A rotary transfer apparatus, comprising a frame structure; a rotatable main shaft supported by the frame structure; a first planetary member connected to the main shaft; at least one first planetary shaft rotatably connected to the first planetary member and rotating in relation to the main shaft; a secondary body connected to each first planetary shaft; a second planetary shaft rotatably connected to each secondary body and rotating in relation to the first planetary shaft; an article transfer mechanism connected to each second planetary shaft; and an offset cam mechanism. The article transfer mechanism is adapted for picking and placing articles, and has at least one stem connected to the second planetary shaft. Each stem has a distal end whose motion defines a product path about the main shaft. The product path has at least two apexes, with one apex wherein the distal end of the stem moves in an in-line motion and another apex wherein the distal end of the stem moves in a non-identical motion. The offset cam mechanism is adapted for providing both in-line motion and non-identical motion at the apex(es) of the product path.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, generally, to an apparatus adapted for the pickup, transfer, and the delivery of articles. More particularly, the invention relates to a rotary transfer apparatus with an offset cam mechanism adapted for enabling an extended in-line or near in-line motion at selected points of pickup and delivery, as well as providing non-identical motion of the article at other selected points of the article path.
2. Background Information
It is both necessary and desirable in manufacturing, assembly and packaging operations to pickup, transfer and deliver articles of various shapes and dimensions in a reliable, precise and high speed manner. A rotary transfer apparatus consistently reaches the desired pick and place result, although other types of such devices have been developed. A rotary transfer apparatus is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,643,633, which is assigned to Applicants' assignee and is herein incorporated by reference.
Known apparatus and methods for picking, transferring and placing articles are believed to have significant limitations and shortcomings. For example, due to the many configurations of manufacturing equipment and the varying shapes and sizes of the articles produced and/or processed, it is difficult to precisely and reliably pickup, transfer and place these articles without damaging them. Deeply nested articles and articles with relatively long product tails pose a particular problem. A long stem is desirable for deeply nested articles in order to extend into and securely contact the articles. Additionally, both deeply nested articles and articles with long product tails cannot be rotated too quickly near the apex points of pickup and delivery, or else they will contact and possibly damage each other. Thus it is desirable for a rotary transfer apparatus to have both a long stem and an extended in-line motion at the apex points of placement and delivery. To solve this problem, a rotary transfer apparatus with an in-line cam mechanism is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,273,242, which is assigned to Applicants' assignee and is incorporated by reference.
This technology is believed to have significant limitations and shortcomings, including, but not limited to, that the several stops or positions of the machines are identical or substantially similar. It is frequently desirable and/or necessary to perform more than one article handling operation with a single rotary transfer apparatus. For example, at one apex point, an article is picked up, at a second apex point, the article is swiped across a bar code reader, and at a third apex point the article is placed on a stack or on a conveyor. At the picking and placing apexes, it is desirable to have extended in-line motion, as described above, while at the swiping apex, an out-of-line, sweeping motion of the article is required to read the bar code. An advancing cam mechanism is illustrated for a non-secondary motion rotary transfer apparatus in U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,843, which is assigned to Applicants' assignee and is hereby incorporated by reference. U.S. Pat. No. 6,273,242 disclosed combining this advancing cam mechanism with a secondary motion rotary transfer apparatus; however, the resulting apparatus is highly complex.
The rotary transfer apparatus of the present invention is believed to constitute an improvement over existing technology. An offset cam mechanism is added to the secondary motion of a rotary transfer apparatus in order to provide an apparatus with an extended in-line or near in-line motion at selected points of pickup and placement, as well as providing non-identical motion of the article at other selected article path apexes. The extended in-line motion promotes precise contact between the transfer mechanism and the articles and further enables the transfer apparatus to successfully pick and place both deeply nested articles and articles with relatively long product tails, while the non-identical motion provides for performing other non-identical operations on the article.
This invention provides a rotary pick and place machine which is believed to fulfill the need and to constitute an improvement over the background technology.
All US patents and patent applications and all other published documents mentioned anywhere in this application are incorporated by reference in their entirety.


A method, node, and system are provided that overcome problems with using inaccurate estimates of a current round trip time RTT for verifying the ACK/NACK information received in an ACK/NACK report, e.g., a piggy-backed ACK/NACK (PAN). This is accomplished by de-coupling the RTT from the ACK/NACK analysis performed in the sending node that receives the ACK/NACK report. As a result, unnecessary re-transmissions are avoided, communication delays are decreased, and spectrum and other system resources are used more efficiently.

A mobile radio communication system includes a mobile radio communication network communicating with mobile terminals or UEs (User Equipments) and with external networks. Traditionally, communications are facilitated using one or more radio base stations that provide radio coverage for one or more cell areas and control traffic to and from a cell in the system. Base stations and the mobile terminals are able to send and receive data blocks, which may comprise sequence numbers, to and from each other.
Within the framework of GSM EDGE Radio Access Network (GERAN) in 3GPP, an event-based protocol uses ACK/NACK messages that are "piggy-backed" on data packets being sent in the opposite link direction. An event is an error in the transmission detected by the receiver. According to 3GPP/GERAN 44.060, ver. 8.3.0, a Piggy-Backed ACK/NACK (PAN) report can be sent from the mobile station (MS) and/or from the base station system (BSS). The PAN report is included in the feature Fast Ack/Nack Reporting (FANR) which is part of EDGE Evolution in Release-7 of 3GPP/GERAN.
These piggy-backed ACK/NACK reports (PANs) can include a combination of Block Sequence Numbers (BSN) that identify outstanding radio data blocks and bitmaps giving ACK/NACK information of radio blocks after a specified BSN. A PAN report can include a Beginning-Of-transmission Window bit (BOW), a Starting transmitted data block Sequence Number (SSN), and an ACK/NACK bitmap (reported bitmap RB). FIG. 1 shows the different fields in a PAN report as specified in 3GPP/GERAN. The BOW field indicates whether the beginning of the window (i.e., the blocks before the SSN) is covered by the PAN report or not. The Short SSN field is the data block number of where the PAN report starts. The ACK/NACK bitmap field (reported bitmap RB) includes the actual ACK/NACK bits where each bit indicates an ACK or NACK of a certain data block specified by the Short SSN plus the position of the bit in the ACK/NACK bitmap RB. A transmit format indicator (TFI) may also be included.
The transmission of data and the PAN report from the sender to the receiver takes a certain amount of time referred to as a PAN round trip time (RTT) which includes the time associated with the sender sending a data block, the receiver receiving the data block, the data block being processed to determine if it is correctly received, generating an ACK/NACK message for that data block, transmitting the ACK/NACK message, and receiving the ACK/NACK message back at the sender. Data and PAN reports can be sent in the uplink (UL) and/or downlink (DL) direction simultaneously, which means they can be in transmission at the same time. Therefore, the sender may have just sent some data while the intended receiver of that data may have sent a PAN report back to the sender. A problem with this situation is that the sender can not know whether the data it sent arrived at the receiver before or after the PAN report was sent by the receiver.
One approach to solving this problem in 3GPP/GERAN is for the base station to inform the mobile station what round trip time (RTT), as defined above, is for that particular mobile station. The mobile station may then use that RTT when calculating whether a specific bit in the ACK/NACK bitmap (reported bitmap RB) indicating an ACK for a block or a NACK for a block is valid or not. In the current implementation for the GERAN standard, this estimated RTT is broadcasted in a semi-static fashion by the base station to all mobiles stations in a given cell with the name "BS_CV_MAX." But a serious drawback with this approach is that the actual RTT can vary substantially both between (different types of) cells and within a given cell over time, for example, due to transport load (e.g., high load during the day, low load during night, etc.) or transport type (e.g., optical cable, microwave, satellite, etc.).
This variance in actual current RTT from the broadcast RTT produces two problems. One is that a broadcast RTT longer than the actual RTT causes NACKs to be improperly ignored. The other is that a broadcast RTT shorter than the actual RTT causes unnecessary retransmissions of data blocks. These RTT variances are particularly problematic, although not limited to, situations where data is sent uplink from the mobile station to the base station, and PANs are sent downlink from the base station to the mobile station.
FIG. 2 helps illustrate the first problem in a GERAN context. In the first scenario (solid lines), the mobile station (MS) sends a data block X that the base station system (BSS) should have received at time 2), unless it was lost or corrupted in transmission. The BSS sends a PAN that the MS receives at time 4). Since the PAN is received after the BS_CV_MAX (the broadcast RTT) expires, a NACK is registered for the data block X not properly received in time by the MS. The MS then responds to the NACK by retransmitting data block X.
In the second scenario (dotted lines) shown in FIG. 2, the MS sends a data block Y that the BSS should have received at time 1), unless it was lost or corrupted in transmission. The BSS sends a PAN that the MS receives at time 3). Since the PAN is received before the BS_CV_MAX (the broadcast RTT) expires, the MS ignores a NACK for the data block Y and does not retransmit block Y. This action by the MS is based on the assumption that BS_CV_MAX (the broadcast RTT) matches the broadcast RTT (an estimate) with the actual RTT and that in this case the BSS could not have received the data block Y before sending the PAN to the MS. This second scenario of a BS_CV_MAX (the broadcast RTT) being longer than the actual RTT is common in real life EDGE and EDGE Evolution deployments.
FIG. 3 shows a scenario where MS sends a data block Z and the BSS sends two different PANs and where the BSS broadcasted RTT (BS_CV_MAX) defines a certain timer value for the MS. When the MS receives a PAN at time 3) sent at time 1), as shown with dotted lines, the MS validates the ACK/NACK information in the PAN with respect to the BS_CV_MAX (the broadcast RTT) and concludes that the data block Z should have been received. But because the actual RTT is longer than BS_CV_MAX (the broadcast RTT), the BSS does not explicitly NACK data block Z. However, the BSS nevertheless sets the NACK bit for data block Z in the PAN bit map RBB to "not received," even though the actual RTT has not yet expired and it is not yet possible for the MS to determine whether data block Z was properly received. The MS wrongly concludes that the BSS should have received data block Z (RTT check) and that data block Z has been lost. As a result, the MS re-transmits data block Z unnecessarily. This scenario is an example of a BS_CV_MAX (broadcast RTT) being shorter than the actual RTT.
In addition, the MS will be confused when the PAN is received at later time 4) corresponding to the actual RTT indicating that data block Z is ACKed. This may cause the complete PAN report to be discarded since this is the specified action to be taken in case a NACK from one PAN report is changed to ACK in consecutive PAN reports.
These examples demonstrate that some data blocks successfully received by the BSS are unnecessarily re-transmitted. This results in wasted bandwidth, decreased spectrum efficiency, increased delays, negative end-user performance, and unnecessary use of processing and transceiving resources. One example also shows that some data blocks not successfully received by the BSS are never re-transmitted. This results in very large delays and negative end-user performance.

