An image processing apparatus includes an image input unit for inputting color image data, a first color conversion unit for converting the inputted color image data into first image data of the L*a*b color space having independently brightness component and chromaticity component, a background detection unit for detecting a background color component from the converted first image data of the L*a*b color space, a background removing unit for converting, based on a white value conversion parameter derived based on a ratio of the background color corresponding to the background component to a prescribed reference white color in the L*a*b color space, the first image data into second image data having the background color in white, a second color conversion unit for converting the second image data of the L*a*b color space into third image data of a prescribed color space, and an output unit for outputting the converted third image data of the prescribed color space.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an image processing apparatus removing a background color contained in color image data.
2. Description of Related Art
Image processing technology has been known in which image data are corrected upon conversion from color space of such as, e.g., RGB or CMYK as device-depending color to color space of, such as, e.g., CIEXYZ as a color mode of device-independent color. With such technology, a correction of the whole color space in maintaining its color balance is made upon white point conversion from the XYZ value of a certain reference color (e.g., white color displayed on a monitor) to the XYZ value of another reference color (e.g., white color of printing medium).
With such image processing technology, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-320598 has a description on a color correction apparatus correcting color to be outputted to an output device in accordance with light of an environment at which a monitor or printing medium is located.
In modern image processing technology, however, image processing is made at CIEL*a*b* color space as a type of uniform color space in which components of the brightness and chromaticity (colorfulness) are independent in color models representing color space and in which differentials of numerical values are close to human's perception, and background removing processing has been known as a representative art.
The background removing processing generally includes processing to convert the brightness value L* of the background component corresponding to the background color into the maximum value and to make the value of the chromaticity a*b* closer to zero, thereby rendering the background color the white color as the achromatic color of the brightest brightness.
This method, however, raises a problem that distortions and deviations may occur in color space of corrected results thereby to lose color balance, because the L* value, a* value, and b* value of the background color component are corrected in the same way to pixels forming the components other than components of the background color.


The present invention relates to aSoC, which includes a master device, a slave device, a high-speed bus, and a monitoring apparatus. The master device is connected to a first port of the high-speed bus, and the slave device is connected to a second port of the high-speed bus, so that the master device is capable of accessing the slave device. The monitoring apparatus is arranged between the first port of the high-speed bus and the master device, and/or between the second port of the high-speed bus and the slave device, and configured to record, based on a high-speed bus communication protocol, state information of each command that passes through the first port and/or the second port, and when state information of a command indicates that an operation of the command is in a timeout state, report an interrupt to locate a faulty node on the high-speed bus.

With the development of a chip integration trend, more and more chips need to use an internal high-speed bus (bus) to exchange data. With the development of a multi-core trend and increase of functions integrated on a chip, complexity of the internal high-speed bus of the chip is increasingly high. However, a complex bus is faced with an increasingly high probability of problems. How to debug the bus and locate the problems is always a main issue troubling the front-end design of the chip, EDA/FPGA/Emulator verification, and chip software development and debugging.
At present, the high-speed bus protocol in the chip is generally based on multi-channel processing. For example, an AXI (Advanced Extensible Interface) bus of the ARM (Advanced RISC Machines) Holdings company has five channels, namely, a read address channel (AR), a write address channel (AW), a write data channel (W), a read data channel (R), and a write response channel (B).
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a master device (Master) and a slave device (Slave) that are connected by a high-speed bus (BUS) in the prior art. As shown in FIG. 1, a high-speed bus 13 between a master device 11 and a slave device 12 has five channels, namely, a read address channel (Read Address Channel) 14, a read data channel (Read Data Channel) 15, a write address channel (Write Address Channel) 16, a write data channel (Write Data Channel) 17, and a write response channel (Write Resp Channel) 18. The master device 11 is defined as an active initiator of a command and data writing and a receiver of a returned response, while the slave device 12 is defined as a receiver of the command and an initiator of data reading and the response. Generally, a processor is used as the master device 11, and has a master port connected and used with a master port of the high-speed bus 13 to actively read data; and a memory (memory) is used as a slave device 12, and has a slave port connected and used with a slave port of the high-speed bus 13 for the master device 11 to read data and return a response.
FIG. 2 is a time sequence diagram of each channel in a high-speed bus shown in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 2, each channel uses a full handshake mechanism, that is, when no ready pulse arrives, a valid pulse is not revoked and a next command cannot be sent.
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an existing system on chip SoC (System on Chip). As shown in FIG. 3, a system on chip 30 includes multiple master devices (master) 31, multiple slave devices (slave) 32, and even multiple high-speed buses (Bus) 33. In FIG. 3, the arrow direction indicating the output direction indicates the command output of a master device 31, and the arrow direction indicating the input direction indicates command receiving of a slave device 32. Each arrow direction corresponds to five channels of a high-speed bus. Because the high-speed bus 33 interconnects all master devices 31 and all slave devices 32, all the master devices 31 can access all the slave devices 32. If any node of the high-speed bus, for example, any master device, slave device, or any one or more channels in ports of the bus, is faulty, the fault spreads to a plurality of nodes. That is to say, as long as an operation passes through the faulty node, the operation cannot be completed. Therefore, as long as a node is faulty, the whole system may be affected, so that the whole system on chip is in a deadlock state.
When the deadlock state occurs, all tasks are stopped. However, as the scale of the system on chip is increasingly large and the bus interconnection is increasingly complex, the above problem is more obvious. In addition, generally the high-speed bus may send multiple uncompleted commands at a time, and support disordered return of commands. This further increases the difficulty in locating the faulty node.
At present, the industry has developed a high-speed bus monitoring technology to solve the above problem. At present, the main principle of a known bus monitoring technology lies in: recording all behaviors of nodes on the high-speed bus, then forming a data stream by packetization and decompression, and sending the data stream to a buffer in the system on chip for storage, or sending the data stream to a storage module outside the chip for storage through a port of the system on chip. The function is generally called a trace (Trace) method in the industry, and is similar to that an oscilloscope performs signal sampling and storage and then recovers the signal for analysis by debugging personnel.
Generally, a large chip company in the industry uses a bus debug system developed by itself, including a tool chain, and so on. However, as products of the ARM Holdings company are widely used, the Coresight debug component and system that are defined by the ARM Holdings company are gradually used by many companies. The ARM Holdings company has developed a debug component for the highest-speed AXI high-speed bus recently.
FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a system on chip using a bus debug technology of the ARM Holdings company in the prior art. As shown in FIG. 4, a system on chip 40 includes an ARM processor core (ARM core) 41, a direct memory access module (Direct Memory Access, DMA) 42, a digital signal processor core (DSP core) 43, a double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory controller (DDR SDRAM controller) 44, an internal static random access memory (Internal SRAM) 45, and other peripherals (Other Peripheral) 46.
The ARM processor core 41, memory content direct removing module 42, and digital signal processor core 43 are used as master devices (Master), while the double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory controller 44, internal static random access memory 45, and other peripherals 46 are used as slave devices (slave). The master devices and slave devices are connected through an AXI high-speed bus 47. In addition, a bus trace (BusTrace) apparatus 48 may be arranged at ports connecting the AXI high-speed bus 47 and the master devices and slave devices, so as to record each command passing through the ports. The bus trace apparatus 48 may be arranged at some ports of the AXI high-speed bus 47 as required to connect to the master devices or slave devices. Herein the bus trace apparatus 48 is arranged at ports of the AXI high-speed bus 47 connecting the ARM processor core 41, memory content direct removing module 42, digital signal processor core 43, double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory controller 44, and internal static random access memory 45.
When the system on chip works, the bus trace apparatus 48 is used as a debug component, which records events such as command sending and response returning of a port corresponding to the AXI high-speed bus 47, forms a frame in a format by using an event content, and incorporates a unique ID assigned by each bus trace apparatus 48 as an identifier into the frame. Then, the recorded content is output through a debug bus 49. The debug bus 49 may be an ATB debug bus defined by the ARM Holdings company, and is independent of the AXI high-speed bus 47. Then, through the ATB debug bus 49, relevant information of each port of the AXI high-speed bus 47 is finally stored in a buffer (buffer) in the system on chip 40, or stored in a DDR memory outside the chip, or output to the outside of the chip through a high-speed port (High Speed I/O).
Test personnel may read the buffer in the system on chip or the DDR memory outside the chip through the tool chain provided by ARM, so as to read the stored content, and by parsing an ID and a frame format of each bus trace apparatus 48, recover the relevant information of a corresponding port of the AXI high-speed bus 47, which is recorded by a corresponding bus trace apparatus 48 within a period.
The above bus debug technology of the ARM Holdings company does not support real-time locating of problems in principle, but belongs to an after-event passive system. After other problems occur in the running of the system on chip, test personnel may query a history record exported by the bus trace apparatus 48, and perform after-event analysis to locate the problems, where the workload of and requirement for analyzing and locating are higher.
In addition, because there is limited storage space corresponding to the bus trace apparatus 48, use of the above debug technology generally requires that one or more trigger conditions of an adjacent time point of a problem should be found, so as to trigger the starting or stopping of trace, or that a filter condition should be found, so that the bus trace apparatus 48 records only behaviors of the bus in the case that a special condition is satisfied. However, searching of the trigger condition or filter condition needs to be analyzed manually and set; and if the setting is incorrect, behaviors of the adjacent time point of the problem may be not recorded; as a result, a problem scenario needs to reoccur repeatedly. Therefore, the debug efficiency is lower.
An existing trace-based bus monitoring technology does not support anomaly recovery in principle, and only records a problem which occurs, and then subsequently provides the record for the test personnel to perform after-event analysis.
In addition, the above bus debug technology exports and stores the behavior events in real time. Because an operation of the bus is generally fast, there are many events within a period. To record enough information within a period and ensure that the information is not lost, the bus debug technology has a certain requirement and cost for the storage space and bus performance.
If the event content is stored in the system on chip, the buffer of the system on chip requires enough space and its power consumption cost is correspondingly increased.
If the event content is stored in the DDR memory outside the chip, the event content needs to occupy port traffic of the DDR memory. However, when bus events frequently occur, generally the bus frequently accesses the DDR memory, which may generally require the bandwidth of the DDR memory to synchronously increase and change, and therefore, has a great impact on the system performance.
If the event content is exported to the outside of the chip through a high-speed port, a high requirement is imposed on a PAD type selection and printed circuit board PCB design, and hardware outside the chip needs to be purchased from the ARM Holdings company. Therefore, the cost is high.
In addition, the bus debug technology of the ARM Holdings company needs to be supported by the tool chain of the ARM Holdings company, cannot support self-locating of new trace contents, and is inflexible.
At present, a bus debug technology developed by the TI (Texas Instruments, Texas instruments) Incorporated company is also popular in the industry, and the bus trace technology is basically similar to that of the ARM Holdings company, with the only difference in that: In the bus debug technology of the TI company, an input event may come from a VBUSM high-speed bus of the TI Incorporated company instead of the AXI high-speed bus of the ARM Holdings company, and a bus for exporting the record content of the bus trace apparatus to the buffer is a VBUSP test bus of the TI Incorporated company instead of the ATB test bus of the ARM Holdings company. In addition, the bus debug technology of the TI Incorporated company supports only importing the content output by the bus trace apparatus to the buffer in the system on chip, but does not support importing the content output by the bus trace apparatus to the DDR memory outside the chip or using a high-speed port to export the content to the outside of the chip.
The bus debug technology of the TI Incorporated company has the same disadvantages as the bus debug technology of the ARM Holdings company, and because it does not support importing the content output by the bus trace apparatus to the DDR memory outside the chip or using the high-speed port to export the content to the outside of the chip, the bus debug technology of the TI Incorporated company has a greater impact on the cost of the power consumption on chip than the bus debug technology of the ARM Holdings company.
Therefore, how to quickly locate and restore the faulty node of the high-speed bus is one of urgent problems to be solved.

