An electrolyte solution intended for use in electrochemical devices which can achieve a high capacitance retention ratio even after long-term use at high voltage. The electrolyte solution of the present invention includes a mononitrile compound (I), at least one compound (II) selected from dinitrile compounds and trinitrile compounds, and a quaternary ammonium salt (III). The amount of the compound (II) in the electrolyte solution is 0.05 to 5% by mass.

Electric double-layer capacitors, which enable rapid charging and discharging at a high current, have recently been put into practical use as electrochemical devices applicable to hybrid vehicles and electric vehicles.
Electric double-layer capacitors are provided with a polarizable electrode and an electrolyte solution, and driven on the principle that electric charges are stored in the electric double layer formed at the interface between the polarizable electrode and the electrolyte solution.
Electrolyte solutions often used in electrochemical devices such as electric double-layer capacitors are those obtained by dissolving a quaternary ammonium salt, for example, in an organic solvent such as a cyclic carbonate (e.g., propylene carbonate) or a nitrile compound (see Patent Literature 1).
For such electrolyte solutions, various methods are studied for improving the characteristics of electrochemical devices.
For example, in order to suppress degradation of withstand voltage and capacitance of electrochemical devices, the amounts of specific impurities in electrolyte solutions are reduced (for example, see Patent Literature documents 2 and 3). In order to improve the withstand voltage, a nonaqueous solvent is used including sulfolane or its derivative and a specific chain carbonate (for example, see Patent Literature 4). In order to improve the safety, an electrolyte solution is proposed including a specific electrolyte and a fluorine-containing organic solvent (for example, see Patent Literature 5).
The polarizable electrode of an electric double-layer capacitor is usually formed of activated carbon because of its large interface and excellent conductivity.
For example, Patent Literature 6 discloses an electrode comprising activated carbon for electric double-layer capacitors, the activated carbon being formed of a carbonized coconut shell and having a BET specific surface area of 2000 m2/g or larger and 2500 m2/g or smaller, an average pore size of 1.95 nm or greater and 2.20 nm or smaller, and a pore capacity of 0.05 cm3/g or greater and 0.15 cm3/g or smaller calculated by the Cranston-Inkley method among the pores having a diameter of 5.0 to 30.0 nm.

Electrolyte solution and electrochemical device


Electrical connector that includes a pair of electrical contacts. Each of the electrical contacts has a mounting portion and a flexible mating portion that is configured to electrically engage a conductive component. The mating portions of the electrical contacts are separated by a component-receiving space and oppose each other across the component-receiving space. The electrical connector also includes a spring clip that is configured to mechanically engage the mating portions and is movable with respect to the mounting portions. The spring clip has a pair of opposing clip arms and a bridge member that joins the clip arms. The clip arms are separated by a gap with the mating portions positioned therebetween. The clip arms are biased against the corresponding mating portions. The spring clip has a dielectric member that is positioned to electrically isolate at least one of the electrical contacts.

The subject matter described and/or illustrated herein relates generally to electrical connectors that have opposing electrical contacts configured to engage opposite sides of a conductive component.
In some electrical systems, power is delivered to a circuit board or other electrical component through a busbar and a busbar connector. A busbar typically comprises a planar strip of conductive material (e.g., copper) having opposite sides which are engaged by the busbar connector. Existing busbar connectors include a housing that holds two mating contacts that oppose each other with a space therebetween. When the busbar is inserted into the space, each of the mating contacts electrically engages a corresponding side of the busbar. In some connectors, the mating contacts are configured to adjust if the busbar is inserted into the space in a misaligned manner. For instance, when the busbar is misaligned, the busbar may press against a first mating contact with more force than a second mating contact that opposes the first mating contact. In such cases, the connector may include a mechanism for adjusting the mating contacts within the housing so that both of the mating contacts sufficiently engage the busbar. However, in known busbar connectors that include such adjustment mechanisms, the mating contacts are electrically connected to each other within the connector housing. As such, the mating contacts are electrically common and unable to carry different currents and operate at different voltages.
Accordingly, there is a need for an electrical connector having opposing mating contacts that are electrically independent and that can accommodate a conductive component (e.g., a busbar) which is engaged to the connector in a misaligned manner.

Electrical connectors having opposing electrical contacts


A system using consistent virtual addresses to communicate in cooperative multi-layer virtualization environments includes a volume server, one or more physical storage devices, a front-end layer and a back-end layer of virtualization participants. The volume server may be configured to aggregate storage in the one or more physical storage devices into a logical volume, and to provide configuration information on the logical volume to a front-end virtualization participant and to a back-end virtualization participant. The front-end virtualization participant may be configured to send a storage request including a target virtual address identifying a block of the logical volume to the back-end virtualization participant. The back-end virtualization participant may be configured to use the configuration information to identify a physical data block at a physical storage device corresponding to the target virtual address, and to perform a physical I/O operation on the physical data block.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to computer systems and, more particularly, to the storage systems employing block virtualization.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many business organizations and governmental entities rely upon applications that access large amounts of data, often exceeding a terabyte or more of data, for mission-critical applications. Often such data is stored on many different storage devices, which may be centrally located or distributed throughout an enterprise. Such storage devices may be heterogeneous in nature, including many different types of devices from many different manufacturers.
Configuring individual applications that consume data, or application server systems that host such applications, to recognize and directly interact with each different storage device that may possibly be encountered in a heterogeneous storage environment would be increasingly difficult as the environment scaled in size and complexity. Therefore, in some storage environments, specialized storage management software and hardware may be used to provide a more uniform storage model to storage consumers. Such software and hardware may also be configured to present physical storage devices as virtual storage devices (e.g., logical volumes) to storage consumers, and to add storage features not present in individual storage devices to the storage model. For example, features to increase fault tolerance, such as data mirroring, snapshot/fixed image creation, or data parity, as well as features to increase data access performance, such as disk striping, may be implemented in the storage model via hardware or software. The added storage features may be referred to as storage virtualization features.
In some storage environments, multiple devices or servers may cooperate in providing storage virtualization features associated with a certain set of physical storage devices, and in providing access to a virtual storage device aggregated from the physical storage devices. Such cooperating devices or servers may be termed "virtualization participants". Depending on the types of operations being performed, virtualization participants may be grouped into different layers. For example, in a block virtualization environment, a front-end layer of virtualization participants, which may be termed "volume clients", may provide an interface for interactions with storage consumers or applications wishing to utilize the virtualization features associated with logical volumes. A back-end layer of virtualization participants, which may be termed "storage servers", may provide access to the backing physical storage devices corresponding to the logical volume. In some environments, logical volumes with a complex internal structure may be supported, where a given virtualization participant may typically have access to (or information about) only a portion of a particular logical volume.
In these types of storage environments, a virtualization participant at a given layer may need to communicate with one or more virtualization participants at the same layer or at a different layer, in order to provide a response to a storage request (e.g., a read request or a write request) from a storage consumer, or to perform an internally generated virtualization function such as recovery from a failure. Such communications may require an identification of a targeted block of the logical volume, where for example an I/O operation may need to be performed. As the number of virtualization participants that may cooperate in performing storage operations increases, and as the complexity of supported virtualization functions increases, a simple and uniform addressing scheme to identify targeted blocks in such communications between different virtualization participants may become increasingly desirable.

System and method for using consistent virtual addresses to communicate in cooperative multi-layer virtualization environments


Compounds of formula

The present invention relates to the flavor and fragrance industry. It concerns more particularly the use, as a perfuming or flavoring ingredient, of a compound of formula
wherein the double bond in position 4 has a cis or trans configuration, or of a mixture of these compounds.
The compound of formula (I) is known from the prior art. Several authors have in fact identified 2,4,7-decatrienal formed in natural compounds during the oxidative degradation of unsaturated fatty acids. For example, R. Tressl et al. in J. Agric. Food Chem., 1977, Vol. 25, p. 459, have identified 2,4,7-decatrienal among the constituents of cooked asparagus, with the compound being formed following the degradation of fatty acids. Previously, other authors had also identified this compound as a product derived from the degradation of linolenic acid, in cooked chicken (Harkes et al., J. Am. Oil Chem. Soc., 1974, Vol. 51, p. 356), as well as in mackerel oil (Ke et al., J. Am. Oil Chem. Soc., 1975, Vol. 52, p. 349) or in French fries (Buttery et Ling, J. Agric. Food Chem., 1972, Vol. 20, p. 698). Following these identifications, 2,4,7-decatrienal was synthesised. In particular, J. Am. Oil Chem. Soc., 1972, Vol. 49, p. 555 discloses the synthesis of (2E,4E,7Z)-, respectively (2E,4Z,7Z)-2,4,7-decatrienal. Moreover, the latter document describes the characteristic odor of each one of its isomers. In particular, the odors of the latter have been described as being fishy, with the authors further concluding that 2,4,7-decatrienal was responsible for the typical fishy smell associated with oxidized linolenic acid. These fishy odors characterising the aldehyde are described as off-notes, that is to say as unpleasant, undesirable or even repulsive notes.
The present invention relates to a process to confer, improve, enhance or modify the mandarin or tangerine character of a composition or product, wherein a perceptible amount of the compound of formula (I)
wherein the double bond in position 4 has a cis or trans configuration, or of a mixture of these compounds, is added to the composition or product.
It has now unexpectedly been found that 2,4,7-decatrienal, in the form of one of its isomers of the (2E,4Z,7Z) or (2E,4E,7Z) configuration, or in the form of a mixture of these isomers, could be advantageously used in the flavoring of usually flavored compositions or consumer products. This is particularly surprising given that, as mentioned above, this compound was until now known as a degradation product of a natural product, responsible for undesirable and repulsive off-notes.
The inventors have now been able to establish that, contrary to all expectations, this compound possesses very interesting flavoring properties, and that it develops, in particular in some specific compositions, gustatory notes which are particularly useful for the reconstitution of flavors of the mandarin or tangerine type, to which it confers a very natural character.
The present invention also relates to the use as a perfuming or flavoring ingredient of a compound of formula
wherein the double bond in position 4 has a cis or trans configuration, or of a mixture of these compounds.
The compounds of the invention develop a fishy aromatic top note, more or less fatty and oily, depending on the specific compound selected.
Among the compounds of formula (I), (2E,4Z,7Z)-2,4,7-decatrienal is particularly appreciated. In fact, this isomer possesses a very powerful flavor and develops, besides the fishy note, a linseed oil type note, which can be advantageously used in applications in compositions as shown below. Moreover, the mixtures of (2E,4Z,7Z)-2,4,7-decatrienal together with (2E,4E,7Z)-2,4,7-decatrienal, containing a preponderant amount of (2E,4Z,7Z)-2,4,7-decatrienal, are also very much appreciated according to the invention. In particular, the mixtures comprising at least 75% of (2E,4Z,7Z)-2,4,7-decatrienal, are preferred. These mixtures develop a multi-varied aromatic note, wherein the fishy and oily characters are represented, but together with green, fruity, woody, melon, linseed oil, olive oil, cucumber or kiwi notes.
Besides their very interesting flavor, the compounds of the invention also provide a fatty and round mouthfeel, which may be advantageously used for the flavoring of a large number of products.

