A gauge probe for a handheld combination coating thickness gauge allows the combination coating thickness gauge to measure both nonferrous coatings on ferrous substrate and nonconductive coatings on conductive nonferrous substrate. The gauge probe enables the combination coating thickness gauge to determine automatically, with a single probe, the substrate characteristics, and to effect a measurement of the coating thickness on that substrate. The technique used to measure coatings on a ferrous substrate utilizes a permanent magnet to provide a constant magnetic flux and a Hall sensor and thermistor arranged to measure the temperature-compensated magnetic flux density at one of the poles of the permanent magnet. The flux density at the magnet pole can be related to a nonferrous coating thickness on a ferrous substrate. The technique used to measure nonconductive coatings on a conductive nonferrous substrate utilizes eddy current effects. A coil near the gauge probe tip is excited by an alternating current oscillating between about 6 MHz and about 12 MHz. The coil sets up eddy currents on the surface of the conducting substrate. The resulting eddy currents set up an opposing magnetic field which in turn have an effect on the excited coil. The eddy current effects on the coil are quantified, and the degree of the eddy current effects on the coil are related to the nonconductive coating thickness on a conductive substrate. The gauge probe detects the substrate type and automatically determines the coating thickness on the detected substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a gauge for determining coating thicknesses on substrates, and, in particular, to a gauge for a combination coating thickness gauge for determining the thickness of a nonferrous coating on a ferrous substrate, and the thickness of a nonconductive coating on a conductive nonferrous substrate.
2. Background Art
In the past, operators of coating thickness gauges were require to know the substrate type before measuring the coating thickness on that substrate. Based on that knowledge, the operator would then choose an appropriate probe configuration and make the appropriate measurement. Typically, an operator would require two independent gauging systems, or two independent probes that could be connect to a single gauge. In addition, the operator would have to determine the characteristics of the specimen (coating and substrate combination) prior to measuring the coating thickness on the determine substrate.
Here is a need for instrument that is able to determine automatically substrate characteristics and measure the coating thickness on that substrate. Such an instrument would enable an operator to place the single gauge probe tip of the instrument on the specimen and, with appropriate instrumentation connected to the gauge probe, to determine the substrate the and automatically measure the coating thickness.
Several dual purpose electromagnetic thickness gauges are known:
For example, U.S. Pat. No.3,986,105 to Nix et al. discloses a probe that uses two coils wound around an elongated ferromagnetic core. One coil is used to carry an excitation current and the other coil is used to make measurements. By altering the frequency of excitation, it is possible to observe the effects of both ferrous and nonferrous conductive substrates on the measurement coil. Low frequency (below 300 Hz) excitation currents allow for the measurement of the thickness of a nonferrous layer on a ferrous substrate, while high frequency (above 1000 Hz) excitation currents allow for the measurement of the thickness of a nonconductive layer on a nonferrous conductive substrate using eddy current effects on the measuring coil. The Nix et at. dual purpose electromagnetic thickness gauge does not utilize a constant magnetic field supplied by a permanent magnet in conjunction with a Hall effect magnetic sensor to measure a coating thickness, nor any means to compensate the measured magnetic flux density for changes in temperature, nor an eddy current search coil excited at a frequency sufficiently high to reduce the depth of penetration of eddy currents into the conductive substrate and thus does not provide a measurement that is sufficiently immune to substrate thickness variations. Furthermore, the Nix et at. dual purpose electromagnetic thickness gauge uses manual, not automatic, switching of thickness gauge modes (low or high frequency of coil excitation) depending on the magnetic character of the substrate.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,005,359 to Smoot discloses an electronic thickness gauge for measuring the coating thickness over ferrous and over conductive nonferrous substrates by measuring the movement of a low-frequency hump in the response curve for an over-coupled, double-tuned, open-faced transformer when ferrous and/or conductive nonferrous substrates are placed across the gap between the transformer pole-faces. Both the coating thickness and magnetic character of the substrate can be determined in one operation without ambiguity, and without any change in the instrument, due to the ability of the device to vary its overall frequency response in accordance with changes in its self-inductance and mutual-inductance. Because the Smoot coating thickness gauge requires the use of an open-faced transformer to measure a coating thickness over ferrous and over conductive nonferrous substrates, and requires the coated substrates to be placed across the relatively large gap between the transformer pole faces, the Smoot device necessarily makes contact with the coated substrate in at least two places, and the area of contact between the Smoot device and the coated surface is therefore relatively large. Since the Smoot coating thickness gauge does not use a Hall generator or an eddy current search coil to conduct either of the coating thickness measurements, the Smoot device cannot be compactly fit into a single gauge probe that contacts the coated surface in at most one place with a much smaller area of contact. There is thus a need for a compact coating thickness gauge probe that tests for a ferrous substrate, using a Hall generator, and tests for a nonferrous substrate, using an eddy current search coil, switching automatically from one to the other in order to measure a coating thickness over ferrous and over conductive nonferrous substrates, the gauge probe contacting the surface of the coated substrate in at most one place with a relatively small area of contact.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,255,709 to Zatsepin et at. discloses a device for measuring the thickness of coatings which, depending on a specific application, employs a different type of thickness gauge, such as electromagnetic, microwave, and ultrasonic, for example. The device measures the thickness of dielectric coatings applied onto metal articles and nonmagnetic electrodeposits on ferromagnetic articles. With an appropriately selected thickness gauge, the device measures the thickness of nonmagnetic, current-carrying coatings on nonmagnetic, current-carrying materials. The Zatsepin et at. coating thickness gauge system employs an automatic measurement range switching unit, but the automatic measurement range switching is used to automatically switch from one thickness measurement range to another without regard to the magnetic character of the underlying substrate. The Zatsepin et at. coating thickness gauge system uses manual, not automatic, switching of thickness gauges depending on the magnetic character of the substrate. There is thus a need for a single gauge probe for a combination coating thickness gauge that enables automatic switching of coating thickness gauging modes depending on an automatic determination of the nature of the underlying substrate.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,722,142 to Schmidt discloses an apparatus for measuring the thickness of a coating that is not highly conductive, such as plastic, on the inside wall of a metallic tubular member, and throughout the length of the metallic tubular member. Preferably, the apparatus uses an electronic eddy current loss proximity detector to measure the coating thickness.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,015,950 to Rose et at. discloses a system for nondestructive analysis of barrier coatings on electrically conductive materials by imposing a controlled known heat load to a localized area of the coating and measuring the changes in the electrical conductivity of the underlying material using an eddy current coil. The electrical conductivity of the material is affected by changes in the temperature related to thermal conduction into the material through the coating, allowing the thickness of the coating, its thermal resistance, and/or its structural integrity to be analyzed, for any type of coating.
Both the Schmidt and Rose et al. coating thickness gauge systems use eddy current detectors to measure coating thicknesses over conductive substrates, but neither the Schmidt nor the Rose et al. coating thickness gauge system uses a Hall generator to measure coating thicknesses over ferrous substrates, and hence neither the Schmidt nor the Rose et al. coating thickness gauge system uses automatic or manual switching of detectors depending on the magnetic character of the substrate.
Accordingly, there is a need for a gauge probe for a combination coating thickness gauge for measuring both nonferrous coatings on ferrous substrates, using a Hall generator, and nonconductive coatings on conductive nonferrous substrates, using an eddy current search coil, that enables automatic switching of coating thickness gauging modes depending on an automatic determination of the nature of the underlying substrate. The gauge probe should contact the surface of the coated substrate in at most one place with a relatively small area of contact.

Combination coating thickness gauge using a magnetic flux density sensor and an eddy current search coil


A system and method for identifying test bars formed during a selective laser sintering build. A part cake is formed during a selective laser sintering build. The part cake comprises parts formed from a powder by selective laser sintering and unsintered powder around the formed parts. The parts include test bars for performing material testing. Each test bar includes a plurality of indentations in a first grip section and a second grip section. The plurality of indentations are arranged in a information providing pattern that is adapted to be readable after the test part is removed from the part cake.

