A temperature and pressure detecting type spark plug has a metallic shell having a mounting seat around an outer surface of the shell. The plug further has a center electrode which is placed into a tubular insulator.. The center electrode has a hollow portion to enclose a thermocouple to detect a temperature of the front end of the center electrode.. An annular pressure sensor is placed at the mounting seat of the metallic shell to detect a pressure within a combustion chamber in a cylinder head. The pressure sensor is arranged to be sandwiched between the mounting seat and the cylinder head when the spark plug is secured to the cylinder head of an internal combustion engine.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a temperature and pressure detecting type spark plug which is used for carrying out a matching test between an engine and a spark plug.
2. Description of the Prior Art
For the purpose of determining which type of a spark plug is the most compatible for a certain kind of an engine, various types of spark plugs are, in turn, secured to the engine, and the engine is operated under the different conditions of air-fuel ratio, temperature of a cylinder, temperature of intake-air, ignition timing, revolution (R.P.M.), intake-air pressure, exhaust-air pressure and the like.
In carrying out this matching test, it is important to detect a temperature of a center electorode in determining a compatibility of the spark plug to be tested. Low temperature of the electrode causes to deposit carbon so as to adversely effect on ignition.
High temperature of the electrode causes to introduce a preignition in which an ignition accidentally occurs before normal one does
A spark plug has been suggested which is capable of detecting a temperature of a center electrode in carrying out the matching test.
Such a spark plug has a center electrode, inner portion of which has an axial hollow. With a front end of the hollow, is a thermocouple provided to form a thermorsensor which detects a temperature of the front end of the center electrode.
The thermocouple is made of suitable combination of wires, a connection point of which forms a temperature-detector.
The thermocouple is enclosed into the hollow, so that the plug remains substantially compact compared to a counterpart in which a thermosensor is not provided.
The spark plug is such that it is possible to precisely detect a temperature of a spark plug (the center electrode), and expediting to inform us of the combustive condition within a combustion chamber which includes that of the preignition.
In recent years, however, operation conditons of the spark plug has been severe with high output of the engine, so that the temperature of the center electrode can extraordinarily rise because of abnormal combustion or the like. It is difficult to determine whether the abnormal combustion is caused by knocking, preignition or postignition, thus leading to mismatching between the spark plug and the engine.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a temperature and pressure detecting type spark plug which is capable of detecting a temperature of a center electrode, and at the same time, detecting a knocking of an engine by providing a pressure sensor and a thermosenseor without affecting on a structural compactness, and enabling to precisely determine in which a temperature rise of the center electrode is caused.
According to the present invention, there is provided a temperature and pressure detecting type spark plug comprising a cylindrical metallic shell having a mounting seat around an outer surface of the shell so as to secure the shell to a cylinder head of an internal combustion engine, an insulator concentrically disposed in the metallic shell, and having an axial bore in lengthwise direction, a center electrode concentrically disposed in the axial bore of the insulator so as to form a discharge gap with an outer electrode which is depended from th metallic shell, a hollow portion axially provided with, at least, a front end of the center electrode to enclose a thermocouple which form a thermosensor to detect a temperature of the front end of the center electrode, and an annular pressure sensor placed at the mounting seat of the metallic shell to detect a pressure within a combustion chamber in the cylinder head, the pressure sensor being sandwiched between the mounting seat and the cylinder head when the spark plug is secured to the cylinder head.
Further, a coaxial three-polar terminal is provided with a rear end of the center electrode, the terminal having a contact for connecting it to a high tension code, and at the same time, having a pair of contacts which is connected to the thermocouple.
According to the invention, the pressure sensor and the thermosensor are, in turn, secured to the metallic shell and the center electrode, thus making it possible to maintain structural compactness, and expediting to easily mount the spark plug on the engine and removing it from the engine at the same time of carrying out the matching test.
It enables to detect the knocking of the engine and a peak pressure in the combustion chamber simultaneously when detecting a temperature of the center electrode at the time of matching test.
The temperature of the center electrode is stable when the engine is operating under the normal condition, but its temperature may extraordinarily rise due to abnormal combustion within the combustion chamber.
In this instance, detecting a pressure within the combustion chamber enables to precisely determine the knocking phomomenon which is one of the causes of the abnormal combustion, thus contributing to analysis of the combustive condition of the engine.
Even in the cases in which the temperature of the center electrode is stable, the knocking may occur on the engine which apparently does damage on the engine. It is difficult to determine this kind of knocking by a temperature-rise responding system.
However, the pressure sensor makes it possible to precisely determine the knocking phonomenon to protect the engine against damage.
Further, it enables to detect the temperatrue of the center electrode, the knocking phonomenon, and the peak pressure within the combustion chamber simultaneously, thus providing a convenience in checking the combustive condition of the engine which plays an important role on the reserch and development of an improved engine.
In addition, a coaxial three-polar terminal contributes to make a connection structure compact.
This structure needs only to put a shield cap into the terminal, and take off from the terminal when the spark plug is mounted on the engine, and removed from it at the time of matching test.
These and other aspects of this invention are more fully described in the following specification and drawings.

Temperature and pressure detecting type spark plug


A roofing asphalt composition comprising an oxidized blend of a paving grade asphalt and recycled rubber is described herein.

The following is not an admission that anything discussed below is part of the prior art or part of the common general knowledge of a person skilled in the art.
There are many applications for bitumen (which can also be referred to as asphalt). For example, asphalt may be used for waterproofing products or articles, such as roofs, buildings, boats, shingles, roofing felts, roofing sheets or roofing membranes, as well as for paving roads.
Asphalt shingles are generally the primary roofing materials for residential graded roofs. Asphalt shingles may comprise either organic felt materials or glass fiber reinforcing mats which are saturated or encapsulated with bitumen or asphalt to make them waterproof. In general, asphalt shingles are for steep slope roofing whereas modified bitumen membranes are for low slope roofing.
Asphalts for using in roofing applications have different requirements than asphalts for using in roads. Road asphalts typically fail due to low temperature cracking, repeated loading that can result in rutting and fatigue cracking, and water penetration that can result in physical damage due to repeated freeze/thaw cycles. In contrast, roofing asphalts typically fail due to thermal shock caused by repeated heating and cooling cycles, low temperature cracking and loss of aggregate due to flow.
When used in roofing applications, conventional asphalt compositions obtained through oxidation of asphalt which meets ASTM-D-946, ASTM-D-3381 or ASTM D-6373 specifications have limited flexibility and weatherability, causing early failure of roofing shingles. Accordingly, while similar parameters may be used to classify a roofing asphalt and a paving asphalt, e.g., penetration, viscosity, softening point, and the like, the specification for a paving asphalt is different to the specification for a roofing asphalt.
Using a particular crude oil, only certain grades of asphalt may be obtained. The asphalt grade which may be obtained will depend, inter alia, upon the processes used to prepare the asphalt and the additives which are included.
One additive that has been suggested for use in the preparation of asphalt is waste rubber products, such as tires or tubes. Incorporating waste rubber products into asphalt would allow the rubber to be recycled. However, there are a number of significant obstacles related to such use. Scrap tires contain different types of vulcanized rubber, for example polyisoprene, polybutadiene, styrene-butadiene, butyl, ethylene-propylene-diene, as well as fillers, plasticizers, surfactants and the like. Moreover, tires typically contain a significant number of different elastomers. Accordingly, waste rubber is not a single chemical compound but is a mixture of various compounds, the composition of which can vary from one tire to another.
Furthermore, because of the cross-linking of the polymeric material that takes place by the vulcanization process with sulfur or polymeric sulfur derivatives, ground rubber or crumb rubber does not disintegrate readily. The additional chemical bonds created during this vulcanization render impossible the complete dissolution of the polymer in hot bitumen, thus causing problems of stability of the material.
In addition, mixtures of bitumen and rubber are not homogeneous and form two phases of different density which are partially dispersed in one another. The system tends to decant and causes the upper layers, which have a lower density, to be constituted of polymer, while the lower layers, which have a higher density, are constituted of bituminous material. Therefore, if natural rubber or "polymers" are used, they will constitute part of the lower density layer and will thus accumulate at the surface. Crumb rubber, having a higher density (e.g., 1,200 kg/m3), will typically sink to the bottom of the reaction vessel. In cases where crumb rubber is used, the bituminous material will be part of a middle layer interposed between the polymer layer floating at the surface and the crumb rubber making-up the bottom layer.
Attempts have been made to mix bitumen with a wide range of polymers for various applications including roofing and paving. Such polymers include atactic polypropylene (APP) and styrene block copolymers (SBS) (e.g., styrene-butadiene-styrene (SEBS), styrene-isoprene-styrene (SIS), and styrene-ethylene-butadiene-styrene block copolymers (SEBS)). Unfortunately, it takes a relatively long time to process or dissolve the above-mentioned polymers in bituminous materials such as bitumen or various asphalt compositions. Further, these polymer modifiers can be degraded or aged by heat, UV light, weather or a combination thereof.
Attempts have also been made to mix rubbers such as ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) with asphalts. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,069,181; 4,738,997 and EP Patent Nos. 0338336 A1 ; and 0093500 A1. Additional rubber compositions are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,873,483; 4,129,542; 6,414,056; U.S. Publication Nos. 2006/0243163; 2006/0249049; and European Application No. EP 0775719 A2. Unfortunately, the mixing often proves difficult.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,501,730 claims a process for producing a homogeneous asphalt composition. While these asphalt compositions may be suitable for various uses, it would be beneficial to provide a roofing asphalt composition having a longer life and improved weatherability.


