A method for diagonal processing of video data includes separating diagonally arranged data from rectilinearly arranged data in a video stream, rotating the diagonally arranged data to a rectilinear position; and compressing the rotated diagonally arranged data by a rectilinear compression algorithm. An apparatus for diagonal processing of video data includes a demultiplexer receptive to a video stream and developing a plurality of separated color planes, a number of address generators associated with the plurality of color planes, and a data compressor receptive to the address generators and operative to compress the plurality of color planes with a rectilinear compression algorithm.

This invention relates generally to color digital cameras, and more particularly to the processing of color data generated by the sensor of a color digital camera.
Digital-color cameras are used with computer or other digital processing systems. Such cameras include a sensor array, optics, preprocessing electronics, and a cable or other communication link to transfer data to the digital processing system. Digital cameras are made by Connectix, Intel, and others.
Digital cameras of the prior art often include a solid state sensor including a mosaic of red (R), green (G) and blue (B) sensor elements. Data from the sensor is transmitted to a data processing apparatus to be processed into a series of digital images. However, since there are typically many thousands of sensor elements on a sensor, and since digital video requires frequent updates ("refreshing") in the order of 20-30 times per second, it is not typically practical to provide a transmission medium that is fast enough to send all of the data available from the sensor to the data processing apparatus. In the past, this problem has been addressed by lossy compression techniques that discards a considerable portion of the video data available from the sensor.
Some of the prior art compression technologies provide an interpolation step which occurs before compression. The interpolation step provides collocated RGB values, and allows for luminance/chrominance re-mapping as well as color correction on the chip. While these other design approaches allow the use of standard and well-known technologies, they are very inefficient because they generate 24 bit data in the chip, which is then compressed and sent to the host.
The sensors used in digital cameras are often of the "mosaic" sensor type, where red (R), green (G), and blue (B) pixels are arranged in a matrix. With mosaic type video sensors, groups of pixels are assembled into blocks for processing through conventional compression techniques. This compression is desirable due to the typically limited bandwidth of the connection mechanism between the camera and the digital processing system. A common form of compression utilizes a discrete cosine transform (DCT).
An advantage of using a mosaic type sensor is that it has only one color value per pixel, which allows for rapid compression of the color sensor data. Of the mosaic type video sensors, the "Bayer-2G" mosaic sensor interesting in that it gives twice as many green pixels as red or blue pixels. Green pixels are good for detecting luminance (brightness) values. However, the Bayer-2G mosaic also makes it more difficult to preprocess the color data. That is, the Bayer-2G sensor places the green pixels in a crosshatched pattern, as seen in prior art FIG. 1, which makes the assembly of blocks for compression relatively difficult.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and apparatus for processing video data


A charging rescue system and method for all-electric vehicles comprises: a rescue vehicle APP, a charging rescue vehicle, a rescued vehicle APP, and a rescue platform. The rescue vehicle APP comprises a user module, an order module, a monitoring module, and a communication module. The charging rescue vehicle comprises a controller, a GPS device, a direct current battery charger, an alternating current battery charger, and a measuring module. The rescued vehicle APP comprises a user module, an order module, a payment module, and a communication module. The rescue platform comprises an access module, an order execution module, a vehicle selection module, a rescue vehicle monitoring module, a bill management module, and a user authentication module.

With continuous popularization of new-energy all-electric vehicles, more and more all-electric vehicles would be driven on the road. However, a long charging time and a short driving mileage are inevitable defects of the all-electric vehicles. The most embarrassing situation for the all-electric vehicles is battery depletion when driving halfway and failing to find a charging pile.
Therefore, many mobile charging vehicles for rescue are launched on the market, but when a rescued vehicle driver applies for rescue by a phone or a network, it is hard for a rescue vehicle to rapidly find the rescued vehicle due to unclear description for a current geographic position or road by a user.
Moreover, the rescued vehicle often could only wait for the rescue vehicle passively after being applied for rescue. Therefore, the user experience is very poor. Moreover, the half-compulsory service of the rescue causes the defects of long service process, poor service attitude, non-transparent service expense, etc. Sometimes, the rescue becomes an unsatisfied service, and the user becomes a victim.

Charging rescue system and method for all-electric vehicles


An access port (10) for implantation adapted for providing repeated access to specific tissue within a patient and communicating with the tissue by an internal implanted catheter (52). The access ports according to this invention incorporate an enlarged entrance orifice (13) with a funnel shaped internal cavity that narrows down to a reduced diameter passageway (18). An articulating catheter valve (24) is provided within the passageway which normally prevents the flow of fluids through the valve but which can be penetrated by an external introduced filament (32) such as a catheter. After implantation, an external filament (32) is introduced into the port (10) and guided by the passageway into registry with the catheter valve (24). Continued feeding of the filament (32) causes the filament to pass through the valve (24). Thereafter, with a catheter (32) inserted, therapeutic agents can be infused into the patient, or body fluids can be withdrawn. Alternate embodiments disclose various valve concepts (56) and means for providing a change in direction of an introduced filament inserted through the access device. Additional embodiments disclose the concepts of providing an antimicrobial fluid bath (98) within the device for prevention of infection and various approaches for securely connecting an internal catheter (52) to an access port.