It is known to use additive manufacturing technology and techniques, together with polymer powders, to manufacture high-performance products having applications in various industries (e.g., aerospace, industrial, medical, etc.).
Selective laser sintering ("SLS") is an additive manufacturing technique that uses a laser to fuse small particles of plastic, metal (direct metal laser sintering), ceramic, or glass powders into a mass having a desired three-dimensional (3-D) shape. The laser selectively fuses the powder material by scanning cross-sectional layers generated from a 3-D digital description of the desired object onto the top layer of a bed of the powder material. After a cross-sectional layer is scanned, the powder bed is lowered by one-layer thickness in a z-axis direction, a new top layer of powder material is applied to the powder bed, and the powder bed is rescanned. This process is repeated until the object is completed. When completed, the object is formed in a "cake" of unfused powder material. The formed object is extracted from the cake. The powder material from the cake can be recovered, sieved, and used in a subsequent SLS process.
Polyaryletherketones ("PAEK") are of interest in the SLS process because parts that have been manufactured from PAEK powder or PAEK granulates are characterized by a low flammability, a good biocompatibility, and a high resistance against hydrolysis and radiation. The thermal resistance at elevated temperatures as well as the chemical resistance distinguishes PAEK powders from ordinary plastic powders. A PAEK powder may be a powder from the group consisting of polyetheretherketone ("PEEK"), polyetherketoneketone ("PEKK"), polyetherketone ("PEK"), polyetheretherketoneketone ("PEEKK") or polyetherketoneetherketoneketone ("PEKEKK").
PEKK powders are of particular interest in the SLS process because objects that have been manufactured from PEKK powders via SLS have demonstrated not only the above characteristics but also superior strength relative to other PAEK materials.
During a SLS build a plurality of test coupons are formed in the part cake by SLS. In some builds, for example, the part cake may include five or more test coupons that extend in the z-direction and five or more test coupons that extend in a plane perpendicular to the z-direction. After the build, the test coupons are removed from the part cake and subjected to tensile testing. The test coupons may include numbers for identification purposes. In some cases, qualification protocols require that a number is affixed to the test coupon for the purposes of identifying the test coupon after it is removed from the part cake.
In reference to FIGS. 5 and 6, two examples of methods of identifying test coupons are shown. In reference to FIG. 5, the ends of two test coupons 500, 550 are shown. The grip section 510, 560 of each test coupon 500, 550 includes a recessed number formed in a surface thereof. A disadvantage of forming identification numbers in this manner is that it creates areas of stress concentration when the test coupons are subject to tensile testing. For example, when the coupon is subject to testing during ASTM D638 testing protocol the recessed numbers lead to stress concentrations around the recessed numbers in the grip section of the test coupon. The unwanted stress concentrations lead to increased incidence of failure of test specimens at the grip sections during tensile testing. Such failures mean the test specimen cannot be used for tensile testing. In some cases, the number of failures in a particular build may result in insufficient test specimens for qualification of the build, resulting in the entire build being unusable. This can result in significant costs considering that it takes up to 96 hours to perform a build and considering that material cost for the build can be significant.
In reference to FIG. 6, a different method of identifying the test coupon is shown. The test coupon 600 includes a first grip section 660. A tab 670 extends from a side of the first grip section and includes a number 620 printed in a face thereof. A disadvantage of this method is that it results in an undesirable stress concentration in a side surface of the first grip section which can lead to unwanted failure at this section. Another disadvantage of this method is that is significantly increases the build time for the part cake. Another disadvantage of this method is that it significantly reduces the available space for parts. Another disadvantage of this method is that it reduces the amount of powder in the build that is available for recycle, or for use in subsequent SLS builds.
Thus, there exists a need in the art for an improved selective laser sintering method which utilizes an improved method for identifying test coupons formed during the selective laser sintering method.

System for identifying parts formed in an additive manufacturing build


Some embodiments of the invention provide novel methods for providing transparent services for multicast data messages traversing a network edge device operating at a boundary between two networks. The method analyzes data messages received at the network edge device to determine whether they require a service provided at the boundary and whether they are unicast or multicast (including broadcast). The method modifies a multicast destination media access control (MAC) address of a multicast data message requiring a service to be a unicast destination MAC address and provides, without processing by a standard routing function, the modified data message directly to an interface associated with a service node that provides the particular service required by the data message. The method receives the serviced data message, restores the multicast destination MAC address, and forwards the serviced data message to a set of destinations associated with the multicast destination address.

Currently systems for providing transparent services for multicast data messages at a network edge device prematurely forward the multicast data messages to the plurality of destinations of the multicast data message. Accordingly, a solution that provides a transparent service at a network edge device before forwarding the multicast data message to the plurality of destinations is required.

Service insertion for multicast traffic at boundary


A photosensitive material processing apparatus which processes a photosensitive material by a processing solution stored in a processing tank, while the photosensitive material is being conveyed. The photosensitive material processing apparatus is equipped with an integration device which integrates processed amounts of the photosensitive material. By detecting a discharging of the processing solution or detecting a changing of a filter, a processed amount integrated value of the integration device is reset automatically. The processing solution and the filter can be changed at appropriate times, and the performance of the photosensitive material processing apparatus can be maintained at optimal conditions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for processing a photosensitive material, which is equipped with an integration device which, after an exposed photosensitive material is processed, counts or integrates the amount of the processed photosensitive material or amounts of replenishing fluid, to determined the time to change a filter which filters a processing solution or the time to change the processing solution.
2. Description of the Related Art
A photosensitive material upon which images are exposed, e.g., a silver halide photographic film, is processed continuously through developing, fixing, and washing processes in a developing apparatus. In the apparatus, processing solutions stored in processing tanks, such as developer solution stored in a developing tank and fixing solution in a fixing tank, are respectively circulated through circulation paths such that the used solution may be reused. Filters, which filter the processing solutions, are provided in the circulation paths.
Components of the processing solutions are consumed in accordance with the amount of photosensitive material processed. Therefore, in order to compensate for this consumption, respective replenishing solutions are replenished to the processing solutions. In an apparatus for processing a photosensitive lithographic printing plate, for example, a PS plate or a waterless lithographic printing plate, the plate is processed through steps of developing, rinsing, squeezing, desensitizing processes and the like. In this apparatus, the plate is treated with a developer solution, rinsed with fresh developer solution or with water, squeezed and desensitized. These solutions are respectively stored in the tanks and are circulated through circulation paths. The circulation paths are provided with filters for removing solid particles which tend to particulate in the solutions.
In any of these processes, when processing is effected over a certain period of time, it has been found that the solutions become dirty, the processing performance deteriorates, and the filters become clogged. Therefore, the processing solutions in the tanks must be replaced with new solutions, and the filters must be changed after the certain period of time. Integrated or added values of the amounts of processed photosensitive material and the integrated amount of replenishing solution are used as criteria for determining the time to change the processing solutions and the time to change the filters.
However, in these processing apparatuses, when the processing solutions are replaced and the filters are changed, integration devices or the like used to integrate the amount of processed photosensitive material and the amounts of replenishing solution must be reset manually by an operator. If the operator forgets to reset the integration device, the replacing of the processing solutions and the time when the filter should be changed are inaccurate.

Photosensitive material processing apparatus


Methods, systems, and circuitries are provided to generate clock signals of different qualities in a device. A method includes determining whether the device is operating in a mid power mode or a high power mode. In response to determining that the device is operating in the mid power mode, oscillator circuitry is controlled to cause the oscillator circuitry to consume a lower amount of power, such that the oscillator circuitry generates a lower quality clock signal. In response to determining that the device is operating in the high power mode, the oscillator circuitry is controlled to cause the oscillator circuitry to consume a higher amount of power, such that the oscillator circuitry generates a higher quality clock signal. The lower amount of power and the higher amount of power are different from one another.

Power consumption is an important characteristic of communication devices. One component that consumes a significant amount of power is the crystal oscillator (XO) block. The XO block is responsible for generating and distributing analog and digital reference clock signals used by internal and external processing modules. The quality of the clock signals (e.g., jitter) generated by the XO block is an important key performance indicator.
As modern communication systems (e.g., wireless fidelity (WiFi), cellular modems, and so on) evolve toward more complex constellations, higher bandwidths and throughput, XO jitter specifications are hardened. To provide the higher quality clock signals demanded by the more rigorous jitter specifications, the current supplied to the XO block (e.g., a power regulator that provides power to various XO block components) is increased. This increased power draw by the XO block significantly reduces the battery life of the device and degrades the power consumption in general.


A mobile terminal including a speaker configured to output sound data, a microphone configured to receive voice data, a sensing unit configured to sense a touching operation of at least one of 1) the speaker or the microphone and 2) a neighborhood area of the speaker or the microphone, and a controller configured to control a volume of the speaker or the microphone based on the sensed touching operation of said at least one of 1) the speaker or the microphone and 2) the neighborhood area of the speaker or the microphone.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile terminal and corresponding for easily controlling functions related to input/output devices on the terminal such as a camera, microphone and a speaker.
2. Discussion of the Background
A recent terminal such as a personal computer, a notebook computer or a cellular phone has a variety of functions, and is constructed in the form of a multimedia player having various functions such as allowing users to photograph pictures or moving images, play music or moving image files, play games, receive broadcasting programs and so on.
The terminal also includes an input/output device for inputting and outputting data in order to perform the various functions. Further, the input/output device includes a plurality of input/output units for respectively inputting and outputting data such as audio data, video data and text data. However, the user has to perform a complicated key operation or menu operation in order to execute the various functions.


To provide a swing-type construction machine that can reduce force of working device pipes which is generated in accordance with swinging of a working device and presses against a side wall of a swing post. The present invention is configured such that a swing frame side holding body for holding a part of working device pipes 21, which is located at a side of a swing frame 2a, includes a first clamp 22 having a first stage holding portion that clamps one of the group of the working device pipes and a second stage holding portion that is arranged on a position lower than the first stage holding portion and clamps the other group of the working device pipes, while a swing post side holding body for holding a part of the working device pipes 21, which is located at a side of a swing post 6, includes a second clamp 24 having a first stage holding portion that clamps the group of the working device pipes that are clamped, by the first stage holding portion of the first clamp 22 and a second stage holding portion that clamps the group of the working device pipes that are clamped by the second stage holding portion of the first clamp 22.

