Provided is a wireless transmitter capable of accurately specifying the number of multiplexed streams and correctly decoding the data signals when a preamble sequence transmitted from any antenna of a wireless transmitter is detected. In this device, a multiplex count determination unit (101) determines the number of streams used by the device itself from the same number of candidates as the number of spatially multiplexed streams. A sequence group generator (104) forms a plurality of preamble sequences into the same number of groups as the number of candidates, which is the number of streams. A sequence group selector (105) selects the group matching the number of streams determined by the multiplex count determination unit (101) from a plurality of groups. A preamble generator (106) selects the same number of preamble sequences as the number of streams in the group selected by the sequence group selector (105) and generates the preamble sequence used by the device itself.

As a technique of large volume data communication, a technique in which a radio transmission apparatus spatially multiplexes and transmits a plurality of transmission data (streams) (e.g. Nmux streams, where Nmux≦Ntx) using a plurality of transmission antenna ports (e.g. Ntx antenna ports) has been studied. A radio reception apparatus spatially separates and receives received data in which the plurality of streams are mixed with each other on a propagation channel. Hereinafter, the number of streams spatially multiplexed by the radio transmission apparatus is referred to as "the number of multiplexed streams."
When the plurality of streams are spatially multiplexed using the plurality of antenna ports, it is assumed that preamble sequences for estimating channel quality between the antenna ports of the radio transmission apparatus and the antenna ports of the radio reception apparatus are multiplexed into data signals. In this case, the radio transmission apparatus assigns different preamble sequences for each stream. The radio reception apparatus detects the preamble sequences from the antenna ports of the radio transmission apparatus, and performs channel estimation between the antenna ports of the radio transmission apparatus and the antenna ports of the radio reception apparatus.
In addition, the radio reception apparatus needs to specify the number of multiplexed streams to separate the plurality of spatially multiplexed streams. The radio reception apparatus blindly detects the preamble sequences representing the number of multiplexed streams to specify the number of multiplexed streams, which has been studied (e.g. see Patent Literature 1). Specifically, first, the radio transmission apparatus and the radio reception apparatus share candidate data of used preamble sequences. The radio transmission apparatus fixedly assigns preamble sequences to the antenna ports of the radio transmission apparatus. In the radio transmission apparatus, an antenna port to which the preamble sequence corresponding to the number of multiplexed streams can be assigned is considered as a main antenna, and the antenna ports other than the main antenna are considered as sub-antennas. For example, the radio transmission apparatus assigns the preamble sequence of a sequence number L (i.e. the largest sequence number of used preamble sequences) corresponding to the number of multiplexed streams L to the main antenna. Hereinafter, the preamble sequence corresponding to the number of multiplexed streams is referred to as "main antenna preamble sequence."
The radio reception apparatus takes correlation between the candidate data of the preamble sequences shared with the radio transmission apparatus and the received preamble sequence, to blindly detect the preamble sequences. The radio reception apparatus specifies the preamble sequence of the largest sequence number from the blindly detected preamble sequences, as the main antenna preamble sequence, and the specified preamble sequence number L is referred to as the number of multiplexed streams. The radio reception apparatus estimates channel quality using the detected preamble sequence, and performs spatiotemporal decoding on the basis of the number of multiplexed streams L.

Wireless transmitter, wireless receiver, and preamble sequence generation method


Provided is a method for selectively preparing 2-chloropentafluoropropene comprising catalytic dechlorination of 1,2,2-trichloro-1,1,3,3,3-pentafluoropropane in the presence of hydrogen and a noble metal catalyst. Also provided is method for dechlorinating a vicinal chloride substituted organic compound using a palladium/barium sulfate catalyst.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to methods for dechlorinating organic compounds. More particularly, the invention relates to catalytic dechlorination of organic compounds comprising vicinal chlorides.
2. Description of Related Art
The compound 2-chloro-pentafluoropropene is useful as a soil fumigant (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 2,785,984 (Kenaga)). Certain other soil fumigants, such as methyl bromide, are being phased out of commercial use due to their high ozone depletion potential.
Methods of preparing 2-chloro-pentafluoropropene are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,878,257 (Bruce) discloses the catalytic conversion of a propene, namely 1,1,2-trichlorotrifluoropropene-1, in the presence of HF and an anhydrous chromium (III) oxide catalyst with a divalent zinc ion to produce 2-chloro-pentafluoropropene. Although this method purportedly results in a conversion of 95-100 percent with a yield of 80 percent, it would be beneficial to produce 2-chloro-pentafluoropropene from more readily available starting materials, such as halogenated alkyls.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,917,558 (Cunningham, et al.) describes a method for producing 2-chloro-pentafluoropropene by zinc reduction of 1,2,2,3-tetrachloro-1,1,3,3-tetrafluoropentane to form a chloro-fluoropropene intermediate which is then treated with SbF3 to arrive at the intended product. Preparation of olefins via the dechlorination of organic compounds containing vicinal chlorines using elemental zinc is widely used today. However, this process is disadvantageous in that is generates a large amount of waste material as it utilizes an organic solvent and generates large quantities of zinc chloride as a by product. In addition, the process disclosed in Cunningham, et al. results in low yields of CF3CCl═CCl2 (i.e., only 27-29%). As a consequence, there has been some effort to find catalytic methods for the conversion of chlorofluoroalkyls to chlorofluoroalkenes.
Others have described reactions involving the catalytic dechlorination of chlorofluoroalkyls to produce hydrofluoroalkenes. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,697,124 (Mantell) discloses the catalytic dechlorination of certain chlorofluorocarbons, including 1,2-dichloro-1,1,3,3,3-pentafluoropropane and 1,1,2-trichloro-2,3,3,3-tetrafluoropropane, to produce an unsaturated product that retains substantially all fluorine atoms originally present in the reactant. Likewise, U.S. Pat. No. 5,714,655 (Yamamoto, et al.) discloses that 2,2,3-trichloro-1,1,1,3,3-pentafluoropropane and at least 4.5 equivalent parts of hydrogen in the presence of a noble metal catalyst and in the vapor phase will undergo a hydrogenation reaction to form 1,1,1,3,3-pentafluoropropane.
There remains, however, a need for an economical and environmentally friendly means of preparing 2-chloropentafluoropropene directly from a catalytic dechlorination of a chlorofluorocarbon. The present invention satisfies these needs among others.

Method of dechlorinating organic compounds comprising vicinal chlorides


A battery-connection system in one aspect of the present disclosure comprises a battery pack and a connecting device. The connecting device comprises a temperature-related control unit that is configured to execute a specific temperature-related control in accordance with a detection signal outputted from the battery pack when the battery pack is attached to the connecting device, without identifying a type of a battery in the battery pack.

The present disclosure relates to a battery pack.
A battery charger that is configured to identify the type of a battery and controls charging of the battery in accordance with the identified type is known.
According to one example of the technique disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 11-69645, the type of a battery is identified by using a detected voltage that is detected by a thermistor built in a battery pack. More specifically, the detected voltage is shifted (offset) by coupling the thermistor and a resistor in series in the battery pack. Such shifted amount differs depending on the type of the battery. And the battery charger identifies the type of the battery based on the level of the detected voltage. For example, the battery charger determines that the battery is an A-type battery if the detected voltage value is equal to or smaller than a given threshold value, or a B-type battery if the detected voltage value is greater than the given threshold value.

Battery-connection system, battery pack, and method of forming temperature-detection circuit


In a grid drive-type CRT display apparatus, the impedance of a second grid voltage supply circuit is made a high impedance and a low-frequency band rejecting streaking interference caused by the high impedance is compensated by low-frequency range emphasizing circuit means. The low-frequency range emphasizing circuit means compensates for the low-frequency range rejection characteristic which is an adverse effect of the high impedance to the second grid and this results in an improvement in the high-frequency transmission characteristic. Also, there is the effect of improving the frequency bandwidth and reducing the consumption of power.

The present invention relates to a CRT display apparatus and more particularly to a wideband video output circuit suitable for a grid drive system.
Initially in the age of vacuum tube-type television receivers, video output circuits heretofore used have been of the type which differentially drives the first grid electrode G.sub.1 and the cathode electrode of a CRT.
This kind of conventional cathode-drive type display apparatus employing vacuum tubes has been disclosed in the magazine by D. G. Fink, "Television Engineering Handbook", McGraw-Hill Book Company, pp 16-255, 1957.
Also, the above kind of conventional griddrive type display apparatus employing vacuum tubes has likewise been disclosed on pages 16 to 257 of the same magazine.
Since display apparatus have subsequently been constructed with transistors, however, a cathode single-drive system has come into use. One of the reasons for cathode single-drive system coming into use has resided in that the electrostatic capacity of the first grid electrode G.sub.1 has a magnitude of about 1.6 times that of the cathode electrode K. As is well known in the art, the required power of the video output circuit is proportional to the load capacity. Therefore, the first grid G.sub.1 -drive system has not been used due to it requiring a large power consumption.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the technique of a conventional CRT display apparatus. The reason for the electrostatic capacity of the first grid G.sub.1 being so large relatively will now be described with reference to FIG. 1. In the Figure, numeral 1 designates a CRT, 2 a cathode electrode, 3 a first grid electrode G.sub.1, 4 a second grid electrode G.sub.2, 5 a cathode voltage application terminal, 6 a first grid voltage application terminal, and 7 a second grid voltage source which applies a dc voltage of about 700 V.
C.sub.KS is the cathode electrostatic capacity when the first grid G.sub.1 is grounded, and C.sub.IS the first grid electrostatic capacity when the cathode K is grounded. They are given by the following equations. EQU C.sub.KS =C.sub.K1+C.sub.KK .apprxeq.5.sub.p F (1) EQU C.sub.IS =C.sub.K1+C.sub.11 +C.sub.12 .apprxeq.8.sub.p F (2)
where
C.sub.K1 is the storage capacity of about 4.sub.p F between the cathode K and the first grid G.sub.1 ; PA1 C.sub.KK is the storage capacity of about 1.sub.p F between the cathode K and the ground; PA1 C.sub.11 is the storage capacity of about 1.sub.p F between the first grid G.sub.1 and the ground; and PA1 C.sub.12 is the storage capacity of about 3.sub.p F between the first grid G.sub.1 and the second grid G.sub.2.
As will be seen from the above equation (1), the value of C.sub.IS is greater due to the presence of C.sub.12 of about 3.sub.p F.