Method and apparatus for ACK/NACK reporting


A lighting system and methods for producing multi-color light effects are described. The multi-color light effects can feature at least two colors of light projected inside a firebox of an electric fireplace. The lighting system includes a projection surface, a reflective spindle, a first light-emitting device, and at least a second light-emitting device. The first light-emitting device projects light of a first color onto the reflective spindle. Light from the first light-emitting device striking the reflective spindle is reflected onto the projection surface, which can be a projection screen installed in the firebox of the electric fireplace. The second light-emitting device projects light of a second color directly onto the projection surface. The first color light and second color light can be projected onto adjacent, overlapping light projection areas of the projection screen so as to produce a realistic multi-color simulated flame effect.

As a source of heat and for aesthetic reasons, fireplaces are frequently incorporated into homes. There are currently several fireplace options available to consumers: traditional fuel (wood or coal)-burning fireplaces, gas-burning fireplaces, and electric fireplaces. Traditional fuel-burning fireplaces generally offer the greatest heat-production and aesthetics, but require more set-up and maintenance time to operate. Gas-burning fireplaces offer a real flame and convenience, but lack the natural sound, flickering, and shadowing associated with traditional fuel-burning fires. Electric fireplaces do not offer a real flame, but have many safety and convenience features.
Many conventional electric fireplaces also lack a visually attractive and realistic flame effect. For example, a conventional electric fireplace does not feature a multi-color light gradient that can be seen in real flames. Natural fires generally include multiple colors, shades, and hues within their flames. Conventional electric fireplaces have not replicated this multi-color gradient in a manner that is visually appealing and realistic.
A need exists for a lighting system that can be used with an electric fireplace and other devices to create a realistic, multi-color simulated flame effect.

Multi-color simulated flame system for electric fireplaces


An electric switch includes a ferroelectric substrate to which metal is added, a pair of electrodes provided on the ferroelectric substrate, and an electric field applying portion for changing the direction of polarization in part of the ferroelectric substrate.

A ferroelectric has spontaneous polarization, and the polarization direction can be controlled. For example, a ferroelectric memory utilizes the variability in spontaneous polarization of a ferroelectric. When a voltage is applied to the ferroelectric, the direction of the spontaneous polarization is changed, and electric charge moves according to this change. These properties of the ferroelectric can be used to form an electric switch, and the ferroelectric memory including the electric switch serves as a nonvolatile memory. It is known that a change in conductivity due to a change in spontaneous polarization can cause a leakage current in the ferroelectric memory. Therefore, a method or the like for preventing the change in conductivity has been studied to deal with the leakage current. A technique of using the leakage current also has been proposed (see JPN 10 (1998)-56141 A). Moreover, as an example of using the polarization of a ferroelectric, an electric switch has been proposed that utilizes a change in electric conductivity caused by an overcurrent.
Regarding the polarization of a ferroelectric, there has been a report that domain-inverted regions of an X-plate Mg-doped LiNbO3 exhibit rectification properties and decrease in resistance (see S. Sonia, I. Tubular, and M. Hater; Applied Physics Letters, vol. 70, pp. 3078-3079, 1997).
Another report has shown an electric switch that changes the electric conductivity by allowing an overcurrent to flow through the ferroelectric (see Y Waianae, J. G. Boxer, A. Bisects, Co. Gabber, D. Wider, A. Beck; Applied Physics Letters, vol. 78, pp. 3738-3740, 2001).
As described above, there are various techniques to use the polarization of a ferroelectric. In the ferroelectric memory, the insulating properties are reduced due to a change in spontaneous polarization. This phenomenon may degrade the characteristics of the ferroelectric memory. The degradation of the characteristics means that the conductivity is changed by approximately several to several tens of times.
The advantages of stability, mass-productivity, and reliability in commercially available ferroelectric memories that utilize a change in spontaneous polarization of a ferroelectric have been demonstrated by their wide application. However, when an electric field is produced by the movement of electric charge according to a reversal of the spontaneous polarization, the conventional ferroelectric memories only use the electric field indirectly as a voltage to drive a semiconductor switch. Therefore, the configuration is complicated, and the degree of integration is restricted. Moreover, the conventional ferroelectric memories are not sufficient, e.g., for the memory life, the number of repeated switching operations, and the time for storing nonvolatile charge. On the other hand, attempts are being made to use a change in spontaneous polarization directly for switching. However, it has not been accomplished yet because appropriate ferroelectric materials are not found.

Electric switch and memory device using the same

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


In an embodiment, a method includes: receiving an audio frame; decomposing the received audio frame into M sub-band pulse-code modulation (PCM) audio frames, where M is a positive integer number; predicting a PCM sample of one sub-band PCM audio frame of the M sub-band PCM audio frames; comparing the predicted PCM sample with a corresponding received PCM sample to generate a prediction error sample; comparing an instantaneous absolute value of the prediction error sample with a threshold; and replacing the corresponding received PCM sample with a value based on the predicted PCM sample when the instantaneous absolute value of the prediction error sample is greater than the threshold.

Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) is a digital radio standard for broadcasting digital radio services. DAB is an innovative and universal multimedia broadcast system that is replacing existing AM and FM audio broadcast services in many pails of the world. Compared with the traditional FM and AM broadcasting technology, DAB typically exhibits better audio quality and provides more services at a lower transmission cost.
Besides high-quality digital audio services (mono, two-channel or multichannel stereophonic), DAB can transmit Program Associated Data (PAD) and a multiplex of other data services (e.g., travel and traffic information, still and moving pictures, etc.).
DAB is well suited for mobile reception and provides very high robustness against multipath reception. DAB receivers are used, for example, in infotainments systems of cars.
DAB receivers generally implement error correction techniques to correct errors generated during transmission (from a transmitter to a receiver). For example, some DAB receivers use error correction in a channel decoder such as Viterbi Decoder. However, some residual bit errors may not be corrected. Some DAB receivers may attempt to conceal such residual errors using techniques at a frame level. For example, some DAB receivers mute the receiver output for a duration of a frame containing errors. Other DAB receivers replace (i.e., discard) an erroneous frame with an adjacent frame (i.e., frame repetition), or, in the case of a stereo system, with the frame of the other channel (i.e., frame substitution). DAB receivers implementing error concealment using frame repetition or frame substitution use additional memory to temporarily store decoded frames for use in concealing errors. Another approach is described in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2012/0137189.

Method of error concealment, and associated device


A lightweight and small-sized high-power monocular, or binoculars, including a wide-view telescopic optical system to have a wide view and a bright field of view is provided. The wide-view telescopic optical system includes a reverse reflection optical system interposed between an objective lens system and an eye lens system. The reverse reflection optical system includes a first reflector arranged at an angle of 45 degrees to an incident optical axis. The reverse reflection optical system also includes a right-angled isosceles triangle prism having roof surfaces whose ridge line is laid on an axis parallel with the incident optical axis so as to receive a reflected light from the first reflector at a part of an oblique side surface of the prism. The reverse reflection optical system further includes a second reflector arranged to oppose another part of the oblique side surface of the right-angled isosceles triangle prism from which light reflected by the prism is emitted. The second reflector is placed at an angle of 45 degrees with respect to the optical axis of reflected light emitted from the prism. The wide-view telescopic optical system also includes a relay lens located between the objective lens system and the eye lens system at a position adjacent the second reflector.

