An ice portion control module includes an ice bin for storing ice. A base in the ice bin has one or more portion control compartments. The one or more portion control compartments has an interior volume to hold a predetermined portion of the ice. An actuator moves the one or more portion control compartments between a fill position wherein the one or more portion control compartments holds the ice, and a dispense position wherein the predetermined portion of the ice is dispensed out of the one or more portion control compartments.

1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates generally to a method and apparatus for portioning and dispensing ice. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a portion control module that portions and dispenses ice into a container.
2. Description of Related Art
Multiple steps are involved in creating a beverage or drink, for example, a smoothie drink, from beginning to end, and potential issues can occur at all stages. Smoothie making requires the use of blender pots to create the drink, meaning that the operator is required to purchase, maintain, and then store small wares (blender pots). Limitations of current technology also require the labor intensive transportation of ice to the smoothie machine from a separate icemaking machine in order to maintain a level of usable ice in the smoothie machine. This ice transfer is an issue for many reasons. First, labor is required to transport the ice typically from a back storage room to the point of sale (POS) counter area of a restaurant, where the smoothie machines are typically located. This ice transfer can create a safety hazard for employees who could slip and fall on wet floors or injure themselves by improperly carrying a heavy bucket. It can also increase the likelihood of ice contamination through mishandling.
Once the ice is stocked, the employee must manually add an estimated amount to the blender pot. Since the amount of ice is not measured, but rather "guesstimated" by each employee, this ingredient is not precise and, therefore, makes it difficult to create the same franchised drink time after time.
Accordingly, it has been determined by the present disclosure, there is a need for an assembly that uniformly portions and dispenses ice.

Method and system for portioning and dispensing ice


The present invention provides a novel herbal composition, which promotes the proven pharmacological activities such as anti-oxidant, anti-stress and adaptogenic activities. Composition(s) comprises of plant juices or extracts together with the conventional recipients to form paste/jelly/jam/cake/cream puff/chocolate forms fortified with plants like Mangifera indica, Evolvulus alsinoides, Withania somnifera and Asparagus racemosus Amaranthus hypochondriacus which are used as functional foods.

Human health depends to a large extent on three elements: spiritual harmony, physical activity and adequate nutrition. It has been observed over the last few decades that the stress of modern life, reduced physical activity and consumption of processed foods and chemicals preservatives, including over & unwanted use of modern drugs, are responsible for the decrease in the resistance to disease. Currently A "big-bang" is impacting the health food and pharmaceutical industries among others. This nutraceutical (nutrition plus pharmaceutical) explosion is derives from research publications providing scientific evidence to support hypothesis that phytochemicals in food and in isolated from provide health benefits to the consumer.
The vital aspect of nutraceutical is dietary disease preventive food component. Food industries have rather high demand for the products that meet the consumer's demand for a healthy life style. In this context functional food fortified with the plant ingredients plays an important role. These foods are not intended only to satisfy hunger and provide humans with necessary nutrients but also to prevent mal-nutrition related diseases and increases physical and mental well being of consumers.
The herbal revolution and its implementation to daily nutrient intake or function-fortified food/dietary supplements with desired therapeutic efficacy led the world populations' great interest in the same. This ultimately led to researchers to develop them in functional food and nutraceuticals and finally to develop marketable products. Functional foods are substances that provide health benefits beyond the normal nutritional values and nutrients added, which are not naturally occurring in that food are called as functional fortified food.
The plants are the major source among the Indian masses, since most important foods of mankind as these are not only nutritive but are also sometimes indispensable for the maintenance of health. There are some herbal food supplements available in the developed nations and a few in the developing ones.

Health promoting functional foods fortified with herbs

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research


A method for improving the efficiency and durability of reversible solid oxide cells during electrical energy storage is disclosed. The method utilizes a specific set of operating conditions that produces a storage chemistry where approximately thermal-neutral operation can be achieved at low cell over-potentials. Also disclosed are reversible solid oxide cell energy storage system configurations, including one that utilizes storage in natural gas and water storage/distribution networks, thereby reducing storage cost.

Large-scale electrical energy storage is becoming increasingly necessary with the growing implementation of intermittent renewable energy sources such as wind and solar. However, there is a relative lack of viable storage technologies, i.e. hydroelectric water pumping and underground compressed air storage are well established but limited to specific geographic sites, whereas most batteries and ultracapacitors have limited energy storage capacities and times. On the other hand, reversible fuel cells have low round-trip efficiency compared to the above-mentioned technologies.
Energy storage using reversible fuel cells can be understood using FIG. 1, which shows typical current-voltage curves in both fuel cell and electrolysis mode, for two different types of cells. The graph shows current-potential curves in H2/H2O for a proton-exchange membrane (PEM) cell (Pettersson, et al., 2006 J. Power Sources 157, 28-34) and solid oxide cells (than, Z. et al., 2009 Energy Fuels 23, 3089-3096) in both electrolysis (negative current) and fuel cell (positive current) mode. Electrical energy is stored by electrolyzing water, and then electricity is produced using the H2 in fuel cell mode.
Consider first the characteristics of a typical solid oxide electrochemical cell at 800° C. For the gas mixture in this test, the open-circuit potential (OCP) is 0.97 V. Connecting the cell to a load draws a positive current and decreases the voltage—the cell is oxidizing the H2 in the fuel to produce electricity. When the cell is connected to an electrical source that imposes a voltage greater than the OCP, a negative current flows and the device electrolyzes H2O and CO2 to H2 and CO. In the latter process, the electrical energy is stored in chemical form, whereas in the former process chemical energy is converted back to electricity. The above also applies to the other characteristics shown, typical for a reversible PEM cell operating at ˜60° C.
FIG. 2 shows schematically the key components of a renewable fuel production system and an electrical energy storage system, based on the reversible cells discussed above. The arrows and labels show the conversion of electrical energy to a fuel.
In this case, H2O and/or CO2 are supplied as a feedstock for electrolysis in the solid oxide electrochemical cell. In other systems, the resulting fuel is a H2—CO-rich mixture that is subsequently catalytically converted into alcohol or hydrocarbon fuels. FIG. 2 also shows an electricity storage configuration where two tanks are used, one to store a mostly-oxidized gas (predominately H2O and CO2) that is introduced into the solid oxide electrochemical cell for electrolysis (darker arrows), with the resulting reduced gas (predominately H2 and CO) stored in the second tank. This part of the cycle represents storage of electrical energy in chemical form, analogous to charging a battery. The reduced gas is the fuel for fuel cell operation (lighter arrows, analogous to discharging a battery), with the oxidized exhaust stored in the first tank. The oxygen electrode can utilize either ambient air or pure oxygen, the latter is produced during the electrolysis process and can be stored for use during the fuel cell part of the cycle. While the advantage of this system is the substantial improvement in the cell oxygen-electrode performance due to the five times increase in oxygen partial pressure compared to air, the disadvantage is the cost of the oxygen tank and associated hardware. The reversible system depicted in FIG. 2 is very similar to a flow battery.
While either the PEM or solid oxide cells can, in principle, be used in the systems shown in the FIG. 2, there are two limitations with the PEM cells. First, the PEM cells work only with H2/H2O, such that it is more difficult to produce alcohol and hydrocarbon fuels. Second, the low-temperature PEM cells always show a much larger overpotential, as seen by the very rapid change in voltage near zero current in FIG. 1, that is not seen in the solid oxide electrochemical cell. This difference is explained by the high temperature for solid oxide electrochemical cells, which promotes fast electrochemical reactions even without the use of the precious metal electro-catalysts used in the low-temperature cells. The relevance of this difference is seen by calculating the maximum theoretical round-trip efficiency η=VFC/VEL of the reversible cell shown in FIG. 2, where VFC is the cell operating potential in fuel cell mode and VEL is the cell operating potential in electrolysis mode. Assuming that the current density is at least 0.5 A/cm2 in a practical device, the low-temperature cell case provides for η=0.71V/1.81V˜39%, whereas the high-temperature cell provides for η=0.87V/1.07 V=0.81% for ±0.5 A/cm2.
Based on the above efficiency equations, it appears that a solid oxide electrochemical cell can easily yield high η. However, current solid oxide electrochemical cells are also not without their deficiencies; there is a lower limit on the electrolysis voltage VEL due to thermal balance requirements. That is, the electrical energy input into the cell must match the heat requirement of the endothermic electrolysis reactions, which at 800° C. are:H2O═H2(½)O2 ΔH=248.29 kJCO2═CO+(½)O2 ΔH=282.35 kJ
The electrical work done by the cell in electrolyzing a mole of H2O (or CO2) is VELxF, where z=2 for the above reactions and F is Faraday's constant. The electrical energy input matches the thermal requirement for electrolyzing a mole of H2O (or CO2) whenVEL,TN=ΔH/2F, where VEL,TN is the thermal-neutral electrolysis voltage: 1.29 V for H2O and 1.46 V for CO2. If the cell is operated below the thermal-neutral voltage during charging, the reaction will consume heat and the cell will cool uncontrollably. This is illustrated in FIG. 3 for a cell operating at 800° C. on H2 with a steam content near 50% first in electrolysis mode and then in fuel cell mode. At this condition, VTN=1.29 V, but to achieve 80% electrical efficiency, VEL=1.085 V and VFC=0.868 V. Because the electrolysis voltage is below the thermal-neutral voltage, the cell consumes heat during the charge cycle and will cool. Similarly, as the system discharges, the thermal-neutral voltage is considerably higher than the operating voltage and excess heat is generated. Under these conditions, the temperature of the cell cannot be maintained without an external heat source in electrolysis mode and substantial active cooling in fuel cell mode. A substantial amount of heat energy is wasted, unless heat storage can be implemented to use the heat during the next electrolysis cycle.
Thus, to maintain the cell temperature during electrolysis mode, the cell must be operated above the thermal-neutral voltage during charging and the efficiency is reduced to η=0.88V/1.29 V=68% for H2O, and an even lower value for CO2. Similar conclusions can be drawn for the fuel-production case shown in FIG. 2.
It is therefore desirable to provide a method for improving the efficiency and durability of electrical energy storage to cure the deficiencies presented above.

