point algorithms with N1 iterations or Newton Method with N2 iterations. N1 and N2 are selected based on the required convergence accuracy of the inverse model. Another factor that limits N1 and N2 are hardware limitations.
On the other hand, DLA or ILA algorithms can be implemented adaptively as well. Due to its simplicity, the adaptive implementation of ILA is rarely pursued. However, it is very common to have DLA implemented in an adaptive manner via a known inversion algorithm listed above.
Adaptive implementation of fixed point method or Newton method can be particularly advantageous if newer updates are always better than the previous update. In this case, N1 and N2 can be infinite (practically very large). Since DLA accuracy improves with larger N1 and N2, the best correction results for a DPD system may be achieved.
In general, DLA algorithms that are adaptively implemented specify an error bound. Hence, if this error bound is achieved after N3 adaptations (i.e. error is lower than the bound), the inverse model is assumed to be accurate. The algorithm will stop at N3. If for some reason the static conditions cannot be maintained due to slow perturbation of the non-linear system, the adaptive algorithm needs to be re-started from the initial conditions. This is normally called the restart of the algorithm.
However, the above 'adapt and stop mechanism' is only suited for static conditions where the non-linear system doesn't change frequently. In a wireless environment where dynamic data traffic models exist, the power amplifier tends to change continuously. Further, dynamic traffic conditions cause the power amplifier temperature to change. In addition, the dynamic traffic can change the gain of the power amplifier as well. Another factor that changes the power amplifiers is aging due to lifetime.
While a periodic restart of the algorithm would solve the dynamic traffic cases, the time to achieve the error bound is an important factor in commercial radios. Until the final error bound is achieved, it is safe to assume that inter-modulation (IM) products will not achieve the 3GPP specifications.
Hence, in a wireless environment, the continuous adaptation may preferably take place in anticipation of PA change. However, the continuous adaptation can bring instability due to numerical error accumulation (e.g. floating point errors). This is because when adaptations tend to be very large, even a small numerical error per step can cause a huge accumulation of noise.
In some instances (more likely with narrow band signals) instability occurs after 1000 s of adaptations. However, with wideband signals, this instability can occur in less than 100 adaptations. If this instability is not checked, the adaptive DLA algorithm will diverge causing inter modulation products to rise with time.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Stabilization of direct learning algorithm for wideband signals

Nokia Solutions And Networks GMBH And Co. KG


A method for mapping subband/miniband in a wireless communication system and apparatus therefore are disclosed. The present invention includes dividing the system frequency band into a plurality of physical resource units (PRUs) and mapping a plurality of the physical resource units to a subband physical resource unit (PRUSB) and a miniband physical resource unit (PRUMB), wherein the mapping is based on an interval between contiguous resource units which includes a predetermined number of contiguous PRUs and another interval greater than the former interval and wherein the interval between the contiguous resource units is a roundup value of a value resulting from dividing a maximum number of the contiguous resource units by the number of the contiguous resource units to allocate to the minibands. According to a related art subband/miniband mapping method, if KSB has a greater value, an interval between contiguous PRUs allocated to miniband among total PRUs is narrowed, diversity of the miniband may be lowered. Therefore, the present invention proposes a subband/miniband mapping method for securing diversity gain of miniband by improving the related art subband/miniband mapping method.

First of all, FIG. 1 exemplarily shows a wireless communication system. Referring to FIG. 1, a wireless communications system 100 consists of a plurality of base stations 110 and a plurality of mobile stations 120. The wireless communications system 100 can include a homogeneous network or a heterogeneous network. In this case, the heterogeneous network represents the network in which different network entities including macro cells, femto cells, relays and the like coexist. The base station is a fixed station that communicates with a mobile station in general. And, the base stations 110a, 110b and 110c provide services to specific geographical areas 102a, 102b and 102c, respectively. In order to enhance system performance, each of the specific geographical areas can be further divided into a plurality of smaller regions 104a, 104b and 104c for example. Each of the smaller areas can be named a cell, a sector or a segment. In IEEE 802.16e system, a cell identity (cell_ID or IDCell) is given with reference to a whole system. On the contrary, a sector or segment identity is given with reference to a specific area in which each base station provides a service and has a value set to one of 0 to 2. The mobile station 120 is distributed in the wireless communication system in general and is fixed or movable. Each of the mobile stations is able to communicate with at least one base station at a random moment in uplink ((UL) or downlink (DL). A base station and a mobile station are able to communicate with each other using one of CDMA (code division multiple access) system, FDMA (frequency division multiple access) system, TDMA (time division multiple access) system, SC-FDMA (single carrier frequency division multiple access) system, MC-FDMA (multi carrier frequency division multiple access) system, OFDMA (orthogonal frequency division multiple access) system, a combination thereof and the like. In this disclosure, 'uplink' indicates a communication link from a mobile station to a base station. And, 'downlink' indicates a communication link from a base station to a mobile station.

