The water treatment system is a modular-filter based residential reverse osmosis (RO) system that remineralizes the purified water twice to ensure the water is alkaline, but uses only one remineralization filter. The system forces the water to undergo remineralization twice in a modular-filter based residential RO system, using only one remineralization filter. The water produced from the water treatment system is alkaline with a pH of at least 7.5 up to a maximum pH of 8.5. A pH of 8.0 is the mean average.

The Tap Master Artesian Full Contact is a modular-filter based reverse osmosis system with a forced remineralization system whereby the purified water is channeled through the same remineralization cartridge twice to ensure the water has a pH of between 7.5 and 8.5 with 8.0 being the mean average. Reverse osmosis systems with normal remineralization will only adjust the pH up to 7.0, such as found on our current production modular-filter based reverse osmosis system—the Tap Master Artesian. Remineralizing RO water is not new—we have been doing for years, and neither is using a modular-filter based RO system. What is new is the "Full Contact" set-up by which we force the purified water through one remineralization cartridge twice, and using it on a modular-filter based platform. Our search revealed no existing products or patents related to the use of our Full Contact forced double remineralization system used in conjunction with a modular-filter based RO system.
The major significant difference between a canister filter based RO system, and a modular filter based RO system is that the canister filter based RO system uses canister filter housings with replaceable filter elements. The filters are changed periodically, but the canister filter housings remain. The owner's manuals of these types of systems urge the user to replace the canister filter housings regularly, usually about once every 5 years, however the vast majority of users do not do this, and the housings weaken and burst with age potentially causing significant water damage to the user's residence or workplace. Our system—The Tap Master Series reverse osmosis systems—a modular filter based RO system—uses modular filters, where the filter and its housing are molded together and both together are replaced annually or as needed. This prevents the possibility of the filter housing aging and bursting as with the canister filter based system.
FIG. 1 shows a sediment filter 1, carbon filter 2, RO membrane 3, carbon/remineralization filter 4, and storage tank 5.
The coffee industry has long used remineralization of reverse osmosis water in home use products aimed towards the coffee aficionado's home systems. However those systems could only reliably raise the pH to 7.0; or used multiple remineralization filters to achieve a higher pH; and/or were based on canister-filter based RO systems. For example: we offer our Tap Master Series modular-filter based reverse osmosis system with an Artesian upgrade—essentially adding a modular remineralization filter to the system to reliably raise the pH to 7.0. The system we present to you here—The Tap Master Artesian Full Contact forces the water through the same remineralization filter a second time before it is dispensed through the use of a tubing loop, some tee fittings and check valves to reliably raise the pH to 7.5 to 8.5 with 8.0 as the average.


A side curtain air bag assembly for use in protection of an occupant within a vehicle which has a roof and a side structure below the roof. The assembly includes an inflatable air bag curtain adapted for inflation away from the vehicle roof in covering relation to at least a portion of the side structure between the side structure and an occupant. The assembly further includes a directional guide assembly including a dynamic guide element operatively connected to the inflatable air bag curtain such that upon inflation of the inflatable air bag curtain away from the vehicle roof, the dynamic guide element is carried in a direction extending away from the vehicle roof. Upon application of a tensioning force between the inflatable air bag curtain and the dynamic guide element having a vertical force component projecting towards the vehicle roof and a horizontal force component projecting into the inflatable air bag curtain the dynamic guide element is substantially locked into place at a position below the roof.

The present invention relates to an assembly for guiding an inflatable curtain-type airbag cushion across a side portion of a vehicle during a collision event and thereafter holding the airbag cushion in a tensioned condition subsequent to the deployment.
It is well known in motor vehicles to provide air bag cushions for protecting a vehicle occupant during a collision event wherein such air bag cushions are in fluid communication with gas generating inflators so as to inflate the cushions upon sensing predetermined vehicle conditions such as deceleration exceeding a certain level. It is further known to provide air bag systems including inflatable restraint cushions which are deployed from positions of attachment along the roof rail portion of the vehicle frame above the doors of the vehicle such that the inflatable cushion extends downwardly in substantially curtain-like fashion between the occupant to be protected and the side portions of the vehicle adjacent to such occupants. Such coverage provides a cushioning restraint to the occupant during a side impact or extended roll-over collision event thereby aiding in the protection of the occupant during such events.
It is generally desirable for a curtain-like side air bag cushion to be held in a substantially tensioned condition across the surface being covered so as to provide a well defined extended barrier between the occupant and the side portion of the vehicle. Such a condition may be useful in holding the vehicle occupant within the protective frame of the vehicle during an extended roll-over event.
A typical prior tethering arrangement for maintaining tension across the lower edge of a curtain-like cushion is illustrated in FIGS. 1A and 1B. As illustrated, in such prior embodiments an inflatable curtain 10 is stored in packed relation generally along the roof rail 12 of a vehicle 14 generally above the doors 16. The length of the inflatable curtain 10 is such that upon inflation coverage is provided over at least a portion of the distance extending along the side of the vehicle interior between two or more structural pillars 20 extending away from the roof rail 12.
In the illustrated embodiment, the inflatable curtain 10 is shown to be attached at the forward xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d pillar and at the rearward xe2x80x9cCxe2x80x9d pillar so as to cover the intermediate xe2x80x9cBxe2x80x9d pillar. As shown, in prior constructions the inflatable curtain 10 is inflated by a gas generating inflator 22 thereby causing the lower edge of the inflatable curtain 10 to move downwardly away from the roof rail 12. As the inflatable curtain 10 undergoes inflation, it tends to shorten as cushioning depth is developed (FIG. 1B). This shortening may be restricted by the presence of tethering straps 24 of fixed length extending between the lower edge of the inflatable curtain 10 and the forward and rearward pillars 20 bordering the area to be covered.
Utilizing the prior design of fixed length tethers 24 is useful in providing tension across the lower edge once the designed inflation of the inflatable curtain 10 is complete provided that the length of the tethers is well matched to the particular coverage characteristics of the inflatable curtain 10 relative to the pillars 20. In particular, once the curtain 10 is in the fully inflated condition if the tethers are of the proper length, a balanced tension is established and may thereafter be maintained between the shortened inflatable curtain 10 and the fully extended tethering straps 24. Thus prior curtain constructions which utilize a combination of inflation induced shortening and fixed length tethering straps 24 are typically dependent upon the cushion shape being substantially fully established before the final tension is generated. Accordingly, the tethers in such systems are generally slack during the preliminary stages of deployment prior to the bottom edge becoming positioned and fully tensioned. After deployment has taken place, the tensioning may be at least partially lost if the airbag cushion becomes deflated.
This invention provides advantages and alternatives over the prior art by providing a system which assists in guiding an inflatable curtain-style air bag cushion into position and which thereafter holds the airbag cushion in place to provide tensioning support to the cushion.
In the invention, a dynamic tethering element is utilized which travels in conjunction with the downward deployment of the inflatable curtain structure so as to both tension the curtain structure while at the same time providing a guiding action so as to bring the curtain structure into the proper position at which it is thereafter maintained. The dynamic tethering element is blocked against retreating movement after deployment has taken place. The dynamic tethering element avoids substantial reliance upon curtain shortening to provide a tensioning force across the inflatable curtain structure. In addition, the dynamic tethering element may be useful in pulling the inflating curtain into a desired position at an early stage of deployment. Accordingly, a number of useful advantages are provided.


A method of verifying programmable antenna configurations is disclosed. The method comprises selecting a desired antenna configuration from a plurality of antenna configuration patterns, with the selected antenna configuration forming at least one reconfigurable antenna from reconfigurable antenna array elements. The method validates the formation of the selected antenna configuration to determine antenna performance of the at least one reconfigurable antenna.

The use of modeling in the design of antennas is known. Typically, antenna designers use classic Euclidean geometry (for example, simple squares, circles, and triangles) to design the shape of an antenna and its components (also known as antenna "elements") to obtain certain antenna characteristics. For example, the antenna designer will use a combination of shapes to control the antenna signal beam shape, also known as the antenna pattern or radiation pattern. This use of combinations of antenna elements and shapes to obtain desired antenna characteristics is typically referred to as antenna beam steering or beam shaping. Geometric antennas usually have well defined, fixed characteristics.
Reconfigurable antennas represent a class of antenna that normally does not have a specific characteristic. Instead, this class of antennas require configuration before they are usable. Reconfigurable antennas can operate over large frequency ranges and can be beam-steered without the use of multiple radiating elements and phase shifters as are found in a phased array type of antenna. In addition, this class of antenna does not generate grating lobes like a phased array antenna because the radiation source is a continuous element instead of a multiplicity of individual elements.
Reconfigurable antennas can accommodate a wide variety of specifications, such as beam width, operating frequency, and radiation angle. The difficulty with an antenna of this type is to determine a configuration that offers the desired performance based on a particular set of requirements and ensure that the configuration of the antenna is the desired configuration. At present, configurable antennas do not verify the configuration.

