A reciprocating piston machine in the form of a barrel engine has angularly-spaced pistons directly centrally linked by wrist pins to radially extending branches of a spider obliquely journalled for nonrotational nutation on a Z-crank portion of a rotational shaft. The pistons are double-acting pistons providing two piston surfaces per cylinder in rodless connections to a single spider.

Reciprocating piston machines of the type to which the present invention relates typically include a central shaft journalled in a block and a plurality of cylinders disposed parallel to the shaft and located on the block at angularly-spaced intervals circumferentially about the shaft. The shaft includes an oblique or Z-crank portion on which is journalled a nutating spider or "wobble plate." The spider has radially extending branches linked at swivel joints by means of rods to reciprocating pistons located in the cylinders.
The machines may be used as compressors, in which case the shaft is driven; or may be used as power generators or engines, in which case a fluid under pressure is injected or formed within the cylinders to drive the pistons. When the machine is constructed as an internal combustion engine, the fluid takes the form of gasoline, diesel fuel or other combustible fluid which is exploded at the end of a compression stroke to cause the pistons to be driven. The thrust of the driven pistons is imparted to the spider by means of the rods while spider rotation is restrained, thereby causing nonrotational nutation of the spider which is translated into rotation of the shaft. A common arrangement has two pistons in each cylinder, with oppositely directed rods that join separate spiders which cooperate in synchronization to drive the shaft.
Examples of known nutating spider crank reciprocating piston machines are given in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,808,380; 3,007,462; 3,212,483; 3,528,317; and 4,489,682. All such arrangements have separate, opposing single-acting pistons with oppositely directed rods that reach into distal ends of the pistons to link the pistons to terminal ends of the radial branches of separate spiders. Two (typically ball and socket) swivel connections are used, one at the junctures of the pistons with the rods, and one at the junctures of the rods with the spiders. Means, such as a spline or guide rail arrangements, are required to absorb the rotational torque and restrain the spider from rotating with the shaft. Such machines are often referred to as "barrel" engines because of their revolver barrel-like appearance.

Nutating spider crank reciprocating piston machine


A density controlled cold fusion concrete cementitious spray applied fireproofing material including a mixture of water, one or more of silicon dioxide, expanded glass, vermiculite, bottom ash, perlite, expanded shale, or other lightweight aggregates of various diameter sizes ranging from about 0.025 mm to about 12.5 mm in diameter; anhydrous or hydrous sodium or potassium metasilicate; waste from steel production consisting of Granulated Ground Blast Furnace Slag (GGBFS); high calcium or low calcium waste from coal combustion (fly ash or bottom ash); sodium tetraborate, sodium citrate dihydrate, citric acid, or boric acid; and an alkali-resistant micro-.

Cementitious spray applied fireproofing is not a new concept. For example, it is well known to spray apply fireproofing slurries to metal structural members and other building surfaces in order to provide a heat resistant coating thereon. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,719,513 and 3,839,059, which are incorporated herein by reference, disclosed gypsum-based formulations that contain, in addition to the gypsum binder, a lightweight inorganic aggregate such as vermiculite, a fibrous substance such as cellulose, and an air entraining agent.
Furthermore, geopolymer types of cement, per se, are well-known. However, the use of geopolymer types of cement and concrete formulations in spray applied fireproofing is new. While Geopolymer types of cement have been studied extensively and it has been concluded that heat resistance is typically relatively high when compared to Portland cement, the challenges in using a Geopolymer type of cement in a density controlled, cold fusion mixture were both problematic and arduous.
As will be herein explained, the present inventors have solved these challenges, and reduced to practice a density controlled cold fusion concrete cementitious spray applied fireproofing.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

High strength, density controlled cold fusion concrete cementitious spray applied fireproofing


The invention relates to a connector for interconnecting an plurality of wiring boards, a method for manufacturing the same, and a wiring board structure employing the connector. The connector has a base member having no conductivity and a conductive wire provided on a surface of the base member, and is arranged so as to be connectable to a wiring board, comprising: a conductive pressing member provided on and protruding from the wire; and a holding member provided on and protruding from a portion in the surface of the base member except where the pressing member is located, the holding member having an affixing surface attachable to the wiring board. The invention can make the wire provided on a surface of the wiring board flat, and therefore it becomes possible to secure the flexibility in designing a wiring pattern of a wiring board.

Conventionally, electronic equipment has a plurality of wiring materials in the inside thereof, and connectors have been known as a means to interconnect such wiring bases.
For example, as a wiring board structure with such connector, there has been known a structure disclosed by JP-A-2001-210933. More specifically, the connector comprises: a base member; a sticky layer provided over an entire surface of the base member; and a wire provided on a surface of the sticky layer protruding therefrom. Here, the wire of the connector are in the form of a plurality of straight lines mutually in parallel. On the other hand, the wiring material comprises: a base member with a plurality of grooves formed thereon mutually in parallel; and a wire provided on the bottom faces of the grooves of the base member. Therefore, the wire on a portion of the wiring material to be connected to the connector (hereinafter referred to as a connector-connecting portion) are also in the form of a plurality of straight lines mutually in parallel.
These two identical wiring materials are disposed side by side, and then the connector is mounted astride connector-connecting portions of the two wiring materials. In other words, the protruding wires of the connector are fitted in the grooves in the wiring board. Thus, the wires of the connector can be connected to the wires on each wiring board, and the sticky layer of the connector stuck to the base member of the wiring material can prevent relative displacement of the connector.
However, in order to fit the connector in the wiring material, the above-described wiring board structure required that the wires of the connector-connecting portion and the wires of the connector take the form of a plurality of straight lines mutually in parallel. As a result, the flexibility in designing a wiring pattern was reduced.

Connector, method for manufacturing the same, and wiring board structure employing it


A multiple activation-device launching system for a cementing head comprises a launcher body and at least one launching chamber that are sized to receive one or more activation devices therein. The activation devices are launched into the principal process-fluid stream inside the cementing head, and may be darts, balls, bombs, canisters and combinations thereof. The launching chambers are in fluid communication with an external power source for launching the activation device into the principal process-fluid stream.

The invention is related in general to equipment for servicing subterranean wells. The invention relates to a deepsea cement head that is intended to drop a combination of darts, balls, bombs and canisters in order to activate downhole equipment, launch cementing plugs, deliver chemical products, or the like.
Existing tools implement a modular design with darts that are preloaded in baskets within the modules. The modules are connected to one another using clamps. The darts are held in place mechanically and released by removing the mechanical obstruction and redirecting the flow of the pumped fluid through the dart basket. The darts are then pumped through the tool by the fluid. The first dart to be launched is placed in the lowest module, with subsequent darts passing through the baskets vacated by the earlier darts.
Darts in prior designs are launched by blocking the bypass flow of the process fluid and forcing the fluid through the dart chamber. The dart forms an initial seal when placed into the basket. When fluid enters the dart chamber, pressure builds and breaks the seal, forcing the dart out of the basket, through the tool and into the main process-fluid stream.
Some prior art designs consist of modules similar to those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,624,312 and 4,890,357. The darts are loaded from the topmost module, through the swivel if necessary, and pushed down to their respective baskets with a long rod. The modules have valves that are used to select between the dart and the bypass flow. The valve itself serves as the mechanical obstruction that prevents the dart from prematurely launching. When the valve is turned, it simultaneously opens a passage for the dart while closing the passage of the bypass flow.
It remains desirable to provide improvements in wellsite surface equipment in efficiency, flexibility, and reliability.

Multiple activation-device launcher for a cementing head


Apparatuses, systems and methods are provided for accessing a document management application through a network, wherein one or more key terms and focus terms (selected from user-specific focus parameters) for selected search parameters are transmitted to the document management application for limiting a search to be performed by a search function of the document management application.

