A method for supporting operation of mobile terminal having a subscription in a packet switched wireless network within a legacy wireless network when the mobile terminal roams into the service area of the legacy network. The mobile terminal sends an attach request to a support node of the legacy wireless network. The legacy wireless network then authenticates the mobile terminal. Next, the support node of the legacy wireless network interacts with the packet switched wireless network to receive the mobile terminal""s subscriber data. The home subscriber service function of the packet switched wireless network then interacts with a prior support node to cancel the wireless terminals prior location. The support node of the legacy wireless network next requests a visitor location register of the legacy wireless network to register the mobile terminal. The visitor location register of the legacy wireless network then interacts with the packet switched wireless network to register the mobile terminal within the legacy wireless network. The visitor location register of the legacy wireless network next acknowledges to the support node that the mobile terminal has been registered within the legacy wireless network. Finally, the support node of the legacy wireless network acknowledges the attach request to the mobile terminal. In another operation, a packet switched wireless network services packet switched operations for a packet switched mobile terminal.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to cellular wireless communication networks; and more particularly to operations of a next generation mobile terminal that is roaming into a legacy wireless communication network.
2. Related Art
Cellular wireless networks include a xe2x80x9cnetwork infrastructurexe2x80x9d that facilitates wireless communications with mobile terminals operating within a respective service coverage area. The network infrastructure couples to other network to support communications, e.g., the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), the Internet, etc. Wireless mobile terminals operating within a service coverage area of the network infrastructure wirelessly communicate with base stations of the network infrastructure. The network infrastructure routes the communications to another subscribing wireless units, to terminals coupled to the PSTN, to terminals coupled to the Internet, or to terminals coupled via another network to one of these networks.
Various wireless interface standards have been developed to standardize wireless communications between the mobile terminals and the network infrastructure. Wireless interface standards include, for example, the Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS) standards, the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) standards, the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) standards and the Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) standards. Generations of these standards are generally referred to as first generation (1G), second generation (2G), third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), etc. Each advancing generation of standards typically performs a greater number of services, supports a greater number of features, and provides better communication qualities. These operating standards may also be partially deployed from generation to generation, e.g., 2G to 2.5G.
Some partial generation wireless standard updates may be deployed using a legacy infrastructure. For example, a 2.5G network has been deployed using upgraded components of a 2G network. However, when moving from one generation to another generation, e.g., 2G to 3G, the network infrastructure must typically be rebuilt using new infrastructure components.
Network infrastructure replacement is both expensive and difficult to deploy. An additional problem resulting from the generational replacement of the network infrastructure relates to backward compatibility for subscribers. With 3G networks, for example, a subscriber subscribes to 3G services, which includes a suite of services. A 3G subscription may include, for example, circuit switched voice services for the subscriber""s 2G mobile terminal, packet switched voice service for the subscriber""s 3G packet switched mobile terminal, packet data services for the subscriber""s personal data assistant, and packet data services for the subscriber""s notebook computer, among other services. However, each of the subscriber""s wireless devices may not be compatible with the 3G infrastructures. Further, operations of the 3G network must correspond to particular services being employed, i.e., the network must operate differently for different requested services.
In a typical next generation 3G infrastructure, legacy (2G) terminal support will be provided. When 3G systems are deployed, 3G mobile terminals will be placed into service. In such cases, the 3G infrastructures will support the 3G services for the 3G mobile terminals as they operate within the respective service areas. However, the 3G mobile terminals must also be serviced while roaming into legacy 2G wireless networks. Thus backward compatibility issues arise that have not heretofore been addressed.
Further, 3G wireless devices may be placed in service within a legacy network, and thus will be limited in their operation to certain services. If such a 3G wireless device roams from its home service area into an area that supports all 3G packet switched services, the 3G wireless device should not be allowed to receive packet switched services to which it does not subscribe. In such case, the visited network must prevent delivery of these services.
Thus, there is a need in the art for a system and method that may be employed to support both legacy mobile terminals and next generation mobile terminals within next generation wireless communication systems and further to properly service next generation terminals within next generation networks that have subscribed within legacy networks.
Thus, to overcome the shortcomings of the prior systems and methods, among other shortcomings, a method of the present invention supports operation of mobile terminal having a subscription in a packet switched (3G) wireless network within a legacy (2G) wireless network. Initially, when the 3G mobile terminal roams into the service area of the legacy network, the mobile terminal sends an attach request to a support node of the legacy wireless network. The legacy wireless network then authenticates the mobile terminal.
Next, the support node of the legacy wireless network interacts with the packet switched wireless network to receive the mobile terminal""s subscriber data. The home subscriber service function of the packet switched wireless network then interacts with a prior support node to cancel the wireless terminals prior location. The support node of the legacy wireless network next requests a visitor location register of the legacy wireless network to register the mobile terminal. The visitor location register of the legacy wireless network then interacts with the packet switched wireless network to register the mobile terminal within the legacy wireless network.
The visitor location register of the legacy wireless network next acknowledges to the support node that the mobile terminal has been registered within the legacy wireless network. Finally, the support node of the legacy wireless network acknowledges the attach request to the mobile terminal. By interacting with the packet switched wireless network in this manner, the legacy network may not only provide service but determine the level at which service should be performed. These operations are a requirement for proper servicing by the legacy wireless network of the mobile terminal.
In its interaction with the packet switched wireless network to receive the mobile terminal""s subscriber data, the support node of the legacy wireless network sends an update location message to a home subscriber service function of the packet switched wireless network. The home subscriber service function of the packet switched wireless network then interacts with the support node of the legacy wireless network to download subscriber data to the support node of the legacy wireless network. With this interaction complete, the home subscriber service function of the packet switched wireless network sends an update location acknowledge message to the support node of the legacy wireless network.
According to one embodiment of these operations, the visitor location register of the legacy wireless network sends a message via the roaming signaling gateway function of the packet switched wireless network to the home subscriber service function of the packet switched wireless network to request an update of the mobile terminal""s location. The visitor location register then communicates with the home subscriber service function of the packet switched wireless network via the roaming signaling gateway function of the packet switched wireless network to receive subscriber data for the mobile terminal. With these operations completed, the home subscriber service function of the packet switched wireless network sends a message to the visitor location register of the legacy network via the roaming signaling gateway function of the packet switched wireless network to acknowledge the update of the mobile terminal""s location.
According to one embodiment of the mobile terminal, the mobile terminal supports both legacy wireless network operations and packet switched wireless network operations. However, with another embodiment of the mobile terminal, the mobile terminal supports only legacy wireless network operations.
According to an additional operation for the methods described above, a packet data context for the mobile terminal within the legacy wireless network is created. Moreover, after the registration operations have been completed, the mobile terminal may originate a call within the legacy wireless network. Further, the legacy wireless network may terminate a call to the mobile terminal.
In terminating a call to the mobile terminal, the legacy wireless network receives a call termination request from a coupled network at a gateway switch. The gateway switch then sends a routing information request message to the roaming signaling gateway function of the packet switched wireless network. The roaming signaling gateway function of the packet switched wireless network next interacts with the home subscriber service function of the packet switched wireless network to determine a serving switch of the legacy wireless network.
As a further operation, the roaming signaling gateway function of the packet switched wireless network interacts with the serving switch of the legacy wireless network to determine a roaming number for the mobile terminal. The roaming signaling gateway function of the packet switched wireless network forwards the roaming number for the mobile terminal to the originating switch. Finally, the originating switch terminates the call to the mobile terminal via the serving switch.
According to a second operation of the present invention, a packet switched wireless network services packet switched operations for a packet switched mobile terminal. In servicing the communication, a servicing support node of the packet switched wireless network receives an attach request message from the mobile terminal. In response, the packet switched wireless network authenticates the mobile terminal. Next, the support node of the packet switched wireless network interacts with a home subscriber service function of the packet switched wireless network to receive the mobile terminal""s subscriber data. The support node of the packet switched wireless network then interacts with a home subscriber service function of the packet switched wireless network to update the mobile terminal""s location. The support node of the packet switched wireless network responds to the mobile terminal with an attach accept message.
The mobile terminal then sends an application registration request message via the support node to a call state control function of the packet switched wireless network, wherein the application request message seeks to register a voice over internet protocol application supported by the mobile terminal. The call state control function of the packet switched wireless network next interacts with the home subscriber service function of the packet switched wireless network to register the application. Finally, the call state control function of the packet switched wireless network sends a registration confirmation message to the mobile terminal.
After these operations have been completed, the mobile terminal may originated a packet switched call and the packet switched network will service the call. Further, the packet switched wireless network may receive a packet switched call by the packet switched wireless network and terminate the packet switched call to the mobile terminal via the packet switched wireless network.
In terminating the packet switched call to the mobile terminal via the packet switched wireless network, a home call state control function of the packet switched wireless network receives a call setup message. The home call state control function of the packet switched wireless network then interacts with the home subscriber service function of the packet switched wireless network to determine a serving call state control function of the packet switched wireless network. Next, the home call state control function of the packet switched wireless network forwarding the call setup message to the serving call state control function of the packet switched wireless network. Finally, the serving call state control function of the packet switched wireless network operates to initiate call termination to the mobile terminal.
Moreover, other aspects of the present invention will become apparent with further reference to the drawings and specification, which follow.

