A keyboard assembly (12) of a telephonic console (14) having multiple modes of operation programmable at a user's site is shipped partly disassembled from a plurality of top mountable key caps with different designations for the same key location corresponding to different modes for permanent top mounting into vacant key holes (18, 20, 22, 24) at the customer site and is preassembled with other key cap assemblies that are installed at a manufacturing site from the underside (12') of the keyboard. The top mountable key cap assemblies (40) have a plurality of resilient arms (56, 58, 62, 64) with flanges (68) on the ends to block removal and wedge-shaped camming surfaces (70, 72) for camming engagement with the sides (50) of key holes to resiliently press the flanges (68) inwardly to enable insertion into the key hole (18, 20, 22, 24) mounted beneath the underside (12') of the keyboard (12) at which location they resiliently return to a locking position (FIG. 4 B) to block removal. A protuberance (48) around the key hole side wall (50) sealingly, slideably mates with a curtain wall (46) of the cap assembly (40) to block entry of fluids and dust into the interior of the keyboard assembly.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to electronic keyboards and associated key cap assemblies and methods of assembling keyboards and, more particularly, to key cap assemblies and methods of permanently mounting key cap assemblies for sliding movement within key holes of a keyboard.
2. Description of the Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 C.F.R. 51.97-1.99
Electronic keyboard assemblies of the type having a planer array of key switches overlain by an associated array of key holes of a keyboard are well known.
Key cap assemblies are mounted for limited sliding movement within the mating key holes to engage and actuate the key switches. The key switches are temporary contact switches that are spring biased to raise a switch actuator and associated key cap assembly to a home position after being released.
The key cap assemblies have a cap which bears a number letter, word or other designation or indicia identifying to the user the function performed in response to actuation of the key. Sometimes the same key switch and its key hole location are associated with different functions and thus require key cap assemblies with different indicia.
It is important that indicia on the key cap assemblies is durable and that the mounting of all key cap assemblies within their related key holes is permanent (i.e. the key cap assemblies can be readily removed by the user from the top of the keyboard only with special tools, not provided, if at all. ) Otherwise, the indicia for a given function can be obscured or lost from wear, or the key cap assemblies can become lost, stolen for purposes of gain, or worse, exchanged for key cap assemblies with incorrect indicia for purposes of sabotage or by mistake by unauthorized personnel.
In known keyboards, all the key cap assemblies are bottom mountable only and must all be inserted into their associated key holes from the bottom of the keyboard. A fixed nonmovable collar or other fixed blocking mechanism is provided to engage with the bottom of the keyboard and thereby permanently prevent removal from the top of the keyboard. The same fixed collar prevents all the key cap assemblies of the keyboard from being installed from the top of the keyboard. Disadvantageously, once the key cap assemblies are inserted into the keyboard at the manufacturing facility, and the housing is closed, the key cap assemblies are permanently set into place. The key cap assemblies with fixed blocking mechanisms cannot be removed or installed without disassembling the housing, and thus the key cap assemblies and the designations they carry cannot be readily changed at the customer site.
Many devices which employ keyboards perform different functions in different ways depending on how they are programmed. For example, activation of a given key may cause a message to be recorded if activated when the keyboard device is in one program mode, while activation may cause a message to be played back when the device is programmed in a different mode. Thus, while the physical layout of the keyboard remains the same, indicia of the cap (i.e. "record" or "play") must change depending upon which function the particular key is to perform when actuated.
Often, the particular function for a given key is not known until the device is installed at the customer site or needs to be changed after initial installation. Unfortunately, since known permanently installed key cap assemblies can be inserted only at the manufacturing facility, the only way in which key cap assemblies have been permanently installed is by installing all of them at the manufacturing facility by inserting them into the key holes from the bottom of the keyboard. None are permanently installed at the customer site, and if it is desired to change a key cap assembly after delivery to a user site, the entire keyboard must be returned to a remote facility equipped to open the housing and dissemble the entire keyboard from the key switch array.
While there are known key cap assemblies which are not permanently mounted and can be removed and reinserted from the top of the keyboard, they leave open space between the cap assembly and the key holes with which they are mated and thus, render the components within the keyboard housing susceptible to damage by dust, dirt, water or other debris.

Keyboard with top mountable key cap assemblies and method


Various systems and methods are described for controlling an engine with a turbocharger in a vehicle. One example method comprises, under selected operating conditions, generating an oxidant rich component from engine intake air, storing the oxidant rich component, and during subsequent increased torque request, injecting an amount of the stored oxidant rich component to the engine.

A vehicle with a turbocharger coupled to its engine may experience a condition known as "turbo lag" during engine operation. Since the turbocharger is powered by exhaust gas energy, a delay (e.g., turbo lag) occurs in response to a request for increased torque when the turbine and/or compressor are not at speeds at which they may supply sufficient boost pressure to increase the engine torque, such as when the engine is coming out of an idle condition.
The inventors herein have recognized the above problems and have devised various approaches to at least partially address them. Thus a method for generating an oxidant rich component of engine intake air and storing the oxidant rich component is disclosed. The method comprises, under selected operating conditions, generating an oxidant rich component from engine intake air, storing the oxidant rich component of the intake air, and, during subsequent increased torque request, injecting an amount of the stored oxidant rich component to the engine.
Specifically, in one example, the oxidant rich component of the engine intake is generated when boost is greater than a threshold amount. In this manner, oxidant rich air is generated during operation above a threshold boost pressure, for example, via a turbocharger that is coupled to the engine and the oxidant rich air is stored so that it can be used at a later time, such as during turbo lag.
It should be understood that the summary above is provided to introduce in simplified form a selection of concepts that are further described in the detailed description. It is not meant to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, the scope of which is defined uniquely by the claims that follow the detailed description. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any disadvantages noted above or in any part of this disclosure.


Incremental encoding of Bounding Volume Hierarchies (BVH) enables coarse quantization of bounding volumes, significantly reducing their memory footprint. However, reducing the size of the BVH alone does not yield a comparable reduction in memory bandwidth in some embodiments. While the bounding volumes of the BVH nodes can be aggressively quantized, the size of the child node pointers remains a significant overhead. A two-level clustering method introduces a memory layout and node addressing scheme, which allows the reordering of BVH nodes to reduce their memory footprint in hardware ray tracing systems using reduced precision ray traversal.

Traversal is a set of hierarchical intersection tests between a ray and nodes in a bounding volume hierarchy (BVH), until a ray-primitive intersection is found at the leaf nodes. The algorithm often searches for the nearest of such intersections. In an ideal setting, the memory bandwidth of a query directly depends on the number of BV nodes accessed. Thus a high-quality BVH would yield a low bandwidth.
On practical hardware, however, accesses pass through a hierarchy of caches, where a single memory transaction reads multiple BV nodes on the same cache block. This implies that the topology of the BVH and also its mapping to memory addresses (layout) influence the traversal bandwidth.
Depth-first layout (DFL) is the most commonly used node ordering for ray tracing because of its simplicity, and it avoids the storage of one child pointer, since the left child always follows the parent.

Reduction of BVH-node bandwidth with incremental traversal


A method for improving performance of an engine comprising contacting contaminated liquid hydrocarbon fuel comprising an initial concentration of DRA with one or more effective DRA removal agent under conditions effective to produce decontaminated liquid hydrocarbon fuel comprising a reduced concentration of the DRA, and feeding the decontaminated liquid hydrocarbon fuel to the engine.