In current human and animal medical practice, there are numerous instances where therapeutic agents must be delivered to a specific organ or a tissue within the body. An example is the infusion of chemotherapy into a central vein on a recurring basis over a lengthy treatment period for widespread sites of malignant tumor. Without an access device for intravenous drug infusion, multiple vein punctures over a lengthy period would result in progressive thrombosis, venous sclerosis, and destruction of small diameter peripheral vessels. In other cases, it may be desirable to infuse chemotherapy to a localized malignant tumor site. It may be difficult or impossible to deliver an agent specifically to such a site on a regular repetitive basis without surgically implanting an access system. Similarly, repeated arterial access is occasionally needed for injection of an X-ray dye or contrast agent into an artery for diagnostic purposes. In other situations, there is a need to repetitively remove a body fluid for analysis from a remote body site. Finally, sensing and physiological measuring devices incorporated into small diameter catheters and small diameter optical fibers are increasingly being utilized for monitoring body processes and could be more easily implemented through a properly designed access device with an adequate internal diameter.
In prior medical practice, percutaneous catheters have been used to provide vascular or organ access for drug therapy or the withdraw of body fluids. Although such systems generally performed in a satisfactory manner, numerous problems were presented by such therapy approaches, including the substantial care requirements of the patients, e.g. dressing changes with sterile techniques, a significant rate of infection of the catheter because of its transcutaneous position, and a high rate of venous thrombosis, particularly if the catheter was located within an extremity vein.
Implantable infusion devices or "ports" have recently become available and represent a significant advance over transcutaneous catheters. Presently available infusion ports have a number of common fundamental design features. The ports themselves comprise a housing which forms a reservoir that can be constructed from a variety of plastic or metal materials. A surface of the reservoir is enclosed by a high-density, self-sealing septum, typically made of silicone rubber. Connected to the port housing is an internal catheter which communicates with a vein or other site within the patient where the infusion of therapeutic agents is desired. Implantation of such devices generally proceeds by making a small subcutaneous pocket in an appropriate area of the patient under local anesthesia. The internal catheter is tunneled to the desired infusion site. When the care provider desires to infuse or remove materials through the port, a hypodermic needle is used which pierces the skin over the infusion port and is placed into the port.
Although the presently available implantable infusion ports generally operate in a satisfactory manner, they have a number of shortcomings. Since these devices rely on a compressed rubber septum for sealing and since large diameter needles can seriously damage the septum, there are limitations in the diameter of needles which can be used to penetrate the septum. Also, the needles are randomly inserted to penetrate the septum, producing a cut or puncture wound, partially consuming and destroying the septum with each penetration. The diameter limitations severely restrict the flow rate of fluids passing through the port. In cases where it is desirable to infuse drugs using a flexible external catheter, the catheter must be fed through the needle that penetrates the septum. Such catheters have an extremely small inside diameter and, therefore, impose severe limitations on fluid flow rate.
During prolonged infusion using a conventional port, the infusion needle is taped to the patients skin to hold it in position. Conventional ports do not allow the needle to penetrate deeply into the port. Because of this, a small displacement of the needle can cause it to be pulled from the port. In cases where locally toxic materials are being infused, extravasation of such materials can cause local tissue damage which may require corrective surgery such as skin grafting or removal of tissue.
Presently available implantable drug infusion devices also have a significant size to provide an acceptable target surface area for the care provider who must locate the port and penetrate the septum with a needle. The port housing becomes bulky as the septum size increases since structure is required to maintain the septum in compression to provide self-sealing after the needle is removed. Moreover, presently available infusion ports are difficult to clear if thrombosis occurs within the port or within the implanted internal catheter since it is difficult, if not impossible, to feed a cleaning wire through the penetrating hypodermic needle in a manner which will clear the infusion device and the internal catheter. Present infusion ports also have a retained volume beneath the self-sealing septum which increases the volume of drug which must be administered to enable a desired quantity to reach the infusion site. This retained volume also poses problems when a care provider desires to successively deliver multiple drugs to the same infusion site which are incompatible when mixed. Additionally, when it is desired to withdraw blood through the port, the retained volume of the prior art infusion ports comprises an area where blood clotting can occur, thus interfering with future access to the site. And finally, for present infusion ports, there is a risk that the care provider attempting to pierce the port septum will not properly enter it, leading to the possibility of extravasation which can cause significant undesirable consequences as mentioned above.
The present invention relates to a family of implantable access ports which provide numerous enhancements over prior art devices. In accordance with this invention, an access port is provided which incorporates the funnel-shaped entrance orifice which narrows down to a reduced diameter passageway. The passageway retains a valve. One characteristic of valves used with the present invention is that the valves are not physically damaged or destroyed by the passage of a filament through the valve. In this regard, the valve can be referred to as being a "non-destructive" valve. Another characteristic of the valves intended to be used with the present invention is that they are constructed to be repetitively engaged by the filament in a predetermined location. Generally , this location is the center of the valve. Valves which meets the above criteria are referred to as "articulating catheter valves" or "articulating valves", such as a multi-element leaflet valve assembly. After the valve, the passageway is connected to an implanted internal catheter.
Several embodiments of this invention are intended to be used by inserting an instrument such as a needle, trocar or other introducer through the skin into a port entrance orifice which introduces a filament, such as a catheter, into the port. While some embodiments of this invention are used with blunt introducers, other embodiments of the present invention are adapted to be used in conjunction with a sharp hypodermic access needle of conventional design which may be used by itself for infusion or fluid withdrawal, or with an external catheter having the needle fed through it (or vise versa) allowing the catheter to be put in position within the access port or fed into the implanted catheter for infusion or withdrawal of fluid. The entrance orifice has a hard surface which guides the needle to a guide passageway. The reduced diameter guide passageway of the port housing can be used to accurately align the access needle and/or catheter to strike the articulating valve at a desired area. In this manner, a needle can be used to pass through the catheter valve repeatedly without damaging the function of the valve.
According to another group of embodiments of this invention, additional features of access ports are described. One area of potential improvement for some purposes is the provision of a port designed for implantation in a patient's arm which has an access passageway for an inserted needle. The body of this port is slightly angled upward to facilitate access. Such an angled access port can also feature modifications to the entrance orifice to again further enhance the ability to access the implanted port. This application further describes a valving concept for an implanted port which provides a high degree of resistance to body fluid leakage through the port and which further provides a relatively low level of friction upon insertion of an external catheter and a relatively higher degree of friction upon withdrawal of the catheter. This difference in resistance aids both in inserting of the catheter and in maintaining the catheter in an inserted condition within the implanted port.
This specification also describes port design features which are best embodied in a port in which the entrance funnel is in a plane generally parallel to the mounting base of the port (i.e. the accessing needle penetrates perpendicular to the mounting base). One improvement for such ports is the provision of a physical feature such as a projecting lug, flange or other protuberance which enables the clinician to determine the orientation of the implanted port through tactile examination. By knowing the port orientation, the needle and introduced filament can often be more readily inserted into the port. This series of ports, known as "chest wall" ports (named for a preferred usage), also feature a funnel-shaped entrance orifice having a progressively changing included angle. The orifice starts at its outer periphery with a relatively shallow included angle which increases toward the port's center. This progressive change in cone angle provides two significant benefits. First, it results in a port which has a relatively shallow funnel that reduces the distance between the skin surface and the catheter valve which seals around the introduced catheter or the filament and which also serves to better orient and hold the introduced needle.
Several of the ports according to this specification also feature means for stopping the introduced needle before it reaches the catheter valve but which permits the introduced catheter to pass through the catheter valve.
The access ports in accordance with additional embodiments of this invention achieve simplicity in construction and reduce the number of components required to provide the necessary fluid seal. In those applications where it is desired to access a port using a sharp needle, damage to elastomeric sealing elements in prior port designs can occur over repeated entries to the port. In accordance with these embodiments, the implanted port has an articulating valve mechanism in which the accessing needle (or other filament) contacts a hard material, such as a metal, to open the valve. Therefore, a durable device is provided which is not damaged through long term use. The features of this embodiment are achieved through the use of an articulating valve assembly in which a sealing element is normally maintained in contact with a valve seat. When introducing an external filament, which may be a needle, catheter, wire, optical fiber etc., the filament engages the sealing element forcing it from engagement with the valve seat. Once fully inserted into the access device, features are provided to assure a fluid seal around the introduced filament.
The access ports of this invention are implanted in the same general manner as prior art devices. When the care provider desires to infuse a therapeutic agent, remove a body fluid, or have vascular access, a filament such as a catheter is introduced into the port. The entrance orifice guides the introduced catheter or needle into a proper "docking" position with the articulating valve. By pushing on the externally introduced filament, the filament is forced through the valve, thereby providing an open communication pathway for the infusion of therapeutic agents, extraction of body fluids, introduction of an optical fiber, clearing by a wire, etc. The introduced filament can be fed into the internal catheter to any extend desired. In the case of introducing a flexible catheter, a guide wire can be inserted into the external catheter to increase its rigidity. The convenient access to the port and internal catheter enables these elements to be cleared with a clearing wire avoiding the problem of permanent impaction as seen in prior art devices. In addition, the ability to feed a guide wire into the access port and internal catheter of this invention enables the internal catheter to be repositioned using a bent or "steerable" guide wire.
The access ports having an articulating valve of this invention possess the advantage that they have a very small reservoir or "dead space", meaning that virtually all of the infused fluid is put through to the desired infusion site. This invention, therefore, facilitates infusion of incompatible materials in a serial fashion since very little of the previously infused fluid remains in the device when a subsequent infusion is carried out. This invention also facilitates simultaneous infusion of incompatible materials by using a multi-lumen catheter inserted through the implanted catheter.
Another aspect of the present invention is a design for an access port which is configured such that a line normal to the plane formed by the entrance orifice is nearly at a right angle to the exit passageway. The port access opening guides an introduced filament toward and into the internal catheter. This approach of guiding a catheter to undergo a bend through the port can be used with conventional port designs having a self-sealing rubber septum. Other aspects of the present invention relate to providing a reservoir within an access port for containing an antimicrobial (or antibacterial) fluid, offering enhanced protection against introduced infection. This invention is further related to various means of securely fastening an internal catheter to an access port.
Additional benefits and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which this invention relates from the subsequent description of the preferred embodiments and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


A page wide ink jet printhead body is formed using first and second series of identically configured rectangular piezoceramic blocks having widths not greater than about one inch. The individual blocks are poled in widthwise directions and secured to one another and to an upper side surface of a nonpoled piezoceramic lower body section. Horizontally equally spaced saw cuts are then made downwardly through the first and second block series, with the block width being an even multiple of the horizontal saw cut pitch, and saw cuts extending vertically through the aligned side junctures of each block series. A top, nonpoled piezoceramic body section is then secured to the top side of the second block series, the saw cuts forming within the resulting printhead body a spaced series of parallel ink receiving channels interdigitated with a spaced series of piezoelectrically deflectable sidewall actuator sections. A suitable discharge orifice plate is then secured to the body, over the front ends of the channels, and the rear ends of the channels are appropriately sealed off.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to ink jet printing apparatus, and more particularly relates to the fabrication of piezoelectrically operable ink jet printhead assemblies.
2. Description of Related Art
A piezoelectrically actuated ink jet printhead is a device used to selectively eject tiny ink droplets onto a print medium sheet operatively fed through a printer, in which the printhead is incorporated, to thereby form from the ejected ink droplets selected text and/or graphics on the sheet. In one representative configuration thereof, an ink jet printhead has a horizontally spaced parallel array of internal ink-receiving channels. These internal channels are covered at their front ends by a plate member through which a spaced series of small ink discharge orifices are formed. Each channel opens outwardly through a different one of the spaced orifices.
A spaced series of internal piezoelectric wall portions of the printhead body separate and laterally bound the channels along their lengths. To eject an ink droplet through a selected one of the discharge orifices, the two printhead sidewall portions that laterally bound the channel associated with the selected orifice are piezoelectrically deflected into the channel and then returned to their normal undeflected positions. The driven inward deflection of the opposite channel wall portions increases the pressure of the ink within the channel sufficiently to force a small quantity of ink, in droplet form, outwardly through the discharge orifice.
Under previous methods of constructing piezoelectric ink jet printheads the printhead body section in which the channels are to be formed is first poled, to make it piezoelectrically deflectable or "active", by imposing a predetermined voltage widthwise across the body section in a selected poling direction parallel to the desired piezoelectric deflection direction of the internal sidewall sections to be later created in the poled body section by forming a spaced series of parallel grooves therein. These grooves may be formed using a sawing, laser cutting or etching process.
A typical material used in the formation of piezoelectric ink jet printhead bodies is a piezoceramic material commonly referred to as "PZT." The proper poling of PZT requires voltages on the order of 30 to 75 volts per mil. Accordingly, the widthwise poling of a one inch wide printhead body section formed from PZT requires a poling voltage within the range or from about 30,000 volts to about 75,000 volts.
This poling voltage requirement has resulted in limiting the manufacturable width of a PZT ink jet printhead body, in a direction perpendicular to the ink discharge direction of the printhead, to about one inch since an appreciably wider PZT body section requires unacceptably higher poling voltages. For example, a ten inch wide PZT body section would require a poling voltage somewhere in the range of from about 300,000 volts to about 750,000 volts. Even if this much wider PZT body section could be properly poled at this extremely high voltage, the interior sidewall actuator sections ultimately formed from the poled section would normally exhibit the undesirable tendency to crack when piezoelectrically deflected during operation of the finished printhead.
This PZT printhead body width limitation has resulted in the inability to manufacture piezoelectric ink jet printheads in full page widths--i.e., in the 8.5"-11" width range. This necessitates the shuttling back and forth of a small width piezoelectric printhead across a print medium sheet interiorly traversing the ink jet printer, as opposed to the desirable alternative of forming the printhead in a page wide width which would permit the printhead to remain stationary during the ink jet printing process.
It would thus be desirable to provide methods for fabricating a piezoelectric ink jet printhead in a page wide printing length. It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide such methods.

