A scrubber or other attachment is removably coupled to a mop, preferably using a coupling on the mop holder, and preferably in a manner that does not interfere with the mop coupling and the handle coupling. The attachment can advantageously include a flexible joint.

The background description includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art or relevant to the presently claimed invention, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
These and all other extrinsic materials discussed herein are incorporated by reference in their entirety. Where a definition or use of a term in an incorporated reference is inconsistent or contrary to the definition of that term provided herein, the definition of that term provided herein applies and the definition of that term in the reference does not apply.
Typical mop devices have a bundle of fabric rags or yarns attached to the end of a mop holder. During a cleaning operation, the operator dips the mop head into a cleaning fluid (e.g., water with dissolved detergent) to absorb some cleaning fluid, and then moves the mop back and forth or in a figure eight motion on a floor surface. This type of cleaning operation can efficiently wipe surfaces and remove loose debris and dirt. However, aggressive scrubbing is required to remove tough ground-in dirt, grease and hardened materials that build up in the grout lines of tiles, accumulate in the pores on the floor surface or adhere to the surface, and (i) the mop head fabric is too soft, and (ii) the contact area between the mop head and the floor surface is relatively large to effectively remove tough, ground-in dirt, grease and hardened materials.
In many applications, a rough and porous floor surface is preferred for certain purposes, such as slip and fall protection. The floor of a restaurant's kitchen is typically made of clay or porcelain tiles with rough porous surfaces to protect people from slipping. To maintain this kind of floor surface, the ground-in dirt, grease and contaminates stuck to or accumulated within the porous surface must be periodically removed by manual scrubbing using a scrub brush with sufficiently hard bristles or abrasive pads. Preferably, a scrub brush or abrasive pad is used on such a floor at least once per day. However, in actual practice, a scrub brush or abrasive pad is used far less frequently, resulting in unnecessarily slippery and contaminated floor surfaces.
Combination mop and scrubber devices have been disclosed. For example, a floor mop having a brush attachment is disclosed in Canadian Pat. No. 737,140. By tilting the handle against the mop holder at different angles, the brush can be placed in contact or out of contact with the floor surface. Although certain advantages have been achieved by this cleaning apparatus, it has several significant disadvantages.
First, the positions of the mop and the brush relative to the floor surface can only be adjusted by tilting the handle against the mop holder. For example, the brush is brought out of contact with the floor surface when the handle is in a vertical position (i.e., perpendicular to the mop holder surface), whereas the brush is moved forward to be in direct contact with the floor surface when the handle is in a substantially horizontal position (i.e., parallel to the mop holder surface). Consequently, the operator must use the cleaning apparatus at different angles between the handle and mopping surface, which can be difficult and uncomfortable. Secondly, the adjustable range of the brush is very limited.
In another example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,124,464 discloses a scrubbing device that is attachable to a mop device. The mop handle and mop holder of the mop device is unfastened to remove and replace the scrubbing device. Once fastened, the mop handle and mop holder act as a clamp to hold the scrubbing device against the mop head. Consequently, considerable effort is required to remove or replace the scrubbing device, and it must be removed and reinstalled every time a mop head is replaced or adjusted, which can be very frequent. Additionally, because of the frequent removal of the scrubbing device, it can easily become lost or broken from repeated clamping and unclamping to the mopping device or simply not be reinstalled.
Thus, there is still a need in the art for an improved mop holder and scrubber device that can be readily adjusted to meet the cleaning requirements of different floor surfaces and that provides a scrubbing attachment that is easily replaceable without a need to remove the mop head from the mop holder, and without requiring removal and reinstallment of the scrubber device every time a mop head is changed or adjusted.

Replaceable scrubbing device attachable to a mop holder


A method and an apparatus for identification of a monitoring signal at a base station in a radio telephone system, in which a number of monitoring signals having different frequencies are used for monitoring the quality of radio links between the base station and mobile stations. The apparatus includes a multipath-type bandpass filter having an adjustable bandwidth for filtering the monitoring signal, the filter being arranged to be adapted to a desired monitoring signal frequency and the bandwidth of the filter being arranged to be narrowed in a steplike manner during the filtration period. An indicator is provided for identifying the monitoring signal on the basis of the level of the bandpass-filtered signal.

The invention relates to a method of and an apparatus for identification of a monitoring signal at a base station in a radio telephone system, in which a number of monitoring signals having different frequencies are used for monitoring the quality of radio links between the base station and mobile stations.
In the Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT) system, the quality of the radio link between a base station and a mobile telephone is monitored by means of special monitoring signals. The base station generates a monitoring signal having a desired monitoring signal frequency. The NMT system utilizes four monitoring signal frequencies at intervals of 30 Hz. The base station transmits a monitoring signal to a mobile telephone which returns the monitoring signal immediately to the base station, and the base station determines the quality of the used radio link, especially the signal-noise ratio, by means of the received monitoring signal.
The base station also measures the frequency of the received monitoring signal to ensure that measures the right mobile station. For identification purposes, it is sufficient to know whether the frequency is the right one or some of the other four possible frequencies. The base station has to identify the frequency of the monitoring signal it has received during one signalling frame, in practice, however, in about 100 ms.
In one prior art solution, the monitoring signal from the receiver of the base station is applied through bandpass and high-pass filters and control switches to a mixer which mixes the received monitoring signal with an injection signal generated by the base station and having a frequency which is at an interval of 60 Hz from the monitoring signal to be received. The output signal of the mixer is applied to a 60 Hz bandpass filter and further through rectifying means to a comparator circuit in which the obtained direct voltage is compared with a preset reference voltage. If the received monitoring signal is the right one, the direct voltage proportional to the signal exceeds the reference value and the state of the output of the comparator circuit is changed. If the received monitoring signal is not the right one, the rectified voltage does not exceed the value of the reference voltage, and the state of the output of the comparator circuit remains unchanged.
A drawback of this prior art method is the deterioration in the S/N ratio occurring in the mixing at low signal levels to be used when noise increases. The narrow 60 Hz bandpass filter accomplished with discrete components is sensitive to variation in component values and thus hampers the adjustment of the reference voltage level. In addition, this prior art arrangement is highly critical with respect to the field intensity, since the greater the amount of noise present in the received monitoring signal, the narrower the bandwidth (and the longer the rise time) required from the bandpass filter, keeping in mind, however, that the measuring time should not exceed 100 ms.

Method of and apparatus for detecting a monitoring signal at a base station in a radio telephone system


The present invention relates to a process for converting an oxygenate in a feedstock to olefins in an olefin-containing effluent. Heat is transferred from effluent to the feedstock. The effluent is then quenched to form a light product fraction and a heavy product fraction. The heavy product fraction is fractionated to form a plurality of fractionated steams, at least one of which is used to heat the feedstock.