Method for mapping subband/miniband in wireless communication system and an apparatus therefor


A method of acquiring frequency bursts in a PCN broadcast control channel, including the steps of:. i) sampling PCN r.f. signals for successive blocks of time of duration of half the duration of a frequency burst; PA1 ii) determining the first block to have a spectrum level to exceed a threshold value, PA1 iii) comparing the spectrum levels of said first block and an adjacent block during successive occurrences of the frequency burst; and PA1 iv) adjusting the timing of the two blocks until the spectrum levels of the two blocks are substantially equal.

This invention relates to a method and means for acquiring frequency bursts in a personal communications network (PCN) handset when the PCN handset is first switched on.
When a PCN handset is first switched on the local oscillator (LO) in the receiver is required to have an accuracy .+-.10 ppm or .+-.20 Hz which is sufficient to get the broadcast control channel into the IF bandwidth but not accurate enough to allow the channel estimator to work, so the Viterbi algorithm is inoperative and digital data is inaccessible. The VA requires an accuracy of the order of 100 Hz or .+-.0.05 ppm so that there is insignificant phase shift at the ends of the data bursts relative to the centre where phase is corrected by the channel estimator. Thus the very first task of the handset is to receive frequency correction bursts on the control channel in order to correct the LO frequency such that the receiver can become fully functional and receive control data relating to frequency and time-slot allocations.
The organisation of the GSM (Global Systems Mobile) frequency correction bursts is shown in FIG. 1. The broadcast control bursts are split up and multiplexed to modulate the first burst of consecutive frames on the broadcast channel frequency. The control channel contains one "F" burst in every ten. Frames are eight bursts long and last for 4.615 ms, this means that one burst in 80 is a frequency burst at regular intervals of 46.15 ms.
The broadcast channel frequency used is fixed for each base station, however the timing of the frequency used is fixed for each known at the start when the handset is switched on from cold. If the handset has been carried to a new base station area without active hand-off, even the broadcast frequency may be unknown.
The sequence of events for acquisition of the base station is:
(i) Detect the presence and timing of the frequency bursts (also the actual choice of broadcast channel in the worst case). PA1 (ii) Correct the local oscillator in the handset using one or more F bursts. PA1 (iii) Run the channel equaliser to find accurate burst and bit timing. PA1 (iv) Run the Viterbi algorithm to demodulate the synchronisation bursts to find frequency allocations etc. PA1 (i) Digital filters: a bank or perhaps 100 IIR digital filters, each tuned to a specific offset in the .+-.20 k Hz range and having a bandwidth of 200 Hz. The rise times of these filters, 1/B, would be more or less consistent with the duration of the burst (0.525 ms) and they would operate in an integrate-and-dump mode. The work load for each filter, assuming single complex poles, would be 142 complex multiplication and additions per burst making a total of 14,200 fixed point complex operations for the whole burst. PA1 (ii) Fast Fourier Transforms (FFTs): Here, if a 128-point DFT were used, the work load would be about 128Log.sub.2 (128) * 896 fixed point complex operations. PA1 i) sampling PCN r.f. signals for successive blocks of time of duration of half the duration of a frequency burst; PA1 ii) determining the first block to have a spectrum level to exceed a threshold value, PA1 iii) comparing the spectrum levels of said first block and an adjacent block during successive occurrences of the frequency burst; and PA1 iv) adjusting the timing of the two blocks until the spectrum levels of the two blocks are substantially equal. PA1 i) sampling a group of channels having different known frequencies for successive blocks of time of a duration of half the duration of a frequency burst; PA1 ii) performing a digital discrete Fourier transform (DFT) filter operation on the signal samples in each block; PA1 iii) comparing the peak spectrum level of each DFT filtered sample with a predetermined threshold value to determine the first block to have a spectrum level to exceed the threshold value; PA1 iv) comparing the spectrum levels of said first block and an adjacent block repetitively, substantially on successive occurrences of the frequency burst, to derive a differential of the spectrum levels; PA1 v) generating an error signal representing the differential of the spectrum levels; and PA1 vi) applying said error signal in a feedback loop to adjust the sampling times of said first and adjacent blocks to drive the differential of the spectrum levels to zero.
There is little choice over the form of the detector for the correction bursts which must be a matched filter and the two alternative hypotheses which the detector evaluates are the presence of random data and the presence of correction burst. The detection problem is a classical one except that the noise against which the correction burst must be compared is not white noise but spectrally-coloured data.
The presence of gaps between carrier bursts as an aid to burst location cannot be assumed since these may be filled in multipath conditions.
Ignoring the colouration of the random data, which can easily be reduced by digital filtering, the mechanisation of the matched filter could take two forms:
As the FFT approach is numerically much more efficient the invention will be described with relevance to this approach.


