A method for the purification of a metal selected from the group consisting of aluminum and aluminum alloys, wherein the metal is in a liquid phase and is contacted with a salt flux consisting of a binary mixture of NaCl and MgCl2. Preferably, more than 22% by weight of the binary mixture consists of NaCl.

The use of fluxes is well known in the field of metallurgy and these fluxes fulfill various functions.
Fluxes can be used to form a protecting layer at the surface of an alloy to prevent oxidation. When fluxes contain chemical active agents, they can be used to clean furnace walls by softening accumulated layers of corundum. Some exothermic fluxes are also used for cleaning dross and removing aluminum trapped in oxide layers.
Fluxes that are based on alkali chlorides and alkaline-earth chlorides are also used for the refining of alloys. Those skilled in the art generally define refining as the removal of alkali and alkaline-earth metals, non metallic inclusions and hydrogen from the alloys.
Sodium and calcium are always present as impurities in aluminum obtained from the Hall-Héroult process. Lithium fluoride is often added to the electrolytic bath to improve the efficiency of cells. However, a small amount in the metallic state is found dissolved in the aluminum. These impurities entail quality issues. For example, in an alloy containing magnesium, the presence of sodium may interfere during the hot rolling processes. The presence of sodium in aluminum and silicon alloys neutralize the effect of phosphorus used for the refining of grains. For the above-mentioned reasons, the use of fluxes containing sodium is not recommended for aluminum and its alloys, more particularly for aluminum alloys comprising a magnesium content higher than 3% by weight or a silicon content higher than 10% by weight.
Also, the presence of hydrogen in too high concentration may lead to a too high porosity of the aluminum during its solidification. During the recycling of aluminum, the presence of non metallic inclusions is important.
Reactional kinetics for the withdrawal of calcium and sodium in an aluminum alloy have been well studied. Naturally, in these alloys, both impurities disappear according to a kinetic of order 1 for small concentrations and order 0 for high concentrations. Because of its high vapor tension, sodium oxidizes itself more rapidly than calcium, that is why calcium is used during cleaning tests. The addition of fluxes involves an increase of reactional constants and thereby a faster reduction of the content in impurities. Mixing also has a non negligible effect on the reduction of impurities. Mixing accelerates the withdrawal of impurities by increasing the contact between impurities and the salt flux.
MgCl2 is one of the chemical active agents used for the withdrawal of impurities in alloys. Its concentration has a direct effect on the kinetic of withdrawal of calcium and sodium. Its melting point is 714° C., but in common fluxes, it is mixed with other salts to obtain a melting point between 400 and 550° C. However, MgCl2 is hygroscopic and can not be exposed for a long period of time to the surrounding air. Fluxes obtained by fusion of salts comprising magnesium chloride have hygroscopic properties. Consequently, the packaging is an important factor in limiting the absorption of humidity during the manufacturing of such fluxes.
There are examples of fluxes that are based on magnesium chloride. U.S. Pat. No. 1,377,374 relates to the use of a flux having an equimolar composition of sodium chloride and magnesium chloride for the production of manganese or magnesium alloys. U.S. Pat. No. 1,754,788 relates to the use of this same flux in a process for the cleaning of magnesium. U.S. Pat. No. 1,519,128 relates to the addition of calcium chloride to this composition and U.S. Pat. No. 2,262,105 relates to the addition of potassium chloride and magnesium oxide in addition to the calcium chloride. U.S. Pat. No. 5,405,427 mentions a flux based on sodium chloride, magnesium chloride, potassium chloride and carbon for the treatment of metal.
The article entitled "Salt Fluxes for Alkali and Alkali and Alkaline Earth Element Removal from Molten Aluminum" by David H. DeYoung shows the use of a ternary salt based on magnesium chloride, sodium chloride and potassium chloride for the removal of sodium, calcium and lithium from aluminum alloys. However, the article entitled "The Treatment of Liquid Aluminum-Silicon Alloys" by Gruzleski et al., pp. 204-205 indicates that it is important to those skilled in the art, not to use fluxes containing sodium salts. Therefore, even if a ternary flux salts having low content in sodium salts may be tolerated, those skilled in the art are expressly invited to avoid using sodium salts.
Initially, the refining of aluminum was carried out by bubbling of chlorine and argon in the liquid metal. However, this created environmental problems due to emissions of chlorine, chlorhydric acid and particles in suspension. The use of salt fluxes was later adopted as a more ecologically-friendly solution.
The refining fluxes are usually composed of alkali chlorides or alkaline-earth chlorides, which are mixed to obtain melting points that are lower than the operating temperature of alloys—the melting point of pure compounds being usually quite high.
Several methods can be used to incorporate salt fluxes in an alloy. U.S. Pat. No. 4,099,965 relates to a method where a flux of KCl and MgCl2 is added in solid form in the bottom of a preheated container before the addition of aluminum. More currently, fluxes are added by an inert gas in a pipe under the surface of the metal (lance fluxing). Recently, a method was developed where a hollow shaft brings the salt flux in the alloy with a gas carrier, and the salt flux is dispersed by an agitator (rotary flux injection). This method reduces the amount of salt flux required for carrying out the purification while increasing the dispersion of this salt flux in the alloy. Following the addition of a salt flux to the metal, impurities and salts float on the surface of the liquid metal and can be easily removed.
Advantageously, the use of solid compounds obtained by melting of salts controls the granulometry. Particles may be used in batch processes or in continuous processes.
However, costs related to salt fluxes such as binary mixtures of magnesium chloride and potassium chloride, are high. Furthermore, the use of salt fluxes having a substantial content in sodium chloride is not recommended by those skilled in the art due to perceived negative effects of sodium content in the resulting aluminum or aluminum alloys. In fact, when sodium chloride is present in fluxes for the purification of aluminum or aluminum alloys, those skilled in the art currently will avoid or limit the use of sodium chloride. More particularly, in the case of certain kinds of alloys such as, for example, aluminum alloys having silicon content higher than 10% by weight and more particularly aluminum alloys having magnesium content higher than 3% by weight, those skilled in the art currently recommend not using sodium chloride in salt flux.
During Applicant's search for a more effective solution to the purification problem, it was surprisingly noted that contrary to current apprehensions and beliefs of those skilled in the art, it is possible in a salt flux containing MgCl2, to replace expensive KCl by inexpensive NaCl. Consequently, the present invention offers an economical solution for the treatment of aluminum or aluminum alloys with an efficiency of purification that is equivalent to methods presently used. Indeed, contrary to apprehensions of those skilled in the art, there is no significant amount of sodium in the resulting aluminum or aluminum alloys when using the inventive purification method described herein.
Embodiments of the present invention show the following advantages:                Economical advantages                    Lower production costs because the melting point of the flux is lower.            Lower costs of raw material.                        Efficiency equivalent to the purification methods using an existing well known salt flux sold under the trademark Promag (40 wt % KCl-60 wt % MgCl2).        Economical alternative to existing product sold under the trademark Promag without creating any significant accumulation of sodium within aluminum or aluminum alloys.