The present invention relates to a process for increasing the efficiency of heat recovery and improving heat integration with direct product quenching in the selective conversion of oxygenates to olefins.
Light olefins (defined herein as ethylene, propylene, butenes and mixtures thereof) serve as feeds for the production of numerous important chemicals and polymers. Light olefins traditionally are produced by cracking petroleum feeds. Because of the limited supply and escalating cost of petroleum feeds, the cost of producing olefins from petroleum sources has increased steadily. Efforts to develop and improve olefin production technologies, particularly light olefins production technologies, based on alternative feedstocks have increased.
An important type of alternative feedstocks for the production of light olefins are oxygenates, such as alcohols, particularly methanol and ethanol, dimethyl ether, methyl ethyl ether, methyl formate, and dimethyl carbonate. Alcohols may be produced by fermentation, or from synthesis gas derived from natural gas, petroleum liquids, carbonaceous materials including coal, recycled plastics, municipal wastes, agricultural products, or most organic materials. Because of the wide variety of raw material sources, alcohol, alcohol derivatives, and other oxygenates have promise as an economical, non-petroleum feedstock source for olefin production.
The conversion of oxygenates to olefins takes place at a relatively high temperature, generally higher than about 250xc2x0 C., preferably higher than about 300xc2x0 C. Because the conversion reaction is exothermic, the effluent typically has a higher temperature than the initial temperature in the reactor. Many methods and/or process schemes have been proposed to manage the heat of reaction generated from the oxygenate conversion reaction inside of the reactor in order to avoid temperature surges and hot spots, and thereby to reduce the rate of catalyst deactivation and reduce the production of undesirable products, such as methane, ethane, carbon monoxide and carbonaceous deposits or coke. It would be very useful to have a process that effectively utilizes the heat of reaction contained in the products exiting the oxygenate conversion reactor, optimizes heat recovery, and reduces overall utility consumption in the conversion of oxygenates to olefins. Such a process is environmentally, economically, and commercially more attractive.
In the conventional systems, the oxygenate conversion reaction is predominantly conducted in the vapor phase using feedstocks and diluents that are usually liquid at ambient conditions. This requires supplying substantial heat to the process to boil the oxygenate feedstock prior to introducing it to the reactor, conventionally supplied by steam heat exchange or furnaces. Loss of energy is incurred in these indirect heat exchange methods, and substantial equipment is required. For steam, boilers must be built in addition to a steam/feed exchanger, and construction of a furnace is more expensive and complicated than a traditional heat exchanger. Methods are needed to improve the energy efficiency of the oxygenate conversion process and reduce the cost of providing vaporized oxygenate feedstock to an oxygenate conversion reactor.
Energy efficiency and cost of providing vaporized oxygenate feed is further complicated if utilization of a diluent is desired. The most commonly noted diluent, water/steam as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,714,662, requires substantial energy and equipment cost to generate, but has the advantage of being easily able to separate from desired light olefins (especially ethylene and propylene). Other very commonly noted diluents such as inert gases, including nitrogen, helium and even methane (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,744,680) require no energy or equipment to vaporize, but require extensive energy and equipment to separate from the desired light olefin product. Further, use of diluents can allow high total pressures while providing low oxygenate partial pressures, which can be advantageous in reducing compression energy needed in the overall (including olefin separation and recovery) oxygenate conversion process, but this benefit may be outweighed by the energy costs of boiling and separating of the diluent just noted. Proper selection of diluent composition is also needed to improve the energy efficiency in the overall process and reduce the cost of providing vaporized oxygenate feedstock to an oxygenate conversion reactor.
The present invention provides a process for converting an oxygenate to olefins with increased heat recovery and heat integration, said process comprising: heating a feedstock comprising said oxygenate having a first heat content from a first temperature to a second temperature through from one to about three stages having successively higher heat contents; contacting said feedstock at said second temperature with a catalyst comprising a molecular sieve under conditions effective to produce a deactivated catalyst having carbonaceous deposits and a product comprising said olefins, wherein said molecular sieve comprises pores having a pore diameter smaller than about 10 Angstroms and said product has a third temperature which is higher than said second temperature; quenching said product with a medium at an initial temperature and in an amount sufficient for forming a light product fraction and a heavy product fraction wherein said light product fraction comprises light olefins and said heavy product fraction has a final temperature which is higher than said first temperature by at least about 5xc2x0 C.; using said heavy product fraction to provide heat at one or more of said stages to achieve said higher heat contents.
In another preferred embodiment, the process for converting an oxygenate to olefins comprises providing a feedstock comprising the oxygenate, transferring heat from at least a portion of an effluent of an oxygenate conversion reactor to the feedstock to cause at least a portion of the feedstock to vaporize and form a vaporized feedstock, and contacting the vaporized feedstock at a temperature from about 200 to about 750xc2x0 C. and a pressure from 1 kPa to 100 MPa with a catalyst comprising a molecular sieve having a pore diameter smaller than 10 Angstroms, wherein the feedstock has a boiling range of no greater than about 30xc2x0 C., the oxygenate conversion reactor converts at least a portion of the feedstock into the effluent and the effluent comprises the olefins.
In another preferred embodiment, the process for converting an oxygenate to olefins comprises providing a feedstock comprising the oxygenate and a diluent, transferring heat from at least a portion of an effluent of an oxygenate conversion reactor to the feedstock to cause at least a portion of the feedstock to vaporize and form a vaporized feedstock, and separating the diluent from the effluent, wherein the feedstock has a boiling range of no greater than about 30xc2x0 C., the oxygenate conversion reactor converts at least a portion of the feedstock into the effluent, and the effluent comprises the olefins.
In another preferred embodiment, the process for converting an oxygenate to olefins comprises providing a feedstock comprising the oxygenate and a diluent, transferring heat from at least a portion of an effluent of an oxygenate conversion reactor to the feedstock to cause at least a portion of the feedstock to vaporize and form a vaporized feedstock, contacting the vaporized feedstock at a temperature from about 200 to about 750xc2x0 C. and a pressure from 1 kPa to 100 MPa with a catalyst comprising a molecular sieve having a pore diameter smaller than 10 Angstroms, and separating the diluent from the effluent, wherein the feedstock has a boiling range of no greater than about 30xc2x0 C., the oxygenate conversion reactor converts at least a portion of the feedstock into the effluent, and the effluent comprises the olefins.

Process for converting oxygenates to olefins with direct product quenching for heat recovery


Methods and apparatuses for electrically coupling to percutaneous probes wherein entry angles of the percutaneous probes are controllable. An apparatus in accordance with one embodiment of the invention includes a percutaneous electrode having a first segment with a first sharp end and a second segment with a second end, at least part of the first segment being aligned along an axis and at least part of the second segment being offset from the axis. The apparatus can further include a coupling member having an aperture with a wall portion, at least a portion of which is electrically conductive. The apparatuses include shaped support surfaces, and associated methods wherein a non-planar support surface can more easily match a recipient's skin surface contour for improved comfort and security upon attachment.