An adhesive tape dispenser of the present invention includes a housing and a tape holder. The housing has an opening and a pivot axle disposed on the opening. The tape holder is received in the housing and has a pivot hole to receive the pivot axle. The housing and the tape holder have a limitation structure to enable the tape holder to pivot between a closed position and an open position. The housing has a pressing portion which is able to press the tape holder to cancel limitation of the limitation structure, and then the tape holder is able to pivot away from the opening freely to facilitate the replacement of tape roll. Thereby, the adhesive tape dispenser of the present invention can provide an easy way to operate, and the replacement of tape roll becomes more convenient.

1. Field of the Invention
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional adhesive tape dispenser are disclosed in patents U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,709,049, 4,752,023, 5,167,357, and 7,175,062. This kind of tape dispensers are disadvantageous that the adhesive face of tape located between the blade and the tape axle is usually contaminated by dust. Also, the blade is exposed outside directly to be possible to hurt a user accidentally.
To solve the problem of exposedness of the blade and the tape, a protection cover is usually disposed on the outside of the blade to conceal the blade and the tape selectively, as disclosed in patents U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,678,777, 2,924,365, 3,034,691, and 4,262,835. However, the tape dispenser with a protection cover is too complicated structurally, and the protection cover hampers the operation. Furthermore, the tape rolls of the tape dispensers mentioned above are difficult to be replaced. More specifically, the tape dispenser has to be disassembled before replacement of the tape roll. Although another cover disposed on a lateral side to facilitate the replacement of tape roll is disclosed in patent U.S. Pat. No. 5,133,980, it means that manufacturers must manufacture two covers to conceal the blade and to facilitate replacement of tape roll respectively. The cost is increased, and also the appearance of the tape dispenser is unattractive.
The present invention is, therefore, arisen to obviate or at least mitigate the above mentioned disadvantages.


A case structure of a power equipment unit includes: a case body having an upper portion opened to accommodate a power equipment; a lid member which covers the upper portion of the case body; and a cover member which is attached to the lid member and covers at least a first opening part formed in the lid member. The cover member has an intake port, the lid member has a second opening part which is provided with a maintenance/inspection plug of the power equipment so as to be adjacent to the first opening part, a space part is formed between the cover member and the lid member, the space part has a drain passage for discharging liquid to the outside, and the second opening part and the drain passage are located opposite to each other with the first opening part interposed therebetween.

A battery (battery module) is mounted on a hybrid vehicle which travels using an engine and a motor in combination, an electric vehicle which travels only using a motor, and the like to store electric power and supply the electric power to the motor (for example, JP-A-2010-285070 and JP-A-2012-099288). The battery is accommodated generally as a part of a power equipment unit in a case together with high-voltage electrical components including an inverter and the like.
The case of the power equipment unit has an intake port for taking cooling air into the case. In a structure where the case of the power equipment unit is disposed in a passenger compartment, however, when an occupant spills a large amount of liquid such as drink near the power equipment unit, there is a risk that the liquid flows from the intake port into the case of the power equipment unit. When the large amount of liquid flows into the case of the power equipment unit, there is a risk that the battery is flooded. From such reasons, the intake port of the case desirably adopts such a liquid infiltration preventing structure that the liquid is not easily infiltrated into the case even in a case where the large amount of liquid is spilled.
On the other hand, the power equipment unit is provided with a maintenance/inspection plug which is a switch for shutting off a circuit of the battery and performs work safely at the time of performing maintenance of the battery. Since electric parts constituting a part of the circuit of the battery are disposed in the periphery of the maintenance/inspection plug, it is preferable to cool it appropriately.
However, when being disposed close to the intake port, the maintenance/inspection plug is likely to be affected by the liquid infiltration preventing structure of the above-described intake port, and thus the maintenance/inspection plug may highly be subjected to flooding.


A video decoder chipset (200, 300, 400, 500) comprises a video decoder function (210), an upscaler function (230) and a combiner function (240). The video decoder function (210) is configured to (i) decode encoded video data to generate decoded video data at a first level of quality, the encoded video data having been derived by an encoder using first video data at a second, higher level of quality and (ii) output the decoded video data for storage in a memory (220). The upscaler function (230) is configured to (i) obtain the decoded video data from the memory (220) and (ii) upscale the obtained decoded video data to generate second video data at the second level of quality. The combiner function (240) is configured to (i) obtain residual data, the residual data having been derived by the encoder based on the first video data and the second video data, (ii) combine the second video data with the residual data to generate enhanced video data, and (iii) output the enhanced video data.

In some situations, it is desired to display a video to a viewer at a relatively high level of quality, for example at a relatively high resolution. This may be desirable where the screen on which the video is displayed is very close to the viewer, for example in immersive video (e.g. virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR)) applications. The viewer may otherwise notice defects in a lower quality video. Such defects can detract from the viewer's enjoyment of and engagement with the video.
Videos may be stored and/or transmitted in a compressed form, for example by encoding the videos. However, in order to display such videos to a viewer at a sufficiently high level of quality, the videos may be decompressed, for example by decoding the videos. Decoding high quality videos may result in relatively large amounts of data being stored and/or processed and/or transmitted, particularly as the usage of higher quality, higher definition videos becomes more widespread. Storing decoded, high quality videos may be a particular consideration in systems that have a limited amount of memory. Other considerations relating to the decoding of high quality videos include processing power, latency, the capability of decoding components, cost and complexity.


