A transaction settlement system and method for internet and other trading over a telecommunications network. Customer computers and merchant computers are connected to customer account servers and merchant account servers respectively, the former maintains a customer account and conducts the financial aspects of the transaction with the merchant server without revealing the customers identity. The sequence of the messages are such that once in message M4, the customer computer instructs the customer accounts server to accept the transaction and the customer accounts server accepts it, the customer accounts server deals with the merchant accounts server to settle the account in accordance with agreed procedures. The merchant can have surely of payment. There is also provided methods to deliver coupons, e.g. discount coupons and to ship goods with anonymity.

There are many payment systems available. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,920,847 (Visa) describes a bill payment system wherein participating consumers pay bills to participating billers through a payment network operating according to preset rules. Many use various forms of payment message. It is also known to provide systems where there are secret passwords or the like used to authenticate the payments and in particular, the payment of transactions in electronic commerce, such as, for example, described in PCT Patent Specification No. WO 98/14921 (Certco LLC). Other systems have been directed towards providing a method of making small payments, referred to as micropayments, for trading on the internet. A typical example of such a patent specification is WO 99166436 (Protx Limited).
There are many methods of trading over the Internet and the present invention is not directed to such methods, whether they be quotations systems, brokering systems, methods of filling and replenishing shopping baskets, and so on.
Presently, there are numerous systems for trading on the Internet. The most common form of settling a payment between a customer and a merchant is with the customer using a credit card. The customer gives the merchant the customer's credit card details in order to effect a transaction. Essentially, before a merchant can get paid, the merchant has to check that the credit card is valid and that further, the person using the credit card is the authorised person. Generally, this is carried out by the merchant authorising the transactions with some clearing or authorising agency. The merchant, if the merchant is to be paid must validate the identity of the card holder before concluding the transactions, otherwise, the merchant may be liable for any fraud that may be committed. Merchants cannot carry out authentication of every transaction and therefore suitable checking does not occur in practice. Many transactions are only validated in batch by a clearing or acquirer bank later than the trade was carried out or alternatively, merchants accept the validity or at least assume the validity of a credit card number proffered when the value of the trade is below some predetermined amount. These systems leave the merchant wide open to fraud and to abuse by those wishing to carry out a trade with the merchant using a stolen credit card number. It is important to appreciate that it is only the number that needs to be stolen. This, therefore, leads directly to the problem for the consumer in that, if the consumer releases his or her credit card number, they have no control subsequently on a third party illegally using that credit card number in Internet trading.
Due to the explosion of Internet trade recently, fraudulent use of credit cards has become a problem. Because the Internet shields the identity of the person using the credit card, all that is required is that a fraudster acquires the details of a valid credit card. These details can then be used, as suggested above, to purchase goods and services below a specific monetary value without detection. Several security systems have been developed to combat this problem, including complex encryption methods, certification systems and third party verification systems. None of these systems can prevent all types of fraud and most only act as a confidence builder for the customer. Currently, because of inefficiencies with regard to time delay and because of the cost and effort in effecting authorisation and authentication, the majority of systems are implemented such that transactions below a certain value bypass most of the security systems. A problem associated with complex security systems used to prevent fraud is that they add to the cost of and delay the completion of each transaction. They require the card holder to supply to the merchant personal details of the customer that restrict the ease of use of these security systems. It is off-putting and time consuming for the customer to enter all these details. Another problem for the customer is that the security systems introduce a delay for the customer which can be quite annoying and infuriating for the customer trying to effect a trade on the Internet. This tends to discourage people carrying out transactions on the Internet.
Another problem associated with effecting transactions on the Internet is the fact that any transaction conducted over the Internet costs some amount of money for the credit card company, the cost being a transaction cost rather than a percentage of the value of the transaction. This means that there is a break even point for the credit card company below which the transaction does not make a contribution. This makes credit card payments on the Internet unsuitable for a large number of small value transactions. Another problem associated with effecting transactions on the Internet is the high incidence of disputed payments. Again, these are a source of considerable cost to the financial institution. These may result from fraud, error or even forgetfulness.
One of the effects of the amount of card not present fraud is that consumers are more and more reluctant to disclose their credit card number during this type of trading. There have been too many instances where third parties, not necessarily the merchant, have perpetrated such crimes. In some cases there have been fraudulent merchants who have used a consumer's credit card number to subsequently deliver additional goods to the credit card user, which additional goods the credit card user often has extreme difficulty in returning or refusing to pay for. This type of fraud where the merchant supplies additional goods or services to the consumer because the merchant has got the consumer's credit card number, is on the increase. A further problem is that, for example, some employee of a merchant or some other third party may obtain details of a customer's credit card number and even more importantly, may obtain details that are required to authenticate the credit card such as, for example, the consumer's age, address and other personal information that is required by many an acquiring bank before they will clear a credit card transaction over a certain amount. Thus, the consumer, in addition to not wishing to disclose his or her credit card number, is now extremely reluctant to disclose those personal details which would allow the consumer to be more closely identified and even more so, to have their credit card number more easily authenticated.
In some ways, these problems are exacerbated, as mentioned above, in relation to small amounts of money. People wish to use the Internet to trade but they wish to do it simply and efficiently. If you have to carry out the same transaction procedures and the same authentication to have a payment for a minor sum of money cleared, as you do for a major amount, then using this form of credit card payment over the Internet becomes virtually unworkable. It is too cumbersome for the consumer and too expensive for the merchant and financial institutions.
A further problem for the consumer which is not necessarily directly related to fraud, although obviously partially concerned therewith, as explained above, is the question of anonymity. The consumer, for many reasons, may not wish to give his or her name and, even more importantly, address to a merchant. There can be many reasons for this such as, for example, the consumer may not wish other people to know that they have purchased from that particular site or the consumer may not wish to be subsequently bombarded with what is effectively junk mail from that particular merchant. Thus, there are many reasons other than the simple security one whereby the consumer wishes to retain anonymity.
In summary, therefore, the financial institutions want to, as far as possible, have a system that will allow the consumer purchase over the Internet which will be efficient, relatively inexpensive and, as important, profitable for the financial institution. The financial institution does not want to be clearing relative small sums of money for transactions on a regular basis, nor indeed does it want to be accounting individually to a merchant for these small sums of money as the total cost of handling the transactions becomes inordinate. For the merchant, they want to be able to be paid efficiently and effectively. The merchant wants to avoid cumbersome systems that may or may not protect him from fraud. They want to be able to supply the goods and/or services to the customer with the minimal amount of checking and at the same time, with security that they will subsequently be paid.
Finally, the consumer requires anonymity in many instances and further, requires that an efficient and fraud free method of accounting for such transactions be available. Lastly, the customer wants an accounting system which is accurate and transparent.


Various embodiments include a combined cooling and extinguishing system for a motor vehicle, the system comprising: a cooling system circulating carbon dioxide as a coolant, the cooling system including a compressor, an evaporator, an expansion valve; and a condenser; an extinguishing system including a pressure vessel storing compressed CO2; and a control valve connected to the pressure vessel and to the cooling system. The control valve includes a first setting to supply CO2 from the pressure vessel to the cooling system and a second setting to supply CO2 from the cooling system to the pressure vessel.

Cooling systems or air-conditioning units for motor vehicles typically comprise a compressor, an expansion valve, an evaporator, and a condenser. Within the air-conditioning unit there circulates a coolant which can be, in particular, carbon dioxide (CO2). CO2 is also designated as refrigerant R744. Within the air-conditioning unit, the CO2 can be compressed by the compressor. Here, the compressor is typically driven by means of a belt drive which in turn is driven by an internal combustion engine of the motor vehicle. In the case of known motor vehicles, in particular hybrid vehicles, there is an engine stop function employed in order to reduce the fuel consumption of the motor vehicle.
However, the compressor of the air-conditioning unit is, as described above, usually coupled to the belt drive, and therefore the internal combustion engine must run in order to operate the air-conditioning unit. Although there is always present within the air-conditioning unit a certain latent cold, in particular in a mass of a heat exchanger or evaporator of the air-conditioning unit and of the refrigerant, this latent cold is as a rule already consumed after a few seconds and is no longer available for the cooling in particular of an interior of the motor vehicle. In order further to allow a further cooling of the interior and consequently a travel comfort for passengers of the motor vehicle, the internal combustion engine is as a rule started again, thus making it more difficult to save fuel.
Also known are extinguishing systems for motor vehicles, which comprise CO2 as the extinguishing agent. CO2 is particularly suitable for extinguishing smoldering fires of electronic components, liquid fires of crude oil derivatives and solids fires triggered by crude oil derivatives.