Method for improving the efficiency and durability of electrical energy storage using solid oxide electrolysis cell


A computing system may include a database and server device(s) disposed within a remote network management platform. The database may contain (i) discovery information for installations of software applications on computing devices of a managed network, and (ii) software configurations for a subset of the software applications, the software configurations respectively indicating rights allocations and consumption for each of the subset of the software applications. The server device(s) may be configured to: determine that the software configurations do not support a particular software application, where the discovery information indicates that the particular software application is installed on computing device(s) of the managed network; and responsively, generate a particular software configuration for the particular software application, the particular software configuration indicating: (i) a rights allocation of zero rights, and (ii) a rights consumption according to the discovery information; and update the database to include the particular software configuration.

An enterprise may use many computing devices to efficiently facilitate and manage its many interrelated operations. Each such computing device may have one or more software applications installed thereon. Where the software is proprietary, the enterprise may procure licenses for the computing devices to use the software. Given this, the enterprise may seek to properly track license rights allocations and consumption associated with the software applications, so as to ensure that the license rights consumption complies with the license rights allocations and/or with other constraints imposed by the enterprise.

Automatic generation of a software configuration for license reconciliation


A rubber compound comprising a fluorine rubber component and an acrylic rubber component is produced by adding an acrylic monomer to an aqueous emulsion of fluorine-containing elastomer obtained by emulsion polymerization, using a fluorine-containing surfactant, followed by radical polymerization reaction. The obtained rubber compound can satify both of vulcanization moldability and heat aging resistance, and is at a lower cost than the expensive fluorine rubber.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for producing a rubber compound, and more particularly to a process for producing a rubber compound by radical polymerization of acrylic monomer in the presence of a fluorine-containing elastomer.
2. Related Prior Art
Acrylic copolymer elastomer (acrylic rubber) has good oil resistance and heat resistance, and also is at a relatively low cost and thus has been much used as vulcanization-molding materials such as various automobile sealing materials, etc. Higher temperature of using circumstances due to recent higher efficiency of automobile engines is requiring materials having a much better heat resistance. On the other hand, fluorine-containing elastomer (fluorine rubber) is used particularly at heat resistance-requiring positions, among the automobile engine sealing materials, because of its distinguished heat resistance, but its drawback is a very high cost.
In these situations many attempts to blend the acrylic rubber with fluorine rubber have been made to satisfy both of the heat resistance and cost, but the conventional art of cross-linking these two rubbers by a cocross-linking agent capable of cocross-linking these two rubbers hardly satisfied even the intermediate heat resistance between the heat resistance of the acrylic rubber and that of the fluorine rubber. For the required improvement, it has been regarded as important to make better the compatibility of these two rubbers.
JP-A-4-363352 discloses a process for improving the interdispersibility between a fluorine-containing polymer and an acrylic polymer by dissolving or swelling an amorphous, fluorine-containing polymer into or in an acrylic monomer, followed by polymerization reaction. Polymers obtained from the acrylic monomer are very liable to have a lower molecular weight, resulting in poor processability, and also their content in the rubber compound is low, so that the aim to lower the cost cannot be attained.
JP-A-1-299859 discloses the art of preventing boundary surface pealing by cross-linking substantially only acrylic rubber in blending of fluorine rubber with the acrylic rubber, thereby making the grain size of dispersed acrylic rubber and increasing the interfusion of molecules through the boundary surface between the two rubber, but the process is not suitable for mass production and it is hard to obtain a stable blending simply.
To solve these problems, JP-A-5-287156 proposes a process for blending an internally cross-linked acrylic rubber with a fluorine rubber, but when the internally cross-linked acrylic rubber is used in a higher blending ratio, no satisfactory plasticity is obtained and vulcanization molding is hard to conduct. That is, there is a limit to its blending ratio and the aim to lower the cost cannot be attained.
Known processes for making compatible polymers from non-compatible polymers include a process for forming an IPN (interfusion polymer network) of rubber components by dynamic cross-linking, thereby improving the impact resistance of crystalline resin, a process for seed polymerization (core-shell polymerization) to obtain a paint capable of producing good film characteristics, (JP-A-3-7784), etc., but in case of blend rubber having no thermoplasticity, IPN elastomer has a low plasticity and thus has a molding problem, and also there have no actual cases of applying the seed polymerization process to a non-compatible rubber system of fluorine rubber and acrylic rubber.
JP-A-63-312836 discloses addition of 100 to 500 parts by weight of .alpha., .beta.-ethylenic unsaturated carboxylic acid ester per 100 parts by weight of the fluorocarbon polymer in a primary particle dispersion of fluorocarbon polymer obtained by using a nonionic surfactant and an anionic surfactant, followed by rodical polymerization reaction, where the product is a fluorocarbon polymer compound having a hydrocarbon polymer outer layer and is no such compound that the individual polymers themselves are entangled with one another. The product compound is used as a coating composition and has a good dispersibility in water, an organic solvent, a synthetic resin solution or a synthetic resin dispersion.


A method of treating a subterranean formation comprising the steps of providing a servicing fluid comprising carbon dioxide and a hydrocarbon blend, wherein the hydrocarbon blend comprises at least about 65% hydrocarbons having from six carbons (C6) to eleven carbons (C11); and placing the servicing fluid into the subterranean formation. A subterranean servicing fluid comprising carbon dioxide and a hydrocarbon blend wherein the hydrocarbon blend comprises and at least about 65% hydrocarbons having from six carbons (C6) to eleven carbons (C11).