Use of a binary salt flux of NaCl and MgCl


The magnetic field assembly of a magnetic resonance imaging device includes an annular superconducting magnet (10) which is mounted within a toroidal vacuum vessel (24). A cylindrical member (26) defines a central bore through which the superconducting magnets generate a temporally constant primary magnetic field. A cylindrical, dielectric former (46) is mounted in the bore displaced a small distance from the cylindrical member. A radio frequency coil (32) is mounted within the cylindrical member defining a patient receiving examination region. An RF shield (34) is mounted around the exterior peripheral surface of the former. Primary gradient coils (40) are mounted around and potted to the exterior of the dielectric former around the RF shield. Gradient shield or secondary coils (44) are potted around an exterior of the cylindrical member within the vacuum chamber. As illustrated in FIG. 3 , when unshielded gradient coils are used, the primary gradient coils and the RF shield are mounted around the outer diameter of the cylindrical member (26).

The present invention relates to the magnetic resonance art. It finds particular application in conjunction with self-shielded gradient and RF coil assemblies for magnetic resonance imaging apparatus and will be described with particular reference thereto. However, it will be appreciated that the present invention will also find application in conjunction with magnetic resonance spectroscopy systems and other applications which require RF fields and gradient magnetic fields.
Heretofore, magnetic resonance imagers have utilized a cylindrical superconducting magnet assembly which generates a temporally constant primary magnetic field axially through a room temperature bore or central cylinder of the magnet assembly. The magnet windings are maintained at liquid helium temperatures in a cryostat. This structure is double walled to provide a vacuum space, intermediate cold shields, and room for superinsulation. Cryostat construction is optimized to minimize helium boil-off. The room temperature bore of the magnet provides space for gradient magnetic field coils, RF coils, and, of course, the object or person to be imaged.
The gradient coils generate axial fields which have gradients in three mutually orthogonal directions, x, y, and the axial direction z. Current waveforms are applied to the gradients during the MR process. The gradients in turn induce eddy currents in the metal structures of the magnet cryostat. The magnetic fields of the eddy currents then become part of the magnetic fields seen by the object being imaged. To the extent that the eddy currents mimic the gradient that caused them, they could be corrected by pre-emphasis. In general, it helps to maintain some spacing between the gradient and magnet structures that might sustain eddy currents. More recently, self shielded gradients have been developed that eliminate the eddy currents in the magnet structure.
Self shielded gradients consist of a primary set of coils on a cylindrical former and a shield set of coils on a second former at a larger radius. At radii outside the shielded gradient, the magnetic fields produced by the primary coils are substantially cancelled by those of the shielding coils. The gradient fields of both sets of coils combine to produce axial directed fields with substantially first order intensity gradients in the x, y, and z-directions. It is desirable that the primary and shield coils have a radius ratio of 1.3 or more so the shield coil does not cancel too much of the field of the primary within the imaging volume. With self shielded gradient coils, the distance from the primary gradient coil to the magnet structures is not critical.
The overall efficiency or power dissipated by the gradient coil is strongly dependent on the spacing between the primary gradient coil and the shield gradient coil. Efficiency is optimized, i.e. power consumption is minimized, when the diameter of the primary gradient field coil is minimized and the diameter of the shield coil is maximized. However, 100 cm. bore magnets in general cost more than smaller, e.g. 90 cm. bore magnets because of materials costs. In order to reduce magnet cost, one would like to reduce the bore diameter consistent with homogeneity requirements. Likewise, in order to improve the gradient efficiency and get more gradient per imposed ampere, one would like to use the maximum space available for the outer coils of a shielded gradient. The maximum diameter of the shield gradient coil assembly is limited by the interior bore of the superconducting magnet or, more commonly, by a shimset of ferrous metal shims mounted within the bore for improving the homogeneity of the main magnetic field.
An RF body coil which is inserted inside the gradient coil generally had an inner diameter of 55-60 cm. RF screens are placed at some radius beyond the RF coil with the specific purpose of generating a known eddy current pattern that is not RF lossy. In addition, there is a degree of isolation between the RF and the gradient coils. For example, the RF screen has been applied to the inner surface of the gradient coil former. The screen is made of overlapping strips of adhesive backed copper about 2-3 inches wide completely covering the surface. The overlap region serves to capacitively couple the strips at 21 to 64 MHz so they look like a reasonably conductive surface. If the adhesive on the copper is RF lossy, it will reduce the Q-factor of the RF coil and thus the signal to noise ratio for NMR. The copper is in strips to reduce the gradient eddy currents generated therein.
One of the important design considerations of the RF screen is the distance between the RF coil conductive elements and the screen. Eddy currents in the screen also generate fields that oppose the fields of the RF coil reducing the overall field. In a sense these "image currents" mimic, in a functional sense, the shield coils of the gradient coil. The screen must produce predictable, reproducible results without RF losses. Beyond the RF screen there is substantially zero RF field.
One disadvantage of the use of adhesive backed copper in the RF coil shield is that it is labor-intensive. Typically, on the order of 32 or more segments are required around the periphery of the inner diameter of the gradient coil bore. A further disadvantage is that the adhesive can be RF lossy and lower the achievable signal-to-noise ratio.
Another method for constructing the RF shield is to use a printed circuit approach with a low-loss substrate.
One disadvantage of the printed circuit board approach is its cost. Substrate materials have been used to obtain the desired low loss characteristics and provide a means for mounting the screen to the gradient inner diameter. This increases processing and fabrication costs as well.
A third and more cost-effective method is to use a fine copper mesh, much like window screen. The broken pattern of the woven mesh is intrinsically worse at conducting low frequency eddy currents than solid copper.
One disadvantage to the use of RF mesh is that mounting the mesh to the interior diameter of the gradient coil is difficult. The screen must be mounted securely with good dimensional control. Generally, an additional substrate is required to support the mesh. This increases the manufacturing costs and consumes valuable space.
Thus, the prior art shielded RF and gradient coils assemblies are thicker in radial dimension. Such thicker RF and gradient coils can be utilized and still maintain the conventional inner diameter of the bore if large diameter, e.g. 100 cm. bore superconducting magnets are utilized. However, the cost of the superconducting magnet varies with its diameter. Accordingly, it is generally considered desirable to reduce the diameter of the inner bore of the magnet, not enlarge it.
Reducing the spacing between the primary and shield gradient coils would reduce efficiency and create significant heating problems. That is, much of the energy consumed by the gradient coil is turned into heat. In an inefficient system in which a large amount of heat is generated, this creates problems in dissipating the heat. Similarly, even a small increase in the relative diameters of the primary RF and shield coils can have a significant change in the amount of energy consumed. For example, a 2% increase in the diameter of the gradient shield coil can result in a 20% decrease in heat energy dissipation.
The present invention provides a new and improved shielded RF and gradient coil design which overcomes the above-referenced problems and others.