2,4,7-decatrienal as perfuming or flavoring ingredient

Abstract: Compounds of formula

Abstract: wherein the double bond in position 4 has a cis or trans configuration, or a mixture of these compounds, are useful as perfuming or flavoring ingredients, in particular as a booster for mandarin or tangerine type flavors.


The present invention provides a gas sensor, including: a sensor substrate provided with an electrode; and a thin layer of sensor material formed by spraying a solution in which metal oxide nanoparticles are dispersed onto the sensor substrate. The gas sensor is advantageous in that a sensor material is formed into a porous thin layer containing metal oxide nanoparticles having a large specific surface area, thus realizing high sensitivity on the ppb scale and a high reaction rate. Further, the gas sensor is advantageous in that it can be manufactured at room temperature, and the thickness of a sensor material can be easily adjusted by adjusting the spray time, so that a thin gas sensor or a thick gas sensor can be easily manufactured.

The excess emission of carbon dioxide is accelerating global warming, and harmful exhaust gases and environment gases that were discharged from automobiles and industry are threatening human health. Under such circumstances, it is very important to detect the above harmful gases early and to respond appropriately to them. In particular, it is becoming important every day to measure the level of air pollution in real time and to warn when the air pollution exceeds an allowable level. In order to detect the above gases early, an ultrasensitive sensor that can rapidly and accurately monitor an extremely small amount of harmful gas at the level of sub-ppm is required.
Currently, commonly-used metal oxide semiconductor gas sensors measure the concentration of gases by detecting the change in resistance occurring when external gases are adsorbed onto the surface of metal oxides. Among metal oxides (ZnO, SnO2, WO3, TiO2, etc.), materials having a band-gap of 3.0˜4.8 eV have semiconductor properties. When external gases (NOx, CO, H2, HC, SOx, etc.) are adsorbed on the surface of such a metal oxide having semiconductor properties, the resistance of the metal oxide is changed by an oxidation-reduction process. The sensitivity of a sensor increases as the change in resistance of the metal oxide increases. Therefore, in order to improve the sensitivity of a sensor, it is preferable to increase the specific surface area of a metal oxide and to allow a sensor to have a porous structure such that gas easily moves on the surface of a metal oxide.
Electrical sensors using nanowires or nanotubes are characterized in that they can be fabricated in the form of an ultrasensitive nanosensor because the specific surface area of nanowires or nanotubes is relatively large. However, forming such nanostructures is generally accompanied by complicated processes and heat treatment must be conducted at a high temperature of 600° C. or above.
In order to miniaturize a gas sensor, it is important to form a sensor material including a gas-sensitive material into a thin layer. Such a thin layer is generally formed by screen printing, spin coating, sputtering, pulsed laser deposition (PLD), chemical vapor deposition (CVD) or the like. Further, the thin layer may be formed by an electrospray process.
Screen printing is problematic in that it is difficult to form a sensor material layer to a thickness of less than 500 nm, and in that additional heat treatment is required in order to remove a binder and improve the adhesiveness between the sensor material layer and a substrate after screen printing.
Even when a sensor thin film is formed using spin coating, sputtering, pulsed laser deposition (PLD), chemical vapor deposition (CVD) or the like, there are problems in that high-temperature heat treatment is required in order to obtain a nanocrystalline structure, and in that high-temperature of 450° C. is required even in-situ deposition.
More concretely, U.S. Pat. No. 7,259,109 discloses a method of forming a thin film by preparing a precursor-containing solution and then directly spraying the solution onto a semiconductor substrate. However, this method is used to form a thin film having a low dielectric constant.
Korean Patent Registration No. 10-0843191 discloses a method of manufacturing a nanofiber fiter medium containing silver nanoparticles, comprising the steps of: forming a nanofiber layer by electrospinning; and electrospraying a silver nanoparticle-containing solution onto the nanofiber layer to diffuse silver nanoparticles into the surface of the nanofiber layer. However, in this method, only silver nanoparticles are used as the metal nanoparticles.
Korean Patent Registration No. 10-0583910 discloses a method for patterning nanosized structures by electrospraying nanoparticles in order to overcome the limit of the line width of a pattern, to maintain high reproducibility and solve the problem of noise pattern occurrence. In this method, gold nanoparticles having a size of 20 nm are used as metal nanoparticles.
However, since the metal particles, such as silver (Ag) particles, gold (Au) particles and the like, mentioned in the above Patent documents, react with environmental pollutants, such as alcohols, NOx, SOx, NH3, CO2, DMMP, phenol, acetone, formaldehyde, hydrogen gas and the like, it is difficult for them to change the resistance. Therefore, they cannot be used as sensor materials.
Meanwhile, a thin film, formed by electrospraying a solution in which metal ions as metal oxide precursors are dissolved, has a surface structure which is not greatly different from that of a sensor thin layer obtained by a general sol-gel reaction or a sensor thin layer formed by sputtering or chemical vapor deposition (CVD), and has high density. Therefore, there is a problem in that it is difficult to manufacture an ultrasensitive sensor which can measure harmful gases at the ppm sensitivity level.

Gas sensor using metal oxide nanoparticles, and method for manufacturing same

Korea Institute of Science and Technology


A split bonding pad provides a positive electrical indication of the proper electrical and mechanical connection of a capacitor to a printed circuit board by placing the electrical component terminal in series with electrical power supplied to a memory device while the electrical component remains in parallel connection with the memory device power lead. The proper mounting of the electrical component to the board becomes testable by testing continuity of a series circuit through the leads extending to the split bonding pad.

This invention relates generally to surface mounting electrical components on printed circuit boards and relates particularly to surface mounting electrical components on printed circuit boards under integrated circuits or other components while furnishing a positive indication of the proper soldering of the electrical components to the printed circuit boards. This indication occurs even though the electrical component rests substantially concealed from sight beneath the integrated circuit package or carrier.
Present memory products such as large capacity--256K--dynamic read only memory devices (DRAMs) often come mounted in close proximity to one another on printed circuit boards. Surface mount technology uses gull wing of J-leads depending from the device package or carriers to connect the device terminals to pads formed on the board using reflow soldering.
Decoupling capacitors, connected between the power supply leads of the devices, often come mounted on the boards with one capacitor reflow soldered to pads under each device. This obtains high density mounting of the memory devices and decoupling capacitors on the boards to reduce costs and reduce otherwise required mounting volume. The capacitor, having dimension of about 0.120.times.0.100.times.0.010 inches, extends into a well or cavity on the underside of each device package or carrier. With a number of leads, such as 18 for a 256K device, depending from the package periphery and soldering to the board, the decoupling capacitor substantially becomes enclosed and screened from sight rendering its visual inspection difficult, usually requiring a microscope. The close mounting of the packages further blocks the view of the capacitor under each package. In a J-lead package, the depending peripheral package material often extends to within 0.025 inch from the seating plane on the board. This leaves as little as 0.025 inch between the board and package and between the leads for visually inspecting the reflow soldering filets on the capacitor, which is only about 0.010 inch thick.
An industry-wide problem exists because automated manufacturing equipment occasionally misplaces the decoupling capacitors from their pads for reflow soldering. This results in the decoupling capacitors occasionally not becoming soldered to their intended pads and remaining loose under the memory device and enclosed by the leads. If inspection fails to catch the loose capacitor or a capacitor wrongly aligned, the capacitor end terminals can touch the device leads and short them electrically. This renders the entire memory circuit card unuseable, and renders the entire system, in which the memory card is mounted, inoperative. Memory cards returned because of loose capacitors cost the customer and marker money and reflect poorly on the manufacturing process. Occasionally, an eventually loose capacitor is held out of position and away from the device leads temporarily by solder flux residue or rests away from the device leads during electrical tests, and accordingly passes inspection by the maker. Later, in use, the capacitor unpredictably becomes loose, shorts together two or more leads and stops the customer's machine.
One solution tried operator visual inspection in addition to electrical testing. This increases cost and remains unreliable because of the small sized parts requiring a microscope and because of the restricted viewing space. Inspection with mechanized vision systems costs hundreds of thousands of dollars but provides only marginal improvement over manual optical inspection. The duplication of these mechanical vision systems and attendant maintenance costs and reduced serviceability of assembly equipment makes this approach to inspecting for failures unfeasible.
Another solution used for stop gap protection vibrates or shakes all assemblies to verify that no decoupling capacitor is loose. This misses, however, capacitors mis-soldered or held temporarily by the solder flux. Alternate inspection procedures include x-raying all cards, which is prohibitively expensive. The x-ray does show a mis-aligned capacitor but lacks sufficient resolution to confirm an acceptable solder joint.
While this problem has been described in conjunction with decoupling capacitors and DRAM devices, like problems exists with capacitors or other components mounted under other types of memory device, such as EEPROMS, EPROMS, ROMS and other integrated circuits.


