The invention relates to a method for visually presenting a set of properties of a web site, which comprises: (a) predefining within a provider's search engine a set of properties and assigning to each property a visual symbol; (b) using a spider program, visiting by said provider's search engine each web site and determining those properties from said set that are characteristic to that web site; (c) associating by said provider's search engine with each web site those symbols corresponding to said determined properties; (d) forming for each web site a corresponding combined visual representation of the web site based on said associated symbols; and (e) when listing search results to a user, including the combined visual representation for each web site respectively.

A "Search engine" is a system that searches for information that sustains some Search criteria. Regarding the Internet, a Search engine is a Web application that searches Web sites that sustain some Search criteria.
A search engine on the Internet usually comprises three parts:                A Spider-program (also called a "crawler" or a "bot"), which is a program that "visits" Web sites and reads their pages and other information in order to create entries for a search-index;        An Index-program, a program that compiles a massive search-index from the pages read; and        A Seeker-program, a program that receives search requests, compares each request to the entries in the search-index, and returns the results to the user.
A search-index is a database that contains information about a set of Web sites. Using the search-index, a sub-group of Web-site(s) can be obtained according to search-criteria.
There are various search Web-sites that maintain databases about the contents of other Web sites. Yahoo was the first search Web site to gain worldwide attention, and it differs from most other search sites in that its content is indexed by people who create a hierarchical directory by subjects. As a result, Yahoo and similar search Web sites are technically called "directories" rather than "search engines". Most directories offer a search engine mechanism to query the database.
Most other search Web applications are highly automated, sending "Spider" programs out on the Web around the clock to collect the text of Web pages. Spiders follow all the links on a page and put all the text into a database. Sometimes a Web site offers both—a search engine and directory capabilities.
Major search engines such as AltaVista and Google index the content of the Web, while directories such as Yahoo and Looksmart try to categorize it manually. However, due to the huge size of the Web and other objective reasons (such as connectivity of sites), Google indexed only 30% of the Web, while Yahoo indexed only 2% (according to the assessments of the Web size)
There are dozens of search engines, each with its own anchor Web site. Some search Web applications, such as Yahoo, search not only using their search engine but also provide the results from simultaneous searches of other search indices.
Usually, the above-mentioned search engines do not provide focused answers, since the same keywords may be found in Web sites of different categories and subjects, while the user is not provided with means for distinguishing between the results. Search results can span for pages, and consequently overwhelm the user.
Yahoo displays not only Web sites that contain the specified keywords, but also a list of categories that contain the searched keyword(s), as may be seen in FIG. 1. In the illustrated case, the word "chess" was searched. Hence, after obtaining the initial results, the user can focus his search by selecting the category best suited to the subject matter he is looking for. In that case, the search results are limited to the selected category as pre-grouped by the people of Yahoo. Such a search may be called a "context search". However, the user is not provided with means for distinguishing the Web sites by importance or any other property. Moreover, since Yahoo does not scan the Internet by automated methods, each category contains a minor amount of Web sites.
Due to the fact that the categories of Yahoo were defined by a human factor and not by a machine, there are some ambiguities. For example, in FIG. 1, the hierarchy of the categories "Computers and Internet>Hardware>Systems>Macintosh>Software>Games" is odd since regarding to computers, the category "Software" is not a sub-category of "hardware".
One of the options of the Google search engine, introduces a different approach. The search starts from a selection of one or more predefined categories and the search refinement is carried out by the topical keywords. For example, a user wishes to search for a free computer chess game. The user starts the search from a Web page (within the Google Web site) called "Web directory", where he selects the category "Games". Google displays a list of sub-categories, and the user selects the "Computer games" sub-category. The next category is "Windows", and in this category Google displays the following answers: 3D Graphics (18 Web sites), Cheats and Hints (46 Web sites), Downloads (21 Web sites), Fan Fiction (11 Web sites), and Shareware (146 Web sites). When selecting the final directory, the user submits the keyword "chess" to limit the results to only chess games.
In matter of fact, Google uses the directory of Open Directory Project (ODP), rather then its own directory. ODP is an organization of more than 30,000 volunteers that index the Internet.
Google results are ranked quite differently from those of other search engines. Ranking in Google is carried out according to the site's importance as determined by the number of links pointing to a Web site. After obtaining a list of Web sites that meet a text-oriented search criterion, Google ranks the obtained list according to the number of links pointing to each Web site, and the results are presented according to this order.
The main drawbacks in the existing search engines are the following:                The number of the results corresponding to a search criterion is often high, and consequently overwhelms the user.        They do not provide easy means for distinguishing and noticing the results by their related content or subject.        The presentation of results is text-oriented, while presenting such an enormous amount of information overwhelms the user.        Although Google orders the search results by their importance (the number of links pointing to a Web site) this is not a precise criterion for the site's relevancy to the search goal, because the preliminary Web sites being ranked by Google was pulled out by text-oriented search criteria.        The human-compiled tree of categories is subjective and not objective.        Low cover rate at human-compiled directories (such as Yahoo and Looksmart).
All the methods described above have not yet provided satisfactory solutions to the problem of the searching of Internet Web sites.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method and system for carrying out a search of Web sites, which overcomes the drawbacks of the prior art.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method and system for carrying out a search of Web sites, which provides presentation of the Web sites, such that the visualization reveals certain attributes of the presented Web sites.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method and system for carrying out a search of Web sites, which classifies the Web sites according to their attributes.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and system for mapping and searching the internet and displaying the results in a visual form


A method of manufacturing an electrolytic capacitor including the following steps as well as an electrolytic capacitor manufactured by the method are provided. The method includes: a dispersion impregnation step of impregnating, with a dispersion containing electrically conductive solid particles or powder and a solvent, a capacitor element having an anode foil with a dielectric coating film formed thereon and an opposite cathode foil that are wound with a separator interposed therebetween; a dry step of evaporating the solvent after the dispersion impregnation step to form an electrically conductive solid layer on a surface of the dielectric coating film; and an electrolytic solution impregnation step of impregnating a gap in the electrically conductive solid layer with an electrolytic solution. Accordingly, an electrolytic capacitor that can be manufactured more easily that is excellent in voltage proofing property and that has a lower ESR and a lower leakage current is provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing an electrolytic capacitor and to an electrolytic capacitor obtained by the manufacturing method. More specifically, the invention relates to a method of manufacturing a wound electrolytic capacitor and an electrolytic capacitor obtained by the manufacturing method.
2. Description of the Background Art
As digitization of electronic equipment proceeds, it has become required that capacitors used therefor have a smaller size, a larger capacitance and a smaller Equivalent Series Resistance (hereinafter abbreviated as ESR) in a high-frequency range.
As capacitors for a high-frequency range, plastic film capacitors and multilayer ceramic capacitors for example have conventionally been used frequently. Such capacitors, however, have a relatively small capacitance.
An example of a small-sized, large-capacitance and low-ESR capacitor is an electrolytic capacitor having, as a cathode material, such an electron conducting material as manganese dioxide or TCNQ complex salt. Here, TCNQ refers to 7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane. Further, an electrolytic capacitor for which such an electrically conductive polymer as polypyrrole, polythiophene, polyfuran or polyaniline is used is also a promising capacitor. For example, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 02-015611 discloses an electrolytic capacitor including a specific polythiophene as a solid electrolyte.
In manufacturing an electrolytic capacitor having such an electrically conductive polymer as described above as a cathode material, on a surface of a sintered anode or anode foil made of such a valve metal as aluminum or tantalum for example, a chemical conversion coating film, an electrically conductive polymer layer, a graphite layer and a silver paint layer are formed successively, to which a cathode lead is connected by means of an electrically conductive adhesive or the like. This method, namely the cathode draw-out method is considerably complicated as compared with the method impregnating, with an electrolytic solution, a capacitor element including an anode foil on which a chemical conversion coating film is formed and an opposite cathode foil that are wound or rolled with a separator therebetween, which is a method of manufacturing a so-called wound electrolytic capacitor. Further, the cathode draw-out method tends to provide a larger ESR as compared with a wound electrolytic capacitor using the opposite cathode foil.
In manufacturing a wound electrolytic capacitor, the electrically conductive polymer layer as described above can be formed using, for example, electrolytic polymerization method or vapor phase polymerization method. However, it is operationally complicated and difficult to form an electrically conductive polymer layer within a wound capacitor element using the electrolytic polymerization or vapor phase polymerization method. A possible method forms, on an anode foil, a chemical conversion coating film and an electrically conductive polymer layer and thereafter winds them together with the opposite cathode foil. However, it is difficult to wind the chemical conversion coating film and the electrically conductive polymer layer without damage to them and to accordingly form a wound electrolytic capacitor.
Further, the electrically conductive polymer layer can also be formed by impregnating the wound capacitor element with a monomer that is polymerized to become the electrically conductive polymer as well as an oxidizing agent. For example, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 11-186110 discloses a method of forming an electrically conductive polymer by impregnating a wound capacitor element with a monomer that is to serve as electrically conductive polymer and thereafter immersing the capacitor element in an aqueous solution of such an oxidizing agent as ammonium persulfate. Furthermore, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2005-322917 discloses a method of forming a solid electrolyte by supplying a mixture of a precursor used for manufacturing an electrically conductive polymer and an oxidizing agent into a porous electrode coated with a dielectric layer, and exposing the porous electrode impregnated with the mixture containing the precursor and the oxidizing agent to a certain relative moisture so as to polymerize the precursor. These methods, however attach the oxidizing agent to the chemical conversion coating film on the anode and perform oxidation polymerization on the chemical conversion coating film. Therefore, the methods have a problem that the chemical conversion coating film is damaged and the chemical conversion coating film has a relatively large number of defects. Another problem is that the additional step of washing to remove the non-reacted monomer and oxidizing agent is required after the chemical oxidation polymerization, and thus the method is complicated.
Furthermore, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 05-144677 discloses a method of forming an electrically conductive polymer layer as described above by immersing a wound capacitor element in a solution in which such a soluble electrically-conductive polymer as polyaniline is dissolved, thereafter drying the capacitor element to remove the solvent. The method, however, has the problem that the electrically conductive polymer enters the inside of defects present in the chemical conversion coating film on the anode since the soluble conductive polymer is dissolved in the solvent, so that short-circuiting of the electrolytic capacitor is likely to occur and thus the voltage proofing properties are relatively poor.