Materials often are added to flowing fluids in order to reduce the energy lost due to friction, or drag, thus permitting the movement of more fluid at the same differential pressure. Materials for reducing drag in flowing fluids generally are known by the generic names "flow improver" or "drag reducer additive" (sometimes referred to as "DRA").
Unfortunately, the DRA in liquid hydrocarbon fuels has the potential to cause a number of problems. Methods are needed to improve the performance of engines that use liquid hydrocarbon fuel otherwise contaminated with DRA.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method for improving the performance of engines powered by liquid hydrocarbon fuel


In a case where an A-BFT period is not present in a BI, a PCP/AP uses a format that includes an Unsolicited RSS Enabled sub-field for indicating support for responding to unsolicited RSSs within a CBAP, for a Beacon Interval Control field of a DMG beacon frame used for executing a BTI-ISS. For example, in a case where it is indicated that responding to unsolicited RSSs within a CBAP is supported, the PCP/AP sets the value of the Unsolicited RSS Enabled sub-field to 1. In a case where the value of the Unsolicited RSS Enabled sub-field included in a received DMG beacon frame is 1, a STA responds with an unsolicited CBAP-RSS.

IEEE 802.11 is one of the standards that relate to wireless LANs (Local Area Networks), and includes the IEEE 802.11ad standard and the IEEE 802.11ay standard, for example (see NPL 1 and 2, for example).
It should be noted that "IEEE" is an abbreviation for the "Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers". Furthermore, hereinafter, the "IEEE 802.11ad standard" is abbreviated as the "11ad standard" and the "IEEE 802.11ay standard" is abbreviated as the "11ay standard".

Wireless communication apparatus and wireless communication method

Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America


A housing with electronics arranged therein includes a wall defining a penetration therethrough. A flexible conductor support made of plastic and including electrical conductors embedded therein extends through the penetration opening for electrical connection of at least one of the conductors to the electronics in the housing. The plastic of the flexible conductor provides insulation of the electrical conductors. The conductor support is sealed and mechanically fixed by a conductor support seal arranged between the penetration opening of the housing and the conductor support, the conductor support seal being molded directly onto the flexible conductor support and the housing.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a sealed electrical cable penetration and a method for production thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In motor vehicles, it is increasingly required that control electronics, accommodated in a housing, such as, for example, gear motor drives for window lifts, sunroofs, or the like, be integrated with and connected to the engine and/or transmission, the control electronics mounted on a circuit carrier that is required to be shielded from the oils used in engines and transmissions, as these oils contain chemically extremely aggressive additives. At the same time,however, electrical conductors must penetrate the shielding to allow engine or transmission components to be controlled or supplied via the control electronics.
A connector system that is suitable for use in such conditions is known from European patent EP 0 513 263 B1. Here, a flexible film with electrical traces is led through between a closure support and a housing and establishes an electrical connection between a component inside the housing and a component outside the housing. To accomplish sealing between the flexible film and the closure part or the housing, the flexible film must be surrounded by a seal. The sealing of the closure part with respect to the housing and the film is relatively complex or cannot be safely guaranteed in all cases.
To simplify the manufacturing and assembly process, DE 197 42 178 C1 discloses how the conductor support can be introduced directly into the housing wall through which the traces are to be routed. However, this can cause problems due to excessively high thermal loading of the substrate material. Some of these problems can sometimes be circumvented by selecting an appropriately heat-resistant, but more cost-intensive material such as polyamide.
This object can be achieved by a device for sealing an electrical cable penetration through the wall of a housing, wherein the housing has a wall defining a penetration opening therethrough, the device including a flexible conductor support made of plastic and including electrical conductors embedded therein, the plastic providing insulation of said electrical conductor. The flexible conductor support is inserted through the penetration opening and sealed and mechanically fixed therein by a conductor support seal. The conductor support seal is made from plastic and molded directly onto the flexible conductor support and the housing.
For the manufacture of the cable penetration according to the invention, the mass temperature of the sealing material can be kept lower than that of the previously injection-moldable housing and therefore an inexpensive material with lower temperature resistance, in particular a thermoplastic, can be selected. Furthermore, a high degree of leak-proofness between an opening-side housing edge and a housing cover to be placed thereupon can be ensured, as the interposed sealing layer exhibits a high degree of homogeneity over its entire sealing surface area because of the absence of the conductors encapsulated in their own separate penetration opening. The possibility of molding the conductor support and the seal or sealing layer in and on respectively in a single operation as well as the possibility of injection-molding the dimensionally complicated housing without simultaneously molding in the conductor support results in a significant and, particularly for automated production of a mass-produced article, advantageous reduction in manufacturing costs.

Sealed electrical cable duct and method for production thereof


There is provided a computer-implemented method for generating an output with respect to a group of individuals. The method includes: identifying the group of individuals amongst a plurality of individuals in an area being monitored by one or more sensors; determining, for each individual in the group of individuals, one or more individual-based features associated with the individual based on sensing data obtained from the one or more sensors; determining a group characteristic information associated with the group of individuals based on the one or more individual-based features determined for each individual in the group; and generating the output based on the group characteristic information determined for the group of individuals. There is also provide a corresponding system for generating an output with respect to a group of individuals.

In a wide variety of applications, it may be desirable to generate an output (e.g., provide or present targeted information, such as a targeted advertisement content) with respect to various individuals detected by a sensor. For example, a conventional system may be configured to determine a feature, such as a characteristic or an attribute, associated with an individual and then output a targeted advertisement content based on the feature of the individual determined. For example, if the individual is detected to be young, then a targeted advertisement content targeting young people may be provided. On the other hand, if the individual is detected to be old, then a targeted advertisement content targeting elder people may be provided instead.
However, such conventional systems of providing targeted information may only be capable of targeting information directly in accordance with one or more basic types of features detected, such as gender, age, emotional state, and so on, of a single individual, and thus, the categories of information which may be targeted may be undesirably limited or restricted. For example, conventional systems may only be able to provide targeted information to an individual directly in accordance to the individual's gender, age, and/or emotional state detected.
A need therefore exists to provide a method for generating an output, such as but not limited to, targeted information (e.g., a targeted advertisement content), and a system thereof, that seek to overcome, or at least ameliorate, one or more of the deficiencies of conventional methods and systems, such as the conventional methods and systems as mentioned above. It is against this background that the present invention has been developed.

Method and system for generating an output with respect to a group of individuals

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.


A fan testing apparatus includes an air duct defining an air inlet and air outlet, and at least one anemometer mounted at the air outlet. The fan is received in the air duct to generate airflow in the air duct via the inlet and out of the air duct via the outlet, and the at least one anemometer is used to measure wind speed at the outlet.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a testing apparatus and a testing method, and particularly to a testing apparatus and a testing method for a fan.
2. Description of Related Art
Many electronic products are equipped with one or more fans for heat dissipation. The fans mounted in the electronic product should performance well enough to prevent the electronic product from overheating. Fan testing may require expensive equipment and take a lot of time. Therefore, only samples from production batches of fans may be tested, which means some malfunctioning fans may be passed along for use.