Methods and systems are provided for controlling and diagnosing a mechanical vehicle component. In one example, a method may include determining a vehicle speed and a plurality of clutch position settings at a diagnostic controller, and identifying unauthorized conditions based on these determinations. Further, the diagnostic controller may trigger an active fault state of the mechanical vehicle component in order to avoid unauthorized conditions that may lead to unwanted or unanticipated changes in vehicle motion.

Different sets of vehicle driveline conditions may lead to unintended behaviors. The unintended behaviors may include unwanted changes in vehicle acceleration and other undesirable kinematic behavior. For instance, a number of conditions can cause erroneous clutch settings that may lead to unwanted vehicle braking or movement in an unintended direction. In an attempt to avoid these unwanted behaviors, previous vehicle control and diagnostic systems have guarded against unintended behaviors by verifying actual settings against requested settings. When the mismatch in the settings is too large, actions are taken to discontinue or altogether avoid the unintended behaviors.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,980,981 B2 to Kawaguchi et al. discloses a vehicle system including an automatic transmission that includes a plurality of clutches and brakes to change the gear ratio of the transmission. The system determines whether or not at least one or more of the clutches is brought into unintended engagement. Said determination is carried out analyzing vehicle deceleration and an intended gear ratio and an actual gear ratio.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,548,712 B2 to Oesterreicher et al. discloses a vehicle system and method for fault monitoring of drive operations, particularly for preventing vehicle acceleration if a set-point drive torque deviates significantly from an accelerator pedal input. The method includes comparing a calculated vehicle acceleration against the expected vehicle acceleration.
The inventors have recognized several drawbacks with the systems and methods disclosed by Kawaguchi and Oesterreicher, as well as other diagnostic systems. For instance, fault detection strategies which rely on comparison of actual vs. intended gear ratio are processing intensive strategies that may lead to the incorrect identification of a fault, in certain situations. This superfluous fault detection may restrict vehicle performance and lead to unnecessary servicing of the vehicle, in some cases. Further, Kawaguchi's diagnostic logic is provided in a single engine control unit responsible for component control operations and fault detection in the vehicle system. This may involve complex processing strategies that are not always effective or reliable, due to the fault misdiagnoses, described above. Additionally, using a single controller for both diagnostic and control operations may prove to be inflexible and inefficient with regard to altering or updating routines of either operation. Further, other prior fault detection strategies have involved complex systems that use a comparatively large number of inputs and guard against a large number of unwanted settings such as software faults, hydraulic faults, etc. As such, previous diagnostic strategies may demand a large amount of processing resources to implement, and therefore may decrease the system's processing efficiency. Therefore, the inventors have recognized a need for a more effective and efficient diagnostic system for fault detection.
To overcome at least a portion of the aforementioned drawbacks, a method for operation of a vehicle system is provided. In one example, the method includes determining, at a diagnostic controller or processing unit, a vehicle speed from a vehicle speed sensor and a position of a plurality of clutches in a transmission of the vehicle system. The method further includes identifying an unauthorized clutch position based on the clutch positions and the vehicle speed. The method even further includes, in response to identification of the unauthorized clutch position, operating the plurality of clutches in a fault state. In one example, the fault state or mode may be realized by removing either all or most of the torque applied at vehicle wheels by removing the closing force of the clutches, bringing them into an opened state. Therefore, the system can effectively and efficiently identify a clutch fault and operate the clutches to reduce the chance of unwanted vehicle deceleration. Consequently, the operator's experience is enhanced. Further, by executing the diagnostics and driveline control on separate controllers or processing units increases the system's adaptability.
In one example, the unauthorized clutch position may be identified by comparing the vehicle speed and the clutch position against a lookup truth table. Rows of the lookup truth table are populated with lower and upper speed thresholds that correspond to a plurality of unauthorized clutch position settings. In this way, the clutches may be diagnosed using an efficient and reliable routine that has higher diagnostic confidence than strategies which compare actual and intended clutch settings, thus guarding against both undesired clutch conditions which may lead to unwanted changes in vehicle kinematic performance (e.g., unintended vehicle deceleration) and unwarranted triggering of the fault state that may hamper vehicle performance.
In another example, the method may make use of a fault tolerant time as an entry condition for operating the component in the fault state. In this example, the fault state of the vehicle component is implemented once the duration of the fault exceeds a threshold fault tolerant time. The fault tolerant time may be a fixed or dynamic value, and as such may be selected to activate the fault state or mode in order to achieve a higher fault diagnostic accuracy.
It should be understood that the summary above is provided to introduce in simplified form a selection of concepts that are further described in the detailed description. It is not meant to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, the scope of which is defined uniquely by the claims that follow the detailed description. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any disadvantages noted above or in any part of this disclosure.

Diagnostic and control method for a vehicle system


A stereo matching processing system includes an associating unit that associates with each other such regions, in a plurality of images obtained by shooting a same object from different directions, that are on a same scanning line and have a largest correlation coefficient between them, as items that represent a same position, and a line segment determining unit that determines whether or not line segments that are associated with each other as items that teach a same position are drawn in the plurality of images respectively. When said line segment determining unit determines that the line segments are drawn, said associating unit associates with each other, not such regions that are on the same scanning line and have a largest correlation coefficient between them, but intersections at which the scanning line and the line segments each cross, as items that represent a same position.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a stereo matching processing system, a stereo matching processing method, and a recording medium, and particularly to a stereo matching processing system, a stereo matching processing method, and a recording medium that can correctly match coinciding positions between a plurality of images.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, three-dimensional data automatic generation methods of this kind have commonly employed stereo matching of images acquired from artificial satellites, aircraft, etc. and to generate three-dimensional landform data [Digital Surface Model (DSM) data]. A method that uses an operator's presence to let him/her correct any position, for which matching is unsuccessful, has also been proposed.
Here, a stereo matching process is for finding matching points, which shows the same position in the real scene, from two images or so-called stereo images that are captured from different viewpoints, and calculating the depth to an object of interest or its shape according to the principle of triangulation by using the disparity between the matching points.
Various stereo matching processing techniques have already been proposed. For example, as image correlation technique that is widely used, Examined Japanese Patent Application KOKOKU Publication No. H8-16930 discloses a method of finding matching points by setting a correlation window as a template in a left image, calculating a coefficient of cross-correlation between the template and a search window in a right image as their matching degree while moving the search window in the right image, and searching out a position at which the matching degree is high. The content of Examined Japanese Patent Application KOKOKU Publication No. H8-16930 is incorporated herein.
This method reduces the amount of processing by restricting the search window to move only in the direction of an epipolar line, and thus can obtain, for each point in the left image, an amount of x-direction displacement, i.e., disparity, of a point in the right image that matches that point in the left image. An epipolar line is a line that, for a given point in one of stereo images, can be drawn in the other of the stereo images as a range in which a point that matches that given point can exist (for example, see "Handbook of Image Analysis" (edited by Mikio Takagi and Haruhisa Shimoda, published by University of Tokyo Press, January 1991, pp. 597-599).
Normally, the direction of an epipolar line is different from the direction of an image scanning line. However, coordinate transformation can reorient the direction of the epipolar line to be brought in line with the direction of the image scanning line. This coordinate transformation technique is described in "Handbook of Image Analysis" identified above. The content of "Handbook of Image Analysis" is also incorporated herein.
In a stereo image that is reoriented in the way described above, the matching point search window can be restricted to move only on the scanning line. Therefore, a disparity can be obtained as a difference between the x-coordinate values of the matching points in the left and right images.

Stereo matching processing system, stereo matching processing method and recording medium


A molded solid body of incinerated waste material and a method of making the same, which is formed by binding ash-like incinerated waste material with solidifiable molten plastic waste material and extruding a mixture of the same into a bar-like shape. The molded solid body is dense and rigid having a high rate of specific gravity so that it can consistently remain at a particular location regardless of environmental pollution when disposed in the sea and also, be used as a structural material for concrete and asphalt construction. According to the making method, two kinds of waste materials are processed at one time and reduced in volume to a rate ranging from 1/10 to 1/20, whereby the efficiency for transportation and disposal can be improved greatly.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the recovery or recycling of plastic waste material and incinerated waste material provided in ash form from incinerators in a thermal disposal plant and, more particularly, to a positively reusable molded solid body of incinerated waste material formed by binding the ash-like incinerated waste material with plastic waste material and a method for making the same.
2. Prior Art
It is known that as the style of living and framework of industry are changing in various ways nowadays, common household and industrial waste increases in volume and varys in nature. There is thus required a method of disposal corresponding to the disposal capacity of a large-scaled disposal plant and also, the nature of waste. Plastic materials are widely used in the form of a food package, packing case, or container and thus, will be recovered in bulk at such a thermal disposal plant. Specifically, the ash-like incinerated waste is diverse in properties and contains incombustible substances and hostile materials such as heavy metals.
The plastic waste material is hardly decayed in a normal condition and particularly, when burnt, produces a high temperature in the incinerator which is thus damaging to the floor and wall and also, produces toxic gases. Additionally, the plastic waste material is so bulky as to take up much space for storage or reclamation and can be handled with difficulty.
The incinerated waste, when being kept in ash form and dumped on the ground, will disperse with blowing of wind and be washed away by rainwater. The ash-like incinerated waste is then buried for land-fill work or thrown away into the sea for disposal. However, the toxic heavy metal substances contained in the incinerated waste intend to remain in the ground and will be carried away by the rainwater into rivers, lakes and wells which are then contaminated. Accordingly, the pollution of water results in ennvironmental comtamination as the sea water is also polluted. It is known that to prevent the pollution, the ash-like incinerated waste material is bound with cement material to recover in the form of monolithic concrete blocks. The concrete blocks are however critical in rigidity and thus, unsuitable to use in civil engineering works. In practice, such blocks are utilized only for land-fill works. Hence, it is disadvantageous in respect of both economical and operative view points to employ cement material as a solidifiable medium for the purpose of reclamation. There has been required a novel method to tackle the problems.

