A lint filter in a laundry treatment machine includes a lower filter for filtering out debris of washing water and an upper filter for collecting debris as well as filtering out foreign substances of washing water flowed in from the lower filter. Since debris is collected in the upper filter, recontamination by debris can be prevented and cleaning of a lint filter can be simplified. The upper filter and the lower filter are connected by a connection path and as washing water and debris in the lower filter move to the upper filter at the time rising water flows of washing water are generated, debris can be collected inside the upper filter, and debris can be collected by using rising flows of washing water. A filter cover is combined with a filter frame and a filter body as a tightly coupled single body, and the filter cover is detached only from the filter frame while tightly coupled with the filter body, so that attaching and detaching is made simple and cleaning thereof can be simplified.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a laundry treatment machine and the method of the same. More specifically, the present invention is related to a laundry treatment machine and the method of the same which includes a lint filter capable of filtering out debris of washing water effectively and is easy to clean.
2. Description of the Conventional Art
In general, various devices such as a washing machine for removing contamination of clothes, bedclothes, and the like (referred to as 'fabric' afterwards) by using water, a detergent, and a mechanical operation; a drying machine for drying wet fabric by using dry, hot wind heated by a heater and a mechanical operation; a washing machine with drying capable of both washing and drying; and a refresher for preventing allergy due to fabric by spraying heated steam on the laundry which process fabric by applying a physical and a chemical operation to the fabric are collectively known as a laundry treatment machine.
The laundry treatment machine can be classified into a top-loading type laundry treatment machine where a fabric entrance hole through which fabric is put in and taken out is formed on the top surface of a cabinet and washing is carried out by rotating water flows generated from rotation of a washing tub; and a drum type laundry treatment machine where a fabric entrance hole is formed in the front of a cabinet and washing is carried out by drop of the laundry during rotation of a drum.
A conventional top loading type laundry treatment machine comprises a cabinet which forms an external appearance and whose top surface has an opening; a base installed in the bottom of the cabinet; an outer tub which is installed inside the cabinet and stores water; a washing tub which is installed inside the outer tub and performs washing of fabric; a driving apparatus including a motor which is disposed in the bottom of the washing tub and rotates the washing tub; a water supply apparatus supplying water into the outer tub; and a draining apparatus for draining water inside the outer tub. Also, a lint filter for filtering out debris is installed in the washing tub.
In the bottom surface of a conventional lint filter, an inlet is formed through which washing water flows in and an outlet is formed in the upper side through which washing water flows out, debris of which has been filtered out while passing through the lint filter.
In a conventional laundry treatment machine as described above, during a washing course, water flows generated by the pulsator flow in through the bottom of the lint filter and go up and then are discharged to the washing tub after passing through the lint filter.
Since only the water flows rising along the wall of the washing tub are flowed in through the bottom of the lint filter in a conventional laundry treatment machine, capacity for washing water flowing into the lint filter is limited and thus, filtering efficiency is low. In addition, attaching and detaching of the lint filter is complicated, causing a cleaning problem.

Laundry treatment machine and the method of the same


Provided are a porous sintered compact suitable for a filter, a power feeder in a polymer electrolyte membrane type water electrolyzer, a current collector in a solid polymer fuel cell and in addition a liquid dispersion plate, especially an ink dispersion plate for an ink jet printer ink and the like. A titanium powder sintered compact made of a plate-like porous compact is obtained by sintering spherical powder made of titanium or a titanium alloy produced by means of a gas atomization method. A void ratio in the range of from 35 to 55% is realized by filling without applying a pressure and sintering without applying a pressure.