The present invention relates to servicing fluids for use in subterranean operations. More particularly, the present invention relates to improved servicing fluids comprising optimized hydrocarbon blends and carbon dioxide and methods of using such servicing fluids in subterranean formations.
Servicing fluids are used in a variety of operations and treatments performed in oil and gas wells. Such operations and treatments include, but are not limited to, production stimulation operations, such as fracturing, and well completion operations, such as gravel packing.
An example of a production stimulation operation using a servicing fluid having particles suspended therein is hydraulic fracturing. That is, a type of servicing fluid, referred to in the art as a fracturing fluid, is pumped through a well bore into a subterranean zone to be stimulated at a rate and pressure such that fractures are formed or enhanced in a desired subterranean zone. The fracturing fluid is generally a gel, emulsion, or foam that may comprise a particulate material often referred to as proppant. When used, proppant is deposited in the fracture and functions, inter alia, to hold the fracture open while maintaining conductive channels through which such produced fluids can flow upon completion of the fracturing treatment and release of the attendant hydraulic pressure.
An example of a well completion operation using a servicing fluid having particles suspended therein is gravel packing. Gravel packing treatments are used, inter alia, to reduce the migration of unconsolidated formation particulates into the well bore. In gravel packing operations, particulates, referred to in the art as gravel, are carried to a well bore in a subterranean producing zone by a servicing fluid known as a carrier fluid. That is, the particulates are suspended in a carrier fluid, which may be viscosified, and the carrier fluid is pumped into a well bore in which the gravel pack is to be placed. As the particulates are placed in the zone, the carrier fluid leaks off into the subterranean zone and/or is returned to the surface. The resultant gravel pack acts as a filter to separate formation solids from produced fluids while permitting the produced fluids to flow into and through the well bore. While screenless gravel packing operations are becoming more common, traditional gravel pack operations involve placing a gravel pack screen in the well bore and packing the surrounding annulus between the screen and the well bore with gravel designed to prevent the passage of formation particulates through the pack with produced fluids, wherein the well bore may be oriented from vertical to horizontal and may extend from hundreds to thousands of feet. When installing the gravel pack, the gravel is carried to the formation in the form of a slurry by mixing the gravel with a viscosified carrier fluid. Such gravel packs may be used to stabilize a formation while causing minimal impairment to well productivity. The gravel, inter alia, acts to prevent the particulates from occluding the screen or migrating with the produced fluids, and the screen, inter alia, acts to prevent the gravel from entering the well bore.
In some situations the processes of hydraulic fracturing and gravel packing are combined into a single treatment to provide a stimulated production and an annular gravel pack to prevent formation sand production. Such treatments are often referred to as "frac pack" operations. In some cases the treatments are completed with a gravel pack screen assembly in place with the hydraulic fracturing treatment being pumped through the annular space between the casing and screen. In this situation the hydraulic fracturing treatment ends in a screen out condition creating an annular gravel pack between the screen and casing. This allows both the hydraulic fracturing treatment and gravel pack to be placed in a single operation. In other cases the fracturing treatment may be performed prior to installing the screen and placing a gravel pack.
In carrying out hydraulic fracturing, frac packing, and gravel packing, fluid recovery oftentimes is critical. Foamed fluids have been developed in part to provide enhanced fluid recovery through energization by a compressed gas phase. They also reduce the total amount of liquid used, typically by a factor of about four. Such foamed fluids have included various surfactants, known as foaming and foam stabilizing agents, for facilitating the foaming and stabilization of the foam produced when a gas is mixed with a servicing fluid. Thus, foamed fluids may be thought of as media in which a relatively large volume of gas is dispersed in a relatively small volume of liquid, usually with the aid of a surfactant that reduces the surface tension of the fluid. The most commonly used gases for foamed fracture fluids are nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and/or combinations of the two. Foamed servicing fluids may be preferred over conventional servicing fluids because they generally provide superior fluid recovery as well as excellent fluid loss control without forming a substantial filter cake. Enhanced fluid recovery is provided by the expansion of the gas in the foam when the pressure is released after the stimulation and/or treatment. This promotes flow of residual servicing fluid liquid back into the well, which may aid in cleanup of the servicing fluid once the subterranean operation is complete.
The use of conventional servicing fluids in subterranean operations may present disadvantages. For example, high capillary pressures associated with the use of aqueous systems may restrict the flow of produced gaseous hydrocarbons such as methane. Capillary pressures of several thousand psi can result in low permeability formations, wherein the high differential pressures necessary to initiate gas flow can result in extended fluid recovery times, or permanent loss of effective fracture half length. Furthermore, use of water in undersaturated reservoirs can also reduce permeability and associated gas flow through permanent increase in water saturation of the reservoir.


An improved dead weight piston pressure measurement/calibration device includes a cylinder and a dead weight piston assembly that includes a piston rotatable and vertically in the cylinder, bell housing supported by the piston and carrying a number of calibration weights. The weight of the dead weight piston assembly initially is supported by an elastic stop device. Gas from an external source is rapidly forced into the cylinder until the dead weight piston assembly rises in an "elastic" zone defined by the elastic stop device. Such movement is sensed to "proportionally" reduce the rate of flow of gas and stabilize the position of the piston in the second element in a free-floating equilibrium condition, and actuate a drive mechanism that rotates the dead weight piston assembly and maintains the rotation rate in a defined range without producing any sustained vertical or radial displacement forces on the dead weight piston assembly, and thereby avoiding pressure overshoot.

The invention relates to a system for imparting precisely controlled spin to a piston of a dead weight piston pressure measurement/calibration device without unpredictably disturbing its free movement.
Dead weight piston pressure measurement/calibration devices are well-known. Such devices ordinarily include a piston supporting a selected number of calibration weights. A "dead weight piston assembly" includes the piston, a bell housing, and the calibration weights. The piston is slidably disposed in a cylinder, in very low frictional relationship to the cylinder. Fluid, which can be gas or liquid, the pressure of which is to be defined, is metered into the bottom of the cylinder so as to push the dead weight piston assembly upward. When the force produced on the bottom of the piston by the pressurized fluid equals the weight of the dead weight piston assembly, the dead weight piston assembly "floats" in an equilibrium condition.
In the closest prior art dead weight piston calibration devices, the piston usually supports a hollow, partially cylindrical bell housing that encloses the cylinder within which the piston is disposed. A horizontal annular flange or ledge is attached to and extends outwardly from a lower outer surface portion of the bell housing. The piston, bell housing, and annular weight assembly are very precisely and symmetrically shaped and balanced. A selected number of calibration weights are stacked on the ledge for the purpose of precisely establishing the total weight of the dead weight piston assembly. A spin is imparted to the dead weight piston assembly, which is sufficiently symmetrical about the vertical axis of the piston that the piston spins freely within the cylinder, the outer surfaces of the piston being separated and lubricated from the walls of the cylinder by a thin layer of fluid, which can be a gas or liquid. The known weight of the dead weight piston assembly and the known effective area of the "piston-cylinder" produce a precise indication of the pressure being supplied to support the dead weight piston assembly in a "free-floating" condition between upper and lower stops of the dead weight piston calibration device.
Those skilled in the art know that the best accuracy can be obtained in a dead weight piston pressure measurement system while the dead weight piston assembly is rotating in a free-floating equilibrium condition in a particular rotation rate range, with no interference from a rotational drive system or a rotation measuring device.
Prior dead weight piston pressure measuring systems typically impart spin to the piston assembly by means of an elliptical pulley driven by a constant velocity belt. Or, a flexible member momentarily engages the dead weight piston assembly to accelerate it, but also causing vertical "bouncing" of the piston which results in pressure perturbations. The times at which this happens are unpredictable. Consequently, the measured pressure data contains corresponding unpredictable perturbations. Other prior systems reduce the pressure beneath the free floating rotating piston to lower it enough to cause it to engage a drive clutch and accelerate the piston rotation rate to the desired maximum value. Other prior systems are completely manual, depending on operator observation of piston rotation rate and manual turning on of the drive motor to accelerate the piston. These prior systems are not well suited to rapid, accurate, automated pressure measurement/calibration operations.
The centering of the piston in the cylinder is influenced by the rotation speed of the piston. Consequently, there is a slight dependance of the effective area of the piston-cylinder on piston rotation speed. In order to improve the reproduceability of a dead weight piston measurement, it is necessary to maintain the rotation speed of the piston within defined limits.
Thus, there is an unmet need to provide a drive system with a means of maintaining the rotation speed of the piston within predetermined range.
A problem with such prior dead weight piston calibration devices is that it previously has not been possible to impart adequate spin to the dead weight piston assembly without causing piston motion perturbations due to permanent or momentary contact of the piston with the piston drive mechanism. Such perturbations obviously reduce the accuracy of the pressure measurement or calibration being performed. In prior dead weight piston calibration devices in which the piston drive system automatically engages and accelerates rotation of the piston, the precise moment or instant of engagement are indeterminate, so the moment or instant of occurrence of the above mentioned perturbations also are indeterminate, and there is no basis for reviewing when the pressure data is inaccurate because of the perturbations.
Accordingly, there is an unmet need for an improved dead weight piston pressure measurement or calibration device that is more accurate than those of the prior art.
More specifically, there is an unmet need to eliminate inaccuracy in a dead weight piston measurement or calibration device due to "random" vertical force components applied to a piston thereof in the course of causing the piston to rotate while in a free-floating condition.
Another unmet need of the art is to eliminate unpredictability of the times at which the piston drive mechanism engages the rotating piston assembly to accelerate it.