In the current information age, information technology (IT) tools for managing files and data are extensively used in enterprises and other organizations, in order to store and transfer electronic documents and data over a network.
A document management system (for example, DocumentMall) can provide users with remote access (that is, through a network) to software applications and related services that would otherwise have to be installed on the user's local computer. For example, such a document management system may be configured to store documents as electronic files in a network-connected (and secure) document storage device, in order to protect the documents from theft or loss and to avoid unnecessarily occupying storage space local to the user computer or local computing environment, while making such files available on demand. The documents may include voluminous and/or sensitive material, and may be configured to provide searchable databases of all forms of legal, medical, financial, educational, scientific, and marketing documents for individuals and/or companies via a network.
A conventional document management system typically includes a plurality of application functions, such as a document registration function to register a specified document in a document database of the document management system, and a search function to search document data in a document storage part of the document management system based on the specified search terms. FIG. 1A depicts an example of such a document management system 100, where client terminals 12-1 through 12-4 may upload and download documents to/from a document storage part of the document management system 15, via the network 11.
There is a drawback, however, in that user interfaces for utilizing such application functions of a conventional document management system are often static and inflexible, with the same set of rigid options presented to all users. For instance, a user of a search user interface is often forced to browse through all of the possible search options that the universe of users may wish to access. This is despite the fact that certain user or groups of users may be interested in consistently utilizing a specific set of services of a search function or other application function of the document management system.
Furthermore, there is another drawback in that a search result list of a search function of conventional document management system may not be returned to a user after the search results list is completely compiled, but instead the search result list may be continuously updated with further documents in a 'streaming' manner as these further documents are discovered. Thus, a user viewing a search results list at a given time may be mistaken as to the completeness of the search results list, since the list may continue to be updated with further documents as they are retrieved by the search function of the conventional document management system. Therefore, great inconvenience is caused to the user.
There exists a need for an improved document management system which is not as difficult and time-consuming to use.


A semiconductor storage device is provided which minimizes current consumption by using a circuit which is fed by charges stored in a parasitic capacitance of another circuit. To this end, short-circuiting switches SP and SN are provided respectively between first common source lines PP1 and PN1 and second common source lines PP2 and PN2 of the semiconductor device. Electric charges on the first common source lines which have been amplified to its normal amplitude change the voltage level of the second common source lines. A data line connected to the second common source line is amplified to half of the normal amplitude. Thereafter, the signal on the data line is amplified by a sense amplifier. As a result, the charge and discharge currents on the data line are substantially halved compared to the conventional device.

The present invention relates to semiconductor storage devices.
Reference characters representing terminal names also denote the names of leads and signals and, in the case of a power supply, its voltage value so long as they are not especially noted otherwise.
A conventional dynamic random access memory (DRAM) has a structure shown in FIG. 13.
A memory cell MC of one transistor and one capacitor is disposed at each of cross points where word lines W1-W4 and data lines D1-D2 cross.
RA1 and RA2 each denote a sense amplifier which reads outs and rewrites a signal from and into the memory cell and which is driven by common sources PN and PP.
A common source signal is generated by a PC0 which short-circuits and precharges common sources PP and PN to a voltage level HV, a pMOS transistor DP1 which charges the common source PP to a high voltage VD and an nMOS transistor DN1 which charges the common source PN to a low voltage VS.
The drive signal for the DP1 is identified by RP while the drive signal for the DN1 is identified by RN.
PC1 and PC2 each denote a circuit which short-circuits and precharges the pair of data lines to HV.
DA1 and DA2 each denote a circuit which transfers a signal appearing on the pair of data lines to the later circuit, and also which transfers from the later stage a signal to be written into a memory cell through the pair of data lines.
A pair of I/O and I/O are inputs/outputs for DA1 and DA2, which control the transfer of a signal from the pair of data lines to a later stage circuit using YS1 and YS2.
In such a DRAM, the electric charges stored in a memory cell would normally become lost as various leak currents.
Therefore, the same data must be rewritten into the memory cell at constant intervals of time.
This operation is called a refreshing operation, which will be described with reference to FIG. 14.
A clock signal CK used for control of this operation is provided as an external clock signal such as RAS or generated internally by an oscillator.
In an initial state, the CK is at low level, RP is at high level, and RN is at low level. Therefore, the DP1 and DN1 are off.
Since FP is at high level VD, the pair of data lines and common sources PP and PN are short-circuited and hence are at a voltage level HV.
YS1 and YS2 are at low level and DA1 and DA2 are off.
In the refreshing operation, YS1 and YS2 are at low level throughout.
The word line is at VS.
If CK changes from low level to high level, first, FP changes to low level VS.
As a result, the pair of data lines and common sources PN and PP float at a level of HV. Thus, word line W1 is selected to change to high level VCH.
Therefore, a small voltage difference which corresponds to data from a memory cell occurs between the pair of data lines D1 and D1.
RP and RN are then inverted.
Therefore, DN1 is turned on and common source PN is discharged toward VS. DP1 is turned on so that common source PP is charged toward YD. Thus, sense amplifiers RA1 and RA2 operate, so that the small voltage signal difference is amplified on the pair of data lines to a large amplitude VD-VS. When amplification ends, the word line changes to low level VS, RP and RN are inverted, and DP1 and DN1 are turned off.
Thereafter, FP changes to high level VD and the pair of data lines and common sources PN and PP are short-circuited to HV. This is the refreshing operation in the conventional DRAM.
When data in the DRAM is to be held by backup of a battery, a so-called standby source current is mainly determined by the refreshing current.
How to reduce the refreshing current is important to suppress the consumed current.
The memory cells are sequentially refreshed in the standby state.
The refreshing current is composed of the operating current in the refreshing control circuit and the data line charge and discharge currents.
In order to reduce the current flowing through the refreshing control circuit, a study of minimizing the number of elements of the circuits has been made. A Japanese Patent Publication JP-60-45997 discloses suppression of the charge and discharge currents on the data lines by reducing the voltage supplied to the refreshing control circuit in a standby state or increasing the refreshing period.
However, this publication only discloses how to suppress the consumed current from the side of the power supply and does not at all refer to an effective use of the current in the circuit.

Semiconductor storage device capable of reduced current consumption using a charge reuse circuit


A vehicle body may have an internal skeleton, and a skin fabricated in-situ over the internal skeleton. The internal skeleton may be fabricated via a first additive manufacturing system. The skin may be fabricated via a second additive manufacturing system that is different from the first additive manufacturing system.

A vehicle body (e.g., an airplane body, a car body, or a boat body) generally includes an internal skeleton that gives shape to the vehicle, and a skin that overlays the skeleton and provides a smooth outer surface. Modern vehicle bodies are fabricated from a combination of different materials, including composites. For example, the skeleton is typically made of wood, aluminum, or stainless steel, while the skin is typically made of a fiber (e.g., a carbon fiber or fiberglass) embedded within a resin matrix.
Pultrusion is a common way to manufacture straight skeletal parts of a vehicle body (e.g., beams, longerons, etc.). During pultrusion manufacturing, individual fiber strands, braids of strands, and/or woven fabrics are pulled from corresponding spools through a resin bath and through a stationary die. The resin is then allowed to cure and harden. Due to the pulling of the fibers prior to curing, some of the fibers may retain a level of tensile stress after curing is complete. This tensile stress can increase a strength of the skeletal part in the direction in which the fibers were pulled.
A vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) process is commonly used to fabricate the skin of the vehicle body, after the internal skeleton has already been formed. In a VARTM process, sheets of fibrous material are manually pulled over the internal skeleton and then tacked in place. The tacked material is then manually coated with a liquid matrix (e.g., a thermoset resin or a heated thermoplastic), covered with a vacuum bag to facilitate impregnation of the liquid matrix, and allowed to cure and harden.
Although pultrusion manufacturing and VARTM can be an acceptable ways to produce vehicle body parts in some situations, they can also be problematic. In particular, the VARTM-produced skin is often attached to the pultruded skeletal parts and/or reinforced via metallic fasteners (e.g., screws, rivets, and clips). The use of metallic fasteners can drive skeletal design and increase a weight and cost of the vehicle body. In addition, the various vehicle body parts may need to be joined to each other via specially designed hardware, which can also be heavy and costly. Further, electronics (e.g., sensors, heaters, electrical leads, etc.) may need to be added to the vehicle bodies after manufacture, which can further increase the weight, cost, and unreliability. Finally, conventional pultrusion and VARTM manufacturing processes may provide little flexibility in the design and/or use of the vehicle body.
The disclosed composite vehicle body is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above and/or other problems of the prior art.


The present invention provides a single-phase or homogeneous solution comprising a high concentration of a salt, in particular a lithium salt, in an organic solvent. Such a high salt content in organic solvent is useful in a variety of applications including, but not limited to, in electrical energy storage devices as well as other devices that can benefit from a low-volatility liquid electrolyte.