Method of manufacturing electrolytic capacitor and electrolytic capacitor


Provided is a tag integrated circuit (IC) module apparatus and a method of fabricating tag IC module apparatus. The tag IC module apparatus may include an n-turn loop coil, n denoting a natural number, connected in series with a tag IC, and a printed circuit board (PCB) disposed below the tag IC and patterned with the n-turn loop coil.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate to a tag integrated circuit (IC) module apparatus and a method of fabricating the tag IC module apparatus which may be compactly fabricated by excluding a radiator and using an attachable metal body as the radiator.
2. Description of the Related Art
A radio frequency identification (RFID) tag may be used along with an RFID reader in various fields, such as, materials management, security, and the like. In general, when an object to which the RFID tag is attached is disposed in a read zone of the RFID reader, the RFID reader modulates a radio frequency (RF) signal having a predetermined carrier frequency and transmits an interrogation signal to the RFID tag. Subsequently, the RFID tag responds to the interrogation signal of the RFID reader.
A passive RFID tag receives the RF signal transmitted from the RFID reader, converts the RF signal to a direct current, and uses the direct current as operation power of the passive RFID tag. Accordingly, an intensity of the RF signal received by the RFID tag needs to be greater than a predetermined threshold for normal operation of the passive RFID tag. To improve a read range of the passive RFID reader, an increase in transmission power of the RFID reader is required. However, the transmission power of the RFID reader is regulated according to local regulations of each country, such as, the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) in the U.S.A. and thus, limitations exist on increasing the transmission power of the RFID reader.
Accordingly, a tag antenna capable of efficiently receiving the RF signal transmitted from the RFID reader may be used to maximize the read range of the RFID reader with respect to the RFID tag.
However, the conventional tag antenna uses an inductive coupling occurring between a metal radiator and a feed loop to which a tag IC is attached by closely disposing the feed loop to the metal radiator. Since a metal radiator in a shape of a long metal strip is included, a size of the conventional tag antenna increases and thus, compact fabrication thereof is difficult.

Tag integrated circuit module apparatus and method of fabricating tag integrated circuit module apparatus

ELECTRONICS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH INSTITUTE


A method of fabricating a display panel apparatus, includes forming a TFT layer, forming a planarizing film, forming a lower electrode, an electrode plate, and an auxiliary electrode, forming banks, forming the organic EL layer, and forming an upper electrode. The electrode plate has an opening exposing a portion of a surface of the planarizing film. In at least one of the forming of the lower electrode, the electrode plate and the auxiliary electrode, and the forming of the banks, the opening of the electrode plate outgasses the planarizing film. The electrode plate has a power supply that receives current through the electrode plate. The opening extends in parallel with a side of the display near the opening. Current flowing between the power supply and a portion connecting the auxiliary electrode and the electrode plate flows along an extending direction of the opening.

The organic EL display apparatus is a light-emitting display apparatus using electroluminescence of organic compounds, and has been in practical use as a small display apparatus used for mobile phones and others.
The organic EL display apparatus is configured with organic EL devices arranged on a substrate. The organic EL devices can be individually controlled per pixel for light-emission. A typical organic EL display apparatus is manufactured by stacking a driving circuit, an anode, an organic layer, and a cathode on a substrate. The organic layer includes, in addition to an organic EL layer made of an organic compound, at least one of functional layers such as a hole injection layer and an electron transport layer. With this configuration, charge is injected to the organic EL layer from the anode or the cathode through the hole transport layer and others, and the injected charge is recombined in the organic EL layer, and the organic EL layer emits light.
It is important that the operational current sufficient for the organic EL display device in each pixel is supplied in order to achieve high quality in the organic EL display apparatus. This is because lack of sufficient operational current supply decreases luminance, causes unevenness in luminance, and reduction in contrast, which are causes for degraded display quality.
Conventionally, in order to achieve high display quality, a configuration for supplying sufficient operational current to the organic EL device in each pixel of the organic EL display apparatus has been proposed (for example, see Patent Literature 1).
The light-emitting apparatus according to Patent Literature 1 includes a cathode-line connected to the cathode, which is provided outside of an effective region (referred to as display section in this Specification) and surrounding the effective region in which pixels each including a light-emitting device is provided, and the power supply line connected to the pixel electrodes is provided between the cathode-line and the effective region.
According to the light-emitting apparatus with the configuration described above, it is possible to secure sufficient contact area for the cathode-line and the cathode, while suppressing the electric resistance between them to minimum. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the reduction in the amount of current supplied to the light-emitting device due to a voltage drop caused by the electric resistance.

Display panel apparatus and method of fabricating display panel apparatus


An automatic segmentation system distinguishes foreground and background objects by first encoding and decoding a first image at a first time reference. Macroblocks are extracted from a second image at a second time reference. The macroblocks are mapped to pixel arrays in the decoded first image. Frame residuals are derived that represent the difference between the macroblocks and the corresponding pixel arrays in the previously decoded image. A global vector representing camera motion between the first and second images is applied to the macroblocks in the second image. The global vectors map the macroblocks to a second pixel array in the first decoded image. Global residuals between the macroblocks and the second mapped image arrays in the first image are derived. When the global residuals are compared with the frame residuals to determine which macroblocks are classified as background and foreground. The macroblocks classified as foreground are then blended into a mosaic.

