A drift eliminator is provided in which water laden air which enters the drift eliminator exits the drift eliminator having less than about 0.01% of water by volume therein. The drift eliminator is formed of sheets which are manufactured such that they can be nested in each other to create substantially no gap between sheets of adjacent air channel modules. As a result, a plurality of air channel modules can be combined, by nesting, to create a larger drift eliminator, without sacrificing the precision to which entrained water may be removed from air passing through the drift eliminator. In an alternate embodiment, a light trap is also provided which enables air, but substantially no light, to pass through air channels formed therein.

The discharge of suspended or entrained water in air exiting a cooling tower is referred to, in the cooling tower industry, as "drift." Devices that reduce drift are known to as "drift eliminators" or "drift reduction units" ("DRUs"). Drift eliminators are a integral component of both cross-flow and counter-flow water cooling towers. A properly performing DRU removes most of the water in an exit air stream leaving a cooling tower. Specifically, DRUs should be capable of lowering the entrained water to approximately 0.005% of the total operating gallons per minute of the cooling tower.
Drift emissions requirements, which are often mandated by environmental regulations, are significant factors in cooling tower design and operation. In one design, DRUs are stacked into cooling towers to form a continuous wall of separation between the cooling media and the fan discharging the exit air. Installation of the DRU is accomplished by stacking air channel modules into the cooling tower frame supporting the units so that the individual modules are tightly connected at their adjoining edges. The ability of a DRU to form a tight seal at the interface of the adjoining edges is dependant upon the geometry and construction of the individual DRU. Further, the degree to which the adjoined edges are sealed directly impact the DRU's ability to remove entrained water in the air exiting the cooling media. Ideally, there would be no leaks in this wall, as even small amounts of air bypassing the DRUs will result in moisture discharge that is in excess of allowable limits.
One previous DRU design included a generally sinusoidal air channel design which was constructed with the edge of each air channel module being finished with a flat sheet of material. The flat sheets were provided due to the inability to nest adjacent air channel modules effectively, without creating a gap between the modules. The flat sheets formed joint interfaces between the adjoining edges of the modules or at an otherwise exposed end thereof. However, this design was deemed unsatisfactory due to the inability to seal the flat sheets interfaces between mating modules completely and effectively, i.e., as the sinusoidal channel were not uniformly formed, they created an irregular edge at the end of each module that could not be effectively sealed against an adjoining module.
One such first generation DRU design was manufactured using a dual interlocking belt forming machine that, when compressed, created generally matching thermoformed sheets. Unfortunately, the matching sheets had inconsistent depths and undesirable dimensional variances between successive curves in the individual sheets used to form the air channels. As a result of the irregular surface of the original thermoformed parts: (a) the sinusoidal ends of these thermoformed sheets could not nest tightly together to form a completely water-tight seal and; (b) the flat sheets glued to the ends of the modules (which were used to attempt to create a water-tight seal) did not form a straight, parallel interface between modules and thereby allowed water laden air to slip through the drift eliminators and exit the cooling tower stack creating drift. In other words, the irregularities prevented the finished modules from nesting or mating close enough at the flat end sheets to prevent air leakage between the modules. As a result, sales of this first generation product were eventually discontinued because it could not consistently attain the required drift reduction levels for modern cooling towers.
As a result of the discontinuation of the first generation design, the industry turned to a plurality of second generation designs. In one such second generation design, long components having a middle portion with a substantially inverted V-shaped cross sections are employed. Air channels pass though the components in the direction perpendicular to the components' length. As a result, a middle portion of the air channels has a substantially inverted V-shape. Moreover, as the channels' inlet and outlets are positioned in horizontal passages connected to the base of the inverted V, the air channel has three turns: one where the inlet passage meets a first side of the base, one at the pinnacle of the inverted V and one where the second side of the base meets the outlet passage.
This inverted V shape facilitates nesting of other like shaped components on top of one another. However, to avoid the problems in the first generation embodiment, the components have to be as long as the cooling tower chamber into which they are to be used. In other words although the components can be nested one on top of another, modules of these components can not be nested side-by-side in a cooling tower without an unacceptable gap being created between the modules.
Unrelated to the drift elimination concerns of cooling towers, a device has long been sought to be used in commercial chicken houses which can provide ventilation while serving as a light trap and which can engage other similar devices without enabling light to pass between the devices. Light traps are necessary in commercial chicken houses to facilitate simulating multiple day cycles in a single 24 hour period. By exposing the chickens to a 12 hour "day," the chickens lay twice as many eggs per 24 hour period. To effectively convince the chickens that the "day" is 12 hours, the chickens need to be exposed to six hour light cycles, i.e., six hours of light, six hours of darkness, six hours of light, and six hours of darkness, during each 24 hour period. However, to create a six hour darkness period effectively during actual daylight hours, the walls of the chicken house must not transmit any light, while at the same time provide ventilation.
Currently, ventilation walls in chicken houses are formed from a series of components each of which, on it own, serves sufficiently well as a ventilating light trap. However, when the components are placed against each other to create the ventilation wall, gaps are created between the components. The gaps enable an unacceptable amount of light to pass between the component, thereby enabling the chickens to know that it is "day" when they should be under the impression that it is "night."

Drift eliminator, light trap, and method of forming same


Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, for obtaining location information from a location source. A geographic reference point is determined based on accuracy of the location information. The geographic reference point is incorporated into a location result.

Conventional reverse geocoding typically can involve analyzing a street network model in order to associate a latitude and longitude coordinate of a mobile device (e.g., a mobile telephone, a personal digital assistant, a wrist watch, an offender ankle bracelet or other suitable device) with the nearest road segment. Nearby road segments are commonly returned in the form of a human recognizable address. Because of factors such as poor signal coverage, limited exposure to open skies for satellite reads, and the amount of movement of a mobile device, there may be an unacceptable level of uncertainty (i.e., error tolerance) associated with the mobile device's coordinate. For example, a parent using a "child finder" application may be told by the application that their child is at a specific address when in reality there is a +/−800 yard inaccuracy associated with the original coordinate information used in the reverse geocoding process.
Typical cellular network operators can use various approaches for determining the location of a mobile device, depending on the information that is available. One high accuracy approach actives a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver in the mobile device in order to develop a reasonably precise location of the mobile device at a point in time. Another low accuracy approach maps a cellular tower that a mobile device is using (e.g., based on signal strength) to a geographic region. An intermediate approach uses one or more last known GPS location(s) to determine a location of the mobile device based on an estimated trajectory.
FIG. 1a is a flow diagram describing obtaining and providing location information in the prior art. A location source (e.g., a network operator, a web service or other suitable source of location information) receives a request for the location of a mobile device (step 101). For example, the location source can be accessed using the Open Mobility Alliance (OMA) Mobile Location Protocol (MLP). The MLP allows systems to interact with location sources to receive location information as Extensible Markup Language (XML) over Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP).
Location information is determined as described above (step 103) and a determination is made as to the accuracy of the location information (step 105). The location information is then provided to the requestor (step 107). The location information can incorporate a shape that defines a geographic area where the mobile device might be located.
For example, FIG. 1b shows a map 100 indicating the location of a cellular telephone tower 102 and the actual location of a mobile device 104. The mobile device can be located by a cellular telephone network using, for example, approaches as described above. If the mobile device's location is exactly known or is known with a high degree of accuracy, it can provided to a requestor as a definite address. For example:
111 McInnis Pkwy
San Rafael, Calif. 94903
However, if the location of the mobile device cannot be accurately determined, e.g., the mobile device's location is somewhere within a two mile radius (i.e., a shape) surrounding the cellular tower 102, the location information provided to the requester in step 107 is vague. For example, the location information might be the nearest street address to the wireless network cellular tower 102 serving the mobile device at the time of the location request:
[700-900] Las Gallinas Ave.
San Rafael, Calif. 94903
But this location is about one mile across town from the building where the mobile device is actually located (104). Given the fact that a significant and recognizable landmark (i.e., shopping mall 106) is within the shape, a more relevant location could have been provided such as, "Within 3 miles of Northgate Mall, San Rafael, Calif."


A cable tray and at least one side wall bracket secured to the cable tray wherein the cable tray has a plurality of transverse and longitudinal wires. The side wall bracket has angled legs defined by a U-shaped inside leg portion and a hook that leads to an outside leg portion. The inside leg portion of each angled leg engages a first surface of side longitudinal wires and bottom longitudinal wires and the outside leg portion of each angled leg engages a second surface opposite the first surface of side longitudinal wires and bottom longitudinal wires to secure the side wall bracket to the cable tray.

Overhead cable routing systems typically include a cable basket or a cable duct. The cable basket or cable duct includes integral sidewalls. Various routing devices are installed on the cable basket or cable duct during installation. Often the sidewalls of the cable basket or cable duct need to be cut when a tee, cross or right angle pathway is created. As a result, installation of the typical cable basket or cable duct pathway is time consuming, costly and creates sharp edges.
Applicant invented a new cable routing system that has been described in Applicant's U.S. Patent Publication Nos. 2011/0284283; 2011/0284701; and 2011/0286785 and U.S. Pat. No. 8,424,814. The cable tray described in the pending patent applications includes longitudinal wires and transverse wires with downwardly extending sidewalls. Various devices may be added to the cable tray to form the cable routing system.
It would be desirable to provide removable side walls that are easily installed on the cable tray to retain the plurality of cables routed on the tray.