Most batteries currently utilize liquid electrolytes to carry ions between the anode and cathode. In lithium-ion batteries, these electrolytes most commonly comprise organic solvents, lithium salts, and performance-enhancing additives. Typical electrolytes in common use comprise carbonate solvents such as ethylene carbonate (EC), diethylcarbonate (DEC), dimethylcarbonate (DMC), and propylene carbonate (PC). Among the conducting salts lithium hexafluorophosphate (LiPF6) is used almost exclusively as conducting salt for state-of-art high energy lithium-ion batteries[1]. Nevertheless, its limited thermal and chemical stability restricts its use at low and high temperatures. In the carbonate-based solvents, the poorly solvated PF6− anion is highly reactive towards even weak nucleophiles and the presence of even a trace amount of water (or alcohols) produces hydrofluoric acid [2]-[5]. Also at high temperature, LiPF6 decomposes to produce phosphorous pentafluoride [LiPF6=LiF+PF5][6], [7] PF5 which in turn reacts with solvent to generate highly toxic substances[8] or initiate polymerization of solvents[3], [7]. This raises the safety issues particular of the use in lithium ion batteries for passenger cars. Therefore, new lithium salts with improved properties are highly desired to improve the safety and performance of lithium-ion batteries.
Over past two decades, great efforts have been made to develop new lithium salts with improved chemical and/or electrochemical properties. Thus, various weakly coordinated anions have been proposed as possible counter parts of lithium salts for Li-ion batteries. Among those, lithium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI) and lithium bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide (LiFSI) salts have shown no spontaneous decomposition and hydrolytically are more stable than LiPF6. LiTFSI was initially suggested by Armand and Kadiri [9] then commercialized by 3M. However, LiTFSI has the disadvantage of being corrosive to aluminum current collectors[10] which is not the case with LiFSI. Therefore, LiFSI is a promising alternative salt for lithium ion batteries and ultra-capacitors.
Very recently, there has been growing interest in LiFSI as a conducting salt. LiFSI was first claimed as conducting salts with good anti-corrosive properties in Li-ion batteries in 1995[11] however, a little attention was paid to it until recently[12] presumably due to the fact that it is difficult to prepare with high purity in an unspecialized laboratory.
To prepare an electrolyte, solvents, salts and additives are mixed together. Since the water content of the final electrolyte must be very low (typically 500 ppm or less) either this mixing must be conducted under anhydrous conditions, or water must be removed from the electrolyte after one or more of the components are mixed together. The requirement for conducting these operations without introducing water into the electrolyte increases the cost and complexity of preparing electrolytes. Water may be removed from the complete electrolyte by various methods. The use of molecular sieves or zeolites to remove water from organic solvents is well-known. However, the zeolites used typically contain other metals that are not lithium, and may exchange with lithium-ions in solution, both reducing the lithium content of the electrolyte and increasing the metal impurities in the electrolyte. Lithium-exchanged zeolites such as lithium beta zeolite sold by Tosoh may be used, but these zeolites are substantially more expensive than sodium zeolites and are not easily regenerated.
The preparation of electrolytes is further complicated by the need to handle dry powders of the lithium salts. Many lithium salts, including LiPF6 and LiFSI, are highly hygroscopic. LiFSI is deliquescent; it will absorb sufficient moisture from the air to form a liquid solution. For these reasons, lithium salts are supplied as a powder in sealed containers with complex airlocks to connect with mixing equipment without introducing moisture. As the material must be handled as a powder, the salt must be prepared in a form that is free-flowing. Many disclosed techniques for preparing lithium salts produce a fine powder that is not free-flowing. To convert the crude lithium salts to a free-flowing powder requires additional manufacturing steps such as agglomeration or slow crystallization. Each of these steps requires additional time, capital costs and operating costs and reduces the yield of the salt.
In some cases, it may be possible to avoid the recrystallization and isolation steps by preparing the lithium salt directly in the final electrolyte solvent. For example U.S. Pat. No. 5,496,661, issued to Mao, discloses the preparation of a 1 molar solution of LiPF6 in a mixture of EC and DEC by the reaction of NH4PF6 and LiH in the solvents, followed by removal of the product gases and filtration of solid impurities. While these methods avoid the crystallization and handling of solid lithium salts, the resulting electrolyte is generally of lower purity than that produced by mixing recrystallized LiPF6 salts and highly pure solvents. Thus the use of these electrolytes is generally restricted to primary cells and lower-performance batteries.
In addition, LiPF6 has limited solubility in carbonate solvents and electrolytes with concentrations above 1 molar crystallize or form glasses upon cooling below room temperature, which presents problems in shipping and handling. Due to the limited solubility, it is not practical to prepare a master solution of concentrated lithium salt and solvent which could be diluted to provide a variety of electrolyte formulations.
Thus, state-of-the-art methods for preparing lithium salts for use in electrolytes generally involve crystallization and drying steps to produce free-flowing powders. Electrolyte preparation requires handling these powders without introducing water, which increases the cost and complexity of electrolytes. Therefore, there is a clear unmet need for simplified methods of delivering lithium salts for electrolytes that avoids the need to handle solids and provides an electrolyte of high purity.


The invention relates to remotely powered circuitry, and in particular to telephones. The circuit of the invention uses a counter to measure or compare the duration of power supply interruptions on the remote power supplying line to cause the remotely powered circuitry to be initialized whenever the duration of such an interruption becomes greater than or less than a specified duration. Advantageously, comparators are used so as to be able to take a plurality of durations into consideration. Thus, each time the power supply on the remote power line is interrupted, if the interruption is not of an acceptable duration, then the remotely powered circuitry is initialized.

Remotely powered circuits do not have a local power supply: i.e. battery, or power supply unit. The energy they require is conveyed to them over the transmission lines to which they are connected.
For a telephone, the energy is conveyed by the telephone line. Depending on the type of telephone, i.e. whether it uses tone dialing or pulse dialing, energy is not always present on the line. With tone telephones, dialing is done by frequency modulation, i.e. by modulating the current on the telephone line. Energy is always present on the line.
For telephones using pulse dialing, each digit (0 to 9) is represented by a corresponding number of pulses, each having a certain duration or a certain characteristic on the telephone line.
A pulse is obtained by short-circuiting the telephone line, which has the effect of making energy unavailable during each pulse. These power supply interruptions are of fixed duration since they satisfy the characteristics required for dial pulses.
The invention is particularly applicable to pulse dialing. The circuitry of the telephone must be capable of accepting power supply interruptions of fixed duration corresponding to dialing. However it should not tolerate power supply interruptions that do not correspond to dial pulse characteristics: e.g., faulty operation, line breaks, etc. Under such circumstances it must be reinitialized. That is why the term "conditional initialization" is used: initialization is conditional on an interruption of power supply lying outside an acceptable range.
The circuitry of such a digital telephone set essentially comprises two electronic portions: a bipolar logic portion for controlling the interface between the telephone set and the telephone line; and a microprocessor for controlling the telephone keypad, in particular, and for sending instructions to the bipolar logic.
In addition, it is the bipolar logic that performs the voltage regulation function for the microprocessor and which controls conditional initialization of the microprocessor (by controlling a reset pin thereof).
During dialing, the bipolar logic short-circuits the telephone line for each dial pulse and for a predetermined length of time, and it puts the output of its voltage regulator into a high impedance state so as to decouple the voltage regulator from the microprocessor. The microprocessor is then powered by discharging a back-up capacitor.
In contrast, the reset pin will be subjected to fluctuations relating to the state of the telephone line. Since it is necessary to prevent the microprocessor (and the telephone circuitry in general) from being reset during dialing, and since it is also necessary to reset the microprocessor during power supply interruptions that do not correspond to dialing, it is the practice to use a set of discrete components, capacitors, diodes, resistance networks, and transistors, for the purpose of stabilizing the state of the reset pin during power supply interruptions of acceptable characteristics (dialing).
This stabilization circuit is bulky and is installed between the bipolar logic and the microprocessor. An object of the invention is to omit this additional stabilization circuit, thereby eliminating problems of bulk and of calibrating the values of its components. Another object of the invention is to make use of items that are programmable so as to provide a conditional initialization circuit that is flexible and adaptable.

