An image sensor and method of sensing an image provides a variable amplifier at each pixel, thereby expanding the dynamic range of the sensor. An image sensor core (500) comprises a plurality of pixel sensors (510). Each pixel sensor preferably includes a photosensitive element (310), a variable amplifier (312), and an analog-to-digital converter (xe2x80x9cADCxe2x80x9d) (314). The ADC (512) includes a comparator (512) coupled to a latch/shift register (514). The comparator (512) receives the output of the variable amplifier (312) and a ramp signal and produces an output when the ramp signal exceeds the amplifier (312) output. The latch/shift register (514) latches a count signal corresponding to the ramp signal when triggered by the comparator (512). In operation, the photosensitive element (310) is exposed to light for a first integration period. The variable amplifier (312) amplifies the resulting photocharge by the maximum possible amount. The ADC (314) converts the photocurrent to a digital signal and latches the five most significant bits in memory (514). These five bits are provided in parallel to the variable amplifier (312) to set the amplification level. Then, the photosensitive element (310) is exposed to light for a second integration period and the resulting photocharge is amplified at the set amplification level. The output of the amplifier (312) is digitized by the ADC (314) and the latch/shift register (514) stores the 12-bit result. The five bits selecting the amplification level and the 12-bit result provide the image sensor with 17 bits of dynamic range.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains generally to an image sensor for converting an optical image into electrical signals and particularly to an image sensor having pixel-level signal amplification and analog-to-digital conversion.
2. Background of the Invention
An image sensor is used to convert an optical image focused on the sensor into electrical signals. The image sensor typically includes an array of light detecting elements, where each element produces a signal corresponding to the intensity of light impinging on that element when an image is focused on the array. These signals may then be used, for example, to display a corresponding image on a monitor or otherwise used to provide information about the optical image.
One goal of an image sensor is to provide the greatest possible dynamic range. Dynamic range specifies, in general, the ratio of the maximum to minimum intensity of light which the image sensor can detect. Dynamic range is typically expressed in decibels (dB), but may also be specified as the bits of precision available from the image sensor where the lowest and highest binary values represented by the bits respectively indicate the dimmest and brightest detectable light and intermediate values correspond to gradations therebetween. An image sensor having a wide dynamic range, for example, can accurately image a scene having widely varying light conditions without suffering from saturation or other sensing defects.
One very common type of image sensor is a charge coupled device (xe2x80x9cCCDxe2x80x9d). A CCD is typically an array of closely spaced metal-oxide semiconductor (xe2x80x9cMOSxe2x80x9d) capacitors and photodiodes on a solid-state surface. Each photodiode is referred to as a photosite and passes charge in response to the incident light intensity.
For example, FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a prior art CCD image sensor 100. Illustrated are a two-dimensional array of image sensors 110, of which sensor 112 is exemplary. Each vertical array of sensors, of which array 113 is exemplary, is coupled to an input of a vertical CCD shift register, of which shift register 114 is exemplary. The output of each vertical CCD shift register 114 is coupled to an input of a horizontal CCD shift register 116. The output of the horizontal CCD shift register 116 is coupled to an amplifier 118, the output of which is coupled to the input of an analog-to-digital (xe2x80x9cA/Dxe2x80x9d) converter 120.
In use, the electric charge of the image sensors 112 in the vertical arrays 113 are shifted in parallel into the respective vertical CCD shift registers 114. Then, one charge packet from each vertical CCD shift register 114 is shifted into the horizontal CCD shift register 116. The charge packets in the horizontal CCD shift register 116 are shifted out one at a time, converted from a charge into a voltage by the amplifier 118, and converted into a series of digital bits by the A/D converter 120.
The dynamic range of a CCD-based image sensor is typically in the range of 8-14 bits. Due to the shared pixel signal path and the off-chip A/D converter 120, it is difficult to further expand the dynamic range of a CCD-based image sensor. In addition, the image signal is susceptible to noise and distortion due to the long analog signal path. Moreover, CCD technology is a relatively small market and has not fully benefited from mass production cost reductions.
Partly in response to the problems with CCD-based image detectors described above, there has recently been renewed interest in complementary-metal-oxide semiconductor (xe2x80x9cCMOSxe2x80x9d)-based imaging. In a CMOS-type image sensor, a photodiode or phototransistor (or other suitable device) is used as the light detecting element, where the conductivity of the element corresponds to the intensity of light impinging on the element. The variable signal thus generated by the light detecting element is an analog signal having a magnitude approximately proportional (within a certain range) to the amount of light impinging on the pixel. CMOS image sensors are formed as an integrated circuit and are generally much less expensive than CCDs.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a prior art CMOS image sensor 200. Illustrated is a two-dimensional array of pixel image sensors 210, of which sensor 212 is exemplary. Each image sensor 212 is coupled to an input of a fixed-gain amplifier, of which amplifier 214 is exemplary. The fixed-gain amplifier 214 provides a minimal amount of amplification and primarily acts as a buffer. The output of the fixed gain amplifier 214 is passed through a switch, such as switch 216, and input to an analog multiplexer (xe2x80x9cMUXxe2x80x9d) 218. The outputs of the switches in each vertical array, such as array 221, are coupled to the same input line of the MUX 218 and a row decoder 217 is coupled to each horizontal array of switches, such as array 219. The selected input to the MUX 218 is passed to an output amplifier 220. The output of the output amplifier 220 is passed to an A/D converter 222.
In use, the outputs of the row decoder 217 selectively enable a horizontal array 219 of switches 216, causing the output voltages of the fixed-gain amplifiers 214 in the array 219 to be passed to the inputs of the analog MUX 218. The MUX 218 selectively passes the input voltages to the output amplifier 220 and the A/D converter 222.
However, for large pixel arrays, the analog signals generated by each light detecting element are subject to varying degrees of parasitic effects such as those caused by parasitic capacitances and resistances. These parasitic effects are difficult to control and result in degradation of the signal-to-noise ratio of the image information. Moreover, CMOS-based image sensors typically provide less dynamic range than do CCD-based sensors.
To this end, CMOS-based image sensors such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,461,425 (the xe2x80x9c""425 patentxe2x80x9d) by an inventor of the present invention, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein, have been developed. The CMOS image sensor in the ""425 patent resembles that shown in FIG. 2, except that the image sensor of the ""425 patent has an A/D converter at each pixel, thereby alleviating the analog parasitic effects of other CMOS image sensor designs.
However, even the CMOS image sensor in the ""425 patent provides only eight bits of dynamic range. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a CMOS-based image sensor providing a greater dynamic range than existing image sensors.
The above needs are met by an image sensor and method of sensing an image that provides a variable amplifier at each pixel. By individually and variably amplifying the signals from the pixels, one embodiment of the present invention provides 17 bits of dynamic range.
A preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises an image sensor core (500) of a computer chip manufactured using a complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor (xe2x80x9cCMOSxe2x80x9d) process. The image sensor core comprises an array of image sensing elements (510). Each element includes a photon detector (310), also referred to as a photodetector, a variable amplifier (312), and an analog-to-digital (xe2x80x9cA/Dxe2x80x9d) converter (314).
The photon detector (310) is a photosensitive element such as a photodiode and generates photocharge in response to light impinging on the detector (310). The photocharge is amplified by the variable amplifier (312). In one embodiment of the present invention, the amount of amplification provided by the variable amplifier (312) is controllably selected from up to 32 amplification levels by a 5-bit control signal.
The voltage output by the amplifier (312) is provided to the A/D converter (314), which generates a digital value describing the photocurrent. In one embodiment of the present invention, the A/D converter (314) generates a 12-bit value, which is then stored in a memory. Together, the 5-bit amplification level and 12-bit value describe the light impinging on the detector (310) with 17 bits of dynamic range.
The A/D converter (314) preferably comprises a comparator (512) coupled to a 17-bit latch/shift register (514). The comparator (512) receives the output of the variable amplifier (312) and a monotonic ramp signal and has an output coupled to the latch/shift register (514). The latch/shift register (514) receives a 12-bit count signal synchronized to the ramp signal and has a parallel output coupling the five most significant bits of the shift register (514) to the variable amplifier (312) and a serial output through which all 17 bits can be shifted. When the comparator (512) determines that the ramp signal has exceeded the output of the variable amplifier (312), the comparator (512) triggers the latch/shift register (514) and causes the latch/shift register (514) to latch the count signal. The count signal is controllably latched in either the five most significant bits or the 12 least significant bits of the shift register (514). The five most significant bits latched into the shift register (514) form the control signal for the variable amplifier (312).
The present invention preferably uses a two phase method to provide 17 bits of dynamic range. During the first phase, the photosensitive element (310) is exposed to light for a first integration period. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the first integration period is {fraction (1/32)}nd of the normal integration period. The variable amplifier (312) amplifies the resulting photocharge at the maximum amplification setting. Then, the amplified photocurrent is converted from analog to digital by the A/D converter (314). During the conversion, the ramp signal is increased 32 times faster than normal and the five most significant bits of the count signal are latched into the five most significant bits of the 17-bit latch/shift register (514).
During the second phase, the photosensitive element (310) is exposed to light for the normal integration period. Then, the variable amplifier (312) amplifies the resulting photocharge by an amount determined from the five bits latched into the latch/shift register (514). The resulting photocurrent is passed to the A/D converter (314) and the corresponding 12-bit count signal is latched in the 12 least significant bits of the latch/shift register (514).
At the end of the second phase, the entire 17-bit content of the latch/shift register (514) can be serially shifted out. The five most significant bits describe the exponent and the 12 least significant bits describe the mantissa of the digital value corresponding to the intensity of light impinging on the sensor element during the integration period. Accordingly, the dynamic range of the image sensor according to the present invention has 17 bits of precision.