System on chip and corresponding monitoring method


The disclosed multi-use clamp consists of a unitary body having an elongated pointed shank and a hook cantilevered off of the shank opposite the pointed end. The hook has first and second concavely curved portions located outwardly adjacent the shank. These curved portions having curvatures corresponding to the outside surface of two differently sized conventional conduits, and the centers of these respective curvatures are spaced from the shank a distance corresponding to the curvature itself. A commercial version of the clamp would have the curvature of the inner curved portion correspond to a 1/2" size conduit, and would have the curvature of the outer curved portion correspond to a 3/4" size conduit. The clamp can thus be used with either size conduit, being driven into and be rigidly secured to a support structure, with the hook overlying the conduit for holding it relative to the support structure.

In the electrical industry, it is common to run ground wires and/or electrical wires housed in conduits along and against support surfaces, and to use clamps as one means for securing them relative to these support surfaces. When the support is formed of wood, concrete, masonry or the like, the clamps can be formed of reasonably strong metal structures and can be driven directly into the support to become rigidly connected thereto. The clamp may further snuggly overlie the conduit or ground wire for holding the same tightly against the underlying support surface.
One form of clamp may be as a U-shaped staple, having two generally parallel shank portions and a curved interconecting cross portion. The spacing of the shank portions is selected to fit on opposite sides of the electrical conduit or ground wire; and these shank portions are pointed at their free ends adapted to be driven into the structural support until the interconnecting cross portion fits snuggly against the electrical conduit or ground wire.
Another form of clamp may be somewhat J-shaped, having a shank portion with one pointed end and having a hook portion cantilevered off of the shank portion near its opposite end. The shank portion is adapted to be driven into the structural support next to the electrical conduit or ground wire; and the hook portion is adapted then to overlie and be snugged against the electrical conduit or ground wire.
In each general type, the clamp is sized to fit or cooperate with one size of electrical conduits, which most commonly may come as a 1/2" or 3/4" size conduit. Thus, with the U-shaped staples, the shank portions may be spaced apart by the needed distance, and the interconnecting cross portion may be curved between these shank portions at a curvature corresponding generally to the outside of either the 1/2" or 3/4" size conduit. Likewise, the hook portion of the J-shaped clamps may be shaped to engage the outside of either the 1/2" or 3/4" size conduit.
One problem with this approach is the increased needed inventory of different staples and clamps suited to cooperate properly with each common size of conduit.


This invention relates to circuit boards and methods of fabricating circuit boards. A circuit board includes a core layer and a surface layer. The core layer includes a number of fibers and the surface layer has a thickness that is between about 10% and about 30% of the circuit board thickness. Including fibers in the core layer increases the strength of the circuit board. The surface layer is essentially free of fibers and relatively thick. The thickness of the surface layer inhibits the formation of cracks in the circuit board, which improves the reliability of circuits and systems coupled to the circuit board.

This invention relates to circuit boards, and more particularly, to increasing circuit board reliability.
Printed circuit boards, which are used in the manufacture of electrical, mechanical, electro-mechanical, and other kinds of products, provide a substrate for mounting a die on which integrated circuits, such as processors, memories, and amplifiers, are fabricated. FIG. 1 shows a cross-sectional view of a prior art ball-grid array (BGA) package 100 which includes printed circuit board 103 coupled to board 105 by solder balls 107, and die 109 coupled to printed circuit board 103 by adhesive 111 and molding compound 112.
A longstanding and unsolved problem with printed circuit boards in general and with BGA package 100 in particular is that printed circuit board 100 may develop a crack, such as crack 113. Crack 113 destroys the structural integrity of BGA package 100. Once the structural integrity of BGA package 100 is destroyed, unforseen stresses may break or damage electronic connectors, such as electronic connectors 115 and 116, and as a result, any product in which BGA package 100 is incorporated may malfunction.
One method of solving problems associated with printed circuit board cracking and the resulting electronic connection failures is to include a second printed circuit board in the design of an electronic system. The second circuit board is a redundant printed circuit board which mirrors the operation of the primary board, so a system failure occurs only when both the redundant printed circuit board and the primary board fail at the same time. Unfortunately, this solution is very expensive and is cost effective only in systems, such as trains, airplanes, or spacecraft, where the cost of failure is high. For systems in which the cost of failure is low, redundant circuit boards are seldom used.
For these and other reasons there is a need for the present invention.
The above mentioned problems with cracking in circuit boards and other problems are addressed by the present invention and will be understood by reading and studying the following specification. A circuit board is described that includes embedded fibers, which strengthen the board, and a surface layer having a certain thickness range that inhibits the formation of cracks in the circuit board.
The present invention provides, in one embodiment, a circuit board including a core layer and a surface layer. A number of fibers are embedded in the core layer. The surface layer has a thickness which is between about 10% and about 30% of the circuit board thickness. Embedding fibers in the core layer increases the strength of the circuit board. A surface layer thickness of between about 10% and about 30% of the circuit board thickness inhibits the formation of cracks in the circuit board, which improves the reliability of circuits mounted on the circuit board and systems in which the circuit board is embedded.
In an alternate embodiment, the present invention provides a method of fabricating a circuit board having a circuit board thickness. The method includes forming a core layer including a number of fibers, and forming a surface layer on the core layer. The surface layer has a surface layer thickness that is between about 10% and about 30% of the circuit board thickness and is free of fibers.


The present invention is related to a pharmaceutical composition and health food for preventing or treating hearing loss, wherein the pharmaceutical composition and health food contain carbenoxolone or its pharmaceutically acceptable salts as an effective component. More particularly, a composition including carbenoxolone or its pharmaceutically acceptable salts as an effective component is provided as a pharmaceutical composition for preventing or treating ototoxic hearing loss due to the carbenoxolone or its pharmaceutically acceptable salts prevent damages on auditory cells from ototoxic drugs such as cisplatin anticancer drugs, and the composition may be used as a drug for treating noise-induced hearing loss and age-related hearing loss, as well as ototoxic hearing loss.