Digital circuit for conditional initialization


An apparatus for cutting green ceramic bodies, includes a traveling path for green ceramic bodies, beds for supporting green ceramic bodies at constant intervals in series along the traveling path, an arm on each side of the traveling path, two drive portions for moving respective arms perpendicularly relative to the traveling path, a drive portion for moving both arms in the same direction as the traveling path, a wire for cutting green ceramic bodies, extending between the arms, and wire supporting portions, on respective arms. Each wire supporting portion includes a servo motor with an axis of rotation, a magnet member around the axis of rotation, a bobbin having a conical surface around which wire is wound, and magnetically coupled to the axis of rotation by the magnet member, and a traversing mechanism for varying the position where the wire is wound around the length of the conical surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cutting apparatus for ceramic green bodies, which are soft and easily deformable, such as formed bodies of ceramic honeycomb structural bodies.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally, as a cutting apparatus for cutting the ceramic green bodies such as ceramic honeycomb structural bodies, the cutting apparatuses having various constructions have been known. As an example, the applicant disclosed, in JP-B-4-60402 (U.S. Pat. No. 4,702,138), the cutting apparatus for ceramic green honeycomb structural bodies in which generations of deformation and fracture of the ceramic green honeycomb structural bodies can be prevented by using xe2x80x9cdraw-cutxe2x80x9d operation.
FIG. 9 is a schematic view showing the cutting apparatus for ceramic green honeycomb structural bodies mentioned above which have been proposed previously by the applicant. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 9, a cutting apparatus 51 has a following construction. Two arms 53-1 and 53-2 are arranged in a widthwise direction of a ceramic green honeycomb structural body 52. A fine wire 54 used for a cutting operation is extended between the arms 53-1 and 53-2 via rollers 55 arranged to the arms 53-1 and 53-2, and ends of the fine wire 54 extended between the two rollers 55 is cut into the ceramic green honeycomb structural body 52, while the arms 53-1 and 53-2 are moved in a cutting direction of the ceramic green honeycomb structural body 52 by means of an arm moving mechanism (not shown). When the arms 53-1 and 53-2 are moved in the cutting direction of the ceramic green honeycomb structural body 52 and the fine wire 54 for the cutting operation cuts the ceramic green honeycomb structural body 52, at least one operation such that the fine wire 54 is pulled toward one roller 55 side and then pulled toward the other roller 55 side is performed by a fine wire reciprocating mechanism 57.
In the cutting apparatus mentioned above, it is possible to cut rapidly the soft and otherwise easily deformed body, such as a ceramic green body, without deformation. However, since, in the case of cutting the ceramic green body, a portion of the fine wire 54 used for cutting is always same, there is a drawback such that a life of the fine wire 54 is short and thus it is necessary to exchange the fine wire 54 frequently. Moreover, since there is a portion for connecting the spring 56 and the fine wire 54 and further since it is necessary to extend the fine wire 54 via a plurality of rollers 55, there is a drawback such that an exchanging operation of the fine wire 54 is troublesome.
An object of the invention is to eliminate the drawbacks mentioned above and to provide a cutting apparatus for ceramic green bodies in which an exchanging interval of a fine wire for cutting can be long so that a life of the fine wire can be long and in which an exchanging operation of the fine wire is easy.
According to the invention, a cutting apparatus for cutting ceramic green bodies comprising; a traveling path for traveling a ceramic green body; supporting beds for supporting the ceramic green body arranged on the traveling path with a constant interval; a pair of first arm and second arm arranged movably in a traveling direction of the ceramic green body, which are provided at both side ends of the traveling path, a first drive portion and a second drive portion for moving the first arm and the second arm respectively upward or downward, which are provided to the first arm and the second arm respectively; a fine wire for cutting the ceramic green body extended between the first arm and the second arm; a first fine wire supporting portion and a second fine wire supporting portion for moving the fine wire for cutting the ceramic green body from one side to the other under constant tension, when the fine wire traverses the ceramic green body by moving the first and second anus in a cutting direction of the ceramic green body. The arms are driven by the first and second drive portions; and a third drive portion for moving the first and second arms in the same direction as the traveling direction of the ceramic green body.
In the present invention, the first fine wire supporting portion and a second fine wire supporting portion move the fine wire for cutting the ceramic green body, which extends between the first arm and the second arm, from one side to the other under constant tension. Therefore, when the fine wire traverses the ceramic green body by moving the first and second arms in a cutting direction of the ceramic green body, which are driven by the first and second drive portions, a portion of the fine wire used for cutting differs so that such a portion of the fine wire is used only for a few cutting operations at most, and the fine wire is not broken during the cutting operation. By utilizing preferable following techniques such as (1) the cutting operation is performed by moving the fine wire for cutting the ceramic green body from one side to the other side of the first and second arms, (2), in the case of (1) mentioned above, a moving direction of the fine wire from one side to the other side is reversed every cutting operations, (3) the cutting operation is performed by moving the fine wire reciprocally in both directions, and (4), in the cases of (1)-(3) mentioned above, a traveling speed of the fine wire is changed between traveling from the first arm to the second arm and traveling from the second arm to the first arm. In this manner, it is possible to achieve a long life of the fine wire.

Cutting apparatus for ceramic green bodies


A moving object detection apparatus includes: a stationary measure calculation unit calculating, for each of trajectories, a stationary measure representing likelihood that the trajectory belongs to a stationary object; a distance calculation unit calculating a distance representing similarity between trajectories; and a region detection unit (i) performing a transformation based on the stationary measures and the distances between the trajectories, so that a ratio of a distance between a trajectory on stationary object and a trajectory on moving object, to a distance between trajectories both belonging to stationary object becomes greater than a ratio obtained before the transformation and (ii) detecting the moving object region by separating the trajectory on the moving object from the trajectory on the stationary object, based on a geodesic distance between the trajectories.

Research and development on region extraction technologies have been extensively conducted. With such technology, a moving object is detected by extracting an image region of the moving object (referred to as the moving object region hereafter) from an image including an image of the moving object (the image of the moving object is simply referred to as the "moving object" hereafter). Especially when the moving object is a pedestrian, extraction of an image region of the pedestrian is a basic technology commonly used for: focus control and image quality improvement by a digital video camera or a digital still camera; a safe driving support system for automobiles; and human-robot collision avoidance control performed by a robot or collision warning given by the robot.
Common examples of the technology for extracting the moving object region from the image include the following two methods. One is a method of determining the moving object region by evaluating similarity between a previously-prepared moving object model and a moving-object-region candidate in the image. The other is a method of determining the moving object region by segmenting the image into subregions, calculating the amount of characteristics for each of the subregions, and then integrating the subregions similar based on the amounts of characteristics.
Representative examples of the former method include the following method. Firstly, moving-object-region candidates are extracted from the image. After this, similarity between a previously-prepared moving object model and each of the candidates is evaluated, and the region with high similarity is extracted as the moving image region. Moreover, for the case where the region of the moving object, such as a pedestrian, that moves with deformation is extracted, there is a method whereby a moving object model that considers the change in shape is used. For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a method of extracting a silhouette image of a moving object from images as moving-object-region candidates. With this method, similarity between a parameterized model corresponding to the change in shape of the moving object and the extracted silhouette image is evaluated so as to estimate a region with high similarity and a parameter of the model. Thus, the parameterized model can be applied to the image of the moving object such as a pedestrian that moves with deformation in a cyclic manner, and therefore the moving object region can be extracted.
Representative examples of the latter method include the following method. An image is temporarily segmented into subregions, and the amount of characteristics is calculated based on a pixel luminance value for each of the subregions. Then, similarity in the amount of characteristics is evaluated between the subregions, and the highly-similar subregions are integrated into one moving object region. For example, Patent Literature 2 discloses a method whereby: an image is temporarily segmented into rectangular subregions; the amount of characteristics is calculated based on luminance and motion information for each of the subregions; and then the moving object region can be extracted by integrating the subregions based on order of similarity in the amount of characteristics.

Moving object detection apparatus and moving object detection method


Embodiments of the invention include methods and systems for improving test case coverage. Aspects of the invention include executing, by a processor, a first test case, where the first test case includes a plurality of system calls to an operating system. Prior to execution of each system call in the plurality of system calls in the first test case, executing, by the processor, a pre-exit instruction. Responsive to execution of the pre-exit instruction, collecting pre-exit system call data regarding each system call in the plurality of system calls for the first test case. The processor executes a post-exit instruction after completion of each system call in the plurality of system calls and responsive to execution of the post-exit instruction, collects post-exit system call data regarding each system call in the plurality of system calls for the first test case.

The present invention generally relates to software test cases, and more specifically, to measuring and improving test coverage.
In large-scale computing systems such as mainframe systems, users often use software to control and view portions of the operation and resources of the system. Scheduling of jobs and workload, batch job outputs, and log files are often monitored and controlled by a user using software. Software developers often run a variety of test cases to ensure that the software operates as designed. Test cases typically include code that drives a series of system calls to an operating system. The testing process can be time-consuming and cumbersome. Estimating and improving test case generation is important for gaining confidence in system tests and to improve test case quality. Measuring test coverage of a given test generation tool can be costly. Tracking each instruction and using feedback (between the test case build and result prediction processes) requires extensive analysis and consumes substantial test time.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


Methods and apparatus provide cloud-based video encoding that generates encoded video data by one or more encoders in a cloud platform for a plurality of cloud encoding sessions. The methods and apparatus generate operational improvement tradeoff data in response to operational encoding metrics associated with the one or more encoders and change operational characteristics of the one or more encoders for at least one of the cloud encoding sessions based on the operational improvement tradeoff data.