Methods of fabricating a page wide piezoelectric ink jet printhead assembly


An apparatus and method for connecting a first conduit to the heart without the need for cardiopulmonary bypass. The first conduit may then be attached to a second conduit that has a prosthetic device interposed. The second conduit may be connected to the aorta prior to the first conduit being attached to the heart. The prosthetic device may be a prosthetic valve or a pump, for example. The apparatus of the present invention includes an implantable connector with first conduit component, a retractor expansion component, a coring component, and a pushing component. The retractor expansion component is slideably coupled to the coring component. The retractor expansion component serves to seat against and separate the inside apical wall of the left ventricle so that the coring component may cut cleanly through the myocardium to form a tissue plug without leaving any hanging attachments to the inside walls. By remaining seated against the inside wall, the retractor expansion component follows the tissue plug into the coring component. The surgeon applies force and rotary motion to the pushing component sufficient to cut the tissue plug and implant the prosthetic component.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for connecting a conduit to a hollow organ, and more particularly, to a surgical device connectable to the apex of a heart.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the average age of the United States population increases, so do the instances of aortic stenosis. An alternative approach to the conventional surgical replacement of the stenotic aortic valve involves the use of an apicoaortic conduit. In this approach, the native aortic valve is not removed, and a prosthetic valve is implanted in a parallel flow arrangement. A connection conduit (or tube) connects the apex of the heart to the descending aorta. Somewhere along this conduit, the prosthetic valve is interposed. Thus, blood leaves the heart through the apex and travels through the conduit (with valve) to the descending aorta.
Until recently, surgical procedures to implant an apicoaortic conduit have included a single, long incision, such as in the 6th intercostal space, to expose the heart and allow retraction of the lungs to expose the descending aorta. Recognizing the potential for broader scale use of the apicoaortic conduit for aortic valve replacement, some surgeons are now attempting to use smaller incisions and are requesting development of surgical tools for a minimally invasive procedure. As an initial attempt to make the procedure less invasive, some surgeons have recently performed the following procedure.
The patient is placed on the table in the supine position. Anesthesia is induced, and the patient is intubated with a double-lumen endotracheal tube, which facilitates one-lung ventilation and allows the surgeon to work within the left chest. The patient is positioned with the left side up (90 degrees). The pelvis is rotated about 45 degrees, such that the femoral vessels are accessible. An incision is made over the femoral vessels, and the common femoral artery and vein are dissected out. Heparin is administered. Pursestring sutures are placed in the femoral artery and vein. The artery is cannulated first, needle is inserted into the artery, and a guidewire is then inserted. Transesophageal echo is used to ascertain that the wire is in the descending aorta. Once this is confirmed, a Biomedicus arterial cannula is inserted over the wire, into the artery (Seldinger technique). The arterial cannula is typically 19 or 21 French. Once inserted, the pursestring sutures are snugged down over tourniquets. A similar procedure is followed for the femoral vein. The venous cannula is usually a few French larger than the arterial cannula. Once both vein and artery are cannulated, the cannulae are connected to the cardiopulmonary bypass, and the capability to initiate cardiopulmonary bypass at any time is present.
A 1 cm incision is made in approximately the 7th interspace in the posterior axillary line; the videoscope (10 mm diameter) is inserted, and the left chest contents viewed. The location of the apex of the heart is determined, and the light from the scope used to transilluminate the chest wall; this allows precise localization of the incision. The incision is then performed; it is essentially an anterior thoracotomy, typically in the 6th interspace. Recent incisions have been about 10 cm long, but are expected to become smaller and smaller with time. A retractor is inserted and the wound opened gently. A lung retractor is used to move the (deflated) left lung cephalad. The descending aorta is dissected free from surrounding soft tissue to prepare for the distal anastomosis. This dissection includes division of the inferior pulmonary ligament. A pledgeted suture is placed on the dome of the diaphragm and positioned to pull the diaphragm toward the feet (out of the way). The pericardium is incised about the apex of the heart, and the apex is freed up and clearly identified.
On the back table, the apicoaortic conduit is prepared: a 21 Freestyle® valve is sutured to an 18 mm Medtronic apical connector. The valve is also sutured to a 20 mm Hemashield graft. The Dacron associated with the apical connector is pre-clotted with thrombin and cryoprecipitate. The assembly is brought to the field, and a measurement made from the apex of the heart to the descending aorta. The assembly is trimmed appropriately. A partial-occluding clamp is then placed on the descending aorta, and the aorta opened with a knife and scissors. The conduit (the end with the 20 mm Hemashield graft) is then sutured to the descending aorta using 4-0 prolene suture, in a running fashion. Once this is complete, the clamp is removed and the anastomosis checked for hemostasis. Blood is contained by the presence of the Freestyle® aortic valve. The apical connector is placed on the apex, and a marker is used to trace the circular outline of the connector on the apex, in the planned location of insertion. Four large pledgeted sutures (mattress sutures) of 2-0 prolene are placed; one in each quadrant surrounding the marked circle. The sutures are then brought through the sewing ring of the apical connector. A stab wound is made in the apex in the center of the circle, and a tonsil clamp is used to poke a hole into the ventricle. To date, bypass has been initiated at this point, but doing so may not be necessary. A Foley catheter is inserted into the ventricle, and the balloon expanded. A cork borer is then used to cut out a plug from the apex. The connector is then parachuted down into position. A rotary motion is necessary to get the connector to seat in the hole. The four quadrant sutures are tied, and hemostasis is checked. If there is a concern regarding hemostasis, additional sutures are placed. The retractor is removed, chest tubes are placed, and the wound is closed.
Surgical tools developed specifically to implant the apicoaortic conduit are expected to provide the means for a much less invasive procedure. The procedure is expected to be performed with a series of smaller thoracotomy incisions between the ribs, such as immediately over the apex of the heart. In addition to avoiding the median sternotomy, development of appropriate surgical tools is expected to avoid the need for cardiopulmonary bypass, so that the procedure can be performed on a beating heart. The diseased aortic valve does not need to be exposed or excised. The stenotic aortic valve is left in place and continues to function at whatever level it remains capable of, and the apicoaortic conduit accommodates the balance of aortic output.
The major obstacle to widespread adoption of this superior technique is the nearly complete lack of efficient devices to perform the procedure. Surgeons wishing to adopt the procedure must gather a collection of instruments from a variety of manufacturers. Often these instruments were created for quite different purposes, and the surgeon is forced to adopt them as required and manually manipulate them during a procedure.
U. S. Published Patent Application 2003/0130668 A1 (Nieman) describes a method and apparatus for remotely cannulating a body part, such as a heart. The method and apparatus are endoscopic, i.e the instruments are mounted on the end of a long flexible member and inserted into the body through a trocar, i.e., a sharply pointed surgical instrument contained in a cannula. The endoscopic procedure is complicated. After the device is placed at or near the apex of the heart, the surgeon or some other controller performs at least 13 separate steps to secure the cannula in the heart wall. An attachment ring (which includes an apical ring and a locking stem) is sutured to the heart wall, and subsequently the cannula is connected to the attachment ring as a separate step. Because the procedure is endoscopic, imaging means (e.g., fluoroscopy) is used to place a balloon at the correct depth within the ventricle to provide occlusion.
The complex endoscopic procedure disclosed in Nieman appears to require that the cut tissue core be removed from the body prior to advancing the cannula to the heart wall. Further, Nieman appears to provide two mechanisms for placing the cannula in the heart wall. One such mechanism is to create a hole that is large enough to easily slide the cannula into the hole. This does not provide a tight fit between the cannula and cored heart wall to prevent blood loss from the cored heart wall and from the ventricle and relies entirely upon the sutured attachment ring to achieve hemostasis thus providing a period of time during which there could be great losses of blood. The second mechanism is to achieve a tight (interference) fit between the cannula and cored hole. However, such a tight fit requires substantial axial and torsional forces to be applied to the cannula. The flexible endoscopic instrument disclosed in Nieman cannot provide such forces to be transmitted
U. S. Patent Publication No. 2004/0162608 (Haverich) discloses a method and apparatus for implanting a conduit into the wall of a heart. As illustrated in FIG. 8A, Haverich shows a conduit on a cutter that has a "corkscrew driver" with a coil. The corkscrew is rotated to cause the cutter to penetrate through the myocardium. However, substantial axial force is required to cleanly penetrate the myocardium, and such force is not easily applied by a corkscrew. Further, the pointed tip of the corkscrew can damage other areas of the heart wall (e.g., the septum) while applying axial force and rotation. Haverich discloses a balloon used for hemostasis. However, the balloon is a separate instrument that cannot be combined with the corkscrew.
U. S. Patent Publication No. 2002/0045846 (Kaplon) discloses a device similar to Haverich except that a trocar is used to penetrate the organ wall instead of a cutter with corkscrew. No tissue plug is formed with a trocar. Use of a trocar makes it difficult to achieve hemostasis during a procedure on a beating heart. To address this, rigid conduit 18 is inserted through the connector 16 after the connector is implanted with the trocar and sewn into place. Connector 16 does not appear to penetrate the heart wall. Connector 16 has a built-in valve to prevent blood loss after the trocar is removed and until conduit 18 is inserted

