An improved auxiliary input device for use with various computer applications which is more versatile and easier to use than prior devices. A touchscreen device is used to provide easier inputs to the computer applications. The layout of the touchscreen display may be customized using layout software that maps visual indicators on the touchscreen to user-defined key sequences, mouse events, external calling of Dynamic Link Libraries, URL links, or other miscellaneous actions. Control software runs in the background for loading the saved layout configurations and executing the user-defined key sequences or mouse events whenever the touchscreen is touched by the user. The control software can be configured to automatically load layouts based on the active program or game being played. The touchscreen configuration for each game may be programmed with bitmaps and key sequences and then stored for later retrieval. In order to provide rapid retrieval of a configuration, the touchscreen device is connected to the system through the USB port rather than the keyboard port. Once a layout is loaded onto the touchscreen display, the input device senses pressure on the integral touchscreen. Whenever pressure is sensed, the touchscreen display sends a signal back to the computer through the USB port, and the computer microprocessor executes the key sequence or other command associated with the location on the touchscreen that was pressed. Each location or area on the touchscreen is mapped to an entry in the user-defined table created using the layout editor.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a touchscreen controller, and more particularly to a touchscreen controller to be used for computer application programs wherein the touchscreen controller may be programmed to create custom layouts for the application programs.
2. Description of the Related Art
Computer games have become increasingly popular in recent years as computer technology has advanced to provide realistic gaming environments. Many of these games implement keyboard macros to enable the user to control the particular game being played. In order to make the games more user friendly, and easier to learn, additional input devices dedicated to a particular game have been developed to enable the user to simply push a button in order to run the macro that would take two or three or more keyboard strokes to run. For example, a joystick and throttle combination may be used with a flight simulator to help eliminate keyboard inputs. Other input devices may be used to provide dedicated buttons for a game. These input devices are sometimes programmable and usually require different overlay cards depending on the game being played. Presently, these programmable input devices connect inline with the keyboard and allow the user to program the buttons on the device to represent a particular keyboard sequence associated with a command for a game. The overlay card then indicates to the user what particular function a particular button on the input device performs. The overlay card may be created in conjunction with the programming of the device and simply printed to allow the user to program the input device for any game requiring keyboard inputs.
One of the problems with current auxiliary input devices such as those described above is that a new overlay must be created for each game and the overlay must be removed and replaced with a new game when the user decides to play another game. Another problem is that the input device must be manually configured by the user to change between games. It would be desirable for the input device to be more easily adaptable and versatile for the various games or other applications on the computer. In particular, an improved input device would not require an overlay card which must be changed every time a new application is started. In addition, the improved device may be set up to automatically change its configuration whenever the active application being used on the PC is changed.
The present invention provides an improved auxiliary input device for use with various computer applications which is more versatile and easier to use than prior devices. A touchscreen device is used to provide easier inputs to the computer applications. The layout of the touchscreen display may be customized using layout software that maps visual indicators on the touchscreen to user-defined key sequences, mouse events, external calling of Dynamic Link Libraries, URL links, or other miscellaneous actions. Control software runs in the background for loading the saved layout configurations and executing the user-defined key sequences or mouse events whenever the touchscreen is touched by the user. The control software can be configured to automatically load layouts based on the active program or game being played. The touchscreen configuration for each game may be programmed with bitmaps and key sequences and then stored for later retrieval. In order to provide rapid retrieval of a configuration, the touchscreen device is connected to the system through the USB port rather than the keyboard port. Once a layout is loaded onto the touchscreen display, the input device senses pressure on the integral touchscreen. Whenever pressure is sensed, the touchscreen display sends a signal back to the computer through the USB port, and the computer microprocessor executes the key sequence or other command associated with the location on the touchscreen that was pressed. Each location or area on the touchscreen is mapped to an entry in the user-defined table created using the layout editor.


In one embodiment, an apparatus comprising a first audio looping device is provided. The first audio looping device is electrically coupled to a computing device. The first audio looping device is programmed to receive a first audio signal from a musical instrument and to store the first audio signal. The first audio looping device is further programmed to playback the stored first audio signal as a first audio loop a number of times and to transmit the first audio loop to a second audio looping device via the first computing device. The first audio looping device is further programmed to receive a second audio loop from the second audio looping device via the computing device.

Musicians, such as guitarists, bassists, keyboard players, etc. may use an audio looping device to record a baseline rhythm for playback. The audio looping device plays back the underlying rhythm track (or loop) to allow the musician to play over the track with additional rhythms or solos. For example, the musician may record and set a length of an initial loop with the audio looping device so that additional layers of musical parts are played over the initial loop to build a multipart musical piece with a single instrument.
In one example, the audio looping device may be implemented in the form of a pedal that is positioned between the musical instrument and an amplifier. The musician may activate or deactivate recording a rhythm and subsequently activate the playback of the recorded loop via a switch on the pedal by foot or hand. The audio looping device, while implemented in the form of a pedal, may be daisy-chained with a number of additional pedals (e.g., distortion, chorus, and reverb) to enable the musician to achieve any number of desired audio outputs for his/her instrument. In another example, the audio looping device may be implemented into an integrated multi-effects unit along with a number of musical instrument effects that also enable the musician to achieve any number of desired audio outputs for his/her musical instrument. The recording of the loop and the playback of the recorded loops with an audio looping device (e.g., either as a pedal or integrated within the multi-effects unit) and the addition of various musical layers over the loop is generally viewed or seen as a single musician endeavor or "one man band."

Multiple distant musician audio loop recording apparatus and listening method

Harman International Industries, Incorporated


An operating liquid tank for a motor vehicle, comprising a tank wall enclosing a tank volume that can be filled with an operating liquid, a filling arrangement designed for introducing operating liquid into the tank volume, and a removal arrangement designed for the removal of operating liquid from the tank volume, wherein the removal arrangement comprises a pump assembly with a pump and a pump drive, the pump assembly comprises at least two assembly components that are formed separately from one another and are or can be coupled magnetically to one another, and of which a first assembly component as drive component comprises at least one part of the pump drive and a second assembly component as conveying component comprises a conveying part of the pump that can be driven by the pump drive relative to a conveying component housing for movement, wherein the tank wall extends between the drive component and the conveying component and physically separates the conveying component located on the inner face of the tank wall from the drive component located on the outer face of the tank wall.

Such an operating liquid tank is known, for example, from DE 10 2010 011 151 A1 as a tank for holding a reducing agent. The reducing agent may be, in particular, a urea solution. For the tank according to the present application a reducing agent, in particular an aqueous urea solution, is preferably also conceivable as the operating liquid, but the operating liquids that can be held in the tank should not be limited to such reducing agents.
A problem of the generic tank is the conveying of operating liquid out of the tank, in order to deliver the liquid to a place of use.
Several solutions for this are known in the prior art. For example, a conveying device together with its drive can be installed in a separate module, which module is then inserted into an opening in the tank wall and closes said opening. Firstly, this leads to a joining point in the region of the module arrangement and also leads to necessary seals on the module, in order to prevent operating liquid from reaching components of the pump assembly that are sensitive therefor. In this case especially the usual electrical pump drive should be kept away from the fluid.
According to another known solution, the pump drive is arranged outside the tank wall and the pump is arranged inside the tank wall, wherein a drive shaft of the pump drive then passes through the tank wall in order to transmit kinetic energy to the pump in order to drive it. This passage point should then be sealed particularly against leakage of liquid from the tank.
A further possibility consists of arranging the entire pump assembly outside the tank and connecting it to the interior of the tank by conduits that pass through the tank wall. Of all the three possibilities, this one leads to the greatest possible requirement for space, so that with a predetermined installation space for the operating liquid tank the storage volume that is actually usable is smallest in the last-mentioned solution.

Operating liquid tank with pump assembly of multi-part construction


The present invention relates to a method and system for sterilizing the soil for growing Korean ginseng by using an electron beam, which eliminates fungi harmful to ginseng's growth and development, and also relates to a system including: a conveyor which transfers the soil for growing Korean ginseng; a soil supplier which loads a predetermined amount of soil onto the conveyor to a predetermined height; an electron beam irradiator which applies electron beam to the soil for growing Korean ginseng being transferred by the conveyor to eliminate fungi contained in the soil for growing Korean ginseng; and an antagonistic rhizobacteria supplier which adds antagonistic rhizobacteria to the sterilized soil.

