A method of inhibiting an overspeed condition in a vehicle powertrain includes monitoring at least one of an engine speed and a transmission input shaft speed of a torque converter that transfers drive torque between an engine and a transmission and determining an operating condition of the vehicle powertrain. The method further includes determining a first threshold speed based on the operating condition and reducing an engine torque request when the at least one of the engine speed and the transmission input shaft speed exceeds the first threshold speed.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Vehicle powertrains typically include a prime mover, such as an internal combustion engine, a transmission and a coupling device that transfers drive torque from the prime mover to the transmission. The transmission multiplies the drive torque by an applied gear ratio to drive the vehicle's drivetrain. Exemplary transmissions include an automatic transmission having fixed gear ratios and a continuously variable transmission (CVT) having infinitely variable gear ratios.
The coupling device often includes a torque converter that provides a fluid coupling between an output shaft of the prime mover and an input shaft of the transmission. As the output shaft accelerates, the input shaft is induced to accelerate through the fluid coupling. Once the input shaft speed is sufficiently near to the output shaft speed, a torque converter clutch (TCC) is engaged to provide a direct drive between the output shaft and the input shaft.
In some instances, an overspeed condition can arise, wherein an uncontrolled speed flare occurs in the powertrain. Such overspeed conditions can result in damage to engine, torque converter and/or transmission components.


A backlight unit including: a light emitting diode (LED) module including a metal substrate and an LED which is disposed on a first side of the metal substrate; a frame on which the LED module is mounted; a first mounting portion formed lengthwise on the LED module; and a second mounting portion formed on the frame, the second mounting portion remaining within a width of the LED module.

1. Field of the Invention
Apparatuses consistent with the present invention relate to a liquid crystal display (LCD), and more particularly, to a backlight unit used in the LCD.
2. Description of the Related Art
An LCD is a display apparatus which is widely used because of its lightness, miniature size, full-color, and high resolution. An LCD displays video using a liquid crystal, which is a light receiving device that is not capable of emitting light by itself, and thus a backlight unit is required to supply light to a liquid crystal panel.
Recently, there have been many attempts to further reduce the thickness of the LCD. To reduce the thickness of the LCD, there is a need to reduce the thickness of a backlight unit, which is a main component of the LCD.
A light source of a backlight unit generates considerable heat. If the light source is not cooled properly, the heat from the light source may become excessive. Therefore, there is a need to reduce the thickness of a backlight unit and appropriately cool a light source of the backlight unit.

Backlight unit and liquid crystal display having the same


A method for generating an image of a parametric surface, such as the aspect of terrain which maximizes color contrast to permit easy discrimination of the magnitude, ranges, intervals or classes of a surface parameter while making it easy for the user to visualize the form of the surface, such as a landscape. The four pole colors of the opponent process color theory are utilized to represent intervals or classes at 90 degree angles. The color perceived as having maximum measured luminance is selected to portray the color having an azimuth of an assumed light source and the color showing minimum measured luminance portrays the diametrically opposite azimuth. The 90 degree intermediate azimuths are portrayed by unique colors of intermediate measured luminance, such as red and green. Colors between these four pole colors are used which are perceived as mixtures or combinations of their bounding colors and are arranged progressively between their bounding colors to have perceived proportional mixtures of the bounding colors which are proportional to the interval's angular distance from its bounding colors.

Slope aspect information is widely used by earth scientists, environmental planners, and other analysts to represent a physical landscape. A terrain surface is commonly subdivided into an array of contiguous surface elements in which the position of each of these surface elements is defined by data specified in a two dimensional or three dimensional positional coordinate system. In addition to its positional coordinates, each surface element may be defined by a further parameter such as its slope aspect. The slope aspect may be generally defined as the compass direction toward which the maximum slope of the surface faces and more particularly may be defined as the compass direction or azimuth of the horizontal component of the gradient which is a line along the maximum slope of the surface element.
Although aspect is a continuum extending around the entire 360 degree universe of possible azimuths, it has long been deemed desirable to subdivide that 360 degree universe into a finite plurality of contiguous, angular aspect intervals or classes. For example, the 360 degrees may be subdivided into eight intervals of 45 degrees each or 16 intervals of 22.5 degrees each.
Slope aspect is a landscape characteristic which is fundamental to building site analysis, solar access planning, water shed management, and many other scientific and management activities. Although determining the aspect at a single location may be sufficient for addressing some problems, most problems require an understanding of the pattern of slope aspect variation across the landscape. Slope aspect maps provide such a desirable regional view and are required in many instances.
Slope aspect maps are frequently created using computers because aspect computation based upon an array of grid cells or elements in a digital elevation model is a straight forward and an efficient procedure which can be calculated from elevations of adjacent cells.
Cartographers have long used grey tones for standard terrain shading to illustrate the form of the terrain. This method simply determines the slope gradient normal for each surface element, assumes a light origin azimuth, conventionally 315 degrees, and then illuminates each element in a relatively lighter or darker grey tone as a function of the assumed illumination on the surface element as determined by its slope gradient normal, that is its angle relative to the light source.
One worker in the prior art has extended these principles to the presentation of slope aspect data utilized a cosine equation of illumination to determine the grey tone used to display each element as a function of aspect. If a grey scale is used with different grey tones, then the aspect of each element is displayed by the grey tone which represents the interval in which the element's aspect lies.
Although such a presentation of the data with such grey tones does permit general qualitative visualization of the surface slopes, the grey tones are perceived as implying magnitude variations. That is not appropriate for a display of slope aspect data.
Prior art workers have attempted to overcome this problem by using the hue component of color to distinguish aspect classes or intervals. In order to uniquely define each aspect interval, prior art workers have assigned a different hue to each of the selected subdivided aspect intervals and then displayed each element by the hue assigned to the aspect interval in which that element's aspect lies. These prior art attempts at using hue have been successful in presenting the data in a manner in which the aspect interval or class for each element may be easily distinguished and determined. The spectral hues of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, and mixtures thereof produce, on some maps, easily distinguishable classes in the map legend and within the map. These hues at varying levels of value and chroma have been randomly assigned to classes. Yellow and neighboring lighter hues have been used to represent virtually all aspect directions.
The difficulty with these prior art attempts is that, although they facilitate discrimination of the aspect classes, they do not present a map from which a human can perceive some correspondence between the display and the form of the terrain being represented.
Since the use of grey tones in the prior art has enabled the human visualization of underlying form from the display and since the presentation of colors have permitted the discrimination between slope aspect class data presented on a map, we made attempts to combine these two by overlaying or over printing the aspect colors on a relief shaded base map. The results, however, were disappointing because the presence of the grey tone shading inherently decreases the user's ability to distinguish among the classes and the presence of the variety of colors is confusing with respect to the relief displayed by the grey tone.
As a result, it is the purpose of the present invention to present a method for displaying aspect information in a manner which both allows easily perceived and accurate discrimination of individual classes or intervals of slope aspect while simultaneously facilitating the user's visualization of the underlying surface form. This enables the map user to easily determine the aspect class while implicitly perceiving the slope from the same display.
Thus, it is the principal object of the present invention to develop an element coloring scheme that will maximize color contrast among aspect interval classes while assisting the user to visualize the form of the underlying landscape.
The present invention draws upon the teachings of the opponent process color theory as explained, for example, in an article by J. R. Eastman in The American Cartographer, Vol. 13, No. 4, 1986, pp. 324-333.

Continuous hierarchical slope-aspect color display for parametric surfaces

The Ohio State University Research Foundation


In one embodiment, the patent application comprises an access terminal, comprising a processing unit, a memory operably connected to the processing unit, a receive circuitry operably connected to the processing unit, a transmit circuitry having a power amplifier used in both single carrier and multi-carrier operations, wherein said transmit circuitry is operably connected to the processing unit, and a throttle control unit operably connected to the power amplifier, adapted to throttle power to provide sufficient headroom for the power amplifier.