Video coding apparatus and decoding apparatus capable of reproducing decoded pictures without introducing unwanted noises, even if any considerable difference in pixel values or discontinuity exists at a certain block boundary. In a video coding apparatus employing predictive techniques, a dequantizer and an inverse DCT processor reproduce a prediction error signal from quantized transform coefficients. Here, a first resolution conversion unit (or downsampling unit) might have subsampled the original prediction error signal to reduce its picture resolution. If this is the case, a second resolution conversion unit (or upsampling unit) attempts to restore the original resolution of the prediction error signal by applying an upsampling process to the reproduced prediction error signal having the reduced resolution. In this upsampling process, each new pixel value in a certain block are calculated with reference to some surrounding pixels. The upsampling process, however, will not refer to the pixels belonging to any adjacent blocks that are subject to another coding scheme which is different from the coding scheme of the present block of interest. As an alternate arrangement, the upsampling process will entirely neglect the pixels in any other blocks but will refer only to the present block, block-by-block basis, comprising the substep of. (b1) performing an upsampling process of each block with the low resolution to regain the high resolution, while not referring, when calculating a pixel value in a block that is subject to one of the coding schemes, to any pixels that belong to any other block adjacent to the block of interest if the adjacent block is subject to the other coding scheme, but referring at least to the pixels belonging to the block of interest.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to video coding apparatus and video decoding apparatus, and more particularly, to a video coding apparatus that performs predictive coding of digital video signals and a video decoding apparatus that reproduces the original motion images from the predictive-coded video signal produced by the video coding apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
The ITU-T standard H.261 and the ISO standards MPEG-1 and MPEG-2, for example, are well-acknowledged international standards for motion picture coding techniques. Those standards use hybrid coding algorithms, where the coding process will proceed as follows: (1) a source picture is divided into blocks of pixels, (2) orthogonal transformation (e.g., discrete cosine transform) and motion compensation are applied independently on each block, and (3) quantized video data is compressed by entropy coding.
When a motion of considerable magnitude or a full scene transition happened in the middle of a sequence of video frames, the above-described hybrid video coding techniques may suffer from an overwhelming amount of coded frame data that exceeds a certain standard level allowed for each frame. In this case, the coder will forcibly reduce the amount of coded data in an attempt to regulate it at the standard level. This will cause extreme degradation in image quality and coarse frame subsampling (or a drop in frame update rates), thus resulting in unacceptably poor pictures when reconstructed at the receiving ends.
A video coding system aiming at avoidance of the above problem is proposed in Japanese Patent Application No. 8-75605 (1996), for instance, by the same applicant of the present invention. In this proposed system, the video coding apparatus reduces the resolution of input frame signals to regulate the amount of coded frame data when a full scene transition or a massive motion has happened in the middle of a sequence of video frames.
FIG. 14 is a block diagram of this video coding apparatus proposed in the Japanese Patent Application No. 8-75605. The apparatus of FIG. 14 supports two kinds of picture resolutions: Common Intermediate Format (CIF, 352.times.288 pixels) and quarter-CIF (QCIF, 176.times.144 pixels). A CIF/QCIF selection controller 125 determines which picture resolution should be used to encode source pictures, considering the amount of coded frame data produced in a predictive coding, quantizer step size, and some other parameters. For example, the CIF/QCIF selection controller 125 normally chooses the high resolution CIF, while it chooses the low resolution QCIF when a large amount of data has been produced as a result of the coding.
A frame memory 122 is used to store reconstructed (or decoded) pictures of the previous frames. Comparing the source picture of the current frame with a decoded picture that is retrieved from the frame memory 122 as the reference picture, a prediction parameter calculation unit 112 computes motion vectors of the current frame. Here, a picture is partitioned into a plurality of blocks and the comparison of frame data is performed on a block-by-block basis. Each source frame picture is subjected to either an intraframe coding or an interframe coding. A prediction parameter calculation unit 112 determines which coding scheme should be applied to the source frame picture. When the interframe coding is activated, a prediction picture generation unit 113 produces a prediction picture of the current frame based on the decoded image of the previous frame and the motion vectors calculated by the prediction parameter calculation unit 112.
A prediction error signal generation unit 114 produces a prediction error signal by calculating differences between the source picture and the prediction picture on a block-by-block basis. A CIF/QCIF converter 131 changes the resolution of this prediction error signal, which is originally CIF, to what is chosen by the CIF/QCIF selection controller 125. More specifically, the CIF/QCIF converter 131 outputs the prediction error signal as it is when the CIF resolution is selected by the CIF/QCIF selection controller 125, and it in turn converts the resolution to QCIF when the QCIF resolution is selected.
A coding controller 124 receives information regarding the amount of the resultant coded data from an entropy coding unit 117 (described later), as well as obtaining information on buffer occupancy from a coded data buffer 118 (described later). Based on such information, the coding controller 124 determines the quantizer step size and distributes it to a quantizer 116, a dequantizer 119, the CIF/QCIF selection controller 125, and the entropy coder 117.
A DCT processor 115 applies an orthogonal transform, or a digital cosine transform (DCT), to the output of the CIF/QCIF converter 131, and a quantizer 116 quantizes the obtained DCT coefficients in accordance with the quantizer step size specified by the coding controller 124.
The entropy coder 117 receives the quantized DCT coefficients from the quantizer 116, the picture resolution from the CIF/QCIF selection controller 125, and the motion vectors and coding scheme information from the prediction parameter calculation unit 112. Entropy coding is a data compression process that assigns shorter code words to frequent events and longer code words to less frequent events. Out of a predefined code word table, the entropy coder 117 retrieves code words relevant to each combination of the above received data, thereby outputting the coded frame data.
The quantized DCT coefficients produced by the quantizer 116 are also supplied to the dequantizer 119 for inverse quantization, or dequantization. The resultant output signals are then subjected to an inverse discrete cosine transform (IDCT) process that is executed by an IDCT processor 120 to reproduce the original prediction error signal. When the reproduced prediction error signal has the QCIF format as a result of the resolution reduction by the CIF/QCIF converter 131, a QCIF/CIF converter 132 reconverts it to regain the original CIF resolution. A decoded picture generator 121 reconstructs a picture by adding the prediction error signal outputted by the QCIF/CIF converter 132 to the prediction picture produced by the prediction picture generator 113. This fully decoded picture is then transferred to a frame memory 122 for storage.
As described above, the proposed video coding apparatus monitors the amount of coded frame data and the like, and if any significant increase is expected in the amount of coded frame data, the apparatus will reduce the resolution of the prediction error signal from CIF to QCIF.
The CIF/QCIF converter 131 performs such resolution reduction through a downsampling process as exemplified in FIG. 15. More specifically, white dots in FIG. 15 represent CIF pixels and lower-case alphabetic characters placed in them indicate their respective prediction error signal values. Black dots represent QCIF pixels, and upper-case letters beside them signify their respective prediction error signal values. The downsampling process calculates the QCIF prediction error signal values A, B, C, and D by averaging four values of the CIF pixels surrounding each of the QCIF pixels. For example, the pixel value A is obtained as EQU A=(a+b+e+f)/4. (1)
In contrast to that, the QCIF/CIF converter 132 performs a QCIF-to-CIF resolution conversion through an upsampling process as shown in FIG. 16. More specifically, black dots represent QCIF pixels, and upper-case letters beside them indicate their respective prediction error signal values, while white dots represent CIF pixels and lower-case letters in them indicate their respective prediction error signal values. To obtain the CIF prediction error signal values a, b, c, and so on, the upsampling process calculates a weighted average value of four QCIF pixels surrounding each CIF pixel. For example, the pixel value f is obtained as EQU f=(9A+3B+3C+D)/16, (2)
where four QCIF values are summed up with weighting coefficients determined in accordance with their respective distances from the pixel 134 of interest.
It should be noted here that the above-described conventional video coding apparatus is constructed on the assumption that all blocks in a frame are encoded by using a consistent coding scheme. More specifically, it is assumed that every block in a given frame is subjected to either an intraframe coding or an interframe coding, but this coding scheme cannot be switched in the middle of the frame.
In reality, however, the two different coding schemes can sometimes be applied to different blocks in the same frame. If this is the case, some adjacent blocks within the same frame will be coded in different ways. Take the pixel map illustrated in FIG. 16 for example. Here, a dashed line 133 represents a block boundary where the applied coding scheme changes from interframe coding to intraframe coding or vise versa. To calculate a prediction error signal value f at a CIF pixel 134, the QCIF/CIF converter 132 uses the equation EQU f=(9A+3B+3C+D)/16, (3)
where the QCIF pixel values C and D subject to the different coding scheme will affect the result f. Referring now to FIG. 17, problems caused by this mixed pixel reference will be discussed below.
FIG. 17 schematically shows a process of the predictive coding and decoding of a source picture. FIG. 17 consists of six graphs, (a) to (f), each of which represents how the pixel values will vary when scanning across some different blocks. In other words, these graphs show the profiles of pixel values in the neighborhood of a certain block boundary. More specifically, the left half of each profile (labeled "Intra") is a block subject to the intraframe coding, while the right half (labeled "Inter") is a block subject to the interframe coding, where the vertical dashed line indicates the block boundary. The upper-left graph (a) shows the profile of a source picture, in which the pixel values are just flat in both blocks. Since the left block is subjected to the intraframe coding and thus has no reference frame for prediction, its pixel values in the prediction picture profile (b) will be zeros. Accordingly, the resultant prediction error signal (c) exhibits large difference values in the left block, while showing small values in the right block that is subject to the interframe coding. Incidentally, in FIG. 17 (and also in later figures), the big "+" and "-" signs imply subtraction and addition of pictures, respectively.
In such a situation where two adjacent blocks are coded with different schemes (i.e., intraframe and interframe), the upsampling operations executed by the QCIF/CIF converter 132 as noted earlier will introduce a mixture of differently coded pixel values in the vicinity of the block boundary. That is, the reproduced prediction error signal will be deformed as illustrated in a profile (d) of FIG. 17, as a result of the upsampling operations by the QCIF/CIF converter 132. Then the summation of this reproduced prediction error signal (d) and a prediction picture (e), which equals the prediction picture (b), provided from the prediction picture generation unit 113 will yield a decoded picture (f). As illustrated in FIG. 17, the resultant decoded picture (f) contains some distortion in the vicinity of the block boundary. Fidelity of decoded pictures to the original pictures is one of the important design considerations in video decoders. As opposed to this, the picture (f) reconstructed by the conventional video coding apparatus is different from the original source picture (a).
This kind of problem may occur not only in the particular situation in which two different coding schemes are applied to adjacent blocks in a frame, but it can potentially happen to any video i frames that contain some sharp edges exhibiting a large difference or discontinuity in pixel values at a certain block boundary in a single frame. Such discontinuous transitions of pixel values may also be observed in such video frames where two neighboring blocks have quite different motion vectors. When decoded, the picture will suffer from similar noises, or artifacts, produced in the vicinity of the boundary of those neighboring blocks.


The road vehicle comprises a communicating door (8, 9) in each of the front (3) and rear (4) transverse faces, a part at the front and a part at the rear of the split able connection that can combine with that of another identical or same-type vehicle respectively in front (5) and behind (6) so as to constitute a disconnect able articulated connection for aligning the vehicles and obtaining a short distance between the vehicles, a projection at the front or at the rear at the inter-vehicular passenger access, a course set point for the vehicle (6) behind using a system for directional control of the vehicle behind. The road vehicle is applicable to urban public transport vehicles which can form a road train.

Each road vehicle of the invention comprises a door on each of its front surfaces, each door offering passenger access to the adjacent vehicle when the vehicles are grouped in a series or in a road train.
The field of urban and inter-urban road vehicle passenger transportation is currently turning to solutions that utilize trains in a series or road trains that are assemblies formed of several motorized road vehicles and when isolated, are independently driven or connected to an energy supply network, but which can also be rapidly grouped and disconnected.
For several reasons it is necessary to reduce as much as possible the distance between vehicles in order to, among other things, make it impossible for people along the road, passers-by, cyclists, etc., to cross the convoy. Generally, for example, on small tourist vehicles, there are unattractive chains located on either side of the drawbar that provide this security.