A chemical reaction apparatus includes a horizontal flow-type reactor in which a content horizontally flows with an unfilled space being provided thereabove, a microwave generator that generates microwaves, and at least one waveguide that transmits the microwaves generated by the microwave generator to the unfilled space in the reactor.

Conventionally, chemical reaction apparatuses and chemical reaction methods, which perform heat treatment and the like by irradiating a reaction material with microwaves (e.g., electromagnetic waves), are known. See, for example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP 2006-516008A.
In such conventional chemical reaction apparatuses and the like, there has been a demand for further facilitating a chemical reaction by more efficiently irradiating microwaves.
The present invention was arrived at in view of these circumstances, and it is an aspect thereof to provide a chemical reaction apparatus and the like capable of more efficiently irradiating the content inside a reactor with microwaves.

Chemical reaction apparatus and chemical reaction method


A highlighter with a see-through area comprising a housing having a hollow body and an opening, an ink reservoir disposed inside the housing for storing ink, a nib disposed at the opening and an ink feeder disposed inside the housing for transporting ink from the ink reservoir to the nib. The housing further comprises a cut-out section disposed behind the nib to provide the see-through area for a user. The see-through area allows the user to see a section of text before highlighting. Alternatively, a section of the housing behind the nib can be constructed using transparent material such as plastic to provide a see-through area for a user.

Highlighter is a type of writing instrument that is designed to be used over existing text. The process of applying highlighter over an existing section of text known as "Highlighting". The inks of Highlighters are often made in bright fluorescent colors that would leave a transparent mark over the existing text, thus making the highlighted section more distinct so it can easily draw attention from readers.
Ideally, using a highlighter would require a user to see a section of text before highlighting which the view would normally be blocked by the hand holding the highlighter. In order to overcome this, the user may angle the grip or adjust the view so that they can see the text before highlighting which can be inconvenient for the user. And without such adjustments would cause the section of text to not accurately or straightly be highlighted. This problem may not be a challenge when using other writing instruments such as a pen or pencil since the hand holding the pen or pencil would not be blocking the view between the user and a writing surface.
The current prior art of highlighters that encompasses a feature to solve this issue is Uni® Promark View highlighter and Sharpie® Clear View Highlighter. Both highlighters have the same feature that is to have a portion of a nib made of a clear transparent material to provide a see-through area for a user. This feature provides a very small see-through area and would not be effective when highlighting a large section of text.
Thus, what is needed is a new highlighter that is designed to overcome the shortcomings of all existing versions of highlighters, that would allow a user to be able to easily see an area of text before highlighting.


The present invention relates to a fluid transport system for an automated slide treatment apparatus for treating one or more tissue samples disposed on slides, whereby the slide treatment apparatus includes a plurality of slide treatment modules arranged to receive ones of the slides, and the fluid transport system includes a fluid dispensing robot configured by a controller to dispense a plurality of reagents to said ones of the slides received in the slide treatment modules to treat said one or more tissue samples respectively.