CMOS image sensor with pixel level gain control


Techniques for facilitating an autonomous operation, such as an autonomous navigation, of an unmanned vehicle based on one or more fiducials. For example, image data of a fiducial may be generated with an optical sensor of the unmanned vehicle. The image data may be analyzed to determine a location of the fiducial. A location of the unmanned vehicle may be estimated from the location of the fiducial and the image. The autonomous navigation of the unmanned vehicle may be directed based on the estimated location.

Unmanned vehicles may provide different operations, some of which may be autonomous and support different applications. For example, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) may be used as an autonomous delivery vehicle in association with an electronic marketplace. In particular, the electronic marketplace may offer a large number of items and selectable delivery methods. Based on a selected delivery method, the UAV may be deployed to deliver a purchased item from a source to a destination. The UAV may be configured to autonomously perform various delivery-related operations, such as autonomously flying between the source and the destination.
The unmanned vehicles may rely on different data to perform some of the operations. Referring back to the UAV example, to autonomously fly between the source and the destination, the UAV may use navigation data received from, for instance, a global positioning system (GPS) and/or generated from inertial guidance sensors. In certain situations, the navigation data may become unreliable, and may lead to an improper UAV operation.

Fiducial-based navigation of unmanned vehicles


A coffee maker and method of operating the same is shown. The method includes deactivating a heating plate of the coffee maker when a drip pan is positioned thereon, soliciting a user-selection of a serving size from a plurality of serving sizes when the drip pan is positioned on the base, and operating a pump of the coffee maker to advance fluid to a filter basket in accordance with the selected serving size.

A coffee maker is a domestic appliance used to brew coffee or heat water for consumption. Many coffee makers include a pump, a boiler, and electronics to control the operation of the pump and the boiler. Coffee makers may brew multiple servings of coffee during a single operation. Many coffee makers also include a carafe or other vessel to receive the brewed coffee.


UE (200) performs Asymmetric ROHC that applies header compression in a packet data convergence protocol layer to either an uplink or a downlink. The UE (200) includes a data transmitting-receiving unit (220) that receives from eNB a support notification indicating that the Asymmetric ROHC is supported and a capability notifying unit (240) that notifies, when the data transmitting-receiving unit (220) receives the support notification, the eNB of information to be used for setting the Asymmetric ROHC by including a profile of the Asymmetric ROHC in capability information of the UE (200).

3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) specifies Long Term Evolution (LTE), and with the aim of further speeding of the LTE, specifies LTE-Advanced (hereinbelow, the LTE includes the LTE-Advanced). Moreover, in the 3GPP, further, specification of succeeding systems of the LTE called 5G (5th generation mobile communication system) and the like is being considered.
In the LTE, voice packets can be transmitted (VoLTE); however, because a voice packet has a high ratio of the header (RTP/UDP/IP) to the payload, it is prescribed to compress the header of the voice packet. Specifically, in a packet data convergence protocol layer (PDCP layer) of the LTE, the header, such as the RTP/UDP/IP, is compressed based on RObust Header Compression (ROHC) prescribed in RFC3095 and the like. By doing so, the transmission efficiency of the voice packet is increased.
In the LTE, a plurality of ROHC Profiles is prescribed depending on the type and the like of the headers that are to be compressed. A user device (User Equipment, UE) notifies a radio base station (eNB) of supported ROHC Profile (supportedROHC-Profiles), and the number of the sessions usable for the ROHC, specifically, capability information (UE-EUTRA-Capability) of the UE including the fields of the number of the memories usable for the ROHC (maxNumberROHC-ContextSessions).
On the other hand, in Release-14 of the LTE, mainly with the aim of reducing the memory and the power consumption of the UE, it is being considered to apply the header compression by application of the ROHC (for the sake of convenience this will be referred to as Asymmetric ROHC (asymmetric header compression)) to only an uplink (UL) or to only a downlink (DL) (e.g., see Non-Patent Document 1).

Radio communication device and radio communication method


A phase shift transformer in a multi-level medium voltage inverter is disclosed, wherein structure is modularized to provide layout freedom and to reduce volume and weight of an entire system, and a continuous operation of a motor is enabled, even if one module is faulted.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates to a phase shift transformer, and more particularly to a phase shift transformer for use in a multi-level medium voltage inverter.
2. Background
In general, a multi-level medium voltage inverter is an inverter having a root mean square value of an inputted line-to-line voltage ranging from 600 v or over, and an output phase voltage thereof is multi-leveled. The multi-level medium voltage inverter is configured to drive a motor having capacity of several kW to several MW in the fields such as a fan, a pump, a compressor, a traction device, a hoist and a conveyor.
A conventional medium voltage inverter may require a phase shift transformer at an input terminal for providing galvanic isolation, reducing harmonics, and supplying an input voltage to each power cell unit. The phase shift transformer, as one of constituent parts of the medium voltage inverter, takes a lion's share of volume and weight in the medium voltage inverter, such that its design is very important.
However, the conventional phase shift transformer, generally having an integrated configuration, suffers from drawbacks such as non-existence in degree of freedom in terms of design due to the integrated structure. Now, the conventional phase shift transformer will be described.
FIG. 1 is a schematic structural view of a multi-level medium voltage inverter according to prior art.
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional multi-level medium voltage inverter receives an input power from an input power unit (120) outputting a voltage whose root mean square value of an inputted line-to-line voltage is 600 volt or over, and converts the voltage to a load of a three-phase motor (130).
A primary winding of a conventional phase shift transformer (111) is composed of a three-phase Y connection, and a secondary winding is composed of a total of 12 windings, three windings each having a phase difference of −15°, 0°, 15°, 30° relative to the primary winding. Structure of the secondary winding is determined by the number of unit power cells (112). It can be noted from FIG. 1 that the inverter (110) has two unit power cells for each phase of the motor (130). That is, outputs of A1 and A2 power cells (112a, 112b) are connected in series to output an 'a' phase voltage of the three phase motor (130), B1 and B2 power cells (112c, 112d) output a 'b' phase voltage, and C1 and C2 power cells (112e, 112f) output a 'c' phase voltage.
The A1, B1 and C1 power cells (112a, 112c, 112e) are connected to an output having 15° and 0° phases, and A2, B2 and C2 power cells (112b, 112d, 120 are connected to an output having 15° and 30° phases.
FIG. 2 is a configuration view of a power cell in FIG. 1. Referring to FIG. 2, a rectifying unit (210) receives two three-phase powers from the phase shift transformer (111) and rectifies the power to a DC voltage. To this end, the rectifying unit (210) includes two diode rectifiers. An output of the rectifying unit (210) is connected to serially-connected DC link capacitors, and each of the two DC link capacitors of a DC unit (220) has a same capacitance. An inverter unit (230) synthesizes output voltages of the DC unit (220) and an outputted line-to-line voltage is 5 levels.
Meantime, the convention medium voltage inverter of FIG. 1 may be configured as in FIG. 3. FIG. 3 is another configuration view of FIG. 1, and has the same configuration as in FIG. 1 except for configuration of a power cell (113).
The power cell (113) of FIG. 3 can synthesize output voltages of 5 levels. A D1 power cell (113a) can output an 'a' phase voltage of the motor (130), an E1 power cell (113b) can output a 'b' phase voltage of the motor (130), and an F1 power cell (113c) can output a 'c' phase voltage of the motor (130).
FIG. 4 is a configuration view of a power cell of FIG. 3.
Referring to FIG. 4, a rectifying unit (410) includes four diode rectifiers, and operation of an inverter unit (430) is same as in FIG. 2. However, the unit power cells in FIGS. 2 and 4 are different in rated voltage and rated current of power device used in response to required output. An output of the phase shift transformer (111) is inputted to the rectifying unit (410), and an output of the rectifying unit (410) is reflected on a DC unit (420).
First of all, an operation of the inverter unit (230) of FIG. 1 will be described.
Each leg of the inverter unit (230) in FIG. 2 includes four serially-arranged switches (230a, 230b, 230c, 230d), and an output voltage is defined by operation of each switch.
Switching operations of switches of 230a and 230b are complementary and switching operations of switches of 230c and 230d are also complementary. Thus, if each voltage of serially-connected DC link capacitors of the DC unit (220) is defined as E, and if switches of 230a and 230b are turned on, switches of 230c and 230d are turned off, and outputted pole voltage is E. Furthermore, if switches of 230a and 230c are turned on, switches of 230b and 230d are turned off, and pole voltage at this time is zero. Likewise, if switches of 230a and 230b are turned off, switches of 230c and 230d are turned on, and pole voltage at this time is −E.
According to the pole voltages thus defined, line-to-line voltages outputted by each of the unit power cells (112) of FIG. 1 are respectively 5 levels of 2E, E, 0, −E and −2E. Due to the line-to-line voltages outputted by each power cell (112) being defined as five levels, voltages synthesizable by A1 and A2 power cells (112a, 112b) of FIG. 1 are nine levels of 4E, 3E, 2E, E, 0, −E, −2E, −3E and −4E, and line-to-line voltages outputted to the motor (130) are 17 levels of 8E, 7E, 6E, 5E, 4E, 3E, 2E, E, 0, −E, −2E, −3E, −4E, −5E, −6E, −7E, and −8E.
Now, operation of the phase shift transformer (111) of FIGS. 1 and 3 will be described.
The phase shift transformer (111) applies an electrically-insulated 3-phase power to each power cell (112, 113) from an inputted 3-phase power. A primary winding of the phase shift transformer (111) is a Y-connection or a delta (Δ)-connection, and a secondary winding outputs a power with a shifted phase and magnitude adequate to requirement of the unit power cells (112, 113).
At this time, a number of an output from the secondary winding of the phase shift transformer (111) is same as a number of the diode rectifiers of rectifying units (210, 410) at the unit power cells (112, 113), and can be defined by the following Equation 1.Nsec=3NunitNdiode  [Equation 1]where, Nsec is the number of the output from the secondary winding of the phase shift transformer (111), Nunit is the number of unit power cells (112, 113) connected to each phase of the motor (130), and Ndiode is the number of diode rectifiers included in one unit power cell (112, 113).
For example, because Nunit is 2 in configurations of FIGS. 1 and 2, and Ndiode is 2, Nsec becomes 12, and because Nunit is 1, Ndiode is 4 in configurations of FIGS. 3 and 4, Nsec becomes 12.
A phase shift angle of the secondary winding of the phase shift transformer (111) may be obtained by the following Equation 2.
                              α          sec                =                              360                          2                                                                                N                sec                                                                    [            degree            ]                                              [                  Equation                                                              2                ]            where, αsec is the phase shift angle between secondary windings. For example, if Nsec becomes 12 as in FIGS. 1 and 3, the phase shift angle between secondary windings is 15°. An output voltage of each secondary winding from the phase shift angle between secondary windings thus determined is such that a phase relative to an input voltage at the primary winding is changed as much as the phase shift angle.
However, the abovementioned conventional multi-level medium voltage inverter is configured with a phase shift transformer in a single unit. The phase shift transformer structured with a single unit suffers from a disadvantage in that, because a required output must be satisfied by one transformer, size and weight of the transformer increase. Another disadvantage is that no layout freedom is available to increase an entire system volume-wise and to increase weight as well. Still another disadvantage is that if a problem occurs in the primary winding in the conventional phase shift transformer of single unit, an entire system is rendered inoperable.