Fan testing apparatus and testing method


An exhaust nozzle assembly for vectoring the thrust of the exhaust gases from a turbojet engine is disclosed wherein the exhaust gases are vectored by an assembly that is separate from the flaps that are utilized to adjust the cross-sectional area of the exhaust nozzle. The thrust vectoring exhaust nozzle assembly has a moveable thrust vectoring assembly comprised of inner and outer vectoring members, each of which have a generally annular configuration. The vectoring members are pivotally attached to the exhaust nozzle so as to pivot about an axis extending generally perpendicularly to the longitudinal axis of the exhaust duct.

The present invention relates to a nozzle assembly for an exhaust duct of a turbojet engine, more particularly such a nozzle assembly that is capable of diverting or vectoring the thrust from the turbojet engine.
It is known in the art to provide turbojet engines with exhaust nozzles having variable cross-sections in order to optimize the exhaust gas flow and pressure throughout the operational range of the aircraft. It is further known to provide such nozzles with a steering or vectoring capability in order to increase the maneuverability of the aircraft.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,778,109 to Jordain et al. discloses a two-dimensional exhaust nozzle arrangement having a converging-diverging configuration of variable cross-section in which the nozzle flaps also may deflect the exhaust gas stream at an angle to the longitudinal axis of the engine.
It is further known to provide generally annular exhaust nozzles with a moveable nozzle portion in order to deflect or vector the exhaust gases at an angle to the longitudinal axis of the engine. Such devices are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,363,445 to Bouiller et al. and 4,508,270 to Joubert.
While such known systems have proven reasonably successful, they are also complex, which results in the undesired increase in weight and bulk of the engine and, consequently, the aircraft. The increase in complexity is caused by the requirement of the prior art systems to not only pivot the annular array of flaps to vary the cross-section of the nozzle, but to also pivot the entire nozzle assembly to vector the exhaust thrust.

Societe Nationale d'Etude et de Construction de Mateurs d'Aviation "S.N.E.C.M.A."


A method for calibrating a robot system having a planar pick surface includes: bringing a robot gripper to a first location against the pick surface; and generating a first image of the robot gripper from below. When knowing that a certain identifiable part of the robot gripper in images always lies against the planar pick surface, the position and orientation of the pick surface in relation to a manipulator coordinate frame can be fully defined if the robot gripper's orientation in relation to the pick surface is known, or if there are images on identifiable parts of the robot gripper in at least three different positions against the pick surface.

There is a relatively simple conventional method to calibrate a manipulator coordinate frame in relation to another immobile object such as a welding jig by jogging a calibration pointer at a robot end effector to predefined target points at the welding jig, and calculating on the basis of the respective positions of the calibration pointer in the manipulator coordinate frame a position and an orientation of the welding jig in the manipulator coordinate frame. It is furthermore conventionally known e.g. from WO2012076038A1 and WO2014161603A1 to calibrate a vision system coordinate frame in relation to a manipulator coordinate frame by moving an end effector provided with a calibration marker to a plurality of known target points in the manipulator coordinate frame, and calculating the respective positions in the vision system coordinate frame based on images on the calibration marker.
Methods where jogging of a manipulator to predefined target points is required involve drawbacks such as the methods being time consuming, error prone, and, in order to be accurate, requiring high skills from the operator carrying them out. Methods based on automatic calibration procedures are complicated and difficult to develop, and they are also time consuming as a large number of target points is required for good accuracy.


This document relates to methods and materials for determining whether or not a horse contains a Grey allele. For example, diagnostic methods such as nucleic acid-based detection methods and materials such as nucleic acid probes and primer pairs that can be used to determine whether or not a horse contains a duplication in intron 6 of STX17 nucleic acid are provided. This document also relates to methods and materials for treating a mammal having or being likely to develop cancer (e.g., benign, malignant, or metastatic cancer). For example, methods and materials for treating cancer in a mammal by administering an agent having the ability to reduce expression of an STX17 polypeptide and/or an NR4A polypeptide (e.g., an NR4A1, NR4A2, or NR4A3 polypeptide) in the mammal are provided.

1. Technical Field
This document relates to methods and materials involved in detecting genetic mutations involved in loss of hair pigmentation and increased cancer susceptibility (e.g., increase susceptibility to form melanomas). This document also relates to methods and materials involved in treating cancer (e.g., melanoma).
2. Background Information
Grey horses are born colored but gradually loose hair pigmentation and eventually, by the age of 6-8 years, become shining white. The dominant Grey allele, manifested as a splendid white horse, has had a high impact on human culture and has left numerous marks in art and literature (e.g., Pegasus and the Unicorn) from Asia and Europe. It has most certainly been selected by humans due to the prestige of riding a white horse with its mystic charisma. Numerous kings, emperors, and other prominent people have been portrayed on a white horse. The mutation appears to have arisen more than 2,000 years ago since white horses are mentioned in ancient Greek literature as well as in the Bible; the Grey locus is by far the most common cause of white coat color in horses (Sponenberg, "Equine Coat Color Genetics," (Blackwell, Ames, Iowa, 2003)).
Grey causes a gradual loss of hair pigmentation whereas dark skin pigmentation is maintained. Furthermore, Grey horses can exhibit vitiligo and a very high incidence of dermal melanomas. It has been estimated that 70-80% of Grey horses older than 15 years of age possess melanomas (Sutton and Coleman, 1-34, R1RDC, Barton, Australia (1997) and Fleury et al., Pigment Cell Res., 13:47-51 (2000)) and that the Grey mutation reduces longevity (Comfort, Nature, 182:1531-1532 (1958)).
The melanomas occur primarily as jet black firm nodules in the dermis of glabrous skin (e.g., under the tail root, in the anal, perianal, and genital regions, perineum, lips, and eyelids; Seltenhammer et al., Pigment Cell Res., 17:674-681 (2004)). Initially, these primary multiple melanomas are benign but some develop metastases in several internal organs.

Methods and materials related to hair pigmentation and cancer


A vehicle track play set includes a base, a plate coupled to and extending upwardly from the base, and first and second tracks extending along the plate toward the base. The first track includes a first curved portion extending outwardly from a first surface of the plate and a second curved portion extending outwardly from an opposite second surface of the plate. The first track extends through a first opening in the plate between the first and second curved portions. The second track includes a third curved portion extending outwardly from the second surface and a fourth curved portion extending outwardly from the first surface. The second track extends through a second opening in the plate between the third and fourth curved portions.

Various play sets including a track along which unpowered toy vehicles move are known. Some conventional play sets include a track disposed along a single horizontal plane. Other conventional play sets include a track that includes a vertical displacement as well as a horizontal displacement. Such conventional track play sets have long been a source of entertainment for children.
There is a need for a vehicle track play set having different features and a unique track configuration, thereby enhancing a child's enjoyment and play experience. Further, there is a need for a unique and different vehicle track play set suitable for very small children.


