An appliance and a method for permission-based email filtering capable of scanning outgoing emails to ensure the emails comply with Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation or similar rules. In one embodiment of the invention, the system intercepts outgoing emails and redirects the email to a remote server. The server compares the recipient's email address to a consent database and distributes the email to the appropriate recipient depending on whether consent from the recipient is known or unknown. If the recipient has previously denied their consent, the recipient is removed from the list of recipients for the email message and the message is not sent to that recipient. In another embodiment of the invention, the system adds a unsubscribe mechanism to the email message.

Governments are increasingly regulating the use of email for commercial purposes. For example, the Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) came into effect in Canada in July 2014. One objective of CASL is to protect Canadians from spam email, while allowing continued growth for business in the global market. The introduction of this legislation brought about a need for email filtering systems that facilitate a user's (or "sender's") compliance with CASL.
One aspect of CASL that came into effect in July 2014 was that businesses and organizations cannot send commercial electronic messages if they do not have proper consent from the recipient to send the message. The form of consent may vary, but there must at least be implied consent from the recipient to receive a commercial electronic message.
The current penalties for violating the provisions of CASL include a possible financial penalty, per infraction, of $1,000,000 for individuals and $10,000,000 for businesses. As such, businesses and organizations are provided with a significant incentive to ensure their compliance with the new legislation.
Several known inventions have generally addressed the area of email filtering. However, such tools all have significant limitations.
For example, software has been developed that can be installed by a user that parses outgoing entails, determines whether the recipient of the message is on an unsubscribe list and, if so, removes the unsubscribed recipient from the email's recipient list prior to sending the email.
Many email management systems focus on the filtering of incoming emails. Such systems filter incoming email messages by using a whitelist that compares the email address of the sender of an incoming email message with a list of addresses on a user's pass list. By doing so, the system filters any email messages being received from addresses previously unknown to the user, such as spam.
Despite the many inventions known in the field of email management and email filtering, the known prior art fails to address certain requirements mandated by CASL for sending commercial messages.


An improved apparatus and a method to insert a wireline through a blow out preventer to log an underbalanced open hole well without killing the well or causing formation damage while maintaining well control during the process. A dual throated blow out preventer (10) provides a moveable sealing element (1210, 1402) to allow a wireline (13) and a drill string (25) to be placed in a well for assembly, then seals off the dual throat to isolate the drill string from the wireline, thereby permitting pressure to be maintained on both the wireline through a standard packoff arrangement (1218) and on the drill string using the rams of the blow out preventer (10).

When drilling deviated or horizontal wells, conventional overbalanced drilling typically kills the well in older or lower production zones, making conventional logging techniques difficult to accomplish. Different techniques have been developed to circumvent this problem by using underbalanced techniques and sealing around the pipe and wireline cable for example thereby permitting gas insertion into the well bore annulus, logging while drilling (LWD), memory shuttles conveyed by pumping them down inside pipe or using slim tools such as RST conveyed with cable inside drill pipe. So far as known to applicant, the problems with conveying a full suite of open hole logging tools in an under-balanced horizontal well remained unsolved until the filing of applicant's companion application in the European Patent Office under Serial No. EP082901261 on or about 19 Mar. 2008, which application is incorporated herein by reference as if copied herein.
Horizontal wells are a commonly used technique in the industry. Horizontal wells enable a long interval of reservoir to be contacted in a single well thereby improving the productivity and enhancing reservoir recovery economics. Horizontal well logging techniques have also evolved. While drilling measurements allow accurate well placement, in certain types of reservoirs and depending on the evaluation objectives requested by the owner, there still remains a strong need to perform wireline logging operations involving high resolution imaging, magnetic resonance measurements, as well as downhole fluid analysis and sampling services—most of which are currently not available with LWD. For such cases, the industry has developed a method conveniently termed in current literature as "tough logging conditions" (TLC) which enables the tools to be conveyed on drill pipe while also maintaining an electrical connection to the surface unit using a standard wireline cable. The method, in summary, involves conveying tools in the well using drill pipe till just above the last casing shoe. A cable side door entry sub is then inserted in drill string to allow the cable to be rigged up and to enter inside the drill pipe through the side entry sub and further connect to the tools already down hole. The cable is tied up or fixed at the side entry sub and both cable and drill pipe are simultaneously conveyed down to perform logging operations. A standard feature of a TLC system is that a certain length of cable, equal to a minimum of the length of the logging interval, is carried on the drillstring outside the drillpipe located between the rig floor and the point in the drill string where the cable enters the drill pipe, that is, at the side entry sub.
Under-balanced drilling is especially suited for horizontal wells because formation damage in horizontal over-balanced wells can be very significant due to the long contact length and contact time between reservoir rocks and drilling fluids as well as constant scraping of filter cake by the drill pipe lying down on the low side of the horizontal. As a result, significant productivity is lost due to formation damage in horizontal wells. The industry has therefore realized the need to design technologies that are able to perform under-balanced drilling in horizontal wells to lower the formation damage that would otherwise be caused if the well was drilled over-balanced and thereby achieve higher productivity.
The main objective of this invention is therefore to provide an improved apparatus and methods for inserting a wireline through a blow out preventer stack, including either a rotating blow out preventer or snubbing preventer, to perform the equivalent of a TLC logging operation in an under-balanced horizontal well.

Method and apparatus for installing a wireline for logging or other operations in an under-balanced well


An engine fuel pump control apparatus is provided. The engine fuel pump control apparatus is connected to an engine and a transmission. A fuel pump is interposed in a fuel conduit between a fuel tank and the engine and the fuel pump has a selectively variable fuel delivery rate. A fuel pump controller is configured to adjust a fuel delivery rate from the fuel pump to the engine in which the fuel pump controller is configured to increase the fuel delivery rate as a rotational speed of the engine increases. The fuel pump controller is further configured to adjust the fuel delivery rate as a detected vehicle speed characteristic varies.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to a control apparatus for an engine fuel pump mounted to an engine for supplying a controlled amount of fuel.
2. Description of the Related Art
Historically, the fuel amount fed to an engine from a fuel tank by a fuel pump was adjusted to correspond to the engine operating conditions, such as an actual required amount of fuel consumption, such that an excessive amount of return fuel will be reduced (See, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Nos. S58-48767 to Niwa et. al, and H5-223027 to Yuda).
Niwa et al. discloses a basic control of voltage applied to an electrically operated fuel pump based on both an engine load and engine speed. Yuda improves this technology and calculates a required discharge fuel volume at a full load operation at each engine speed. By controlling the fuel amount to meet this full load operation in advance, possible response delays are avoided.
Another patent document, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application No. 2009-191724 to Sasaki et. al., discloses selectively driving and stopping a generator operatively connected to an engine in such a way that an applied voltage to an electrical fuel pump is adjusted between a battery voltage corresponding to a lower value and a raised value by an alternator.

Fuel pump control device for an internal combustion engine


The invention concerns apparatus for molding thermoplastic tubing having solid annular ribs. The apparatus is of the type where a tubular mold is defined by cooperatively interengaged mold block of a pair of mold assemblies. An annular extrusion orifice for the tube extends into the mold tunnel and tubing is extruded about a mandrel. The invention provides an accumulator chamber in the region of the extrusion nozzle to provide for pressure differences which build up at that point. Thus, the effective volume of the accumulator chamber can compensate for the varying requirement for the thermoplastic material resulting from the varying radial wall thickness.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the apparatus for thermoplastic tubing having annular ribs, the apparatus being of the type in which tubing of the thermoplastic material is continuously extruded into a tubular mold tunnel.
2. Background of the Invention
The tubular mold tunnel is defined by cooperatively interengaged and mold blocks of a pair of mold assemblies, the mold blocks of each mold assembly being driven along a forward run in which the blocks define the modular block tunnel, and back along a return run. The mold blocks have molding surfaces comprising troughs for molding ribs of the tubing, and crests for molding grooves of the tubing. Such an apparatus is disclosed for example in U.S. Patent No. 3,981,663 issued on Sept. 21, 1976 to Gerd P. H. Lupke, and in 4,712,993 issued on Dec. 15, 1987 to Manfred A. A. Lupke.
With such known apparatus, the annular extrusion orifice is defined by a nozzle and conical mandrel disposed coaxially within the nozzle and connected to a downstream cylinder or sleeve which functions to guide the molten thermoplastic material toward the mold cavity and to provide the smooth inner surface of the pipe. In the apparatus described in the U.S. Pat. Specification No. 3,998,579, the sleeve is disposed a considerable distance downstream from the nozzle with the result that the molding space defined by the nozzle, the mandrel and the sleeve has an excessive volume. In the use of such known apparatus, the thermoplastic material is cooled excessively and becomes too stiff to flow into the rib recesses in the mold blocks. This problem cannot easily be avoided by raising the temperature of the material since that presents a serious risk that the material might burn. Polyvinylchloride (PVC) is a very useful thermoplastic material for forming pipes and this material will disintegrate if the temperature is raised too high.
In an attempt to avoid this problem, it has been proposed to reduce the axial extend of the extrusion orifice to such an extent that it is less than the distance between two adjacent annular recesses in the mold blocks, i.e. the extrusion orifice has an axial length less than the space between two annular ribs on the product pipe. While this procedure avoids cooling and flow problems associated with the use of large molding volumes, another problem arises due to the variation in the requirement of plastic material during operation of the apparatus. This variation results from the different thicknesses of pipe wall required for ribs and for the grooves. Thus, a considerable amount of thermoplastic material is required to fill the annular troughs in the mold blocks to form the ribs of the tubing. Less material is required at the crests of the mold blocks for the thinner walled grooves of the tubing. This calls for a very critically controlled flow of plastic material which is difficult to achieve. Even when the flow is satisfactory, pulsed stresses are set up at the Point of filling the mold blocks due to the varying demand for plastic material.