A metal powder sintered compact has been adopted as one of filters employed in the chemical industry, the polymer industry, the chemicals industry and others. As metals herein, there have been used generally brass, stainless steel and, recently, titanium.
Titanium is greatly excellent in corrosion resistance, acid proofness and the like as compared with stainless steel, but on the other hand, extremely poor in moldability. Hence, generally, a titanium sintered filter has been fabricated according to a method in which hydrogenation/dehydrogenation titanium powder accepted as having a comparatively good moldability is molded with a die press, followed by sintering, and furthermore, a method disclosed in JP A 1995(H7)-238302 uses titanium sponge powder comparatively good in moldability similarly to hydrogenation/dehydrogenation powder.
Such titanium sintered filters have started finding applications thereof to, for example, highly corrosion resistant filters for a carrier gas inlet section of a gas chromatography apparatus, production of food such as a liquid condiment, and a liquid pigment.
Filters well used in various application fields have been faced a demand for maximum pore diameters adapted for respective purposes of usage. The term, "a maximum pore diameter" is used as an index expressing the size of a particle removable by a filter, wherein with the same value of a maximum pore diameter, it may be considered that filters having respective pore shapes different from each other can remove particles having at least the same diameter. A filter with the smaller pressure drop is more requested among filters with the same maximum pore diameter. For example, as the carrier gas inlet section filter for a gas chromatography apparatus, a filter has been desired that is not only excellent in corrosion resistance but also especially has a maximum pore diameter of 70 μm or less and a smaller pressure drop.
In a titanium sintered filter using hydrogenation/dehydrogenation powder or titanium sponge powder, however, there exists a constraint to disable a pressure drop to be reduced to a small value in a case where a maximum pore diameter is adjusted to 70 μm or less.
A titanium sintered filter using hydrogenation/dehydrogenation powder or titanium sponge powder has another problem that the filter is very hard and fragile without flexibility; therefore it is easy to be broken if being thin and difficult to fabricate the filter large in area. In addition, since bending is difficult at room, temperature, a product cannot be fabricated by bending, causing a problem of a high fabrication cost except for a plate-like shape.
For example, a case arises where there is requested a titanium sintered filter of the shape of a cylinder, of the order of 40 mm in diameter (with a radius of curvature of 20 mm), whereas since it is impossible to bend a titanium sintered compact in the form of a flat plate into the form of a cylinder at room temperature, a necessity arises for working by cold isostatic pressing called CIP for short as described in JP. No. 2791737, thereby increasing in fabrication cost cannot be avoided.
Even with hydrogenation/dehydrogenation titanium powder and titanium sponge powder, moldability is inferior to that of stainless steel. Hence, it is difficult to mold the titanium powders into shapes except for a thin flat plate. Therefore, it is also difficult to directly mold a filter in the shape of a cylinder without resorting to bending process.
That is, in a case where a sintered compact in the shape of a cylinder is fabricated by press molding using hydrogenation/dehydrogenation titanium powder or titanium sponge powder, a press force in a direction of height does not effectively act, which results in difficulty in molding a middle portion in the direction of height; therefore a cylinder with a large height cannot be produced though a low-profile ring can be produced. While a cylinder with a large height can be fabricated by cold isostatic pressing called CIP instead of a press, a high cost is encountered, making CIP improper as a fabrication method for a sintered filter. Therefore, while it is imagined to stack rings along the central axis direction to weld the rings, needless to say that thus fabricated sintered filter is much higher in cost as compared with a sintered filter fabricated by press molding stainless steel powder.
Incidentally, a method is described in JP No. 2791737 in which stainless steel powder is subjected to cold isostatic pressing too fabricate a sintered filter in the shape of a cylinder.
As a different problem of a titanium sintered filter using hydrogenation/dehydrogenation titanium powder or titanium sponge powder, low reverse-washing property arises. That is, sizes and shapes of cavities are randomly distributed in titanium sintered filters made of each powder. While a filter of this kind is used over a long term repeating reverse-washing, if sizes and shapes of cavities are random, solid matter trapped therein are not sufficiently removed even with reverse-washing. Hence, the problem of low reverse-washing reproducibility has remained.
It is described in JP No. 2791737 that, as for a stainless steel filter, a diameter of a cavity is increased in a direction from the front surface to the rear surface of a stainless steel sintered filter in order to enhance reverse-washing reproducibility of a metal powder sintered filter. To be concrete, a slurry obtained by dispersing fine powder into a binder resin solution is applied on the surface of a porous compact obtained by presintering and thereafter, sintering of the porous compact is conducted, thereby forming a skin layer with fine pores on the surface of the porous compact.
In such a multilayer structure, since almost all solid matter in a treated liquid is trapped in the skin layer with fine pores formed therein and no foreign matter is trapped in cavities inside the base layer, the solid matter trapped and accumulated in the skin layer is easy to be removed by reverse-washing. On the other hand, the following problem arises however.
Stainless steel is inferior to titanium in corrosion resistance. Furthermore, stainless steel powder used here is composed of irregularly shaped particles produced by a water atomization technique; therefore, sizes and shapes of cavities in a sintered compact are random in not only the base layer but also the skin layer. Besides, since the skin layer does not receive the action of press molding though the base layer receives the action of press molding, sizes and shapes of fine pores in the skin layer are more random than in the base layer. For this reason, solid matter remains in the skin layer after reverse-washing, thereby disabling reverse-washing reproducibility as high as expectation. In addition, since a void ratio of the skin layer receiving no press molding is largely different from that of the base layer receiving press molding, there also arises a risk that permeability of a treated liquid is lowered.
A sintering compact is also used as a power feeder in a water electrolytic cell producing hydrogen and oxygen using a polymer electrolytic film. Concrete description will be given of the water electrolytic cell; a construction is generally employed in which a unit is formed by placing power feeders on both surfaces of a film electrode laminates formed by laminating catalyst layers onto both surfaces of the polymer electrolyte film, multiple of units are stacked and electrodes are provided on both sides thereof.
The power feeders herein are made each of a porous conductive plate and placed in close contact with an adjacent film electrode laminates. Why a porous conductive plate is used as a power feeder is that a current is required to flow through, that water is required to be supplied for a water electrolytic reaction and that gas generated in the water electrolytic reaction is quickly expelled out.
A structure of a fuel cell using a polymer electrolytic film is also the same as that of the water electrolyzer and porous conductive plates are placed on both surfaces of a film electrode laminates. In the case of a fuel cell, since an electric power is obtained with hydrogen as fuel, the porous conductive plates are called current collectors.
As to a porous conductive plate such as a power feeder in such a polymer electrolyte membrane type water electrolyzer or a current collector in such a solid polymer fuel cell, titanium have been studied because of a necessity for characteristics enabling a material to be used in an oxidizing atmosphere, and among titanium with actual natures and conditions, especially a sintered compact has drawn attention since a surface is smooth, it is difficult to damage an adjacent film electrode laminates and a proper void ratio can be attained with ease.
As porous conductive plates made of a titanium sintered compact, there are exemplified: a titanium powder sintered plate obtained by sintering powder obtained by crushing titanium sponge or powder produced by pulverizing titanium sponge by hydrogenation and dehydrogenation thereof; a titanium fiber sintered plate obtained by compression molding titanium fibers to sinter the preform; and a titanium fiber sintered plate on a surface of which a plasma sprayed layer of metallic titanium is formed, the last of which is disclosed in JP A 1999(H11)-302891.
A porous conductive plate made of a prior art titanium sintered compact described above, however, has the following problems.
Though a titanium powder sintered compact has an advantage that it is smooth on surfaces thereof and gives no damage on an adjacent film electrode laminates, the sintered compact has a fatal restraint that it is poor in press moldability and easily broken; therefore, it cannot be fabricated with a small thickness and a large area. On the other hand, though a titanium fiber sintered plate is good in moldability and can be produced with a small thickness and a large area, it has acute angled protrusions and depressions on surfaces thereof with large spacings between fibers. Therefore, if titanium fiber sintered plates are brought into press contact with an adjacent film electrode laminates, there is a high risk to damage the film electrode laminates. Furthermore, there remains a problem to increase a contact resistance between the titanium fiber sintered plate and the film electrode laminates.
In contrast to the sintered compacts described above, a titanium fiber sintered plate disclosed in JP A 1999(H11)-302891 is a sintered plate in which a plasma sprayed layer of metallic titanium is formed on a surface of the titanium fiber sintered plate to thereby cancel acute angled protrusions and depressions, and large spacings between fibers, and can be said to be excellent in moldability thereof and contactability between the sintered plate and the film electrode laminates.
Since in addition to requirement of an extra cost due to plasma spraying, avoid ratio and surface profiles of a titanium fiber sintered plate are different from those of a plasma sprayed titanium layer on the surface of the plate, an electric resistance increases at a bonding interface therebetween, leading to an electric resistance of a porous conductive plate higher than to be expected from an apparent void ratio. As a result, in a water electrolytic cell used at a high current density, for example, in the range of from 1 to 3 A/cm2, a large voltage drop results. Needless to say that such a voltage drop is not at all allowed in a fuel cell.
Moreover, a large change in void ratio at a bonding interface leads to a worry to adversely influence on permeability of a gas and a liquid.
On the other hand, as an ink dispersion plate for a large ink jet printer, there has been requested a porous plate of, for example, a thickness of as thin as 2 mm or less and an area of as large as 200 mm×100 mm or more. This porous plate requires a small variation in void ratio from a nature of this kind. As such an ink dispersion plate, there has been used a sintered plate made of irregular shaped powder of stainless steel.
As the recent trend, a demand has started to be generated on a porous plate more excellent in corrosion resistance than a sintered plate of stainless steel powder, for which it is considered to use titanium powder more excellent in corrosion resistance than stainless steel.
Though titanium in greatly excellent in corrosion resistance and acid proofness as compared with stainless steel, it is extremely poor in moldability to the contrary. Hence, a general fabrication method for a titanium sintered plate has been thought to be such that hydrogenation/dehydrogenation titanium powder, which has been accepted to be comparatively good in moldability, is molded with a die press, followed by sintering the preform and furthermore, another fabrication method is also described in JP A 1995(H7)-238302 in which there is used titanium sponge powder, which is comparatively good in moldability, similar to the case of hydrogenation/dehydrogenation titanium powder.
Moreover, a different method is described in JP A 1996(H8)-170107 in which a metal powder sintered plate uniform in void ratio is fabricated by HIP.
The present inventors tried a procedure in which hydrogenation/dehydrogenation titanium powder or titanium sponge powder is molded with a die press to sinter the preform for the purpose to fabricate a dispersion plate uniform in void ratio with a thickness as thin as 2 mm or less and an area as large as 200 mm×100 mm or more, and since the dispersion plate was excessively thin, it was broken after press, having disabled fabrication thereof.
The present inventors tried fabrication of the dispersion plate described above by HIP only to find difficulty. The reason for the difficulty is that a porous plate after sintering was not able to be separated from a capsule maintaining a shape of a sintered compact during HIP. Moreover, it is also difficult to select a material of which the capsule is made, which together with the above reason, causes a fabrication cost to be raised to a very high value.
The present invention has been made in light of such circumstances and it is a first object to provide a titanium powder sintered compact excellent in corrosion resistance, having a small maximum pore diameter, and showing a performance of a small pressure drop during usage as a sintered titanium filter.
It is a second object of the present invention to provide a titanium powder sintered compact excellent in bending.
It is a third subject of the present invention to provide a cylindrical porous compact low in fabrication cost despite using titanium powder, and excellent in reverse-washing reproducibility while being used as a powder sintered filter.
It is a fourth object of the present invention to provide a metal sintered filter excellent in corrosion resistance and reverse-washing reproducibility.
It is a fifth object of the present invention to provide a porous conductive plate excellent not only naturally in moldability, but also in surface smoothness even without coating like plasma spraying, and in addition, easy in production and excellent in economy.
It is a sixth object of the present invention to provide a highly corrosion resistant porous plate capable of economically satisfying a condition to realize a uniform void ratio and a small thickness as required by an ink dispersion plate for use in a large ink jet printer.


The present invention provides infant and toddler feeding and liquid food storing systems. Disposable containers and infant feeding assemblies are provided for preparing, storing, and serving a liquid food or other beverage to children or other subjects having special needs. The assembly can comprise a holder, a disposable container that fits into the holder, and a means for delivering the food to the subject, e.g., using a nipple or drinking spout.

Infants are required to be fed very frequently with a small amount of milk such as breast milk or infant formula, and therefore many clean bottles shall be needed. In order to minimize a chance that a baby can be infected by bacteria, the bottle shall be washed and sterilized with boiling water or steam before it is used. Such activities of washing and sterilizing bottles are extra work for parents who are already tired and do not have enough sleep. Therefore, it is advantage to have a bottle or container that is pre-sterilized before use and can be disposed after use. Preparing, storing, and serving liquid food or perishable beverages in a most convenient way that shall free the parents from washing and sterilizing baby bottles is the main focus of this invention.
A disposable baby feeding bottle for babies was described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,599,630 to Hair. In the Hair patent, a nursing assembly incorporating a disposable paper container is disclosed for feeding a baby during the traveling. The container is thrown away after each feeding. Thus, eliminating the need to wash and sterilize an used bottle. Nevertheless, this nursing assembly suffers a number of shortcomings. First, the nipple and the flange portion of the bottle are engaged together to form a seal by the interlocking of upper and lower brackets. When an excess force is applied by the brackets and the flange portion which may have already be softened by the infant formula contained therein, the flange portion of the bottle will be torn, ripped or distorted from a circular shape. When this disengagement or misalignment between the nipple and the flange portion occurred, a leakage will result. Second, when manipulating or holding the nursing assembly at the bottle with an excess force, the flange portion of the bottle can be torn or ripped. Thus, leakage will occur. Third, the nipple in the nursing assembly described in the Hair patent has a tailored design to form a seal with the flange portion of the bottle. This limits the use of the disposable bottle to only the described nursing assembly.
A nursing assembly for infant incorporating a disposable cup was described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,758,787 to Sheu. In the Sheu patent, a special collar socket with a skirt portion is required to secure a paper cup to the nursing assembly. The Sheu patent claimed improvements over the Hair patent described above. Nevertheless, in this design, it can be concluded with the following defects and which shall be solved sooner or later. First, the collar socket with a skirt portion is contact with an infant formula when it is used in the nursing assembly. Therefore, it is an extra part that needs to be washed and sterilized before it is used. It defeats a purpose of using a paper cup as container. Second, when manipulating, holding or accidentally step on the nursing assembly by the bottle with an excess force, the cup can be crumbled or ripped. Thus, leakage will occur.
A nursing assembly for infant incorporate a disposable plastic container was described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,851,781 to Marco. In the Marco patent, a plastic container which has thin and flexible body portion and thicker and less flexible rim portion is used as a disposable container for a nursing assembly. Similar disposable plastic containers can be found in the market manufactured by Playtex Products, Inc. of Dover, Del. The Playtex bottle consists of a cylindrical holder, in which a plastic liner bag is placed and filled with liquid food. In one variant, the plastic liner top is stretched over the top of the holder. In another variant, the plastic liner bag is provided with a semi-rigid rim around the top of to facilitate installation of the bag in just on hand. In either case, it requires parents to prepare infant formula in a separate container and let that cools down before transferring the formula to the plastic liner bag. Furthermore, these plastic liner bags should not be heated up in a microwave. Therefore, it is not convenient for parents.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a disposable container suitable for preparing, short-term storing and feeding of liquid food such as infant formula directly from a single container to minimize the possibility of contamination of the contents and maximizing the usefulness and convenience of the container for parents. Further, there is a need in the art to make a container which can be disposable and affordable.