Phase shift transformer in multi-level medium voltage inverter


This invention generally relates to the field of phosphoramidite derivatives. In particular, the invention relates to N-Acetylgalactosamine phosphoramidite molecules and to conjugates of nucleic acid molecules with N-Acetylgalactosamine containing molecules. Also provided are methods for preparation of these molecules and possible uses thereof, in particular in medicine.

In recent years, approaches have been developed to use nucleic acid molecules in therapy. To favorably influence pharmaceutically relevant properties, the nucleic acid molecules have been conjugated to certain ligands such as peptides, lipids, sterols, and carbohydrates. Nucleic acid conjugates have been extensively evaluated for use in siRNAs, where they are considered essential in order to obtain sufficient in vivo potency. For example, by attachment of a conjugate moiety containing terminal galactose or a derivative thereof to the nucleic acid, thereby targeting the nucleic acid molecule to hepatocytes via binding to the asialoglycoprotein receptor (ASGPR), see for example WO2009/073809, WO2011/104169 and WO2012/083046.
EP2796150 describes hybrid conjugates which comprise a hydrophilic material and hydrophobic material bonded to both ends of an siRNA or an oligonucleotide. In one example the hydrophilic material is a specific GalNAc phosphoramidite to be coupled to a pegylated siRNA molecule.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,057,431 relates to phosphoamidite derivatives having a monosaccharide or a derivative thereof at their terminals, in particular to oligonucleotide derivatives in which oligonucleotides are introduced into said phosphoamidite derivatives.
Dubber and Frechet 2003 Bioconjugate Chem. Vol. 14 page 239 describes synthesis of a trivalent galactose cluster using a DNA synthesizer for coupling phosphoramidite derivatives but without producing an oligonucleotide. WO2002/094185 relates to various conjugates and compositions for cellular delivery.
WO2014/118267 and WO2014/179620 relates to antisense oligonucleotide carbohydrate conjugates, in particular comprising an antisense oligomer and an asialoglycoprotein receptor targeting conjugate moiety, such as a GalNAc conjugate moiety.
However, one major drawback of currently available carbohydrate conjugates is their complex synthesis, which comprises more than ten individual synthesis steps. For each desired conjugate, a complex and specific synthesis protocol has to be set up.

GalNAc phosphoramidites, nucleic acid conjugates thereof and their use


A method for measuring intrinsic capacitance of a MOS device is provided. The MOS device includes a first terminal, a second terminal, a third terminal and a fourth terminal. First, provide a first input signal to the second terminal and ground the third terminal and fourth terminal. Then, charge the first terminal and measure a first current required for charging the first terminal. Afterward, provide a second input signal to the second terminal, ground the third terminal and the fourth terminal, and measure a second current required for charging the first terminal, wherein the first input signal and the second input signal have the same low level, but different high levels. Finally, determine intrinsic capacitance between the first terminal and the second terminal according to the first current, the second current and a high level difference between the first input signal and the second input signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a method for measuring intrinsic capacitance of a metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) device, and more particularly to a method for measuring intrinsic capacitance of a short-channel MOS device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a radio-frequency (RF), analog or digital combination circuit, the accuracy of a capacitance model analysis for a MOS device is very essential to a circuit designer. For example, a normal MOS field effect transistor has overlap capacitance, junction capacitance and intrinsic capacitance.
Referring to FIG. 1, a schematic diagram of an equivalent circuit of a small-signal of MOS field effect transistor is shown. As shown in FIG. 1, in a MOS field effect transistor 100, the charge amount QG of a terminal, such as the gate G, will be affected by variation of bias voltage of another terminal, such as VD. The corresponding relationship can be represented by the intrinsic capacitance
      Cxy    =          -                        ∂                      Q            x                                    ∂                      V            y                                ,      x    ≠    y    ,            and                                              C        xx              =                  ∂                  Q          x                            ∂                  V          x                      ,wherein x and y can be a terminal D, G, S or B.
That is, the intrinsic capacitance CGD between the gate G and the drain D reflects the influence of the bias voltage VD of the drain D on the charge amount QG of the gate G. This intrinsic capacitance is not linear and is still affected by the voltages at the other three terminals. Furthermore, the intrinsic capacitance cannot normally be measured accurately for further model analysis. Conventionally, a LCR meter combined by suitable software can only measure the intrinsic capacitance CGX of a long-channel MOS device.

Method for measuring intrinsic capacitance of a metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) device


Software debugging recommendation technique embodiments are presented that generally entails creating a database of characterized software bug descriptions and providing software debugging recommendations from the database in response to a query. This can employ a two-phased approach in the search for similar software bugs. The first is a search phase that takes a query as input and returns a ranked list of software bug descriptions that match the query. These bug descriptions can contain a mix of structured and unstructured data. The second phase is a related-information phase that uses the output of the first phase to retrieve a set of related recommendations such as for people, source files, functions and binaries.

In software development projects, when programmers are assigned a software bug to fix, they typically spend significant time during diagnosis searching for instances from the past where similar bugs have been debugged, analyzed and resolved. They often search through software bug databases, articles from the on-line developer networks, email threads, logs of debugging sessions, crash logs, event traces or other sources, and/or talk to colleagues to find this information. For example, the same software bug or a very similar bug may have been encountered and fixed in another code branch, and a programmer would greatly benefit from knowing this information.


According to one embodiment, a position location system includes a plurality of sensors, a time measurement unit, an angle calculation unit, and a position location unit. The plurality of sensors are arranged at a predetermined sensor interval. The time measurement unit measures a difference in time at which elastic waves arrive at the plurality of sensors. The angle calculation unit calculates an incident angle at which the elastic waves are incident on the plurality of sensors on the basis of the time difference. The position locator locates a source of the elastic waves on the basis of the incident angle. The predetermined sensor interval is a distance determined on the basis of a sound velocity of elastic waves propagating in a structure in which the plurality of sensors are arranged and a frequency characteristic of the sensor.

In recent years, problems due to the aging of structures such as bridges constructed during a period of high economic growth have been revealed. Since the damage would be immeasurable in the unlikely event of an accident occurring in such structures, technologies for monitoring states of these structures have been proposed up to now. For example, a technology for detecting damage in the structure in an acoustic emission (AE) method of detecting elastic waves caused by the occurrence of internal cracks or the progress of internal cracks using a high sensitivity sensor has been proposed. AE is elastic waves caused by the progress of fatigue cracks in a material. In the AE method, elastic waves are detected as an AE signal (voltage signal) by an AE sensor using a piezoelectric element. The AE signal is detected as a sign before breakage of a material occurs. Therefore, the frequency of occurrence and the signal intensity of an AE signal are used as indicators which represent the soundness of the material. For this reason, a technology for detecting an indication of the deterioration of a structure in the AE method has been studied.
As one of damage evaluation methods using an AE signal, location of the oscillation source position of elastic waves using a difference in time at which a signal arrives at a plurality of sensors is often performed. Identifying the oscillation source position of elastic waves leads to the identification of a damaged portion and is of major significance. In order to perform the location of an AE source position, it is necessary to ascertain the propagation velocity of elastic waves, but, unlike sound velocity in air, the velocity of elastic waves that propagate in solids depends on the internal structure, and there are some materials having anisotropy, and thus it is extremely difficult to ascertain an accurate velocity. A position location method based on a sound source is known as means for solving such problems. However, a detection resolution largely changes depending on an arrival direction in this method. In addition, a so-called dead band in which elastic waves cannot be completely detected depending on a direction may occur. As described above, since a range of directions in which detection is possible is limited in a conventional method, a measurement range may be limited in some cases.