Method for making molded solid body of incinerated waste material


A security system includes a security system controller and a plurality of security sensors that are operably coupled with the security system controller. The security system includes a plurality of configuration settings that define when particular alarms are to be issued by the security system based at least in part on events that are detected by the security sensors. The security system controller receives each of the events detected by the security sensors. The security system controller stores event data that includes an event type, a time value indicating when the event occurred, and an identifier of the security sensor that detected the event. The security system controller analyzes the stored event data to identify and output one or more changes to one or more of the plurality of configuration settings in order to reduce false alarms issued by a security system.

Security systems often employ a variety of different security sensors to protect a secured area. Some security systems have static configuration settings that are configured when the security system is initially installed. These static configuration settings may be used to help reduce false alarms that are issued by the security system. Such static configuration settings may, for example, defined cross-zone pairs of sensors. A cross-zone pair of sensors must typically both be triggered within a predetermined time of one another before the security system will issue an alarm. In another example, the static configuration settings may define an entry delay, where after entry into a secured area, a user must enter a passcode or the like within the entry delay time otherwise the security system will issue an alarm. In another example, static configuration settings may define an exit delay, where after arming the security system, a user must exit the secured area within the exit delay time otherwise the security system will issue an alarm. These are just examples.
Setting up static configuration settings can require a substantial amount of expertise, and even so, may not be setup optimally. Moreover, and over time, at least some of the static configuration settings may become less ineffective. What would be desirable are methods and systems to automatically update configuration settings of a security system.

Reducing false alarms in security system


The invention provides a process for production of silver-containing precursor alloys to oxide superconductors, said alloys having reduced amounts of intermetallics. Powders containing metallic elemental components of an oxide superconductor are high energy milled for a predetermined amount of time to increase homogeneity of the mixed metallic elemental components of the oxide superconductor. Silver is then high energy milled into the metallic components. The mixed silver and metallic elemental components of the oxide superconductor are compacted for the silver-containing superconductor precursor. The compacted powder is preferably hot worked at a temperature of at least 50% of the precursor alloy's melting temperature in degrees Kelvin.

Several materials and compounds have been discovered to be superconducting. Superconductors have been proposed to serve in a variety of applications. These applications include motor windings, superconducting cables, test coils, actuators, magnetostrictor coils and vapor-cooled leads. However, many of these superconducting materials which apparently carry current with electron holes or in some cases with electrons are extremely difficult to work into useful configurations. Superconductors are generally formed of relatively brittle materials such as ceramic, ceramic-metal compounds (cermets) and metal oxides which are inherently difficult to form into practical and useful shapes.
A quick survey of the recent technical literature through Chemical Abstracts has indicated that the following oxide materials including compounds, phases, mixtures, doped materials, etc. have been proposed for superconducting use:
YBa.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.7-x PA0 MBa.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.7 M=Nd, Dy, Er, Tm or mixtures PA0 MBa.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.6 M=Sa, Ho PA0 La.sub.2-x Sn.sub.x CuO.sub.4 PA0 La.sub.2 CuO.sub.4 doped with fluorine PA0 YBa.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.6.8 doped with fluorine PA0 EuBa.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.9-x PA0 EuBa.sub.2 (Cu.sub.1-y M.sub.y).sub.3 O.sub.9-x M=Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni or Zn PA0 GdBaCu.sub.3 O.sub.7-x PA0 Ba.sub.2 SmCu.sub.3 O.sub.9-x PA0 InSnO.sub.2 PA0 La.sub.2-x M.sub.x CuO.sub.4 PA0 La.sub.2-x Sr.sub.x CuO.sub.4 PA0 Ba.sub.2 YCu.sub.3 O.sub.9-y PA0 GdBa.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.7-x PA0 YBa.sub.2 (Cu.sub.1-x Fe.sub.x).sub.3 O.sub.7-y PA0 (Y.sub.1.2 Ba.sub.0.8).sub.4 Cu.sub.4 O.sub.16-x PA0 YBa.sub.3 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.y F.sub.x PA0 Y.sub.3-x Ba.sub.x Cu.sub.2 O.sub.7-y PA0 Bi--Sr--Cu--O system PA0 La.sub.3-x Ba.sub.3-x Cu.sub.6 O.sub.14-y PA0 YBa.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.7-x S.sub.y PA0 EuBa.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.x PA0 YBa.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.9-y PA0 La.sub.1.85 Sr.sub.0.15 CuO.sub.4 PA0 Ba.sub.2 RCu.sub.3 O.sub.x R=Gd, Ho, Er or Dy PA0 YBa.sub.2 (Cu.sub.1-x Ag.sub.x).sub.3 O.sub.7-y PA0 YBa.sub.2 (CuO.sub.0.94 FeO.sub.0.06).sub.3 O.sub.9-y PA0 YBa.sub.2 Ag.sub.3 O.sub.x PA0 La.sub.2 CuO.sub.4-y PA0 Dy.sub.x Ba.sub.1-x CuO.sub.3-y PA0 Molybdenum Oxides and Bronzes-Alkali Molybdenum Bronze PA0 Nb, Si, Al oxides Japanese Pat. Appln. No. 87-170,108 PA0 Ge, Al, Nb oxides Japanese Pat. Appln. No. 87-171,924 PA0 BaPb.sub.1-x Bi.sub.x O.sub.3 PA0 Nb/Al--Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 PA0 Nb/Ge--Al--O PA0 Pb, Bi, In oxides PA0 Li.sub.1-x Ti.sub.2-x O.sub.4 ##EQU1##
Proposed methods of forming superconductors include grinding oxide into ultrafine particles and extruding the ultrafine particles and applying a binder to superconducting materials or precursors to hold material together during a forming process. The problems with the ultrafine particles include cost of reducing the size of the particles, low strength and excessive number of grain boundaries which limit superconductivity. The problems with using binders include the contamination remaining from binders which are not completely removed during sintering, low strength and complex processing techniques.
An alternative and successful method of preparing superconductor materials comprises producing by energetic milling of metallic powder a precursor alloy and oxidizing the precursor alloy into a superconducting material. A method of oxidizing the precursor is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,826,808 ('808). Formed precursor alloys have been successfully heat treated according to the oxidizing procedure of the '808 patent to produce superconducting wire. However, difficulties have arisen in the steps of energetic milling metal powder to produce oxide superconductor precursor alloy and forming of the precursor alloy. The difficulty entails the in situ difficult to work, brittle intermetallics phases. During high energy milling of silver with elemental components of an oxide superconductor, a variety of intermetallics may be formed. For example, high energy milling Ag, Ba, Cu and Y powders together, intermetallics formed have included Ag.sub.5 Ba, Cu.sub.5 Ba, AgY, Ag.sub.6 Y, CuY, Cu.sub.4 Y.sub.2, Cu.sub.4 Y and Cu.sub.6 Y. These intermetallics impair ductility and increase difficulty in working or forming the precursor alloy into a desired shape.
It is an object of this invention to provide a method of producing metallic, superconductor precursors which limits the amount of ductility decrease from the formation of non-ductile compounds or phases.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a method of mechanical forming of non-ductile superconductor precursors.
It is a more particular object of this invention to provide a method of forming 1-2-3 Y-Ba-Cu precursor into useful shapes such as wires.

Process for forming superconductor precursor


A stem is fixed to a head tube of a bicycle by a fixing device. The stem has an aperture formed in a center. A hole is formed in an upper end of the vertical tube for receiving a spring and a bolt. Two holes are laterally and oppositely formed in a lower portion of the stem, and each receives a piston. The aperture and the holes are filled with oil. The pistons are pushed to engage with an inner surface of the head tube when the bolt is threaded into the upper hole so that the stem can be firmly fixed to the head tube.

The present invention relates to a stem of a bicycle or the like, and more particularly to a stem having a fixing device.
A handle stem fixing device for a bicycle and the like is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,274,301 to Katayama. The stem 5 is fixed to the head tube 13 by a long bolt 2 and a cone 3. After a long term of using, the long bolt 2 of the coupling portion of the stem and the head tube will become loose due to vibration, shock or the like transferred to the coupling portion so that the handlebar may become loose.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore-described disadvantages of the conventional stems.

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There is disclosed a polypeptide (CD40-L) and DNA sequences, vectors and transformed host cells useful in providing CD40-L polypeptides. More particularly, this invention provides isolated human and murine CD40-L polypeptides that bind to the extracellular binding region of a CD40 receptor.