Regarding the techniques above, JP 2004-36233 A (Patent document 1) describes the prior arts. FIG. 12 is a perspective view of a main part of a conventional swing-type construction machine, which is described in JP 2004-36233 A. The swing-type construction machine having the main part illustrated in FIG. 12 is, for example, a compact excavator that constitutes a small-sized construction machine. The compact excavator is provided with a working device (not shown) for digging work of earth and sand, etc. including a boom, an arm, and a bucket, and a boom cylinder, an arm cylinder, and a bucket cylinder that are hydraulic actuators for driving the boom, the arm, and the bucket, respectively. Moreover, the compact excavator is provided with a swing cylinder (not shown) for swinging the working device in a horizontal direction, a swing post 52 illustrated in FIG. 12 which is rotatable in a horizontal direction and to which the working device is attached, a bracket 51 that is connected to the swing post 52 via a vertically extended connecting pin 53, and a upperstructure having a swing frame 50 on which the bracket 51 is fixed. The compact excavator is further provided with a control valve (not shown) that is arranged on the upperstructure and a plurality of working device pipes 54 that connect the control valve and the corresponding ones of the plurality of the hydraulic actuators included in the working device.
Still further, the compact excavator according to the conventional techniques is provided with a swing frame side holding body that holds a part of the plurality of the working device pipes 54, which is located at a side of the swing frame 50, that is, a pipe holding bracket 55, and a swing post side holding body that holds a part of the plurality of the working device pipes 54, which is located at a side of the swing post 52, that is, a clamp 56. As illustrated in FIG. 12, the swing post 52 includes a horizontal hole 52a into which the plurality of the working device pipes 54 are inserted toward an opposite side of a swing cylinder (not shown) across the connecting pin 53.
As illustrated in FIG. 12, in the compact excavator according to the conventional techniques, between the pipe holding bracket 56 to the horizontal hole 52a of the swing post 52, the plurality of the working device pipes 54 are arranged so as to extend along a horizontal direction as if they are bundled and concentrated. When inserting the working device pipes 54 into the horizontal hole 52a of the swing post 52, they are inserted therein so as to wrap around the connecting pin 53. At a position upper than a position where the working device pipes 54 are inserted into the horizontal hole 52a of the swing post 52, an extending direction of the working device pipes 54 is reversed. In this state, the working device pipes 54 are clamped by the clamp 56 so that the working device pipes 54 extend upwardly thereafter.
The respective working device pipe 54 are set to have length that enables a swing cylinder (not shown) to swing. The techniques according to JP 2004-36233 A were invented by the same inventors as those of the present application, and although not mentioned in JP 2004-36233 A, a holding form of the working device pipes 54 in the pipe holding bracket 55 and a holding form of the working device pipes 54 in the clamp 56 are actually configured as the ones illustrated in FIG. 13 and FIG. 14 of the present application, respectively. Hereinafter, the holding forms of the working device pipes 54 will be described.
At an inner portion, which is located at a side of the center line of rotation of the upperstructure, of the pipe holding bracket 55 for holding the plurality of the working device pipes 54 on a side of the swing frame 50, holes 55a and 55b into which two boom pipes to be connected to the boom cylinder are respectively inserted and a hole 55c into which one of the two arm pipes to be connected to the arm cylinder is inserted are arranged. At a center portion of the pipe holding bracket 55, holes 55d and 55e into which two bucket pipes to be connected to the bucket cylinder are respectively inserted and a hole 55f into which the other one of the arm pipes is inserted are arranged. Furthermore, at an outer portion of the pipe holding bracket 55, holes 55g and 55h into which two spare pipes to be connected to a spare actuator are inserted are arranged.
As illustrated in FIG. 14, the clamp 56 for holding the working device pipes 54 on a side of the swing post 52 is configured by a first clamping portion 57 and a second clamping portion 58 that are mutually opposed. Between the first clamping portion 57 and the second clamping portion 58, in a direction from a side of the swing cylinder to a side of the horizontal hole 52a of the swing post 52, holes 56a and 56b into which the two boom pipes are respectively inserted, a hole 56c into which one of the two arm pipes is inserted, two holes 56d and 56e into which the two bucket pipes are respectively inserted, a hole 56f into which the other one of the two arm pipes is inserted, and holes 56g and 56h into which the spare pipes are respectively inserted are formed.
In this way, in the holding form in which the working device pipes 54 are held by the pipe holding bracket 55 and the clamp 56, a state where the working device pipes 54 including the plurality of the boom pipes, the arm pipes, the bucket pipes, and the spare pipes are bundled and concentrated is maintained near the connecting pin 53, and while keeping this state, the working device pipes 54 are inserted into the horizontal hole 52a of the swing post 52.

Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd.


A closed seal member has a channel extending through it and contains a holder with locking members for the irreversible holding of an end of a flexible band of metal, which end is introduced into the channel. The other end of the band is fastened in the seal member. The flexible band carries a detachable code carrier. Both the seal member and also the code carrier fastened on the band have a code which is identical for both or is a unique code. The code carrier is fastened in such an area of the band that the seal can be closed only after removal of the code carrier.

Manually lockable seals of this type are known in many variations, for example from Swiss Patent Nos. 481 444, 525 813 and 643 079. They are used to secure locks, where the locking parts in the locking system have openings which, in the locked state of the system, coincide at least approximately, so that the band anchored at one end on or in the seal member can be guided with its other end through the openings. The free end of the band is subsequently guided into the channel of the seal member, where catch members of the band engage the locking members to prevent their withdrawal, so that an opening of the lock sealed in this manner can occur only via destruction of the seal. This security for a lock is desired or demanded in many cases, for example for bag locks, in particular in the case of mail bags, and for the sealing of the loading compartment of vehicles, etc.
These known seals are themselves significantly secured against manipulation in that they can, once closed, no longer be opened without being damaged or altered, and thus permit any manipulation to be recognized. Since, however, we are dealing in the case of such a seal with a pure article of mass production, it is not impossible for malicious persons to obtain open seals of the same type and to exchange an unjustifiably opened seal with a similar new seal in order to cover up the manipulation. Seals permitting this cannot meet high security demands, since with this the purpose of the seal has been avoided. It also does not help that, independently from the seal, documents are often worked out which define the sealed-off goods and permit a check of the goods after the authorized opening of the seal, because these papers can also be easily altered with the copying processes of today.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to improve a seal of the above-mentioned type so that it can be recognized by a clear characteristic as a single piece and therefore, once it has been closed, cannot be exchanged without this being noticed, and which in addition is also essentially protected against other manipulations.


A displaying method of a robot simulator for intuitively recognizing the working direction of a tool is provided. A displaying method on a robot simulator includes displaying a real image of a robot to mount a tool at an end effector of a robot arm, displaying a tool coordinate system indicating an operating direction of the tool at the end effector of the robot arm which is displayed in the displaying of the real image of the robot, displaying a virtual reality (VR) image having a three-dimension image at the end effector of the robot arm which is displayed in the displaying of the real image of the robot.

The present disclosure relates to a displaying method of a robot simulator for intuitively recognizing the working direction of a tool.
With the development of a robot technology, automation using robots is significantly progressing, thereby improving work efficiency of processes and increasing productivity.
In order to utilize a robot in an existing industrial site, a method that an operator sets a robot to perform a desired operation while personally identifying the operation of the robot on the spot has been used.
The above method may be performed only by the skilled operator, which makes it difficult to rapidly cope with the work change.
There has been suggested a robot simulator for graphically displaying a 3D model image of a robot on a display device based on 3D Computer Aided Design (CAD) data and manipulating the 3D model image to simulate a robot system.
Japanese Patent Registration No. 6350037 (filed on Jun. 30, 2014) discloses a robot simulator for making a moving picture for simulating the operations of a robot and various devices, for reproducing the moving picture in the form of an animation, and for easily identifying the simulation result.
As the robot is simulated, the operator may verify the work by the robot without actually operating the robot.
In this case, the operator has to input teaching data into the simulator to produce the work of the robot on the robot simulator.
However, in the case of a working robot having a robot arm to mount various tools at an end effector thereof, the operator has to input teaching data based on the working direction of the tool into the robot simulator whenever the tool is changed.
According to the prior art, although the tool coordinate system is displayed on the robot simulator, it is difficult for the operator to intuitively recognize the working direction of the tools whenever various types of tools are applied.