The present invention relates to a method and system for sterilization of the soil for growing Korean ginseng by using an electron beam and is an improved growing system for Korean ginseng. More particularly, first inorganic matter including iron (Fe) and aluminum (Al) is removed from the soil for growing Korean ginseng through the method and system, and then electron beam is applied to the soil by the electron beam irradiator, to sterilize diverse harmful fungi in it. Ginseng beds are built with the sterilized soil in a ginseng field. The present invention allows mass production of organically grown Korean ginseng.
The sterilized soil can be also filled in a rectangular box called ginseng-field-module instead of a ginseng bed. A ginseng field can be constructed with these ginseng-field-modules in a straight line or in multi-layer form considering geographical condition in the shade of solar cell panel in a solar cell yard or in the shade of artificial device.
These modules bring new opportunity that Korean ginseng can be cultivated in a same condition without influence from climatic changes.
As is well known, ginseng, in particular, Korean ginseng (Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer), is a special crop that is widely grown in Korea as a medicinal plant. Generally, Korean ginseng is harvested four to six years after it is planted.
In terms of medicinal effects and price, six-year-old Korean ginseng is far better than its counterparts of other ages. Thus, it is desirable to harvest Korean ginseng after grown for six years. In many cases, however, Korean ginseng has to be harvested before it becomes six years old, usually, when it is four years old, due to various fungi (such as cylindrocarpon destructans, fusarium solani, erwinia carotovora and pseudomonas fluorescens) which are created and parasitized as it grows.
In addition, these harmful fungi still reside in the soil of a ginseng field even after ginseng is harvested. Therefore, the ginseng field cannot be reused to grow ginseng continuously and repeatedly.
For these reasons, the soil of the ginseng field must be fumigated before Korean ginseng is repeatedly planted, or crops must be rotated on the soil for ten years. However, in the case of fumigation, since ammonia-based nitrogen is created as chloropicrin decomposes in the soil, the nitrogen content of the soil is increased, which is highly likely to cause physiological disorders in ginseng. In the case of crop rotation, the land where Korean ginseng can be cultivated is limited. In particular, when Korean ginseng is planted in a paddy field, chemical fertilizers left in the paddy field can cause rusty root of ginseng. Thus, ryes can be planted in the paddy field to absorb inorganic nutrients remaining in the paddy field before planting ginseng.
Furthermore, it is very difficult to prevent the roots of Korean ginseng from rotting due to fungi (especially cylindrocarpon destructans) or to early detect the rotting of the roots. Accordingly, it is not easy to produce high-quality six-year-old Korean ginseng. Even if six-year-old Korean ginseng is successfully produced from a ginseng field, the ginseng field cannot be reused to continuously grow Korean ginseng due to fungi that exist in the soil of the ginseng field.
Photosynthesis of ginseng stops over 28° C. due to its physiological characteristics.
Therefore a sun shading equipment is required to block sunlight up to 88% and to maintain an optimal temperature of ginseng field between 20 to 27° C. in summer.
Such a sun shading equipment causes raise of maintenance costs, so that it weakens the competitiveness of Korean ginseng cultivation.
Especially when we consider the serious climate changes of the Earth, it is anticipated that we will encounter more difficulty in ginseng cultivation and severe damage caused by global warming.
Besides, if we continuously use a traditional method of ginseng cultivation, it is difficult to produce uniform high-quality ginseng in large quantities, by reason that the method is based on manual work and traditional sun shading equipment is far from automating. Due to lack of technology such as a sun shading equipment for automating system of ginseng cultivation, we only can depend on practical experience.
Actually it is impossible to automate ginseng field because of sun shading equipment' structure and its small space.
And until now there has been also no research to automate such a ginseng field or to use a shade space made at the back side of solar cell panel in a solar cell yard.

Method and system for sterilization of the soil for growing Korean ginseng by using an electron beam and system of growing Korean ginseng using an electron beam sterilization


A temperature compensated current source forms an uncompensated source current that is proportional to a reference voltage applied to an impedance, wherein the impedance varies with temperature. A temperature compensation current is formed that is proportional to absolute temperature (IPTAT). The uncompensated source current and the temperature compensation current is combined to form a temperature compensated source current and provided as an output of the current source.

In integrated circuit (IC) chip design, components and circuitry formed therein are typically operated using a variety of signals, including reference signals. Certain components operate based on voltage signals, while other components are designed to function based on current signals. As the complexity of integrated circuits continues to increase, the accuracy of such voltage and current reference signals becomes increasing important. One problem that typically affects the accuracy of current signals in IC chips is the impact temperature has on components used to generate the current signals. Since avoiding temperature fluctuations altogether is typically not possible, steps must be taken to minimize the effects of temperature fluctuation among the circuitry used to generate the current signals.
Various known solutions use circuit topologies in which two or more resistive elements are arranged with a configuration of semiconductors so that drift caused by temperature change of one resistor is balanced by temperature change in another resistor.
Providing a stable current source without using temperature compensation may be performed in an integrated circuit (IC) solution with either the usage of one or more external low-temperature coefficient (TC) resistors, which require an extra pin(s) on the IC, or dedicated technology layers within the IC to integrate zero temperature coefficient (ZTC) resistors within the IC. These layers are usually optional when available and then they have an additional cost.


A shutter system for a switchgear compartment includes a moveable shutter translatable between a closed position and an open position. Also included is a pusher operatively coupled to a first side of the moveable shutter and configured to impart a force on the moveable shutter in response to an insertion of an electrical device within the switchgear compartment. Further included is a cam member having a cam shaft operatively coupled to the moveable shutter, the cam shaft having a cam track. Yet further included is a bell crank configured to guide along the cam track and translate the moveable shutter between the closed position and the open position.

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to switchgears, and more particularly to a shutter system for a switchgear compartment, as well as a method of manipulating the shutter system.
Switchgear arrangements typically include a plurality of compartments configured to house various electrical devices to be engaged with electrical components disposed in a main circuit portion of the switchgear arrangement. A protective barrier referred to as a shutter system is often disposed within the compartments, typically at a rear portion of the compartments. The shutter system includes a plate having a plurality of apertures, with the apertures moveable between an open position and a closed position upon movement of the plate. The shutter system must open at prescribed times in a connecting sequence when inserting an electrical device into the compartment, while remaining closed in the absence of an electrical device to provide protection to individuals and the environment in close proximity to the electrical components that would otherwise be exposed. The protection is afforded in the closed position by not allowing exposure of electrical components of the main circuit portion that are blocked by the shutter system.
The plate moves in a first direction to align the apertures with the electrical components of the main circuit portion and in a second direction to adequately expose the electrical components by drawing the plate into close proximity with the electrical components. The above-described shutter system typically requires multiple mechanisms, such as complex linkages, to provide desired functionality of the shutter system. Specifically, a first mechanism is employed to align the apertures and a second mechanism is employed to draw the plate into close proximity with the electrical components. Unfortunately, based on the number of mechanisms and the complexity of the mechanisms, unsatisfactory movement in either the first or second direction is often obtained.

Shutter system for a switchgear compartment and method of manipulating a shutter system


In a double wishbone suspension structure, a damper coupling part at one end of a damper is coupled to either of a pair of coupling shafts for coupling an upper arm or a lower arm and a knuckle. Since impact from a wheel is not applied to an intermediate part of an arm and no bending moment acts upon the arm, the arm is not required to be reinforced and can be significantly decreased in size and weight. A damper attachment for attaching a damper to the arm is not required and the number of parts and manufacturing costs can also be reduced.