Disposable containers for prepare, storage and serving infant formula


A frequency-shift keying (FSK) signal detector splits an FSK signal into two paths. In one path, a phase-altering circuit having a variable frequency characteristic between the two encoding frequencies of the FSK signal provides either a phase lead or a phase lag depending upon the instantaneous frequency of the FSK signal. The phase-altered signal is sampled in response to the signal in the second path to decode a digital signal.

The present invention relates in general to decoding frequency-shift keying (FSK) signals, and more specifically to an FSK decoding scheme having a fast response time by avoiding integration in the decoder.
Frequency-shift keying is a well-known method for representing binary data using a first frequency to represent a binary zero and a second frequency to represent a binary one. When the binary digit to be represented changes, the frequency of the FSK signal shifts from one frequency to the other. Although the frequency shifts abruptly, FSK systems typically employ a continuous phase, i.e., there is no phase discontinuity when the frequency shifts.
Frequency-shift keying is a type of frequency modulation and can be used to transmit digital information by radio waves. FSK modulation is also used in transmitting binary information over phone lines using modems.
Demodulation of FSK signals typically employs FM detection techniques which include filtering with long time constants or other integration of the FSK signal. For example, the FSK signal to be demodulated is applied to the inputs of a pair of bandpass filters having respective center frequencies corresponding to the two frequencies of the FSK signal. The filter outputs are coupled to the inputs of a differential amplifier which recreates the digital signal. However, the integration time constants of the filters introduce a time delay slowing down the response time of the FSK demodulator.
Other demodulation techniques rely on the use of quadrature mixing signals to generate quadrature and in-phase FSK components for detection, resulting in high part count and high cost.

High speed frequency-shift keying decoder


A dispenser for use in applying soap or other lubricants to wires to be pulled through conduits includes a slotted resilient canister capable of accommodating different size wires in a central bore, with the canister being filled with lubricant-retaining spronge-like material. The canister slot is adapted to receive a sponge-like and soap-filled insert which is placed in the longitudinal slot, with the slot providing access for the wires to the central bore. In one embodiment, all spong-like materials are packaged within apertured bags, thereby to prevent spillage while permitting the lubrication or soaping of wires or cables inserted into the central bore of the canister through the slot, with 360 degree lubrication being achieved through squeezing of the canister about the wire as it is pulled through the canister. One embodiment includes a rotatable canister cover or sleeve to lock the insertable piece to the resilient container. In a further embodiment, sponge-like material is provided in a bag which is impervious to the lubricant but has one or more apertures in one surface. With the sponge-like material fully-laden with lubricant, the bag is manually wrapped around the cable with the aperture facing inwardly, and lubricant is manually squeezed from the sponge-like material onto the surface of the cable as the cable is pushed through the wrap around bag.

Wire pulling lubricants, or so-called "soaps", are used in the electrical industry for insulated wires pulled through a conduit by means of a drag wire, iron snake, rope or steel cable which is connected to a pulling winch, either manual or power driven. In most cases, the iron snake, drag wire or rope is pulled by hand, using only the power of an individual.
Conduit systems vary in sizes from 1/2 inch to and through 5 inches, with the conduits running anywhere from, for instance, 10 feet to 300 feet and in some cases up to 500 feet. The wire or cable that is used is pulled through these conduits either singularly or plurally and varies in size from 14 gauge to 750 gauge, with 14 gauge being the smallest normally utilized and with 750 gauge being the largest normally utilized. The wires are pulled through these conduit systems or pipes such that the inserted wire runs in different combinations of numbers and sizes from one or two conductors up to 400 conductors in typical usage.
In the past, the passage of the wire through the conduit has been facilitated through the utilization of a lubricant or soap which is available, in one embodiment, as Ideal Yellow 77 Wire Pulling Lubricant, catalogue number 31-351, from Ideal Industries, Inc. of Sycamore, Illinois. The practice which has long been the case is to either dip the wire into a pail of lubricant or to grab some lubricant with one hand and apply the lubricant with both hands to the cables to be routed, while at the same time pushing the cables through the conduit at the open end of the conduit. It should be noted that electrical wires are made of either copper or aluminum, and that lubricant usually never touches the wire. Rather, the lubricant is utilized over the insulation for the wire, there being many types of insultations, all of which are listed in the National Electrical Code Book. The lubricants are used mainly to reduce friction caused by insulated wire being pulled through a conduit system. Because of the friction exerted by the wire insulation during wire pulls, there a concomitant strain on the insulation. Using the lubricants which produce less strain means that there is less chance of an insulation breakdown after the wire is pulled and the electrical current is introduced. If there is a breakdown caused by excessive strain, it will be appreciated that there is a chance of a blowout in the cable's insulation. Thus, lubricating the wire prior to insertion not only reduces friction, it also reduces strain and therefore saves, to a certain extent, the insulation from breakage.
A third factor in utilizing lubricant is the labor saving factor. Because there is less friction when the soap is used, the wire moves at a faster rate with relative ease to avoid snags and to provide for easy passage through bends in the conduit. Of course, there being less friction, there is less drag which results in less strain on pulling equipment which saves on wear and tear of the equipment. By utilization of a lubricant, the number of bends that can be accommodated in a conduit run are increased so that the restriction on the number of conduit bends is lessened through the utilization of lubrication. Finally, when multiple wires are pulled through a conduit, there is less space for the wires to be pulled through. If a lubricant is not used, it makes future pulls through the virtually impossible conduit even if a successful multiple wire pull is initially provided.
Thus, the lubricant cuts down on friction on the insulation, cuts down on the strain of insulation, saves time and labor, saves wear and tear on equipment, eases the restriction caused by the number of bends in the conduit run and eases the difficulty of pulls involving multiple cables.
The aforementioned manual techniques of applying lubricants have been in use for at least 80 years and the usual steps involved are as follows: The mechanic or electrician inserts a bare hand into the lubricant bucket which is located some distance away from the mechanic. The mechanic applies the lubricant or soap on the wire. Soaps usually do not cling together or to the wires so there is invariably a mess of material which drips from the wire resulting in a large cleanup procedure after the wire pulling procedure. In order for a wire pull to be successful, there must be at least two men, one to pull and the other to soap and feed. There is also a problem since the mechanic feeding has soap all over his hands which means that he loses his grip and leverage to be able to both soap and push the wire up through the conduit. This can make a very easy pull difficult because the mechanic feeding the wire has no critical ability to put frictional contact to the outside jacket of the wire; and, therefore he is unable to push the wire from his end.
As mentioned above, whenever a soap or lubricant is used, there is usually a cleanup factor which becomes a labor factor. This is important because it deters some mechanics or electricians from utilizing the lubricant. However, not using the lubricant risks future problems with the wire running or pulling.

Method and apparatus for lubricating cables


A wheelchair that is to be movable between an upper normal sitting position and a lower reclining position. When in the lower position, the seat frame of the wheelchair is located substantially two-thirds nearer the supportive surface when compared to the upper position.