A multi-spectral detection and analysis system detects and classifies a targeted sample. The system may include a light source that causes the targeted sample to luminesce. A light dispersion element disperses the luminescence to a photodetector in a photodetector array. Each photodetector in the array transmits a signal indicating a portion of the spectrum to a multi-channel collection system. The multi-channel collection system processes the signal into a digital signal and forms the digital signal into a spectral signature. A processor analyzes the spectral signature and compares the spectral signature to known spectral signatures to identify the targeted sample.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to multi-spectral detectors of luminescence, and in particular to the detection of luminescence from materials that are stimulated with light sources.
2. Background of the Invention
Multi-spectral detector systems may detect luminescence from particles and materials that are stimulated with a light source. Such systems may further analyze the luminescence. Multi-spectral systems may include a flow cytometry system that characterizes and classifies particles of interest from heterogeneous populations. Flow cytometry interrogates a particle suspended within a stream of liquid as the particle passes through a light focusing on a small region. Early flow cytometers measured only light scatter and Coulter volume with minimal ability to measure fluorescence. Later, flow cytometers began to collect the fluorescence emission of light in the visible spectrum that might represent the presence of various chemical or biological components. The flow cytometers analyze single micro-particles and/or cells, separating the micro-particles and/or cells into populations based upon statistical differences of intensity measurements from each particle/cell.
Single-cell detection systems use screening devices that detect light emitted by a particle after its excitation by a light source and split the light into different pathways according to the wavelengths via filters. The number of photons, which relates to the intensity of the luminescence, for each wavelength range can be detected by a detector from which the electronic signal is passed through a variety of circuits and may be presented as a data set saved in memory. This detection process is based on the evaluation of signal intensity in a single optical band; therefore, without signal separation, it is difficult to identify the nature of the component. The fluorescence emission of almost all organic fluorochromes is broad, making it difficult to measure the emission intensity of an individual fluorescence label to the exclusion of another. This is the ultimate limitation of current systems. Accordingly, there is a need for a system that provides a spectral signature of the luminescent emission from particles and materials.

Multi-spectral detector and analysis system


A device may receive an instruction to classify software. The device may identify a group of one or more user interfaces associated with the software based on receiving the instruction to classify the software. The device may determine a group of one or more user interface signatures associated with the group of one or more user interfaces. A user interface signature may include information, associated with a user interface in the group of one or more user interfaces, that may be used to classify the software. The device may generate information that identifies a classification of the software based on the group of one or more user interface signatures and based on known signature information. The known signature information may include information that corresponds to a correct software classification. The device may output the information that identifies the classification of the software.

Software (e.g., a computer program) includes a set of instructions that, when executed by a device (e.g., a processor), causes the device to perform tasks for which the software is designed. In some cases, the software may be installed on a device to allow the software to be executed by the device. Additionally, some software is supplied in a form unsuitable for immediate execution and requires a software installation procedure to be performed.

Classification of software based on user interface elements


In example embodiments, there is provided a dynamic dispatcher simulator for an electrical power system. The dynamic dispatcher simulator can be operable to receive an input from a user identity during a run time, wherein the input represents a disturbance event indicative of a simulated disturbance to an electrical power system. Based on the input, a signal can be transmitted to a transient simulation engine component. The transient simulation engine component can output simulated phasor measurement unit data representative of the disturbance event to a wide area monitoring system that facilitates a display of alarms in response to the receipt of the simulated phasor measurement unit data. The dynamic dispatcher training simulator can also receive another input from the user during the run time, the second input being representative of a simulated condition related to the electrical power system.

A power grid is a complex and dynamic system that is difficult to manage. Often times, a power grid can comprise numerous power grid devices and a complex system of transmission lines. Furthermore, a power grid is often integrated with other power grids, resulting in a large-scale power grid system. Steady state stresses or dynamic stresses on a power grid can occur due to power transfers or outages. Therefore, a power grid is often vulnerable to potential blackouts, which might be caused by a disturbance event, which can be one or more disturbances to the grid. An aging infrastructure in many parts of the power grid system, lack of investments in capacity building, and growing demand for power based on an ever-increasing population as well as proliferation of more technology (e.g., large penetration of renewable energy sources in the system, new age transportation such as electronic vehicles, or EVs) have contributed to power grid systems operating at its stability limits. Power system operators (also referred to as dispatchers) in the control centers are tasked with using various control systems to obtain feedback and make decisions or take actions to manage the grid. New age control rooms have adopted and are continuing to develop advanced tools, such as Wide Area Management Systems (WAMS; also referred to as Wide Area Monitoring Systems) that allow for dynamic observability over a wide geography, and real-time Dynamic Security Assessment (DSA). Properly training system operators to use these new age control room applications, and to respond to the various kinds of power grid disturbance events, can facilitate management of power grid systems.
The above-described background relating to power grid systems is merely intended to provide a contextual overview of some current issues, and is not intended to be exhaustive. Other contextual information may become further apparent upon review of the following detailed description.


A semiconductor memory device and a method for producing the same are provided, wherein memory cells, in each of which a MONOS- or MNOS-type memory transistor is combined with an enhancement transistor in a reduced cell area, are arranged in a matrix configuration. With such a device and a method, an extremely high integration of memory cells can be realized with a reduced production cost. The semiconductor memory device of the present invention includes a gate insulating film and a trap film which are joinedly formed on a channel region of a semiconductor substrate of a first conductive type. A gate electrode extends over the two films. Source/drain regions are formed on opposite sides of the gate electrode

Nonvolatile semiconductor memory devices capable of preserving data even when they are powered OFF, such as EPROMs and EEPROMs, are roughly divided by charge storing means into two types; a flash memory type wherein hot electrons are injected into a floating gate, and a MIOS (Metal Insulator Oxide Semiconductor) type wherein electrons are injected into an insulating film utilizing a FN tunneling effect or direct tunneling effect. MIOS type memory devices include a MONOS (Metal Oxide Nitride Oxide Semiconductor) type memory device having a structure of metal-oxide film-nitride film-oxide film-semiconductor, a MNOS (Metal Nitride Oxide Semiconductor) having a structure of metal-nitride film-film oxide-semiconductor, and the like. The MIOS type memory device can be written more times by one to two figures than the flash type memory device and, hence, widely utilized.
With a memory cell of the MNOS type or MONOS type, however, if too many electrons are removed from an insulating film for trapping the electrons for erasing the data component stored in the cell, the threshold voltage would decrease too much, causing malfunction of the memory cell. In an attempt to solve this problem, there has been devised a semiconductor memory device of the composite type wherein a memory transistor of the MNOS type or MONOS type and a usual enhancement MOS transistor are formed in the same place.
FIGS. 13 and 14 each illustrate an example of a MNOS type memory cell of such a composite type. In the structure of the example illustrated in FIG. 13, a n.sup.+ -type source region 32 and n.sup.+ -type drain region 33 are formed in, as a whole, a p-type semiconductor substrate 31. A central part of a thick oxide film 35 formed on the substrate 31 is removed by etching. In the removed portion there are sequentially formed a thin oxide film 36 for tunneling, a film 37, for example, made of silicon nitride for trapping carriers and a gate electrode film 38, for example, made of polysilicon. The thin part of oxide film A realizes a memory part by tunneling electrons, while portions adjacent thereto are utilized as a usual enhancement MOS transistor.
In the structure of the example illustrated in FIG. 14, a silicon nitride film 37 for trapping carriers is etched so as to be formed on a memory part A only. This structure is for avoiding such a problem attributable to the former structure that with a gate insulating film composed of the thick silicon oxide film and silicon nitride film in the MOS transistor coexisting with the memory part A, the threshold voltage would be largely changed due to a bias temperature (BT) treatment for this transistor.
In fabrication of the memory cell illustrated in FIG. 14, however, it is necessary to carry out patterning for each of the thin oxide film for tunneling, nitride film and gate electrodes while taking into consideration an margin for alignment for each patterning and the length of each film. In addition, the gate electrodes need to be patterned so as to be positioned on the narrow gate insulating films present on the opposite sides of the memory part A. As a result, the channel length L cannot be shortened to less than 3 .mu.m. This leads to a limitation in scaling down a cell area and, hence, in increasing the integration density of devices.

Semiconductor memory device having an insulating film and a trap film joined in a channel region