Integrated MRI gradient coil and RF screen


It is the object of the invention to optimise the allocation of address ranges to modules of an integrated circuit. Since according to the invention the address ranges in the address space are selectable through a central address management, the usage of the address space capacity can be optimised according to the current load factor. Flexible usage of the address space is enabled by choosing the position of the address range to be selected and the size of the address range. The address range can be assigned automatically by a software program. The software program is for example designed in such a way that it executes a fair distribution of the address ranges to the existing modules or those modules that currently need an address range. Provided there are no overlaps with other address ranges, the address ranges to be assigned can be chosen as wished. User-specific programming can be used to allocate specific address ranges to individual modules.

Integrated circuits are implemented e.g. as system-on-chip on an ASIC; ASIC=Application Specific Integrated Circuit. An ASIC comprises special circuits, which are tailored to customers' wishes. These perform specific tasks. In telecommunications, for example, they are used for processing VoIP signals, DSL, ATM, SDH, SONET, UMTS, GSM, LMDS or ISDN signals; VoIP=Voice over Internet Protocol, DSL=Digital Subscriber Line, ATM=Asynchronous Transfer Mode, SDH=Synchronous Digital Hierarchy, SONET=Synchronous Optical Network, UMTS=Universal Mobile Telecommunication System, GSM=General System Mobile, LMDS=Local Multipoint Digital System, ISDN=Integrated Services Digital Network. They thus serve for processing speech, data, video, Internet web pages, etc.
An integrated circuit has e.g. a special processor platform for implementing general but also application-specific tasks. This processor platform can be used for any applications; the same processor platform for example in DSL chips, ATM chips etc. It includes a processor and supplies computing capacity.
The processor platform has several components, some components being connected to a fast AMBA-AHB bus, e.g. a processor, a ROM controller, a RAM controller, and other components being connected to a slow AMBA-APB bus, e.g. an interrupt controller, a real time counter; ROM=Read Only Memory, RAM=Random Access Memory. The question of which component is connected to which bus depends on the access speed, the processing speed and the frequency of use of the component.
For some components, such as the ROM controller and the RAM controller, which are hereinafter referred to as modules, address ranges comprising several addresses should be assigned. For each module, a predetermined address range within an address space is reserved before start-up. In addition, one address range is dual-assigned, for the ROM controller on the one hand and the RAM controller on the other hand. Memory management allocates the additionally specified address range to the ROM controller in the first place. If the address range is no longer needed for the ROM controller, e.g. after the boot operation, a one-time switch occurs to transfer the specified address range to the RAM controller.


A communication device for an automatic vending machine includes, a main control unit that initializes each unit in accordance with a result of decoding an initialization order from ROM, and transmits first to third control data in the form of telegraphic message through a data input/output line to a plurality of button control units one by one. The plural button control units are set to have or not to have a transmission right to the main control unit in accordance with a latch result of the first to third control data. The transmission right of the terminal control units can be set by the main control unit as the automatic vending machine carries a communication between the main control unit and the terminal control unit by contention type protocol.

The present invention relates to a communication device for an automatic vending machine, in which communication is carried out by a contention type protocol.
A plurality of terminal control units each of which controls each unit such as a customer service unit or a vending unit, and a main control unit which collectively controls the terminal control units are installed in an automatic vending machine. A plurality of terminal control units is set to the predetermined specification and implements a series of vending actions by communication with the main control unit.
A communication system such as a polling type protocol or a contention type protocol is mainly used between the main control unit and the terminal control systems. The main control unit has a prior transmission right in the polling type protocol. That is, the main control unit asks each terminal control unit one by one if it requests a transmission, and only when each terminal control unit requests the transmission, the terminal control unit transmits a data to the main control unit. On the other hand, the main control unit and the terminal control unit have equal transmission rights in the contention type protocol. In a case where either the main control unit or the terminal control units request a transmission prior to the other, one transmits data to the other.
The contention type protocol has been currently used as a communication system between the main control unit and the terminal control units, because a communication time for the data transmission from the terminal control units to the main control unit is shorter in the contention type protocol than in the polling type protocol. An automatic vending machine implementing communication in accordance with the contention type protocol is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 223823/1998 filed by the applicant.
In the Japanese Application No. 223823/1998, an automatic vending machine has a plurality (generally, several tens units) of button control units as a terminal control unit. A plurality of the button control units controls a plurality of item selection buttons which are installed on a front surface of the automatic vending machine. However, under the contention type protocol, if the item selection button is pressed, communication is carried out between the main control unit and the terminal control units, regardless of the situation. For example, in the presence or absence of sold-out display or in the presence or absence of sales possible display, the corresponding button control units always transmit some data to the main control unit. As a result, the button control units transmit meaningless data to the main control unit. This causes such problems that incorrect operations and incorrect vending occur.
An object of the invention is to provide a communication device for automatic vending machine in which the main control unit can select communication functions of the terminal control units.
This and other objects of the invention can be attained by a communication device for an automatic vending machine having a plurality of terminal control units. Each terminal control unit controls each unit of the automatic vending machine. A main control unit controls the terminal control units. Contention type protocol is used for communication among the main control unit and the terminal control units, where they have equal transmission rights. The main control unit transmits to the terminal control units, a control data that allows or prohibits transmission from the terminal control units at a predetermined timing and the terminal control units set an inside of the terminal control units to the conditions corresponding to the control data. According to the first embodiment of the invention, incorrect operations and incorrect vending can be prevented because some of the terminal control units are set to have the transmission right and the other terminal control units are set not to have the transmission right.
In one aspect of the present invention, the predetermined timing is when the automatic vending machine is initialized by an introduction of electric power. According to this aspect, the terminal control units can be set to the functions corresponding to the specification of each automatic vending machine simultaneously when the electric power is turned on.
In another aspect of the present invention, the terminal control units are plural button control units which control a plurality of item selection buttons.
In a further aspect of the present invention, the control data includes contents to allow or prohibit transmission from the button control units to the main control unit when the item selection buttons are pressed.
In another aspect of the present invention, the control data includes contents to allow or prohibit transmission from the button control units to the main control unit when the item selection buttons are pressed in the state that xe2x80x9csold outxe2x80x9d is displayed.
In another aspect of the present invention, the control data includes contents to allow or prohibit transmission from the button control units to the main control unit when the item selection buttons are pressed in the state that xe2x80x9csales possiblexe2x80x9d is displayed.
In a further aspect of the present invention, some of the button control units are set to have the transmission right and the other button control units are set not to have the transmission right in accordance with sorts of the item selection buttons and presence or absence of xe2x80x9csold outxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9csales possiblexe2x80x9d display.