Electrical therapy has long been used in medicine to treat pain and other conditions. For example, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) systems deliver electrical energy through electrode patches placed on the surface of a patient's skin to treat pain in tissue beneath and around the location of the patches. The efficacy of TENS systems in alleviating pain is questionable at best, however.
More recently, a technique in which electrodes are placed through the patient's skin into the target tissue has been proposed. Percutaneous Neuromodulation Therapy ("PNT") (also sometimes called Percutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation or "PENS") using percutaneously placed electrodes achieves significantly better pain relief results than TENS treatments using skin surface electrodes. That therapy is described in Ghoname et al., "Percutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation for Low Back Pain," JAMA 281:818-23 (1999); Ghoname et al., "The Effect of Stimulus Frequency on the Analgesic Response to Percutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation in Patients with Chronic Low Back Pain," Anesth. Analg. 88:841-6 (1999); Ahmed et al., "Percutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (PENS): A Complementary Therapy for the Management of Pain Secondary to Bony Metastasis," Clinical Journal of Pain 14:320-3 (1998); and Ahmed et al., "Percutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation: An Alternative to Antiviral Drugs for Herpes Zoster," Anesth. Analg. 87:911-4 (1998). The contents of those references are incorporated herein by reference.
Thus far, PNT practitioners have used percutaneously placed acupuncture needles attached to waveform generators via cables and alligator clips to deliver the therapy to the patient. The foregoing arrangement and design of electrodes and generator are far from optimal. One drawback with some existing PNT techniques is that it can be difficult for practitioners to control the entry angle of the percutaneous electrode during insertion into the patient. As a result, the practitioner may not position the electrode at the most comfortable, convenient, or effective orientation, and accordingly may not deliver treatment in an optimal fashion. Another drawback with some existing PNT techniques is that the electrode can be difficult to manipulate and/or work around, particularly when multiple electrodes are used simultaneously on a relatively small portion of the patient's body. For example, the prior art has not addressed the issue of sharps protection for the patients' caregivers and other bystanders. Another drawback with the foregoing arrangement is that the alligator clips can be cumbersome to operate and can produce unreliable electrical connections. And yet another drawback is that it can be difficult to accurately position the needles in a manner that is secure and still comfortable for the recipient.

Percutaneous apparatus with electrical coupling


A method for transmitting policy information between network equipment, extending protocol types of messages in layer-2, layer-3 or a higher application layer between an IP-uplink broadband user access equipment and a BRAS so as to construct a PITP to bear policy information; a PITP message includes a policy information transmission type field, an operation type field and a policy information content field, and different types of policy information are distinguished by the policy information transmission type field; transmission of the policy information is implemented through a point-to-point means or a broadcast means in layer-2, a unicast or a multicast in layer-3 or a higher application layer. The present invention implements policy information transmission, prevents account intrusions and hacker attacks, makes it convenient for the broadband user access equipment to implement dynamic QoS policy adjustment in terms of different users and makes it easy for integrated managing the online equipment.