Combined cooling and extinguishing system


A three-way mechanical toothbrush includes an angular mechanical toothbrush having a plurality of switches and a charging port disposed on a first end and a toothbrush head disposed on a second end. The toothbrush head provides for three (3) discrete areas of brush bristles with each area capable of multiple directional brushing action.

Everyone knows the importance of brushing his or her teeth to ensure complete dental care. One (1) tool that many use to help ensure proper dental care is the use of an electric toothbrush. Its rapid motion bristles ensure that proper cleaning is accomplished both above the gum line and below as well. However, the cleaning surface is one-dimensional only and only allows for one (1) surface of a tooth to be cleaned at one (1) time. This forces the user to take the proper time to clean each individual tooth surface. This means that those rushed for time or simply those not wishing to take the proper amount of time sacrifice their overall dental health by rushing the tooth brushing process.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a means by which the time needed to brush one's teeth with an electric toothbrush can be reduced. The use of the three-way mechanical toothbrush provides an effective and convenient alternative to conventional electric toothbrushes in a manner which is quick, easy, and effective.


A solar concentrator includes a solid body of a transparent material, which comprises a light coupling-in surface and a light coupling-out surface. A supporting frame and a light-transmitting part are located between the light coupling-in surface and the light coupling-out surface.

FIG. 1 shows a known solar concentrator 101 which is depicted in FIG. 2 by way of a cross-sectional representation. The solar concentrator 101 comprises a light entry face 102 and a ground light exit face 103 as well as a light passage guide portion 104 located between the light entry face 102 and the light exit face 103 and tapering in the direction of the light exit face 103. Reference numeral 105 denotes a light-passage-guide-portion surface which restricts the light passage guide portion 104 between the light entry face 102 and the light exit face 103.
Document EP 1 396 035 B1 discloses a solar concentrator module comprising, on its frontal side, a front lens and, on its rear side, a receiver cell, and, between the front lens and the receiver cell, a reflector which has inclined side walls along at least two opposing sides of the receiver cell, and, in the center of the module, a flat vertical reflector, wherein the sidewall reflectors are shortened such that the ratio between the height H of the generator and the focal length F of the lens lies between 0.6 and 0.9.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A programmably configurable computer network, particularly applicable to small network applications such as home networks, includes a plurality of nodes which may be implemented through wall-box sized components. The nodes may be connected through telephone wires and may also offer telephone connectors at each node. The system may be powered by a high frequency power supply which is isolated from the external telephone system using a low pass filter. In this way, the network can be automatically configured to achieve an efficient and specification compliant topology without requiring rewiring of the building.

This invention relates generally to computer networks and particularly to networks with a relatively small number of nodes.
Computer networks connect computers and other devices together so that various computers on the network can share files, programs and resources. For example, it may be desirable to centralize files on one computer and allow access through the network from other computers. In addition, it may be desirable to share resources such as a printer with a number of computers. All of these functions can be achieved through computer networks. As a result of the advantages of computer networks, home computer networks are becoming more prevalent. Many homes have more than one computer and, for the reasons described above, many users would like to share resources and files among those computers.
Today, some builders provide houses which are pre-wired for such computer network connections. The homeowner merely plugs in the various components into pre-wired wall jacks. However, these pre-wired connections tend to be cost prohibitive for most homeowners.
Networks generally come in two basic types. The most common type uses twisted pair cables and includes what is known as a network hub. The hub includes a plurality of cable connectors so that each computer on the network may be connected to the hub. Some networks use coaxial cables where the cable goes directly from computer to computer without using a network hub.
The Ethernet is a standardized way of connecting computers into a network. The standards for the Ethernet are set forth in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (New York, N.Y.) IEEE 802.3 standard. Most common Ethernet systems today transmit data at a rate of 10 million bits per second. A newer Ethernet version called Fast Ethernet has a bandwidth of 100 million bits per second and is sometimes referred to as 100BaseT. The 10 million bits per second networks are generally called 10BaseT when twisted pair cabling is utilized.
A popular network cable is unshielded twisted pair cable (UTP). Generally, UTP cable connects the Ethernet network by coupling the computers in a star arrangement. At the center of the star is the hub. UTP cable is generally connected to various devices such as computers through UTP connectors called RJ-45 connectors. The RJ-45 connectors are similar to the plug-in connectors used to connect telephones (which are called RJ-11 connectors).
There are a variety of rules for Ethernet connections compliant with the IEEE standard. One of the basic rules is that there may not be more than three hops. A hop is a connection from one device to another. In addition, there are rules with respect to the maximum length of cable. For 10BaseT cable, the maximum length is generally 100 meters. This normally means that about 90 meter runs may be used between nodes assuming 10 meter cables are used to connect a computer or other device to an RJ-45 connector.
While network technology has been applied widely to larger businesses, the cost has been prohibitive in many cases as applied to home and small business applications. A large component of the cost associated with home networks is the need to rewire existing homes to provide the Ethernet connections. Normally, this involves using UTP cabling and RJ-45 connectors to provide a plurality of connection points in different rooms of the house. These connection points are then wired together using the UTP cable to form the network. Usually, in a 10BaseT system, the network would also include a hub.
For existing homes, the wiring expense alone is prohibitive, and even for new homes, the expense is sufficiently great that new homes commonly do not include network wiring.
Thus, there is a continuing need for a network system that avoids the need for extensive rewiring or special network wiring.

Automatically configurable computer network


Protocol conversion is disclosed. A first transaction of a first protocol and a second transaction of a second protocol are accessed. From the accessed transactions, a plurality of protocol conversions are computed. Additional transactions of the first protocol and additional transactions of the second protocol can be accessed, and further protocol conversions applicable between the additional first and the second transactions can be computed. Based on at least some of the applicable protocol conversions, a combined controller that is able to convert between the transactions of the first and second protocols is generated. Instructions that are operable to describe the combined controller are stored in a computer readable medium.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a conventional computer system 140 having a bridge 150 between two busses 160, 170 that have a different protocol from one another. A processor local bus 160 interfaces with the processor, the random access memory 102, and the bus master 162. A peripheral bus 170 interfaces with peripherals, such as a keyboard 106 and a UART 172 (Universal Asynchronous Receiver-Transmitter). The bridge 150 connects the two busses 160, 170 and performs a conversion between the different protocols used by the two busses 160, 170 such that communication between devices on the two busses 160, 170 is possible. Thus, it is useful to be able to provide a conversion between two protocols that differ from one another but have the same notion of information being transported. The example in FIG. 1 is just one use case illustrating an application of a conversion between two protocols that differ from one another but that have the same notion of information being transported.
One of the steps in designing and developing bridges that perform protocol conversion is creation of a description of the bridge at a level of abstraction that is suitable for use by a development tool that allows analysis and verification of the design. For example, if a register-transfer-level (RTL) description of the bridge can be created, then further steps in the design process are greatly facilitated. The RTL description may be input into a synthesis tool, such as Design Compiler™ available commercially from Synopsys of Mountain View, Calif. Among other benefits, the Design Compiler™ tool is able to produce a gate-level design based on the RTL description. However, conventionally the creation of the RTL description of protocol conversion bridges presents several problems.
Conventionally, a description of a protocol conversion that is suitable to synthesize a bridge is typically written by hand. Writing the description of the protocol conversion for the bridge is a very error prone and tedious process, as many factors have to be taken into consideration when making the protocol conversion.
There have been suggestions to automate the process of generating a description of a protocol conversion for a bridge. However, these suggestions have significant limitations. A limitation of at least some conventional techniques is that the protocol conversion is only applicable for a single transaction. Therefore, this solution is incompatible with protocols that use pipelining. A further limitation of conventional techniques of automating the process of protocol conversion is that they are not efficient with respect to timing or storage. For example, one conventional solution requires that the entire transaction that is the subject of the protocol conversion be buffered. Buffering the entire transaction requires a substantial amount of memory to be used in the final bridge implementation; therefore, this solution is not storage efficient. Another conventional solution requires that the protocol on either one of the sides of the transaction be slowed down to wait until the other side has finished. For example, this technique adds more wait states than are needed. This may cause the ready pin to be kept low for longer than is required or the acknowledgement to be asserted later than possible. Thus, this solution is not timing efficient and the communication bandwidth is reduced.
Another application of protocol conversion is protocol insertion. This may be used to create a bridge between the peripheral's protocol and the protocol of a bus to which the peripheral connects. A further complication in this case is that the peripheral may be modeled at a higher level of abstraction than the RTL level. For example, the peripheral may be modeled at the transaction level (TLM). Thus, protocol insertion may be used to refine the communication part of peripherals modeled at a higher level of abstraction (e.g., TLM) to a lower level of abstraction (e.g., RTL) by creating and inserting the interface logic to connect the peripheral to an on-chip-bus. Conventionally, the process of providing the interface between the peripheral and the bus is a tedious and error prone process that is performed manually.