A blue phase liquid crystal display module and device, and a method for manufacturing the same are disclosed. The module includes an upper substrate, a lower substrate disposed oppositely, multiple blue phase liquid crystal molecules disposed between the upper substrate and the lower substrate, multiple upper common electrodes disposed in parallel and spaced at intervals on the upper substrate, multiple lower common electrodes disposed in parallel and spaced at intervals on the lower substrate, wherein the lower common electrodes are staggered with the upper common electrodes, and a pixel electrode disposed on the lower substrate, wherein, the pixel electrode is a hollow concave-convex structure, the pixel electrode has alternating projections and depressions such that multiple oblique electric fields are generated among the pixel electrode, the upper common electrodes and the lower common electrodes in order to drive the blue phase liquid crystal molecules.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display technology field, and more particularly to a blue phase liquid crystal display module, a blue phase liquid crystal display device and a manufacturing for the same.
2. Description of Related Art
Comparing with the liquid crystal materials widely used for the liquid crystal display, the blue phase liquid crystal molecule has following four outstanding advantages: (1) The response time of the blue phase liquid crystal molecule is within sub-millisecond, and can reach a high speed driving above 240 Hz without requiring the over drive technology in order to reduce a dynamic blur of a motion picture. When utilizing three primary colors of red, green and blue light emitting diodes (RGB-LED) as a backlight source, a color filter film is not required. Using the blue phase liquid crystal molecule can reach a field-sequential-color-timing display; (2) the blue phase liquid crystal molecule does not require an alignment layer which is required for other kinds of display modes. The manufacturing process is simplified and the cost is reduced; (3) In macroscopic view, the blue phase liquid crystal molecule is optically isotropic such that a blue phase liquid crystal device has features of wide viewing angle and well dark state; (4) When a cell thickness of a blue phase liquid crystal cell is greater than a penetration depth of an electric field, an affection of a change of a cell thickness of a liquid crystal cell with respect to transmittance rate can be ignored. That feature is suitable for manufacturing a large screen or single board liquid crystal display device.
However, in the conventional art, the blue phase liquid crystal encounters a problem of large driving voltage. Currently, improving the performance of a blue phase liquid crystal material or optimizing an electrode structure is usually utilized. However, the method that improving the performance of a blue phase liquid crystal material such as manufacturing a blue phase liquid crystal material with a big Kerr constant relates to a complex process for synthesizing a blue phase liquid crystal material. For example, when preparing a polymer of stable blue phase liquid crystal material, series factors of monomer, photo initiator, and synthesis conditions should be considered. Accordingly, the research and design cost is very expensive. For the method that optimizing an electrode structure, because an In-Plane Switching (IPS) driving method is used, a penetration depth generated by a lateral electric field of parallel electrodes is limited, and a higher driving voltage is required. Therefore, the blue phase liquid crystal display technology using IPS driving method has to be improved continuously.
In the conventional art, the reason that a liquid crystal display panel using a blue phase liquid crystal cannot adopt a vertical field is: after a liquid crystal display panel is applied with a voltage, under a function of a vertical electric field formed by a pixel electrode on an array substrate and a common electrode on an opposite substrate, the blue phase liquid crystal is stretched in a vertical direction. After a polarized light passes through a blue phase liquid crystal which is stretched in the vertical direction, a phase of the polarized light does not change. A polarized state after the polarized light passing through the blue phase liquid crystal is the same as a state that the blue phase liquid crystal display panel does not be applied with a voltage. Besides, because absorption axes of an upper polarizer and a lower polarizer of the liquid crystal display panel are perpendicular with each other, lights emitted from a backlight source cannot pass through the liquid crystal display panel so that a bright state of the liquid crystal display panel cannot be obtained. Accordingly, the above vertical electric field cannot realize a display of every grayscale of the blue phase liquid crystal display panel.

Blue phase liquid crystal display module, blue phase liquid crystal display device and manufacturing method for the same

Wuhan China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd.


A separating device for cutting off individual containers (12) from a frame network made of a plastic material, particularly of polypropylene, has at least one punching device at least partially separating the containers (12) from a waste frame. Because the punching device can be moved by a ball screw drive (46) that can be driven by a drive unit, particularly in the form of an eclectic motor (48), along a punching axis (44) from a starting position to a punching position and back again, the separation can be done at high speed, determined by the screw shaft that can be driven by the electric motor.

The prior art (DE 199 26 329 A1) discloses methods and devices for producing container products from plastic, how they are supplied to a generic separating device which is then used to separate these individual container products from a frame assemblage using a cutting or punching device.
To produce the respective container product, first a tube of plasticized plastic material is extruded into a molding device. One end of the tube is closed by heat sealing and by producing a pneumatic pressure which acts on the tube. The tube is expanded forms the container by being placed against the forming wall of the molding device of two opposite molding tools. Then the plastic container is filled under sterile conditions within the molding device by a corresponding filling mandrel. After removing the filling mandrel, it is then hermetically sealed with the formation of a definable head geometry. For the purpose of forming the actual plastic container, in which fluid is later stored, two container forming jaws are moved by a hydraulic driver toward one another to obtain the closed position and are moved in opposite directions away from one another into one of their open positions. In order to achieve very high ejection rates of container products here, DE 103 23 335 A1 describes a multi-station arrangement, where the various molding steps are divided among different stations located in succession on an imaginary circular arc so as to form a type of carousel arrangement which enables very high cycle frequencies for the plastic material to be ejected in the form of container products.
Since the contents to be placed in the respective container product is often very susceptible to ambient media, especially if it is, for example, a highly sensitive pharmaceutical, the prior art focuses on, for example, covering the fill opening of the container tube by a sterile barrier under a sterile space at least from its formation to filling of the pertinent container. Very good results can be achieved here when, as shown in DE 10 2004 004 755 A1, by the barrier when a sterile medium is moved in the direction of the container fill opening using a media conveyance device in order to further improve the sterility. Another or an additional measure to increase sterility is to simply provide higher processing temperatures, for example, when producing the tube for the container product or during the filling process of the fill material. An increased processing temperature finds its limits when the plastic material which is frequently used, such as polyethylene, is temperature-sensitive, but can otherwise be easily processed in the pertinent production devices and is preferred.
Otherwise, in addition to atmospheric oxygen, other gases can also diffuse later into the interior of the container through the thin polyethylene wall during storage and in distribution of the container product which has been produced under sterile conditions, and in this way, can damage the sensitive container contents or even make them unusable.
In order to eliminate this latter disadvantage, prior art production methods for these container products have suggested (DE 103 47 907 A1 and DE 103 47 908 A1) using co-extrusion production methods in which the container is built up from several layers of plastic material, often at least one of the layers being used as a barrier layer. Five and more layers, for example, formed from polyethylene and low-density polyethylene as well as copolymers (ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymers) can form the multi-layer container wall which in this case then forms an effective barrier layer. These methods are cost-intensive in practical implementation. This makes the respective container product correspondingly more expensive.
If the individual container products arrive filled from the respective production machine, they emerge as ampule blocks in which several ampules or containers located next to one another in the manner of a block assemblage or frame assemblage have a common wall with one another. In order to detach the containers or ampules from the block or frame assemblage, they are cut out or punched out along edge zones. A certain amount of frame waste then is produced which can be recycled with modern techniques. DE-PS 38 31 957 discloses a method for producing hollow container products from plastics which initially emerge as an ampule block or a frame assemblage. In the edge zone of the frame waste, a hollow body is additionally molded in. This hollow body increases the stability of the frame assemblage and also helps facilitate separation of the container product from the frame waste by the separating device used in each case.