1. Field
The present application for patent relates generally to multi-carrier wireless communication systems, and more specifically to reverse link power throttling.
2. Background
Communication systems 100 may use a single carrier frequency or multiple carrier frequencies. In wireless communication systems 100, the forward link refers to communications from the access network (AN) 120 to the remote station 106 (or access terminal 106), while reverse link refers to communications from the remote station 106 to the network 120. (The AT 106 is also known as a remote station, a mobile station or a subscriber station. Also, the access terminal (AT) 106, may be mobile or stationary). Each link may incorporate a different number of carrier frequencies. An example of a cellular communication system 100 is shown in FIG. 1A where reference numerals 102A to 102G refer to cells, reference numerals 160A to 160G refer to base stations and reference numerals 106A to 106G refer to access terminals.
The communication system 100 may be a code division multiple access (CDMA) system having a high data rate (HDR) overlay system, such as specified in the HDR standard. The AN 120 communicates with an AT, as well as any other ATs 106 within system, by way of the air interface. The AN 120 includes multiple sectors, wherein each sector provides at least one channel. A channel is defined as the set of communication links for transmissions between the AN 120 and the ATs 106 within a given frequency assignment. A channel consists of a forward link and a reverse link.
A high data rate subscriber station 106 may communicate with one or more HDR base stations 160, referred to herein as modem pool transceivers (MPTs) 160 via an air interface. An access terminal 106 transmits and receives data packets through one or more modem pool transceivers 160 to an HDR base station controller 130, referred to herein as a modem pool controller (MPC) 130. Modem pool transceivers 160 and modem pool controllers 130 are parts of the access network (AN) 120. The access network 120 may be further connected to additional networks 104 outside the access network 120, such as a corporate intranet or the Internet, and may transport data packets between each access terminal 106 and such outside networks. An access terminal 106 that has established an active traffic channel connection with one or more modem pool transceivers 160 is called an active access terminal 106, and is said to be in a traffic state. An access terminal 106 that is in the process of establishing an active traffic channel connection with one or more modem pool transceivers 130 is said to be in a connection setup state. An access terminal 106 may be any data device that communicates through a wireless channel or through a wired channel, for example using fiber optic or coaxial cables. An access terminal 106 may further be any of a number of types of devices including but not limited to PC card, compact flash, external or internal modem, or wireless or wireline phone. The communication link through which the access terminal 106 sends signals to the modem pool transceiver 160 is called a reverse link. The communication link through which a modem pool transceiver 160 sends signals to an access terminal 106 is called a forward link.
FIG. 1B is a simplified functional block diagrams of an exemplary CDMA communications system. A base station controller 130 can be used to provide an interface between a network 104 and all base stations 160 dispersed throughout a geographic region. For ease of explanation, only one base station 160 is shown. The geographic region is generally subdivided into smaller regions known as cells 102. Each base station 160 is configured to serve all subscriber stations 106 in its respective cell. In some high traffic applications, the cell 102 may be divided into sectors with a base station 160 serving each sector. In the described exemplary embodiment, three subscriber stations 106A-C are shown in communication with the base station 160. Each subscriber station 106A-C may access the network 104, or communicate with other subscriber stations 106, through one or more base stations 160 under control of the base station controller 130.
Modern communications systems are designed to allow multiple users to access a common communications medium. Numerous multiple-access techniques are known in the art, such as time division multiple-access (TDMA), frequency division multiple-access (FDMA), space division multiple-access, polarization division multiple-access, code division multiple-access (CDMA), and other similar multi-access techniques. The multiple-access concept is a channel allocation methodology which allows multiple user access to a common communications link. The channel allocations can take on various forms depending on the specific multi-access technique. By way of example, in FDMA systems, the total frequency spectrum is divided into a number of smaller sub-bands and each user is given its own sub-band to access the communications link. Alternatively, in TDMA systems, each user is given the entire frequency spectrum during periodically recurring time slots. In CDMA systems, each user is given the entire frequency spectrum for all of the time but distinguishes its transmission through the use of a code.
In multi-access communications systems, techniques to reduce mutual interference between multiple users are often utilized to increase user capacity. By way of example, power control techniques can be employed to limit the transmission power of each user to that necessary to achieve a desired quality of service. This approach ensures that each user transmits only the minimum power necessary, but no higher, thereby making the smallest possible contribution to the total noise seen by other users. These power control techniques may become more complex in multi-access communications systems supporting users with multiple channel capability. In addition to limiting the transmission power of the user, the allocated power should be balanced between the multiple channels in a way that optimizes performance.
A power control system can be employed to reduce mutual interference between the multiple subscriber stations 106. The power control system can be used to limit the transmission power over both the forward and reverse links to achieve a desired quality of service. For the purposes of illustration, the gain computation techniques will be described with reference to the reverse link, however, as those skilled in the art will readily appreciate, these gain computation techniques are equally applicable to the forward link.
The reverse link transmission power is typically controlled with two power control loops. The first power control loop is an open control loop. The open control loop is designed to control the reverse link transmission power as a function of path loss, the effect of base station 160 loading, and environmentally induced phenomena such as fast fading and shadowing. This open control loop estimation process is well known in CDMA communications systems.
The second power control loop is a closed control loop. The closed control loop has the function of correcting the open loop estimate to achieve a desired signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at the base station 160. This can be achieved by measuring the reverse link transmission power at the base station 160 and providing feedback to the subscriber station 106 to adjust the reverse link transmission power. The feedback signal can be in the form of a reverse power control (RPC) command which is generated by comparing the measured reverse link transmission power at the base station 160 with a power control set point. If the measured reverse link transmission power is below the set point, then an RPC up command is provided to the subscriber station 106 to increase the reverse link transmission power. If the measured reverse link transmission power is above the set point, then an RPC down command is provided to the subscriber station 106 to decrease the reverse link transmission power.
The open and closed control loops may be used to control the transmission power of various reverse link channel structures. By way of example, in some CDMA communications systems, the reverse link waveform includes a traffic channel to carry voice and data services to the base station 160 and a pilot channel used by the base station 160 for coherent demodulation of the voice and data. In these systems, the open and closed control loops can be used to control the reverse link power of the pilot channel. In order to optimize performance, the power of the pilot channel can then be balanced with the power of the traffic channel. Specifically, each channel can be spread with a unique orthogonal code generated by using Walsh functions. A gain can then be applied to the traffic channel in order to maintain an optimal traffic to pilot channel power ratio.
This principle can be extended to additional channels in the reverse link waveform. In CDMA communications systems with a variable data rate, for example, a data rate control (DRC) channel containing a DRC message is generally supported by the reverse link transmission. In the variable data rate mode, the data rate of the forward link transmission is dictated by the DRC message. The DRC message is typically based on a carrier-to-interference (C/I) estimation performed at the subscriber station 106. This approach provides a mechanism for the base station 160 to efficiently transmit the forward link data at the highest possible rate. An exemplary CDMA communications system supporting a variable data rate request scheme is a high data rate (HDR) communications system. The HDR communications system is typically designed to conform one or more standards such as the "cdma2000 High Rate Packet Data Air Interface Specification," 3GPP2 C.S0024, Version 2, Oct. 27, 2000, promulgated by a consortium called "3.sup.rd Generation Partnership Project."
Open and closed control loops may be used to control the transmission power of various reverse link channel structures. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,594,501, entitled "Systems and Techniques for Channel Gain Computations," discloses throttling or backing off predetermined power ratios of the data rate control channels (DRC) and the acknowledgement (ACK) channels with respect to the pilot channel if the total reverse link transmission power exceeds the maximum power capability of the transmitter.

Method and apparatus for reverse link throttling in a multi-carrier wireless communication system


Method and system for providing a dynamic network configuration and management based on defining and applying high level administrative intents including retrieving one or more attributes associated with one or more logical groups in a network, determining one or more network policies based on the one or more retrieved attributes, associating the one or more logical groups to a respective network group identifier, and generating a network group list associated with the one or more network group identifiers, is disclosed.

Large network maintenance typically is an ongoing, error prone, arduous process, where changes in the network require substantial planning and voluminous configuration changes spanning the devices that support the network. Examples of such changes include, but are not limited to the addition of new hardware or software, new hosts or users to the network, or similarly, network changes associated with hosts and/or users leaving the network.
Indeed, with the increase in the network size and complexity, it is increasingly difficult to configure and maintain the switches, routers and other network devices that manage the data network. The network administrator must take into account not only how the network is designed, and its configuration, but also, how the network devices that support the network interact with each other.
Existing approaches for setting up of Switched Port Analyzer (SPAN) sessions in the network are generally limited in functionality as they are implemented as add-ons to the network. A SPAN session is an association of a destination interface with a set of source interfaces and is used for network traffic monitoring. For example, one approach includes the examination of the configuration files on network devices, and by snooping packets. A limitation of this approach is that the configuration files on the network devices are not a substitute for the know-how of the administrator that initially configured the network. While the configuration files in the network devices provide the properties of the network configuration, they do not typically provide the reasons behind the properties for the configuration in the network. Thus, any reconfiguration of the network without fully comprehending the reasons behind the properties for the configuration of the network devices may not yield the correct or optimum configuration.
Furthermore, with respect to the challenge of the network configuration changes over time, network add-ons may not be configured to be fully integrated into every network device in the network, and thus, cannot reliably track the users and hosts as they migrate within the network, changing the network topology. Moreover, existing approaches cannot track users or groups of users because of their dynamic nature—that is, users can migrate from machine to machine within the network, while hosts can migrate from port to port.
In view of the foregoing, it would be desirable to have methods and systems for data network monitoring and management based on dynamically defining and applying one or more intents associated with network policies to one or more network entities.