With the fast development of the Internet, the number of broadband network users is increasing rapidly. During the procedure of the operators constructing the broadband networks, networking mode has developed from Asynchronous Transfer Mode Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer (ATM DSLAM) to Internet Protocol Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer (IP DSLAM). The uplink of the ATM DSLAM adopts a DSLAM with ATM ports, while the uplink of the IP DSLAM adopts a DSLAM with GE ports or FE ports. Edge service nodes connecting to the DSLAM uplink is Broadband Remote Access Server (BRAS).
With the ever-increasing network scale and the increasing number of network users, security problems are becoming more and more severe. Account intrusions and hacker attacks are becoming more and more intense. In addition, with the prevalence of online movies, video services, online games and IP phones, the requirement for broadband and real-time services are becoming higher and higher, so it is more and more important for the operators to provide different services according to different users or different applications. Therefore, it is an urgent issue for the operators to manage and maintain the online equipment simply, conveniently and efficiently. However, at present the DSLAM cannot communicate with such equipment as the BRAS or policy servers, so other problems will be brought in while resolving the above-mentioned problems. The solutions for solving network security problems, Quality of Service (QoS) implementations, multicast videos, network management and so on, as well as the accompanying problems, will be described in detail.
In terms of the network security problem of the hacker attacks, the primary means in the broadband equipment is to quarantine the user to interdict the user from affecting other users, so that damages to the users are confined in a very small scope. In a DSLAM network framework that adopts the ATM-uplink, the general adopted means is to establish a Permanent Virtual Channel (PVC) from the DSLAM to the BRAS for each Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) user, so that different PVCs are quarantined; in an IP DSLAM network framework, the general adopted means is to allocate a Virtual Local Area Network Identity (VLAN ID) for each user, so that different users are interdicted from visiting one another.
In terms of the network security problem of the account intrusions, the present solution is to bind the account with a port identity and authenticate the legality of the user with the cooperation of a Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS) Server. The port identity of a user is the PVC of the user in the ATM DSLAM; and is the VLAN ID of the user in the IP DSLAM. The PVC of the user or the VLAN ID of the user identifies a unique actual online user. The BRAS captures the authentication message of the user, takes out the account information of the user and sends the account information together with the port information of the user to the RADIUS Server; the RADIUS Server determines whether the account information and the port identity are legal so as to decide whether the user can log on to the network. The port information of the user is the VLAN ID or the Virtual Path Identifier (VPI) and Virtual Channel Identifier (VCI) of the PVC.
The above-mentioned solutions for network security problems in terms of hacker attacks or account intrusions all need to use the user PVC of the ATM DSLAM or VLAN ID of the IP DSLAM. The number of PVC in the ATM DSLAM is determined by the values of VPI and VCI. According to the definition of VPI and VCI in an ATM Cell, at the user network side, VPI is 8-bit while VCI is 16-bit, so 256 (the number of VPI)×65536 (the number of VCI)=16777216 users are supported. The supported number of the users completely satisfies the quantity requirement of the users accessing the DSLAM, so that the user is uniquely identified by using PVC and thus account intrusions and hacker attacks are prevented by using PVC.
However, in terms of the IP DSLAM, most of the networking modes adopting IP DSLAM uplinks are: FE or GE interface uplinks access to BRAS through GE interfaces after being aggregated by LAN Switches. VLAN ID is currently defined as 12-bit and supports 4096 users at most. In other words, if each user is allocated with a VLAN ID, there will be at most 4096 users aggregated at an GE interface; when there are more than 4096 user ports, multiple users will certainly share one VLAN ID, so it is impossible either to avoid hacker attacks by setting a unique VLAN ID for each user, or to avoid account intrusions by binding the VLAN ID with the user account.
The physical port of each user connected to the DSLAM is unique. If a user can be identified through his physical port, the ports and users will be mapped one by one no matter how many users there are.
Similarly, if a user can be identified by his physical port and the physical port of the user can be bound with information such as the address of the user, the problem of hacker attacks can be solved by monitoring whether the user is a hacker through the binding relation.
Services like video services, online movies and VoIP demand that network equipment provide different services in terms of different applications, i.e. implement QoS functions. At present, there are two ways to provide QoS bandwidth guarantee, which are Integrated Service and Differentiated Service.
1. Integrated Service needs to apply for a specific service from the network before sending traffic, and the application is performed by the signaling. Service application programs, such as a VoIP telephone client program, a VOD client program and so on, transmit their own flow parameter and the required specific QoS request to the network through the signaling. The specific QoS request includes bandwidth, delay and so on; the client service application program sends the traffic after receiving a confirmation from the network, i.e. after the network has reserved some certain resources for the service application program; the traffic sent by the service application program should be controlled within the scope described by the flow parameter.
2. Differentiated Service is different from Integrated Service. Signaling is not necessary in Differentiated Service, in other words, the service application program does not need to notify the network before sending out the traffic. According to Differentiated Service, the network only needs to provide service for each message according to the preset service policy or according to the priority of the message entering the network, rather than maintain the status for every flow.
As a multi-service edge node, a BRAS needs to receive Access Control List (ACL) rules and QoS policies that are issued by such policy servers like a RADIUS Server. The BRAS performs QoS policy control upon the received user message according to the received ACL rule and QoS policy. Because QoS is a kind of service based on end-to-end mode, the DSLAM also needs to perform priority control and management of the bandwidth, the delay and the jitter according to the type of the message service. In other words, the DSLAM needs to obtain and process the ACL rule and QoS policy information accordingly. But as layer-2 equipment, the DSLAM is mainly used for aggregating the user ports and transparently transmitting messages from the user ports, and the service processing ability of the DSLAM is too weak to perform policy information interactions with such equipment as policy servers. If the DSLAM is going to support QoS function relying on Integrated Service, the DSLAM needs to run such protocols as QoS resource reserve protocol, which are all based on layer-3 or higher layer protocols and which demand the DSLAM receive and process related protocol messages, but the DSLAM is the layer-2 equipment and the current DSLAM cannot satisfy the above-mentioned requirement; as to Differentiated Service, the DSLAM has to configure ACL and QoS policy by itself, which obviously makes it impossible to implement dynamic QoS policy adjustment according to different users. Obviously, if the BRAS can transmit the ACL rule and QoS policy information to the DSLAM, the above-mentioned problems can be solved.
As a very important service in Triple-play services, the IP TV multicast video service can be implemented by several measures in the existing IP DSLAM-based broadband access network.
1. an IP DSLAM supports IGMP snooping, and a BRAS provides IGMP proxy function. The multicast authority of a user is transmitted to the BRAS through network Element Management System (EMS) or a policy server as a RADIUS Server, and the user authority control is performed in the BRAS. Multicast copy can be implemented through the IP DSLAM that supports IGMP;
2. an IP DSLAM supports IGMP proxy, the multicast authority of a user is directly sent to the IP DSLAM through EMS. The user authority control is performed in the IP DSLAM and multicast copy can also be implemented through the IP DSLAM;
3. an IP DSLAM does not support IGMP protocol, and a BRAS provides IGMP proxy function. The multicast authority of a user is controlled in the BRAS and multicast copy can only be implemented in the BRAS based on the users. The IP DSLAM cannot provide multicast copy function.
Among the above-mentioned three measures, the first measure is applicable basically.
As to the second measure, the operator may utilize an existing RADIUS Server in the network to store the multicast authority information, and the multicast authority information is uniformly issued to the DSLAM by the RADIUS Server instead of being directly issued through EMS. But the existing RADIUS Server in the network generally interacts with the BRAS rather than with the DSLAM, so the existing mechanism cannot transmit the multicast authority information to the DSLAM from the Radius Server.
As to the third measure, the IP DSLAM has no multicast copy function and the copy can only be executed by the BRAS. If more than one user belonging to a same IP DSLAM apply for a same program, the BRAS will copy the same video data flow for multiple times and then transmit the copies to the users. The solution is not accordant with the original intention of the multicast copy mechanism and may lead to severe bandwidth waste of the access network. One solution improving the third measure is that the BRAS transmits the multicast copy information to the IP DSLAM, so that the IP DSLAM will complete the last level copy. The advantage of the improved solution is that the IP DSLAM needs not to support and detect IGMP protocol messages and thus the requirement for the performance of IP DSLAM is not that high.
Besides, the management upon a DSLAM mostly adopts a network manager mode or a command line mode. Either the network manager mode or the command line mode is adopted, each DSLAM needs to occupy a management IP address; as to the command line mode, the management upon a DSLAM demands logging in to the DSLAM to perform operations; while for the network manager mode, each DSLAM is represented as an independent network element in a network manager terminal, and the management is performed in terms of every element. The above-mentioned modes of managing each DSLAM are called distributive management.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method for transmitting policy information between network equipment


A method is provided for identifying colors across illuminants using a processor configured by code executing therein, the method comprising capturing a sample image with an image recording device, the image including pixels resenting a color sample under analysis and a color reference chart. The processor is also configured to execute comparing the color values of pixels representing the color reference chart of the sample image to the pixel values corresponding to a plurality of entries within a plurality of color reference datasets to determine the color reference having the closest match of sample captured in the image. The reference identifier of the color that is the closest match to the sample is then output for further use.

There is often a need to capture the color of a sample and determine the closest match for that color in an existing color database. For example, a user may want to find out the paint color of a wall or piece of furniture. To do so, they might search through the paint manufacturer's fan deck to identify the color. However, such manual identifications are prone to error and are time consuming.
Efforts have been made to use images taken with a camera to identify the color of a sample by searching the color values from a color database. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 8,634,640 to Nina Bhatti et. al. (herein incorporated by reference as if presented in its entirety) teaches a method to select a color palette from a camera image, aided with a reference color chart. In that method, matrix transformations are used to convert images taken with an unknown illuminant to known illuminant, and thus eliminate the need of controlled illumination. In that method, matrix transformation was used to convert unknown illuminant to known illuminant, and thus eliminated the need of controlled illumination. However, depending on the difference between the unknown illuminant and the known illuminant, errors caused by a simple matrix transformation can be very large, and the performance of such a system can thus be poor.
Thus, what is needed in the art is a system that improves upon and advances the technological field of color searching and identification. For example, what is needed are systems and methods that utilize available cameras, such as those in smartphones, to acquire images of a sample and color reference charts under multiple unknown illuminants and use the data captured to identify the sample color from a database of colors. Furthermore, what is needed in the art are systems, methods and computer program products for evaluating color values of an image and searching for the same or similar colors in a collection of colors offered by various color vendors.