Communication device for automatic vending machine


A process for producing a graft-polymer comprises adding an aqueous solution of a salt of a strong acid and a monovalent strong base, which solution has been adjusted to a pH value of 8 to 13, to a rubber latex containing diene rubber particles and a fatty acid soap as an emulsifying agent to coagulate the above mentioned rubber particles, and thereafter adding a vinyl monomer to the latex containing the coagulated rubber particles to graft-polymerize the vinyl monomer.. According to this process, the formation of rubber masses and macroparticles during the coagulation is reduced and a rubber latex containing rubber particles having a narrow range of particle size distribution is obtained. When a graft-copolymer obtained by using the latex is blended with thermoplastic resins such as vinyl chloride resins, the impact resistance of the thermoplastic resins can be remarkably improved without impairing their transparency and gloss.

The present invention relates to a process for producing a graft-copolymer for blending which is capable of imparting a high impact resistance to a thermoplastic resin having a relatively low impact resistance without impairing its transparency and luster or gloss when it is blended with the thermoplastic resin. Further, the present invention aims at producing a coagulated rubber latex of diene type which has a high degree of coagulation and a relatively narrow range of particle size distribution as a base material for a graft-copolymer advantageously on an industrial scale without the formation of rubber masses or lumps and macroparticles.
Heretofore, a latex containing coagulated and enlarged rubber particles which are formed by adding an electrolyte as a coagulating agent to a diene type rubber latex has been used as a base material for a graft-copolymer. That is, a rubber polymer constituting the rubber particles is used as a trunk polymer of a graft-copolymer.
For example, in the case where a monomer selected from styrene, acrylonitrile, methyl methacrylate and the like is added to a latex of a conjugated diene rubber of a butadiene polymer or butadiene-styrene copolymer which has been obtained through polymerization with the use of a fatty acid soap and is subjected to graft-polymerization, thereby producing an impact resistance improving agent for a thermoplastic resin such as a graft-copolymer of an acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene resin (hereinafter referred to as ABS resin, for brevity) or a methyl methacrylate-butadiene-styrene resin (hereinafter referred to as MBS resin, for brevity), there has been known a process wherein an acid is previously added to a rubber latex to reduce the pH thereof and to coagulate and enlarge the rubber particles thereby to provide a relatively large particle size, and thereafter, the resultant rubber latex is subjected to graft-polymerization to produce a resin having a high impact resistance. There has been known also a process wherein a salt is added to rubber latex to coagulate and enlarge the rubber particles, and the resultant latex is then graft-polymerized to obtain a resin having improved impact resistance. These processes are disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication Nos. 3112/1967, 22541/1967 and 3015/1968. The resultant graft-copolymers are used as impact resistance improving agents, for example, for vinyl chloride resins, styrene-methyl methacrylate copolymers, and styrene-acrylonitrile copolymers.
However, when the above mentioned processes for coagulating and enlarging rubber particles were used, it was difficult to produce easily on an industrial scale a latex containing rubber particles of a high degree of coagulation and a relatively narrow range of particle size distribution. That is, the process in which an acid is added to coagulate the rubber particles in a rubber latex is disadvantageous in that when a quantity of the acid required to amply coagulate the rubber particles is added, the latex, in general, becomes acidic, and the dispersion stability of the latex is reduced. When the concentration of the latex is high, there is a tendency for macroparticles and rubber masses or lumps to develop.
On the other hand, the process wherein a salt is added requires a large quantity of salt and reduces the stability of the latex, as a result of which rubber masses tend to be formed. In addition, because these processes result in a broad particle size distribution and cause the formation of macroparticles when the resultant graft-copolymers as an impact resistance improving agent are added to, for example, vinyl chloride resins and the resulting composition is shaped, the shaped article is remarkably inferior in transparency and surface gloss to shaped articles not containing such improving agents.

Process for producing a graft-copolymer and blends therewith


Embodiments of the present invention relate to magnetic gears comprising a pair of rotors magnetically coupled in a geared manner via a magnetic space harmonic generated as a consequence of varying an air gap between sets of permanent magnets.