Reconfigurable antenna pattern verification


A novel closure or buckle for a band as might be used as a watchband, a bracelet, a necklace, or like article is disclosed. The closure requires no springs, biasing devices, nor snugly fitting members to remain closed. The closure employs a keyhole-type slot to receive a linking member and features a slide element engaged by the linking member within the keyhole slot, which slide element follows the inserted linking member as it slides into the narrow end of the slot thereby blocking the larger end of the slot to provide a smooth appearance to the closure in its latched position.

The present invention relates generally to clasps for ornamental items, such as watch bands, bracelets, necklaces and like articles, and pertains more specifically to a clasp wherein no springs, biasing means, nor snugly fitting members are employed.
Generally, this invention may be used with a mesh band or, alternatively, a band made of multiple links joined on pivot axes that are substantially parallel to the width of the band, thereby providing flexibility to allow the band to wrap around the wrist of the wearer and also providing adjustability by the adding or the removing of links.
Many clasps for ornamenntal items relay on spring tension or compression or on the compressive elasticity of elements that fit snugly together either to retain the principal latch mechanism or to retain a cosmetic cover that hides the workings of the latch mechanism. With time and repeated use, many such clasps fail because of wear or permanent deformation of the spring means. Although some clasps continue to function, they may become a nuisance because of the failure of the cosmetic cover to stay in place owing to wear or permanent deformation of their retaining means.


Disclosed herein is a method for encoding a video signal having at least one frame with at least one block of pixels. The method includes selecting a parameterized equation corresponding to a coding mode for a current block of pixels to be encoded in the at least one frame, determining at least one parameter for use in the selected parameterized equation, generating, for at least a first pixel in the current block, a predicted value using the parameterized equation; a position value for the first pixel using a processor; and the determined at least one parameter and encoding the block using the predicted value.

Digital video is used for various purposes including, for example, remote business meetings via video conferencing, high definition video entertainment, video advertisements, and sharing of user-generated videos. As digital video applications evolve, users have higher expectations for video quality and expect high resolution video even when transmitted over communications channels having limited bandwidth.
To permit higher quality transmission of video while limiting bandwidth consumption, a number of video compression schemes are noted including formats such as VPx, promulgated by Google Inc. of Mountain View, Calif., and H.264, a standard promulgated by ITU-T Video Coding Experts Group (VCEG) and the ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG), including present and future versions thereof. H.264 is also known as MPEG-4 Part 10 or MPEG-4 AVC (formally, ISO/IEC 14496-10).
These compression schemes use different techniques to achieve compression. For example, many of these schemes use prediction techniques to predict where information contained in a portion of a first frame or first region of a frame can be found in a second frame or second frame region. The difference between the prediction and the portion of data in the second frame or second region is calculated to form a residual. One type of prediction, known as intra prediction, can be obtained from data within a current frame. Another type of prediction, known as inter prediction can be obtained from data in previously coded frames. Prediction techniques can have a significant impact on compression. More accurate predictions can result in a smaller residual (i.e. less data), which in turn can lead to better compression. Conversely, less accurate predictions can result in a larger residual (i.e. more data), which can lead to poor compression.
Some intra prediction techniques, for example, copy samples (or filtered samples) from adjacent, previously coded blocks to predict the values in the current block. In some instances, this process may not be suitable to provide the best compression.

Apparatus and method for coding using parameterized equation


An apparatus for communicating using multiple channels. The apparatus includes a first radio receiver and a controller. The first radio receiver is configured to produce a first receive signal in response to a first radio frequency signal in a first frequency band. The controller has a first receive input for receiving the first receive signal, an audio input for receiving an audio in signal, a selector input for receiving a selector signal, an audio output for producing an audio out signal and a first transmitter output for producing a first transmitter signal. The first transmit output is configured for communication with a radio transmitter operable to transmit a second radio frequency signal in a second frequency band different from the first frequency band. The controller is configured to cause the audio output to produce the audio out signal in response to the first receive signal when the selector signal is in a first state and to cause the first transmitter output to produce the first transmit signal in response to the audio in signal when the selector signal is in a second state.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to radio communication apparatus and methods and more particularly to apparatus and methods facilitating the use and monitoring of multiple radio frequency channels.
2. Description of Related Art
Communication between wearers of self-contained breathing apparatus, such as face masks, for example, is extremely difficult even under the best conditions. Users must yell through their masks or use hand signals, or in some cases, even remove their masks, just to be able to communicate with each other. Communication among fire fighters, for example, can become almost impossible in a smoke-filled or fire engulfed area. Fire fighting often requires split-second decision making, often with serious consequences at stake, and thus communication between fire fighters is important.
Existing communication mechanisms typically employ a very high frequency (VHF) or ultra high frequency (UHF) radio connected to a microphone which is "push-to-talk" activated and coupled by a corded link to a speaker placed in proximity to a user's ear. This may provide a walkie-talkie type arrangement for single-channel communications. When using this type of system, a wearer of a self-contained breathing apparatus must push a button while speaking into the microphone, which requires the use of one hand, leaving only one hand free. Moreover, audio signals picked up by the microphone are usually amplified before transmission and often the microphone picks up interference in the form of ambient noise, such as the noise encountered in most fire situations for example. In addition, the geometry of a cavity inside the self-contained breathing apparatus can enhance low frequencies, making the wearer's voice virtually unintelligible when transmitted to a remote user. The cord connecting the microphone and speaker to the VHF or UHF radio can often frustrate a user as it can become entangled in the user's clothes or other equipment in use, or it may loosen and become detached. In short, the cord can be a safety hazard, which is of particular concern in the case of fire fighters.
Some existing mechanisms employ voice detection circuitry as an alternative to or in addition to the "push-to-talk" function. However, ambient noise interference can cause false triggering of the voice detection circuitry.
Existing mechanisms that permit a user to choose between "push-to-talk" operation and hands-free operation require that the user unplug a cable from one receptacle and plug the cable into another. There is not a seamless transition between "push-to-talk" operation and hands-free operation, which can be a problem as fire fighters suit up to attend a fire.

Dual-band radio enabled lapel mounted audio and signal handling system and method


In an axial turbine wheel including a rotor disk and a plurality of turbine blades each having a base end retained by the rotor disk via a joint and extending radially from the rotor disk, a seal plate is received in outer and annular slots formed in the base ends of the turbine blades and rotor disk, respectively, and an annular shoulder is formed in the wall defining the inner annular slot on a side remote from the rotor disk, the annular shoulder thereby defining an inner narrow section and an outer wide section in the inner annular slot. Thus, the seal plate can be easily placed in position by first fitting the inner peripheral edge thereof in the inner narrow section of the inner annular slot, fitting the outer peripheral edge thereof in the outer annular slot until the inner peripheral edge clears the annular shoulder. Thereby, the outer and inner peripheral edges of the seal plate are received in the outer annular slot and outer wide section of the inner annular slot. The outer peripheral edge of the seal plate may abut the bottom of the outer annular slot so as to allow the seal plate to be firmly retained even when subjected to a large centrifugal force.

In an axial turbine wheel of a gas turbine engine, each turbine blade is attached to the rotor disk typically by means of an engagement between a Christmas tree section or a dove-tail section provide at the base end of the turbine blade and a corresponding recess formed in the rotor disk. Such an engagement structure provides a favorable radial retaining force, but requires a means for retaining each turbine blade against axial movement. Additionally, it is necessary to provide a sealing arrangement for the gaps of the Christmas tree or dove-tail sections as the leakage of primary and secondary air from the gaps causes a significant reduction in efficiency.
Seal plates of various forms that provide both the axial retaining force and sealing capability have been proposed, and Japanese patent laid open publication No. 11-247616 discloses such seal plates. According to this prior proposal, after turbine blades are installed except for a few of them, seal plates are inserted in a circumferential slot defined between the rotor disk and turbine blades from the gap created by the absence of turbine blades. Thereafter, the remaining turbine blades are installed, and a special seal plate adapted to be installed from the axial direction is placed in the position corresponding to the finally installed turbine blades.
However, according to this proposal, when one of the turbine blades is required to be replaced, the special seal plate that can be removed in the axial direction is first removed, and the remaining seal plates are circumferentially shifted one after another until the base end of the turbine blade that is required to be replaced is revealed. Therefore, a plurality of seal plates are generally required to be moved about even when only a single turbine blade is required to be replaced. Therefore, the maintenance and service work for the axial turbine is not so simple as desired.

Sealing arrangement for an axial turbine wheel


A device for inspecting a firearm by directing light from an exterior source to the bore or barrel of the firearm includes a generally L-shaped, single piece, light-transmitting member having a first leg substantially cylindrical in cross section merging smoothly into a second outwardly flaring leg substantially non-cylindrical in cross section. The first leg and second leg each have convexly-shaped free ends and cooperate to increase the gathering, capture and distribution of light between the source and the bore of the firearm.