This invention relates to mosaic generation and sprite-based coding, and more particularly, to sprite-based coding with automatic foreground and background segmentation. Throughout the document, the terms xe2x80x9cspritexe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cmosaicxe2x80x9d will be used interchangeably.
Dynamic sprite-based coding can use object shape information to distinguish objects moving with respect to the dominant motion in the image from the rest of the objects in the image. Object segmentation may or may not be available before the video is encoded. Results of sprite-based coding with a priori object segmentation increases coding efficiency at sufficiently high bit rates where segmentation information, via shape coding, can be transmitted.
When object segmentation is available and transmitted, sprite reconstruction uses the dominant motion of an object (typically, a background object) in every video frame to initialize and update the content of the sprite in the encoder and decoder. Coding efficiency improvements come from scene re-visitation, uncovering of background, and global motion estimation. Coding gains also come from smaller transmitted residuals as global motion parameters offer better prediction than local motion vectors in background areas. Less data is transmitted when a scene in revisited or background is uncovered because the uncovered object texture has already been observed and has already been incorporated into the mosaic sometime in the past. The encoder selects the mosaic content to predict uncovered background regions or other re-visited areas. Coding gains come from the bits saved in not having to transmit local motion vectors for sprite predicted macroblocks.
However, the segmentation information may not be available beforehand. Even when available, it may not be possible to transmit segmentation information when the communication channel operates at low bit rates. Shape information is frequently not available since only a small amount of video material is produced with blue screen overlay modes. In these situations, it is not possible to distinguish among the various objects in each video frame. Reconstruction of a sprite from a sequence of frames made of several video objects becomes less meaningful when each object in the sequence exhibits distinct motion dynamics. However, it is desirable to use dynamic sprite-based coding to take advantage of the coding efficiency at high bit rates and if possible, extend its performance at low bit rates as well. Shape information takes a relatively larger portion of the bandwidth at low bit rate. Thus, automatic segmentation provides a relatively larger improvement in coding efficiency at low bit rates.
Current sprite-based coding in MPEG-4 assumes that object segmentation is provided. With the help of segmentation maps, foreground objects are excluded from the process of building a background panoramic image. However, the disadvantage of this approach is that object segmentation must be performed beforehand. Object segmentation is a complex task and typically requires both spatial and temporal processing of the video to get reliable results.
Temporal linear or non-linear filtering is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,109,435, issued Apr. 28, 1992, entitled Segmentation Method for Use Against Moving Objects to Lo, et al. Temporal filtering is used for segmenting foreground objects from background objects for the purpose of reconstructing image mosaics. This approach has two disadvantages: First, it requires that several frames be pre-acquired and stored so temporal filtering can be performed. Second, it does not explicitly produce a segmentation map, which can be used to refine motion estimates.
Analysis of motion residuals is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,649,032, issued Jul. 15, 1997, entitled System for Automatically Aligning Images to Form a Mosaic Image, to Burt, et al. This method separates foreground objects from background objects in a mosaic but does not reconstruct a mosaic representative of the background object only (see description in the Real time transmission section). Post-processing must be used to eliminate the foreground objects.
Accordingly, a need remains for automatically performing on-line segmentation and sprite building of a background image (object undergoing dominant motion) when prior segmentation information is neither available nor used due to bandwidth limitations.
Automatic object segmentation generates high quality mosaic (panoramic) images and operates with the assumption that each of the objects present in the video scene exhibits dynamical modes which are distinct from the global motion induced by the camera. Image segmentation, generation of a background mosaic and coding are all intricately linked. Image segmentation is progressively achieved in time and based on the quality of prediction signal produced by the background mosaic. Consequently, object segmentation is embedded in the coder/decoder (codec) as opposed to being a separate pre or post-processing module, reducing the overall complexity and memory requirements of the system.
In the encoder, foreground and background objects are segmented by first encoding and decoding a first image at a first time reference. The method used to encode and decode this first image does not need to be specified for the purpose of this invention. The second image at a second time reference is divided into non-overlapping macroblocks (tiles). The macroblocks are matched to image sample arrays in the decoded first image or in the mosaic. In the first case, the encoder uses local motion vectors to align an individual macroblock with one or several corresponding image sample array in the previous decoded image. In the second case, the encoder uses parameters of a global motion model to align an individual macroblock with a corresponding mosaic sample array. The encoder evaluates the various residuals and selects the proper prediction signal to use according to a pre-specified policy. This decision is captured in the macroblock type. The macroblock types, the global motion parameters, the local motion vectors and the residual signals are transmitted to the decoder.
Frame residuals represent the difference between the macroblocks and corresponding image arrays in the previously decoded image matched by using local motion vectors. Macroblocks having a single local motion vector are identified as INTER1V-type macroblocks. Macroblocks having multiple (4) local motion vectors are identified as INTER4V-type macroblocks. INTER4V macroblocks are always labeled as foreground. INTER1V macroblocks can either be labeled foreground or background.
A global motion model representing camera motion between the first and second image is applied to the macroblocks in the second image. The global vector maps the macroblocks to a corresponding second image sample array in the first decoded image. Global residuals between the macroblocks and the second image array are derived. When the global residuals are greater than the INTER1V frame residuals, the macroblocks are classified as foreground. When the INTER1V frame residuals are greater than the global residuals, the macroblocks are classified as background. By comparing the global residuals to the INTER1V frame residuals derived from the previously decoded image the mosaic can be automatically updated with the image content of macroblocks likely to be background.
Mosaic residuals represent the difference between the macroblocks and corresponding global motion compensated mosaic arrays. Any macroblocks tagged as mosaic prediction type are classified as background.
A segmentation map can be used to classify the macroblocks as either foreground or background. A smoothing process is applied to the segmentation map to make foreground and background regions more homogeneous. The mosaic is then updated with the contents of macroblocks identified as background in the smoothed segmentation map.
Automatic segmentation does not require any additional frame storage and works in a coding and in a non-coding environment. In a non-coding environment, the invention operates as an automatic segmentation-based mosaic image reconstruction encoder. Automatic object segmentation builds a mosaic for an object exhibiting the most dominant motion in the video sequence by isolating the object from the others in the video sequence and reconstructing a sprite for that object only. The sprite becomes more useable since it is related to only one object. The results of the auto-segmentation can be used to obtain more accurate estimates of the dominant motion and prevent the motion of other objects in the video sequence from interfering with the dominant motion estimation process.
Automatic object segmentation can be integrated into any block-based codec, in particular, into MPEG4 and is based on macroblock types and motion compensated residuals. Dominant motion compensation is used with respect to the most recently decoded VO plane. A spatial coherency constraint is enforced to maintain the uniformity of segmentation. Automatic segmentation is used in a non-coding environment, for example in the context of building a background image mosaic only (or region undergoing dominant motion) in the existence of foreground objects. Thus, automatic sprite-based segmentation is not only useful for on-line dynamic sprites but can also be used in generating an off-line (e.g., background) sprite that can be subsequently used in static sprite coding.
The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Mosaic generation and sprite-based coding with automatic foreground and background separation


The present disclosure teaches a system and method for register-transfer level (RTL) design checking for exploring mismatches and ambiguous language semantics that occur during the simulation and synthesis phases of the circuit design. In particular, the present disclosure utilizes identified patterns of design violations that occur as a result of these mismatches to create rule objects. The rule objects are then used to identify circuit design violations relating to mismatches between designer intent and ambiguous language. The rule objects are also categorized into different categories so as aid in the analysis of design rule violations and to identify the major impacts to the design qualities and to provide a confidence level of the overall design quality.

During the electronic circuit design process, to design an integrated circuit (IC), a circuit designer generates a register-transfer level (RTL) design. An RTL design is a design abstraction that models a circuit in terms of the flow of signals (e.g., data) between hardware registers, and the logical operations performed on those signals. Hardware description languages (HDLs), such as Verilog, SystemVerilog, and VHDL, are used to generate the RTL abstraction. The RTL abstraction creates a high-level representation of the circuit, from which lower-level representations and actual circuit wiring can be derived. The RTL design is the golden design. The derived lower-level representation is the derived design.
The derived design is generated by synthesis software tools or by manual implementation from the golden RTL design. After the derived design is generated from the RTL design, the circuit designer uses verification software to verify that the derived design is logically equivalent (e.g., EQ) to the golden RTL design, which is the circuit design originally intended by the circuit designer. There are two main categories of design mismatches: the design intent mismatches and the simulation and/or synthesis mismatches. The design intent mismatches can happen when the designer misunderstands the RTL language semantics. Currently, verification software is not able to detect design intent mismatches that occur between the circuit designer's intent and RTL language semantic interpretations of the golden RTL design. As such, when a mismatch between the circuit designer's intent and language interpretations is present, the verification software may return a result of equivalence (EQ) between the derived design and the golden RTL design, which can be misleading to the circuit designer. The simulation and/or synthesis mismatches can happen when the golden RTL code is interpreted differently by the simulation tools and by the synthesis tools because the tools take different assumptions and constraints. This is due to the fact that the software has a different interpretation for the RTL design code and/or due to extra constraints being applied to the software. Currently, the simulation and/or synthesis mismatches are hard to detect by simulation tools because simulation tools have well-known issues of low verification coverage. The simulation and/or synthesis mismatches can be undetected by the equivalence check because it shares the same assumptions and constraints used by the synthesis tools. The present disclosure addresses this design mismatch problem by providing an improved approach for design checking golden RTL designs.