A method for saving data locally on a data processing system running a first instance of a browser. A program is received from a server with the first instance of the browser. The data is formatted in a selected format and placed into a class variable responsive to another user input. A second instance is initiated of the browser. The data is retrieved into the second instance of the browser to form retrieved data. The retrieved data is saved locally on the data processing system.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to an improved data processing system, and in particular to a method and apparatus for saving data. Still more particularly, the present invention provides a method and apparatus for saving data locally on a client machine from an unsigned applet.
2. Description of Related Art
The Internet, also referred to as an "internetwork", is a set of computer networks, possibly dissimilar, joined together by means of gateways that handle data transfer and the conversion of messages from the sending network to the protocols used by the receiving network (with packets if necessary). When capitalized, the term "Internet" refers to the collection of networks and gateways that use the TCP/IP suite of protocols.
The Internet has become a cultural fixture as a source of both information and entertainment. Many businesses are creating Internet sites as an integral part of their marketing efforts, informing consumers of the products or services offered by the business or providing other information seeking to engender brand loyalty. Many federal, state, and local government agencies are also employing Internet sites for informational purposes, particularly agencies which must interact with virtually all segments of society such as the Internal Revenue Service and secretaries of state. Providing informational guides and/or searchable databases of online public records may reduce operating costs. Further, the Internet is becoming increasingly popular as a medium for commercial transactions.
Currently, the most commonly employed method of transferring data over the Internet is to employ the World Wide Web environment, also called simply "the Web". Other Internet resources exist for transferring information, such as File Transfer Protocol (FTP) and Gopher, but have not achieved the popularity of the Web. In the Web environment, servers and clients effect data transaction using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), a known protocol for handling the transfer of various data files (e.g., text, still graphic images, audio, motion video, etc.). The information in various data files is formatted for presentation to a user by a standard page description language, the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). In addition to basic presentation formatting, HTML allows developers to specify "links" to other Web resources identified by a Uniform Resource Locator (URL). A URL is a special syntax identifier defining a communications path to specific information. Each logical block of information accessible to a client, called a "page" or a "Web page", is identified by a URL. The URL provides a universal, consistent method for finding and accessing this information, not necessarily for the user, but mostly for the user's Web "browser". A browser is a program capable of submitting a request for information identified by an identifier, such as, for example, a URL. A user may enter a domain name through a graphical user interface (GUI) for the browser to access a source of content. The domain name is automatically converted to the Internet Protocol (IP) address by a domain name server (DNS), which is a service that translates the symbolic name entered by the user into an IP address by looking up the domain name in a database.
The Internet also is widely used to transfer applications to users using browsers. With respect to commerce on the Web, individual consumers and business use the Web to purchase various goods and services. In offering goods and services, some companies offer goods and services solely on the Web while others use the Web to extend their reach.
Users exploring the Web have discovered that the content supported by HTML document format on the Web was too limited. Users desire an ability to access applications and programs, but applications were targeted towards specific types of platforms. As a result, not everyone could access applications or programs. This deficiency has been minimized though the introduction and use of programs known as "applets", which may be embedded as objects in HTML documents on the Web. Applets are Java programs that may be transparently downloaded into a browser supporting Java along with HTML pages in which they appear. These Java programs are network and platform independent. Applets run the same way regardless of where they originate or what data processing system onto which they are loaded.
Java is an object oriented programming language and environment focusing on defining data as objects and the methods that may be applied to those objects. Java also allows for the creation of totally abstract classes known as interfaces, which allow the defining of methods that may be shared with several classes without regard for how other classes are handling the methods. Java provides a mechanism to distribute software and extends the capabilities of a Web browser because programmers can write an applet once and the applet can be run on any Java enabled machine on the Web.
The Java run-time environment is specifically designed to limit the harm that a Java application can cause to the system that it is running on. This is especially important with the World Wide Web, where Java applets are downloaded and executed automatically when a user visits a Web page that contains Java applets. Normally, one would not want to execute random programs; they might contain viruses, or they might even be potentially malicious themselves and not merely carrying unwelcome code unintentionally. An unsigned Java applet cannot write, print, copy to clipboard, and in general cannot access the local resources of the client system. The Security Manager class implementation in all Java (JVM) enabled browsers imposes this restriction. An end-user cannot do anything to get around this restriction. The author of the Java applet may choose to attach a digital certificate from a third trusted party (e.g., VeriSign) to the applet class/jar/cab files and thus create a signed applet on the server. Then, a end-user may choose to accept the signed applet, which can then access local resources such as printers, hard-disks, clipboards, etc. An unsigned applet also cannot read or write to memory locations (except to a specific, restricted area). These applets are also referred to as unsigned or untrusted applets.
These security measures, however, prevent the use of data or the saving of the data received by the applet from a server locally within the computer on which the applet is executed. For example, an applet may represent data in the form of a chart, graph, or table. The data presented by the applet is received from a server. This data, however, cannot be used by a local client program or saved on the computer because of the security mechanisms for handling unsigned or untrusted Java applets.
As a result, an unsigned or unauthorized Java applet essentially runs in a "sandbox" environment and is unable to access many resources on a client machine. Such a situation is undesirable at times when a user wishes to save or process data locally because the unsigned applet is unable to access these resources because of the restrictions imposed by the browser.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have an improved method and apparatus for saving data locally from an unauthorized or unsigned program, such as an applet.

Saving data from an applet locally on a data processing system

International Business Machines Corporation


Accordingly, there are disclosed herein geologic modeling methods and systems employing reference-based inversion of seismic image volumes. An illustrative method embodiment includes: (a) obtaining a measured seismic image volume; (b) determining a reference seismic image volume based on a reference model; (c) deriving a synthesized seismic image volume from a geologic model; (d) detecting at least one geologic model region where the synthesized seismic image volume and the measured seismic image volume are mismatched; (e) finding a reference model region where the reference seismic image volume best matches the measured seismic image volume; (f) replacing content of the at least one geologic model region with content of the reference model region to obtain an improved geologic model; and (g) outputting the improved geologic model.

A geologic model is a computer-based three-dimensional ("3D") representation of a region beneath the earth's surface. Such models can be used to model a petroleum reservoir, a depositional basin, or other regions which may have valuable mineral resources. Once the model is constructed, it can be used for various purposes, many of which are intended to facilitate efficient and economical recovery of the valuable resources. For example, the geologic model may be used in various hydrocarbon exploration, development, and production operations. For example, the geologic model may be used as an input to petroleum reservoir simulations, which are used to plan well placements and predict hydrocarbon production from a petroleum reservoir over time.
Geologic models must often be derived from seismic survey measurements, aided by reference to well logs. However, the relationships between field recorded seismic data and the underlying subsurface architecture are complex and ambiguous. These complexities create difficulties when one seeks to create an accurate geologic model using realistic geometries, features, and architecture. Modelers typically employ an adaptive fitting approach when trying to generate a representative geologic model, yet the adaptive fitting solutions often converge to a local (suboptimal) error minimum that fails to address the relationship complexities in a geologically meaningful way. The modelers may attempt to quantify solution uncertainty by repeating the adaptation fitting process in multiple ways from multiple starting points and analyzing the range of solutions, yet the presence of unrealistic solutions may hinder the analysis. Therefore, alternatives to the adaptive fitting approach are sought to improve the consistency of models with known principles of geologic processes.