Existing tissue sample treatment methods, in some applications, comprise a number of steps that are performed manually. For example, in immunologic applications, such as in-situ hybridization (ISH) and immunohistochemical (IHC) applications, some steps, including baking a sample onto a slide, dewaxing, and epitope retrieval, are performed manually by an operator to treat the tissue sample before it can be used in a staining apparatus for staining the tissue sample according to a predetermined staining protocol.
Immunohistochemical staining and in situ nucleic acid analysis are tools used in histological diagnosis and the study of tissue morphology. Immunohistochemical staining relies on the specific binding affinity of antibodies with epitopes in tissue samples, and the increasing availability of antibodies which bind specifically with unique epitopes present only in certain types of diseased cellular tissue. Immunohistochemical staining involves a series of treatment steps conducted on a tissue sample (typically a section) mounted on a glass slide to highlight, by selective staining, certain morphological indicators of disease states.
Typical treatment steps include pre-treatment of the tissue sample to reduce non-specific binding, antibody treatment and incubation, enzyme labelled secondary antibody treatment and incubation, substrate reaction with the enzyme to produce a fluorophore or chromophore highlighting areas of the tissue sample having epitopes binding with the antibody, counterstaining, and the like. Between each treatment step, the tissue sample must be rinsed to remove unreacted residual reagent from the prior step. Most treatment steps involve a period of incubation typically conducted at ambient temperature of around 25° C. up to around 40° C., while cell conditioning steps are typically conducted at somewhat higher temperatures, e.g. 90° C. to 100° C. In-situ DNA analysis relies upon the specific binding affinity of probes (DNA binding proteins) with unique nucleotide sequences in cell or tissue samples and similarly involves a series of process steps, with a variety of reagents and process temperature requirements. Some specific reactions involve temperatures up to 120° C. to 130° C.
With reference to the above example, tissue samples are preserved in formalin and presented on microscope slides with a layer of paraffin wax protecting the sample. Thus, treatment in the form of at least dewaxing by heat and/or use of bulk fluid reagents is required to be performed by the operator on the slide before treatment in the form of staining of a sample can take place. For example, dewaxing is typically achieved by the operator manually dunking the slide in a dewaxing solution (e.g. a dewaxing reagent) to prepare the sample for staining. Also, the sample may be further treated by manually immersing the slide in another reagent, such as alcohol, to dehydrate the sample before staining can take place. In any event, the dewaxed sample on the slide is typically loaded into the staining apparatus by the operator for staining and is later retrieved by the operator after the staining process has been completed for viewing by, say, a pathologist.
Attempts have been made to automatically treat tissue samples disposed on slides for immunologic applications using, for example, an automated tissue sample staining apparatus. In an existing example, the automated staining apparatus treats tissue samples using reagents to treat the sample before staining the samples on the slides. The treatment of the samples is performed automatically by one or more robots configured to dispense a plurality of designated reagents to slides in a predetermined sequence according to a staining protocol. In addition, the robots can be configured to dispense reagents such as dewaxing solution and alcohol to treat the samples on slides before and after staining. The reagent currently being dispended by one of the robots, however, must be purged from the robots before other reagents can be dispensed causing delay, reagent wastage and inefficient use of the automated staining apparatus.


Systems, methods, apparatus for configuring NodeB triggering of HS-DPCCH within a UMTS system.