Method and system for providing network management based on defining and applying network administrative intents


A cellular telephone network comprises peripheral branches and a central high-capacity data trunking region or network backbone. The invention concerns effective utilization of trunking capacity to provide backbone facilities for such a network. The network backbone comprises a satellite interface for a satellite connection and alternatively or additionally a backup backbone route. For example an Internet backbone route and a satellite backbone route may be used, one backing up the other.

Cellular networks generally comprise a series of base stations arranged to allow mobile stations within range of the network to contact other mobile stations and be able to access the public switched telephone network (PSTN). The base stations maintain wireless communication links with nearby mobile stations, but generally require hard infrastructure in the form of wiring to link the base stations to other parts of the cellular network and to outside networks and backbone networks. The laying of cable to provide such infrastructure is expensive and becomes more expensive if the infrastructure is to include any kind of backup provision. The cost of wired infrastructure is one of the limiting factors in extending a cellular network to remote areas.
The telephony system including cellular networks and the PSTN, is generally based on the E1, or possibly T1, protocol for multiplexing transmissions into time slots. The protocol is strongly synchronous in that the individual transmission to which a time slot is assumed to belong to is determined from its temporal position amongst the other time slots. Thus an individual transmission which does not have current data creates blank slots to reserve its current position.
Much available data carrying capacity is based on the TCP/IP protocol, which involves individual data packets being sent out over a network in accordance with destination information contained in a packet header. A single transmission is thus broken down into numerous packets which are each sent out independently over the network. The packets may be sent along different routes depending on availability and may not arrive in the order in which they have been sent. However the packet headers may be used by the receiving application to rebuild an original sequence from the packets.
The E1 (and T1) protocol thus depends on the preservation of a temporal relationship between time slots whereas the TCP/IP protocol does not preserve timing information. Thus TCP/IP based capacity cannot be used to transport E1 data since synchronization is not preserved, rendering the E1 datastream irrecoverable.

Shiron Satellite Communications (1996) Ltd.


A new and improved grabber apparatus includes first and second clamping arms having clamping fingers, a pivot for the clamping arms permitting them to move back and forth from a clamping to a non-clamping orientation, a spring for biasing the clamping arms in a closed orientation, a trigger for retaining the clamping arms in an open orientation, and idler bars connected to the clamping arms. A flexible cord is connected to the idler arms. A person, such as a hunter, who is in an elevated location, such as on a platform in a tree, can lower the grabber apparatus with the flexible cord using an unwinding and winding device. When the clamping arms are above and near an object to be clamped, they are lowered so that the trigger contacts a solid object near the object to be clamped, within the range of the clamping arms in the open position. Upon contacting the solid object, such as the ground near the object to be clamped, the trigger is actuated, the clamping arms are released from their open position, and the bias spring causes the clamping arms to move to the closed position and to grab the object to be clamped.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to clamping devices that are used to grab and carry miscellaneous items, and more particularly, to a grabber apparatus especially adapted to grab and carry items from a location remote from and above the items.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Devices designed to grab and carry miscellaneous items are well known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,986,745 of Langguth discloses a grabber that has a trigger mechanism and that is carried by a marine mammal to a heavy object to be retrieved by a hoist line. Although this grabber is placed on an object at a location remote from a human operator, the human operator is not in control of placement of the grabber. It would be desirable, therefore, if a grabber could be controlled directly by a human operator to be placed near a remote object to be grabbed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,249,344 of Pratt discloses a device for grabbing a plant having a root system confined in a ball of earth. A flexible strip is placed around the ball of earth in belt-like fashion, and the strip is wound to tightly grip the ball. However, many objects that may be grabbed, because of their shape and size, are not capable of being surrounded by a belt-like grabber. Instead, many objects are more amenable to being grabbed by a grabber which includes two opposing jaws. In this respect, it would be desirable if a grabber that has opposing jaws could be controlled directly by a human operator from a remote location.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,730,864 of Sample discloses an arm mounted, hand operated leaf and trash grabber that has two rake like gathering heads. A hand operated grabber does not permit remote operation of the grabber.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,815,779 of Glessner et al discloses an apparatus for picking up a smooth flat mechanical part by using a vacuum system. The vacuum system requires the use of complex vacuum-generating equipment, and for the vacuum to be effective, it requires that the object being picked up have a surface susceptible of forming a vacuum seal.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,962,957 of Traber discloses a hand-actuated pick-up tool that has pick-up fingers that are biased apart by springs and that are clamped together by hand pressure. As mentioned above, a hand operated grabber does not permit remote operation of the grabber. Moreover, for a remotely controlled grabber, it would be desirable if the grabber jaws were biased to close, not open, the grabber so that once the grabber was closed, it would exert a steady grabbing force on the object being grabbed.
Another situation begs for the use of a grabber. When a hunter, such as a bow hunter, stays in an elevated stand in a tree, if the hunter drops something which falls on the ground, the hunter would not be able to retrieve such fallen items unless he climbs down the tree. It would be desirable, therefore, if the hunter could remotely retrieve such fallen items without climbing down from the tree. A remotely controlled grabber would be desirable in such a case.
Thus, while the body of prior art discussed above indicates it to be well known to use hand-operated grabbers, remotely operated grabbers that are controlled by marine animals, complex vacuum-employing grabbers, and belt-containing grabbers, the provision of a more simple and cost effective grabber apparatus is not contemplated. Nor does the prior art described above teach or suggest a remotely-controlled grabber apparatus that is controlled directly by a human operator and that has spring-biased, opposing jaws that clamp on the grabbed object with grabbing pressure exerted by the biasing spring. The foregoing disadvantages in the prior art are overcome by the unique grabber apparatus of the present invention as will be made apparent from the following description thereof. Other advantages of the present invention over the prior art also will be rendered evident.
In this respect, before explaining at least two preferred embodiments of the invention in detail, it is understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of the construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood, that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon which disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for designing other structures, methods, and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
Further, the purpose of the foregoing Abstract is to enable the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally, and especially the scientists, engineers and practitioners in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of the application. Accordingly, the Abstract is neither intended to define the invention or the application, which only is measured by the claims, nor is it intended to be limiting as to the scope of the invention in any way.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved grabber apparatus which has all of the advantages of the prior art and none of the disadvantages.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a new and improved grabber apparatus which may be easily and efficiently manufactured and marketed.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a new and improved grabber apparatus which is of durable and reliable construction.
An even further object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved grabber apparatus which is susceptible of a low cost of manufacture with regard to both materials and labor, and which accordingly is then susceptible of low prices of sale to the consuming public, thereby making such grabber apparatus available to the buying public.
Still yet a further object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved grabber apparatus that can be controlled directly by a human operator to be placed near a remote object to be grabbed.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a grabber apparatus that has opposing jaws or arms that can be controlled directly by a human operator.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a grabber apparatus which includes grabber jaws or arms that are biased to close the grabber so that once the grabber is closed, the jaws or arms exert a steady grabbing force on the object being grabbed.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a grabber apparatus which enables a person who is on an elevated platform in a tree, to remotely retrieve items which have fallen to the ground without climbing down the tree.
These together with still other objects of the invention, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the invention, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and form a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and the specific objects attained by its uses, reference should be had to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which there are illustrated preferred embodiments of the invention.


A system for creating an agreement and tracking compliance with terms of an agreement between a seller and a purchaser for the sale of loans includes deal management logic and a rules processor. The deal management logic is configured to store and track the terms of the agreement using a set of business rules. The rules processor comprises the set of business rules and is configured to facilitate adding or editing at least one business rule based on at least one term of the agreement. In addition, the rules processor is configured to access the business rules to assess compliance with the terms of the agreement during delivery of the loans. The system may also include pricing logic that is configured to create a set of price data based on the at least one term of the agreement.