Method of protocol conversion between synchronous protocols that are suitable for synthesis


A system for electronically controlling physical operation of dangerous equipment is provided. The system reads data from an electronic key and controls the flow of electricity, air, water and/or hydraulic fluid, for example, to a piece of dangerous equipment. The system includes electronic keys that store electronic key data and an electronic key reader that reads the electronic key data. The electronic key data analyzer analyzes the electronic key data and produces disconnect control data based on the electronic key data and other information like the status of the dangerous equipment. The system further includes a disconnector that can disable the piece of dangerous equipment based on the disconnect control data. The disconnector can also re-enable the piece of dangerous equipment. When operated in a networked environment, the system can perform actions like logging data, scheduling personnel and material, and performing EDI for pieces of dangerous equipment and related equipment.

Conventionally, disabling dangerous equipment has been controlled, if at all, by physical locks that can be attached to one or more disconnecting devices associated with the dangerous equipment. For example, a large press (e.g., 50 ton press) may require electricity and/or hydraulic fluid to operate. A repair technician will typically have a certain number of locks in his/her toolbox at all times. Such locks will have the repair technician's name or identifying mark on them. Alternatively, a repair technician may need to acquire such a lock from a central repository. When a repair technician, for example, wants to work on the large press (e.g., replace a fitting), the repair technician may employ one such physical lock from. The physical lock has only one key and the repair technician will hold that key. The repair technician will then manipulate a disconnecting device that is operable to disable the operation of the large press, and physically lock that disconnecting device in a physical position that maintains the large press in a disabled state. The physical locks may be distinct and personnel may know that the locks are safety devices and that they are not to remove such locks (e.g., with bolt cutters). Thus, the repair technician can perform the repairs on the large press secure in the knowledge that the press is inoperable. Thus, accidents are avoided.
But such conventional systems suffer from some drawbacks. By way of illustration, there may be a finite number of physical locks for a site. Thus, if the repair technician does not have enough locks in his/her own toolbox, and/or the central inventory of locks is reduced to zero by other technicians working on the site, the technician may not be able to perform a shutdown. Thus, necessary repairs may be delayed or the repair technician may attempt the repair without the dangerous equipment being disabled. By way of further illustration, in a large plant (e.g., 1 million square feet) the physical lock inventory may be located an undesirable distance (e.g., 1 mile) from the location where the device to be locked is located. Thus, there may be delays in acquiring a physical lock, and/or a person desiring to work on a piece of dangerous equipment may forego acquiring the lock, creating an unsafe condition. By way of still further illustration, to repair one piece of dangerous equipment (e.g., a stone crusher), may require other pieces of dangerous equipment to be disabled (e.g., a conveyor). Such other pieces of dangerous equipment may be located in separate physical locations, and such disabling may require the interaction of different personnel (e.g., electrician from electrical union, pipe fitter from pipe fitter union), which can create coordination, scheduling and control problems. By way of still further illustration, there are situations that require a large number of maintenance personnel to work on a single piece of equipment. In this case it become impractical to place many locks on many devices and ensure that the people working on the machine(s) know where each disconnection device and/or lock is located, which creates coordination issues, which can be exacerbated in plants with long lines.
Conventional physical lock systems, which may be associated with traditional paper based record keeping systems, may not promote accurate record-keeping, logging and scheduling. Thus, with conventional systems, opportunities for gathering data that could facilitate data analysis are missed. Thus, there remains a need for an improved system and method to disable dangerous equipment.


A method of displaying a defect appearing on an elongated object conveyed in one direction. The method comprises the steps of scanning the object in the width direction thereof by means of a sensor camera, and obtaining object image data corresponding to the object, processing the object image data, to detect a defect in the object, storing the object image data in an image memory in a scroll manner, stopping the scroll storing of the object image data in the image memory and storing the object image data output subsequently from the sensor camera in the other image memory in response to the detection of the defect, and retaining the object image data including the defect in the image memories as still image data, and displaying the still image data read out from the image memories on a monitor screen as a still image such that the defect is displayed at a predetermined position on the monitor screen.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for displaying a defect and an apparatus therefor. Specifically, according to this method and apparatus, a defect, which appears on an object having a solid-color surface to be recognized, such as paper, film, metallic foil or nonwoven fabric cloth, or on an object having a printed surface to be recognized, such as a gravure or offset printed matter, is detected and displayed on the screen of a monitor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Displaying a detected defect as a still image on a monitor is advantageous in finding the type and shape of the defect and realizing an early countermeasure to the defect. According to a conventional method of displaying a defect, a camera for scanning an object to be displayed (or a monitor camera) is situated on the downstream side of a defect detecting apparatus (including a sensor camera for detecting a defect) in a direction in which the object is conveyed. The signal from the sensor camera is shifted in accordance with the object convey speed, and the monitor camera scans a defective area on the object, whereby the defect is displayed as a still image on a monitor.
According to this method, the moving object is illuminated at the position of inspection, and, in this state, the object is scanned over its entire width by the defect detection sensor camera comprising a linear array image sensor. An image signal from the sensor camera is processed to determine the good/bad condition of the object. When the recognized image is determined to be defective, the position of the defect in the width direction of the object is found. Subsequently, the monitor color TV camera, which is movable in the width direction of the object and is disposed on the defect monitor position on the downstream side of the inspection position on which the sensor camera is placed, is moved beforehand to the position where the defect will pass, on the basis of the defect position information. When the moving object passes the defect monitor position, the TV camera scans the defect while this defect is illuminated by a strobe light source. The resultant image signal is displayed on the screen of the monitor as a color still image.
In the above conventional method of displaying a defect, the defect is scanned by the defect detection sensor camera while this defect is illuminated by the inspection illumination device. The position and emission wavelength of the inspection illumination device are controlled to emphasize the defect. On the other hand, the monitor color TV camera scans the object while it is illuminated by the strobe light source which is different from the inspection illumination device. The position and emission wavelength of the strobe light source, however, are not controlled to emphasize the defect. In addition, the resolution of the monitor color TV camera is lower than that of the defect detection sensor camera, Thus, in some cases, the defect in the field of view of the monitor color TV camera is not clearly picked up.
Furthermore, a slight slip occurs in a pulse generator for detecting the speed of movement of the object, and there is a concern that the defect in the field of view of the monitor color TV camera may not be picked up exactly. Consequently, the operator is unable to understand the exact area on the screen of the monitor where the defect is displayed and has some difficulty in finding the defect, in particular, when the object is a printed matter.