A transconductor differential stage for high-frequency filters, which has a MOS differential input pair with common sources. The drain of each MOS input is connected to the emitter of an npn bipolar. These two matched bipolars have their gates connected together with the gate of a third bipolar, which is diode-connected. Two matched current sources feed the two bipolars, and a third current source feeds the third bipolar. A single controlled current sink is connected to the sources of both MOS input transistors, and also (through a resistor) to the third bipolar.

The present invention relates to high-frequency continuous-time filters (of the type which comprises an input circuit portion having signal inputs and an output circuit portion), and more particularly to differential stages therefor.
The field of application of the disclosed innovative differential circuit is particularly, but not solely, related to monolithically integrated, time-continuous band-pass filters, and the description to follow will make reference to this field of application for convenience of illustration.
In recent years, several techniques have been proposed for making integrated time-continuous filters. Of these techniques, that using a transconductor.sup.1 stage for the filter base block is outstanding. FNT .sup.1 A transconductor is a voltage-controlled variable-transconductance stage. It is an integral part of the operational transconductance amplifier "OTA") which is a voltage-controlled current-source amplifier. Transconductors are used in active filters, and also in gyrators, oscillators, and circuits for impedance transformation. See generally J. Scott, ANALOG ELECTRONIC DESIGN (1991), which is hereby incorporated by reference. Some specific examples of the literature on transconductor designs, and their application to continuous-time filters, includes the following, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference: Silva-Martinez et al., "A large-signal very low-distortion transconductor for high-frequency continuous-time filters," IEEE JOURNAL OF SOLD-STATE CIRCUITS vol.26, no.7 p.946-55 (Jul. 1991); Tanimoto et al., "Realization of a 1-V active filter using a linearization technique employing plurality of emitter-coupled pairs," IEEE JOURNAL OF SOLID-STATE CIRCUITS vol.26, no.7 p.937-45 (Jul. 1991); Castello et at., "A very linear BiCMOS transconductor for high-frequency filtering applications," in the 1990 IEEE INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS vol.2, pp.1364-7; Perry, "A flexible transconductor-capacitor filter demonstrator," in the 1989 IEEE INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS vol.2, p.1075-8; Haigh et al., "Continuous-time and switched capacitor monolithic filters based on current and charge simulation," IEE PROCEEDINGS G (Circuits, Devices and Systems) vol.137, no.2 p.147-55 (1990); de Heij et at., "Transconductor and integrator circuits for integrated bipolar video frequency filters," 1989 IEEE INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS vol.1 p.114-17; Perry, "An integrated continuous-time bipolar transconductor-capacitor filter," 24 IEEE JOURNAL OF SOLID-STATE CIRCUITS p.732-5 (June 1989); Nedungadi et al., "High-frequency voltage-controlled continuous-time lowpass filter using linearised CMOS integrators," 22 ELECTRONICS LETTERS no.14 p.729-31 (3 Jul. 1986); and Czarnul et at., "MOS tunable transconductor," 22 ELECTRONICS LETTERS no.13 p.721-2 (19 Jun. 1986).
Such a technique appears to be the most effective in high frequency applications. This is probably attributable to the fact that, in a transconductor filter, the voltage-to-current conversion phase takes place in an open loop, so that the so-called non-dominant pole of the converter is not restricted by the unitary frequency gain of an operational amplifier, as is instead the case with filters in the MOSFET-C technology.
However, transconductor filters have a drawback in that they are especially responsive to stray capacitances, particularly on account of being operated in an open loop fashion. This restricts their passband, especially at high frequencies.
The underlying technical problem of this invention is to provide a new transconductor differential stage which has such structural and performance characteristics as to overcome the drawbacks with which the prior art approaches have been beset, but without giving up any of their well-recognized advantages.
The preferred embodiment of the invention provides a differential stage using a mixed bipolar-MOS technology. The input portion comprises a pair of MOS transistors whose gate terminals coincide with said signal inputs, and the output portion comprises a pair of bipolar transistors arranged with their bases in common. The drain of each MOS input transistor is connected to the emitter of an npn bipolar. These two matched bipolars have their gates connected together with the gate of a third bipolar, which is diode-connected. Two matched current sources feed the two bipolars, and a third current source feeds the third bipolar. A single controlled current sink is connected to the sources of both MOS input transistors, and also (through a resistor) to the third bipolar.

Transconductor stage for high frequency filters


The invention is directed to an apparatus and method for inflating and sealing a mailer comprising an inner inflatable liner having at least one inflation port, valve, or combination thereof through which a portion of gas can be introduced into the liner.

The presently disclosed subject matter relates generally to mailers for shipping objects, and more particularly to mailers comprising an outer pouch and an inner inflatable liner and an inflation pathway through which a portion of gas can be introduced into said inflatable liner.
Consumers frequently purchase goods from mail order or internet retailers. According to the Census Bureau of the U.S. Department of Commerce, retail e-commerce sales for 2006 reached 107 billion dollars in the U.S. alone, the highest total ever. As a result, millions of packages are being shipped each day. Many of these packages include small items such as pharmaceuticals, books, medical supplies, electronic parts, and the like. These items are normally packaged in small containers, such as boxes or envelopes. To protect the items during shipment, they are typically packaged with some form of protective dunnage that can be wrapped around the item or stuffed into the container to prevent movement of the item and to protect against shock.
One common packaging method uses corrugated boxes to hold and ship items. The spaces between the items and the inside walls of the box are filled with void-filling dunnage, such as foam peanuts, air cellular cushioning materials, crumpled or shredded paper, and/or other air-filled packaging materials. Typically, the corrugated boxes are supplied to the shipper in a collapsed condition to occupy less space. Each box must then be assembled and taped before use by the shipper, resulting in additional labor costs.
The void-filling dunnage must also be delivered to the shipper. The shipper normally warehouses a supply of dunnage for future use. Conventional dunnage materials, such as air cellular material or foam peanuts, are composed primarily of air. Shipping costs associated with these packaging materials are generally based on volume rather than weight, resulting in increased transportation costs. Paper dunnage is more economical to ship, but requires additional labor to convert to usable dunnage. Thus, void-filling materials can increase the costs associated with shipping items.
Another type of common shipping method includes the use of a padded mailer. Padded mailers are generally shipping envelopes that have padded walls to protect the contents of the mailer. Some padded mailers are constructed from a double wall paper envelope with paper dunnage between the walls. Another type of mailer contains air cellular material lining the inside surfaces of the envelope. These envelopes can be made of paper or plastic such as Tyvek® (available from E.I. DuPont de Nemours and Company, Wilmington, Del., United States of America). Similar to foam peanuts and air cellular materials, these padded mailers are typically comprised mostly of air. They are normally expensive to deliver to the shipper, and require a large storage space. The padded mailers are typically limited to relatively thin padding so that their size is both practical and economic. As a result, the protective capabilities of these padded envelopes can be limited.
In addition, a further type of common shipping method includes the use of an Xpander Pak®. The Xpander Pak® shipper contains thick foam walls that are compressed and vacuum sealed on each side. The foam walls are positioned inside of a durable film pouch such that the foam surrounds the product to be packaged. After the package is sealed, each side of the pouch is punctured to release the vacuum and allow the foam walls to expand around the packaged product. However, the Xpander Pak® is costly to manufacture compared to other shipping methods commonly used in the art.
Additional methods of providing protective dunnage include the use of polyurethane foam cushions and air cushions that are prepared on-site. These methods typically require the use of more expensive equipment and additional space to position the equipment near the point of packaging.
Thus, there exists a need for providing a mailer for the shipment of items that requires less storage space and more economical than those mailers currently used in the art. In addition, there exists a need for a system that enables a shorter cycle time between inflation and sealing compared to other mailer systems currently used in the art. Further, there exists a need in the art for simpler and lower cost equipment for producing a mailer as compared to equipment currently used. There also exists a need for a mailer that does not require pre-filling, which can be cumbersome and time-consuming.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Apparatus and method for inflating and sealing an inflatable mailer


A receiver supports a single carrier (SC) form of modulation and a multi-carrier form of modulation such as orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM). Upon receiving a signal, the receiver determines a maximum fluctuation range (MFR) as a function of at least a fourth-order cumulant of a received signal; and classifies a modulation type of the received signal as a function of the determined maximum fluctuation range. After determining the modulation type of the received signal, the receiver switches to that modulation mode to recover data from the received signal.