Position location system, position location method, and non-transitory computer readable storage medium


Embodiment of a system for generating electric power with micro fuel cells comprising at least one first micro cell and at least one second micro cell, each micro cell having an anode and a cathode with a membrane being sandwich-wise interposed, the system comprising a spacer element having an annular element that surrounds a cavity, said spacer element being associated with said anode of said first micro cell and with said anode of said second micro cell to realize a common diffusion chamber for the fuel of said first micro cell a of said second micro cell.

It is known that the growing demand for portable electronic applications has caused an intense and strong interest of the experts in the field towards the development of alternative sources of high-density electric power such as Micro Fuel Cells, suitable for substituting traditional batteries with lithium ions.
Micro Fuel Cells that will be hereafter called micro cells, are devices that allow an easy, clean obtainment of electric power, with high performances. Micro cells exploit the energetic content of a particular chemical fuel, such as for example hydrogen or methanol, and through oxide-reduction reactions they produce electric power, in continuous current, supplying as reaction by-products: heat and water. Micro cells are thus very desirable also from their viewpoint of the low environmental impact.
A micro cell supplied with hydrogen is shown in FIG. 1A and comprises:                an anode A supplied with gaseous hydrogen H2 as a reactant and here, by means of a catalyst, it is separated into protons and electrons;        a cathode C supplied with oxygen as a reactant;        an electrolyte that separates the anode A and the cathode C which, in the present embodiment, instead of being liquid is solid and is made of a polymeric membrane PEM ("Proton Exchange Membrane") being sandwich-wise arranged between two carbon layers serving as electrodes so as to form a thin membrane MEA (Membrane Electrode Assembly).
The membrane PEM has the characteristic of easily absorbing the water, of not allowing the passage of the gases, thus maintaining hydrogen and oxygen separated from each other, and of being a conductor of ions but not of electrons. The electrons thus pass through an external circuit to the micro cell ensuring a continuous electric current suitable for supplying a load.
The carbon layers have a portion of a front layer that serves as a diffusion layer of the gas or GDL (Gas Diffusion Layer) and that comprises prearranged and suitable serpentines of outflow channels of the gaseous hydrogen H2, as shown in FIG. 1B.
The electric power in continuous current produced by the micro cell is a function of the active area of the MEA and of the amount of reactants introduced into the anode A and the cathode C. The oxide-reduction reactions for the generation of the electric power to the anode A and to the cathode C, with a suitable catalyst being present, typically platinum Pt, are the following:
To the anode A: H2→2H++2e−
To the cathode C: ½ O2+2H++2e−→H2O
Globally: H2+½ O2→H2O
In some typologies of micro cells, called the "passive type" (passive mode) or "air-breathing", the oxygen supplied to the cathode C is provided in a natural way by the environment air surrounding the micro cell itself, while the gaseous hydrogen H2 may be stored as compressed gas in high pressure cylinders, or as liquid hydrogen in suitable cryogenic containers, or in the solid state in metallic hydrides or in the liquid state in chemical hydrides or in other materials able to absorb it in considerable amount, such as carbon grounds.
To enhance the voltage to be supplied to the load, systems are provided with two or more micro cells coupled in series to define a so called "stack" system that has a geometric development vertical with respect to the sliding surface of the reactants in each micro cell, as shown in FIG. 2. This implementation has the anode A and the cathode C of each micro cell, realized by means of plates of a material that has been suitably treated on a surface and being treated mechanically for the realization of serpentines of outflow channels of the gaseous reactants.
These "stack" systems require the use of intermediate plates of the bipolar type, that simultaneously serve as anode A on one side and as cathode C on the other for two distinct consecutive micro cells of the stack, which allows separating the gaseous reactants. The plates at the ends of the "stack" system are instead of the monopolar type serving exclusively as anode A or as cathode C for the respective micro cell.
The known implementations of "stack" systems, although advantageous in several aspects and functional for the enhancement of the voltage, however, have some drawbacks. In fact, the gaseous reactants typically must be sent to a higher pressure than the atmospheric one for overcoming the fluid-dynamic resistances due to the channel serpentines realized in the bipolar plates. It is thus sometimes necessary to adopt suitable pump systems both for the hydrogen and for the oxygen. The pump systems may require energy for operating and a further control system to manage the amount of the reactants, and are also usually noisy. These "stack" systems are thus more complex from the constructive viewpoint, especially for the management of the oxygen.
Moreover, the vertical geometric development of the "stack" system may be unusable in some electronic applications and thus offer little versatility.
Moreover, the intermediate plates may require the use of a substrate with a high strength and with high thickness and weight to allow the mechanical treatment on the two faces; but this, however, may jeopardize the final performance of the system in terms of volumetric or gravitational power density. Alternatively, the use of a substrate with high mechanical resistance and with contained weight, such as for example graphite, has a high cost that may preclude the possibility of realizing "stack" systems being compact and low cost at the same time.
To solve these drawbacks, other solutions of systems for the generation of electric power with micro fuel cells employ plates or current collectors with compound material used for the realization of printed circuits PCB or Printed Circuit Boards. This may allow reducing the vertical dimensions in the case of the "stack" configuration and also may allow isolating each electrode in a coplanar configuration of the micro cells, allowing an easier parallel connection of the micro cells that may allow enhancing the current supplied to the load. An implementation is shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B.
The plates realized in PCB technology comprise one or more thin layers of non-conductive compound material, for example FR4 (Frame Retardant of the 4 type) and CEM1 (Composite Epoxy Material of the 1 type), covered by a layer of conductive material whereon it is possible to realize conductive tracks or passages for conveying the current generated. Thanks to the maturity of the PCB technology, it is also possible to integrate, through metallic tracks of copper, possible electronic circuits for the control and the conditioning of the electric power produced by the micro cells, thus realizing a compact and efficient system (System on a Package).
It is noted that the electric power supplied by the micro cells does not necessarily adapt itself to the electric power requested by a user/load and this implies the presence of conditioning circuits for adapting the electric power generated to the user's/load's requests. The ensemble constituted by the conditioning circuit of the electric power and by the final load, affect the connection mode in series and/or in parallel between the micro cells of the system.
The "stack" or planar system realized with PCB technology may have advantages and may allow realizing passive systems at the cathode, without the need of employing fans or compressors for the inflow of the oxygen from the air realizing planar "stack" systems of small power (1-5 W) that adapt themselves to the form factors of the portable electronic applications.
However, this type of system also has some drawbacks linked to the realization of systems with a request of an electric power to the load comprised between 5 and 10 W.
In fact, in a planar "stack" system of micro fuel cells in PCB technology, the implementation occupies a rather large surface area, and this may require a significant amount of material employed with a consequent problem of space for the integration in the portable electronic systems.

System for generating electric power with micro fuel cells and corresponding process


The present invention relates to a device (100) for measuring a cycling cadence, a method (500) of operating a device (100) for measuring a cycling cadence, and a cycling cadence computer program. The device (100) comprises a motion sensor (such as, e.g., an accelerometer) for detecting a movement of the device (100) and for generating a motion signal (x, y, z) corresponding to the movement; a cadence determination unit (300) for determining cycling cadence based on the motion signal (x, y, z). The device (100) can be worn on the cyclist's wrist or arm (110). The motion sensor in the device is able to pick up the tiny movements of the arm or wrist that correspond to the cadence. Optionally, an algorithm is applied that can derive the cadence from a noisy signal.

Currently, the rate at which a bicyclist is pedaling, i.e., the cycling cadence, is measured by devices that need to be mounted to the bike, like a magnet on the crank with a sensor on the frame that measures the fluctuating magnetic field when the crank passes closely.
WO2012019654A1 discloses a sensor apparatus for determining a crank cadence and a bicycle speed. The sensor apparatus comprises a housing with an accelerometer with first and second perpendicular measurement axes, capable of providing first and second signals dependent on the two measurement axes, a wireless transmitter, and a power source. The housing comprises an attachment means for attaching the housing to a wheel of the bicycle. The sensor apparatus further comprises a first means for determining the cadence from the rate at which consecutive changes of polarity occur in the first signal, or from the rate at which consecutive positive and negative extreme values occur in the first signal, and a second means for determining the speed from the rate at which consecutive maximum and minimum extreme values occur in the second signal.
EP1992389A1 discloses a data logger for a monitoring sports which includes an accelerometer, a gyro sensor to sense angular displacement, a GPS unit to sense position and velocity, a magnetometer to sense direction of movement, a heart rate monitor, and a controller programmed to manipulate the data and provide a display of the heart rate, speed, and other sport parameters. The data can be stored or transmitted to a remote computer for use by the coach. The device is useful in football codes, athletics, swimming, snow sports and cycling.
A disadvantage of a device attached to the bike for measuring cadence is that it only works on one bike. Most sports cyclists have more than one bike and would thus need to buy and attach a cadence measuring device on each bike. In addition, attaching a cadence meter to a bike is cumbersome.