Mechanical gearboxes are extensively used to match the operating speed of prime-movers to the requirements of their loads for both increasing rotational speed such as, for example, in a wind-powered generator or reducing rotational speed such as, for example, in an electric-ship propulsion arrangement. It is usually more cost and weight effective to employ a high-speed electrical machine in conjunction with a mechanical gearbox to achieve requisite speed and torque characteristics. However, white such a high-speed electrical machine in conjunction with a mechanical gearbox allows high system torque densities to be realised, such mechanical gearboxes usually require lubrication and cooling. Furthermore, reliability can also be a significant issue. Consequently, direct drive electrical machines are employed in applications where a mechanical gearbox cannot be used.
Several techniques of achieving magnetic gearing, using permanent magnets, are known within the art. For example, FIG. 1 shows the most commonly used topology for magnetic gears. It can be appreciated that FIG. 1 shows a magnetic gear 100 comprising a first, high-speed, rotor 102 bearing a plurality of permanent magnets 104 that is magnetically coupled, in a geared manner, to a second, low speed, rotor 106 comprising a number of permanent magnets 108. A significant disadvantage of the magnetic gear 100 shown in FIG. 1 is that the topology suffers from a very poor utilisation of the permanent magnets since very few of the permanent magnets simultaneously contribute to torque transmission at any given time. The very poor torque transmission capability has limited the use of magnetic gearing.
The problem associated with the magnetic gear 100 of FIG. 1 is solved by the magnetic gear 200 shown in FIG. 2. FIG. 2 shows a rotary magnetic gear 200 comprising a first or inner rotor 202, a second or outer rotor 204 and a number of pole pieces 206, otherwise known as an interference or an interference means. The first rotor 202 comprises a support 208 bearing a respective first number of permanent magnets 210. In the illustrated magnetic gear, the first rotor 202 comprises 8 permanent magnets or 4 pole-pairs arranged to produce a spatially varying magnetic field. The second rotor 204 comprises a support 212 bearing a respective second number of permanent magnets 214. The second rotor 204 comprises 46 permanent magnets or 23 pole-pairs arranged to produce a spatially varying field. The first and second numbers of permanent magnets are different. Accordingly, there will be little or no useful direct magnetic coupling or interaction between the permanent magnets 210 and 214 such that rotation of one rotor will not cause rotation of the other rotor.
The pole pieces 206 are used to allow the fields of the permanent magnets 210 and 214 to interact in a geared manner. The pole pieces 206 modulate the magnetic fields of the permanent magnets 210 and 214 so they interact to the extent that rotation of one rotor will induce rotation of the other rotor in a geared manner. Rotation of the first rotor 202 at a speed ω1 will induce rotation of the second rotor 204 at a speed ω2 where ω1>ω2 and visa versa.
However, the magnetic gear topology shown in FIG. 2 has the disadvantages that it is unsuitable for high gear ratios, it is relatively complex and has an unfavourable torque density especially when higher gear ratios are required.
It is an object of embodiments of the present invention to at least mitigate one or more of the above problems of the prior art.


A pair of cross jaw pliers with handles and jaws pivoted around a pivot pin with a container in each handle, one for storing and dispensing fishhooks and the other for storing and dispensing split shot sinkers. Both handles have a short bowed section joined to a longer hollow tube portion. The short bowed sections compensate for the lack of curvature in the longer tube portions. Each tube portion is closed with a normally closed valve that is adapted to be opened with finger or thumb pressure to gravity-feed the fishhooks and sinkers. The jaws of the pliers are biased open and have a recess for seating and retaining a split shot sinker and crimping it on a fishing line. The jaws also have longitudinal blades for cutting the fishing line.

1. Field of the Invention
A pair of cross jaw pliers with a container in each handle, one for storing and dispensing fishhooks and the other for storing and dispensing split shot sinkers or other miscellaneous small items.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Early in the spring, crappie move into shallow water near shore to feed and spawn. They are found around fallen trees, driftwood or submerged brush. They also hang around pilings, old creeks and channels where it is difficult to cast and reel in a line without snagging. For this reason, crappie fishermen lose a lot of hooks and sinkers and are forever tying on a hook and crimping on a piece of shot. Crappie fishing is often done from a small boat which provides a platform from which the fisherman can reach the trashy areas where crappie are found. Ideally when a crappie fisherman loses his hook and sinker, he could attach new ones from his person without reaching around the boat for necessary tools and materials.
While the above discussion has been focused on crappie fishing from a boat, trout fishermen and fishermen in general who fish from a boat or wade in a stream have similar needs.
There are several pliers with a hollow handle for holding split shot described in issued U.S. patents. Such pliers still require the fisherman to reach for his tackle box or the like for a hook. Insofar as known, no one has provided the tools and materials necessary to carry and attach a new hook and a new sinker in a form that can be worn on the user's person.


A white balance controller for an image pickup apparatus having an image pickup for providing an output indicative of an image, a color separator responsive to the output of the image pickup for producing a luminance signal and a plurality of color signals therefrom, gain controllers for controlling a gain of at least two color signals of the plurality of color signals separated by the color separator, and a color difference signal generator for generating color difference signals from at least one of a color signal and luminance signal. The white balance controller includes white/achromatic detection for detecting at least one of a white and achromatic portion within an image picked up by the image pickup in accordance with a least the color difference signals, and an abnormality detector for detecting an abnormality of white balance within the picked up image. The abnormality detector supplies an output thereof to an input of the white/achromatic detector and enables control of a gain of the gain controllers in accordance therewith for enabling white adjustment.

The present invention relates to a white balance controller for an image pickup apparatus such as a video camera and, more particularly, to a white balance controller for performing a stabilized white balance controlling function under light sources whose color temperature changes.
Conventional apparatus of the described type, as disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 63-219291 corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,797,733, enable white extraction treatment using a fixed threshold value to the amplitude of the color difference signals (or the signals used for calculating the color difference signals) after effecting white balance adjustment.
In the above described prior art, attention was only paid to the saturation of a colored portion in a state having white balance achieved, and no consideration was given to the condition of the color temperature of the lighting.
Further, in the above described prior art, not much attention was given to the automatic exposure control characteristic against the white ratio of the picture or the sensitivity of the image pickup element, and in view thereof the detection level sometimes became improper depending on the object of the viewing or the lighting.