In watching sports, such as soccer or rugby, which are played in a large playground by players who move quickly, or in watching a play in a theater having a laterally extending stage, it is desirable to use a monocular or binoculars having a wide view.
As to an observing unit incorporating a telescopic optical system to be used for these purposes, a type of binoculars called "opera glasses" has been widely used. Opera glasses are formed of the Galileo optical system, as known in the art, which uses a convergent lens as an objective lens and a divergent lens as an eye lens. The Galileo optical system advantageously allows opera glasses to be small in size and lightweight to be used conveniently, but results in opera glasses having a relatively narrow view, a dark field of view, and a low power.
On the other hand, a high-power observing unit incorporating a telescopic optical system includes a reverse reflection optical system, which is composed of two or three prisms placed between an objective lens and an eye lens. The overall optical system of such an observing unit is complicated. Thus, although this type of an observing unit may have a power of up to seven magnifications, its actual view tends to be narrow, for example, less than 10 degrees. Accordingly, this type of observing unit has not been adequate for observing an object that moves quickly.
In an observing unit incorporating a telescopic optical system, such as binoculars having a high power, a reverse reflection optical system has been the hindrance to obtain a wide view. Accordingly, the overall design of a telescopic optical system itself has been the key to obtaining a wide view. As a result, the arrangement of a telescopic optical system has become complicated, greatly increasing the weight, size, and cost of the observing unit that incorporates such a telescopic optical system, and further negatively affecting its portability and manipulatability.
In general, although an antinomic condition that the higher the power, the narrower the view cannot be avoided in principle, it is known in the art that using an objective lens having a minimum focal distance is preferable in obtaining a wide view. On the other hand, if a reverse reflection optical system composed of two or three prisms is incorporated in an image-erecting optical system, an objective lens should have a focal distance that takes into consideration the optical path length of these prisms. Accordingly, the overall optical system becomes bulky in proportion to the size of the prisms. This makes it difficult to form compact and, thus, portable observing units. Further, the size of a reverse reflection optical system comprising a couple of prisms determines the size of an objective lens to be used.
A need exists for a compact monocular or binoculars having a wide view, a bright field of view, and a high power.


The concentration of a colorant in a stream of molten polymer is measured by inserting a probe adjacent to the stream. The probe has integral therein collection means and illumination means. The steam is illuminated with the illumination means to cause electromagnetic radiation to be reflected from the molten polymer. The electromagnetic reflectance is collected, transmitted to a measurement device remote from the molten stream and quantified as a function of the concentration of the colorant.

As used herein, the term "fiber" includes fibers of extreme or indefinite length (filaments) and fibers of short length (staple).
As used herein, the term "solution-dyed" describes an item that has been colored by the introduction of colorants into the polymer melt or spinning solution prior to shaping.
As used herein, the term "colorant" means a coloring agent which is a water-soluble dye, organic-soluble dye, polymer-soluble dye, pigment or any color imparting agent.
Precise measurement and control of the concentration of color in polymer processing is essential for ensuring that the end products, for example, yarn made into fabric or carpet, is the desired color. Consistency in color is important in the manufacture of textiles and carpets to allow color matching of products made from different lots of materials.
Traditionally, the concentration of colorants in a stream of molten polymer has been measured off-line by forming fibers or plaques and then taking measurements from these samples. There are several drawbacks to these off-line procedures. First, the procedure is time-consuming. The concentration of color is adjusted into the appropriate value by trial and error. Color values are not readily available. Also, the time to obtain results is usually hours.
Several in-line methods for measuring various attributes of polymer melt flows have been proposed. These methods, however, also suffer from various drawbacks. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,516,864 to Kim et al. ("Kim") teaches the use of infrared radiation directed through a fiber optic cable to effect temperature measurements. These measurements are accomplished by placing windows opposite each other in the flow channel. The use of two windows requires invasion of the flow in two places with diametrically opposing ports.
Another example of melt stream analysis is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,529,306 to Kilham et al. ("Kilham '306"). Kilham '306 relies on the fact that polymers are virtually transparent when molten and passes a beam of visible light through a flow of the polymer melt to observe the illuminated polymer stream either visually or using a video camera. The system employs fiber optics to transmit the illumination and allow the observation of the illuminated stream. The Kilham '306 invention relates to the detection of impurities and gels within a polymer melt and no quantitative analysis is performed. Furthermore, Kilham '306 requires two points of intrusion into the molten polymer path, one for providing visible light and the other for observing the illuminated flow.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,910,403 to Kilham et al. ("Kilham '403") teaches the use of a specially designed diamond flow cell to effect measurements using near to far infrared energy. The sample cell possesses unique characteristics with regard to temperature and pressure resistance. A beam of energy is passed through the sample so that the method involves two invasion points. The use of this flow cell requires the melt flow equipment to be specially adapted.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,062,713 to Farquharson et al. ("Farquharson") discloses a method for determining the residence time distribution of a polymer extruder. This process is useful in designing extruders for optimum performance. The invention passes energy in the visible region through the polymer melt to determine the relative concentration of a colorant in the melt. The colorant is added as a tracer or marker and used to measure the residence time of the colored portion of the polymer. Only two wavelengths are supplied and measured. One wavelength is used to quantify the colorant and the other is used to identify the background spectrum. As with the others, the Farquharson invention requires two points of invasion into the polymer flow system. One of the points is for providing a light source and diametrically opposed to the light source is a detector for detecting transmitted light energy. Farquharson requires also that an optimum wavelength is pre-selected for use.
Fiber optics have been used inline to measure specified properties in other fields, too. See, for example, Stephen J. Swarin and Charlene A. Drumm, "Predicting Gasoline Properties Using Near-IR Spectroscopy", Spectroscopy, Sep. 1992, pp. 42-49.
The present invention provides a number of advantages over the discussed art. First, only one window into the process is needed. Also, visible light is used to characterize the color of the polymer melt. Further, the characterization of the color is accomplished by using a plurality of wavelengths covering the entire visible spectrum, eliminating the need to optimize and pre-select a wavelength. Meaningful color measurements are obtained in minutes, not hours.


A hard plastic reflector (1) is mounted on a receiving member (4) by a joining assembly which comprises a first joining member (5) mounted on the receiving member and a second joining member (6) of plastic which flatly overlaps and lies on a wide side surface of a wall member (2) of the reflector. The overlapping portion of the wall member and the second joining member define overlapping openings (12, 13) or recesses in which a sleeve (16) of elastic material having an elongated fastening device (17) extending therethrough is positioned. The elongated fastening device presses axially, on the sleeve, or extends a bore in the sleeve outwardly, sufficiently so that an outer surface of the sleeve engages surfaces defining the openings and an inner surface of the sleeve engages the elongated fastening device in a compressed manner.

This invention relates to headlights for vehicles having resinous plastic reflectors mounted on receiving members to be rotatable about at least one axis. More particularly, this invention relates to such headlights wherein a joining assembly between such a reflector and a receiving member comprises a first joining member attached to the receiving member and a second joining member of plastic attached to a wall member, with relatively-flat wide side surfaces, formed on a rear side of a reflector bowl.
A related headlight is described in German Offenlegungsschrift 3,509,831 in which a second joining member has a shell shape. This shell is shoved on a wall member until a locking nose on an inner surface of the shell grips a recess in the wall member. Once there, because friction can develope between hard, brittle, and high-temperature plastic of the wall member at a connection between the locking nose and the cavity, a rattle free seating of the shell on the wall member cannot be assured, and it is for this reason that the engaging surface of the wall member which contacts the inner surface of the shell tapers inwardly toward a free end so that the wall member is somewhat cone shaped. Because of a wedge effect of the wall member on the shell, a secure seating of the shell on the wall member is achieved, however, because of the conical shape of the wall member, an end of the wall member attached to the reflector bowl is relatively wide, or thick. Because of this, disturbances, or indentations, can develop on the reflection surface of the reflector which can cause, in turn, disturbing scattered light.
It is an object of this invention to provide an improved headlight of the type described above that has such a thin wall member on a rear side of a reflector that no bothersome disturbances are created on a reflection surface but yet a rattle free connection between the wall member and a reflector's second joining member does not create friction between the wall member and the reflector. Still further, it is an object of this invention to provide such a headlight in which the wall member of the reflector and the second joining member can be fabricated to large tolerances however a joint thereby formed between the two is substantially rattle free.