Cloud-based video encoders are provided by service providers in cloud-based gaming platforms, cloud-based video conferencing platforms and other cloud-based platforms that provide video encoding. For example, cloud-based gaming platforms may include one or more cloud servers that include a host processor, and one or more graphics processors (GPUs) that render graphics content for one or more gaming applications remotely for one or more client devices that include a decoder. The servers include one or more video encoders. In some examples, the encoders are integrated with graphics processing chips, in other systems the encoders are separate chips. A single encoder can produce multiple encoding sessions. In other examples, each encoder outputs a single encoding session. Typically, an encoder controller within the server provides the initial operational settings for the encoders.
A gaming application and cloud gaming platform may provide multiple encoding sessions for the same application to different users of the application or provide multiple encoding sessions for different gaming applications running on the platform. For example, one user may have an encoding session that serves encoded data for a camera-based picture-in-picture window on the client device as well as another encoding session that presents the foreground game being played.
For cloud-based video encoder platforms, it can be difficult for a service provider to decide how to partition server resources among all encoding tasks without the feedback information from end users when multiple video applications are running on the server. For example, typical encoder optimization techniques are dedicated to a single application in an effort to achieve the best image quality and other performance characteristics given fixed resources such as processing power and network bandwidth. However, it is not necessarily optimal to give fixed or equal resource allocations for all encoder applications.
Some cloud-based platforms attempt to adaptively multiplex multiple encoded video streams based on the amount of network bandwidth consumed by each stream. For example, if network bandwidth is the criteria used, a stream consuming more bandwidth may be multiplexed with a stream requiring less bandwidth so that the total output network bandwidth of the platform would not be exceeded. In such methods, an encoder acts passively and provides bandwidth information back to the encoder controller when requested. However, the encoder controller within the platform needs some time to learn the encoder behavior based on the limited feedback information. Such cloud-based encoding systems can fail to provide adequate image quality for users of the client devices and can result in inefficient power usage and inefficient bandwidth allocation among encoders.
In some scenarios, the same graphics processing unit (GPU) processes multiple encoding sessions where one session is for a user of one remote device while another session is for a different user with another remote device for the same gaming application where two players are playing the same game being provided by the gaming platform. In some examples, the video resolution of the stream is for a 4K resolution at 30 frames per second (fps) and as such image quality is an important feature to maintain. In some systems, the server is unaware of network bandwidth restrictions unless a client device provides information indicating that poor quality images are being produced at the client device. In other systems, a server detects network congestion by sending test packets through the network. However, when the server gets poor quality information from an end user device, such information can arrive too late so that the server cannot adjust quickly enough to provide a suitable image output for a user resulting in unnecessary image quality failures and unnecessary network congestion.
In some implementations, when the server receives information from an end user client device indicating a bad quality condition, the server performs a type of return on investment analysis to determine how to improve encoding output by adjusting, for example, power consumed by an encoder through increasing a clock frequency for the encoder, or through allocating more bandwidth to an encoder or other options for changing the encoder performance characteristics. However, such analysis is not typically performed until the server receives information from a client device indicating that a bad quality is occurring, and the adjustment can result in delayed corrections. Alternatively, a service provider can do content pre-analysis and allocate bandwidth accordingly. But content is changing dynamically. For real time video application, like live streaming, the service provider might not know exactly the type or the complexity of content under encoding. In such cases, the service provider still needs to rely on the feedback about video quality from end users. According it is desirable to provide improved cloud encoding techniques.
In the following description, the use of the same reference numerals in different drawings indicates similar or identical items. Unless otherwise noted, the word "coupled" and its associated verb forms include both direct connection and indirect electrical connection by means known in the art, and unless otherwise noted any description of direct connection implies alternate embodiments using suitable forms of indirect electrical connection as well.

Method and apparatus for providing cloud-based video encoding


A device for forming ice around an exterior surface of a container has an upper piece. The upper piece is an elongated tubular member having a hollow interior section and an open bottom and top end. A gasket assembly is coupled to an upper interior section of the upper piece. The gasket assembly creates a seal around a neck of the container to prevent water from rising above the neck of the container. A lower piece is provided and has an open top end and an opening formed in the bottom surface thereof. The open bottom end of the upper piece will mate with the open top end of the lower piece to form a watertight seal. A raised floor is formed in a bottom interior section of the lower piece. The raised floor allows water to collect and freeze underneath the bottom of the container. A cap is provided to close the opening in the bottom surface of the lower piece.

It is well known that many beverages are enjoyed by consumers when chilled. One way of chilling a beverage is to place ice cubes in a container (e.g., a glass) that holds the beverage. Another way to chill a beverage is to place the container holding the beverage in a refrigerator or freezer before consuming the beverage. Both of these methods of chilling a beverage have a common shortcoming in that their effects eventually dissipate, usually during the ordinary time that one would take to consume the beverage. For example, the ice cubes will often melt before the consumption of the beverage is complete. The ice cube method of cooling has the additional shortcoming of diluting the beverage with water, which can affect the taste of beverages other than water. With the refrigeration method of cooling, the beverage container used outside of the refrigerator eventually warms to room temperature, as does the beverage.
There have been a number of attempts in the prior art to design a device and method that permits continuous cooling of a beverage within a container. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,543,801 to Damiens discloses a cool beverage carafe server wherein a ring of ice is formed around a carafe whose overall configuration is critically important. The carafe disclosed in the Damiens patent must have an elongated neck which may conveniently be hand-held as a handle. In addition, it is required that the main body portion of the carafe have a bulbous shape such that it will retain a solid ice ring captured thereon in an encircling relationship. As disclosed in the Damiens patent, the user of that device must take the liquid desired to be cooled (e.g., alcohol) and pour it from its original container into the pre-formed carafe. After the carafe is filled with the liquid beverage, the bulbous body portion is placed down into a water-filled mold so that the water largely covers the bulbous portion. The carafe and mold are then placed in a freezer in a vertical position until the water freezes around the bulbous portion. Once the water is frozen, the carafe is removed from the mold and utilized in conjunction with a tray that can collect ice drippings as the ice ring melts.
Another attempt at designing an apparatus for continuously cooling a beverage is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,048,041 issued to Warren et al. The Warren patent discloses a method and apparatus for serving ice drinks wherein a mold in the shape of a truncated cone is inverted and a glass for holding the beverage to be cooled is placed in an inverted position therein. The mold is filled with ice and turned back over into an upright position. After the ice hardens around the glass, the mold is removed, leaving a glass surrounded by an ice ring in the shape of a truncated cone. The Warren patent does not suggest how to cool a bottle of liquor and it is difficult to grip the ice ring clad glass.
Some other attempts at designing a device to perform a similar function are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,091,723 issued to Sterino, U.S. Pat. No. 1,943,384 issued to Hall and U.S. Pat. No. 662,541 issued to Miskolczy.
These patents do not disclose a device that easily permits an ice mold to be formed directly around the original and unopened container in which the beverage is packaged. For example, if one wanted to form a mold around an originally-manufactured glass bottle containing vodka caped or enclosed therein, none of the devices disclosed in these patents would work very well to achieve that objective. Moreover, if one wanted to similarly prepare a number of bottles at one time and in one freezer, there is very little flexibility in the position that these devices can rest in while ice is forming around the container. Moreover, there is less than an optimum amount of stability in these devices. If one were to bump the device disclosed in the Damiens patent, water could easily spill out of the mold and adversely affect the performance of the device.
Therefore, a need exists to provide a device and method to overcome the above problem. The device and method will permit formation of ice around a beverage container. The device and method will permit formation of ice around a variety of different shapes of bottles, including the bottles originally utilized by the manufacturer of various beverages such as alcohols and liquors. The device and method will permit the formation of ice around a beverage container where the device can be placed in a number of positions and still permit the ice to form.

Device and method for forming ice around a bottle


Disclosed is a system for using pressure differential between completion fluid in an oil well and produced fluids to power downhole devices, including instruments and actuators. A conduit is provided bypassing a packer which seals a production string to a well casing. A control system, including a flow valve, allows fluid to flow to an electrical generator as needed to charge an electrical storage device. Downhole electrically operated devices, e.g. a temperature sensor and signal transmitter, draw power from the storage device. Alternatively, fluid may also be directed to hydraulically driven actuators to, for example, operate a production fluid control valve.