Method and apparatus for producing pipe with annular ribs


The present invention provides a simple, inexpensive apparatus for and method of capturing biological or other material from sample suspensions on a collection surface and for depositing captured material on a receiving surface, such as a microscope slide, for observation and analysis. Accordingly, cytological material may be deposited in near mono-layers for the detection of disease. In one embodiment of the present invention, density gradients of material are captured and deposited, thus providing a desired range of concentrations for examination. In another embodiment multiple depositions or multiple slides may be made from the same sample suspension. The method and apparatus to exploit this new method are both presented for various applications. The dimensions of material captured and deposited may be controlled and used in conjunction with microscope slides that confine material to specific regions of interest.

The present invention relates to the capture of cells or other material from a sample suspension and the deposition of cells or other material onto an appropriate receiving surface, such as a microscope slide for observation.
In the field of cytology, human and machine vision systems perform effectively on near mono-layer depositions of cellular material. Expanded use of machine vision for slide examination, a growing number of special stains and the development of molecular markers have increased the need to prepare multiple representative depositions or multiple slides from the same sample suspension. However, care must be taken in the deposition of cellular material used for cytological examination. In particular, to diagnose disease, slides must be representative of the sample suspension, which ideally is representative of the patient. And if multiple cellular depositions are made on the same or on different slides, then each of these depositions must also be representative of the sample suspension. Achieving an appropriate concentration and distribution of material for examination or analysis is a limitation of many sample preparation techniques. Therefore an intent of the present invention is to overcome some of these limitations.
Three common techniques used to deposit cells from a sample suspension onto microscope slides are: centrifugation, filter transfer and fluid evaporation. Examples of centrifugation are taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,391,710 to Gordon entitled "Cytocentrifuge", U.S. Pat. No. 5,679,154 to Kelley et al. entitled "Cytology centrifuge apparatus ", U.S. Pat. No. 5,480,484 to Kelley et al. entitled "Cytology centrifuge apparatus", U.S. Pat. No. 6,162,401 to Callaghan, entitled "Cytofunnel arrangement", and U.S. Pat. No. 5,419,279 to Carrico, Jr. et al. entitled "Apparatus for depositing and staining cytological material on a microscope slide".
Filter transfer is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,395,493 to Zahniser and U.S. Pat. No. 5,976,824 to Gordon entitled "Method and apparatus for collecting a cell sample from a liquid specimen". And an example of fluid evaporation is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,784,193 to Ferguson entitled "Microscope slide with removable layer and method".
Variations of these methods are taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,419,279 to Carrico, Jr. et al. entitled "Apparatus for depositing and staining cytological material on a microscope slide", U.S. Pat. No. 6,225,125 to Lapidus, entitled "Method and apparatus for controlled instrumentation of particles with a filter device", U.S. Pat. No. 6,309,362 to Guirguis entitled "Method and apparatus for automatically separating particulate matter from a fluid", and U.S. Pat. No. 6,358,474 to Dobler et al. entitled "Device and Method for Isolating Cell Material Out of a Tissue Medium and/or a Liquid".
For filter transfer, cellular or other material is collected, typically on a circular filter, and is transferred to the microscope slide by contact, back-pressure or a combination of contact and back-pressure. Other examples of cell deposition onto membrane filters in the prior art are taught by FIG. 4 of U.S. Pat. No. 5,419,279 to Carrico Jr. et al.; FIG. 11 in U.S. Pat. No. 5,679,154 to Kelley et al.; FIG. 2 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,250,830 to Leif; FIG. 3 in U.S. Pat. No. 6,162,401 to Callaghan; and FIG. 5 of U.S. Pat. No. 6,309,362 to Guirguis.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,162,401 to Callaghan teaches cell capture on a filter or membrane in which the filter dimensions are smaller than that of a microscope slide. This prior art does not teach or derive advantage by capturing material on a filter which extends beyond the dimensions of the receiving surface. While capturing material on filters, filter dimensions are typically kept to a minimum since filter deformation may cause inconsistencies in flow and thus material capture by the filter. Under less favorable conditions the filter itself could tear, otherwise fail or its characteristics may be compromised. Similarly, although filters are often supplied in a support structure, when material distribution is important for analysis, flow impediments in the vicinity of the carrier or support structure are viewed as problematic. Therefore, filter dimensions are generally kept to a minimum. Typically, the filter area is smaller and fits entirely within the dimensions of the receiving surface. An example of a departure from this in the prior art is U.S. Pat. No. 5,784,193 to Ferguson, which maintains its advantages and exploits situations when material dimensions exceed that of the exposed region of the slide or receiving surface.
Currently, in cytology, if multiple slides are required from a sample suspension, either the sample is split prior to deposition, or multiple portions (sub-samples) are captured on individual filters, and these are then deposited onto one or more slides for analysis. Multiple depositions are taught in: U.S. Pat. No. 4,250,830 to Leif entitled "Swinging buckets", U.S. Pat. No. 4,961,432 to Guirguis, entitled "Modular fluid sample preparation assembly", and U.S. Pat. No. 5,784,193 to Ferguson, entitled "Microscope slide with removable layer and method". The latter reference is of particular interest since it teaches: precise confinement of material to region(s) of interest; protecting the slide from contamination during bulk processing; and independent staining of various regions on the same slide. Products manufactured under this patent include high-tech surface coatings of PVC type materials that are easily removed, resistant to abrasion, and stable during cell fixation and staining. Such coatings as applied in fluid or vapor state are referred to as evaporation methods (see Ferguson column 6, lines 24–29). Additionally, Ferguson specifically teaches the limitations placed on the examination of cellular material when cells are deposited near the edge of the coverslip or microscope slide.
One limitation of using multiple small filters to capture multiple portions of material is that flow rate and other conditions for cell capture must be monitored closely to prevent non-representative samples or inadequate preparations. A non-representative sample, for example, may lack cancerous cells from which to make a diagnosis. Similarly, excess material, sparseness or substantial variations in cellular concentration may impede or otherwise confound diagnosis.
Some of these filter limitations are taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,395,493 to Zahniser entitled "Monolayer device using filter techniques", wherein the capture of cellular material on a filter tape is monitored by a cell counter. U.S. Pat. No. 4,614,109 to Hoffman teaches membrane testing by measuring differential pressure across it. U.S. Pat. No. 6,010,909 to Lapidus and U.S. Pat. No. 6,225,125 to Lapidus teach blocking pores. As material is captured, membrane pores are blocked, thus the differential pressure across the membrane provides an estimate of material concentration collected on the filter prior to deposition on a receiving surface. These techniques are designed to ensure that the appropriate concentration of material is captured on each filter. In order to achieve the appropriate concentration of material, however, these techniques are sometimes complicated and require expensive equipment and a substantial amount of time to perform.
Although the concentration of the collected material can be monitored, one difficulty with using multiple filters results not from the design of the device for monitoring the concentration, but from the nature of biological samples. Even in homogeneous samples, various sized clumps of cells, mucus, debris, particulate matter and various contaminants may be present. Therefore, that material which is captured on one small filter may be substantially different than the material captured on a subsequent filter. For a relatively large deposition of material, a few cell clumps or inadequate areas are not uncommon and may or may not impede diagnosis. The probability of capturing non-representative material is related to the surface area of the filter on which the material is collected.
A related difficulty is that once any material is removed from the sample suspension, the characteristics of the sample have changed and replicates are no longer possible. Unfortunately, with filter transfer methods, as cells are captured on the membrane, the concentration of constituents in the sample suspension are altered and therefore subsequent preparations from this sample suspension may no longer be representative. And in some cases, once any material has been removed from the original sample suspension, additional preparations from this may not even be suitable for the intended use. Similarly, repeated blots from the same area of a filter will not produce representative slides.
Another limitation for many analysis techniques, including cytology, is that to be effective, the concentration of material must fall within a target range. Still other test protocols require a target range of specific sample constituents. These target ranges are used to exploit malignancy-associated changes, for example which require predominantly DNA stained, non-overlapping nuclei. Typically, preparations for exploiting malignancy-associated changes include scrapings, aspirates, and washings for the detection of cancer and other diseases. Some of these applications are taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,889,881 to MacAulay et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 6,026,174 to Palcic et al.
While most cytology-based tests simply require representative samples containing abnormal cells, malignancy-associated changes are measured on ostensibly normal cells. Unfortunately, in the majority of cases the concentration of cells and constituents, in any given sample, is not known a priori. While cell counters, sample dilutions, differential pressure and other techniques are commonly employed to monitor or otherwise control the concentration of cells deposited, these require additional equipment, time and expertise. Even then for a variety of reasons the resulting cell deposition may be inadequate. It is therefore a goal of the present invention to improve the probability that an area adequate for analysis will be deposited on the receiving surface.
The need exists for a rapid, simple, cell deposition method to prepare multiple representative slides from a sample suspension. In addition, a more restricted set of applications would benefit from a cell or material deposition in the form of a concentration gradient.