In the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) system, User Equipment (UE) and NodeBs (NBs) or base stations (BSs) communicate via a plurality of physical and logical channels. An Uplink High Speed-Dedicated Physical Control Channel (HS-DPCCH) carries to the NodeB acknowledgment information and current channel quality indicator (CQI) of the UE. This value is then used by the NodeB to calculate how much data to send to the UE during the next transmission, such as via a High-Speed Downlink Shared Channel (HS-DSCH) or other channel. The HS-DSCH is a transport channel shared among multiple users as a radio access bearer, and can be mapped onto one or several physical channels (also known as codes) according to a spreading factor.
In the UMTS system, a "standalone HS-DPCCH without ongoing E-DCH (Enhanced Dedicated Channel) transmission" capability has been added as a sub-feature of UMTS Release-11 "Further Enhancements for CELL_FACH" feature. This "standalone HS-DPCCH transmission" allows the UE to provide channel quality information (CQI) and downlink ACK/NACK information to improve the HS-DSCH transmission in CELL_FACH state without the presence of uplink traffic (in contrast to a UMTS Rel-8 solution where HS-DPCCH is opportunistically used in response to the UE's acquisition of common E-DCH to send uplink traffic).
This "HS-DPCCH without ongoing E-DCH transmission" is triggered at the UE by an HS-SCCH order from the NodeB prior to UE downlink HS-DSCH transmission. There is no ACK function in the uplink in response to the HS-SCCH order triggering the standalone HS-DPCCH, and as per 3GPP specification (25.308-11.5.0, section 23.1): "upon reception of an HS-SCCH order for HS-DPCCH without ongoing E-DCH transmission, if random access procedure fails and there is no uplink data in the UE buffer, the UE does not re-initiate the random access procedure unless another HS-SCCH order is received."
When the HS-SCCH order fails to generate the common E-DCH acquisition (and by extension, the acquisition of HS-DPCCH) by the UE, the NodeB currently does not know the optimum time to resend the HS-SCCH order and whether to (a) continue the resending of HS-SCCH order until expiry of a Discard Timer (25.433, 220.127.116.11E) which operates to clear the HS-DSCH data queue; or (b) stop resending of HS-SCCH order and proceed with blind HS-DSCH transmission as in Rel-8. If approach (b) is taken, then the HS-DSCH transmission is not optimum because there's no DL ACK/NACK feedback until the UE acquires the common E-DCH to send RLC ACK in response to the downlink data.
One possible solution is for the NodeB to perform blind repetition of HS-SCCH order until HS-DPCCH acquisition is complete.
Unfortunately, to ensure reliability of HS-SCCH, high power has to be used and this would inject interference in the downlink, in addition to the waste of (HS-SCCH) code resource. Too short a blind repetition period would increase the interference and code waste, while too long a blind repetition period would add latency. In addition, since the NodeB does not have deep knowledge of individual UE QoS policies, it would need to treat all UEs the same (e.g. either all UEs would have the HS-SCCH order blindly repeated a finite number of times before blind HS-DSCH transmission would occur, or all UEs would have the HS-SCCH order blindly repeated indefinitely until traffic is discarded in the NodeB queue due to a discard timer).

Method and system configuring a base station to trigger HS-DPCCH generation


An arithmetic operation circuit includes: an extractor circuit that extracts one or a plurality of bits consecutive from a most significant bit or from a least significant bit of a binary number; a sum register that stores an X-adic sum, where X is an integer more than two; and an update circuit that updates the stored X-adic sum with a value obtained by adding a first X-adic number to be cyclically multiplied by a certain coefficient to the X-adic sum in accordance with the extracted one or plurality of bits.

In a computer, on-state and off-state of a transistor may be represented by data, and digital data may be indicated as a binary number. Data handled by a person may be indicated as a decimal number. A decimal number is converted into a binary number and vice versa between input and output data and data processed within the computer.
Related art is disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication Nos. 57-061333, 10-271008, 59-168543 or 2000-200174.

Arithmetic operation circuit and method of converting binary number


A liquid crystal display which enhances an aperture ratio and stabilizes a storage voltage includes a first substrate, a second substrate opposing the first substrate, a liquid crystal layer between the first substrate and the second substrate, a gate line, a data line, a first sub-pixel electrode, and a second sub-pixel electrode on the first substrate, a first transistor connected to the gate line, the data line, and the first sub-pixel electrode, and a second transistor connected to the gate line, the data line, and the second sub-pixel electrode and including a source electrode, a drain electrode and at least one floating electrode between the source electrode and the drain electrode.

1. Field
Exemplary embodiments of the invention relate to a liquid crystal display ("LCD") device having an enhanced aperture ratio and being capable of stabilizing a storage voltage.
2. Description of the Related Art
An LCD device is a type of a flat panel display ("FPD"), which has found wide recent applications. The LCD device includes two substrates including electrodes formed thereon and a liquid crystal layer interposed therebetween. Upon applying voltage to the two electrodes, liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer are rearranged, thereby adjusting an amount of transmitted light.
In an attempt to improve visibility, each pixel may include two separate sub-pixel electrodes. In this case, data signals having different voltage levels need to be applied to the respective sub-pixel electrodes, and thus a data signal is applied to one of the two sub-pixel electrodes without modulation, while a data signal is divided and applied to the other of the two sub-pixel electrodes. To this end, a pixel includes a voltage-dividing transistor.