Devices using reflective light for examining the interior condition of a gun bore or barrel for wear, obstruction and other defects are well known. In general, such devices when placed in the receiving chamber of a firearm operate to transmit or refract light from an external source into the bore or barrel of a firearm and permit inspection from the muzzle end thereof. Over the years, sundry designs have evolved which employ various assemblies and materials to attain this common objective.
For example, one such device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,403,452 issued Jul. 9, 1946 to Novak. In this arrangement, a bent piece of constant diameter, cylindrical, thermoplastic material is embedded in a block of metal held in the breech of gun. A related device is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 3,228,108 issued Jan. 11, 1966 to Chaperon. Here, a combination bore sight and scope features a generally L-shaped, transparent material provided with a fused mirror. While devices of this type are generally satisfactory in accomplishing their basic goal, there remains a need to improve firearm inspection devices so that they will provide a better inspection quality, be more easily manufactured and be more positively handled, yet remain lightweight, durable and inexpensive.
Unlike prior art constructions which employed manually formed or bent Lucite or acrylic pipe, it would be preferable to seek a quality injection molded product utilizing a flowable material which has extremely high ultraviolet radiation absorption and a high refractive index to improve the transmission of light captured from an external source. In the same vein, it would be desirable to obtain a configuration which will optimize light gathering and distribution. It is further contemplated that, in the environment of firearm maintenance, gun powder and other surface residues could make the inspection device more difficult to handle so that provision should be made to enable a more positive handling of the inspection device. Moreover, the inspection device should remain simplistic in construction and use without dependency on batteries, switches, bulbs, wires and the like which compound the manufacturing and maintenance costs of some designs heretofore used.


A charging kit for inductively charging a rechargeable hearing instrument having an inductive coil, includes: a base unit having a first cavity; and an adapter configured to be received by the first cavity, wherein the adapter comprises a second cavity configured to receive the rechargeable hearing instrument; wherein the base unit is configured to determine a characteristic of the inductive coil of the hearing instrument; wherein the base unit is configured to provide a current by the base unit based at least in part on the determined characteristic of the inductive coil; and wherein the base unit is configured to inductively charge the rechargeable hearing instrument.

Hearing instruments (HI) require energy to function properly. Traditionally, the energy is provided by a battery, either disposable or rechargeable, the latter normally offering superior user experience. These rechargeable batteries are normally replenished using conventional, galvanic charging technology. Recently, however, wireless, and in particular inductive, charging has seen increased popularity, also in the field of hearing instruments.
Typically, charging of a rechargeable hearing instrument is enabled by means of a portable charging unit. As is widely known in the art, different types of hearing instruments, e.g. Behind-the-ear (BTE), Completely-in-the-canal (CIC), Receiver-in-ear (RIE), are purposefully designed and built in a different manner, with components being placed at the most suitable place for each particular type of device. In the same context, charging units are designed in parallel with the corresponding hearing instrument and with a tailored set of functionalities in order to maximally conform to the technical specification of the corresponding hearing instrument.
DE102015203536 discloses an adapter with an inductive coil for enabling inductive charging of a hearing aid. DE102015203536 primarily targets charging of the hearing aid while the aid is in use, i.e. arranged at the ear. As a consequence, the adapter is in preferred embodiments hook-shaped so that it, when attached to the hearing aid itself, may stay in place at the ear. A base part is used for galvanically supplying power to the adapter. To this purpose, the adapter, when in engagement with the hearing aid, is positioned in indentations provided in the base part.
In conformity with other documents belonging to the prior art, DE102015203536 fails to provide a universal inductive charging solution. In particular, DE102015203536 doesn't disclose a charging solution able to efficiently deal with different coil parameters, e.g. number of windings in the coil, thickness of the coil thread, size and general shape of the coil. Here, coil parameters and hence coil performance are typically selected so as to comply with the requirements of the specific HI-model.
US 2016/269836 relates to a wireless charging system for hearing instruments freely positionable in a charging device.

Method for inductive charging of a rechargeable hearing instrument


A velocity and acceleration are measured (14) in a method for determining a vehicle reference velocity, said vehicle reference velocity being used for determining and selecting a suitable transmission ratio. If a measured acceleration (aist) exceeds (16) a maximally possible acceleration (amax), a vehicle reference acceleration (aref) is determined depending on said exceeding. For this purpose, an acceleration correction value (BKF) is calculated (22) by means of which acceleration correction value a vehicle reference acceleration is calculated (24). The vehicle reference velocity (vref) is determined (26) by means of the vehicle reference acceleration (aref). A gearbox transmission ratio is determined (20) by means of the determined vehicle reference velocity. This branch of the procedure represents the case in which at least one wheel equipped with sensors slips.

When automatically selecting a gearbox transmission ratio, the velocity of the vehicle over the ground is to be taken into consideration. For this purpose, sensors for measuring the velocity or the acceleration are attached to one or more wheels of the vehicle. A velocity measured directly or determined by integrating a measured acceleration and, in the event that sensors are attached to several wheels, representing a mean velocity is used as a vehicle reference velocity for selecting the transmission ratio of a gearbox. In the event of slip of at least one wheel, the prior-art methods do not provide a suitable vehicle reference velocity for selecting the transmission ratio of the gearbox any more.
Wheel slip is also taken into consideration with antilock braking control systems. Such systems use various mathematical manipulations for estimating the velocity of a vehicle for comparison with the rotational velocity of a given vehicle wheel for calculating a wheel slip of this wheel, wherein the wheel slip is a parameter. DE-T2 689 08 007 describes a method for estimating a reference velocity or reference acceleration by periodic extrapolation. However, this method does not provide a suitable vehicle reference velocity for selecting the transmission ratio of the gearbox.

Method for determining a vehicle reference velocity


An axial multi-piston compressor having a drive shaft which rotates and a cylinder block having a multiplicity of cylinder bores and pistons within the cylinder bores. The cylinder block is associated with a crank chamber containing the fluid to be compressed and a lubricating oil mist. The peripheral wall of the crank chamber having a groove on the peripheral surface which groove collects oil and directs the oil to the shaft seal. The groove is partially curved in a direction counter to the direction of rotation of the shaft.

1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an axial multi-piston compressor used in, for example, an air-conditioning system incorporated in a vehicle such as an automobile, and more particularly, to an axial multi-piston compressor with an internal lubricating arrangement for a shaft seal unit incorporated therein.
2) Description of the Related Art
Generally, an axial multi-piston compressor comprises: a cylinder block having a plurality of cylinder bores radially formed therein and arranged with respect to the central axis thereof; a plurality of pistons slidably received in the cylinder bores, respectively; a front housing securely fixed to an front end wall of the cylinder block to form a crank chamber therebetween; a drive shaft axially extended through the crank chamber such that the ends thereof are rotatabiy supported by the front housing and the cylinder block, respectively; a conversion mechanism provided on the drive shaft within the crank chamber for converting a rotational movement of the drive shaft into a reciprocation of the pistons; a rear housing securely fixed to a rear end wall of the cylinder block to form a suction chamber and a discharge chamber therebetween; and a valve plate assembly provided between the cylinder block and the rear housing.
The valve plate assembly in particular comprises: a disc-like member having sets of a suction port and a discharge port opened to the suction chamber and the discharge chamber, respectively, each set being able to communicate with the corresponding one of the cylinder bores of the cylinder block; an inner valve sheet attached to the inner side surface of the disc-like member and having suction reed valve elements formed integrally therein, each of which is arranged so as to open and close the corresponding suction port of the disc-like member; and an outer valve sheet attached to the outer side surface of the disc-like member and having discharge reed valve elements formed integrally therein, each of which is arranged so as to open and close the corresponding discharge port of the disc-like member.
When the axial multi-piston compressor is incorporated in an air-conditioning system for a vehicle such as an automobile, the drive shaft is rotationally driven by the prime mover or engine of the automobile, and the suction chamber and the discharge chamber are in communication with an evaporator and a condenser of the air-conditioning system through an inlet port and an outlet port formed in the rear housing, to circulate a refrigerant in the air-conditioning system. The rotational movement of the drive shaft causes the pistons to be reciprocated in the cylinder bores due to the conversion mechanism provided on the drive shaft within the crank chamber. When each piston is reciprocated in the corresponding cylinder bore, and thus a suction stroke and a compression stroke are repeatedly executed therein, a suction stroke is executed in one of the aligned cylinder bores. During the suction stroke, the suction reed valve element is opened and the discharge reed valve element is closed, whereby the refrigerant is delivered from the suction chamber to the cylinder bore through the suction port. During the compression stroke, the suction reed valve element concerned is closed and the discharge reed valve element concerned is opened, whereby the delivered refrigerant is compressed and discharged from the cylinder bore into the discharge chamber, through the discharge reed valve element.
In the axial multi-piston compressor as mentioned above, the crank chamber is in communication with the suction chamber and the discharge chamber through a supply passage and an exhaust passage formed in the cylinder block and having each a suitable control valve incorporated therein, whereby the crank chamber is filled with the refrigerant including a lubricating oil mist. Thus, movable parts of the conversion mechanism are lubricated by the lubricating oil mist included in the refrigerant, whereby a seizure of the movable parts can be prevented.
Also, in the above-mentioned compressor, a front end of the drive shaft is projected outside from an opening formed in a neck portion of the front housing, so that the drive shaft is operatively connected to the prime mover of the vehicle for the rotation thereof. In this case, of course, the crank chamber must be sealed from the outside so that a leakage of the refrigerant through the neck portion of the front housing can be prevented. To this end, a shaft seal unit is provided on the front end of the drive shaft at the neck portion of the front housing, to thereby seal the crank chamber from the outside. The shaft seal unit may comprises a mechanical seal element, a rubber lip seal element or the like.
As is well known, the shaft seal unit should be sufficiently lubricated with a lubricating oil during operation of the compressor, before it can exhibit a proper and good function thereof. Conventionally, it has been proposed that the refrigerant including the lubricating oil mist is utilized for the lubrication of the shaft seal unit. In particular, the shaft seal unit is in communication with the crank chamber through an oil passage formed in an end wall of the front housing, whereby the refrigerant can be introduced from the crank chamber into the shaft seal unit. Nevertheless, the conventional proposal fails to sufficiently lubricate the shaft seal unit with the refrigerant, because, although the refrigerant including the lubricating oil mist merely reaches the shaft seal unit through the oil passage, a sufficient amount of lubricating oil in a liquid phase cannot be fed to the shaft seal unit.