Filter devices for depositing material and density gradients of material from sample suspension


A light-emitting device is optimized for radiative recombination and minimizes non-radiative recombination. The light-emitting device includes an emissive layer, a first electrode and a second electrode from which charges are generated, a first charge transport layer that injects charges from the first electrode into the emissive layer, and a second charge transport layer that injects charges from the second electrode into the emissive layer. At least one of the charge transport layers includes a mixture of a first nanoparticle population and a second nanoparticle population, and the first nanoparticle population and the second nanoparticle population are conductive nanoparticles that are energetically non-aligned as between the first nanoparticle population and the second nanoparticle population. Nanoparticles of the first nanoparticle population and the second nanoparticle population are energetically non-aligned with each other by being made of different materials, by having nanoparticles of different sizes, and/or by having nanoparticles of different shapes.

An example of a conventional light-emitting device is described in U.S. Pat. No. 9,525,148 (Kazlas et al., issued Dec. 20, 2016). FIG. 1 is a drawing depicting an exemplary representation of such a conventional light-emitting device. A conventional light-emitting device includes an anode 104 and cathode 100, and a light-emitting layer 102 containing a material that emits light 107. Within the light-emitting layer 102, light is produced upon electron and hole recombination to generate the light 107. The light-emitting layer 102 may be an inorganic or organic semiconductor layer, or a layer of quantum dots (QDs). At least one hole transport layer 103 is located between the anode 104 and the emissive layer 102, which provides transport of holes from the anode and injection of holes into the emissive layer. Similarly, at least one electron transport layer 101 is located between the cathode 100 and emissive layer 102, which provides transport of electrons from the cathode and injection of electrons into the emissive layer.
FIG. 2 is a drawing depicting the conventional band structure of a conventional light-emitting device as depicted in FIG. 1. FIG. 2 depicts how each layer is important in the transport and recombination of charges and holes in the light-emitting device. In such conventional structures, the layer (or layers) between the cathode and emissive layer (EML) is termed the electron transport layer (ETL), and the layer (or layers) between the anode and the EML is termed the hole transport layer (HTL). The ETL and HTL are collectively referred to more generally as charge transport layers (CTL). The purpose of these CTLs is to provide an ohmic contact to the respective electrode (anode or cathode), and to provide energetic alignment for injecting carriers into the emissive layer.
It is desirable for the HTL to have a highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO, also referred to as a valence band maximum) that is energetically close to the HOMO (valence band maximum) of the EML to provide efficient hole injection 202. Furthermore, it is desirable for the ETL to have a lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO, or conduction band minimum) that is energetically close to the LUMO (conduction band minimum) of the EML to provide efficient electron injection 201. Providing efficient and balanced injection of electrons 201 and holes 202 into the EML allows efficient recombination 203 of electrons and holes in the EML, and in turn efficient generation of light 204 from the EML. In this context, balanced injection refers to equal electron and hole current densities being injected into the EML from the ETL and HTL respectively.
An electron injection layer (EIL) or a hole injection layer (HIL) can also be present within the ETL or HTL layers, and is primarily used to aid carrier transfer from the electrode into the adjacent ETL or HTL. An HIL is explicitly present in FIG. 2, as it is common in conventional QD LED structures, but an HIL or EIL may be present within any standard HTL or ETL multi-layers. Specifically, as used herein, an EIL/HIL is a particular kind of ETL/HTL with the specific intention of bridging the energetic gap between the electrode and another ETL/HTL, and thus can be considered an ETL/HTL itself.
Referring back to FIG. 1, in conventional structures the ETL is often comprised of a matrix of nanoparticles 106, which provides electron transport through hopping 105 between adjacent nanoparticles 106 and into the emitting layer 102. Fabricating the device in this way provides a robust ETL, which reduces oxygen and moisture ingress into the EML. Such a configuration, however, has a deficiency in that the ETL has a fixed mobility for a given nanoparticle material configuration. Ideally, to promote radiative (light-emitting) recombination and reduce non-radiative (non-light-emitting) recombination, which occurs more readily when there is an imbalance of electrons and holes in the EML, the mobility of electrons in the ETL should be set at a particular value relative to the mobility of holes in the HTL (or vice versa). For example, it may be preferable for the mobility of electrons in the ETL to be equal to the mobility of holes in the HTL, or an integer multiple thereof, or otherwise matched to maximize radiative recombination.
Conventional processes relating to layers including nanoparticles in quantum dot (QD) light-emitting diodes (QDLED) generally provide conductive paths through an emissive layer, e.g. a mixture of emissive QDs and conductive nanoparticles for improving charge injection into the QDs. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 8,361,823 (Kahen, issued Jan. 29, 2013) and U.S. Pat. No. 7,615,800 (Kahen, issued Nov. 10, 2009). Nanoparticle compositions also have been used to provide better sealing of the light-emitting region through the addition of chemically inert nanoparticles. See U.S. Pat. No. 6,838,816 (Su et al, issued Jan. 4, 2005). Conventional processes relating to the nanoparticle charge transfer layers of a QDLED have most commonly tried to tune the mobility by varying the material composition of the ETL layer including homogeneous nanoparticles. See, e.g., KR 101626525B1 (Yang et al., issued Jun. 1, 2016) and CN 106410051 (Zheng et al., published Feb. 15, 2017). Even using such teachings, however, optimization of charge mobility to match ETL electron injection and HTL hole injection has not been achieved.

Light-emitting device with mixed nanoparticle charge transport layer


A common design framework for input and output signal validation, arbitration, and fault reporting for real-time controllers includes a method of validating redundant input and output signals and arbitrating between the redundant input and output signals by determining a fault severity level for each of the redundant input and output signals, and determining a signal to transmit for further processing based at least in part on the determined fault severity levels.

Various instrumentation and control systems are designed with component redundancy so that the system may continue functioning in the unlikely event a component fails or is inoperative. For example, a system may include redundant sensors, which sense the same parameter and supply redundant sensor signals, and redundant electrical or electronic drivers, which drive redundant system components. The system may also include a controller, such as a real-time embedded electronic controller, that, among other things, receives, conditions, validates, and arbitrates the redundant sensor signals. The conditioned, validated, and arbitrated signals may then be passed along to control logic, which may be part of the controller itself, to compute appropriate control outputs that may be supplied to the redundant drivers. The controller may also validate and arbitrate redundant output signals, and supply a validated and arbitrated output signal to enable an appropriate one of the redundant drivers to implement the computed control output. The controller may also be used to implement fault reporting.
The design requirements and functional implementation for the above-described redundant signal validation, arbitration, and fault reporting can be quite complex. Moreover, the complexity may depend on a number of different parameters including, but not limited to, the number of redundant inputs, whether synthesized inputs are used, use of back-up signals, the number of built-in-test (BIT) signals that are used, and the number and variety of system states that may affect input signal and BIT signal validity. Some of these parameters may be system specific. Thus, the design and implementation of the validation, arbitration, and fault reporting may vary from application to application, and from system designer to system designer. This complexity may also result in significant software development efforts, which can increase system design and implementation costs.
Hence, there is a need for a common design framework for input and output signal validation, arbitration, and fault reporting for controllers, such as real-time embedded electronic controllers, that reduces system development complexity, and/or reduces system development cycle time and/or reduces development costs. The present invention addresses one or more of these needs.

Signal validation and arbitration system and method


A tool for chip removing machining comprising a tool head, which is provided with insert seats for the receipt of replaceable cutting inserts as well as a fastening part intended to be received in a machine tool. The tool has at least two chip pockets, in each one of which two replaceable cutting inserts are arranged, the two cutting inserts arranged in each chip pocket being intended for different types of machining and having the active surfaces thereof opposite each other. Furthermore, the two cutting inserts arranged in a common chip pocket have their axially furthermost portions located at different levels in the axial direction of the tool. The two cutting inserts for turning are located in different chip pockets and have their axially furthermost portions thereof located at different levels in the axial direction.