Motorized road vehicle for transporting passengers, capable of running alone and of being articulated to other vehicles to form a road train


An integrated-circuit device comprises a bus system connected to a processor, a plurality of peripherals, each connected to the bus system, hardware filter logic; and a peripheral interconnect system, separate from the bus system and connected to the peripherals. For each peripheral, the hardware filter logic stores a respective value determining whether the peripheral is in a secure state. The peripheral interconnect system provides a set of one or more channels for signalling events between peripherals. At least one channel is a secure channel or is configurable to be a secure channel. The peripheral interconnect system is configured to allow an event signal from a peripheral in the secure state to be sent over a secure channel and to prevent an event signal from a peripheral that is not in the secure state from being sent over the secure channel.

This invention relates to integrated-circuit devices having peripheral interconnects, and methods of operating the same.
Integrated-circuit devices, such as radio-on-chip devices, typically comprise one or more processors and a number of peripherals, which are connected to the processor by a bus, such as an Arm™ AMBA (Advanced Microcontroller Bus Architecture) bus system. Examples of peripherals include a timer, a cryptographic co-processor, a serial interface (e.g., SPI or UART), and an embedded radio transceiver.
In a simple architecture, the processor communicates directly with each peripheral over the bus. Peripherals communicate only with the processor, and not directly with each other. This is inefficient.
The applicant has previously described a peripheral-to-peripheral communication system in WO 2013/088121. This provides a programmable peripheral interconnect (PPI) that can be configured by the processor so that a first peripheral can signal an event to a second peripheral, so as to cause the second peripheral to perform a task in response to the event of the first peripheral. A channel in the PPI can be configured to connect the event output of the first peripheral to the task input of the second peripheral by writing address values associated with the event output and with the task input as an entry in a mapping table.
For example, such a PPI could be programmed to create a channel between an event output of a serial-interface peripheral and a task input of a crypto-processor. The event signal could be used to signal when the peripheral finishes receiving data over the serial interface and writing the data to a predetermined memory address. The task signal could cause the crypto-processor to read the data from the predetermined memory address and input the data to a cipher operation. The PPI channel connects the event to the task so that cipher operation is initiated in response to the serial-interface peripheral signalling that it has finished writing the data to the memory. This signalling can occur without the processor having to be awake when the signalling takes place, thereby resulting in power savings and potentially also in faster and more accurate device timings.
Another example of a peripheral interconnect system is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 5,579,531A (Mitsubishi). It discloses a set of signals lines, or event buses, to which peripherals can be connected, using multiplexers, so that signals can be transmitted between the peripherals.
However, the applicant has recognised that peripheral interconnect systems can present a security risk in some contexts.
The memory of integrated-circuit devices may contain sensitive information, such as data or software code, to which access should be restricted. Similarly, some peripherals, such as cryptographic accelerators, may handle sensitive data, or provide other sensitive functions. It can therefore be desirable to limit access to certain memory regions and/or to certain peripherals only to "trusted" software code, such as code developed by the device manufacturer, and to block access by other code, such as application code developed by a third party.
Arm™ TrustZone provides compatible Arm™ microcontrollers (e.g., a Cortex™-M33) with two operating states: "Secure" and "Non-Secure".
The product designer can designate certain regions of memory and/or certain peripherals (e.g., a cryptoprocessor), as being "secure-world" resources, while other regions of memory and peripherals are not so designated. The device memory map (which covers all of the system memory and all the memory-mapped peripheral registers) can be divided into secure and non-secure address ranges. A peripheral may be permanently "secure" or "non-secure", or its status can be configured by software through a Peripheral Protection Control (PPC) register. Hardware logic in the bus fabric ensures that no "secure-world" resources can be accessed directly by "non-secure-world" software, thereby providing a security perimeter around sensitive resources. Bus infrastructure components can support partitioning of memory spaces in memory components, to block non-secure accesses to secure memories.
Secure transactions can only be generated by secure software or, in cases of testing, an authorised debugger. Non-secure (non-trusted) software applications cannot access secure (trusted) resources directly, but must request access through APIs (application programming interfaces) provided by secure software. These APIs can implement authentication checks to decide whether to permit access to a secure service. This approach makes it harder for attackers, who may have compromised part of the non-secure software code, to access sensitive information stored on such a device, or for software bugs to inadvertently gain access to secure resources.
However, the applicant has recognised that it could be possible for an attacker to use a peripheral interconnect system to compromise the security of such a device, or other secure devices.
The present invention seeks to provide a more secure approach to peripheral-to-peripheral communication.


A system and method for superplastic forming a workpiece. The system includes a superplastic forming cell formed of a plurality of individual stations or modules, each one performing a specific manufacturing step or process on the workpiece. Individual stations include a preheat station, a forming station, a cooling station, a cleaning station and a trimming station. These stations work in conjunction with one another to reduce superplastic forming cycle times and correspondingly increased production times when manufacturing a workpiece using a superplastic forming process.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a system and method for superplastic forming a workpiece; and, more specifically, to an automated system including a plurality of modules forming a superplastic forming cell.
2. Description of Related Art
Superplastic forming (SPF) takes advantage of a material's superplasticity or ability to be strained past its rupture point under certain elevated temperature conditions. Superplasticity in metals is defined by very high tensile elongations, ranging from two hundred to several thousand percent. Superplasticity is the ability of certain materials to undergo extreme elongation at the proper temperature and strain rate. SPF is a process used to produce parts that are difficult to form using conventional fabrication techniques.
SPF typically includes the steps of heating a sheet of material to a point of superplasticity, clamping the material within a sealed die and then using inert gas pressure applied to one side of the sheet of material to force the material to stretch and take the shape of the die cavity. Accordingly, SPF takes advantage of certain material characteristics, specifically increased elongation at higher temperatures or the ability to stretch a material by several times its initial length without breaking.
Standard SPF applications have advantages over conventional stamping techniques, including increased forming strains, reduced spring back and low tooling costs; however, they have disadvantages in that they are limited to low volumes as they normally require relatively long forming cycle times. Specifically, a conventional SPF processes used to manufacture a complex part can require a forming cycle time as high as 30 minutes.
Further, conventional SPF systems require that the forming die is cooled prior to removal. Once cooled the die is removed a new room temperature die is inserted into the press. Before production can resume, the new room temperature die must be heated to suitable SPF temperature. This causes a significant loss of production time and cooling down and heating up of the dies. Cool down and heat up can take anywhere from 24 to 48 hours each.
Reduced cycle times are necessary in order to use SPF for the high production requirements of the automotive industry. Accordingly, there is a need for a superplastic forming system that decreases cycle time and correspondingly increases production volume.

System and process for superplastic forming


Systems and methods for resisting intrusion by a pest include a reservoir extending between a proximal end and a distal end, and the reservoir defining an interior. A basin is mounted to the reservoir. The basin has a basin body and a basin surface. A sleeve assembly has a sleeve body and a port defined in the sleeve body. A tensioner translationally mounts the sleeve body relative to the basin body. The sleeve body translates distally from an accessible position to an occluded position when a weight applied to the sleeve assembly exceeds a weight threshold set by the tensioner. The accessible position includes bird food on the basin surface being accessible through the port. The occluded position includes the port being disposed distal to the basin surface such that the bird food on the basin surface is inaccessible through the port.

Attracting wild birds, particularly song birds, using bird feeders is an increasingly popular hobby. The ability to attract desired birds may be limited, however, where the area in which the bird feeder is stationed is frequented by pests, such as squirrels and larger birds including magpies. Many conventional bird feeders are susceptible to such pests accessing and consuming bird food in the bird feeder, thereby discouraging wild birds from visiting the bird feeder and greatly increasing the costs associated with the hobby by having to replace the consumed bird food in shorter intervals. These challenges are exacerbated in attempting to distinguish between wild birds and pests, such as squirrels, to ensure that the bird food is not denied to the wild birds. It is with these observations in mind, among others, that various aspects of the present disclosure were conceived and developed.