This nonprovisional application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7 119(a) on Patent Application No. 2001-186335 filed in Japan on Jun. 20, 2001, the entirety of which is herein incorporated by reference.
The present invention relates to vehicular suspensions, and more particularly to a suspension structure favorable for decreasing structural weight and reducing the costs, e.g., of manufacture, of the suspension structure.
A double wishbone type suspension is a known vehicular suspension structure in the background art. For example, Japanese utility model publication No. Sho 63-48690, describes a xe2x80x9cdouble wishbone type suspension.xe2x80x9d
In FIG. 2 of the above-mentioned publication, the suspension (numerals having a xe2x80x9cxe2x80x2xe2x80x9d, e.g. 13xe2x80x2, are referencing elements from JP 63-48690) includes a suspension arm having an upper arm 13xe2x80x2 and a lower arm 14xe2x80x2 attached to a body frame 1xe2x80x2 (for a reference number, one used in the publication is described as it is). A cross member 15xe2x80x2 for reinforcement is attached to the upper arm 13xe2x80x2, a push-pull rod 12xe2x80x2 is extended from a lower part of the cross member 15xe2x80x2, and an end of the push-pull rod 12xe2x80x2 is coupled to a cushion arm 7xe2x80x2 via a link arm 9xe2x80x2. The cushion arm 7xe2x80x2 is coupled to one end of a cushion unit 10xe2x80x2 via a link arm 8xe2x80x2 and the other end of the cushion unit 10xe2x80x2 is attached to the body frame 1xe2x80x2.
In the above-mentioned suspension, the vertical motion of the upper arm 13xe2x80x2 is converted to the elastic motion of the cushion unit 10xe2x80x2. However, the present inventors have determined that the above-mentioned art suffers from the following problems. A large bending moment acts upon the upper arm 13xe2x80x2 when external force is applied to the cushion unit 10xe2x80x2 via the upper arm 13xe2x80x2 from a front wheel because the push-pull rod 12xe2x80x2 is attached to an intermediate part of the upper arm 13xe2x80x2.
However, the cross member 15xe2x80x2 is required to withstand the bending moment. The cross member 15xe2x80x2 also functions as a coupling member for coupling the upper arm 13xe2x80x2 to the cushion unit 10xe2x80x2. In addition, the push-pull rod 12xe2x80x2, the link arm 9xe2x80x2, the cushion arm 7xe2x80x2 and the link arm 8xe2x80x2 are required to couple the upper arm 13xe2x80x2 and the cushion unit 10xe2x80x2.
As described above, since the reinforcement of the upper arm 13xe2x80x2 is required to couple one end of the cushion unit 10xe2x80x2 to the intermediate part of the upper arm 13xe2x80x2 and multiple parts are required to attach the upper arm 13xe2x80x2, the weight and cost of the suspension and the vehicle is substantially increased.
The present invention overcomes the shortcomings associated with the background art and achieves other advantages not realized by the background art.
An object of the present invention is to provide a reduced weight suspension structure at a reduced cost.
One or more of the objects of the invention is accomplished by a double wishbone suspension structure comprising a wheel side and a vehicle body side; a pair of upper arms and a pair of lower arms vertically swingably to the body side of the suspension structure, the upper and lower arms each having a first end and a second end, wherein the second ends are positioned on the vehicle body side of the suspension structure; an upper coupling shaft and a lower coupling shaft operatively connected to the respective first ends of the upper and lower arms; a knuckle on the wheel side being coupled to the respective first ends of the upper and lower arms via the respective upper and lower coupling shafts; a damper for dampening an impact transmitted from the wheel side to the vehicle body side; and a first end of the damper being coupled to either of the upper coupling shaft or the lower coupling shaft.
One or more of the objects of the invention are also accomplished by a double wishbone suspension structure comprising a wheel side and a vehicle body side; a pair of upper arms and a pair of lower arms vertically swingably to the body side of the suspension structure, the upper and lower arms each having a first end and a second end, wherein the second ends are positioned on the vehicle body side of the suspension structure; a coupling shaft operatively connected to at least one of the first ends; a knuckle on the wheel side being coupled to the at least one first end coupled with the coupling shaft; a damper for dampening an impact transmitted from the wheel side to the vehicle body side; and a first end of the damper being coupled to the coupling shaft.
One or more of the objects of the invention are also accomplished by a a double wishbone suspension structure comprising a wheel side and a vehicle body side; a pair of upper arms and a pair of lower arms vertically swingably to the body side of the suspension structure, the upper and lower arms each having a first end and a second end, wherein the second ends are positioned on the vehicle body side of the suspension structure; a coupling shaft operatively connected to at least one of the first ends; a knuckle having a pair of knuckle coupling parts on the wheel side being coupled to the at least one first end of the arm coupled with the coupling shaft;
a damper for dampening an impact transmitted from the wheel side to the vehicle body side; and a first end of the damper being coupled to the coupling shaft.
Since impact from the wheel is not applied to an intermediate part of the arm, the arm does not require reinforcement and the structure can be reduced in size and weight. The impact from the wheel is not applied to the intermediate part of the arm, because one end of the damper is coupled to a coupling shaft and no bending moment acts upon the arm. A damper attachment for attaching the damper to the arm is also not required. Accordingly, the number of parts can be reduced and the manufacturing cost of the arm can be reduced.
Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.


Techniques for electronic circuit design simulation are provided. In one aspect, a method for electronic circuit design simulation includes the following steps. A model (e.g., a physics-based model) of the circuit design is created. Error tables are created containing data related to one or more regions of the circuit design. The model is modified with data from the error tables. The modified model is used to simulate the circuit design.

In the present and future technology generations, fast and accurate circuit simulations and analysis are required to capture rapidly-changed device features, intrinsic device fluctuation and random mismatch among adjacent devices. Numerical device simulations (e.g., technology computer-aided design (TCAD), such as Synopsys TCAD available from Synopsys, Inc., Mountain View, Calif.) are based on physical drift-diffusion or hydrodynamic transports which are partial differential equations and are accurate. However, simulation run-time is significantly slow for circuit-level simulations. Table-look-up based circuit analysis is very fast, but table-look-up methods are not accurate due to many interpolated regions. See, for example, A. Rofougaran et al., "A Table Lookup FET Model for Accurate Analog Circuit Simulation," IEEE Trans. CAD, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 324-335 (February 1993). Simulation program with integrated circuit emphasis (SPICE), a traditional circuit simulator, is also widely used. However, due to non-linear and discontinuous field-effect transistor (FET) characteristics, only limited accuracy can be offered to circuit design. Also, reliable SPICE models are not available in the early stages of the design process (and/or before hardware data is available), and the development of models takes a long time and involves many complex steps.
Thus, TCAD simulations involve extensive amounts of computational time which cannot be directly used in circuit simulations. Complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technologies (including static random access memory (SRAM)) are getting more complex and thus it is becoming more difficult to predict performance/power and yield of these circuits. SPICE (i.e., an algebraic equation-based model) is fast and predictable, but still exhibits discrepancies between model and hardware (or extensive numerical simulations). A look-up table based tool is faster but not accurate due to many interpolations.
Therefore, circuit simulation techniques that are both fast and accurate would be desirable.

Table lookup method for physics based models for SPICE-like simulators

International Business Machines Corporation


Airport structure for operating aircraft in one direction during landing, taxiing and take off in short, efficient distances. The aircraft lands on an approach runway connected to an apron. It then taxies across the apron in generally the same direction as on the runway. It departs on a runway located on the opposite side of the apron from the approach runway. Both runways are in parallel and the runways are spaced laterally in distance equal to the width of the apron. The taxi distance is the shortest possible distance measured directly between the two runways in a linear, noncircular dimension. The apron is unobstructed in this dimension by the runway connections defining the taxi passageway path between distributed aviation buildings on the apron rather than the buildings being grouped together so as to obstruct straight taxi paths. The airport members allow reciprocal path direction and the members can be duplicated around a common axis creating big airports without taxiways in the preferred configuration.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to Aeronautics and more particularly to big high-capacity airports, for heavier-than-air-aircraft, which extend in size over areas much bigger than the "Landing Field" patent classification suggests; and, specifically to the arrangements of their multiple hard surfaced aircraft support members which adapt to sites much more economically than do "Landing Fields" or so called "airfields" because hills between one way airport runways need drainage grading only.
"Landing field" pertains more to the apron member of this invention than to its runway members because this invention's apron is a big level area while the runways may extend along ridges or over narrow portions of several fields far beyond the apron. The apron does not include runways but often provides taxi passageways to aviation service or facilities distributed thereon and provides direct, non-circular taxiing hard surface support between the approach and the departure runways.
Thus, this apron is integrated by uniting the usual ramp or tarmac with the aviation buildings, such as terminal area buildings, usually grouped at the side or center of the ramp in the prior art.
2. Description of the Related Art
Most all big airports are based on the old airfield concept of bunching together the runways as they expand capacity. This has resulted in parallel runways too close together for safe simultaneous approaches and departures in low visibility weather conditions; and, in use of one long parallel taxiway co-located with each runway and including several short high speed and low speed taxiways interconnecting this long taxiway to the runway so that the runways can be used in two directions.
This antiquated method of adding more runways and many taxiways results in excessive taxi distances, slowed speeds because of numerous stops and goes at the many intersections of runways with other runways, more such delays between taxiways and runways and still more between taxiways and taxiways. The more the taxiways, the more the delays and their inefficiency and the cost of taxiing, the more the radio calls. These add up for increased taxi accidents. During periods of low visibility, the flight operational capacity decreases and often stops. The delays, the workload, the confusion may extend to the enroute air-traffic control throughout a passenger hub area including several other airports and the crossing airways traffic therebetween.
Applicant has determined only a few airports, out of the over 9,000 airports in the U.S.A., are big airports. Of these big airports studied, applicant submits the most efficient one is Dallas - Ft. Worth (DFW) by studying its structural configuration.
DFW is the most recently built airport. Its structure, however, does not provide for future expansion with efficiency of operations when compared to applicant's invention. Comparisons follow:
DFW has 31.5 statute miles of taxiways and a big long apron with little use of each of its three center areas. There are no aircraft taxi passageways across the apron; thus, requiring at least 2.5 miles taxi distance from one side to the opposite side. Applicant's invention's apron taxi distance is 1.5 miles. Both aprons have about the same size areas occupied by the usual commercial and service facilities. DFW average taxi distance from the closest ends of the closest runways to average apron passenger gate is 1.1 mile compared to 0.82 mile for this invention's.
DFW average taxi distance from the farthest ends of farthest runways to average apron gate is 3.2 miles compared to 0.82 mile for this invention's. The differential results from DFW use of the parallel co-located runway-taxiway concept for two way use of each runway while this invention's one way structural configuration does not result in taxi use of distant ends of any runways. Only flight operations use applicant's distant ends. Infrequent heavy maintenance taxi use of distant ends is provided by this invention's embodiments when desirable as will be seen. The taxi distance and its cost will increase for DFW if it increases the number of its runways because they must be located farther out. Applicant's invention used twelve runways for this study while DFW uses six.
Other inefficient and costly structural characteristics of DFW compared to applicant's invention follow: DFW's over 400 intersections of taxiways with taxiways and taxiways with runways to this invention's two embodiments being zero intersections.
DFW does show two outer runways oriented much like applicant's in that they have center lines converging with others and one end of each is connected to the apron by use of taxiways disposed between the runways and apron. But one of these two runways has its closer end, to the apron, extending beyond the apron. This requires additional taxi distance, and both runways utilize the two way structures of one long high speed taxiway co-located and parallel with each runway and with interconnecting taxiways therebetween. Applicant's invention does not resort to such expensive to build, expensive to taxi upon and potentially two way dangerous structure.
Partial modification of DFW to one way structure and operations by closing 202 of its aircraft intrusive intersections of runways with taxiways and taxiways with other taxiways, and 10.5 miles of taxiways closed would decrease its taxiing distance by 1/3, taxi time by 1/2 and would greatly increase its safety and capacity.
A new airfield type airport requiring grading and leveling the majority of some 42 square miles of earth is under construction at Denver, Colo. This newly designed airport, twice the size of DFW, has been studied for ten years and published in the media and in official documents. Thus, applicant believes it is prior art.
Although the Denver Airport will be at least twice the size of DFW, its capacity is held by its planners as being restricted and applicant's study of this prior art shows it to be a massive assemblage of runways and taxiways of such great size that its capacity, with twice the runways of DFW, will be less than twice that of DFW. The Denver Airport will have only half the capacity of applicant's invention in periods of low visibility despite both airports having same number and size of runways. The main difference, as will be seen, is that applicant's invention doesn't use Denver's excessive and costly taxiways distances.
This prior art New Denver Airport (DEN) has a network of 90 miles of taxiways comprising more than 60 right angle turns that will slow and at times stop taxiing aircraft. It will have 525 intersections involving its taxiways with other taxiways and taxiways intersecting with its 12 runways. Of these, 108 are high speed crossings.
Based on the FAA standard for new big airports in year 2020 to handle one million landing aircraft, this complex, costly New Denver Airfield will have 46 million taxi safety risks per year involving those 525 aircraft intrusive intersections while this invention's 12 clear runways will have zero such safety risks.
This invention can land at least 4 simultaneous streams of aircraft in zero visibility while still converging from airways. Their lateral separations at landing will be at least 1.25 miles. Denver will converge only 66% of its maximum of 3 streams capacity in zero visibility and converge them to a terrifying 4,300 feet separation while still in flight and in final turns to final approach to parallel flight separation of only 4300 feet which will result in 495,000 inflight safety risks per year compared to the oneway airport in FIG. 1 having no such flight safety risks. The FAA standard will not be attained without converging runways. Parallel runways won't work.
Further problems of the prior art solved by applicant's invention, when compared with the New Denver Airport are: complicated procedural and operational requirements brought on by excessive structural members. This excess results in less operating efficiencies; 3.2 average taxi distance for DEN to 0.8 mile for this invention at FIG. 1 for a taxiing savings of $495 thousand per day based on an FAA estimate of one million aircraft each year; and, DEN will not easily adapt to the industry requirement for automated control of aircraft flight and taxi operations, while applicant's invention's simple structure will easily adapt and increase its capacity when equipped for automation. Applicant's structure's cost of construction savings is estimated, in 1987 dollars, when compared to DEN is: for the 68 extra miles of high speed taxiways, 17 miles extra low speed taxiways, leveling and preparing into one giant plane the extra 31 square miles area required by DEN in the selected site of rough terrain to meet its old "airfield" structural concept will save $1.82 billion from the over $3 billion Denver planning estimated cost of their New Denver Airport.
Converging runways are shown in prior art "tangent runways" flight article, Oct. 21, 1943, page 454, which discloses multiple converging runways intermixed with taxiways around a circular loading ramp surrounding the aviation service facility buildings. The runways intersect with other runways while applicant's invention has runways clear of other runways; and, applicant's taxi passageways directly through the middle of apron and through the distribution of facility buildings for significantly shorter passageway hard support surface structure between the approach runways and the departure runways when both airports are the same size.
Prior art BROWN, U.S. Pat. No. 3,572,619, Mar. 30, 1971, discloses a ramp surrounding facility buildings "terminal area" identical to the Blight article. Brown's runways are clear of other runway intersections but the approach and departure runways have common center lines, and Brown's runways and taxiways are off-set to one side of his ramp resulting in three times as much taxi distance structure as does applicant's taxi structure measured from the approach runway on a direct line through the facility building distribution to the departure runway. Brown's circular ramp and off-set taxiways and runways result in circular long taxi distances from one direction into the opposite direction while applicant's taxi distances are on short, direct, linear, noncircular distance structure.