Color search using a smartphone and a reference color chart


A machine (1) for dispensing a beverage (100) has: a beverage directing guide (10) for directing by the directing guide (10) beverage (100) to an area (2) for placing a user-recipient; and a beverage processing unit (5) having a unit outlet (51) via which liquid (100,101) is passed from the beverage guide (50) to the directing guide (10) that is located below the unit outlet (51). The directing guide (10) has a flow cavity (10a), a bottom (10b) and sidewalls (10c) such that the bottom (10b) and the sidewalls (10c) delimit the flow cavity (10a). The directing guide (10) has an inflow penetrator (12) for acting on a flow of beverage (100) delivered by the unit outlet (51) onto the penetrator (12) prior to reaching the bottom (10b) of the flow cavity (10a).

Certain beverage preparation machines use capsules containing ingredients to be extracted or to be dissolved; for other machines, the ingredients are stored and dosed automatically in the machine or else are added at the time of preparation of the drink.
Most beverage machines possess within a housing: filling means that include a pump for liquid, usually water, which pumps the liquid from a source of water that is cold or indeed heated through heating means, such as a heating resistor, a boiler, a thermoblock or the like, a brewing unit in which an ingredient is brewed with water or a mixing unit in which ingredients are mixed together, and a beverage outlet for dispensing the prepared beverage. Typically, the beverage outlet is located above a beverage dispensing zone, e.g. above a grid for supporting a cup or other recipient under the outlet and for the passage of drops of liquid from the beverage outlet or other spills into a collector tray located under the grid.
For example, EP 1 440 639 discloses a beverage machine comprising a receptacle stand having a hollow interior forming a drip tray. An upper surface of the receptacle stand is provided with a grill on which the receptacle is positioned. The drip tray is removable from the housing to ease emptying of the collected water. Drip tray devices with cup supports are well known in the art. There are also such devices that are further arranged for allowing the adjustment of the vertical position under the beverage outlet of cups of different sizes. Examples of arrangements in this field are disclosed in CA 2,260,352, EP 0 549 887, EP 1 731 065, EP 1 867 260, FR 2 439 042, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,161,455, 5,353,692 and WO 2009/074557.
WO 2006/050769, WO 2012/072758, WO 2013/127907, WO 2016/050657, WO 2016/083485 and PCT/EP17/075724 disclose various beverage machines having a beverage guide located downstream an ingredient processing module and for managing the beverage.
There is a need to provide a management system of beverages that foam during their preparation such that the dispensed beverage has a controlled foam, e.g. controlled crema when the beverage is coffee.

Beverage preparation machine with foam refinement


A butterfly valve for handling materials where the temperature of the materials flowing through the butterfly valve can exceed the breakdown temperature of the sealing member with the butterfly valve inhibiting contact of hot transportable materials with the sealing member to isolate the hot transportable materials from the sealing member. Cooling conduits maintain at least portions of the valve that contacts the sealing member at a temperature below the breakdown temperature of the sealing member to prevent seal failure.

The concept of butterfly valves with a central disk is known in the art. One such butterfly valve is shown in Steele et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,836,499 and another is shown in Steele U.S. Pat. No. 5,295,659. In both valves a central disk pivots from a transverse or closed position, where the disk extends across a flow passage to block materials from passing through the valve, to an axial or open position, where materials enter one side of the valve and flow laterally alongside the disk face before being discharged from the opposite side of the valve. To seal the valve the disk is positioned in the transverse position and an annular elastomer seal or sealing ring is inflated to engage an edge of the disk to form an annular seal around the periphery of the disk. To pivot the disk to an open condition or flow through condition the elastomer seal is deflated and the disk is pivoted from the closed position to an open position.
One of the difficulties of handling hot material with butterfly valves is that the seals used in the butterfly valves are generally elastomers which have a low breakdown temperature. Often times the breakdown temperature of the elastomer seal is below the temperature of the material being transported. An exposure of the elastomer seal to high temperature materials, even if limited, can cause failure of the seal. Consequently, butterfly valve are used for handling materials that are at temperatures below the breakdown temperature of the elastomer seal to in order to avoid seal failure.


A device (PMD) and a method for measuring the performances characteristics of a communication path of a telecommunication packet switching network (ATM) by transmitting test packets through this path while other live traffic is operating. The test packets are live data communication packets of the live traffic and of which the communication data has been replaced by performance measurement data. No traffic of test packets is thereby added to the existing live traffic and the latter is not disturbed by the measurements.

For the evaluation of the performance characteristics of a communication path, e.g. the bit error rate, the number of packets lost and/or inserted, the delay jitter, etc. . . . , a "measurement traffic" of test packets has to be generated. This measurement traffic is either constituted by test packets added to the existing live traffic of data communication packets or by test packets simulating such live traffic.
In case of addition of test packets, the ratio of these test packets on the live packets must remain very low, e.g. less than one percent, to avoid too much disturbance on the performance characteristics of the live transmission. As a result, a long measurement time is required for establishing the packet loss since the latter is generally of about 10.sup.-8 for a switching network and is calculated by means of the test packets only.
In case of simulation, real time traffic generators or sources are simulated by mathematical models, e.g. by Gaussian or exponential distributions, and to obtain reliable results the simulated test packet stream must resemble as much as possible the live traffic. This resemblance is however not obvious to obtain in practice.

Performance measurement system for a telecommunication path and device used therein


Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to managing admin-controlled access of external resources to group-based communication interfaces associated with an organization, via a group-based communication system including APIs for improved external resource permissioning, provisioning, and access handling. Embodiments include methods, computer program products, apparatuses, and systems configured to receive an external resource access request, determine an organization identifier, obtain an admin response indication, set an external resource permission status for the external resource based on the admin response indication, and cause rendering of the requested group-based communication interface based on the admin response indication. Embodiments further relate to provisioning and handling requests for services associated with an external resource by managing one or more single-interface access tokens linked to a multi-interface access token.

A communication system may manage access of an external resource to various communication interfaces. To access a particular communication interface, external resources may require approval by an administrator user associated with an admin account of the communication interface. However, such an approval process may quickly become overwhelming for an organization associated with tens, hundreds, thousands, or more of communication interfaces, when managed on an individual communication interface level. An external resource may additionally be required to manage significant amounts of authentication information, such as authentication tokens, for accessing various communication interfaces. Applicant has identified a number of deficiencies and problems with managing access of an external resources to one or more communication interfaces via a communication system. Through applied effort, ingenuity, and innovation, many of these identified problems have been solved by developing solutions that are included in embodiments of the present disclosure, many examples of which are described in detail herein.