Methods and systems for reference-based inversion of seismic image volumes


A transducer is described especially for use in providing acoustic transmission in a borehole. The transducer includes a multiple number of magnetic circuit gaps and electrical windings that have been found to provide the power necessary for acoustic operation in borehole while still meeting the stringent dimensional criteria necessitated by boreholes. Various embodiments conforming to the design are described. Moreover, the invention includes transition and reflector sections, as well as a directional coupler and resonator arrangement particularly adapted for borehole acoustic communication.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to:
(a) a transducer which may be utilized to transmit and receive data in a wellbore; PA1 (b) a communication system for improving the communication of data in a wellbore; PA1 (c) one application of the transducer in a measurement-while-drilling system; and PA1 (4) one application of the transducer and communication system to detect gas influx in a wellbore.
2. Background of the Invention
One of the more difficult problems associated with any borehole is to communicate intelligence between one or more locations down a borehole and the surface, or between downhole locations themselves. For example, communication is desired by the oil industry to retrieve, at the surface, data generated downhole during drilling operations, including during quiescent periods interspersing actual drilling procedures or while tripping; during completion operations such as perforating, fracturing, and drill stem or well testing; and during production operations such as reservoir evaluation testing, pressure and temperature monitoring. Communication is also desired in such industry to transmit intelligence from the surface to downhole tools or instruments to effect, control or modify operations or parameters.
Accurate and reliable downhole communication is particularly important when data (intelligence) is to be communicated. This intelligence often is in the form of an encoded digital signal.
One approach has been widely considered for borehole communication is to use a direct wire connection between the surface and the downhole location(s). Communication then can be via electrical signal through the wire. While much effort has been expended toward "wireline" communication, this approach has not been adopted commercially because it has been found to be quite costly and unreliable. For example, one difficulty with this approach is that since the wire is often laid via numerous lengths of a drill stem or production tubing, it is not unusual for there to be a break or a poor wire connection which arises at the time the wire assembly is first installed. While it has been proposed (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,215,426) to avoid the problems associated with direct electrical coupling of drill stems by providing inductive coupling for the communication link at such location, inductive coupling has as a problem, among others, major signal loss at every coupling. It also relies on installation of special and complex drillstring arrangements.
Another borehole communication technique that has been explored is the transmission of acoustic waves. Such physical waves need a transmission medium that will propagate the same. It will be recognized that matters such as variations in earth strata, density make-up, etc., render the earth completely inappropriate for an acoustic communication transmission medium. Because of these known problems, those in the art generally have confined themselves to exploring acoustic communication through borehole related media.
Much effort has been expended toward developing an appropriate acoustic communication system in which the borehole drill stem or production tubing itself acts as the transmission medium. A major problem associated with such arrangements is caused by the fact that the configurations of drill stems or production tubing generally vary significantly lengthwise. These variations typically are different in each hole. Moreover, a configuration in a particular borehole may vary over time because, for example, of the addition of tubing and tools to the string. The result is that there is no general usage system relying on drill stem or production tubing transmission that has gained meaningful market acceptance.
Efforts have also been made to utilize liquid within a borehole as the acoustic transmission medium. At first blush, one would think that use of a liquid as the transmission medium in a borehole would be relatively simple approach, in view of the wide usage and significant developments that have been made for communication and sonar systems relying on acoustic transmission within the ocean.
Acoustic transmission via a liquid within a borehole is considerably different than acoustic transmission within an open ocean because of the problems associated with the boundaries between the liquid and its confining structures in a borehole. Criteria relating to these problems are of paramount importance. However, because of the attractiveness of the concept of acoustic transmission in a liquid independent of movement thereof, a system was proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,964,556 utilizing pressure changes in a non-moving liquid to communicate. Such system has not been found practical, however, since it is not a self-contained system and some movement of the liquid has been found necessary to transmit pressure changes.
In light of the above, meaningful communication of intelligence via borehole liquids has been limited to systems which rely on flow of the liquid to carry on acoustic modulation from a transmission point to a receiver. This approach is generally referred to in the art as MWD (measure while drilling). Developments relating to it have been limited to communication during the drilling phase in the life of a borehole, principally since it is only during drilling that one can be assured of fluid which can be modulated flowing between the drilling location and the surface. Most MWD systems are also constrained because of the drilling operation itself. For example, it is not unusual that the drilling operation must be stopped during communication to avoid the noise associated with such drilling. Moreover, communication during tripping is impossible.
In spite of the problems with MWD communication, much research has been done on the same in view of the desirability of good borehole communication. The result has been an extensive number of patents relating to MWD, many of which are directed to proposed solutions to the various problems that have been encountered. U.S. Pat. No. 4,215,426 describes an arrangement in which power (rather than communication) is transmitted downhole through fluid modulation akin to MWD communication, a portion of which power is drained off at various locations downhole to power repeaters in a wireline communication transmission system.
The development of communication using acoustic waves propagating through non-flowing fluids in a borehole has been impeded by lack of a suitable transducer. To be practical for a borehole application, such a transducer has to fit in a pressure barrel with an outer diameter of no more than 1.25 inches, operate at temperatures up to 150.degree. C. and pressures up to 1000 bar, and survive the working environment of handling and running in a well. Such a transducer would also have to take into consideration the significant differences between communication in a non-constrained fluid environment, such as the ocean, and a confined fluid arrangement, such as in a borehole.
The development of reliable communication using acoustic waves propagating through non-flowing fluids in a borehole has been impeded by the fact that the borehole environment is extremely noisy. Moreover, to be practical, an acoustic communication system using non-flowing liquid is required to be highly adaptive to variations in the borehole channel and must provide robust and reliable throughput of data in spite of such variations.

Method and apparatus for communicating data in a wellbore and for detecting the influx of gas


According to one aspect, embodiments of the invention provide a distortion detection circuit comprising an input configured to be coupled to an output stage of an amplifier and to receive an RF signal from the output stage of the amplifier, an output configured to be coupled to a module of the amplifier, at least one peak detection circuit coupled to the input and configured to monitor the RF signal and output a first signal based on positive voltage peaks of the RF signal, and a differential amplifier having an input coupled to the at least one peak detection circuit and configured to monitor the first signal and provide a second signal to the output in response to a voltage of the first signal exceeding a threshold level indicative of distortion in the RF signal.

In conventional RF front-end systems, it is generally desired to match the output impedance of an amplifier module with the load impedance of a corresponding antenna such that reflections from the antenna are reduced or eliminated and/or to achieve certain characteristics, such as linearity. Reflections from the antenna to the amplifier module, and resulting standing waves, can impact the behavior of power amplifiers in the amplifier module and reduce efficiency of the power amplifiers. In extreme cases, such reflections can cause damage to the power amplifiers.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a typical arrangement of a Radio-Frequency (RF) "front-end" sub-system or module (FEM) 100 as may be used in a communications device, such as a mobile phone, for example, to transmit RF signals. The FEM 100 shown in FIG. 1 includes a transmit path (TX) configured to provide signals to an antenna for transmission; however, the FEM 100 may also include a receive path (RX) configured to process signals received by the antenna. In the transmit path (TX), a power amplifier module 110 provides gain to an RF signal 105 input to the FEM 100 via an input port 101, producing an amplified RF signal. The power amplifier module 110 can include one or more Power Amplifiers (PA). The FEM 100 can further include a filtering sub-subsystem or module 120, which can include one or more filters. A directional coupler 130 can also be used to extract a portion of the power from the RF signal traveling between the power amplifier module 110 and an antenna 140 connected to the FEM 100. The antenna 140 can transmit the RF signal and can also receive RF signals. A switching circuit 150, also referred to as an Antenna Switch Module (ASM), can be used to switch between a transmitting mode and receiving mode of the FEM 100, for example, or between different transmit or receive frequency bands. The switching circuit 150 can be operated under the control of a controller 160. The controller 160 can also communicate with the power amplifier module 110. The FEM 100 may also include one or more Low-Noise Amplifiers (LNA).