Cytokines that have an "Interleukin" designation are those protein factors that influence immune effector cells. Cytokines designated interleukin-1 through interleukin-12 have been reported and named as an interleukin. Other known cytokines include tumor necrosis factor (TNF), granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF), mast cell growth factor (MGF), epidermal growth factor (EGF), platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), nerve growth factor (NGF), erythropoietin (EPO), γ-interferon (γ-IFN) and others.
DNAs for two different TNF receptors (Type I and Type II) have been cloned (Smith et al., Science 248:1019, 1990; and Schall et al., Cell 61:361, 1990). Both forms of TNF receptor are related to each other and belong to a family of receptors whose members include nerve growth factor receptor (Johnson et al., Cell 47:545, 1986), B cell antigen CD40 (Stamenkovic et al., EMBO J. 8:1403, 1989), T cell antigen OX40 (Mallett et al., EMBO J. 9:1063, 1990), human Fas antigen (Itoh et al., Cell 66:233, 1991) and murine 4-1BB receptor (Kwon et al., Cell. Immunol. 121:414, 1989 [Kwon et al. I] and Kwon et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 86:1963, 1989 [Kwon et al. II]).
Human CD40 protein (CD40) is a peptide of 277 amino acids having a molecular weight of 30,600, and a 19 amino acid secretory signal peptide comprising predominantly hydrophobic amino acids (Stamenkovic et al.). The molecular weight (exclusive of glycosylation) of the mature human CD40 protein is 28,300. A cDNA encoding human CD40 was isolated from a cDNA library prepared from Burkitt lymphoma cell line Raji. The putative protein encoded by the CD40 cDNA contains a putative leader sequence, trans-membrane domain and a number of other features common to membrane-bound receptor proteins. CD40 has been found to be expressed on B lymphocytes, epithelial cells and some carcinoma cell lines.
A monoclonal antibody (mAb) directed against CD40 has been shown to mediate various functional effects of human B cells. These effects include: (a) homotypic adhesions (Gordon et al., J. Immunol. 140:1425, 1988 [Gordon et al. I]); (b) increased cell size (Gordon et al. I and Valle et al., Eur. J. Immunol. 19:1463, 1989); (c) proliferation of B cells activated with anti-IgM, anti-CD20 mAb, phorbol ester alone (Clark et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 83:4494, 1986; and Paulie et al., J. Immunol. 142:590, 1989), or phorbol ester combined with interluekin-4 (Gordon et al., Eur. J. Immunol. 17:1535, 1987 [Gordon et al. II]; and (d) production of IgE (Jabara et al., J. Exp. Med. 172:1861, 1990; Zhang et al., J. Immunol. 146:1836, 1991) and IgM (Gascan et al., J. Immunol. 147:8, 1991) from interluekin-4 (IL-4) stimulated T-depleted cultures.
One such antibody, called mAb 89 by Banchereau et al., Clin. Immunol. Spectrum 3:8, 1991 [Banchereau et al. I], was found to induce human B cell proliferation at a relatively low antibody concentration (30 ng/ml or about 10−10 M). Proliferation lasted two to three weeks and resulted in a ten-fold expansion of the human B cell population. Optimal stimulation of the B cells occurred when CD40 surface molecule was cross-linked by IgM. Fab fragments of another anti-CD40 mAb induced only a weak proliferative response. Further, Banchereau et al., Science 251:70, 1991 [Banchereau et al. II] reported that resting human B cells entered a state of sustained proliferation when incubated with both a murine fibroblastic Ltk− cell line that was transfected with human Fc receptor and with a monoclonal antibody specific for human CD40. Banchereau et al. II found that cross-linking CD40 is necessary for clonal expansion of B cells.
CD23 is a low affinity IgE receptor that has been found to be expressed on most IgM−/IgD− mature B cells, but not T cells. CD23 has been sequenced and its sequence was described in Kikutani et al., Cell 47:657, 1986. Soluble CD23 (sCD23) was found to induce a pyrogenic reaction in rabbits and this reaction was abrogated by administration of human IgE (Ghaderi et al., Immunology 73:510, 1991). Therefore, CD23 may be an appropriate marker for soluble CD40 or CD40-L effects.
Prior to the present invention, a ligand for CD40 was unknown. Accordingly, there is a need in the art to identify and characterize a CD40 ligand (CD40-L).

Mouse CD40 ligand-specific antibodies and hybridomas


An NMR well logging tool is provided that includes a sensor and associated electronic circuitry. The sensor includes an array of RF antenna elements. The electronic circuitry includes at least one low-power integrated circuit and a plurality of high-power modules corresponding the RF antenna elements of the array. Each high-power module is coupled to a corresponding RF antenna element of the array and includes an RF amplifier that is configured to amplify RF pulses generated by the at least one low-power integrated circuit and supplied thereto for transmission by the corresponding antenna element. In embodiments, the RF amplifier of each high-power module can include an H-bridge circuit or other suitable RF amplifier.

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectrometers have been in use for many years and can be used to provide imaging and/or analysis of a sample being tested. In general, a typical single channel NMR spectrometer is comprised of three main components: a pulse sequencer, an NMR transmitter, and an NMR receiver. The NMR transmitter and the NMR receiver both interface to an external radio frequency (RF) antenna (e.g., coil) that is typically part of an NMR probe that receives the sample. An external magnet can also be provided to provide a static magnetic field (typically referred to as the B0 field) to the sample during NMR experiments. The pulse sequencer and the NMR transmitter cooperate to supply a train of pulses of an oscillating RF signal to the external RF antenna in order to excite macroscopic nuclear spins in the sample. The NMR receiver receives NMR signals detected by the external RF antenna and amplifies the received NMR signals with low noise and high gain. The NMR signals produced by the NMR receiver are processed by signal processing circuitry (typically involving digitization by an analog-to-digital converter and data processing by a data processor) in order to derive useful physical and chemical information.
NMR logging is an established type of NMR measurement wherein an NMR spectrometer is lowered into a borehole in the earth, and NMR measurements are performed to determine properties within and/or surrounding the borehole. However, existing NMR logging spectrometers have a number of drawbacks. For example, the downhole sensor package designed to fit within the borehole can be large in size.


A system, in certain embodiments, includes a gasification cooling system having an annular seal with a bellows. For example, the gasification cooling system may include a housing with an inlet, an outlet, and an interior between the inlet and the outlet, wherein the interior has a throat adjacent the inlet, and the throat expands in a flow direction from the inlet toward the outlet. The annular seal may be disposed in the throat of the housing, wherein the annular seal includes the bellows.

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to gasification cooling systems, such as radiant syngas coolers, which cool gas from a gasifier.
Integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plants are capable of generating energy from various hydrocarbon feedstock, such as coal, relatively cleanly and efficiently. IGCC technology may convert the hydrocarbon feedstock into a gas mixture including carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen (H2), e.g., syngas, by reaction with steam in a gasifier. These gases may be cooled, cleaned, and utilized as fuel in a conventional combined cycle power plant. For example, a radiant syngas cooler (RSC) may receive and cool the syngas upstream from a water gas shift reactor and/or other gas cleaning units. Unfortunately, the high temperature of syngas entering a throat of the RSC can potentially damage heat exchanger tubing and/or the body of the RSC without sufficient thermal protection. Furthermore, thermal changes in the RSC can cause significant thermal expansion and contraction, which complicate the design for thermal protection in the throat of the RSC.


A mathematical model that models gas exchange of a central compartment with an environment having a model gas is provided. The central compartment is modeled to be in direct fluid communication with a plurality of peripheral compartments and with the environment to exchange the model gas therewith. Using a measure of an inert gas in a breathing mixture over a period of exposure of a person to the breathing mixture as a measure of the model gas in the environment over the time period, a measure of the model gas in the central compartment can be calculated according to the model. A risk of decompression sickness to the person resulting from the exposure can then be calculated based on the calculated measure of the model gas in the central compartment.