White balance controller for an image pick-up apparatus including an abnormality detector


An apparatus and method of fine adjustment of tuning data for a TV receiver which can achieve fine adjustment of tuning data quickly and accurately. The apparatus includes a AFT information memory for storing AFT information on the detuned frequency of a selected channel, and a microcomputer for reading the corresponding AFT information of the selected channel from the AFT information memory and providing tuning data by calculating the read AFT information and a center frequency of the selected channel. The microcomputer also performs search operation if the broadcasting signal of the selected channel is inaccurately tuned in order to detect the detuned frequency thereof. The apparatus is also provided with a fine adjustment key for increasing/decreasing the tuning data so as to perform accurate tuning. The tuning data increased/decreased by the fine adjustment key is then stored in the AFT information memory for use in the next tuning.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to fine tuning of television (TV) broadcasting signals, and more particularly to an apparatus for finely adjusting tuning data for a TV receiver and the method thereof which can finely adjust the tuning data of a selected channel automatically and/or manually when especially a detuned broadcasting signal or a broadcasting signal having a strong/weak electric field is tuned, so that a user can enjoy a clear picture when selecting a channel. 2. Description of the Prior Art A conventional apparatus for finely adjusting tuning data for a TV receiver is shown in FIG. 1. The conventional apparatus comprises a microcomputer 1 for controlling the tuning of television broadcasting signals by outputting tuning data and for controlling the display of OSD (on-screen display) characters, a remote control receiver 2 for entering function key signals to the microcomputer 1, a key pad 3 for manually entering function key signals to the microcomputer 1, a tuner section 4 for selecting and tuning a channel broadcasting signal among channel broadcasting signals inputted through an antenna ANT in accordance with the tuning data inputted from the microcomputer 1, an intermediate frequency (IF) processing section 5 for IF-processing the output signal of the tuner section 4 and for detecting a sync signal and an automatic fine tuning(AFT) signal of the channel broadcasting signal to output the detected sync and AFT signals to the microcomputer 1, an image processing section 6 for processing an image signal outputted from the IF processing section 5, an OSD character generating section 7 for generating an OSD .character signal under the control of the microcomputer 1, and a mixing section 8 for mixing the output signals of the image processing section 6 and the OSD character generating section 7 to output the mixed signal to a color cathode-ray tube (CRT) 9.
The conventional apparatus as constructed above operates as follows:
When a channel selection key signal is entered to the microcomputer 1 by the user's manipulation of the remote control transmitter or of the key pad 3, the microcomputer 1 outputs to the tuner section 4 the tuning data of the channel selected according to the entered channel selection key signal. The tuner section 4 selects and tunes the channel broadcasting signal among the broadcasting signals received through the antenna in accordance with the tuning data inputted thereto, and then the IF processing section 5 processes the output signal of the tuner section 4. Also, the IF processing section 5 detects a sync signal from the output signal of the tuner section 4 and detects an AFT signal resulting from the tuned state. The detected sync signal and the AFT signal are inputted to the microcomputer 1.
The microcomputer 1 discriminates whether the channel broadcasting signal selected by the user has been tuned or not, depending on the sync signal inputted from the IF processing section 5. That is, if the sync signal is inputted, the microcomputer 1 discriminates if the broadcasting signal is accurately tuned, depending on the level of the AFT signal. If the level of the AFT signal deviates from a predetermined range of level the microcomputer 1 performs automatic fine adjustment operation by varying the tuning data outputted to the tuner section. 4.
The level of the AFT signal outputted from the IF processing section 5 varies according to the tuning state of the broadcasting signal. The microcomputer 1 recognizes that the selected broadcasting signal is accurately tuned when the level of the detected AFT signal is within a predetermined range of level, which centers the intermediate level of the AFT signal. When the level of the detected AFT signal deviates from the predetermined range, the microcomputer recognizes that the selected broadcasting signal is inaccurately tuned.
Meanwhile, in order to achieve an accurate tuning of the selected channel broadcasting signals, the microcomputer 1 performs a broadcasting signal search with respect to 3 divided search regions, i.e., a first search region of fo .+-.1 MHz, where fo is the center frequency of one broadcasting signal having a frequency band of 6 MHz, a second search region of (fo-1.5).+-.1 MHz, and a third search region of (fo+1.5).+-.1 MHz. That is, the microcomputer 1 outputs a phase locked loop (PLL) data as a tuning data for fo when firstly tuning the selected channel, and if the level of the AFT signal inputted to the microcomputer according to the tuning data for fo is not within a predetermined range of level, the microcomputer 1 performs a search operation by outputting tuning data within the first search region. If the level of the AFT signal is still not within the predetermined range until the search operation within the first search region has been completed, the microcomputer 1 then performs a search operation with respect to the second and third search regions in turn. If the AFT signal level is still not within the predetermined range until the search operation within the first to third search regions has been completed, the microcomputer 1 recognizes that the selected channel has no broadcasting signal and thus finishes the automatic fine adjustment operation after outputting the tuning data for fo.
The tuned broadcasting signal of the selected channel is inputted to the IF processing section 5 to be IF-processed, the image signal outputted from the IF processing section 5 is processed by the image processing section 6, and then the processed image signal is outputted to the mixing section 8. Meanwhile, the OSD character generating section 7 generates the OSD character signal under the control of the microcomputer 1 and the generated OSD character .signal is outputted to the mixing section 8 to be mixed with the image signal from the image processing section 6. The mixed image signal and the OSD character signal are then outputted to the CRT 9 to be displayed on its screen.
However, such a conventional apparatus for fine adjustment of tuning data suffers from the disadvantage in that, though an accurate tuning may be effected .when the broadcasting signal the selected channel is found within the first search region, flickering may occur in the picture during conversion of search region from the first search-region to the second search region and/or from the second search region to the third search region when the broadcasting signal is found within the second or third search region, because the fine adjustment of tuning data is performed by successively searching the broadcasting signal of the selected channel within the first to third search regions. Further, if the determination region of the AFT signal level is incorrectly adjusted even when the broadcasting signal is detected by the search operation, the broadcasting signal of the selected channel may not be accurately tuned, causing the picture quality to deteriorate, giving inconvenience to the user.

Apparatus for finely adjusting tuning data for a television receiver and the method thereof


A method and system for process control using a model predictive controller. The control system can have one or more control devices operably coupled to a processing system for controlling a process of the processing system; a modeling tool to provide a non-linear model based at least in part on the process and to provide a plurality of linearized models based at least in part on the non-linear model, where the plurality of linearized models are linearized at different linearization rates; and a controller operably coupled to the modeling tool. The controller can select one of the plurality of linearized models based on a comparison of the plurality of linearized models with a reference model. The controller can send one or more control signals to at least one of the one or more control devices. The one or more control signals can be determined using the selected one of the plurality of linearized models.