Terminal roaming operations between intergenerational wireless networks


A card transport apparatus (12) carries cards along a card transport path through card processing stations (14, 74, 76). The transport apparatus (14) includes a vertically adjustable card carriage (16) for retaining cards along a card transport path throughout the entire card processing operation through the card processing stations (14, 74, 76). The card carriage (16) grips the cards with independently pivoting gripping arms (52, 54), actuated open by push solenoids (18, 20, 22) for picking up and releasing cards.

The present invention relates to a transport system and method for transporting plastic cards along a card transport path for processing. In particular, the present invention relates to transporting cards through a card embossing and topping system.
Earlier methods of transporting a card do not transport a card fully across all processing stations and do not provide for flexibility in processing station arrangements. U.S. Pat. 4,088,216 and 4,180,338 to LaManna et al. are representative of the prior card transport art. In the prior art, relatively large linkages were required at both ends of the transport mechanism for adjusting the height of the card transport rail for moving the card to various processing stations. As best shown in FIG. 3 of U.S. Pat. 4,088,216, the card transport system requires a large linkage at each end of a card rail. The linkages have a large number of parts which require constant adjustment for keeping the system aligned. The prior art does not provide for carrying cards across the entire length of the transport path and requires dummy mechanisms at processing stations to transport a card along portions of the transport path if some processing mechanisms are not being used in a particular processing operation. The dummy mechanisms comprise an individual processing mechanism transport without a card processing mechanism. The processing mechanism transport requires space, needs extra maintenance for proper operation, and adds cost.
As is shown in FIGS. 7A-7E of U.S. Pat. 4,088,216, the prior art uses a single pivoting arm, pivoting about a single axis, in the card carriage having grippers at the lateral ends of the carriage. With the prior art carriage, precise adjustments are required so that both grippers apply equal force against the card. If a jam occurs, one of the grippers may easily become bent or misadjusted. Additional cards may then be dropped or improperly aligned since the bent arm is not able to properly grip or retain the card. The card processing must be stopped and the arm or carriage replaced. This causes undue delays and costly down time. The prior art carriages do not allow the flexibility in holding the card that is required if a jam occurs during the transport process.
It is apparent that an improved apparatus for transporting cards through processing stations along a card transport path is needed. The present invention solves problems associated with rapidly transporting cards along the transport path.

Transport system and method for embossing apparatus


A wireline jar tool delivers instrument packages into wellbores and retrieves tools when they get stuck. The jar has several stored spring chambers connected to accelerate an upper spring chamber away from a stuck lower carrier chamber that supports instrument packages. Wireline tension actuates the jarring action and then lowers a sinker bar for reset as many times as required to incrementally jar the un-stick fish uphole. The wire line connects to a conductor that extends inside the tool through a main operating shaft, release coupling, hammer and anvil, lost motion coupling, into the lower chamber where the end connects to the instruments for communication to the surface. A small wireline tension provides unexpected large impact forces.

A novel resettable jar tool for use downhole in a borehole for enhancing the retrieval of stuck objects. The stuck object may be part of a tool string that includes the jar tool of this invention. The jar tool can withstand high temperature and other deleterious downhole conditions without significantly reducing the magnitude of the stored energy employed for actuating the jar tool.
The jar tool is resettable as many times as required to dislodge a stuck object by manipulating the operating wireline that allows electronic communication between apparatus connected to the bottom of the tool and the surface by an electrical conductor that extends through the entire jar tool. The jar includes a hammer, anvil and releasable latch device cooperatively interconnected to increase the safety of the tool and to deliver a powerful uphole thrust responsive to wireline tension.

Downhole resettable jar tool with axial passageway and multiple biasing means


The present disclosure provides for a system and method for detecting explosives and other materials in a sample scene. First interacted photons are produced from a target area wherein the first interacted photons are generated via solar radiation. The first interacted photons are assessed to thereby generate a SWIR hyperspectral image. The SWIR hyperspectral image is analyzed to identify an area of interest likely of comprising an explosive material. The area of interest is illuminated using laser light illumination to generate second interacted photons from the area of interest. These second interacted photons are assessed to determine whether it not an explosive material is present in the area of interest. The system and method may be configured in standoff, OTM, static and UGV configurations.

Spectroscopic imaging combines digital imaging and molecular spectroscopy techniques, which can include Raman scattering, fluorescence, photoluminescence, ultraviolet, visible and infrared absorption spectroscopies. When applied to the chemical analysis of materials, spectroscopic imaging is commonly referred to as chemical imaging. Instruments for performing spectroscopic (i.e. chemical) imaging typically comprise an illumination source, image gathering optics, focal plane array imaging detectors and imaging spectrometers.
In general, the sample size determines the choice of image gathering optic. For example, a microscope is typically employed for the analysis of sub micron to millimeter spatial dimension samples. For larger objects, in the range of millimeter to meter dimensions, macro lens optics are appropriate. For samples located within relatively inaccessible environments, flexible fiberscope or rigid borescopes can be employed. For very large scale objects, such as planetary objects, telescopes are appropriate image gathering optics.
For detection of images formed by the various optical systems, two-dimensional, imaging focal plane array (FPA) detectors are typically employed. The choice of FPA detector is governed by the spectroscopic technique employed to characterize the sample of interest. For example, silicon (Si) charge-coupled device (CCD) detectors or CMOS detectors are typically employed with visible wavelength fluorescence and Raman spectroscopic imaging systems, while indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) FPA detectors are typically employed with near-infrared spectroscopic imaging systems.
Spectroscopic imaging of a sample can be implemented by one of two methods. First, a point-source illumination can be provided on the sample to measure the spectra at each point of the illuminated area. Second, spectra can be collected over the an entire area encompassing the sample simultaneously using an electronically tunable optical imaging filter such as an acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF) or a liquid crystal tunable filter ("LCTF"). Here, the organic material in such optical filters are actively aligned by applied voltages to produce the desired bandpass and transmission function. The spectra obtained for each pixel of such an image thereby forms a complex data set referred to as a hyperspectral image which contains the intensity values at numerous wavelengths or the wavelength dependence of each pixel element in this image.
Spectroscopic devices operate over a range of wavelengths due to the operation ranges of the detectors or tunable filters possible. This enables analysis in the Ultraviolet (UV), visible (VIS), near infrared (NIR), short-wave infrared (SWIR), mid infrared (MIR) wavelengths and to some overlapping ranges. These correspond to wavelengths of about 180-380 nm (UV), 380-700 nm (VIS), 700-2500 nm (NIR), 900-1700 nm (SWIR), and 2500-25000 nm (MIR).
There exists a need for accurate and reliable detection of explosives and other materials at standoff distances. Additionally, it would be advantageous if a standoff system and method could be configured to operate in an On-the-Move (OTM) mode. It would also be advantageous if a system and method could be configured for deployment on a small unmanned ground vehicle (UGV).

SWIR targeted agile raman (STAR) system for on-the-move detection of emplace explosives


The present invention is a positioning work stop for use with a with a machining apparatus for performing a machining operation on a work piece, the positioning work stop comprising a retractable element having an extended position for contacting a work piece to ensure that the work piece is in its proper position for machining and a retracted position that provides a gap between the positioning work stop and the work piece, a biasing element that exerts a rearward biasing force of the retractable element, and a stop pin, wherein during the machining operation, when the machining apparatus contacts the stop pin the rearward biasing force automatically moves the retractable element into its retracted position creating a gap between the positioning work stop and the work piece.