A method for treating kerogen in a subterranean zone which includes the use of supercritical carbon dioxide or emulsions of liquid carbon dioxide and an aqueous fluid. The carbon dioxide or emulsions can further include oxidizers. The oxidizers can include inorganic oxidizers or organic oxidizers, for example an oxidizer including an organic cation and an oxidizing anion. Additional additives such as polymers, crosslinkers, clay inhibitors, scale inhibitors and corrosion inhibitors can further enhance the efficiency of the kerogen-treating carbon dioxide or emulsion.

Unconventional source rock reservoirs differ from conventional reservoirs due to the presence of the hydrocarbon source material, that is, a Total Organic Content (TOC) including kerogen, bitumen and other organics. Kerogen is an irregular organic material that often represents 5 to 10 percent by weight (wt %) (10 to 20 percent by volume (vol %)) of a sedimentary source rock formation. In source rock formations, clay and non-clay minerals are woven and compacted together with the kerogen to form a complex hierarchical structure with mechanical and physical parameters similar to other porous natural materials. The polymeric nature of kerogen with its chemomechanical characteristics interwoven with the granular material results in a problematic role that these composite materials play, first in increasing the tensile strength resistance generated during hydraulic fracturing, and second in masking the capacity of the fracture faces to communicate with the main fracture. The interwoven polymer characteristics of kerogen present a challenge that needs to be addressed in optimizing hydraulic fracturing operations and the overall formation productivity.
Early developments in hydraulic fracturing have resulted in fracturing fluids with additives such as polymers or crosslinkers or both. These viscosified fracturing fluids were designed to move and evenly distribute proppant in the main fracture, while other additives, such as polymer breakers, biocides, clay swelling inhibitors, and scale inhibitors, were added to improve the hydraulic fracturing operations. Additionally, slickwater systems have been developed for stimulating unconventional formations. Slickwater incorporates a friction-reducing synthetic polymer, which increases the rate at which stimulation fluids may be pumped. Fracturing fluids incorporating gas or other components to reduce or eliminate water altogether are also used in fracturing operations.

Oxidizers for carbon dioxide-based fracturing fluids


A method of simultaneously co-purifying and concentrating nucleic acid and protein targets into a single volume is described. The method includes automation of the entire sample preparation process, performed by having an analyst add a sample into a device that performs all of the steps necessary to prepare a sample for analysis. The method provides for samples are not split during the sample preparation process and where common purification methods can be used for purifying multiple analytes.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of purifying proteins and nucleic acids
2. Background of the Invention
One of the largest contributors to false positive and false negative results in rapid detection technologies is inconsistent, variable processed samples. Sample preparation represents a critical, yet under developed capability. Present day sample preparation is usually performed manually. When automated, sample preparation involves mechanizing manual processing methods resulting in large, complex, robotic systems with significant reagent/waste streams and consumable usage.
Generic methods for the purification of DNA from cells or mixtures of cells have been available for many years and include alcohol precipitation, silica binding, standard gel electrophoresis methods, and phenol/chloroform extraction. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR), through its use of primers to amplify and detect regions of the previously-purified nucleic acid specific for different classes of organisms. The ability to develop generic purification methods for nucleic acids is due largely to the fact that all nucleic acid molecules are similar in chemical structure and these similarities can be taken advantage of when developing purification methods. However, most of these methods are time consuming and must currently be performed manually.
Proteins, on the other hand, are very different in structure from one type of protein to the next. Therefore, protein purification has largely focused on separation methods based on unique protein characteristics such as differences in size, charge, hydrophobicity, isoelectric point, antibody binding and/or enzyme-substrate specificities. When a number of these methods are performed in tandem eventually leads to a protein that has been purified away from all other proteins in the starting mixture. Typically, separation methods include chromatography electrophoresis, immunoprecipitation and magnetic separation techniques and the like. Chromatography is performed using columns which are typically quite large and require expensive equipment to obtain and analyze the samples. Therefore, methods currently used to purify nucleic acids are not used to purify protein and conversely, methods used to purify protein are not used purify nucleic acids.
Isotachophoresis is a technique used to separate charged particles using a discontinuous electrical field to create sharp boundaries between the sample constituents. In this method, the sample is introduced between a fast leading electrolyte and a slow moving electrolyte to create a window between which a subset of constituents from a complex matrix can be segregated from other matrix constituents. The segregation occurs after application of an electrical field to the sample and the electrolytes are allowed to separate by charge. The electrolytes used for a separation are selected experimentally so that as many contaminating constituents as possible are excluded from the final sample.
Isotachophoresis is currently used in the field of protein purification as one potential method in capillary electrophoresis for the separation of specific proteins from a mixture of proteins. However, one disadvantage of isotachophoresis in capillary use is that one can only purify either negative or positively charged ions in the capillary tubes because these moieties will migrate in different directions upon application of the electrical field. The most common use of isotachophoresis is in protein stacking gels where protein samples are added to a gel in a wide band for separation by molecular weight. However, before separation by molecular weight can occur, the protein must be concentrated into a small band to increase resolution.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,869,365 (Sunden) is drawn to a broad method of counter-flow isotachophoresis comprising two electrolytes and the flow and voltage adjusted to maintain the sample at a desired position in the column. U.S. Pat. No. 3,948,753 (Arlinger) is drawn to an apparatus for isotachophoresis comprising a column, capillary tube, a detector, and a shunt tube bifurcating the column. U.S. Pat. No. 6,685,813 B2 (Williams et al.) is drawn to a method of separating components using isotachophoresis. U.S. Appl. Ser. No. 2004/0060821 A1 (Williams et al.) is drawn to a method of separating components using isotachophoresis. Application Ser. No. WO 2008/025806 (Gerhard Weber) is directed to a method of separating particles using electrophoresis and discloses isotachophoresis. Baumann, G. and Chrambach, A. disclosed the use of isotachophoresis for the isolation of hormones. (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 73(3): 732-736, (1976)). Böttcher, A. et al. disclosed preparative isotachophoresis for separation of human plasma lipoproteins, apolipoproteins and HDL subfractions, (J. Lipid Res. 41:905-915, (2000)). None disclose the simultaneous separation and purification of both nucleic acids and proteins. U.S. application Ser. No. 2004/0031683 A1 (Eipel el al.) is drawn to a method of fractionating proteins using several procedures, including isotachophoresis. The two-step process includes capillary electrophoresis, but does not disclose the separation of nucleic acids.
Application Ser. No. EP 05076569.2 (Stichting voor de Technische Wetenschnappen) is drawn to a device for separating particles and the use of isotachophoresis for the non-simultaneous separation of nucleic acids or proteins and the use of binding molecules. Blessum, C. et al. disclose capillary electrophoresis in the separation of proteins, nucleic acids and lipoproteins, and its use in isotachophoresis. (Ann. Biologie Clinique, 57(6):643-647 (1999) [French]). Blessum et al. do not disclose the simultaneous isolation of nucleic acids and proteins using isotachophoresis. Dolnik, V. et al. disclose capillary electrophoresis techniques and microchip technology which includes isotachophoresis, and current methods of separation of nucleic acids and proteins, but doe not disclose simultaneous separation of nucleic acids and proteins (Electrophoresis, 21(1):41-54, (1999) [Abstract only]).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,817,225 (Hinton) is drawn to an electrophoresis unit comprising an anode compartment, a cathode compartment, a separation chamber and an electrolyte in said chamber with an electrophoretic mobility between the mobilities of the nucleic acids and organic salts which are to be separated. The separation of proteins was not disclosed.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,316,771 B2 and 7,247,224 (withdrawn) (both by Gerhard Weber) is directed to a medium for electrophoresis comprising at least two acids and at least two bases as buffers. Neither disclose the separation of nucleic acids or proteins. U.S. Pat. No. 6,780,584 B1 (Edman et al.) is broadly drawn to a device with a first buffer reservoir containing a first buffer with a differing conductances, a conductive semipermeable matrix, and a first and second electrode and a specific binding entity and discloses a device which separates NUCLEIC ACID and RNA in hybridization reactions, but not the separation of proteins. U.S. Pat. No. 5,464,515 (Bellon) is drawn to a procedure for loading one of several biological samples on an electrophoresis slab support, but does not disclose the separation of nucleic acids.
Newer, rapid, simpler methods of sample processing are required to support the next generation detection systems. The newer detection methods will have a heavier reliance on sample preparation for the generation of meaningful results. In addition, sample preparation methods will need to support numerous different detection systems and be capable of being integrated as part of a complete sample processing and detection system.
Therefore, there is currently a great need in sample processing methods that are fast, inexpensive, and are easy to perform, even by untrained, non-technical staff in a variety of disciplines including biodefense, food and water, agricultural, environmental, clinical testing, and the like.

Purification and concentration of proteins and DNA from a complex sample using isotachophoresis and a device to perform the purification


Exemplary embodiments include methods and systems for monitoring, analyzing, and troubleshooting of control plane dynamics of a network including collecting state data from the one or more routers of one or more protocols at discrete time intervals, the state data being associated with one or more routers of a network, analyzing corresponding state data collected at two or more discrete time intervals, and outputting a result of the analysis of the state data collected from the one or more routers of the network.