A process of soil remediation in which an encapsulation solution is introduced into contact with a soil matrix containing chemical contaminants such as polynucleated aromatics in an amount sufficient to form a saturated admixture of the soil matrix and the encapsulation solution, the encapsulation solution being capable of preferentially attracting the chemical contaminants contained in the soil matrix, and containing an effective amount of non-ionic surfactant material and water; and the admixture is admixed for an interval sufficient to permit the chemical contaminants to preferentially dissociate from contact with the soil matrix in favor of association with the encapsulation solution. Once this occurs, the encapsulation solution with associated chemical contaminants can be removed from contact with the soil matrix.

In the past two decades, the problem of soil contamination has been recognized as being pronounced, extensive and acute; both in the United States and abroad. Clean-up of both accidentally and intentionally contaminated soil has been mandated by federal, state, and local governments. The complexity of the task of soil remediation is compounded by the wide variance among contaminated sites. It cannot be guaranteed that any two clean-up sites will contain soil having the same characteristics; be exposed to similar climatic or geological conditions; or even have similar chemical contaminants present at even roughly the same concentrations. Wide variations can occur from site to site or even from location to location within the same clean-up site.
Thus the methodology for each clean-up effort must be specifically designed to meet the conditions found at the given site. Various processing methods implemented in the past have met with limited success. Volatile or volitalizable contaminants can be removed by a variety of reactive or evaporative processes. These processes generally entail the use of absorbent and/or oxidizing reactant materials which react with the volatilizable organics to form reaction by-products which are more environmentally acceptable than the original contaminants. Such systems generally entail heating the soil matrix or subjecting it to other physical procedures to volatilize the contaminants to remove them from the soil matrix
Many chemical contaminants are not readily volatilizable and therefore are not amenable to reactive and/or evaporative processes as previously described These contaminants include, but are not limited to, various substituted and non-substituted poly-and mono-aromatic hydrocarbons; for example, polyhalogenated biphenyls and the like. Irradiation of contaminated solid material such as soil has been proposed as a method for reduction of certain specific contaminants such as polyhalogenated biphenyls such as PBB and PCB. However, such procedure are costly and time consuming. In addition, such treatment methods are of limited use for use in soil matrices containing high concentrations of a wide variety of contaminants.
Extraction processes have been proposed to remove chemical contaminants from soil and sludge. Such methods generally involve contacting water wet soil/sludge with suitable water-insoluble solvents in which the contaminants are preferentially soluble. The solvent containing contaminants is separated from the solid and the solvent and contaminants then separated from one another.
Because no universally effective remediation method has been proposed, on-site soil remediation has been essentially impossible in many cases. Clean-up and remediation efforts up to the present have concentrated on removal of contaminated soil from the site to either secure containment landfills or to incineration facilities. This is both expensive and sacrifices productive topsoil which, if remediated, could possibly support vegetative growth.
It would be highly desirable to provide a remediation method which could be employed effectively with a variety of different contaminated matrices such as water, soil, bio-solids, and the like to remove a variety of classes of chemical contaminants. It is also desirable that the contaminant removal process be one which can be accomplished in a continuous manner at or near the clean-up site. Furthermore, it is highly desirable that the remediation process be one which is capable of reducing the level of contaminants present in various matrices, particularly in soil to a level below that which is mandated in the applicable environmental regulations, with reduction in contaminant concentrations to levels below current detection limits.

Method and apparatus for soil remediation


A motor includes a heat sink including an inner region, and an outer region located radially outward from the inner region. An axial thickness of the inner region is larger than an axial thickness of the outer region, the bottom surface of the outer region is located axially above the bottom surface of the inner region, and the inner region and the electronic component at least partially overlap in an axial direction. A bus bar holder is located axially below the outer region and overlaps the inner region in a radial direction.

One of the known motors is an electromechanical motor, in which a motor main body with a rotor and stator and a control section with electronic components and a substrate that controls the motor main body are integrated together.
In the conventional motor, the present inventor paid attention to the problem of the large axial dimensions.

Motor and electric power steering device


A device for conveying flat articles, in which device the flat articles are moved in series while being at a pitch one from the next that is normally constant, includes a synchronization device for compensating for a certain amount of variation in said pitch. This device includes:                means for categorizing the articles on the basis of certain physical characteristics of the articles;        means for identifying a certain amount of variation in the pitch for the current article and for recording said pitch variation in a memory in correspondence with the class of the current article; and        means for servocontrolling the synchronization system on the basis of said pitch variations recorded in the memory in correspondence with said classes of articles.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a conveyor device for conveying flat articles, in which device the flat articles are moved in series while being at a pitch one from the next that is normally constant, and in which device a synchronization system is provided for compensating for variation in said pitch.
The invention relates more particularly to such a conveyor device that is interposed between a mailpiece unstacker and a bin carrousel directing the mailpieces to sorting outlets.
2. Discussion of the Background Art
European Patent No. 1 214 263 discloses such a belt conveyor device equipped with a synchronization device having elastically deformable wheels driven in rotation at variable speed. That conveyor is designed to move mailpieces ranging from an ordinary letter of thickness less than 1 millimeter (mm) to a mailpiece or "flat" of large format and of thickness as large as 32 mm.
The bins of the carrousel move above the sorting outlets at a constant speed. Each bin is loaded with a mailpiece coming from the conveyor.
The unstacker is controlled by a periodic reference signal having its frequency aligned on the frequency with which the bins go past the free end of the conveyor.
When a mailpiece is unstacked in response to an edge of the reference signal being detected, it passes firstly through the synchronization device in which it undergoes an acceleration/deceleration stage so as to be brought to the speed of the belts of the conveyor. It is then taken in charge by the belts of the conveyor so as to be brought at constant speed to the bin carrousel. The instant at which the mailpiece is input into the synchronization device is detected on the basis of a passage sensor that makes it possible to adjust an acceleration profile for the mailpiece within the synchronization device in such a manner as to make the arrival of the mailpiece at the end of the conveyor coincide with the instant at which an empty bin serving to receive the mailpiece goes past.
At the end of the conveyor, the instant at which the mailpiece arrives is monitored so as to check that it is neither too early nor too late relative to the expected coincide time, and if it is, the mailpiece is directed to a reject outlet before being reinserted into the inlet of the unstacker. In practice, in that known device, the period with which the bins go past the conveyor is 333 milliseconds (ms). The time window for presenting a mailpiece to an empty bin, on either side of the coincide time extends from −15 ms late to +20 ms early. Outside that time window, the mailpiece is not injected into a bin, but rather it is deflected to the reject outlet.
It has been observed that, with a highly mixed batch of mailpieces, i.e. a batch covering a broad spectrum of mailpieces ranging from letters to large-format flat articles or "flats", it is possible to have a high percentage of mailpieces rejected, which can affect the throughput of the machine.
Documents EP 1 683 586 and EP 0 818 406 disclose synchronizer devices in which mailpiece speed is adapted as a function of detecting mailpiece thickness or weight, so as to obtain inter-mailpiece pitch that is constant.