Apparatus and method for connecting a conduit to a hollow organ


A polyamide binder for use in injection molding a metal powder comprising in combination: (a) 40 to 50 wt % of a polyamide resin component having an average molecular weight of not less than 20,000 and prepared by co-polycondensation of a mixture of dimer acid, azelaic acid, ethylenediamine and xylylenediamine each being mixed in a substantially equal molecular equivalent ratio; (b) 20 to 30 wt % of ethylene-bis-laurylamide; and (c) the balance of N,N-diacetylpiperazine.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improvement in a polyamide base binder which is used in the metal powder injection molding process.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the metal powder injection molding process, a metal powder material is mixed with a binder, followed by molding, degreasing and sintering, to prepare a molded article. This process has advantages over the other general powder metallurgical processes in that an article having a complicated shape can be molded by a single step and the subsequent machining or after-treating steps can be eliminated. Thus, the process is particularly suited for the production of relatively small size metal parts, and has a considerable merit in its low production cost.
However, since a relatively large quantity of binder was used in such a metal powder injection molding process, collapsing, cracking or carbonization of the used binder could occur in the degreasing and/or sintering steps, which posed problems to be solved.
It is also known to prepare, for instance, alumina ceramics by the utilization of similar technology. When the metal powder injection molding process is compared with the similar technology for the production of alumina ceramics, the true specific gravity of the metal ranges generally from 7 to 8 (such as for iron base alloys), which is about 2 times as high as that of the alumina ceramics. In view of the difference in specific gravity, the molded article produced by the metal powder injection molding process tends to be deformed (sometimes by collapsing) due to its own weight during the degreasing steps. When a large quantity of a high polymer material is used in the binder to prevent deformation, carbonized portions are formed during the degreasing and/or sintering steps which result in a product of inferior quality.
Thus, the result of the metal powder injection molding depends on the selection of used binder and it is an important factor to use a superior binder to obtain molded products of high quality.
In the conventional technology, generally used binders are composed of plural binder components having different melting points. The binder components of each known binder has different melting points to ensure gradual and continuous flow-out of the liquefied binder composition during the degreasing step, the binder composition flowing out of the molded article being absorbed by an absorbent. A typical example of such binder composition is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 48563/1986 . However, when such a binder is combined with a metal powder having a high specific gravity, the molded body tends to deform due to the weight of the metal powder itself during the degreasing step as the binder components are liquefied.

Polyamide base binder for use in metal powder injection molding process


A method and apparatus are disclosed for providing an aligned bunch of items of media. The apparatus includes a driven drum element arranged to rotate about a drum axis of rotation and at least one driven endless belt member, each arranged along a respective belt pathway. The belt pathway comprises a pathway portion in which the belt member extends in a co-operating relationship with more than sixty percent of the circumference of an outer surface of the drum element. The drum element and at least one belt member co-operate to receive and align items of media therebetween.

Media depositories are used to receive media items from a customer. One common type of media depository is a sheet media depository for receiving items of media in sheet form. For example, such items of media can be currency notes, checks, tickets, giros or the like.
Sheet media depositories are used in automated teller machines (ATMs) and other self-service terminals. Other such self-service terminals are vending machines, change machines or the like. The sheet media depositories are used to identify, validate and store or return deposited sheets.
Some sheet depositories are capable of receiving a bunch of sheets in a loading area and then picking individual sheets from the bunch so that each sheet can then be identified and validated individually prior to storage of the validated sheet within a depository or returned to a customer. These depositories are sometimes referred to as bunch sheet depositories. Bunch sheet depositories may transport the bunch from a loading area to a picking area or the picking area may be adjacent to the loading area.
It is desirable to provide bunch sheet depositories that can accept a large bunch of sheet items. However, when a large bunch of items has to be returned to a customer, there is a tendency for sheets within the bunch to splay out prior to reaching a dispatch area. The splaying out can cause failure of the machinery if the splaying effect becomes too pronounced. Also, a bunch returned to a customer may be unattractive.
Furthermore, some customers will only insert a small number of sheet items. For example, such as one currency note or a few checks and notes into the bunch sheet depository whereas other customers will insert up to a maximum permissible number of sheets. Most prior art depositories have a maximum bunch allowed of up to fifty items of media. This occasionally unduly limits the transactions which can take place.


A circuit for linearizing a power amplifier. The circuit includes a main signal path comprising a digital-to-analog converter, wherein a main signal is transmitted through the main signal path to said power amplifier; and a digital pre-distortion path disposed outside of the main signal path, wherein the digital pre-distortion path includes a digital pre-distorter for digitally pre-distorting the main signal.

Power amplifiers are non-linear devices that cause distortion to the amplified signal. An amplifier maintains a constant gain (the ratio of output to input power or amplitude) for low-level input signals. However, at higher input levels, the amplifier goes into saturation and its gain decreases. Moreover, signal distortion increases during saturation.
The power amplifiers may be operated at a constant gain (or linear portion) to reduce distortion. However, the operation in the linear portion of the amplifier does not allow the amplifier to amplify the input signal to its full potential. Moreover, operation of the amplifier in the linear portion utilizes high levels of energy.
Linearization of the power amplifier is often utilized to overcome the non-linearity of the power amplifier. Linearization may accomplished by various digital pre-distortion techniques. However, conventional methods of digital pre-distortion are limited by the bandwidth of the input signal. For instance, electrical components (e.g., Analog-to-Digital converters (ADCs)) that facilitate in the digital pre-distortion are only able process signals up to a maximum bandwidth. Accordingly, the linearization and signal amplification is negatively affected when the signal bandwidth (including distortion) is greater than the maximum bandwidth.
The drawings referred to in this description should be understood as not being drawn to scale except if specifically noted.


Methods and systems are provided to facilitate information sharing between vehicles. A relay vehicle may be provided which is in communication with a first group of remote vehicles over a first network and a second group of remote vehicles over a second network.

Vehicles may implement a variety of communication systems for communicating directly or indirectly with other vehicles or systems. These communication systems may be limited to communicating with other vehicles or devices utilizing the same communication system. Exemplary communication systems are disclosed in US Published Patent Application No. 20190265064, filed Dec. 27, 2018, U.S. Pat. No. 10,038,977, and US Published Patent Application No. US20190200173, filed Dec. 12, 2018, the entire disclosures of which are expressly incorporated by reference herein.

Communication and relay systems for vehicles


An adjustable mounting system for mounting solar panels on roofs is disclosed. The system allows a user to mount the solar panels either with or without rails. The mounting assemblies are adjustable to allow the user to mount a base plate in a chosen location (either on a roof joist or other structural member or not) and to adjust the mounting location for the panel in as many as three axis of adjustment from the location of the base plate. A system for mounting and grounding the panels at the same time is also disclosed.

Many systems exist to mount various devices on roof tops and similar locations. One common device to mount on roofs is solar panels, particularly photovoltaic (PV) solar panels. Currently, to mount PV solar panels or other similar devices, rack systems are generally used. Due to the weight and attachment mechanism used with these rack systems, the attachment to the roof is typically into structural members. This requires that the roof framing be located beneath the shingles. The location of the rafters dictates the location and therefore spacing of the racking system, or at least its anchor points. Further, the installation can be made more difficult by unevenly spaced rafters and/or ones that are not strait and/or parallel or structures with no rafters, or purlins, such as stress skin panel installations. Additionally, the rails add significantly to the total height and weight of the system and to the cost of the installation.
The foregoing example of the related art and limitations related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon a reading of the specification and a study of the drawings.


Load storage enhancement apparatus for a truck having a rear storage platform or bed, the combination comprising two extension walls that have generally horizontally stored positions over the platform and generally upright extended positions projecting above opposite sides of the platform, framework attached to the walls in their upright positions, the framework including members extending laterally and supported by the walls at locations spaced both lengthwise and widthwise of the upright walls, the members blocking tilting of the walls, and mechanism resisting pivoting of the walls in upright positions. Elongated carrier structure is adjustably movable between extended position over a truck cab, and retracted position over the truck bed, to be locked in either or both of such positions. Carrier structure guides on the walls move with the walls between upright and lowered positions.

This invention relates generally to enhancing the load carrying capacity of open flat bed type trucks, and more particularly to improvements in support structure that can rapidly be placed in extended position, over truck flat beds, to carry auxiliary loads at positions elevated above the flat beds.
There is need for the above noted improvements to provide sturdy, reliable and easily assembled extender structure above truck flat beds, to support loads. No prior structure of which I am aware provides the unusually advantageous combinations of structural elements, functions of such elements, and improved results as are provided by the present invention.