A person can suffer decompression sickness (DCS), also called decompression illness (DCI), if the person is exposed to a breathing gas with a pressure that decreases too quickly. DCS can be mild or severe and can have various neurological and audiovestibular manifestations and symptoms such as skin rash, pain, paralysis, blindness, and even death.
For instance, DCS can occur when a diver ascends to the water surface too quickly at the end of a dive. Both the depth and duration of the dive can influence the likelihood that DCS will occur. During a dive, a diver typically uses a breathing gas that contains oxygen and an inert gas such as nitrogen, with the total pressure of the breathing gas regulated to match the hydrostatic pressure at the current depth.
Some of the inert gas in the breathing gas can be absorbed by and dissolved in body tissues when the person is exposed to the breathing gas. The concentration of inert gas dissolved in a body tissue is dependent on the inert gas partial pressure in the breathing gas, referred to as the ambient inert gas partial pressure (Pa,n), and the length of exposure to the breathing gas. For a given Pa,n, the concentration of inert gas dissolved in the body tissue at equilibrium is referred to as the saturation concentration. The higher the Pa,n, the higher the saturation concentration. If, for a given Pa,n (such as at a particular depth in a dive), the body tissue is under-saturated, i.e., having a lower dissolved inert gas concentration than the saturation concentration, more inert gas will be dissolved. On the other hand, if the body tissue is super-saturated, i.e., having a higher dissolved inert gas concentration than the saturation concentration, some of the dissolved inert gas will be released from the tissue.
For example, when a diver descends in water, Pa,n and the saturation concentration increase; when the diver ascends, Pa,n and the saturation concentration decrease. The period in a dive when the body tissues absorb inert gas is referred to as the "compression" phase of the dive. This typically includes the descent portion of the dive and the period when the diver is at the deepest depth prior to saturation. Saturation can be reached when the diver stays at a depth for a long period of time, or ascends from a deeper to a shallower depth. Supersaturation can also occur when the diver ascends. The period during or after a dive when the body tissues are super-saturated is referred to as the "decompression" phase. DCS can occur during the decompression phase. The rate at which inert gas is released from a body tissue at any given time during the decompression phase may depend on the difference between the values of the concentration of inert gas actually dissolved in the body tissue and the saturation concentration in that tissue at that time. The greater the difference, the faster the release rate. If the release rate is too fast, DCS can occur.
Therefore, it is important that divers follow safe dive profiles or decompression schedules to avoid DCS. In simple terms, a dive profile is a representation of the depth or ambient pressure (Pa), as a function of time during a dive. A dive profile can be presented in the form of a line graph, a chart, or a table. To avoid DCS, a diver can ascend continuously at a sufficiently slow rate. Alternatively, a diver can ascend relatively rapidly but in stages, pausing or stopping at each of one or more progressively shallower depth(s) for a certain time period during ascent (known as "decompression stops"). A further alternative is to start the ascent before a decompression stop becomes necessary (such a dive is known as a "no decompression" or "no-stop" dive). The maximum bottom time for a no-stop dive is referred to as the No Decompression Limit (NDL). The NDL can also be expressed as the remaining safe bottom time for a no-stop dive.
Dive tools, such as decompression tables, dive wheels, and dive computers, have been used to assist divers for preventing DCS. A diver can use a dive tool to determine the NDL during a dive, or, a safe decompression schedule if the NDL has been exceeded.
The NDL or the decompression schedules can be determined based on the risks of DCS for different dive profiles. The risk of DCS for a given dive can be assessed from Pa, Pa,n, and the concentrations of dissolved inert gas in various body tissues. The values of Pa during a dive can be readily measured. The values of Pa,n during a dive can be derived from Pa for a given breathing gas. However, there is no practical and convenient way of measuring the concentrations of inert gas dissolved in various body tissues of the diver.
Therefore, conventionally, the risks of DCS are typically assessed based on decompression models. A conventional decompression model is a mathematical model with two distinct components. One component is a gas distribution model that describes the distribution of inert gas in the body tissues at all times. The other component is a risk function that relates the risk of DCS to the degree of inert gas supersaturation in the body tissues. Examples of decompression models include the Haldane model, the Reduced Gradient Bubble Model, the Varying Permeability Model, the Linear-Exponential model, and the like.
In conventional decompression models, such as the Haldanian models, the human body is represented as a number of parallel compartments (PC) each connected to the bloodstream. Each compartment exchanges gas with the bloodstream but is otherwise isolated from the other compartments. Each compartment has a characteristic tissue halftime and different compartments have different halftimes. For example, in the original Haldane model, there are five compartments with respective halftimes of 5, 10, 20, 40 and 75 minutes; a model used by the U.S. Navy (USN) has six compartments with respective halftimes of 5, 10, 20, 40, 80, and 120 minutes. In these models, the rate of gas uptake and release for each compartment is dependent on its halftime. For a given dive profile, the contribution to the risk of decompression sickness made by each compartment can be calculated. The overall risk at any given time takes into account contributions to the risk from all the compartments. For example, for a parallel N-compartment gas distribution model with a continuous risk function, the overall instantaneous risk r(t) at time t can be expressed as:
                                          r                                      (              t              )                                =                                    ∑                              i                =                1                            N                                                                  r                i                                                          (                t                )                                                    ,                            (        1        )            where ri(t) is the instantaneous risk of decompression sickness, per unit time, for the ith compartment at time t. The total risk, which is related to the probability of DCS for the entire dive profile, can be assessed by taking into account r(t) over all the decompression components of the profile.
However, PC-based decompression models, on which many existing dive tools are based, have shortcomings. One problem is that these decompression models do not accurately represent the human body's actual response to decompression stress over a wide range of exposure profiles. Consequently, predictions derived from these models are inaccurate in many situations. A dive tool based on one of these models cannot provide good predictions for a wide range of dive profiles, and thus has limited application. A conventional dive tool may underestimate the risks of DCS for certain types of dive profiles and its users may unknowingly take unacceptable risks. To compensate for the inaccuracy of these models, some conventional dive tools such as dive computers use model parameters that are selected conservatively to avoid underestimating the risks of DCS for various types of dive profiles. As a result, for some types of dive profiles, these dive tools unnecessarily overestimate the risk. Therefore, divers, particularly recreational divers, who use these dive tools often have to shorten the bottom time or lengthen the stop time during ascent unnecessarily.
Accordingly, there is a need for methods and devices for predicting risks of DCS, which are based on decompression models that can provide a more accurate representation of the human body's response to decompression stress, or can provide satisfactory predictions over a wide range of exposure profiles.

Method and device for predicting risk of decompression sickness


Assessing signaling characteristics for wireless receivers after being deployed within a service area is contemplated. The wireless receivers may be assessed for purposes of optimizing signaling interactions according to measurements generated during normal operating conditions and/or as a function of actual usage as opposed to estimates or other approximations generated prior to deployment.

More and more wireless receivers are being deployed to facilitate any number of wireless interactions between themselves and one or more associated clients/devices.
The wireless signaling may correspond with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 series of standards for Wi-Fi, such as according to Part 11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications, Amendment 1: Radio Resource Measurement of Wireless LANs (IEEE 802.11k) and/or Amendment 9: Interworking with External Networks (Hotspot 2.0, IEEE 802.11u). The wireless signaling may correspond with that described in the CableLabs technical report for Wireless Wi-Fi entitled Wi-Fi Radio Resource Management (RRM)/Self Organizing Networks (SON) Technical Report (WR-TR-RRM-SON-V01-140926) and the CableLabs specification entitled Wi-Fi Provisioning Framework Specification (WR-SP-WiFi-MGMT-I04-140311). The disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties herein.
The wireless signaling may correspond with cellular standards, such as Long-Term Evolution (LTE) based on the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM)/Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) and Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS)/High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) network technologies developed by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) as specified in its Release 8 and 9 document series and/or TS 36.201, 36.300, 36.304, 36.306, 36.321, 36.322, 36.323, 36.331, 36.401, 36.306 and 36.902 (self-organizing Network (SON)). The disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties herein.
The wireless signaling may correspond with as Internet of Things (IoT) devices and capable of Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA), Data Over Cable Service Interface Specifications (DOCSIS) 3.x, Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), Wi-Max, Wi-Fi, Digital Video Broadcasting-Terrestrial (DVB-T), Digital Video Broadcasting-Handheld (DVB-H), Zigbee, ZWave etc. The disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties herein.
A new area of IoT involves the use of sensors designed for wirelessly transmitting information periodically over long distances for years on a single battery. The infrastructure to support these connected devices is commonly referred to as a low power wide area network (LPWAN), which may operate in accordance with the processes and infrastructure described in U.S. application Ser. No. 15/844,087, entitled Normalization of Data Originating from Endpoints within LPWANs and/or LoraWAN Specification, version 1.1, published Oct. 11, 2017, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties herein. LPWANs may be designed to cover large geographical areas in a manner intended to minimize the amount of power required for sensors to interact with the network. The nature of a LPWAN network may allow IoT devices to run for years on small batteries, occasionally sending out small packets of data, waiting for a short time for response messages, and then closing the connection until more data needs to be sent.
The wireless receivers deployed within a particular service area may include capabilities for facilitating signaling associated with one or more of the foregoing wireless protocols/standards and/or according to other wireless requirements such that the wireless signaling within the service area may be influenced by an interrelation of signaling characteristics. One non-limiting aspect of the present invention contemplates assessing the signaling characteristics after the wireless devices are deployed within the service area due to an inability to sufficiently assess or estimate the signaling influences prior to deployment of the wireless receivers, such as to facilitate generating a map or other assessment of the signaling influences within the service area using real-world or actual usage data collected following deployment.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Signaling assessment of wireless receivers


Spatial and antenna information of a UAV is determined. Using at least the spatial and antenna information, a set of candidate transmission-reception beam pairs is determined, each pair between one of a set of one or more antenna panels in the UAV and one of multiple TRPs, wherein one or more of the multiple TRPs includes a receiver-only antenna panel that is oriented upward. Beam sweeping is configured to be performed for the set of candidate transmission-reception beam pairs. Based on results of the beam sweeping, a transmission-reception beam pair of the set of candidate transmission-reception beam pairs is selected to be used for uplink communication(s) from the UAV to a determined TRP in the determined best transmission-reception beam pair. The UAV may send the spatial and antenna information toward a wireless communication network including the multiple TRPs, and may send this periodically or based on thresholds.

This section is intended to provide a background or context to the invention disclosed below. The description herein may include concepts that could be pursued, but are not necessarily ones that have been previously conceived, implemented or described. Therefore, unless otherwise explicitly indicated herein, what is described in this section is not prior art to the description in this application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section. Abbreviations that may be found in the specification and/or the drawing figures are defined below, at the beginning of the detailed description section.
The market for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) (also called drones) is growing, and new use cases are in continuous development. UAVs are used to streamline operations, to reduce risk and improve efficiency, becoming very useful for inspection tasks (e.g. in agriculture or pipe-line), package delivery and disaster-relief applications. See, e.g., Hazim Shakhatre, et al., "Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: A Survey on Civil Applications and Key Research Challenges", arXiv:1805.00881v1 [cs.RO] 19 Apr. 2018; or Higinio González-Jorge, et al., "Unmanned Aerial Systems for Civil Applications: A Review", Drones 2017, 1, 2; doi:10.3390/drones1010002.
Current regulations in most countries limit drone operations to cases in which there is Visual Line of Sight (VLOS) between an UAV and its pilot. However, it is expected that Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations will be allowed for extended flight range, provided there is a reliable Command and Control (C&C) link to the drone. See, e.g., the following: H. C. Nguyen, R. Amorim, J. Wigard, I. Z. Kovacs, T. B. Sorensen, P. Mogensen, "How to Ensure Reliable Connectivity for Aerial Vehicles Over Cellular Networks", IEEE Access, 2018; and G. Geraci, A. Garcia-Rodriguez, L. G. Giordano, D. Lopez-Perez, E. Bjornson, "Understanding UAV Cellular Communications: From Existing Networks to Massive MIMO", arXiv:1804.08489v1 {cs.IT} 20 Apr. 2018.
Third generation partnership project (3GPP) studies on enhanced Long Term Evolution (LTE) support for UAVs have been reported in 3GPP TR 36.777 (see 3GPP TR 36.777, "Study on enhanced LTE support for aerial vehicles (Release 15)," December 2017), where UAV heights and speeds of up to 300 m and 160 km/h, respectively, are considered. One issue with UAVs and wireless networks such as for LTE (or NG, new generation, also referred to as 5G, fifth generation) is that these wireless communication networks are typically designed for ground-based mobile devices (commonly referred to as User Equipment, UEs). The designs of these wireless networks generally do not consider mobile devices that are above the level of the base stations being used to communicate with the UEs.