1. Field
One or more embodiments relate to a composition for preventing or treating hearing loss, wherein the composition includes carbenoxolone or its pharmaceutically acceptable salts as an effective component.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hearing loss is a disorder that affects 5% to 20% of the whole population, where the population having hearing loss has increased due to environment pollution and population aging of the modern society. When once-occurred hearing impairment lasts permanently, prevention of the occurrence is important.
Most of hearing loss is caused by environmental factors and genetic factor such as drugs (anticancer agents or antibiotics), noise-induced, traumatic, age-related, and congenital factors, which is mainly caused by damages and death of auditory cells. Although most of studies on the auditory cell damage have been related to noise-induced hearing loss, studies on hearing loss caused by ototoxic drug damage mechanism have been insufficient.
A cisplatin anticancer drug is one of typical ototoxic drugs, which occurs serious side-effects such as hearing impairment and equilibrium function impairment or generates irreversible bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. It has been reported that the cisplatin anticancer drug ototoxicity generates auditory impairment in about 30% of cisplatin-takers, and the auditory impairment occurrence frequency was even higher in children as it is about 50%. However, cisplatin has been widely used due to its excellent anticancer treatment effects.
In this regard, most of studies on a treatment method for preventing hearing loss, where the prevention is induced by a cisplatin anticancer drug, have confirmed ototoxicity reduction effects caused by induction of glutathione increasing antioxidant genes and reduction in reactive oxide hyperactivity by using antioxidizing agents such as Bucillamine, vitamin E, Caffeic acid, or N-acetylcysteine as prevention or treatment method using antioxidant. However, understanding of ototoxic hearing loss is insufficient, and there is no significant prevention drug.

Pharmaceutical composition for preventing or treating hearing loss, comprising carbenoxolone or its pharmaceutically acceptable salts as effective compound

AJOU UNIVERSITY INDUSTRY-ACADEMIC CORPORATION FOUNDATION


The invention provides a laser gyro with a single transformer power supply. The power supply receives a single 15 volt DC supply that is converted to a 320 volt DC supply, a 280 volt DC supply and a 500 volt DC supply. The invention implements a Royer Oscillator by providing a transformer with four windings each center-tapped. Two control transistors control the output of the transformer. The invention also provides a high speed output controlled start-up to prevent meta-stability in the Royer Oscillator.

Ring laser angular rate sensors, often also called ring laser gyros, are well known. One example of a ring laser angular rate sensor is U.S. Pat. No. 4,751,718 issued to Hanse, et al., which is incorporated herein by reference thereto. Present day ring laser angular rate sensors include a thermally and mechanically stable laser block having a plurality of interconnected formed cavities. Mirrors are placed at the extremities of the cavities for reflecting laser beams and providing an optical closed-looped path.
Prior art laser gyro power supplies incorporated at least four large external power supply transformers. These transformers included a start transformer at 2,500 VDC, a run transformer at 750 VDC, a dither transformer and a PLC transformer at 330 VDC.
It is the motive of the invention to provide a laser gyro incorporating a single power supply transformer.

Laser gyro single transformer power supply


A method for cleaning fuel oil for a diesel engine includes providing a fuel oil to be cleaned, supplying said fuel oil to be cleaned to a centrifugal separator, and cleaning said fuel oil in the centrifugal separator to provide a clean oil phase. The method further includes measuring the viscosity of the fuel oil to be cleaned before cleaning in said centrifugal separator or the viscosity of the clean oil phase, and regulating the temperature of the fuel oil to be cleaned based on said measured viscosity.

Centrifugal separators are generally used for separation of liquids and/or solids from a liquid mixture or a gas mixture. During operation, fluid mixture that is about to be separated is introduced into a rotating bowl and due to the centrifugal forces, heavy particles or denser liquid, such as water, accumulates at the periphery of the rotating bowl whereas less dense liquid accumulates closer to the central axis of rotation. This allows for collection of the separated fractions, e.g. by means of different outlets arranged at the periphery and close to the rotational axis, respectively.
Fuel oil for diesel engines on board ships and in power stations contains particles of silicon and aluminium compounds (e.g. microporous aluminium silicates or aluminosilicates known as zeolites), called catalyst fines. Catalyst fines are residues from the refining process of crude oil known as catalytic cracking, wherein long hydrocarbon molecules are cracked into shorter molecules. These particles are undesired in the fuel oil since they are abrasive and may cause wear in the engine and auxiliary equipment. When processing fuel oil to be used as fuel for a diesel engine on a ship, the concentration of such catalyst fines in the oil is decreased during centrifugal separation so that the oil to be used complies with environmental regulations, such as with ISO 8217.
The cleaning temperature of fuel oil is usually about 98° C. Higher temperatures may be used in order to increase the separation efficiency so that the removal of harmful particles such as catalytic fines is increased. However, when separating at temperatures above 98° C., the wear and deterioration of centrifugal separator parts are accelerated.
Thus, there is a need in the art for methods that allow separation of fuel oils at high temperature, such as at a temperature above 98° C., while decreasing the risk of wear on the centrifugal separator.

Method for cleaning fuel oil for a diesel engine


Methods for treating aqueous solutions and for recovering specific chemical products from an aqueous solution by ion exchange or adsorption by passing the aqueous solution through a regenerable filter bed comprising a flocculated mixture of finely divided active particulate material and filter aid materials having a depth of from about 3.0 inches to about 60 inches.

It is known to remove impurities from a liquid by passing the liquid through a filter screen that has been precoated with a thin layer of finely divided exchange resin particles. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,250,702 a method is described wherein a mixture of anion and cation exchange resin in the size range 60 to 400 mesh is precoated on a filter screen. The resins are combined in aqueous suspension causing the resins to agglomerate or "clump" with one another to form larger particles. In so doing, a greater void space is provided in the precoat layer of finely divided resin particles so that there is less resistance to flow of liquid through the precoat layer, and therefore a lower pressure drop across the filter.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,190,532 a method is described for removing impurities from a liquid by passing the liquid through a precoat layer which has been deposited on a filter screen. The precoat layer consists of a treated filter aid material mixed with ion exchange resin particles in the size range of 60 to 400 mesh. The filter aid material, characterized by a negative surface charge in aqueous suspension, is treated with an electrolyte-type compound that produces a positive surface charge thereon. The mixture of treated filter aid material and ion exchange resin particles produces a clumping phenomenon similar to that achieved in accordance with U.S. Pat. No. 3,250,702.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,238,334 a method is described for removing impurities from a liquid by passing the liquid through a precoat layer which has been deposited on a screen. The precoat screen consists of a treated fibrous filter aid material and an active particulate material. The treated filter aid material and the active particulate material have opposite surface charges in aqueous suspension, and the mixture produces the aforementioned clumping phenomenon. The filter aid material is treated with an electrolyte-type compound that produces a surface charge opposite to the normal surface charge of the filter aid material.
It has heretofore been known to utilize small quantities of powdered anion exchange resin in the hydroxide form to enhance flocculation of hydrolyzed polyester-based precoats as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,474,955.
The above discussed liquid treatment methods have been widely commercially utilized in thin precoat layers (typically less than about one inch) for removal of traces of impurities from water and chemical process streams. However, because of pressure drop limitations, the utilization of such precoat materials in thicker layers or beds to remove higher concentrated impurities has heretofore not been deemed commercially viable. Further, it has been the heretofore practice to dispose of the thin precoat layers after each use rather than to regenerate it for subsequent use, as it has heretofore not been considered possible to maintain flocculation characteristics after regeneration.
There are numerous instances of the use of ion exchange and adsorptive processes for recovering and purifying various pharmaceutical, medicinal and biological substances. These processes primarily involve separation and concentration techniques. Since most of the substances being recovered and purified are of high molecular weight, small particles of ion exchangers and adsorbents are preferred because of kinetic considerations. In most instances, the kinetic process involved in the adsorption and elution of high molecular weight species is controlled by particle diffusion which follows the relationship in which the rate is inversely proportional to the square of the particle diameter. Since the relationship between diffusion rate and molecular weight is also an inverse relationship, it is apparent that fine particles are required for the processing of many pharmaceutical products by ion exchange or adsorption.
In small scale operations, there are essentially little problems associated with the use of fine particles of ion exchange resins. For example, 5-10 micron particles of ion exchange resins have been routinely used for a myriad of analytical procedures. On a small scale, the hydraulic problems associated with the columnar performance of fine particles is of little consequence. However, scale-up of these laboratory systems based upon fine particles is quite difficult because of the high pressure drop involved.