The purchase of a home is typically the largest investment that a person makes. Because of the amount of money required to purchase a home, most home buyers do not have sufficient assets to purchase a home outright on a cash basis. In addition, buyers who have already purchased a home may wish to refinance their home. Therefore, potential homebuyers consult lenders such as banks, credit unions, mortgage companies, savings and loan institutions, state and local housing finance agencies, and so on, to obtain the finds necessary to purchase or refinance their homes. These lenders offer mortgage products to potential home buyers. The lenders who make (originate and fund) mortgage loans directly to home buyers comprise the "primary mortgage market."
When a mortgage is made in the primary mortgage market, the lender can: (i) hold the loan as an investment in its portfolio, or (ii) sell the loan to investors in the "secondary mortgage market" (e.g., pension funds, insurance companies, securities dealers, financial institutions and various other investors) to replenish its supply of funds. The loan may be sold alone, or in packages of other similar loans, for cash or in exchange for mortgage backed securities which provide lenders with a liquid asset to hold or sell to the secondary market. By choosing to sell its mortgage loans to the secondary mortgage market for cash, or by selling the mortgage backed securities, lenders get a new supply of funds to make more home mortgage loans, thereby assuring home buyers a continual supply of mortgage credit.
Often, a seller and a purchaser enter into an agreement or agreements that define the types of loans the seller may sell to the purchaser. An agreement may include terms that permit a seller to provide loans according to terms that differ from the standard/default terms by which the purchaser typically purchases loans. Such variances may have an impact on the delivery and/or pricing of a loan. For example, an agreed upon variance may otherwise cause an error when a loan, including the variance, is delivered to the purchaser since it varies from the general eligibility requirements of the purchaser. Processing of the delivered loan can be delayed as the seller and purchaser resolve the error caused by the variance. Therefore, a need exists for a system and method that enables the creation and tracking of an agreement (and its terms) between a seller and purchaser for the sale of loans.

System and method for creating and tracking agreements for selling loans to a secondary market purchaser


An image forming portion carries out image formation processing where an image is formed an a recording medium on the basis of image information and is provided with a drive motor portion for driving predetermined mechanisms employed in the image formation processing and a control sensor portion for controlling the predetermined mechanisms, and a power source portion for supplying electric power to the image forming portion. A start instruction detecting portion detects start instruction to start the image formation processing, and a power source control portion inhibits the power source portion from supplying the electric power to the drive motor portion and/or the control sensor portion before the start instruction detecting portion detects the start instruction when the image formation processing is not being performed.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an image forming system for forming an image on a recording medium, and more particularly to an image forming system provided with a power-saving mode where the power supply to a part thereof is interrupted when the operator does not operate the system for a predetermined time interval.
2. Description of the Related Art
There have been proposed various image forming systems provided with a power-saving mode, where the power supply to a part thereof is interrupted when the operator does not operate the system for predetermined time interval, for instance, in a stencil printer in which a stencil is made on the basis of image data and print is made on the basis of the stencil or a copy system.
For example, there has been proposed, as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-138473, an image forming system with a power-saving mode where, when the operator does not operate the system for predetermined time interval, the electric power is supplied only to a unit for receiving image data from an external unit and the electric power supply to the other part including the parts for driving the stencil making system and the printing system is cut. Further in U.S. Pat. No. 6,763,473, there has been proposed a system where the electric power supply to the scanner and/or the image processing system is cut when the image forming system is not operated for a long time.
In the systems disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-138473 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,763,473, the power supply to all the parts of the system is resumed in response to any operation of the operator on the system.
However, it takes a time for the operator to actually start, for instance, printing. For example, it takes a certain time for the operator to set predetermined items, for instance, through the control panel of the printer or to actually instruct to print after he or she sets the printing papers. It is wasteful to supply the electric power to all the parts of the system in such times though the stencil making action or the printing action has not been started yet.
Further, though the power supply to the control panel or the like is generally cut in the power-saving mode, it takes a long time for the control panel to accept input of an instruction to operate the system when the power supply to the control panel or the like is cut. Further, the contents of the preceding instruction are sometimes reset when the operator's input is slow and the system is turned to the power-saving mode. In this case, it is necessary for the operator to input again the instruction to operate the system, which is troublesome for the operator. In order to release himself or herself, the operator can cancel the power-saving mode, which gives rise to a problem that power reduction cannot be obtained after all.


A community accessed via a portal can be provided that maintains user membership during collaboration on various projects. The members of the community can have access to and share multiple resources. A resource can have a menu associated with it wherein the menu is dynamically displayed on the portal page upon the user right clicking on the resource. Each menu can have several menu items that when selected, execute various actions associated with the resource or perform some other community function. For example, the menu item can call a page flow action, a Javascript function or make a dynamic content update. An active menu tag library can be provided that allows a developer to create customizable new menus and menu items for a given resource by including a tag and specifying tag parameters.

The popularity and demand for collaborative and distributed computing environments has increased in the recent years due to the popularity of the internet, networks and portal frameworks. A wide variety of enterprises, ranging from large corporations to small development projects, often have use for such software. For example, employees, developers and other users within an enterprise often work on projects in groups, collaborating with one another as the project progresses. Such groups of users frequently need access to the same resources, materials and information on certain topics. Thus, software designed to allow a group of users on a network to work simultaneously on a project is desirable. Present day solutions typically provide services for communicating (such as email), group document development, scheduling, and tracking. For example, groupware is a form of application software that integrates work on a single project by several concurrent users on separate workstations on a computer network.
One area where these trends have been implemented has been in the context of content frameworks referred to as portals. A portal can be thought of as a gateway or an access point for users to various types of content and other collections of information. One example of a portal server is the WebLogic® Portal product available from BEA Systems Inc. Portals are typically visually represented and often have a portal page for allowing users to navigate the data provided therein. Portals are ideal for implementations of groupware programs since multiple users can be provided a single point of access to a wide variety of information.
There are several available groupware products deployed on portal frameworks and available on the market today. Most of them allow some form of user collaboration in an effort to increase productivity. However, these solutions are often very rigid in their requirements for the data and services they provide. For example, most of such software is geared toward specific enterprises, groups or projects and allow little in terms of customization. What is needed is a more abstract, dynamic and user-friendly approach, one that would provide a more fluid and adaptable system of collaboration between users over a distributed computing environment.

System and method for providing active menus in a communities framework


The present invention discloses a wireless communication device capable of establishing peer-to-peer connection passively or actively. The device conforms to an IEEE 802.11 standard, and comprises: a control block, a transmission circuit and a reception circuit. When the device intends to passively establish peer-to-peer connection, said control block generates a local-end peer-to-peer connection message which includes a local-end group owner intent but isn't generated in response to any known/detected device; said transmission circuit broadcasts a local-end peer-to-peer connection packet according to the message; and said reception circuit receives a connection-end peer-to-peer connection request from a connection-end for the first time after broadcasting the message, wherein the request includes a connection-end group owner decision related to the local-end group owner intent. Accordingly, after receiving the request, the wireless communication device functions as a master or a slave according to the decision, and then establishes the peer-to-peer connection with the first connection-end.

1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a wireless communication device and method, especially to a wireless communication device and method capable of establishing peer-to-peer connections.
2. Description of Related Art
Wi-Fi Direct is a peer-to-peer connection technology developed and authenticated by Wi-Fi Alliance. This technology allows two wireless communication devices to connect with each other without any intermediate devices (e.g., a wireless network access point, a router, a hub, etc.). The current Wi-Fi Direct protocol is established under the regulation of an IEEE 802.11 standard and sets up steps for the peer-to-peer connection establishment between non-intermediate devices. The said steps include a Device Discovery Procedure capable of allowing wireless communication devices to discover each other, a Group Owner Negotiation (GO Negotiation) of a Group Formation Procedure capable of setting each of the wireless communication devices to be a master or a slave and a Provisioning step of the Group Formation Procedure capable of allowing the wireless communication devices to exchange their pairing rules. These procedures result in the interconnection process of Wi-Fi Direct being more complicated, failing more often and increasing the connection-establishment time. As a result, users often find Wi-Fi Direct unfriendly in usage.
In detail, the Device Discovery Procedure in Wi-Fi Direct protocol includes a Listen State, a Scan State and a Find Phase. The Listen State allows a wireless communication device to enter a state of being discoverable. For instance, in a case that the communication frequency band is located at 2.4 GHz, the Wi-Fi Direct Protocol defines the wireless channels 1, 6, 11 in this frequency band as social channels. A wireless communication device is obligated to choose one of the three channels as the social channel for itself and to periodically jump to the social channel from a current channel in the Listen State so as to wait for the call and query from other wireless communication devices. The wireless communication device can also visit every channel in the frequency band during the Scan State so as to find out whether a linkable wireless communication device exists, and the search means may not only include a general scan procedure in compliance with a 802.11 standard but also a procedure for searching devices in support of the Wi-Fi Direct Protocol. The wireless communication device is further able to go to the social channel in the Find Phase to find out other wireless communication devices for pairing. Accordingly, once a wireless communication device enters the Device Discovery Procedure, the wireless communication device switches between the above-mentioned three states. This series of actions is iterative and complicated and probably makes two wireless communication devices unable to discover each other due to their frequency jumps (or called frequency hopping). Even though two wireless communication devices are paired successfully, the frequency jumps from the start of the Device Discovery Procedure to the beginning of peer-to-peer connection could make the connection between the two devices unstable or consume too much time in the establishment of the previous or new connection.
In addition, as to the GO Negotiation of the Group Formation Procedure, the Wi-Fi Direct Protocol sets a rule to determine the master-slave relationship between link partners through an exchange of three packets. The three packets are GO Negotiation Request, GO Negotiation Response and GO Negotiation Confirmation respectively. More specifically, the wireless communication device informs its link object of its intention of being a group owner (i.e. the master in a link relationship) through a packet carrying a GO intent, and the device who has a stronger intention becomes the group owner. If the intentions of the two link objects are the same, a Tie Breaker rule is executed to make arbitration. But if both the two link objects claim their GO intent with the highest value, which means that none of the two sides compromises, the negotiation breaks down, and the connection is not established. The above-mentioned negotiation process needs the exchange of three packets so as to determine the master-slave relationship Due to the poor environment of the wireless transmission, the above-mentioned negotiation process probably consumes a lot of time or fails to connect when some transmission is lost or retransmitted during the packet exchange process. Moreover, if both the two link objects claim the highest GO intent, this negotiation process is unable to prevent the negotiation from breaking down, which leads to a connection failure.
People who are interested in the detail of Wi-Fi Direct may refer to the standard of Wi-Fi Alliance.