Not applicable.
Not applicable.
Not applicable.
This invention relates to producing petroleum wells and more particularly to a system using the difference in fluid pressure across a packer in a producing well to provide power to downhole instruments or actuators.
The logging of oil and gas wells has been a standard practice for many years. Logging generally means placing an instrument in a borehole to measure various parameters to determine characteristics of the earth formations which have been drilled through. For instance, electrical resistivity of the earth formations may be measured as an indicator of whether the formations contain water or oil. Originally, logging could only be performed after the drill string, i.e. drill pipe and bit, was removed from the borehole. The logging instruments were normally supported by a wireline which provided mechanical support for the logging device in the borehole and provided electrical conductors to supply power to the device and to send signals between the device and equipment at the surface location of the well.
More recently, logging while drilling and measurement while drilling devices have been installed in the drill string to make measurements during the drilling process. While some of these devices require that drilling be stopped while measurements are taken, they avoid the expense of pulling the drill string out of the borehole. These devices provide information in real time, or near real time, and have proven beneficial during the drilling process. Since these devices must operate as part of an operating drill string, it has proven difficult or impractical to provide electrical conductors to supply power to the devices and communicate signals between the devices and equipment at the surface location of the well. Power is usually provided by batteries or mud driven downhole generators. Signals may be transmitted up and down hole by acoustic waves or pulses in the mud column or the drill pipe, all referred to herein as acoustic telemetry. Some systems use electromagnetic waves or pulses to transmit signals up and down hole, all referred to herein as electromagnetic or EM telemetry.
After drilling and logging a well, equipment may be installed for testing producing zones. For example a drill string or coiled tubing with an inflatable packer may be run down an uncased borehole to a location just above the producing zone. The packer may then be inflated to form a fluid seal between the tubing and the wall of the borehole. The well may then be produced for testing purposes through the drill string or coiled tubing. The drill string or coiled tubing acts as production tubing for the duration of the test.
After drilling, logging and testing of a successful well, equipment may be installed for permanent production of fluids, which process is referred to as completion of the well. In a simple completion, casing is cemented into a well down to and usually through the producing zone. In open hole completions, casing may be installed only in an upper portion of the borehole. If casing extends through the producing zone, it is normally perforated in the producing zone to allow fluids to flow into the well. Production tubing is placed inside the well down to the producing zone. The tubing normally has a packer at or near its lower end. After being properly positioned, the packer is actuated to form a fluid tight seal between the production tubing and the borehole which forces produced fluids to flow through the tubing. If casing extends to the producing zone, the packer will seal to the casing. For open hole completions the packer will seal to the inner wall of the borehole. The space or annulus between the production tubing and the borehole or casing is usually filled with a completion fluid usually comprising salt water.
It is often desirable to install instrumentation packages as part of a well test or a well completion. For example, pressure and temperature measurement devices may be installed in the well at the producing zone. These devices need electrical power to operate and to transmit signals up to the surface location of the well. While it is possible to install electrical conductors down the well to provide power and signal paths, it has proven to be difficult and expensive, especially in deep wells. Typically, batteries do not survive long in the high temperature conditions usually found in deep wells and it could be very expensive to replace depleted batteries.
In wells with multiple producing zones, a completion often includes multiple production tubing strings. It also may include control valves for each string so that flow from each zone may be controlled for various reasons. These control valves generally need a power source to operate. If control valves are controlled by acoustic or electromagnetic signals sent from the surface location to a receiver near the control valves, the receiver needs electrical power to operate. As with downhole instruments, it is often difficult or impractical to provide the power and signals to such valves over electrical conductors, especially in deep wells.
It would be desirable to provide a source of power to downhole instruments, signaling systems, actuators and other devices in producing wells without installing electrical cables in the well.
In accordance with the present invention, a downhole power system includes a conduit bypassing a packer sealing element and means for using pressure differential in the fluids above and below the packer to provide power to instruments and actuators installed in the well.
In one embodiment, the system includes a fluid driven motor driving an electrical generator and an electrical storage device. A controller monitors the status of the storage device and allows fluid from the conduit to flow to the motor when the storage device needs to be recharged.
In another embodiment, a controller switches fluid flow from the conduit to hydraulically driven actuators which mechanically drive mechanical devices such as flow control valves.

Hydraulic power source for downhole instruments and actuators


A spring connection assembly for a bouncing toy to connect a seating platform to a support includes an elongated support member, an eyelet mounted to the support member for rotation about the member axis, a coil spring having an end hook hooked through the eyelet and a clip having a clip portion extending parallel to the spring hook but in the opposite direction and a base portion retained within the end of the spring.

A spring-mounted toy such as a bouncer comprises a seating platform suspended from a support by means of springs. The seating platform may have the form of a horse or other animal which can be straddled by the child. The support is usually designed to rest on the floor or other horizontal surface. Springs are stretched between the front and rear of the seating platform and raised posts or standards on the support so that the seating platform is suspended more or less horizontally above the floor or other horizontal surface at a height such that a child can climb onto and sit on the seating platform and by shifting his or her weight, jounce and bounce as if he were on a bucking horse, for example.
The springs which connect the seating platform to the support have hooks at their opposite ends and usually these hooks hook into eyes mounted to the support and to laterally projecting struts on the seating platform. While the prior spring connections resiliently support the seating platform, they do have some disadvantages. More particularly, all of the springs on a given bouncer toy are not always hooked in the same way between the seating platform and the support. That is, the connections of one spring may be more resistant to pivotal or swinging motion than those of the other springs so that the seating platform has a bouncing motion which is uneven and jerky.
The differences in the actions of the spring connections are due in large part to the design of the spring connections themselves. A typical spring used in this application is a coil spring having an elongated barrel or tubular shape. The two endmost turns of the spring are bent out more or less parallel to the axis of the spring to form integral hooks. However, those hooks may be oriented in various different angles about the spring axis. For example, if the hook at one end of the spring lies in a horizontal plane, the hook at the opposite end of that spring may lie in a horizontal plane, vertical plane or repose at some intermediate angle. Therefore, when hooking the opposite ends of that spring to the eyes on a seating platform and its support, the swiveling motion of the hooks relative to those eyes may differ depending upon the angles at which the hooks hook through the corresponding eyes.
Bear in mind also that the eyes themselves are usually formed by closed hooks having threaded shanks which are bolted to their supporting structures so that those eyes are often free to pivot about their axes further complicating the angular relationships between the spring hooks and the eyes to which they are engaged. The upshot is that when the child bounces up and down on the toy, the hook-eye connections bind to greater or lesser degrees depending upon the angles at which the hooks intercept their corresponding eyes, resulting in less than optimum motion of the seating platform as noted above.
Another disadvantage of the prior spring connections for such toys is that if a child bounces vigorously enough and in a certain way, one or another of the springs may twist about its axis to such an extent that one or both of its hooks can become detached from its corresponding eye so that the seating platform is no longer supported in a stable condition. In other words, the platform may tip to such an extent that the child thereon may fall off. This condition obviously increases the potential for injury to the child.


A guide wire having state-of-the-art handling characteristics for ease in positioning a variety of catheters and other devices within the cardiovascular or other body system wherein the guide wire is also suitable for infusion of small volumes of fluid. The exceedingly small diameter guide wire has unique infusion properties. The guide wire body has at least one helical coil having a flexible nonporous sheath within the lumen. The helical coil is close wound along the majority of its length. The distal end of the helical coil has spaced windings to permit infusion of the fluid. The flexible nonporous sheath terminates proximal to the space wound portion. The solid core wire, which runs the entire length of the guide wire, is located within the same lumen used for infusion. This provides a greatly increased surface area in relation to the cross sectional area of the infusion lumen ensuring a slow but extremely constant infusion rate over a wide range of infusion pressures.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to medical devices, and more particularly, relates to guide wires used for infusion of fluids.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of guide wires to easily and properly position diagnostic, therapeutic, and infusion catheters has been known for some time. The above cross referenced commonly assigned patent applications, herein incorporated by reference, describe the state of the art in the design, manufacture, and use of guide wires.
One of the purposes for such guide wires is the positioning of infusion catheters. This procedure requires the attending medical personnel to insert the guide wire into the vascular system through a puncture at a convenient location. The guide wire is normally advanced under fluoroscopy until its distal tip is located at the desired infusion site. The infusion catheter is then advanced over the guide wire until the infusion orifice(s) is located at the infusion site. Oftentimes the guide wire is removed to make the entire cross-sectional area of the infusion catheter lumen available for the passage of fluid.
Because of the difficulties with this procedure, attempts have been made to make an infusion catheter which requires no separate guide wire. U.S. Pat. No. 3,757,768 issued to Kline describes one approach to such a catheter. The Kline design uses a spring guide over which is placed a sheath. To improve the handling characteristics, a removable stylet is inserted into the central infusion lumen. The stylet must be removable to provide the desired infusion properties. However, because it is removable, it is not available to transfer axial torque.


An apparatus for monitoring one or more than one biological parameter is provided. The apparatus comprises two or more than two layers, each layer comprising a flexible substrate, the two or more than two layers comprising two or more than two sensors for sensing the one or more than one biological parameter; a signal conditioning module in communication with one or more than one of the two or more than two sensors; a signal processor in communication with the signal conditioning module and producing a processed signal; a communication module in communication with the signal processor and transmitting the processed signal to a storage module, a display device, a host processing system, or a combination thereof; and a power module to provide power to the two or more than two sensors, the signal conditioning module, the signal processor, and the communication module.