Register-transfer level (RTL) design checking for exploring simulation and/or synthesis mismatches and ambiguous language semantics using categorization


A sonde is receivable in a housing of an inground tool for transmitting an electromagnetic locating signal. The sonde is configured for monitoring a cumulative active run-time of its operation and for external transfer of the cumulative active run-time. A receiver receives the cumulative active run-time and provides at least one indication based on the cumulative active run-time.

The present application is generally related to the field of horizontal directional drilling and, more particularly, to advanced sonde reliability monitoring, apparatus and associated methods.
While not intended as being limiting, one example of an application which involves the use of an inground device or transmitter is Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD). The latter can be used for purposes of installing a utility without the need to dig a trench. A typical utility installation involves the use of a drill rig having a drill string that supports a boring tool, serving as one embodiment of an inground tool, at a distal or inground end of the drill string. The drill rig forces the boring tool through the ground by applying a thrust force to the drill string. The boring tool is steered during the extension of the drill string to form a pilot bore. Upon completion of the pilot bore, the distal end of the drill string is attached to a pullback apparatus which is, in turn, attached to a leading end of the utility. The pullback apparatus and utility are then pulled through the pilot bore via retraction of the drill string to complete the installation. In some cases, the pullback apparatus can comprise a back reaming tool, serving as another embodiment of an inground tool, which expands the diameter of the pilot bore ahead of the utility so that the installed utility can be of a greater diameter than the original diameter of the pilot bore.
Steering of a boring tool can be accomplished in a well-known manner by orienting an asymmetric face of the boring tool for deflection in a desired direction in the ground responsive to forward movement. In order to control this steering, it is desirable to monitor the orientation of the boring tool based on sensor readings obtained by sensors in a transmitter or sonde that is itself carried by a housing that forms part of the boring tool or other inground tool. The sensor readings, for example, can be modulated onto a locating signal that is transmitted by the transmitter for reception above ground by a portable locator or other suitable above ground device.
A sonde, in particular one that is housed in a boring tool, is often subjected to hostile conditions during drilling operations. These hostile conditions can include high levels of mechanical shock and vibration as well as high temperatures. These conditions can be exacerbated in certain drilling environments, such as drilling through rock. Applicants recognize that reliability of a sonde correlates with the number of hours a sonde is used during underground drilling.
However, measuring the use of a sonde underground is not straightforward. Total runtime is not an accurate measure, since a sonde may sit underground for hours without being used. Applicant has identified a need to measure run-time in a more accurate and useful manner, but without significantly increasing the complexity required to do so that could have the effect of hindering performance of the sonde and/or reliability of the measurement over time.
The foregoing examples of the related art and limitations related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon a reading of the specification and a study of the drawings.

Advanced sonde reliability monitoring, apparatus and associated methods


A centralized network administrator may automatically provision an Ethernet circuit between network elements by storing and managing circuit data (managed objects) in one of the network elements (master node) and synchronizing the circuit data among the network nodes in the Ethernet circuit path. In addition, multiple network administrators may provision multiple Ethernet circuits using the overlapping network elements by managing access to the circuit data in the Master node.

Ethernet has a long history. It has become dominant in enterprise networks. This dominance has led to high production-volume components, which in turn have allowed extremely low cost per bit. Likewise Ethernet has a long history of re-inventing itself. From the original copper coaxial cable format ("thicknet") it has extended its scope to nearly all copper, optical fiber and wireless physical media. Bit rates have continued to increase, traditionally growing tenfold each time a new rate is defined. Gigabit Ethernet interfaces are widely deployed in PCs and servers, and 10 Gbit/s in local area network (LAN) backbones. Rates up to 100 Gigabit Ethernet were standardized in 2010 and 2011. Ethernet's dominance is partly attributed to the simple advantages for the industry of adopting a single standard to drive up volumes and drive down prices. In part, it is also due to ease of deployment, using its ability to self-configure based on the key concepts of "learning bridge" (flooding, and associating learned destination addresses with bridge ports) and "spanning tree protocol" (the protocol used for avoiding bridging loops).
Ethernet is a fairly simple protocol which has scaled to hundreds of thousands of times faster speeds and consistently been able to adapt to meet the needs and demands of new markets. For example, time domain capabilities are being added to IEEE 802.3 Ethernet to support IEEE 802.1 Audio Video Bridging (AVB), and these capabilities will be applicable to time sensitive carrier applications likewise IEEE 1588. Customer LAN networks are increasingly connected to wide-area telecommunications networks over Ethernet interfaces or to devices that bridge digital subscriber line (DSL) or wireless to these. Moreover, customers are familiar with the capabilities of Ethernet networks, and would like to extend these capabilities to multi-site networks. Meanwhile the needs of such networks have expanded to include many services previously handled only on the LAN or by specialized connections, notably video and backup.
Ethernet as a service (EaaS) is the use of high-bandwidth, fiber optic media such as Packet over SONET (PoS) to deliver 10 Mbps, 100 Mbps or even 1000 Mbps Ethernet service to one or more customers across a common bidirectional broadband infrastructure. Ethernet, a networking technology defined in IEEE 802.3 and related specifications, is best understood as a carrier sense multiple access/collision detect (CSMA/CD) form of baseband networking. The service arrives to the recipient via a broadband channel that it must accommodate, manage, and service within its overall infrastructure. Key concerns for implementation include careful provision and management of bandwidth so that one user's consumption of best-effort Internet services and high-bandwidth realtime services (such as voice, video on demand, or streaming media) does not lead to resource contention or performance or stability problems. Most carriers address these issues by designing their infrastructure to support multiple Ethernet overlays across a shared optical layer that uses wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) or dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) to accommodate the load and to achieve appropriate economies of scale and cost per bit of communications.
However, provisioning Ethernet services, for example an E-LAN service, requires programming many network elements. An E-LAN service with 50 endpoints requires programming 50 network elements, for example. In each network element, multiple entities need to be programmed in a specific sequence when the Ethernet service is provisioned. Configuration of each entity across multiple network elements is needed to achieve correct packet flows for the Ethernet service. Some equipment vendors offer TL1 and device specific user interfaces to aid programming Ethernet service specific entities. Using these interfaces, users have to manually program each network element, program entities in a specific order, and ensure consistency across network elements. This process is tedious and error prone. In fact, most products offer management interfaces such as CLI or some graphical interface but it is limited to programming one network element. Users have to do the heavy lifting of programming many network elements in a consistent manner.
Accordingly, there is a need for systems, apparatus, and methods that improve upon conventional approaches including the improved methods, system and apparatus provided hereby.

Systems and methods for provisioning ethernet services


Systems and techniques are described for determining a transition-effect model for a timing arc of a library cell. A transition-effect model can be determined for each library cell that is used during an optimization process. The transition-effect models enable an optimization system to estimate the impact of a change in the transition at an output of a driver gate on the delays of downstream gates without requiring to propagate the change in the transition to the downstream gates. Once determined, the transition-effect models can be used to compute one or more transition-induced penalties during circuit optimization. An optimization system can then use the one or more transition-induced penalties to determine whether or not to accept an optimizing transformation, or to discretize a solution obtained from a numerical solver.