Method and apparatus for displaying defect in central area of monitor


An anti-cancer active substance from Antrodia Cinnamomea, produced from mycelium of Antrodia Cinnamomea by following steps: (1) culturing mycelium of Antrodia Cinnamomea by liquid fermentation; (2) extracting the thus-obtained mycelium with ethanol and concentrating the extracted solution to obtain an ethanol extract; (3) dissolving the ethanol extract in water, and extracting with equal volume of ethyl acetate to obtain ethyl acetate extract; (4) purifying the ethyl acetate extract by silica gel column chromatography using hexane/ethyl acetate gradient as the mobile phase to obtain an eluate fraction g; and (5) purifying the eluate fraction g by silica gel column chromatography using hexane/ethyl acetate gradient as the mobile phase to obtain a specific eluate fraction which could be purified further to obtain the anti-cancer active substance from Antrodia Cinnamomea.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a novel anti-cancer compound identified in mycelium of Antrodia camphorata, the methods of cultivation, and applications of the said compound. To be more specific, the extracted compound is a bioactive anti-cancer compound that can inhibit the proliferation of hepatoma liver cancer cells and provide protection against liver cancer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Antrodia camphorata is a medicinal fungus growing inside the Cinnamomum kanchirai Hayata, Lauraceae trunk, a native species tree found in Taiwan. Antrodia camphorata has been reported to have many medicinal properties including anti-oxidant, anti-inflammation, and anti-cancer properties (Chang and Chou, 2004; Mau, Huang; Huang and Chen, 2004; Song and Yen; 2003; Hseu, Chang, Hseu, Lee, Yech, and Chen, 2002; Shen, Chou, Wang, Chen, Chou, and Lu, 2004 ; Ao et al., 2009). This particular type of fungus was widely used as a treatment drug for liver-associated diseases in traditional medicine. Recently, the anti-cancer activity of Antrodia camphorata, particularly the anti-liver cancer activity, has attracted great interests.
Many compounds identified in Antrodia camphorata were demonstrated to exhibit anti-cancer activities. Lien et al. have purified 4,7-dimethoxy-5-methyl-1,3-benzodioxole from dry fruiting body of Antrodia camphorata and discovered that this compound can inhibit the proliferation of human colon epithelial cells (Lien et al., 2009). In addition, 24-methylenelanosta-7,9-(11)-diene-3β, 15α-diol-21-oic (MMH01), another compound identified in Antrodia camphorata mycelium, was shown to inhibit the growth of human leukemia cancer cells (U937) and pancreatic cancer cells (BxPC3) (Chen, Chou, and Chang, 2009). Aside from their anti-cancer activities, some compounds isolated from Antrodia camphorata have also displayed anti-inflammatory activities. Yang et al. (2009) purified 5 different compounds from Antrodia camphorata which include antroquinonol B, 4-acetyl-antroquinonol B, 2,3-(methylenedioxy)-6-methyl benzene-1,4-diol, 2,4-dimethoxy-6-methyl-benzene-1,3-diol and antrodin D, and found that they can efficiently inhibit NO production and exhibit certain anti-inflammatory effects.
Due to the high medicinal value and slow growth rate of Antrodia camphorata, the fruiting body of Antrodia camphorata is on high demand nowadays. In order to meet with the market demand of this rare fungus, many approaches have been explored and industrial-level production of Antrodia camphorata mycelium by using liquid culture medium has been developed (Shin, Pan, and Hsieh et al. 2006). While the medicinal effects of Antrodia camphorata have drawn much attention, limited studies are available in terms of identification and characterization of these bioactive anti-cancer compounds found in mycelium. Nakamura et al. discovered five derivatives of malic acid and succinic acid from mycelium of Antrodia camphorata, and demonstrated that these compounds have cytotoxic effects on LLC lung cancer cell line and the EC50 are between 3.6 and 20 μg/mL (Nakamure et al., 2004). Studies conducted by Cheng, Huang, Chang, Wang and Lu have suggested that polysaccharides isolated from Antrodia camphorata can suppress angiogenesis by down regulating the expression of cyclin D1 through inhibition of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGF receptor) signaling.
Hepatoma is the leading lethal cause of malignant cancers in China, Taiwan, Korea and south of the Sahara in Africa (Seow, Liang, Leow and Chung, 2001; Kern, Breuhahn and Schirmacher, 2002). Previous studies have shown that mycelium of Antrodia camphorata can protect the liver from damage caused by alcohol, CCl4 and lipopolysaccharides (Dai et al., 2003; Lu et al., 2007; Hsiao et al., 2003; Song and Yen, 2003; Hattori and Sheu, 2006; Ao et al., 2009). Guo et al. have also revealed that mycelium of Antrodia camphorata can reverse the liver fibrosis induced by dimethylnitrosamine, DMN (Guo et al. 2002). Moreover, in vitro study have proved that the extract of Antrodia camphorata mycelium can inhibit the proliferation of hepatoma liver cancer cells and the IC 50 of HepG2 and Hep3B cells are 49.5 and 62.7 μg/mL, respectively (Song, Hsu and Yen, 2005). Pan et al. cultivated the Antrodia camphorata using a 5-ton fermenter and have demonstrated that the extract of Antrodia camphorata mycelium can significantly reduce the IC50 of HepG2 hepatoma liver cancer cells to 4.25 μg/mL (Pan et al., 2008). While accumulated evidence has strongly suggested the anti-hepatoma activities of Antrodia camphorata, the definite bioactive anti-cancer compounds remain unclear. Therefore, to further identify and characterize the bioactive, anti-cancer compounds found in Antrodia camphorata, the inventor(s) have successfully 1) developed a new approach for Antrodia camphorata cultivation and purification, 2) identified the definite bioactive anti-cancer compound and 3) verified its use for anti-cancer treatments.


A plurality of image capturing data time-divisionally exposed by a capturing unit are input, and are divided into synthesis images or motion detection images. A motion amount of the capturing unit at the time of time-division exposure is detected from the image capturing data of the motion detection images, and synthesized image capturing data is generated by synthesizing the synthesis images. Then, a vibration of the synthesized image capturing data is corrected based on a divide pattern indicating divisions, and the motion amount.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and image processing method, which corrects a blur of image capturing data that occurs due to vibration.
2. Description of the Related Art
A digital image easily allows an enlarged-scale displays to be displayed over 100% when using a personal computer. In an enlarged image, an image blur caused by even the slightest camera shake will stand out. For this reason, as image capturing devices for digital cameras gain higher resolutions, a process for correcting a camera shake that occurs at the time of imaging has received a lot of attention.
An image-stabilization method includes those implemented by hardware and software. In the hardware method, a gyro sensor is mounted on a camera, and the effects of a camera shake are eliminated by driving a lens and image capturing device to cancel vibrations of the camera during exposure based on an output signal from the gyro sensor. An image-stabilization method by means of a lens optical system is described in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-214657.
The hardware image-stabilization method poses problems about an increase in number of components and that in manufacturing cost. When a similar function is to be implemented in an inexpensive digital camera, a software image-stabilization method is demanded.
In the software image-stabilization method, a method of synthesizing an image obtained by short exposure (to be referred to as a short exposure image hereinafter) and that obtained by long exposure (to be referred to as a long exposure image hereinafter) has been proposed (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-258351). Also, a method of acquiring a plurality of short exposure images, and synthesizing these images has been proposed (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 2006-74693 and 2006-86762).
The method of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-258351 corrects high-frequency components of the long exposure image using the short exposure image to recover an image blur. The method of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-74693 aligns a plurality of short exposure images obtained by time-division exposure, so as to reduce their difference, and synthesizes these images, thereby recovering an image blur. Likewise, the method of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-86762 synthesizes a plurality of images after blur correction while aligning their positions, thereby recovering an image blur.
However, the methods of Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 2006-74693 and 2006-86762 suffer the following problems. In order to appropriately recover an image blur, a plurality of short exposure images are appropriately synthesized according to their displacement amounts. In other words, the appropriate image blur recovery process requires the accurate acquisition of displacement amounts. Therefore, a vibration amount between a given short exposure image and that captured immediately before or after that image has to be calculated. However, a process for accurately calculating a vibration amount and that for deforming and synthesizing images in correspondence with the vibration amount require very high calculation cost, resulting in a continuous shooting speed drop and a decrease in number of image capturing data that can be buffered.

Information processing apparatus and method for correcting vibration


The present invention is a class of semi-permeable polymeric membranes and processes for using such membranes to separate one or more components of a gas mixture. The membranes are formed from aromatic polyimides derived from reaction of a 9,9-bis-(3,4-dicarboxyphenyl)-fluorene dianhydride and at least one aromatic diamine. These polyimide membranes exhibit high gas perm-selectivities and are especially useful in effecting the separation of oxygen and nitrogen from air.