Dead weight piston drive and control system


Methods and systems for using a signal to generate a pilot tone to modulate the bias point of an amplifier that amplifies the signal. In a cable television (CATV) network, a processor receives a signal to be amplified by an amplifier at a location remote from the processor. A bias point of the amplifier may be modulated to reduce amplifier dissipation. The processor analyzes the received signal to determine a pilot tone for modulating the bias point of the amplifier. The pilot tone may be transmitted to the remote amplifier in the signal. For example, a pilot tone may be generated in a CATV head end, transmitted along a signal path, and downstream amplifiers can use the pilot tone to modulate the bias point of the amplifier as the signal is being amplified.

A cable television (CATV) system is capable of providing a variety of media content, such as video, data, voice, or high-speed Internet services to subscribers. The CATV provider typically delivers the media content from a head end to its subscriber's client devices over a transmission network such as a coaxial network, a fiber optic network, or a hybrid fiber/coax (HFC) network. Requirements for data throughput (or bandwidth) in these CATV networks are growing exponentially as customers demand more content, data services, etc. Though improvements in encoding efficiencies and transport protocols have thus far allowed cable operators to keep pace with subscriber and competitive demands, it is important to continue the analysis of the various network elements that can enhance or inhibit the overall performance of next-generation cable networks.
Most of the radio frequency (RF) amplifiers within the cable television network operate in what is referred to as a "class A" mode of operation, which provides a very high fidelity signal, often quantified in terms of signal-to-noise and signal-to-2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th . . . harmonic distortion products. However, the power consumption for the class A mode of operation is on the order of 100 times higher than the composite power of an RF output signal. This higher power consumption results from the need to accommodate significant and frequent 'peak to average' deviations from the effective signal power, which may include setting the output RF rms amplitude of the amplifier at no more than roughly 25% of the output rail-to-rail range of either voltage or current, depending on the implementation. The higher demand for power consumption drives up the cost of cable network products that require RF gain blocs (e.g., head end optical transmitters and receivers, fiber-optic nodes, RF distribution amplifiers). Thus, it is desirable to reduce the power dissipation in a CATV network without compromising output signal power in relation to noise. It would be even more desirable to reduce the power dissipation in a CATV network while improving output signal power in relation to noise.
It should be understood that, while the accompanying figures illustrate embodiments that include the portions of the disclosure claimed, and explain various principles and advantages of those embodiments, the details displayed are not necessary to understand the illustrated embodiments, as the details depicted in the figures would be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the present disclosure.


In order to enable an "800" telephone number business subscriber to identify customers, whose incoming telephone calls were blocked, the Automatic Number Identification (ANI) of these calling customer is automatically recorded within the telecommunications network for later access by the business subscriber.

The present invention relates to telecommunications systems and particularly to "800" telecommunications networks.
The number of customer contacts that a business experiences may directly affect that business's market share and revenues. As a result, a business may look to different methods to facilitate customer contacts, such as utilizing currently available telecommunication services. For example, some businesses subscribe to an "800" telecommunication network service in order to provide accessibility to their customers and thus increase the number of their customer contacts. An "800" service allows businesses to offer "toll-free" communications to customers. For example, a customer can dial an "800" telephone number, at no-charge, to contact a particular business in order to inquire about a specific product, place an order, or even request a service, all from the convenience of his or her residence or office.
Typically a business which subscribes to an "800" service is characterized as engaging in a form of "in-bound telemarketing", i.e., when contact with a business representative, or agent, is initiated by a customer dialing the "800" telephone number. In-bound telemarketing services are usually engineered by a business in order to provide an acceptable grade of service for the incoming "800" customer telephone calls. For example, a business will order a specific type of incoming telecommunication facility which is comprised of a number of trunks (e.g. ground start trunks, loop start trunks, ISDN trunks etc.) from the service provider based on their expected incoming telephone call volumes. In addition, a business will determine the number of agents needed to answer, or provide "call receipt", for the incoming telephone calls. As long as the number of agents is equal to the number of trunks, every incoming telephone call can be answered, but when the number of agents is less than the number of trunks, customers may have to wait for their telephone calls to be answered. As a result, in order to make the customer' s wait more bearable some businesses improve their call receipt operation by utilizing sophisticated premise equipment. For example, a large business may actually terminate the telecommunication facilities from the service provider in their own on-premise switching system, or Private Branch Exchange (PBX), which provides the business with additional features for handling incoming calls. With such an installation, an incoming telephone call can still be answered if all agents are busy, but the calling customer may first hear an announcement to "Please hold, all agents are busy . . . " to encourage the customer to wait for service.
However, even if a business engineers its in-bound telemarketing service to provide for generally efficient call-receipt of incoming customer telephone calls, there is still a problem during "peak periods", such as during either sale promotions or holiday weekends. During these peak periods, the number of incoming customer telephone calls may not only exceed the number of call-receipt agents available to answer a call, but may also physically exceed the capacity of the incoming telecommunication facilities subscribed to by the business. Disadvantageously, these additional customer calls are lost. Customers calling in only hear a busy signal and since their call is "not answered" i.e. "blocked" from completion, they must redial the telephone number to attempt contact with the business. While customers are not charged for such calls, re-dialing can be a frustrating experience and, as a result, not all customers will redial. Since a business can only identify the customers who actually make contact with the business, the customers who give up, whose identities are unknown, represent lost customer contacts which affects sales of services or products. Even if a business has on-premise equipment, such as a PBX, this equipment, once all the incoming facilities are busy, cannot detect if additional calls are being blocked from completion, so, from the business's point of view these additional customers are, again, lost.

Recording of automatic number identification to identify lost customers


In certain embodiments, a change to a display resolution (or other display configuration) to be used at a physical device may be effectuated without the need to reboot a virtual device associated with the physical device. In some embodiments, a display resolution for a portion of a virtual device user interface of a virtual device is determined based on display configuration information corresponding to a first physical device (e.g., a display resolution of the first physical device). The portion of the virtual device user interface is configured based on the determined display resolution, and the configured portion is sent to the first physical device. In some embodiments, in response to obtaining second display configuration information from a second physical device, the portion of the virtual device user interface is resized (e.g., without rebooting the virtual device), and the resized portion is sent to the second physical device.

When different physical devices connect to a virtual device, the information/content within the user interface of the virtual device that is rendered via a display of the physical device may appear squished or stretched. Although there have been attempts to solve this problem by generating a predefined list of display configurations and selecting the best available display configuration from the predefined list of display configurations that closely matches the display configuration of the physical device, such attempts have fallen short because most of the times the predefined list of display configurations does not include an exact match corresponding to the display configuration of the physical device. Additionally, in response to a selection of a display configuration from the predefined list of display configurations, the virtual device needs to be rebooted in order to reflect the selected display configuration. These and other drawbacks exist.

Dynamic resizing of a portion of a virtual device user interface


First and second electrical wires (10), (12) are wrapped helically around a polyprolene core (22). Along a single helical portion (A), a sheath (24) is placed over the spiral wound wires and core. In an open double helix portion (B), the core with spiral wound wires is wrapped into an open helix. At an electrical stimulation portion (C), insulation is removed from the wires such that bare conductors (14), (16) are wrapped spirally around the core. The core with the spiral wrapped conductors is wrapped in an open helix. A plurality of barbs (32) are mechanically connected along the entire length of the exposed electrical conductor surface. The core extends beyond the end of the electrical conductor surface to facilitate insertion into a selected site with a cannula (64).