The present invention generally relates to communications systems and, more particularly, to wireless systems, e.g., terrestrial broadcast, cellular, Wireless-Fidelity (Wi-Fi), satellite, etc.
Today, the number of communication signals being broadcast is on the rise. In addition, these broadcast communication signals may use different types of modulation. One form of receiver that supports multiple modulation types is represented by the currently proposed Chinese Digital Television System (GB) 20600-2006 that specifies a receiver support a single carrier (SC) modulation mode and a orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) modulation mode. This receiver determines the type of modulation in the received signal by setting itself to each type of modulation until the receiver correctly recovers data in the received signal. For example, the receiver may first configure itself to receive an OFDM signal, and then test for the presence of predefined data in the received signal. If this test succeeds, the receiver assumes that the received signal is an OFDM signal. However, if this test should fail, then the receiver configures itself to receive a single carrier signal and then, again, tests for the presence of the predefined data in the received signal. Unfortunately, the presence of multipath effects may make it difficult for the receiver to locate the predefined data—whatever modulation type the receiver is set to. As a result, the receiver may take a long time to correctly determine the modulation type since the receiver will continue to switch back and forth between modulation types searching for the predefined data.

Apparatus and method for classifying modulations in multipath environments


An iron or iron-base alloy sheet having high proportion of {100} texture and a method of manufacturing the same. A method of forming grains having {100} plane parallel to the sheet surface is disclosed. A Fe or Fe-base alloy sheet is annealed at austenite (γ) temperature while minimizing an effect of oxygen in the sheet or on surfaces of the sheet or a heat treatment atmosphere, and then the above sheet is subject to phase transformation to ferrite (α). On surfaces of the resulting sheet, a high proportion of {100} texture develops. A method of manufacturing electrical steel sheet is disclosed. The grains with {100} texture on surfaces grow to have a grain size of at least half the thickness of the sheet by a γ→α transformation. By adopting the above disclosed methods, an iron or iron-base alloy sheet with excellent texture can be simply manufactured within short time.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to non-oriented electrical steel sheet, having excellent texture characteristics for use in motors, generators, small sized transformers and the like, and a method for manufacturing the same.
2. Description of Related Art
Soft magnetic steel sheets require two major magnetic properties such as a low core loss and a high magnetic flux density. The methods of reducing the iron loss of the soft magnetic steel sheets include facilitating the movements of magnetic domains (reducing hysteresis loss), and increasing the resistivity (reducing eddy current loss).
In order to facilitate the movement of the magnetic domains, impurities such as oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, and titanium should be removed to improve the purity of the iron or iron-base alloys. In order to increase the resistivity, contents of silicon, aluminum and manganese should be increased.
Since Fe-base bcc (body-centered cubic) crystals are magnetically anisotropic, crystallographic texture is known to affect magnetic properties of iron or iron-base alloy sheets significantly. The optimum texture of non-oriented electrical steel sheets is {100} plane parallel to the sheet surface (hereafter referred as {100} texture) because the {100} plane has two easy magnetization directions, <001>, and no hard magnetization direction, <111>.
There are known methods for manufacturing {100} texture. When a thin Fe-3% Si was annealed in H2S atmosphere at not less than 1000° C., preferential growth of grains with {100} planes parallel to the surface of the sheet was observed. Sulfur or oxygen is considered to adsorb on the surface and cause the anisotropy of the surface energy at the annealing atmosphere. In the direct casting method which the present inventor disclosed in Korean Patent Application Laid-open No. 95-48472/1995, a high density {100} texture is observed in silicon steel sheet. However, since the silicon steel sheet has a rough surface and irregular thickness, the problems should be resolved to use the silicon steel sheet as electrical steels.
As mentioned above, there are known methods for manufacturing a soft magnetic steel sheets with {100} texture. However, since these processes have problems for mass production, it is not easy to manufacture the soft magnetic steel sheet with {100} texture commercially.

Method of forming {100} texture on surface of iron or iron-base alloy sheet, method of manufacturing non-oriented electrical steel sheet by using the same and non-oriented electrical steel sheet manufactured by using the same


There is provided a network management device to manage a network on which an existing optical path is operated, the network management device including: a first receiver configured to receive data related to a measurement result of signal quality of a first optical signal having a first wavelength on the existing optical path; a second receiver configured to receive a request for adding a second optical signal having a second wavelength to the existing optical path; at least one memory configured to store a procedure; and at least one processor configured to execute the procedure of estimating a variation quantity in the signal quality of the first optical signal when the second optical signal is added to the existing optical path based on the data related to the measurement result, when the request is received, and determining whether to add the second optical signal based on results of the estimating.

In a wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) network, a wavelength may be newly added in some cases. When a new wavelength is added to an existing optical path, it is determined whether a design value of transmission quality in the existing optical path reaches a required value of transmission quality required when the new wavelength is added. For example, the worst value of a parameter for determining transmission quality such as an optical fiber or an optical component is used as the design value.
When it is determined that the design value of the transmission quality in the existing optical path reaches the required value of the transmission quality, the new wavelength may be added to the existing optical path. On the other hand, when it is determined that the design value of the transmission quality in the existing optical path does not reach the required value of the transmission quality, the transmission quality is ensured by disposing a regenerator (REG) (a regenerative repeater) in the existing optical path in order to add the new wavelength.
In the WDM network, a light wavelength separating device separates a wavelength A in which a monitoring control signal is carried, and applies the separated monitoring control signal to a monitoring control signal transmission/reception circuit. A technique is known in which an AGC circuit controls an amplifier on the basis of an output of the monitoring control signal transmission/reception circuit and an output of a monitor so as to make a gain of an optical amplifier constant (see, e.g., Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-173309).
Related technologies are disclosed in, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-173309.

Network management device and network management system


A precision machining apparatus includes a bite machining an object being rotated, according to a correction value, a fixing jig closely attaching the object to the bite and rotatably fixing the object, an optical unit magnifying and verifying a machining position on the object being rotated, a height control part controlling a height of the bite according to the machining position on the object, and an interval control part connected to an end portion of the bite and controlling an interval between the bite and the object.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a precision machining apparatus, and more particularly, to an apparatus for precisely machining an object by correcting the dimensions of the object.
2. Description of the Related Art
The recent development of communications techniques and digital information processing techniques have led to an increase in precision devices such as multifunctional mobile terminals capable of information processing, computation, communication, the input/output of image information, and the like.
Such precision devices are required to be slimmer and smaller, and internal components installed inside the precision devices are also required to have high-precision dimensions.
For example, when an ultra-precision screw is assembled in a fine component, product quality is significantly affected by dimensional errors in fine pitch, effective diameter or the like. Even an error of just a few microns may exceed tolerance ranges, resulting in many defects.
When such defects occur, fine components may be re-machined. However, in actuality, the re-machining of fine components is a very difficult process due to hard-to-control factors such as positioning errors, setting errors, machine noise, thermal deformation and the like.
That is, a method of remanufacturing only a defective component is used when defects occur. However, this remanufacturing method is disadvantageous in terms of time and costs.
Consequently, there is an increasing demand for apparatuses capable of accurately correcting a defective fine component within the range of effective dimensions, while controlling the above factors properly.


An information processing apparatus includes an input unit configured to input data, and a control unit configured to control a power mode of the information processing apparatus. When the input unit inputs data while the information processing apparatus is operated in the second power mode and when the data input by the input unit is data to be immediately processed by the first processing unit, the power mode of the information processing apparatus is shifted from the second power mode to the first power mode. When the data input by the input unit is data not to be immediately processed by the first processing unit, the power mode of the information processing apparatus remains in the second power mode.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communication control device that transmits a job received from a network to an information processing apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, a trend toward power saving has come to increased and various types of information processing apparatuses have a power saving mode in which part of functions of the apparatus are stopped in order to reduce an electric power consumption, in addition to a normal mode in which a user can use all the functions of the apparatus without feeling a stress. The information processing apparatus that has the above described power saving mode includes a so-called network controller that controls communication with the other apparatus connected to the network. A power supply to a side of the network controller is always working, whereas a power supply to the other apparatus is controlled so as to be shifted from the normal power mode to the power saving mode.
In the information processing apparatus, in order to shift a state of the apparatus from the normal mode to the power saving mode, the apparatus is controlled so that the mode is shifted from the normal mode to the power saving mode, for example, in a case where the user presses a power saving switch or in a case where the apparatus fails to receive a network packet for a predetermined time period from an external network host.
On the other hand, in returning the apparatus from the power saving mode to the normal mode, the apparatus is controlled so that the apparatus is returned from the power saving mode, for example, in a case where the user clicks the power saving switch or the apparatus receives a WakeUP packet from the external network host.
For example, in a network system discussed in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2000-165419, in a case where the apparatus receives a packet from an external network device during the power saving mode, a proxy response server transmits a response, i.e., a predetermined type of packet, when the packet received from the external network device matches one of message patterns registered by the proxy response server. In other words, the information processing apparatus can keep the power saving mode during this time.
On the other hand, in a case where the packet received from the external network device does not match any one of the registered message patterns, a main body is activated. However, in a case where the packet received from the external network device matches one of the registered message patterns, a response is made by a Network I/F without activating the main body. Therefore, a power status of the apparatus during the power saving mode is kept.
In the above described information processing apparatus, there are two types of packets which are to be woken up on LAN (i.e., WOL) by the network controller. One of the packets is a packet to be woken up on LAN at the time the packet is received and the other one of the packets is a packet that may be processed when the apparatus is returned according to the other factor without waking up the apparatus on LAN at the time the packet is received.
However, a network device system described in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2000-165419 has such a configuration that a WOL function is always executed regardless of a memory capacity or the like. More specifically, the received packet to which a proxy response is not possible is always notified to the main body.
Accordingly, in the power saving mode, since the information processing apparatus in its entirety is woken up on LAN according to proxy response processing at the side of the network controller, there was a case where a satisfactory power saving effect is not achieved.