The invention relates to a method for the surface treatment of inorganic pigment particles with agglomerates of fine primary particles or single crystals of inorganic compounds, particularly of oxides or sulphates. The method is characterized in that the inorganic compounds are first precipitated from an aqueous solution under suitable pH conditions in a separate vessel in the form of fluffily structured agglomerates and/or single crystals. The precipitation product is subsequently added to an aqueous suspension of inorganic pigment particles. The method is particularly suitable for the surface treatment of titanium dioxide particles, in order to achieve high hiding power or high opacity when used in emulsion paints or laminates.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for the surface treatment of inorganic pigment particles, particularly titanium dioxide pigment particles, and use of the pigment particles in laminates, coatings and plastics.
2. Description of Related Art
Inorganic particles, particularly inorganic pigment particles, are often surface-treated in order to modify certain properties, such as surface charge, dispersing properties, acid resistance or light-fastness. When using pigments, particularly titanium dioxide, it is important, among other things, to achieve high hiding power (opacity), which can be improved by a special type of surface treatment. High hiding power or opacity is required when using the titanium dioxide pigment particles in emulsion paints or laminates (decorative laminating paper), for example.
Elevated hiding power is customarily obtained by surface treatment with silicon oxide and/or aluminum oxide, which has a structure that is as fluffy, porous and voluminous as possible and acts as a spacer for the individual pigment particles. Alternatively, the pigment particles can be mixed with suitable extenders (e.g. calcium carbonate, kaolin, talcum), in which case the extender particles are likewise intended to serve as spacers for the pigment particles.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,591,398 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,075,031 disclose methods for precipitating porous SiO2 and Al2O3 coatings onto TiO2 particles, in order to improve the hiding power of the pigment particles. In this context, alkaline precursors of the coating oxides are added to an acid, aqueous suspension of the TiO2 particles displaying a pH value of ≦7, and the corresponding oxides are rapidly precipitated out in a fluffy structure.
Decorative laminating paper forms part of a decorative, thermosetting coating material, used with preference for finishing furniture surfaces and for laminate flooring. Laminates is the term used to denote materials in which, for example, several impregnated, stacked layers of paper, or paper and hardboard or particle board, are pressed together. The use of special synthetic resins achieves extraordinarily high resistance of the laminates to marring, impact, chemicals and heat.
The use of special-purpose papers (decorative laminating papers) permits the production of decorative surfaces, where the decorative laminating paper serves not only as facing paper, e.g. to hide unattractive wood material surfaces, but also as a carrier for the synthetic resin.
The demands imposed on decorative laminating paper include, among others, opacity (hiding power), light-fastness (greying resistance), color-fastness, wet strength, suitability for impregnation and printability. The cost-effectiveness of the decorative laminating paper production process is determined by the opacity of the pigment in the paper, among other things.
In principle, a pigment based on titanium dioxide is eminently suitable for achieving the necessary opacity of the decorative laminating paper. During paper manufacture, a titanium dioxide pigment, or a titanium dioxide pigment suspension, is usually mixed with a pulp suspension. In addition to pigment and pulp as the feedstock, use is generally also made of auxiliaries, such as wet-strength agents, and further additives, such as certain fillers, where appropriate.
To improve the light-fastness (greying resistance) of decorative laminating paper, the titanium dioxide pigment is customarily coated with aluminum compounds, particularly with aluminum phosphate. Special surface treatments for improving the opacity of the titanium dioxide pigments when used in decorative laminating paper and other applications are likewise known, such as the precipitation of high-volume metal oxide layers on pigments for emulsion paints, where the precipitate acts as a spacer for the individual pigment particles.
According to DE 103 32 650 A1, it is possible to manufacture a titanium dioxide pigment with high greying resistance that simultaneously displays improved retention and opacity. The method is characterized in that an aluminum component and a phosphorus component are added to a titanium dioxide suspension at a constantly maintained pH value of at least 10, after which the pH value is reduced to below 9 in order to precipitate aluminum phosphate compounds.
DE 10 2011 015 856 A1 describes a further method for manufacturing an aluminum phosphate-coated titanium dioxide pigment with high greying resistance and good brightness and opacity. In this method, phosphoric acid is first added to the titanium dioxide suspension, followed by an alkaline and an acid aluminum compound.
WO 2002/077107 A2 discloses a titanium dioxide pigment composition displaying both high greying resistance and high opacity. The pigment composition consists of a blend of two different titanium dioxide pigment types. Type A is a titanium dioxide pigment with high greying resistance suitable for use in decorative laminating paper, e.g. coated with aluminum phosphate, and Type B is a titanium dioxide pigment suitable for use in emulsion paints that is characterized by coating with an elevated SiO2 and Al2O3 content precipitated in flaky, high-volume form. This composition has the disadvantage that two different pigment types first have to be produced and subsequently blended homogeneously.
There is a need for a method for manufacturing inorganic pigments that display advantages compared to known inorganic pigments, e.g. in the form of higher efficiency and cost savings that can be achieved in use as a result. There is especially a need for an alternative, economical method for manufacturing a titanium dioxide pigment with improved opacity and the possibility of simultaneously also optimizing other properties, such as weather resistance, greying resistance, brightness, corrosion resistance, etc.