Provided is a wafer for solar cell which can be produced using a polycrystalline semiconductor wafer cut out using a bonded abrasive wire, which wafer can be used for manufacturing a solar cell with high conversion efficiency.

In general, a solar cell is manufactured using a silicon wafer or other semiconductor wafer. In order to improve conversion efficiency of the solar cell, it is necessary to reduce the light that reflects on a light receiving surface of the solar cell and the light that passes through the solar cell. For example, in preparing a crystalline solar cell using the silicon wafer, since the silicon wafer has a low transmittance of visible light contributing to photoelectric conversion, in order to improve the conversion efficiency, it is important to reduce reflection loss of the visible light on the silicon wafer surface acting as the light receiving surface, thereby effectively capturing incident light within the solar cell.
Techniques for reducing the reflection loss of the incident light on the silicon wafer surface include a technique of forming an antireflection film on the surface and a technique of forming, in the surface, an uneven structure such as micro-sized pyramidal irregularities called a textured structure. As for the latter technique, the method of forming the textured structure in the surface is suitable for single crystal silicon and represented by a method of etching the single crystal silicon (100) surface with alkaline solution. This method leverages an etching rate of the (111) surface that is lower than that of the (100) surface and the (110) surface. As the latter technique, isotropic etching with acid solution is also known. The etching with an acid solution uses acid containing nitric acid and hydrofluoric acid, thereby making a reaction in which the surface of silicon is oxidized to form SiO2, and then the SiO2 is dissolved with hydrofluoric acid. When a polycrystalline silicon wafer having a surface with non-uniform crystal orientation is etched with an alkaline solution, the textured structure can be formed only on crystal grains having a (100) surface exposed in the wafer surface, and the textured structure cannot be sufficiently formed on the other crystal grains. Accordingly, the uneven structure is formed in the polycrystalline silicon wafer mainly by etching with an acid solution. In this specification, the treatment of etching a surface of a polycrystalline wafer with acid solution in order to reduce the reflection loss is hereinafter referred to as "acid texturing".
Here, focusing on that a sufficient fill factor cannot be obtained by only etching a surface of a polycrystalline silicon substrate with an acid solution, JP 2005-136081 A (PTL 1) discloses a method of producing a solar cell wafer, including a step of etching the surface of the polycrystalline silicon substrate with an alkaline solution such as NaOH to 7 μm or more before acid texturing. A silicon wafer has cutting damage on its surface immediately after being cut from an ingot. The etching with an alkaline solution in PTL 1 is performed to an extent such that the damage due to the slicing process can be removed. Specifically, after removing the damage due to slicing by alkali treatment, an uneven structure is formed by etching with an acid solution, thereby manufacturing solar cells using this wafer as their substrate.
Here, the methods of cutting a polycrystalline semiconductor block for obtaining a polycrystalline semiconductor wafer can be broadly classified into two types: methods using free abrasive grains (free abrasive cutting) and methods using bonded abrasive grains (bonded abrasive cutting). In the free abrasive cutting, a slurry containing abrasive grains is used as a working fluid, and a wire runs while continuously supplying the slurry to the wire. The polycrystalline semiconductor block is cut by the grinding action of the slurry fed by the running wire to the portion to be cut. However, the free abrasive cutting has some problems such as low slicing speed, since slurry is used as a working fluid. Hence, in recent years, the bonded abrasive cutting for cutting a polycrystalline semiconductor block using a bonded abrasive wire has been attracting attention. In the bonded abrasive cutting, slicing is performed using a wire to which abrasive grains are fixed with a resin or by electroplating (which is called "bonded abrasive wire"). Specifically, using the bonded abrasive wire, the polycrystalline semiconductor block is sliced by the grinding action of the abrasive grains fixed to the surface of the wire. Accordingly, a working fluid (coolant) free of abrasive grains can be used, which can solve the problem of the free abrasive wire, caused by slurry.

Wafer for solar cell, method of producing wafer for solar cell, method of producing solar cell, and method of producing solar cell module

Abstract: In a wafer for solar cell before acid texturing of the present invention, produced from a polycrystalline semiconductor wafer cut out using a bonded abrasive wire, an amorphous layer does not exist, and irregularities caused due to the cutting using the bonded abrasive wire are left in at least one surface of the wafer for solar cell.


A method and system perform quantum-assisted finite elements-based, design optimization of an object to minimize a shape-specific quantity by manipulating the shape of the object using a processing unit, for example, a Quantum Processing Unit (QPU). As a result, a shape-specific quantity, such as an approximation of sound pressure at a specific position around an object, can be minimized by manipulating the object shape using the QPU.

Conventionally known, Finite-Element Methods (FEM) are a general group of numerical methods used in various physical tasks. Most well-known is the application of FEM in the investigation of the strength and deformation of solids with a geometrically complex shape. This is because the use of classical methods for investigating strength and deformation, e.g., beam theory, prove to be too time-consuming or impossible to implement.

System and method for finite elements-based design optimization with quantum annealing


A composite pad includes an outer pad portion having a surface with a firmness, stiffness or abrasiveness, and an inner pad portion disposed on or in the outer pad portion, the inner pad portion having a surface with a firmness, stiffness or abrasiveness which is greater than that of the outer pad surface. The backside of the composite pad preferably includes a hook-and-loop or other mechanism for attachment to a tool such as an orbital polisher. The inner portion may used to remove larger scratches left from sand paper (or other abrasives) then, without removing the pad, the polisher tool may be tilted relative to the surface enabling the outer portion to buff the area and remove any swirl marks. The surface of the inner pad may be raised relative to the surface of the outer pad, flush or recessed. In the preferred embodiments the various pad portions are made of foam material such as polyurethane.

All OEM vehicles have small surface paint defects typically caused by dirt. The defects are removed by a finessing process. A worker typically uses a small (i.e., 1″) sanding disc with approximately #3000 grit. After the defect is sanded out, the surface is then polished with a liquid applied to a foam pad mounted on an orbital polisher rotating at about 3000 RPM. Within a few seconds, the sand scratches are buffed out and ideally one cannot see where the defect used to be.
With the advent of newer paint technology, however, came different surface characteristics in the paint. Many of these new paints require defect (i.e., scratch sanding) removal using a stiffer foam pad, followed by the use of a softer or less stiff foam pad that leaves the repaired area clean and properly finished. This process constitutes a two-step polishing system and process, consuming time and materials.
Commercially available foam pads come in different diameters such as 3″, 4″ and larger, with attachment mechanisms such as hook-and-loop backing material. Different types of foams are typically provided in different colors so they are easily recognized by an operator. For example, some coarse "cutting" foam pads are cyan, polishing pads may be orange, and foam pads for finishing may be red.

Composite pads for buffing and polishing painted vehicle body surfaces and other applications


A system is disclosed, in accordance with one or more embodiment of the present disclosure. The system may include a controller including one or more processors configured to execute a set of program instructions. The set of program instructions may be configured to cause the processors to: receive images of a sample from a characterization sub-system; identify target clips from patch clips; prepare processed clips based on the target clips; generate encoded images by transforming the processed clips; sort the encoded images into a set of clusters; display sorted images from the set of clusters; receive labels for the displayed sorted images; determine whether the received labels are sufficient to train a deep learning classifier; and upon determining the received labels are sufficient to train the deep learning classifier, train the deep learning classifier via the displayed sorted images and the received labels.

Demand for electronic logic and memory devices with ever-smaller footprints and features present a wide range of manufacturing challenges beyond fabrication at a desired scale. Increasingly complex structures result in increasing numbers of parameters which must be monitored and controlled to maintain device integrity. One important characteristic in the field of semiconductor fabrication is defect classification. Conventional methods of classifying defects include, but are not limited to, rule-based binning (RBB) and algorithm-based techniques (e.g., machine learning or deep learning).
Algorithm-based defect classification requires a sufficient number of examples in order to effectively classify such defects. This may be an impossible task as datasets often return anywhere between 10,000-1,000,000 events. Conventional techniques require a user to assign labels to all examples, which can be a tedious and exhausting task. Additionally, datasets are often too unbalanced to get any examples for rare bins in a sub-sampling. Further, there are often no known features that offer discerning information between classes.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a system and method that cure the shortfalls of the previous approaches identified above.

Characterization system and method with guided defect discovery


A mobile radio access network includes a plurality of radio cells, the plurality of radio cells comprising at least a first cell type of radio cells and a second cell type of radio cells, the first cell type of radio cells including at least one of a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG) cell and a hybrid cell, and the second cell type of radio cells including open cells; and a charging unit, configured to receive cell information corresponding to at least one subscriber out of a plurality of subscribers, wherein the cell information is dependent on whether the subscriber has entered, left, or accessed a radio cell of the first tell type.