The field of this invention relates to a need for people suffering from a physical disability which restricts their mobility and more particularly to a new and novel wheelchair which provides for locomotion of the handicapped individual in a safe manner as well as expanding the sphere of usage of the wheelchair.
The use of wheelchairs have long been known to provide mobility to people that have little or no usage of their legs. The normal wheelchair locates the individual in a normally seated position. This means that the center of gravity of the seated individual is located approximately twenty-five inches above the supportive surface on which the wheelchair is located. This locating of the center of gravity above the supportive surface does not normally present a problem if the wheelchair is located within a house or building and the wheelchair is moved at a slow rate of speed.
In recent years, the wheelchair has become motorized by being powered electrically. This electric powered chair is capable of being operated not only indoors but is also capable of being moved in the outdoor environment. If the wheelchair encounters uneven terrain, because of the high center of gravity, it is easy for the wheelchair to be tipped over. Tipping over of the wheelchair can be very dangerous to the occupant plus without outside help it is practically impossible for the occupant of the chair to right the chair and get back into the chair.
Also, certain individuals may have the need to locate themselves directly adjacent the supportive surface. One example of this would be for a lady that is taking care of a baby. It may be very difficult for that wheelchair bound lady to change the baby's diaper in a conventional wheelchair. However, if the wheelchair is lowered much closer to the supportive surface, that task, that is exceedingly difficult in a conventional wheelchair, can be completed easily.
Further, there is also a need for a wheelchair bound individual to be positioned at a higher than normal sitting position. This higher position provides access to normally unattainable shelves for example.


The leaf switch of the invention consists of an optical switch mounted on a printed circuit board having electrical conducting means imbedded therein. An opto-interrupter is mounted on an actuator arm that is moved by the player controlled button to close the optical switch and complete the electrical circuit. To complete more than one circuit, a plurality of optical switches are provided with the opto-interrupter mounted on the actuator arm associated with each optical switch. The opto-interrupter is configured such that different ones of the switches are closed depending on how far the player controlled button is depressed.

This invention relates, generally, to pinball games and, more particularly, to an improved leaf switch for such games.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a typical leaf switch consists of a pair of flexible electrical leaf contacts 2 and 4 connected to wires 6 and 8, respectively, that lead to a solenoid that activates a flipper or other playfield device or signals the games microprocessor. The electrical leaf contacts 2 and 4 are supported between a number of insulating elements 5 and include contact pads 10 and 12, respectively, that are arranged opposite to one another and are intended to make contact to complete an electrical circuit. Depending on the purpose of the switch the assembly can be secured to the playfield or sidewall of a pinball game cabinet by screws 9 that extend through insulating plastic sleeves 7.
A flexible actuator arm 14 is also supported between insulating pads 5. Actuator arm 14 is typically contacted by a ball or a player manipulated flipper button such that when the button is depressed, actuator arm 14 forces pad 12 into contact with pad 10 to complete an electrical circuit and energize the associated solenoid.
As will be apparent, the prior art switch requires the assembly of numerous mechanical components. As a result, the manufacturing process is cumbersome and time consuming. Moreover, because of the numerous components, it is difficult to properly align the components during installation. Finally, the mechanical contact between the components such as pads 10 and 12 can cause wear and pitting. As a result, reliable electrical contact may deteriorate over time.
FIG. 3 shows the prior art switch used in systems where a single player operated button is used to actuate more than one pair of contracts, as for example to control more than one flipper. This system is similar to that shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 except that an additional electrical contact 15 is provided that completes a circuit when it contacts electrical contact 2. Contacts 15 and 2 are provided with pads 17 and 18, respectively, that complete another electrical circuit. When actuator arm 14 is depressed by the player controlled button, pads 10 and 12 will touch to activate a first flipper and if actuator arm 14 is depressed further, pads 17 and 18 will touch to activate a second flipper. The multi-flipper system of FIG. 3 has the same problems as the system of FIG. 1 compounded by the additional components of the extra electrical contact.

Opto-leaf switch for pinball games having an interrupter means mounted on a leaf spring actuator arm


This disclosure teaches a method for producing a nano metal mesh. A brittle layer can be deposited onto a flexible substrate, the brittle layer having a thickness on the flexible substrate. The flexible substrate can be bent to produce a plurality of gaps on the brittle material. A material can be deposited at the surface of the flexible substrate filling the gaps of the brittle layer. Then, the brittle layer can be etched from the flexible substrate using an etchant, a nano metal mesh formed by the material previously in the gaps. The disclosure also teaches a nano metal mesh made using this method.

This disclosure relates to a system and method for producing a nano metal mesh using a brittle film template for lithography.
In the recent years, the growth of touch related devices and touch related applications made a huge impact in the development of transparent conductive film. Currently, the transparent conductive film market is dominated by Indium-tin-oxide (ITO) film. ITO film is widely known in the market because of its electrical conductivity, optical transparency, and ease of application when being used as a thin film. However, due to the limited supply of indium and expensive cost in production of ITO film, alternative transparent conductive films are continuously being developed. Some of the known alternatives are carbon nanotubes, graphene, and conductive polymers. However, these alternatives are still expensive, and cannot provide sufficient low resistance. The leading ITO alternative is nano metal mesh, which has the capability to provide high conductivity, and high optical transmission that is commercially competitive with ITO. Most nano metal mesh processes uses lithography, sintering, or other high defect methods. However, these methods are still costly especially when it involves high volume production. As such it would be useful to have an improved system and method for producing a nano metal mesh using a brittle film.

System and method for producing a nano metal mesh using a brittle film template for lithography


Various aspects of a method and system to present information via a user interface are disclosed herein. In accordance with an embodiment, the method includes detection of an orientation of an electronic device. The electronic device overlays one or more layers of information on the user interface displayed at the electronic device. Transparency of the overlaid one or more layers of information is dynamically adjusted based on the detected orientation of the electronic device.

Advancements in the field of digital technology have extended the functionalities of various electronic devices and associated applications. Electronic devices, such as a smartphone, are widely used as information resources. For example, a user may capture a view of a real-world object by a smartphone and subsequently, receive augmented-reality (AR) information about the object present in the captured view.
In certain scenarios, it may be tiresome to hold the smartphone in the "on" position continuously to receive AR information and not to have the ability to use the information at a later time. Further, the AR information generated about the objects may be inadequate and cluttered. It may be difficult for the electronic device to process captured image data to present the AR information in an easy-to-understand format. Consequently, an enhanced and usable viewing experience may not be provided to the user.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of described systems with some aspects of the present disclosure, as set forth in the remainder of the present application and with reference to the drawings.

Method and system for presenting information via a user interface


An exemplary embodiment of the present invention described and shown in the specification and drawings is a transceiver with a receiver, a transmitter, a local oscillator (LO) generator, a controller, and a self-testing unit. All of these components can be packaged for integration into a single IC including components such as filters and inductors. The controller for adaptive programming and calibration of the receiver, transmitter and LO generator. The self-testing unit generates is used to determine the gain, frequency characteristics, selectivity, noise floor, and distortion behavior of the receiver, transmitter and LO generator. It is emphasized that this abstract is provided to comply with the rules requiring an abstract which will allow a searcher or other reader to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or the meaning of the claims.

The present invention relates to telecommunication systems, and in particular, to radio transceiver systems and techniques.
Transceivers are used in wireless communications to transmit and receive electromagnetic waves in free space. In general, a transceiver comprises three main components: a transmitter, a receiver, and an LO generator or frequency synthesizer. The function of the transmitter is to modulate, upconvert, and amplify signals for transmission into free space. The function of the receiver is to detect signals in the presence of noise and interference, and provide amplification, downconversion and demodulation of the detected the signal such that it can be displayed or used in a data processor. The LO generator provides a reference signal to both the transmitter for upconversion and the receiver for downconversion.
Transceivers have a wide variety of applications ranging from low data rate wireless applications (such as mouse and keyboard) to medium data rate Bluetooth and high data rate wireless LAN 802.11 standards. However, due to the high cost, size and power consumption of currently available transceivers, numerous applications are not being fully commercialized. A simplified architecture would make a transceiver more economically viable for wider applications and integration with other systems. The integration of the transceiver into a single integrated circuit (IC) would be an attractive approach. However, heretofore, the integration of the transceiver into a single IC has been difficult due to process variations and mismatches. Accordingly, there is a need for an innovative transceiver architecture that could be implemented on a single IC, or alternatively, with a minimum number of discrete off-chip components that compensate for process variations and mismatches.
In one aspect of the present invention, a capacitor having two nodes includes a first transistor coupled to one of the two nodes, and a second transistor coupled to the first transistor and to a second one of the two nodes.
In another aspect of the present invention, an integrated circuit includes a capacitor having two nodes, a first transistor coupled to one of the two nodes, and a second transistor coupled to the first transistor and to a second one of the two nodes.
In yet another aspect of the present invention, a tunable capacitor array includes a plurality of capacitors each having first and second nodes, a first transistor coupled to the first node, and a second transistor coupled to the second node, the first nodes of the capacitors being coupled together and the second nodes of the capacitors being coupled together, and a plurality of switches each being positioned between a different one of the capacitors and the respective capacitors first or second node.
It is understood that other embodiments of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, wherein it is shown and described only embodiments of the invention by way of illustration of the best modes contemplated for carrying out the invention. As will be realized, the invention is capable of other and different embodiments and its several details are capable of modification in various other respects, all without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the drawings and detailed description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not as restrictive.