Monitoring and/or troubleshooting network elements are a growing concern for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) as the Internet and use of the Internet continues to grow. Routing of data may be controlled by routing protocols. Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) is a hierarchical interior gateway protocol (IGP) for routing in Internet Protocol, using a link-state in the individual areas that make up the hierarchy. Label Distribution Protocol (LDP) is a protocol in which two label switch routers (LSR) exchange label mapping information (e.g., traffic information for multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) network). Protocol-Independent Multicast (PIM) is a family of multicast routing protocols that can provide one-to-many distribution of data over the Internet. Internal Border Independent Protocol (iBGP) is the core routing protocol of the Internet and works by maintaining a table of IP networks or prefixes which designate network reachability among autonomous network systems. Reducing downtime or avoiding problems associated with routing and/or network elements are an increasing concern to the Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Conventional troubleshooting of network elements typically requires a user to manually access each network element to collect information associated with the network element, thus this process may be tedious and time consuming. Also, conventional troubleshooting of network elements may require a manual analysis of the collected information in order to identify one or more problems associated with the network elements. Another conventional troubleshooting of network elements may rely on the network elements to alert a network manager of one or more problems. Often times the network manager may miss an alert.
These and other embodiments and advantages will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, illustrating by way of example the principles of the various exemplary embodiments.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and system for monitoring and analyzing of IP networks elements


A system for generating at least one remote virtual speaker location in connection with at least a partial reflective environment (12, 12, 14 or 15) in combination with an audio speaker for creating multiple sound effects including a virtual sound source from the reflective environment which is perceived by a listener (53) as an original sound source, by generating a primary direct audio output by emitting audio compression waves toward a listener, and generating a secondary indirect audio output from at least one virtual speaker (24, 25 or 26) remote from the audio speakers, by emitting ultrasonic sound from at least one parametric speaker (20, 21 or 22) associated with the audio speakers and oriented toward at least one reflective environment which is remote from the audio speakers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to sound systems, and more particularly to sound systems which utilize a parametric sound source to generate a virtual speaker from a reflecting surface.
2. Prior Art
The evolution of sound reproduction began with a simple sound source such as a horn loudspeaker acoustically coupled to a rotating cylinder which carried physical impressions of sound scribed into its surface. The emitted sound was very localized, propagating from the horn with a directional aspect oriented along the horn throat axis. As speakers became more sophisticated, stereophonic features were added in combination with use of multiple speaker systems, generating left and right or side-to-side dynamics to sound reproduction. Modern surround-sound systems capitalize on diverse speakers to generate both stereophonic output, as well as synchronized shifting of isolated sounds to individual speakers disposed around the listener. In this manner, for example, sound associated with motion picture display can develop greater realism by coordinating specific events on the screen with shifting sound propagation around the room from a variety of directions.
Because of the physiology of the ear, human hearing is amazingly capable of assigning a directional aspect to sound. This ability provides a continuous flow of information to the brain, supplying data which is assimilated in defining an individual's position and environment within a three-dimensional framework. Modern surround-sound systems simulate a desired three-dimensional environment by directing sound to the listener from various orientations, including front, side, back, floor and ceiling propagation. Such sounds include speaking voices from persons at differing positions, surrounding environmental sounds of nature such as water movement, wind, thunder, birds, animals, etc. Action scenes include synthesized audio effects for emphasizing mood dynamics of anxiety, fear, surprise, and pleasure, as well as sound effects for crash scenes, explosions, and a myriad of visual objects whose display on the screen is brought to life with multidirectional sound effects.
In order to implement effective surround-sound experiences as described above, conventional sound systems include many speakers, positioned around a room perimeter, including floor and ceiling. Typically, low frequency range woofers are located at the front of the room, or under the floor. Because these low frequency speakers have less directionality, their placement at a particular location in a room is not problematic. Indeed, the low range sound is difficult to ascribe to any direction when the room is reasonably small in dimension. Because of the large size of conventional dynamic speakers, location in the front of the room is generally more practical.
With high range frequencies, the directional aspect of sound propagation is enhanced. Tweeters, for example, can readily be detected as to source or orientation. Surround-sound systems supply these higher frequencies from smaller speakers which are dispersed at the sides and back of the room, enabling their beaming properties to simulate sound emanating from multiple directions as if in a natural environment. Physical displacement and positioning at wall and ceiling locations are facilitated by the smaller size of this speaker component.
Parametric speakers are also known for their highly directional character. U.S. Pat. No. 4,823,908 of Tanaka et. al. discloses that the derivation of audio output from a modulated ultrasonic carrier provides a more focused directivity, even at lower frequency ranges. FIG. 2 of the Tanaka '908 patent shows a conventional parametric system 8 oriented directly toward a listener 9, but suggests that ultrasonic db levels capable of generating desirable audio output could be at dangerous levels for human safety. Acoustic filters 10 and 20 are therefore applied along the audio path between the emitter and listener for substantially eliminating the ultrasonic component of the parametric output. Although reflective plates 19 are disclosed in Tanaka et. al. '908 (i.e. FIG. 16), their purpose appears to be lengthening the acoustic path and changing the direction of propagation of the ultrasonic and/or audio frequencies. Accordingly, these prior teachings with respect to parametric speakers do not point to significant differences in audio output between direct projection of parametric output toward a listener and indirect propagation of such audio output to a listener by reflection; except, perhaps, with respect to diminished or enhanced db level.
In accordance with this understanding, prior art systems for developing perception of sound sources from different directions would necessitate the placement of a speaker along a particular orientation and at a predetermined location. In order to obtain multiple directions as part of a surround-sound experience, multiple speakers (dynamic, electrostatic, parametric, etc.) at differing locations would be required. Therefore, the need to disperse speaker systems at a variety of positions within the listener's experience will generally necessitate more complex technical implementation. Speaker wires must extend from sound source to speaker hardware. For in-home theaters, retrofit of wiring may be expensive and/or detrimental to room decor. Efforts to avoid unsightly wiring may include FM wireless transmission systems which are very expensive and often problematic in operation. Even where new construction allows prewiring of surround-sound systems, limited adaptability exists because the speakers are fixed at certain locations, and are not subject to rapid relocation consonant with displacement of the sound. If a sense of movement is desired based on shifting a sound source, many speakers are required along the direction of movement, with complex circuitry to synchronize sound through the desired speaker devices. This fact simply increases the cost and complexity of developing more extensive surround-sound systems, particularly where multiple speakers and associated wiring and additional circuitry are required.
In short, the excessive cost and complexity of dynamic movement of the sound source has discouraged general commercial application beyond conventional surround-sound systems in environments other than public move theaters.

Parametric virtual speaker and surround-sound system


A method of regulating the output voltage of an electric generator combines a signal representative of the actual output of the generator with a reference signal to obtain a control signal proportional to the difference between the desired output and the actual output. The control signal is modified by a non-linear transfer function which is representative of the gain of the generator over an expected operating speed and load range. The exciter field current of the generator is controlled in response to the modified control signal, thereby causing the actual output to approach the desired output. Compensation for variation in generator gain is provided by a non-linear element, inserted in the voltage control loop such that the total loop gain is substantially constant over the operating speed and load range of the generator.

This invention relates to voltage regulation of electric generators and, more particularly, to a method and circuit for regulating the output voltage of an electric generator which is subject to varying loads and may be driven at varying speeds.
Typical voltage regulators which are used to regulate the output voltage of electric generators include a sensing circuit that produces a voltage signal proportional to the AC or DC output of the generator. This signal is subtracted from a reference signal to develop a signal proportional to the error in the generator output. A compensator modifies the gain of the voltage regulator control loop. The output of the compensator is amplified and used to control the exciter field current in the generator. The output of the generator is proportional to the exciter field current. The gain and response of each element in the control loop can be measured and the compensator can be designed to achieve the desired transient response in accordance with well known feedback control methods.
In certain electrical systems, such as those found in aircraft, the generator must operate over a wide speed range. Since the gain (ratio of the output voltage to exciter field current) of a generator is proportional to its rotational speed and decreases as load is applied, voltage regulators constructed as discussed above may produce an unacceptable transient response as a load is applied or removed from the generator at various speeds. For example, when a load is applied to a generator operating near the low end of its operating speed range, the generator output initially decreases and slowly recovers because the gain of the voltage control loop is relatively low. The gain cannot be significantly increased because a load removal at high speed would result in a seriously underdamped condition. There is a considerable difference in transient response over the required speed and load range. The present invention seeks to provide a voltage regulator which improves generator transient response over the expected operating speed and load range.

Generator voltage regulation with non-linear compensation


Embodiments of the present invention disclose a network packet loss processing method and apparatus. The method in the present invention includes: comparing a value of a current congestion window of a network with a buffer threshold when a packet loss event is detected, where the buffer threshold is used to indicate a data bearing capability of the entire network, where the data bearing capability is obtained by adding a data bearing capability of a link in the network and a data bearing capability of a buffer of a node in the network; if the value of the current congestion window is smaller than the buffer threshold, not performing backoff processing on the current congestion window; and if the value of the current congestion window is greater than or equal to the buffer threshold, performing backoff processing on the current congestion window.