A method for separating and purifying lactoferrin from milk is disclosed, which method comprises the steps of bringing raw milk containing lactoferrin into contact with a sulfuric ester of a crosslinked polysaccharide so that lactoferrin may be adsorbed by the sulfuric ester, and then eluting the adsorbed lactoferrin. The elution of the adsorbed lactoferrin is preferably conducted by the use of a buffer solution containing a 0.4-1.5 M aqueous sodium chloride solution.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for separating and purifying lactoferrin, which is a pharmacologically important milk protein having various physiological activities, from milk containing lactoferrin.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Lactoferrin is an iron-binding glycoprotein present in an exocrine liquid such as milk and has a variety of physiological activities such as bateriostasis against pathogenic bacteria, adjusting function of leukocyte differentiation, build-up function of germicidal power, multiplicative function of lymphocyte and adjusting function of iron absorption. For that reason, it can be said that lactoferrin is a milk protein which is important not only from a nutritional viewpoint but also a pharmacological viewpoint.
As a result, many attempts have heretofore been made to develop methods for separating and purifying lactoferrin from milk. However, since lactoferrin is a protein having a very reactive molecular structure and interacting with other milk proteins, it has been difficult to separate and purify lactoferrin in a high purity and in a high yield by a simple and easy operation.
In other words, in order to separate high-purity lactoferrin, an intricate process and a long period of time is necessary. In addition, the recovery efficiency of lactoferrin is disadvantageously low.
Recently, a separating and purifying method for lactoferrin has been reported in which a raw liquid is passed through an affinity column where heparin having physiological affinity to lactoferrin is fixed on a carrier for chromatography such as Cephalose CL-6B (made by Pharmacia Labs., Inc.) with the aid of CNBr or the like, whereby lactoferrin is separated and purified therefrom (Blackberg, L. et al, FEBS LETT., 109, p. 180, 1980).
However, heparin is extracted and purified from the livers or intestines of pigs, cattle or the like, and differences in the source of extraction lead to differences in heparin properties. For this reason, it is hard to obtain a great deal of heparin having uniform properties. Further, heparin is expensive. As a result, the method of separating and purifying lactoferrin from milk by the use of the affinity carrier for chromatography having heparin bound and fixed thereto can be practiced only on an experimental scale. In other words, the above suggested known method is impracticable on an industrial scale. Further, the above method has the problem that heparin fixed on the carrier might be peeled therefrom and inconveniently mixed with separated lactoferrin on occasion.

Method for separating and purifying lactoferrin from milk by use of sulfuric ester


A device is provided for locking a compartment lid such as the hood of a motor vehicle. The device comprises an element adapted to sit on a portion of the hood and a portion of an adjacent fender surface, a strap attached to the element and extending through a gap between the hood and fender into the compartment interior, a hook on the strap to attach the strap to the vehicle in the compartment, and a mechanism such as a reel to remove slack from the strap and hold the element securely against the hood and adjacent fender surface.

The present invention is particularly suited for locking a hood of a vehicle to prevent an unauthorized person from gaining entry to the engine compartment. It will be appreciated, however, that the invention could also be used to secure the trunk or hatchback of a vehicle. It could also be used to lock chests, cabinets, and many other types of compartments. For convenience herein, however, the invention will be described with reference to locking the hood of a vehicle.
A major concern of automobile owners is that their cars will be broken into and stolen or stripped of valuable components such as stereo systems or batteries. This concern has helped create an industry devoted to the manufacture of various kinds of anti-theft devices. These devices include car alarms, steering wheel locks, and devices designed to temporarily disable ignition systems and other vital components of a vehicle. None of these devices is perfect, however, and car theft, as well as the theft of accessories from cars, remains a concern in this country and others.
Devices such as car alarms are designed to frighten away thieves who have begun to tamper with a vehicle. Any disturbance to the vehicle results in piercing sirens, horns, and sometimes flashing lights. However, as car alarms have proliferated, so has the unintended activation thereof. False alarms are so common in some areas, especially in cities, that these alarms are often ignored. Thieves may be emboldened by the knowledge that few people are likely to rush to investigate a blaring car alarm, and may be able to remove items from the vehicle even if unable to drive it away with the alarm sounding.
Furthermore, a thief may not discover a car alarm until after he has smashed a window or discover an ignition-locking device until after he has stripped the steering column. Clearly, even an attempted theft can cause a great deal of costly damage.
Highly visible anti-theft devices, such as steering wheel locks, not only help to prevent car thefts, but also deter attempts to steal a vehicle. Thieves seeing a vehicle equipped with an obvious anti-theft device are likely to search for an easier target. Visible anti-theft devices thus are useful in preventing the damage associated with attempted vehicular theft.
Steering wheel locks, however, do nothing to prevent the theft of items within a vehicle or to prevent a thief from prying open a hood, trunk or hatchback to steal the battery, engine parts, spare tire or other objects therein. Nor do they prevent a person who has gained entry to a vehicle from opening the hood and tampering with the engine or stealing the battery. Additionally, even car alarms may be disabled if a thief opens the hood and cuts off the power supply to the alarm. A thief who can open a car hood can thus steal the battery, tamper with the engine, or disable an alarm system and steal the vehicle.


A percussive tool adapted to receive rotational energy from the inner member of a dual-member drill string. In a preferred embodiment the percussive tool has a hydraulic pump, driven by a drive member, to operate the hammer assembly. In another preferred embodiment the percussive tool has a rotary-driven cam assembly adapted to mechanically operate the hammer assembly. This invention provides increased control and efficiency for the use of percussive force in horizontal directional drilling operations.

This invention relates generally to drilling hammers, and in particular to downhole hammers for use in horizontal directional drilling operations.
During horizontal directional drilling operations hard soil or rock may impede the progress of borehole formation. Percussive tools driven by hammer assemblies are sometimes used to fracture such subterranean formations. However, there remains a need for improvement.
The present invention comprises a percussive tool for use with a dual-member drill string. The dual-member drill string comprises an outer member and an inner member. The inner member is rotatable independently of the outer member. The percussive tool comprises a housing connectable with the drill string and a drive member rotatably supported within the housing. The drive member is connectable with the inner member of the drill string. A hammer assembly is supported by the housing and operable in response to rotation of the drive member.
The present invention further comprises a percussive tool for use in a borehole. The tool comprises a housing and a drive member rotatably supported within the housing. A hammer assembly is supported by the housing. The hammer assembly comprises a hydraulic pump assembly and a hammer unit. The pump assembly operates in response to rotation of the drive member and is adapted to power operation of the hammer unit.
Still further, the present invention comprises a horizontal directional drilling machine. The horizontal directional drilling machine comprises a rotary drive system and a drill string. The drill string has a first end and a second end. The first end of the drill string is operatively connected to the rotary drive system. The drill string comprises a dual-member drill string having an outer member and an inner member. The inner member is independently rotatable of the outer member. A percussive tool comprising a hammer assembly is operatively connected to the second end of the drill string so that rotation of the inner member will drive operation of the tool.
Finally, the present invention includes a method of underground horizontal directional drilling. The method using a horizontal directional drilling machine. The horizontal directional drilling machine includes a rotary drive system and a dual-member drill string. The dual-member drill string has a first end and a second end. The rotary drive system is attached to the first end of the drill string. The drill string comprises an outer member and an inner member. The inner member is rotatable independently of the outer member. The machine further comprises a percussive tool. The percussive tool is attached to the second end of the drill string. A bit is supported on the percussive tool. The percussive tool comprises a hammer assembly for driving the bit. The method comprises operating the hammer assembly by rotating the inner members.


A semiconductor memory device has a refresh control circuit for switchingly controlling a first refresh mode in which access to the memory cell array from outside is prohibited while retaining data and a second refresh mode in which access to the memory cell array from outside is permitted while retaining data and for performing the refresh operation of the memory cells corresponding to a selected word line, and a designating circuit for individually designating a portion to be refreshed in the first refresh mode and a portion to be refreshed in the second refresh mode. In the semiconductor memory device, the refresh control circuit performs the refresh operation when the portion to which the selected word line belongs is designated to be refreshed, and does not perform the refresh operation when the portion to which the selected word line belongs is not designated to be refreshed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to refresh technique for a semiconductor memory device such as a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory), particularly, a semiconductor memory device having a configuration to perform both an auto refresh in normal operation and a self refresh in standby state, and refresh control method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, reduction in consumption current in standby state is strongly required for a large capacity DRAM mounted on a mobile device. Thus, as an effective scheme for achieving lower power consumption of the DRAM for the mobile devices, partial array self refresh function (hereinafter referred to as "PASR function") is known. This PASR function performs a selective self refresh in which, in a memory cell array which is divided into a plurality of banks, one or some of the banks of the memory cell array are selectively refreshed. In this case, refresh target for retaining data is limited to one or some of the banks, long period refresh operation is performed only for the corresponding banks sequentially. For example, two banks among four banks are designated to be refreshed, refresh area is reduced by half relative to normal refresh. Thus, the employment of the PASR function is effective to reduce consumption current in the DRAM. Various refresh control techniques including the PASR function for selectively performing refresh for a partial area of the memory cell array have been proposed (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 2-192096, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-334576, and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No 2004-259343).
However, when the PASR function is employed in the conventional DRAM, a specification is generally used for the purpose of an application in the self refresh, in which banks to be refreshed cannot be designated in the auto refresh in normal operation. In the auto refresh in normal operation, requirement for employing the PASR function in terms of reducing consumption current is not very large compared with the self refresh. However, a use form for limiting a refresh target to part of the banks is assumed for a reason concerning system or process. For example, if a situation arises in which a specific portion of the memory cell array is accessed within a certain time using image data and the like in such a use form, the auto refresh operation is not performed for this specific portion in normal operation, and thereby reducing the number of refresh operations as a whole so as to improve the use efficiency. However, even when the designation of banks based on the PASR function is applied to the auto refresh, portions requiring refresh and other portions not requiring refresh generally do not conform to each other. Thus, it is difficult to achieve an optimum refresh control corresponding to the respective situations of the self refresh and the auto refresh.
Further, although whether or not the refresh operation is performed is set for each bank in the above-mentioned PASR function, a case is assumed in which actually portions requiring refresh and other portions not requiring refresh are actually mixed with each other. In such a case, for example, image data or the like is distributed and stored in respective banks for accessing in a bank interleave mode. If whether or not the refresh operation is performed is set for each bank in this case, it is a problem that the number of banks which can be used decreases and the access efficiency is reduced.
Furthermore, in the conventional PASR function described above, portions to be refreshed can be limited, but a refresh period of each memory cell included in the limited portions is not considered to be selectively set. That is, when the entire number of refresh operations is reduced by limiting the portions to be refreshed, it is not possible to select either of two cases, in one of which the refresh period is maintained while the access efficiency is improved by reducing a refresh busy rate as a whole, and in the other of which the refresh busy rate is maintained while operating margin is improved by shortening the refresh period for the memory cells. Particularly, in the auto refresh, it is required to apply each of the two cases according to the use form. However, it is a problem that the conventional PASR function described above cannot achieve this requirement.