Method for surface treatment of inorganic pigment particles


A system, method, and user device for executing actions respective of contextual scenarios. The method comprises: determining at least one variable based in part on at least one signal captured by at least one sensor of the user device; generating at least one insight based on the at least one variable; generating a context for the user device based on the at least one insight; determining, based on the context, a user intent, wherein the user intent includes at least one action; and causing execution of the at least one action on the user device.

Mobile launchers are used for navigating through content existing on mobile devices as well as content available over the World Wide Web. The mobile launchers usually configure user interfaces and/or provide content upon receiving requests from a user of the mobile device. Such requests are usually received as a query that a user provides via the interfaces.
As content providers are usually motivated by financial incentives, the content may not be user-oriented. As a result, users may not receive content that efficiently meets their requirements. Specifically, the content may be arranged or otherwise presented so as to emphasize content that provides a financial benefit for content providers rather than emphasizing content that best matches the user's needs at a given time. As a result, user would be required to wade through significant amounts of content that are irrelevant to their present needs before finding relevant content. This would waste user time and computing resources, and may result in user frustration.
Further, even when content is intended to be user-oriented, existing mobile launchers face several drawbacks with respect to user convenience. For example, existing mobile launchers typically require interaction with the user to obtain desired content. The interaction with the user device may be undesirable when, e.g., the user is driving or otherwise engaged in activity that makes interaction difficult or unsafe. Additionally, due to the increasing number of sources of content, a user may not be aware of which content source will provide appropriate content based on the user's current intent.
It would therefore be advantageous to provide a solution that would overcome the deficiencies of the prior art.

System and method for context-launching of applications


Techniques are provided for evaluating compromised credential information. A method for evaluating compromised credentials comprises the steps of: collecting data regarding previously compromised credentials that were used to commit an unauthorized activity; applying one or more statistical learning methods to the collected data to identify one or more patterns; and evaluating a risk of credentials that have been compromised by one or more attackers using the identified patterns. According to a further aspect of the invention, a risk score is generated for one or more users and devices. The risk scores are optionally ordered based on an order of risk. The data can be collected, for example, from one or more of anti-fraud servers and information sources.

Malicious software (often referred to as "malware") is used by an attacker to gather sensitive information, disrupt computer operation and/or gain access to private computer systems. Malware includes computer viruses, Trojan horses, worms and other malicious programs. Malware affects many industries, including finance, healthcare, government, insurance, telecommunications and education. Malware silently captures a wide variety of data and credentials in malware log files from online users, including critical business information. Accordingly, organizations must establish policies and controls to protect enterprise information from malware.
A number of techniques have been proposed or suggested for the collection, monitoring and/or notification of compromised credentials for enterprises. Existing services primarily deal with collecting compromised credential records and presenting them for review by enterprise users. Given the high volume of compromised credential data, however, enterprises are often overwhelmed by the amount of compromised credential information that must be processed and cannot perform a detailed investigation of such records. In addition, the actions that need to be performed in response to such compromises may not be clear.
A need therefore exists for proactive techniques for evaluating compromised credential information based on machine learning and pattern recognition methods to meet the needs of enterprises and/or other users. A further need exists for techniques for identifying the most valuable records (e.g., most vulnerable accounts) for further detailed investigation.

Methods and apparatus for risk evaluation of compromised credentials


The present invention provides an integrated engine system; said integrated engine system includes an air-compressor, an air-buffer-system, a power-management-unit, and a cold-expansion-chamber for operating a Mackay Cold-Expansion cycle, which includes a first-intake-process, a hot-combustion-process, a fuel-cooling-process, a second-intake-process, a cold-expansion-process, and an exhaust-process; said air-buffer-system supplies a cooled compressed air to be injected during said first-intake-process, and a heated compressed air to be injected during said second-intake-process; an air-fuel mixture is ignited to produce a hot-expansion-medium during said hot-combustion process, and the hot-expansion-medium is cooled by a fuel vaporization and an injection of heated compressed air to produce a cold expansion medium at an optimal expansion temperature, thereby accelerating the conversion of carbon-monoxide to carbon dioxide in the cold-expansion-medium and reducing heat loss.

The present invention is a further developed engine system based on the cold-expansion concept in the eight-stroke-cycle used in an eight-stroke-engine, which is now U.S. Pat. No. 6,918,358; the theory of the eight-stroke-cycle is to reduce the heat dissipation by way of releasing the fuel energy in two processes, thereby shortening the time that the combustion-medium is heating the cylinder wall and the cylinder head, so a better fraction of the fuel energy is conversed in a low-temperature oxygen-rich cold-expansion-medium for producing power with the least heat-loss.
The abovementioned two processes are the hot-combustion-process and the cold-expansion-process; the hot-combustion-process will combust the fuel and the air at a high temperature (about 2500 degree Celsius to 1700 degree Celsius) as a hot-combustion-medium, the hot-combustion-medium consists of nitrogen-gas, carbon-monoxide-gas, and other hot gases (except carbon-dioxide-gas due to the environment condition); the second-intake-process will mix a controlled amount of pressurized air with the hot-combustion-medium, thereby blocking the heat-loss by an instant cooling effect that rapidly cools the average temperature of the hot-combustion-medium down by 30%-80%, thereafter forming a low-temperature oxygen-rich cold-expansion-medium at a precisely regulated temperature range (400-1100 degree Celsius) according to the engine load; next the cold-expansion-medium expands with almost no heat-loss since the temperature difference between the cold-expansion-medium and the cylinder wall is now reduced significantly, which stops the heat current from conducting throughout the cylinder wall into the cooling circulation of the engine, and the conversion of the carbon-dioxide-gas is accelerated due to high oxygen-gas concentration presented in the cold-expansion-medium; therefore, almost all the carbon-monoxide-gas is converted into the carbon-dioxide-gas before the up-stroke of the piston, which yields an very high average expansion pressure during the down-stroke of the piston with virtually 50% the heat-loss of the conventional engine, in other words, the eight-stroke-cycle allows the fuel energy to be released in two distinctive steps (the hot-combustion-process and the cold-expansion-process), instead of the sudden and complete energy release that occurs in the conventional engine.
In a regular (medium load) operation with the optimal efficiency of the eight-stroke-cycle, the cold-expansion-medium is expanding at an average medium temperature about 850-600 degree Celsius during the cold-expansion-process, the heat current conducing throughout the cylinder wall is significantly lower than that of the convention engine (gasoline type), whereas the exhaust-gas of the conventional engine has an average temperature of about 1500 degree Celsius or higher during the power-stroke, and an average temperature of about 1400 degree Celsius during the exhaust-stroke.
As the heat current is directly proportional to the temperature difference between the combusting medium and cylinder wall, it can be seen that the total heat-current conducted over time (or the heat-loss) of the eight-stroke-engine is roughly about half of that of the conventional engine; therefore the eight-stroke-cycle is capable of performing at a relatively higher energy efficiency and power-to-weight ratio than the conventional engine.
And a secondary advantage is that, the eight-stroke-engine requires a cooling-system about half of that of the conventional engine, which also reduces the weight of the entire engine system.
However, there is a few drawbacks on the eight-stroke-engine, one of which is the high cost of the variable crankshaft control system of the slave-cylinder of the eight-stroke-engine and the variable-timing-coordinate-valve-system that makes it difficult for the eight-stroke-engine to adapt to the automobile applications.
As the automobile applications require a demanding power-responsive performance that can almost instantly accelerate from 10% of the maximum engine load to 100% of the maximum engine load in about 3 or 4 seconds.
After experimenting on improving the eight-stroke-engine for years, my research team develops a more advanced engine system named Mackay Cold-Expansion Engine System based on the operation concept of the eight-stroke-engine.
Mackay Cold-Expansion Cycle takes in the idea of the two combustion processes of the eight-stroke cycle, and further controls the expansion temperature and increases the power-to-weight ratio with the fuel-cooling-process, wherein the hot-combusting-medium is cooled down with the vaporization of the fuel before the second-intake-process is initiated; and more importantly, Mackay Cold-Expansion Cycle can now respond to a change in engine load much faster and smoother than the eight-stroke-engine by a systematic control means.
Mackay Cold-Expansion Engine System (MCES) consists of an air-compression means, an air-buffer-system, at least two cold-expansion-chambers, and a power management unit; wherein each cold-expansion-chamber will operate in a Mackay Cold-Expansion Cycle consisting of the first-intake-process, the hot-combustion-process, the fuel-cooling-process, the second-intake-process, the cold-expansion-process, and the active-exhaust-process (or the exhaust-process).
Mackay Cold-Expansion Engine System may also operate each cold-expansion-chamber in a Simplified Mackay Cold-Expansion Cycle, in which the fuel-cooling-process is disabled, such that each cold-expansion-chamber will operate in a Simplified Mackay Cold-Expansion Cycle consisting of the first-intake-process, the hot-combustion-process, the second-intake-process, the cold-expansion-process, and the active-exhaust-process (or the exhaust-process).
In comparison with the conventional engine, the MCES will have a relatively higher average expansion pressure and a relatively lower average expansion temperature during the entire down-stroke of the piston; therefore the heat energy dissipated in the engine cooling system of the MCES is only about 7%-15% of the total fuel energy, whereas the conventional engine dissipates about 35% of the total fuel energy in the engine cooling system.
For the ease of comprehension, a MCES and a conventional engine of the equivalent power output are compared as follows in their respective medium load operations at their standard energy efficiencies:
The hot-combustion-medium of the MCES will be heating the chamber wall at an average temperature about 1600-2000 degree Celsius during the hot-combustion-process (a duration of about 45 degree crankshaft rotation), and then heating the chamber wall at an average temperature about 500-800 degree Celsius from the second-intake-process to the active-exhaust-process (a total duration of about 270 degree crankshaft rotation).
Whereas the working-medium of the conventional engine (4-stroke spark-ignition) will be heating the chamber wall at an average temperature about 1500-2000 degree Celsius during its combustion process (a duration of about 160 degree crankshaft rotation), and then heating the chamber wall at an average temperature about 1200-1400 degree during its exhaust-process (a duration of about 180 degree crankshaft rotation.
As the heat-loss of the MCES is significantly less than the conventional engine, this converts more a better fraction of the fuel energy into expansion force, to be more detailed, the airflow-volume and the exhaust pressure measured at the exhaust-means of the MCES are also relatively higher than the conventional engine, which induces the MCES to recover the energy of the cold-expansion-medium from a different approach, therefore, a heat-energy-recovering means (the heat-transfer-catalytic-converter) and a kinetic-energy-recovering means (the turbo-turbine and the turbo-compressor) are integrated into the MCES to maximize the overall energy efficiency.
Due to the low temperature characteristic of the expelled cold-expansion-medium, the most widely used steam-heat-recovery-systems nowadays which utilizes the exhaust-gas to generate a high pressure steam to drive turbine for electricity is not suitable for collaborating with the MCES; this is because the general steam-heat-recovery-system requires the exhaust-gas to be at least 600 degree Celsius or higher to be economically efficient in terms of the equipment cost, whereas the temperature of the exhaust gas from a Mackay Cold-Expansion Engine System is only about 300-400 degree Celsius in the regular operation; therefore, a configuration of the MCES consisting of the refrigerant-regenerator is also provided in the disclosed embodiments for the power generation purpose.
Various configurations and design concepts of Mackay Cold-Expansion Engine System are provided herein to the best of the applicants' knowledge, so that those skilled in the art of the power generation can maximize the potential of the Mackay Cold-Expansion Cycle according to the operation environments, and it is the earnest wish of my research team to provide an efficient engine system that can contribute to alleviate the ongoing energy crisis.