1. Technical Field
This disclosure relates to electronic design automation (EDA). More specifically, this disclosure relates to modeling transition effects for circuit optimization.
2. Related Art
The goal of circuit synthesis is to convert a high-level description of a circuit design into an implementation that meets a set of timing constraints, and at the same time optionally optimizes one or more metrics, such as area, leakage power, etc.
Some circuit synthesis approaches create an initial circuit design at a given abstraction level (e.g., a logical or physical design). Next, a cell is identified in the circuit design for optimization based on the metrics that are desired to be optimized. An optimal size for the identified cell is then determined by iteratively replacing the identified cell with functionally equivalent cells that have different sizes (this optimization process is also referred to as "sizing the cell," "sizing the gate," etc.). For each replacement cell size that is tried, the circuit synthesis approach updates timing information (often throughout the entire circuit design), and rejects cell sizes for which one or more timing constraints are violated. The iterative optimization process typically terminates after the optimization process has executed for a certain number of iterations or for a certain amount of time.
Iterative trial-and-error based circuit optimization processes often take too long to complete and/or produce poor quality results especially for large circuit designs in which timing constraints are checked across many process corners and modes.

Modeling transition effects for circuit optimization


A method, system, and apparatus for displaying tobacco products comprises an enclosure and at least one product tray inside the enclosure, the product tray comprising a base, a frame formed around the base, and a series of display bars disposed in the frame, the display bars including a series of product stand holes for displaying the tobacco products individually and vertically.

A humidor is a container configured to store tobacco products including cigars, cigarettes or pipe tobacco. A humidor is configured to control and maintain the humidity in the container to prevent negative effects on the products inside, which might result from too much or too little humidity. Humidors are configured with systems that store and release humidity. In most cases the preferred humidity level for a humidor is between 68%-75%.
Those in the business of cigar sales generally store cigars in wooden boxes. The boxes can be shelved in a humidor so that the box lids can remain open. This allows customers to browse the selection of cigars and select those they would like to purchase.
While this version of storage is acceptable it also has various downsides. First, cigar boxes tend to obfuscate the cigar rings on the products making it difficult to identify the cigar. In addition, the customer usually touches more than one of the cigars, which can serve as a vector for the spread of disease. Such displays often lack the aesthetics to encourage a customer to purchase a cigar.
Furthermore, traditional cigar boxes can hold differing numbers of cigars. When a consumer is browsing the products, it is very difficult for the store owner to monitor how many cigars have been removed from a box. Keeping track of how many cigars have been taken from a box is a challenge. Inventory monitoring is thus, a major challenge presented by standard cigar display systems.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for improved methods, systems, and apparatuses for displaying tobacco products, as disclosed herein.


A process for manufacturing a tubular knitted item (1) with intarsia design, comprising the steps of:                programming a circular weft knitting machine for intarsia design by defining a tubular intarsia knitted item (1) to be manufactured, extending longitudinally between a first end (2) and a second end (3) and consisting of a plurality of knitted courses following one another;wherein the programming step comprises the steps of:        defining a turning position (4), which divides the tubular item into a first fabric (5) and a second fabric (6), wherein the tubular item is configured for being manipulated so as to be at least partially turned over itself, by folding it in the turning position so that the second fabric overlaps the first fabric in order to obtain a double fabric item;        defining at least one first area (10) of the first fabric, delimited by a needle section and by a number of successive courses of the area, and having a desired shape;        defining at least one first counter-area (20) of the second fabric, delimited by a needle section and by a number of successive courses of the area, in which the first counter-area has a respective shape;        producing intarsia knitted fabric so as to manufacture the tubular knitted item according to the programming step; wherein the first area (10) is manufactured according to a first knitted structure and the first counter-area (20) is manufactured according to a second knitted structure.

It is known about the use of circular weft knitting machines for manufacturing tubular items designed for a shoe upper. Such tubular items, once manufactured by the knitting machine, typically undergo a series of operations, such as cutting, sewing, application of additional portions, etc., in order to obtain an upper apt to be suitably associated with a sole for making a shoe.
It is also known, when manufacturing an upper obtained by means of a circular weft knitting machine, about manufacturing a tubular knitted item which, at the end of the process, has a "double fabric", i.e. consists of two different overlapping layers or cloths of fabric, where a cloth represents an inner fabric while the other cloth represents an outer fabric of the upper. To this purpose the tubular knitted item is produced starting from a first end, which will then represent the toe of the inner fabric (or of the outer fabric), and is manufactured on its whole length as far a second end, which will then represent the toe of the outer fabric (or of the inner fabric). The tubular knitted item thus manufactured therefore has on its whole length development the inner fabric followed, in a continuous manner, by the outer fabric (or vice versa, the outer fabric followed by the inner fabric). After being manufactured on the machine, the tubular knitted item is suitably manipulated so as to partially turn it on itself, folding the outer fabric (starting e.g. from the second end) over the inner fabric (towards the first end), until two overlapping fabrics (an inner fabric and an outer fabric) and thus a double fabric upper are obtained. It is evident that, in the middle or in another intermediate area of the tubular knitted item (placed between the first and second end), the outer fabric is turned over the inner fabric, and the resulting, double fabric upper thus develops between a front edge or border, in which the first and second end overlap, of the original tubular knitted item, and a rear edge or border, corresponding to the folding circumference of the outer fabric over the inner fabric.

Process for manufacturing a tubular intarsia knitted item by means of a circular weft knitting machine


Methods of electrochemically fluorinating an acrylate polymer, and products therefrom.

Fluorinated polymers are useful, for example, in the preparation of low surface energy and low refractive index coatings. In many cases, the fluorinated polymers have reactive groups such as alcohols that provide reactive sites for crosslinking reactions. Currently, such fluorinated polymers are generally prepared in commercial quantities using free-radical polymerization of corresponding fluorinated monomers. Such monomers are generally expensive and can be troublesome to obtain and/or handle. Further, in some cases it may be necessary to derivatize the resulting polymer in order to obtain the reactive groups.
One well-known industrial process for preparing fluorochemical compounds is the electrochemical fluorination process commercialized initially in the 1950's by the 3M Company. This process, often referred to as Simons fluorination or electrochemical fluorination (ECF), is a method by which electric current is passed through an electrolyte solution containing a mixture of liquid anhydrous hydrogen fluoride and an organic compound intended to be fluorinated (the "substrate"). Generally, the Simons process is practiced with a constant current passed through the electrolyte. The current passing through the electrolyte causes one or more of the hydrogens of the substrate to be replaced by fluorine.
ECF has been used to make perfluoroalkanoyl fluorides, which have been of commercial value as precursors to carboxylic acids, esters, and alcohols. In general, ECF offers many advantages including relatively low cost and simplicity. However, as a general rule in electrochemical fluorination, the higher the molecular weight of the compound to be fluorinated, the greater the occurrence of breaking of carbon-carbon bonds. For example, as the molecular weight of the precursor CnH2n+1COX (X═F or Cl) increases, the yields of CnF2n+1COF decrease, as described by Abe et al. in Chapter 1 of Preparation, Properties, and Industrial Applications of Organofluorine Compounds, R. E. Banks, ed., pages 24-28, Halsted Press, New York (1982). In that case, the yields were as follows: n=1 (71% yield), n=3 (36% yield), n=6 (16% yield), n=7 (10% yield), n=11 (0.5% yield), n=15 (0% yield). In part, these lower yields are due to cleavage of the carbonyl group to give CnF2n+1F; in part due to reaction between the alkyl chain and the carbonyl oxygen, leading to 5- and 6-membered ether rings for n=4 and higher.
Hence, electrochemical production of fluorine-containing compounds has typically been applied to relatively low molecular weight compounds.