The present invention relates to a tool for chip removing machining, comprising a tool head, which is provided with insert seats for the receipt of replaceable cutting inserts as well as a fastening part, which is intended to be received in a machine tool, and having at least two chip pockets, in which two replaceable cutting inserts are arranged. The cutting inserts are intended for different types of machining and have active surfaces thereof opposite each other. Two cutting inserts arranged in a chip pocket have axially foremost portions thereof situated at different levels in the axial direction. The tool according to the present invention is preferably intended for machining of metal.
DE 37 33 298 C2 discloses a combination tool for chip removing machining, which, according to one embodiment, has two indexable inserts in the same chip pocket, the cutting inserts being spaced-apart in the circumferential direction of the tool. One of the cutting inserts is a center cutting insert and the other one is a peripheral cutting insert. By means of the combination tool, different types of chip removing machining can be carried out, for instance turning, milling and drilling.
EP 1 186 367 A1 discloses a tool by means of which turning and milling can be carried out. There is no clear division of which type of machining the cutting inserts of the tool should carry out. For instance, the same cutting inserts are used both for milling and for turning. Furthermore, both of the cutting inserts arranged in a chip pocket are used for turning.
WO 2004/069455 A1 discloses a tool for chip removing machining, which comprises a tool head, which is provided with insert seats for receiving replaceable cutting inserts. The tool head has at least one chip pocket, in which two replaceable cutting inserts are arranged, the cutting inserts being intended for different types of machining and having the active surfaces thereof opposite each other. The cutting inserts included in one and the same chip pocket are of different types, more precisely, one of the cutting inserts is intended for rotary machining while the other one is intended for turning.


A photo-excited processing apparatus includes a reaction chamber to be filled with raw gas, light excitation means for irradiating a light beam through a light transmissive window formed in the reaction chamber to excite the raw gas, and cylindrical reflection means having a center axis passing through a center of light emission of the light source means and having a reflection plane on an inner surface thereof for directing a portion of the light beam emitted from the light source means to the light transmissive window.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photo-excited processing apparatus used to manufacture a semiconductor device or an electronic circuit and a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device by using the same, and more particularly to an improvement in irradiating a high and uniform illumination of light beam to a substrate having a large area in an efficient manner by properly setting a construction of an illumination system.
2. Related Background Art
In a manufacturing process of a semiconductor device and an electronic circuit, particularity a VLSI, a photo-excited processing apparatus has recently been used for various purposes because it principally permits low temperature processing with low damage. For example, it has been applied to cleaning and annealing, and applications to film forming and etching have been proposed.
In a manufacturing process of a VLSI, because of a large area thereof, it is required for an illumination system of the photo-excited processing apparatus that an illumination be high over an extended area of a plane to be illuminated and a distribution of illumination is uniform.
FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 show illumination systems in the conventional photo-excited processing apparatus. In FIG. 3, numeral 31 denotes light source means which comprises a light source 32 is a point light source. The reflector 33 is a parabolic mirror having a center of curvature at a light emitting point of the light source 31. The reflector 33 collects light beams radiated from the light source 32 to one-half of the space and projects them to a plane to be illuminated.
The light beams from the light source means 31 are directed to an incident plane 34a of a fly-eye lens (optical integrator) 34 having a plurality of small lenses arranged two-dimensionally. An exit plane 34b of the fly-eye lens 34 is a secondary light source plane having a uniform luminance. The light beam from the exit plane 34b is collimated by a collimating lens 35 and directed to a reaction chamber (not shown) of the photo-excited processing apparatus in which raw gas is filled, through a light transmissive window.
FIG. 4 shows only light source means 41 of an illumination system. The light source means 41 comprises a light source 42 having a plurality of bar-shaped lamps (42a, 42b, . . .) having long light emitting planes in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the drawing arranged one-dimensionally and a plurality of cylindrical mirrors (43a, 43b, . . .) each having a center of curvature on a light emitting line of the light source 42 for reflecting the light beams from the light source 42. The light beams from the light source means 41 are directed to a reaction chamber (not shown) of the photo-excited processing apparatus through a light transmissive window.
FIG. 5 shows an illumination system of a distant point light source type. The illumination system of FIG. 5 directly directs the light beams from light source means 51 which is similar to that of FIG. 3 to a reaction chamber (not shown) of the photo-excited processing apparatus through a light transmissive window.
In the illumination system of FIG. 3 which uses the fly-eye lens 34, when the light intensity of the light source 32 is raised, the fly-eye lens 34 is heated and clouded so that a transmittance is lowered. Further, when a light source which emits light beams of a wide wavelength band is used, chromatic aberration occurs from the fly-eye lens 34 and it is difficult to attain uniform illumination.
In the illumination system of FIG. 4, the light source means 41 is complex and large in size because a number of bar-shaped lamps are required. Further, when the light source means 41 is spaced from the light transmissive window in order to attain a uniform distribution of illumination, the illumination on the plane to be illuminated is abruptly lowered.
In the illumination system of the distant point light source type of FIG. 5, when the light source means 51 is spaced from the light transmissive window in order to attain a uniform distribution of illumination on the plane to be illuminated as is done in the illumination system of FIG. 4, the illumination on the plane to be illuminated is abruptly lowered.

Photo-excited processing apparatus for manufacturing a semiconductor device that uses a cylindrical reflecting surface


The invention herein relates to kind of improve equilibrium game device, specifically referring to a kind that has a game board with a linear motion slot that is a randomly non-collinear and of a varying width through which the player moves an equilibrium rod. The unique innovation of the invention herein is the attachment of a looped surfacing or a hooked surfacing on the contoured inner surfaces of the linear motion slot and the attachment of a looped surfacing or hooked surfacing to the outer aspect of the equilibrium rod, with the particular surfacing applied to the linear motion slot and on the equilibrium rod being of an opposite nature to produce snagging or frictional resistance upon mutual contact, such that the player is afforded a safe, simple and convenient means of practicing equilibrium by avoiding contact that would, due to engagement of the respective hooked and looped surfaces, prevent continued movement of the equilibrium rod through the linear motion slot.

As indicated in FIG. 1, conventional equilibrium games mainly consist of an irregularly curved metal rod frame (1) and a looped metal rod (2) that fits around and is movable along the horizontal length of the metal rod frame (1), wherein the aforesaid metal rod frame (1) is connected via a wire (3) to one pole of a battery (4) and the looped metal rod (2) is connected via a wire (3) to the other pole of the battery (4); after the switch (5) is controlled to allow for electrical conductance between the metal rod frame (1) and the looped metal rod (2), the player manually moves the looped metal rod (2) along the length of the metal rod frame (1) such that the looped metal rod (2) does not contact the metal rod frame (1) and if contact is imprudently established by the equilibrium game player, then the circuit is immediately closed and an audio signal is produced. Undeniably, the assembling of a equilibrium game device utilizing a looped metal rod, a metal rod frame, battery, switch and other components is an effective and workable method. However, following experience gained from usage, the inventor of the invention herein discovered that there were still a number of actual shortcomings that could be improved upon. Since such games require electricity supplied by a battery to effectively function, not only were the set up conditions inconvenient and of limited scope, but the battery consumption was not economical; furthermore, the forming and fabrication of the aforesaid metal rod frame and looped rod were cumbersome, troublesome and costly.
Therefore, the structure of the aforesaid equilibrium game device evidently still has existent shortcomings in terms of practicality and, furthermore, requires improvement.


The stop second device during precise time-setting of a watch fitted with a tourbillon (1) comprises mobile elements such as levers (14, 15, 16) mounted in the carriage (2) of the tourbillon, each of said mobile elements being returned by a return spring (28, 29, 30). These mobile elements are capable of contacting the periphery of the balance (3) of the tourbillon, to block said balance when action is exerted on at least one of said mobile elements by a shoe (17) arranged outside the carriage (2) and controlled by the time-setting stem (26) of the watch. The outer edges (18, 19, 20) of the levers are located above pillars (4) of the carriage (2), such that the shoe (17) can act on the levers without interfering with said pillars.