Axial multi-piston compressor with internal lubricating arrangement for shaft seal unit

Kabushiki Kaisha Toyoda Jidoshokki Seisakusho


A process for effectively producing an alpha-olefin homopolymer or copolymer of two or more of alpha-olefins without using a great amount of an aluminum compound, is disclosed. In the process for producing a cyclic olefin based polymer according to the present invention, homopolymerization of an alpha-olefin or copolymerization of two or more of alpha-olefins is effected in the presence of a catalyst comprising, as main ingredients, the following Compounds (A), (B) and (C):. (A) a transition metal compound; PA1 (B) a compound capable of forming an ionic complex when reacted with a transition metal compound; and PA1 (C) an organoaluminum compound.

Heretofore, the Kaminsky type catalysts containing a transition metal compound and aluminoxane have been known as a soluble olefin polymerization catalyst. For example, the following catalysts are known. In the alpha-olefin polymerization, a catalyst composed of a zirconium compound and aluminoxane shows high polymerization activity (Japanese Patent Application Unexamined Publication No. Sho 58-19309). Stereo-regular polypropylene is produced using a catalyst composed of a zirconium compound having a ligand in which two indenyl groups are connected through an ethylene group, and aluminoxane (JP Pat. Appln. Unexamined Pub. No. Sho 61-130314). It is said that using these Kaminsky type catalysts, for example in the propylene polymerization, any of isotactic polypropylene, atactic polypropylene and syndiotactic polypropylene can be produced (Macromol. Chem., Rapid Commun. 4,417-421 (1983); Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 24,507-508 (1985); J. Am. Chem. Soc. 109,6544-6545 (1987); and J. Am. Chem. Soc. 110,6255-6256 (1988)).
In this case, as a transition metal compound useful for producing isotactic polypropylene, a transition metal compound having an ethylene bis(indenyl) ligand (JP Pat. Appln. Unexamined Pub. No. Sho 61-264010; Sho 64-51408; and Sho 64-66216); R(C.sub.5 (R').sub.4).sub.2 MeQp type metallocene compound reported by Ewen et al (JP Pat. Appln. Unexamined Pub. No. Sho 63-251405; Sho 63-295607; and Sho 64-74202); a metallocene compound cross-linked with silicon or the like (JP Pat. Appln. Unexamined Pub. No. Hei 3-12406); and the like are known. Further, a metallocene compound useful for producing a stereo-block polymer is known (JP Pat. Appln. Unexamined Pub. No. Sho 63-142004 and Sho 63-2005).
However, the above-mentioned polymerization methods require use of a great amount of expensive aluminoxane which is 100 to 10,000 times the amount of a transition metal compound to obtain sufficient activity. Further, due to use of a great amount of aluminoxane, a substantial amount of metal will remain in the polymerized products, resulting in deterioration and coloring of the products. In these processes, after polymerization, deashing treatment of the resultant products should be sufficiently conducted. Thus, these processes have a problem in productivity.
Further, aluminoxane is produced from the reaction of highly reactive trimethylaluminum and water, leading to risks. Furthermore, the reaction product is a mixture of several materials containing unreacted materials, and it is quite difficult to isolate one single substance. Thus, management of catalysts to obtain a product having stable physical properties is quite difficult.
On the other hand, JP Pat. Appln. PCT Pub. No. Hei 1-502036 discloses a polymerization process for producing an alpha-olefin polymer using, as a catalyst, a specific boron complex containing ammonium and a metallocene compound. However, the catalyst shows extremely low polymerization activity and thus is not suitable for industrial use.
Further, syndiotactic polyolefins, particularly syndiotactic polypropylene (SPP) are known. However, there are some problems in all conventional processes for producing syndiotactic polyolefins.
For example, it is known that SPP can be produced at -78.degree. C. using a catalyst system composed of VCl.sub.4, anisole and dibutylaluminum chloride (By B. Lotz et al, Macromolecules 21, 1988, 2375). However, the polymerization temperature is extremely low. Also, the stereo-regularity of the resultant product and the yield are extremely low.
Further, it is known that SPP can be obtained, at a drastically improved yield, at 25.degree. to 70.degree. C. using a catalyst composed of isopropylidene(cyclopentadienyl)(9-fluorenyl)zirconium dichloride and methylaluminoxane (By J. A. Ewen et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc., 110, 1988, 6255). However, the SPP obtained in this process has low molecular weight.
Further, it is known that SPP having high molecular weight can be produced using [phenyl(methyl)methylene](9-fluorenyl)(cyclopentadienyl)zirconium dichloride or diphenylmethylene(9-fluorenyl)(cyclopentadienyl)zirconium dichloride, and methylaluminoxane (JP Pat. Appln. Unexamined Pub. No. Hei 2-274703). However, in this process, a great amount of expensive aluminoxane against a transition metal compound should be employed.
Accordingly, a process for producing syndiotactic polyolefin in an industrially effective way at high yield, has not yet been found.

Production process of olefin based polymers


A method of increasing a tolerance to misalignment errors in forming an interconnect via includes: providing a dielectric substrate including at least first and second adjacent metal conductors laterally from one another in a lower metal wiring layer of the integrated circuit; forming a capping layer over at least a portion of an upper surface of the substrate; forming an insulting layer on at least a portion of the capping layer; forming an opening through the insulating and capping layers to expose the first metal conductor; forming a conductive pedestal on the first metal conductor, the conductive pedestal capping an overlay region in the substrate between the first and second metal conductors resulting from misalignment of the opening relative to the first metal conductor; forming a conductive liner on sidewalls of the opening and on the conductive pedestal; and filling the opening with a conductive material to form the via.

The present invention relates to the electrical, electronic, and computer arts, and, more particularly, to interconnection structures and methods for fabricating same.
In standard integrated circuit (IC) fabrication technology, interconnects serve as pathways of the IC, connecting various elements or functional blocks of the IC into a functioning whole and to the outside world. An IC typically has multiple interconnect levels (or metal layers) which vary in number depending on the complexity of the device and/or the fabrication technology employed, among other factors. These interconnect levels are formed in distinct vertical planes separated from one another by insulating layers formed therebetween. Elements in two different interconnect levels are electrically connected using vias, which are essentially holes etched through the IC and filled or lined with conductive material to form a conductive plug.
As IC feature size and spacing continually shrink, it becomes increasingly more challenging to align the vias with their underlying metal wires being connected. Such misalignment results in an overlay error, which can cause an unwanted electrical short between the via and a corresponding lower metal wire. Alternatively, this misalignment of the interconnect via may go undiscovered during wafer testing, only to manifest itself subsequently as time-dependent dielectric breakdown in the IC device, thereby resulting in premature failure of the device or severe performance degradation.

Interconnect structure with fully self-aligned via pattern formation

International Business Machines Corporation


A method includes: a first device sending to a second device a deployment request for deploying a homomorphically-encrypted data model on the second device, wherein the deployment request comprises ciphertext model parameters and a public key for the homomorphic encryption; the second device obtaining a first ciphertext security assessment index through computation using the ciphertext model parameters, and sending the same to the first device; the first device decrypting the received first ciphertext security assessment index using a private key corresponding to the public key to generate a plaintext security assessment index, and forwarding the plaintext security assessment index to the second device; and the second device encrypting the plaintext security assessment index using the public key to generate a second ciphertext security assessment index, comparing both indices to determine consistency for determining whether to deploy the homomorphically-encrypted data model.

With the continuous development of Internet technology and the emergence of the cloud computing concept, more and more companies and users tend to use the Internet for data communication. As a result, many companies establish various data models on their platforms to process various types of data from various sources. The processing comprises various data operations such as receiving, computation, updating, storage, and sending data. For example, a widely used data model is a machine learning model which can obtain new knowledge or skills by simulating or implementing human learning behaviors, and reorganize existing knowledge structures to continuously improve its performance. The machine learning model is the core of artificial intelligence and a key technology for enabling a computer to be artificially intelligent, the application of which covers all areas of artificial intelligence. The machine learning model data mainly uses induction and synthesis of data, rather than deduction of data. Data models can be classified into unencrypted data models (plaintext data models) and encrypted data models (ciphertext data models). When a data model is deployed, security assessment of the model is required. Regarding a plaintext data model, the security thereof can be determined directly, but the privacy of a data demand party cannot be protected. On the other hand, regarding a ciphertext data model, the privacy of the data demand party is protected, but it becomes difficult for a data source party that plans for the deployment to directly assess the security of the model. Therefore, the need to improve a model security deployment solution calls for a more secure and robust model security deployment assessment mechanism.