The present invention is directed to a positioning work stop and more particularly to a positioning work stop for use with a machine tool in performing a precision machining operation and which operates to allow an operator to place a work piece in its proper position for machining and further operates to retract out of contact with the work piece to create a gap between the positioning work stop and the work piece to allow for uninterrupted machining.
Computerized numerical controls (CNC) and other well-known machine tools are used to perform various machining operations. Before a machining operation can be performed, the work piece to be machined must be properly placed and held in a mounting fixture for positioning the work piece at a desired location relative to the machining tool. This is particularly important when the machining process is being performed on a CNC machine where the position of the work piece must align with the zero reference point programmed into the computer controls. A number of conventional positioning stops have been developed to accomplish the task of ensuring that the work piece is properly positioned.
Most such positioning work stops are relatively simple, manually operated devices whereby the machine operator installs the stop at a desired location and orientation, and sets the stop mechanism. When the work piece is placed in the mounting fixture and the surface makes contact with the stop, the machine operator knows that the work piece is in its proper position for machining. Such stops are typically rigid and if a gap is needed, such as during a cutting operation to allow a portion of a cut to fall away from the work piece such as to prevent the cutting blade from binding, a spacer is often needed to be inserted between the work piece and the stop. The spacer then must be held in place by a holding apparatus. Unfortunately, the use of such spacers is time consuming and work pieces often are jarred during installation of the spacer and may no longer be in its proper position for machining. This is a significant problem when machining highly precision parts. Further, if the work piece shifts out of position it is often not noticed by the operator and the machining continues to be performed. This shifting causes the work piece to be cut or machined out of specification resulting in the work piece being scrapped or reworked. Further, this requires each work piece to be carefully inspected after the machining operation thereby significantly increasing the manufacturing time and cost of operation. Another difficulty with the use of spacers is that typically after the machining operation has started, the operator must hold the work piece in one hand and install the spacer with the other hand ensuring that it is held flat against the work piece while at the same time tightening a holding apparatus to maintain the spacer in position. This process is again time consuming and can result in the work piece being moved slightly out of position.
Accordingly, there is a need for a positioning work stop that can be used with conventional machining apparatus and operates to ensure that the work piece is in its proper position for machining and reduces the likelihood that the work piece will shift out of its proper position. Further, a need exists for a positioning work stop that allows a gap to be easily created between the positioning work stop and the work piece during certain machining operations without interruption of the machining process.


A method of yielding oil residues or oil containing liquids from contaminated ground layers, includes forming at least two adjacent bore holes in a contaminated ground region, producing connecting passages between the bore holes by loosening and partially rinsing out components of a ground material which surrounds the bore holes and directing a liquid in at least one of the bore holes; applying an underpressure in at least one of the bore holes for aspirating the liquid upwardly, supplying a fluid in at least another one of the bore hole with maintaining a pressure difference between the bore holes, and aspirating in the bore hole under pressure oil separated from the liquid in a raised liquid column or an oil containing cover layer of the liquid column.

The present invention relates to a method of yielding oil residues of oil containing liquids from contaminated ground regions.
It is in general known to fill depleted oil deposits with a rinsing fluid, then pump the rinsing fluid with entrained oil residues and then separate the oil residues from the rinsing fluid. For sanitation of the ground layer contaminated with oil these methods cannot be simply taken over, and first of all when the region to be cleaned is located in inhabited areas or the agriculturally intensively utilized regions. In these situations the change in the ground water level which is unavoidable during the use of this well-known method must be avoided.

Method of yielding oil residues or oil containing liquids from contaminated ground layers


A vehicle authentication system for authenticating a portable ID transmitter with respect to an authentication arrangement of a vehicle in order to release vehicle functions for an operator, includes a portable ID transmitter that has at least one ID transmitter-UWB-antenna. The authentication device has at least one first vehicle-UWB-interface having one first UWB antenna and a second vehicle-UWB interface with a second UWB-antenna. Control for the authentication device are also provided so that an authentication method can be carried out. Optionally, the authentication system can also include LF interfaces with LF antennas and proximity sensors.

The invention relates to a method for operating an authentication system of a vehicle for authenticating a portable ID transmitter. In particular, the invention relates to an authentication system by means of which a portable ID transmitter can be authenticated with respect to the vehicle in order to enable vehicle functions for an operator who is carrying the portable ID transmitter.
Various so-called keyless entry systems are known from the prior art. Said systems are based on the communication between an in-vehicle infrastructure and a portable ID transmitter via radio. As part of the wireless communication carried out, the desired authentication is performed, for example by exchanging and checking encrypted authorization data.
In the field of keyless entry systems, the use of low-frequency (LF) and high-frequency (HF) radio waves is known and widely used. The combined communication by means of LF/HF systems is known from the prior art.
In radio-based authorization systems, security, in particular against compromised radio communication, is of crucial importance. In the context of enabling a vehicle function using a portable ID transmitter, the determination of a position, distance or similar variable, for example, for determining the plausibility of the bidirectional communication carried out, is known from the prior art. For example, it is known to analyze the signal strength of an LF radio communication between a portable ID transmitter and an in-vehicle authentication assembly. A complementary or alternatively provided concept for increasing security against being compromised can simply be based on the fact that the transmission power of an LF communication is limited. By limiting the transmission power of an LF communication between the vehicle and the ID transmitter, it is ensured that, for example, an LF wake-up signal, which is transmitted from the vehicle to the ID transmitter, can only be received by the other communication partner if a maximum distance between the ID transmitter and vehicle is not exceeded.
Many of the known authentication systems still have the fundamental disadvantage that LF radio communication or HF radio communication can be extended, for example in the context of so-called relay station attacks. In order to avoid such compromises or other compromises, countermeasures are required, which are sometimes expensive, however.
The problem addressed by the invention is therefore to improve the known authentication methods such that they provide effective but at the same time comparatively inexpensive protection against the transmitted signals being compromised.

Method for operating authentication system and authentication system


A handling equipment for a placement shelf of display panel is provided. The handling equipment includes a rack, a rotatable driving wheel and a cleansing device. The cleansing device is configured to cleanse the driving wheel. The driving wheel and the cleansing device both are disposed on the rack. The cleansing device contacts with the driving wheel. The driving wheel is configured to contact a bottom frame of the placement shelf of display panel. The driving wheel is disposed with a cleaning layer on the radial periphery of the driving wheel.

A cassette (CST) shelf is a tool to place a liquid crystal glass substrate on. The bottom frame of the CST shelf will be contaminated after longtime usage, but no cleaning method is provided at present. Dust and particles will be brought during entering an automatic material handling system. When the dust or particles are attached to a surface of a substrate, the contamination will have disturbing influence on a following manufacturing process of the substrate, such as the short circuit or open circuit of a signal line, even scraping the substrate. The dust or particles longtime accumulated in the device will harm the production condition, as well as the quality of products simultaneously.
Therefore, a problem to be solved in the manufacturing process of the display panel is how to cleanse the impurity on the CST shelf to handle the liquid crystal glass substrate.