This invention proposed an Echo Suppressor which can efficiently suppress both echoes and background noise without introducing “choppiness”. The Echo Suppressor System includes said two adaptive gains Gr(RSR) and Gn(NSR), said one adaptive zeros-filter A1(z) and said one adaptive poles-filter A2(z); wherein, thr gain Gr(RSR) is controlled by RSR (Residual echo level to Signal level Ratio); the gain Gn(NSR) is controlled by NSR (Noise signal level to current Signal (Tx) level Ratio); the filter A1(z) is converted from LSF1 obtained from the first modification of LSFTx (Line Spectral Frequencies of Tx signal); the filter A2(z) is converted from LSF2 obtained from the second modification of LSFTx.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to telecommunication equipment, and in particular, to a method for echo cancellation and suppression.
2. Background Art
Echo Cancellers
Echo Canceller (EC) is a device or software which could cancel echo signals by using some reference signal. The reference signal is also called received signal (Rx signal). The echo signal is also called echo return signal which is mixed in the transmission signal (Tx signal). There are two major types of echo cancellers: one is called Acoustic Echo Canceller (AEC); another one is named as Line Echo Canceller (LEC). Obviously, AEC is used to cancel acoustic echoes and LEC is employed to cancel line echoes.
Line echoes result from imperfect impedance matching by hybrids in two-to-four wire signal conversion. Acoustic echoes happen in the field of telecommunication equipment where acoustically coupled echoes are transmitted back to the receiving party while also providing a full duplex connection; it is also a problem in the filed of audio conferencing to prevent adding noise of the inactive talkers into the output while also providing a conference bridge where two or more conferees can talk at one. Some echo is acceptable in voice conversations, however, users are annoyed by listening to their own speech delayed by the round-trip time of the system.
Echo canceller often consists of an adaptive filter with Least Mean Square (LMS) algorithm which generates an echo replica signal similar to the echo signal. A subtraction between the echo return signal and the echo replica signal is conducted in order to cancel the echo return signal. Due to the fact that the replica signal could not be perfect enough to duplicate the echo return signal for various reasons, there is always some residual echo left in the transmission signal. Echo Suppression is an apparatus which could perform echo reduction and/or echo elimination, in particular for reducing or eliminating residual echo signals left after echo canceller. Due to the inherent problems associated with echo cancellers, many solutions rely significantly on an additional echo suppression stage.
Echo Suppression
Echo Suppressor is a device or software which could dramatically reduce the (residual) echo energy without significantly distorting the non-echo speech signal. Although Echo Suppressor can work alone without combining with echo canceller, it often works as a compensation of echo canceller. Not only Echo Suppressor can dramatically suppress the residual echo energy but also reduce background noise energy by taking the advantage of available parameters. Echo Suppressor could be viewed as an independent function or just a part of Echo Canceller system.
Existing Echo Suppression methods are mostly based on the following approaches:                Spectrum Echo Suppression is one of the popular approaches. This approach requires FFT operation to transform time domain signals into frequency domain; so, the complexity is not low. This approach needs to carefully tune all the parameters in order to avoid possible "music noise" before doing Inverse FFT of the modified spectrum back into time domain.        Another popular way is called NLP (Non-Linear Processor) which replaces the residual echo signal with random noise or turns off transmission in the reverse direction while one person is talking and double talk does not exist. This method is simple but requires very robust double talk detection and residual echo detection. Due to the fact that it is very difficult to have a precise double talk detector or perfect residual echo detection, this approach often introduces "choppiness", especially in noisy environments.
This invention proposed an Echo Suppression approach which can achieve robust performance with low complexity level.


A communication device includes a memory and a processor. The processor is configured to extract first division data from transmission data when transmitting the transmission data. The processor is configured to store, as held data, the first division data in the memory in association with first identification information that identifies the transmission data. The processor is configured to transmit, to a communication destination, a first transmission packet including the transmission data and information that identifies the held data to cause the communication destination to store second division data which is not included in the held data, among the transmission data in association with the first identification information. The processor is configured to transmit, when transmitting the transmission data after the transmission of the first transmission packet, a second transmission packet including the first identification information and the held data instead of the transmission data to the communication destination.

In recent years, high-speed communication is demanded, and various attempts have been made to achieve a high communication speed. For instance, in order to reduce the amount of data transmission, deduplication may be performed on the target data (transmission target data) to be transmitted. In the deduplication, a receiving-side transfer device holds, in association with an identifier, data received in the past from a transmitting-side transfer device. The transmitting-side transfer device also holds, in association with an identifier, data transmitted in the past. The transmitting-side transfer device determines whether part or all of the transmission target data is already transmitted. For the data already transmitted, instead of actual data, an identifier associated with the data is transmitted to the receiving-side transfer device. The receiving-side transfer device reads data held in association with a received identifier, and handles the read data as the data transmitted from the transmitting-side transfer device.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of deduplication. In the system illustrated in FIG. 1, a terminal 10a and a terminal 10b communicate with each other via a transfer device 5a and a transfer device 5b. The terminal 10a is connected to the transfer device 5a, and the terminal 10b is connected to the transfer device 5b. The transfer device 5a and the transfer device 5b communicate with each other via a wide area network (WAN) 3.
For instance, assume that the terminal 10a transmits data A to the terminal 10b. In this case, the terminal 10a transmits the data A to the transfer device 5a (arrow A1). The transfer device 5a determines whether transmission data received from the terminal 10a is data transmitted in the past. When the data transmitted from terminal 10a is relatively large, the transfer device 5a divides the received data into multiple pieces of data as appropriate, and identifies the data transmitted in the past, and the data included in the transmission data multiple times. In the example of FIG. 1, communications using data A, data B, and data C are already performed in the past between the transfer device 5a and the transfer devices 5b. Thus, each of the transfer device 5a and the transfer device 5b holds the data A, data B, data C in cache 6 (6a, 6b) each in association with an identifier that identifies each data. For instance, it is assumed that each of the transfer device 5a and the transfer device 5b holds the data A in association with an identifier "a". Similarly, it is assumed that data B is associated with an identifier "b" and data C is associated with an identifier "c".
In the example of FIG. 1, transmission data is the data A. Thus, instead of the data A, the transfer device 5a transmits the identifier "a" associated with the data A to the terminal 10b (arrow A2). Thus, the identifier "a" arrives at the transfer device 5b as data addressed to the terminal 10b (arrow A3). The transfer device 5b then refers to the cache 6b, obtains data A associated with identifier "a", and transmits the data A to the terminal 10b as the data transmitted from the terminal 10a (arrow A4).
As related art, a relay device is known which, from among data received from a first device, extracts a duplicated pattern which overlaps with data received from the first device in the past, replaces the duplicated pattern with an identifier associated with the duplicated pattern, and transfers the identifier to a second device. A server is also proposed, which, when data is transmitted, transmits difference data with cache data and an identifier of the cache data.
Related techniques are disclosed in, for example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2015-82296 and Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2007-299019.
When deduplication is performed in bidirectional communication, data once transmitted from one of the transmitting-side transfer device and the receiving-side transfer device is held in both the transmitting-side transfer device and the receiving-side transfer device. Therefore, in the overall network, the capacity equivalent to the product of the volume of data for deduplication and the number of transfer devices is used for communication using deduplication, and thus the utilization efficiency of the caches provided in the devices included the network is low.

Communication device and communication system


A system is disclosed for mounting the pre-vaporizing bowl to a wall of a turbine engine combustion chamber in such a manner that it is centered and in alignment with an opening, through the combustion chamber wall during assembly. Not only does the system provide for the centering of the pre-vaporizing bowl in the combustion chamber wall opening, but it also allows relative radial movement between these elements after the engine has been assembled. The system includes a support collar fixedly attached to the combustion chamber wall so as to extend around the generally circular opening in the upstream portion of the combustion chamber, as well as a locating flange fixedly attached to the pre-vaporizing bowl. A stud extending from the locating flange extends through a slot in the support collar such that only radial movement between the locating lfange and the support collar (and consequently between the pre-vaporizing bowl and the combustion chamber wall) is permitted. A resilient snap clip is interposed between the support collar and the locating flange.

The present invention relates to a system for mounting a pre-vaporizing bowl to the upstream end of a combustion chamber wall in a gas turbine engine.
Most present day gas turbine engines, particularly those turbojet engines designed for aircraft use, are equipped with annular combustion chambers extending around a longitudinal axis of the engine. Such engines also have a pre-vaporizing bowl around each fuel injection nozzle interposed between the nozzle and an upstream end wall of the combustion chamber. As is well known in the art, the pre-vaporizing bowls generate air turbulence around the point where the fuel is injected into the combustion chamber to optimize the vaporization of the fuel. Examples of such pre-vaporizing bowls may be found in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,726,182; 4,696,157; and 4,754,600; as well as French Patent 2,585,770.
Since the combustion chamber walls are subjected to very high temperatures during operation of the gas turbine engine, they undergo a generally radial expansion when heated and a generally radial contraction when they are cooled. In order to accommodate the relative radial movement between the combustion chamber walls and the fuel injection nozzle, the pre-vaporizing bowl must be mounted between these elements in such a manner as to allow it to move relative to the combustion chamber wall. Typical examples of such mounting may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,322,955 as well as French Patents 1,547,843 and 2,479,952.
Today's turbojet engines are designed as a series of modules which are subsequently assembled to form the engine. The assembly sequence for the combustion chambers is usually accomplished by assembling the combustion chamber (fitted with its pre-vaporizing bowls) to a subassembly that has been equipped with the fuel injector nozzles. The assembly takes place while the engine is in a horizontal orientation and usually involves sliding the combustion chamber subassembly horizontally until it is mated with the subassembly having the fuel injection nozzles.
In this position, gravity urges the radially moveable pre-vaporizing bowls downwardly to a position wherein their centers are slightly eccentric with respect to the centers of the openings through the combustion chamber wall. As a result, the pre-vaporizing bowls may be misaligned with the fuel injection nozzle which presents the danger of damaging contact between the pre-vaporizing bowl and the fuel injection nozzle during the assembly process.

System for mounting a pre-vaporizing bowl to a combustion chamber

Societe Nationale d'Etude et de Construction de Moteurs d'Aviation (S.N.E.M.A.)


Multiple-inductor embodiments for use in substrates are provided herein.