Mailpiece conveyor device with servocontrol on reject rate


An orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM)-based synchronization detection apparatus includes an input register that stores data, a shifter that shifts the data from the input register based on the exponent of a quantized correlation coefficient, an adder that sums the shifted data, and a peak detector that determines the peak value from among the summed shifted data. The OFDM-based synchronization detection method involves quantizing correlation coefficients for synchronization detection into 2n-level quantized correlation coefficients (n is an integer not less than 0), shifting input data using the 2n-level quantized correlation coefficients, and detecting synchronization using a shifting result.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for detecting synchronization at a reception end of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) transmission system, and more particularly, to a method and an apparatus for detecting synchronization using 2n-level quantized correlation coefficients.
2. Description of the Related Art
Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems have been adopted for European digital broadcasting receivers (DVB-T) and high-speed wireless local area network (WLAN) services. Such OFDM systems take advantage of orthogonal subcarrier waves and are considered good at eliminating inter-channel interference (ICI) and inter-symbol interference (ISI) due to a guard interval inserted into each symbol. For these reasons, the OFDM systems have been adopted in the high-speed WLAN standard IEEE802.11a.
According to WLAN standards, a transmission data structure is comprised of a preamble and data, and the preamble is comprised of two sub-preambles. A first sub-preamble is comprised of 10 short training symbols, and each of the short training symbols is comprised of 16 samples. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating such a transmission data structure according to WLAN standards. Referring to FIG. 1, each transmission data structure includes sub-preamble 1 (100), sub-preamble 2 (110), and data (120). The sub-preamble 1 (100) includes short training symbol 1 (130), short training symbol 2 (140), . . . , and short training symbol 10 (150). Short training symbol 1 (130) includes sample 1 (131), sample 2 (132), sample 3 (133), . . . , and sample 16 (134). These short training symbols are used for detecting signals and temporally synchronizing received frames at a reception end.
A WLAN timing synchronization system detects timing synchronization by using a correlator to cross-correlate input signals. Short training symbols defined by the WLAN standards are used in a reception system as correlation coefficients. Supposing that input preambles are associated with correlation coefficients, a correlation value can be expressed by Equation (1) below.
                              Λ                                (            n            )                          =                              ∑                          m              =              1                        M                                                                                r                                            (                                  n                  +                  m                                )                                                                                c                *                                                          (                m                )                                                                        (        1        )
In Equation (1), r(n+m) represents input data, M represents the number of samples of each short training symbol, and c*(m) represents a conjugate form of c(m). Furthermore, c(m) represents a short training symbol defined by the WLAN standards.
A maximum of Λ(n) corresponds to a correlation peak. Therefore, by figuring out whether and where the correlation peak exists, timing synchronization can be carried out.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a conventional correlator 200. In FIG. 2, c*15 through c*0 represent correlation coefficients each comprised of a short training symbol.
The correlator 200 includes a register unit 210, a multiplication unit 220, a pipelined adding unit 230, and a peak detection unit 240. The register unit 210 includes 16 registers that each store a sample of the input data. The multiplication unit 220 includes 16 multipliers that multiply correlation coefficients c*15 through c*0 by outputs of the 16 registers, respectively. The pipelined adding unit 230 adds the outputs of the multiplication unit 220, and the peak detection unit 240 detects a peak value among outputs of the pipelined adding unit 230.
More specifically, data samples are sequentially input into the register unit 210 in the correlator 200, and at every clock cycle, the input data samples are moved from the current registers and temporarily stored in registers to the right of the current registers. A data sample output from a register of the register unit 210 is multiplied by its corresponding correlation coefficient through its corresponding multiplier in the multiplication unit 220. Such multiplication results are output to the pipelined adding unit 230 and then summed up. For example, if n=0 in a predetermined clock cycle, input data r0 through r15 is multiplied by corresponding correlation coefficients, and then the multiplication results are added by the pipelined adding unit 230. Then, if n=1 in a following clock cycle, input data r1 through r16 is multiplied by corresponding correlation coefficients, and then the multiplication results are added by the pipelined adding unit 230. In other words, such adding and multiplication processes are carried out in every clock cycle. By monitoring outputs of the pipelined adding unit 230, the peak detection unit 240 detects a peak value among the outputs of the pipelined adding unit 230.
In a WLAN environment, it is hard to develop a high-speed correlator with one multiplier. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2, a correlator comprised of multipliers, registers, and an adder is used. Such a correlator requires as many multipliers as there are correlation coefficients, which contributes to a correlator system with a complex hardware structure and could serve as a big obstacle to the design of an effective WLAN system.

OFDM-based timing synchronization detection apparatus and method


A quick-release device for a bicycle brake including a first brake arm, a second brake arm, and a brake cable terminated at the second brake arm, the quick-release device is provided with a lever including a long part and a short part pivotably secured to a top of the second brake arm; and an attachment assembly for securing the brake cable to a joining portion of the long part and the short part. A rotation of the lever in a first direction loosens the brake cable and increases a distance between the first brake arm and the second brake arm. A rotation of the lever in a second direction contrary to the first direction tightens the brake cable and decreases the distance between the first brake arm and the second brake arm.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to bicycle brakes and more particularly to a quick-release device of a bicycle brake cable.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional quick-release device of a bicycle brake cable is provided with a brake arm configured to mount on a frame of the bicycle; a guider selectively slidably mounted on a free end of the brake arm; and a safe lever pivotally mounted in the brake arm. The brake arm comprises a groove defined along an axis thereof. The guider is hollow to allow the brake cable to extend through. The safe lever comprises a pivot point that divides the safe lever into a press portion and a stop portion extending toward the guider to prevent the guider from an accidental operation due to an improper force. The guider comprises a sliding head and an insertion extending into and urging against the groove to prevent the guider from rotating relative to the brake arm and the brake cable from being loosened.
However, its applications are limited. Thus, the need for improvement still exists.

Quick-release device of bicycle brake cable


Provided herein are antibodies, antigen binding portions, and derivatives thereof that are capable of binding tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα); nucleic acids encoding the antibodies, antigen binding portions, and derivatives thereof, including complementary nucleic acids; vectors; and host cells containing the nucleic acids.

TNFα is a cytokine produced by white blood cells, including monocytes and macrophages. The cytokine stimulates and activates the immune system in response to conditions such as infection or cancer. TNFα is thought to be involved in a variety of human diseases and disorders, including sepsis, infections, autoimmune diseases, transplant rejection and graft-versus-host disease. Furthermore, over production of TNFα can lead to immunological disorders, such as rheumatoid arthritis or psoriasis.
In light of the role that TNFα plays in a human disease, antibodies that bind to TNFα have been sought for use in therapy to inhibit TNFα activity. (See, for example U.S. Pat. No. 6,090,382 to Salfeld, et al., WO2006/014477 to Crea, et al., and Rajpal, et al., PNAS 102:8466-8471). Therefore, it is important to develop human antibodies, antigen binding portions, and derivatives thereof that are capable of binding TNFα with high affinity and/or slow dissociation kinetics.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


The invention refers to a mechanical food treatment processor comprising a driving block topped by a bowl. The driving block comprises a motor connected to a driving device having a substantially vertical axis. The bottom of the bowl comprises an opening to allow the passage of the driving device. The processor further comprises a food treatment tool having a fitting device to be fitted onto the driving device and a magnetizing device exerting a force of attraction between the food treatment tool and the bowl. Thus, it is possible to tilt the bowl with the claimed invention while preventing the treatment tool from inopportunely falling. The tool remains easily dismountable from the bowl and the driving device.

This type of processor is known in the prior art. It typically comprises a driving block topped by a bowl. The driving block comprises a driving shaft mobile in rotation about an axis which is vertical or nearly vertical. Said shaft is disposed in the bowl through an opening in the bottom of said bowl. A treatment tool, generally comprising cutting blades, is placed onto the driving shaft. The cutting blades can thus ensure the cutting, the mixing or the emulsion of food placed in the bowl, such as for example fruits or vegetables. Such a food processor is described for example in document FR2641458.
The bowl is in general removable from the driving block. Thus, after the operations of cutting or mixing, said bowl can be raised in order to transvase its contents in another container. For this purpose, as illustrated in document FR2641458, the bowl can be equipped with a handle.
In order to simplify the operations of manufacturing and assembling the processor, it is usual that the treatment tool, such as a knife, should simply be fitted onto the driving shaft and maintained thereon by gravity. When the bowl is raised from the base, the knife can be easily dissociated from the driving shaft by a movement along the axis of said shaft. The knife can then be manually removed from the bowl in order not to fall when pouring the mixed preparation.
However, in certain circumstances, the knife can prove to be difficult to remove from the mixed preparation. It is for example the case when said preparation is hot for the user is likely to burn his/her hand when plunging it therein.
Document US2011/0180645 relates a knife able to be snapped onto a driving shaft. Thus, such a knife is not likely to fall when tilting the processor. However, this knife is provided with relatively complex snapping means.
Processors such as "blenders" are also known in the prior art, in particular those adapted to the preparation of hot soups. In these processors, the knife is firmly fixed to the bottom of the bowl. However, this type of knife is generally more fragile and more difficult to clean than a removable knife.


A mixed mode smart card is disclosed including an internal circuit having a CPU, a contactless mode processor adapted to prosecute a contactless mode operation, and a contact mode processor adapted to prosecute a contact mode operation. The mixed mode smart card also includes a power voltage control block receiving contact and contactless mode power source voltages and supplying the internal circuit with an internal power source voltage derived either during an entire period of mixed mode operation.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention relate to smart cards. More particularly, embodiments of the invention relate to smart cards adapted to operate a mixed mode including both contact and contactless modes.
This patent application claims priority to Korean Patent Application 2005-15493 filed Feb. 24, 2005, the subject matter of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
2. Discussion of Related Art
The term "smart card" generally refers to a well known class of portable tokens, variously embodied but characteristically comprising at least one integrated circuit (IC) (e.g., a "smart card chip"). Smart cards may be classified in relation to their mode of operation, including generally a contact mode, a contactless mode card, and a mixed mode.
Contact mode smart cards are commonly configured with a so-called subscriber identification module (SIM) and are adapted to operate using power voltages (e.g., source and ground), clock signal(s), a reset signal, and/or data signals electrically provided through connection pins (e.g., contact terminals) included in the smart cards' form factor. For example, a related host device may provide the foregoing signals once the smart card is input to the terminal.
In contrast, contactless mode smart cards are adapted to operate by "abstracting" the power voltages, clock signal(s), reset signal, and data signals from radio frequency (RF) signals received in the smart card through an integrated antenna.
Not surprisingly, mixed mode smart cards are adapted to operate in either contact or contactless modes. Thus, mixed mode smart cards typically include contact pins adapted to engage an external terminal during operation in a contact mode, and an antenna adapted to receive externally provided RF signals during operation in a contactless mode.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a conventional smart card system 100 operable in mixed mode. Referring to FIG. 1, smart card system 100 comprises a smart card chip 110, contact terminals 120 to supply voltages, signals, and data to smart card chip 110 in the contact mode, and contactless terminals 130 and 140 to supply voltages, signals, and data to smart card chip 110 in the contactless mode.
In contact mode, smart card system 100 communicates with a host device while being supplied of power voltages, clock signal(s), reset signal, and data signals through contact terminals 120. On the other hand, in contactless mode, smart card system 100 communicates with a host device, by abstracting power voltages, clock signal(s), reset signal, and data signals from RF signals received through contactless terminals 130 and 140.
However, the conventional smart card system as shown in FIG. 1 has a problem related to re-initializing its internal circuits. The problem may occur, for example, when a first ongoing smart operation (either contact or contactless) is interrupted by a second smart card operation made using the alternate mode of operation. For example, the re-initializing problem may occur when during a contact mode of operation (e.g., attempting to pay a bus or subway fare) is interrupted by a contactless mode of operation (receiving an incoming mobile phone call).