Handling equipment for placement shelf of display panel

CHONGQING HKC OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


Functionalized water soluble macrocyclic complexes of lanthanide, actinide and yttrium ions were obtained by metal templated, Schiff-base, cyclic condensation of: (1) a functionalized 1,2-diaminoethane and a dicarbonyl compound selected from the group consisting of 2,6-dicarbonylpyridine, 2,6-diformylpyridine, 2,5-dicarbonylfuran, 2,5-diformylfuran, 2,5-dicarbonylthiophene and 2,5-diformylthiophene; or (2) 1,2-diaminoethane and a ring-substituted heterocyclic dicarbonyl compound selected from a group consisting of substituted 2,6-dicarbonylpyridine, substituted 2,6-diformylpyridine, substituted 2,5-dicarbonylfuran, substituted 2,5-diformylfuran; substituted 2,5-dicarbonyl thiophene, and substituted 2,5-diformylthiophene. Coordination complexes thus formed are kinetically stable in dilute aqueous solution. They are further reacted, or coupled, through a substituent on the 1,2-diaminoethane or on the pyridine, furan, or thiophene moieties, to one of the following: proteinaceous materials, polysaccharides, other biologically compatible macromolecules or bridging molecules which, can be further reacted or coupled to the above mentioned substrates. These macrocyclic complexes are suitable in the preparation of reporter molecules and for magnetic resonance, radiation imaging and radiation therapy.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention concerns a process for the synthesis of functionalized, water-soluble, macrocyclic complexes of the lanthanides having atomic numbers 57-71, of the actinides having atomic numbers 89-103, and of yttrium(III) having atomic number 39.
This invention also includes processes for the coupling of such complexes to biologically active or biologically compatible molecules, or to biological cells through peripheral pendant substituents having one or more reactive sites. These complexes are useful particularly as reporter molecules in immunoassays, analytical cytology, histological staining, and imaging processes (Leif et al., Clinical Chemistry, 1977, 23, 1492, Development of Instrumentation and Fluorochromes for Automated Multiparameter Analysis of Cells; Leif et al., 1976, Markers for Instrumental Evaluation of Cells of the Female Reproductive Tract: Existing and New Markers, in The Automation of Uterine Cancer cytology, Ed. Wied, Bahr and Barrels pages 313-345).
2. Description of the Prior Art
The complexation of lanthanide ions with organic as well as inorganic compounds and the subsequent use of the resultant complexes in both industrial and biological environments has been previously reported. Such complexes, also referred to as "coordination compounds", are typically formed by the union of a lanthanide ion with appropriate ligands, which can be negatively charged or ionically neutral.
The complexes of the lanthanide(III) ions with unidentate ligands or bidentate chelating ligands are known to be extremely labile, achieving complexation and ligand-exchange equilibrium almost instantaneously. Thus, even very stable complexes of the lanthanide(III) ions and bidentate chelating ligands, e.g. tris(acetylacetonato)-lanthanum(III) exist in solution as a mixture of species, the uncomplexed (solvated) metal ion being present in an appreciable amount. Lanthanide complexes of fused polychelating non-cyclic ligands are somewhat less labile; whereas, those of cyclic ligands are relatively inert.
The stability and lability of the lanthanide(III)-ligand complex can be critical, depending upon the particular use and/or environment. More specifically, the time frame of metal-exchange and ligand-exchange kinetics is a major consideration when such complexes are used as probes in biological systems. In the dilute aqueous solutions or aqueous-organic solutions required for these systems, often involving contact with potentially competing ligands, such complexes, if labile, can dissociate. Where such dissociation does occur, the value of the probe is diminished or lost. Alternatively, vibrational quenching of the fluorescence by interaction with water molecules may occur. For instance as reported by Evangelista, R. A., A New Europium Chelate for Protein Labelling and Time-Resolved Fluorometric Applications, Clinical Biochemistry, 1988, 21, 173-178, the dinegative anionic ligand 4,7-bis (chlorosulfophenyl)-1,10-phenanthroline-2,9-dicarboxilic acid (BCPDA) forms a fluorescent complex with europium(III). However, this complex is not detected at concentrations required to detect many analytes of interest which are present in picogram or lower concentrations. Since BCPDA complex of europium(III) ion binds sufficient water to quench the fluorescence, the added inconvenient step of drying the samples must be performed prior to measurement. Furthermore, the quantum efficiency of the BCPDA europium(III) complex is relatively low, so that as reported by Khosravi, M. J. and Diamandis, E. P., Time-Resolved Immunofluorometry of Follitropin in Serum, Clinical Chemistry, 35, No. 1, 181 (1989), it was necessary to increase the sensitivity for analytes which are present in low concentration, by binding the chelate to thyroglobulin as an intermediate step to build a multilayer system.
Soini and Lovgren, Time-Resolved Fluorescence of Lanthanide Probes and Applications in Biotechnology, CRC Critical Reviews in Analytical Chemistry Vol. 18., Issue 2 (1987) pages 105-154; Soini and Hemmila, Fluorescence Spectroscopy Assay Means, U.S. Pat. No. 4,374,120, (1983) have reported on the use of a fluorescent chelate of a lanthanide. The ligand was DTPA (WO Patent 03698, 1984), which forms a strong but nonfluorescent complex with europium(III). This complex was dissociated with acid Hemmila et al. Europium as a label in Time-Resolved Immunofluorometric Assays, Anal. Biochem. 137, 335-343 (1984); and the solubilized europium(III) was complexed with a beta-diketone in a micellar phase. These dissociation-complexation steps resulted in an increase in complexity of the procedure; in a decrease in the concentration of the chelate, which limited the sensitivity of the fluorescence measurement; and in a loss of spatial information due to the separation of the fluorophore from the binding moieties. Because of the separation of the fluorescent tag from the specific binding molecule, this technique is incompatible with immunofluorescence or similar measurements on single cells, or other particles by either flow cytometry or microscopy.
The preparation of inert, kinetically stable, non-functionalized macrocyclic complexes of a limited number of lanthanide(III) ions was first reported in the technical literature by Backer-Dirks et al., J.C.S. Chem. Comm. (1979) 774. The synthesis described in this paper involved a metal templated Schiff-base condensation of 2,6-diacetylpyridine with ethylenediamine in the presence of the nitrate salts of lanthanum(III) and cerium(III). The conditions selected for the condensation were, however, reportedly unsuccessful for the preparation of analogous complexes from the heavier members of the lanthanide series. Because of the high kinetic stability of these complexes and their resistance to dissociation in dilute aqueous solutions, the authors suggested their potential use as aqueous NMR shift reagents.
The synthesis of kinetically stable macrocyclic complexes of the lanthanide(III) ions by metal templated condensation techniques has recently been extended to include all elements within the lanthanide series, except radioactive promethium, .sub.61 Pm.
The following additional references describe known non-functionalized macrocyclic complexes. List A includes publications by at least one of the inventors. List B includes additional publications by others.

Macrocyclic complexes of yttrium, the lanthanides and the actinides having peripheral coupling functionalities


The invention relates to a medical implant in the form of an elongated helix wherein at least one part of the helix is preformed in such a manner that it has a secondary structure of identically sized loops which it assumes during implantation at the placement site, with said structure in turn forming at the placement site during implantation a polyhedral tertiary structure, and the polyhedron being provided with at least one additional loop.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a medical implant in the form of an elongated helix wherein at least one part of the helix is preformed in such a manner that it has a secondary structure which it assumes during implantation at the placement site, with said structure in turn forming at the placement site during implantation a polyhedral tertiary structure, with each face of the polyhedron being built up by a loop.
The invention, furthermore, relates to a device for the implantation of such implants in body cavities and vessels.
2. Description of the Related Art
Known in the art is the use endovascular techniques for the occlusion of body cavities or vessels such as arteries, veins, fallopian tubes or vascular deformities such as, for example, vascular aneurysms. In this case, the closure element (also termed occlusion means) is usually introduced by means of an insertion aid through a catheter into the cavity to be occluded and deposited therein by means of one of various known techniques. The occlusion of the cavity finally is brought about by an embolus that forms as a result of the flow of blood slowing down in the cavity thus reduced in size or filled by the occlusion means.
It is furthermore known in the art to introduce a plurality of filamentous occlusion means, for the most part helixes or spirals of stainless steel or platinum alloys, into vascular aneurysms, with said means then assuming a random configuration and in this way occlude the aneurysm. The drawback of such a method is that the occlusion means often fill and stabilize the cavity only inadequately and it is quite difficult to foresee the behavior of said means when assuming their superimposed structures so that in the end the safety of the operation may be at risk as a 'stiletto effect' cannot be ruled out and may even entail wall ruptures.


A motion sensitive illumination method for a mobile device is provided. The method comprises measuring a first motion attribute of the mobile device using a motion sensor to produce a first value; comparing the first value with a threshold value; and adjusting illumination intensity of an illuminating mechanism that illuminates a user interface component of the mobile device, when the first value is not approximately equal to a first threshold value.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to an illumination mechanism for a mobile device and, more particularly, to controlling the backlight for a mobile communication device by way of detecting changes in movement of the mobile communication device.
2. Copyright & Trademark Notices
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material, which is subject to copyright protection. The owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by any one of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrights whatsoever.
Certain marks referenced herein may be common law or registered trademarks of third parties affiliated or unaffiliated with the applicant or the assignee. Use of these marks is for providing an enabling disclosure by way of example and shall not be construed to limit the scope of this invention to material associated with such marks.
3. Related Art
Handheld communication and computing devices such as cellular phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs) are generally equipped with a lighting mechanism that is used to illuminate the device's keypad or screen. This lighting mechanism is typically referred to as a "backlight" and consists of a light emitting diode (LED) positioned in the back of the keypad or the screen.
The currently implemented backlight systems either constantly remain on while the phone is turned on, or are turned on as soon as the user interacts with the device, for example, when a button on the keypad is pressed. Some backlight systems are complemented with a shutoff timer that can be set by the user to turn off the backlight, if the user does not interact with the device for a predetermined period.
While this shutoff timer is useful in preserving battery power, it is problematic in that it requires the user to press an arbitrary key on the device's keypad to activate the backlight. At times, pressing an arbitrary key may result in performance of an unintended function in addition to activating the backlight, because certain keys on the keypad are programmed to perform special functions (e.g., establishing a connection to the internet, speed dialing, instant messaging, etc.).
It is therefore understandable that a user may become frustrated or inconvenienced if an unintended function is performed, when the user only means to turn the backlight on. Further, if the device is in a lock mode, pressing the keys on the keypad may not activate the backlight unless the lock code is fully entered. This is problematic because typically a user is not even able to see the keys or the unlocking instructions on the device's display when the backlight is off.
As such, a system and method is needed that can overcome the above shortcomings by activating the backlight and/or unlocking the device without requiring the user to press a key on the keypad.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Motion sensitive illumination system and method for a mobile computing device


A nitride semiconductor device in which contact resistance between an ohmic electrode and an ohmic recess portion is reduced and a method of manufacturing the nitride semiconductor device are provided. The nitride semiconductor device includes: a first nitride semiconductor layer formed on a substrate; a second nitride semiconductor layer formed on the first nitride semiconductor layer and having a bandgap wider than a bandgap of the first nitride semiconductor layer; an ohmic recess portion formed in at least the second nitride semiconductor layer; and an ohmic electrode provided in contact with the ohmic recess portion. The ohmic recess portion includes a corrugated structure in at least a part of a plane in contact with the ohmic electrode.