Adaptive radio transceiver with floating MOSFET capacitors


A computer-implemented method for duplicating backup images may include (1) identifying at least one storage device, (2) identifying a plurality of backup images to be duplicated to the storage device, (3) creating a composite image of the plurality of backup images, and then (4) storing the composite image on the storage device instead of duplicating the plurality of backup images to the storage device. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.

In the digital age, organizations increasingly rely on digitally stored data. To protect against data loss, an organization may use a backup system to back up important data. To provide further protection, an organization may use a duplication system to create copies of a backup on additional storage tiers. For example, as backup images are created, a duplication system may create additional copies of the backup images on long-term storage devices.
Unfortunately, various constraints may slow the duplication process, potentially resulting in the duplication system failing to keep up with the rate at which backup images are created. For example, if the duplication system uses tape as a storage medium, the tape-based storage device may store duplicated backup images more slowly than the backup images are created. Some tape-based storage devices may operate at an average lower speed when periods of write activity are interrupted by inactivity. Furthermore, some tape-based storage devices may consume a large amount of time writing file marks at the end of each file (e.g., a couple of seconds for each file mark). As such, the instant disclosure identifies a need for additional and improved systems and methods for duplicating backup images.

Systems and methods for duplicating backup images


In a machine tool, under user set conditions, a cutting tool is fed in a feeding direction while the cutting tool is moved repetitively to cut a workpiece smoothly while separating chips easily. In the machine tool and a control apparatus thereof, control means is configured to set the number of rotations of relative rotation for executing machining of a workpiece, and the number of repetitions of repetitive movement during one rotation of the relative rotation in accordance with a repetitive movement frequency attributable to a cycle during which an operation instruction can be issued.

A conventionally known machine tool includes: workpiece holding means configured to hold a workpiece; a cutting tool rest configured to hold a cutting tool for cutting the workpiece; feeding means configured to feed the cutting tool toward the workpiece in a predetermined feeding direction by allowing relative movement between the workpiece holding means and the cutting tool rest; repetitive movement means configured to repetitively move the workpiece holding means and the cutting tool rest relative to each other by repeating the relative movement in the feeding direction at first and second speeds different from each other; and rotating means configured to rotate the workpiece and the cutting tool relative to each other. An example of such a machine tool is described in United States Patent Publication No. 2014/0102268, published on Apr. 17, 2014.
A control apparatus of the machine tool is configured to control the rotating means, the feeding means, and the repetitive movement means to drive, and to allow the machine tool to machine the workpiece by the relative rotation between the workpiece and the cutting tool and by the feed movement of the cutting tool toward the workpiece with the repetitive movement in the feeding direction.
The conventional machine tool is configured so that an operation instruction is issued by the control apparatus at a predetermined cycle. Therefore, a repetitive movement frequency at which the workpiece holding means and the cutting tool rest are repetitively moved relative to each other is defined as a limited value attributable to a cycle during which an operation instruction can be issued by the control apparatus. However, the repetitive movement frequency is not considered in the conventional machine tool. Therefore, with respect to any number of rotations of the relative rotation, the repetitive movement may not be performed at any number of repetitions of the repetitive movement of the cutting tool relative to the workpiece during one rotation of the workpiece.
Thus, the present invention is intended to solve the above problem of the prior art. That is, it is an object of the present invention to provide a control apparatus of a machine tool that feeds a cutting tool in a feeding direction while repetitively moving the cutting tool, and that can smoothly cut a workpiece while easily separating chips. It is also an object of the invention to provide a machine tool including the control apparatus.

Machine tool control device and machine tool equipped with said control device


A file system has files constructed of an inode for each file, indirect blocks, and allocation units of file system data blocks. Each of the allocation units has one of the file system data blocks or a plurality of the file system data blocks having contiguous file system block numbers. Each file in the file system has a respective allocation unit size attribute specifying an allocation unit size of each and every allocation unit in the file, and the files in the file system have allocation units of different allocation unit sizes. By using larger allocation units for larger files, there is a reduction in the number of indirect blocks in the files without a corresponding loss in performance, and a reduction in the time needed for the UNIX FSCK utility to check file system consistency.

Network data storage is most economically provided by an array of low-cost disk drives integrated with a large semiconductor cache memory. A number of data mover computers are used to interface the cached disk array to the network. The data mover computers perform file locking management and mapping of network files to logical block addresses of storage in the cached disk array, and move data between network clients and the storage in the cached disk array. See, for example, Vahalia et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,893,140 issued Apr. 6, 1999, entitled "File Server Having a File System Cache and Protocol for Truly Safe Asynchronous Writes," incorporated herein by reference.
A UNIX-based file system permits each logical block in the extent of a file to be mapped to any physical block of storage the cached disk array. The UNIX-based file system also supports sparse files and possible sharing of specified data blocks between files for enabling "write somewhere else" snapshot copies, and de-duplication of specified data blocks
The organization and management of a UNIX-based file system is described in Uresh Vahalia, Unix Internals—The New Frontiers, Chapter 9, File System Implementations, pp. 261-290, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Upper Saddle River, N.J. (1996). Files in a file system are organized in a hierarchy including a root directory, zero or more subdirectories, and zero or more regular data files. Each file itself is a hierarchy of file system blocks including an inode, one or more data blocks, and zero or more indirect blocks. Each file system data block in the file is linked to the inode or an indirect block of the file by a pointer in the inode or indirect block. There is a fixed and predetermined relationship between a given offset in the file and the location of the pointer field for a pointer to the data block containing the file data for the given offset in the file. The pointer in the block pointer field of an inode or an indirect block may have a zero value indicating that there is a "hole" in the extent of the file. Such a hole in the extent of the file represents a data block filed with zeroes.
Different UNIX-based file systems have used different file system block sizes. For example, some early UNIX-based file systems used a file system block size of 1 kilobyte, and more current versions use a file system block size of eight kilobytes. File system block size is known to affect file system performance in various ways. For example, a small block size is efficient for storing small files, such as files having an extent of data no greater than the block size. A large block size has a greater chance of a file's sectors being contiguous, and reduces the amount of overhead to list the file's blocks.

Extent of data blocks as an allocation unit in a unix-based file system


A lens generator device is provided with a dynamic electronic braking circuit for instantaneously interrupting operation of the lens generated under certain conditions to prevent injury to an operator. The lens generator includes a chamber structure having an access cover and having a power driven grinding tool therein. A photoelectric switch is mounted on the tailstock in confronting relation with the chamber structure cover and is operable when the cover is raised or when the tailstock is retracted to operate the dynamic braking circuit and instantaneously stop operation of the grinding tool.

In conventional lens generator apparatuses, the grinding and surface generation takes place in a grinding chamber into which a collet assembly of the tailstock projects. The collet assembly supports the lens blank; and the grinding chamber is provided with a cover plate, which permits access to the chamber. During operation of the lens generator apparatus, the lens blank sometimes becomes detached from the collet assembly; and some operators will attempt to retrieve the lens blank from the grinding chamber while the apparatus is in operation. An operator can be seriously injured if the operator's hand or arm inadvertently comes into contact with the high speed grinding tool. There are presently no asymmetrical lens generators whose operation may be instantaneously braked if the cover plate is opened or if the collet assembly is retracted.

Electronic brake for lens generator device


An information processing apparatus displays, on a screen of a display device, a program-related image which relates to an application program in a state in which the application program is not executed, starts execution of the application program in a case where an operation of giving an instruction to execute the application program is received from a user in a state in which the program-related image is displayed on the screen, and applies update data to the application program to update the application program in a case where an operation of giving an instruction to apply the update data is received from the user in the state in which the program-related image is displayed on the screen.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus for applying update data to an application program to update the application program, an information processing method, and an information storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an information processing apparatus for executing an application program, such as a personal computer or a game machine, update data (such as patch) for updating contents of an application program is provided from an external server or the like in some cases (see, for example, US 2008/0141018 A1). The information processing apparatus acquires the update data by downloading the update data via a communication network or other such method and applies the update data to the application program stored in the information processing apparatus, to thereby allow a user to use the application program updated to the latest contents.
If such update of the application program is to be executed at the time of activating the application program, for example, in a case where the user desires to execute the application program immediately, the information processing apparatus has to keep the user waiting while confirming whether or not the update data exists and applying the update data. Further, if the information processing apparatus confirms whether or not the update data exists while the application program is being executed, in a case where the update data exists, the application program generally has to be restarted in order to apply the update data.