The present invention relates to the electrode art. It finds particular application in conjunction with electrodes for stimulating skeletal muscles and will be described with particular reference thereto.
Functional restoration of a paralyzed limb can be achieved through the application of technique known as functional electrical stimulation (FES). In this technique, an electrode is implanted at an appropriate point in one of the patients skeletal muscles. The electrode must be positioned accurately, generally with a tolerance of a couple of millimeters. Once the electrode is implanted, its lead wire is run under tile skin to an exit site or connected to an implanted stimulator or other similar device.
Physiological movements are relatively complex, frequently requiring the coordinated operation of numerous muscles. To achieve full functional control, a patient may need as many as 50 or more implanted electrodes. The leads from the plurality of electrodes run through the tissue and the muscles to an exit site or are connected to an implanted stimulator or other similar device.
The skeletal muscle tissue environment is much more severe than the environment for brain electrodes, skin surface electrodes, heart electrodes, or the like. The stimulated skeletal muscle is continually contracting and expanding. The implanted electrode moves a relatively large distance with each expansion and contraction relative to movement which brain, skin, or heart electrodes undergo. One problem with the prior art electrodes has been a loosening of the electrodes due to the muscle contraction and expansion. Another significant problem with the prior art electrodes has been failure of the electrode leads attributable in large part to the flexing and stress which they undergo during muscle contraction and expansion.
Once the electrodes are implanted and the leads are run under the skin, it is difficult to tell when a lead or electrode has failed. More specifically, electrical continuity of the lead is commonly checked by placing a current into the electrode lead at the interface and completing the circuit with an electrode on the surface of the patient's skin. The patient's muscle, skin, and other tissue between the surface electrode and the implanted electrode has a relatively high impedance. Frequently, it is difficult to distinguish between the high impedance attributable to an electrical break in the lead from the high impedance of the patient tissue.
The present invention contemplates a new electrode and lead combination which overcomes the above-referenced problems and others.

Double helix functional stimulation electrode


A Power Builder for a power management control system facilitates automated addition and configuration of devices to a system project. By invoking the Power Builder as an option to the system, device selection becomes automated and points associated with the selected devices are automatically created. Main menu screens are generated which contain pre-configured wizards and screens for the selected devices. A configuration update is performed on the system and the project is restarted.

This invention relates generally to computer systems and in particular, to a power management control system in which a plurality of power monitoring and control devices are coupled to and controlled by a computer through a common bus.
In known power management control systems, a control computer communicates, via a network server, with intelligent end devices (IEDs), such as relays, meters, and other analysis tools and power control devices via an ethernet or other network to which the computer is connected. The network gateway facilitates communications between the computer and the network. User interfaces are used to configure and monitor the performance of IEDs. Adding and configuring IEDs and associated screens into a system from the user interface however, is a complex and tedious process typically having a steep learning curve. Further, source code usually needs to be added to a system when adding IEDs to a power management control system.

Power builder for power management control system automation software


Tampon packaging and disposal systems and methods are disclosed. The packaging has a flexible mitten and an optional attached tampon enclosure. The tampon enclosure can package a tampon and the flexible mitten wraps around the tampon enclosure. When unwrapped, the tampon enclosure is detachable from the mitten and the tampon can be used by a user. The mitten is used for removing the used tampon worn by the user and disposing of the used tampon after removal.

Many women worldwide use tampons during menstruation to help control or stop bleeding. The international medical community also uses tampons to help in medical applications like stopping or reducing bleeding from a bullet wound. Tampons are undeniably a part of modern culture and have grown to be a common household product with a large consumer base.
Because tampons absorb bodily fluids like blood and vaginal discharge, their use, removal, and disposal presents sanitary and other toxic exposure and disposal challenges. Tampons for personal use are oftentimes used and discarded in a private, unregulated setting, like a restroom at a business, which creates a situation that is ripe for exposure of the bodily fluids to people other than the tampon user and is also ripe for exposure of the bodily fluids to the tampon user herself.
Generally, tampons are currently available in a few forms—with and without a tube-in-tube style applicator. Regardless of the form, tampons are packaged in a disposable wrapper that, once opened, is no longer usable for any particular purpose and is promptly discarded. The current tampon wrappers provide a container for storing the tampon but serve no other purpose.
Frequently, the tampon user has to first remove the existing, used tampon before placing the new, fresh tampon. To do so, she uses her hand and usually extracts the tampon by gently pulling a string attached to the distal end of the tampon or pulls on the tampon itself. The tampon strings and the tampons can be difficult to grip especially if they are soaked in bodily fluids. Oftentimes during the extraction process, the tampon user comes into direct contact with her bodily fluids and also exposes her sensitive vaginal area to any contaminants that might be on her hands. Further, she discards the used tampon along with any other materials she might use to help remove the tampon, such as toilet paper or other paper products, in a nearby trash receptacle of some kind. For those tampons with applicators, the applicators are also discarded after being placed and they too are contaminated with bodily fluids.
The removal and disposal of tampons creates a sanitary and hygienic problem. The tampon users often have difficulty gripping the tampon or the tampon string to remove it. The tampon users and others are exposed to bodily fluids when they discard tampons in an uncontrolled environment like a restroom. During the extraction process, bodily fluids sometimes soil the tampon user's clothing or other items. The used tampons can create a foul odor and a toxic environment for those people who are tasked with cleaning the trash receptacles. Tampon packaging is not recycled or reused for any purpose and creates waste.
Therefore, there is a need in the art of tampon packaging to create a multi-purpose, sanitary, easy-to-use, cost-efficient packaging that has a low manufacturing cost.

Protective disposable wrapper for tampons


A method for producing Omega-3 fatty acid enriched eggs includes the step of mixing a feed comprised of corn, soybean meal, flaxseed, oyster shell, limestone, salt, vitamin premix, mineral premix, Vitamin E premix, methionine, animal/vegetable fat blend, pectinase and glucanase enzyme product, and phosphorus. The method further includes feeding the hen a feed ration of 100-110 g per day and having the hen lay the enriched eggs.

This invention relates to eggs enriched with a predetermined amount of Omega-3 fatty acids. This invention also relates to a method for producing enriched eggs involving feeding hens a multiple phase flaxseed-based diet. Preferably, the enriched eggs of this invention each contain 350-450 mg of Omega-3 fatty acids where at least 250 mg of these acids are C18:3 (linolenic acid) and at least 100 mg are C22:6 (docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)). Most preferably, the enriched eggs of this invention each contain 400 mg of Omega-3 fatty acids.
It is beneficial for humans to consume eggs enriched with Omega-3 fatty acids for numerous reasons. There is a link between dietary n-3 fatty acid consumption and a decreased incidence of cardiovascular disease. In addition, consumption of Omega-3 fatty acid enriched eggs improves a person's HDL:LDL cholesterol ratio. Furthermore, enriched eggs are able to reduce a person's serum triglyceride levels. Although consumption of Omega-3 fatty acids is beneficial, dietary sources of these fatty acids are limited to certain types of fish and oilseed such as flax. Thus, incorporating these beneficial fatty acids into eggs provides an additional dietary n-3 fatty acid source for consumers.
Previous methods of producing enriched eggs involve feeding hens flax and/or fish oil, since both are rich sources of linolenic acid, an Omega-3 fatty acid. However, these methods have negative side effects. Flax-enriched diets used in these methods affect hen sensory properties and reduce the anti-oxidative properties of Vitamin E in the hens' systems. Furthermore, these diets produce eggs having a fishy flavor which are undesirable for consumption. Such diets also cause decreased egg production rates. In addition, previously introduced diets have not been refined into phases relating to egg production or egg size so as to guarantee a defined amount of Omega-3 fatty acid in each egg or to guarantee a certain n-6 to n-3 fatty acid ratio in the egg yolk.
A method for producing Omega-3 fatty acid enriched eggs is needed which produces eggs of a desirable flavor. In addition, a method is needed which is able to ensure a predetermined amount of Omega-3 fatty acids are consistently provided in each enriched egg. Still further, a diet for hens needs to be available which increases the amount of Omega-3 fatty acids in their eggs without causing adverse effects.