Electrochemical fluorination of acrylic polymer and product therefrom


An ophthalmic measurement apparatus in which the interior of a patient's eye is irradiated with a laser beam and the light scattered from the eye is detected and processed to determine the protein concentration in the eye. The apparatus employs a single-objective binocular observation section and a total-reflection mirror which allow these measurements to be carried out without decreasing the amount of light impinging on the photodetector used to detect the scattered light or the amount of light used by an observation section, and the apparatus can also be used as a slit-lamp microscope.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an ophthalmic measurement apparatus, and more particularly to an ophthalmic measurement apparatus in which a laser beam is projected at a selected spot in an eye under examination and laser light scattered therefrom is detected for ophthalmic measurement.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Measurement of protein concentration (the flare components) in the aqueous chamber of the anterior camera oculi is of considerable importance in determining whether the camera oculi is inflamed, that is, whether the blood-aqueous barrier function is normal or not. A number of methods are employed for carrying out this measurement. One method frequently used employs a slit lamp microscope to grade the concentration by naked-eye observation, while a photographic measuring method has been developed as a way of measuring the protein concentration quantitatively. In another method, a beam of laser light is directed into the eye and the light scattered from the eye is detected and quantitatively analyzed. With the method employing laser light, a laser beam from a laser light source in a projection section is converged at a selected spot in the camera oculi of the eye together with a slit image, thereby providing illumination around the spot so that, via an observation section, the projected laser beam and slit image can be observed. To carry out the ophthalmic measurement, the scattered light from the eye is detected by a photodetector which converts the light into electrical signals that are then processed.
In this type of ophthalmic measurement apparatus, a beam splitter or semi-transparent mirror is used to divide the scattered light from the eye into light that is guided to the photodetector and light that is guided to the observation section (see Japanese Patent Publication 63-55928 and Japanese Laid-open Patent Application 63-315030 corresponding to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 206,518 filed on June 14, 1988). As the beam splitter or semi-transparent mirror usually reduces the amount of light by half, the amount of light available for observation purposes also is reduced. If I1 is the amount of incident light reaching the observation section, I2 is the amount of incident light at the photodetector and the transmittance of the beam splitter or semi-transparent mirror is 50%, then I1=I2 =1/2, thus I1 is half the amount it would be if there were no beam splitter or semi-transparent mirror. This is a major drawback when a slit lamp microscope is used. One solution is to use a lens with a large aperture, but the resulting increase in the cost and size of the apparatus makes this impractical. On the other hand, the increase in the amount of light to the observation section decreases the amount of incident light at the photodetector, thus impeding the measurement of flare components.
In Japanese Laid-open Patent Application 63-315030, an arrangement is used in which P-polarized light impinges on a semi-transparent mirror, but the efficiency of this is low. To improve the efficiency, a.lambda./2 plate is provided in front of the semi-transparent mirror and the plane of polarization is rotated 90 degrees so that S-polarized light impinges on the semi-transparent mirror, increasing the amount of light received by the light receiving section. By changing the scattered light impinging on the semi-transparent mirror into S-polarized light, the amount of light impinging on the photodetector can be increased without affecting the amount of light received by the observation section. However, a.lambda./2 plate is expensive and raises the overall cost of the apparatus, while another disadvantage is that the apparatus cannot be used as a slit lamp microscope.


A system and method for optimizing CI using code review quality includes a memory, a processor in communication with the memory, a classifier executing on the processor, a high priority integration queue, and a low priority integration queue. In an example, the classifier may receive pull requests for code changes and determine reliability factors. The classifier may also determine a reliability value of the pull requests based on the reliability factors and classify each of the pull requests into a classification, such as a trusted classification and an untrusted classification. Then, the classifier sends the pull requests in the trusted classification to the high priority integration queue and the pull requests in the untrusted classification to the low priority integration queue.

Code developers frequently make and submit changes to source code. For example, a code developer may make a code change to the source code of an application or a web server stored in a source code repository. The code change may then be merged into the source code of the application or the web server stored in the source code repository. Prior to the code change being merged into the application or the web server, various tests may be performed on the code change to ensure that the application or the web server can work as designed when the code change is integrated with the application or the web server.
Continuous integration (CI) is a modern technology used in software engineering and software quality assurance. A continuous integration system is a software development platform configured to frequently integrate new or changed code with an existing code repository, resulting in multiple integrations. There are various continuous integration systems that exist today, such as Buildbot or Jenkins. These CI systems automate the compile/test cycle sometimes required by software projects to validate code changes, making it easier for developers to integrate changes into a project and making it easier for users to obtain a fresh build.

Optimizing continuous integration (CI) using code review quality


A device for locking a holding structure for securing a foldable blade of a rotorcraft rotor to the hub of the rotor. The holding structure is hinged in pitch and in drag relative to the hub and the rotor includes, for the purpose of folding the blade, elements for locking the blade-holding structure in pitch and in drag, which device is remarkable in that the associated drive elements includes brake elements preventing it from turning in flight, in particular under the effect of vibration from the rotor.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,782,606 and French patent No. 2 742 726 describe a blade-folding device in which the root of the blade is secured to a folding fitting having two rotary bearings enabling the blade to pivot relative to the end of a sleeve providing a mechanical connection between the blade and the rotor hub. The rotor disclosed in those patents includes a plate pierced by as many cells as it has blades. Each sleeve for securing a blade to the hub comprises two arms forming a fork and is secured to the hub via a laminated spherical abutment secured to the arms of the sleeve, said resilient abutment enabling the sleeve—and the corresponding blade—to be hinged relative to the rotor hub about three pivot axes:
i) a hinge about a first axis that is substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the rotor shaft to enable the blade to be moved "in drag" relative to the hub;
ii) a hinge of the sleeve and the blade about a second axis that substantially coincides with the longitudinal axis of the blade to accommodate the variation in pitch (and incidence) that are required for the blade; and
iii) a hinge about a third axis that is substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the rotor shaft, to enable the blade to perform flapping movements relative to the rotor hub.
In particular, when the hinge between the hub and the blade (and sleeve) is provided via a spherical abutment, these three hinge axes coincide at the geometrical center of the abutment.
The presence of these three degrees of freedom in rotation for the blades relative to the hub is necessary during rotation of the rotor, and in particular in flight, but when the rotor is stationary, it constitutes an impediment against folding the blades of the rotor.
Before folding the blade it is necessary to lock these three degrees of freedom so as to prevent them producing their effects. The flapping hinge is generally held stationary by a portion of the sleeve—or a "low"abutment secured thereto—moving under the effect of the weight of the blade and the associated sleeve to come into abutment against a complementary abutment integrated in the hub or secured thereto, and generally referred to as the reciprocating stop ring by the person skilled in the art.
It remains necessary to lock the sleeve in position relative to the hub about the drag and pitch hinge axes.
To this end, a locking device can be provided for a hinged holding structure (such as a sleeve) for securing a blade of a rotorcraft rotor to a hub of the rotor, which device comprises a lever arranged to cause said holding structure to pivot about the drag axis into a drag locking position in which said structure bears against a "drag" abutment secured to the hub. The lever can simultaneously cause the blade-holding structure (sleeve) to pivot about the pitch axis into a pitch locking position in which the structure bears against a "pitch" abutment connected to the hub.
Prior to folding the blades of the rotor, the lever can be operated, i.e. caused to move, by an electric actuator, such as a rotary motor, so as to act under the control of a unit for controlling the locking of the sleeve, to cause the position of the blade-holding structure to be locked automatically relative to the hub.
Such a locking device is described in particular in U.S. Pat. No. 5,951,251.

Device for locking a structure for securing a blade to the hub of a rotorcraft rotor


A spacecraft is disclosed, comprising a deployable spacecraft body (110) comprising a plurality of sub-systems (321-324) for controlling operations of the spacecraft, and a plurality of panels (101, 102) and a plurality of hinges (112-115) each connecting adjacent ones of the plurality of panels, the hinges being arranged to permit the plurality of panels to be folded into a stowed configuration and unfolded into a deployed configuration, wherein the plurality of sub-systems are fixed to and supported by one or more of the plurality of panels. By forming the body of the spacecraft from a deployable structure, the overall size of the spacecraft can be significantly reduced in the stowed configuration. In some embodiments, a plurality of the spacecraft in the stowed configuration can be combined into a modular spacecraft assembly prior to launch, with data and power connections between the plurality of stowed spacecraft being used to transfer power from, and data to, a payload monitoring unit on the launch vehicle.

In conventional spacecraft, such as satellites, instruments and subsystems are generally mounted on a strong supporting framework which takes the form of a central box, commonly referred to as the spacecraft or satellite "bus". Various deployable structures such as solar arrays, scientific instruments and antennas can be mounted on the bus. The bus provides the satellite with its structural integrity and provides protection for internal components against environmental factors such as temperature and radiation.
The invention is made in this context.