Smart card and method for controlling a mixed mode thereof


An integrated circuit for providing a reference signal to a regulator includes a comparison circuit and a first reference signal adjustor. The comparison circuit is configured to output a control signal based on a difference between levels of a constraint signal of the regulator, such as an input voltage signal or a supply voltage signal, and the reference signal. The regulator has a feedback control loop maintained by the reference signal. The first reference signal adjustor is operatively coupled to the comparison circuit and is configured to adjust the level of the reference signal based on the control signal such that the level of the reference signal increases toward a preset level and does not cause the feedback control loop of the regulator to become saturated when the regulator is in a start-up phase.

The disclosure relates generally to a circuit and method for providing a reference signal to a regulator.
A regulator in electronic devices is designed to automatically maintain a constant level of an output signal, e.g., a voltage or current signal, by a feed-forward design or a negative feedback control loop. FIG. 1 shows a typical linear voltage regulator 100. In this example, a feedback control loop, which is formed by an error amplifier 102 and a transistor (pass element) 104, with sufficient gain may regulate the feedback voltage Vfb toward a fixed or externally preset reference voltage Vref at the non-inverting node of the error amplifier 102. The error amplifier 102 drives the transistor 104 with more current if the voltage at its inverting node drops below the reference voltage signal Vref. Using a voltage divider 106, 108 allows choice of an arbitrary output voltage level Vout between levels of the reference voltage Vref and input voltage Vin. During the start-up phase of the voltage regulator 100, a fixed slew-rate reference signal generator 110 is typically employed for slowly ramping-up the reference voltage signal Vref in a controlled manner toward a preset voltage level Vset when transiting into the steady-state phase. In the start-up phase, the first switch 112 of the reference signal generator 110 is turned on while the second switch 114 is turned off such that the current source 116 continues charging the capacitor 118 by applying a constant charging current signal lc. The slew-rate of the reference voltage signal Vref at one end of the capacitor 118 is then fixed at a value determined by the charging current Ic and the capacitor 118. In the steady-state phase, the first switch 112 is turned off while the second switch 114 is turned on such that the reference voltage signal Vref is maintained at the preset voltage level Vset.
In an ideal situation, with control of the slew-rate of the reference voltage signal Vref within the control loop bandwidth of the voltage regulator 100, the feedback voltage Vfb, and eventually the output voltage Vout, will follow the reference voltage Vref and rise toward the preset voltage level Vset with minimal or no overshoot. However, in the event that the slew-rate of either the input voltage signal Vin or supply voltage (bias) signal Vdda of the voltage regulator 100 is slower than the slew-rate required for proper regulation of the output voltage Vout to follow the reference voltage signal Vref, as shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, the output voltage Vout constrained by the input voltage signal Vin or the supply voltage signal Vdda may not be regulated by the reference voltage signal Vref and the feedback control loop of the voltage regulator 100 will become saturated. For example, in FIG. 2A, the output voltage Vout is not regulated to follow the reference voltage signal Vref due to the constraint imposed by the input voltage signal Vin. In FIG. 2B, the output voltage Vout is not regulated to follow the reference voltage signal Vref due to insufficient headroom (too low Vdda) for error amplifier 102 to regulate the output voltage Vout. The proper regulation of the output voltage Vout may require (1) the input voltage signal Vin is larger than the output voltage Vout(Vin>Vout) and (2) the supply voltage signal Vdda is larger than the output voltage Vout plus the headroom voltage of the error amplifier 102 (Vdda>Vout+Vheadroom). When the input voltage signal Vin in FIG. 2A or the supply voltage signal Vdda in FIG. 2B eventually exceeds the level required for proper regulation of the output voltage Vout toward the preset voltage level Vset, the feedback control loop of the voltage regulator 100 will try to regain regulation. However, during this process, an overshoot may occur when the output voltage signal Vout exceeds the preset voltage level Vset for a transient period, as shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, which is undesirable for devices that are sensitive to overshooting, like processor. During this transient, the feedback control loop of the voltage regulator 100 exits from saturation state and attempts to enter into regulation state. It is understood that although a voltage regulator 100 is shown in FIG. 1, the same overshooting problem may also occur for a current regulator where an output current signal is regulated by a feedback control loop maintained by a reference voltage signal if the slew-rate of the reference voltage signal is faster than that of the input voltage signal or supply voltage signal of the current regulator in its start-up phase.
Known solutions to solve the overshooting problem include (1) designing the slew-rate of the reference signal to be slower than that of the input signal and (2) applying an external capacitor based on the known slew-rate of the input signal. For the former solution, it typically requires more silicon area to achieve a slower slew-rate for the reference signal and may encounter a practical limitation on the lowest slew-rate that can be implemented. As to the latter solution, it is costly as it uses an extra external capacitor and I/O pin. Further, if the slew-rate of the input signal is slower than its recommended value based on a chosen capacitor, an overshoot may still occur for the latter solution. Moreover, neither solution can be applied if the input signal of the regulator has a wide varying rise-time.
Accordingly, there exists a need for an improved circuit and method for providing a reference signal to a regulator.

Circuit and method for providing a reference signal


A base station control portion selects one or multiple signals in accordance with the state of radio waves from signals received through multiple communication paths. A wireless communication apparatus communicates with a wireless terminal and a wired communication network at multiple frequencies. In response to a request for software upgrading from a network management device, the wireless communication apparatus selects one frequency, controls the state of transmission waves of a wireless interface such that a communication path in which a communication service is being provided can be switched to another communication network without interruption, rewrites software for each wireless interface to software received through a wired interface in advance, and returns the state of transmission waves of the wireless interface. Thus, the software can be upgraded without blackouts of the communication service to the wireless terminal.

The present invention relates to a wireless communication apparatus, a wireless communication network and a software upgrading method and, in particular, to a wireless communication apparatus, a wireless communication network and a software upgrading method for upgrading software without the blackouts of communication services.
Wireless communication networks including wireless terminals and wireless communication apparatus have been introduced rapidly in addition to conventional wired communication networks. In the fields of wireless communication networks, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) communication networks for multiplying voice signals, for example, in a time division manner for communication have been adopted, and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) communication networks for code-multiplying voice signals, for example, with a spread code will be widely spread from now on. Thus, communications with any one can be performed any time and anywhere. These kinds of communication networks can operate by software included in each communication apparatus within a network and provide users of wireless terminals with various kinds of communication services such as voice communication and data communication. Therefore, the software for the communication apparatus must be upgraded properly every time the contents of each of communication services provided by the communication network advances.
A wireless communication apparatus is used for a wireless communication network and is called base station. The wireless communication is an interface apparatus for a wireless terminal and a communication network. The software as described above must be upgraded as required for providing various kinds of communication services. Therefore, various software upgrading methods have been proposed (such as JP-A-10-63498 and U.S. Pat. No. 2,980,201 or JP-A-10-320210). Upgrading the software for providing communication services is required in a general communication network. Therefore, software upgrading methods (such as JP-A-7-319683 and JP-A-2001-56756) have been proposed which allows the upgrading of software during the communication system (communication network) is in use without loss of reliability of the communication network (such as JP-A-7-319683 and JP-A-2001-56756).
Conventionally, a system for mutually connecting a wireless communication network and another communication network has been known for implementing diversity and hand-over for selectively synthesizing signals excellent in conversation quality based on the signal exchanged with plural base stations (such as JP-A-2001-16227). In a CDMA communication network, a soft hand-over technology (such as "3G TR25.832 V4.0.0", issued by 3GPP, March 2001, Section 5.2.1) has been known for synthesizing signals from communications with plural base stations and selecting a communication path when a base station is changed in order to switch a communication path without blackouts.
In a general communication network, reliability is important in order to prevent a communication blackout. Therefore, a method for upgrading software set in inactive hardware has been adopted by providing hardware with redundancy as disclosed in JP-A-7-319683 and JP-A-2001-56756, for example. Thus, the software for providing communication services and for controlling operations of a communication network can be upgraded during the software is in use.
On the other hand, in a wireless communication network, communication with wireless terminals is performed within an area where radio waves from a base station can reach. The area is called cellular. A cellular of several km radius is generally used. In other words, the number of accommodatable users and covered area are much smaller than those of a conventional wired communication network (or a switched network). Therefore, in order to provide communication services widely, many base stations must be provided widely. Thus, the cost efficiency of the communication network is significantly lost by providing these many base stations with redundancy like the wired communication network facility as disclosed above. Furthermore, plural frequency bands and CDMA spread codes must be assigned. Thus, the limited resource is wasted, and the number of users is reduced, which also reduces the serviceability. Therefore, as disclosed in JP-A-10-63498 and U.S. Pat. No. 2,980,201 or JP-A-10-320210, for example, a method is generally known for selecting a base station in accordance with a proper rule and terminating a communication service in the base station for upgrading software. For example, an operator selects a base station having lower traffic in a time zone such as at midnight and upgrades software by protecting important calls and placing the base station off-line.
However, the method will impose larger loads on the operator for managing a wireless communication network in future, and the supply of economical wireless communication networks and communication services may be difficult. For example, a wireless communication network may be widely spread and the number of terminals used by users may increase. In this case, these terminals are used while moving, and the traffic of each base station always changes without blackouts. Furthermore, a communication network may be more used without recognizing time differences in a more global communication network, and the traffic may not be always reduced at midnight in Japan. Therefore, the selection of a base station having low traffic and the protection of important calls as described above may be difficult, and the loads on operators may increase. Furthermore, from users' point of view, the number of communication service blackouts (or communication disconnection) due to software upgrading may increase. Furthermore, the level of reliability and serviceability may decrease because the supply of new services delays due to the delay of the software upgrading. Therefore, a wireless communication apparatus, wireless communication network and method for operating them (software upgrading method) are desired for upgrading software of so-called on-line communication apparatus, which eliminates the blackouts of a communication service in use in a wireless communication network including wireless communication apparatus (base stations) without redundancy and which can provide the latest communication services.