A group III nitride semiconductor typified by gallium nitride (GaN) has a wider bandgap, a faster saturation velocity, and a higher breakdown electric field than those of silicon (Si) and gallium arsenide (GaAs). Therefore, transistors which include the group III nitride semiconductor as material and are capable of providing high frequency and high power, such as a Field Effect Transistor (FET), have been actively developed.
A crystal having a wurtzite structure is used for the group III nitride semiconductor FET for its ease in crystal growth. For example, when a heterojunction interface is produced using AlGaN and GaN as the group III nitride semiconductor, a charge is generated on the interface by piezoelectric polarization and spontaneous polarization. Thus, two-dimensional electron gas is generated near the heterojunction interface, without doping an impurity. In the group III nitride semiconductor FET, the two-dimensional electron gas is used as a channel that is a path for electrons.
The following describes a structure of a general nitride semiconductor FET with reference to FIG. 10. First, a GaN channel layer 1102 and, an AlGaN barrier layer 1103 are sequentially grown on a substrate 1101, with the metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). At this time, as described above, in the GaN channel layer 1102, a channel 1104 formed by two-dimensional electron gas is generated near the heterojunction interface of the AlGaN barrier layer 1103 and the GaN channel layer 1102 as indicated by a dotted line in FIG. 10.
Next, a gate electrode 1108 and an ohmic electrode 1107 that is used as a source electrode and a drain electrode are formed on the AlGaN barrier layer 1103. At this time, the AlGaN barrier layer 1103 serves as a great potential barrier against the electrons, thereby preventing the electrons to flow from the ohmic electrode 1107 to the channel 1104. Accordingly, contact resistance in the ohmic electrode 1107 increases.
Therefore, as shown in FIG. 11, a channel 1204 is exposed by forming an ohmic recess portion 1205 by dry etching from a surface of the AlGaN barrier layer 1203, penetrating the AlGaN barrier layer 1203, to the GaN channel layer 1202, so that an ohmic electrode 1207 is in direct contact with the channel 1204. It is already disclosed that the ohmic electrode 1207 formed in such a manner is effective in reducing the contact resistance (see Patent Literature (PTL) 1, for example).
Furthermore, the ohmic recess portion 1205 is formed from the surface of the AlGaN barrier layer 1203, penetrating the AlGaN barrier layer 1203, to a position deeper than the channel 1204 in the GaN channel layer 1202, by dry etching. It is already disclosed that increasing the area of the lateral side of the ohmic recess portion 1205 is effective in reducing the contact resistance (see PTL 2, for example).

Nitride semiconductor device and method of manufacturing nitride semiconductor device


A vial having an outer wall which is straight and cylindrical and a curved inner cavity. The inner cavity is curved in substantially uniform arc. The apex of the curved cavity is closer to the cylindrical outer wall of the vial than the ends of the inner cavity. The inner cavity is substantially uniform in cross section throughout its length.

The present invention relates to a vial and more particularly to a vial for a carpenter level. Vials are mounted in a carpenter level and comprise a transparent cylindrical tube having an inner hollow cavity. The hollow cavity is sealed at both ends and is filled almost to capacity with a liquid so that a visible bubble remains in the hollow cavity. In order to determine whether a particular surface is level (usually to the horizontal), the carpenter level is placed against the surface. If the bubble within the vial cavity moves to a central position in the vial cavity it indicates that the surface is level. If the bubble moves to one side or the other of the vial cavity center, it indicates that the surface is not level.
Ordinarily vials used for this purpose have a hollow inner cavity which is straight walled and substantially parallel to the outer cylindrical wall of the vial. An undercut is formed in the straight inner cavity into which the bubble lodges in order to give an accurate indication of whether a particular surface is level. Some existing vials are made curved so that the bubble will settle at the apex of the curve if the surface is level but will shift to an area along the edges of the curved vial if the surface is not level.
Since the vials are curved, it is especially difficult to accurately locate them in carpenter levels without precision tools. If for some reason the vials are not precisely located in a carpenter level, the instrument is not accurate. Moreover, it is important for the curved vials and the carpenter levels in which they are mounted to be consistently uniform so that accurate readings are obtained regardless of which particular level is used. These curved vials are often made of soft plastic to facilitate manufacture so that they easily scratch. In addition, existing vials are not always as sensitive as they should be so that their accuracy is compromised.
The present invention overcomes these difficulties and has one of its objects the provision of an improved vial which is more accurate.
Another object of the present invention is the provision of an improved vial which has a curved fluid receiving cavity.
Another object of the present invention is the provision of an improved vial which can easily be placed accurately in a level without precision tools.
Another object of the present invention is the provision of an improved vial which eliminates the need for an internal undercut in existing straight vials.
Another object of the present invention is the provision of the improved vial which is more sensitive than existing vials.
Another object of the present invention is the provision of the improved vial which may be made from harder plastic materials thereby making the vials more resistant to scratching.
Another object of the present invention is the provision of an improved method of making a vial with a carved configuration.
Other and further objects will be obvious upon the understanding of the illustrative embodiment about to be described, or which will be indicated in the appended claims, and various advantages not referred to herein, will occur to one skilled in the art upon employment of the invention in practice.


Systems and methods for cloud-based file sharing, where templates are provided for creating workflow instances which enable the sharing of managed objects. Reusable workflow templates are stored in the repository of a cloud-based file sharing system as objects that define components of the workflow, or placeholders for these components. A user instantiates a workflow instance from one of the templates and configures the workflow instance to identify content objects or forms, tasks related to the content objects, and users assigned to perform the tasks. The workflow instance is stored as an object in the repository. Users assigned to tasks are authorized through the workflow instance to access the content objects or forms to perform the tasks.

Enterprise information management (EIM) is a particular technical field in Information Technology (IT). EIM combines many enterprise class systems such as enterprise content management (ECM), business process management (BPM), customer experience management (CEM), and business intelligence (BI). An EIM system may utilize a content server to, among other things, store, and manage an organization or enterprise's digital assets such as content and documents (which are collectively referred to herein as "managed objects" or "content objects"). To protect these managed objects, the content server conventionally operates behind the enterprise's firewall, and is configured so that only authorized users may have secure access to the managed objects. Typically, content servers are located on the premises of the organization or enterprise (e.g., in server machines that physically reside in a building of the enterprise). This is sometimes referred to as "on-premise" or simply "on-prem".
It may be desirable for users associated with the enterprise to collaborate and/or share files with other users. ("Files" is used herein to refer to managed objects that may include documents or other types of content.) In the case of external users (those who are not associated with the enterprise or who are not on-premise) are generally not authorized to access the enterprise's EIM system. Consequently, they cannot view and/or edit any of the restricted files managed by the enterprise's content server.
When the need arises for an external user to review and/or edit access-controlled content, one common option is for an enterprise user to transfer a copy of the content to a location that is accessible by the external user. For instance, the enterprise user may log into the enterprise content server from within the enterprise network where the content server resides, retrieve the content, and share a copy of the content with the external user via email or through a cloud-based storage system that is open to the public. Once that copy is shared outside of the enterprise network, it is no longer under management by the content server. The content server has no way of tracking the shared copy, getting the shared copy back to the content server, and/or updating the original file to reflect any changes made to the shared copy. Since this kind of "copy-and-set-free sharing" can pose a security risk, the sharing feature may be disabled in a content server to prevent sharing certain content (e.g., files, folders, directories, etc.), but this leaves the need to share the content externally unaddressed.
It may be possible to provide content sharing capabilities in a cloud-based system. For example, in one such system, managed objects may be uploaded by authorized enterprise users to a cloud-based file sharing system. The cloud-based content sharing system may store managed objects for multiple different enterprises, and may implement security measures to ensure that only authorized users associated with a particular enterprise are allowed to access the managed objects of that enterprise. The managed objects may, for instance, be encrypted with an encryption key that is controlled by the corresponding enterprise. The enterprise may configure access permissions to the managed objects to allow access by various users (including external users), thereby allowing collaboration on the managed objects.
There may, however, be many enterprise users that wish to collaborate with external users on managed objects of the enterprise. The administrative burden of configuring access to the managed objects by the external users (e.g., separately allocating the external users on the system so that they can access the collaboration documents) may be prohibitive. Further, enabling access to managed objects using prior art methods may require that external users download and install specific applications, or access documents through a virtual private network (VPN) or secure on-prem backend server. Still further, tenant administrators may need to reconfigure access permissions or otherwise revoke authorization for external users to access documents when the collaboration is complete.
It would therefore be desirable to provide systems and methods that overcome or alleviate one or more of these technical problems in the prior art.