A need exists in the art for improved polymeric materials that are highly permeable, yet which under certain circumstances, provide selective separation of the components of various gaseous mixtures. Such materials would be especially useful in commercial, non-cryogenic gas separation processes.
Commercial applications utilizing separation devices based on polymeric materials rely, in part, on maximizing the overall gas flux through the membrane. P. H. Kim, et al., J. Appl. Poly. Sci., 34 1761 (1987), reports that the gas flux for a membrane is related to the average space between the polymer chains. In addition, the reference states that overall gas flux is related to the density of the polymer. The success of potential commercial applications depends on the identification of polymers which possess very high flux and good thermo-mechanical properties.
Polymers exhibiting high overall gas flux typically possess low chain-chain interactions as is the case with polymers such as poly(dimethylsiloxane) and poly(4-methyl-1-pentene). Due to low chain-chain interactions, these high flux materials have low glass transition temperatures (Tg). Consequently, these materials require special processing conditions to build in chemical and physiochemical crosslinking if they are to be used in high temperature applications. In contrast, polymers having strong chain-chain interactions typically possess rather high Tg values and usually exhibit rather low gas flux.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,822,202 and 3,899,309; Re 30,351 (1980), disclose a process for separating fluids using a semi-permeable membrane made from polyimides, polyesters or polyamides. The repeating units of the main polymer chain of these membranes have at least one rigid divalent subunit, the two main chain single bonds extending therefrom which are not colinear wherein at least one of the subunits is sterically unable to rotate 360.degree. around such bond. The repeating units also have 50% or more of its main chain atoms as members of aromatic rings.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,705,540 discloses highly permeable aromatic polyimide gas separation membranes and processes for using such membranes. The membranes comprise an aromatic polyimide in which the phenylenediamine groups are rigid and are substituted on essentially all of the positions ortho to the amine functionality and the acid anhydride groups are essentially all attached to rigid aromatic moieties.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,717,393 and 4,717,394 disclose polymeric membranes and processes using such membranes for separating components of a gas mixture. The membranes are semi-flexible, aromatic polyimides, prepared by polycondensation of dianhydrides with phenylenediamines having alkyl substituents on all positions ortho to the amine functionality, or with mixtures of other non-alkylated diamines, some components having substituents on all positions ortho to the amine functionality. The membranes formed from this class of polyimides are stated to exhibit improved environmental stability and gas permeability.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,378,400 discloses gas separation membranes formed from aromatic polyimides based upon biphenyltatracarboxylic dianhydride for separating various gas mixtures. Japanese Patent Applications Nos. 1-194904 and 1-194905 disclose gas separation membranes formed from various polyarylates and polyimides, respectively.
Japanese Patent Applications Nos. 63-190507 and 63-278524 disclose gas separation membranes formed from polyamides characterized as having hydrogen atoms on all ring positions ortho to an aromatic amine functionality or, alternatively, as having a maximum of only one alkyl group located on a position ortho to each amine functionality. Additionally, the teachings of both applications are limited to ortho-alkylated compounds wherein the alkyl group is either methyl or ethyl.
M. Salame, Poly. Eng. Sci., 26 1543 (1986), reports a predictive relationship between oxygen permeability coefficient [(PO.sub.2)] and polymer structure wherein the group contributions of various structural portions of a polymer are equated to P(O.sub.2) values. The presence of an aromatic group, such as phenyl, in place of a methylene (--CH.sub.2 --) group is stated to decrease the P(O.sub.2) values for a pair of comparative polymers.

Membranes formed from rigid aromatic polyimide polymers


Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for index variable bit stream audio files. One of the methods includes repeatedly receiving audio frames of a variable bit rate representation of an audio signal, wherein the variable bit rate representation comprises multiple portions that each represent one or more audio samples of the audio signal, and wherein at least two of the multiple portions have different respective bit rates. For each received audio frame, a position within the audio signal corresponding to the audio frame is determined. A location within an audio file corresponding to the position is determined. A hash value is computed from the determined position. A particular bucket of a plurality of buckets is identified according to the computed hash value. An indexed pair comprising the determined position and the determined location is generated and stored in association with the particular bucket.

This specification relates to audio encoding.
Some digital audio encoding formats are variable bit stream formats (e.g., bit stream formats with variable bit rate). A representation, e.g., an electronic audio file, of an audio signal encoded in a variable bit stream format (e.g., encoded with variable bit rate) has multiple portions of audio samples in which the bit rates of the multiple portions are not all the same. For example, the bit rate is higher for complex portions of an audio signal and lower for less complex portions of the audio signal.
For brevity, such representations of audio signals will be referred to as audio files. However, an audio file need not actually be a file in a file system. Rather, an audio file can be an object stored in any appropriate data storage subsystem, e.g., as a record in a database, as a portion of random access memory, to name a few examples. In addition, an audio file need not contain exclusively audio data. For example, files that also contain encoded video information are also audio files if they contain representations of encoded audio signals.
A decoder can reconstruct an audio signal by decoding an audio file. An appropriate output device, e.g., a loud speaker, can then convert the audio signal into actual sound waves. For brevity, decoding the representation will be referred to as playback. Audio may be, but need not be, generated during playback of an audio file.
Seeking refers to initiating playback at a particular position in the original audio signal, which position will be referred to as a seek position. The seek position can be specified by a time offset or a number of audio frames from the beginning of the original audio signal. For example, a listener may desire to initiate playback of a song encoded in an audio file at 2 minutes and 30 seconds after the start of the song. The listener can do so by providing a seek position corresponding to that point in time of the audio signal.
In order to seek, a decoder must find a location in the audio file corresponding to the seek position. The location within the audio file can be represented as a pointer to an address, as a byte offset from the beginning of the audio file, or in any other appropriate format. The elapsed time that it takes the decoder to find the seek position will be referred to as the seek time.
One way of finding a location corresponding to the seek position is for the decoder to decode portions of the audio file starting from the beginning of the audio file until the seek position is reached. This approach does not scale well because seek times increase proportionally with increasing sizes of audio files, and some applications require near instantaneous seek times.
Generally, for variable bit stream formats there is not a proportional correspondence between the position given by a seek request and a location within an audio file. In other words, halfway through a song in listener time does not generally or predictably correspond to halfway through an audio file in terms of the size of the file in memory.

Indexing variable bit stream audio formats


Methods for controlling the formation of proteinaceous fouling deposits in high temperature evaporators and concentrators as employed in processing steepwater in the wet milling of corn. The methods comprise adding lecithin, or a long chain fatty acid to the steepwater in an amount ranging from about 150 parts per million to about 500 parts per million steepwater.

During the wet milling of corn, fouling of the equipment by protein-containing fluids can occur. The wet milling processing of shelled corn is employed to obtain staple products such as corn oil, dextrose, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, dextrins, dry starches and feeds. The principle steps in the wet milling of corn include steeping, milling, recovering and processing. During the steeping process, corn kernels are softened by soaking in a hot, dilute solution of sulfurous acid (i.e., water/sulfur dioxide). The softened kernels are then passed through grinding mills and separators where the germ is removed and the starch and gluten are separated from the coatset hull and fibers. The starch is then separated from the gluten which is added to the fibrous material and processed into a high protein animal feed. The starch is recovered as dry starch or further processed into dextrose and fructose. The sulfurous acid steepwater initially used to soften the corn contains solubles which are recovered for use in feeds. The steepwater solids are recovered by evaporation and drying. The solids recovered from evaporating and drying the steepwater are used as additives to livestock feeds to enhance their nutritional value.
The deposition of organic, proteinaceous materials in the steepwater evaporators limits throughput and is a bottle-neck in the wet milling corn process. To cope with such organic deposition fouling, such evaporators are typically boiled out with an acid and/or caustic solution. Such boil-out procedures result in undesirable downtime for the equipment. The present invention is directed to a process for controlling deposition in such evaporators so as to minimize the requirement for such boil-out procedures.

Methods for inhibiting the deposition of proteinaceous materials on heat transfer surfaces


Methods, systems, and computer readable media for simulating realistic movement of user equipment in an LTE network are disclosed. According to one method, a logical topology of a long term evolution (LTE) access network is defined that includes defining connections between one or more eNodeBs (eNBs). A physical topology of the LTE access network is defined that includes defining locations of the eNBs and sectors, where the physical network topology is mapped to the logical network topology. One or more problem areas are defined within the physical network topology, where the one or more problem areas include locations where signal quality is degraded. One or more paths are defined through the physical network topology. A traffic profile for a user equipment (UE) device is defined. A plurality of messages is generated for simulating the movement of a UE device along a path through the physical network topology.