Semiconductor memory device and refresh control method thereof


An image data processing device includes: a basic image data acquisition device that acquires basic image data; a simplified image data generation device that generates simplified image data corresponding to the basic image data which has been acquired, a size of the simplified image data being smaller than that of the basic image data; a transmission device that transmits at least the basic image data to an external storage device; and an internal storage device that stores the simplified image data without storing the basic image data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image data processing device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Image data which has been recorded by an electronic camera is often transferred to and recorded in a data storage device which has a greater recording capacity than the recording medium which is generally provided to the electronic camera. This image data which has been recorded in the data storage device is read out by a personal computer or the like, and is displayed upon a display device which is connected to the personal computer, and/or is printed upon an output device which is connected to the personal computer. If the electronic camera and the data storage device are positioned in places which are remote from one another, and, if no display device is provided upon the data storage device side, in order for the person who is operating the electronic camera to check the images which correspond to the image data which is recorded in the data storage device, it is necessary to preserve the same image data as the image data which have been recorded in the data storage device in the recording medium of the electronic camera as well. Thus the operator of the electronic camera displays the images according to the image data which are recorded on the electronic camera side upon a monitor or the like for display which is provided to the electronic camera, and checks the displayed images.
This suffers from the problem that it becomes necessary to keep a large recording medium capacity on the electronic camera side in order to preserve the image data which have been recorded in the data storage device in the recording medium internal to the camera as well, and accordingly the size of the camera is increased and its cost mounts up.


The carbon dioxide recovery system includes a carbon dioxide absorption tower which absorbs and removes carbon dioxide from the combustion exhaust gas of a boiler by an absorption liquid, and a regeneration tower which heats and regenerates the loaded absorption liquid with carbon dioxide. The regeneration tower includes plural loaded absorption liquid heating means, which heat the loaded absorption liquid and remove carbon dioxide in the loaded absorption liquid. The turbine includes plural lines which extract plural kinds of steam with different pressures from the turbine and which supply the plural kinds of steam to the plural loaded absorption liquid heating means as their heating sources. The plural lines make the pressure of supplied steam increase from a preceding stage of the plural loaded absorption liquid heating means to a post stage of the plural loaded absorption liquid heating means.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a carbon dioxide recovery system for removing and recovering carbon dioxide contained in a combustion exhaust gas of a boiler in a thermal power plant, a power generation system using the carbon dioxide recovery system, and a method for these systems.
2. Background Art
In a power generation system of a thermal power plant using a large amount of fossil fuel, an amine absorption method is adopted as a method for removing and recovering carbon dioxide (CO2) which is one of the causes of global warming. The amine absorption method has a problem that the large energy consumption at the time of separating and recovering CO2 from a loaded absorption liquid with CO2 absorbed therein significantly lowers the power generation output.
For example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-193116, as shown in FIG. 4A, there is proposed a configuration in which a reboiler 41 is provided for a tower bottom part of a regeneration tower 24 for regenerating a loaded absorption liquid with CO2 absorbed therein, and in which high pressure steam of about 3 kg/cm2 absolute pressure is extracted from a low pressure turbine 8 and is supplied to the reboiler 41 provided for the bottom part of the regeneration tower as a heating source. This enables the loaded absorption liquid of the tower bottom part to be heated to an absorption liquid regeneration temperature of about 110 to 130° C., and hence, CO2 in the loaded absorption liquid is separated so that the absorption liquid is regenerated. However, when all thermal energy required for the reboiler 41 of the tower bottom part is supplemented by the steam extracted from the low pressure turbine 8, the amount of the steam extracted from the low pressure turbine 8 becomes large, which causes a problem that the output of the low pressure turbine 8 is significantly lowered and the power generation output is reduced.

Carbon dioxide recovery and power generation


An electro-optical device 10 comprises a body 12 of a semiconductor material, such as silicon. A light source 14 is formed integrally in the body. The device comprises an associated light detector 16 and an optical path providing part 19 having a refractive index and extending between the light source 14 and the detector 16, to provide an optical path 18 having a path length. A sensor 20 cooperates with the optical path providing part 19 and is configured to modulate light emitted by the light source 14, by changing at least one of light absorption characteristics in the optical path by exposing a medium in the optical path to the emitted light, the path length and the refractive index.

This invention relates to electro-optical devices, more specifically micro optical-electrical-mechanical (MOEMS) devices.
MOEMS devices for measuring physical parameters such as temperature, mechanical shock, motion, acceleration, rotation, light levels, fluid flow rate, counting of particles in a flow system, fluorescence and absorption of such particles are known. However, the known devices are sophisticated and/or complex and/or costly.

Microchip-based MOEMS and waveguide device


The present invention relates to a floor cleaning apparatus including a nozzle assembly having a base section and an agitator section pivotally mounted to the base section, a canister assembly pivotally connected to the nozzle assembly, a suction generator carried on one of the nozzle assembly and the canister assembly and a dirt collector carried by one of the nozzle assembly and canister assembly.

Upright vacuum cleaners in all of their designs and permutations have become increasingly popular over the years. The upright vacuum cleaners generally incorporate a nozzle assembly and a canister assembly pivotally mounted to the nozzle assembly. Wheels on the nozzle and canister assemblies allow the vacuum cleaner to smoothly ride over the surface to be cleaned.
The canister assembly includes an operating handle that is manipulated by the user to move the vacuum cleaner back-and-forth across the floor. The canister assembly also includes either a bag-like filter or a separation chamber and filter combination that trap dirt and debris while substantially clean air is exhausted by a fan that is driven by an onboard electric motor. It is this fan and motor arrangement that generates the drop in air pressure necessary to provide the desired cleaning action.
In most upright vacuum cleaners sold today, a rotary agitator is also provided in the nozzle assembly. The rotary agitator includes tufts of bristles, brushes, beater bars or the like to beat dirt and debris from the nap of a carpet being cleaned while the pressure drop or vacuum is used to force air entrained with this dirt and debris into the nozzle of the vacuum cleaner.
As the vacuum cleaner is manipulated back-and-forth by the operator with the handle on the canister assembly, the nozzle assembly may be periodically lifted slightly from the floor. This lifting action adversely affects the cleaning efficiency of the vacuum cleaner. Further, during the cleaning of certain surfaces there is a tendency for vibration to develop in the vacuum cleaner as a result of the engagement of the rotary agitator against the particular surface being cleaned. This vibration is often transmitted through the control handle and is often annoying to the user. A need is therefore identified for an upright vacuum cleaner that addresses these problems in a manner to provide enhanced cleaning efficiency as well as vibration reduction.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,772,474 to Nishikori et al, entitled Upright Vacuum Cleaner With Spring Loaded Nozzle, discloses an upright vacuum cleaner incorporating a spring loaded nozzle wherein a downforce is placed on the entire nozzle assembly in order to provide more efficient and vibration free cleaning. The present invention relates to an upright vacuum cleaner or other floor care cleaning equipment (such as a power nozzle of a canister vacuum cleaner or an extractor) incorporating an agitator assembly that is pivotally mounted to the main housing or base section of a nozzle assembly that rides on wheels traveling over the surface to be cleaned.

Vacuum cleaner equipped with pivotally mounted agitator section


In a semiconductor memory device, a plurality of control gates is stacked in a first region and a second region of a substrate. A plurality of interlayer insulating layers is stacked in a portion of the second region of the substrate. Each interlayer insulating layer is formed at the same level as a corresponding one of the control gates. A plurality of sub-control gates is stacked in the first and second regions region of the substrate and interposed between the control gates and the interlayer insulating layers. A common node penetrates the interlayer insulating layers and the sub-control gates.

This disclosure is related to a semiconductor device and a method of manufacturing the same.
A non-volatile memory device retains data even in the absence of power supply. Two-dimensional memory devices in which memory cells are fabricated in a single layer over a silicon substrate are reaching physical limits in increasing their degree of integration. Accordingly, three-dimensional (3D) non-volatile memory devices in which memory cells are stacked in a vertical direction over a silicon substrate have been proposed.
The 3D non-volatile memory device includes a lower selection transistor, memory cells, and an upper selection transistor sequentially stacked along a channel layer protruded from a substrate. However, the inventor(s) has noted that in the foregoing structure, memory cells adjacent in the vertical direction are interfered, degrading the characteristics of the memory device.

Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same


An improved method of packaging a sensor is provided. The method includes the step of affixing a tuning fork to a platform. The tuning fork includes tines comprising one or more surfaces, with each tine further comprising an electrode and a piezoelectric material. An application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) is affixed to the platform. Electrical communication between the ASIC and the electrode of each tine is established for providing stimulus to the tuning fork and for receiving a response signal from the tuning fork. A protective layer is applied to cover the platform and a portion of the tuning fork while maintaining a portion of a surface of each tine free from the protective layer such that the surface can displace the fluid in contact therewith.