Systems and methods for data collection using workflow forms


A method and system for providing a sanitizing treatment for a product or object while inside a package. The system provides an atmosphere inside a contained environment that reduces, or eliminates, oxygen from the atmosphere, the contained environment containing at least one product or object packaged inside a package. At least one UV energy source transmits ultraviolet energy through the atmosphere inside the contained environment and toward the packaged product or object contained therein, the ultraviolet energy providing at least one of a sanitizing, disinfecting and sterilizing treatment to the packaged product or object by converting oxygen in an atmosphere between an inside surface of the package of the packaged product or object and the surface of the product or object to ozone in the atmosphere therebetween.

Objects or products such as perishable food products, including meats, poultry, fish, fruits, and vegetables, or objects such as medical devices and instruments, or other objects that may be subject to infection or contamination by micro-organisms or microbes, such as bacteria, viruses, and pathogens, typically require hygienic and sanitary conditions to be properly handled, packaged, and/or used. Food products, for example, can seriously degrade in shelf life and can be dangerous for consumption under unsanitary states. Medical devices and instruments are likewise subject to contamination from many sources and can cause serious harm if used in unsanitary conditions.
In the past, attempts to sanitize these types of objects have generally included washing and cleansing an object and then packaging and/or wrapping the object, which normally took place in special clean processing facilities. However, it is not always feasible or desirable to set up significant special facilities to sanitize such objects to desirable levels. For example, it may be desirable to package and/or wrap a food product at a convenient location where no special facilities are normally available such as at an office, a home, or even outdoors. Similarly, it may be desirable to package and/or wrap a medical device or instrument with no special medical cleansing facility being available or desirable for sanitizing the medical instrument before a subsequent use.
Regrettably, in most circumstances after providing sanitizing agents and cleansing facility to help clean and sanitize a product or object, subsequent poor handling by personnel typically results in re-contamination prior to final packaging of the product or object. This poor handling creates serious contamination hazards and transfer of disease to users and consumers of the products and objects being packaged under such conditions. Most commonly, an expensive special handling and processing facility is required to provide a sanitizing and/or sterilizing effect to an object or product. For example, irradiation processing of object and products requires very specialized and expensive equipment that is not readily usable in most environments.
With respect to perishable food products, such as meat, poultry, or fish, such products are normally packaged and re-packaged for subsequent use or distribution where at each stage of unpacking and re-packaging there is potential for introduction of contaminants, such as micro-organisms and viruses, and other pathogens, such as from E-coli, salmonella, and listeria contamination, that can harm humans as well as seriously degrade the shelf life, increase perishability, and detrimentally impact human consumability, of such food products. The normal handling conditions at the different stages of product distribution, ultimately to handling by an end user, and further the re-packaging at each one of the stages, causes additional risk for contamination of such food products.
Additionally, for providing sanitizing and/or sterilizing treatments to products and objects to be packaged and/or while packaged, it is desirable to expose the surfaces of the products and objects to the treatments. Surfaces of the multiple products and/or objects that remain unexposed to sanitizing and/or sterilizing treatments may likely continue to carry contaminants, including microbes such as bacteria and viruses that continue to pose contamination hazards to users and consumers of the products and/or objects. Therefore, sanitizing and/or sterilizing treatments that fail to treat the surfaces may not remove the necessary amount of contamination to result in desired sanitary and/or sterile conditions for the packaged products and/or objects. Unfortunately, a lack of treatment may not be detected after the products and/or objects are packaged. The contaminated products and/or objects after being packaged unfortunately may reach the user and/or consumer.
Food products, therefore, can include contaminants such as all sorts of micro-organisms, bacteria, and viruses. These contaminants can include, but are not limited to, bacteria, fungi, yeast, mold, mildew, and a variety of viruses. E-coli, salmonella, and listeria are pathogens that have gained much attention in the news where humans have been made sick and injured and have died as a result of contamination of food and water. Many of these types of contaminants can increase a rate of spoilage and reduce shelf life of food products as well as provide serious health hazards to humans that consume or come in contact with such products. Commonly, these contaminants are introduced to the surfaces of food products during processing, handling, and distribution.
Modern methods of packaging and cleaning food products, typically employed at food processing plants and factories, can reduce hazardous contaminants, such as micro-organisms, that can contaminate the surfaces of food products. These processing and packaging techniques include thermal processing, washing food products with chlorinated water, irradiation of food products, vacuum sealing packaging, low temperature storage, modified atmosphere packaging (or MAP), active packaging, and certain techniques for clean handling and packaging. Additionally, ozone bubbled in water has been used to wash and thereby disinfect chickens and other such food products and associated food processing plants and such specialized food handling environments. Ozone in such aqueous solution has been generally regarded as safe for use with the food supply. For example, most people are familiar with ozonated drinking water. However, these processes and techniques discussed above typically must be applied under strictly controlled environments in a processing plant and factory and usually employing special equipment and handling.
These specialized requirements for packaging such food products, although helpful in reducing contamination and enhancing shelf life of products, are generally expensive and only available in special environments such as in food processing plants and factories. Further, when the packaging is removed at a later point in a distribution channel and the food product is re-packaged for further distribution or for consumption at a later time, new contamination can typically be introduced to the food products thereby losing some if not most of the beneficial effects of the earlier clean handling and packaging at the factory. This subsequent re-packaging and handling normally does not benefit from special equipment and ultra-clean environment to re-package the food products with heightened sanitary conditions as in a food processing plant and factory.
In medical applications, where medical equipment and instruments need to be sanitized, unfortunately, conventional specialized equipment must be used to sanitize and disinfect the equipment or instruments to a satisfactory level, or possibly sterilize as necessary, for further use. This specialized equipment is usually expensive and the process for sanitizing, disinfecting, and/or sterilizing, tends to be time consuming significantly impacting the costs of medical services and the commercial viability of medical businesses. Additionally, this specialized equipment and processing is normally not generally available in all but specialized environments.
Accordingly, there is a need for a system and method to eliminate the disadvantages of the prior art as discussed above, and particularly to provide a sanitizing, disinfecting, and/or sterilizing, application to objects and/or products being packaged.

Advanced system and method for ozone containing packaging for sanitizing application


An apparatus for rotatably mounting idlers and pulleys of various sizes, including an idler or pulley for engaging the underside of a conveyor belt. The idler or pulley includes a cylindrical chamber in each end for reception of bearing assemblies therein. Each of the bearing assemblies in each end of the idler or pulley has a stub shaft therein. An elongated member which is tubular, at least at each end thereof, is press fit onto the inner ends of each of the stub shafts whereby the length of the elongated member can be chosen depending upon the length of the idler or pulley, while at the same time identical standard bearing assemblies and stub shafts can be used for idler pulleys of various sizes.

Idlers and pulleys used in conjunction with conveyor belts typically utilize a solid shaft journalled to each end of an idler or pulley by bearings. For example U.S. Pat. No. 3,198,318 to Brown and U.S. Pat. No. 3,345,115 to Olender et al show roller bearing assemblies mounting an idler to a shaft. U.S. Pat. No. 3,984,160 to Sheldon et al shows ball bearing assemblies mounting an idler to a shaft.
In each of the patented devices referred to above, the length of the shaft will need to change depending upon the length of the idler to be used. Consequently, if many different idler and pulley sizes are used, this will require a very large inventory of shafts. To the extent that the diameter of the shafts differ, it will also require a large inventory of bearing assembly parts. Of course large inventories of parts cost money. The alternative is not very attractive either, namely, having a small inventory to reduce operating costs is to risk not having the necessary part on hand when it is needed.
Consequently, there is a need for an apparatus for rotatably mounting idlers and pulleys of various sizes which can reduce the inventories needed while at the same time providing all of the parts necessary for rotatably mounting idlers and pulleys of various sizes when these parts are needed.

Apparatus for rotatably mounting idlers and pulleys of various sizes


An automatic pool cleaner configured to be powered by a supplied positive pressure water flow including an improved propulsion subsystem for propelling the cleaner body through a swimming pool along a substantially random travel path. The subsystem includes a hydraulic valve actuator configured to use water pressure to switch a valve element mounted for reciprocal linear movement from a default state (e.g., redirect travel state) to an active state (e.g., forward travel state) and to then restore the valve element to the default state. The water pressure for controlling the actuator is selectively supplied by a direction controller which responds to regular periodic occurrences and/or irregularly occurring events such as the interruption of cleaner body motion.