Measurement of biological parameters such as an electrocardiogram (ECG) is a well-known and important aspect of medical monitoring systems. Advances in the sensors, microelectronics and data storage and processing have made possible the miniaturization of medical monitoring equipment such as ECG, such that a subject may wear the sensors for an extended period outside of a hospital environment.
Rarely however, is a biological parameter monitored in isolation. Several parameters may be monitored intermittently or over time to provide information on a subject's physical condition or health.
Xijun et al 2005 (27th International Conference of the Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society Sep. 1-4, 2005) describe a lightweight, low power sensor that may be used as an electrocardiogram sensor.
Lo et al 2005 (3rd International Conference on Pervasive Computing, Munich, May 8-13, 2005. pp 77-80) describe a network of sensors to monitor various biological parameters.
Lo and Yang 2005 (The Perspective in Pervasive Computing IEE Savoy Place, 2005 pp 23-28) describe a node for a sensor network that may be used on a subject, to facilitate the use of wireless sensors.

Apparatus for signal detection, processing and communication


The present disclosure provides for an electronic monitoring device having an adjustable length cable to connect the monitoring device to an object. A band is adapted to engage at least a portion of the object and is operable for receiving a portion of the cable therein. The band may include a winding mechanism connectable thereto which is adapted to wind a desired length of cable into the band such that the band and cable can be matched to the size of the object being monitored.

The abduction of infants from hospital maternity wards happens with alarming frequency. The incorrect matching of newborn infants and parents also occurs much too often. To ensure that mother and infant are correctly matched together, some hospitals use a system of coded badges that are secured to each of the mother and the infant. Typically, a multi-digit code is printed on a wristband which is secured to the mother, and a wrist and/or ankle band bearing a matching multi-digit code is secured to the infant. The mother's badge is secured prior to delivery, and the infant's badges are secured as soon as practical after delivery while both the mother and infant remain in the delivery room. When mother and infant are later united, for example when the infant is brought from the nursery to the mother's recovery room, a hospital staff member is instructed to verify the numbers match to ensure the correct infant is united with the correct mother. Mothers are also encouraged to check that the numbers match. As an alternative to the infant wrist or ankle band, it has been proposed to imprint the code on an umbilical clamp and to provide the mother with a wristband again bearing a matching code. It is suggested that the umbilical clamp system ensures that the coded band does not inadvertently detach itself from the infant. With either wrist/ankle bands or umbilical clamps, the system requires human intervention to function correctly, and errors in matching mother and infant can still occur if the hospital staff or the mother fail to check or are careless in checking that the coded numbers match.
In addition to infants, it may be desirable to monitor other objects such as household pets, wildlife, incarcerated prisoners, and the like. One invention has overcome some of the problems disclosed above. U.S. Pat. No. 6,211,790 discloses a infrared/radio frequency (IR/RF) transmitter/receiver operably secured to the mother and to the infant. In a matching mode of operation, IR signals are received by infrared receivers located within the various rooms of the hospital to precisely and automatically determine by proximity that mother and infant are correctly united. In a presence detecting mode, RF signals from the infant's badge are detected by RF receivers located throughout the maternity ward of the hospital or throughout the hospital generally. In a security mode, RF receivers located proximate exits of either of the maternity ward and/or the hospital detects RF signals from the infant and may provide a signal to generate an alarm if any unauthorized exit occurs.
In previous ankle and/or wrist tag devices, the band and cable length are adjusted to be fitted to the ankle or wrist and any excess material left is cut. Having to cut the excess using a scissors or a sharp object poses a risk to the infant and/or the nurse. The cut portion may also be left by mistake in the baby's bed, etc. presenting a choking hazard.


A method for funding IP procurement for non-profits such as universities and other non-profits that conduct research, includes providing a fund to hold interests in intellectual properties of a non-profit organization, receiving investments from investors to add to the fund to fund acquisition of intellectual properties of the non-profit, by machine, storing information regarding the investments, intellectual properties, and the investors into a database and distributing shares in the fund according to the value of investments made in the fund.

Many universities and other non-profit organizations conduct important and basic research in a variety of technical areas. Often that research deals with patentable concepts. In some instances, the research is funded by outside sources such as private industry and/or government funding. Often however, the universities and non-profits conduct self-funded research. Given the financial environment for many universities, the ability of such universities to fund a patent program and obtain protection on their novel and non-obvious contributions is often limited.

Funding acquisition of university and non-profit patent portfolios


In one embodiment of the present invention, processor 1000 comprising a plurality of processor cores for processing an instruction-execution sequence is provided. Signal path 140 that is able to communicate an inter-core interrupt signal fint is connected to at least two processor cores 100A and 100B. Each core of the at least two cores has an inter-core interrupt count setting register (ICSR) 110 and a FIFO counter 120. Inter-core interrupt synchronization function, inter-core interrupt generation function, and FIFO counter updating function are implemented to the every core. In embodiments of the present invention, a core and a method therefor are also provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to hardware structure of processor core as well as multi-core processor, and a method for processing software on such a multi-core processor.
2. Description of the Related Art
For information systems, such as computers and embedded systems, processors including microprocessors, DSPs, micro controllers and so forth continues to improve its performance by, for example, increasing operating clock frequency, density of transistors in line with advancement of semiconductor technologies. Especially, for increasing functionality and processing efficiency, processor cores tend to increase their circuit scale by integrating more transistors into a chip, or a single piece of semiconductor die.
On the other hand, recently other approaches are chosen to improve computing performance than implementing a large scale circuitry into a single piece of the die. One approach is to increase the number of processor cores on a single die for executing parallel processing, or to combine different types of processor cores having respective operation purposes on a single chip. This is because performance improvement will become marginal even when a complexity due to the number of transistors is increased. For example, doubling the die size merely increases the performance only by the square root of two, or about 1.4, as known as Pollack's Law. It results in disadvantages as increase in power consumption as well as generation of heat caused by a more number of transistors, rather than the improvement of a processor core performance therefrom. A processor integrating multiple processor cores is sometimes called a multi-core processor, or a many-core processor.
In technology trends in this field, the multiple processor core approach has been common these days especially in application processors. For example, in application fields such as mobile devices and high performance computing whose performance per power is crucial, multi-core processor has been one of typical approaches. A pre-grant Japanese patent publication, JP 2007-316859 A, which corresponds to a pre-grant US patent publication No. 2007/0,273,699, discloses a computer architecture having multi-core processor. In addition, a concept of GPGPU, General Purpose computations on Graphics Processing unit, is also attracting a great deal of attention. It is because such a concept can provide a general-purpose computation with utilizing highly parallel processing by adopting integer operations and conditional branches instructions on a GPU, Graphics Processing Unit. Generally, these multi-core processors integrating processor cores are made in two styles: in one style called a homogeneous multi-core, identical type of processor cores are integrated, whereas in the other style called a heterogeneous multi-core, different types of processor cores are integrated.