U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/419,404, (entitled "Machine Fluid Sensor and Method"; filed Oct. 18, 2002) (hereby incorporated by reference) discloses improved machine fluid sensors and methods. There is a need for the ability to package sensing devices so that they can withstand their operating conditions. Exemplary applications in which these sensors may be used in engines in general, automobiles, heavy machinery, military equipment, airplane parts, oil drilling, exploration and production well logging, oil refining, pipeline and quality control applications, marine transportation, sub-sea exploration and aerospace related equipment, or any other fluid containing application. In general, sensors for these applications will include very small components that need to be able to withstand harsh operating environment conditions. The ability to assemble such devices efficiently using automated materials handling equipment is also important.


A control device includes a storage unit that stores therein first position information indicating relative positions between one reference processing unit selected from a plurality of processing units and the other non-reference processing units; a first calculation unit that drives the transfer device while a jig formed in the shape of a substrate is held on the transfer device, and calculates a first compensation value for compensating a position deviation between a transfer position of the jig on the transfer device with respect to the reference processing unit and a first transfer target position; and a second calculation unit that calculates a second compensation value for compensating a position deviation between a transfer position of the jig on the transfer device with respect to the non-reference processing unit and a second transfer target position based on the first compensation value and the first position information.

In a manufacturing process of a semiconductor wafer or the like, a photolithography process is typically performed by a coating and developing apparatus. The coating and developing apparatus includes, for example, a loading/unloading section that loads and unloads the substrate into/from the apparatus; a processing section that accommodates a plurality of processing units for performing various processes such as a resist coating process, a developing process and a heat treatment; and an interface section that transfers the substrate between the processing section and an external exposure apparatus. Further, the coating and developing apparatus has a multiple number of substrate transfer devices that transfer the substrate between the respective sections or between the processing units.
Each substrate transfer device has an arm that holds the substrate. In the substrate transfer device, position adjustment of the arm is important to prevent a position deviation of the semiconductor wafer when the substrate is transferred into the processing unit. Conventionally, prior to transferring the semiconductor wafer, a deviation amount from a wafer transfer target position is calculated, and the substrate transfer position of the substrate transfer device is then adjusted based on the calculation result. The transfer position of the wafer is adjusted while actually driving the substrate transfer device for each processing unit (see, for example, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2).    Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2002-313872 (paragraph [0050])    Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2005-19963 (paragraphs [0035] to [0052])


An apparatus for manufacturing products from material which is thermoplastically deformable, as from plastic, comprising:—a mold (2) with at least one mold cavity (3);—in the or each mold cavity (3) at least one slide (8);—movement means for moving each slide (8);—closing means for opening and closing the mold (2);—feed means for introducing, with the mold cavity (3) closed, said material in at least substantially plastic condition into the or each mold cavity; wherein the movement means (9) for moving the slide (3) are arranged for moving said slide forward at a relatively high speed relative to the movement speed of the mold parts upon opening and closing thereof, from a position at least partly retracted from the mold cavity, such that said material, as a result, is displaced in the mold cavity for obtaining the filling thereof, preferably at a speed high such that adiabatic heat development occurs in the or each mold cavity.

The invention relates to an apparatus for manufacturing products from an at least thermoplastically deformable material. Such a method is known, for instance, as injection molding.
With known injection molding techniques, as a rule, the material to be formed such as plastic is heated in a plasticizing device to a temperature such that the material becomes virtually liquid, at least plastic and low-viscous, whereupon the material is introduced under high pressure into a mold cavity of an injection molding mold. In this mold cavity, the material is distributed such that the mold cavity is completely filled, whereupon the material is allowed to cure by cooling down. Thereupon, the product is taken out by opening the mold and ejecting the product.
For such known injection molding techniques, a particularly high feed pressure is to be used, especially when thin-walled products are formed, in particular if the flow paths in the mold cavity closely approach the melt flow index (MFI) of the materials to be used. Therefore, the same holds in particular when the flow paths in the mold cavity are relatively long. It is clear that with plastics with a high viscosity and/or a low melt flow, these problems occur to a larger extent. As a result, limitations are imposed on the minimum and maximum sizes of products, in particular on lengths of flow paths, on passage widths of such flow paths, on the duration of the injection molding cycles, on the materials to be used and on the minimum wall thicknesses of products, in particular of large, flat parts.
The use of compression molding is already known. Here, into a mold cavity of a partly open mold, an amount of plastic is introduced, required for forming a desired product in this mold cavity. After the plastic has been introduced into the mold cavity, the mold is closed further, so that the plastic is pushed away for filling the further mold cavity. Therefore, with such an apparatus, at the start of the introduction of the plastic, the mold parts are to be held partly away from each other, and only afterwards to be brought onto each other relatively slowly but with high pressure. The danger exits that then, the plastic is not uniformly distributed, so that, for instance, a part of the material can be pressed sideways from the mold cavity before the mold cavity is completely closed. Also, the danger exists that insufficient or, conversely, too much plastic is introduced into the mold cavity. In this latter case, skin formation will occur between the mold halves and, moreover, it will not be possible to close the mold completely. This leads to irregularly formed products and, moreover, to pollution of the mold. A further disadvantage of this apparatus is that when materials are used with a low viscosity and/or with shallow mold halves, the material flows from the mold cavity before the mold halves are moved together, so that the earlier mentioned problems occur to an even larger extent.
The object of the invention is to provide an apparatus of the type described in the opening paragraph, wherein in a simple manner and with relatively low closing pressures, products can be manufactured having at least parts with a relatively limited wall thickness.
A further object of the invention is to provide a apparatus of the type described in the opening paragraph, wherein different materials can be processed, in particular plastics, in particular also plastics with a high melt, i.e. plastics with a low viscosity in plastic state.
A still further object of the invention is to provide a method with which, in a relatively rapid and simple manner, products can be manufactured, with relatively simple means, which products, moreover, can have relatively large, thin-walled surfaces, in particular products with wall thicknesses which are relatively small and flow paths which are relatively long, smaller or longer, respectively, than matching the melt flow index associated with the material from which the product is manufactured.
The invention further contemplates providing an improved use of an injection mold with a slide.
A number of these and many other objects are achieved with an apparatus, method and/or use according to the invention.

Apparatus and method for manufacturing products from a thermoplastic mass


A material reduction apparatus has a material loading bin for receiving material to be reduced. Below the bin is located a plurality of substantially parallel cutter bars with opposing ends and cutting tips thereon. The cutter bars are supported below the bin. Crank means are pivotally connected to at least one end of each cutter bar for alternatingly moving each cutter bar upward and downward as well as parallel in line left to right unlike the movement of the adjacent cutter bar for kicking, tossing and cutting the material to be reduced.

This invention relates to the recycling, further processing and conservational disposal of petroleum impregnated materials, wood materials and frangible materials. More particularly, the invention is a material reduction apparatus for such materials.
Petroleum impregnated materials generally include shingles, tar paper and the like. In manufacturing shingles and fitting the shingles to roofs of buildings, there is a substantial volume of waste. This is also the case with respect to tar paper. These materials are impregnated with petroleum or oil up to approximately thirty percent. What is often left are literally piles of shingle pieces and tar paper which become quite heavy. Consequently, the materials have a great tendency to clump or stick together, further making the handling of such waste materials quite difficult. However, if the materials can be greatly reduced in size, they may be further reduced to particles and utilized for new construction projects including roadways and shock absorbent athletic fields.
Wood materials, such as large and small stumps or irregular shapes, are difficult to deal with in that they are too bulky for simple burial and serve no other useful purpose. Consequently, the reduction of these wood materials is highly desirable for the creation of saw dust products, particle board or simple space efficient burial disposal.
Frangible materials, such as concrete, also pose a similar problem as do wood materials. They are difficult to dispose of due to their irregular shapes and requirement for large underground space requirements. Consequently, there is a great desire to reduce concrete materials to small sizes which will then permit the reduced frangible material to be used for road bedding, rip rap or simple space efficient disposal.
There are machines for reducing the size of some materials. U.S. Pat. No. 5,082,187 issued to Kirchhoff et al. discloses a vibrating screen crusher commonly used in crushing particular soft stones. U.S. Pat. No. 3,823,881 issued to Grob reveals a device for crushing large sand pieces utilizing transversely arranged blades which are oscillated at high speed for breaking up the sand chunks. U.S. Pat. No. 3,709,441 issued to Hessner et al. describes a machine for disintegration of cellulose pulp sheets which utilizes parallel tearing tooth rods of two interleaved groups that are moved in horizontal directions. U.S. Pat. No. 1,312,986 issued to Hoffman et al. shows parallel cutting rods vertically arranged for the manufacture of paper excelsior from larger pieces of paper pneumatically transported through the machine.
There is a need for a reduction apparatus for reducing in size a variety of materials including petroleum impregnated shingles and related tar paper that may be stuck together in substantial clumps, wood materials such as stumps, and frangible materials such as cement. The apparatus should readily tear and bounce about the materials in a kicking fashion as to aid in their reduction apart from simple tearing alone.