A method of building an offline address book (OAB). An OAB data file and a table of attributes are generated at a server. The data file and table are transferred from the server to a client. The transferred data file and table are indexed by the client.

In previous versions of an offline address book (OAB) (such as the address book feature of Exchange Server and Outlook), the index files were generated on the server at the same time the data files were generated. Index files presented sorted views of the offline address book and were tied to one version of the full OAB data file (e.g., the particular version of the data files being indexed.
One problem was that different languages sort words and text differently than others. In order to support multiple client languages, a server generated a different set of index files for each client sort locale. For example, the Exchange Server architecture only supported generating one client locale on any one server for an OAB so multiple servers would be deployed to generate multiple client sort locales. The administrator would then need to ensure that the proper code-pages and language packs were installed on the server for each client language. There is a need to find a way to index the OAB so that the administrator no longer needs to deploy multiple servers nor do the language packs for each language need to be installed.
Another problem resulted from differential updates such as the differential update mechanism introduced in Exchange Server 5.5. Differential updates allow the client copies of the OAB and index files to be incrementally updated from the previous version. Updating the index files is a difficult problem to do efficiently and optimally, so the final design resulted in data structures that would become unbalanced and inefficient after a large number of updates. There is a need for indexing the data files after each OAB update so that the resulting index files will always be efficient and well balanced.
Also, server based designs of the OAB tend to limit future growth of the OAB. Small changes have been applied many times to work around these limits, but it still has some problems.
There is a need for a new OAB format that will overcome many if not all of the current limitations of the OAB design.
Accordingly, a system and method for maintaining and indexing address books is desired to overcome one or more of these and other disadvantages.

Client side indexing of offline address book files


A vane assembly for a gas turbine engine includes an annular shroud having openings therein and a plurality of vanes extending radially from the shroud and each having an extremity received within one of the openings. A grommet is positioned within each opening for shielding the vane extremity from the annular shroud. The grommet includes an annular protrusion for providing sealing between the opening and the vane extremity, and an annular restraint element adjacent the protrusion for retaining the vane in place relative to the shroud.

Gas turbine engine vane assemblies are usually provided downstream of the engine fan and/or of a low pressure compressor to reduce the swirl in the air flow entering the high speed compressor. Such guide vane assemblies must be resistant to foreign object damage while having a minimal weight.
It is known to provide a vane shroud with slots receiving an extremity of the vane in order to retain the vane in place therewithin. In such a configuration, a grommet is inserted in the slots such as to surround the vane thereby isolating the vane from the shroud. However, a foreign object damage event can damage the grommet and damage to other surrounding components. The use of alternatives to maintain vane components in place, such as adhesives, complicates the installation and replacement of vanes. In some engines, an annular attachment strap may also be used to provide a radial load on the stator vanes and grommets. Friction around a circumference of the strap may however lead to uneven or Improper loading thereof, which can result in undesirable leakage.
Accordingly, there is a need to provide an improved vane assembly.


A gaming system comprises a wager input device and a display for displaying a wallpaper, a plurality of symbols, and a plurality of symbol backgrounds. The symbols overly the symbol backgrounds, and the symbol backgrounds overly the wallpaper. The plurality of symbols represent a randomly selected outcome of a wagering game. The system further comprises a controller operative to increase a translucence of at least one of the symbol backgrounds to increase visibility of the wallpaper in response to a triggering event.

Gaming machines, such as slot machines, video poker machines and the like, have been a cornerstone of the gaming industry for several years. Generally, the popularity of such machines with players is dependent on the likelihood (or perceived likelihood) of winning money at the machine and the intrinsic entertainment value of the machine relative to other available gaming options. Where the available gaming options include a number of competing machines and the expectation of winning at each machine is roughly the same (or believed to be the same), players are likely to be attracted to the most entertaining and exciting machines. Shrewd operators consequently strive to employ the most entertaining and exciting machines, features, and enhancements available because such machines attract frequent play and hence increase profitability to the operator. Therefore, there is a continuing need for gaming machine manufacturers to continuously develop new games and improved gaming enhancements that will attract frequent play through enhanced entertainment value to the player.
One concept that has been successfully employed to enhance the entertainment value of a game is the concept of a "secondary" or "bonus" game that may be played in conjunction with a "basic" game. The bonus game may comprise any type of game, either similar to or completely different from the basic game, which is entered upon the occurrence of a selected event or outcome in the basic game. Generally, bonus games provide a greater expectation of winning than the basic game and may also be accompanied with more attractive or unusual video displays and/or audio. Bonus games may additionally award players with "progressive jackpot" awards that are funded, at least in part, by a percentage of coin-in from the gaming machine or a plurality of participating gaming machines. Because the bonus game concept offers tremendous advantages in player appeal and excitement relative to other known games, and because such games are attractive to both players and operators, there is a continuing need to develop gaming systems with new types of bonus games to satisfy the demands of players and operators.
Traditionally, gaming machines utilize symbols with fixed backgrounds of various colors and graphics. Moreover, some gaming machines utilize background scenes or wallpapers. One problem that arises is that the symbol backgrounds and background scenes are static such that the one overlies the other blocking portions of the backgrounds from view. Another problem that exists is that the backgrounds of symbols in winning combinations are often indistinguishable from backgrounds of symbols not included in such winning combinations, thereby making it difficult for a player to perceive the winning combination displayed. Yet another problem created is that symbols with fixed backgrounds are often of relatively smaller size so as to permit viewing of the background scene on the gaming machine. However, this detracts from the aesthetics of the symbols themselves. The present invention is directed to solving these and other problems.

Gaming system having dynamically translucent symbol backgrounds


An exhaust apparatus is provided with an exhaust gas pipe for discharging to the atmosphere an exhaust gas discharged from an internal combustion engine. The exhaust gas pipe has an upstream open end connected to the sound deadening device positioned at the upstream side of an exhaust gas discharging direction, and a downstream open end through which the exhaust gas is discharged to the atmosphere. At least one of the exhaust gas upstream side and the exhaust gas downstream side of the exhaust gas pipe has a diameter expansion structure expanded in diameter toward one of the upstream open end and the downstream open end. The exhaust apparatus comprises a plate provided in the diameter expansion structure to be held in opposing relationship with the discharge direction of the exhaust gas and having an open portion formed to pass through the plate in the discharge direction of the exhaust gas.