Method and device for security assessment of encryption models


The embodiments disclosed herein describe a switching ASIC that provides a dynamic single-bit routing and multiplexing function in an emulation system. The switching ASIC may receive a set of incoming data streams from a first set of emulation devices (e.g., emulation ASICs), disassemble each data stream to the constituent bits, dynamically multiplex the bits, reassemble the multiplexed bits into outgoing data streams, and transmit the outgoing data streams to a second set of emulation devices. Multiple statically scheduled selection tables (UCSWs), one for each output lane of the switching ASIC, drive the selection and routing of bits from input slots of various input lanes to the output slots of the output lane.

Modern semiconductor based integrated circuits (ICs) are incredibly complex and contain millions of circuit devices, such as transistors, and millions of interconnections between the circuit devices. Designing such complex circuits cannot be accomplished manually, and circuit designers use computer based electronic design automation (EDA) tools for synthesis, debugging, and functional verification of the ICs. EDA tools can emulate of a user's logical system (e.g., an IC design) to perform pre-silicon functional verification, firmware and software development, and post-silicon debug. To achieve this, a typical processor-based emulation system comprises several application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), often referred to as emulation ASICs, all working together to execute a program generated by an emulation compiler generated from the user's IC design. The compiled program models a design under test (DUT) that is a logical representation of the user's IC design running on the several emulation ASICs of the emulation system.
The emulation ASICs may be organized at various levels of hierarchy. For example, a logic board may contain several ASICs. Several logic boards may form a cluster, and several clusters may form a server rack. Furthermore, a cluster may encompass several drawers within the server rack. In addition to running own instructions, each emulation ASIC may communicate with other emulation ASICs in other logic boards, in other drawers, in other clusters, and/or other server racks. As different ASICs are modelling/running different interconnected portions of the DUT, the transmission of data between different ASICs is an important function within the emulation system.
Conventional emulation systems have fixed interconnects between their components. The fixed interconnects are inefficient because some components may require multiple hops to communicate with each other whereas other components may have unnecessary fat connections between them. For example, in a conventional emulation system, due to backplane limitations, each emulation ASIC within in a logic board within a cluster is connected to only half of the emulation ASICs in the other logic boards of the cluster. A communication between the unconnected emulation ASICs therefore requires extra hops through the connected emulation ASICs. Another conventional emulation system may have a cable connecting an emulation ASIC 1(i) of a first logic board to an emulation ASIC 2(i) of a second logic board. The cable therefore may form a dedicated fat connection between the ASICs 1(i) and 2(i) and using this connection may usually require funneling signals from other ASICs, resulting in extra hops.
Therefore, conventional emulation systems offering fixed connections may require unnecessary hops from a source ASIC to a destination ASIC and may provide seldom-used dedicated connections in other cases. Furthermore, conventional interconnect systems may be based upon packet switching and may not provide the functionality of single-bit switching. As such, a significant improvement in the interconnectivity of various components of emulation is required.

Dynamic one-bit multiplexing switch for emulation interconnect


A semiconductor memory device comprises a plurality of memory cell groups. Each memory cell group includes at least two memory cells. Each memory cell group includes a read section and a write section. The data of a memory cell is read from one bit line to a read global bit line through the read section. The write section is shared by at least two memory cells in the same memory cell group. Thus, writing of data in a memory cell is desirably achieved although the memory cell has a common 6-transistor structure.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor memory device and specifically to a data writing method.
A conventional SRAM circuit is shown in FIG. 8. In FIG. 8, a large number of memory cells 100 are arranged in an array of rows and columns (only two cells are shown in FIG. 8). Each memory cell 100 is connected to a word line WL and a pair of bit lines (BIT, NBIT). Each memory cell 100 includes, as shown in FIG. 7, two load transistors MP1 and MP2 connected to predetermined power supply VDD, two drive transistors MN1 and MN2 connected to ground power supply VSS, and two transfer transistors MN3 and MN4. The gates of the two transfer transistors MN3 and MN4 are connected to the word line WL. The drains of the transfer transistors MN3 and MN4 are connected to the bit line pair (BIT, NBIT). The bit line pair (BIT, NBIT) is connected to a sense amplifier 800, which receives an enable signal SAE, through a column selector 801, which receives a select signal CA, and a pair of signal lines SO and NSO as shown in FIG. 8.
In the SRAM having such a structure, at the time of reading data, a word line WL which is connected to a memory cell 100 to be accessed is activated, the electrical potential is discharged from one of the pair of bit lines (BIT, NBIT) which are precharged to a predetermined potential when on standby, so that a minute potential difference is caused between the bit lines BIT and NBIT. This minute amplitude signal is amplified by the sense amplifier 800 through a column selector 801, and the amplified signal is output.
However, along with a decrease in the power supply voltage which is required by finer designs of elements and wirings, the potential difference of the minute amplitude signal which activates the sense amplifier 800 has had a larger ratio with respect to the power supply voltage. Thus, it has become more difficult to shorten a time interval between activation of the word line WL and activation of the sense amplifier 800.
For example, Joel Silberman et al., "A 1.6 ns Access, 1 GHz Two-Way Set-Predicted and Sum-Indexed 64-kByte Data Cache", 2000 Symposium on VLSI Circuits Digest of Technical Paper pp.220-221, proposes a structure shown in FIG. 9 which overcomes the above-described problems. In the structure of this document, 8 memory cells 900 (only two cells are shown in FIG. 9) are connected to a single read bit line RBIT, and this read bit line RBIT is connected to a global bit line RGBIT through a read section 910 which is formed by an NAND circuit ND and one N-type transistor N1. Thus, at the time of reading data, the time required for the bit line precharged at a predetermined potential to reach 0 V is shortened because the number of memory cells 900 connected to the read bit line RBIT is 8. Accordingly, the operation speed in a low-voltage condition is fast as compared with the SRAM having the structure of FIG. 8.
However, at the time of writing data, it is necessary to forcibly change the potential of one of the pair of bit lines (BIT, NBIT) to 0 V. If a write bit line WBIT is not provided in the semiconductor memory device of FIG. 9, the read bit line RBIT and the global bit line RGBIT are undesirably activated during the write operation, and as a result, data to be read is destroyed. In view of such, in the semiconductor memory device of FIG. 9, it is necessary to provide a write bit line WBIT independently of the read bit line RBIT. As shown in FIG. 9, the memory cell 900 is formed by 7 transistors, which include write access transistors MN3 and MN4 and a read access transistor MN5. Each transistor is connected to a pair of write bit lines WBIT and NWBIT and the read bit line RBIT. With such a structure, writing of data in the memory cell 900 is possible.
However, in the semiconductor memory device shown in FIG. 9, the number of transistors included in each memory cell 900 is 7, which is larger than that of a common memory cell of a 6-transistor structure, and accordingly, the memory area is larger than that of the 6-transistor structure.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A foam detector generally including a pair of leads positioned adjacent to a surface layer of a fluid so that foam created on a surface layer of the fluid contacts at least one lead and sends a signal to a controller connected to the leads.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to foam detectors and, more particularly, to foam detectors used in conjunction with a concentrator for gas chromatographs.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
When a gas is diffused through a fluid, bubbles can form and collect on a surface layer of the fluid. The accumulation of bubbles is commonly referred to as foam.
In some applications, such as in gas chromatography sample preparation, sample vessels are used to extract volatile organics from water samples or the like. A pressurized sparging gas is introduced into the water sample and diffuses through the water sample. The volatile organics are carried out of the water sample by the sparging gas and concentrated by a trap in a sample concentrator. The concentrated organics are then released from the trap and passed to an analyzing instrument, such as a gas chromatograph. If the bubbling action of the sparging gas creates foam over the surface layer of the water sample, the foam may or may not be contained or dissipated by a bubble breaker defined by the sample vessel. The presence of foam can lead to erroneous measurements or contamination of the sample concentrator. U.S. Pat. No. 4,910,996 to Pfisterer et al. discusses foaming problems in gas chromatographs used in beer processing. To combat the foam problem, the Pfisterer patent discloses using pressure regulators to pressurize a beer sample and prevent outgassing of the beer. However, if outgassing does occur, there is no way to test for the presence of the foam prior to the advancement of the concentrated prepared sample into internal tubing housed within the sample concentrator or the gas chromatograph.
Another problem not addressed by the prior art is the process of cleaning the sample concentrator if inadvertent contamination of the internal tubing does occur. Cleaning a contaminated sample concentrator generally takes a few weeks and includes the steps of taking the contaminated sample concentrator offline, shipping the sample concentrator to a cleaning facility, and reinstalling the cleaned sample concentrator.
To help obviate the disadvantages of the prior art, the present invention generally includes a device for detecting the presence of foam positioned adjacent to a surface layer of a fluid. The device generally includes a first lead positioned adjacent to the surface layer of the fluid, a second lead positioned adjacent to the surface layer of the fluid and spaced apart or electrically insulated from the first lead, and a controller connected to the first lead and the second lead. The first lead and the second lead may be thermocouples, with the first lead spaced at a further linear distance from the surface layer of the fluid than the second lead. Alternatively, the first lead and the second lead may be made from an electrically conductive material.
A method for the detection of foam positioned adjacent to a surface layer of a fluid is also provided. The method generally includes the steps of positioning a pair of leads adjacent to the surface layer of the fluid, with the leads each spaced apart or electrically insulated from one another. Additional steps include forming foam on the surface layer of the fluid, bringing the foam in physical contact with one or both of the pair of leads after the step of forming foam on the surface of the fluid, and registering a presence of the foam. Still further steps include (1) reducing the temperature of one of the leads after the step of bringing the foam in physical contact with one of the pair of leads and (2) flowing an electrical current from one of the pair of leads, through the foam, to another of the pair of leads, after the step of bringing the foam in physical contact with both of the pair of leads.
One particular application of the present invention is a system for detecting the presence of foam in gas chromatography. The system generally includes a gas chromatograph, a sample concentrator, such as a modular sample concentrator fluidly connected to the gas chromatograph, a sample vessel defining an internal cavity fluidly connected to the, sample concentrator, a pair of leads positioned in the internal cavity of the sample vessel, and a controller connected to the pair of leads. A fluid and foam may also be included, the fluid contained in the internal cavity of the sample vessel and the foam positioned on a surface layer of the fluid, wherein the foam physically touches at least one of the pair of leads. The modular sample concentrator may generally include a first body section housing, internal tubing, and a second body section housing control electronics, wherein the first body section and the second body section are removably connected to one another. Cleaning the sample concentrator includes the steps of removing a contaminated first body section from a second body section, replacing the contaminated first body section with a clean first body section, and resuming operation of the sample concentrator.
The present invention allows foam to be detected by one or both of the pair of leads, through the controller, and alert the operator so that the system can be shut down or continue to operate, depending on preprogram settings. Moreover, if the sample concentrator is contaminated by foam, the sample concentrator can be easily and quickly returned to operative service.
These and other advantages of the present invention will be clarified in the description of the preferred embodiments taken together with the attached drawings in which like reference numerals represent like elements throughout.