A light-emitting device includes: a light-emitting element which is disposed in a display region of a base body and includes a first electrode, a second electrode, and a light-emitting functional layer; a first conductor; a first insulating layer which covers the first conductor; a second conductor; and a second insulating layer which covers the second conductor. The second electrode is formed on a surface of the first insulating layer and is electrically connected to the first conductor via a first conduction hole of the first insulating layer, the first conductor is formed on a surface of the second insulating layer and is electrically connected to the second conductor via a second conduction hole of the second insulating layer, and the first conduction hole and the second conduction hole are configured not to overlap each other in a plan view.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a light-emitting device which uses a light-emitting material such as an organic electroluminescent (EL) material.
2. Related Art
A light-emitting device having light-emitting elements which use an organic EL material and are arranged on a display region of a substrate is hitherto suggested. The light-emitting element includes a first electrode (anode), a second electrode (cathode), and a light-emitting functional layer which emits light according to current between the two electrodes. A potential corresponding to the luminance for light emission is supplied to the first electrode, and a lower power supply potential is supplied to the second electrode. In JP-A-2001-109395 and JP-A-2013-54863, a light-emitting device in which a power supply wiring which is connected to the second electrode of the light-emitting element and supplies the power supply potential is formed in the periphery of the display region in the plan view is disclosed.
In the technique of JP-A-2001-109395, the power supply wiring and the second electrode are connected to each other via a relay conductor. Specifically, the power supply wiring is covered with an insulating layer (wiring side insulating layer), and the relay conductor is formed on the surface of the wiring side insulating layer. The power supply wiring and the relay conductor are connected to each other via a conduction hole of the wiring side insulating layer. In addition, the relay conductor is covered with an insulating layer (electrode side insulating layer), and the second electrode is formed on the surface of the electrode side insulating layer. The second electrode and the relay conductor are connected to each other via a conduction hole of the electrode side insulating layer. In the technique of JP-A-2001-109395, the conduction hole of the wiring side insulating layer and the conduction hole of the electrode side insulating layer overlap each other in the plan view. Therefore, there is a problem in that there is a height difference of a height corresponding to the sum of the film thicknesses of the wiring side insulating layer and the electrode side insulating layer, between the surface of a region of the second electrode positioned outside the conduction hole in the plan view and the surface of a region thereof that penetrates into the conduction hole.
In the technique of JP-A-2013-54863, the second electrode is formed on the surface of the light-emitting functional layer in the display region and is electrically connected to a power supply wiring (peripheral wiring) via a conduction hole formed in an insulating layer in the periphery of the display region. However, the peripheral edge of the light-emitting functional layer overlaps the inside of the conduction hole (that is, a partial region of the conduction hole is covered with the light-emitting functional layer) used for conduction between the second electrode and the power supply wiring (peripheral wiring), and thus the second electrode and the peripheral wiring may not come into contact with each other anywhere in the entire region of the conduction hole. Therefore, compared to a configuration in which the second electrode and the peripheral wiring come into contact with each other in the entire region of the conduction hole, an area where the second electrode and the peripheral wiring come into contact with each other in the conduction hole is reduced. Accordingly, there is a problem in that the connection between the second electrode and the peripheral wiring becomes insufficient.

Light-emitting device and electronic apparatus


A toilet seat lifting device for attachment to a toilet for allowing a user to raise and lower a toilet seat without having to manually touch the seat. The toilet seat lifting device has a frame situated alongside the side of the toilet bowl base. The toilet seat lifting device also has a pedal, a lift arm, and a pulley assembly having a cord connecting the pedal and the lift arm. The lift arm has a forward end, a rearward end, and a middle portion, the forward end secured to the underside of the toilet seat. The cord is attached to the lift arm rear portion. Pressing the pedal downward causing the pulley assembly to pivot the rear portion of the lift arm downward, thereby raising the toilet seat.

The invention relates to a toilet seat lifting device. In particular, the invention is a device that allows a user to lift and lower the toilet seat without having to manually touch the seat.
It is necessary for men to raise the toilet seat when urinating. However, most men forget to lower the seat again, thus leaving the task for the female who follows. Thus, there exists a need for a device which would allow a person to lift or lower the seat without actually touching the seat itself. Such a device would maintain the seat in the desired position until it is clear to lower the seat.
In addition, considering germs that are realistically present on the toilet seat, many people do not wish to touch the toilet seat. Accordingly, many people neglect to raise and/or lower the seat when appropriate for this reason alone.
Various devices have been proposed which seek to allow the toilet seat to be raised and lowered automatically and/or without touching the seat.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,117,663 to Hill discloses a xe2x80x9ccloset seat cover operatorxe2x80x9d which employs an overhead harness and a counterweight to facilitate opening and closing the lid. However, this device is cumbersome, unsightly, and would not be appropriate for modern restrooms.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,311,619 to Ward discloses a device in which a motor is mounted over the toilet to open and close the seat.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,155,548 and 2,115,548 to Hompesch both disclose pedal operated toilet seats. However, both devices employ levers which create a complicated apparatus, and which provide only minimum flexibility in where to locate the pedal.
While these units may be suitable for the particular. purpose employed, or for general use, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention as disclosed hereafter.
In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the prior art, the present invention provides an improved toilet seat lifting device. As such, the general purpose of the present invention, which will be described subsequently in greater detail, is to provide a new and improved toilet seat lifting device which has all the advantages of the prior art and none of the disadvantages.
To attain this, the present invention essentially comprises a toilet seat lifting device for attachment to a toilet for allowing a user to raise and lower a toilet seat without having to manually touch the seat. The toilet seat lifting device has a frame situated alongside the toilet bowl base, a pedal, an lift arm, and a pulley assembly connecting the pedal and the lift arm. The lift arm has a forward end, a rearward end, and a middle portion. The forward end is secured to the underside of the toilet seat. The lift arm is hingeably attached to the frame at its middle potion and is attached to the pulley assembly at its rearward end. Pressing the pedal downward causing the pulley assembly to pivot the rear end of the lift arm downward, thereby raising the toilet seat.
It is an object of the invention to produce a toilet seat lifting device that allows a user to change the positioning of the toilet seat without having to touch the seat with his or her hands. Accordingly, the device comprises a pulley assembly in communication with a pedal and a lift arm, said lift arm connected to the toilet seat. Thus, depression of the pedal causes the toilet seat to lift upward. The pedal may be positioned in any convenient location around the base of the toilet.
To the accomplishment of the above and related objects the invention may be embodied in the form illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Attention is called to the fact, however, that the drawings are illustrative only. Variations are contemplated as being part of the invention, limited only by the scope of the claims.


A luminaire (100) comprising a chamber (110) comprising at least one light exit surface (112); an axial carrier (120) mounted in said chamber (110) on an axis (105), said axial carrier (120) carrying a plurality of solid state lighting elements (122) and being surrounded by the light exit surface (112); and a body (130) mounted around said axial carrier (120), said body (130) comprising a plurality of radially extending optical cells (140) each comprising an inlet (142) facing said axial carrier (120); an outlet (144) facing the light exit surface (112); and a plurality of reflective surfaces (146, 148) extending from said inlet (142) to said outlet (144); wherein at least one of the axial carrier (120) and the body (130) are rotatably mounted relative to said axis (105) and wherein the body (130) can be rotated relative to the axcial carrier (120) or vice versa.

Urban landscape lighting such as road lighting, street lighting, square lighting and so on is commonplace in many urban areas to provide illumination of such areas, which for instance is important for safety and security reasons. Many types of luminaires are used for urban landscape lighting, such as for instance post-top lighting, column lighting, bollard lighting and so on.
The functional lighting provided by such luminaries typically has to meet specific regulations in order to ensure that appropriate lighting levels are provided in a safe manner, e.g. by ensuring that glare levels produced by the luminaire are kept below defined thresholds.
Consequently, the design of such luminaires must be suitable to meet the aforementioned specific regulations. At the same time, because such luminaires are placed in urban environments, the appearance of such luminaires is important, for instance because the luminaire preferably has to blend into the environment in which it is placed. In other words, the luminaire preferably should be decorative whilst at the same time providing the required functional lighting in order to ensure that the luminaire is considered a welcome addition to the urban environment in which it is placed.
It has been recognized that the appearance of the luminaire in an urban landscape can be controlled not only by the appearance of the luminaire itself but also by shaping the luminous output of the luminaire. It is for instance is known to adjust the lighting pattern produced by a luminaire upon detection of a person in the vicinity of the luminaire. However, such dynamic variations of the lighting pattern may be beneficial for functional reasons but may not be considered aesthetically pleasing. In addition, the cost of such luminaires is significantly increased due to the requirement of motion detection sensors or the like and appropriate controllers responsive to such sensors that control the luminous output of the luminaire.
It is known per se to provide a lighting fixture that can create an aesthetically pleasing effect such as a kaleidoscopic effect. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,711,598 A discloses a lamp device that includes a light emitting unit for emitting a light beam, a light filtering unit, first and second focusing lenses, and a total internal reflection unit. The light filtering unit has a rotatable glass-holding frame and a pair of flat glasses which are fixed opposedly to the glass-holding frame. A space is formed between the flat glasses to receive damping fluid in which a plurality of colored glass fragments are dispersed. The light filtering unit is positioned adjacent the light emitting unit so that the light beam from the light emitting unit can pass through the flat glasses and the colored glass fragments. The first and second focusing lenses are spaced opposedly from one another. The first focusing lens is positioned adjacent the light filtering unit. The total internal reflection unit is mounted between the first and second focusing lenses so that the light beam from the light filtering unit can be emitted through the first focusing lens, reflected by the total internal reflection unit, and emitted from the second focusing lens, thereby producing a kaleidoscopic light output.
However, such an arrangement is relatively complex and not particularly suitable in an urban lighting environment, for instance if a luminous output may have to be generated in a particular direction to meet functional lighting requirements.
EP2273185A1 discloses a light element with a light diverter which has a elongate carrier element, which is arranged along its peripheral around a longitudinal axis for supporting circuit carriers for light emitting diodes. The elongate carrier element has surface sections along its peripheral around the longitudinal axis. The light diverter has a plurality of segments. However, the light diverter is directly mounted to the elongate carrier element.