The present invention relates to a device for stopping the movement during time-setting of a watch fitted with a tourbillon, the tourbillon comprising a rotating carriage inside which a balance oscillates about a rotational axis of the carriage, the device comprising manually controlled means for blocking the balance in its peripheral zone.
Such a device, sometimes called a "stop-second", has already been proposed for stopping the oscillation of the balance in the tourbillon carriage when the time is being set, in any position of the carriage, from the control stem of the watch in order to start the movement at a precise moment, for example exactly at the time indicated by the hands of the watch.
There is a description of this device given in DE Patent Application No. 101 60 287 A1 repeated in International Patent Application WO 03/048871. In a manner that is well known in the state of the art, the tourbillon comprises a mobile carriage, which carries all of the escapement members and, at its centre, the regulating member comprising the balance. The escapement pinion rotates about the second wheel which is fixed. The carriage makes one revolution per minute and eliminatesrate variations by rotating when it is in vertical positions. In order to stop the movement, the aforecited document proposes a mobile spring with two elastic arms, each ending in a pad able to abut elastically against the periphery of the balance to stop it. This mobile spring is controlled by the time setting crown, which is also manually controlled.
This device has, however, several drawbacks. First of all, the mobile spring is complicated to make, since, because of its great length, it also requires an adjustment that is difficult to carry out. Another drawback lies in the fact that a spring of such length can easily be deformed via the effect of a shock applied to the watch and thus inadvertently block the balance. Finally, it will be mentioned that in top of the range horology, the use of a wire spring or strip spring is generally prohibited, as it is unattractive and offers solutions that are ill-suited to a highly technical object.

Device for stopping the balance during the time-setting of a tourbillon watch


Disclosed is a system useful in stabilizing a vessel. The vessel includes, but is not limited to, a first leg, a second leg, a third leg, and a platform coupled to the first, second, and third legs. The system can include a first brace coupled to the first leg at a first location along the first brace. The first brace can form an acute angle with the first leg. The system can also include an anchoring structure coupled to the first brace at a second location along the first brace. The first and second locations along the first brace can define a first brace length between them. At least a portion of the first brace length can be located beneath the platform. Also disclosed is a system useful in stabilizing a vessel, where the vessel includes, but is not limited to, a first leg having an upper end and a lower end, a second leg having an upper end and a lower end, a third leg having an upper end and a lower end, and a platform coupled to the first, second, and third legs. The system can include a first footing structure coupled to the lower end of the first leg, and a brace coupled to the first footing structure. Also disclosed is a method useful in stabilizing a vessel that has, but is not limited to, a platform and three or more legs coupled to the platform such that platform may be raised or lowered along the legs.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems and methods useful for stabilizing platforms and vessels having platforms, which vessels include self-elevating vessels such as liftboats and stationary drilling platforms. More particularly, the present invention relates to systems and methods that include braces adapted to be coupled to one or more legs of a vessel, such as a liftboat. The present invention also relates to methods and systems useful in stabilizing the platforms on such vessels. The use of the present systems with traditional vessels creates the present vessels.
2. Description of Related Art
Vessels having platforms that may be raised or lowered along three or more legs have been used in the marine industry for many years as mobile service centers for offshore oil and gas production platforms. These vessels are known by different names depending on, for example, the size of the platform, the size of the cargo supported by the platform, and/or the length of the legs. Some such designations include "liftboats" and "jack-up boats." In addition, stationary vessels known as "jack-up platforms" include the same type of platform and leg arrangement that liftboats and jack-up boats have.
With the exception of jack-up platforms, these vessels are generally self-propelled, meaning that they do not require a tug or a barge to advance them through a body of water. These vessels are also self-elevating, meaning that once the vessel has reached its designation, the platform—which is referred to by some as a barge—may be raised or lowered along the length of the legs using, for example, a hydraulic driving, or jacking, mechanism that may include a combination of racks and pinions. In operation, these vessels may be propelled toward their destination under their own power, or by the power of others, such as tugs or barges. Once the vessel is in place, the legs, which during transit were raised sufficiently off the ocean floor to avoid getting caught on anything sticking up from the ocean floor, are driven downwardly until they have firmly contacted the floor. Next, and using the same driving mechanisms that caused the legs to descend, the platform is raised along the legs to a desired height, and work may begin. These legs may be made of tubular steel, the diameters of which generally increase with increases in length (i.e., longer legs are generally greater in diameter than shorter legs). The legs may also be made of truss-type structures. A figure depicting a traditional liftboat is illustrated in FIG. 1 (liftboat peripherals, such as deck cargo and the like, are not depicted).
In addition to their usefulness as the mobile service stations described above, these vessels are useful for practically any type of work that requires a portable base in a marine environment. Cranes, cameras, crews, and cargoes of any kind may be transported, loaded, and unloaded off of the stable platforms these vessels provide. Their uses are virtually unlimited.
The forces to which the legs of these vessels are normally subject are numerous and potentially damaging. For example, the vertical loads that are applied to the legs by virtue of the weight of the platform and the various deck cargoes can cause the legs to buckle. Furthermore, the legs may be bent by the horizontal forces that result from the wind and waves. Additionally, when floating in transit, the raised legs can make the vessel top-heavy and, as a result, capsize. If the weather is inclement when the vessel is floating, the legs may also be damaged by whipping due to rolling or pitching.
As mentioned above, and in an effort to address one or more of these problems, some legs are made of truss-type structures. However, design and proportional constraints have limited the dimensions of the triangular sections of these structures, rendering them ineffective for adequately addressing these problems. Furthermore, increasing the diameters of tubular legs has not proven to be an adequate way of addressing the foregoing problems due to the same types of design and proportional constraints.
Traditional anchors have also been utilized in an attempt to address the problems associated with the forces to which the legs of traditional vessels are normally subject. In this regard, it is known in the art to drop multiple anchors connected to the platform of traditional vessels at predetermined locations with a body of water in an attempt to stabilize the position of the vessel. This may be done by arranging multiple anchors (usually 3, 4, or more) connected to chains or the like in a manner that allows the vessel to come symmetrically to rest between them. However, such use of anchors suffers from various problems, including, for example, the tendency of the anchor to shift in surroundings defined by mud, or other soft or loose material.
The problems pointed out with the foregoing leg designs are not intended to be exhaustive but rather are among many that tend to impair the effectiveness of previously known legs. Other noteworthy problems may also exist; however, those presented above should be sufficient to demonstrate that previous techniques appearing in the art have not been altogether satisfactory, particularly in achieving a vessel with a stable set of legs.

Systems and methods useful in stabilizing platforms and vessels having platforms and legs


Provided is an immunostimulator containing: chitosan and/or a chitosan derivative each having a weight-average molecular weight of 10k to 1000k; and an anionic surfactant, the immunostimulator being in particulate form. Also provided are a pharmaceutical composition and an alimentary product, each containing the immunostimulator as an active ingredient.

Various kinds of substance have been known to be useful as immunologic adjuvants for use in vaccination. For example, many polysaccharides are known to have adjuvanticity, among which chitin and chitosan have been proven to be especially useful. These chitin and chitosan are similar in structure to peptidoglycan that forms bacterial cell walls, and are substantially harmless because they are degraded by a biological defense mechanism. A wound dressing, making use of the biocompatibility of chitin, has also been in practical use. On the other hand, chitin and chitosan are known to activate the immune system even alone as a nonself in animal bodies, and this contributes to the adjuvant effect of chitin and chitosan. Chitosan, which contains free amino groups, is cationized and becomes soluble under acidic conditions, and therefore is capable of forming a complex via an electrostatic interaction with an anionic substrate (such as protein or nucleic acid). Every kind of cell has an anionically charged surface; therefore, chitosan strongly binds to the cell surface and mucous membranes in living bodies. As such, it is inferred that chitosan, which has properties of becoming cationized, is more suitable as an immunologic adjuvant.
Note here that one problem in using chitosan as an immunologic adjuvant is its high level of crystallinity. For example, even in a case where chitosan is once dissolved in a solvent under acidic conditions, the chitosan molecules, upon introduction into the living body, lose their charge because of a pH increase that they experience in the living body, and therefore their crystallization proceeds and the molecules separate out as microparticles or turn into a gel. Furthermore, it is inferred that, even in a case of a complex of chitosan and some other substance such as protein obtained in a solution, the dissociation of the complex also proceeds as the crystallization proceeds. To date, various kinds of chitosan derivatives obtained by modifying the properties of chitosan have been reported, as disclosed in Non-patent Literature 1. Furthermore, Patent Literature 1 discloses a branched chitosan derivative composed of a chitosan backbone with chitosan side chains, which has been developed to achieve both water solubility and functionality such as low viscosity. Patent Literature 2 discloses an aqueous immunologic adjuvant solution containing cationized chitosan.
A technique of using chitosan in the form of microparticles is also known. Patent Literature 3 discloses an immunologic adjuvant dispersion containing chitosan microparticles. Non-patent Literature 2 discloses use of chitosan, which has been micronized with use of tripolyphosphoric acid, as a drug delivery carrier. It has also been known that, when microparticles containing an antigen are taken up by macrophages, an immune response specific to the antigen proceeds.
In many cases, chitosan microparticles are prepared by mixing with a polyanion such as tripolyphosphoric acid or hyaluronic acid. There have been many reports on examples of development of chitosan microparticles complexed via an electrostatic interaction.