Processing facilities, such as manufacturing plants, chemical plants and oil refineries, are typically managed using process control systems. Valves, pumps, motors, heating/cooling devices, and other industrial equipment typically perform actions needed to process materials in the processing facilities. Among other functions, the process control systems often manage the use of the industrial equipment in the processing facilities.
In conventional process control systems, controllers are often used to control the operation of the industrial equipment in the processing facilities. The controllers can typically monitor the operation of the industrial equipment, provide control signals to the industrial equipment, and/or generate alarms when malfunctions are detected. Process control systems typically include one or more process controllers and input/output (I/O) devices communicatively coupled to at least one workstation and to one or more field devices, such as through analog and/or digital buses. The field devices can include sensors (e.g., temperature, pressure and flow rate sensors), as well as other passive and/or active devices. The process controllers can receive process information, such as field measurements made by the field devices, in order to implement a control routine. Control signals can then be generated and sent to the industrial equipment to control the operation of the process.
Advanced controllers often use model-based control techniques to control the operation of the industrial equipment. Model-based control techniques typically involve using an empirical model to analyze input data, where the model identifies how the industrial equipment should be controlled based on the input data being received.
Model predictive controllers (MPCs) rely on dynamic models of the process, most often linear empirical models obtained by system identification. The models are used to predict the behavior of dependent variables (e.g. outputs) of a dynamic system with respect to changes in the process independent variables (e.g. inputs). In chemical processes, independent variables are most often setpoints of regulatory controllers that govern valve movement (e.g., valve positioners with or without flow, temperature or pressure controller cascades), while dependent variables are most often constraints in the process (e.g., product purity, equipment safe operating limits). The model predictive controller uses the models and current plant measurements to calculate future moves in the independent variables that will result in operation that attempts to satisfy all independent and dependent variable constraints. The MPC then sends this set of independent variable moves to the corresponding regulatory controller setpoints to be implemented in the process.
One such model-based control technique utilizes a linear MPC for control of a non-linear process with complex constrained multivariable control issues. At each sampling time (starting at the current state), an open-loop optimal control problem is solved over a finite horizon. At the next time step, the computation is repeated starting from the new state and over a shifted horizon, leading to a moving horizon policy. Thus, the control process linearizes around each operating point, by recalculating the model corresponding to current operating regions. However, linearizing at all steps of the process to be controlled to obtain a conventional MPC solution, greatly increases the computational load for the control system. This can be especially significant for more complex processes with large numbers of operational parameters and variables.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method and system for process control that can provide an operator with an understanding of the extent of non-linearity of the process to be controlled. There is a further need for such a method and system that allows for obtaining acceptable control performance while minimizing computational time or load.


A turbomachine blade with a localized dihedral feature has a high order polynomial shaped curve region.

Turbine machines, such as turbofan gas turbine engines or land based turbine generators, typically include a compressor section, a combustor section and a turbine section. During operation, air is pressurized in the compressor section and mixed with fuel in the combustor section for generating hot combustion gases. The hot combustion gases flow through the turbine section which extracts energy from the hot combustion gases to power the compressor section and in the case of turbine generators, drive the turbine power shaft.
Many turbine machines include axial-flow type compressor sections in which the flow of compressed air is parallel to an engine centerline axis. Axial-flow compressors may utilize multiple stages to obtain the pressure levels needed to achieve desired thermodynamic cycle goals. A typical compressor stage consists of a row of rotating airfoils (called rotor blades) and a row of stationary airfoils (called stator vanes).
One design feature of an axial-flow compressor section that affects compressor performance and stability is tip clearance flow. A small gap extends between the tip of each rotor blade airfoil and a surrounding shroud in each compressor stage. Tip clearance flow is defined as the flow of fluid between the rotor tip and an outer shroud from the high pressure side (pressure side) to the low pressure side (suction side) of the rotor blade. Tip clearance flow reduces the ability of the compressor section to sustain pressure rise, increases losses and may have a negative impact on stall margin (i.e., the point at which the compressor section can no longer sustain an increase in pressure such that the gas turbine engine stalls).
At the airfoil tip in the region where the airfoil and its boundary layer interact with the endwall boundary layer and the tip leakage flow, the aerodynamic loading tends to be higher than at the airfoil midspan. High aerodynamic loading results in higher turning deviation, larger losses and an increased likelihood of boundary layer separation. Bulk separation of the boundary layer on rotor tips is one mechanism for compressor stall.

High order shaped curve region for an airfoil


Olefin oxidation catalysts having improved attrition resistance are produced by incorporating a substantially uniform-appearing coating of a partially calcined catalytic material onto an inert porous support containing sorbed aqueous silica sol and then completing the calcination of the catalyst. Such catalysts are useful in a variety of exothermic chemical processes, including vapor phase oxidation of olefinically unsaturated hydrocarbons to the corresponding unsaturated aldehydes, especially propylene to acrolein.