Automatic cleaners adapted to travel through a swimming pool for cleaning debris from the water and/or wall surface are well known in the art. Some such cleaners are configured to be powered by a water flow supplied from a positive pressure source, e.g., an electric pump. The supplied water flow typically drives a propulsion subsystem configured to propel the cleaner body along a travel path through the pool with the subsystem functioning primarily to move the cleaner body in a first direction (i.e., forward state) in the pool and to occasionally redirect the cleaner body (i.e., backup/redirect state) in a different, or second, direction. By so redirecting the cleaner body, the risk that it will get trapped behind an obstruction in the pool is minimized.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,365,039 (incorporated herein by reference) describes various positive pressure cleaner embodiments which incorporate a propulsion subsystem for moving the cleaner body along its travel path. The propulsion subsystems described therein generally include a valve assembly carried by the cleaner body which, in a forward state, directs a supplied water flow along a first interior path to produce forces on the body for moving it in a first direction or, in a backup/redirect state, along a second interior path to produce forces on the body to redirect it in a second direction different from the first direction. The valve assembly embodiments described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,365,039 employ a valve actuator for controlling a valve element mounted for reciprocal linear movement between first and second positions for respectively directing the supplied water flow along either the first or second interior path. When the actuator is activated, it moves the valve element from a default position to an actuated position to open one of said interior paths. When the actuator is deactivated, a spring in the actuator restores the valve element to its default position to open the other of said interior paths.

Positive pressure pool cleaner propulsion subsystem


The invention relates to a method for reducing material creep processes of a windshield washer device. The method comprises the providing (201) of a windshield washer device for a vehicle. The windshield washer device comprises a wiper blade (2) having an elongated top part (10) and an elongated bottom part (12), which are designed to be at least partially bendable. Furthermore, there is a plurality of connecting elements (18) for connecting the top part and the bottom part, wherein the connecting elements are spaced apart from each other along a longitudinal extension (8) of the wiper blade. The connecting elements (18) are designed to enable a movement of the top part (10) and the bottom part (12) relative to each other, having a movement component along a longitudinal extension (8) of the wiper blade. The method further comprises a loading (202) of the windshield wiper device before final assembly of the windshield wiper device on a vehicle such that, after final assembly of the windshield wiper device, a primary creep behavior of the windshield wiper device is substantially reduced, in particular by at least 80%.

The invention relates to a windshield wiper device for a vehicle, in particular a motor vehicle, and also in particular to a method for reducing material creep processes of a windshield wiper device.
Windshield wiper devices typically have a wiper arm or wiper lever, wherein a wiper blade is moved on the windshield of a motor vehicle. Here, the wiper blade is moved between a first reversal point and a second reversal point. For this purpose, the wiper arm is connected by way of the drive shaft to a wiper motor. In particular on windshields with intense changes in curvature, the wiper blade easily loses contact with the windshield. This can give rise, in particular in the case of intensely curved windshields, to unwiped wiping areas, and/or to smearing.
Since a wiping process must be optimized with regard to a multiplicity of parameters, such as for example an amount of rain falling on the windshield, a possible snow load on the windshield, the speed of the vehicle and associated wind pressure on the wiper arm, smearing cannot be reliably prevented simply by adapting the pressure of the wiper arm on the windshield. There is therefore a demand for further improving windshield wiper devices.
With regard to the improvement, there is a multiplicity of boundary conditions that must additionally be allowed for. These include the outlay in terms of production or the production costs, the material costs, and also the properties of the windshield wiper device, in particular the function thereof under a variety of conditions, and also the durability under a multiplicity of conditions. In the case of wiper devices for vehicles, it must be taken into consideration here that the cost pressure is ever-increasing and that the vehicles may be used in a multiplicity of climatic conditions, such that, for example, extreme temperature values are encountered on a permanent basis and/or with great fluctuations. Furthermore, the material characteristics such as for example the flexibility and stiffness etc. change over the service life of a windshield wiper device owing to external influences, such that the function of the windshield wiper device is adversely affected.

Windshield wiper device having improved creep behavior


This invention relates to a method of coating an inner surface of a funnel of a cathode ray tube with lining graphite acting as an inner conductive film between a screen portion and a high voltage side, i.e., an electron gun of the cathode ray tube. According to the method, the lining graphite is coated on the entire inner surface of the funnel with the exception of only an area of the portion of the surface, on which a getter or a frittable getter is located.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of coating an inner surface of a cathode ray tube with lining graphite, and more particularly a method of coating an inner surface of a funnel of a cathode ray tube with lining graphite which serves as an inner conductive film between a screen portion and electron gun of the cathode ray tube.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, a cathode ray tube comprises a panel 1 and a funnel 2 provided with a neck portion 2a having a reduced cross-section and has an inner space 3 defined by the panel and the funnel. Furtheremore, an electron gun 4 is mounted within the neck portion 2a of the funnel to emit an electron beam 5, and a shadow mask 6 formed with small through-holes is disposed within the enlarged portion of the inner space 3 opposite the neck portion 2a through elastic support at the inner corners of the panel 1. In addition, a screen 7 having a luminous fluorescent material coated thereon in a given pattern is bonded to the inner surface of the panel 1.
With the cathode ray tube thus constructed, when the electron gun 4 mounted within the neck portion 2a is operated to emit the electron beam 5, the emitted electron beam passes through each through-hole of the shadow mask 6 and lands on the fluorescent material coated on the screen 7, thereby forming a given image on the screen. At this time, in order to enable the electron beam 5 emitted from the electron gun to be accelerated by a high voltage applied by the electron gun through the lining graphite and aluminum films (not shown) coated on the shadow mask and the screen, and thus effectively land on the screen coated with the fluorescent material, the inner space 3 of the cathode ray tube must be maintained in a high vacuum state of approximately 10.sup.-6 .about.10.sup.-7 Torr (hereinafter referred to as "the set degree of vacuum"). In a typical manufacturing process of the cathode ray tube, this vacuum is not obtained, and instead the tube has the a of vacuum only on the order of 10.sup.-4 .about.10.sup.-5 Torr.
When the inner space 3 has a degree of vacuum less than the set degree of vacuum, the electron beam 5 emitted from the electron gun 4 fails to effectively land on the screen 7. Therefore, in order to compensate for such a low degree of vacuum, as shown in FIG. 2A, a getter 10 having a frame 10a connected to a high voltage electrode 4a of the electron gun 4 is disposed within the inner space of the cathode ray tube in supported relation to the inner surface of the funnel 2, and then, the sealing process of the funnel is carried out. Thereafter, a high-frequency induction coil 9 is attached to the outer side of the funnel to carry out getter flashing by high-frequency induction heating. As a result of the flashing, the principal ingredients, such as barium, nickel, etc., of the getter 10 are dispersed to every nook and corner of the inner space 3 of the cathode ray tube to adsorb and remove foreign matters obstructing traveling of the electron beam 5.
While, in a small-sized cathode ray tube, the thus obtained vacuum satisfactorily gets to the high vacuum state having the set degree of vacuum (appoximately 10.sup.-6 .about.10.sup.-7 Torr) the flashing of only the getter 10 by the high-frequency induction heating in a large-sized cathode ray tube (of more than 25 inches) fails to satisfactorily attain the desired degree of vacuum. In view of this, in the large-sized cathoe ray tube, as shown in FIG. 2B, in addition to the getter 10 disposed on the inner surface of the funnel 2, a frittable getter 11 having a frame 11a is addittionally mounted on the inner surface of the funnel portion adjacent to the screen, thereby enabling to realize the set degree of vacuum.
In the past, high-frequency induction heating of the getter or the frittble getter disposed within the funnel by the high-frequency induction coil located outside of the funnel has been carried out with graphite coated on the entire inner surface of the funnel of the cathode ray tube as shown in FIG. 3, thereby dispersing the principal ingredients of the getter or the frittable getter. However, if the high-frequency induction heating is performed with the lining graphite coated as set forth above, the lining graphite is carbonized and the resultant waste of the carbonized graphite is moved toward the electron gun due to vibration or any other movement of the cathode ray tube, thereby giving rise to a discharge phenomenon in the cathode ray tube and thus deteriorating a withstand voltage characteristic of the high voltage side.

Method of coating an inner surface of a cathode ray tube with lining graphite


Disclosed are a resource determining method and apparatus, and a resource indication method and apparatus for solving the problem of how the UE determines physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resources in the radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration state. The resource determining method comprises: detecting a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH); and determining PUCCH resources required by a user equipment (UE) during RRC reconfiguration by detecting the PDCCH.

In the 5G New Radio (NR) system, the resource allocation of the Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) needs to consider the initial access phase and two scenarios after the Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection respectively. However, when a User Equipment (UE) is in the RRC reconfiguration state, the network side and the user equipment have inconsistent understanding of PUCCH resources, so the UE does not determine which resource to be used for uplink data transmission.

Resource determining method and apparatus, and resource indication method and apparatus

DATANG MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT CO., LTD.


In an approach to robot vision configuration, one or more computer processors receive a command for image capture by a robot. The one or more computer processors determine one or more cameras of a plurality of cameras to respond to the command. The one or more computer processors configure the one or more cameras to respond to the command.