Solutions for UAV communications in a network with receiver-only mmwave 5G BS antennas and in other networks


Improved flaw scan circuits are provided for repeatable run out data. RRO (repeatable run out) data is processed by counting a number of RRO data bits detected in a servo sector; and setting an RRO flaw flag if at least a specified number of RRO data bits is not detected in the server sector. The RRO flaw flag can also optionally be set by detecting an RRO address mark in the servo sector; counting a number of samples in the servo sector after the RRO address mark that do not satisfy a quality threshold; and setting the RRO flaw flag when the counted number of samples that do not satisfy the quality threshold exceeds a specified flaw threshold. If the RRO flaw flag is set, the RRO data can be discarded, and/or an error recovery mechanism can be implemented to obtain the RRO data.

A read channel integrated circuit (IC) is one of the core electronic components in a modern hard disk drive. In a magnetic recording system, for example, a read channel converts and encodes data to enable magnetic recording heads to write data to a magnetic medium and to then read back the data accurately. The magnetic media in a magnetic recording system have a number of tracks and each track comprises "read" sectors, with "servo" sectors embedded between the read sectors. The information recorded in the servo sectors helps to position a magnetic recording head so that the user information stored in the read sectors can be retrieved properly.
The servo and read sectors both typically begin with the same known preamble pattern. The read preamble is followed by a read address mark and encoded user data. The servo preamble is followed by a servo address mark and various servo data, including a repeatable run out (RRO) data field that compensates for known errors due to inaccurate spindle centers on the disks. The RRO data field typically comprises an RRO synchronization pattern that is often referred to as an RRO address mark (RROAM), followed by additional RRO data.
When the magnetic hard disk is not spinning exactly at the center, the magnetic recording head will observe an elliptical track rather than a circular track. Flaw scan circuits are typically used to determine the quality of the RRO data that is read from the magnetic media. Existing flaw scan circuits identify low quality samples entering a data detector in a magnetic recording system and set a flag when the number of low quality samples exceeds a specified threshold. The flaw scan circuit will typically begin counting the number of low quality samples after detecting the RRO address mark. When the RRO address mark is missed and a false RRO address mark pattern is later detected due to noise, however, the flaw scan circuit may not properly count the low quality samples. For example, if the false RRO address mark is found towards the end of a servo processing gate, an insufficient number of low quality samples will be captured to set the flag.
A need therefore exists for improved flaw scan circuits for repeatable run out data.

Flaw scan circuit for repeatable run out (RRO) data


An optical unit has a filter member that disperses transmitted light and a photodetector that has light receiving elements. The filter member has a light transmissive substrate, protrusions including a first metallic material and formed on one surface of the substrate, and a metal film including a second metallic material having a refractive index higher than that of the first metallic material and formed so as to cover the protrusions as well as the one surface of the substrate. The metal film located between adjacent protrusions can be a diffraction grating and the protrusions can be waveguides. At least one of the grating cycle of the diffraction grating, the height of the protrusions, and the thickness of the metal film is set to a value different for each portion such that a wavelength of light transmitted through the filter member changes for each portion.

In recent years, spectrophotometers have been actively used in a variety of fields. A spectrophotometer is a device that irradiates an object to be measured with light of different wavelengths, and measures the spectral distribution (spectral density) of the object being measured.
Generally, a spectrophotometer is provided with an optical unit and a control unit. The optical unit is mainly constituted by a spectrograph and a photodetector. The spectrophotometer may also be provided with an optical unit for use as a light source in addition to an optical unit for receiving light.
In the optical unit, the spectrograph separates transmitted light or reflected light from an object into light of specific wavelengths. The photodetector detects the separated light, and outputs a signal according to the amount of detected light. At this time, output is performed for each wavelength of detected light. In the control unit, the luminance of the detected light is then computed for each output signal. A spectral distribution is acquired as a result.
Incidentally, the use of a prism as the spectrograph constituting the optical unit is heretofore known. When a prism is employed as the spectrograph, however, the size of the optical unit and, by extension, the size of the spectrophotometer tends to increase, making it difficult to reduce the cost of spectrophotometers. In order to solve such problems, a spectrophotometer in which bandpass filters that only allow light of specific wavelengths to pass are used as the spectrograph has been proposed (see Patent Literature 1).
Patent Literature 1 discloses an optical unit that is provided with three sheet-like bandpass filters having different transmission wavelengths, and three light receiving elements corresponding to the bandpass filters. With this optical unit, the band bandpass filters are sheet-like in form, and are disposed such that their main surfaces coincide. The light receiving elements are each disposed so as to receive light transmitted through the corresponding bandpass filter. Therefore, the corresponding light receiving element outputs a signal according to the wavelength of received light.
With the optical unit disclosed in Patent Literature 1, the three sheet-like bandpass filters thus function as a spectrograph. Accordingly, use of the optical unit disclosed in Patent Literature 1 enables three types of light having different wavelengths to be measured with a simple configuration. A similar optical unit to the optical unit disclosed in Patent Literature 1 is also disclosed in Patent Literature 2.


Provided are a microfluidic apparatus, a method and system for introducing a substance into a cell. The microfluidic apparatus includes a cavity channel, a bulk wave generating device and a surface acoustic wave generating device; a microstructure is arranged on an inner wall of the cavity channel, and the microstructure is constructed for forming a bubble by a solution at the microstructure when the solution is injected into the cavity channel; the bulk wave generating device is configured to generate a bulk wave, the bulk wave enables the bubble to resonate for generating a flow field; and the surface acoustic wave generating device is configured to generate a surface acoustic wave and control a position of at least one particle in the solution.

The theory of gene therapy has been proposed and continuously lucubrated. A new development phase comes for the research of thoroughly overcoming malignant tumors, genetic diseases, infectious diseases and so on. Gene therapy is to introduce a normal gene or a therapeutic gene into a human target cell using biological, physical and chemical methods to correct a gene defect or a functional disorder, thereby treating diseases. How to efficiently and safely transport an exogenous substance from outside to inside of the cell is the key of the gene therapy.
At present, methods for introducing a substance into a cell include a viral gene introduction method, an injection method, a gene gun method, an electroporation method, a sound-induced perforation method and so on. In the sound-induced perforation method, a large number of cells and bubbles are simultaneously added into a solution, the bubbles and cells are well shaken to evenly scatter the bubbles among the cells, and the mixed solution is exposed to an ultrasonic wave, the bubbles generate a cavitation effect under an action of the ultrasonic waves, which causes physical phenomena, such as expansion, implosion, a micro sound flow, a micro jet flow, a shock wave and etc., and these physical phenomena may form micro pores on a surface of the cell to cause change of permeability of a cell membrane.
Research shows that when ultrasonic contrast bubbles are added into a cell solution, the radial vibration of the bubbles under an action of an ultrasonic wave, causes a steady or transient cavitation effect, which may significantly improve the opening efficiency of the cell membrane. In case of transient cavitation of a bubble near a cell, a micro riptide, an acoustic micro flow and a shock wave formed by asymmetric breaking of the bubble are important physical mechanisms for causing an acoustic through hole. The integrity of the cell membrane and the activity of the cell are directly determined by a shear stress corresponding to the micro riptide. When a distance between the bubble and the cell is too large, the shear stress corresponding to a micro jet flow is not enough to damage the integrity of the cell membrane structure, and the opening efficiency of the cell is low; and when the distance between the bubble and the cell is too small, although the opening efficiency of the cell may be obviously improved, a too large shear stress may cause an adherent cell separating from a substrate, and a lethal damage is formed on a surface of the cell membrane.
Therefore, in order to achieve good opening efficiency and perforation effect of the cell, it is necessary to control the distance between the bubble and the cell within a certain distance range. However, the device for acoustic perforation in the related art cannot precisely control the distance between the cell and the bubble, thereby making the shear stress applied to the cell unstable.

Microfluidic apparatus, and system and method for introducing substance into cell

SHENZHEN INSTITUTES OF ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY, CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES


The present invention relates to a ballast system for a marine structure. The ballast system comprises a ballast tank which is in fluid communication with a tank arrangement for temporarily holding bilge fluid and/or ballast fluid in a marine structure. The tank arrangement comprises a storage space defined by at least one tank wall, at least one fluid inlet for introducing the bilge fluid and/or ballast fluid in the storage space, and at least one fluid outlet permitting removal of at least parts of the bilge fluid and/or ballast fluid from the storage space. The at least one fluid outlet is at least partly formed by a caisson adapted for receiving a submersible pump at a submersible pump position in the storage space.