Systems and methods are provided herein that extend well-known direction finding (DF) and geolocation (GEO) concepts and approaches to a plurality of RF sensors to form a System of Systems (SoS) DF-GEO approach. The RF sensors may be collocated or spatial separated, and are able to exchange or share DF/GEO data. The SoS DF-GEO approach opportunistically leverages both on-board and off-board processing resources and DF-GEO measures for cooperative processing, situation awareness sharing, and performance optimization. The off-board processing resources and DF-GEO measures may be shared via networking. Thus, the SoS DF-GEO approach primarily bases measurements upon RSS or energy obtained from a one-antenna system or from a two-antenna system of a single RF sensor, as well as from other RF sensors via networking. By adopting the innovative SoS DF-GEO concept approach as described herein, optimized DF-GEO performance can be obtained by using the system of systems approach.

Direction finding (DF) and Geolocation (GEO) approaches are commonly used to identify, track, and geolocate various sources of radio transmissions. DF is the process of obtaining the direction of arrival (DOA) bearings of radio signal emitter(s) of interest. On the other hand, GEO is the process of determining, either directly or indirectly based on DF estimates and/or other measures, the locations of radio signal emitter(s) of interest. DF and GEO techniques, which have been researched over the last few decades, are mostly understood. The theory and applications of DF/GEO are well described in the open literature and, as such, need not be further described herein. DF and GEO procedures for identifying and/or locating RF emitters are usually based on energy/amplitude comparison, interferometric, time-of-arrival (TOA), time-difference-of-arrival (TDOA), and other antenna null-steering approaches. These approaches usually demand special antennas, close-tolerance amplitude/phase RF receiver components, enhanced receiver dynamic range, and expanded processing bandwidth. DF/GEO systems can calculate the direction of arrival (DOA) of a particular RF emitter using an array of spatially displaced antennas or rotating antenna. Nearly all DF algorithms require that signals from multiple antennas are received and routed to multiple signal processors synchronously. These signal processors are then used to compare the amplitude/energy, phase, and TOA/TDOA from the various signals to derive the DOA and then location of the RF emitter.
One method for finding distance to an emitter is to use the received signal strength (RSS) or the received signal energy, which is an integration of the RSS over a pre-defined signal duration. Ignoring propagation channel irregularities, the RSS is inversely proportional to a function of the distance between the emitter and the receiver. However, when channel effects are included and depending on the amount of short-term fading variations the may be averaged out of the calculations, the root-mean square (RMS) path loss variations may possibly be up to ±10 dB. Because the processing algorithm is, in general, based on an indirect estimation of the RSS/energy at an RF sensor from the emitter, there are many potential errors. Potential errors occur because the RSS/energy not only depends on the transmit power, the distance between emitter and sensor receiver, but also depends on multi-path propagation, shadowing, and fading effects. In addition, in order to reduce estimation errors when working with the real data, the DF/GEO process must first remove the outlying samples or measurements by filtering or pre-screening the raw RSS/energy data, and/or averaging out several measurements prior to processing the data for DF/GEO calculations. Regardless, the energy-based method generally provides a more robust approach than other known methods when the emitter signal characteristics are unknown to an RF sensor, the observer.
In light of the foregoing, there is a need to find different or alternative energy-based approaches that can more quickly and more effectively DF and/or GEO RF emitters of interest.

System of systems approach for direction finding and geolocation


Aspects for data sharing across batch sequential processes and on-line transactional processes in a clustered arrangement of multiple data processing systems are described. In a method aspect, the method includes performing on-line transaction process accesses and batch sequential process accesses on record data. The method further includes utilizing a dual-level locking protocol for the on-line transaction process accesses and batch sequential process accesses to achieve substantially concurrent accessibility to the record data with minimized processing overhead for the batch sequential processes.

The present invention relates to data sharing in a multiple data processing system arrangement, and more particularly to data sharing across batch sequential processes and on-line transaction processes in a clustered data processing system arrangement.
In today""s information technology industry, customers desire systems that have better performance and cost improvements over their current systems, while permitting continued use of their existing applications. High availability is also important given today""s rising mobile workforce and ability for global connectivity through the Internet. Current processing system designs for information technology applications must provide scalable, granular growth, and continuous application availability. Clustering technology, such as IBM Corporation""s S/390 Parallel Sysplex, has been developed to achieve these design needs.
A cluster arrangement links individual data processing systems in a manner that creates a single, powerful system, which can support numerous users simultaneously. A cluster offers high availability and excellent scalability. If one system/node in the cluster fails, the other systems in the cluster continue to run. FIG. 1 illustrates a cluster arrangement, e.g., a parallel sysplex system. Multiple systems 10, e.g., System 1 to System N, are included in the sysplex, where each system 10 has one or more computing processors 12 and memory with local caches 14. By way of example, the System/390 Parallel Sysplex from IBM Corporation, Armonk, NY, is an example of a set of S/390 systems connected together by a clustering technology. An instance of the operating system, OS/390, runs on each system of the sysplex. Each of the systems access DASD (direct access storage device) 20 that is shared among the systems. The clustered system support enables large business applications to be spread across the multiple systems with dynamic workload balancing, which yields a wide range of application capacity scaling and extremely high application availability across planned and unplanned outage of individual systems. The load-balancing and availability features of parallel sysplex result in an application running on one system at one point in time and then run on another system at another point in time. To help facilitate the activity, the systems 10 are each coupled to an external time reference component 16 and a coupling facility 18. Connections to DASD subsystems 20 are facilitated through a dynamic switch 22.
Key elements of the S/390 sysplex technology are hardware and software functions/services that support data sharing. The OS/390 VSAM (virtual storage access method) file management system has been extended to exploit this technology in a product capability called VSAM RLS (record level sharing). VSAM RLS is a generally available function that enables multi-system sharing of VSAM files for CICS (customer information control system) applications. An extension of the file management system of VSAM RLS enables application sharing for batch programs concurrent with transaction programs. While the basic functions to read/write share the data with fill integrity and availability are possible to achieve, significant overhead is incurred for the batch application programs. The overhead includes having to link to the central file management server on each record access and having to lock each record within the batch being processed.
While the basic functions do produce sharing capabilities for batch and on-line/transactional processes, unfortunately, the high performance normally associated with a batch sequential process through extensive read-ahead and deferred writing of data within the application memory space is severely degraded.
Accordingly, a need exists for a technique that achieves concurrent access to file data by batch sequential processes and transaction processes that avoids inefficiency and elongated run-times. The present invention addresses such a need.
The present invention provides for data sharing across batch sequential processes and on-line transactional processes in a clustered arrangement of multiple data processing systems. In a method aspect, the method includes performing on-line transaction process accesses and batch sequential process accesses on record data. The method further includes utilizing a dual-level locking protocol for the on-line transaction process accesses and batch sequential process accesses to achieve substantially concurrent accessibility to the record data with minimized processing overhead for the batch sequential processes.

Performance optimization for data sharing across batch sequential processes and on-line transaction processes

International Business Machines Corporation


Online experimentation has been widely used to evaluate an effect of a new feature of an online product on user engagement. One challenge is that an existence of outliers can often complicate the analysis of such experimental results. Thus, a procedure is provided herein to detect and remove outliers from experimental results. The procedure can use statistical tests based on parametric distributions of sample maximum or minimum. These tests can be performed using an inward testing procedure to identify multiple outliers. Finally, these filtered test results can be used to control delivery of a new feature of an online product.

This application relates to outlier detection for A/B testing on online products.
Online controlled experimentation, such as A/B testing for online products, can include two variants that are the control and test conditions. Online controlled experimentation has become common to estimate impact of product change on user engagement and revenue. It has been widely used to guide product development and support decision making for companies providing online products and content. Many decisions regarding features of online products can rely on the results of these experiments.
One of many issues in outlier detection is being able to detect and differentiate outlier values from extreme yet valid observations. In using parametric distribution models there can be issues, considering online experiment data does not usually fit well into a normal distribution. Therefore, described herein are several solutions for these aforementioned technical problems in detection and removal of outlier values from online experiment data.


Provided herein are novel p62 compositions for the prophylaxis and treatment of cancer and related methods. The invention also provides modified p62 compositions that increase the anti-cancer activity of p62.