Immunostimulator, pharmaceutical composition, and food or beverage


Examples of antenna elements are described herein. In an example, the antenna element may include a substrate for being disposed on an enclosure. The substrate may include a ground plane. Further, the antenna element may include an antenna feeder that may be electrically coupled to the ground plane. The antenna element may also include a radiator. The radiator may be electrically coupled to the antenna feeder. In addition, the antenna element may include a lump component connected to the radiator.

Electronic devices, such as mobile devices, tablets, and computers, may be provided with an antenna for wireless communication. Antennas used in the electronic devices have evolved from being deployed at an outer surface of the electronic device to be included within the electronic device. Antennas may be of many different types and are used in the electronic devices, based on a frequency demand of the electronic device.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, an information handling system may include a host system and a management controller communicatively coupled to the host system processor. The host system may include a host system processor and a device coupled to the host system processor. The management controller may be configured to provide management of the information handling system, provide a plurality of management interfaces, and provide a user interface for configuring a respective network interface affinity for each management interface to system management features supported by the management controller.

As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Many information handling systems include a management controller, such as an Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller (iDRAC), to perform out-of-band remote management tasks on various components of the information handling system. As security of information handling systems becomes more and more important, the availability of two distinct high-speed interfaces into a management controller in which one interface is coupled to a local trusted network for provisioning and another interface is coupled to the Internet or an external network for monitoring and less intrusive operations may be desirable.

Systems and methods for configuring network interface affinity to system management features supported by a management controller


A speech compression system capable of encoding a speech signal into a bitstream for subsequent decoding to generate synthesized speech is disclosed. The speech compression system optimizes the bandwidth consumed by the bitstream by balancing the desired average bit rate with the perceptual quality of the reconstructed speech. The speech compression system comprises a full-rate codec, a half-rate codec, a quarter-rate codec and an eighth-rate codec. The codecs are selectively activated based on a rate selection. In addition, the full and half-rate codec are selectively activated based on a type classification. Each codec is selectively activated to encode and decode the speech signals at different bit rates emphasizing different aspects of the speech signal to enhance overall quality of the synthesized speech. The overall quality of the system is strongly related to the excitation. In order to enhance the excitation, the system contains a fixed codebook comprising several subcodebooks. The invention reveals a way to apply a pitch enhancement efficiently and differently for different subcodebooks without using additional bits. The technique is particularly applicable to selectable mode vocoder (SMV) systems.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates to speech communication systems and, more particularly, to systems and methods for digital speech coding.
2. Related Art
One prevalent mode of human communication involves the use of communication systems. Communication systems include both wireline and wireless radio systems. Wireless communication systems electrically connect with the landline systems and communicate using radio frequency (RF) with mobile communication devices. Currently, the radio frequencies available for communication in cellular systems, for example, are in the frequency range centered around 900 MHz and in the personal communication services (PCS) frequency range centered around 1900 MHz. Due to increased traffic caused by the expanding popularity of wireless communication devices, such as cellular telephones, it is desirable to reduced bandwidth of transmissions within the wireless systems.
Digital transmission in wireless radio communications is increasingly being applied to both voice and data due to noise immunity, reliability, compactness of equipment and the ability to implement sophisticated signal processing functions using digital techniques. Digital transmission of speech signals involves the steps of: sampling an analog speech waveform with an analog-to-digital converter, speech compression (encoding), transmission, speech decompression (decoding), digital-to-analog conversion, and playback into an earpiece or a loudspeaker. The sampling of the analog speech waveform with the analog-to-digital converter creates a digital signal. However, the number of bits used in the digital signal to represent the analog speech waveform creates a relatively large bandwidth. For example, a speech signal that is sampled at a rate of 8000 Hz (once every 0.125 ms), where each sample is represented by 16 bits, will result in a bit rate of 128,000 (16×8000) bits per second, or 128 Kbps (Kilo bits per second).
Speech compression reduces the number of bits that represent the speech signal, thus reducing the bandwidth needed for transmission. However, speech compression may result in degradation of the quality of decompressed speech. In general, a higher bit rate will result in higher quality, while a lower bit rate will result in lower quality. However, speech compression techniques, such as coding techniques, can produce decompressed speech of relatively high quality at relatively low bit rates. In general, coding techniques attempt to represent the perceptually important features of the speech signal, with or without preserving the actual speech waveform.
One coding technique used to lower the bit rate involves varying the degree of speech compression (i.e., varying the bit rate) depending on the part of the speech signal being compressed. Typically, parts of the speech signal for which adequate perceptual representation is more difficult or more important (such as voiced speech, plosives, or voiced onsets) are coded and transmitted using a higher number of bits, while parts of the speech signal for which adequate perceptual representation is less difficult or less important (such as unvoiced, or the silence between words) are coded with a lower number of bits. The resulting average bit rate for the speech signal may be relatively lower than would be the case for a fixed bit rate that provides decompressed speech of similar quality.
These speech compression techniques have resulted in lowering the amount of bandwidth used to transmit a speech signal. However, further reduction in bandwidth is important in a communication system for a large number of users. Accordingly, there is a need for systems and methods of speech coding that are capable of minimizing the average bit rate needed for speech representation, while providing high quality decompressed speech.

System for improved use of pitch enhancement with subcodebooks


A method of recording data optically to an optical disk having a plurality of sectors, in which each sector has a region to be recorded with data, the data is recorded in units of blocks, and the block includes a predetermined number of sectors and is a data unit including error correction codes. In recording data related to a content by dividing and recording the data in a plurality of sectors continuously, dummy data to be used for extracting a clock in phase lock loop (PLL) for data reproduction is recorded on a region adjacent before a sector from which data recording is started. The data related to the contents is recorded on sectors following the region recorded with the dummy data.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a data recording method used in an apparatus for recording information onto an optical disk by emitting a laser beam to the optical disk.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, optical disks have become highly desired to be used for visual application, and thus it is desired that optical disks be capable of mass storage and be able to be accessed at a high speed. For this purpose, there needs to develop an art capable of recording more microscopic information. Further, it is important to reduce an overhead region which is a portion that does not directly contribute to the capacity such as an address region.
FIG. 10 is a view illustrating a physical sector structure on a track of a conventional optical disk. As structure on a track of a conventional optical disk. As shown in FIG. 10, the optical disk has a sector 901 which includes an address region 902 indicating address information and a data region 903 to/from which information can be recorded/reproduced. The data region 903 is located in both a groove track 904 and a land track 905 between the groove tracks. The address region 902 includes a header region 906 and a mirror region 907. The header region 906 is used to record concavo-convex pits which are produced when the optical disk is manufactured, and can not be re-written.
FIG. 11 shows a sector format. As described above, the sector includes the address region 902 and the data region 903. The address region 902 includes a header region 906 of 128 bytes and a mirror region 907 of 2 bytes. The data region 903 includes 2418 bytes of user data region 1007 used to record user data, 68 bytes of clock extraction region 1006, and 81 bytes of buffer region 1008. The clock extraction region 1006 is used for a PLL (Phase Locked Loop: to generate a clock with frequency and phase locked to an input signal) to input the signal for extracting the clock at data reproduction, and is used to absorb a deterioration of a front portion caused by iterative data recording. The buffer region 1008 is used to absorb a position shift at data recording or a deterioration of an end portion caused by repeated data recording.
To record 2418 bytes of data in the user data region of one sector, the above described optical disk needs 128 bytes of header region, 2 bytes of the mirror region, 68 bytes of clock extraction region, and 81 bytes of buffer region. Accordingly, 2697 bytes length in total is needed for a sector. The data portion includes a portion for error correction, and therefore a sector needs 2697 bytes length to store 2048 bytes of data. At that time, a utilization ratio of the disk (format efficiency) for recording a signal on the disk is 75.9% (=2048/2697). This means that the format includes 24.1% of redundancy.
For example, in order to record 4.7 GB of data, more data has to be recorded on a unit area with 75.9% of format efficiency than that needed in the recording with 100% of format efficiency. The quality of reproduction signal with 75.9% of format efficiency deteriorates less than that with 100% of format efficiency. To reduce the redundancy, there is a method to reduce a length of the clock extraction region 1006 in the data region. However, this method causes a problem that it becomes difficult to extract the clock used for data reproduction operation in PLL in a front portion of a series of data.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method of recording data to an information recording medium

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A heat-sensitive transfer recording medium is disclosed which comprises a support having thereon a first ink layer and a second ink layer provided on the first ink layer, the first ink layer comprising a coloring agent and an epoxy resin, the second ink layer comprising a coloring agent and a polyester resin. The heat-sensitive transfer recording medium is advantageously used to form a printed image excellent in both scratch resistance and alcohol resistance on an image receptor comprising a polyester film or an image receptor comprising a substrate having thereon an image-receiving layer comprising a polyester resin.