In a method of allocating time slots for transmission in a half-duplex time division multiple access point-to-multipoint bidirectional transmission system enabling transmission between a central station and a plurality of remote stations at least one time slot is allocated to each remote station and to each transmission direction. The set of all time slots used for transmission from the central station to the remote stations are grouped into downward frames and the set of all time slots used for transmission from the remote stations to the central station are grouped together in upward frames. The origin time of the upward frame is chosen in each remote station so that in the central station the origin time of the frame is separated from the end time of downward frames by a period less than twice the transmission time between the remote station and the central station, whereby there is defined in the remote station an overlap area between upward and downward frames. The time slots are allocated in such a way as to avoid any coincidence between time slots allocated to the same remote station in the upward and downward frames, respectively, in the overlap area.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns bidirectional transmission systems.
Half-duplex bidirectional transmission is a technique enabling bidirectional transmission on a single transmission medium in which each terminal station of the transmission system alternately sends and receives.
Depending on the speed at which the signals are transmitted over this medium, it may be necessary to allow for their transmission time and so it may be necessary to provide in the transmission format used periods allowing for these transmission times that cannot be used to transmit information. This is an obvious drawback in that it limits the amount of information that can be transmitted by means of such systems.
An object of the present invention is to avoid this drawback in the case of half-duplex bidirectional transmission systems which are also of the time division multiple access point-to-multipoint type.
The present invention is applicable to half-duplex bidirectional transmission systems of the point-to-multipoint type, i.e. enabling transmission between a central station and a plurality of remote stations, and more particularly to systems of this kind which comprise, between said central station and a concentration point, a transmission medium which is time-shared between the various remote stations, and, between said concentration point and each remote station, a respective transmission medium specific to each remote station and the lengths of which vary according to the location of the remote stations relative to the concentration point.
The present invention is even more specifically concerned with the situation in which said time-sharing of the transmission medium utilizes the TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) technique with a transmission format structured in frames comprising different time slots assigned in a predetermined manner to respective different remote stations.
The present invention is applicable in particular to distribution networks used in the terminal part (close to the users) of a telecommunication network and particularly to distribution networks of this kind in which said transmission media are optical fibers and said concentration point is a passive optical coupler.

Method for allocating time slots for transmission in a half-duplex time division multiple access point-to-multipoint bidirectional transmission network


A process for treating a chromium coating and/or the surface of a chromium alloy to increase hardness, and/or to decrease coefficient of friction; chromium alloys and/or chromium coatings with surfaces having increased hardness and/or decreased coefficient of friction; and, components comprising chromium alloys and/or chromium coatings with surfaces having increased hardness and/or decreased coefficient of friction.

The present invention provides a process for treating a chromium alloy or a chromium coating to (a) increase the hardness of the coating or alloy, and/or (b) to increase resistance to friction and wear. The invention also relates to coatings formed using the process, which have superior hardness and friction and wear properties.
Replating of chromium coatings is costly and the effluent from typical chromium coating processes is toxic to the environment. In fact, environmental legislation mandates substantial reductions in chromium plating. As a result, processes are needed to prolong the life of chromium coatings and to reduce or eliminate the need for stripping, re-plating, and re-machining chromium coated tools.
One relatively low temperature process that is currently used to prolong the life of chromium coatings is nitrogen ion implantation, which produces a fine dispersion of relatively hard and stable chromium nitrides, CrN and Cr2N. Unfortunately, chromium nitrides are not as hard as many other nitrides. For example, CrN has a bulk hardness of only about 11 GPa, or half the hardness of TiN. Also, high doses of nitrogen ions are required to produce the chromium nitrides. Finally, nitrides do not generally have a low coefficient of friction.
Thermally-sprayed chromium oxide has been used to coat bearings, but the coating is brittle, is not smooth enough for many applications (such as bearings), and presents the problem of decohesion. In addition, thermally-sprayed coatings are generally porous and therefore do not provide good corrosion protection for substrates such as steel. A need exists for chromium alloy surfaces and non-porous chromium coatings with increased bulk hardness and low friction and resistance to wear.
In one aspect, the invention provides a method of forming a lubricious outer surface comprising chromium, said method comprising:
providing a substrate comprising a surface comprising chromium, said surface having an initial coefficient of friction in an unlubricated condition against a steel counterface; and
treating said substrate with an additive comprising an element X under conditions effective to produce a mixture comprising chromium-X molecules and molecules of said substrate adjacent to said lubricious outer surface, wherein said lubricious outer surface comprises a sufficient quantity of said chromium-X molecules to produce a final coefficient of friction in an unlubricated condition against a steel counterface that is less than said initial coefficient of friction of said surface,
said additive being selected from the group consisting of
substituted or unsubstituted metal carbonyls comprising a metal selected from the group consisting of tungsten, molybdenum, chromium, iron, and nickel, wherein said substituted carbonyls comprise an oxygen of the carbonyl substituted by an element selected from the group consisting of X; and
compounds having the general formula
HnCmXo
xe2x80x83wherein
n is from about 0 to about 6;
m is from about 1 to about 2;
o is from about 1 to about 2; and,
X is selected from the group consisting of fluorine, oxygen, sulfur, and chlorine.
In another aspect, the invention provides a variety of substrates comprising a gradient from an inside to an outside surface consisting essentially of:
molecules of said substrate/a mixture comprising said substrate molecules and said chromium-X molecules/a surface comprising a sufficient quantity of said chromium-X molecules to produce a final coefficient of friction in an unlubricated condition against a steel counterface that is less than a virgin coefficient of friction of said surface in the absence of said gradient;
wherein X is selected from the group consisting of fluorine, oxygen, sulfur, and chlorine.

Life extension of chromium coating and chromium alloys


A computer system compares databases, where each data record includes values for a plurality of fields, by applying database operations on database tables of the data records to reduce computations being performed. For each data record in a reference set, candidate matches are identified from among the data records in a target set by performing a join operation on the sets on one or more selected, normalized fields from the sets. This significantly reduced set of candidate matches can be further analyzed to determine how similar they are to the data record from the reference set.

A common problem with large databases is comparing contents of one database to contents of another database to determine an extent of overlap between the two databases. For example, a first database of items for sale by a store can be compared to a second database of items for sale by another store to determine which items are available in both stores, or which items are available in only one of the stores. As another example, a first database of media items available in a first repository can be compared to a second database of media items in another repository to determine whether equivalent items are available in both repositories, or to identify items which are available in only one of the repositories and not the other. Given information about which items are believed to be the same in two databases, information about those items also can be compared. For example, given databases of media files, after similar items are identified, information stored in the two databases about those items can be compared, such as prices, user ratings, file size, date of upload and so on.
Identifying similar items in databases can be performed readily if globally unique identifiers for the items are available in the databases; the items with equal identifiers are the same. If such globally unique identifiers are not available, then metadata for each item can used to determine if items are the same. Such metadata for an item typically includes multiple fields of data, with each field storing a value that partially describes the item. Sets of metadata from two databases can be compared to determine whether items are the same.
Comparison of metadata sets, such as for comparing two databases of items, can be computationally intensive when the databases are large. In particular, if one database has a first number N of items, and a second database has a first number M of items, the number of comparisons of items to be performed is the product of the first and second numbers (N×M). Computation of a similarity metric based on multiple data fields across a large number of items in large databases consumes significant computing resources. Where each item is represented by yet a third number X of fields of metadata, the number of potential comparison operations is the product of the first, second and third numbers (i.e., N×M×X). Thus, for large data sets in some applications, comparison of metadata sets can be computationally expensive.
The complexity of comparing databases is further increased when metadata is unstructured text, incomplete, inaccurate or includes multiple variations. For example, some metadata fields may include several words of text. Some metadata fields may be missing values. Some metadata fields may have different, but equivalent, values in different data sets. For example, a text field may have a first set of words for one item in a database, and the text field of a corresponding item in another database may have a second set of words that is different from the first set of words, but the sets of words may have the same meaning. For example, the words may be different words in the same language which have the same meaning, or words in different languages. Some fields of the metadata may be incorrect. For example, a date field may have incorrect data, or a text field may have a misspelled word. With such data, metadata sets cannot be compared based on an exact match or numerical similarity metrics.
In addition, with some kinds of databases, a result desired from the comparison may be identifying, for each item in one database, not a single item in another database that exactly matches, but instead multiple items in the other database that may be similar. For example, when comparing databases of movie titles, the result of the comparison could be to identify multiple versions of each movie. If multiple similar items are the desired result, a simple exact match type of comparison cannot be used.

Reducing processing for comparing large metadata sets


A bracket assembly includes a die struck metal plate, a molded plastic guide/nail set configured to fit over the die struck metal plate, the molded plastic guide/nail set including three spaced apart apertures, each of the apertures configured at an angle with respect to a central surface of the guide/nail set, the central surface comprising two upper opposing wings and a lower central wing configured to receive and secure an accessory, and common finish nails, the common finish nails used to secure the die struck metal plate and the molded plastic guide/nail set, when joined together, to a vertical surface.