The third generation partnership project (3GPP) has defined a concept to enable mobile operators to restrict access to a cellular base station (or a group of cellular base stations) to a limited group of subscribers. This group of subscribers is called a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG). The notion of CSGs is realized by assigning a unique Closed Subscriber Group ID (CSG ID) to the cell or the group of cells that access shall be limited for and by broadcasting the CSG ID as well as a CSG indicator, which declares the cell to be a closed cell, on the cell's broadcast channel. Furthermore, each subscriber's subscription contains a list of CSG IDs, which denote the CSG cells that this subscriber is allowed to access (the so-called Allowed CSG list).
Based on this information, the mobile radio access network (hereinafter also called system) performs access control: when a subscriber (or a subscriber's terminal) attempts to access the network via a CSG cell, the system checks whether the cell's CSG ID is contained in the subscriber's Allowed CSG list. If so, the access is allowed, otherwise the access is denied.
In addition to such radio cells having restricted access (i.e., which are closed), hereinafter also called CSG cells, 3GPP has defined the notion of hybrid cells. Hybrid cells are defined as a combination of CSG cells and open cells (i.e., non-CSG cells). In other words, hybrid radio cells comprise a CSG part and an open part. The key idea is that any subscriber of the mobile radio access network is allowed to access the open part of a hybrid cell but that only members of the CSG part of the hybrid cell have access to the CSG part of the hybrid cell, thus, for example, receiving a better service in terms of quality of service, bandwidth or the like.
The CSG concept and the concept of hybrid cells is explained in the following technical specifications: 3GPP TS 23.002, "3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Services and Systems Aspects; Network architecture (Release 9)", 3GPP TS 23.401, "3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Services and Systems Aspects; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) access (Release 9)", 3GPP TS 23.060, "3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Services and Systems Aspects; General Packet Radio Service (GPRS); Service description; Stage 2 (Release 9)". With regard to details of the CSG concept and the concept of hybrid cells, these three documents are incorporated by reference herein.
It is desirable to perform differentiated charging for CSG cells, hybrid cells and non-CSG cells (e.g. non-CSG macro network cells). An example for differentiated charging is to charge lower rates when a subscriber is accessing the network via a CSG cell (which might for example be a CSG-concept based femto cell or home base station that is installed in the subscriber's home) in comparison to the rates when the subscriber accesses the network via a non-CSG cell (e.g., a non-CSG macro cell).
However, there have not been any efficient solutions to enable this type of differentiated charging for CSG cells. One possible solution would be to report any change of cells for each subscriber to the network element which performs charging, hereinafter also called the charging unit (e.g., the GPRS Gateway Support Node, GGSN, or the Packet Data Network Gateway, PDN-GW in 3GPP systems). This would mean that each time a subscriber performs a handover to another cell or performs a signalling interaction in another cell, the ID of this cell is reported to the network element responsible for charging (the charging unit). Based on this cell ID, the charging network element can derive (using an additional database) whether the reported cell ID belongs to a CSG cell or hybrid cell and whether the subscriber is a member in this CSG—and can leverage this information for differentiated charging. However, the disadvantage of such an approach would be massive signalling overhead because (a) the change of cells needs to be reported for all cells in a network irrespective of whether the cell a subscriber is currently accessing is a CSG cell, a hybrid cell or a non-CSG cell, and (b) especially for highly mobile transceivers, cell changes happen very frequently.

Mobile radio access network, mobility control unit, method for charging in a mobile radio access network, and program


A steam channeling structure adopted for use on a steam iron to transfer steam to perform cleaning function. The steam iron includes at least a soleplate heated to perform ironing function and at least one steam vent. The steam channeling structure includes a coupling dock and at least one cleaning tool mounted onto the coupling dock. The coupling dock has a protective portion to cover the soleplate and a steam directing portion communicating with the steam vent to direct steam discharged through the steam vent. The cleaning tool has a steam passage connecting to the steam directing portion and a steam channeling vent located in the steam passage. Steam generated by the steam iron is conveyed through the steam directing portion to the steam channeling vent to be discharged to perform steam cleaning function on a selected article.

Steam iron aims to remove wrinkles of clothes or fabrics through heat. It is widely used in houses and businesses. The steam iron ejects steam during ironing the clothes. Compared with the traditional iron there is no need to spray moisture. Moreover, the ejected steam can protect the clothes from being damaged by the high temperature of the iron. In addition, the steam can quickly penetrate inside the fibers of the clothes and heat evenly so that the fibers can be rearranged to form a desired shape. References of steam iron can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,935,056, 6,438,876, 6,079,133, 5,642,579 and publication No. 20070102414. They mostly have an iron body with a steam chamber inside to generate steam which is delivered to at least one steam output vent and discharged to clothes to be ironed.
The steam, aside from ironing clothes or fabrics through the steam iron, can also serve dirt removing function, such as a steam cleaner. The conventional steam cleaner can be divided into portable steam cleaner and detachable steam cleaner. The portable steam cleaner is compact and easier to use. References can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,536,379, 6,490,753 and 6,484,347. They generally have a water reservoir located in a body and a pump to deliver water in the water reservoir to a heating means. The water is heated to become steam to be ejected through a nozzle. The detachable steam cleaner, such as one disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,877,183, has a bigger size than the portable one, and mainly has a water reservoir and a heating means located respectively in a chassis and a cleaning tool that are connected through a flexible hose. Water held in the water reservoir is sent to the heating means through the hose to be heated into steam. The steam is discharged through a steam vent formed on the cleaning tool. Oil stains and dirt smears on the surface of targeted articles can be easily removed by the high temperature steam generated by the steam cleaner without adding chemical agents. As it does not create environmental pollution and is harmless to human body, it is well accepted on the market.
While the devices mentioned above all perform functions through steam, different devices have to be used for different applications. It is not desirable in terms of convenience or economy. Some techniques have been proposed to address this issue, such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,051,462 and 6,711,840. They propose a combined steam cleaner and steam iron. They have a steam generation unit located on a chassis to be selectively coupled with a steam cleaning unit or a steam iron unit. The steam cleaning unit or the steam iron unit performs cleaning or ironing through steam generated by the steam generation unit. The steam is transported through a duct. The steam is easily condensed to become water or a lower quality steam of a higher water content in the duct. As a result, the clothes being treated are easily damped. Moreover, the steam cleaning unit or the steam iron unit is a separated element. Total size is bulky and not easy to carry or move. It is also difficult to be stored in a small room. This creates a cluttered environment or makes tidying of the environment difficult.


An avionics equipment carrier system for slide-in modules with data processing, data transmitting, data storage or data displaying devices, such as for example electronics printed circuit boards, network components, storage devices, display devices and the like, or power supply devices, includes a housing, at least one module rack for accommodating the slide-in modules and at least one backplane board with Ethernet connection architecture. When the dimensions of the housing comply with ARINC standards, and the housing is arranged for installation in an avionics module rack as a quick-mount housing, and any desired circuit boards of a specific standard format can be used in the slide-in modules which are designed as quick-mount modules.

Avionics devices in aircraft are generally integrated in an avionics rack located in the cockpit or in close proximity to the cockpit. Normally the individual equipment compartments in the avionics rack have dimensions that meet a common standard, such as, for example, specified in ARINC 600. This makes it possible to accommodate components with standardised dimensions and apart from original equipment also facilitates the integration of new devices in the case of subsequent retrofit of an aircraft at a later point in time. Devices with standardised dimensions can be provided by a relatively broad manufacturer spectrum and are economical when compared to devices made to specifications.
Avionics equipment in turn often comprises several components which when acting together result in a desired system. Such components can, for example, include servers, gateways, interfaces and power supply devices which together are installed in a common equipment carrier, which in turn is integrated in the avionics rack. At present, equipment carriers exist which make it possible to quickly exchange individual components in the case of a defect or in the case of a desired retrofit (due to this ability also referred to as line replaceable units, LRUs), but which as an entity do not offer this ability. Thus, the Rockwell Collins ISC-2100 (information services cabinet, see also http://www.rockwellcollins.com/products/cs/at/page982.html) is not designed as an LRU, i.e. it cannot quickly be deinstalled from an avionics rack; instead, deinstallation requires a degree of effort and above all a considerable amount of time. By way of its front the ISC-2100 can, however, relatively easily be equipped with various components. However, the dimensions of the surrounding housing of the ISC-2100 do not comply with any ARINC standards, so that particularly for the ISC-2100 a specially designed accommodation rack in the aircraft becomes necessary, in which rack the housing can be firmly installed. The "Airbus Flight Information Service" devices (AFIS), made by Rockwell, which devices have dimensions that conform to ARINC, comprise an LRU surrounding housing but no components designed as LRUs. Quick exchange of the individual components of an AFIS is thus not possible. The network server system SAGEM A380 NSS (see also http://www.sagem-ds.com/eng/bds_navio—200.htm) while comprising an LRU housing, which does not however conform to ARINC, does not make it possible either to quickly exchange integratable components; such exchange requires dismantling of the entire device.
The lack of the ability to quickly exchange individual components is disadvantageous as far as cost-effective inventory keeping of entire systems and in some respects more difficult maintenance are concerned. Moreover, if it is not possible to quickly exchange the entire avionics device in the form of an equipment carrier comprising equipment, subsequent retrofit or exchange of defective devices of the avionics of an aircraft is made difficult in a disadvantageous manner.
Normal avionics devices are associated with a further disadvantage due to the widespread use of components whose dimensions do not conform to any common standard, for example the use of electronics printed circuit boards and the like that have been made to specifications. In addition, it is disadvantageous to use electronics printed circuit boards which, while comprising standardised dimensions, use dimensions that are, however, disadvantageous. For example, with the use of 6U-CompactPCI printed circuit boards, cost savings can be achieved in the selection of a printed circuit board; however, as a result of the design height of the printed circuit boards the avionics devices into which they are integrated often comprise dimensions that do not conform to ARINC.