Wireless communication apparatus, wireless communication network and software upgrading method

Hitachi Communication Technologies, Ltd.


Disclosed embodiments pertain to cardiovascular parameter (e.g. heart rate) measurements when motion is present. Biometric sensor signal measurements may be obtained based on cardiovascular parameters of a user; and motion sensor signal measurements may be obtained based on user motion. An activity type may be determined based on the motion sensor signals. For example, when non-motion related frequencies in a frequency domain representation of the biometric sensor signal are obscured by user motion, an activity type may be determined based on the motion sensor signals. Further, based on the activity type, for each cardiovascular parameter (e.g. heart rate), a corresponding likely cardiovascular parameter value (e.g. a likely heart rate) may be determined. A corresponding fundamental frequency associated with the biometric sensor signal may then be determined for each cardiovascular parameter based on the motion sensor signal measurements and the corresponding likely cardiovascular parameter value.

Modern mobile devices may include sensors such as optical sensors, which are used to measure biometric information. For example, a photoplethysmogram (PPG) sensor obtains volumetric measurements of blood vessels near the skin surface. When the heart pumps blood, the resulting pressure pulse causes changes to blood vessels. The pressure pulse may distend arteries and arterioles in skin tissue. An optical sensor, such as a PPG sensor, may be used to detect a change in blood vessel volume caused by the pressure pulse. Blood vessel volume change caused by the pressure pulse may be detected by illuminating the skin with the light from a light-emitting diode (LED) and then measuring the amount of light either transmitted or reflected to a photodiode. Blood vessel volume change caused by blood flow to the skin may be modulated by various physiological parameters. Therefore, the information provided by PPG sensors may be used to obtain a variety of biometric measurements.
One drawback of blood volume sensors, such as PPG sensors, is that the biometric measurements obtained are sensitive to user movement. Thus, user movements can affect optical sensor measurements and introduce noise and other artifacts into the measured signals. Some techniques to address noise may use adaptive filters, which typically reduce noise based on motion related signals provided by an accelerometer. Adaptive filters use the motion related signals to compensate for motion induced noise in the optical sensor determined heart rate signal. However, for many activities, a higher activity rate may result in greater energy being expended and consequently a faster heart rate (e.g. more beats per minute). Thus, in many situations, heart rate may track the frequency of motion.
For activities with regular motion, the temporal frequencies related to the motion are present in the spectrum of both accelerometers and PPG sensors. The term "heart rate equal cadence" is used to refer to instances where a spectral component of the motion occurs at the same temporal frequency as a component of a cardiovascular parameter such as the heart rate. When heart rate equal cadence occurs, a separate heart rate signal may not be discernible, preventing heart rate estimation.

Cardiovascular parameter estimation in the presence of motion


A new approach to objective quality assessment of DCT-coded video sequences, with or without a reference is proposed. The system is comprised of a proprietary segmentation algorithm, a feature extraction process and a nonlinear feed-forward-type neural network for feature analysis. The methods mimic function of the human visual system (HVS): A neural network training algorithm is used for determining the optimal network weights and biases for both system modes of operation. The proposed method allows for assessment of DCT-coded video sequences without the original source being available (pseudo-reference mode). The pseudo-reference mode is also comprised of a proprietary DCT-coded video (MPEG) noise reducer (MNR), co-pending patent application No. 60/592,143.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to objective assessment of digitally DCT-based encoded video quality. The proposed invention concerns real-time operations on a video sequence. More particularly, the invention relates to measurement methods used to evaluate the encoding efficiency (quality versus output bit rate) of DCT-based codecs such as the MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and H.264 standards.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The existing literatures and/or patents on digital video quality assessment are fairly new.
Digital video feature extraction techniques have also been studied in depth. U.S. Pat. No. 5,446,492 describes an efficient method for extracting features.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,329,379 describes a system and method for measuring fidelity of decompressed video signals and images. The system compares segments of color, luminance, shape, displacement and texture between a decoded image and its original. There is a global comparison or a local comparison mode that is user selectable.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,252,905 has described a real-time system for evaluating compressed picture quality within a video encoder. The system evaluates the quality of the compression algorithm directly after quantization of the frequency components. The system evaluates loss in the quantized signal for different quantization factors and selects the optimal quantization factor for the best quality. In this patent, the original sequence is required to evaluate quantization loss and it is more of an encoder feature. It also evaluates the degradation level in the frequency domain, not in the visual spatial domain.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,285,797 describes a method and apparatus for estimating digital video quality with a virtual video signal. The apparatus comprises a vision pre-processor, a virtual reference generator, a virtual distortion generator and an image quality metric generator. Basically the decoded/degraded sequence is processed to generate a virtual reference image. The virtual reference along with a visual distortion estimate is used to evaluate an image quality metric.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,823,009 describes a more general system for evaluating the degradation of a video image introduced by a digital transmission and/or storage and/or coding system. Again, the analysis is performed in the frequency domain, on the DCT coefficients. The method compares spatial activity levels between an input (unprocessed) sequence and its processed output sequence in a selected area within the image. Again, an original sequence is needed.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,493,023 describes a method and apparatus (DVQ) for evaluating the visual quality of processed digital video sequences. Again, the DCT coefficients are used for the analysis. The system is also used to adaptively control the encoding bit-rate of within a codec for optimal visual quality. The original sequence is required.

Apparatus and method for objective assessment of DCT-coded video quality with or without an original video sequence


A laser scanner system for producing and projecting a multi-line scanning pattern into a space in which a bar code is to be brought. The system includes plural modular laser scanners, each producing a line scan pattern, but mounted with respect to one another so that the pattern of each scanner is projected into the space to conjoin to form the multi-line pattern. Each module is arranged to receive light reflected off the object to convert that light into electrical output signals indicative of the bars and spaces of the code. The system also include means for decoding the output signals and for providing the decoded signals to some peripheral device, e.g., an electronic cash register or computer. In one embodiment the scanner is located adjacent a conveyor carrying bar coded items to form an automated check-out counter.

This invention relates generally to laser scanning apparatus or systems and more particularly to counter mounted laser scanning apparatus or systems.
As is known laser scanners of the type used at check-out counters of retail establishments are generally of one of two types. One type is the so-called hand-held scanner. That type of scanner is a portable device arranged to be held in one's hand to aim a line of laser light at the symbol, e.g., bar code, to be read. The scanner is typically connected to an electronic cash register or computer to process the information read, e.g., record the item and price and total sale. Due to their mode of operation, e.g., the necessity to aim the device at a symbol and then actuate a button or trigger to produce the laser beam to read the symbol, hand-held scanner systems are usually limited to relatively low volume applications. For high volume scanning applications, e.g., supermarket check-out counters, where a large number of items have to be scanned quickly, stationary counter-mounted scanners are employed. Such scanners are commonly referred to as slot scanners and are mounted within a housing under the checkout counter. The housing typically includes a window at the top through which a laser beam scanning pattern is projected. The scanning pattern typically consists of plural scan lines which are either parallel to one another and/or intersect one another.
The use of a multi-line scan pattern is dictated, at least in part, by the desire to be able to read the bar code omnidirectionally, i.e., read the bar code irrespective of the orientation of the symbol with respect to the scanner. One common way of producing multi-line scanning patterns in slot scanners is by directing a laser beam onto a rotating polygonal mirror. The rotation of each mirror face has the effect of sweeping the beam directed at it through a predetermined arc, thereby creating a linear scan pattern. The swept beam is then directed to various reflecting surfaces, e.g., mirrors, which are oriented at various angles and positions with respect to one another to convert the single line pattern into the multi-line pattern and to project that pattern out of the window into the space above the window. Hence a bar code held above the window and within the pattern can be read irrespective of the orientation of the bar code.
Examples of prior art slot scanners are found in the following U.S. Pat. Nos.: 3,902,048 (Fleischer et al), 3,928,759 (Sansone), 3,988,573 (Hayosh), 3,995,166 (Hobart), 4,006,343 (Izura et al), 4,093,865 (Nickl), and 4,097,729 (Seligman et al). All of the foregoing slot scanners are of substantial size and complexity of construction. Moreover, the construction of such scanners renders them not particularly suited for automated check-out operations, e.g., operations wherein the items to be scanned are carried by some conveyor means past the scanner for reading and entry of the information into the cash register.
In my U.S. Pat. No. 4,713,532, entitled Compact Omnidirectional Laser Scanner, which is assigned to the same assignee as this invention and whose disclosure is incorporated by reference herein, there is disclosed a counter or slot scanner which overcomes many of the size and complexity disadvantages of the prior art slot scanners. To that end the scanner of my aforenoted patent produces a rich multi-line scan pattern to effect the omnidirectional scanning of bar codes with components which are housed in a very compact and small footprint enclosure. This feature enables the scanner to be used in applications where space either below or above the counter is at a premium. Notwithstanding the advanced features of that scanner it still leaves something to be desired from the standpoint of ease of construction, assembly and suitablity for use in an automated check-out counter.
In my copending U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 07/07/299,998, filed on Jan. 23, 1989, entitled Laser Scanner Engine with Folded Beam Path, which is assigned to the same assignee as this invention and whose disclosure is incorporated by reference herein, there is disclosed and claimed a modular scanner ("engine") which is extremely compact in size and suitable for use in various types of scanning systems.