A mobile device is configured to operate in at least three modes that provide increased functionality, increased power consumption, and/or increased user input/output. In one example, the mobile device includes a first mode where some electrical components are powered down, and a secondary display may provide some information to a user. In a second mode, a primary display is energized and an audio mode is initially activated. A third mode provides full or nearly full functionality and/or user input/output.

Currently, mobile devices and related accessories facilitate communication in a number of different ways: users can send email messages, make telephone calls, send text and multimedia messages, chat with other users, and so on. That is, mobile devices allow users to not only make voice calls, but also send written messages via email, instant messaging ("IM"), texting via short messaging service (SMS) or multimedia messaging service (MMS), messaging via social networks (often over the internet protocol (IP)), etc. Moreover, mobile devices can play music, games, videos, and so on. As these devices have added features and become more powerful, users have also demanded that the devices become smaller and more portable.
Some mobile phones provide a traditional numeric keypad along with a few additional buttons. Other mobile devices provide a full alphanumeric keyboard, or a touch screen that depicts the keyboard. Many of these devices include a display and a keypad/keyboard that can move relative to each other. For example, flip phones have a display that can pivot relative to the keyboard, while many smart phones have a keyboard that can slide relative to the screen. The flip phones may include a small secondary display on a top of the phone to display time, signal strength, battery level, and/or a phone number of a calling party.
While these arrangements have been successful for many devices, there is a continual need to improve the overall arrangement and compactness of mobile devices. Further, as the mobile devices add more features, e.g. digital music players, the devices must include additional buttons, e.g. play, stop, reverse and fast forward buttons for the music player. These additional buttons add to the complexity and cost of the device. Alternatively, the device could provide buttons that implement two or more functions, such as a "4" key that also rewinds a music track. However, such dual, or even triple, use of buttons can become confusing to users.
The need exists for a system that overcomes these problems and progresses the state of the art, as well as one that provides additional benefits. Overall, the examples herein of some prior or related systems and their associated limitations are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of existing or prior systems will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon reading the following Detailed Description.

Multifunction mobile device having a movable element, such as a display, and associated functions


A flow meter for multiphase flows, includes a holdup measuring device having a Venturi located upstream thereof and separated therefrom by a distance that results in flow through the holdup measuring device being at least partially homogenized by the effect of the Venturi on the fluids flowing therethrough.