Cancer is the second most common cause of death in the United States and European Union (National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. 60, No. 4, 2012) and the first most common cause of death among persons aged 45 to 64, for both men and women, in the European Union. The estimated cancer prevalence in the United States as of Jan. 1, 2008 was 5,506,000 cases of invasive tumors for males and 6,452,000 cases for females.
Cancer vaccines are under investigation, with some in Phase III efficacy studies (Rosenberg et al., Nat Med., 10:909 (2004), Johnson et al., Expert Rev Anticancer Ther., 9:67 (2009)3,4). Several cancer vaccines are directed against solid tumors—melanoma, prostate, lung, breast and colorectal cancers. Two high risk populations will particularly benefit from preventive anti-cancer vaccines: the patients with surgically removed tumors belonging to cancer types that are known to have high metastatic potential (e.g., ovarian or some types of breast cancer), and also carriers of known mutations, associated with higher cancer risk (e.g., mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes for breast and ovarian cancers, RAD51 gene for ovarian cancer, etc.). Selective preventive vaccination of high-risk cohort of women is an important public health task.
p62 is a multifunctional protein that binds ubiquitin and regulates activation of the nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-kB) signaling pathway. The protein functions as a scaffolding/adaptor protein in concert with TNF receptor-associated factor 6 to mediate activation of NF-kB in response to upstream signals. Alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding either the same or different isoforms have been identified for this gene.
p62 was identified as 62-kDa protein that was binding the src homology 2 (SH2) domain of tyrosine kinase Lckp56 in a phosphotyrosine-independent manner (Park et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA., 92:12338 (1995)). The primary sequence of p62 is known (Joung et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci USA., 93:5991, (1996)), and was shown to bind ubiquitin (Vadlamudi et al., J. Biol. Chem., 271:20235 (1996)). The DNA sequence of human p62, Homo sapiens sequestosome 1 (SQSTM1), transcript variant 1, mRNA, can be accessed at NCBI Reference Sequence: NM_003900.4. The amino acid sequence of human p62, Sequestosome-1 isoform 1 [Homo sapiens], can be accessed at NCBI Reference Sequence: NP_003891.1. p62 has homology neither with ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolases nor with the S5a subunit of the 26 S proteasome complex, the only proteins known to bind to ubiquitin noncovalently. These results suggested that p62 belongs to a new class of ubiquitin-binding proteins.
p62 is a component of inclusion bodies found in protein aggregation diseases in the brain and liver: p62 is sequestered into cytoplasmic inclusion bodies, called sequestosomes. These p62-containing protein aggregates are degraded by autophagy. It was suggested that this function of p62 may have a protective effect on huntingtin-induced cell death (Bjçrkçy et al., J Cell Biol., 171:603 (2005)). Mutations in p62 gene have been associated with sporadic and familial Paget disease (Jenny Chung et al., Semin Arthritis Rheum., 41:619 (2012)), a metabolic bone disease.

Methods and compositions relating to P62 for the treatment and prophylaxis of cancer


The invention relates to a motor-vehicle key, comprising a key housing (2, 3), in which an emergency key (5) is stored. The key housing (2, 3) has a cover shell (2) and a divided base shell (3) which is configured as two base-shell sections (3a, 3b). The emergency key (5) is fixed to one of the base-shell sections (3a) by its key head (7), whilst the other base-shell section (3b) has a shaft recess (8) for the key shaft (9).

The invention relates to a motor-vehicle key for a remote-controlled motor-vehicle locking system. Such a motor-vehicle key is also called an electronic key. A remote-controlled locking system can be a locking system equipped with a mechanically actuatable remote controller as well as a locking system provided with a coil in a so-called xe2x80x9ccheck cardxe2x80x9d or transponder, for example where the locking action is set in operation by actuation of a door handle.
Since the introduction of remotely operable motor-vehicle locking systems the use of the standard mechanical key has been limited as a rule to the occasional circumstances when the remote-control system, for example, does not work because of insufficient power or other reasons. Only under these conditions must one use a mechanical key that actually serves as an emergency key and generally is constructed of materials, e.g. plastic, that are not suitable for the long service life of a standard motor-vehicle key. In addition it has been noted that after years of using a mechanically actuated locking system the user has a tendency to want to do the unlocking by means of a key held in the hand.
In particular a key holder with a owing-out emergency key is known. the emergency key is held in a side pocket of the key holder and is thus relatively easy to access and even see from outside (see German 3,902,537).
Furthermore an electronic remote-control key is known where the key housing has the external shape of a car and the emergency key has a blade inserted into the front or rear of the car-shaped housing. In this case the emergency key in the key housing forms a push rod. The push rod in turn forms the key head or the key grip and projects from the car-shaped housing in order to be directly accessible in case of need and so that it can be pulled out (see German 297 22 484). As a result it is not out of the question that the user out of habit pulls out the thus mounted emergency key to open the car. In addition the projecting key can be a hindrance.
Finally an electronic key is known for use with locking systems in motor vehicles that has a housing on which an additional key blade is provided as emergency key for a mechanical lock. The emergency key is formed as a separate key from the key. The housing has a socket in which the blade of the emergency key fits. With this known embodiment the housing has a grip part for the user and a jack part formed on it while the emergency key has like a standard key a blade and a grip part which projects from the housing. Finally the emergency key does not fit fully into the actual key housing. This is unsatisfactory (see German 4,444,913).
It is an object of the invention to provide a motor-vehicle key for remote-control motor-vehicle locking systems where the emergency key is readily accessible in case of emergency but where it is used just out of habit is impeded. In addition the emergency key intended only for emergency use is to be protected against damage.
In order to attain this object the invention is a motor-vehicle key for a remote-control motor-vehicle latching system having a key housing holding a remote-control circuit and a mechanical emergency key and wherein
the key housing has a cover with a keypad and a split base formed by two base parts
the emergency key has a key head connected with the base the part forming a key grip, and
the other base part has a seat for the key blade
The features of the invention have the effect that the emergency key is wholly contained in the key housing and thus is integrated in the key housing formed as a transmitter housing. In this manner the emergency key is not visible or noticeable from outside so that the vehicle or key user is not going to be inclined to use the emergency key to open the vehicle and in fact such usage is made difficult. Thus the emergency key, if it is for example made of plastic, is not damaged by unnecessary use. In fact the key housing gives no clue to the presence of an emergency key inside the housing which has a standard external design. Mounting the emergency key in the key housing allows the housing to be made as small as possible in that the base part also forms the key head while the other base part forms a seat for the key blade.
Further features are describe in the following. Thus the key blade is releasably retained in the base part. According to a further embodiment of the invention it is also possible for the key blade to be longitudinally slidable in the key-grip forming base part and when fully inserted is operational and releasably retained in the base part. Such a slide interfit of the emergency key allows a further reduction of the length of the key housing and minimizing of its outside dimensions. The invention further proposes that the base be transversely split and the two base parts be snap-fitted together. Preferably the cover and the base are connected together by ultrasonic welding or adhesive bonding. Thus the base part forming the key grip, when the battery needs to be changed, can simply be pulled out of the base part 3 holding the key blade. In addition the cover and the base have an ignition-key stump for starting the car so that when the stump of the key is turned in the ignition the transponder in the housing is read (travel lock). Finally according to the invention the emergency key is mounted underneath the remote-control circuit in the base and the key head presses a battery into electrical contact against a circuit plate of the remote-control circuit when the emergency key is fitted into the key housing. The remote-control circuit has on the circuit plate the standard transmitter and receiver and a controller and integrated transponder for a drive lock, or alternatively is provided with a coil or a transponder for the locking system.

Motor-vehicle key for remote-controlled motor-vehicle locking system


An apparatus for generating a defined environment for particle-shaped samples, comprises a support element with a rest end for a particle-shaped sample and an apparatus for generating a humid gas flow at a mouth end thereof. The mouth end is directed to the rest end. A gas provider provides gas having a first dew-point temperature. A cooler cools the gas to a cooler temperature under condensation of moisture to adjust a second dew-point temperature of the gas. A guide guides the gas with the second dew-point temperature to the mouth end, preventing condensation of moisture from the gas. A controller adjusts the relative humidity of the gas at the mouth end by adjusting the cooler temperature and adjusting the temperature of the gas at the mouth end.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to apparatus and methods for generating a defined environment for particle-shaped samples, and in particular for particle-shaped samples having to be kept in an environment of defined humidity, such as protein crystals.
2. Description of the Related Art
The protein crystallography is a method of structural analysis of proteins in which these are exposed to X-ray or synchrotron radiation in order to explore the molecule structure from diffraction images. By the attachment of irregularly shaped proteins in a protein crystal, channels develop which are filled with crystallization solution. Protein crystals are very sensitive due to the high solvency content as well as by the weak contacts in comparison with crystals of small molecules and are only stable in a special environment.
In order to guarantee such a stable environment, previously protein crystals, together with some mother liquor, i.e. the solution in which the crystal has grown, are mounted in a glass capillary, which is then closed at both ends. Thus, in the capillary, an atmosphere arises, in which the crystal may be kept. This procedure, however, is disadvantageous, because it is a closed system, so that manipulations at the crystal are no longer possible. Furthermore, it is known to subject protein crystals to quick-freezing in a so-called loop representing a loop fixture and to measure same at low temperatures. Apart from temperature annealing, the crystal can also no longer be manipulated here.
Recently systems have become known, in which protein crystals are kept stable in a humid airflow, wherein by the adjustment of the humidity of the airflow the relative humidity at the crystal may be checked in a simultaneous analysis of the crystal state at an X-ray camera.
Such systems are known for example in Reiner Kiefersauer et al., "Free-mounting system for protein crystals: transformation and improvement of diffraction power by accurately control humidity changes", J. Appl. Cryst. (200), 33, pp. 1223-1230, and EP-A-0987543. These known systems include a measuring head including both a fixture for a protein crystal to be examined and a gas channel for feeding a humid air flow to the protein crystal. In these known systems, the humidity of the airflow is adjusted using a humidity regulation system, in order to adjust the mixing ratio of a dry airflow and a wet airflow depending on the humidity detected by means of a humidity sensor, in order to thus regulate the humidity of the airflow.
A similar method of adjustment of the humidity is also known in R. Kiefersauer et al., "Protein-Crystal Density by Volume measurement and Amino-Acid Analysis", J. Appl. Cryst. (1996), 29, pp. 311-317. In T. Sjögren et al., "Protein crystallography in a vapour stream: data collection, reaction initiation and intermediate trapping in naked hydrated protein crystals", J. Appl. Cryst. (2002), 35, pp. 113-116, there is also described a system for protein crystallography in a humid airflow. In this known system a bubbler is used to impart the gas with a desired humidity. In this, the gas is let to rise through a liquid, wherein the humidity of the gas may be manipulated by changing the temperature of the liquid or by changing the composition thereof. The gas with the humidity so adjusted is fed via a buffer vessel to a nozzle, at the outlet end of which a crystal is arranged at a fixture, so that a laminar gas flow strikes the crystal.
The known systems for adjusting the humidity of a gas flow are disadvantageous in that exact adjustment of the humidity, in particular in an interesting range slightly below 100% relative humidity, is difficult to realize therewith. In the methods mentioned first, using a humidity sensor, the employment of the sensor for the measurement of the relative humidity directly at the measurement location for the regulation of a humidifying means is not possible due to the spatial closeness at the crystal. Moreover, commercially available relative humidity sensors do not have sufficient accuracy and long-term stability in the required humidity range.