Wireless communication device and method capable of peer-to-peer interconnection


A piezoelectric device includes a first electrode film, a second electrode film, and a piezoelectric thin film enclosed by the first electrode film and second electrode film, in which the piezoelectric thin film is an oxide piezoelectric thin film having an oxygen deficiency amount of more than 0% and not more than 10% of the stoichiometric composition. The piezoelectric device composed of the piezoelectric thin film having such oxygen deficiency has a greater piezoelectric performance as compared with the oxide piezoelectric thin film in an oxidized state of stoichiometric composition, and by manufacturing under such a condition, the film forming speed is increased, so that the mass producibility can be improved.

Piezoelectric thin films are processed into various piezoelectric devices depending on their intended purpose, and are widely used as electronic components such as an actuator for deforming a device by applying a voltage, or a sensor for generating a voltage by deforming the device. For example, Japanese Laid-open Patent No. 2002-279742 discloses a technology of fine control of a head position in a magnetic disk by using a piezoelectric device. The piezoelectric device is used because the recording density of the magnetic disk is increased, the area of a recording region of one bit is decreased, and it is difficult to obtain a sufficient precision by positioning of the head using only the conventional voice coil motor. Accordingly, in addition to positioning by utilizing the voice coil motor, it has been considered to compose a two-stage actuator for positioning at high precision in a very small region by a piezoelectric device. A piezoelectric device unit used for this purpose is composed of a pair of piezoelectric devices, which are disposed so that one of the piezoelectric devices is contracted when the other of the piezoelectric devices is expanded, and therefore, the head provided at the leading end can be moved finely at a high precision on the disk surface.
Such a piezoelectric device is generally manufactured in the following manner. A substrate for the piezoelectric device is, for example, a magnesium oxide single crystal substrate (MgO substrate). On this MgO substrate, a platinum film (Pt film) oriented by (100) is formed. On this Pt film, a lead zirconate titanate (PZT) thin film oriented by (001) is formed. Further, an electrode thin film is formed on the PZT thin film, and these thin films are processed into a specified shape by photolithography and etching. Finally, by removing the MgO substrate by etching or other process, a piezoelectric device is fabricated.
For forming a PZT thin film, a sputtering method is generally employed, and its substrate temperature is 550 to 650° C. By sputtering at such a high temperature, lead (Pb) is evaporated from the PZT thin film in the sputtering process, and the final fabricated PZT thin film deviates from the stoichiometric composition due to a decrease of Pb composition. To obtain the PZT thin film of stoichiometric composition, Takayama et al. attempted to compensate for the Pb component in the PZT thin film by composing the target for sputtering to contain Pb by about 20% in excess, and forming the film by using this target (J. Appl. Phys. 65 (4), 1666, 1989).
However, to obtain the PZT thin film of stoichiometric composition by using the target containing Pb in excess, it is necessary to add oxygen gas to an inert gas as a discharge gas for sputtering, and form the film by sputtering in a condition of relatively high pressure. Under such a condition, the film forming speed cannot be increased. When used as a piezoelectric device, the PZT thin film is required to form about 1 μm to 10 μm in thickness, and the mass productivity is extremely reduced at a slow film forming speed.
Japanese Laid-open Patent No. H6-49638 discloses a technology of sputtering at a relatively low discharge gas pressure in a vacuum apparatus which increases the film forming speed when forming a PZT thin film for use in a semiconductor memory. When the discharge gas pressure is low, the Pb component in the formed film is likely to decrease, and therefore, to fabricate a PZT thin film of stoichiometric composition, a target of excessive Pb composition is used depending on the discharge gas pressure.
On the other hand, Japanese Patent Publication No. 3341357 discloses a technology of increasing the piezoelectric constant d31 by utilizing excessive Pb in the thin film fabricated for improving the piezoelectric characteristics of the PZT thin film more than in the stoichiometric composition, and forming a rhombohedral crystal structure.
In the first prior art example and the second prior art example, however, both methods aim to fabricate a PZT thin film of stoichiometric composition, and it is necessary to form the film by sputtering in a discharge gas of relatively high oxygen partial pressure. In the PZT thin film formed at such high oxygen partial pressure, the piezoelectric constant d31 is generally small, and the film forming speed in sputtering cannot be increased. Hence, good piezoelectric characteristics are not obtained, and the mass producibility is not improved.
In the third prior art example, the Pb amount in the PZT thin film is in excess of the summed amount of titanium (Ti) and zirconium (Zr), but the ratio of oxygen (O) and Pb in the PZT thin film is increased at a same rate, and oxygen deficiency does not take place. Accordingly, when forming the film, oxygen must be added and sputtering must be done in the condition of high discharge gas pressure, and therefore, the film forming speed is not increased. Hence, mass productivity is not improved.

Piezoelectric device and its manufacturing method

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


Techniques for efficient routing of wires and electrical components within a device are disclosed. A wire can be routed, for example, in the space between two battery cells (or other components/structures) with the use of a bracket inserted between the cells to provide structural support. Electrical tape surrounding a battery may be breached to expose a cavity between distinct battery cells. In some embodiments, multiple brackets may be inserted between the cells, creating a trough through which a wire or other component may be routed. After routing a wire through the trough, another electrical part or housing may be fixed above the battery cells. One example case includes a first electrical component placed within the bracket, and a second electrical component routing in a divergent path to the first electrical component external to the bracket, wherein the first and second electrical component have a common start and end point.

Typical electronic devices include a number of components populated on a printed circuit board (PCB) that has conductive runs electrically coupling various point of the circuitry. In some cases, additional wires are routed above the PCB to couple other points of the circuitry, such as those points that are not in direct contact with a contact pad of the PCB. Efficiently routing wires and other electrical elements within compact devices involves a number of non-trivial challenges.
One example of challenge of routing wires is depicted in FIG. 8. As can be seen, the example system does not allow for all the wires to be routed together due to space constraints on either side of an obstacle. In particular, the group of wires 804 is blocked by a component 802. Consequently, the group of wires would require rerouting around the component. Present solutions for wire routing between two points A and B are depicted in FIG. 9 that require the multiple wires to use the same path.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Apparatus for split wire routing in a bracket for a device


A system is described for detachably securing a housing to a ball hitch (e.g. of the type used in trucks for towing). The system includes a tubular housing for fitting over the ball, and attachment means for detachably securing the housing to the ball. A workpiece can then be secured to the housing, as desired. A preferred attachment means is a pair of opposing lock pins which are movable between retracted and extended positions. When the pins are in the extended position, they secure the housing to the ball hitch. The type of workpieces may vary. For example, the workpiece may be a work table, a vise, a fifth-wheel hitch system, a winch, or an arm for a lift bucket.