The present invention relates to the field of flow meters for multiphase mixtures. In particular, the invention relates to flow meters for oil and water mixtures in hydrocarbon wells.
The measurement of oil and water flow rate in each producing zone of an oil well is important to the monitoring and control of fluid movement in the well and reservoir. In addition to a flow meter, each zone may have a valve to control the fluid inlet from that zone. By monitoring flow rates of oil and water from each zone and reducing flow from those zones producing the highest water cut (i.e., ratio of water flow rate to total flow rate), the water production of the entire well can be controlled. This, in addition, allows the reservoir oil to be swept more completely during the life of the well.
To evaluate the water and hydrocarbon flow rates in homogeneous flows in a well, three quantities must be estimated, namely, the mean water volume fraction Hw, the mean water velocity vw, and the mean hydrocarbon velocity vo. The flow rates are then as follows:
qw=AHwvwxe2x80x83xe2x80x83[1]
for the water; and
qo=A(1xe2x88x92Hw)voxe2x80x83xe2x80x83[2]
for the hydrocarbon, where A is the section of the well.
When the flow is not homogeneous, which is possible in deviated wells, flow-rate evaluations based on the above equations are invalid. It is then necessary to take account of the effective distribution of the velocities and of the volume fractions across the section of the well. In order to adopt such an approach, it is necessary that a plurality of devices are placed across a given cross-section of the well.
It is also known that the velocity of a flow in a well can be determined by measuring a magnitude that varies over time s1(t) and s2(t) at two different locations in the well separated in the direction of flow, and then by calculating a cross-correlation function:
C= less than s1(t)*s2(t+T) greater than xe2x80x83xe2x80x83[3]
In a two-phase fluid, the fluctuations in the magnitude s(t) may, for example, be due to inhomogeneous structures propagating along the pipe at the mean speed of the flow.
If T is the value of t found for which C is a maximum, the speed v of the flow is given by:
v=L/Txe2x80x83xe2x80x83[4]
where L is the axial distance between the two measurement sections.
Ideally, a flow meter for making such measurement in a well should satisfy several criteria: 1) it should be extremely reliable and operate for long periods at downhole temperature and pressure; 2) it should operate in both stratified (near-horizontal) and dispersed flow regimes over a wide range of total flow rate and cut; 3) it should not require that the well completion be oriented azimuthally in any particular way during installation; 4) it should not require the use of radioactive sources: and 5) the flow meter should allow small changes in water cut and flow rate to be detected.
Typically, downhole flow meters determine the holdup (volume fraction of oil or water) and the velocity of the oil phase, the water phase, or both. The flow rate of water is then determined from the product of water holdup xcex1w, the pipe area A, and the velocity of water UW. An analogous relation holds for oil flow rate. In general, the velocities of water and oil are different. The slip velocity (difference in oil and water velocities) depends on many parameters, such as the inclination angle of the flow pipe (i.e. deviation), roughness of the pipe wall, and flow rates of the two phases. In general, one must measure the holdup and velocities of both oil and water to determine oil and water flow rate uniquely. In practice, sometimes one measures the velocity of only one phase and uses a theoretical or empirically determined slip law to obtain the other. This has a number drawbacks including inaccuracies due to differences conditions used as inputs to the model and the actual conditions downhole.
A common method to determine the velocity of a fluid is to measure the rotation rate of a spinner in the flow stream. In single phase flow, the rotational velocity of the spinner is simply related to the velocity of the flow. However, in mixed oil and water flow the response of the spinner can be so complicated as to be impossible to interpret.
Another method of velocity measurement uses tracers. A tracer is injected into the phase of choice (oil or water) and, at a known distance downstream, a sensor detects the time of passage of the tracer. The velocity is computed from the known distance and time of travel. One disadvantage of the tracer method for permanent downhole use is the need for a reservoir of tracer material and a mechanical tracer injector. The reservoir limits the number of measurements and the injector, being a mechanical device, is prone to sticking and failure.
Another method of velocity measurement uses a Venturi. In single phase flow, a Venturi generally obeys the Bernoulli equation which relates volumetric flow rate Q to fluid density xcfx81 and pressure drop from the inlet to the throat of the Venturi:                     Q        =                  C                                                              2                                Δ                                                  xe2x80x83                                                                  p                  /                  ρ                                                            (                                                      1                                          A                      throat                      2                                                        -                                      1                                          A                      inlet                      2                                                                      )                                                                        [        5        ]
where C is the discharge coefficient which is approximately unity but depends on the geometry of the Venturi, xcex94p is the pressure drop from Venturi inlet to throat, and Athroat and Ainlet are the throat and inlet cross sectional areas, respectively. The same equation can be used to determine the combined oil and water flow rate where the density in this case is the average mixture density in the throat of the Venturi. In practice, the square root in the equation makes it relatively insensitive to errors in both the density and pressure determinations.
A common method to determine the holdup in a flow of oil and water is to measure the average density of the fluid. Since oil at downhole pressure and temperature typically has a density which is smaller than that of water (around 0.7 g/cm3 compared to 1.0 g/cm3), the oil and water holdups xcex1o and xcex1w can be determined proportionately from the mixture density by the relations                               α          o                =                                            ρ              w                        -                          ρ                              m                                                  xe2x80x83                                                i                                                  xe2x80x83                                                x                                                                        ρ              w                        -                          ρ              o                                                          [        6        ]                                          α          w                =                                            ρ                              m                                                  xe2x80x83                                                i                                                  xe2x80x83                                                x                                      -                          ρ              o                                                          ρ              w                        -                          ρ              o                                                          [        7        ]
A common method to determine the mixture density is to measure the hydrostatic pressure of a column of fluid with a gradiomanometer. This device relies on having a component of the gravitational force vector along the axis of the flow pipe. This type of device, however, fails when the flow pipe is horizontal because the gravitational force vector is perpendicular to the pipe axis.
It is also known, e.g. from U.S. Pat. No. 5,017,879 or FR 2 780 499, that capacitive devices can be used to determine the characteristics of multi-phase flows. The dielectric constant of a mixture of fluids depends on the respective fraction of each of its components and on their individual dielectric constants. It has thus been proposed to estimate the composition of a two-phase fluid on the basis of its dielectric constant.
The dielectric constant is itself obtained by exciting the fluid by means of electrodes separated by the fluid, in particular electrodes placed on the pipe, and across which an AC voltage is applied. The measured magnitude is the resulting current. Guard electrodes have also been added to maintain the electrostatic field between the active electrodes. It is thus easier to interpret the measurements by limiting the edge effects due to the finite length of the active electrodes, or by focusing the electric field in a particular zone of the flow.
In both of the above-mentioned cases, namely when the flow is not homogeneous, or when the velocity is measured, it is thus necessary to dispose a plurality of devices, in particular capacitive devices, close together on the pipe. Contradictory requirements then have to be faced.
It is desirable to use devices that are of small size. In a non-homogeneous flow, better resolution in space is thus obtained, thereby considerably improving the speed and the accuracy of the interpretation algorithm. When velocity is to be measured, the small size of the devices makes it possible to position them closer together, and thus to obtain a correlation peak that is clearer for the resulting measurements, because the inhomogeneous structures deform to a lesser extent between the two devices. Unfortunately, such a small size generally makes the measurements much more sensitive to electromagnetic noise. When the measurements are capacitive measurements, the measured capacitance values are low. Typically, the currents induced by the stray capacitance may be greater by several orders of magnitude than the current resulting from the capacitance to be measured. The stray capacitance thus gives rise to a systematic error or bias whose variations can exceed the amplitude of the signal itself.
Flow measurement devices are also known that comprise a segment of insulating pipe and means for generating an electric current in the fluid flowing in said pipe. These devices thus complement the preceding devices since they apply to multiphase fluids having a continuous conductive phase, i.e. fluids that are not insulating.
The difficulty with such devices lies in measuring the potential difference between two points of the fluid to deduce the electrical resistance between those two points, given knowledge of the current. Thereafter, the resistance is used to deduce the mean resistivity given that the shape of the pipe is known.
Mixers of various types have been used to mix the oil and water, so as to effectively reduce the slip and allow for more accurate determination of the flow rates. Some mixers are simply small orifices in plates of suitable material. Others comprise more elaborate fins having certain twists or curled shapes. There are a number of disadvantages, however, in using conventional mixers when trying to measure the flow rates of oil and water downhole. For example, the mixer often obstructs the borehole, such that it may be difficult to pass certain equipment such as production logging tools, etc. Mixers also can produce unacceptable amounts of pressure loss. Additionally, mixers are prone to excessive wear with age.
It is possible to measure the pressure differential upstream and downstream of a conventional mixer in an attempt to determine the total flow rate of oil and water. This technique, however, has a number of drawbacks. For example, the accuracy of the flow rate determined by this method is likely to be much lower than using a Venturi, and, in general, greatly dependent upon the flow rates. Using a mixer to measure pressure differential can also lead to inaccuracy due to sensitivity to the exact location of pressure measurement. Using a conventional mixer in this fashion would also be prone to problems associated with wear. For example, in an orifice mixer, the relationship between the pressure differential and the velocity could change significantly over time due to slight changes in shape and size of the orifice caused by wear.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,856,344, issued to Hunt, discloses using a Venturi for obtaining a pressure differential and using a gradiomanometer upstream and through the Venturi to measure density. Hunt discloses using an iterative process to estimate the relative flow velocities. Hunt also discloses using a separate upstream step discontinuity to mix the fluids upstream of the gradiomanometer. However, the method disclosed in Hunt is prone to problems associated with relying on estimates of the flow velocities (i.e. a slip model), using separate additional mixers upstream, and using a gradiomanometer (e.g. nonfunctional when pipe is horizontal, and low accuracy when near-horizontal).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,361,632, issued to Magnani, discusses a holdup measurement using a combination of gradiomanometer and gamma-ray densitometer. Thus, the method of Magnani is prone to problems associated with using a gradiomanometer which is not suitable for measurements in near-horizontal pipes. Furthermore, the method obstructs the borehole and would not be suitable for permanent installation.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,661,237, issued to Dussan et al. discusses a holdup measurement using local probes. There is no mention of a Venturi, however. The method obstructs the borehole and would not be suitable for permanent installation.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,893,642 and 5,822,390, issued to Hewitt et al. disclose a method of using a mixer to measure flow rates. However, this method suffers from the disadvantages of using a mixer as described above. For example, the mixer obstructs borehole and is not suitable for permanent installation due to problems of wear.
The present invention provides a flow meter for multiphase flows, comprising a holdup measuring device having a Venturi located upstream thereof and separated therefrom by a distance that results in flow through the holdup measuring device being at least partially homogenized by the effect of the Venturi on the fluids flowing therethrough.
Preferably, the holdup measuring device is a capacitive device and/or a resistive device. It is particularly preferred that the holdup measuring device measures volume fractions in the range of 0-100% water. Such a device can be provided by a combination of capacitive and resistive measurements on the flowing fluids.
Preferred capacitive sensors for determining the characteristics of multi-phase flows are of small size and substantially insensitive to noise and thus substantially free from systematic error. A particularly preferred sensor comprises at least one excitation electrode provided with at least one cutout in which at least one measurement electrode is disposed, the electrodes being applied against the pipe.
A device for measuring the dielectric constant of a multi-phase fluid flowing along a pipe comprises at least one sensor as described above, means for maintaining the electrodes at the same potential and for measuring the current output by the measurement electrode, and means for deducing the dielectric constant from the current.
This configuration then makes it possible for all of the conductors liable to give rise to interference that are situated in the vicinity of the device in the detection system to be maintained at the potential of the excitation electrode. As the conductors are at the same potential as the measurement electrode, the load thereon thus depends only on the potentials applied to the active electrodes.
In a first embodiment, the excitation electrode is connected to the general ground of power supply means. This approach is relatively simple.
In another embodiment, the excitation electrode constitutes a floating ground for the current measuring means. The advantage of this embodiment is that the signal can be amplified to a level at which it dominates the common mode rejection voltage of the amplifier. In this embodiment, the current measuring may comprise a first amplification stage referenced relative to the potential of the excitation electrode, and a second amplification stage arranged to bring the reference of the output signal to the general ground. More particularly, the device may include shielding electrically connected to the excitation electrode, around the measurement electrode and around said first amplification stage. Such a configuration does not require the first amplification stage to be located in the immediate vicinity of the measurement electrode. The shielding of the measurement electrode may be extended by a shielded cable along which a conductor passes that connects the measurement electrode to the amplification means which are themselves provided with shielding forming the following portion of the shielded cable. The excitation electrode may overlap the measurement electrode.
The resistivity measuring device preferably comprises a pipe segment of insulating material and means for generating an electric current in the fluid flowing along the pipe, the device being characterized by the fact that it comprises two measurement electrodes spaced apart in the axial direction of the insulating segment to determine the electrical resistance of the fluid between the two electrodes, the measurement electrodes being applied to the outside of the wall of the segment to perform measurement by capacitive coupling, and by the fact that it further comprise measurement means for measuring the voltage between the measurement electrodes.
The measurement can thus be treated as a xe2x80x9c4-pointxe2x80x9d resistance measurement.
Since this arrangement is not dependent on the contact impedance between the fluid and the upstream and downstream metal portions of the pipe, the surface state of the pipe has no effect on the measurement. Furthermore, no measurement electrode comes into contact with the fluid. There is thus no risk of corrosion. This characteristic makes the device of the invention particularly suitable for continuous, long term measurements. It is thus possible to fit a production tube with measurement segments of the invention at the levels of the fluid inlets, and thus monitor the actual production of each production zone in a hydrocarbon well. The device is also suitable for performing continuous measurements on the surface, in particular at a well head.
In a particular embodiment, the measurement electrodes are annular electrodes placed around the insulating pipe segment. Also, a guard electrode may surround each of the measurement electrodes.
More particularly, the measurement means for measuring the voltage between the measurement electrodes may be arranged to maintain the voltages of the guard electrodes at the same values as the voltages of the corresponding measurement electrodes.
The measurement means for measuring the voltage between the measurement electrodes may also be arranged so that the current flowing between the measurement electrodes is small enough to avoid affecting the measured voltage. Thus, the potential difference between the two electrodes is equal to the potential difference between the points in the fluid facing the electrodes.
In this case, the measurement means for measuring the voltage between the measurement electrodes may comprise respective follower amplifiers associated with each of the measurement electrodes, each amplifier having one of its inputs connected to a measurement electrode and its other input connected to the corresponding guard electrode and having its output connected to the guard electrode, the device further comprising means for determining the potential difference between the outputs of the two follower amplifiers. Such a follower amplifier possesses high input impedance which avoids the potential drop due to current passing through the insulation by the capacitive effect. Its output voltage is equal to the input voltage, but current is available at its output. More particularly, each follower amplifier may be connected to the corresponding measurement electrode by the core of a coaxial cable, and to the corresponding guard electrode by the shield of the cable.
In a particular embodiment, the means for generating an electric current in the fluid flowing in the pipe comprise a toroidal emitter coil surrounding the tubing and a return electrical conductor interconnecting metal portions of the pipe situated respectively upstream and downstream from the insulating segment. Such a coil has the advantage of not coming into contact with the fluid, and thus of being unaffected by corrosion problems. The emitter coil, connected to an AC voltage generator, generates an electric field in the fluid and thus behaves like a primary winding of a transformer whose secondary winding is constituted by the fluid and the return conductor. This electric field generates the above-specified current, which depends on the resistance of the fluid.
It is also preferred that the device of the invention comprises a toroidal receiver coil surrounding the tubing to form a current measuring system. Each receiver coil is connected to an electronic circuit having low input impedance. The output from the electronic circuit delivers a signal that is proportional to the current flowing in the fluid. In this case, the device may comprise means for determining the ratio between the output from the voltage-measurement means for measuring the voltage between said measurement electrodes and the output from the current-measuring system. This ratio is proportional to the resistance of the fluid, ignoring contact impedance.
The invention therefore provides a device for determining the volume fraction (or xe2x80x9choldupxe2x80x9d) of the conductive fluid in a multiphase fluid having a continuous conductive phase comprising a device of the type described above to measure the mean resistivity of the multiphase fluid, and means for deducing the volume fraction from the resistivity.
Determining the volume fraction requires not only knowledge of the mean resistivity, but also knowledge of the resistivity of the conductive phase and of the flow conditions. The resistivity of the conductive phase can be determined by other means, and it is possible to make various assumptions about the flow conditions or again, they can be measured directly.
In a particular embodiment of the invention, a Venturi total volumetric flow rate measurement is provided with a holdup measurement approximately 1-10 pipe diameters downstream of the Venturi. The invention makes use of a flow instability downstream of the Venturi throat. When the oil and water flow accelerates into the throat of the Venturi, the streamlines converge from their upstream value and the pressure drops as the hydrostatic head is converted into kinetic energy. Conversely, as the flow enters the diffuser section the pressure recovers as the flow decelerates. This adverse pressure gradient can lead to separation of the flow within the boundary layer at some position downstream of the throat of the Venturi. That position depends on the geometry of the Venturi, the individual oil and water flow rates, the deviation angle of the pipe to the horizontal, and the densities of the two fluids. The main flow expands beyond the Venturi as a jet of approximately uniform velocity bounded by a free shear layer, and such shear layers are prone to Kelvin-Helmholtz type instabilities that grow and are convected downstream. In the diffuser of the Venturi, an instability such as this grows and perturbs the interface between the two fluids. The amplitude of the instability depends on the geometry of the Venturi, the deviation of the pipe, the densities of the fluids, and the flow rates. An instability of sufficient strength causes the interface to roll up and break with a resulting mixing of the two layers completely across the pipe.
According to the invention, a method of determining the flow rate of a first fluid phase in a pipe containing at least two fluid phases is provided. The fluid phases flow through an upstream pipe, a constriction, which is preferably a Venturi, and a downstream pipe. The differential pressure of the fluid phases is measured such that it can be related to the total flow rate of the fluid phases through the section of pipe. The differential pressure is preferably measured between the upstream pipe and the throat of the Venturi. The volume fraction of the first fluid phase (preferably water) is determined by making a measurement at a location downstream of the constriction where a substantial amount of mixing of the at least two fluid phases is present, which results from the fluid passing through the Venturi. The flow rate of the first fluid (preferably water) is determined by assuming its velocity is substantially the same as that of the other fluid phases.
The present invention can provide a flow meter suitable for downhole placement that is extremely reliable and capable of operating for years at downhole temperatures and pressures. It can be capable of operating in both stratified (near-horizontal) and dispersed flow regimes over a wide range of total flow rate and cut. The flow meter may not require that the wellbore be oriented azimuthally in any particular way during installation. The invention also provides a flow meter that avoids the use of relatively strong radioactive sources. It can be capable of detecting small changes in water cut and flow rate and providing a measurement of a phase transition pressure. The invention can also be used to alleviate the problems associated with the use of conventional mixers, including the possible problems associated with measuring the pressure differential upstream and downstream of a conventional mixer.