As an exhaust apparatus for an internal combustion engine to be used by an automotive vehicle, there has so far been known an exhaust apparatus as shown in FIG. 32 (for example see Patent Document 1). In FIG. 32, the known exhaust apparatus 4 is adapted to allow an exhaust gas to be introduced therein after the exhaust gas exhausted from an engine 1 serving as an internal combustion engine passes through an exhaust manifold 2 and is then purified by a catalytic converter 3.
The exhaust apparatus 4 is constituted by a front pipe 5 connected to the catalytic converter 3, a center pipe 6 connected to the front pipe 5, a main muffler 7 connected to the center pipe 6 and serving as a sound deadening device, a tail pipe 8 connected to the main muffler 7, and a sub-muffler 9 connected to the tail pipe 8.
As shown in FIG. 33, the main muffler 7 has an expansion chamber 7a for expanding and introducing therein the exhaust gas through small holes 6a formed in the center pipe 6, and a resonance chamber 7b held in communication with a downstream open end 6b of the center pipe 6, so that the exhaust gas introduced into the resonance chamber 7b from the downstream open end 6b of the center pipe 6 can cause an exhaust gas sound to be muted with a specified frequency by Helmholtz resonator effect.
Here, if the pipe length of the projection portion of the center pipe 6 projecting into the resonance chamber 7b is represented by L1 (m), the cross-sectional area of the center pipe 6 is represented by S (m2), the volume of the resonance chamber 7b is represented by V (m3), and the speed of sound in air is represented by c (m/s), the resonance frequency fn (Hz) in the air can be obtained by a following equation (1) in regard to the Helmholtz resonator effect.
                              f          n                =                              c                          2                            π                                                                    S                                                L                  1                                ·                V                                                                        (        1        )
As apparent from the equation (1), the resonance frequency can be tuned to a low frequency side by making large the volume V of the resonance chamber 7b or otherwise by making long the pipe length L1 of the projection portion of the center pipe 6, while can be tuned to a high frequency side by making small the volume V of the resonance chamber 7b or otherwise by making short the pipe length L1 of the projection portion of the center pipe 6.
The sub-muffler 9 is adapted to suppress the sound pressure from being increased with the column air resonance generated in the tail pipe 8 in response to the pipe length of the tail pipe 8 by the pulsation of the exhaust gas during the operation of the engine 1.
In general, the tail pipe 8 having an upstream open end 8a and a downstream open end 8b at the respective upstream and downstream sides in the exhaustion direction of the exhaust gas is constructed to allow incident waves to be reflected at the upstream open end 8a and the downstream open end 8b. The incident waves are caused by the pulsation of the exhaust gas during the operation of the engine 1 to be incident upon the upstream open end 8a and the downstream open end 8b, thereby generating an air column resonance with a wavelength. The air column resonance has a basic component of a frequency with a half wavelength equal to the pipe length of the tail pipe 8, and has a wavelength which is natural number times the half wavelength.
More specifically, the wavelength λ1 of the air column resonance of a basic vibration (primary component) is roughly double the pipe length L of the tail pipe 8, while the wavelength λ2 of the air column resonance of the secondary component is roughly one time the pipe length L of the tail pipe 8. The wavelength λ3 of the air column resonance of the third component is ⅔ times the pipe length L of the tail pipe 8. Therefore, the tail pipe 8 has therein a standing wave which is formed to have respective nodes of sound pressures at the upstream open end 8a and the downstream open end 8b.
The column air resonance frequency "fa" can be represented by a following equation (2).
                    fa        =                              c                          2                            L                                          n                                    (        2        )
Here, "c" represents the speed of sound (m/s), "L" represents the pipe length of the tail pipe (m/s), and "n" represents a degree. As apparent from the equation (2), the speed of sound "c" has a constant value responsive to an ambient temperature.
It is therefore understood that the longer the pipe length L of the tail pipe 8 becomes, nearer the air column frequency "fa" moves to the low frequency side, thereby making it easy to give rise to a noise problem caused by the air column resonance of the exhaust gas sound in the low frequency area.
For example, if the speed of sound "c" is assumed to be 400 m/s, the primary component "f1" and the secondary component "f2" of the exhaust gas sound caused by the air column resonance respectively become 1661 Hz and 333.3 Hz in the case of the pipe length "L" of the tail pipe 8 being 1.2 m. On the other hand, the primary component "f1" and the secondary component "f2" of the exhaust gas sound caused by the air column resonance respectively become 66.7 Hz and 133.3 Hz in the case of the pipe length "L" of the tail pipe 8 being 3.0 m. It is therefore understood that the longer the pipe length L of the tail pipe 8 becomes, nearer the air column frequency "fa" moves to the low frequency side.
The frequency "fe(Hz)" of the exhaust gas pulsation of the engine 1 is given by a following equation (3).
                    fe        =                              Ne            60                    ×                      N            2                                              (        3        )
Here, "Ne" is an engine rotation number (rpm), and "N" is a number of cylinders of the engine (natural number). The sound pressure level (dB) of the exhaust gas sound becomes remarkably high for the primary component "f1" of the exhaust gas sound at the time of the air column resonance generated in response to a specified engine rotation number "Ne". Further, the sound pressure level (dB) of the exhaust gas sound also becomes remarkably high for the secondary component "f2" of the exhaust gas sound.
For example, if the speed of sound "c" is assumed to be 400 m/s, the 4-cylider engine is represented by N=4, so that there is caused an air column resonance having a primary component "f1" of the frequency 66.7 Hz when the engine rotation number "Ne" becomes 2,000 rpm, while another air column resonance having a secondary component "f2" of the frequency 133.3 Hz is caused when the engine rotation number "Ne" becomes 4,000 rpm in the case of the pipe length "L" of the tail pipe 8 being 3.0 m.
Especially in the case that the air column resonance is generated in the low frequency area below 100 Hz of the frequency of the exhaust gas pulsation of the engine 1, there is caused a problem in noise. For example when the air column resonance is generated in the tail pipe 8 at a low engine rotation number of 2,000 rpm, the exhaust gas sound is transmitted to the passenger room of the vehicle, thereby leading to generating a muffled sound and thus to giving an unpleasant feeling to a driver.
For this purpose, there is provided a sub-muffler 9 smaller in volume than the main muffler 7 at the optimum position of the tail pipe 8 in view of an abdominal portion having a high sound pressure of a standing wave generated by the air column resonance, thereby preventing the air column resonance from being generated.
Therefore, for example when the speed of sound "c" is 400 m/s, and the pipe length "L" of the tail pipe 8 is 3.0 m with no sub-muffler 9, there is caused an air column resonance below 100 Hz of the frequency of the exhaust gas pulsation of the engine 1 (below 3,000 rpm of the engine rotation number "Ne") as previously mentioned. In contrast, when the sub-muffler 9 is supported on the tail pipe 8, and the pipe length "L" of the tail pipe 8 extending rearwardly of the sub-muffler 9 is 1.5 m, the primary component "f1" of the exhaust gas sound caused by the air column resonance is 133.3 Hz, and the engine rotation number "Ne" is 4,000 rpm, thereby leading to causing the air column frequency "fa" to move to the high frequency side.
For this reason, the sub-muffler 9 supported on the tail pipe 8 can suppress the muffled sound in the passenger room at the engine low rotation number, viz., 2,000 rpm of the engine rotation number of the engine 1, thereby preventing an unpleasant feeling from being given to the driver.
On the other hand, it is considered to reduce the production cost and the weight of the exhaust apparatus 4 by eliminating the previously mentioned sub-muffler 9. As one of the measures, it is considered to tune the resonance frequency of the main muffler 7 connected to the upstream open end 8a of the tail pipe 8 with the frequency of the air column resonance to mute the exhaust gas sound of the air column resonance of the tail pipe 8 in the resonance chamber of the main muffler 7.
More specifically, it may be considered that in accordance with the equation (1), the volume "V" of the resonance chamber 7b is increased, and the length "L1" of the projection portion of the center pipe 6 is lengthened to conduct the tuning of the resonance frequency of the resonance chamber 7b toward the low frequency side, thereby preliminarily muting in the resonance chamber 7b the air column resonance to be generated in the tail pipe 8.

Exhaust apparatus for an internal combustion engine