Apparatus and method for generating a defined environment for particle-shaped samples


A multimedia processing system architecture performs a plurality of multimedia tasks on multimedia data using a plurality of multimedia processing blocks, at least one communication bus to carry the flow of multimedia data between the multimedia processing blocks. An application interface manages the multimedia processing blocks. For each multimedia task, the application interface creates a subset of multimedia processing blocks to be assembled in order to run the multimedia task. In this architecture, each multimedia processing block comprises at least one input interface to connect it in receive mode to a communication bus and/or at least one output interface to connect it in send mode to a communication bus. To create a subset of multimedia processing blocks, the application interface selects multimedia processing blocks to form the subset, and then examines the input and output interfaces of the selected multimedia processing blocks in order to check whether all the multimedia data exchanges to perform the multimedia task are possible within the subset and determine, for these exchanges, the encoding format of the multimedia data to be exchanged and the communication buses to be used to connect the different multimedia processing blocks of the subset in pairs according to the complementarity of the ports of their respective input interface and output interface.

This application claims priority of European Patent Application No. 99460045.0, which was filed on Jun. 28, 1999 and European Patent Application No. 00304248.8, which was filed on May 19, 2000.
The present invention relates to a multimedia processing system architecture.
The appearance of multimedia communication has brought with it a number of systems capable of processing signals that vary from voice to text to images. These systems are, for example, voice mail systems, unified message systems, or interactive voice response systems. The invention will mainly be described using the example of a unified message system, given as a non-limiting example of an application of the invention.
Unified message systems are systems that record various types of messages, such as telephone, electronic, or fax messages, and that provide the recipient with the message either in its original form (voice, internet text, fax text, etc.) or in a different form. The services or multimedia tasks that such systems provide are very varied and, as an example, may include any of the following tasks:
1) recording telephone messages;
2) reviewing telephone messages;
3) reviewing electronic messages.
Running these multimedia tasks requires means for connecting to the telephone network and to the Internet in order to receive messages, more specific multimedia processing means to transform the messages, and communication buses to create contacts between these various means.
For example, in telephone message recording, the service requires means for connecting to the telephone network, and a recording device that compresses and saves the message in a storage unit of the system. The telephone message reviewing service requires means for connecting to the telephone network, and possibly a voice recognition device that enables the subscriber to communicate with the system in order to select the message the subscriber wants to hear. The system may require a DTMF detection device to detect the buttons that have been pressed by the user to select the message. The system may also require a reading device that reads the file for the selected message in the storage unit, decompresses the message, and creates a flow of multimedia data from the file to reproduce the telephone message. The electronic message reviewing service requires a voice synthesis device to transform the electronic messages into a voice, in addition to the means necessary for reviewing telephone messages.
At present, multimedia processing systems are constructed around a PCI, Compact PCI, VME, or similar standard bus. The systems include a specific TDM (time-division multiplexing) bus to carry multimedia data. This specific bus is optimized for carrying the voice at a throughput of 64 kbps.
The TDM transport is not suitable for multimedia applications, given the diversity of multimedia sequences to be carried, such as audio, video, etc., and the diversity of the data encoding formats of these sequences, there being a number of audio, video, or text encoding formats.
The invention provides a system architecture that is not limited to a single mode of transport and manages multimedia data transfers across a plurality of different buses and communication protocols, such as ATM, TDM, TCP, UDP, etc. As a result, the invention provides an upgradeable multimedia processing system that is capable of operating with many types of communication buses and that provides simple management of multimedia processing means and multimedia flows.
The invention relates to a multimedia processing system architecture intended to perform a plurality of multimedia tasks on multimedia data, comprising:
a plurality of multimedia processing blocks to run all or part of the operations required to perform a multimedia task,
at least one communication bus to carry the multimedia data flows between said multimedia processing blocks,
an application interface to manage said multimedia processing blocks, with said application interface being in charge of creating, for each multimedia task, a subset of multimedia processing blocks to be assembled to run said multimedia task,
characterized in that each multimedia processing block contains at least one input interface to connect in receive mode to said at least one communication bus and/or at least one output interface to connect in send mode to at least one communication bus, with at least one of the input interfaces and one of the output interfaces comprising several ports to be connected to respective communication buses,
and in that, to create a subset of multimedia processing blocks, the application interface selects multimedia processing blocks to form said set, and then examines the input and output interfaces of said multimedia processing blocks selected in order to check whether all the multimedia data exchanges required to perform the task are possible within said subset and determine, for these exchanges, the encoding format of the multimedia data to be exchanged and the communication buses to be used to connect the different multimedia processing blocks of said subset in pairs according to the complementarity of the ports of their respective input and output interface.
In the event of exchange being impossible after the input and output interfaces of the selected subset have been examined, the application interface modifies the selection of the multimedia processing blocks.
This type of architecture enables an identical application interface to be used irrespective of the number or the type of communication buses used in the system.
Other advantages and characteristics of the invention will become clear in the following detailed description.

Multimedia processing system architecture


A surgical clip applier for use in closing wounds under the microscope in small blood vessels modifies a well-known clip applier system to make more steady and reliable the application of very small clips during surgery on a scale of vessel size of 2 mm in external diameter and smaller. The known device is modified internally so as to be capable of receiving a flexible remote actuation device which can be a cable release such as used for a camera shutter, or which can be a flexible hydraulic or pneumatic line as a force-transmitting device. Thus, the surgeon can hold the clip applier very steadily at the site desired without contracting any intrinsic muscles while the cable release is depressed by another person, or with the surgeon's other hand, or with a foot pedal.

The invention concerns surgical apparatus and techniques, and particularly relates to microsurgery, for example involving closure of blood vessels of about very small size, usually done under a microscope, or endoscopic repairs, or repairing vessels difficult to access, for example in a deep recess or hole permitting only a narrow tunnel of access.
Microsurgery, such as in plastic and reconstructive surgery, neurosurgery, replantation of limbs and appendages, hand surgery, endoscopic and arthroscopic procedures, often involves the need to suture or otherwise close wounds on extremely small tissues, including blood vessels of 2 mm external diameter and smaller. The very small vessels often need to be united or reunited together, in a procedure known as vascular anastomosis. Sometimes a large number of these anastomoses are required.
In small vessels it is usually undesirable to employ suturing, because suturing invades the interior lumen of the vessel and can cause problems of restricting blood flow and promoting clotting in the lumen.
For these reasons implements have been developed for applying very small non-penetrating clips to the walls of blood vessels. Some of these clips and application procedures are shown in Kirsch U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,586,503, 4,733,664 and 4,929,240, and these patents are incorporated herein by reference. In addition, an implement called VCS Clip Applier System is marketed by Auto Suture Company, a division of United States Surgical Corporation of Norwalk, Conn. The VCS Clip Applier has three different sizes of stems, and of clips dispensed and secured by the tips of those stems, including a small size for microsurgery applications on vessels of 2 mm external diameter and under. The VCS Clip Applier is manual and one-handed in operation. The surgeon carefully places the tip of the stem, which is forked and fed by a magazine of clips, at a position where the C-shaped clip, when applied, will engage in non-penetrating relationship against two everted layers of tissue. When the clip is dispensed it is squeezed inwardly, deforming the clip to a smaller size. To do this the surgeon squeezes together two thumb/finger wings extending out from opposite sides of the tool's handle near the tip end of the handle; this squeezing motion is effective to slide a linkage piece in the stem, causing, at the tip of the stem, inward clamping and dispensing of the clip. In a longitudinal split or line of juncture on a blood vessel or between blood vessels to be joined, the VCS Clip Applier is used to apply the clips closely and accurately together for hemostasis. The clips are left in place and need not be removed.
Particularly in the smallest version of the VCS Clip Applier, useful on blood vessels of 2 mm in external diameter and smaller, there is a problem in maintaining the stem tip steadily in position while squeezing the wings of the handle to install a clip. This is done under the microscope, and often it is difficult to apply a clip accurately. Even if the surgeon has a very steady hand, the requirement of muscle contraction to squeeze inwardly on these handle wings almost inevitably causes some small movement at the tip of the clip applier stem, at the very instant of clip application. The result is an inaccurate application of clips.
Another problem arises in use of the VCS Clip Applier, even the medium or large versions, in an awkward location such as a deep recess forming a very narrow access hole where stitches could not be made and the elongated clip applier is needed. Sometimes the narrow access does not allow the required squeezing of the thumb/finger wings, because of the excessive forward location of those wings.
A solution to these difficulties is provided by the invention described below.