Conventional ball hitch systems used in trucks (e.g. pickup trucks) include a ball which is secured to the frame of the truck in the bed area. A trailer can be connected to the ball for towing purposes. Normally the trailer includes a vertical stem or shank with an opening in its lower end to receive the ball. The vertical stem further includes a locking mechanism to secure the stem to the ball for towing.
Sometimes it would be of great benefit if the existing ball hitch system could be used for supporting various types of workpieces, such as a vise, or a work table, or lift bucket, for example.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,740,266 (Marcy) describes a system for attenuating intermittent forces at the interconnection between a towing vehicle and a trailer. In one embodiment the system includes an air spring or cushion which acts as a shock absorber between the trailer and the towing vehicle. The system can be connected to a ball hitch which may also include a fifth-wheel hitch for a camper trailer, for example.
There has not heretofore been provided a ball hitch conversion system having the advantages and features of the present invention.


There are disclosed polymerization processes and associated apparatuses. The polymerization processes involve both making a polymeric material in a fluidized bed reactor having a feed distributor and catching a spitwad with a spitwad catcher, and the apparatuses are those corresponding to such processes.

Fluidized bed reactors (also referred to herein as the "reactor") are widely used in industry to make a variety of products such as polyethylene and other polyolefins. One problem often encountered in using these reactors is uneven channeling of a feed through the bed of the reactor resulting in partial or even total loss of bed fluidization; significant loss of fluidization may result in sheeting or agglomeration in the bed and/or make reactor shutdown necessary.
Channeling problems have been remedied by the use of feed distributors. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,933,149; 5,082,634; and 5,213,768 are illustrative of feed distributors known in the art.
One drawback of such feed distributors is the tendency for them to plug with solids formed in or otherwise introduced into the reactor and/or recycle loop. Uneven channeling can then appear in the associated fluidized bed with consequences as previously described.
Attempts to solve these drawbacks are disclosed in the following patents. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,933,149, a deflector plate and screen located inside the polymerization reactor and below the feed distributor are disclosed in the Description by Rhee et al. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,082,634 Raufast discloses a method for removal of solids from above the feed distributor. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,126,414 Cooke et al. discloses a method of substantially eliminating distributor plate fouling by removing oligomers from the recycle feeds to the fluid bed reactor.
In spite of these attempts, there exists a need for better solutions to the aforementioned channeling and feed distributor plugging problems. The present invention is directed to filling this need among others.

Polymerization process and associated apparatus


The present invention provides new thrombin inhibiting bisamidines derivatives, their pharmaceutically acceptable salts and hydrates, methods for their preparation, pharmaceutical composition, a process for their preparation, and use of the compounds in treatment of thrombosis, ischemia and stroke.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to novel thrombin inhibiting bisamidine derivatives, their salts and hydrates and to a process for the preparation thereof. The compounds of this invention are useful under conditions of thrombosis, ischemia or stroke.
2. Description of the Art
Thrombosis can be regarded as a pathological condition where improper regulation of the hemostatic mechanism results in the formation of intravascular thrombi which may lead to tissue damage or death due to inadequate blood flow. This condition is a major cause of mortality and morbidity in humans. Thrombin plays many crucial roles in hemostasis and thrombosis The serine protease activity of thrombin is required for the cleavage of fibrinogen to fibrin polymer and also for platelet activation. In the presence of the coagulation factor XIIIa, this polymer undergoes crosslinking and forms the insoluble fibrin clot. The development of agents to inhibit thrombin generation and activity in prethrombotic situations could be useful for control of blood coagulation and could greatly aid in lowering the incidence of thrombus-induced myocardial and cerebral ischemia.
Substituted bisamidines of the Formula I are known intermediates in the preparation of certain anti-ulcer agents of the Formula II. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,374,248 and 4,440,933 disclosed and claimed a series of I and II as anti-ulcer agents. ##STR1##
John E. Starrett, Jr., et al., in a recently published article (J. Med. Chem., 32:2204 (1989)) disclosed selected bisamidine containing imidazo[1.2-a]pyridines (Formula III) as a key intermediate in the preparation of antiulcer agents. ##STR2##
Okamoto, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,041,156 and Cleason, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,537,896 disclosed a number of arylsulfonyl arginine amides and p-guanidino phenyl alanine amides of the general Formula IV and V useful as thrombin inhibitors. ##STR3##
Bajusz, et. al., in Int. J. Pept. Protein Res., 12:217-221 (1978) discloses peptide aldehydes of the Formula VI which have thrombin inhibitory properties. ##STR4##
There is nothing in any of the foregoing references, to suggest the novel thrombin inhibitors bisamidine derivatives of the present invention.

Bisamidine derivatives as thrombin inhibitors


The advantage of the invention is to improve the convenience when a preview image of processing target data is displayed in a communication terminal that does not have a preview generating function. A communication terminal has a processing target transmitting section that transmits processing target data to a server, a preview receiving section that receives preview image data of a page in which generation of preview image data is completed before generation of preview image data of all pages is completed with respect to preview image data of the processing target data generated by the server, and a preview displaying section that displays a preview image based on the received preview image data.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a communication terminal, a communication terminal control program, a server, and a server control method, and particularly relates to a display of a preview image.
2. Background Technology
A system has been known, in which a preview image of data as a print target can be confirmed in a communication terminal that has no preview generating program installed (for example, Patent Document 1).
Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2008-299739 (Patent Document 1) is an example of the related art.

Communication terminal, storage medium for storing communication terminal control program, server, and server control method


An improved helix antenna including a single unitary antenna having plural radiating elements extending radially from a common junction. A microstrip balun is connected to the plural antenna elements at the common junction. In a particular embodiment, the antenna includes four radiating elements arranged in a helical pattern and mounted such that a longitudinal axis extending through the axial center of the antenna is coincident with a longitudinal axis of the microstrip balun. One or more of the radiating elements includes a semi-circular loop to create phase relationships necessary for a circularly polarized beam pattern. The microstrip balun includes a transmission line and a ground plane on opposite sides of a dielectric substrate. The transmission line and the ground plane are tapered for impedance matching between the input and the output thereof.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to antennas. More specifically, the present invention relates to quadrifilar helix antennas.
While the present invention is described herein with reference to illustrative embodiments for particular applications, it should be understood that the invention is not limited thereto. Those having ordinary skill in the art and access to the teachings provided herein will recognize additional modifications, applications, and embodiments within the scope thereof and additional fields in which the present invention would be of significant utility.
2. Description of the Related Art
The Global Positioning System (GPS) provides accurate position information in three dimensions (latitude, longitude, altitude). Position location is facilitated by a constellation of satellites. Each GPS satellite continuously transmits precise time and position data. GPS receivers read signals transmitted from three or more satellites and calculate the user's position based on the distance therefrom. In addition to position information, other navigation information may be calculated including, range, bearing to destination, speed and course over ground, velocity, estimated time of arrival and cross track error. The accuracy of the calculation is dependent on the quality of the signal detected from the satellite. Hence, the system requires a sufficiently accurate receiver and antenna arrangement. Specifically, the antenna must be small and portable with an omnidirectional beam pattern broad enough to detect signals from satellites located anywhere in the hemisphere. For this purpose, the quadrifilar helix antenna has been found to be well suited.
As discussed in Antenna Engineering Handbook, by Richard C. Johnson and Henry Jasik, pp. 13-19 through 13-21 (1984) a quadrifilar helix (or volute) antenna is a circularly polarized antenna having four orthogonal fractional-turn (one fourth to one turn) helixes excited in phase quadrature. Each helix is balun-fed at the top, and the helical arms are wires or metallic strips (typically four in number) of resonant length (1=m.lambda./4, m=1, 2, 3, . . . ) wound on a small diameter with a large pitch angle. This antenna is well suited for various applications requiring a wide hemispherical beam pattern over a relatively narrow frequency range.
In accordance with conventional wisdom, quadrifilar helix antennas are constructed of several pieces (e.g. 13) typically soldered by hand at numerous joints. The antennas are typically mass produced by unskilled labor. As a result, quadrifilar helix antennas constructed in accordance with conventional teachings are expensive to fabricate, nonrepeatable in design and therefore require hand tuning. In particular, conventional quadrifilar antennas have a coax feed which has a varied distance between the inside diameter and outside diameter to match the 50 ohm typical input impedance to 30 ohm typical feed output impedance for optimum power transfer into the antenna elements. This requires machining and hand assembly which complicates the design and increases the cost of construction.
Thus, there is a need in the art for a quadrifilar antenna design that allows for low construction and testing costs.


Exhaust air containing particulate and carbon monoxide gas contaminants is withdrawn from a confined environment, such as a food cooking area, by a circulation system which liquid scrubs particulate contaminants from the exhaust flow, removes liquid mist from the flow, and then catalyzes or neutralizes the carbon monoxide gas contaminants into benign carbon dioxide before discharging the flow back into the confined environment. Removing contaminants in this manner allows a substantial amount of the thermal energy content of the exhaust air to be saved and reused within the confined environment, rather than discharging the thermal energy into the ambient environment.