Managing admin controlled access of external resources to group-based communication interfaces via a group-based communication system


The present invention is generally related to methods for use in connection with network-based messaging systems and related systems. In accordance with a particular embodiment, the method includes receiving a call at the network-based messaging system and providing a notification to a subscriber of the network-based messaging system that the call has been received and that a message for the subscriber is to be recorded. The subscriber is located remotely from the network-based messaging system. In accordance with another particular embodiment, the system includes a computer server and a notification module. The computer server is associated with the remote subscriber terminal and includes a voice message storage unit to store voice messages. The notification module is to notify the remote subscriber terminal when a call is received at the computer server and when a voice message is to be recorded.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method and system for use in connection with a network-based messaging system and a remote subscriber terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Network-based messaging systems, such as voice-mail systems have been replacing stand-alone answering machines that connect to an individual subscriber telephone. Such network-based messaging systems offer many advantages over stand-alone answering machines, including advanced voice-mail features such as remote message retrieval and user convenience. However, one advantage of the stand-alone answering machines over network-based messaging is that the user can monitor an incoming message in real-time and determine if they want to intercept the message and engage in a conversation with the caller (i.e., call screening). Conventional network-based messaging systems have not offered a call screening feature.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved network-based messaging system and method to provide real-time call screening.


A system for deterministic trajectory selection based on uncertainty estimation includes a set of one or more computing systems. A method for deterministic trajectory selection includes receiving a set of inputs; determining a set of outputs; determining uncertainty parameters associated with any or all of the set of inputs and/or any or all of the set of outputs; and evaluating the uncertainty parameters and optionally triggering a process and/or action in response.

In order for a system to achieve level 4 autonomy by removing the driver, it needs to be able to detect its own failures and self-enforce its Operational Design Domain (ODD). Many current systems and methods for autonomous driving use data-driven approaches and deep neural networks. While these approaches are advantageous in replicating human behavior (e.g., creating naturalistic driving trajectories as shown in FIG. 11), there are numerous limitations to these approaches, namely that they do not intrinsically provide an accurate estimate of the certainty of their outputs as compared to some classical methods (e.g., Kalman Filters). Additionally, many deep networks lack a general robustness to perturbations in their input space. This causes machine-learning-based methods to be difficult to implement in safety-critical applications, as there is always a risk that incoming data will lie outside the training set's distribution and thereby produce undefined behavior for the vehicle. As such, a learning-based method could fail without warning when presented with a novel scene and/or without an accurate understanding of the uncertainties in their outputs. While a classical fallback or emergency routine could be triggered as a response, this requires the failure to be known, and can be disruptive or dangerous to other drivers on the road.
Thus, there is a need in the autonomous vehicle field to create an improved and useful system and method for deterministic trajectory selection based on uncertainty estimation for an autonomous agent.

Method and system for deterministic trajectory selection based on uncertainty estimation for an autonomous agent


An inkjet head driving method is a method for driving an inkjet head having a property in which heat is generated when a drive waveform is applied to a piezoelectric element section connected to a plurality of discharge nozzles. Based on drawing data, a discharge waveform, which is a drive waveform that causes discharging of ink, is applied to a driven nozzle for discharging the ink in a predetermined drive cycle, and a non-discharge waveform, which is a drive waveform that does not cause discharging of the ink, is applied to a non-driven nozzle other than the driven nozzle in the predetermined drive cycle.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a drive method and drive device for an inkjet head that selectively discharges ink from a plurality of discharge nozzles to perform recording based on image data.
2. Related Art
A known prior art drive device for an inkjet head is provided with a drive signal generating part that generates a drive waveform for discharging droplets from a plurality of nozzles, a data storage unit for storing rows of data specifying whether to enable discharging of each discharge nozzle, and a selector for selecting driven nozzles to which a discharge waveform is to be applied based on the rows of data (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2004-262057). The discharge nozzles have a nozzle drive section, and discharge droplets when the discharge waveform is applied to the nozzle drive section.

Inkjet head drive method and inkjet head drive device


The invention provides microfluidic devices, systems, and methods for manipulating an object within a channel of a microfluidic device using an external electrode. The device has a channel disposed within the device, the channel having no included electrodes. The channel has a wall, at least a portion of which is penetrable by an electric field generated external to the device, the wall being penetrable such that the electric field extends through the wall portion and into a region within the channel. The system includes the microfluidic device and an electrode external to and not bonded to the device. In the method, the external electrode is placed adjacent to the device and energized to generate an electric field that extends through the wall of the device and into the channel, thereby manipulating an object within the channel.

Droplet microfluidics is an area of increasing interest for high-throughput bioanalysis. An aqueous droplet suspended in a bio-inert medium such as fluorocarbon oil can be considered a "nanoreactor," isolated from the environment, in which an experiment can be performed on a minimal amount of biological material. The droplet architecture is ideally suited to performing measurements on single cells and eliminates the possibility of cross-contamination with other cells. The small volume of a droplet is also advantageous as it avoids excessive dilution of the bio-content of a cell. Most important, the high throughput of hundreds or even thousands of droplets per second enables meaningful statistics in single-cell studies and studies of other material contained within a droplet.
A key component in such processing is the ability to actuate the droplets with precision in both space and time. This can be accomplished by combining hydrodynamic flow for high speed transport with dielectrophoresis (DEP) for slower but precisely controlled transport along arbitrary paths. In dielectrophoresis, a force is exerted on a dielectric particle when it is subjected to a non-uniform electric field. All particles exhibit some dielectrophoretic activity in the presence of an electric field regardless of whether the particle is or is not charged. The particle need only be polarizable. The electric field polarizes the particle, and the resulting poles experience an attractive or repulsive force along the field lines, the direction depending on the orientation of the dipole. The direction of the force is dependent on field gradient rather than field direction, and so DEP occurs in alternating current (AC) as well as direct current (DC) electric fields. Because the field is non-uniform, the pole experiencing the greatest electric field will dominate over the other, and the particle will move.
Thus, dielectrophoresis can be used to transport, separate, sort, and otherwise manipulate various objects. In the prior art, such manipulations have typically been accomplished using microfluidic devices that have electrodes deposited within the channels of the device. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,203,683 to Austin et al. teaches a microfluidic device for trapping nucleic acids on an electrode by dielectrophoresis, thermocycling them on the electrode, and then releasing them for further processing. The device includes a microfluidic channel that has field electrodes positioned to provide a dielectrophoretic field in the channel and a single trapping electrode positioned in the channel between the field electrodes.
According to Austin et al., the device is fabricated by forming the channel and included electrodes on a surface of a substrate and then covering that surface with a coverslip. The resulting electrodes are fixed within the channel and are an integral part of the device. As a result of using this typical method of electrode formation, dielectrophoretic manipulations can take place only in the specific locations defined by the fixed electrodes, and the electrodes are discarded along with the used device. As platinum is the particularly preferred electrode material specified by Austin et al., the electrodes can add significant cost to a disposable device.
In performing dielectrophoretic manipulations, it would be desirable in many applications to have the ability to apply electric fields at arbitrary locations within a microfluidic device rather than only at predefined locations where electrodes are deposited during fabrication of the device. Further, it would be advantageous to eliminate the cost of included electrodes to be used in dielectrophoresis in a microfluidic device, thereby providing a less expensive disposable device.