An earliest TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) data transmission mechanism is designed for a wired network, and the network includes a TCP sending end (hereinafter referred to as sending end) and a TCP receiving end (hereinafter referred to as receiving end). The sending end receives an acknowledgement from the receiving end after sending every packet, where an acknowledgement signal is an ACK (ACKnowledgement) signal. If no ACK is received within a specified time, the sending end retransmits the packet. The receiving end sends an acknowledgement to the sending end after receiving every packet. If receiving a data segment that arrives out of sequence, the receiving end stores the data segment into a buffer, and sends a request for an intermediate lost packet (in a manner of repeating an ACK) to receive the lost packet. The receiving end submits a sequential data segment in the buffer to an application layer at a certain moment.
A data sending rate of the sending end depends on two factors: a buffer size of the receiving end and a bandwidth that can be provided by a communication network. In a process of transmitting TCP data of a wired network, assuming that all packet loss events are caused by network congestion, once the sending end detects a packet loss event, the sending end decreases a sending rate of packets to reduce a network load and avoid congestion. However, in a wireless network environment, the operation is infeasible, because random packet loss caused by a factor other than network congestion may occur on a transmission link of a wireless network. That is, because a wireless link is instable, a burst error occurs in a packet transmission process, so that the TCP receiving end cannot identify and acknowledge the packet. As a result, the packet is "lost". The burst error occurs randomly, and is usually called random packet loss. If the sending end blindly decreases the data sending rate because it detects a random packet loss event, TCP transmission performance is deteriorated.
Currently, the sending end uses a sliding window mechanism to control the rate. Corresponding to the foregoing two factors, the sending end manages two windows: a receiving window (rcv_wnd) and congestion window (cwnd, Congestion Window), where rcv_wnd indicates a data receiving capability of the receiving end, and cwnd indicates a data transmission capability of the network. In TCP Veno in the prior art, to distinguish whether a packet loss event in the network is caused by network congestion or random packet loss, at the sending end, an identifier N indicating network bandwidth utilization and a constant reference beta are used. A value of N is RTTmin*(cwnd/RTTmin−cwnd/RTT), where in RTTmin (Minimum Round Trip Time), RTTmin indicates a minimum round trip delay detected by the sending end, and its value is an integer that is greater than 0, and RTT (Round Trip Time) indicates a round trip delay. When the sending end detects a packet loss event identified by three repeated ACKs, the sending end compares N with beta. When N is smaller than a beta value, it indicates that a current network bandwidth is not fully utilized, and the sending end considers that the packet loss event is caused by random packet loss, and backs off ssthresh (Slow Start Thresh, slow start threshold) to cwnd*(⅘). When N is greater than or equal to the beta value, it indicates that the current available network bandwidth is fully utilized, and the sending end considers that the packet loss event is caused by network congestion, and backs off ssthresh to cwnd/2. In TCP congestion control, the congestion window value cwnd is compared with the slow start threshold ssthresh. If cwnd is smaller than ssthresh, it is in a slow start state, and a cwnd value increases by 1 every time when the TCP sending end receives an ACK. If cwnd is greater than or equal to ssthresh, it is in a congestion avoidance state, and the cwnd value increases by 1/cwnd every time when the TCP sending end receives one ACK, that is, the cwnd value increases by 1 only when the TCP sending end receives cwnd ACKs.
During the implementation of the foregoing network packet loss processing, the inventor finds that the prior art has at least the following problems: Although, in the prior art, certain filtering is performed on random packet loss in a network, whether a packet loss event is caused by random packet loss cannot be accurately judged because a critical value beta indicating whether a network bandwidth is fully utilized or not fully utilized is a manually-set parameter; and furthermore, backoff processing is still performed on a congestion window after a random packet loss event is identified, so that the sending end transmits data at a lower rate. Therefore, in a network environment with a high packet loss ratio, data transmission performance cannot be ensured.

Network packet loss processing method and apparatus


A disposable nurser comprising a flexible bottle that is removably inserted within a bottle holder so that the open end of the flexible bottle is folded over the top edge and down the exterior sides of the bottle holder. A countercap comprising a sleeve is slidably mounted around the bottle holder and is slid upward from the bottom of the bottle holder, over the open ends of the flexible bottle, and upward until it engages a stop means that prevents the countercap from moving further. A nipple holding cap having a nipple inserted therein is removably attached to the countercap so that the nipple is sealingly connected in fluid flow relationship with the flexible bottle.

1. Field of the Invention.
This invention relates to a nursing apparatus, and more particularly, to disposable nursers having flexible liners or bottles.
2. Description of the Prior Art.
The use of disposable liners, referred to in the industry as bottles, with or without separate bottle holders is well known in the industry. The major problem that most of the prior art has attempted to solve is the means by which the flexible bag is filled and then connected to a nipple ready for use.
Many disposable nursing systems attach the liner directly to a cap to which a nipple is attached. Such a system is very difficult to use, resulting in slippage of the liner causing spillage or contamination of the sterile surfaces of the liner. U.S. Pat. No. 2,508,481 issued to Adda Allen and U.S. Pat. No. 2,520,335 issued to Thomas Piazze disclose such a system.
Many disposable nursers use a bottle holder to provide support and protection for the flexible bottle. The flexible bottle is inserted within the bottle holder with the flexible bottle's open end extending beyond the upper edge of the holder, and it is then folded outward and down along the bottle holder's exterior surface. The liner must be held in place with one hand while it is being filled and capped with the other, which frequently results in slippage of the liner causing spillage or contamination of the sterile surfaces of the disposable nurser. Frequently this type of system uses a cap which is screwed to the top of the bottle holder, causing the flexible bottle to pass between the threads of the cap and the bottle holder. This often results in leakage from torn liners or an inadequate seal between the cap and the flexible bottle. In such a system, it is also difficult to add additional fluid to the bottle after it has been sealed the first time. U.S. Pat. No. 3,362,555 issued to Ricardo Soto discloses such an apparatus.
Some nursing systems do away with the threads and use a snap-on cap, or nipple, which reduces the problem caused by the threads but provides a system that is far less secure from accidental removal of the cap or nipple than a system using screw threads. Such prior art is disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 3,790,017 issued to William Fitzpatrick, et al., and to Thomas Piazze, U.S. Pat. No. 2,643,448.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,161,311 issued to Frank Boston discloses a rubber band placed over the bottle holder which keeps the liner in place during filling and handling; however, the flexible bottle still passes between the screw threads which fasten the nipple to the bottle.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,593,871 issued to Larry Bundy discloses a nipple which has been directly sealed to a bag, with both the nipple and the bag being disposable. The bag is filled through a separate filler tube. This solves the problems discussed above but provides a very inconvenient means for filling the bottle and a more expensive system.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,599,630 issued to Emma Hair discloses a hard disposable container which may be held on a ring during the filling process, if the container is rigid enough. If the typical flexible bottle is used, it would be necessary to pass the open end of the bottle over the upper lip of this ring. This then places the liner between the threads of the ring and the nipple holding cap with all the same problems of slippage, tearing of the liner, and leakage, discussed above.
It remains clear that there is a need for a disposable nursing system which will hold the flexible bottle firmly during the filling process, would permit heating in a microwave, and provide a tight seal and secure connection between the nipple and the flexible bottle.

Rua Engenheiro Alvaro Niemeyer, 113, Sao


A carrier tracking technique includes allocating a first number of bits per symbol to a carrier tracking subcarrier of a plurality of subcarriers of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signal based on a first target performance margin. The technique includes allocating numbers of bits per symbol to other subcarriers of the plurality of subcarriers based on a second target performance margin.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to communications systems, and more particularly to carrier tracking in communications systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a typical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) communications system, a carrier frequency oscillator used to modulate a baseband signal in a transmitter of the communication system is independent from a carrier frequency oscillator used by a receiver to demodulate the baseband information from a received modulated signal. In addition, channel effects introduce frequency offset (i.e., a difference in frequency of a transmitted subcarrier and a received subcarrier) into a received OFDM signal. A frequency offset between a received subcarrier and a frequency of a transmitted subcarrier may result in amplitude reduction of a received symbol and loss of orthogonality between subcarriers of the received OFDM signal, which results in inter-carrier interference. To avoid severe system performance degradation, any uncompensated frequency offset must not exceed a small fraction of the subcarrier signaling rate. However, small carrier offsets (i.e., on the order of a percentage of the subcarrier spacing) can severely degrade OFDM demodulation.