A torque impact wrench having an elongated tubular metal housing. The front end of an impact wrench is secured to the rear end of the housing by a motor mount. The front end of the drive shaft of the impact wrench is inserted into the rear of an impact socket. The rear end of a drive screw is received in the front end of the impact socket. The drive screw has external threads on its rear portion and external threads on its front portion. The drive screw passes through a screw drive nut whose bore is internally threaded. The drive screw is rigidly secured in the steel housing. The front end of the steel housing has a first load disc closing that end and it removably receives the lower crimping die. A second load disc is longitudinally spaced from the first load disc and it also has a crimping die removably secured thereto. A third load disc is screwed onto the front end of the drive screw. The rotational motion of the drive shaft of the impact wrench translates into an axial motion that closes the crimping dies together as the external threads on the front end of the drive screw are threaded onto the internal threads of the screw drive nut. The torque impact wrench can be modified to straighten shafts, function as a shearing mechanism, act as a gear puller and be used for other operations.

The invention relates to impact wrenches and more specifically to accessories that can be mounted on the front end of the impact wrenches. Impact wrenches are powered by pressurized air that rotates the drive shaft of the impact wrench. Normally a hose from a compressor is attached to a socket on the rear of the impact wrench. The impact wrenches are rated by the number of foot pound force produced by the impact wrench.
It is an object of the invention to provide a novel accessory for an impact wrench that produces a force in pounds that are more than 100 times the rated foot pound rating of the impact wrench.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a novel torque impact wrench accessory that will function as a crimping tool.
It is another object of the invention to provide an accessory for an impact wrench that can be used as a portable device to straighten shafts when it functions as a high-powered press.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a novel accessory for an impact wrench that can be used for shearing operations.
It is an additional object of the invention to provide a novel accessory for an impact wrench that hold dies for long wire splicing.
It is another object of the invention to provide a novel accessory for impact wrenches that can be used as a bearing or gear puller for automotive or machine repair.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a novel accessory for impact wrenches that can be used for removing or installing races and bushings.


A charging prediction database stores information on electric vehicles expected to arrive for charging. A profile/charging information database stores information on electric vehicles that have arrived and been waiting for charging. A power database stores information on a power source including at least one of a power grid and a stationary battery. An energy calculating unit calculates energy available from the power source based on the power database. A scheduling unit schedule charging of the electric vehicles waiting for charging in consideration of the electric vehicles expected to arrive.

EVs are expected to be widely adopted across the world in future because of their small environmental impact and low maintenance and running costs. These cars can be charged either in an ordinary charging (slow charging) mode or a rapid charging mode. During charging, a trade-off relationship holds between the charging time and the power requirement. The ordinary charging requires less electric power than the rapid charging but takes as long as several hours. Rapid charging, on the other hand, rapidly charges an EV battery in several minutes but requires a large amount of electric power. In order to offset power requirement for EV charging, many charging stations, service stations, charging stations in office buildings, plants, supermarkets, apartment buildings, hotels, and coin-parkings will maintain high capacity stationary batteries. Power supply from a power grid and power price can vary in the course of a day. Hereinafter, charging facilities provided at service stations, office buildings, plants, supermarkets, apartment buildings, hotels, convenience stores, and coin-parkings will be referred to as charging stations.
Due to limitation in available power from a power grid, charging and discharging rates of batteries, and different departure times, EVs waiting at a charging station (i.e., EVs in a queue) cannot be charged at the same charging rate. Additionally, because the arrival of EVs at a charging station located such as at a supermarket, convenience store, coin-parking center is virtually probabilistic, all energy from a stationary battery cannot be used for charging the EVs in a queue when a fair use policy is applied. In this case, prediction of future power requirement for the EVs is necessary. It is required to adjust the charging rate for EVs that have arrived in accordance with predicted power requirement for EVs in the next time range and the departure time of the EVs. Thus, dynamic scheduling for EV charging at a charging station will be required in future.
When using a fair use policy, it is desirable to determine charging energy that can be supplied to the EVs waiting at a charging station in consideration of EVs that are possible in the next time range. It is also desired to schedule charging of waiting EVs so as to meet many constraints, such as the electric power available from a grid at each time of a day, power from a stationary battery, maximum charging and discharging rates of batteries, and departure time of waiting EVs (i.e., time of use).

Electric vehicle charging scheduling system


A method of introducing treatment agents comprising medicine or nutrients into a tree, involving the boring of holes above ground into the trunk of the tree. Homogeneous plugs of solidified polyethylene glycol (PEG) with such treatment agents mixed therein are molded and inserted into the holes in the tree trunk and sealed with wax. The dissemination time of the treatment agent into the tree trunk is controlled by selection of the PEG's used, with higher molecular weights PEG's taking longer to dissolve and disseminate the treatment agent into the transpirational flow of the tree being treated than the lower molecular weight PEG's. The method leaves no foreign material such as plastic casings or cartridges within the tree trunk after treatment.