As the number of users connected to mobile networks increases, so too does the need to ensure reliable and efficient operation of mobile network equipment. Therefore, mobile network operators typically simulate various network conditions before equipment is deployed in a live network. Simulated network conditions may include, for example, generating traffic mix simulation for real-live scenarios such as: registering/de-registering and handover for a mix of voice, video, data traffic. Currently supported test types include: stress testing, function testing, protocol stack testing, negative testing, and handover testing. Stress testing may include pushing eNode B and other LTE elements to capacity and overload conditions. Function testing may include verifying LTE elements deliver desired features and functionality. Full protocol stack testing in LTE networks may include analyzing all LTE protocol layers, not just upper levels. Negative testing may include verifying system response when the system is experiencing error conditions. Handover testing may include verifying that a system properly handles inter/intra eNode B and inter-radio access technology (IRAT) handovers. Specifically, conventional LTE mobile equipment simulation and testing may include verifying: eNode B network element and interfaces (S1, X2, Uu), user and control plane latency, mobility (e.g., handovers, security), radio resource management, negative testing, interoperability with global system for mobile communications (GSM), universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS), code division Multiple Access (CDMA) 2000 (CDMA2000), worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX), and/or Internet protocol (IP) multimedia subsystem (IMS), handover scenarios, service and support, real time physical layer (PHY), media access control layer (MAC), and/or radio link control layer (RLC) alarms and error notification, logging and post-analysis per UE.
However, current LTE mobile equipment simulation and testing methods are not capable of realistically simulating the movement of UEs through the network, both physically and logically. For example, in a real-world scenario, a UE may travel a physical path through a network. The physical path may correspond to a logical path through the network topology, such as movement from one sector to another sector within a cell, or a series of handovers from one cell to another cell. Yet the path traveled by the UE may include various problem areas, such as tunnels, buildings, trees, or cell boundaries, where poor signal quality may be expected. If the realistic movement of UEs, including potential movement through problem areas, is not accurately simulated, then mobile network operators may deploy network elements suboptimally. The result may include adjusting logical network topology (e.g., adding more eNBs) or adjusting the physical location of network nodes (e.g., moving two eNBs closer together) after network elements have been deployed and are in use by network customers. This may be costly for network operators and result in dissatisfied customers.
Accordingly, in light of these difficulties, a need exists for improved methods, systems, and computer readable media for simulating realistic movement of user equipment in an LTE network.

Methods, systems, and computer readable media for simulating realistic movement of user equipment in a long term evolution (LTE) network


A resource indication method, a device, and a system relate to the field of communications technologies. The method includes: allocating, by a base station, a BP to a terminal device, and sending, to the terminal device, a first message indicating a resource position of the BP; and receiving, by the terminal device, the first message sent by the base station, and then determining the resource position of the BP based on resource position information of at least one sub-BP, where the BP includes the at least one sub-BP, the BP is not greater than a maximum bandwidth supported by the terminal device, and the first message includes the resource position information of the at least one sub-BP. The BP is allocated by using a sub-BP as a granularity, so that signaling overheads can be reduced while a requirement for more flexible resource allocation is satisfied.

In long term evolution (LTE), during initial access, a terminal device determines a downlink system bandwidth by receiving a message of a physical broadcast channel (PBCH). Then, a base station allocates a resource to the terminal device based on the system bandwidth. Specifically, in LTE, the base station may allocate the resource to the terminal device based on types: a type 0, a type 1, and a type 2. A resource block group (RBG) is used as a granularity of the resource allocated by the base station to the terminal device. When allocating the resource to the terminal device based on the type 0 and the type 1, the base station indicates the resource to the terminal device by using a bitmap. Using the type 0 as an example, if a specific RBG is allocated to the terminal device, a corresponding bit in the bitmap is set to 1; otherwise, the corresponding bit is set to 0.
In the prior art, the terminal device and the base station pre-agree upon a mapping relationship between an RBG size and a system bandwidth, as shown in Table 0. Therefore, the terminal device can determine, based on the system bandwidth and the bitmap that is sent by the base station, the resource allocated by the base station to the terminal device.
TABLE 0System bandwidth (NRBDL)RBG size (P)10111-26227-633 64-1104
However, in new radio (NR), a maximum bandwidth supported by a terminal device is usually less than a system bandwidth or a carrier bandwidth. Therefore, due to a limitation of the maximum bandwidth supported by the terminal device, the manner in LTE cannot be used to allocate a resource to the terminal device. To resolve the foregoing problem, a two-step resource allocation manner is provided in NR. In a first step, a base station allocates, to the terminal device, a segment of bandwidth less than or equal to the maximum bandwidth supported by the terminal device. In a second step, the base station and the terminal device transmit physical channel information and/or physical signal information on the allocated bandwidth. In view of this, this application provides a resource indication manner, to resolve a problem of bandwidth allocation to the terminal device in the first step.

Resource indication method, device, and system


Construction of aspheric reflectors for unstable-resonator lasers to provide an arbitrary laser mode inside the resonator to correct aberrations of an output beam by the construction of the shape of an end reflector opposite the output reflector of the resonator cavity, such as aberrations resulting from refraction of a beam exiting the solid of the resonator having an index of refraction greater than 1 or to produce an aberration in the output beam that will precisely compensate for the aberration of an optical train into which the resonator beam is coupled.

Unstable resonators (URs) have been used for years for high power lasers due to their large mode volumes. In the 1970s and early 1980s, they were applied to semiconductor lasers with mixed results. Recently there has been renewed interest in the use of unstable resonators for diode lasers. Advances in material uniformity and facet etching techniques have realized unstable resonator diode lasers that show good agreement between theory and experiment.
UR's for diode lasers are unique among UR's for several reasons. They are usually solid resonators whose outputs are taken through one of the end mirrors of its resonant cavity, and so the output beam is defocused by refraction as it leaves the resonator. Such refraction is acceptable because it may be refocused externally.
Due to their high gain, UR diode lasers are relatively short compared with their width, yielding high numerical aperture operation. The combination of these two factors with the use of circular reflective mirrors can lead to a significant spherical aberration in the output beam. However, because the etched facets of UR diode lasers are lithographically formed, the mirrors are not restricted to circular segments.
In principle, any mirror shape is possible. While the shape of the mirror determines both the shape of the mode and the effect of refraction through the output facet (hereinafter referred to as a mirror or reflector), it should be possible to construct a mirror shape that will yield an arbitrary mode pattern in the resonator, or equivalently, an arbitrary field pattern outside the resonator.

Aberration correction of unstable resonators

The United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration


Technologies and techniques for providing navigation within a workspace on a processing device for electronic healthcare record systems are disclosed. Systems, apparatus, and methods disclosed provide generation of a workspace to be displayed for the processing device, which receives data relating to the workspace and at least one toolbar to be displayed with the workspace. A toolbar manager is used is process the received data related to the workspace and the at least one toolbar in order to generate at least one toolbar. The toolbar is configured according to a particular domain and includes one or more areas selectable for expanding the toolbar within the workspace to display information relevant to the particular domain.

Medical computer systems have become critical aspects of modern-day health care, and include systems such as hospital information systems (HISs), health information management (HIM) systems, electronic health record (EHR) systems and associated health information technology (HIT) that may incorporate aspects of medical record systems, medical imaging, personal health records, and patient tracking systems. These system architectures have been configured using a single level platform and/or a plurality of levels (e.g., government level, territory level, and patient carrying level) and are generally supported in client-server architectures for networking and processing.
For many of such medical record systems, applications associated with each system provide limited means for navigating workspaces within these applications. In particular, known navigation schemes do not effectively provide a combination of ways to jump to various workspaces within an application, notify the user of the system state, or support views into other workspaces while maintaining context in the main work area or workspace. Additionally, medical record systems are often not equipped to allow users to add, modify or remove information from a web resource without modifying the resource itself. Furthermore, technologies currently available do not generally allow computer systems to customize workspaces based on information provided in a web resource to suit a particular user or groups of users.