The present invention relates generally to brackets, and more particularly to a fast fit bracket assembly.
In general, a bracket is an overhanging member that projects from a structure (such as a wall) and is usually designed to support a vertical load or to strengthen an angle. There are a variety of brackets that are available on the market but none provide a fast and easy procedure for mounting hardware.


Disclosed herein is a technique for controlling a side step operation for a vehicle. The technique includes detecting, by a controller, whether an obstacle is present in a space where left and right side steps are configured to be released, before ejecting release operation thereof is performed. The technique additionally includes releasing, by the controller, the side step only when the obstacle is not present. When the side step is not released due to an obstacle, a warning mode for re-parking or mobility parking is displayed to a user.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for controlling an operation of a side step for a vehicle and, more particularly, to a method for controlling an operation of a side step for a vehicle, which is capable of releasing the side step based on whether an obstacle is present in a direction in which the side step is released.
2. Description of the Related Art
A recreational vehicle (RV) having a chassis that is raised further from the ground than that of a general passenger vehicle may include a side step to allow a passenger to conveniently enter or exit a vehicle. As shown in FIG. 1, the side step 1 may be configured to be fixed to a vehicle body (side sill outer panel) 2. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 2, a side step 3 may be automatically released from or retracted into a vehicle body 4, using a mechanical mechanism
Furthermore, when the side step 3 is configured to be automatically released, the conventional side step 3 is operated to be released without considering whether an obstacle is present in the vicinity of the side step. A control is performed to release the side step 3 or retract the side step 3 only when the side step 3 directly collides with an obstacle.
Thus, in the conventional method for controlling the operation of the side step 3 a collision between the side step 3 and an obstacle may not be prevented in the release operation of the side step 3, thus causing damage to a drive device and the side step.
The foregoing is intended merely to aid in the understanding of the background of the present invention, and is not intended to mean that the present invention falls within the purview of the related art that is already known to those skilled in the art.

Method for controlling operation of side step for vehicle


The present invention is a system and method for inputting physician notes associated with the admission, diagnosis and treatment of patients in a healthcare system. It can be used for those who are critically ill as well as those who are engaged in more routine medical care. The present invention reduces the risk of medical treatment by populating specific patient information throughout the patient care system so that current physician notes are combined with other information and made available rapidly to hospital personnel at all levels of patient care. The present invention also assists in analyzing data in relation to risk associated with management choices and managing the patient care to reduce assessed risk.

The present invention relates to a system and method for automating physician notes within an entire system of patient care and patient monitoring. For purposes of this application, the "patient care system" refers generally to the system in a hospital or other care facility that provides health care services to patient. Such a system comprises, without limitation, emergency rooms, operating rooms, laboratories, hospital rooms, data processing systems, monitoring equipment, administrative systems and billing systems.
While the severity of illness of ICU and other hospitalized patients over the past 15 years has increased dramatically, the level of and type of physician coverage has remained constant. Most hospitalized patients receive brief minutes of attention during morning rounds. During the remainder of the day and night, nurses are the primary caregivers, with specialists called only after patient conditions have started to deteriorate. One result of this mismatch between severity of illness and physician coverage is a high prevalence of avoidable errors that result in clinical complications. Exacerbating the problem is the inability of present days systems to incorporate and disseminate information derived from doctors and other hospital based physicians through the patient care system so that all observations and diagnoses are available to various hospital personnel in a timely way. In 1998, an Institute of Medicine Roundtable determined that avoidable patient complications were the single largest problem in medical care delivery. In another prominent 1998 study of 1000 patients, 46% experienced an avoidable adverse event in care, with 40% of these errors resulting in serious disability or death. Techniques that can limit these problems would be beneficial indeed, not only to patients but to the hospitals themselves.
The physicians who treat critically ill patients are in critically short supply. Numerous studies have shown that intensivists (physicians who have trained and board certified in Critical Care Medicine) can markedly improve patient outcomes. However, only one-third of all critically ill patients ever have an intensivist involved in their care, and the number of intensivists would need to increase seven-fold (nationally) to provide 24-hour coverage to all critically ill patients. With the rapid aging of the population, this shortfall of expertise is going to increase dramatically.
Even where intensivists are present (and especially where they are not), patients suffer from unnecessary variation in practice. There is little incentive for physicians to develop and conform to evidence-based best practices (it takes significant work and a change in behavior to develop and implement them). This variation contributes to sub-optimal outcomes, in both the quality and cost of care delivered to hospitalized patients.
What is needed, and is beginning to be fielded with great success, is a critical care regimen offered to critically ill patients. Such a system is described in Application for Letters patent Ser. No. 09/443,072, entitled "System And Method For Providing Continuous, Expert Network Critical Care Services From A Remote Location(S)" which is incorporated herein by reference. Rather than the traditional consultative model where a periodic visit takes place and the doctor then goes away, a more active 24-hour intensivist managed care is instituted via remote monitoring of geographically disparate healthcare locations. Such technology leverages the intensivists' expertise and standardizes the care afforded to critically ill patients. Further, continuous feedback to improve the practice of intensivists is necessary so that timely interventions can occur to minimize any adverse events. But even more can be done.
Attempts to automate various aspects of patient care have been the subject of various inventions. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,868,669 to Iliff was issued for "Computerized Medical Diagnostic and Treatment Advice System." The disclosed invention is for a system and method for providing computerized knowledge based medical diagnostic and treatment advice to the general public over a telephone network.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,823,948 to Ross, Jr. et al was issued for "Medical Records Documentation, Tracking and Order Entry System". The disclosed invention is for a system and method that computerizes medical records, documentation, tracking and order entries. A teleconferencing system is employed to allow patient and medical personnel to communicate with each other. A video system can be employed to videotape a patient's consent.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,878,175 to Norden-Paul et al. was issued for "Method for Generating Patient-Specific Flowsheets By Adding/Deleting Parameters." The disclosed invention is for an automated clinical records system for automated entry of bedside equipment results, such as an EKG monitor, respirator, etc. The system allows for information to be entered at the bedside using a terminal having input means and a video display.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,544,649 to David et al. was issued for "Ambulatory Patient Health Monitoring Techniques Utilizing Interactive Visual Communications." The disclosed invention is for an interactive visual system, which allows monitoring of patients at remote sites, such as the patient's home. Electronic equipment and sensors are used at the remote site to obtain data from the patient, which is sent to the monitoring site. The monitoring site can display and save the video, audio and patient's data.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,867,821 to Ballantyne et al. was issued for "Method and Apparatus for Electronically Accessing and Distributing Personal Health Care Information and Services in Hospitals and Homes." The disclosed invention is for an automated system and method for distribution and administration of medical services, entertainment services, and electronic health records for health care facilities.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,832,450 to Myers et al. was issued for "Electronic Medical Record Using Text Database." The disclosed invention is for an electronic medical record system, which stores data about patient encounters arising from a content generator in freeform text.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,812,983 to Kumagai was issued for "Computer Medical File and Chart System." The disclosed invention is for a system and method that integrates and displays medical data in which a computer program links a flow sheet of a medical record to medical charts.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,489,387 to Lamb et al. was issued for "Method and Apparatus for Coordinating Medical Procedures." The disclosed invention is for a method and apparatus that coordinates two or more medical teams to evaluate and treat a patient at the same time without repeating the same steps.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,731,725 to Suto et al. was issued for "Data Processing System which Suggests a Pattern of Medical Tests to Reduce the Number of Tests Necessary to Confirm or Deny a Diagnosis." The disclosed invention is for a data processing system that uses decision trees for diagnosing a patient's symptoms to confirm or deny the patient's ailment.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,255,187 to Sorensen was issued for "Computer Aided Medical Diagnostic Method and Apparatus." The disclosed invention is for an interactive computerized diagnostic system which relies on color codes which signify the presence or absence of the possibility of a disease based on the symptoms a physician provides the system.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,839,438 to Chen et al. was issued for "Intelligent Remote Visual Monitoring System for Home Health Care Service." The disclosed invention is for a computer-based remote visual monitoring system, which provides in-home patient health care from a remote location via ordinary telephone lines.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,842,978 to Levy was issued for "Supplemental Audio Visual Emergency Reviewing Apparatus and Method." The disclosed invention is for a system that videotapes a patient and superimposes the patient's vital statistics onto the videotape.
While these inventions provide useful records management and diagnostic tools, none of them provides a comprehensive method for inputting physician notes and populating patient care databases in real time regardless of where and when those physician notes are generated. In short, the inventions noted above are NOT designed for highly integrated hospital care.
What would be useful is a system and method for providing physician notes in a convenient manner, and integrating those notes throughput the patient care system whether it be for routine care or for care for the critically ill. Information from the physician notes (i.e. observations, thinking, and clinical plans for patients) would be immediately available to hospital personnel at all levels from administrative to those dealing directly with patients. Further, such information entered by a physician would be re-used to the maximum extent and in the most effective manner to provide information necessary for patient care and related administrative services.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System and method for physician note creation and management


A process for making a substantially saturated dendritic hydrocarbon polymer. The process has the following steps: (a) polymerizing an amount of one or more alkadiene monomers and/or one or more alkenylaromatic polymers under anionic conditions in the presence of a di- or tri-functional organic lithium initiator to produce a polyalkadiene defining a multiplicity of lithiated chain ends; (b) reacting the polyalkadiene with an amount of a tri- or di-functional silane coupling agent to form a dendritic polyalkadiene; and (c) hydrogenating the dendritic polyalkadiene to form a substantially saturated dendritic hydrocarbon polymer. Also a process for process for making a dendritic hydrocarbon polymer, comprising: (a) polymerizing an amount of one or more alkadiene monomers and/or one or more alkenylaromatic polymers under anionic conditions in the presence of a di- or tri-functional organic lithium initiator to produce a hydrocarbon polymer defining a multiplicity of lithiated chain ends; and (b) reacting the hydrocarbon polymer with an amount of a tri- or di-functional silane coupling agent to form a dendritic hydrocarbon polymer.