The present invention relates generally to the field of cognitive robotics, and more particularly to configuring cognitive robot vision.
Currently, many industries are trending toward cognitive models enabled by big data platforms and machine learning. Cognitive models, also referred to as cognitive entities, are designed to remember the past, interact with humans, continuously learn, and continuously refine responses for the future with increasing levels of prediction. An example of a cognitive model interface is a cognitive robot. Cognitive robotics is concerned with endowing a robot with intelligent behavior by providing it with a processing architecture that will allow it to learn and reason about how to behave in response to complex goals in a complex world.
Cameras may be used as small, inexpensive sensors with low power consumption, which makes them suitable for large scale employment in commercial products such as robotic toys and security robots. Various types of cameras, including pin-hole, stereo, omni-directional and non-central cameras, have been used in robot vision. These vision systems may possess the characteristics of either narrow or wide fields of view.
The internet of things (IoT) is the internetworking of physical devices (also referred to as "connected devices" and "smart devices"), vehicles, buildings, and other items, embedded with electronics, software, sensors, actuators, and network connectivity that enable these objects to collect and exchange data. The IoT allows objects to be sensed and/or controlled remotely across existing network infrastructure, creating opportunities for more direct integration of the physical world into computer-based systems, and resulting in improved efficiency, accuracy, and economic benefit in addition to reduced human intervention. Each thing is uniquely identifiable through its embedded computing system but is able to interoperate within the existing Internet infrastructure.

International Business Machines Corporation


Systems and methods are disclosed to analyze a social network by generating a data tensor from social networking data; applying a non-negative tensor factorization (NTF) with user prior knowledge and preferences to generate a core tensor and facet matrices; and rendering information to social networking users based on the core tensor and facet matrices.

This application relates to social network analysis with prior knowledge and non-negative tensor factorization.
Social networking is a concept that has been around much longer than the Internet or even mass communication. People have always been social creatures; our ability to work together in groups, creating value that is greater than the sum of its parts, is one of our greatest assets. The social networking model has recently adapted to the World Wide Web. The Web model has changed from top-down to bottom-up creation of information and interaction, made possible by new Web applications that give power to users. While in the past there was a top-down paradigm of a few large media corporations creating content on the Web for the consumers to access, the production model has shifted so that individual users now create content that everyone can share. While the Web has functioned as an information repository, the advent of social networks is turning the Web into a tool for connecting people.
One issue in running social networks is the size of data generated. Data in many applications are polyadic, i.e., they have multiple dimensions. Data in social networks are such an example—for example, data in the blogosphere may have people dimension (the author of a blog post), content dimension (the body of the post), and time dimension (the timestamp of the post). Documents in a digital library are another example—a scientific paper can be described by its authors, keywords, references, publication date, publication venue, etc. To analyze such polyadic data, a very important task is to extract significant characteristics from different data dimensions, where the extracted characteristics can be used either directly for data summarization and visualization or as features for further data analysis. The extracted characteristics can be in the form of, using the blog example, salient communities among bloggers, coherent topics in blog posts, and noteworthy temporal trends of these topics and communities. Because these data dimensions affect each other in a joint way, approaches that either analyze each data dimension independently or only consider pairwise relations between data dimensions are not able to accurately capture the data characteristics.
Several multiple-dimensional tensor models have been proposed to capture the higher-order correlation (other than the second order correlation) among various data dimensions. These tensor-based approaches can be categorized into two groups. Approaches in the first group decompose polyadic data by using higher-order linear decompositions, which are extensions of the matrix singular value decomposition. On the other hand, approaches in the second group decompose polyadic data by using non-negative tensor factorizations (NTFs), which are extensions of the non-negative matrix factorization (NMF).
Non-negative tensor factorization is a relatively new technique that has been successfully used to extract significant characteristics from polyadic data, such as data in social networks. Because these polyadic data have multiple dimensions, NTF fits in naturally and extracts data characteristics jointly from different data dimensions. In the standard NTF, all information comes from the observed data and end users have no control over the outcomes. However, in many applications very often the end users have certain prior knowledge and therefore prefer the extracted data characteristics being consistent with such prior knowledge.
The approaches based on NTFs decompose data into additions of non-negative components and therefore have many advantages over those based on linear decompositions. Such advantages include ease of interpretation of the extracted characteristics, close connection to the probabilistic models, and no enforcement on the orthogonality among different data characteristics.
In an approach based on the standard NTF for extracting data characteristics, the extracted characteristics can be of arbitrary forms and end users do not have any control over them. Such an approach has some benefits—it is simple because it does not require any input other than the observed data. However, such a simple approach also has its weakness: end users have no channel to incorporate their prior knowledge into the process of characteristic extraction.

Social network analysis with prior knowledge and non-negative tensor factorization


Embodiments are directed to efficiently routing data requests from a plurality of tenants and to using smart routing to limit service denials. In an embodiment, a gateway node receives data requests from a tenant subscriber requesting data for an indicated service. The gateway node determines which server node the received data requests are to be routed to. The determination evaluates various criteria associated with the data request. The gateway node queries the determined server node to determine the health of the server nodes and receives a reply from the determined server node indicating the server node's current operating status. The gateway node also, based on the determined server node's reply, routes the received data requests to the determined server node, according to the evaluated criteria.

Computers have become highly integrated in the workforce, in the home, in mobile devices, and many other places. Computers can process massive amounts of information quickly and efficiently. Software applications designed to run on computer systems allow users to perform a wide variety of functions including business applications, schoolwork, entertainment and more. Software applications are often designed to perform specific tasks, such as word processor applications for drafting documents, or email programs for sending, receiving and organizing email.
In some cases, software applications may be designed to interact with other software applications or other computer systems. For example, an internet user may interact with web and database servers while using an internet service. While the user is interacting with the internet service, the user may request that certain portions of data be processed by the service. That data is typically processed and returned to the user without issue. However, in some circumstances, users may (unwittingly or maliciously) send types or quantities of requests that overload the service's ability to handle the requests.

Efficiently isolating malicious data requests


The present invention provides a damping system for use with a mechanism such as a steering system wherein one element moves relative to another element. The system includes a variable volume chamber, a collection chamber, and an inertia track providing fluid communication between the two chambers. A fluid is disposed in the chambers and the inertia track. A compliant tuning member is in fluid communication with the variable volume chamber. The damping system is capable of attenuating vibration at chosen frequencies without adding undesired damping at other frequencies. In the preferred embodiment, the damping system is used to attenuate steering wheel torsional vibration without increasing low frequency damping that would deteriorate steering feel.

Existing vehicle wheel steering arrangements include a steering gear, tie rods, control arms, control arm bushings, and wheels. The frictional damping within the steering gear affects both steering feel, which is generally at frequencies less than 2 Hz, and the higher frequency chassis modes, which are typically in the range of 10-15 Hz.
Chassis modes can cause vibration to propagate through the steering gear and result in oscillations of the steering wheel, also referred to as "steering nibble". Steering nibble is a significant issue for the automotive industry.
Previous steering arrangements relied heavily on frictional damping within the steering gear to attenuate steering nibble energy. This arrangement provides some chassis mode energy dissipation; however, the attenuation may be insufficient because frictional damping becomes less effective at higher frequencies.
Also, the automotive industry trend has been to reduce frictional damping, because decreasing 0-2 Hz damping positively affects customer perceived steering feel. Therefore, any arrangement that relies on increased frictional damping to control 10-15 Hz vibrations will negatively impact steering feel.
Some vehicle steering arrangements have employed a common viscous damper, or dashpot, between the steering gear and tie rod, to add damping to the system to attenuate steering nibble. Viscous devices provide damping across a broad frequency range, even though increased damping is only desired at the steering nibble frequency. Increased damping at low frequencies degrades steering feel, while increased damping at high frequencies transmits more vibration into the passenger compartment. The viscous damper provides this compromised performance as well as a significant cost increase.

Hydraulic damper integrated into steering rack for attenuating steering nibble


A first interface performs power delivery and communication with a first external apparatus. A second interface performs power delivery and communication with a second external apparatus. A controller is configured to perform: storing, in a memory, history information relating to power delivery performed with the second external apparatus through the second interface, the history information including identification information of the second external apparatus and an amount of power delivery with the second external apparatus; determining whether to perform a power role switch with the first external apparatus, the power role switch being a switch of a power role between a power source of supplying power and a power sink of receiving power; and in response to determining that the power role switch is to be performed, performing power delivery with the second external apparatus through the second interface based on the history information stored in the memory.

There is a conventional image forming apparatus that performs power delivery with an external apparatus by a method compatible with a USB PD (USB Power Delivery) standard, for example. A known image forming apparatus acquires information on the remaining amount of a battery from an external apparatus connected to a USB interface, when performing a print job. The image forming apparatus switches the direction of power delivery based on the acquired information on the remaining amount of the battery.

Information processing apparatus, method of controlling information processing apparatus, and storage medium storing program