Information processing apparatus, method for controlling the same, and storage medium


With respect to a configuration for performing printing in an inkjet method, the disclosure implements a more appropriate configuration in which it is difficult for the quantity of printing to deteriorate. This configuration includes a head unit (12), a main scan driver (14), and a controller (20). When main scan operations are performed, the controller (20) performs control with respect to the same area on the medium (50) such that the head unit (12) ejects ink drops of one selected color onto a plurality of first selection pixels selected on the basis of a first mask data item and a plurality of second selection pixels selected on the basis of a second mask data item different from the first mask data item in the arrangement of a plurality of pixels to be selected.

Inkjet printers for performing printing in an inkjet scheme according to the related art are being widely used. Also, as a method of performing printing by an inkjet printer, a method of performing main scan operations (scanning operations) of moving an inkjet head in a predetermined main scan direction is widely used.
For example, with respect to pixels for which ink drops should be ejected during each main scan operation, some inkjet printers select some of the pixels on the basis of a preset mask data item (a mask). However, in this case, the pattern or the like of the mask data item may cause the quantity of printing to deteriorate. Specifically, for example, in a printed image, a pattern corresponding to the pattern of the mask data item may be seen. Particularly, for example, in a case of blotting out a certain area, this problem easily occurs.
Also, for example, in a case of using, as the pattern of the mask data item, a pattern in which a spatial frequency characteristic of an arrangement of pixels which are selected is one-sided on the low frequency side (a low-frequency mask pattern), in a printed image, granularity may increase. Also, in a case of using, as the pattern of the mask data item, a pattern in which the spatial frequency characteristic of an arrangement of pixels which are selected is one-sided on the high frequency side (a high-frequency mask pattern), the degree of tolerance for deviation in the landing positions of ink drops may decrease. Further, as the result, for example, in a case where deviation in the landing positions of ink drops occurs, a stripe pattern or the like may be easily generated.
In regard to this point, there has been proposed a technology for generating an image by performing thinning using a plurality of patterns, and calculating the frequency characteristic information of the generated thinned image, and selecting a pattern to be applied, on the basis of the calculated frequency information (for example, PTL 1).
However, even according to this technology, in a case of blotting out an area in a single same color, stripes may appear.


A phase lock detection circuit includes a phase detection circuit that produces a phase detect signal having one of a first logic state or a second logic state responsive to a first input signal and a second input signal applied thereto. A stabilized phase lock indication circuit is electrically coupled to the phase detection circuit and produces a phase lock indication signal having one of a first logic state or a second logic state, the phase lock indication signal changing to a respective one of its first and second logic states in response to the phase detect signal remaining in a respective one of its first and second logic states for a predetermined time interval. In a first embodiment, the phase lock indication is controlled by monitoring a digital count. In a second embodiment, the phase lock indication signal is controlled by monitoring a capacitor voltage. Related operating methods are also discussed.

Phase lock loop (PLL) and other phase control circuits typically require a determination of when the circuit has achieved phase synchronization, i.e., "phase lock." It is generally desirable that this determination be made as accurately as possible in order to meet system performance requirements. In addition, a typical charge-pump type phase lock loop generates relatively large currents when in its acquisition mode, i.e., when it is seeking phase lock, and generates a relative smaller current when phase lock is achieved. Consequently, typical phase control systems attempt to quickly achieve phase lock and to maintain phase lock without oscillation in order to reduce power dissipation.
Towards this end, it is generally desirable in phase lock loops and other phase control circuits to accurately detect phase lock in a manner which is less susceptible to noise. It is also desirable to detect phase lock in a manner that is less prone to oscillation as the loop transitions in or out of phase lock.

Stabilized phase lock detection circuits and methods of operation therefor


A pintle hitch adaptor enables a vehicle equipped with a drawbar or DMI bumper to tow trailers having different towing components. The pintle hitch adaptor comprises a sleeve that fits over arid is held to the drawbar. A pintle hitch is mounted to the sleeve. Aligned holes in the sleeve and the drawbar receive a hitch ball shank. A trailer tongue with a cup or eye engages the ball. A pintle hitch latch locks to prevent disengagement of the trailer tongue cup or eye from the ball. Shoulders on a pintle hitch post prevent: the latch from contacting the cup. Alternately, the ball can be removed, and a tow pin can to used between a hole in the trailer tongue and the drawbar and sleeve holes. A locking screw on the sleeve holds the sleeve and drawbar holes in alignment when the ball is removed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to towing vehicles, and more particularly to an apparatus that enables a first vehicle equipped with a drawbar to tow a second vehicle equipped with any of a variety of towing components.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various kinds of apparatus have been developed to tow trailers. A typical towing vehicle and trailer have complementary components that are engaged during a towing operation, and that are disengaged when the towing vehicle operates without a trailer.
Generally speaking, there are three major types of towing apparatus. The first type is called herein a simple receiver hitch. It comprises a receiver that is more or less permanently installed on the towing vehicle. The receiver is usually in the form of a longitudinally extending tube near the back end of the towing vehicle. One end of a shank is removably insertable into the receiver. A pin passing through the receiver and the shank retains the shank in the receiver. A second end of the shank protrudes from the receiver and is equipped with a hitch ball. The trailer has a cup, usually at the end of a tongue, that fits over the ball. A mechanism in the cup releasably locks the cup to the ball. Releasing the cup from the ball disengages the towing and trailers from each other. The strength of the entire simple receiver hitch system is limited by the strength of the pin and of the components that install the receiver to the trailer. Normally, the simple receiver hitch is limited to relatively small trailers, such as small boat and utility trailers.
Another type of towing apparatus is a pintle hitch, which is installed on a towing vehicle. A first kind of pintle hitch is comprised of a vertically oriented base with an upwardly oriented hook. Hinged to the base above the hook is a latch. The trailer has a tongue with an eye that fits over the hook. The latch is releasably lockable close to the hook tip to prevent the trailer eye from unintentionally disengaging from the hook. U.S. Pat. No. 5,332,250 teaches a typical hook kind of pintle hitch. Others are marketed by Northern Tool & Equipment Co. of Menomonee Falls, Wis.
A second kind of pintle hitch uses a hitch ball instead of a hook. The trailer may have an eye that engages the ball. The pintle hitch latch is lockable over the ball to prevent the trailer eye from unintentionally disengaging from the ball. Alternately, the trailer may be equipped with a cup that fits over and releasably locks to the ball. In that situation, the pintle hitch latch rests on but does not lock over the trailer cup. The latch therefore rubs and wears on the cup. U.S. Pat. No. 4,434,996 shows both the first and second kinds of pintle hitch.
The pintle hitch is generally considered to be stronger than the simple receiver hitch. However, a major problem with the pintle hitch is the difficulty in installing it to a towing vehicle. For maximum benefit of the pintle hitch, it is often fastened to a vertical surface of the towing vehicle frame. Doing so is not an easy task. Properly aligned holes must be drilled into the towing vehicle frame. Because the pintle hitch is heavy, it is difficult to hold in place while laying out the mounting holes. Even if a template is used, the installation process is cumbersome and time consuming. Further, there are significant safety concerns involved. The fasteners may be over-torqued or under-torqued. The fasteners may rust, thus both compromising their strength and making the pintle hitch difficult to remove. Drilling holes in the towing vehicle frame tends to weaken it. The overall capacity of the pintle hitch system is thus limited by the joint and fasteners between the pintle hitch and the towing vehicle.
In an attempt to ease the task of installing a pintle hitch to a towing vehicle, it is known to provide an adaptor that utilizes a receiver on the towing vehicle. The adaptor has a vertical mounting plate with pre-drilled holes to which the pintle hitch is fastened. The adaptor has a shank that is insertable into the receiver. A typical adaptor may be seen in the catalog of Northern Tool & Equipment Co. Although the adaptor simplifies the installation procedure, the entire system is limited in capacity by the strength and integrity of the fasteners between the receiver and the towing vehicle, by the fasteners between the pintle hitch and the adaptor, and by the pin between the receiver and the adaptor shank. In addition, it is known for the mounting plate to break, thus putting the trailer in the ditch.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,139,043 ('043 patent) describes a one-piece shank and pintle hitch. The shank is removeably insertable into a towing vehicle receiver. The one-piece hitch of the '043 patent eliminates the problem of a joint with fasteners between a pintle hitch and a vertical installation surface. Nevertheless, the capacity of the system is limited by the strength of the retaining pin between the shank and the towing vehicle receiver.
Other kinds of pintle hitches may be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,106,114 and 4,568,098.
The third major type of towing apparatus is a drawbar. Drawbars may be fixed to a towing vehicle, such as an agricultural tractor. Alternately, the drawbar may have limited motion relative to the towing vehicle, such as the drawbars of well know DMI bumpers. Drawbars are invariably horizontally oriented, and they have relatively large holes through them. A tow pin passes through the drawbar hole and a similar hole in a trailer tongue to engage the towed and towing vehicles. It is generally agreed that drawbars are the strongest and safest towing component for a towing vehicle. However, the tow pin and hole design for engaging a trailer is of rather limited usefulness. Versatility is an advantage of pintle hitches that is lacking in drawbars.
A major disadvantage of prior towing apparatus is related to the number of components that are required to suit different trailers. For the receiver type towing apparatus, one style of component is required for use with a hitch ball, while a different component is required for use with a pintle hitch. Thus, three different towing vehicle components are needed to suit just two types of towing apparatus. In fact, a third component is needed if a trailer is to be towed using a tow pin.
Thus, a need exists for improvement to towing apparatus.