Avionics equipment carrier system with quick-mount housing and quick-mount modules


The present invention is concerned with different novel concepts for reducing latency in data transmission. These concepts may be exploited by a transceiver configured to perform wireless data communication with a third party device by aggregating time division duplex carriers having different temporal distribution of uplink times and downlink times. These concepts may further be exploited by an apparatus configured to perform data transmission or reception via allocations of transmission resources of aggregated carriers in units of transmission time intervals into which the aggregated carriers are subdivided, wherein the aggregated carriers are temporally subdivided into the transmission time intervals in a temporal grid, respectively, wherein the aggregated carriers' grids are temporally mutually offset.

For latency constraint services, the switching delay between uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) in time domain duplex (TDD) operation is not fast enough with a current 3GPP LTE specification. The introduction of short transmission time intervals (sTTI) [2] below subframe size can reduce latency to some extent. However, with the currently supported frame configurations for TDD UL-DL the options for switching intervals are still limited and do not allow frequent or alternating UL/DL switches, see the Table 1 for the different configurations of LTE frame structure type 2 which is also depicted in FIG. 1.
One (radio) frame consists of multiple subframes, each representing one of the transmission modes 'D' (Downlink), 'U' (Uplink) and 'S' (Special).
TABLE 1Uplink-Downlink-downlinkto-Uplinkconfigu-Switch-pointSubframe numberrationperiodicity012345678905msDSUUUDSUUU15msDSUUDDSUUD25msDSUDDDSUDD310msDSUUUDDDDD410msDSUUDDDDDD510msDSUDDDDDDD65msDSUUUDSUUD
As depicted in FIG. 1, each frame is a certain time Tf long and is composed of, or is temporally sub-divided into, a sequence of consecutive subframes, namely ten subframes in case of LTE. Since the frame depicted in FIG. 1 is exemplarily of a frame structure type 2, it is sub-divided or structured into two half-frames with each being composed of five subframes.
The second subframe in each of these half-frames, i.e., the second and seventh frame within the whole frame, are of transmission mode 'S'. The subframes number #1 and number #6 are temporally sub-divided into three consecutive time slots, namely a Downlink Pilot Timeslot (DwPTS), followed by a guard period (GP), even followed by an Uplink Pilot Timeslot (UpPTS).
The other subframes of the frame, i.e. subframes #0, #2, #3, #4, #5, #7, #8 and #9 are either of transmission mode 'D' (Downlink) or 'U' (Uplink), each of these subframes being sub-divided into two or more segments, called slots. As shown later on, each subframe may be composed of fourteen consecutive symbols.
It is known from [1] that a special subframe of transmission mode 'S' with a certain guard period (GP) may enable the switch from DL to UL transmission while it is not needed for the UL to DL switch. See, accordingly, the configurations 0 to 6 listed in Table 1 above.
Subframes immediately following any 'S' subframe form a run of one or more U′ subframes, i.e. subframes of transmission mode 'U', wherein such 'U' subframe run may immediately be followed by a 'D' subframe without any 'S' subframe therebetween, but a switching back to transmission mode 'U' then involves the occurrence of an 'S' subframe.
In each configuration option of the TDD radio frame, subframes #0 and #5 and the time slot DwPTS may be reserved for downlink transmission (downlink subframe D′). On the other hand, time slots UpPTS and the subframe immediately following any special subframe 'S' may be reserved for UL transmission. In general, a dynamic change between the LTE TDD UL-DL configurations is not envisaged.
However, mechanisms are available in LTE to change the configuration on a slow basis [6,7]. As specified in Table 1 above, UL-DL configurations with both 5 ms and 10 ms downlink-to-uplink switch-point periodicity are supported.
In case of 5 ms downlink-to-uplink switch-point periodicity, the special subframe exists in both half-frames.
In case of 10 ms downlink-to-uplink switch-point periodicity, the special subframe exists in the first half-frame only.
From [3] it is known that carrier aggregation (CA) increases the channel bandwidth by combining multiple RF carriers. Each individual carrier is denoted as a component carrier (CC). The primary component carrier is also described as the anchor carrier, while the additional carriers are often denoted as the secondary CCs. Terms like first and second carriers are, however, merely to distinguish different carriers without qualifying them to be any of primary and secondary CC.
A CC can either be UL and DL, or DL only but cannot be UL only. In case of TDD, the UL-DL configuration needs to be the same for all CCs. All CCs may belong to the same eNB, i.e. a base station, and may be synchronized on the air-interface, i.e. a single set of timing advance commands are used for all CCs.
CA categorizes cells as "Primary cell" using a primary RF carrier and "Secondary cell" using a secondary RF carrier. Each connection can have multiple secondary cells and, hence, CCs.
Cross-carrier scheduling refers to the network using PDCCH signaling on RF carrier 'x' to allocate resources on RF carrier 'y'. It avoids the UE having to check the PDCCH transmissions on every CC.
When multiple antennas are used for TDD operation or, alternatively speaking, when multi-antenna systems are used, it has to be considered that TDD switches are typically operated between the transceiver and the antenna port which causes significant power leakage and results in self-interference between multiple antennas belonging to the same device, e.g. a smartphone.
Some of the above techniques allow for some "adjustment" of the latency of data transmission. For instance, the configurations listed in Table 1 above are associated with different downlink and/or uplink latencies and, accordingly, selecting therebetween allows for setting an appropriate latency.

Latency reduction in TDD systems with carrier aggragation

Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.


A hierarchical multi-level heterogeneous cluster data system having processing nodes at each of a plurality of cluster levels configured for different data tiers having different availability, accessibility and protection requirements. Each cluster level comprises groups of processing nodes arranged into a plurality of failover domains of interconnected nodes that exchange heartbeat signals to indicate that the nodes are alive and functioning. A master node of each failover domain is connected to a master node of a parent failover domain for exchanging heartbeat signals to detect failures of nodes at lower cluster levels. Upon a network partition, the nodes of the failover domain may be merged into another failover domain at the same or a higher cluster level to continue providing data services. The cluster has a global namespace across all cluster levels, so that nodes that are moved to different failover domains can be accessed using the same pathname.

This invention relates generally to cluster data systems, and more particularly to new and improved cluster architectures, systems and methods for data storage and data protection which address problems associated with known traditional cluster architectures, systems and methods.
Today data protection systems are moving to a scale-out cluster system architecture from a single controller model because larger storage capacities are required and single controller system architectures are unable to support the larger capacities required. Known traditional cluster systems are usually one-level flat systems in which all cluster nodes are in same logical level, and the cluster membership is just a single list of all nodes in the cluster. The nodes coordinate together and cooperate as a logical unit to provide cluster capabilities and features (such as availability, scalability, fault tolerance, redundancy, consistency, etc.) for the applications and services. The common way for traditional cluster systems to scale is to add more nodes into the cluster. However, most traditional cluster systems only support a limited number of members (hosts/nodes) due to their architectural design and other fundamental limitations, so that expanding the number of nodes in such systems is challenging. One such challenge is because of the overhead required to support large numbers of nodes, including the overheads associated with providing heartbeats between nodes, ordering messages and maintaining a consistent state across nodes. The more nodes, the more overhead is required to maintain node membership, particularly in virtual machine clusters.
Another issue concerns network partitions. A network partition is where a cluster is divided into two or more partitions that cannot communicate with each another because of network problems. As a result, a portion of the cluster's processing and services become unavailable. A traditional cluster system does not handle network partitions well. The larger a cluster becomes, the higher is the possibility of a network partition problem occurring.
Additionally, data protection systems typically have to work with multiple different types of data having storage requirements based upon the data's required availability. For instance, so-called "hot data" is data such as newly backed up data that is very likely to be accessed soon, and requires high sequential throughput (I/O) and rapid random access. This type of data may be referred to as "active tier" data. Other so-called "cold data" includes data that must be retained for a long period of time and is infrequently accessed. It is referred to as "archive tier" data. Very cold data that is retained substantially permanently may be retained in cloud storage and referred to as "cloud tier" data. Recently another data tier used for caches and data requiring fast access and a random I/O workload has emerged. It is referred to as "SSD tier" data because it is stored in fast solid state memory. Because of their different availability requirements, the different types of data require different types of cluster nodes having different types of hardware and software. This necessitates heterogeneous nodes and a heterogeneous cluster architecture. Today's cluster systems are not optimized to support either heterogeneous systems or multiple data tiers for different data types, nor are known systems and architectures optimized to handle node failures. Moreover, managing such a heterogeneous architecture to ensure the required data availability, accessibility and protection poses additional challenges which known cluster systems are unable to meet.
It is desirable to provide new and improved heterogeneous data protection architectures, systems and methods for supporting multiple tiers of data types having different availability, retention and protection requirements that address the foregoing and other problems with known storage architectures, systems and methods, and it is to these ends that the invention is directed.