Manipulation of objects in microfluidic devices using external electrodes


Methods of forming fine patterns for semiconductor devices are provided. A method may include sequentially forming a lower layer and a mask layer having first openings on a substrate, forming pillars to fill the first openings and protrude upward from a top surface of the mask layer, forming a block copolymer layer on the substrate with the pillars, performing a thermal treatment to the block copolymer layer to form a first block portion and second block portions, removing the second block portions to form guide openings exposing the mask layer, and etching the mask layer exposed by the guide openings to form second openings.

In order to realize a highly-integrated semiconductor device, it may be necessary to have a method of forming fine patterns. For example, to integrate more and more devices in a given area, a size of each pattern should be as small as possible. In other words, patterns should be formed in such a way that a pitch thereof or a sum of a width of each pattern and a space between adjacent two of the patterns is reduced. However, as semiconductor device design rules are drastically reducing, resolution in a photolithography process is being stretched to the limit, and thus, it becomes more and more difficult to form patterns having a fine pitch.


The present invention is directed to a self-emulsifiable isocyanate-terminated prepolymer, having an average NCO functionality of from 2.0 to 3.5, which is prepared from: (a) a polyisocyanate mainly composed of at least one of aliphatic polyisocyanates, alicyclic polyisocyanates, and aromatic polyisocyanates, (b-1) a hydrophilic surfactant having at least one active hydrogen group capable of reacting with an isocyanate group, and (b-2) an aliphatic compound of 8 or more carbons, and/or a fatty acid ester in which the total of the carbons of a starting fatty acid and a starting hydroxyl-group-having compound is 8 or more, the aliphatic compound and the fatty acid ester having at least one active hydrogen group capable of reacting with the isocyanate group.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a self-emulsifiable isocyanate-terminated prepolymer. More particularly, the present invention relates to a product which is suitable for an aqueous coating composition, and is suitable for an additive to an aqueous adhesive composition based on a water-soluble polymer and/or an aqueous emulsion.
2. Related Background Art
An example of a known self-emulsifiable polyisocyanate composition is a polyisocyanate composition which comprises (a) at least one aliphatic polyisocyanate and (b) a quantity of emulsifier which is sufficient to render component (a) dispersible in water or which is a reaction product of an aliphatic polyisocyanate with a nonionic polyalkylene ether alcohol as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,663,377. It is well-known that such self-emulsifiable polyisocyanate compositions are added to acrylic resin solutions, synthetic rubber solutions, polyurethane solutions, etc. for the purpose of improving water-resistance, heat-resistance, and adhesiveness.
Known self-emulsifiable polyisocyanate compositions, however, are disadvantageous in that the stability of the aqueous dispersion thereof and the chemical stability of the isocyanate group in the dispersion are not simultaneously achieved. In other words, when the polyisocyanate compound is modified to have higher affinity to water for the purpose of improving the dispersibilty in water, the isocyanate groups become more reactive to water. Thus, the isocyanate-group content in aqueous dispersion decreases with lapse of time. The decrease of the isocyanate-group content changes the properties of the composition employing the polyisocyanate compounds. On the contrary, when the polyisocyanate compound is modified to have longer pot life, the dispersibility of the compound in water becomes poor and the composition is not capable of improving sufficiently the properties of the composition employing the compound. Therefore, a self-emulsifiable polyisocyanate compound is strongly demanded which is sufficiently stable and usable for a long time in water dispersion.
After comprehensive study, it was found that both of the water dispersion stability of a polyisocyanate compound and the chemical stability of the isocyanate group in water are simultaneously achieved by introducing to the polyisocyanate compound a hydrophilic chain like a polyalkylene ether alcohol as conventionally conducted and additionally introducing thereto a lipophilic chain of an appropriate chain length in a well-balanced ratio to protect the isocyanate group surface-chemically. The present invention has been completed based on the above findings.

Self-emulsifiable isocyanate-terminated prepolymer, and aqueous coating composition and aqueous adhesive composition employing the self-emulsifiable isocyanate-terminated prepolymer


Forming a fin, where the fin includes a nanowire stack on a semiconductor substrate, where the nanowire stack includes a plurality of silicon layers and a plurality of silicon germanium layers stacked one on top of the other in an alternating fashion, removing a portion of the fin to form an opening and expose vertical sidewalls of the plurality of silicon layers and the plurality of silicon germanium layer, and epitaxially growing a source drain region/structure in the opening from the exposed vertical sidewalls of the plurality of silicon layers and the plurality of silicon germanium layers, where the source drain region/structure substantially fills the opening.

The present invention relates, generally, to the field of semiconductor manufacturing, and more particularly to fabricating field effect transistors.
Complementary Metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology is commonly used for field effect transistors (hereinafter "FET") as part of advanced integrated circuits (hereinafter "IC"), such as central processing units (hereinafter "CPUs"), memory, storage devices, and the like. As demands to reduce the dimensions of transistor devices continue, nanosheet FETs help achieve a reduced FET device footprint while maintaining FET device performance. A nanosheet FET includes a plurality of stacked nanosheets extending between a pair of source drain epitaxial regions. Each nanosheet is a channel and may be referred to as a nanowire. A gate all around nanowire or nanosheet refers to a gate which surrounds all four vertical surfaces of the nanosheet FET.
Growing the source drain epitaxial region with a larger lattice constraint introduces stress in the channel which boosts transistor performance, allowing for a relatively higher circuit speed and higher current. Growing the source drain epitaxial region with a larger lattice constraint is desired for improved transistor performance.