1. Field
The present invention relates to a tank arrangement for a marine structure. The tank arrangement is adapted for a submersible pump, the tank arrangement comprises a circulation conduit for circulating liquid to enable the submersible pump to operate in an advantageous condition substantially at all time. The present invention also relates to an assembly of a submersible pump and a tank arrangement.
2. Background of the Invention
A marine structure, such as a ship or a semi-submersible unit, is often provided with one or more ballast systems in order to control the draught and/or the inclination of the marine structure. Generally, a ballast system comprises a ballast tank, and in fact often a plurality of tanks, which is adapted to be filled with sea water—i.e. water ambient of the marine structure—through a water filling assembly.
In order to be able to empty or to transfer water between tanks, the ballast system further generally comprises a pump assembly which in turn comprises a pump and means for fluidly connecting the tank and the pump as well as means for connecting the pump and the environment ambient of the marine structure such that water may be pumped from the tank to the ambient environment. Generally, at least a portion of the pump assembly is in fluid communication with the aforesaid water filling assembly.
However, in some operations, intrusion of air cannot be avoided. For example, when a ballast tank is drained of water, there is a risk that air, at low tank level in the ballast tank, will be mixed with ballast water and guided towards to, and later introduced into the pumps such that air will be entrained in the water filling assembly and—at a later stage—in at least a portion of the pump assembly. As such, when a ballast tank is to be emptied of water, there is a risk that the air in the pump assembly will be guided towards the pump and hence introduced in the pump. Since air generally adversely affects a pump, the presence of air is undesired. Moreover, at the completion of a ballast tank emptying operation, i.e. when a ballast tank is almost completely emptied of water, the water flow from the ballast tank to the pump is generally lower than in the beginning of the ballast tank emptying operation. Since a pump generally has an optimum operating condition at a specific combination of the flow rate and pressure, the aforesaid change in the water flow is generally undesired.
Additionally, during load altering operations of the marine structure, such as multiple ballast operations and/or oil refueling, which occur simultaneously as a ballast tank emptying operation, there may be a need for controlling the rate at which the ballast tank is emptied in order to maintain a balance in the marine structure. Moreover, when a ballast tank is almost emptied of water, it may be desirable to have a low flow rate of the water leaving the ballast tank in order to at least limit the amount of air in the water entering the pump.
Pumping ballast water usually requires relatively high capacity pumps while when pumping bilge water, generally low capacity pumps are required. The difference in requirements of the pumps tends to be burdensome for the manufacturer of the marine structure as it demands two different pumps, each specifically adapted for the operating condition required for the specific purpose of the pump. Further, if the marine structure is damaged, it remains vital that the ballast pumps and bilge water pumps are operational, even if the hull is breached or the space at which the pumps are positioned is flooded. Today, this is often solved by having a plurality of pump rooms at different locations; this ensures that always one ballast pump or bilge water pump remains operational.
In view, of the above, it may be realized that there is a need for improvements in the field of moving fluids.

Tank arrangement adapted for a submersible pump


A method for making delivery gauge corrections at low mill speeds during threading and tailing out of a workpiece by varying the interstand tension of the workpiece. The tension between the last two stands is used with a desired tension and the delivery AGC by tension mode of an existing delivery automatic gauge control (AGC) to change the speed of the downstream stands. During the threading and tailing out phases, the delivery AGC by speed is turned off and set to zero. In the full run phase, the interstand regulators are changed to a tension by roll gap mode, and an existing delivery automatic gauge control (AGC) by speed is used to provide a stand speed reference for the downstream stands. In the full run phase, the delivery (AGC) by tension is turned off an set to zero. In the tailing out phase optionally, the tension between each stand is used in a similar manner to provide a speed reference change for each stand immediately downstream from where a tension controller is located.

1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a method in a tandem cold mill for rolling on gauge material in a workpiece, such as strip or sheet during threading and tailing out by varying the interstand tension in the workpiece. More specifically, the invention relates to employing an existing delivery automatic gauge control (AGC) in a tension mode, to change the speed of the downstream stands relative to the last to vary the interstand tension to obtain an on gauge length for the workpiece travelling through the mill when the mill is being operated at low speed.
2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
Presently, in the threading and tailing out processes of a multi-stand tandem cold rolling mill for reducing a workpiece, such as strip, most of the out of tolerance or off gauge strip occurs during these low mill speeds, with very little or no off gauge strip occurring in the body of the strip at the full run of the mill when the mill is operating at a high speed.
During the low mill speeds, the roll gap of each stand is set at a desired setting and the reduction in the strip is being determined through the "tension by speed" mode of the mill where the interstand tension regulators control the speeds of the stands. The tension by speed controllers make stand speed corrections which are added to the mill operator's stand speed settings. When the stand speed settings are changed, there will be off-gauge strip leaving the mill since the mill speed setup has been modified by the strip tension by speed regulators. During low mill speeds when all the mill interstand tension regulators modify stand speed to regulate the strip tension to a strip tension setting determined by the mill operator, the only way possible to control strip delivery gauge by a delivery automatic gauge control system which monitors the strip thickness leaving the mill, is for this delivery AGC system to change the strip interstand tension in a manner to bring the delivery strip gauge (thickness) within tolerance. There is a limit to which the delivery AGC system by tension is permitted to change the interstand strip tension relative to the operator strip tension setting of the mill operator which is typically .+-.40% of the operator's setting. Usually, the interstand AGC by tension system is saturated during the low speed of the mill in making all the strip tension connections permitted. Even with this situation, the strip delivery gauge can still not be within tolerance.
When the last stand of a mill has sandblasted rough rolls, which is the case for a sheet mill, the interstand strip tension between the last two stands is usually regulated by changing the speed of one or both of these stands regardless of the mill speed. When this is the case, the interstand strip tension between the last two stands is changed by a delivery AGC system to bring the delivery strip on gauge. Again the amount of tension change permitted in the strip is typically .+-.40% of the operator's strip tension setting. If the delivery AGC by tension system is energized at all times during the rolling process, that is, at both low and high mill speeds, the delivery AGC by tension system usually goes into a saturation state. When the delivery AGC by tension controller is in this saturation state making the maximum strip tension corrections permitted, it is impossible for the delivery AGC to make any further delivery gauge corrections. This quite often happens, i.e. the controller becomes saturated at high mill speeds, and remains saturated when the mill speed is changed to a lower speed. At high mill speeds, there is another delivery AGC system which is available which can control the delivery gauge in the strip. This is known as a delivery AGC by speed system.
The delivery AGC system by tension is not required when this delivery AGC by speed system is in operation. Present mill practice is to keep both the delivery AGC by speed and the delivery AGC by tension systems in operation at high mill speeds. Presently in existing mills the delivery AGC by tension system is not energized selectively where it is only turned on at low mill speeds and also not all the interstand strip tensions are changed to make delivery gauge corrections at low mill speeds, such as threading and tailing out. Unfortunately, this practice and operation of the mill does not prove to be adequate to produce on gauge strip relative to the body of the strip being reduced in the full run of the mill.
Some examples illustrating the relationship between automatic gauge control and speed and tension regulators for gauge control are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,740,983; 3,765,203; 3,768,286; 3,848,443; 3,782,151; 4,011,743; 4,016,735; and 4,286,447.
In the full run of the mill, strip within gauge tolerance is obtained through the operation of the "tension by roll gap" mode where the interstand tension regulators control the roll gap of the stands, and through the selective operations of the entry and the delivery automatic gauge control (AGC) systems. The delivery AGC system generally uses an X-ray gauge at the delivery side of the last stand for monitoring deviations in the strip and may consist of what is referred to as an "AGC by speed" mode and an "AGC by tension mode." The "AGC by speed" mode generates the speed changes in the downstream stands, and the "AGC by tension" mode generates the tension changes between stands.
In the operation of the mill, when the mill is accelerated from the low mill threading speed to the normal high mill full run speed, the strip usually goes thin. When the mill is decelerating from the high run speed to the low tailing out speed, the strip has a tendency to go thick. This phenomena is known in the industry as speed effect. When the mill is accelerating, the automatic gauge control (AGC) systems may be fully functional and the interstand tension regulators are generally changed from the tension by speed mode to the tension by gap mode. The AGC systems make stand speed corrections to correct the delivery gauge of the strip which usually is thick. The AGC corrections are made in a direction to correct for thick strip which means that the AGC corrections make the strip go thinner. In the meantime, the speed effect occurs causing the strip to go even thinner. The net result is that the strip can become too thin. In the meantime, the strip is accelerating to the high run speed before the delivery AGC system can bring the strip back on gauge. Since the strip is going through the mill at a high rate of speed before the strip gets on gauge, a great amount of strip will not be within gauge tolerance.
When the mill is decelerating, that is, when the mill speed is going from high to low, the automatic gauge control systems generally are still operating and the interstand tension is changed from the "tension by gap" mode to the "tension by speed" mode for low mill speed. Due to the speed effects and to the instability and/or saturation of several of the systems for gauge control of the strip in the tailing out phase of the mill, the strip tends to become too thick.
Ideally, if the strip is brought on gauge as soon as possible on the head end during threading, and on the tail end during tailing out, there will be less off gauge strip.