Pintle hitch adaptor for drawbar or DMI bumper


A traction device for a motor vehicle, includes a rear support assembly bolted adjacent to a leaf spring opposite to a rear axle, a front support assembly which is pivotally attached to a front end of the leaf spring, and a rigid link which extends between and is attached to both the front and rear support assemblies at locations spaced from the leaf spring. The front support assembly includes a pair of generally triangular plates wherein a bolt at each apex connecting the plates performs a defined function. Specifically, a first upper bolt extends through a front spring eye of the leaf spring to provide a pivot axis for the front support assembly. A second upper bolt is positioned to extend across an upper surface of the leaf spring at a location spaced rearwardly from the front spring eye, to limit pivotal movement of the front support assembly relative to the leaf spring. A third bolt extends between the plates at a lower end thereof to secure a front end of the rigid link. This rigid link includes an elongated link tube or bar having eye connectors threaded into the front and rear ends thereof. The eye connectors have opposite threads relative to one another such that rotation of the elongated bar about its longitudinal axis changes the overall length of the rigid link.

This invention relates generally to motor vehicle suspension systems. More specifically, the present invention relates to a traction device for limiting wrap-up of a leaf spring on acceleration of a motor vehicle.
Although there are many different types of suspension systems available for use in motor vehicles, the conventional leaf spring is most widely used. In rear-wheel drive vehicles, during acceleration the leaf spring is subject to twisting forces which are opposite in direction and magnitude to the acceleration of the drive wheels. This tends to cause some wrap-up of the rear wheel leaf springs and, under extreme acceleration conditions, often contributes to rear wheel "hop".
In an effort to minimize leaf spring wrap-up and rear wheel "hop" on acceleration, a number of devices have been designed. One of these is the simple bolt-on traction bar. Simple traction bars comprise a straight length of material, generally of steel, with a mounting pad attached to one end and a rubber "snubber" at the other. The mounting pad is attached to the point at which the rear axle meets the leaf spring assembly. The length of the bar extends forward from the mounting pad to a point under the front leaf spring eye. Under acceleration conditions, the counter-rotation of the rear axle is arrested when the snubber meets the spring eye.
Such bolt-on traction bars provide a number of advantages in that they decrease leaf spring wrap-up, tend to prevent rear wheel hop, and aid in improving rear wheel traction during acceleration. Additionally, these traction bars are typically relatively inexpensive and easy to install. They suffer a number of drawbacks, however, in that they have no effect on the instant center (the point at which the rear wheels push the vehicle) , they only offer marginal improvement in traction, and they are only minimally adjustable.
Several other devices have been devised which represent improvements over the bolt-on traction bar. One such device is the ladder bar and another is the 4-link system. The ladder bar device comprises two mounting assemblies. One such mounting assembly is welded to the rear axle housing and the other is welded to the chassis. These mounting assemblies are interconnected by a tubing structure. The 4-link system, on the other hand, eliminates the conventional leaf spring from the motor vehicle. It utilizes two mounts, one of which is welded to the rear axle housing and the other being welded forward on the chassis. Tubular links connect the rear axle housing to the chassis.
Each of these improved devices prevents leaf spring wrap-up and rear wheel hop, greatly improves traction, and permits the instant center to be adjusted forwardly. There are, however, significant disadvantages associates with each of these systems which makes it less than ideal. Typically both the ladder bar and the 4-link system are more expensive than simple bolt-on traction bars. Additionally, professional installation is required.
Accordingly, there has been a need for a novel traction device for motor vehicles which is of durable yet simple construction, may be manufactured efficiently utilizing modern manufacturing techniques, and which provides many of the advantages of the prior ladder bars and 4-link systems in a bolt-on device. Such an improved traction device must be capable of preventing leaf spring wrap-up and rear wheel hop, as well as permitting the vehicle instant center to be moved forwardly. This would have the desirable effect of greatly improving traction during hard acceleration conditions. The present invention fulfills these needs and provides other related advantages.


A signal splitter circuit accepts an input signal and conveys the input signal to two output ports. The circuit operates with minimal attenuation, throughout a very wide bandwidth, and also effectively isolates the output ports from each other. The signal from the input port is coupled to an autotransformer, and the ends of the autotransformer are connected to the respective output ports. A bridge load circuit which includes a transformer winding and a load connected in parallel, is inductively coupled to the autotransformer. The bridge load circuit has no connection to the splitter circuit, other than through the inductive coupling. The splitter circuit also includes inductors in series with the output ports and capacitors in parallel with the output ports. The circuit provides a balanced bridge circuit which cancels signals traveling between the output ports, and the inductors and capacitors provide impedance matching between the input port and output ports. The arrangement of the bridge load circuit places the leakage inductance of the autotransformer outside the effective path of the bridge load circuit, so that the leakage inductance cannot cause unwanted and unpredictable phase shifts at high frequencies.

This invention relates to the field of signal splitters for use in CATV distribution systems, and in other applications in which signals, having a wide range of frequencies, are distributed across various output ports. The invention is therefore not necessarily limited to use in CATV system.
At literally thousands of locations in a CATV (community antenna television) distribution system, an incoming signal must be split among two or more outgoing branch circuits. The signal splitters that divide the signal among the outgoing branches must fulfill several challenging performance criteria. First, the CATV signal has a very broad bandwidth, currently ranging from 5-552 MHz. In the foreseeable future, the upper limit will reach 1000 MHz (1 GHz), so the total bandwidth will approach eight octaves of range. At 1 GHz, conventional printed circuit boards and wire lead components do not perform acceptably.
Secondly, over the frequency range of the signal, the power loss must be uniform, within a small fraction of a decibel. During its trip from the head-end of the system to a subscriber's home, the signal must pass through more than a dozen splitters. Any attenuation in the splitter will be multiplied by the number of splitters in the line.
Thirdly, the splitters must have very good output return loss. This means that any signals flowing back from one of the output branch circuits should be absorbed by the splitter, and not reflected back down the branch circuit. Signals that are so reflected appear as "ghost" images on a subscriber's television set.
Fourthly, the splitters must have very good output isolation. This means that a signal entering or exiting one of the output ports should not appear at another output port. If a signal could travel from one output port to another, a neighbor's television reception would be degraded.
FIG. 1 shows a basic splitter circuit of the prior art. The circuit is of the type which produces equal outputs. It is also possible to provide a circuit with unequal outputs, but the latter circuit is outside the scope of the present invention. The circuit of FIG. 1 includes an input port and two output ports. Multiple output ports can be accommodated by constructing binary "trees" each comprising the basic circuit. That is, each output port of a given signal splitter circuit is connected to the input port of another identical splitter circuit. In this way, a plurality of splitter circuits are connected in a cascading arrangement, so that a single input signal can be split into an arbitrarily large number of output signals.
If both output ports are loaded with impedance Z.sub.o, then the currents induced by an input voltage at point B, flowing through windings N3 and N4 of T2, should be equal. If N3=N4, the magnetic fields induced in the core of T2 by these currents should be equal and opposite, and there is no net voltage between points C and D. The load at point B, as seen from the input port, is the parallel combination of the loads on the output ports A and B, or Z.sub.o /2. In order to provide correct impedance matching, T1 is used to transform the input impedance by a factor of 2. Hence, the ratio of turns N1+N2 to N2, of T1, should be (2).sup..5.
If reflected energy appears at output port A, it is absorbed by two impedances in series. The first one is the input source impedance Z.sub.o, transformed down by a factor of 2 by T1, resulting in a load of Z.sub.o /2. The second one is the load resistor R1, which is chosen to have impedance 2Z.sub.o, transformed down by T2 to Z.sub.o /2, according to the square of the turns ratio (N3+N4)/N3. These two impedances in series combine to form Z.sub.o exactly, for a perfect match.
In the case of reflected energy appearing at output port A, the two equal series load impedances result in a voltage at point B which is exactly one-half the magnitude, and the same phase, as the voltage at point C. It is assumed that the windings of T2 have equal numbers of turns, i.e. N3=N4. Then these windings set the voltage between points B and C to exactly one-half the voltage between points C and D. Thus, the voltage at point D is zero, implying that no energy reflected back into output port A will appear at output port B.
The design of a signal splitter capable of good performance over a broad frequency range presents substantial problems. While one can obtain load resistors which are nearly ideal over the range of 5-552 MHz, transformers T1 and T2 will exhibit significant deviations from the ideal. To first order, one can consider these deviations equivalent to adding impedances in series and in parallel to each transformer winding. The parallel impedance represents core magnetization current and losses in the transformer. Transformer core manufacturers specify the parallel impedance induced in a one-turn winding over the range of operating frequencies. This parallel impedance can be controlled within a 20% tolerance, which is quite acceptable for a second order effect.
The series impedance, on the other hand, poses a more difficult problem. The series impedance is largely due to leakage inductance resulting from the fact that all of the magnetic field induced by the current in each turn of every winding on a core does not pass through all of the other turns. The amount of leakage inductance is determined by both the core material and the physical layout of the windings. Transformer manufacturers do not specify such effects, and the windings are made by hand on very tiny cores. Thus, there is wide variation in the series impedance, frequently requiring adjustment in the final product by manual spreading of the turns.
Several techniques can be used to compensate for the equivalent parallel impedance introduced by T1 and T2. First, identical cores can be used for T1 and T2, and windings N2, N3, and N4 can all be set equal. In this case, the critical output isolation, between output ports A and B, will be maintained independent of the exact value of the parallel core losses.
Secondly, one can take advantage of the fact that the parallel core loss impedance of good wideband ferrite core material is almost perfectly resistive and fairly constant over most of its intended bandwidth. Thus, the value of the load resistor R1 can be increased and the input matching transformer ratio (N1+N2)/N2 can be decreased to compensate for the addition of this parallel resistance.
The above-described compensation technique can be extended to deal with the case where N2 is not chosen to be equal to N3 and N4. The primary limitation to such compensation arises from the more severe limitations imposed by performance degradation due to series leakage inductance.
Compensation for the equivalent series impedance introduced by leakage inductance in T1 and T2 is the single most important determinant of splitter performance. FIG. 2 shows a typical prior art circuit which attempts to compensate for leakage inductance. Since the leakage impedance is largely inductive, the classical solution was to add capacitors to ground so as to form, effectively, multiple LC transmission line half-sections with the distributed series inductance. The half-sections should have opposing orientations, and each should have a natural impedance equal to the circuit impedance at that point. This means that the impedance should be Z.sub.o =L.sub.s /C, where L.sub.s is the leakage inductance. The capacitance of C.sub.1 can be viewed as the sum of three capacitances in parallel, one capacitance forming a transmission line half section with the leakage inductance of T1, and the other two forming transmission line half sections with the leakage inductances of the two halves of T2. The capacitance of the output connectors to ground also forms a transmission line half section with a part of the series leakage inductances of T2.
A major practical limitation to transmission line leakage inductance compensation, at frequencies over 300-500 MHz is the lead inductance of C1. Frequently, C1 is implemented as several capacitors in parallel, to reduce this parasitic effect.
The prior art circuit of FIG. 2 compensates for the output isolation degradation due to the leakage inductance of T2 by adding inductors L1 and L2 in series with the load resistor R1. A signal originating at one output port flows through two parallel paths, one path passing through T2 and the other path passing through L1, L2 and R1, to reach the other output port. The signals in these paths are 180.degree. out of phase, due to the action of transformer T2. The magnitude of these signals are adjusted to be equal so that the signals therefore cancel. Thus, no signal originating at one of the output ports appears at the other output port.
However, the circuit of FIG. 2 has the disadvantage that when the high frequency attenuation is balanced in the two paths, the phase shift through transformer T2 is significantly greater than that of the path containing L1, L2, and R1. This effect limits the ability of the circuit to provide the desired signal isolation. This effect is due to the fact that one of the signal paths, namely the path through T2, contains two transmission line half-sections. These half-sections introduce the unwanted rapid phase shift.
The present invention provides a signal splitter which has all of the desirable characteristics outlined above, namely, satisfactory operation across a wide bandwidth, output isolation, and acceptable impedance matching, but which also easily compensates for leakage inductance in the transformer. The circuit of the present invention is also especially easy to realize using surface mount technology (SMT), which is the technique of choice when dealing with high frequency signals.