The exhaust gas system has an exhaust gas catalytic converter, through which exhaust gases of an internal combustion engine can flow for catalytic conversion of the exhaust gases. The catalytic converter is disposed between two exhaust gas line segments, each forming one line connection with the catalytic converter and each contacting a stop face of the exhaust gas catalytic converter. A bracing element engages at least one of the exhaust gas line segments and braces the catalytic converter between the exhaust gas line segments. The system is particularly suitable for economical retrofitting of exhaust gas catalytic converters in motor cycles.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an exhaust gas system with a catalytic converter through which exhaust gases of an internal combustion engine can flow, for catalytically converting the exhaust gases. The exhaust gas catalytic converter is disposed between two exhaust gas line segments. Each of the exhaust gas line segments forms one line connection with the catalytic converter. The invention relates in particular to motorcycles.
2. Description of the Related Art
German published, non-prosecuted patent application DE 35 43 011 A1 discloses a carrier body for an exhaust gas catalytic converter for converting the exhaust gases of a motor vehicle engine. The carrier body is made up of corrugated and smooth sheet-metal layers that can be coated with a catalyst material. The sheet-metal layers form the walls of a multiplicity of channels through which the exhaust gases can flow inside a tubular housing. German published, non-prosecuted application DE 195 36 853 A1 discloses honeycomb bodies with approximately parallel channels through which the exhaust gases can flow. Among other ways, the honeycomb monoliths may be manufactured by extruding ceramic materials.
An exhaust gas system for an internal combustion engine, in particular an Otto engine of a motor vehicle, is also known from German published, non-prosecuted patent application DE 44 29 878 A1, having an exhaust gas catalytic converter through which exhaust gases of the engine can flow, the exhaust gas catalytic converter being flanged to one exhaust gas line segment on each of its two end faces.
With increasing environmental awareness and ever stricter emissions regulations in many countries of the world, the need has grown to perform catalytic exhaust gas cleaning not only in multi-track motor vehicles but also in motorcycles and in small motors. Small motors are understood here to be motors with a displacement of less than 250 ccm and in particular less than 50 ccm. Such motors are used especially in lawnmowers, edgers, power trimmers, power saws and chain saws, portable generators, small motor bikes, and similar equipment in vehicles. The costs for furnishing an exhaust gas catalytic converter must be in appropriate proportion to the total manufacturing cost for a device or vehicle. Low expense for materials and time is therefore important in retrofitting exhaust gas catalytic converters.

Exhaust gas system suitable for retrofitting exhaust gas catalytic converters in motorcycles

Emitec Gesellschaft fuer Emissionstechnologie mbH


A greaseless pivot center swivel and bearing device includes an outer housing having a sidewall with top and bottom portions, a top plate coupled with the top portion that includes an opening therein, and a bottom plate coupled with the bottom portion that includes an opening therein. The sidewall cooperates with the top and bottom plates to define an interior volume. A single, unitary bushing member formed of a low-friction material is positioned within the interior volume and includes a surface cylindrically curved about an axis extending between the top and bottom plates of the housing. The cylindrically curved surface cooperates with the openings in the top and bottom plates to define a cylindrical passage through the interior volume sized and shaped for receiving a cylindrical tube that rotates therein, e.g., a tube configured to connect with a water supply column of a mechanized irrigation system.

The following discussion of the background of the disclosure is intended to facilitate an understanding of the present disclosure. However, it should be appreciated that the discussion is not an acknowledgement or admission that any of the referenced material was published, known, or part of the common general knowledge as of the priority date of the application. Some embodiments of the disclosure are described herein with reference to mechanized irrigation equipment and/or systems. However, it will be understood and appreciated by those having ordinary skill in the art that embodiments of the disclosure are not limited to mechanized irrigation system applications and may be used in other applications having rotating or swiveling mechanical parts.
Mechanized irrigation systems provide the ability to manage water resources and, in some instances, other liquids. For example, mechanized irrigation systems can enable application of an optimal amount of water at critical times during a crop's life cycle, fortifying crop health and maximizing yield potential. While there are many components that make up mechanized irrigation systems, in a general sense, such systems include a mechanical structure, a drivetrain, and a control system. One common type of mechanized irrigation systems is a center pivot arrangement that includes a center point about which the system rotates or swivels. The center point may include a rotational swivel and bearing assembly that supports a span. A "span," as the term is used herein, is a structural assembly comprised of a horizontal irrigation pipeline, struts and braces, and a truss rod connection system. A pivot center swivel and bearing assembly provides a swiveling connection between a vertical water supply column coming out of the ground and the horizontal irrigation pipeline that delivers water to a plurality of sprinklers. An upper portion of a swivel elbow component is coupled with the horizontal irrigation pipeline. A lower portion of the swivel elbow component extends vertically down through a bearing and is coupled to the vertical water supply column. Conventionally, the bearing is a circular tube having an inner diameter slightly larger than the outer diameter of the vertical portion of the swivel elbow component.
The pivot center swivel and bearing assembly supports multiple axial loads from the connecting span (or spans) that are exerted upon the assembly during periods of operation or standing still. Due to the high and/or continual loads, for free and effective rotational movement to occur, it is common to use grease or other similar material to provide the lubrication needed for the span rotation to occur freely. The grease is applied between the water supply column and the bearing during regular maintenance intervals to keep the assembly lubricated. Due to the sustained loads and fluctuations in temperature, this grease can excrete out of the bearing causing damage within the bearing and to adjacent components such as rubber gasket style connections. In general, the excreted grease can also spill onto other components such as meters, sensors, electrical wiring and walking platforms causing a mess in and around the pivot center assembly.


An on-chip memory diagnostic (OCMD) circuit may instruct a set of built-in self-test (BIST) engines to execute BIST on memories associated with the set of BIST engines. Next, results of executing BIST on the memories may be received from the set of BIST engines. A set of memory failures may then be identified in the memories based on the results. Next, one or more BIST engines in the set of BIST engines may be instructed to collect diagnostic data for each memory failure. A set of diagnostic data may then be received for the set of memory failures. Next, the set of diagnostic data may be stored in an on-chip data container. The set of diagnostic data may then be provided via a communication channel.