1. Field
The field of the invention is fertilization of nutrient deficient trees and treatment of diseased trees, respectively.
2. State of the Art
Obtaining optimum food production from soil and other plant growing mediums is largely a problem of providing proper nutrition for production of increased biomass of the plants. Although green plants, being true autotrophs, supply the many organic components necessary for growth through photosynthesis, oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, and 13 known minerals are nevertheless required for lifetime development. However, nutrients present in the soil are not available to the plant unless in suitable chemical form, and various related soil and nutrient factors are also involved. Paramount among these are the concentrations of the nutrient in the soil, the solubility of the nutrient when present, its cation charge capacity, the root form and structure of the plant being grown, the texture and structure of the soil, the atmosphere, and the acidity or alkalinity of the soil.
Natural soils vary with respect to these growth influencing factors. For example, the productivity of desert and short grass prairie soils in the western United States is only one or two percent the productivity of wet lands in Georgia. Although this is partially the result of low rainfall in the west, poor soil fertility and structure are also involved.
The addition of missing nutrients to the soils has been long practiced with beneficial results. However, current practices, generally the simple addition of fertilizers to soils, may be very wasteful, unnecessarily expensive, inefficient in terms of plant utilization, and even detrimental to the environment. A significant amount of fertilizer is lost directly through leaching and is not available when needed during the growing period. Sometimes the nutrient becomes captured in insoluble compounds and is unavailable for plant utilization. Essential nitrogen fixing bacteria and mycorrhizai fungi may be lacking, which are very important to root growth for healthy plant growth. Another common problem is application of excess quantities of nutrient salts, resulting in plant "burn", with stunted growth or even death of the plant.
These problems have caused consideration of more sophisticated methods of providing nutrient treatment agents to the deficiently nourished plants. One approach is to bypass the soil solubility problem and to instead supply iron directly to the above ground parts of the plants such as the direct foliar application of the nutrients. Foliar sprays of iron compounds have been demonstrated to increase greening of leaf and stem tissues. A problem with this procedure is the limited penetration of the iron from the leaf surface into the chloroplast. The inclusion of a wetting agent and/or a carrying compound in the spray increases surface dispersion of spray droplets to enhance absorption. Such inclusion minimizes the "green island spotting" commonly observed with foliar iron application. This procedure requires repeated application throughout the season, since both new and existing growth require nutritive aid.
In addition to soil application and foliar spray application of iron compounds, lime-induced chlorosis in trees has for many decades been treated by introduction of iron compounds directly into the trunks of trees so effected. One method involves implantation of solid iron salts or of liquid injector devices into shallow holes bored into the trunk of the chlorotic tree. A number of forms of iron have been used, among them ferrous sulfate and ferrous citrate. The iron passes into solution in the tree trunk and moves to the foliage by way of the transpirational stream of the tree. In oak and white pine trees, application has noted beneficial effects of such treatment, but phytotoxicity and necrosis at the site of injection has been reported in susceptible species like citrus trees. It is often difficult to control the dissolution rate and concentration of iron going into the tissue of the tree trunk, which results often in tissue damage.
Prior investigators have implanted capsules which include various treatment agents into the tree trunk to correct mineral deficiencies and diseases in trees. (U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,706,161; 3,912,752; and 3,304,655).
One such implant which is shown in prior art FIG. 6 comprises a cartridge 1 having a hollow body 2 in which a capsule (not shown) of cellulose or gelatin containing the treatment agent is disposed. A plurality of slits 3 allow the treatment agent in the capsule to migrate into the tree trunk upon insertion into a hole bored into the tree trunk. A plurality of spring-locking tabs 4 retain the cartridge within the hole in the tree trunk and a cap 5 of sealing wax seals the hole. Such gelatin capsules are not water soluble under normal temperature and conditions, although they are soluble in hot water (Budavari, S., 1989. The Merck Index, p. 685) and as such restrict the passage of treatment agent into the tree. No practical method of implanting capsules so as to attain needed concentrations of nutrients, fungicides or other treatment agents to control diseases has been achieved. Such cartridges containing a cellulose or gelatin capsule release the treatment agent at irregular rates and leave the non-degradable plastic cartridge inside the tree trunk tissue and residues of the treatment agent remain in the gelatin capsule. Also, gelatin capsules are insoluble in water at temperature below 35-40.degree. C. and are insoluble in organic solvents (Budavari, S., 1989. The Merck Index, pp 685). The sap in the tree trunk tissue does not use up all the treatment agent before the injection hole is sealed off by callus tissue. Only water soluble chemicals can be used in this method to treat the tree. This is a limitation for pesticides since most are of limited solubility (e.g. dimetholate) or insoluble in water. As will be explained subsequently, the main component used in the present invention is widely used in the chemical industry as a solvent for many chemicals that are insoluble in water, which makes it advantageous over these prior art methods.
Another method of introducing treatment agents into a tree trunk is direct injection such as by means of a plastic injection syringe 6, (Prior Art FIG. 7) which contains a liquid (not shown) containing a treatment agent for injection into the tree trunk through an attached tube 8 when a piston 9 is depressed and locked. Such injection syringes 6 contain only small amounts of fluid and must be spaced every 5-6 inches around the trunk of the tree. Growers must remove the syringes after a few hours or a few days of treatment which is time consuming. Also, the cost of the injection syringes greatly exceeds that of the injection material. Direct injection of liquids is highly labor-consuming, since the injectors must be removed after a few hours or the next day after they are empty. Where a liquid pesticide is used, the injectors require special handling, and need to be disposed of in an environmentally safe place. Accordingly, they cannot be used in residential areas because the injector is completely exposed, only the injector tube or nozzle being inserted into the tree, with the cylinder containing the liquid outside and exposed. However, such method has been found particularly effective in arid and semi-arid areas, especially where the soils are calcareous wherein a growing tree is unable to utilize the iron in the soil. The direct injection of iron compounds into the trunk of the tree often effectively corrects the iron deficiency for a full growing season.
Another method of introducing a treatment agent into a tree trunk has been reported by North (1962) pp. 138-142 and Wallace and Wallace (1986) pp. 981-986. A hole is bored into the tree trunk and a reservoir of liquid including a treatment agent is attached. The treatment agent flows into the tissue and is translocated within the tree. This method is likely to produce an extensive necrotic area. Liters of liquid may be required, and concentrated liquids may be translocated too rapidly causing toxicity because of immediate excess availability of the liquid. Phytotoxicity is a major problem especially if concentrated nutrient solution is used. Phytotoxicity resulted after 24 to 48 hours of treatment of citrus trees injected with 1, 3 and 5 ml of each of 5% Fe and 8% Fe. Even with diluted solutions of 1 ml of 5% Fe with 4 ml of water and with 10 ml of water resulted in phytotoxicity in a navel orange tree after 48 hours. After about 12 hours of the treatment, the leaves of the treated plants started to fold upward and after a few days turned yellow-brown in color. The phytotoxicity is mainly due to the rapid absorption of the nutrient to the leaves in concentrations far in excess in the amount needed by the plant.
A need therefore remains for an effective, economical means of providing nutrients and pesticides, both water soluble and insoluble, at controlled rates to above-ground portions of trees without harmful side effects.

Dissolving polymer plug for introducing nutrients and medicinal materials into tree trunks


An ink set, provided with at least a magenta ink composition, a yellow ink composition and a cyan ink composition, wherein the magenta ink composition has an L* value of 60 or more and a b* value of −17 or less when the CIE standard a* value as calculated from the visible absorption spectrum in an aqueous solution diluted 10,000-fold or less is 80.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an ink set, a recording method and a recorded article, and more particularly, to an ink set capable of realizing both improved color reproducibility and gloss when recording on a recording medium, a recording method and a recorded article.
2. Related Art
In the past, three-color ink sets provided with yellow (Y), magenta (M) and cyan (C) ink compositions, and four-color ink sets in which a black (K) ink composition is further added, have been supplied as ink sets for color ink jet recording.
In addition, ink sets provided with red (R) and/or violet (V) ink compositions in addition to the YMC ink have been proposed to enhance color reproducibility of the resulting recorded articles (see, for example, International Publication WO 02/100959).
In addition, ink sets have also been proposed provided with two colors of orange (Or) and green (Gr) special-color ink compositions in addition to the YMC ink (see, for example, International Publication WO 99/005230).
However, although gloss is superior in the case of recording using the ink set of International Publication WO 02/100959, further suppression of interference color (bronzing) is desired.
In addition, since the pigment solid component is 3% by weight or more in the case of recording using the ink set of International Publication WO 99/005230, further improvement of gloss is desired on printing paper-based glossy media (for example, Photo Paper <Gloss> (Product No. KA420PSK) (Seiko Epson Corp.)).
In the case of previous ink sets, contrast of human skin color was not adequately realized in recorded samples. Namely, previous ink sets had problems such as deterioration of granularity during color reproduction of dark areas of human skin color, the occurrence of false contours, the occurrence of a phenomenon in which dark areas of human skin color become greenish (green transfer) as a result of local superposition of C ink dots and Y ink dots recorded for color reproduction, and increased appearance of rainbow colors (prismatic light) resulting from mixing of the green of superimposed dots and the red of interference color at dark areas of human skin color due to the occurrence of reddish interference color when the concentration of the pigment solid component of the C ink is 3% by weight or less. These problems are particularly prominent in portraits of infants photographed with improper exposure and so on.
Therefore, an advantage of some aspects of the invention is to provide an ink set capable of realizing both improved color reproducibility and gloss when recording on a recording medium.

Ink set, recording method and recorded article


A center processing unit (CPU) socket holds a CPU and has a base and a cushion. The base has a bottom, a contact seat, multiple contacts, a cover and a latch. The contact seat is mounted in the bottom and has a recess. The contacts are mounted in the recess in multiple lines. The cover is mounted pivotally on the base and has a latch tab. The latch has a locking tab selectively engaging the latch tab. The cushion is mounted in the recess and has multiple springs and a CPU backplate. The springs are mounted in the recess. The CPU backplate is mounted on the springs and has multiple slots corresponding to the contacts. The CPU backplate cooperates with the springs during installation of a CPU to oppose a force pushing the CPU down in the CPU socket so the contacts will not be damaged.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a central processing unit (CPU) socket, and more particularly to a socket that has a cushion to keep forces generated during CPU installation in the CPU socket from damaging the socket contacts.
2. Description of Related Art
Center processing unit (CPU) sockets are mounted on motherboards and hold CPUs for execution of programs.
Several types of CPU sockets are available with different structures. For example, an A standard CPU socket for a K7 CPU designed by AMD Corp.® has a bottom and multiple mounting holes defined through the bottom to hold pins on the K7 CPU.
Intel Corp.® designed a new Pentium 4 (P4) CPU and an LGA775 socket to hold the P4 CPU. The P4 CPU has a bottom and multiple contacts mounted on the bottom. The LGA775 socket has a cavity to hold the P4 CPU and multiple contacts in the cavity corresponding to and making contact with the contacts on the P4 CPU. However, the contacts are damaged easily or deformed permanently when the CPU is mounted in the socket with excessive force.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides a CPU socket with a cushion to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.