Printers and methods for operating a printer are provided. One method comprises receiving a print order associated with image data for use in printing a plurality images; converting the image data into actions to print the plurality of images on a receiver medium with print adjacent areas between the printed images, the converting being performed in accordance with printer settings; printing a first set of color patches in the print adjacent areas when the each of the first set of calibration color patches can be printed in the print adjacent areas; printing a second set of color patches in the print adjacent areas when each of the first set of color patches cannot be printed in the print adjacent areas; and sensing the color of each printed color patch and recalibrating the printer settings based upon the sensed colors.

Digital color printers print images based upon digital image data. This digital image data includes code values indicating the colors to be printed in an image. When a digital color printer generates a printed image, it is intended that the printed image will contain the exact colors called for by the code values.
However, in practice, it has been found that the colors in the images printed by digital color printers do not always match the colors called for by the code values. Such color variations can be caused by differences in the composition or fabrication of donor materials such as inks, thermal donor, or toner, by differences in the composition of receiver materials, such as paper, fabrics, film, or other substrates, by variations in the assembly or design of the printer, and/or by day-to-day or even hour-to-hour variations in printer operations, such as might be caused by changes in environmental conditions.
What is needed therefore is a printer that is capable of self-calibration. One such printer is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,086,274 in which a so called line printer is described having a color measuring head for color reflection measurements. The color measuring head is arranged to be fixed to a printer carriage in lieu of or in addition to the printing head, with the color measuring head being oriented toward a paper passage plane. The color measuring head is in communication with amplifying, control and evaluating electronic units arranged internally or externally of the printer. The color measuring head enables the line printer to be used not only for its inherent printing function but also for colorimetric measurements and for computing and using a color profile, to thereby automate a color characterizing process. In the '274 patent, the measuring head can automatically scan, line by line, the color fields of a previously printed test chart and the printing mechanism can be utilized for continuous scanning operation. Using the arrangement described in the '274 patent, the printing and measuring functions are performed in one run of a test chart. The printing and measuring operations are offset by a small time interval only, which is especially advantageous if the color measurement is not effected on a test chart but rather during the output of images. Measurements of this latter type are described as being performed directly in the image area of interest if a predetermined color is required to be maintained at predetermined portions of a printed image.
However, it will be appreciated that the printing of a test chart for calibration delays printing of images and that consumes meaningful amounts of receiver media that could otherwise be used for printing images. Conversely, not all of the colors required for calibration will necessarily be printed in images that are printed within a time period within which it may be necessary to complete calibration or printed within areas that are sized to permit color measurement.
Accordingly, what is needed is a self-calibrating printer that is adapted to execute an on demand self-calibration processes without requiring the printing of separate test images, using little if any additional receiver media, and without delaying the printing of images.

Self-calibrating printer and printer calibration method


In an example embodiment, data is transferred from a higher speed memory to a lower speed memory or data storage device after determining a size of a block of data to be written to the lower speed memory. In an example embodiment data is collected in the higher speed memory until an amount of collected data is equal to or greater than the size of the block to be written, and then the collected data is transferred to the lower speed memory or data storage. In an example embodiment, the block size can be a predefined erase block size of the lower speed memory. In an example embodiment, the lower speed device is a flash memory.

Memory device have many trade offs. Memory which is fast may be expensive. Memory which is slow may be inexpensive. As the memory demands of modern applications exceed the physical capacity of customer systems, paging operations to the hard drive quickly make the system and applications appear slow and unresponsive, particularly when switching between tasks or users. In an ideal computer, all the memory would be as fast as possible, but such a computer would be too expensive to be realistic. In addition, there are some applications where cheap, long term storage is all that is needed. As a result, computers have a variety of memory from ultra fast memory close to the processor to slower memory such as disk based memory. In addition, computers have the ability to add more and different types of memory such as portable hard drives, floppy disks and flash memory devices. Each of these devices have performance and wear characteristics which may be maximized.

Optimizing write and wear performance for a memory