Systems, methods, and machine readable and executable instructions are provided for business process tracking. Business process tracking can include collecting data from network traffic. Instances of the data can include a number of events, a session identifier, and user information. The data can be filtered to a reduced number of events with a network monitoring engine. A number of business process event identifiers corresponding to the reduced number of events can be defined in a network adaptor. An individual instance of the business process can be distinguished according to the session identifier and the user information. The individual instance of the business process can be tracked independent of a number of applications running on the network.

Business processes may be important to the functioning of an organization. A business process may be a collection of related, structured activities and/or tasks that produce a specific service or product for a number of customers and/or markets. A business process may begin with a customer's desire and, hopefully, end with the fulfillment of that desire. Activities of a business process may affect the bottom line of an organization, thus monitoring the business process may be beneficial in providing feedback to enable optimization of the business process.
A business process may span multiple applications and may flow across multiple subdivisions of an organization using diverse hardware and/or software to implement the applications. For instance, a business maintaining an online store may include a telecommunications subdivision including employees and/or applications for order receipt and processing and a supply chain subdivision including employees and/or applications for producing and/or distributing a product to fulfill the orders.
A business application may include hardware and/or software to facilitate business activities. For instance, a business may have an electronic inventory system, an electronic order processing system, on online store, among other business applications. Business applications may be instrumented to monitor a business process using point-products but this does not guarantee full coverage and tracking due to the diverse nature of applications and a lack of monitoring products to track all business processes.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A start-up phase of a phase lock loop (PLL) circuit includes supplying, by a phase comparator, of control pulses during which an output signal frequency of an oscillator increases. The increase includes an application of a pre-charge current at the oscillator input. A determination is made of a time variation of the output signal frequency. At least one adjustment is made of the intensity of the pre-charge current depending on the at least one determined time variation so as to approach a reference time variation.

A phase-locked loop (PLL) circuit is generally used in digital systems requiring a high internal working frequency, for example of the order of several hundred megahertz.
In particular, the role of the phase-locked loop circuit is therefore to supply these digital systems, for example a programmable core or a microprocessor, with an internal clock signal having a high working frequency.
However, due to the presence of the feedback loop and the capacitive network necessary for the stability of the phase-locked loop, the start-up duration, that is to say the duration of time after which the loop has stabilized, with the reference signal and the output signal of the oscillator close to a mutual synchronization, can be very long, regularly greater than 100 μs.
For a given product or family of products, it is possible to determine by simulation this start-up duration for a reference temperature, for example 25° C., and for a given manufacturing process.
However, once the product is manufactured and in operation, it turns out that this start-up duration is within a duration range around the desired nominal duration.
This time range is sensitive to temperature and to possible variations in the manufacturing process, which can negatively impact the effective start-up duration of the loop.
However, a short start-up duration is an important parameter for low power products.
There is therefore a need to be able to obtain phase-locked loop start-up durations that are short, stable and reproducible regardless of the possible variations in temperature and in the manufacturing process, with reduced time ranges.

Process for managing the start-up of a phase-locked loop, and corresponding integrated circuit


A method for forming a surface topcoat can include mixing a plurality of carbon nanotubes (CNT) with a thermally decomposable polymer binder to form a thermally decomposable polymer composite. The thermally decomposable polymer composite is mixed with a plurality of fluoroplastic particles, a fluorinated surfactant, and a solvent media to form a coating dispersion. Next, the coating dispersion is applied to a substrate such as a printer fuser member substrate to form a coated substrate. The coated substrate is heated to cure the coating dispersion to form a final coating film on the substrate.

In a typical electrophotographic reproducing apparatus, a light image of an original to be copied is recorded in the form of an electrostatic latent image upon a photosensitive member. The latent image is subsequently rendered visible by application of electroscopic thermoplastic resin particles which are commonly referred to as toner. The visible toner image is then in a loose powdered form and is usually fused, using a fusing apparatus, upon a support, which may be an intermediate member, or a print medium such as plain paper.
Conventional fusing apparatuses may include a fuser member and a pressure member, which can be configured to include a roll pair maintained in pressure contact or a belt member in pressure contact with a roll member. In a fusing process, heat may be applied by heating one or both of the fuser member and the pressure member.
Some conventional fusing technologies may include the application of fuser oils to the fuser member during the fusing operation, in order to maintain good releasing properties of the fuser member. Other technologies may include an oil-less fusing process, which omits the oil application step from the fusing operations. Oil-less fusing operations have been used for color printers and multi-functional copier-printers in small office and home office market but not for all high speed products.
A fuser member may include a topcoat to achieve target levels of thermal and/or electrical conductivity. For example, a topcoat can include carbon nanotubes (CNT) dispersed within a fluoroelastomer. To form the coating, CNT powder can be dispersed into a fluoroelastomer using, for example, extrusion blending. CNT powder is soluble within fluoroelastomers. A topcoat is disclosed, for example, in USPGP 2013/0017005, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Fluoroplastics may also demonstrate desirable thermal and electrical conductivity for some uses as a coating, for example as a topcoat for a printer fuser member. However, CNT powder is insoluble in fluoroplastics. Attempts at extrusion blending CNT powder into a fluoroplastic can result in CNT being dispersed into the air, thereby resulting in health and safety concerns.
A method for safely forming a coating, such as a fuser member topcoat including a CNT dispersed within a fluoroplastic, would be desirable.