Scanning system with array of laser scanner modules to produce complex scan pattern


A process is disclosed for controlling the revolutions of the spinning roller (29) of a spinning lathe (10). The coordinate driving units (52,53), which are designed as valve controlled (49,51) hydrocylinders (42,47), are operated according to a playback process according to which the coordinate driving units (52,53) are operated according to a follow-up process in which position set values are electrically preregulated and mechanical real values are fed back. The slowing down path .DELTA.S (lag error) is continuously measured at least during the last revolution of the spinning roller (29), so that when a threshold value .DELTA.Smax is exceeded, the tracking speed V.sub.B is reduced and/or a transitioning to an intermediate routing curve occurs. A spinning lathe for carrying out the process is also disclosed.

A process of the type mentioned in the foregoing can be derived from EP-A-0062685. The conventional process is a path-duplicating (playback) method, according to which, in at least one, usually several, master spinning process or processes executed by an expert in the spinning art, coordinate data characteristic for the thus-traversed positions of the spinning roller determined with the aid of position pickups are stored in an electronic NC or CNC control unit and processed by the latter to output data; by serial call-up of these data, X- and Y-coordinate drive units of the spinning machine can be actuated along the lines of tracing the route of the spinning roller determined in the master spinning process. First of all, the contour of the spinning chuck is scanned and a set of coordinate data characteristic for its contour is fed into the NC or CNC control unit; from these data, a safety curve is determined, for example by interpolation, marking the limit of closest-possible approach of the spinning roller toward the spinning chuck. In the conventional process, the contour of the spinning roller proper is utilized as the safety curve.
In accordance with the conventional process of EP-A-0062685, the stored data include, in addition to the coordinate data, also data characteristic for the operating pressures linked to the respective coordinates; these latter data are utilized in the spinning processes subsequently repeated with great frequency for feeding corresponding pressures into the coordinate drive units--hydraulic cylinders. This is done to avoid drawbacks inherent in known path repetition processes used merely with storage of the path coordinates with exploitation of the latter as the desired data for the path motion control of the spinning roller; such drawbacks are seen in that even minor deviations of the shape of the round blank to be subjected to the spinning machining step from a reference shape can lead to the result that an exact tracing of the stored revolution routes is impossible and thereby spun parts of a very differing quality can be produced. Accordingly, the conventional process operates with a three-dimensional set of route tracing data which itself is accompanied by considerable technical expenditure and--on account of the processing time required--causes additional time requirement for the spinning procedure.
The conventional process furthermore has the disadvantage that considerable errors can occur in the detection of the operating pressures of the coordinate drive cylinders during the master spinning process, as well as in their introduction into the control during the spinning processes performed for manufacturing a relatively large series of maximally identical spun parts; this can manifest itself in clearly recognizable quality differences in the surface characteristic of the thus-produced spun parts. It is true that "scattering" of the quality of the manufactured spun parts due to inaccuracies in pressure detection and metered application during the "learning" of the routes as well as during their control can be kept to a moderately low level by taking care when performing the master spinning process that the operating pressures in total are maintained at a constant value along the lines that the forces acting on the sheet-metal workpiece are kept extensively constant over the various revolutions; however, this poses considerable demands for the spinning expert entrusted with performing the master spinning process since this person, while steering the master spinning process "by hand", must not only monitor the workpiece and the spinning roller but also the pressure indications for the coordinate drive cylinders, which is difficult and taxing and normally requires that a master spinning process must be repeatedly performed until finally an optimum set of coordinate and pressure data has been determined. A master spinning process making it possible to use the conventional process with the result of a properly uniform quality of the spun parts thus is very time-consuming and can be conducted at all only by using a highly qualified and very experienced spinning expert.
Additional programming and control expenditure also arises when operating according to the conventional process when using a customary scanning head for scanning the outer contour of the spinning chuck as the safety curve, this scanning head comprising a scanning ball of a small diameter that can be deflected into two mutually perpendicular directions; this scanning ball--after defined deflection strokes--opens alternatively respectively one of two switches whereby the attainment of a certain position is being announced. In this case, especially with small thicknesses of the material of the finished spun part, even very minor inaccuracies in the path control of the spinning roller, the radius of curvature of which in the rolling generating point can be markedly different from the radius of curvature of the scanning ball, will be enough for causing undesirably high relative deviations from the desired thickness of the spun part.
Therefore, it is an object of the invention to improve a process of the type discussed hereinabove so that performance of the master spinning process is simplified and also conductance of the spinning steps required for manufacturing spun parts can be controlled with simpler technical means.
This object has been attained with regard to the process of the invention by the features described and claimed herein as well as by the features of the spinning lathe of the invention which is suitable for performing the process.
A path control of the spinning roller in this process and spinning lathe of the invention is obtained in a simple way by the accordingly provided type of operating control of the coordinate drive units in accordance with a follow-up control process working with electrically controlled reference position value presetting and mechanical actual position value acknowledgment. This control process permits monitoring of the follow-up route--the so-called lag error--of the coordinate drive units and monitoring of the follow-up route. The increase of this follow-up route past a threshold value .DELTA.S.sub.max is an indication of the fact that the forces necessary for forming the workpiece material are growing larger than beneficial for a "smooth" shaping of the material. Also providing advantageous path control are the measures, triggered when this threshold value of this follow-up route has been exceeded, of lowering the path-tracing speed of the spinning roller and/or the transition to a routing curve of the spinning roller corresponding to an enlargement of the distance of the spinning roller rolling-off point, measured normally to the outer contour of the spinning chuck, with respect to its previously governing desired value curve, until once more a value for the follow-up path has been reached which is compatible with a good quality of the spun part to be produced. This path control, even if in the master spinning process only an approximately optimum route has been determined, leads to a gentle machining of the workpiece and therefore in the final result also to a good quality of its surface characteristic which can be attained with good reproducibility. The "learning procedure" can thus be executed with a substantially lower time consumption.
By utilizing the spinning roller as a "scanning head", it is ensured in a simple way that, with utilization of the positional coordinates, linked to its contact with the scanning supporting points, as the "safety curve", any possibly flawed conversion calculations are avoided, i.e. the danger is reliably excluded that, with very thin thicknesses of the material of a spun part to be produced, the safety curve could be "exceeded" with the consequence of damage to the spinning chuck.
In combination therewith, it is also possible, thanks to the type of operating control of the coordinate drive units provided--in accordance with this invention--to utilize the drive cylinders of these units also for scanning the outer contour of the spinning chuck, as specified in greater detail below.
A procedure of the invention utilizes the path routing coordinates of one revolution of the spinning roller as the reference path coordinates for a subsequent spinning process as set forth herein. This procedure permits an optimum route of the path of motion of the spinning roller in a few steps of path correction. In combination with an automatic control of this version of the process, a "self-programming" of the electronic control unit is readily possible, leading to an optimum track for the spinning roller in preliminary spinning steps as well as in a final spinning procedure.
It is then also possible, as provided in more detail hereinafter, to determine the desired course of a contour of the spun part along which the spinning roller moves solely by its numerical presetting.
A safety measure which ensures optimum protection of the spinning chuck is also provided according to the invention by adding coordinate increments to the scanning coordinate data to produce a set of coordinate data corresponding to a safety contour in a manner described more fully herein.
Additional features of the invention described hereinafter indicate a kind of scanning of the outer contour of the spinning chuck by means of the coordinate drive unit which also yields data on the evolution of the follow-up path along the route-tracing curves; these data can be evaluated in a simple way so that it is possible to maintain, during the spinning process, a constant or almost constant amount of the follow-up path which, in turn, provides the possibility in a simple way of controlling the motion control of the spinning roller in dependence on essentially one value of a maximum follow-up path .DELTA.S.sub.max.
Corresponding remarks apply analogously to a further procedure of the invention which is provided as an alternative to the aforementioned steps, namely to detect the follow-up path and to evaluate same with a view toward controlling the route with a substantially constant follow-up path.
In the embodiment of a spinning lathe provided according to the invention as set forth herein, the spinning lathe is suitable for performing the process of this invention and, monitoring of limit values of the follow-up path can take place in a simple way, for example with the aid of limit switches responding starting with a minimum deflection .epsilon. of the valve-operating members of the follow-up control valves pertaining to the coordinate drive units.
In the embodiment of such a spinning lathe, it is possible to effect a continuous detection of the follow-up path so that, for various phases of the spinning process, it is possible also to choose different limit values of the follow-up path, and when such values are exceeded, changes can be triggered in the route-tracing speed and/or changes in the route geometry.
In case several spinning rollers with a differing geometry of their rolling shoulders are provided for producing a spun part, it is advantageous to scan the spinning chuck with each one of these different spinning rollers, thus accordingly determining so to speak a separate safety curve for each of these spinning rollers.
Additional details and features of the process of this invention and of a spinning machine suitable for its performance can be seen from the following description of a specific embodiment of such a spinning machine with reference to the drawings and the explanation of its function.