Foam detector for concentrator attachment for gas chromatograph


A method of controlling a placement apparatus including a stage, a support table, a rotary drive mechanism rotating the stage including a first motion conversion mechanism configured to convert a rotary motion of a drive motor into a linear motion of a moving body and a second motion conversion mechanism configured to convert a linear motion of the moving body into a rotary motion of the stage, and a controller. The method includes a first correction step of calculating a first correction value of a drive angle of the stage for a linear movement amount of the moving body, a second correction step of obtaining a second correction value based on an error for each predetermined pitch, and a drive step of rotationally driving the stage based on the first and second correction values obtained in the first correction step and the second correction step.

A substrate inspection apparatus is known that inspects electrical characteristics of a semiconductor device by placing a wafer on which a semiconductor device is formed on a placement apparatus, and supplying a current to the semiconductor device from a tester via a probe or the like.
Patent Document 1 discloses a placement mechanism configured to adjust the rotation direction of a target object.

Placement apparatus control method, placement apparatus, and inspection apparatus


Typical electronic device feet are adhered to a bottom surface of an electronic device housing. However, adhered feet are not generally readily removable and replaceable without also removing and replacing the adhesive, which may be messy and time consuming. Implementations described and claimed herein provide an electronic device with a device housing including an aperture therein, a retaining ring oriented within a seat, the retainer ring and the seat concentric with the aperture, and a device foot oriented within and protruding outward from the aperture. The device foot has a concentric extraction surface and the retaining ring compresses against the concentric extraction surface and secures the device foot in place against the device housing.

Electronic devices are often placed on a work surface during use and expected to remain in a desired position. Relatively small loads caused by a user, or loads caused by the device's operation itself (e.g., vibration) should not cause the device to move across the work surface. As such, feet are often adhered or otherwise attached to bottom surfaces of electronic devices to provide points of contact with the work surface with a high coefficient of friction. Further, the feet are often made of a resiliently elastic material that resists damage thereto. Also, by acting as points of contact with the work surface, the feet protect the remaining bottom surfaces of electronic devices from damage caused by contact with the work surface (e.g., scratches). Still further, the feet offset the remaining bottom surfaces from a work surface, which may aid in thermal management of the electronic devices.
Adhered feet are not generally readily removable and replaceable without also removing and replacing the adhesive, which may be messy and time consuming. Further, over time the feet may become inadvertently dislodged from the electronic device housing and may need to be quickly and easily replaced.


In a multi-stage switching system, a time stamp is attached to each cell at an entry point of the system indicating the time of arrival of the cell, and the cell is transferred to a network comprising multiple switching stages each being composed of basic switching modules. The switching modules of all stages are interconnected to form the network. Each switching module comprises a self-routing switch and buffers connected thereto. The time stamp of cells arriving at a given one of the switching modules, where the cells are likely to arrive out of sequence, is constantly monitored and a minimum value of the time stamps is detected. When an empty buffer exists in the given switching module, an idle cell containing the time stamp of the minimum value is generated at the output of the empty buffer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to switching systems, and more specifically to an asynchronous transfer mode multi-stage switching system with each stage being composed of basic switching blocks or modules.
2. Description of the Related Art
Self-routing switching systems have been proposed for switching high-speed asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) cells according to the destination address contained in their cell headers. Since cells of a given connection may take different routes of the system before arriving at the same destination depending on the traffic pattern, it is important to maintain cell sequence integrity for all cells of the connection. This is achieved by putting cells in a queue and waiting for an earlier cell when they arrive out of sequence. However, a total delay time of a cell transferred through the switching system would become substantial if out-of-sequence conditions occur in successive stages of the system.
To achieve low cell transfer delay a cell sequence control technique is described in an article "Design of a Multi-Stage Self-Routing Switch with a Distributed Cell Sequence Control", Hitoshi Obara, Japanese-language technical journal B-1, J72-B-1, No. 9, pages 698 to 709, the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communications Engineers of Japan. According to this known technique, a time stamp is attached to each incoming cell as it arrives at an entry point of a switching system and distributed evenly across the input links of a multi-stage self-routing network. When no cell exists at an entry point of the system, an idle cell containing a time stamp only is generated at that point and transferred to the self-routing network. Each stage of the system is composed of basic switching modules each consisting of N self-routing switches of (1.times.N) configuration and N groups of N first-in-first-out buffers, with the FIFO buffers being connected to respective outlets of the self-routing switches. N sequencers are associated with respective groups of the buffers to deliver cells to an output link of the switching module according to their time stamp values. When each self-routing switch receives an idle cell, it broadcasts its copies to all buffers.
However, buffer empty probability still exists in a switching module and this probability increases with the size of the switching module as well as with a biased traffic pattern of cells even if their arrival rates are uniform across all entry points of the system. Thus, the delay time reduction effect of the prior art switching system is degraded.

Low delay ATM switching system using idle cells stamped with reference time


Embodiments of the invention are directed to systems, methods, and computer program products for utilizing dynamic trait compilation and recognition to respond to requests for finite resources associated with a distributed platform are allocated across the distributed platform in a prioritized manner.

The ability for a distributed platform to efficiently and effectively allocate resources amongst users can be impeded as the size and complexity of the platform increases. The potential for inefficiency in resource allocation can be compounded where individual users of the platform have multiple points of access with the platform, non-uniform expectations regarding the performance of the platform, and non-static resource requirements. As such, there is a need to improve how resources are allocated across a distributed platform.

System for prioritized resource allocation across a distributed platform


A method and system which seamlessly combines natural way of handwriting (real world) with interactive digital media and technologies (virtual world) for providing a mixed or augmented reality perception to the user is disclosed.