Method of forming a fluoroplastic topcoat including carbon nanotubes


A method, apparatus, and system for integrating a non-autonomous vehicle into a transit environment populated with autonomous vehicles. An autonomous vehicle network integration apparatus is disclosed which collects data over a wireless network regarding a vehicle's route and surroundings, including nearby fully and partially autonomous vehicles. The apparatus is configured to analyze data and dynamically determine a range of influence, within which it communicates with vehicles to suggest driver actions and inform self-driving vehicle behavior.

As autonomous vehicles (e.g. self-driving or "smart vehicles") populate the road in increasing numbers, their benefits with regard to safety, emissions, and traffic reduction will become increasingly clear. Fully autonomous vehicles are designed with a sophisticated and redundant suite of sensors, such as RADAR, LIDAR, ultrasound, and cameras that monitor the autonomous vehicle's nearby and distant surroundings continually. They typically include a wireless transceiver by which they may communicate with a global positioning system (GPS), centralized fleet control, and each other.
In spite of the advantages autonomous vehicles will provide, it is likely that widespread adoption will be slow. The established presence of "dumb" or non-autonomous vehicles on the roads, and their track-record of over a century, may lead many consumers to resist adopting such a new and comparatively untested technology. In addition, the sophistication and complexity of the systems needed to implement autonomous vehicle technology incurs high costs. Self-driving cars may be economically out of reach for most drivers for years to come.
An aftermarket solution is needed to integrate non-autonomous vehicles into the network of autonomous vehicles. Such a solution may improve consumer receptivity to increasing automation levels, and may improve autonomous vehicle performance by providing a mechanism by which autonomous vehicles may influence and be influenced by more of the vehicles they encounter on the roads.

Safety and performance integration device for non-autonomous vehicles


A wave making apparatus for use with a wave pool having water is disclosed. The apparatus includes a wave making chamber having an interior and a plurality of chamber walls. The chamber also has a passageway connecting the interior to the wave pool and constructed to allow water to flow there-between. A water vane is disposed of in or adjacent to the passageway. The wave vane includes at least one smooth and curved water vane wall, which, in combination with the plurality of chamber walls, creates at least two conduit paths for the water flowing between the interior and the wave pool. The conduit paths have two ends, and the water enters one end in a first direction and exits the second end in a second direction.

Wave making apparatuses are often used for recreational purposes. They create one or more waves in a pool or the like, and people typically either play in the waves or use the waves for aquatic sports such as board sports. Aquatic board sports, such as surfing and bodyboarding, require that the waves be rideable. Enthusiasts in these types of sports often use wave making apparatuses for competition, practice and entertainment.
Once such example of a wave making apparatus is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,815,396. FIG. 6 is a simplified side view of the wave making apparatus 5 disclosed in the '396 patent. The apparatus 5 has a wave pool 10 with a bottom 12. At one end of the wave pool 10 is a wave making chamber 15 that pushes or releases water into the wave pool 10, creating a wave. The chamber is designed to receive and release water from the pool 10 through the passageway 17 (shown by arrow 18), lift and lower the water level in the chamber 15 (shown by arrow 19), and to thereby create a wave within the pool 10. In this design, the passageway 17 to the pool 10 is submerged within the pool water.
A major drawback to this design is that the release of the water through the passageway 17 will generate eddy currents that interfere with the stability and rideability of the wave. This is shown in FIG. 7A-7H. These figures show one cycle. FIG. 7A is the start of water release from the wave generating chamber into the wave pool, and a high velocity eddy 60 begins to form. In FIG. 7B, moments later, the eddy 65 is moving through the passageway 17 into the wave pool 10, and a rideable wave 67 begins to form. FIG. 7C, still moments later, shows that the high velocity eddy 70 continues in the wave pool 10, and by FIG. 7D, clear eddies 75 have formed that affect the wave pool surface, shown by an eddy-induced pool surface depression 76. It should be noted that the wave 72 shown in FIG. 7C is not well-formed, and this is because the eddies 70, 76 are drawing water away from the wave front and eroding the wave formation. FIGS. 7E through 7H show the eddies 80, 85, 90 and 95, which are causing a significant disruption to the wave pool surface, shown by eddy-induced pool surface depressions 82, 87, 92 and 97. Not only do the eddies erode wave formation, but they require that the operator delay actuating the wave making chamber for a subsequent wave formation until the water is sufficiently placid. Otherwise, the wave surface disruptions would further erode the rideable wave.
What is needed, therefore, is a way to mitigate the eddy currents to promote a stable and rideable wave, in an apparatus that can quickly reset and produce subsequent waves.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


Weight lifting strap which is looped around the wrist and wrapped in helical fashion about a weight lifting bar or the like and gripped by the hand with opposite sides of the strap facing the bar and the hand, and the strap being fabricated of a woven material with rubberized strands on the side of the strap which faces the bar.

Field of Invention
This invention pertains generally to weight lifting and fitness equipment and, more particularly, to a strap for improving the grip on such equipment.
Related Art
Lifting straps are used as an aid in weight lifting and fitness exercises to improve the user's grip on a bar and to allow him to concentrate on the muscles he wants to exercise rather than the ones which would otherwise be used in gripping the bar. The strap is typically looped about the wrist and then wrapped about the bar where it is gripped by the hand. Examples of such straps are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,809,974, 5,324,254, 5,745,920 and 7,004,889.

Lifting strap with enhanced gripping properties


A support adaptor assembly for a bearing press comprising a rectangular shaped header plate (1), a pair of adjustable support rods (4) each with an adaptor (9) on one end for providing a means of supporting an object (50) to be worked on with a bearing press either above or below the support members of the bearing press.

This invention relates to a device (hereinafter referred to as a "support adaptor assembly") which can be fitted to a pressing device (hereinafter referred to as a "bearing press") used for removing or for fitting press-fitted components such as bearings, gears, pulleys, pins, bushes and seals.
Conventional bearing presses comprise a support frame having a base section, two spaced apart elongate side members extending upwards from the base section, and a fixed mounting member to which is connected a mechanically or hydraulically operated pressing device. Attached to the elongate side members of the support frame by pins or bolts, are two parallel, horizontal, spaced apart support members used to support a component to which pressure is applied by operation of the pressing device.
There are many variations of this configuration, but all known prior art bearing presses have two parallel, horizontal, spaced apart support members, above which is mounted a pressing device.
In use, an object requiring assembly or dismantling of press-fitted components, is placed on the support members of the bearing press, or on plates supported by the support members of the bearing press, so that the pressing device can be operated to apply vertical, downward pressure on the object to remove or replace the press fitted components. In order to prevent damage to components and injury to the operator of the bearing press, the component to which pressure is applied must be on a horizontal plane relative to the vertical direction of the downward pressing force.
There are, however, some objects with press-fitted components, which cannot be correctly aligned with a horizontal plane or supported on the support members of a bearing press for the following reasons:                a) the object may be too long to fit between the pressing device and the horizontal support members of the bearing press. Even when the support members have a means of height adjustment, this is often a difficult and time consuming process;        b) the object may be too wide to fit between the horizontal support members of the bearing press;        c) the object may be of an irregular shape which does not allow it to be supported in such a way that places the component to be fitted or removed with a horizontal plane relative to the vertical direction of the downward pressing force;        d) the object may comprise two components of similar width or diameter which are press fitted together and must be separated by use of a pressing force for repairs.