Process for controlling the revolving path motions of the spinning roller of a spinning lathe, and spinning lathe for performing the process


An embodiment of the present invention enables manipulation of data on a remote server and ensures uniqueness of data identifiers in a multi-tier environment, where a database client communicates through one or more intermediate servers to reach the target server containing the remote database. In particular, a client system transmits a query to the target server via a gateway system and receives a handle or data reference and a query identification for subsequent manipulation of data residing on that target server. A new query identification is generated by the gateway system and mapped with the query identification of the intended target server. When the client system transmits a query with the gateway query identification, the gateway system performs a lookup operation to identify the corresponding target server and subsequently forwards the query and target server query identification to the identified target server for processing.

1. Technical Field
The present invention embodiments pertain to data manipulation within a remote database. In particular, embodiments of the present invention pertain to a system and method enabling database clients to manipulate data within a remote database in a multi-tier environment (e.g., the remote database generally resides on a target server that is accessed through intermediate servers) without actually retrieving that data.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Remote databases may store data in various data types, where certain data types (e.g., Large Object Data (LOB), XML data, etc.) are typically utilized to store large data objects. In order to prevent large data objects (or instances of data types forming those large data objects) from being transmitted across a network, locators or handles (e.g., SQL locators, pointers, etc.) identifying the desired data objects (or instances of the data types) are employed and transferred across the network to indicate the desired data. When a database client desires to manipulate data objects within a remote database without retrieving the data, the database client employs the handles to identify data for desired operations. The remote database generally resides on a target server.
Since the handles consume significantly less storage capacity than the data objects, network bandwidth is conserved while reducing network traffic. However, the handles are limited to working in a two-tier client-server configuration (e.g., the remote database residing on a server accessible without intermediate servers) since these handles or locators are not unique across multiple database servers.

Method and apparatus for manipulating data within a remote database in a multiple tier environment

International Business Machines Corporation


An endcover for a turbine combustor adapted to support one or more combustor nozzles, includes a plate having one side which in use, faces a combustion chamber and an opposite side which, in use, faces away from the combustion chamber. At least one fuel cavity is formed in the plate; and a fuel restrictor insert is formed with at least one flow orifice located within the fuel cavity for supplying fuel to at least one combustor nozzle. The fuel restrictor insert is adjustable along a length dimension of the fuel cavity.

This invention relates to gas turbine combustors generally, and more specifically, to a novel endcover assembly for the forward or upstream end of a gas turbine combustor.
In certain gas turbines, a plurality of combustors are arranged in an annular array about the turbine rotor to provide for the combustion of fuel and guide the energized combustion products into the turbine section to drive the turbine. Each combustor typically includes an outer casing which defines the external boundary of the combustor; a flow sleeve for distributing compressor discharge air to the head end of the combustor while also cooling a liner which encloses the combustion chamber; and a transition piece for flowing the combustion products into the turbine section. The combustor also includes a plurality of fuel nozzles coupled to an endcover. Air and fuel is supplied through the endcover to the fuel nozzles for combustion within the liner. The endcover thus functions to close the combustor forward end, to support the fuel nozzles, and to distribute air and fuel to the fuel nozzles.
Endcover designs for turbine combustor systems typically have included a plate mounting each fuel nozzle individually. In prior endcover assemblies of this type, the internal passages for the air and fuel were located in the fuel nozzle, separate and apart from the endcover. A follow-on generation of endcovers provided air and fuel passages internal to the endcover. This was done to accommodate a plurality of nozzles for each endcover rather than one fuel nozzle per endcover as in prior conventional combustors. While that change simplified the fuel nozzles and enabled the mounting of a plurality of fuel nozzles onto the endcover, the complexity of the endcover was increased in order to provide the integrated air and fuel manifolds and necessary multiple passages for the fuel nozzles carried thereby. Extra parts were necessary, such as inserts, to render complex passages in the endcovers possible. Brazed joints were also included to seal these extra parts, including inserts in the endcovers. A further generation of endcovers for turbine combustors followed. These endcovers employed even more complicated brazed joints between the endcovers and their various parts. However, cracking of the brazed joints was observed on these more recent endcovers.
In addition, certain turbine model endcover assemblies formed with internal passages as noted above also require premix gas flow orifices (also referred to herein as "flow restrictors", or "flow restrictor inserts") pressed and staked into place on the "hot side" of the combustor endcover plate (that side exposed to combustion in the combustion chamber). The location of the flow restrictor within the passageway in the endcover defines the acoustic length from the fuel nozzle gas exit holes at the cold-side of the endcover to the orifice restriction proximate the hot side of the endcover. The acoustic length has a natural frequency that can be negatively impacted by combustor dynamics which vary with site conditions and fuel variation. Accordingly, there is a need to provide endcovers with orifice restrictors that can accommodate acoustic length adjustments (preferably on site), favorable to combustor dynamics.

Gas turbine combustor endcover with adjustable flow restrictor and related method


The stress applied to a gate insulation film can be reduced by raising the potentials of the source and drain terminals of input gate transistors whose gate are applied with a high potential to a Vcc level or the like, when a programming high potential (V.sub.PP) or a high potential for tri-state control is applied to an external input terminal of an input-stage circuit of an EPROM. Therefore, occurrence of problems of the reliability such as TDDB can be prevented and thus a highly reliable nonvolatile semiconductor memory device can be provided. Further, the elements can be miniaturized to increase the capacity of the nonvolatile semiconductor memory device, without scaling the conventional programming high potential and the high potential for tri-state control.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor memory device and, more particularly, to a nonvolatile semiconductor memory device using a high potential input.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional nonvolatile semiconductor memory device such as an EPROM (ultraviolet erasable programmable read only memory) or EEPROM (electrically erasable programmable read only memory) has a power source terminal (V.sub.PP power source terminal) for receiving a high potential V.sub.PP for programming. The V.sub.PP power source terminal is also used to receive another signal input.
When data is programmed into an EPROM, an internal high potential detection circuit is set into operative state by applying a high potential signal for tri-state control to a part of address terminals, for example, an input terminal for an address signal A9, so that a code called an electric signature indicating the name of the maker and the name of the device is read from the EPROM. An EPROM writer reads the signature code from the EPROM and automatically specifies the EPROM, and automatically sets the condition of writing data into the device without fail. As the potentials of tri-state control, a logical low level, a logical high level and a high potential V.sub.H sufficiently higher than the logical high level ar generally used.
FIG. 1 shows an example of an input-first stage circuit connected to a V.sub.PP power source terminal 31 in the conventional EPROM. In the above input-first stage circuit, a 2-input NOR circuit 32 of CMOS (complementary insulated gate) structure is constructed by P-channel MOS (insulated gate) transistors P1 and P2 and N-channel MOS transistors N1 and N2. Two-stage amplifying inverters 33 and 34 are connected to the output stage of the NOR circuit 32. A multiplexed signal of the V.sub.PP voltage and control signal BYTE is input through the V.sub.PP power source terminal 31 as one input of the NOR circuit 32 and a chip enable control signal CE* is input as the other input of the same. The V.sub.PP power source terminal 31 is supplied with a control signal BYTE of "L" level (Vss potential, for example, 0 V) or "H" level (Vcc potential, for example, 5 V) in the read mode and supplied with a V.sub.PP voltage in the program mode. The control signal BYTE selectively sets the 8-bit read operation or 16-bit read operation.
In the mode in which a programming high potential V.sub.PP is not input to the V.sub.PP power source terminal 31, such as the read mode of the EPROM of the circuit shown in FIG. 1, when the control signal BYTE or chip enable control signal CE* is set at the "H" level, the N-channel transistor N1 or N2 is turned on and the P-channel transistor Pl or P2 is turned off so that the output of the NOR circuit 32 will be set at the "L" level. On the other hand, when the control signal BYTE and the chip enable control signal CE* are both set at the "L" level, the P-channel transistors P1 and P2 are both turned on and the N-channel transistors N1 and N2 are both turned off so that the output of the NOR circuit 32 will be set at the "H" level.
In contrast, when a programming high potential V.sub.PP is input to the V.sub.PP power source terminal 31 in the program mode of the EPROM, the P-channel transistor P1 is turned off and the N-channel transistor N1 is turned on so that each of the drains of the P-channel transistor P1 and N-channel transistor N1, that is, an output node of the NOR circuit 32, will be set at the ground potential Vss. The operation in the program mode is effected irrespective of the "H" level/"L" level of the chip enable control signal CE*, and, at this time, the output of the NOR circuit 32 is set at the "L" level.
The "L" or "H" level output of the NOR circuit 32 in the read mode and the "L" level output of the NOR circuit 32 in the program mode are supplied as an internal signal BYTE* to an internal circuit through the two-stage amplifying inverters 33 and 34.
Since each of the drains of the P-channel transistor P1 and N-channel transistor N1 of the NOR circuit 32 is set at the ground potential Vss in the program mode and the high potential V.sub.PP is applied to each gate, an electric field stress (referred to as "stress" hereinafter) of high potential V.sub.PP is applied to each gate insulation film.
Likewise, the stress of high potential is applied to the gate insulation film of a MOS transistor to which the high potential V.sub.H of tri-state control is input in to an input-first stage circuit which is connected to a terminal for reading electric signature of the EPROM, although not shown in the drawing. The programming high potential V.sub.PP and high potential V.sub.H for tri-state control are set at 12.5 V and 12 V in the EPROMs of 1 megabits and 4 megabits, respectively.
As the elements are more miniaturized with an increase in the capacity (16 megabits, for example) of the EPROM, the thickness of the gate insulation film is subjected to the scaling and the withstanding voltage of the insulation film is lowered. In order to cope with this problem, the stress applied to the internal circuit is reduced by lowering the power source input from the exterior in the chip, without changing the external power source level. However, even when the capacity of the EPROM is increased, it is undesirable for the user that the values of the high potentials V.sub.PP and V.sub.H are subject to the scaling if the compatibilities of the devices are taken into consideration. Particularly, when the high potential V.sub.H for reading the electric signature of the EPROM is different every device, it becomes impossible to automatically specify the EPROM by means of the EPROM writer. Thus, the high potential V.sub.H for reading the signature cannot be changed. Since the high potentials V.sub.PP and V.sub.H are directly applied from the exterior device to the gates of the transistors of the input-first stage circuit which is connected to the V.sub.PP power source terminal and the address terminal for reading the signature, serious problems such as TDDB (time dependent dielectric breakdown) may occur in reliability.
The same problem as that described above may occur in an input-first stage circuit connected to a test mode terminal in a case where the circuit operates the internal test circuit to effect the reliability test etc, of the internal circuit in the test mode, by applying a high potential of tri-state control to a part of the address terminals of the EPROM or a part of the control signal input terminals to operate the internal high potential detection circuit.