Inoculating systems/devices, methods for inoculating a target, and coating methods are disclosed. An example inoculating system may include an inoculating member having a transfer region and a handle region. A pre-determined quantity of viable microorganisms may be disposed on the transfer region. The inoculating member may be configured to transfer the pre-determined quantity of viable microorganisms to a target during an inoculation operation without having to rehydrate the pre-determined quantity of viable microorganisms prior to the inoculating operation.

A number of devices have been developed for inoculating a target. Some of these devices include microbe transfer devices and/or the like. Of the known devices and methods, each has certain advantages and disadvantages. There is an ongoing need to provide alternative devices as well as alternative methods for manufacturing and using devices, for example devices for inoculating a target.

Devices and methods for inoculating a target


A Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) method integrating third-party Virtual Network Functions (VNF) through a plugin framework includes operating, via one or more servers in an NFV cloud, the plugin framework with Application Programming Interfaces (API) to one or more third-party VNFs; providing a catalog of VNF services comprising the one or more third-party VNFs to an end user; and operating the one or more third-party VNFs with the end user via the NFV cloud, wherein the one or more third-party VNFs are from a different vendor than an operator of the NFV cloud.

Networks are evolving towards virtualization much like server platforms have. Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) is a network architecture concept that proposes using Information Technology (IT) virtualization related technologies to virtualize entire classes of network node functions into building blocks that may be connected, or chained, to create communication services. A virtualized network function, or VNF, may include one or more virtual machines running different software and processes, on top of industry standard high volume servers, switches and storage, or even cloud computing infrastructure, instead of having proprietary hardware appliances for each network function. Example VNFs can include access routers, firewalls, Layer 2/3 encryption, Wide Area Network (WAN) optimization, and the like.
There are many challenges involved in deploying and operating a cloud-based NFV platform. Virtualization and dynamic "on-demand" services create new challenges for traditional use of license keys to enforce entitlement. For example, in NFV or other virtual systems, virtualization makes it easy to "copy, distribute and run" valuable assets, VNFs have a transient lifecycle, not typically locked to a physical host, and having keys available at the right time and place drives administrative costs for a global distributed cloud system, such as a NFV infrastructure.
Also, with respect to NFV, vendors providing NFV systems will have relationships with partners who ultimately need to integrate with a vendor NFV platform. Conventionally, VNF vendors have been selling their VNF products directly to service providers or end users. There is a need for third-party integration and bundling of VNF products together to reduce operational expenses, engineering expenses, service definition and fulfillment time and the like. It would be advantageous to have a pluggable framework for a cloud-based NFV system that allowed integration of VNF products to provide a diverse catalog of VNF services in an integrated manner.

Dynamic licensing for applications and plugin framework for virtual network systems


A method of transmitting an amplitude shift keying signal comprises determining timing of an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex, OFDM, transmission of a concurrently operating transmission system, wherein the OFDM transmission applies an extended representation for at least a part of the transmitted OFDM transmission, which extended representation comprises an extended part, representing a data signal to be transmitted by amplitude shift keying, and transmitting the amplitude shift keyed data signal intermittently aligned with the OFDM transmission such that symbols of the amplitude shift keyed data signal occurs only during the extended part of the OFDM transmission. The data signal may represent a wake-up signal arranged to address a wake-up radio. A transmitter, network node and computer program for implementing the method are also disclosed.