Teachers play an important role in the social and cognitive development of children. However, traditional teaching approaches put the focus on teachers and consider students as secondary, as discussed in "New media learning for children—interact with color and tempo", Liu, K. R., Chen, Y. S., Chen, K. T., Chen, H. S., Proc. IEEE International Conference on Sensor Networks, Ubiquitous, and Trustworthy Computing. Volume 2, Taichung, Taiwan (2006) 124-129. This results in lower learning efficiency, since students may become passive and not fully attentive to the material. To improve learning among the diverse group of children, the initiative must come from the learners rather than the teachers. This can be achieved by the use of novel teaching approaches, integrating intuitive design and multimedia technologies. Advances in sensors and media technologies have made it possible to design real-time human-computer interface (HCI) applications suitable for the task. Such applications are receptive to the user's needs, easy to use, and offer multi-sensory experiences.
Although the importance of human tutors cannot be denied in the cognitive and social development of children, it can be enhanced with the use of interactive media technology to enrich the learning process. Emerging interactive media technologies have the potential to not only help young people learn, but also engender a true love of learning, as discussed in "Children and interactive media—a compendium of current research and directions for the future", Wartella, E., O'Keefe, B., Scantlin, R., Markle Foundation, 2000. Smart toys have been designed to stimulate creative and imaginative abilities in children, as discussed in "TSU.MI.KI: Stimulating children's creativity and imagination with interactive blocks", Itoh, Y., et al., Proc. 2nd International Conference on Creating, Connecting and Collaborating through Computing, Kyoto, Japan, 2004, pages 62-70. Researchers have been working on making the learning process for children more intuitive by exploring new paradigms of interaction, as discussed in "Technologies for lifelong kindergarten. Educational Technology Research and Development" Resnick, M., 46(4), 1998. There are also some haptics-enabled learning environments, as discussed in "Haptic desktop for assisted handwriting and drawing", Portillo, O., Avizzano, C., Raspolli, M., Bergamasco, M., Proc. IEEE International Workshop on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, Nashville, Tenn., USA (2005) 512-17, but they require more expensive equipment. In the inventors' previous work the inventors strived to bring the imaginative fantasy world of children in to physical reality by using augmented reality and tangible user interface (TUI) technologies, as discussed in "Magic cubes for social and physical family entertainment", Zhou, Z., Cheok, A. D., Li, Y., Kato, H., CHI Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Portland, Oreg., USA (2005) 1156-1157. This encouraged creative thinking and social interaction among children and their families.
Additionally, attempts have been made as disclosed in existing patents claiming to teach and improve student's handwriting skills. These are U.S. Pat. No. 6,215,901, "Pen Based Computer Handwriting Instruction, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,730,602, "Computerized Method and Apparatus for Teaching Handwriting". In U.S. Pat. No. 6,215,901B, for example, a pen based computing system is used to acquire the handwriting sample, and claims to capture writing instrument or implement movement (see patent file page 9, selection 65) over the sensor board, tablet, which is capable of translating the pen stroke information in to electronic signals. The tablet also transmits these signals to connected computer so that it can display the similar stroke on the computer display panel for user to view. Furthermore to properly display the strokes inventor clamps the paper in special position so as to match the orientation on the computer display panel. (see patent page 9, 1st column of summary of the invention, first five paragraphs).
Thus, there is a need for a method and a system which addresses the limitations of conventional system and methods and seamlessly combines natural way of handwriting (real world) with interactive digital media technologies (virtual world) for providing a mixed reality perception to the user.

Interactive transcription system and method


A universal joint yoke having a tubular body and a pair of ears projecting generally axially therefrom is provided. The ears-have an inner surface, an outer surface and an ear connecting surface. The ear connecting surface has a pair of lower portions, a pair of transition portions and an upper portion. The lower portions are oriented such that a generally straight line drawn in the tubular body connecting surface plane goes through (i) a point at the junction of the ear outer surface and the ear connecting surface; (ii) a point at the junction of the ear inner surface and the ear connecting surface; and (iii) a point on the axis of the tubular body. The upper portion is oriented such that a generally straight line drawn between (i) a point on the junction of the ear outer surface and the ear connecting surface and (ii) a point at the junction of the ear inner surface and the ear connecting surface is generally parallel to the common axis. The universal joint yoke includes a generally concave endcap.

1. Field Of The Invention:
This invention relates to a universal joint yoke and an associated method and more specifically to a universal joint yoke which is formed by a vacuum die casting process and which is configured to function efficiently as a torque transmitting device.
2. Background Information:
A universal joint is a well known mechanical device which is capable of transmitting rotation from a first shaft to second shaft that is not collinear with the first shaft. One application for the universal joint is in vehicles such as automobiles. Examples of prior art universal joints are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 699,904 and 719,411.
A universal joint yoke is a piece that connects to each of the drive shafts. Each yoke consists of a tubular body which has an end for receiving the shaft and another end from which a pair of ears project axially. The ears each define a hole for mounting of a bearing. The two bearings are attached to form the universal joint "cross".
Universal joint yokes have traditionally been made from an assembly of components welded together or machined from forged metal blanks. The disadvantages of the welded yoke are that there is a weakness in the yoke at the welded joint and the high component and labor costs. The disadvantage of the forged yoke is that the material is very expensive and much of it is machined away as scrap. Furthermore, the forgoing process limits the shape of the resulting yoke, thus producing inefficient use of the forged metal.
It has been known to make universal joint yokes from castings, however, these cast yokes had unacceptably high porosity which adversely affected the performance of universal joint yoke. Additionally, because of the high porosity, drive shaft tubes could not be welded to the cast yokes.
The shape of the universal joint yoke is especially important for efficient use of the material of which the yoke is composed. The shape of the yoke also affects the stiffness thereof as well as the distribution of stresses thereon. The strongest forces on the yoke are concentrated at the base portion of the ears where the ear is adjacent to the upper surface of the tubular body. Prior art yokes had flat ears which extended axially from the body, and thus were vulnerable at the junction of the ears and the body to metal fatigue. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,192,153.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,334,414 discloses a universal joint yoke having ears with a cylindrical outer surface and a cylindrical inner surface. The shape of the ears are inturned towards the rotational axis so that the depth of the bore can be increased. This patent, however, is not concerned with the stiffness of the ears or with the distribution of stresses thereon.
Therefore, despite the prior art universal joint yokes, there remains a need for a universal joint yoke that is shaped to result in more uniform distribution of stresses, has greater stiffness and that is lighter in weight than prior art yokes. There is also a need for a method of making a universal joint yoke which is efficient and cost effective while producing a high quality universal joint yoke.


The disclosure relates to a hearing device comprising a housing surrounding a venting channel comprising a valve member moveable relative to the venting channel between different positions comprising a first valve position and a second valve position, an actuator configured to provide an actuation force with a direction and a magnitude acting on the valve member, and a controller a controller configured to provide a first control signal controlling the actuator to provide the actuation force in a first direction, and to provide a second control signal controlling the actuator to provide the actuation force in a second direction. The disclosure further relates to a method of operating such a hearing device.

Hearing devices may be used to improve the hearing capability or communication capability of a user, for instance by compensating a hearing loss of a hearing-impaired user, in which case the hearing device is commonly referred to as a hearing instrument such as a hearing aid, or hearing prosthesis. A hearing device may also be used to produce a sound in a user's ear canal. Sound may be communicated by a wire or wirelessly to a hearing device, which may reproduce the sound in the user's ear canal. Hearing devices are often employed in conjunction with communication devices, such as smartphones, for instance when listening to sound data processed by the communication device and/or during a phone conversation operated by the communication device. More recently, communication devices have been integrated with hearing devices such that the hearing devices at least partially comprise the functionality of those communication devices.
Some types of hearing devices commonly comprise a housing configured to be at least partially inserted into an ear canal. For instance, the hearing device can include two earpieces each comprising such a housing for wearing in a respective ear canal. When the housing of a hearing device is at least partially inserted into an ear canal, it may form an acoustical seal with an ear canal wall such that it blocks the ear canal so that an inner region of the ear canal between the housing and the eardrum is acoustically insulated from the ambient environment outside the ear canal to some extent. Isolation provided by hearing devices may be desirable because it can prevent interference of ambient sound with the acoustic output of the hearing device. However, because ambient sound may be blocked from the eardrum, it may prevent a user of the hearing device from directly hearing external sounds such as someone trying to communicate with the user. In addition, sealing the ear canal can create an occlusion effect in the ear canal, whereby the hearing device wearer may perceive "hollow" or "booming" echo-like sounds, which can have a profoundly disturbing impact on the hearing experience.
An active vent may be included in the hearing device comprising a venting channel extending through the housing's inner volume by which an atmospheric connection between the inner region of the ear canal and the ambient environment outside the ear canal can be provided. The occlusion effect can thus be mitigated or circumvented by a pressure compensation between the inner region of the ear canal and the ambient environment outside the ear canal. The active vent further comprises an acoustic valve allowing to adjust the venting channel such that an effective size of the venting channel can be enlarged or reduced, for instance such that the venting channel is either in a more opened or closed state. The adjustment of the effective size may thus either allow sound to be increasingly vented from the ear canal through the housing to the ambient environment, or to restrict or prevent such transmission of sound. The adjustment can be actuated by an actuator which can be operatively coupled to a controller providing a control signal for the actuation.
Patent application publication No. US 2017/0208382 A1 describes an in-ear speaker comprising an active vent including a membrane enclosed inside an earpiece housing, wherein the active vent can be switched between an open state and a closed state of the venting channel by an actuator comprising a coil in a magnetic field. Patent application publication No. EP 2 164 277 A2 discloses an earphone device comprising an active vent with a leaf valve consisting of two conductive layers and an electroactive polymer layer. The leave valve is surrounding an opening of a sound tube enclosed by an earpiece housing. The opening can be either open or closed by providing a current to actuate the conductive layers of the leaf valve. International patent application publication No. WO 2019/056715 A1 discloses an earpiece of a hearing device including a sound conduit housing and an active vent. The active vent comprises an acoustic valve with a valve member moveably coupled with the housing and an actuator configured to provide a magnetic field. By the magnetic field, a driving force for a motion of the acoustic valve relative to the housing can be provided in order to adjust an effective size of a venting channel extending through an opening in a wall of the housing. European patent application No. EP 3 471 432 A1 discloses a sound channel housing integrated in an earpiece of a hearing device. A venting channel extends through the sound channel enclosed by the housing between an output opening at a front end of the sound channel, and a side opening provided at a side wall of the housing. An acoustic valve member is moveable relative to the side opening between a first position, in which the acoustic valve leaves the side opening open, and a second position, in which the valve member closes the side opening. The movement of the valve member can be actuated by a coil configured to produce a magnetic field interacting with a magnet fixed to the valve member.
The above mentioned constituent parts of the active vent including an acoustic valve and an actuator are required to allow a basic functionality of adjusting the effective size of the venting channel. Yet such an arrangement can be prone to operational errors. For instance, obstructions in the pathway of the valve member, such as ingress accumulating over time in the venting channel, can lead to a disfunction of the regular active vent functionality of enlarging and reducing the effective size of the venting channel A verification of a proper functioning of the active vent, however, can be rather intricate due to a rather small size and a rather hidden deployment of the constituent parts inside an ear canal.
More generally, there is an increasing demand for hearing devices which have additional functionality beyond the regular functionality of the active vent. The additional functionality may be associated with the regular active vent operation such as, for instance, a functionality allowing to increase the reliability of the active vent or a functionality allowing for a checking of the active vent's operational state. The additional functionality may also not directly be related to the regular active vent operation such as, for instance, a cleaning functionality and/or a user notification functionality. But the active vent's constituent parts require additional space. An additional functionality of the hearing device may require even more additional space. Available space, however, is limited by the ear canal dimension imposing size restrictions on the hearing device. To overcome those size limitations, it would be desirable to equip the active vent with additional functionality and/or to employ the active vent for such an additional functionality.