The importance of testing cannot be overemphasized. It would be risky to use large and complex IC designs in critical applications without rigorous testing. Memory blocks are an important part of an IC design. In this disclosure, the terms "memory block," "memory device," and "memory" generally refer to circuitry (e.g., dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) circuitry) that stores data (typically large amounts of data) in an IC design. A faulty memory cell can cause the entire IC chip to fail. Thus, testing memory blocks within an IC chip is important.
A built-in self-test (BIST) can test a memory in an IC chip. The BIST may generally be run at any desired time, including, but not limited to, periodically, upon power-up, or in response to the occurrence of an internal or external condition. The term "march element" may refer to a sequence of operations that are performed on each memory address of a set of memory addresses in a specific order. For example, a march element may correspond to performing the sequence of operations "write 0, write 1, read an expected 1" on each memory address of a set of memory addresses in a specific order including, but not limited to, an increasing order or a decreasing order. A march test may include a set of march elements, and a BIST may include one or more march tests.


A formal verification method and apparatus allowing a user, via a waveform-based graphical user interface, to modify the waveform displayed by a verification algorithm by highlighting specific values at specific cycles. The user may begin either from scratch or from an existing trace produced by the tool. After running the tool, the resultant waveform represents a trace that the user wishes to extract from the model using the verification tool. The annotations input by the user are translated to xe2x80x9ccycle-specific invariantsxe2x80x9d to force the tool to produce a trace that satisfies the desired annotated waveform and to insure a much faster and more efficient query. The invariants are then passed to a verification algorithm, which outputs a trace satisfying these invariants. The user determines whether the trace is satisfactory and may add additional constraints to the waveform to derive a subsequent trace until the user is satisfied.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an improved method for verifying designs and, in particular, to a method of formal verification which provides the user with a simple method of extracting the desired data.
2. Description of Related Art
Designers and inventors have long sought methods of confirming their designs without actually building the design in physical form and using trial and error. With the advent of computers, simulation has become and still is the most common hardware verification framework in use today. Simulation requires that a battery of tests be run through a model of the implementation of a particular design, trying out a number of possible input variations, and then checking to see that the model meets the specifications. Simulation consists of the application of an ordered sequence of input vectors to a particular model that is being tested.
Simulation is polynomial in complexity with respect to the model being tested. However, for complex designs, the amount of behavioral coverage obtainable through simulation decreases rapidly. As designs become more complex, simulation becomes very inefficient in verifying the design. Hence, simulation cannot be done exhaustively even for moderately large designs.
Recently, there has been increased interest in formal verification methods. In formal verification methods, mathematical reasoning frameworks are implemented which exhaustively cover the design behavior. The method consists of using formal proofs to verify that a design satisfies certain properties, which are sometimes referred to as formal specifications.
While the algorithms used in formal verification methods tend to be exponential in complexity with respect to the design size, the results in the hands of skilled users have proven its utility. Symbolic model checking is a type of formal verification and is now a common part of the design validation process. Model checking is a fully automated technique which verifies that a set of properties specified with temporal formulas will hold for a given design.
Referring now to FIG. 1, algorithm 100 for such a technique requires a formal description of design environment 120. That is, a definition of the conditions to which the design under test is to be subjected must be provided to the algorithm. The algorithm also requires a description of the hardware itself, called the model 110, and a property 130 that is to be verified by algorithm 135. Once environment 120, model 110, and property 130 are input, a determination is made by algorithm 135 as to whether property 130 passes or fails at block 140.
In addition to a xe2x80x9cpass or failxe2x80x9d result, a cycle-by-cycle trace of all signal values illustrating a counter-example is typically provided at block 150 upon a failure. A counter-example is a stream of execution which violates the specified property. Also, a trace illustrating a witness is typically provided at block 160 upon a pass. A witness is a stream of execution which non-trivially satisfies the specified property.
For example, if the property is xe2x80x9cif REQ is active, then GNT must be active in 3 cycles,xe2x80x9d a nontrivial stream of execution which satisfies this property is one which shows that the request REQ becomes active. If so, then the grant GNT will be checked in three cycles, and if it is not active, then the property will fail. An example of a stream of execution which trivially satisfies the property is the case in which REQ never occurs. Thus, there will be no opportunity for the property to fail, and hence no meaningful trace to display.
In order to generate these traces, the model checker arbitrarily calculates a set of valuations of the state variables in the model which comprise only one possible witness or counter-example. If the user is happy with the trace that was generated by the model checker, then the model checking procedure is finished at block 170. However, if the user is not satisfied with the trace that was generated, either model 110 or environment 120 is modified in order to get a more satisfactory trace for property 130.
The complexity of model checking is also exponential in relation to the size of the model, the environment, and the property to be tested. The reason for this is that the modeling technique or tool performs a breadth-first exhaustive reachability calculation. That is, beginning with all initial states, all states reachable in one xe2x80x9csimulation stepxe2x80x9d(denoted Image 1) are explored. Then, all states reachable in two simulation steps (denoted Image 2) are explored, and so on until no new states are found. One reason that breadth-first algorithms are typically used rather than depth-first algorithms is to avoid excessively long traces if the error could manifest itself in a shorter period of time using a breadth-first algorithm.
One shortcoming of formal verification techniques is the xe2x80x9cstate-space explosion.xe2x80x9d This problem is seen as the number of state variables in a model is increased. The number of states in a model with N state variables may equal 2N. Thus, as the number of state variables is increased, the complexity of the model increases exponentially. Therefore, such a formal verification method has limited application in industrial designs because of the complexity that usually exists in industrial designs.
Model checkers typically support the notion of the xe2x80x9cinvariantxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cinvarxe2x80x9d keyword, whose arguments are a set of Boolean properties. For example, using the command xe2x80x9cinvar pxe2x80x9d truncates the state space exploration of the tool to only consider those states where xe2x80x9cpxe2x80x9d is true. All encountered states where p is not true are discarded along with their successors, generally. (Note that some of the successors will not be discarded if they are encountered along a different path where xe2x80x9cpxe2x80x9d is always true.) Because certain states and paths are ignored due to the invariants, the complexity of the model checking run is thereby reduced.
Imposing cycle-specific restrictions using traditional model checking tools requires the user to manually generate an automaton to count cycles and create standard invariants of the form xe2x80x9cinvar (automata=1)xe2x86x92(REQ=1)xe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cinvar (automata=2)xe2x86x92(GNT=0)xe2x80x9d, etc. The use of an automaton in this manner creates additional state variables causing even more of a state-space explosion. The additional complexity of the extra automaton may outweigh the benefit of the use of such invariants. The verification tool in many cases consumes more CPU time/memory than in the original run where the automaton was not used. This manual and computational complexity is suffered merely to generate one tailored trace.
An automaton is a finite state machine (FSM). It is a state transition system that consists of a set of states, and a set of transitions defined from one state to the next. For example, consider the array  less than S, I, T greater than  where S is the set of states, I is the set of inputs to the automaton, and T is the transition function. Intuitively, a Finite State Machine (FSM) or an automaton starts in an xe2x80x9cinitial state.xe2x80x9d From its present state, under control of the present input, T defines the next state to which the automaton will transition.
As noted earlier, formal verification (such as model checking) is roughly exponential in relation to the size of the model. Using the prior art, if a trace is obtained which is undesirable, the designer typically couples onto the model under test an automaton which does nothing more than count cycles. A set of user-defined cycle-specific invariants (as above) are then introduced to guide the state space search. This automaton initializes to count=0. Each transition increments its value by one. The implication is that with the automaton added, model checking becomes exponential in relation to the size of the model PLUS the size of the automaton. While the invariants prune the state space search, the constrained run is typically even more costly than the original unconstrained run due to the extra automaton.
Furthermore, because the trace selected by the tool is arbitrary, the problem of the case in which the selected trace is illegal, that is resulting from illegal input behavior, is encountered. To avoid these frequent illegal trace selections, the verification engineer must go to great lengths to specify the environment and property composition that forces the model checker to produce a different and hopefully more attractive trace. This frequently involves very complicated logic and reasoning which is often as complex as the model itself, and in many cases requires a larger composed model, environment, or property composition resulting in an even greater state-space explosion.
To solve this problem, multiple distinct environments are used. One small environment is used for normal xe2x80x9cfastxe2x80x9d property evaluation and then another typically larger environment is used for the xe2x80x9cattractive trace generation.xe2x80x9d The size of the environment is determined by the number of state variables needed to express the environment. Nevertheless, the arrival at such a good set of environments or traces often requires a very sophisticated trial and error refinement process which unnecessarily delays the generation of a good trace and adds undesirable manual and computational complexity. The use of multiple distinct environments is time-consuming because in many cases it requires superfluous full-blown model checking runs in which the model checker must be run again for each modification of the environment and/or property.
Under the current art, the complexity and sophistication required to perform formal verification often requires dedicated verification engineers, and much back-and-forth interaction as necessary between the verification engineer and the designer to obtain desired traces, and to fully enumerate necessary assumptions.
Therefore, there is a need for an extensible tool set and efficient underlying algorithm for achieving the goal of extracting a xe2x80x9cgood tracexe2x80x9d more efficiently with less computational and manual complexity. The user should be able to extract much information very quickly from the tool rather than obtaining an arbitrary trace which may or may not be very desirable. The user should be able to pose questions in a very simple manner and extract traces from the verification tool without extensive trial and error refinement of the trace.
The user should also be able to use the model checker without having an understanding of the underlying algorithm or methods used by the tool. The method should allow the user to do additional tests on the model in an intuitive manner without having to conduct a full-blown model checking run for each modification.
A tool is needed to allow the verification engineer to more efficiently extract necessary assumptions, and to allow the designer to use the traces that were generated by the verification engineer to pose straightforward queries to further the design effort without further intervention by the verification engineer.
The present invention solves the problems of the prior art by making the model checking tool less complex, more efficient, and more user friendly. A waveform based xe2x80x9cinput/outputxe2x80x9d graphical user interface (GUI) is used to allow the user to highlight specific values at specific cycles and to modify the waveform displayed.
The user may begin either from xe2x80x9cscratchxe2x80x9d or from an existing trace produced by the tool. The user makes any changes to the desired waveform that is displayed on the GUI. The resulting waveform represents the trace that the user wishes to extract from the model using the verification tool.
In addition, the present invention allows the user to perform boolean functions over certain signals. The arguments for the function can either be particular values or may relate to temporal constraints such that the time for a particular value is specified.
Once the desired waveform is completed and highlighted, queries using trace tailor are performed. Sufficient modifications of the environment and/or property are made based on the results obtained. To insure that the result obtained is merely an alternate trace of the same pass/fail that was originally obtained, the same model, environment, and property is passed to the model checker. The annotations that are input by the user are translated to xe2x80x9ccycle-specific invariantsxe2x80x9d to force the tool to produce a trace that satisfies the desired annotated waveform and to insure a much faster and more efficient query.
After a trace is provided, the user determines whether or not the trace is satisfactory. If not, then the user may tailor the trace by adding additional constraints to the waveform using the graphic user interface. In the case that the verification tool cannot provide a trace which satisfies the constraints input by the user, the user may make an additional iteration in which he removes one or more of the constraints.
The model checker of the present invention is useful for efficiently enumerating all assumptions necessary for satisfaction of a particular property. In obtaining rigorous proofs, the model checker generates an initial trace, a series of efficient queries using the trace tailor, a sufficient modification of environments and/or properties based on the necessary assumptions obtained from the trace tailor, and a new unrestricted call to the model checker to insure that no failures occur at a particular cycle. The model checker is also useful in conjunction with a rigorous proof approach, not just to enumerate assumptions, but also to merely tailor the traces to make them more succinct, e.g., to more clearly illustrate an error to a designer.
Finally, the trace tailor method may be used in and of itself to fabricate a trace from scratch. The iterative process with the trace tailor when creating the trace from scratch will still yield much information about the behavior of the model under test.
The foregoing techniques may be easily integrated into existing verification tools. The tool set also provides an intuitive and efficient platform for bridging model checking, directed search, and simulation reachability engines, thereby allowing users to obtain desired traces with minimal manual and computational complexity. This tool set helps bridge the gap between formal verification and the designer.