Strained nanowire transistor with embedded epi

International Business Machines Corporation


An inkjet printhead is disclosed which has a cavity unit. The cavity unit includes: a nozzle film in which a plurality of ink-ejecting nozzles are formed; a first plate member which is attached to the nozzle film on a first side face thereof, and in which a through-hole is formed for use in formation of each nozzle in the nozzle film; and a second plate member which is attached to the nozzle film on a second side face thereof which is opposite to the first side face. The second plate member is substantially identical at least in linear thermal expansion to the first plate member, and includes an opening which is larger than each nozzle, and which is disposed at a position corresponding to a position of each nozzle.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an inkjet printhead and a method of manufacturing the inkjet printhead.
2. Description of the Related Art
Typically, an inkjet printhead is constructed to eject ink droplets onto the surface of a print medium such as a print paper, to thereby print or record the desired image on the print medium.
In addition, an inkjet printhead is in general manufactured such that an ink repellent coating or hydrophobic coating is applied to and formed on an area of the inkjet printhead which faces or confronts a print medium, for preventing unwanted attachment of ink droplets to the area.
Conventionally, in manufacturing an inkjet printhead, a hydrophobic coating is applied to and formed on a nozzle-containing face or nozzle face of the inkjet printhead for avoiding unwanted attachment of ink droplets to the nozzle face. The inkjet printhead includes a nozzle film, one of both faces of which faces a print medium and which contains a plurality of nozzles. The one face is referred to as "nozzle face."
Such a hydrophobic coating tends to be easily scratched or damaged due to sliding contact occurring between the hydrophobic coating and an edge of a warped print paper or a jammed print paper. The event is referred to as "paper-caused abrasion" in the art.
If the hydrophobic coating is damaged in areas thereof which are in the vicinity of the nozzles, then ink droplets are attached to the areas surrounding the nozzles, resulting in drawbacks such as miss-firing (non-firing, jet misdirection, or the like) of ink droplets, or contamination of the surface of a print paper with ink droplets.
Under these circumstances, techniques have been previously proposed for preventing the hydrophobic coating which has been applied to the nozzle face, from being damaged due to contact with a print paper or the like. These techniques include a technique of countersinking or recessing the nozzle film in the vicinity of the nozzles, and a technique of attaching a separate member (protective plate) to the nozzle face. See Japanese Patent No. 3060526 and Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei 5-201000, for example.

Inkjet printhead with sandwiched nozzle film and method of manufacturing the same


An unthreading apparatus is set forth which includes upper and lower mandrels which thread together at a threaded connection which is made of threads having the same pitch as the pipe making up the drill string. There is an internal stem or shaft passing through the upper and lower mandrels. The shaft is provided with upper and lower cylinders, thereby enabling fluid under pressure to be introduced into the cylinders to drive the shaft to and fro. Through a ratchet type mechanism, shaft movement is converted into an unthreading motion for the two mandrels and they unthread, coupling unthreading action to the pin and box at a threaded joint in the drill string above the sticking point of the drill string. This enables the present apparatus to unthread at a particular location because it is locked at that location to straddle a particular threaded joint.

The present disclosure is directed to a drill pipe unthreading apparatus and particularly one which finds use in unthreading drill pipe which has become stuck. Assume, for purposes of illustration, that a drill string is in a well borehole and has drilled to 10,000 feet. Assume further, for purposes of description, that the drill pipe is stuck at a depth of 9,000 feet along the drill string. Sticking can arise as a result of many difficulties such as collapse of the hole, perhaps drift in the direction of the well which leads to key seating, or other conditions. When it becomes stuck, one procedure in retrieval is to rotate in the counterclockwise direction with the hope that the drill string will unthread above the stuck location. Sometimes, a bumper sub is threaded to the retrieved portion of the drill string with a hope that it can be threaded to the remaining string of pipe in the well to enhance jarring action. Obviously, the bumper sub should be as close as possible to the stuck point. If the drill string is stuck at 9,000 feet, and each drill pipe is precisely thirty feet in length, this means that 300 joints of pipe are above the stuck point. The pipe is hopefully unthreaded at the joint above by operating the rotary drilling rig in the opposite direction. Regrettably, unthreading can occur at any of the 299 threaded connections joining the 300 joints of pipe. It is highly desirable that unthreading occur at only one location. One approach heretofore has been to position a smaller pipe inside the drill pipe equipped with a ratchet mechanism having teeth which grip the inside of the drill pipe. This smaller pipe is rotated in the wrong direction to unthread the drill pipe. However, the smaller pipe yields somewhat due to elasticity of the metal of the small pipe string. It is therefore difficult to control the location of unthreading. The present disclosure is directed to a tool which can be lowered to any particular depth in the stuck pipe to thereby unthread the two pipe joints making a threaded connection in the drill string.
The two pipes are thus unthreaded with the assistance of the present apparatus. It operates so that unthreading torque is applied just at the single threaded connection. Relatively speaking, because either the pin or the box can be viewed as fixed, the other is rotated in the opposite direction to assure unthreading. This present apparatus spans that threaded connection and is therefore able to limit unthreading to that particular location. This can be accomplished without applying any torque whatsoever to the other portions of the drill string so that the remaining 298 threaded connections are not unthreaded. The unthreading apparatus of the present disclosure thus accomplishes unthreading at a particular location.
One of the helpful and preliminary steps is to determine the location at which the pipe is stuck. A free point indicator can be used to determine the point at which the drill string is stuck. Typically, sticking occurs in a region or at a location that can be precisely located. The present apparatus is therefore a system which can be lowered inside the stuck drill string and lowered to the region of sticking. It is lowered to that depth and then raised to the next joint thereabove. That is, it is finally located in the drill string where it straddles the pin and box threaded joint immediately above the stuck location so that unthreading can be accomplished at that joint. The present apparatus is ideally lowered on a relatively small gauge tubing string sometimes known as a spaghetti string and it is connected with the present apparatus to deliver fluid under pressure. By means of an appropriate valving apparatus fluid is applied first to one end and then to the opposite end of the tool to initiate reciprocation of an elongate shaft therein. This shaft is cooperative with upper and lower mandrels. These mandrels are threaded together at a threaded connection which has the same pitch as the pin and box connection making up the drill string. However, the upper and lower mandrels thread together with a larger number of threads so that the ultimate step of unthreading is accomplished between the pin and box in the drill string matched by unthreading in the present apparatus which, however, does not come apart because the number of threads in the threaded connection between the upper and lower mandrels is greater.
A valve is included which provides fluid for reversing the position of the shaft. As the shaft reciprocates to and fro, unthreading between the upper and lower mandrels occurs in ratcheting motion with a specified angular rotation for each stroke of the shaft. The upper and lower mandrels are gripped by wedging members, sometimes known as dogs, which hold against the drill string above and below the threaded joint so that unthreading is accomplished. After unthreading is finished, an upward pull on the drill string retrieves the unthreaded portion above the unthreaded joint and leaves the stuck lower portion. The tool of the present disclosure is released, unlocked, and retrieved from the borehole.
The present apparatus straddles a particular threaded joint to assure that unthreading occurs at that location. Unthreading is accomplished without applying any torque to the drill string from the surface. Unthreading is accomplished at the selected joint by means which applies the unthreading torque immediately adjacent to the joint, reversing the connection for unthreading to assure safety. This avoids the risk of partially unthreading many joints along the unstuck portion of the drill string.

Drill pipe downhole unthreading apparatus