Data protection cluster system supporting multiple data tiers


A gas turbine engine includes a core flowpath for flowing a core stream, a second flowpath located radially outward from the core flowpath for flowing a second stream, and an auxiliary flowpath located radially outward from the second flowpath for flowing an auxiliary stream. A heat exchanging device is constructed and arranged to divert a portion of the second stream into the auxiliary flowpath. A turbine exhaust case is constructed and arranged to flow the auxiliary stream into the core flowpath for mixing with the core stream.

The present disclosure relates to a gas turbine engine, and more particularly to an engine having an airflow control system.
Gas turbine engines, such as those which power modern military aircraft, include a compressor section to pressurize a supply of air, a combustor section to burn a hydrocarbon fuel in the presence of the pressurized air, and a turbine section to extract energy from the resultant combustion gases and generate thrust. Downstream of the turbine section, an augmentor section, or "afterburner", is operable to selectively increase the thrust. The increase in thrust is produced when fuel is injected into the core exhaust gases downstream of the turbine section and burned with the oxygen contained therein to generate a second combustion.
Variable cycle gas turbine engines power aircraft over a range of operating conditions yet achieve countervailing objectives such as high specific thrust and low fuel consumption. The variable cycle gas turbine engine essentially alters a bypass ratio during flight to match requirements. This facilitates efficient performance over a broad range of altitudes and flight conditions to generate high thrust for high-energy maneuvers yet optimize fuel efficiency for cruise and loiter.
Variable cycle gas turbine engines require an effective actuation system to vary the bypass ratio (BPR) between maximum afterburning conditions and cruise conditions to operate the engine at various cycle points. Variable cycle gas turbine engines are typically of a three-stream engine architecture in which a two-stage fan directly feeds all three streams, e.g., core stream, second stream, third stream. Typically, a part-span booster fan stage feeds the core stream and the second stream. Although effective, this architecture requires a relatively complex fan design and a challenging intermediate case design due to the limited area available to execute three streams in the same required package of traditional two stream engines.

Gas turbine engine and an airflow control system


When a WORM cartridge is formatted for Tape File System (LTFS) in advance, such as prior to shipment, Linear Tape File System Library Edition (LTFS LE) is expanded by software to reduce consumption of the index partition and to support elimination of the appending of unnecessary data. More specifically, instead of recording metadata in the index partition during normal unmounting, the metadata is recorded in separate local storage such as on hard disk drive (HDD), and the index partition is updated only when the cartridge is ejected from the library. In this way, the present invention is able to significantly reduce the frequency of index partition updates. Because an update occurs only when the user intentionally ejects a cartridge, overflow of the index partition before overflow of the data partition can be prevented.

A new file system called a Linear Tape File System (LTFS) has recently been developed as a new use for tape.
LTFS is software (S/W) which works with hardware (H/W) resources to enable tape to be accessed via the file system interface.
LTFS is realized by storing data on tape cartridges using the LTFS format, which has open specifications, and has been adopted by many companies other than IBM (IBM, the IBM logo, and ibm.com are trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation, registered in many jurisdictions worldwide).
The LTFS format specifies that the tape built into the tape cartridge be divided into two partitions: an index partition (IP) and a data partition (DP).
Here, metadata such as allocation data for a file is recorded in the index partition, and file data is primarily recorded in the data partition.
The following is background information related to this recording process.
File allocation information is frequently updated, but data is always being appended so that the tape becomes a so-called sequential access device. When data is recorded to a single partition, the allocation information is always recorded at the end.
Because the data at the end has to be read when a tape cartridge is mounted, the mounting process is time consuming.
In LTFS, metadata is overwritten in the beginning portion of the index partition when a tape cartridge is unmounted. As a result, it is always possible to read the metadata from the index partition when a tape is mounted.
More precisely, metadata is also written to the data partition. Even though this takes time, the metadata recorded in the data partition can then be used to restore a mounted tape cartridge when metadata cannot be updated in the index partition due, for example, to a sudden power interruption.
A mechanism is also used to enable storage of a small amount of data in the index partition. Data to be read during the mounting process can then be retrieved rapidly from the index partition by recording the data not only in the data partition but also in the index partition.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of information recorded on a tape cartridge.
In this example, a separately designated file (File B) and the most recent metadata (Metadata 3) are recorded in the index partition.
Metadata (Metadata 1, Metadata 2, Metadata 3) is also recorded in the data partition along with the actual file data (File A, File B, File, C, File D).
Here, Metadata 1 and Metadata 2 in the data partition is old metadata. Because this information is basically appended to the tape, it is stored without performing any overwriting.
The timing for writing this metadata to the data partition can be established explicitly by an application (for example, by calling FlushFileBuffers( ) which is a standard API in Windows (a trademark of Microsoft Corporation, registered in many jurisdictions worldwide)), can be established based on the timing for closing files in IBM LTFS, or can be established to occur once a predetermined period of time has elapsed.
There are two basic versions of LTFS; LTFS SDE (Linear Tape File System Single Drive Edition) in which a single tape cartridge is inserted into a single tape drive, and LTFS LE (Linear Tape File System Library Edition) in which a plurality of tape cartridges are inserted into a tape library.
In LTFS LE, each LTFS-formatted tape cartridge incorporated into a tape library is expressed as a directory, and the data in each tape cartridge can be accessed as files.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a view of directories in LTFS LE as an example in which a tape library including inserted tape cartridges AAA000, BBB000 and CCC000 have been mounted using LTFS LE.
In LTFS LE, the directories (dir1, dir2, dir3) created in tape cartridge CCC000 can be viewed as subdirectories of directory CCC000.
When files are read and updated in a tape cartridge using LTFS LE, a tape cartridge is mounted in a tape drive, and the data is accessed on the tape cartridge.
The number of tape drives incorporated into a tape library is generally smaller than the number of tape cartridges.
Therefore, when a tape cartridge is to be mounted in a tape drive, a tape cartridge in use has to be unmounted if there are no free tape drives, and the tape cartridge to be accessed is mounted.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the unmounting and mounting flow when reading and writing occur.
In LTFS LE, the unmounting and mounting operations are concealed from the user, as shown in FIG. 3. If necessary (in accordance with the access request), the tape drives are assigned using an LRU-based algorithm, and tapes are unmounted and mounted in a manner not visible to the user.
When LTFS LE is used, a tape library with a large storage capacity can be used as ordinary disk storage. In this case, the LTFS LE may be shared via a network to create NAS.
Because information is recorded on tape cartridges using the LTFS format, which is an open standard, LTFS LE can be easily used to remove tape cartridges from a tape library and read them using different systems.
When data is moved to a remote site as an emergency precaution or to allow data to be shared at multiple locations, tape cartridges can be removed from a tape library and physically moved without having to establish an expensive broadband network.
Because it is less expensive to use NAS with HDDs, LTFS LE has attracted attention as a means of handling large quantities of data.
When LTFS LE is used as NAS and tape cartridges are removed and used if necessary, it is important to prevent data tampering in the case of removed data cartridges.
One method of preventing data tampering in LTO tape drives and TS1140 tape drives is a mechanism referred to as "WORM (Write Once Read Many)".
When WORM tape cartridges are used (referred to below as "WORM cartridges"), just as with CD-R, data once written cannot be updated or deleted.
Therefore, there is demand for the use of WORM cartridges in LTFS LE as a way of preventing data tampering.
However, LTFS currently does not support WORM cartridges for the following two reasons.                1. Fifth-generation and sixth-generation Linear Tape-Open (LTO) tape drives and TS1140 tape drives supported by LTFS do not support the creation of partitions in WORM cartridges.        2. Even if a tape drive were to support the creation of these partitions, metadata cannot be overwritten in the index partition of a WORM cartridge. It is appended.
Therefore, metadata is frequently appended to the index partition as a sequence of operations is performed such as writing a small number of files, unmounting a cartridge, and writing a small number of files immediately after mounting the cartridge.
Usually, less area is assigned to the index partition than to the data partition in order to be able to store more data. However, when data is frequently appended to the index partition, the capacity of the index partition may be exhausted even though more space is still available in the data partition, and the tape may no longer be updated.
Because the cartridge mounting and unmounting operations are concealed from the user in LTFS LE, mounting and unmounting may occur frequently (simply by repeatedly accessing files in different directories) without the user being aware that this is occurring.
As a result, the index partition may be updated many times without the user being aware of this, and a large amount of the index partition may be consumed.
Therefore, unnecessary appending of data has to be eliminated in order to reduce consumption of capacity in the index partition.
It is not technically difficult to support (1) above, because a WORM cartridge could simply be partitioned in advance, for example, prior to shipment.
Shipment of LTFS-formatted cartridges is being considered for cartridges intended for use in LTFS.
A WORM cartridge may be prepared or formatted by dividing the built-in tape into two WORM partitions, for recording the history of a plurality of files and metadata (including the allocation of one or more recorded files) in the one WORM data partition, and for recording metadata in the other WORM index partition.
A method has been developed for (2) above by applying WORM using only a data partition. This method is explained in detail in an application filed by the present applicant (see Patent Literature 1).
However, a problem remains with applying WORM using only a data partition as disclosed in Patent Literature 1 because there is no index partition for WORM, and tampering with index partition data cannot be detected.

Support for worm cartridges realized by linear tape file system (LTFS)