The present invention relates broadly to a floating structure and more particular to a floating structure formed by a plurality of modular floating units, a method for forming a floating structure, and a method for stabilising a plurality of modular floating units lined abreast. The method for forming a floating structure comprises providing a plurality of modular floating units including three or more tunnel thrusters; aligning the plurality of modular floating units wherein each of the three or more tunnel thrusters of each of the plurality of modular floating units are aligned to each of a corresponding three or more tunnel thrusters on an adjacent modular floating unit; and operating at least one of the three or more tunnel thrusters of each of the plurality of modular floating units to generate at least one horizontal pillar of water flow, wherein the at least one horizontal pillar of water flow skewers each of the plurality of modular floating units longitudinally through one of the three or more tunnel thrusters thereof.

Offshore floating structures have been widely discussed in the literatures of the maritime industry. Numerous uses for offshore floating structures such as floating airports, floating wind/solar power plants, floating industrial facilities, floating habitation facilities, etc. have been proposed or discussed. However currently, only the offshore oil and gas industry has widely implemented the use of offshore floating structures. The offshore floating structures in the offshore oil and gas industry are generally in the form of Tension Leg Platform, Semi-submersible platform, Truss Spar platform or Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) unit.
Other than the FPSO units, which are typically floating structures converted from oil tankers, the other types of floating structures are usually customized platforms specially designed and built for the purpose. Further, these platforms are generally moored to the seabed via complex mooring systems.
Current conventional technology in designing and building offshore floating structures are mostly based on the above customized design concept, where floating structures are designed and built for a specific purpose. However, these custom built structures can be costly and the design may be complex, thus inhibiting the expansion of the usage of offshore floating structures into other areas as discussed in the various literature of the maritime industry. The FPSO design, which only involves the conversion of an oil tanker to a floating structure, can be relatively cheaper and easier to implement. However, a single vessel may not provide sufficient space for the other usages proposed in the literature. Further, a single moored converted vessel may be subject to environmental forces such as wind or tidal currents resulting in the rolling, pitching and yawing of the vessel. This may render the single moored converted vessel unsuitable for the other uses as mentioned above.
A need therefore exist to provide solutions that seek to address at least some of the above problems hindering the expansion of the usage of floating structures in other areas.


A shifting device has a first shifting element, a second shifting element, and a rotatably supported user-operation element including a converter element for converting a rotary motion of the user-operation element into a displacement of the first shifting element in a first direction, the user operation element also including a converter element for converting the rotary motion of the user-operation element into a displacement of the second shifting element in a second direction.

The invention relates to a shifting device and to a hand power tool.
It has already been proposed that a percussion drill be equipped with a shifting device, which includes a first shifting element that meshes with a gear-changing mechanism of the percussion drill. The shifting device includes a user-operation element, rotatably supported in a housing of the percussion drill, with a peglike converter element, located eccentrically on the user-operation element and protruding into the interior of the housing, for converting a rotary motion of the user-operation element into a displacement of the first shifting element in a first direction. The first shifting element cooperates with a shifting fork by way of which a gear change of the gear-changing mechanism can be tripped. The percussion drill further includes a second shifting element, which may be embodied for instance for shifting a percussion mechanism of the percussion drill on and off, or as an on/off switch. The first shifting element and the second shifting element must be actuated separately from one another and are each associated with a separate user-operation element.


A combination ring/can-opener which provides a readily accessible, quick and easy method for opening beverage cans which utilize tab or ring openers.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a finger ring/can-opener combination and method of opening beverage cans.
2. Description of the Related Art
People such as bartenders and cocktail waitresses and waiters are required to open large numbers of beverage cans which utilize tab or ring openers. It can be difficult to lever open the tab or ring opener, often requiring that a finger or finger nail be wedged between the tab opener and the beverage can top. This often results in damage to finger nails, especially people with long finger nails. What is needed is a device which can be used by bartenders, cocktail waitresses or waiters, as well as other consumers, to easily open one or more beverage cans. The device may also function as an advertising vehicle to increase name recognition of any beverage company which chooses to provide the inventive device as a promotional item.


A coin sorting apparatus and method uses a light source (50) disposed on one side of the coin path (23); a coin moving member (21) of light transmissive material; a coin path insert (41) having at least a portion the is light transmissive; an optical detector (55) disposed on an opposite side of the coin path (23) from the light source (50) for detecting coin size as a coin (14) passes the coin path insert (41); a coin core alloy composition sensor (42); a coin surface alloy composition sensor (43); an edge sensor (46) disposed along a reference edge (45) along the coin path; and a plurality of processors (90, 94, 95, 107, 96) for receiving data developed from signals from the optical detector (55), the coin core alloy sensor (42), the coin surface (43) alloy detector, and the coin edge sensor (46), the data being for comparison with stored values for a plurality of denominations to determine the denomination of the coin (14). A lens array (56) helps direct light from the light source (55) to the optical detector (55). The coin path insert can have an upper surface of zirconia ceramic (34, 35) with a sapphire window (49), or the upper surface can be an integral sapphire element (37).

The invention relates to coin processing equipment and, more particularly, to coin sorters.
In Zwieg et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,992,602, coins were identified by using an inductive sensor to take three readings as each coin passed through a coin detection station and these readings were compared against prior calibrated limits for the respective denominations.
Optical sensing of coins in coin handling equipment has been employed in Zimmermann, U.S. Pat. No. 4,088,144 and Meyer, U.S. Pat. No. 4,249,648. Zimmermann discloses a rail sorter with a row of photocells. Zimmermann does not disclose repeated measurements of a coin dimension as it passes the array, but suggests that there may have been a single detection of the largest dimension of the coin based on the number of photocells covered by a coin as it passes. Zimmermann does not disclose the details of processing any coin sensor signals derived from its photosensor.
Meyer, U.S. Pat. No. 4,249,648, discloses optical imaging of coins in a bus token collection box in which repeated scanning of chord length of a coin is performed by a 256-element linear light sensing array. Light is emitted through light transmissive walls of a coin chute and received on the other side of the coin chute by the light sensing array. The largest chord length is compared with stored acceptable values in determining whether to accept or reject the coin.
It has also been known in the prior art to detect invalid coins using various types of inductive sensors. Examples of these are disclosed in Hayes, U.S. Pat. No. 5,568,854 and Hayes, U.S. Pat. No. 5,351,798 and Bernier, U.S. Pat. No. 6,148,947.
The invention relates to a sensor for a coin sorter and methods for rapidly and accurately identifying coins having up to at least eighteen different coin specifications.
The sensor utilizes an optical sensor to detect coin size, and also utilizes a core alloy sensor, a surface alloy sensor and edge alloy/thickness sensor to develop multiple parameters for accepting or rejecting a coin.
In one embodiment, the sensor utilizes five microcontrollers to read in data for size, a surface alloy, a core alloy, and an edge alloy/thickness parameter. In another embodiment only size is measured.
One object of the present invention is to use a coin detection sensor that will process up to 4500 coins per minute.
Another object of the invention is to provide a rotatable light transmissive coin moving member. Such a large light transmissive member has not been seen in the prior art.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an enhanced type of contactless coin sensor assembly for both coin counting and for detection of invalid coins for offsorting.
Another object of the invention is to provide a ceramic coin path insert over which the coins pass, when passing through the sensor, which coin path insert avoids absorption of metal from the coins.
In one embodiment light is passed through a sapphire window in the coin path insert to be received by a linear sensing array with 768 elements. In another embodiment, the upper surface of the coin path insert is formed by an integral, transparent, sapphire element.
The optical imaging sensor using a hardware logic circuit to rapidly measure a coin dimension a number of times, so that data is not skewed by nicks in the rim of the coins. The alloy sensors are arranged to take readings from the body of the coins and inward from the edges of coins in response to the coin covering or uncovering a trigger point.
While the present invention is disclosed in a preferred embodiment based on Zwieg et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,992,602, the invention could also be applied as a modification to other types of machines, including the other prior art described above.

Methods and apparatus for detection of coin denomination and other parameters


A battery management system includes one or more processors, a battery comprising a plurality of cells, an output device, an input device, and a memory having an input module, a battery characteristic prediction module, and an output module. The input module includes instructions that cause the one or more processors to receive a mode selection from a user via the input device. The battery characteristic prediction module includes instructions that cause the one or more processors to predict a characteristic of the battery based on the mode selection using an active machine learning model to predict the characteristic of the battery. The output module includes instructions that cause the one or more processors to output an estimated cost to the output device based on the characteristic of the battery determined by the active machine learning model.

The background description provided is to present the context of the disclosure generally. Work of the inventor, to the extent it may be described in this background section, and aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present technology.
Some current vehicles utilize electrical propulsion systems, such as battery electric vehicles ("BEV") and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles ("PHEV"), and the like, may have some advantages over there non-electrical vehicle counterparts, such as reduced consumption of hydrocarbon-based fuels, improved performance due to the high torque output of the electrical propulsion systems, and other advantages.
However, one area of concern for these types of vehicles relates to the degradation of the battery of the vehicle. For example, with regard to lithium-ion batteries, lithium-ion batteries work on ion movement between the positive and negative electrodes. In theory, such a mechanism should work forever, but cycling, elevated temperature, and other factors decrease the performance over time.

System and method for controlling a battery management system