The telecommunications domain has often so forth been accompanied by a significant increase of electrical energy consumption. Demands on performance, such as spectral efficiency or data rate, have been met at the expense of more energy consumption. Advances in analogue and digital electronics have enabled development of low-cost, low-energy wireless nodes. However, energy consumption remains an issue for some applications. The approach used for idle mode listening, especially when used by devices related to the field commonly referred to as Internet of Things, IoT, in wireless networks impacts the overall energy consumption for the devices. This is particularly noticeable when the data traffic is very sporadic.
Energy reduction may for example be performed by an approach in which it is possible to switch off a radio frequency main interface during inactive periods and to switch it on only if a communication demand occurs. For example, by using a wake-up radio, where a wake-up signal is sent by using a transmitter, received and decoded at the device, wherein the main radio is activated, significant energy consumption reduction may be achieved for many applications.
Furthermore, efforts to reduce energy consumption may be made at different levels of the communication stack, such as the medium access control (MAC) protocol, by dynamically adapting the sleep and wake times of main radio protocols. Limited complexity signals and thus limited complexity decoders for the intermittently presented control signals may improve energy efficiency.
Wake-up radio is a technology being discussed for achieving such reduction in energy consumption, and is for example a topic in the 802.11 Task Group 802.11ba where it is decided to use an on/off keying (OOK) modulation scheme together with Manchester coding. There will at least be two rates: 62.5 kbps and 250 kbps. The reason for using OOK is that it may be demodulated using an envelope detector, which can be implemented at very low complexity. Furthermore, an approach, including wake-up receiver and time division duplex (TDD) support for narrow-band Internet of Things (NB-IoT), is under discussion under 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) to further enhance machine-type communication (MTC) and NB-IoT.
These efforts affect the physical layer (PHY), where control mechanisms for activation or deactivation of more energy consuming operations reside, which put demands on lean control signalling.
An example in the PHY is application of an On-Off Keying, OOK, signal as illustrated in FIG. 1, which is a modulation scheme where the presence of a signal represents the ON part or state and the absence of the signal represents the OFF part or state. For example, the ON and OFF parts could represent binary digits, or the transition between ON to OFF state and OFF to ON state could represent binary digits. OOK is considered the simplest form of amplitude-shift keying, ASK, that represents digital data at the presence or absence of a signal. In its simplest form, the presence of a carrier for a specific duration represents a binary one, while its absence for the same duration represents a binary zero. Some more sophisticated schemes vary these durations to convey additional information. OOK is analogous to unipolar encoding, which is a special case of a line code. OOK is a suitable modulation to use whenever the power consumption of the receiver is a major concern, as the demodulation can be done non-coherently, with very relaxed requirements on gain control and resolution in the receiver.
In order to decode OOK, the receiver has to estimate which signal level corresponds to the presence of a signal and which signal level corresponds to the absence of a signal. Manchester Coding is a modulation means used to simplify clock recovery and to simplify demodulation by ensuring that the average signal level of the signal carries no information. FIG. 2 illustrates a data bit with value one is represented by, i.e. encoded to, a logical one followed by a logical zero, whereas a data bit with value zero is represented by a logical zero followed by a logical one. Alternatively, the encoding can be swapped so that a data bit with value one is represented by a logical zero followed by a logical one, etc.
Clock recovery is simplified because there will always be a transition from zero to one or vice versa in the middle of each symbol irrespectively of what the data is.
The decoding of the Manchester coded symbol is essentially done by comparing the first and the second half of the symbols and deciding in favour of a logical one if the first half of the symbol has larger energy than the second half of the same symbol, or vice versa. Instead of energy, one can also use other means of measuring the signal level, for example absolute signal-envelope averaged over the symbol duration.
For example, Manchester coded OOK is being standardized within the IEEE 802.11ba task group (TG). TG 802.11ba develops a standard for wake-up radios (WUR), targeting to significantly reduce the power consumption in devices based on the IEEE 802.11 standard. It is proposed to generate the wake-up signal (WUS) by using an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT), as this block is already available in Wi-Fi transmitters supporting e.g. IEEE 802.11a/g/n/ac. Specifically, an approach discussed for generating the OOK is to use the 13 sub-carriers in the centre, possibly excluding the DC carrier, and then populating these with some signal to represent ON and to not transmit anything at all to represent OFF.
As an alternative to OOK and textbook Manchester coded OOK, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, it is feasible to zero-pad a portion of the ON part of the signal to further improve the performance. FIGS. 3 to 5 illustrate such approaches, where TZ and TNZ denote the time when the ON signal, i.e. where the signal is ON in the examples given in FIGS. 1 and 2, is zero and non-zero, respectively. FIG. 3 illustrates to the left a traditional Manchester OOK and to the right an adapted keying with zero-padded parts TZ. The potential improvement comes from that the same energy is received during a shorter time TNZ. Since the noise energy is proportional to that time, the signal-to-noise ratio, SNR, may be increased correspondingly upon properly arranged reception of the signal. Thus, FIG. 4 illustrates a signal with modified OOK by zero-padding of a portion TZ of the symbol time Tb, and FIG. 5 illustrates a signal with modified Manchester OOK by zero-padding a portion TZ of the signal part that traditionally would have been ON. FIGS. 6 to 9 illustrate variants thereof where representation and placement of zero-padding portion are varied. The zero-padding portion may for example be used as guard intervals for limiting inter-symbol interference with adjacent symbols. For example, it has been proposed in 802.11ba that the signal should have a guard interval (GI) before an "on" period when using on/off keying, as for example shown in submission IEEE 802.11-17/0696r0 with title "Blank GI for the Waveform Coding" by J. Suh et al, May 2017. The benefit with this is that the power of the "on" period can be boosted since the allowed power is calculated over a certain time. Put shortly, if the same energy of the signal can be sent in shorter time, and thereby also received in shorter time, the received signal used for demodulation will contain less noise energy and consequently the signal-to-noise-ratio of the signal will be improved. FIGS. 10 and 11 illustrates application of guard intervals, GI, when applying Manchester coded OOK, and illustrate comparisons with traditional Manchester coded OOK and with traditional OFDM transmissions. FIG. 10 illustrates providing one Manchester coded OOK symbol, i.e. representing a bit, per time of two OFDM symbols of the considered OFDM transmission, while FIG. 11 illustrates a one-to-one relationship between the OFDM symbol time and the time for each Manchester coded OOK.
FIG. 12 illustrates a traditional packet format used for example in IEEE 802.11a. A preamble is provided comprising training fields, short training field (STF) providing initial timing synchronisation and frequency estimate and long training field (LTF), two symbols each, providing fine timing and frequency synchronisation and channel response estimation, and a signal field (SIG), one symbol, comprising control information. The preamble is followed by data symbols (Data1-DataN). The training fields are direct sequence spread spectrum modulated while the signal field and data fields are OFDM transmissions. Here, it can be noted that the preamble format demonstrated here is often referred to as "legacy preamble" and is commonly reused as part of preamble in other flavours of IEEE 802.11.
OOK transmissions are in nature best suited for low-rate transmissions, and are furthermore often used in applications where link budget is demanding. Coexistence with more complex transmissions, such as the above demonstrated OFDM transmissions may become an issue when OOK transmissions occupy a common spectrum. It is therefore a desire to provide an approach for efficient coexistence.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the invention demonstrated below and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known to a person of ordinary skill in the art, and in particular not in the compilation presented above.

Transmitting an amplitude shift keying signal concurrently with an OFDM transmission


In one embodiment, each device in a frequency hopping communication network operates according to a common broadcast schedule for the network that simultaneously overlays a configured portion of all independently determined unicast listening schedules in the network, wherein the overlaid configured portion is based on broadcast schedule parameters consisting of a first time spent for broadcast transmissions in each broadcast period and a second time between broadcast periods. By monitoring network characteristics relating to unicast traffic and broadcast traffic in the network, updated broadcast schedule parameters may then be determined based on the network characteristics. Operation of the common broadcast schedule may thus be updated with the updated broadcast schedule parameters, accordingly.

In a frequency hopping (or channel hopping) mesh network, devices communicate using different frequencies/channels at different times. To communicate a packet, a transmitter-receiver pair must be configured to the same channel during packet transmission. For a transmitter to communicate with a receiver at an arbitrary time in the future, the transmitter and receiver must synchronize to a channel schedule that specifies what channel to communicate on at what time.
Channel schedules may be assigned to each transmitter-receiver pair independently so that neighboring transmitter-receiver pairs can communicate simultaneously on different channels. Such a strategy increases aggregate network capacity for unicast communication but is inefficient for broadcast communication. Alternatively, all devices in a network may synchronize with a single channel schedule such that all devices transmit and receive on the same channel at any time. Such a strategy increases efficiency for broadcast communication since a single transmission can reach an arbitrary number of neighbors, but decreases aggregate network capacity for unicast communication since neighboring individual transmitter-receiver pairs cannot communicate simultaneously without interfering.
Existing systems optimize for both unicast and broadcast communication by synchronizing the entire network to the same channel-switching schedule and using a central coordinator to compute and configure channel schedules for each individual device. However, this method adds significant delay and communication overhead to coordinate new schedules between each transmitter-receiver pair.

Dynamic common broadcast schedule parameters for overlaying an independent unicast schedule


A lens for a flashlight or other lighting unit provides for focusing light from a source, such as an LED, to provide a light beam adjustable between a spot beam and a wide beam. The lens includes a lens body with a front face, a rear LED-receiving well, and a side surface extending between the front face and the rear well. The front face includes a central surface surrounded by an annular concave surface. The rear well includes a space for the LED to be adjusted in position. The rear well space is defined by a concavely-curved sidewall and a concavely-curved base. The concave curvature of the sidewall and base may be Bezier curves.

Lenses for flashlights and other lighting units have been provided in a variety of forms, generally having in common a shape that is symmetrical about an axis along which the light is directed, i.e., the optical axis. Several such lenses have included a hole in a rear end of the lens adjacent a light source. Within the hole, the light source may be adjusted in position along the optical axis. Adjustment of the light source's position relative to the rear hole of the lens enables variance of a light beam emerging from a front face of the lens. Typically, lenses are limited in their capacity to combine a maximum intensity for a spot beam with a substantial uniformity for a wide beam.
Prior art lenses were also typically provided with a central convex lens surface on a front face combined with at least one additional convex surface where the light was either received into the lens, reflected within the lens, or emitted from the lens. The additional convex surface in the prior art may have been deemed necessary for a proper focusing of light from the source into a beam. Prior art lenses were alternatively provided with light-receiving, reflecting, and emitting surfaces that were flat as viewed in cross-section. Such flat surfaces were also likely deemed necessary for light-focusing or manufacturing purposes.


A modular processing machine comprising a module including a mounting plate, a rail extending a longitudinal axis, the rail being connected to the mounting plate, and a first longitudinal alignment plate fastened to the rail at a predetermined longitudinal distance from the mounting plate. The module further comprises a jack screw connected to the first longitudinal alignment plate. The module further comprises a process unit including a second longitudinal alignment plate connected to the jack screw and supported by the rail, the process unit being mounted to the second longitudinal alignment plate and being operable to perform a task associated with the module. The jack screw is operable to translate the process unit along the rail between a first longitudinal position relative to the first longitudinal alignment plate and a second longitudinal position displaced from the first longitudinal position.

Cup filling and sealing apparatuses are used to fill and contain comestibles in liquid or semi-liquid form within a cup. Various steps of packaging a comestible within a cup are performed in series. Such steps may include filling, sealing, and capping the cup. Some existing cup filling and sealing apparatuses include a conveyor for passing cups between modules of the cup filling and sealing apparatus. Machines for completing each of the steps can be mounted on a frame. However, as the conveyor passes the cup between each machine, it is important to locate each machine at a desired position.