Processor core and multi-core processor system


A liquid crystal display device includes a support main having a rectangular frame shape, a reflection sheet in the support main, a light guide plate over the reflection sheet, a light-emitting diode (LED) assembly including LEDs arranged along a light-incident surface of the light guide plate and a printed circuit board (PCB) on which the LEDs are mounted, an LED housing partially covering the LED assembly and including first and second portions, wherein the PCB is attached to the first portion, and the second portion is perpendicular to the first portion, a plurality of optical sheets over the light guide plate, a liquid crystal panel over the plurality of optical sheets, a cover bottom at a rear surface of the reflection sheet and having at least one side wall, and a top cover covering edges of a front surface of the liquid crystal and combined with the support main and the cover bottom.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a liquid crystal display device, and more particularly, to a liquid crystal display device including a light-emitting diode (LED) light source.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Liquid crystal display (LCD) devices are most widely used for monitors of notebook computers, monitors of personal computers and televisions due to excellent moving images and high contrast ratio. LCD devices use the optical anisotropy and polarization properties of liquid crystal molecules of a liquid crystal layer to produce an image.
An LCD device includes two substrates spaced apart and facing each other and a liquid crystal layer interposed between the two substrates. The alignment direction of the liquid crystal molecules is controlled by varying the intensity of an electric field applied to the liquid crystal layer, and the transmittance of light through the liquid crystal layer is changed.
The LCD devices require an additional light source because the LCD devices are not self-luminescent. Therefore, a backlight unit is disposed at a rear side of a liquid crystal (LC) panel and emits light into the LC panel, whereby discernible images can be displayed.
Backlight units include cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFLs), external electrode fluorescent lamps (EEFLs), and light emitting diodes (LEDs) as a light source. Among these, LED lamps have been widely used due to their small sizes, low power consumption, and high reliability.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a liquid crystal display (LCD) module including LEDs as a light source according to the related art.
In FIG. 1, the related art LCD module includes a liquid crystal panel 10, a backlight unit 20, a support main 30, a top cover 40 and a cover bottom 50.
The liquid crystal panel 10 displays images and includes first and second substrates 12 and 14 facing and attached to each other with a liquid crystal layer (not shown) interposed therebetween. Polarizers 19a and 19b are attached at front and rear surfaces of the liquid crystal panel 10 and control the polarization of light.
The backlight unit 20 is disposed at a rear side of the liquid crystal panel 10. The backlight unit 20 includes an LED assembly 29, a reflection sheet 25, a light guide plate 23 and a plurality of optical sheets 21. The LED assembly 29 is disposed at an edge of at least one side of the support main 30 along a length direction. The reflection sheet 25 is disposed over the cover bottom 50 and is white- or silver-colored. The light guide plate 23 is disposed over the reflection sheet 25. The plurality of optical sheets 21 are disposed over the light guide plate 23.
The LED assembly 29 is disposed at a side of the light guide plate 23. The LED assembly 29 includes a plurality of LEDs 29a emitting white light and a printed circuit board (PCB) 29b on which the LEDs 29a are mounted.
Edges of the liquid crystal panel 10 and the backlight unit 20 are surrounded by the support main 30 having a rectangular frame shape. The top cover 40 covers edges of the front surface of the liquid crystal panel 10, and the cover bottom 50 covers a rear surface of the backlight unit 20. The top cover 40 and the cover bottom 50 are combined to with the support main 30 to thereby constitute one-united body.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of enlarging an area A of FIG. 1. In FIG. 2, the LEDs 29a are arranged along the side of the light guide plate 23 of the LCD module, and the LEDs 29a are mounted on the PCB 29b to constitute the LED assembly 29. The LED assembly 29 is fixed by a bonding method such that lights emitted from the LEDs 29a face a side surface of the light guide plate 23, which the lights are incident on and which is referred to as a light-incident surface hereinafter. To do this, the cover bottom 50 has a side wall that is formed by bending an edge portion of the cover bottom 50 upward. The LED assembly 29 is attached to the side wall of the cover bottom 50 by an adhesive material such as a both-sided sticky tape. The structure may be referred to as a side top view type.
Accordingly, lights emitted from the LEDs 29a are incident on the light-incident surface of the light guide plate 23 and then are refracted toward the liquid crystal panel 10 inside the light guide plate 23. With lights reflected by the reflection sheet 25, the lights are changed to have uniform brightness and high qualities through the plurality of optical sheets 21 and are provided to the liquid crystal panel 10. Accordingly, the liquid crystal panel 10 displays images.
However, there are several problems in the LCD device including the backlight unit 20. Specially, the LCD device does not include a guiding means such that all the lights emitted from the LEDs 29a go to the light guide plate 23. Thus, some of lights emitted from are lost between the LED 29a and the light guide plate 23, and there is loss of light in the LCD device.
FIG. 3 is a view of showing a simulation result of changes in luminous flux after lights emitted from the LEDs 29a of FIG. 2 are changed into a plane light source by the light guide plate 23 of FIG. 2 according to the related art. Here, the unit of luminous flux is lm (lumen) in the International System of Units. As the luminous flux gets high, the quantity of light also gets high.
In the simulation result, as it goes from green to red, the luminous flux gets high. That is, there is no luminous flux in green, and the luminous flux increases as it goes from yellow to red.
Here, an ideal change in the luminous flux is as follows. There is no luminous flux in a side edge portion of the LCD device, where the LEDs 29a of FIG. 2 are disposed and which is a non-display area excluding pixels, and thus the side edge portion is shown as green. In the other portions of the LCD device, where the lights emitted from the LEDs 29a of FIG. 2 are incident on the light guide plate 23 of FIG. 2 and changed into the plane light source, there is high luminous flux, and thus the other portions are shown as red.
However, according to FIG. 3, there exists yellow between green and red. In yellow, the luminous flux is lower than red, and there is the loss of light. Here, yellow corresponds to a region between the LEDs 29a of FIG. 2 and the light-incident surface of the light guide plate 23 of FIG. 2. Accordingly, it is found that there occurs the loss of light between the LEDs and the light guide plate.
When a total luminous flux of the lights emitted from the LEDs 29a of FIG. 2 is 100 lm, the plane light source from the light guide plate 23 of FIG. 2 has the luminous flux of 79.74 lm. Therefore, the loss of the luminous flux may be about 20 lm.
This causes lowering of the qualities of the LCD device such as the brightness and image qualities.

Liquid crystal display device including LED light source


A system and method for analyzing directory service environment attack path choke points for an enterprise may continuously collect data about the attack paths and provide alerts.

Enterprise security teams use Directory Services solutions to manage permissions and access to networked resources. These teams are responsible with ensuring the right assets (users, groups of users, and computers) have just enough access to other assets within the network to complete their job duties but no more. This is critical for two reasons: 1) excessive permissions open paths for malicious actors to operate and execute (that may be known as "Attack Paths") in the pursuit of their objective once gaining initial access within the environment; and 2) excessive permissions increase insider threat risk from users with unnecessary access to sensitive data.
One challenge with Directory Services is the cascading permissions that can be granted to an asset either through nested permissions either directly or indirectly by associating it with another Directory Services asset. This introduces a "Russian Doll" effect of nested permissions that can excessively expose assets within the environment.
Another challenge with Directory Services is the manner in which user credentials or access tokens are stored after accessing other assets within the network. Harvesting, misusing, or hijacking these credentials and tokens (that may be known as "Credential Theft") is trivial for malicious actors who use these to continue to execute lateral movement and complete their objectives.
No solution designed to analyze permissions in Directory Services uses both analysis of token risk with un-nested asset permissions in the calculation of all possible Attack Paths. This leads to a partial and incorrect picture of exposure risk for the environment. Additionally, no system today analyzes all possible Attack Paths in a continuous basis because current solutions focus on point-in-time scans only. The total number of Attack Paths is in a constant state of flux due to daily changes to Directory Services assets (e.g. users added to new groups leading to new nested permissions) and users logging in to other network resources (new Credential Theft risk). Continuous analysis facilitates alerting on an increase in the number of Attack Paths that expose critical assets to compromise.
Finally, no system today presents findings and recommendations from a Tiering Isolation viewpoint. Tiering Isolation is a security and administrative best practice for the management of Directory Services infrastructure. Systems in place today overload administrative and security personnel with generic alerting which do not focus on reducing the total Attack Paths connecting tiered enterprise assets. Proper segmentation of privilege through Tiering Isolation effective cuts the Attack Paths available for compromise and dramatically hardens the network against attackers.
Currently, there is an open source program publicly available from the assignee of the present application called "BloodHound Free and Open-Source" ("BloodHound FOSS") (publicly accessible and available at github.com/BloodHoundAD/BloodHound). BloodHound FOSS is a tool used by ethical hacking professionals who conduct penetration testing or red team operations against corporate client networks. These engagements are designed to emulate attacker activities and complete one or more target objectives to test the security of the environment.
BloodHound FOSS is built to identify a path to a target objective to an authorized ethical hacker. This user will execute BloodHound FOSS to map the available Attack Paths from a computer under his or her control. Once the Attack Graph is populated, the user chooses an Attack Path to pursue and conducts follow-on activities in the pursuit of their target objective. While BloodHound FOSS can identify the available Attack Paths utilizing analysis of both nested relationships and Credential Theft, it does so only from the viewpoint of a single system, is executed as a point-in-time snapshot versus continuous collection and analysis. BloodHound FOSS also is unable to aggregate data collected from multiple sources in an automated manner. BloodHound FOSS only provides the options for users to execute to move to a target objective, it does not provide detailed descriptions of the underlying objects or provide recommendations for defensive mitigation or remediation strategies.
For a large network of an entity, there may be an impossibly large number of attack paths wherein each attack path is a possible way to exploit weaknesses in the Directory Services system that manages access permissions for the entity. It is not feasible to be able to secure each of these Directory Services attack paths which is a technical problem with currently known techniques and systems. It is desirable to be able to filter out some of the attack paths and focus on the key attack paths that are most likely to result in exploits that is not currently provided by the above described existing systems and methods and it is to this end that the disclosure is directed.

System and method for continuous collection, analysis and reporting of attack paths choke points in a directory services environment