Method and system for enhanced design validation through trace tailoring

International Business Machines Corporation


An apparatus, program product and method of processing access requests for a direct access storage device utilize a “fair elevator” algorithm to schedule access requests from a plurality of requesters desiring access to a direct access storage device (DASD). In particular, a fair elevator algorithm arbitrates requests by taking into account both the requesters with which various requests are associated, as well as the relative positions of the data to be accessed on the DASD. By sorting access requests based upon both requester identity and DASD position, both multitasking performance and DASD throughput are improved in a balanced manner, thus improving overall system performance.

Access to data stored in a storage device can significantly impact the performance of a computer system incorporating such a device. In particular, in high performance or multi-user computer systems, often a relatively large direct access storage device (DASD), e.g., utilizing arrays of magnetic, optical or magneto-optical disk drives and the like, may need to be accessed on a frequent basis by multiple users and/or multiple computer software tasks. DASD's are typically much slower than the solid state memories of such computer systems. As such, the speed at which data can be transferred to or from a storage device can play a large part in the overall performance of a system.
Different users and/or different tasks that require access to a DASD (collectively referred to herein as "requesters") often operate concurrently with one another, and may attempt to access the DASD at the same time. As such, many computer systems employ scheduling algorithms to arbitrate access requests from multiple requesters in a computer system. However, in many instances, it is difficult for a scheduling algorithm to adequately balance the competing interests relating to the performance of the software executing on the computer system, and the performance of the DASD. Whenever these interests are not optimally balanced, overall system performance suffers.
Specifically, DASD performance is often directly impacted by the "seek time" of a DASD—that is, the time that it takes for a drive head in the DASD to reach the position on a storage medium of the information with which a particular request is associated. One scheduling algorithm that attempts to minimize seek times is referred to as an "elevator" algorithm, which orders requests based upon the relative positions of the data associated with the requests on the DASD. The ordering of the requests is selected so that a drive head can be moved back and forth between the two end positions of the DASD, with any I/O requests encountered along the way issued to the device. The seek time of the drive head on the DASD is thus minimized, thereby maximizing the performance of the DASD.
One potential problem with the elevator algorithm, however, is that if one requester issues a large amount of requests to a relatively narrow range of positions on a DASD, the requester may occupy a large amount of the bandwidth of the DASD. Doing so can effectively restrict access to the DASD for other requesters, thereby stalling the progress of those requesters and adversely impacting system performance.
In other computer systems, a different scheduling algorithm, often referred to as a "fair" algorithm, attempts to schedule requests in a round robin fashion according to the various identities of the requesters associated with the requests such that each requester in a system is able to use the DASD "fairly", and not unduly stall other requesters attempting to concurrently access the DASD. Multitasking performance is often optimized because multiple tasks are allowed to proceed with reduced delays in accessing a shared DASD. However, given that different requesters will often access data stored at different positions on a DASD, the fair algorithm can increase seek times, and thus degrade the performance of the DASD. As such, the fair algorithm is often an optimal solution for multitasking environments and when arbitrating between multiple requesters, but is not as efficient for DASD throughput.
While each of the elevator and fair scheduling algorithms can provide adequate performance in some situations, often the competing interests of ensuring adequate progress of multiple requesters, and minimizing seek times in a DASD, can limit the overall performance of a computer system. Therefore, a significant need continues to exist for a manner of scheduling requests from multiple requesters in a computer system to maximize system performance.

Fair elevator scheduling algorithm for direct access storage device


A cleaning device, a process cartridge, and an image forming apparatus including an antifriction agent coating part and a toner removing part. The antifriction agent coating part coats a solid antifriction agent on the surface of an image support body, and is disposed in an upstream side from a cleaning blade with respect to a rotational direction of the image support body. The toner removing part removes toner particles, and is disposed in an upstream side from the antifriction agent coating part with respect to the rotational direction of the image support body and a portion of the toner removing part is positioned below a portion of the antifriction agent coating part in a vertical direction perpendicular to the ground.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cleaning device incorporated in an electrophotographic image forming apparatus such as a copier, a printer and a facsimile. More particularly, the present invention relates to a cleaning device for an image forming apparatus that uses high roundness toner to develop images.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to enhance image quality, smaller diameter and higher roundness toner is being intensively designed at present. Since pulverized toner has limited characteristics on the toner diameter and the toner roundness thereof, polymerized toner manufactured, for example, in accordance with suspension polymerization, emulsion polymerization and dispersion polymerization, has been widely adopted to realize small diameter and high roundness toner.
It is known by those skilled in the art that high roundness toner has a poor cleaning characteristic in general. This is why when such high roundness toner is cleaned up with a rubber blade, which is conventionally used as means for cleaning pulverized toner, it is difficult for the rubber blade to catch the high roundness toner particles at the blade edge thereof because of tumbling of the round particles. As a result, the high roundness toner particles tend to pass through the rubber blade. In particular, since polymerized toner particles are shaped as true round particles (having average roundness above 0.98), it is difficult to properly clean up such high roundness toner particles in conventional blade cleaning methods as described above.
Some cleaning methods for high roundness toner have been proposed as follows.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 08-248849 discloses a method of removing toner particles electrostatically from an image support body by means of a brush roller by applying bias having inverse polarity of toner electrifying polarity to the brush roller. However, the method has some problems. Typically, since remaining toner particles are not uniformly electrified on the image support body, it is difficult for the uniformly bias-applied brush roller to successfully catch the remaining toners from the image support body. Also, there is a risk that the caught toner particles may be reattached on the image support body depending on the level of the applied bias.
There are some other approaches. In a proposed cleaning method, for the purpose of improving cleaning performance of a rubber blade, the friction coefficient of the surface of an image support body can be lowered by supplying an antifriction material on the surface. In this method, even if greater depression force of a rubber blade is applied to the image support body in order to scrape remaining toner particles from the image support body, it is possible to suppress damage to the image support body. In addition, it is possible to improve cleaning performance of the rubber blade by lowering the coefficient of sliding friction of the toner particles.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Applications No. 11-288194 and No. 2001-235987 disclose methods of supplying an antifriction material on an image support body. In these methods, a solid antifriction material is applied to a brush roller disposed in the upstream side from a rubber blade with respect to the rotational direction of an image support body so that the brush roller can clean up the surface of the image support body. At the same time, the solid antifriction material is scraped while supplying the antifriction material on the image support body. According to the above-proposed methods, however, when toner particles are accumulated between fibers of a brush roller over time, there is a risk that an antifriction material scraped by the brush roller cannot be sufficiently supplied on the image support body.

Cleaning device, process cartridge and image forming apparatus