Polymers that have long branches (i.e., long enough to become entangled with other polymer strands) have qualitatively different flow behavior than those which are purely linear, and this profoundly affects the processing and crystallization of these polymers. It is often desirable to incorporate an amount of polymers having long-chain-branching (LCB) into polymers to achieve particular processability and properties. Dendritic polymers can be very useful in this regard, but their synthesis can be laborious and expensive.
While LCB technology has been a part of the polyethylene industry since the 1930's, there is still a need to further optimize the type and availability of LCB polyethylenes and other polymers. A useful, inexpensive blend additive in the form of a LCB polymer could significant impact the processing/performance balance for polyethylenes, particularly the multi-billion dollar market for polyethylene films and molded articles. There could be even greater use in polypropylene, where there is currently little commercially viable technology for incorporating LCB. There is also a need for LCB polymers in the EPDM elastomer market.
Conventional polyethylenes, such as LDPE produced via high pressure free radical polymerization, typically exhibit a broad distribution of LCB. With the advent of metallocenes and other single-site coordination catalysts, there have been many products with narrower degrees of LCB (such as Enable from EMCC, and Engage from The Dow Chemical Company).
It would be desirable to have a new process for producing LCB polymers. It would be further desirable to have a new process for producing LCB olefin and alkenyl aromatic polymers.

Process for making dendritic hydrocarbon polymers

ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company


A battenless hatch cover assembly for railcars. The assembly includes a series of hatch covers aligned end to end to cover an opening in a railcar. Each of the hatch covers is hinged along one side to the railcar, with this one side being common among the hatch covers. In an alternative embodiment, appropriate mechanisms could be used to selectively hinge the covers along both sides. The typical cover includes one longitudinal end having a male portion in the form of an upstanding lateral lip. The other longitudinal end is provided with a female portion in the form of a laterally extending downward directed channel. This female portion is adapted to overlie the male portions in a substantially mating configuration. A seal material is provided on the underside of the female portion to engage the male portion and provide an effective seal, and the female portion is sufficiently rugged to apply a sealing pressure upon the male portion. The hatch covers are arranged such that the female portion of the hatch covers overlies the male portion of an adjacent hatch cover. This arrangement eliminates the need for separate or independent battens to apply a seal between the hatch covers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to hatch covers for railcars. In particular, the present invention relates to an improved hatch cover assembly for railcars which eliminates the need for battens.
2. Description of the Related Art
Railcars have long been employed to transport granular material such as grain. Such railcars typically have a series of openings, or a single opening, in the top of the railcar through which the grain may be loaded, with the openings commonly being referred to as troughs. Associated with these openings are one or more hatch covers which close and seal the openings during transport.
The hatch covers are typically provided in sets of three or more, even where a single elongated opening is employed. The hatch covers are hinged along one edge, with the hinges for the hatch covers being substantially coaxial. The edges of adjacent hatch covers are in close proximity, and a series of battens are supplied to overly and provide a seal between these edges, and at the outermost ends. As such, a railcar having four covers would employ five battens.
While this arrangement has been found serviceable it does have associated problems. For example, it is necessary to release and pivot the battens away from the hatch covers in a separate operation prior to opening the hatch cover. Additionally, the pivot of the batten is subject to wear such that metal portions of the batten tend to contact the hatch cover. The battens are typically formed of steel, while the hatch covers are normally formed of aluminum or fiberglass. As such, the battens tend to damage the hatch cover in time, due to this wear.


A variable resistor for increased assembly efficiency and decreased influence by environmental changes is disclosed. The variable resistor includes a closed end main casing, an external terminal held in the main casing and connected to the insulating substrate, a side receiver movably held in the casing, a shaft for moving the slider receiver, and a cover for closing an opening of the casing. The shaft is supported by a bearing formed on the cover to protrude from the cover and is further provided with a fall-preventive means. The terminal and substrate are both connected on the opening side of the casing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric part for use as, for example, a valve opening control sensor for an exhaust gas recirculator in a vehicle, a sensor for controlling the mixture ratio between gasoline and air, and various kinds of encoders.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional electric part of this type will be described with reference to a cross-sectional view of FIG. 13. The electric part shown in FIG. 13 comprises a casing 1 which forms an outer shell, a shaft 2 movable from side to side in FIG. 13 with respect to the casing 1, an insulating substrate 3 housed in the casing 1, a brush 4 which slidably contacts a conductive pattern (not shown), such as a resistor or a current collector, provided on the insulating substrate 3, a slider receiver 5 for holding the brush 4, a return spring 6 positioned offset from the axis of the shaft 2 to supply a spring force to the slider receiver 5, and an external terminal 7 connected to the insulating substrate 3.
In the casing 1, the shaft 2 is inserted into a slot 1a provided at one end of the casing 1, and an opening 1b at the other end is tightly sealed with a cover 8. A pair of guide grooves (not shown), extending parallel to the axis of the shaft 2, are formed on opposed inner walls of the casing 1, and a pair of projections 5a formed on the slider receiver 5 are engaged with the guide grooves.
The insulating substrate 3 housed in the casing 1 is engaged, at both side ends thereof, with a second pair of grooves formed on the opposed inner walls of the casing 1, and urged toward the slider receiver 5 by a corrugated leaf spring 9 interposed between the casing 1 and the back of the insulating substrate 3.
At one end of the insulating substrate 3, a terminal section 3a having thereon a conductive terminal pattern (not shown) connected to the resistor or the current collector is formed. A connecting section 7a is formed at one end of the external terminal 7. The terminal section 3a of the insulating substrate 3 and the connecting section 7a of the external terminal 7 are connected to each other by a clip terminal 10 on the side of the opening 1b of the casing 1. Furthermore, a groove 11 for holding the return spring 6 is formed at the position offset from the axis of the shaft 2 in the casing 1, and the return spring 6 held in the groove 11 urges the slider receiver 5 in the axial direction. The shaft 2 and the slider receiver 5 are provided with a convex section 2a and a concave section 5b, respectively, which are engaged with each other. A hole 1c is formed for use in attaching this electric part to other devices.
The conventional electric part having the above-mentioned construction is assembled as follows: First, the leaf spring 9 and the insulating substrate 3 are loaded in the casing 1. Next, the shaft 2 is inserted into the slot 1a, which is formed at the other side of the opening 1b of the casing 1, from the side of the opening 1b, the pair of projections 5a of the slider receiver 5 are engaged with the pair of grooves in the casing 1, and the slider receiver 5 is engaged with the shaft 2. Then, the terminal section 3a of the insulating substrate 3 and the connecting section 7a of the external terminal 7 are resiliently clamped by the clip terminal 10, and the return spring 6 is inserted into the groove 11 for housing the spring in the casing 1. Finally, the opening 1b of the casing 1 is closed by the cover 8.
In the foregoing electric part, however, since the shaft 2 must be inserted into the slot 1a located on the side of the casing 1 which is far back from the opening 1b, insertion is difficult, and assembly efficiency is thereby reduced.
The electric part constructed as mentioned above is, for example, attached to a control valve container 12, as a valve opening detecting sensor for use in an exhaust gas recirculator in an engine, through an attachment member 13 or the like, as shown in FIG. 14. The electric part is so attached that the shaft 2 projects into the control valve container 12 and that hermetic sealing is provided between the electric part and the control valve container 12. The shaft 2 moves inward and outward in correlation to the motion of a control valve (not shown) in the control valve container 12.
In such a state in which the electric part is attached to the control valve container 12, the cover 8 covering the opening 1b of the casing 1 is exposed outside. Therefore, even if the opening 1b of the casing 1 is tightly sealed with the cover 8, the sealing state is deteriorated under the influence of long-term changes in the external environment, such as temperature and humidity, dust or the like, whereby the contact between the brush 4 in the casing 1 and the resistor and the current collector on the insulating substrate 3 is made unstable.

Variable resistor having terminal and substrate connected on the opening side of casing