Apparatus, systems, and methods for workspace navigation in a medical computer system environment


An air outlet valve for use in an aircraft is adapted during normal operation of the aircraft as a component of a cabin pressure control system for adjusting a desired pressure level in an aircraft cabin to remove air from an interior of the aircraft into the environment around the aircraft. The air outlet valve is further adapted during emergency ventilation operation of the aircraft as a component of a system for emergency ventilation of the aircraft cabin to introduce air from the environment around the aircraft into the interior of the aircraft. The air outlet valve comprises a nose-side valve flap, which is pivotable about an axis and is adapted to open or close a nose-side portion of an air outlet valve aperture, and a tail-side valve flap, which is pivotable about an axis and is adapted to open or close a tail-side portion of the air outlet valve aperture. A portion of the tail-side valve flap that in the open state of the tail-side valve flap projects into an air stream flowing around an aircraft skin during cruising of the aircraft is greater than a portion of the nose-side valve flap that in the open state of the nose-side valve flap projects into the air stream flowing around the aircraft skin during cruising of the aircraft.

1) Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an air outlet valve for use in an aircraft which is adapted during normal operation of the aircraft as a component of a cabin pressure control system for adjusting a desired pressure level in an aircraft cabin to remove air from an interior of the aircraft into the environment around the aircraft, and which is further adapted during emergency ventilation operation of the aircraft, when the aircraft cabin can no longer be supplied with sufficient breathable air by an aircraft air-conditioning system, as a component of a system for emergency ventilation of the aircraft cabin to introduce air from the environment around the aircraft into the interior of the aircraft.
2) Discussion of the Prior Art
At present, in passenger aircraft a so-called air-assisted air-conditioning system is conventionally used to air-condition the aircraft cabin. The aircraft air-conditioning system is used to cool the aircraft cabin, which would otherwise become too warm as a result of thermal loads, such as for example solar irradiation, body heat of the passengers and waste heat from equipment on board the aircraft. The air-conditioning system moreover supplies enough fresh air into the aircraft cabin to ensure that there is a specified minimum oxygen content in the aircraft cabin. Finally, the air-conditioning system is used to keep the pressure in the aircraft cabin at a level higher than the atmospheric pressure when the aircraft is flying above a specific altitude. The cabin internal pressure is controlled by means of a cabin pressure control system, which comprises controllable air outlet valves disposed in the fuselage of the aircraft.
The air outlet valves of the cabin pressure control system are disposed in the region of a skin of the aircraft fuselage and conventionally comprise one or two flaps that are pivotable about an axis. The pivot axis or axes of the flap(s) may be positioned centrally or laterally relative to the flap(s). For controlling the cabin internal pressure, the air outlet valves are controlled in dependence upon the pressure prevailing in the aircraft cabin and upon the operating state of the aircraft. During cruising of the aircraft the air outlet valves are usually almost closed. In contrast thereto, the air outlet valves are as a rule fully open when the aircraft is situated on the ground, i.e. the setting angle of the flap(s) is ca. 90° in order to guarantee complete depressurization of the aircraft cabin.
If during flight a defect in the aircraft air-conditioning system arises that has the effect that the aircraft cabin can no longer be supplied with sufficient fresh air, the aircraft descends to a safe altitude, at which it is no longer necessary to keep the pressure in the aircraft cabin at a level higher than the atmospheric pressure, and flies unpressurized to the destination airport or to an airfield situated closer by. In order to supply the necessary breathable air for the passengers during this period, it is known for example from the non-pre-published DE 10 2008 058 451 to provide aircraft with one or more emergency ram-air inlets, through which ram air from the environment around the aircraft may be directed into the interior of the aircraft.
From the likewise non-pre-published DE 10 2008 056 417 a system for emergency ventilation of an aircraft cabin is further known, which comprises a first valve disposed in a first aircraft fuselage region as well as a second valve disposed in a second aircraft fuselage region spaced apart along a longitudinal axis of the aircraft from the first aircraft fuselage region. The first and the second valve are used during normal operation of the aircraft as air outlet valves of an aircraft cabin pressure control system. During emergency ventilation operation the first and the second valve may however be controlled by an electronic control unit in such a way that a negative-pressure-driven emergency ventilation of the aircraft cabin arises, in which air from the environment around the aircraft is supplied through the open first valve into the first aircraft fuselage region and directed from the first aircraft fuselage region into the aircraft cabin. After flowing through the aircraft cabin the air is directed into the second aircraft fuselage region and finally removed through the open second valve into the environment around the aircraft.
Known air outlet valves for use in a cabin pressure control system have the drawback that, because of their construction, they are completely incapable or capable only to a limited extent of directing air from the environment around the aircraft into the interior of the aircraft. For example, a conventional air outlet valve having flaps that are pivotable about pivot axes disposed laterally relative to the flaps cannot be used in a system for emergency ventilation of an aircraft cabin to direct air from the environment around the aircraft into the aircraft cabin. Rather, an—in relation to the flying direction of the aircraft—front or nose-side flap of the air outlet valve, as shown in FIG. 1, prevents air from being able to pass from the environment around the aircraft into the interior of the aircraft. A valve configured in this way is therefore usable exclusively as an air outlet valve.
Admittedly, in the case of an air outlet valve having flaps that are pivotable about pivot axes disposed centrally relative to the flaps, a ram pressure arising at an—in relation to the flying direction of the aircraft—front or nose-side flap of the air outlet valve, as depicted in FIG. 2, ensures that air may be directed from the environment around the aircraft into the interior of the aircraft. However, in a region of the air outlet valve situated between the pivot axis of the nose-side flap and the pivot axis of an—in relation to the flying direction of the aircraft—rear or tail-side flap, pressure conditions arise which have the effect that air passes from the interior of the aircraft into the environment around the aircraft. This applies also to a region of the air outlet valve situated—in relation to the flying direction of the aircraft—behind the pivot axis of the tail-side flap. Such an air outlet valve is therefore also suitable only to a limited extent for use in a system for emergency ventilation of an aircraft cabin.

Air outlet valve as well as a system and method for emergency ventilation of an aircraft cabin


A printing press material roll lift and drive assembly (40) has a base (16) and a lift support frame (18). The lift support frame provides support for opposed front and rear vertical rails (50). A U-shaped carriage (54) is mounted for elevation on the rails and includes side support plates (56) having rail rollers (57) and an upper plate (58). The carriage is raised and lowered by a releasing ram (80) attached to the support frame at its upper end (82) and to the carriage at its lower end (86), said support plates including bearings receiving a carriage shaft (64). The shaft includes a cantilevered outer end (68) receiving the paper roll core (69) and an inner end (72). The inner end is driven by a magnetic particle clutch (102) mounted to the base and having a drive shaft (106) by means of an endless belt (112) extending between a drive shaft pulley (110) and a carriage shaft pulley (74 ). The endless belt includes a belt tensioner (114). The horizontal distance between the motor drive shaft and the carriage drive shaft is constant while the vertical distance between said shaft is variable and the belt tensioner provides that the paper roll (14) can be raised and lowered without otherwise requiring adjustment of the endless belt. A cradle assembly (130) is provided having a ramp member (154) and a roller track (150) for facilitating positioning the roll for acceptance on the carriage shaft. An outboard support arm (174) is provided to receive the carriage shaft end (168) when required, said arm being swung into a stored position when not required.

This invention relates generally to a material roll support assembly and particularly to a drive and lift assembly which permits the roll to be loaded onto the support shaft and elevated while maintaining engagement of the drive assembly.
In the operation of printing presses it is necessary to load and unload rolls of web forming material. Small, lightweight rolls present no problem and are usually handled manually. Large, heavy rolls, however, require mechanical handling to avoid damage to the product or injury to the operator.
Various solutions have been tried in the handling of large rolls. In the case of presses of the type having a removable core shaft, for example, somewhat complicated pivoted yokes have been used that engage the shafted roll to raise it into operating position. In the case of presses having a cantilevered core shaft independent auxiliary lift means have been used to raise the roll. Vertical lift carriages are also known which raise the roll to the cantilever core shaft level and rely on the operator to jostle the roll onto the core shaft. It is also common to provide specially equipped fork lift trucks to raise the roll.
The removable shaft type of device tends to be expensive and the cantilevered type of device invariably presents alignment problems even when outboard support is provided.
The present invention solves these and other problems in a manner not revealed in the known prior art.