Inductors are used in a wide variety of integrated circuit applications including voltage regulators such as switching power converters. An inductor is a conductor that is shaped in a manner to store energy in a magnetic field adjacent to the conductor. An inductor typically has one or more "turns" that concentrate the magnetic field flux induced by current flowing through each turn of the conductor in an "inductive" area defined within the inductor turns.
Inductors have been implemented in integrated circuit packages but they may have several drawbacks. They have typically been made by forming helical or spiral traces in conductive layers (such as in conductive substrate layers) to form inductor turns. The traces may or may not be coupled to traces in adjacent layers in order to achieve higher inductance and/or current capability. Unfortunately, they can consume excessive trace layer resources and may not provide sufficient current capacity without unreasonable scaling. In addition, because their inductive areas are substantially parallel with respect to other trace layers in the substrate and circuit die, they can have unfavorable electromagnetic interference (EMI) effects on other components within the integrated circuit and/or their inductor characteristics can be adversely affected by adjacent conductors within the substrate. Accordingly, a new inductor solution is desired.


A rotary drilling head having an upper body incorporating a kelly bushing removably clamped onto a stationary spool. The clamp assembly is hydraulically controlled to permit remote operation and access to the drive bearings and stripper rubbers within the drilling head. Secondary manual means for unclamping the assembly are also provided. The hydraulic clamp includes an annular piston movably disposed within a cylinder and acting upon bearing members to lock and unlock the clamp assembly. Hydraulic pressure is utilized to move the piston within the cylinder. A spring biases the piston towards the locked position to prevent inadvertent unclamping.

I. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to rotary drilling heads incorporating a kelly drive and stripper rubbers for developing a well and, in particular, to a hydraulically actuated clamp assembly of the drilling head which can be remotely operated to permit access to the interior components of the drilling head.
II. Description of the Prior Art
A rotary drilling head is typically attached to the top of a well casing to facilitate drilling operations while providing safety features and drilling mud diversion. The drilling apparatus generally comprises a rotatable drill stem used to rotate a drill bit within the well. The drill stem may include a string of drill pipes connected to a non-circular pipe, commonly referred to as a kelly, slidably extending through the rotary table. The kelly transmits the drive from the rotary table to the drilling head via the kelly bushings. In the usual forward circulation drilling operation, a drilling fluid may be forced through the interior of the hollow drill stem and drill bit of the bottom of the hole. Cuttings and debris at the bottom of the well are carried upwardly in the annulus between the outside of the drill string and the well bore. The drilling head includes a stationary outer housing or spool which is secured to the top of the casing, a drive ring and bearing assembly, and a drive assembly in cooperation with the drive ring and bearing assembly. The drive assembly includes a kelly bushing. A rubber stripper is attached for rotation with the drive ring in slidable sealing engagement with the kelly drive.
In operation, the split kelly bushing is slidably connected to the kelly drive. As the kelly drive is lowered through the drilling head the kelly bushing is received within the drive assembly. Rotation of the kelly causes the kelly bushing to rotate which rotates the drive assembly which in turn rotates the drive ring and attached rubber stripper. The rubber stripper diverts the drilling mud through a side port of the drilling head while maintaining sealing engagement with the kelly.
Various arrangements have been provided for removing worn drilling head components from within the spool. Early drilling heads incorporated an expandable/contractible split clamp to secure the upper assembly of the drilling head to the spool. Such clamps utilize a plurality of pivoting segment which together may be moved radially outward or inward. Typically, such clamps are manually operated and therefore required a workman to go under the rig floor, a precarious position. Hydraulically operated clamps were later developed, however, these clamp assemblies tend to accumulate mud and debris obstructing radial movement. Other clamp configurations also have proven unsatisfactory in allowing remote unclamping of the drilling head for access to the interior components.

Hydraulic clamp for rotary drilling head


The invention relates to a process for preparing highly porous glass-ceramic molded parts having carbon atoms linked to silicon atoms, which comprises reacting a molded part, containing an organopolysiloxane which is solid at room temperature, and consists of units of the formula ##STR1## where R is a radical selected from the formulas ##STR2## and is linked via a single silicon-silicon bonded, in a non-oxidizing atmosphere or in vacuo at temperatures ranging from 700.degree. to 1300.degree. C.

Carbon-containing monolithic 91asses obtained from organosilsesquioxane gels of the general formula RSiO.sub.3/2 are described in European Patent EP-A-107,943. Due to the low porosity of these gels, molded parts free from defects cannot be produced, except by costly drying processes and even then dimensional reproducibility of the molded parts is not assured.
It is an object of this invention to provide a process for preparing highly porous glass-ceramic molded parts which have carbon atoms linked to silicon atoms, and are free from defects and have reproducible dimensions and high porosity. A further object of the present invention is to provide a process for preparing highly porous glass-ceramic molded parts which are free of defects and have reproducible dimensions in the absence of costly drying and processing methods.

Process for preparing highly porous glass-ceramic molded parts


Techniques are disclosed that involve the reduction of DC offsets. For instance, embodiments may receive a baseband signal, and determine a DC characteristic of the baseband signal. When the DC characteristic has a value that is outside of a predetermined range, a correction signal is adjusted. The correction signal is injected into the baseband signal.

Devices, such as receivers and tuners, commonly employ signal architectures that generate a baseband signal stream having a spectrum that is centered at or near direct current (DC). In turn, these devices typically perform further processing on the baseband signal.
Unfortunately, such baseband signals may exhibit DC offsets. These offsets may be caused by factors, such as the inherent nature of electronic circuits (e.g., component matching), as well as the employed processing architecture. For example, commutating signals employed with mixer circuitry can self-mix and generate DC components. Such effects will vary with operational parameters, such as gain, frequency, process, temperature, and so forth.
Due to the random nature of received signals, there is often a DC component associated with demodulated signals that is time varying in dependence on the employed modulation technique. On average, the measured DC signal component will tend to be zero as the measurement period increases. However, the measurement periods corresponding to such zero averages are typically long.
DC offsets are detrimental to the proper functioning of devices, such as receivers and tuners. For example, such offsets can contribute to unacceptable bit error rates.


An electric machine includes a stator with a plurality of circumferentially-spaced stator segment assemblies. A rotor rotates relative to the stator and defines an airgap between an outer diameter of the rotor and the inner diameter of the stator. Each stator segment assembly includes a stator segment core, an endcap that is attached to the stator segment core, and winding wire that is wound around the endcap and the stator segment core. The endcap provides first and second axial mating surfaces. The endcaps provide first and second circumferential surfaces on opposite axial ends thereof. First and second annular seals engage the first and second circumferential surfaces to provide circumferential seals at opposite axial ends of the stator. The annular seals, the axial seals and the circumferential seals prevent the entry of debris into the airgap.

The present invention relates to electric machines, and more particularly to electric machines with segmented stators.
Electric machines such as motors and generators include a rotor that is a rotating member of the electric machine and a stator that is a stationary member of the electric machine. In some applications, the rotor is rotatably mounted inside of the stationary stator. An air gap is defined between a radially outer surface of the rotating rotor and a radially inner surface of the stationary stator. When debris falls into the air gap, a locked rotor condition may occur.
Manufacturers sometimes integrate the electric machines into larger systems. Debris may enter the air gap during assembly of the electric machine and/or during use in the field. Some manufacturers specify strict cleanliness standards during the assembly process. In addition, manufacturers also require sealed stator and rotor packages that prevent the locked rotor condition.
There are several conventional methods for preventing debris from entering the airgap during assembly and subsequent use in the field. During the assembly process, the electric machine manufacturer strictly enforces cleanliness specifications and performs visual inspections of the electric machines after assembly. A stator varnish and bake system may also be employed. Plastic encapsulation and resin potting have also been employed.
All of the conventional methods generally increase the time that is required to manufacture the electric machine, which increases the cost of the electric machine. In addition, the final three conventional methods described above typically require a significant amount of capital investment. The conventional solutions become less economical when the electric machine includes a segmented stator. The handling of each of the stator segments during varnish, plastic encapsulation or resin potting increase processing expense. In some applications, only one end of the stator is open, which makes it difficult or impossible to generate enough pressure to overmold or resin pot the entire stator or to ensure that enough varnish covers the closed end of the motor.
An electric machine according to the present invention includes a stator with a plurality of circumferentially-spaced stator segment assemblies. Each stator segment assembly includes a stator segment core, an endcap that is attached to the stator segment core, and winding wire that is wound around the endcap and the stator segment core. The endcap provides first and second axial mating surfaces. A rotor rotates relative to the stator and defines an airgap between an outer diameter of the rotor and the inner diameter of the stator. The first axial mating surface of one stator segment assembly mates with the second axial mating surface of an adjacent stator segment assembly to provide axial seals that prevent entry of debris into the airgap.
In other features of the invention, the endcaps provide first and second circumferential end surfaces on axially opposite ends of the stator segment assemblies. First and second annular seals bias the first and second circumferential end surfaces to provide circumferential seals at axially opposite ends of the stator. The annular seals, the axial seals and the circumferential seals cooperate to prevent the entry of debris into the airgap.
Further areas of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description provided hereinafter. It should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating the preferred embodiment of the invention, are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.

Method and apparatus for sealing an inner diameter of a segmented stator


An ink-jet printer, having a print head for jetting ink, an ink supply tube connecting between an ink tank and the print head, an ink supply pump interposing in the ink supply tube, an ink return tube connecting between and the print head and the ink tank, an ink return pump interposing in the ink return tube, a controller for controlling the ink supply pump and the ink return pump to fill the print head with ink in the ink tank, the volume of ink supplied by the ink return pump is greater than the volume of ink returned by the ink return pump in filling mode. Thus a foreign matter in the ink-jet nozzles of the print head can be cleaned by flowing out a foreign matter in the ink-jet nozzles.