The present invention relates to a heat-sensitive transfer recording medium useful for forming printed images on an image receptor comprising a polyester film or the like, by a thermal transfer method, and to a method for forming printed images using the same.
Heretofore, with a label printer or like printer utilizing thermal transfer technology, a heat-sensitive transfer recording medium is used to form printed images on a plastic film such as polyester film. The label printer is called various names such as tape printer. Herein, however, the name "label printer" is used.
Printed images formed on labels and the like are required to have excellent fastness such as scratch resistance and chemical resistance including alcohol resistance.
For this reason, heat-sensitive transfer recording media have used a colored ink layer containing one or more resins excellent in scratch resistance or alcohol resistance as a binder thereof.
With the conventional heat-sensitive transfer media having such a colored ink layer of single layer, however, it is difficult to obtain printed images excellent in both scratch resistance and alcohol resistance even though a resin having good scratch resistance and a resin having good alcohol resistance are used in combination. This is because the resin having good scratch resistance is not necessarily good in alcohol resistance and the resin having good alcohol resistance is not necessarily good in scratch resistance.
In order to solve this problem, a type of heat-sensitive transfer recording medium comprising a support, a transparent barrier layer provided on the support and composed of a polyester resin, an epoxy resin or the like, and a colored ink layer provided on the barrier layer and composed of a polyester resin or the like as a binder thereof (hereinafter referred to as "prior art A", see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication Nos. 2-150391 and 2-160589) has been proposed. Another type of heat-sensitive transfer recording medium comprising a support, a colored ink layer provided on the support, and an adhesive layer provided on the colored ink layer and composed of a polyester resin or the like (hereinafter referred to as "prior art B", see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 4-27589) has also been proposed.
However, prior art A involves a problem of causing a tailing of the printed image due to poor separability of the barrier layer when being thermally transferred. Herein, the term "separability" of a transfer layer means the property that when being transferred, the heated portion of a transfer layer is easily separated from the unheated portion of the transfer layer and only the heated portion is transferred onto an image receptor to give a printed image with good definition. The term "tailing of the printed image" means the phenomenon that ink in an unheated portion in the neighborhood of the heated portion is transferred on the downstream side of predetermined ink dots to thicken lines constituting an image. Further, when the binder of the colored ink layer is different from that of the barrier layer, there also arises a problem that the colored ink layer is separated at the interface between the colored ink layer and the barrier layer and transferred. As a result the barrier layer is not present on the colored ink layer in the resulting the expected scratch resistance is not achieved.
Prior art B also involves the problem of causing a tailing of the printed image due to poor separability of the adhesive layer. Prior art B involves another problem that the colored ink layer, having small thickness in the resulting image, is exposed, resulting in poor scratch resistance.
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide a heat-sensitive transfer recording medium capable of forming printed images of both excellent scratch resistance and excellent alcohol resistance by allowing respective resin binders used in the ink layer to fully exhibit their own functions.
This and other objects of the present invention will become apparent from the description hereinafter.

Heat-sensitive transfer recording medium and method of using the same


A photocurrent sensing circuit includes a logarithmic compression circuit; a cancellation circuit logarithmically compressing a current substantially equal in temperature coefficient of the photocurrent to convert the same into a voltage, and performing an addition or a subtraction on the converted voltage and a voltage converted from a photocurrent by logarithmically compression; a logarithmic operation circuit logarithmically compressing the voltage received from the cancellation circuit to produce a first voltage, logarithmically compressing a voltage proportional to a thermal voltage of the photocurrent to produce a second voltage, logarithmically compressing a current having thermal dependence of nearly zero to produce a third voltage and performing an addition or a subtraction of each of the second and third voltages with respect to the first voltage to produce a fourth voltage; and an inverse logarithmic transformation circuit performing inverse logarithmic transformation on the fourth voltage to output a current.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photocurrent sensing circuit converting an illumination of visible light into an electric signal as well as a photosensor and an electronic device that are provided with the photocurrent sensing circuit, and particularly to a photocurrent sensing circuit that has spectral sensitivity characteristics close to human visual sensitivity characteristics as well as a photosensor and an electronic device provided with the same.
2. Description of the Background Art
As typical examples of photosensors for visible light, there are two kinds of sensors of silicon photodiodes and CdS (Cadmium Sulfide) cells are. Since the silicon photodiode has small sizes, high responsibility and high stability, it is widely used in light receiving elements for optical communications and optical disks as well as photosensors and others. However, spectral sensitivity characteristics of the silicon photodiode significantly differ from human visual sensitivity characteristics in that the sensitivity in the infrared range is high. Conversely, the CdS cell has the spectral sensitivity characteristics close to the human visual sensitivity characteristics. Therefore, the CdS cells have been used in exposure meters of cameras and visual light sensors for long years.
In recent years, there has been a problem relating to use and the like of substances causing high environmental loads, and restrictions are being introduced on use of the CdS cells containing cadmium sulfide as a major component. For example, Europe has inhibited the bringing in of products using cadmium, lead, hexavalent chromium or mercury since July 2006. Conversely, the silicon causes a less environmental load than the cadmium sulfide. Therefore, it has been increasingly demanded to provide a sensor that is formed of a silicon photodiode, and has the spectral sensitivity characteristics close to the human visual sensitivity characteristics.
In recent years, it has been increasingly demanded to provide illumination sensors that have the spectral sensitivity characteristics close to the human visual sensitivity characteristics for using them as sensors that automatically adjust a brightness of a backlight such as a cellular phone, a LCTV (Liquid Crystal Television) or the like according to an ambient brightness for suppressing power consumption of a battery of the cellular phone and improving visibility of a liquid crystal display.
For suppressing exhaustion of a battery, it is also necessary to reduce power consumption of an illumination sensor itself In general, the output of the illumination sensor is proportional to a quantity of incident light. When light of a high illumination such as direct sunlight illumination enters the sensor, it outputs a current of several milliamperes or more, and this affects a battery life. In recent years, therefore, the cellular phones and mobile terminals have employed a logarithmic current output type of illumination sensors that include a circuit performing logarithmic transformation of an incident light quantity (e.g., see Japanese Patent Laying-Open Nos. 08-065074, 08-340128, 10-021314 and 2006-133942) and thereby suppress current consumption over a wide range from low to high illuminations. For finely controlling backlight illuminating of the liquid crystal panel, it is also required to achieve accurate output of the illumination sensor and to improve the temperature characteristics thereof.
FIG. 7 is a circuit diagram showing a structure of a conventional photocurrent sensing circuit.
Referring to FIG. 7, a photocurrent sensing circuit 301 includes a light receiving element PD, PNP transistors QP51-QP56, NPN transistors QN51-QN56, diodes D51 and D52, constant current supply circuits IS51-IS54, resistances RE and Rout, and an output terminal T51. NPN transistors QN51 and QN52, resistance RE and constant current supply circuits IS51 and IS52 form a transconductance amplifier 61.
Photocurrent sensing circuit 301 performs logarithmic transformation on the photocurrent of light receiving element PD to provide an output current Iout. More specifically, when light receiving element PD receives the light, a photocurrent Ipd proportional to the quantity of received light flows through light receiving element PD. Diode D51 coverts it into a logarithmically compressed voltage. A voltage VD1 between the opposite ends of diode D51 is expressed by the following equation:VD1=Vt×ln(Ipd/Is)where Vt represents a thermal voltage of diode D51 expressed by (k×T/q), k represents a Boltzmann's constant, T represents an absolute temperature, q represents an elementary charge, i.e., quantum of electricity and Is represents a reverse saturation current of diode D51. ln represents a natural logarithm.
Diode D52 converts a reference current Iref provided from constant current supply circuit IS53 into a logarithmically compressed voltage. A voltage VD2 between the opposite ends of diode D52 is expressed by the following equation:VD2=Vt×ln(Iref/Is)
Voltages VD1 and VD2 are provided to bases of NPN transistors QN51 and QN52 of transconductance amplifier 61, respectively. The bases of NPN transistors QN51 and QN52 provide differential inputs to transconductance amplifier 61. A voltage difference ΔVD between voltages VD1 and VD2 is expressed by the following equation:
                              Δ                                                              VD                =                              VD                                                                          1                    -                      VD                                                                          2                                                  =                              Vt            ×                          ln                                            (                                  Ipd                  /                  Is                                )                                              -                      Vt            ×                          ln                                            (                                  Iref                  /                  Is                                )                                                                            =                  Vt          ×                      ln                                      (                              Ipd                /                Iref                            )
Transconductance amplifier 61 converts voltage difference ΔVD into a current. A transconductance gm of transconductance amplifier 61 is expressed by the following equation, where RE represents a resistance value of resistance RE, and Io represents an output current value of constant current supply circuits IS51 and IS52.gm=1/(2×Vt/Io+RE)
Therefore, a collector current I51 of NPN transistor QN52 is expressed by the following equation:
                              I                                                              51                =                  Io          +                      gm            ×            Δ                                                                          VD                                                  =                  Io          +                      Vt            ×                                          ln                                                  (                                      Ipd                    /                    Iref                                    )                                            /                              (                                                      2                    ×                                          Vt                      /                      Io                                                        +                  RE                                )
When (2×Vt/Io<<RE) is satisfied, collector current I51 of NPN transistor QN52 is expressed by the following equation:I51≈Io+Vt×ln(Ipd/Iref)/RE
A current mirror circuit formed of PNP transistors QP52 and QP54 as well as a current mirror circuit formed of NPN transistors QN55 and QN56 change the current direction of collector current I51 of NPN transistor QN52, i.e., an output current I1 of the transconductance amplifier, and an output current Ib of constant current supply circuit IS54 having the same temperature coefficient as output current Io of constant current supply circuits IS51 and IS52 is subtracted from this collector current I51. Thereby, collector current I52 of PNP transistor QP55 is expressed by the following formula:
                              I                                                              52                =                              I                                                                          51                    -          Ib                                        =                              I                                                                          0                    -          Ib          +                      Vt            ×                                          ln                                                  (                                      Ipd                    /                    Iref                                    )                                            /              RE
When PNP transistors QP55 and QP56 have the same emitter areas, output current Iout of photocurrent sensing circuit 301 is expressed by the following equation:
                    Iout        =                  I                                                              52                                        =                  Io          -          Ib          +                      Vt            ×                                          ln                                                  (                                      Ipd                    /                    Iref                                    )                                            /              RE
For providing output current Iout of photocurrent sensing circuit 301 equal to (10×log(illumination)), output current Ib of constant current supply circuit IS54 is determined in the following manner, where log represents a logarithmic using base 10.
When the illumination is 1 lux, output current Iout is expressed by the following equation where Ipd_1lx represents photocurrent Ipd of light receiving element PD.Iout=Io−Ib+(Vt/RE)×((ln(Ipd/Ipd—1lx)+ln(Ipd—1lx/Iref))
The transformation equation of the base of ln and the base of log is as follows:ln(X)=log(X)/log(e)≈2.3025×log(X)
Therefore, output current Iout is expressed by the following formula:Iout=Io−lb+(Vt/RE)×(2.3025×log(Ipd/Ipd—1lx)−ln(Iref/Ipd—1lx))
Assuming that Ev represents the illumination of the incident light of light receiving element PD, a relationship of (Ev=Ipd/Ipd_1lx) is satisfied so that output current Iout is expressed by the following equation:
                    Iout        =                                  Io          -          Ib          +                                    (                              Vt                /                RE                            )                        ×                          (                                                2.3025                  ×                                      log                                                              (                      Ev                      )                                                                      -                                  ln                                                        (                                                                  Iref                        /                        Ipd_                                                                  1                                            lx                                        )                                                              )                                                              =                                              (                          Vt              /              RE                        )                    ×                      (                                          2.3025                ×                                  log                                                        (                    Ev                    )                                                              -                              ln                                                  (                                                            Iref                      /                      Ipd_                                                            1                                        lx                                    )                                            +                                                                                (                          RE              /              Vt                        )                    ×                      (                          Io              -              Ib                        )                          )
When Io, Ib and RE are appropriately determined to satisfy the relationships of:(RE/Vt)×(Io−lb)−ln(Iref/Ipd—1lx)=0, and(Vt/RE)×2.3025=10output current Iout is expressed by the following equation:Iout=10×log(Ev)
Therefore, output current Iout can be set ten times larger than the logarithmic value of the illumination.
Constant current supply circuits IS51-IS54 are band gap current supplies, respectively, and reference current Iref and output currents Io and Ib are expressed by the following equations, respectively.I=Vt×ln(10)/R
Temperature coefficients of thermal voltage Vt and a resistance value R may be equal to each other, whereby temperature-changes in output currents Io and Ib can be small.
Output current Iout is expressed by the following equation:Iout=N×(Io−Ib+Vt×ln(Ipd/Iref)/RE)where N represents an amplification factor of PNP transistor QP56.
Therefore, by employing such a configuration that the temperature coefficient of resistance value RE is equal to that of thermal voltage Vt of diode D51, the temperature-changes in output current Iout can be small.
A temperature coefficient α of thermal voltage Vt of diode D51 is expressed by the following equation:α=(∂Vt/∂T)/Vt
Since Vt is equal to kT/q (Vt=kT/q), α is expressed by the following equation:α=1/T
When the temperature is, e.g., 27° C.(=300 (K) in absolute temperature T), temperature coefficient α of thermal voltage Vt is equal to 3333 ppm/deg.C. Even when the temperature coefficient of resistance RE at 27° C. is set to 3333 ppm/deg.C., the temperature may deviates from 27° C., and resistance RE was produced using an ordinary semiconductor process. In this case, a difference occurs in temperature coefficient between thermal voltage Vt and resistance RE so that temperature-changes in output current Iout occur. Further, for providing thermal voltage Vt and resistance RE having the temperature coefficients equal to each other, it is necessary to integrate a special temperature measuring resistance having the same temperature coefficient as thermal voltage Vt over a wide temperature range, which increases a manufacturing cost of the photocurrent sensing circuit.