Hearing device comprising an active vent and method for its operation


A method of loading a program, wherein a relative address format file is transformed into a program format including a set of records each having an instruction and instruction relocation information, and wherein a loader receives the records one by one from a file of the above-mentioned program format, transforms the relative format program into an absolute address format program, and loads the absolute address format program on the memory.

The present invention relates to a method for loading a program, and more particularly to a method for generating an absolute address program from a relative address program and loading the absolute address program into memory. In addition, the present invention relates to a computer software product, such as a computer-readable medium, that contains the above-mentioned method for loading a program.
Two types of program object codes are absolute address codes and relative address codes. Absolute address codes are instructions that use absolute addresses when referring to data in memory or designating branch destinations. Programs that CPU's can execute directly are programs written using absolute addresses.
Relative address codes are instructions that designate memory addresses or branch destinations by using relative addresses such as symbolic addresses. Since CPU's cannot execute a program which is written using relative addresses, a relative address program is converted into an absolute address program through a loader prior to execution by the CPU. Unlike the absolute address programs, it is possible to specify storage locations for relative address programs when they are loaded into memory. Relative address format programs are currently used in many computers because it is possible to freely select storage locations in memory for the relative address format programs.
A relative address format program file includes a program proper and relocation information. Relocation information is information that is referred to by the loader when converting a relative address format program into an absolute address format program. This is outlined in Chapter 5, Loader, particularly in Sub-chapter 5.1.5, Relocating Loader, pp. 170-174 of System Program I by John J. Donovan, 1976, published by Nippon Computer Kyokai. The most common of the program file formats is COFF (Common Object File Format), a detailed description of which, is given in Chapter 4, File Formats a. Out (4), pp. 1-2 of AT&T UNIX SYSTEM V Programmers Reference Manual, 1990.


A sputtering target consists of a sintered body having a component composition consisting of: Ga of 10 to 40 at. % and Na of 0.1 to 15 at. % as metal elements; and the balance being Cu and inevitable impurities. The sintered body contains the Na in a form of Na compounds consisting of at least one compound selected from the group consisting of sodium sulfate, sodium sulfite, sodium selenate, and sodium selenite, the sintered body has a composition in which a Na compound phase is dispersed, and an average grain size of the Na compound phase is 10 μm or less.

In recent years, thin-film type solar cells produced by using a chalcopyrite compound semiconductor have been employed, the thin-film type solar cells produced by using the compound semiconductor have a basic structure in which an Mo electrode layer that is used as a positive electrode is formed on a soda-lime glass substrate, a light absorbing layer consisting of a CIGS film is formed on the Mo electrode layer, a buffer layer consisting of zinc sulfide (ZnS), cadmium sulfide (CdS), and the like is formed on the light absorbing layer, and a transparent electrode layer that is used as a negative electrode is formed on the buffer layer.
As a method for forming the light absorbing layer described above, a vapor deposition film-forming method is known. Although a light absorbing layer obtained by the method may exhibit high energy conversion efficiency, the vapor deposition film-forming method attains slow speed for forming a film. Hence, when a film is formed on a substrate having a large area, the uniformity of the thickness distribution of the film thickness is readily reduced. Thus, a sputtering method for forming a light absorbing layer has been proposed.
As a method for forming the light absorbing layer described above, a method (selenization method) has been proposed in which an In film is formed by sputtering using an In target in the beginning, a Cu—Ga binary-based alloy film is formed on the In film by sputtering using a Cu—Ga binary-based alloy target, and a stacked precursor film consisting of the obtained In film and Cu—Ga binary-based alloy film is subjected to heat treatment in a Selenium atmosphere and thereby a CIGS film is formed.
In order to improve an electric generation efficiency of the light absorbing layer formed of the CIGS film, for example as shown in Non-Patent document 1, an addition of Na into the light absorbing layer by the diffusion from an alkaline glass substrate is effective. However, there is an inconvenience in that in a case of a flexible CIGS solar battery in which a polymer film or the like instead of the alkaline glass substrate is a base material, a supply source of Na is lost because there is no alkaline glass substrate.
Accordingly, it has been proposed that a lift-off layer by sodium chloride (NaCl) is provided and Na is diffused into the light absorbing layer from the lift-off layer in order to improve photoelectric conversion properties of the flexible CIGS solar battery formed on the polymer film (for example, refer to Patent Document 1).
With respect to the addition of Na, a method has been proposed in which a soda-lime glass is formed between a Mo electrode layer and a substrate (for example, refer to Non-Patent Documents 1 and 2). However, when the soda-lime glass is deposited by the proposed method, the producing processes increase and the productivity is reduced.
There is a proposal that fluoride sodium (NaF) is added into a Mo electrode layer and Na is diffused into the light absorbing layer from the Mo electrode layer (for example, refer to Patent Document 2). However, when NaF is added into the Mo electrode layer, a large amount of Na is concentrated between the Mo electrode layer and a substrate, and there is a possibility of the occurrence of peeling off at an interface between the Mo electrode layer and the substrate.
Also, since the amount of diffusion of Na from the glass substrate or the like is difficult to control, as a method for adding Na regardless of diffusion, a method that a specific Na compound is directly added into the light absorbing layer has been proposed. For example, it is proposed that a diffusion blocking layer is provided between the glass substrate and the absorbing layer and the diffusion of Na from the glass substrate is blocked, and sulfide sodium (Na2S) and selenide sodium (Na2Se) are added into the light absorbing layer and the content of Na with respect to the light absorbing layer is controlled (for example, refer to Patent Document 3).
In order to add a specific Na compound directly into the light absorbing layer, a Cu—Ga sputtering target containing Na of 0.05 to 1 at. % and containing Na in a state of NaF compound has been proposed (for example, refer to Patent Document 4).
Here, for example in Non-Patent Document 3, a CIGS film in which the addition of Na is 2% is disclosed, and it is known that a CIGS solar battery having a good electrical efficiency can be obtained with a high concentration of Na addition that is not studied conventionally.
Also, fluoride sodium (NaF), chloride sodium (NaCl), sulfide sodium (NaS), selenide sodium (Na2Se), sodium sulfate (Na2SO4) and sodium sulfite (Na2SO3), selenium sodium (Na2SeO4) and sodium selenite (Na2SeO3), or the like, is proposed as Na compounds that is added in a sputtering target consisting of copper, indium, and gallium (for example, refer to Patent Documents 5 and 6).

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Sputtering target and production method of the same


The invention relates to a mounting device (1) for mounting covering elements (7), such as baseboards, door jamb casings or panels, onto a building surface, said device (1) having a rear side portion (11) configured for being mountable to said building surface, and including a bistable snap catch (2, 3) having a peripheral edge (3′), the bistable snap catch (2, 3) being adapted for assuming a natural first configuration wherein said peripheral edge (3′) is closer to said rear side portion (11) and a natural second configuration wherein said peripheral edge (3′) is farther away from said rear side portion (11). The invention relates also to a building kit comprising said mounting device (1) and a building surface covering element (7), such as a wooden base-board, door jamb casing or panel, and to a method for mounting this building kit.

Conventionally, baseboards and door jamb casings are mounted to wall surfaces using screws passed through holes drilled in the baseboard/casing. Such solutions are disadvantageous in being time consuming and labour intensive and also in that damage to baseboard paint finish may occur. Other solutions are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,540,790 and GB 810524. However, the latter fasteners do not ensure a reliable fastening over time.

Mounting device, a kit including the mounting device and a covering element, and a method of using the kit