The invention is directed toward a base material for aluminum offset printing plates having improved heat stability comprising an aluminum alloy consisting of from about 0.2 to about 0.6% by weight of iron, less than about 0.25% by weight silicon and copper combined, from about 0.1 to about 0.3% by weight manganese and the remainder being aluminum and trace production impurities, said base material further characterized as containing secondary precipitates in the form of phases of the Al Mn Si: Al Fe: Al Mn type which bear a ratio to one another of from about 1:1:2 to about 1:1:3, the mean particle size being from about 0.25 to about 0.010 micron with a maximum particle size of less than about 0.3 micron and further containing a precipitation structure with a degree of dispersion of less than about 50 phases per cubic micron and a process for producing such material. The sheet material according to this invention may be uniformly roughened in either HCl or HNO.sub.3 electrolyte baths under very similar process parameters.

1. Technical Field
The invention relates to a base material for an aluminum offset printing form (plate) consisting of from about 0.2 to about 0.6% by weight iron, less than about 1% by weight manganese, and less than about 0.25% by weight silicon and copper, the rest being aluminum and impurities occasioned by production, and also a process for producing such base material.
2. Background and Prior Art
There is a need for offset printing plates which have an increased usage life (print run). The increased usage life can be achieved by burning in or hardening the photographic image on the plate for a few minutes at 230.degree.-240.degree. C. As a result of this treatment, the plates become very resistant to abrasion.
Pure aluminum is predominantly used in the manufacture of printing plates as, for example, described in Aluminum-Taschenbuch, 14th edition, page 109. These plates can be electrochemically roughened or grained in HCL baths and also in HNO.sub.3 baths to produce a bright, uniform surface appearance. However pure aluminum suffers a considerable loss in strength as a consequence of the heat generated during the burning in so that this material cannot fulfil the increased demands on the print run.
Some plate manufacturers are therefore using an AlMn alloy AA 3003 which contains approximately 1% Mn and is thermally much more stable than pure aluminum. Offset printing plates composed of manganese-containing alloys are also known from EP-A-0,164,856. This patent discloses aluminum alloys containing from 0.05 to 1% by weight of Mn, 0.02 to 0.2% by weight of Si, and 0.05% to 0.5% by weight of Fe. These manganese-containing alloys have the disadvantage that while the surface can be satisfactorily roughened in an HCl bath with modified process parameters, the surface is very poorly (nonuniformly) roughened in an HNO.sub.3 bath. In both acid systems, a dark coating is produced on the surface which has an adverse effect on the printing properties. In EP-A-0,164,856, no information is given concerning the roughening behavior of the AlMn material in an HCl bath on the one hand and in an HNO.sub.3 bath on the other hand, or on the roughening behavior as a function of the manganese content.
Processes for producing an aluminum base sheet for printing plates by treating the surface with an aqueous chloride-containing electrolyte solution followed by subsequent anodization is known in the art, as for example disclosed in German Patent Specification 2,557,222.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a base material for aluminum offset printing plates and a process for producing same which, while having good thermal stability under burning-in conditions after roughening in HCl or HNO.sub.3 baths, has a more uniform and brighter surface than conventional manganese-containing aluminum alloys and which is comparable with the plate surface quality which can be achieved with pure aluminum.

Process for producing base material for an aluminum offset printing plate


A misaligning wellhead system for use on the surface end of well production tubing in a well produced by a pump driven by a pumping unit operated polished rod extending through the wellhead to the pump. The wellhead system includes a flange for connection of the system to the surface end of the production tubing, a blowout preventer above the flange, a flow tee above the blowout preventer for directing well fluids into a flowline, and a floating tubular body supporting a stuffing box and a flapper valve for torsional and lateral movement relative to the longitudinal axis through the wellhead body as the polished rod reciprocates to compensate for misalignment of the pumping unit relative to the wellbore centerline.

Wells, particularly oil wells, extending into oil producing earth formations which do not have adequate pressure for flowing the wells may be produced by systems which include a downhole well pump operated by a polished rod supported from and driven by a pumping unit and extending through a wellhead at the surface to the downhole pump. The pumping unit may be any one of several type systems, such as, a pumping jack, a hydraulic prime mover which may reciprocate a polished rod or rotate the rod to drive a progressive cavity pump, and others. The wellhead may include a stuffing box to provide a pressure seal around the polished rod, a flapper valve for closing the bore through the wellhead in the event of breakage of the polished rod, and blowout preventers for sealing around the polished rod and used to close the bore through the wellhead in the absence of the polished rod. The various forces applied to a polished rod by the pumping unit and along the well bore between the pumping unit and the pump frequently effect both lateral and torsional or rotational movement to the polished rod which may cause excessive premature wear in the seals around the rod within the wellhead. The wellheads currently available for use on pumping wells are not equipped to compensate for/or accommodate misalignment of the polished rod as it. moves in the wellhead causing undue wear on the seals.


An improved method for making cyclohexanone and cyclohexanol from oxidation of cyclohexane in which a polyprotic acid is used to neutralize caustic to prevent oligomerization of cyclohexanone during fractional distillation.

The first step in the manufacture of adipic acid and caprolactam is oxidizing cyclohexane to produce a mixture containing unreacted cyclohexane, cyclohexanone, cyclohexanol and cyclohexylhydroperoxide (CHHP), and treating the mixture with aqueous caustic to decompose the CHHP into more cyclohexanone and cyclohexanol. The treatment results in a biphasic mixture: an organic phase, containing primarily cyclohexane, cyclohexanone and cyclohexanol, and an aqueous phase containing primarily water, organic salts and caustic. However, inevitably some caustic tends to remain in the organic phase in the form of dispersed droplets. Isolation of the cyclohexanone and cyclohexanol is accomplished typically by fractional distillation, in which the cyclohexanone is exposed to heat. In commercial operations, fractional distillation is conducted in metallic stills which frequently are made from metals which are susceptible to corrosion when contacted by acidic media. Even a small amount of caustic present during this fractional distillation step can catalyze the oligomerization of some of the cyclohexanone, resulting in yield loss. Moreover if the cyclohexanone/cyclohexanol mixture is converted to adipic acid, the presence of cyclohexanone oligomers can cause fouling of equipment and contamination of adipic acid. It would be desirable to have a way of limiting the extent of cyclohexanone oligomerization in the processes described above.

Method for making cyclohexanol and cyclohexanone