Photocurrent sensing circuit converting an illumination of visible light into an electric signal as well as photosensor and electronic device with the photocurrent sensing circuit


An oil pressure generator 20 includes a drive gear 30, a driven gear 32, and a crescent 34, which constitute a gear pump unit, as well as one-way clutches 36 and 38 that respectively interlock with two rotating shafts 42 and 46 when the rotating shafts 42 and 46 rotate in an identical direction relative to the drive gear 30. In case that both the rotating shafts 42 and 46 rotate in the interlocking direction, the corresponding one-way clutch interlocks with the rotating shaft having a greater revolving speed, thereby driving the drive gear 30. This structure enables the oil pressure generator 20 to produce an oil pressure through rotation of the rotating shaft having a greater revolving speed out of the two rotating shafts 42 and 46.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an oil pressure generator and a power output apparatus. More specifically the present invention pertains to an oil pressure generator for producing an oil pressure by means of rotational power given to an input shaft and a power output apparatus with such an oil pressure generator for outputting power to a drive shaft.
2. Description of the Related Art
Known oil pressure generators mounted on a vehicle are attached either directly or indirectly to a crankshaft of an engine (for example, an internal combustion engine like a gasoline engine or a diesel engine), which is one constituent of a transmission mechanism, for the purpose of feeding a supply of oil to a torque converter, lubricating a planetary gear unit included in the transmission, and supplying a working oil pressure to regulate the oil pressure in the transmission. The known oil pressure generators are driven by part of rotational power output from the engine to the crankshaft. The proposed oil pressure generator is, for example, constructed as a gear pump unit 200 illustrated in FIG. 11, which includes a casing 220, a drive gear 230 connected with the crankshaft, a driven gear 232 engaging with the drive gear 230 for rotation, and a crescent 234 interposed between the drive gear 230 and the driven gear 232. In this known structure, an oil pressure is produced through rotations of the drive gear 230 and the driven gear 232 that are accompanied by rotation of a drive shaft. An oil inflow conduit 224 and an oil outflow conduit 226 are formed in the casing 220.
Hybrid electric vehicles with an engine, a generator, a motor, and a battery mounted thereon have been proposed recently to preserve the environment and efficiently utilize the valuable energy resources. The hybrid electric vehicle can be driven only by the power output from the engine, only by the power output from the motor, or by the powers output from both the engine and the motor. An oil pressure generator is also required for the hybrid electric vehicles, in order to lubricate a gear unit in case that the crankshaft of the engine is linked with a drive shaft connecting with driving wheels via the gear unit, in order to actuate a clutch in case that the crankshaft of the engine is linked with the drive shaft via the clutch, and in order to lubricate a gear unit, such as a speed change gear.
One possible technique attaches the gear pump unit 200 functioning as an oil pressure generator to the crankshaft of the engine on the hybrid electric vehicle. While the engine is in operation, the oil pressure generator produces an oil pressure. When the vehicle is driven only by the power output from the motor and the engine is at a stop, however, the oil pressure generator does not produce an oil pressure to actuate the clutch or lubricate the gear unit. Another possible technique attaches the gear pump unit 200 to the drive shaft and enables an oil pressure to be produced by rotational power of the drive shaft. In this case, however, the oil pressure generator does not produce an oil pressure while the vehicle is at a stop.
These problems arise not only on the vehicle with the engine and the motor mounted thereon but on any driving systems driven by powers output from two or more power sources.
The applicant of the present invention has proposed the structure of attaching an oil hydraulic pump to the crankshaft of the engine on a hybrid electric vehicle with a gear unit (JAPANESE PATENT LAYING-OPEN GAZETTE No. 50-30223) as well as the structure of attaching oil hydraulic pumps respectively to the crankshaft of the engine and the drive shaft (JAPANESE PATENT LAYING-OPEN GAZETTE No. 48-49115).

Oil pressure generator having at least two coaxial rotating power sources and power output apparatus