The present invention relates to an ink-jet printer which prints an image onto a print medium held on a rotary drum with ink jetted from a print head, and particularly, to an ink-jet printer in which ink is supplied from an ink tank apart from the print head.
Hitherto, serial-type ink-jet printers are widely spreading. In the serial-type ink-jet printer, a print head and an ink tank of a relatively small capacity are mounted on a carriage, and the carriage is movably attached to a guide bar extending across a paper sheet to be printed. The paper sheet is fed in a direction perpendicular to the guide bar at a constant pitch, and the carriage is moved along the guide bar each time paper sheet is fed by the pitch. During the movement of the carriage, the print head jets ink droplets. In a serial-type color ink-jet printer, a plurality of print heads are employed and are supplied with ink of different colors from the respective ink tanks. The plurality of print heads are beforehand filled with ink when the printer is shipped. In the structure as described above, a color image of A4 size is printed out at a relatively low speed.
Thereto in recent years, a drum rotation type ink-jet printer capable of printing a color image at a high speed has been known. This ink-jet printer includes a rotary drum rotating in one direction and a print head disposed to face a paper sheet held on the rotary drum. The print head has a plurality of line-type nozzle units which are arranged along the peripheral surface of the rotary drum, corresponding to cyan(C), yellow(Y), magenta(M) and black(B). Each nozzle unit has a plurality of ink-jet nozzles disposed across the paper sheet in the axial direction of the rotary drum. This ink-jet printer jets ink droplets from nozzle units in response to image signals to print a color image on the paper sheet rotating together with the rotary drum. In this structure, a color image of A4 size can be printed extremely faster than the above-described serial-type printers.
In this drum-rotation type ink-jet printer, a plurality of ink tanks are placed apart from the print head and store ink of different colors to be supplied to the nozzle units of the print head. Each ink tank is connected to a corresponding nozzle unit via a supply tube, and is filled with ink supplied from an ink supplement bottle detachably attached thereto. The ink is conveyed from the ink tank to an ink pressure chamber of the nozzle unit by a supply pump having a valve function and interposed in the supply tube. At the time of printing, the supply pump is stopped in a valve-open state, and the nozzle unit is driven to jet ink. Upon consumption of ink for jet, ink is supplemented to the ink pressure chamber through the supply tube by a capillary action.
In the above-described drum rotation type ink-jet printer, the nozzle unit is empty when the printer is shipped and is filled with ink at a user side when the printer is used. A foreign matter such as a lump of dried ink may exist in the nozzle unit at the beginning of ink-supply. Thus, ink-jet nozzles of the nozzle unit is apt to be clogged by the foreign matter and the quality of printing carried out by such a nozzle unit is deteriorated.

Ink-jet printer and method of controlling the same


The present invention relates to indane derivatives of the formula (I) and mixtures thereof, wherein X is selected from groups of the formula -A-(NAr2), wherein A is a chemical bond or phenylene which is unsubstituted or substituted by 1, 2 or 3 substituents selected from C1-C6-alkyl and C1-C6-alkoxy; Ar is unsubstituted or substituted aryl, wherein two groups Ar bound to the same nitrogen atom may together with the nitrogen atom also form a fused ring system having 3 or more than 3 unsubstituted or substituted rings; and the variables Y, n, m, k and l are as defined in the claims and the description. The invention further relates to methods for preparing such compounds and their use in organic electronics, in particular as hole transport material or electron blocking material.

"Organic electronics" is concerned principally with the development, characterization and application of new materials and manufacturing processes for the production of electronic components based on organic small molecules or polymers with desirable electronic properties. These include in particular organic field-effect transistors (OFETs), like organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs), organic electroluminescent devices, like organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), organic solar cells (OSCs), e.g. excitonic solar cells, dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) or Perovskite solar cells, electrophotography, in particular photoconductive materials in an organic photoconductor (OPC), organic optical detectors, organic photoreceptors, organic field-quench devices (OFQDs), light-emitting electrochemical cells (LECs) and organic laser diodes. In many cases, organic semiconductors have advantages over classical inorganic semiconductors, for example a better substrate compatibility and a better processability of the semiconductor components based on them. They allow inter alia processing on flexible substrates and enable their interface orbital energies to be adjusted to the particular application sector. Great potential for development is ascribed to organic field-effect transistors, for example in memory elements and integrated optoelectronic devices. Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) exploit the property of materials of emitting light when they are excited by electrical current. Even today, OLEDs are particularly of interest as alternatives to liquid-crystal displays for producing flat visual display units. Owing to the very compact design and the intrinsically lower power consumption, devices which comprise OLEDs are suitable especially for mobile applications, for example for applications in cellphones, laptops, etc.
"Organic photovoltaics" denotes the direct conversion of radiative energy, principally solar energy, to electrical energy using organic components. In contrast to inorganic solar cells, the light does not directly generate free charge carriers in organic solar cells, but rather excitons are formed first, i.e. electrically neutral excited states in the form of electron-hole pairs. These excitons can be separated at suitable photoactive interfaces (organic donor-acceptor interfaces or interfaces to an inorganic semiconductor). For this purpose, it is necessary that excitons which have been generated in the volume of the organic material can diffuse to this photoactive interface. The diffusion of excitons to the active interface thus plays a critical role in organic solar cells. There is a great demand for the development of materials which have maximum transport widths and high mobilities for light-induced excited states (high exciton diffusion lengths) and which are thus advantageously suitable for use as an active material in so-called excitonic solar cells.
In recent years, also dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have attracted much attention. DSSCs have several advantages compared to silicon-based solar cells such as lower production and material costs because an inexpensive metal oxide semiconductor such as titanium dioxide can be used without the necessity of a high degree of purity. Other advantages include their flexibility, transparency and light weight. The construction of a DSSC is generally based on a transparent substrate (e.g. glass), which is coated with a transparent conductive layer, the working electrode. An n-conductive metal oxide is generally applied to this electrode or in the vicinity thereof, for example a nanoporous TiO2 layer. On the surface thereof, in turn, a monolayer of a light-sensitive dye, for example a ruthenium complex or an organic dye, is typically adsorbed, which can be converted to an excited state by light absorption. The function of the DSSC is based on the fact that light is absorbed by the dye, and electrons are transferred from the excited dye to the n-semiconductive metal oxide semiconductor and migrate thereon to the anode. Although dye-sensitized solar cells are one of the most efficient alternative solar cell technologies at present, there is an ongoing need for further improvement. In liquid DSSCs the area between the two electrodes is filled with a redox electrolyte, for example a solution of iodine (I2) and lithium iodide (LiI), which ensures that a photocurrent can be collected at the front and back contacts of the solar cell. Nevertheless, in many cases liquid DSSCs suffer from durability problems, such as electrode corrosion and electrolyte leakage. Therefore, suitable replacements that can be used for hole conduction in lieu of a liquid electrolyte have been searched for.
Another approach in solar cell technology is the use of organometallic Perovskites as light harvesting compounds. These solar cells are called Perovskite-sensitized solar cells (PSCs). Actual PSCs based on lead iodide allow an energy conversion efficiency exceeding 9%. A variant of the PSCs are hybrid solar cells based on methylammonium lead iodide chloride as crystalline Perovskite absorber material. In those cells mesoporous alumina is used instead of titanium dioxide. The Al2O3 does not act as n-type oxide but as a meso-scale "scaffold" upon which the device is structured.
Photoconductivity is an optical and electrical phenomenon in which a material becomes electrically conductive due to the absorption of electromagnetic radiation such as visible light, ultraviolet light, infrared light, or gamma radiation. An organic photoconductor (OPC) is one of the components in an electrophotographic (EP) printer. A latent image, which is a surface charge pattern, is created on the OPC prior to contact with a development system containing charged marking particles. This is accomplished by uniformly charging the OPC surface, followed by selective illumination that locally generates opposite charges which then move to the surface and locally neutralize deposited charges. The OPC frequently has two layers: an inner layer for generating charges (charge generation layer—CGL) and an outer layer containing molecular moieties for facilitating charge movement (charge transport layer—CTL).
There is an ongoing demand for new compounds with advantageous properties in the afore-mentioned applications. They should be available by effective and economic routes of synthesis.
It is generally known that certain triarylamines are suitable for the use in organic electronic applications.
WO 2012/034627 describes compounds of the formula (A)
    wherein    Ar is an aromatic ring system;    Ar1, Ar2 are an aromatic or heteroaromatic ring system having 6 to 60 C atoms;    R are selected from the group consisting of H, D, F, Cl, Br, I, CN, Si(R2)3, a straight-chain alkyl, alkoxy or thioalkyl group having 1 to 40 C atoms or a branched or cyclic alkyl, alkoxy or thioalkyl group having 3 to 40 C atoms, an aromatic or heteroaromatic ring system having 6 to 60 C atoms or an aralkyl group having 5 to 60 aromatic ring atoms,    m is 0, 1, 2 or 3;    n is on each occurrence, identically or differently, 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4;    p is 0, 1 or 2.
The compounds are used in an electronic device, preferably selected from organic electroluminescent devices, organic integrated circuits, organic field-effect transistors, organic thin-film transistors, organic light-emitting transistors, organic solar cells, organic dye-sensitised solar cells, organic optical detectors, organic photoreceptors, organic field-quench devices, light-emitting electrochemical cells, organic laser diodes and organic plasmon emitting devices, in particular in an organic electroluminescent device.
There is an ongoing demand for new organic compounds with good electronic application properties. They should be prepared from readily available educts by effective and economic preparation methods.
It has now been found that, surprisingly, the indane derivatives of the invention are advantageously suitable as hole conductors (p-semiconductors, electron donors) in organic photovoltaics. They are especially suitable as hole transport material (HTM) or electron blocking material (EBM).