Feed to produce Omega-3 fatty acid enriched eggs and method for producing such eggs


The present invention discloses a MEMS lithography mask with improved tungsten deposition topography and a method for making the same. The MEMS lithography mask includes: a pattern including at least two sections forming a conjunction with each other, each of the at least two sections having a width not less than a minimum width, the conjunction having a center and a plurality of corners, wherein at least one of the corners is inwardly recessed to reduce a width of the conjunction, the sections being for defining trenches on a substrate to be filled with tungsten as apart of a MEMS device, whereby the lowest height of the tungsten surface is not lower than 80% of the trench height.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention is related to a micro-electro-mechanical-system (MEMS) lithography mask, in particular to one that improves tungsten deposition topography, and a method for improving tungsten deposition topography.
2. Description of Related Art
A MEMS typically contains, a MEMS device and a microelectronic circuit which need to be integrated with each other to constitute an integrated MEMS chip. Such integration is an important concern in the manufacturing process of a MEMS chip.
FIG. 1 shows a partial pattern 100 of a prior art MEMS lithography mask for defining a tungsten layer; what is shown is a partial pattern of the MEMS device, while the pattern of the microelectronic circuit is not shown. Tungsten is an important material often used for making plugs in the interconnection of a microelectronic circuit; a typical process for forming such tungsten plugs is damascene process. A damascene process includes steps as follows: first, etching trenches in a silicon dioxide layer according to a desired pattern; second, depositing tungsten in the trenches by, e.g., chemical vapor deposition; and last, polishing the surface by chemical mechanical polish to prepare for later deposition of metal wire layer. In the same time as the tungsten being deposited in the microelectronic circuit area, a tungsten layer is also formed in the MEMS device area. This tungsten layer in the MEMS device area is to constitute a mechanical structure, for example, to constitute a part of a MEMS device, such as a movable component, a fixed component, a spring, or an anchor, etc. in combination with an upper or lower metal layer.
Please refer to FIGS. 2, 2A and 2B, which show the 3-dimensional structure of the MEMS device. A movable electrode 30 (FIG. 2A) and fixed electrodes 40 (FIG. 2B) are formed on a substrate 20, wherein the fixed electrodes 40 are fixed to the substrate 20 by one or more structure layers 12 below. When the movable electrode 30 move in the direction shown in FIG. 2A, the gaps between the movable electrode 30 and the fixed electrodes 40 are changed so that the capacitance is changed accordingly; a displacement can thus be measured. In this example, the mask shown in FIG. 1 is used to define the structure of the aluminum layer 10 and the tungsten layer 11.
Referring back to FIG. 1, in the mask pattern 100 which defines the tungsten layer, often there are two or more sections forming a conjunction with each other. For example, in the cross-shaped pattern 110 at the left of FIG. 1, a conjunction is formed in the dotted circle. If the cross-shaped pattern 110 in FIG. 1 is used to define a trench for depositing tungsten, the topography as shown in FIG. 3A might be formed, and the cross-section view along the cross-section line AB would appear as shown in FIG. 3B. As one can see from FIG. 3B, the center of the conjunction is not fully filled with tungsten because it is far from the edges of the sections. Therefore, there is a cavity at the center of the conjunction. And if another metal layer 10, such as aluminum or copper layer, is deposited thereon, the metal layer will also follow the topography and form a smaller cavity at the center. Because the surface topography is not even, the stress between different metal layers increases accordingly, which may cause malfunctions in the MEMS such as due to errors in the relationships between the movable electrodes and fixed electrodes.
In the prior art mentioned above, the damascene process of tungsten generates cavities in the topography in the MEMS device area and may affect the functionality of the MEMS device; this is disadvantageous. In view of such drawback, the present invention proposes a MEMS lithography mask with improved tungsten deposition topography and a corresponding method to overcome it.

MEMS lithography mask with improved tungsten deposition topography and method for the same


The present invention relates to new indolinone compounds and their pharmaceutically acceptable salts and prodrugs for treating and preventing VEGFR related cellular disorders such as cancer.

VEGFR-1 (Flt-1) and VEGFR-2 (KDR/Flk-1) activities have been linked to cell growth, differentiation and proliferation. The apparent link between VEGFR-1 (Flt-1) and VEGFR-2 (KDR/Flk-1)-related cellular activities and human disorders had generated a great deal of effort to identify ways to modulate their activity and to identify small molecules which act as their inhibitors. For example, sunitinib from U.S. Pat. No. 6,573,293, was developed into a drug product with a tradename Sutent®. However, there are numerous side effects associated with sunitinib therapy, such as fatigue, diarrhea, nausea, anorexia, hypertension, a yellow skin discoloration, hand-foot skin reaction, and stomatitis. Serious (grade 3 or 4) adverse events occur in up to 10% of patients and include hypertension, fatigue, asthenia, diarrhea, and chemotherapy-induced acral erythema. Lab abnormalities associated with sunitinib therapy include lipase, amylase, neutrophils, lymphocytes, and platelets. Hypothyroidism and reversible erythrocytosis have also been associated with sunitinib. Moreover, dose reductions were required in 50% of the patients studied in RCC in order to manage the significant toxicities of sunitinib and its efficacy at dose reduced sub-group has never been published. There is a need to develop new compounds with better toxicity and efficacy profiles for cancer treatment.


Disclosed in an optical scanning apparatus which includes a deflecting unit comprised of a rotary polygon mirror for deflecting a light beam radiated from a light source unit, and a scanning optical system for guiding the light beam deflected by the deflecting unit to a surface to be scanned. In the optical scanning apparatus, individual elements are set such that a diameter of a circumscribed circle of the rotary polygon mirror, the number of deflecting facets of the rotary polygon mirror, an incident angle of the light beam on the deflecting facet at the time when the light beam scans a scanning center, a maximum swing angle of the deflecting facet at the time when an effective scanning range is scanned, and a magnification of the scanning optical system in a sub scanning section can satisfy a predetermined condition, thereby reducing an unevenness of pitches due to a deflecting-facet fall of the rotary polygon mirror, and readily achieving a highly precise and fine image.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical scanning apparatus and an image forming apparatus using the optical scanning apparatus, and particularly to an optical scanning apparatus which is suitably applicable to laser beam printers (LBPs), digital copying machines, multi-function printers and the like that employ an electrophotographic process, and in which an optically-modulated light beam from a light source unit is reflectively deflected by a rotary polygon mirror serving as a deflecting unit, transmitted through a scanning optical system, and scanned on a surface to be scanned (a scanned surface) to record image information at a high speed. The present invention further relates to a color image forming apparatus which uses a plurality of optical scanning apparatuses, and includes a plurality of image bearing members corresponding to respective colors.
2. Related Background Art
In a conventional optical scanning apparatus, such as a laser beam printer, image recording is carried out as follows. A light source unit emits a light beam optically modulated in accordance with an image signal, an optical deflector, such as a rotary polygon mirror, periodically deflects the light beam, an fθ lens system having fθ characteristics converges the light beam and forms a light spot on a surface of a photosensitive recording material (a photosensitive drum), and the surface of the recording material is optically scanned.
FIG. 10 schematically illustrates a main portion of a conventional optical scanning apparatus. In FIG. 10, a divergent light beam emitted from a light source unit 91 is converted into an approximately parallel light beam or a convergent light beam by a collimator lens 93, the light beam (the amount of light) is shaped by an aperture stop 92, and the light beam is incident on a cylindrical lens 94 having refractive power only in a sub scanning direction. The light beam incident on the cylindrical lens 94 emerges therefrom without any change in a main scanning section. With respect to a sub scanning section, the light beam is converged by the cylindrical lens 94, and is imaged on a place near a deflecting facet (a reflective facet) 95a of an optical deflector 95, which is comprised of a rotary polygon mirror, as an approximately linear image.
The light beam reflectively deflected by the deflecting facet 95a of the optical deflector 95 is guided onto a photosensitive drum surface serving as a scanned surface 98 through a scanning optical system (an fθ lens system) 96 having fθ characteristics. The photosensitive drum surface 98 is scanned with an imaged spot moving in a direction of an arrow B (a main scanning direction) when the optical deflector 95 is rotated in a direction of an arrow A. Image information is thus recorded.
In the above-discussed optical scanning apparatus, a BD (beam detector) sensor 35 serving as an optical detector is provided such that a start timing of image formation on the photosensitive drum surface 98 can be adjusted prior to the scanning of the photosensitive drum surface 98 with the light spot. The BD sensor 35 receives a BD light beam which is a portion of the light beam reflectively deflected by the optical deflector 95, i.e., a light beam scanning a range outside an image forming range prior to the scanning of the image forming range on the photosensitive drum surface 98. The BD light beam is reflected by a BD mirror 30, and is condensed by a BD lens (not shown) to be incident on the BD sensor 35. A BD signal (a synchronous signal) is detected from an output signal of the BD sensor 35. The start timing of image recording on the photosensitive drum surface 98 is adjusted based on the BD signal.
The scanning optical system 96 in FIG. 10 is constructed such that a conjugate relationship between the deflecting facet 95a of the optical deflector 95 and the photosensitive drum surface 98 can be established in the sub scanning section. A so-called deflecting-facet fall or inclination of the optical deflector 95 is thus compensated for.
In such an optical scanning apparatus, higher printing precision is desired in recent years, so that it is preferable to decrease unevenness of pitches between scanning lines as far as possible. Even when the scanning optical system has a function of compensating for the fall of the deflecting facet of the rotary polygon mirror, the unevenness of pitches due to the deflecting-facet fall of the rotary polygon mirror is likely to occur since positions of the light beam incident on the rotary polygon mirror differ from each other between respective scanning positions (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,245,462, and US AA2002126362).
The unevenness of pitches dz due to the deflecting-facet fall of the rotary polygon mirror is written asdz=Δ×β×γwhere γ is the amount of the deflecting-facet fall of the rotary polygon mirror, β is a magnification (a sub scanning magnification) of the scanning optical system in the sub-scanning section, and Δ is an optical path difference of the light beam incident on the rotary polygon mirror.
When the scanning optical system is to be made compact, the sub scanning magnification β increases since the scanning lens comes closer to the rotary polygon mirror. The amount of the deflecting-facet fall γ must be accordingly decreased, so that the standard of the deflecting-facet fall of the rotary polygon mirror inevitably becomes stringent.
In connection with the scanning lens, a resin mold is widely used recently, and its cost is increasingly reduced. On the other hand, the rotary polygon mirror needs to be formed of a metal material for the purposes of prevention of its deformation accompanying its rotation movement. Therefore, a ratio of the cost of the rotary polygon mirror relative to the cost of the overall scanning optical system is large.
Accordingly, as the standard of the deflecting-facet fall becomes more stringent, it becomes more difficult to reduce the cost of the rotary polygon mirror. As its solving measures, the optical path difference Δ can be decreased by reducing the size of the rotary polygon mirror. As the size of the rotary polygon mirror is reduced, the standard of the deflecting-facet fall becomes tolerant and the rotary polygon mirror can be made compact. Thus, a great reduction of the cost can be expected.
However, when the size of the rotary polygon mirror is reduced, the deflecting facet is decreased, and hence the width of a light beam passing through the scanning optical system inevitably decreases. Generally, the diameter of a spot imaged on the photosensitive drum surface can be written as(spot diameter)=a×λ×(F-number)  (A)where a is a proportional constant (about 1.64), λ is a wavelength (mm) of a light beam radiated from the light source unit, and (F-number) is an exit F-number (Fno) of the scanning optical system.
As discussed above, when the size of the rotary polygon mirror is reduced, the width of the light beam passing through the scanning optical system decreases. Accordingly, the F-number increases, and the spot diameter increases as can be understood from the relation (A). It is hence difficult to obtain a highly precise and fine image.