A DICOM-to-XML conversion system is provided that converts the DICOM SR standard into a set of XML DTDs and Schemas. By providing a mapping between the DICOM SR standard and XML DTDs and Schemas, DICOM specific XML-based applications can be developed, via a larger field of XML-fluent application developers. Additionally, by providing standard XML DTDs and Schemas for containing DICOM data, other commonly available non-DICOM-related applications, such as accounting and mailing programs, can be structured to use information as required from DICOM reports that are converted to conform to these defined XML DTDs and Schemas. In a preferred embodiment, a two-phase conversion is employed. The DICOM SR specification is parsed and converted directly into a set of xe2x80x9crawxe2x80x9d XML documents. Thereafter, the xe2x80x9crawxe2x80x9d XML documents are transformed into the corresponding XML DTDs and Schemas, via an XSLT processor. Changes to the desired XML DTDs and Schemas, as standards develop, can thus be effected via changes in the corresponding XSLT stylesheets, without modification to the DICOM-to-raw-XML process.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of modeling and data representation, and in particular to the modeling and representation of medical reports, via the use of DICOM SR relational data.
2. Description of Related Art
The Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) Structured Reporting (SR) standard, and the SR Documentation Model upon which it is based, improves the expressiveness, precision, and comparability of documentation of diagnostic images and waveforms. DICOM SR supports the interchange of expressive compound reports in which the critical features shown by images and waveforms can be denoted unambiguously by the observer, indexed, and retrieved selectively by subsequent reviewers. Findings may be expressed by the observer as text, codes, and numeric measurements, or via location coordinates of specific regions of interest within images or waveforms, or references to comparison images, sound, waveforms, curves, and previous report information. The observational and historical findings recorded by the observer may include any evidence referenced as part of an interpretation procedure. Thus, DICOM SR supports not only the reporting of diagnostic observations, but the capability to document fully the evidence that evoked the observations. This capability provides significant new opportunities for large-scale collection of structured data for clinical research, training, and outcomes assessment as a routine by-product of diagnostic image and waveform interpretation, and facilitates the pooling of structured data for multi-center clinical trials and evaluations.1
1xe2x80x9cClinical Rationale for the SR Documentation Model and the DICOM Structured Reporting (SR) Standardxe2x80x9d, Abstract, W. Dean Bidgood, Jr., (copyright) 1999.
The DICOM SR is based on a relational data technology, and has been standardized by the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA). Supplement 23: Structured Reporting Storage SOP Classes to the DICOM Standard, published by the DICOM Standards Committee, 1300 N. 17th Street, Rosslyn, Va. 22209 USA, and incorporated by reference herein, introduces the SR Service-Object Pair (SOP) Classes for transmission and storage of documents that describe or refer to any number of images or waveforms or to the specific features that they contain. This standard is expected to be adopted by the medical equipment manufacturers and providers at large to provide text, image, and waveform content in a structured reporting format.
Although the DICOM SR standard provides for a consistent reporting and recording scheme, the use of the information contained in a DICOM SR is limited to DICOM compliant applications that can process this information using the DICOM specific format. Application developers must be DICOM literate, and a methodology for deploying applications that interoperate with other applications outside the DICOM domain has not yet been developed.
In the computer industry, progress has been made in the use of standardized languages and methodologies that facilitate the use of information from a variety of sources by a variety of applications. A standard language that is widely used for processing content material is the World Wide Web Consortium Extensible Markup Language (XML), which is derived from the Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML), and is designed to describe data and its structure so that it can be easily transferred over a network and consistently processed by the receiver. Because XML is used to describe information as well as structure, it is particularly well suited as a data description language. One of XML""s particular strengths is that it allows entire industries, academic disciplines, and professional organizations develop sets of Document Type Definitions (DTDs) and Schemas that can serve to standardize the representation of information within those disciplines. Given a set of DTDs and Schemas, content material that is modeled in conformance with the DTDs and Schemas can be processed by applications that are developed for these DTDs and Schemas.
A further advantage of the use of XML is the wealth of tools that are available for the processing of XML-compatible data. Of particular significance, the xe2x80x9cExtensible Stylesheet Languagexe2x80x9d (XSL) is a language for expressing stylesheets, and the xe2x80x9cXSL Transformationsxe2x80x9d (XSLT) is a language for transforming XML documents into other XML documents, using stylesheets. A stylesheet contains a set of template rules, which are used to match a pattern to a source document, or xe2x80x9csource treexe2x80x9d and, when the appropriate match is found, to instantiate a template to a result document, or xe2x80x9cresult treexe2x80x9d. In this manner, XML information that is structured for one application can be relatively easily transformed into a different structure for another application.
Although XML may be considered a relatively new and specialized language, it can be expected that more programmers and other computer professionals will be familiar with XML than those who are familiar with DICOM. Additionally, it can be expected that more general-purpose utilities and applications will be available for use on XML encoded information than will be available for use on DICOM SR encoded information.
An objective of this invention, therefore, is to provide a method and system that facilitate the creation of XML Document Type Definitions (DTDs) and XML Schemas that correspond to the DICOM SR standard. A further objective of this invention is to provide a method and system for creating an XML representation of DICOM objects that is flexible and extensible.
These objectives and others are achieved by providing a conversion system that converts the DICOM SR standard into a set of XML DTDs and Schemas. By providing a mapping between the DICOM SR standard and XML DTDs and Schemas, DICOM specific XML-based applications can be developed, via a larger field of XML-fluent application developers. Additionally, by providing standard XML DTDs and Schemas for containing DICOM data, other commonly available non-DICOM-related applications, such as accounting and mailing programs, can be structured to use information as required from DICOM reports that are converted to conform to these defined XML DTDs and Schemas. In a preferred embodiment, a two-phase conversion is employed. The DICOM SR specification is parsed and converted directly into a set of xe2x80x9crawxe2x80x9d XML documents. Thereafter, the xe2x80x9crawxe2x80x9d XML documents are transformed into the corresponding XML DTDs and Schemas, via an XSLT processor. Changes to the desired XML DTDs and Schemas, as standards develop, can thus be effected via changes in the corresponding XSLT stylesheets, without modification to the DICOM-to-raw-XML process.


A wear indicator apparatus, system and method are provided for allowing wear information from an internal flow surface of a chute to be obtained from outside the chute so as not to require access to the interior thereof for wear inspection purposes. In one form, the wear indicator apparatus has a wear indicator portion that is configured to be fit into a through opening in the chute wall assembly. The wear indicator portion has a layer of wear material that is of the same material as an inner liner of the chute wall assembly, and a mounting portion that is configured to be removably fixed to an exterior surface of the wall assembly. Preferably, the wear indicator apparatus includes a removal mechanism connected to the mounting portion that is operated outside of the chute for retracting the wear indicator portion out from the wall assembly through opening.

Transfer chutes are commonly employed in conveyor systems to transfer conveyed material from one conveyor to another. More specifically, the chutes typically receive material at an output end of one conveyor belt and direct the material to flow through the chute system to the input end of another conveyor belt which is typically at a lower elevation relative to the conveyor belt output end. Since the conveyed material can be hard and abrasive such as coal, rocks and aggregate, the chutes can be subjected to high impact and frictional forces as this material travels therethrough.
Walls of chute components are typically constructed with a less wear resistant outer shell that is lined with a harder material to provide the impact and abrasion resistance needed during transport of the conveyed material. Often the shell and liner are of different metallic materials that are secured together. For example, one known liner plate construction has a chromium carbide bimetallic plate that is welded to a soft steel backing plate. Alternatively, a tungsten carbide plate can be brazed to a soft steel backing plate to form the liner plate. In another known liner construction, hard tiles such as of ceramic material are attached to the backing plate. Once formed, the liner plates can then be bolted to the outer shell, which can be of mild steel or similar material depending on environmental needs, to form wall assemblies for the chute components.
One problem this wall assembly construction presents is that it is very difficult to know how much wear the harder liner material has undergone since the thickness of the material of the liner cannot be determined by a simple visual inspection of its interior flow surface. An additional problem relates to the practicality in performing visual inspections in the first place since it can be difficult to gain access to the interior of the chute components since they are connected together to form one, long column having walls extending entirely around and along the flow path for the conveyed material. Thus, even where ceramic tile are adhered directly to the outer shell, wear inspection of individual tiles may not be possible or may be very difficult since the interior of the chute component must be accessed for this purpose. In certain instances, such access is not available while in others it is simply impractical given the location of the chute component in the system or the location of the chute itself such as if the component is at a highly elevated position. Further, while the plates forming the components of the chute system are typically bolted together, removing these plates for liner inspection is not practical since they are usually very heavy, weighing between approximately 300 to 500 lbs each, thus requiring heavy equipment plus an operating crew for their removal. And where these components are located in difficult to access positions along the chute transfer system, the use of such heavy equipment is made all the more difficult.
Another related problem is that the liner material will wear differently depending on its location in the chute transfer system. For example, conveyor transfer chutes are typically formed from three types of components: an intake hood, intermediate components, and discharge spoons. Typically, the intake hood and the discharge spoon will have a curve or be angled to redirect conveyed material from one conveyor belt onto another, although the intermediate components can also have curves or bends to redirect the material flow as well. At these directional changes of material flow, there can be greater wear due to higher impact forces generated by the flowing material with the interior chute liner flow surface. Thus, even if the difficult process of plate removal for inspection were to be undertaken, the inspection of the plates for wear may not provide the needed wear information. This is because, in addition to being heavy, the plates can be fairly large with a 2 foot by 4 foot liner plate being considered relatively small, and with larger liner plates typically being 4 feet by 6 feet in size. As is apparent, because of the large size of the liner plates, the wear at different places along the interior flow surface of the plates can be different than at the edges where the thickness of the lining can be visually inspected.
In any case, because it is difficult to know when the liner will wear through, there is increased risk in developing a hole in the chute itself. For instance, while the harder liner material may last for six months to a year before it wears through, the softer shell material can wear through in a matter of weeks once it is exposed to the forces generated by the material flowing therealong. Thus, unless short interval wear checks are regularly performed, such as on a weekly basis, components of the transfer chutes can be irreversibly damaged which requires that the entire system be shut down so that the affected sections of the transfer chute system can be disassembled and the damaged component or components replaced.
Accordingly, there is a need for a wear inspection mechanism for conveyor transfer chutes. More particularly, there is a need for a system and method that provides ease in determining the wear of components of transfer chute systems at various locations along the material flow path.

Wear indicator apparatus, system and method for conveyor transfer chutes