Indane derivatives and their use in organic electronics


A method and apparatus for determining the calibration characteristic of a sensor which produces an output signal which has a non-linear relationship to the value of a measured parameter. In one embodiment of the invention, the non-linear input/output characteristic of the sensor is represented by an equation of a curve. In another embodiment of the invention, the non-linear input/output characteristic is approximated by a series of straight lines which correspond to a series of ranges in the output signal. During periods of measurement, the output signal of the sensor is repeatedly sampled and used to calculate running totals of data sums which are subsequently used in combination with the characteristic parameters for the curve or series of straight lines for calculating the time integral of the measured parameter. The actual value of the quantity represented by the time integral is also measured by separate means. After obtaining several corresponding calculated and actual values of the time integrals, the parameters of the curve or the series of straight lines are adjusted so that subsequent calculated values more closely approximate actual values. This method is particularly useful for determining calibration characteristics of a grain mass flow rate sensor which is used on a harvester. The calculated time integrals represent the masses of quantities of grain which are accumulated over different harvesting periods. Actual masses of these quantities of grain are separately measured by weighing them after they are unloaded from the harvester.

Methods for measuring mass flow rate of grain in a harvester have been used to provide a grain flow rate signal which can be used to calculate either the total mass of grain harvested within a given field area or the instantaneous yield of the crop at the present location of the harvester in the field. These data are useful to the agricultural producer to allow measuring the effect of different soft conditions or crop growing practices on crop yield. Total mass of grain is calculated by integrating grain mass flow rate versus time. Instantaneous crop yield is calculated by dividing instantaneous grain mass flow rate by the instantaneous rate at which the harvester is harvesting the field area.
Numerous methods have been used to measure mass flow rate of grain on harvesters. Co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/716,293 discloses means and methods for measuring grain mass flow rate at the exit of a paddle type chain conveyor, by measuring the force resulting from grain striking an impact plate as grain exits the conveyor. Other methods, such as measuring electrical or electromagnetic properties of grain passing by or contacting a means for sensing said properties have also been used.
It is desirable to use a sensor which produces an output signal which is substantially linearly proportional to the value of the measured parameter. With such a sensor, calibration to establish accurate estimated values of the measured parameter requires only establishing the baseline output of the sensor that exists at zero value of the measured parameter, and the gain or scale factor, which is the ratio of a change in sensor output to a change in the measured parameter, of the sensor. Since gain is a constant value due to the linear input/output relationship, it can be established by measuring the output signal of the sensor at any value of the measured parameter.
However, in some measuring applications, it is not possible or practical to build a sensor which produces a highly linear input/output characteristic. In such cases, a sensor with a non-linear input/output characteristic must be used, which greatly increases the difficulty of accurately calibrating the sensor. Since the input/output characteristic of a non-linear sensor is a curve, and not a straight line, many more calibration constants are required to accurately describe the shape of the curve. Further, accurately establishing the shape of the curve requires measurement of the output signal of the sensor at many values of the measured parameter.
In some measuring systems, such as those for measuring grain mass flow rate on harvesters, identical sensors used in different physical installations, such as different machine models, or with different operating conditions, such as different grain types, have different non-linear input/output characteristics. The cost to perform tests to measure input/output characteristics for all combinations of machine models and grain types would be enormous, and makes such an approach impractical. Further, sensor input/output characteristics for a given machine model may vary from machine to machine due to slight variations in mechanical dimensions. It is therefore desirable to establish a method whereby an accurate input/output characteristic can be determined for a given sensor using values of a parameter which is easily measurable during actual field operation. On a harvester utilizing a mass flow rate measurement system which integrates grain mass flow rate versus time to obtain accumulated masses of separate loads of grain, said loads can be weighed on scales to determine their actual mass, after they are unloaded from the harvester onto a transport vehicle such as a truck or a wagon. Since load masses are the only measurements which are readily available during field operation of a harvester, it is desired to have a method to use these actual load masses to establish the input/output characteristics for a given sensor, harvester and grain type.
In prior art systems for measuring grain mass flow rate on a harvester, such at the system disclosed in co-pending application Ser. No. 07/716,293, the non-linear input/output characteristic for the grain mass flow rate sensor is represented by either an equation of a curve, such as a fourth-order polynomial, or by a series of straight line segments which approximate the curve with sufficient accuracy to limit approximation errors to small values. During a harvesting period when a load of grain which is to be weighed is harvested, the total accumulated mass of grain is computed by calculating grain mass flow rate at regular time intervals such as 1 second, based on the average grain impact force measured during each time interval, and integrating calculated grain mass flow rate over time as grain is harvested. After the load of grain is transferred from the harvester and is weighed, the actual mass obtained can then be used to calculate an adjustment factor which can be multiplied by the calculated load mass to obtain the actual load mass. This adjustment is equivalent to adjusting the values of the non-linear input/output characteristic curve for the sensor by this same adjustment factor at all points on the curve. If the initial shape of the non-linear curve is correct, this adjustment provides the correct non-linear curve which can subsequently be used for accurate calculation of grain mass flow rate during subsequent harvesting periods. However, if the initial shape of the curve is not correct, the adjusted curve will not accurately represent the actual input/output characteristic curve and will not produce accurate calculation of grain mass flow rate at all levels of mass flow rate. If actual masses are obtained for several loads of grain for which separate masses are calculated, and if the initial estimated shape of the non-linear curve is incorrect, different adjustment factors will be calculated for each load if the occurrences of mass flow rate levels are distributed differently for each load of grain, which is the usual ease. These adjustment factors can be averaged to obtain an average adjustment factor, to minimize errors due to an incorrect estimated shape of the characteristic curve, but accuracy is still limited by inability to accurately determine the actual shape of the curve during field harvesting. It is therefore desired to establish a practical method of accurately establishing the shape of the actual non-linear input/output characteristic curve of the grain mass flow rate sensor during field harvesting.


A semiconductor component is formed by an insulated gate field effect device having a semiconductor body with a first region of one conductivity type adjacent one major surface, a second region defining a conduction channel area separating a third region from the first region, an insulated gate adjoining the conduction channel area for controlling current flow between the first and third regions and an injection region for injecting opposite conductivity type charge carriers into the first region, and a protection device for limiting the current through the insulated gate field effect device. The protection device is formed by a fourth region of the opposite conductivity type formed within the first region, a fifth region separated from the first region by the fourth region, a first conductive path connecting the fifth region to the insulated gate for allowing the flow of one conductivity type charge carriers towards the insulated gate and a second conductive path connected to the fourth region. An area of the fourth region beneath the fifth region provides a route for opposite conductivity type charge carriers to the second conductive path for causing, when the current through the insulated gate field effect device exceeds a predetermined limit, the pn junction between the fourth and first region to become forward biassed thereby causing the voltage at the insulated gate to alter so as to limit the current through the insulated gate field effect device.

This invention relates to a semiconductor component. In particular, this invention relates to a semiconductor component comprising an insulated gate field effect device and a protection device for regulating the current through the insulated gate field effect device so as, for example, to reduce the possibility of parasitic thyristor action, that is so-called latch-up, which could result in the ultimate destruction of the insulated gate field effect device.
EP-A-392530 discloses a drive circuit for an insulated gate field effect bipolar transistor (IGBT) in which a current sensor of unspecified type senses the current through the IGBT and provides an overcurrent signal to a control system, again of unspecified type, which acts to operate switches to reduce the gate drive voltage of the IGBT. As described in EP-A-392530, a zener diode is connected in a path between the main electrodes (normally known as the anode and cathode electrodes but referred to in EP-A-392530 as the collector and emitter electrodes) of the IGBT to restrict the current flow through the IGBT by providing a reactive current path. The zener diode is connected to the gate of an insulated gate field effect transistor (IGFET or MOS) which is turned on when the reactive current becomes sufficiently high to divert part of the supply current, thereby reducing the gate drive voltage applied to the IGBT.
The drive circuit described in EP-A-392530 is relatively complicated and requires external elements such as the control system and current sensor to operate. In addition, as the operation of the switches used to regulate the gate drive voltage is controlled via the external control system, the current regulation function of the drive circuit may function quite slowly.
It is an aim of the present invention to provide a semiconductor component which comprises an insulated gate field effect device, such as an IGBT, together with an integral protection device.

Semiconductor component with protective element for limiting current through component