Surgical clip applier with remote operation


A system and method are disclosed which compensate for chromatic dispersion and polarization mode dispersion in a digital signal. The signal is adjusted for chromatic dispersion in the frequency-domain. The signal is then converted to the time-domain and at least a portion of the signal is estimated to produce channel parameters. The channel parameters are converted to the frequency domain and used to compensate for polarization mode dispersion in the signal.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to processing digital signals, and more particularly, to compensating for chromatic dispersion and polarization mode dispersion in digital signals.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an optical communication system, chromatic dispersion and polarization mode dispersion may distort a transmitted signal. However, these abnormalities in the signal may be corrected at the receiver. While adjustments for chromatic dispersion may be fixed for a given channel, adjusting a channel for polarization mode dispersion involves dynamically adjusting the signal using channel estimates. In conventional systems, the equalization of an input signal is processed block-by-block, with each block having a fixed size that is equal to the block size utilized by the fast Fourier transform (FFT) and inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT). As equalization is performed on a block-by-block basis, the output signal may be used as feedback for estimating channel parameters.
However, a problem arises due to the fact that channel parameters are estimated using feedback from the output signal. Since the equalization scheme processes the signal on A block-by-block basis, the channel parameters used in compensating for polarization mode dispersion can only be updated once every FFT block size. Given that the FFT block size can be relatively large, the updating speed may be very slow, thus resulting in slow channel tracking capability.

System and method for frequency-domain chromatic dispersion and polarization mode dispersion compensation with time-domain channel estimation


A jet water teeth cleaning apparatus comprises a shower head for releasably attaching the apparatus to the inlet pipe of a shower. A valve coupled to the shower head selectably diverts water through a flexible tube to a handheld unit. The hand unit includes a housing with a nozzle and a pistol-grip style handle. The handle includes a trigger for regulating the velocity of water allowed to flow through the housing and for actuating a battery powered vibration unit. The vibration unit includes a reciprocating piston which maintains optimal water pressure by stirring the water flow to reduce friction between the water and the channel. The housing further includes a refillable reservoir of dentifrice which communicates a quantity of dentifrice into the water stream channel according to a siphoning or Venturi effect. The water stream with dentifrice is expelled through the nozzle for cleaning or flossing a user's teeth while showering.

This invention generally relates to dental hygiene devices and, more particularly, to a water jet teeth cleaning apparatus which delivers a dentifrice within a high velocity stream of water for cleaning the teeth and gums of a person while showering.
Several devices have been proposed in the prior art which divert water from a shower head or inlet pipe to a brush or flossing tool. Although assumably effective in operation, existing devices still exhibit several disadvantages. Specifically, some devices include complicated apparatus for introducing dentifrice into the water stream. Further, the pressure of the ultimately expelled water stream is often too low to effectively clean a user's teeth. In addition, previous devices do not provide a variable speed control of the water stream that is easy and convenient to operate.
Accordingly, it is desirable to have a teeth cleaning apparatus which can introduce dentifrice into the water stream without external apparatus. It is also desirable to have an apparatus which reduces or even eliminates factors which naturally reduce water pressure. Further, an apparatus having a variable velocity water stream that is simple to operate is needed.


A dental restoration system is disclosed including an implant for attachment to a jaw bone of a patient. The implant includes a cylindrical body having an interior bore formed between a distal end and a proximal end. An abutment includes an interior bore formed through the stem and the post and an interface section interfacing with the abutment interface of the dental implant. An abutment removal insert has a cylindrical end insertable into a groove formed in the interior bore of the abutment. An abutment removal tool screw is insertable within the abutment removal insert. The abutment removal tool screw includes a grip and an opposite end. The opposite end causes the abutment removal insert to contact the abutment. The grip is rotatable to cause the opposite end to create force against the implant to cause the abutment to be detached from the implant.

Single tooth restorations present the unique requirement that they must be supported non-rotationally on an underlying abutment. When a prepared natural tooth is the underlying abutment, this requirement is met in the normal course of preparing the abutment with a non-circular cross-section. Likewise, when the underlying abutment is a post fitted onto an implant, this requirement is met by preparing the post with a noncircular cross-section. This latter scenario can be more complicated due to the added connection between the implant and the abutment.
Typically, a dental implant is implanted into the bone of a patient's jaw and comprises a socket, e.g., a bore, which is accessible through the overlying or surrounding gum tissue for receiving and supporting one or more attachments or components which, in turn, are useful to fabricate and support the prosthodontic restoration. Dental implant procedures may use a variety of implanting modalities, for example, blade, threaded implant, or smooth push-in implant.
While numerous design iterations have been marketed, overall there have been three generations of the implant-abutment interface within these assemblies: an external hex implant, an internal connection implant, and a vertical connection assembly. The external hexagonal implant design has a hexagonal shape (or another anti-rotation feature) protruding out of the implant and the corresponding abutment has a female hexagonal receptacle. There is a surface below the hexagonal protrusion on which the abutment is seated. The hexagonal protrusion acts to constrain the abutment from rotating around the longitudinal axis as well as preventing movement on the plane coincident with the implant seating surface. Unfortunately, such an interface has virtually no stability until the screw is introduced and fully seated between the abutment and the implant. The screw is essentially the sole component resisting bending forces.
In contrast, the internal connection implant design has a hexagonal female member (or other anti-rotation feature) extruded into the implant, and the corresponding abutment has a male hexagonal protrusion. The abutment is seated on the same surface as the external hexagonal design, the only difference being that the anti-rotation feature on the implant is located below this surface. The benefit of this system is that it has intrinsic stability without the screw, and then experiences increased stability once the screw is introduced and fully seated. The system responds in a more unified manner to bending forces. While this system has advantages over the external hex implant, the disadvantage (which applies to the external hex as well) is that it is prone to leak at the implant-abutment interface (seating surface) due to "lifting" of the abutment under load that may create an intermittent gap resulting in bacteria penetration and subsequent crestal bone loss.
Another alternative interface is an internal/vertical connection implant assembly where the abutment sits "vertically" within the implant assembly and is supported by the internal sidewalls. In addition to this vertically interfacing aspect, many abutments contain a male anti-rotation feature at the bottom and the corresponding implants have a female receptacle (similar to the internal connection implant design). The main benefits of this design are that the two components effectively wedge together, creating a seal impenetrable to bacteria and the abutment receives added lateral support from the implant due to interaction of the abutment sidewalls with the interior surfaces of the implant. However, such designs suffer from vertical location variability. The accuracy of the fit of the final implant restoration (i.e., crown) is largely dependent on the ability to reliably transfer the location of the implant throughout the multiple steps involved in fabricating the restoration. The currently marketed vertical connection implant systems are susceptible to significant vertical location variability, and subsequent customer dissatisfaction. Location variability is undetectable until the very last step in the restorative process when the patient receives their restoration where it becomes apparent the restoration is too high or too low relative to the original tooth. For example, due to the required manufacturing tolerances, each time an abutment (or other male part) is mated with an implant (or other female part) the initial vertical position is destined to change. Further, once the parts are mated and torque is applied to the screw attaching the abutment to the implant, there is relative motion (or vertical displacement) between the male and female components. The magnitude of this motion is dependent on multiple variables, including but not limited to the screw torque, the surface finishes, and the component specifications.
Known vertical implant systems therefore still allow the lateral movement of the abutment in relation to the implant thus causing the possibility of misalignment. It would be desirable to have an abutment implant interface that eliminates vertical location variability. As the vertical connection implant assembly becomes accepted, it is necessary to develop a system that maintains the benefits of this type of design, yet eliminates the known vertical location variability problem. It would also be desirable for a system to create seals between the abutment and implant. The increase in seals in a contemplated system may result in adhesion between the implant and the abutment. Therefore it would be desirable for a removal system to assist in the removal of an abutment that adheres to an implant due to an improved interface.


One illustrative example includes wireless device having a first wake-up receiver and a second wake-up receiver. The first wake-up receiver can detect a first wake-up signal within a first group of wireless signals and responsively activate the second wake-up receiver. The second wake-up receiver can then detect a second wake-up signal within a second group of wireless signals and responsively activate a transceiver, where the transceiver is usable to engage in bidirectional communication with a remote device.

A fundamental tradeoff between power consumption and latency exists in wireless communication systems. For example, in order for a transceiver to respond to wireless communications quickly to minimize latency, the transceiver must always be listening for the wireless communications. But transceivers are often higher-power devices (e.g., on the order of milliamps), and having a transceiver turned on and listening all the time can waste significant amounts of power, especially in situations where wireless communications are infrequent. And while reducing the amount of time that a transceiver is listening for wireless communications can save power, this comes at the expense of missing potentially important wireless communications.

Systems and methods for waking up a transceiver for wireless communications