Modern environmental concerns and regulations impose significant requirements for removing contaminants and undesirable constituents from the exhaust flow discharged into the ambient environment from industrial and other commercial operations. In some cases, the discharged exhaust flow must be cleaned or otherwise conditioned before it may it is discharged. For example, food preparation establishments are now required, or will soon be required, to remove the relatively high concentrations of smoke and fat airborne contaminants from the cooking exhaust. Not only is smoke generated while cooking the food, but particulate matter such as grease and fat and volatile contaminants such as odor are also created. Moreover, the hydrocarbon fuels which are burned while cooking the food generate carbon monoxide, which is toxic and may be lethal in concentrated doses. Other examples of business and industrial operations which generate exhaust with offensive and toxic particulate and gaseous contaminants are automobile repair shops, clothes drycleaning operations, and waste and water treatment plants.
Industrial and business operations frequently discharge the exhaust flow from the confined interior environment of the establishment into the ambient environment outside of the establishment. Usually the exhaust consists not only of the smoke, odor, particulates, volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide and other toxic gases, but also air drawn from within the confined environment of the establishment which is used to carry these contaminants outside of the establishment and into the ambient environment. Some types of these industrial and business operations, such as restaurants or food preparation establishments, generate a relatively large amount of such contaminants, and the amount of air consumed from within the confined environment to exhaust the contaminants is substantial. Makeup air must be admitted into the confined environment of the establishment to replace the air consumed by the exhaust flow.
The amount of makeup air required to replace the air of the exhaust flow is usually a significant portion of the overall air required to condition the interior confined environment of the establishment. Because the interior air used in the exhaust flow is drawn from the heated, cooled or otherwise conditioned air or within the interior confined environment, the makeup air admitted into the confined environment to replace the exhaust air flow must also be heated, cooled or otherwise conditioned. Otherwise, the desired thermal environment within the establishment could not be maintained. Of course, the thermal energy content of the air within the exhaust flow is when the exhaust flow is discharged into the ambient environment.
The energy required to heat, cool or otherwise condition makeup air may be a significant operating cost of the establishment. For example, the size and energy consumption of the heating and cooling equipment required to condition the makeup air for a small fast food restaurant is approximately four times the size and capacity that would be otherwise required if air was not withdrawn from within the interior of the confined environment as part of the cooking exhaust flow into the ambient environment. Considerable expense is involved in obtaining the increased capacity of the heating and cooling equipment for conditioning the makeup air, and in operating that equipment.
One of the significant drawbacks to recirculating the exhaust air from confined environments such as food preparation establishments, has been an inability to clean the contaminants from the exhaust air in a cost-efficient manner. The previous invention referenced above offers a relatively low cost and highly effective solution of ridding the exhaust air of particulate and gaseous contaminants, thus offering the possibility of recirculating the cleaned and benign exhaust flow back into the confined environment.
It is with respect to these and other considerations that the present invention has evolved.

Apparatus and method for cleaning, neutralizing carbon monoxide and recirculating exhaust air in a confined environment


In an embodiment according to the present invention, a coronagraph for detecting reflective bodies external to a light source is provided. A first mirror for directing a beam of light onto an occulting mask is adjusted based on a data from a fiber optic sensor or a second sensor. An occulting mask for separating the beam into a first and second portion directs the first portion onto a fiber optic sensor and the second portion onto a Lyot stop. The occulting mask is adjustable based on data from the second sensor. The Lyot stop separates the second portion of the beam into a third and fourth portion. The Lyot stop also directs the third portion of the beam onto the second sensor and the fourth portion of the beam onto a camera for detecting one or more reflective bodies external to a light source.

Astronomers can image the environments of nearby stars on scales comparable to our own solar system. New classes of astrophysical objects have been discovered including circumstellar debris disks, brown dwarfs, and super-Jupiter mass planets. These discoveries have galvanized intense public interest in science and technology and have led to profound new insights into the formation and evolution of planetary systems such as our own. Among the key technologies that have enabled this are adaptive optics (AO) and coronagraphy, both of which deliver the high image contrast for the discovery and characterization of faint stellar companions and circumstellar disks in the solar neighborhood. The highest order AO system available to the astronomical community in the United States is the Air Force Advanced Electro-Optical System (AEOS), located at the Air Force Research Laboratory's (AFRL) Maui Optical Site (AMOS) on Maui.
AEOS is a 3.67-meter telescope owned by the Department of Defense. The 75-ton AEOS telescope points and tracks very accurately, yet is fast enough to track both low-Earth satellites and missiles. AEOS can be used simultaneously by many groups or institutions because its light can be channeled through a series of mirrors to seven independent coudé rooms below the telescope. Employing sophisticated sensors that include an adaptive optics system, radiometer, spectrograph, and long-wave infrared imager, the telescope tracks man-made objects in deep space and performs space object identification data collection. This is part of Strategic Command's Space Surveillance effort.
AEOS is equipped with an adaptive optics system, the heart of which is a 941-actuator deformable mirror that can change its shape to remove the atmosphere's distorting effects. Using this, scientists can gather near diffraction-limited images of space objects.
To block light from a bright star in order to detect faint, nearby objects, a coronagraph is used. The optical elements in the coronagraph are used to create an image of the pupil plane, essentially an image of the telescope's primary mirror, and any support structures which enter the telescope's beam path. These elements scatter a substantial amount of light and degrade the contrast of the final image produced by the telescope. For example, the bright spikes present around stars in many astronomical images are a result of diffraction around the secondary mirror support spider. Faint objects located on or near these spikes are very difficult to detect. To suppress this scattered light, an occulting spot and a Lyot stop (e.g., Lyot mask) are used. The occulting spot is placed at the focal plane of the telescope and at a location coincident with the image of a bright source of light (such as a star or bright satellite). This removes a large fraction of the light from the bright source, while having virtually no effect on other light sources elsewhere in the image. This also reduces subsequent scattering due to light striking any optical elements further down in the optical path. Without the occulting spot, light from the star would saturate the detection device, and the optical elements would fill the background with scattered light, as well as produce spurious reflections. The Lyot stop is used to block the diffracted light from the bright source due to the telescope support structures and the occulting spot, so that stars imaged with a coronagraph do not have diffraction spikes. The diffraction by the occulting spot leaves a ring of residual light from the bright source in a subsequent image of the pupil plane. The Lyot stop blocks this bright ring, substantially reducing the broad halo of light observed in telescopic images of bright sources. The removal of the diffraction spikes and the halo allows for imaging of faint sources near the star. However, it has not been previously possible to observe a planet which is orbiting a star (other than the sun) with a coronagraph. In some cases of observing the planets, the contrast can be larger than 1 part in billions. It has also not been possible to observe microsatellites placed near larger satellites. These microsatellites can be used to destroy larger satellites.


A light absorption layer is formed over a substrate, the light absorption layer is selectively irradiated with a laser beam, and a region of the light absorption layer, which is irradiated with the laser beam, is removed. By adding an impurity element imparting one conductivity type or an inert element to a remaining part of the light absorption layer, a tensile stress of the light absorption layer is made lower than that before irradiation with the laser beam.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a manufacturing method of a semiconductor device, and particularly relates to a laser processing method for a thin film such as a conductive layer or an insulating layer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a MOS transistor, a thin film transistor, and a semiconductor device including such a transistor is manufactured in such a manner that thin films such as an insulating layer and a conductive layer are formed over a substrate and processed into a desired pattern by a lithography technique. A lithography technique is a technique in which a pattern of a circuit or the like called a photomask, which is formed using a light-blocking material over a transparent flat plate, is transferred to an aimed object by utilizing light. The lithography technique is widely used in a process of manufacturing a semiconductor integrated circuit and the like.
However, the manufacturing process using the lithography technique requires multiple steps such as resist application using a photosensitive resin called a photoresist, pattern light exposure, development, and resist removal. Therefore, as the number of lithography processes is increased, cost is increased and throughput is decreased.
For example, Patent Document 1 (Japanese Published Patent Application No. S63-84789) proposes a technique for forming a linear pattern without using a photoresist. Specifically, a technique is proposed, in which a transparent conductive film (ITO) is linearly irradiated with an excimer laser beam to form a linear opening, so that a pattern is formed.
In Patent Document 2 (Japanese Published Patent Application No. 2000-133636), a method is described, in which two kinds of patterns are formed in a photolithography process by expanding in volume a resist mask that is once used as an etching mask to form an etching mask having a different shape.