Method for rolling on-gauge head and tail ends of a workpiece

AEG Westinghouse Industrial Automation Corporation


A full-duplex speakerphone that is coupled to a network such as the public switched telephone network. The full-duplex speakerphone includes a base station, which has a network connection and receives a network signal from the network. The base station also includes a speaker for audibly outputting a signal derived from the network signal into a room in which the speakerphone is located. The base station also includes a wireless receiver for receiving signals transmitted over the air from a wireless remote microphone equipped with a wireless transmitter, the received signals being sent by the base station over the network.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to telephony. More particularly, the present invention relates to speakerphones that have a wireless connection to their microphone.
2. Description of Related Art
Telephones equipped with a loud speaker and microphone (xe2x80x9cspeakerphonesxe2x80x9d) allow one or more talkers in a room with the speakerphone to participate in a telephone conversation without using their hands. Freeing the hands during telephone conversations has many advantages, including facilitating note-taking, decreasing neck, arm, and shoulder fatigue, and allowing the talker to freely move about the room.
Speakerphones may be designed to operate in either half-duplex or full-duplex mode. In the half-duplex mode, when conducting a telephone call using a speakerphone, only one party involved in the telephone call can have his voice transmitted at one time. If both parties try to speak simultaneously, a choppy sound effect known as clipping results. Having to speak in turn can be unnatural and can make conversation difficult and laborious. Thus, many speakerphones are designed to operate in full-duplex mode. The full-duplex mode allows incoming and outgoing parties"" voices to be simultaneously transmitted so that there is no clipping or choppyness. This results in much more natural and spontaneous flowing conversation. Full-duplex is even more important when more than one person is in a room using the speakerphone for a conference call. It can be difficult for the person on the other end of the conference call, connected via the telephone network, to break into the ongoing conversation. In addition, noise or commentary in the conference room can cut off the person on the other end.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional full-duplex speakerphone 100. The speakerphone 100 includes a base station 102 and a handset 104 that is connected to the base station 102 by a cable 105. The base station 102 includes a keypad 106, a speaker 108, and a microphone 110. A person using the speakerphone 100 can conduct a telephonic conversation with another person by using the handset 104 to speak and hear, or by using the speaker 108 to hear the other person and the microphone 110 to speak.
However, conventional full-duplex speakerphones like the one shown in FIG. 1 operate under severe constraints that adversely effect the audio quality of the telephonic conversation. The speaker 108 and microphone 110 are both located in the base station 102, in close proximity to one another. The close proximity results in acoustic coupling between the speaker 108 and microphone 110 by which sound emanating from the speaker 108 is picked-up by the microphone 110. This causes an echo signal to be transmitted by the speakerphone 100 to a listener connected to the speakerphone 100 over the telephone network.
This effect becomes more pronounced when the room talker is much farther from the microphone 110 than the speaker 108. The microphone 110 receives the speaker 108 signal as a very loud signal, while the voice of the distant room talker is received by the microphone 110 as a very quiet signal. Moreover, the room talker""s voice will typically echo as a result of impedance mismatches in the telephone network, from the point where the speakerphone 100 is connected to the telephone network to the termination at a central office of the telephone service provider. To mitigate these echoes, full-duplex speakerphones have echo cancelers. While echo cancelers can reduce the echo, they do not fully cancel the echo, leaving residual echos. When the residual echoes are audible, this significantly degrades the quality of a conversation.
In addition, full-duplex speakerphones like that illustrated in FIG. 1 tend to pick-up substantial amounts of unwanted noise. With the microphone 108 fixed in the base station 102, the person talking may be a significant distance from the microphone 108. The farther away the talker is from the microphone 108, the more difficult it becomes to hear the talker""s voice. To make the talker audible, the microphone signal must be amplified. But this also amplifies the system background noise, which includes the residual echo, quantization noise in digital systems, environmental background noise, and the noise floor of the microphone 108. The more noise the microphone 108 picks-up, the greater the degradation in sound quality during the call.
FIG. 2 shows a full-duplex speakerphone 200 that is designed to reduce the acoustic coupling problem. The speakerphone 200 includes a speaker 202 and microphone 204. The speakerphone 200 has a line side 206, which is connected on one end to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) 208, and a room side 210. The speakerphone 200 also has a transmit signal path 212 and a receive signal path 214. A line echo canceler (LEC) 216 is located between the transmit signal path 212 and receive signal path 214 on the line side 206, and an acoustic echo canceler (AEC) 218 is located between the transmit path 212 and receive path 214 on the room side 210.
A line talker signal 220 incoming to the speakerphone 200 from the PSTN 208 is converted from analog to digital form, and any line echo 221 excited by the LEC reference input signal (LECref) 222 that is estimated by the LEC 216 is subtracted from the LEC echo input signal (LECecho) 224. A residual line signal 226, which ideally contains only the line talker signal 220, is then amplified by the receive automatic gain control (AGC) 228, which is designed to maintain its output power at a specified level. The receive AGC 228 outputs a signal that is converted into an analog form and output to the speaker 202, completing the receive signal path 214.
Similarly, in the transmit direction, the microphone 204 picks-up a room talker signal 232, which is converted into an AEC echo input signal (AECecho) 234. The room echo 236, as estimated by the AEC 218, is then subtracted from the AECecho signal 234, and the residual transmit signal 238, which ideally contains only the room talker signal 232, is amplified by the transmit AGC 240 to a specified level. The amplified signal is then converted to analog and output to the PSTN 208, completing the transmit signal path 212.
In practice, however, the AEC 218 and LEC 216 do not provide perfect cancellation, and the transmit and receive signals leak into one another. As a result, a potential loop exists in the signal path, shown by gain loop 242. The AGCs 228, 240 and other analog or digital gains may, at some frequencies, cause gain around the loop 242 to be greater than unity, especially if the standard deviations of the input line 244 and/or room talker signal 232 are small, and the gains of the AGCs 228, 240 are high. When the loop gain 242 is greater than unity at any frequency, the full-duplex speakerphone 200 is prone to oscillate or feed-back.
To correct these problems, expensive circuitry and software must be designed and provided in the full-duplex speakerphone 200. Even with the added circuitry and software, the speakerphone 200 may experience feedback due to the close proximity of the speaker 202 and microphone 204 and resultant acoustic coupling between them.
FIG. 3 shows another type of speakerphone 300 that is designed to provide a reduction in acoustic coupling and feedback. The speakerphone 300 has a base station 302, keypad 304, speaker 306, and base station microphone 308. Speakerphone 300 also includes a remote microphone housing 312, which is connected to the base station 302 by a cable 310. The remote microphone housing 312 has a remote microphone 314. Locating the remote microphone 314 remote from the speaker 306 reduces coupling between the remote microphone 314 and speaker 306.
The use of cable 310 to connect the remote microphone housing 312 to the base station 302, however, limits the flexibility of the speakerphone 300. Cable 310 physically limits where the remote microphone 314 can be located relative to the base station 302 and talker. If the talker were to try to relocate the microphone housing 312 around the room to reduce the background noise problem, the cable 310 would physically limit the talker""s mobility and could also become entangled with furniture and other persons present in the room.
Accordingly, a need exists for an inexpensive speakerphone that reduces background noise, reduces acoustic coupling and resultant feedback, and provides flexibility and ease of use. The present invention provides such a speakerphone.
The present invention is a full-duplex speakerphone that is coupled to a network. As used herein, the network may be any type of network that is capable of carrying a telephony signal, including the public switched telephone network (PSTN), a private telephone network, a cellular telephone network, a paging network, or a computer network such as the Internet. These exemplary networks are not to be considered limiting, however, as the speakerphone of the present invention may be designed to work with any telephonic or computer network or system.
In a first embodiment, the invention is a full-duplex speakerphone that is coupled to a network. The speakerphone includes a base station having a network connection, a speaker, and a wireless receiver. The base station receives a first network signal from the network, and the speaker delivers an audible signal derived from the first network signal. The speakerphone also includes a wireless remote microphone apparatus having a microphone and a wireless transmitter. The microphone receives an audio signal, and the wireless transmitter transmits the audio signal over the air to the wireless receiver in the base station. The base station converts the audio signal into a second network signal and sends the second network signal to the network. The base station and wireless remote microphone apparatus operate in full-duplex mode.
In a second embodiment, the present invention is a full-duplex speakerphone that is coupled to a network. As in the preceding embodiment, this second embodiment includes a base station and a wireless remote microphone that operate in full-duplex.
The base station of the second embodiment includes a network connection, a speaker, a wireless receiver, a first signal converter coupled to the network, a line echo canceler coupled to the first signal converter, a compressor coupled to the line echo canceler, a decompressor coupled to the compressor, a second signal converter coupled to the compressor and the speaker, and a wireless transmitter coupled to the compressor. The first signal converter converts an analog line signal received from the network into a digital line signal, and the line echo canceler reduces an echo component of the digital line signal to obtain a residual digital line signal. The compressor compresses the residual digital line signal into a compressed digital line signal, and the decompressor decompresses the compressed residual digital line signal into a decompressed digital line signal. The second signal converter converts the decompressed digital line signal into a speaker signal, and the speaker audibly outputs the speaker signal. The wireless transmitter sends a transmit signal derived from the compressed digital line signal over the air to the wireless remote microphone apparatus to be used as a reference signal.
The wireless remote microphone of the second embodiment has a microphone and a wireless transmitter. The microphone receives an audio signal, and the wireless transmitter transmits the audio signal over the air to the wireless receiver in the base station, the base station converting the audio signal into a network signal and sending the network signal to the network.
In a third embodiment, the invention is a full-duplex speakerphone that is coupled to a network. The speakerphone includes a base station and a wireless remote microphone that operate in full-duplex mode.
The base station of the third embodiment includes a speaker, a wireless receiver, a first signal converter coupled to the network, a line echo canceler coupled to the first signal converter, an acoustic echo canceler coupled to the line echo canceler and to the wireless receiver, and a second signal converter coupled to the acoustic echo canceler and to the speaker. The first signal converter converts an analog line signal received from the network into a digital line signal, and the line echo canceler reduces an echo component of the digital line signal to obtain a residual digital line signal. The second signal converter converts the residual digital line signal into a speaker signal, and the speaker audibly outputs the speaker signal.
The wireless remote microphone of the third embodiment includes a microphone and a wireless transmitter. The microphone receives an audio signal, and the wireless transmitter transmits the audio signal over the air to the wireless receiver in the base station. The acoustic echo canceler reduces an echo component of the audio signal to obtain a residual audio signal, and the base station converts the residual audio signal into a network signal and sends the network signal to the network.

Full-duplex speakerphone with wireless microphone