An illumination assembly for a handheld fluorescent task lamp, comprising first and second elongated compact fluorescent bulbs positioned in an upright orientation side by side; a self starting electronic driver circuit operable to start and run the at least first and second compact fluorescent bulbs; and first and second receptacles for connecting the first and second compact fluorescent bulbs to the driver circuit and orienting the first and second compact fluorescent bulbs at a predetermined optimum angle with respect to each other such that an enhanced forward emission field is provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to handheld lighting units and more particularly to handheld fluorescent lighting units having an improved electronic ballast, enhanced forward illumination, resistance to mechanical impact, and accommodation of one or more of various types of fluorescent bulbs.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Portable, hand-held drop lights or task lamps utilizing an incandescent bulb and powered by AC line current, typically 120 Volts AC, 60 Hz, allow the user to provide light where installed light fixtures do not provide adequate coverage. However, incandescent bulbs as the light source in task lamps have several disadvantages. It is well known that incandescent light bulbs are not economical to operate because much of the electrical energy used by the task light is converted to heat. The tungsten filament in a typical 100 Watt incandescent bulb causes the bulb to get too hot to touch, or even use close to one's person. Moreover, the relatively fragile nature of the tungsten filament impairs the utility of a task lamp in many work situations.
One alternative to the use of incandescent bulbs is the fluorescent bulb. Fluorescent bulbs convert more of the supplied electrical energy to light energy and radiate much less heat than do incandescent lights. The light emitting medium in fluorescent lights is a phosphor coating, unlike the thin, fragile tungsten filament in an incandescent light bulb. In a fluorescent lamp bulb, a glass tube containing a small amount of gas—mercury vapor, for example—is provided with coated cathode electrodes at either end of the tube. When a high enough voltage is applied between each pair of electrodes at the ends of the glass tube, the coated filament is heated and emits electrons into the gas inside the tube. The gas becomes partially ionized and undergoes a phase change to a plasma state. The plasma is conductive and permits an electric arc to be established between the electrodes. As current flows in the plasma, electrons collide with gas molecules, boosting the electrons to a higher energy level. This higher energy level is not a stable condition and when the electron falls back to its normal energy level, a photon of ultra-violet light is emitted. The photons in turn collide with the phosphor coating on the inside of the glass tube, imparting their energy to the phosphor ions, causing them to glow in the visible spectrum. Thus the phosphor coating luminesces and gives off the characteristic "fluorescent" light.
However, fluorescent bulbs require a relatively high voltage to initiate the plasma state. After the plasma state is initiated, i.e., the bulb is ignited, the effective resistance of the plasma between the electrodes drops due to the negative resistance characteristic of the fluorescent bulb. Unless the current is limited after ignition of the bulb, the tube will draw excessive current and damage itself and/or the supply circuit. The dual functions of igniting the fluorescent bulb and limiting the current in the bulb after ignition takes place are performed by a ballast circuit. The ballast for full-sized installed light fixtures includes a large transformer/inductor, to transform the supplied line voltage, typically 120 Volts AC available at a wall outlet to a high enough potential to ignite the lamp and also to provide a high enough inductive impedance in the supply circuit to limit the current during operation. For typical installed lighting fixtures using non-self-starting bulbs and operating at 120 VAC, 60 Hz, the wire gauge, the number of turns in the coils, and size of the magnetic core result in a large and heavy ballast component. The ballast circuits for so-called "self-starting" fluorescent bulbs are typically smaller, yet still provide an appropriate voltage to ignite the lamps without a separate starter. The inductive impedance of the ballast circuit then regulates the current draw in a similar manner to that previously described for non-self starting bulbs.
In recent years electronic ballast circuits have been developed to replace the large inductors used in the traditional fluorescent lamp ballasts. The electronic ballasts are much lighter in weight because they operate at much higher frequencies and thus have much smaller inductive components. Such "solid state" ballasts are also very efficient and can be manufactured at low cost, making them especially suited for use in small, handheld fluorescent lamps. In one example of the prior art, U.S. Pat. No. 6,534,926, Miller et al., a portable fluorescent drop light is disclosed that contains a pair of twin-tube compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) bulbs that are individually switched. The discrete solid state drive circuit used as a ballast for non-self-starting bulbs utilizes the CFL bulbs as part of the oscillating circuit and has a relatively high component count. A different ballast circuit is required for use with self-starting bulbs. Miller et al. thus has the disadvantages of relatively high component count, and is not capable of driving non-self-starting or self-starting bulbs from the same ballast circuit. Further, while the output from the two 13 Watt CFL bulbs provides adequate illumination, the diffuse light is radiated into all directions and is not controlled or directed in any way so as to maximize the utility of the illumination for task lighting. The portable fluorescent lamp disclosed by Miller et al. further appears to lack the ability to withstand mechanical impacts that frequently occur during the use of task lamps.
A need exists, therefore, for an economical, portable hand-held task lamp that provides a light output substantially equivalent to that of a 100 Watt incandescent bulb, is efficient to operate, and does not operate at excessively high temperatures. A need also exists for a cool-running, efficient task lamp that provides an enhanced illumination output, directing the available light toward the task being illuminated. A need also exists for a ballast circuit design that can accommodate and operate with either self-starting or non-self-starting bulbs, can start and run whether one or both bulbs are installed in the task lamp, and does not require separate switches or separate circuits to operate two or more bulbs. The lamp should further be resistant to damage from mechanical impact and utilize inexpensive, readily available fluorescent bulbs. It would be a further desirable feature to provide as light-weight and compact a task lamp as possible.

Illumination apparatus for a fluorescent task lamp


The present invention comprises methods and systems for an adjustable cervical contour pillow. The pillow comprises a left, right and center compartment with a generally concave anterior face comprising a first curvature and a second curvature and a web there between configured such that the height of the first curvature is greater than the height of the web but lower than the height of the second curvature. The pillow comprises a generally flat posterior face. The center compartment may be further configured such that the height of each of the first curvature, the web and the second curvature of the center compartment are less than the corresponding heights of the analogous portions of the left and right compartments. The compartments may be covered in a material that is comprised of cotton. The pillow may be filled with a blend of different sizes of shredded latex.

1. Field of the Invention
This application relates to pillows for sleeping generally and to cervical contour pillows specifically.
2. Description of Related Art
Many prior patents exist for pillows which attempt to help a user maintain proper posture while sleeping. Some have multiple compartments. Some are adjustable.
One example of a manner in which a pillow has been made adjustable is U.S. Pat. No. 4,829,614 to Harper (hereinafter "Harper") which teaches laterally extending chambers, inflatable with air.
Another example is U.S. Pat. No. 7,788,750 issued to Norstream. (hereinafter "Norstream") which teaches a Cervical Contour Pillow with two cells integrated at their periphery and a fluid fillable insert.
Another example is U.S. Pat. No. 6,931,682 issued to Kruger, Jr. (hereinafter "Kruger") which teaches a pillow with a periphery filled to a greater height than a center section.
Another example is U.S. Pat. No. 5,471,691 issued to Ryndak (hereinafter "Ryndak") which teaches an elongated pillow with multiple tiers at varying heights.
A further example is U.S. Pat. No. 5,644,810 issued to Kato (hereinafter "Kato") which teaches a pillow having opposed horizontal side head end support units and a central head back support unit there between comprising vertically opposed neck-bones' support sections separated by an overall central head back rest section. The respective units and sections are segregated into attached, compartmentalized areas where the head back support unit is lower than the horizontal end support units, and the head back rest section is lower than the vertically opposed neck-bones' support sections.
So as to reduce the complexity and length of the Detailed Specification, and to fully establish the state of the art in certain areas of technology, Applicant(s) herein expressly incorporate(s) by reference all of the following materials identified in each numbered paragraph below.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,829,614
U.S. Pat. No. 7,788,750
U.S. Pat. No. 6,931,682
U.S. Pat. No. 5,644,810
U.S. Pat. No. 5,471,691
Applicant(s) believe(s) that the material incorporated above is "non-essential" in accordance with 37 CFR 1.57, because it is referred to for purposes of indicating the background of the invention or illustrating the state of the art. However, if the Examiner believes that any of the above-incorporated material constitutes "essential material" within the meaning of 37 CFR 1.57(c)(1)-(3), applicant(s) will amend the specification to expressly recite the essential material that is incorporated by reference as allowed by the applicable rules.

System and method for an adjustable cervical contour pillow


A furniture seating support system includes furniture support structure and a frame having tubular elements connected to the support structure. First and second tubular elements are positioned parallel to each other. A tubular cross member is connected to the frame between the first and second elements. A pair of pivoting joints each connect first element ends to the support structure, permitting first element rotation. Elastically flexible support straps with elastomeric elements are connected to the first and second elements to support an occupant. The cross member position is adjustable to vary strap stiffness. A furniture member cavity is accessible by raising the first element.

Convertible furniture members include sofas, reclining chairs, sleep sofas, interchangeable sectional furniture, and the like. Convertible furniture members can also include pullout underneath storage devices. For purposes of simplicity, sofas, including sleep sofas will be herein described in reference to typical hardware packaging. Hardware to convert a sleep sofa unit for alternate (extended mattress) use is often a complex mechanism, having multiple linkages, multiple fasteners, and extensive, heavy tubing or structure. The typical mechanism set for a sleep sofa extends outwardly from an interior sofa storage section to the full length of the mattress. The mechanism volume can occupy a substantial portion of the below-seat-cushion space of the sleep sofa, leaving a decreased volume for the mattress or other uses.
The volume of mechanism hardware to be stored when the mattress is not in use generally also commonly requires a sleep sofa to have a vertical rear panel rather than the more conventional styling of a curved or sloped rear panel of non-convertible or stationary sofas. The vertical rear panel is less attractive and can interfere with use of items such as electrical plugs positioned behind the sleep sofa.
Conventional stationary sofas, although not having the mechanism of a sleep sofa, commonly have cushion support members and framework that supports the sofa cushions. Although sofa cushions are commonly removable for cleaning, the support members and framework positioned below the sofa cushions are commonly not intended to permit access to the space below the sofa cushions. This space is typically inaccessible and therefore goes unused by the sofa owner.

Access and support system for convertible furniture

West & Knowles Design & Engineering, L.L.C.