An expandable downhole tool comprises a tubular body, at least one moveable arm disposed within the tubular body and being radially translatable between a retracted position and a wellbore engaging position, and at least one piston operable to mechanically support the at least one moveable arm in the wellbore engaging position when an opposing force is exerted. A method of reaming a formation to form an enlarged borehole in a wellbore comprising disposing an expandable reamer in a retracted position in the wellbore, expanding at least one movable arm of the expandable reamer radially outwardly into engagement with the formation, reaming the formation with the at least one moveable arm to form the enlarged borehole; and mechanically supporting the at least one moveable arm in the radially outward direction during reaming.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to expandable downhole tools. More particularly, the present invention relates to a concentric expandable downhole tool having fewer components and thus a shorter length than conventional expandable tools. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a robust, concentric expandable reamer having an advanced cutting structure and a mechanical/hydraulic activation mechanism.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the drilling of oil and gas wells, a plurality of casing strings are installed concentrically and then cemented into the borehole as drilling progresses to increasing depths. Thus, each new casing string is supported within the previously installed casing string, such that the largest diameter casing string is disposed at the uppermost end of the borehole and the smallest diameter casing string is disposed at the lowermost end of the borehole.
As successively smaller diameter casing strings are suspended, the annular area between the casing and the borehole wall is increasingly limited for the cementing operation. Further, as successively smaller diameter casing strings are suspended, the flow area for the production of oil and gas is reduced. Therefore, to increase the annular space for the cementing operation, and to increase the production flow area, it is often desirable to enlarge the borehole below the terminal end of the previously cased borehole. By enlarging the borehole, a larger annular area is provided for subsequently installing and cementing a larger casing string than would have been possible otherwise. Further, by enlarging the borehole, the bottom of the formation can be reached with comparatively larger diameter casing, thereby providing a larger flow area for the production of oil and gas.
Various methods have been devised for passing a drilling assembly through an existing cased borehole and enlarging the borehole below the casing. One such method includes using a winged reamer behind a conventional drill bit. In such an assembly, a conventional pilot drill bit is disposed at the lowermost end of the drilling assembly with a winged reamer disposed at some distance behind the drill bit. The winged reamer generally comprises a tubular body with one or more longitudinally extending "wings" or blades projecting radially outwardly from the tubular body. Once the winged reamer has passed through any cased portions of the wellbore, the pilot bit rotates about the centerline of the drilling axis to drill a lower borehole on center in the desired trajectory of the well path, while the eccentric winged reamer follows the pilot bit and engages the formation to enlarge the pilot borehole to the desired diameter.
Another method for enlarging a borehole below a previously cased borehole section includes using a bi-center bit, which is a one-piece drilling structure that provides a combination reamer and pilot bit. The pilot bit is disposed on the lowermost end of the drilling assembly, and the eccentric reamer bit is disposed slightly above the pilot bit. Once the bi-center bit has passed through any cased portions of the wellbore, the pilot bit rotates about the centerline of the drilling axis and drills a pilot borehole on center in the desired trajectory of the well path, while the eccentric reamer bit follows the pilot bit and engages the formation to enlarge the pilot borehole to the desired diameter. The diameter of the pilot bit is made as large as possible for stability while still being capable of passing through the cased borehole. Examples of bi-center bits may be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,039,131 and 6,269,893.
As described above, winged reamers and bi-center bits each include reamer portions that are eccentric. A number of disadvantages are associated with this design. In particular, due to directional tendency problems, these eccentric reamer portions have difficulty reliably enlarging the borehole to the desired diameter. With respect to a bi-center bit, the eccentric reaming section tends to cause the pilot bit to wobble and undesirably deviate off center, and any off-center rotation will cause the reaming section to drill an enlarged borehole that is undersized. A similar problem is experienced with respect to winged reamers, which only enlarge the borehole to the desired diameter if the pilot bit remains centralized in the borehole during drilling. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a reamer that remains concentrically disposed in the borehole while enlarging the previously drilled borehole to the desired diameter.
There are several different types of concentric reamers, which are used in conjunction with a conventional pilot drill bit positioned below or downstream of the reamer. The pilot bit drills the borehole while the reamer follows to enlarge the borehole formed by the bit. One type of concentric reamer is a fixed-blade reamer, which includes a plurality of concentric blades (sometimes also referred to as arms) with cutters on the ends extending radially outwardly and spaced azimuthally around the circumference of the reamer housing. The outer edges of the blades contact the wall of the existing cased borehole, thereby defining the maximum reamer diameter that will pass through the casing, and also defining the maximum diameter of the enlarged borehole. Thus, although a fixed-blade reamer remains concentrically disposed as it rotates to enlarge the borehole, it is limited to enlarging the borehole only to the drift diameter of the existing cased borehole, whereas winged reamers and bi-center bits can enlarge the borehole beyond the drift diameter of the casing. Accordingly, a fixed-blade reamer often will not enlarge the borehole to the desired diameter.
More recently, concentric expandable reamers have been developed. Most expandable reamers have two operative states—a closed or retracted state, where the diameter of the tool is sufficiently small to allow the tool to pass through the existing cased borehole, and an open or expanded state, where one or more arms with cutters on the ends thereof extend from the body of the tool. In this latter position, the reamer enlarges the borehole diameter to the required size as the reamer is rotated and lowered in the borehole.
Expandable reamers are available in a variety of configurations, each having different activation mechanisms and blade configurations. One type of expandable reamer includes hinged arms with roller cone cutters attached thereto. This type of reamer may utilize swing out cutter arms that are pivoted at an end opposite the cutting end of the arms. The cutter arms are actuated by mechanical or hydraulic forces acting on the arms to extend or retract them. Typical examples of this type of reamer are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,224,507; 3,425,500 and 4,055,226, and they have several disadvantages. First, the pivoted arms may break during the drilling operation, requiring that the arms be removed or "fished" out of the borehole before the drilling operation can continue. Accordingly, due to the limited strength of the pivoted arms, this type of reamer may be incapable of underreaming harder rock formations, or may have unacceptably slow rates of penetration. Further, if the pivoted arms do not fully retract, the drill string may easily hang up when attempting to remove it from the borehole. Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide a reamer that is more robust and has improved blade retraction mechanisms.
Other expandable reamers are activated by weight-on-bit to extend the blades. With such designs, the internal components of the reamer rather than the reamer body support the weight of drilling assembly components extending below the reamer. Accordingly, if too much weight is applied to the internal components, the reamer may not have enough hydraulic power to lift the weight below the reamer, and the reamer will not open. Further, it may not be possible to set weight-on-bit when the reamer should be activated to extend the blades. Also, during drilling, the weight-on-bit is sometimes unevenly distributed, and a false indication may be provided to the surface that the reamer blades are expanded when they are not.
Still other types of expandable reamers are activated by hydraulic or differential pressure, sometimes in combination with a mechanical component. With such designs, there is no certainty that all of the blades will be fully extended because the blades do not activate in unison. Therefore, one blade might extend while another blade is stuck in a partially extended position. Further, in some embodiments, drilling fluid pressure is the only force holding the blades in an extended position. Thus, if the strength of the formation is greater than the fluid pressure, the blades will partially retract and drill an undersized borehole. Some embodiments include a mechanical component, such as, for example, a piston with a continuously tapered surface that engages the blades to drive them radially outwardly as the piston moves downwardly. In such embodiments, the piston is activated by hydraulic pressure to drive the blades radially outwardly, but if the strength of the formation is greater than the fluid pressure, the blades will tend to retract along the continuously tapered surface. Thus, existing expandable reamers raise such concerns as whether the tool will expand to the desired borehole diameter when required, whether the tool will remain in the expanded position to enlarge the borehole to the desired diameter, and whether the tool will reliably retract prior to re-entering the casing as the drilling assembly is removed from the borehole.
Further, most expandable tools include a large number of moving parts, thereby increasing the probability of malfunction. The number of moving parts also affects the tool length, which may be up to 14 feet long, for example. There are also disadvantages associated with existing reamer blades. Specifically, to adjust the expanded diameter of the reamer, the entire arm must be removed and replaced, or in some cases, a different reamer may be required. Further, most blades fail to include pads on the gage configuration for stability and durability, or if pads are included, the blades fail to include active cutting structures near the pads.
The present invention addresses the deficiencies of the prior art.