Optical scanning apparatus, and image forming apparatus using the same


Digital beamforming is provided for use with electronically scanned radar. In an aspect, the present invention provides enhanced sensitivity, wide angle or field of view (FOV) coverage with narrow beams, minimized number of receivers, reduced sidelobes, eliminated grating lobes and beam compensation for target motion. In an aspect, the present invention employs a uniform overlapped subarray feed network, a time multiplexed switch matrix, and a restructured digital signal processor. Antenna channels share a receiver, rather than maintain a dedicated receiver for each antenna element, as in conventional systems. In an aspect, Doppler/frequency filtering is performed on each antenna element or subarray output prior to digital beamforming. Further, Doppler compensation is employed following Doppler/frequency filtering, followed by digital beamforming.

Numerous current radar systems, including automotive radar systems, require wide angle coverage having narrow beams and a high update rate, all in a small package size. Current automotive radar systems for applications including collision warning, pre-crash sensing and adaptive cruise control incorporate a fixed beam, switched beam or mechanically scanned antenna that limit performance by falling short of these previously mentioned requirements. In the case of mechanically scanned antennas, the update rate is too slow for current demands, system size and cost are high, and reliability is low.
Electronically scanned antennas are also employed with radar systems. Allowing an antenna to electronically scan has benefits over a mechanically scanned antenna, including fast scanning, the ability to host multiple antenna beams on the same array, eliminating mechanical complexity and reliability issues, a wide field of view, a narrow beam and a high update rate. However, conventional electronically scanned antennas using discrete phase shifters are expensive and introduce excessive RF loss at typical automotive radar frequencies (i.e., 24 GHz and 76 GHz).
Digital beamforming is an alternative method of electronic scanning whereby individual antenna elements or subarrays are downconverted and sampled, and beam scanning is performed by a digital signal processor. However, current digital beamforming architectures often exhibit high cost and inadequate performance, including inadequate field of view (FOV), poor sensitivity, numerous grating lobes, high sidelobes and beam pattern distortion due to target motion.
Further, depending on the system configuration, digital beamforming frequently requires numerous receiver channels. For example, with a narrow beam, a large array is utilized and numerous elements are employed. A dedicated receiver is conventionally utilized for each antenna element, adding cost to the system. Multiplexing to a minimal number of receivers is impractical since an unacceptable multiplexing loss can occur. For arrays of more than a few elements, the multiplicity of required receivers is exceedingly expensive for typical automotive radar.

Digital beamforming for an electronically scanned radar system


A polymeric dispersant having a hyperbranched polyurethane architecture obtained by reacting a polyisocyanate core with a mixture of:    a) 40 to 65 mol % of an anchor represented by Formula (I) and/or (II):

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to specific polymeric dispersants and stable non-aqueous pigment dispersions and inkjet inks made with the specific polymeric dispersants.
2. Description of the Related Art
A dispersant is a substance for promoting the formation and stabilization of a dispersion of pigment particles in a dispersion medium and for substantially reducing the dispersing energy required. Dispersed pigment particles may have a tendency to re-agglomerate after the dispersing operation, due to mutual attraction forces. The use of dispersants counteracts this re-agglomeration tendency of the pigment particles.
The dispersant has to meet particularly high requirements when used for inkjet inks. Inadequate dispersing manifests itself as increased viscosity in liquid systems, loss of brilliance and/or hue shifts. Moreover, particularly good dispersion of the pigment particles is required to ensure unimpeded passage of pigment particles through the nozzles of a print head, which are usually only a few micrometers in diameter. In addition, pigment particle agglomeration and the associated blockage of the printer nozzles has to be avoided in the standby periods of the printer.
Polymeric dispersants typically contain in one part of the molecule so-called anchor groups, which adsorb onto the pigments to be dispersed. In a spatially separate part of the molecule, polymeric dispersants have polymer chains compatible with the dispersion medium, thus stabilizing the pigment particles in the dispersion medium. Typical polymeric dispersants include graft copolymer and block copolymer dispersants.
In aqueous inkjet inks, the polymeric dispersants generally contain hydrophobic anchor groups exhibiting a high affinity for the pigment surface and hydrophilic polymer chains for stabilizing the pigments in the aqueous dispersion medium.
The preparation of good thermally stable dispersions with submicron particles is more difficult for non-aqueous pigment dispersions, such as solvent based, oil based and radiation curable inkjet inks. The pigments are especially difficult to disperse when they have a non-polar surface.
These problems have led to the design of very specific polymeric dispersants wherein the anchor groups are pigment derivatives. For example, WO 2007/006635 (AGFA GRAPHICS) discloses pigment dispersions comprising a colour pigment and a polymeric dispersant having via a linking group covalently linked to its polymeric backbone at least one pending chromophore group which has a molecular weight smaller than 90% of the molecular weight of the colour pigment. A disadvantage is that the pending chromophore group must bear some similarity to the chemical formula of the pigment in order to obtain effective dispersion, which as a consequence results in different polymeric dispersants for the different pigments used in an ink set containing yellow, magenta and cyan inks.
Another approach for dispersing pigments with non-polar surfaces in non-aqueous dispersion media is changing the surface to a more polar surface by addition of compounds known as dispersion synergists. A dispersion synergist is a compound that promotes the adsorption of the polymeric dispersant on the surface of the pigment. It is often suggested that the synergist should possess the pigment structure substituted by one or more sulphonic acid groups, carboxylic acid groups or ammonium salts thereof. Examples of these dispersion synergists are given in, for example, WO 2007/060254 (AGFA GRAPHICS), EP 1790697 A (AGFA GRAPHICS) and EP 1790698 A (AGFA GRAPHICS).
However, both approaches lead to a considerable higher cost of the pigment dispersion. It is desirable to make stable pigment dispersions not requiring dispersion synergists or polymeric dispersants wherein the anchor groups are pigment derivatives. For consistent image quality, inkjet inks require a dispersion stability capable of dealing with high temperatures (above 60° C.) during transport of the ink to a customer, jetting at elevated temperatures and changes in the dispersion medium of the inkjet ink during use, for example, evaporation of solvent and increasing concentrations of humectants, penetrants and other additives.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,647,647 (BYK-CHEMIE) discloses dispersing agents obtained by the reaction of polyisocyanates having an average functionality of from 2.5 to 6 with specific monohydroxyl compounds of polyethers, polyesters or mixed polyether-polyesters. Different heterocyclic groups including triazole, pyrimidine, imidazole, pyridine, morpholine, pyrrolidine, piperazine, benzimidazole, benzothiazole and/or triazine are suggested as anchor group.
Therefore, it is highly desirable to manufacture low cost non-aqueous pigment dispersions, especially pigmented inkjet inks, exhibiting a high dispersion quality and stability using the same polymeric dispersant in all inks of an ink set.