Manufacturing method of semiconductor device

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


Disclosed is a non-heat treated steel for hot forging, particularly suitable for producing connecting rods of automobile engines. The steel consists essentially of: by weight, C: 0.3-0.8%, Si: 0.1-2.0%, Mn: 0.3-1.5%, P: 0.01-0.15%, Cr: 0-1.0%, V: 0-0.4%, Al: 0-0.05%, N: 0.005-0.03% and the balance being Fe and inevitable impurities, provided that the contents of C, Mn and Cr fulfill the following condition: 1.40[C %]+0.28[Mn %]+0.50[Cr %]≧0.75 Pearlite area fraction in this steel after hot forging is 50% or more. Notches are provided with laser beam on an intermediate part at the location from which fracture starts, and load is applied. Then, the intermediate is split to be two components (big end or cap and small end/rod for connecting rod). The components are adhered to form the parts.

The present invention concerns a non-heat treated steel for hot forging with easy fracture splitting, which is processed by hot forging to the shape of a machine part, then split into two or more components by rupture, and used thereafter in combination to form the machine part. The invention encompasses intermediate products for the machine parts.
Machine parts such as connecting rods of automobile engines have been manufactured by the following steps: forging the material into one body of the part, necessary finishing by machining, and splitting by machine into two components, i.e. , the cap or big end and the small end/rod. Splitting by a machine necessitates cut off width and requires many man-hours due to polishing after splitting. Thus, the costs for conventional production of connecting rods have been high.
As an alternative way to produce this kind of machine parts, other than the hot forging ingot steel, combination of metal powder sintering and forging may be employed. The sintering-forging itself is a complicated process, and therefore, not useful for solving the problem of the above discussed high costs.
In order to produce the connecting rods with reduced costs, there has been proposed, in addition to the use of non-heat treated steel, to carry out fracture splitting instead of machine splitting. This procedure comprises formation of a notch or notches at the location or locations of desired splitting on the forged product by machining and applying load so as to cause fracture starting from the notch or notches (Japanese Patent Disclosures Nos.9-3589. 9-176787 and 9-178785).
As the way to provide the notches as the staring points of the fracture splitting, other than the machining, various means utilizing thermal energy source such as laser beam, electron beam, plasma arc and TIG (hereinafter represented by the phrase "processing with laser") became to be employed. At the notches provided by the processing by laser, different from the simple physical notches, the parts on which the laser beam is irradiated structure of the steel changes by heat to martensite phase, and thus, generally becomes brittle and favorable for fracture splitting. Anyway, in case where the notches are provided by the processing by laser, situation of occurrence and progress of the fracture are different from those caused by the notches provided by machining, and therefore, it is desirable that the non-heat treated steel for hot forging is a steel suitable for the above discussed fracture.
On the other hand, because the machine parts prepared by hot forging of ingot steel of conventional non-heat treated steel for hot forging have considerable resilience with the hardness range of 20-32 HRC, which is usually observed in the machine parts, fracture splitting results in significant plastic deformation in the components on the fractured surfaces thereof (by formation of something like "share lips" observed at shock tests). It has been thus a problem that the fractured surfaces may not adhere exactly.
Generally, in the production of connecting rods, in order to improve accuracy of forging after hot forging, blanks receive cold coining or sizing. The cold coining or sizing, however, gives large residual strain to the processed material. For this reason, fracture splitting causes deformation as the result of releasing the residual strain. This is also a problem of no exact combination or adhesion at the combined fractured surfaces.

Non-heat treated steel for hot forging with easy fracture splitting


In order to attain the object described above, a game apparatus is able to use a touch panel 13 and operation means, executes a shooting game, and positions an aim G3 representing a shooting direction at a predetermined position. When sliding operation is received on the touch panel, the aim G3 is displaced from the predetermined position by a moving distance based on change of a touch position (input coordinate position). Shooting is virtually performed in a direction based on the position of the aim according to an operation on the operation means.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to: a computer-readable storage medium having an information processing program stored therein; an information processing apparatus; an information processing system; and an information processing method, and more particularly to: a computer-readable storage medium having stored therein an information processing program, an information processing apparatus, an information processing system, and an information processing method which: perform operation for virtually shooting from a predetermined shooting position in a virtual space; display, on a screen, an aim object representing a shooting direction of the shooting; and change a position of an aim on the screen, based on operation performed on coordinate input means by a player.
Description of the Background Art
A game apparatus (information processing apparatus) which performs operation for virtually shooting form a predetermined shooting position in a virtual space is widespread. In such a game apparatus, as described in, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-191860, and "METROID PRIME HUNTERS SYSTEM" by Nintendo Co., Ltd. (retrieved on May 9, 2010), the Internet <URL:http://metroid.jp/metroid_version4/system/index1.html#System>, an aim object representing a direction in which shooting is performed is positioned in a virtual space, and displayed on a screen. Namely, in a case where shooting is performed at a time when a position of the aim object and a position of an enemy character are superimposed on each other on the screen, the enemy character is successfully shot.
However, in the game apparatus as described above, the aim object is always displayed at the center position of the screen. Therefore, in order to superimpose the position of the aim object and the position of the enemy character on each other on the screen, the position of the aim object needs to be changed by changing a position or an imaging direction of the virtual camera positioned in a virtual space.

Computer-readable storage medium having information processing program stored therein, information processing apparatus, information processing system, and information processing method


The present invention provides a coating composition capable of forming, on a zinc or zinc alloy plated steel plate subjected to a chromate chemical treatment, a coating film superior in processability, corrosion resistance, adhesive property, impact resistance, scratch resistance, etc. This composition comprises:. (A) a polyester resin having a glass transition temperature of -25.degree. C. to 35.degree. C., a number-average molecular weight of 1,000-35,000 and a hydroxyl value of 3-80 mgKOH/g, PA1 (B) a melamine resin curing agent which is a methyl-etherified melamine resin, or a mixture of a methyl-etherified mel amine resin and a butyl-etherified melamine resin, PA1 (C) a rust preventive pigment, and PA1 (D) organic polymer fine particles, PA1 (A) 60-95 parts by weight, PA1 (B) 5-40 parts by weight, PA1 (C) 1-50 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of the total of (A) and (B), and PA1 (D) 2-40 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of the total of (A) and (B).. wherein the proportions of the individual components are:

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a coating composition used for rough texture-surface finish, capable of forming a coating film which is superior in processability, corrosion resistance, adhesivity, impact resistance, scratch resistance, etc. and which has a rough texture, particularly a coating composition suitable for imparting rough texture-surface finish in one layer-coating; a process for producing a one layer-coated steel plate, which comprises coating the above coating composition; and a one layer-coated steel plate which is a steel plate having thereon a cured film of the above coating composition and which is suitable for processing into various articles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As coated steel plates to be processed into various household electric or electronic appliances wherein decorativeness is required, such as VTR, radio with cassette tape recorder and CD player, electronic oven, washing machine, refrigerator and the like, there were proposed coated steel plates obtained by coating, on a steel plate, a coating for rough texture-surface finish (which is a dispersion of organic polymer fine particles in a binder) as an outermost layer [such coated steel plates are described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Kokai (Laid-Open) No. 168967/1982 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,457,965 and GB-A-094,815) and Japanese Patent Application Kokai (Laid-Open) No. 74970/1987].
Of these coated steel plates, two layer-coated steel plates are in practical application, and they are obtained by coating, on a galvanized steel plate subjected to a chemical treatment, a coating for rough texture-surface finish (which is a dispersion of organic polymer fine particles in a binder) as an outermost layer via an undercoat of polyester or epoxy type to form a cured film of the coating on the steel plate. In production of two layer-coated steel plate, since the coating steps are many, there are required rationalization of coating, coating in shorter time, coating in thinner film or/and one layer-coating (the latter two items lead to resource saving). Application of a conventional coating for rough texture-surface finish, directly on a galvanized steel plate gives a coating film inferior in processability, corrosion resistance, adhesivity, scratch resistance, etc.
Hence, the present inventors made a study with an aim of developing a one layer-coated steel plate capable of forming a coating film superior in processability, corrosion resistance, adhesivity, impact resistance, scratch resistance, etc. As a result, the present inventors found out that the above aim can be achieved by coating, on a zinc or zinc alloy plated steel plate subjected to a chromate chemical treatment, directly and not via an undercoat, a coating comprising a particular hydroxyl group-containing polyester resin, a particular melamine resin, a rust preventive pigment and organic polymer fine particles. The present invention has been completed based on the finding.

Coating composition and one layer-coated steel plate