Hyperbranched polymeric dispersants and non-aqueous pigment dispersions

Abstract: wherein n represents an integer selected from 0 to 7; and    X and Y each independently represent a primary amine group or a hydroxyl group;    b) 5 to 25 mol % of a polypropylene oxide crosslinker;    c) 15 to 40 mol % of a polypropylene oxide graft; andwherein the amount of the crosslinker and the graft taken together is at least 35 mol %;and wherein 100 mol % of the mixture corresponds with the total amount of isocyanate groups in the polyisocyanate core.


A method for effecting load balancing in a packet-switched network is provided. In one embodiment, the method includes the steps of:                (a) providing a set of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses corresponding to a Universal Resource Locator (URL), wherein the ordering of the IP addresses in the set of IP addresses is indicative of a corresponding desirability of contacting each of the IP addresses and wherein the set of IP addresses are in a first order;        (b) receiving activity-related information associated with at least one of the IP addresses; and        (c) reordering the set of IP addresses to be in a second order different from the first order.

The Domain Name System, or DNS, is a naming scheme for dotted decimal Internet Protocol, or IP, addresses. Every computer, or host, on the Internet has an IP address assigned to it; that is, every host name refers to an IP address. A "domain name" is a logical name or host name assigned to an IP address and used as another type of addressing construct for identifying Internet nodes. Unlike IP addresses, domain names, such as firstname.lastname@example.com and www.ultimateelectronics.com, are designed to easily be remembered and used by people. By way of illustration, IP addresses are generally machine readable numeric sequences that are 32 bits in length. A domain name service resolves domain names to IP addresses and vice versa.
The domain name service uses a client/server mechanism, with domain name resolvers as the clients and domain name servers as the servers, and is implemented as a distributed database, existing in a domain name space, whereby each domain generally keeps records only of its next-level subdomains. The domain space is organized hierarchically, with the root domain at the top and the rest of the structure branching from the root domain. All domain name resolvers have a pointer to the root domain (served by multiple servers), which in turn have pointers to all the top-level domains (those one level below the root domain), which in turn have pointers to their subdomains, so that any name within the name space can be queried and resolved efficiently.
In partitioned, packet-switched, distributed processing networks using DNS technology, traffic shaping or load balancing has continued to present challenges to network designers. For example, IP telephony traffic is directed by domain name servers to proxies that further direct the traffic to authoritative domains for the call request. Domain name servers, however, do not shape the call based on traffic. Core proxies that distribute calls to authoritative proxies do not shape traffic either. The current use of IP telephony is predominantly to make calls to individuals (e.g., sip:email@example.com). As IP telephony becomes increasingly popular, users will use IP telephony to place calls to general business or enterprise addresses associated with contact centers (e.g., firstname.lastname@example.com) having multiple call servicing agents. For efficient service goals and objectives to be realized, IP telephony calls to contact centers will need to be distributed to agents and proxies to reflect current or anticipated traffic or loads. In other examples, similar problems exist when specific web addresses are too popular at certain intervals. In particular, server farms, for optimal operation, require some type of load balancing to substantially minimize the time required to respond to content requests.
Compared to packet-switched networks, a number of effective load balancing algorithms have been developed for circuit-switched networks. In circuit-switched telephony, incoming trunks are generally spread through the enterprise network of Private Branch Exchanges or PBXs. Within the enterprise, traffic can be shaped through PBX hierarchy or network services for call redirection/deflection. For example in Best Services Routing™ of Avaya, Inc., PBXs communicate with one another regarding their current estimated wait times for call servicing. When a call arrives, the estimated wait times are used to redirect the incoming call to an appropriate PBX. In Network Route™ of Avaya, Inc., an adjunct processor is used to acquire estimated wait times for a plurality of PBXs. Rather than have a call come into a first PBX and then have to redirect the call to a second PBX the adjunct processor uses SS7 technology to shape the Public Switched Telephone Network or PSTN routing so that the call is optimally directed at the outset to the PBX that is best able to handle it.
The load balancing/traffic shaping algorithms used for circuit-switched applications, however, are generally unsuitable for packet-switched applications due to the differing mechanisms used to direct or route incoming contacts. In circuit-switched applications, an OSI Layer 4 network is available to permit redirection of contacts optimally. In packet-switched applications, once a destination IP address is selected there are substantial costs involved with redirect the contact to a different IP address.

Dynamic load balancing for enterprise IP traffic


An inflatable lounge chair with an integrated water misting system includes a chair configured to float on water, and a misting system integrated within the chair, wherein the misting system is configured to draw the water upon which the chair floats and dispense misting water onto the chair.

Very few leisure time activities rival that of spending a warm summer day in or around a swimming pool or other body of water. Many people enjoy floating on an inflatable lounge chair while in the water. These chairs allow the user to relax, be close to the water, tan, and perhaps even take a nap. However, as the user lies upon the chair, it is quite common to become hot and suffer from dry skin. Therefore, many users quickly take a dip in the water to combat such conditions. However, should the user be relaxing or even sleeping, such interruptions are burdensome. Moreover, many people have difficulty getting back on the floating chair in the middle of water, thus, forcing a trip back to the shore or the side of the pool further interrupting their relaxation.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a means by which the user of an inflatable pool lounge chair can remain cool while remaining in the comfort of the chair.

Inflatable lounge chair with water misting system


A spherical remote control, including: a spherical shell; a surface sensor to detect a contact on the spherical shell; an accelerometer to detect a movement of the remote control; a circuit to transmit a signal based on the detected contact, orientation and movement; and a first induction coil to receive power for charging a battery in the circuit. The spherical remote control can be placed on a cradle which includes: a power supply; and a second induction coil for providing power to the first induction coil.

A remote control is a component of an electronics device, most commonly a television set, DVD player and home theater systems originally used for operating the device wirelessly from a short distance. Commonly, remote controls are consumer IR devices used to issue commands from a distance to televisions or other consumer electronics such as stereo systems, DVD players and dimmers. Remote controls for these devices are usually small wireless handheld objects with an array of buttons for adjusting various settings such as television channel, track number, and volume. In fact, for the majority of modern devices with this kind of control, the remote control contains all the function controls while the controlled device itself has only a handful of essential primary controls. Most of these remote controls communicate to their respective devices via infrared signals and some via radio signals, such as WiFi or Bluetooth. The remote control has continually evolved and advanced over recent years to include controls for computers and gaming devices, WiFi or Bluetooth connectivity, motion sensor and tactile feedback enabled, voice control, and functionality of a computer mouse and keyboard.
Traditional remote control devices have buttons and/or a touch pad for user interface navigation. However, repeatedly pressing the up/down and left/right buttons in order to get to the desired location is not very convenient, and the movement on a touch pad is limited by the boundary and size of the touch pad. There are some remote controls that include a gyroscope for allowing users to navigate by pointing the device to a particular direction, for example, pointing the remote to a menu item shown on a TV screen. However, these gyroscopic remote controls have a traditional appearance and do not have sufficient aesthetics for today's modern home.
Thus, in order to enhance a user's experience and interaction, there is a need for a remote control that has an aesthetically pleasing and elegant appearance, as well as the ease and convenience for user interaction with navigating within an interface.