The present invention relates to improved fixed bed attrition resistant catalysts and to their use in exothermic chemical processes, such as vapor phase oxidation of olefinically unsaturated hydrocarbons to their corresponding unsaturated aldehydes, particularly propylene to acrolein.
Various oxidation catalysts have been proposed for use in vapor phase catalytic oxidation of olefinically unsaturated hydrocarbons to produce corresponding unsaturated aldehydes with a view towards enhancing catalyst life and selectivity for desired unsaturated hydrocarbon products without reducing rates of conversion of olefin raw material. Such known oxidation catalysts generally contain combinations of alkali metals, alkaline earth metals, V, Cr, Mo, W, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, In, Tl, Sn, Sb, Bi, P, As among other elements.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,454,630 describes a process for converting propylene and isobutylene to the corresponding unsaturated aldehydes and carboxylic acids in the presence of a catalyst of the elements Ni, Co, Fe, Bi, P, Mo and oxygen.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,778,386 describes a vapor phase oxidation process in which propylene can be converted to acrolein utilizing a catalyst containing the following elements on a suitable carrier or binder: EQU Ni.sub.a Co.sub.b Fe.sub.c Bi.sub.d L.sub.e M.sub.h Mo.sub.f O.sub.g
wherein Ni, Co, Fe, Bi, Mo and O are the elements nickel, cobalt, iron, bismuth, molybdenum and oxygen, respectively; L is phosphorus, arsenic or boron and M is potassium, rubidium or cesium including mixtures; and wherein a and b are 0 to 15, while a+b is 2 to 15, c is 0.5 to 7, d is 0.1 to 4, e is 0 to 4, f is 12, g is 35 to 85 and h is 0.01 to 0.5. This combination of elements represents a family of highly preferred catalysts for the oxidation of propylene to acrolein.
Generally, catalysts used in the vapor phase oxidation of olefinically unsaturated hydrocarbons have been prepared conventionally as pills or tablets having an essentially uniform distribution of catalyst throughout. Catalysts prepared in the manner can be extremely active when used in fixed bed exothermic oxidation reactions. In some cases, however, "hot spots" can cause large amounts of undesirable by-products to be produced, due to the fact that the heat generated by the reaction cannot be dissipated efficiently by normal heat transfer techniques.
One method which has been tried to overcome this difficulty is to use inert catalyst supports which contain the catalytically active materials coated in or on the support. This reduces the amount of catalytically active material in the reactor and cuts down undesirable catalytic activity, thereby better controlling the heat produced in the reaction and substantially eliminating "hot spots". However, such coated catalysts often exhibit a significant degree of attritability, i.e., they break down in use to give significant amounts of catalyst fines. As these fine particles accumulate in the reactor, high pressure drops develop which must be overcome by applying higher pressures. Once the pressure reaches an unacceptably high level, the reaction must be stopped even though the catalyst may still retain good activity.
Attempts have been made in the past to provide active supported catalysts having acceptable attrition resistance. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,341,471 describes attrition resistant solid catalysts prepared by mixing finely divided catalytically active components with an aqueous silica sol, forming a paste or slurry, drying the mixture, heat-treating the finished finely divided catalyst and then pelletizing, yielding a catalyst having catalytically active material fairly uniformly distributed throughout the pellets. This catalyst, however, when used in a fixed bed reactor in reactions such as the oxidation of olefins to oxygenated hydrocarbons, still has a tendency to result in undesirable "hot spots".
U.S. Pat. No. 4,077,912 describes a procedure for producing a coated catalyst on an inert porous support. The catalyst is produced by wetting a porous inert support with an inorganic or organic liquid, water and petroleum ether being specifically disclosed, in such a manner that the resulting wetted support does not have the appearance of free liquid in contact with the support particles, and then gently agitating a catalytically active material onto the wetted support surface. The resulting catalyst is said to have good attrition resistance. The catalytically active material used in this catalyst is the same catalytically active material described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,778,386, earlier discussed. The resulting catalyst, although having good activity and selectivity for the conversion of propylene to acrolein, in many cases has an unacceptably high attrition rate.
In general, the catalysts described in the aforementioned patents have a lower attrition resistance than the catalysts of the present invention.


The invention concerns a device for ground compacting, having at least one vibrating roller whose casing surface is composed of a plurality of segments in the peripheral direction, at least some of which have midpoints which describe an arc having a radius of curvature that deviates from the mean radius of the roller. In order to smooth the jolting movement resulting from the shape of the rollers in devices of this type, it is proposed to construct the tire casing of the roller from several sections lying adjacent to one another in the axial direction, said sections having segments abutting one another in the peripheral direction, whereby the abutting edges are displaced vis-à-vis one another in the peripheral direction.

The invention concerns a device for ground compacting, having at least one vibrating roller whose casing surface is composed of a plurality of segments in a peripheral direction, at least some of which have midpoints which describe an arc having a radius of curvature that deviates from the mean radius of the roller.
Either a vibrating roller or a vibrating plate is used in known devices for ground compacting. The compacting efficiency in vibrating rollers is thereby essentially determined by the line load and the amplitude.
To obtain a high depth effect, as high an amplitude as possible of the vibrating roller is required, whereby it is usually accepted that the higher the amplitude, the higher the depth effect of the compacting.
In recent years, rollers having an increased compacting efficiency were developed, i.e. with high line loads and high amplitudes, which operate with a line load of up to 800 N/m and an amplitude of 2 mm. Rollers of this type have proved to be successful for compacting stony ground not sensitive to shearing stress, since higher fill layers can be compacted.
However, in cohesive ground and/or ground sensitive to shearing stress, the high compacting forces result in the formation of cracks. Essentially, the reason for this is that the high compacting force which acts on the ground via the round roller body, reaches the material to be compacted diagonally which generates high stresses in the surface area and results in cracks and bursts. In contrast thereto, the stresses in deeper ground fade quickly.
In view of the fact that, under these circumstances, the depth effect of ground compacting devices with vibrating rollers is limited, in certain grounds it is preferred to apply the compacting force by flat-surfaced elements, such as e.g. vibrating plates, in which the stress curve in the ground to be compacted is substantially more advantageous since no pronounced stress peaks occur in this case and, moreover, the vertically applied forces fade considerably more slowly in the deeper ground.
Although vibration plates thus compact better than rollers, compacting devices with rollers have found a broader field of application overall due to a higher power area ratio, a greater adaptability and greater climbing ability, better transportability and greater ease of control and they have often superseded plate compactors.
In order to combine the advantages of the vibrating plates with those of the roller, it was, for example, proposed in DE-A 196 48 593 to construct the vibrating roller of the ground compacting device from a plurality of individual segments in the peripheral direction, so that convex curved sections having two different curvatures are formed in the peripheral direction, alternating successively and continuously passing over into one another outward on the tire, whereby the one curvature is stronger and the other curvature is weaker than that of a cylinder defining the outer periphery of the roller. In other words, rollers of this type can also be described as flattened by segment.
It is, moreover, proposed in this publication to provide such segmented flattened rollers in pairs, namely on the front and on the rear axis of a road roller. In this way, it is to be understood that the climbing ability for the road roller is assured because, on the one hand, a tire with a segment having a weak curvature lies on the ground, while the other roller with a segment having a greater curvature simultaneously ensures the advancement of the road roller.
An advantage of this previously known roller is, in particular, that the high loads in the segments having a weak curvature are no longer inserted into the ground to be compacted as line loads with corresponding undesirable side effects, such as unintentional shearing stresses, but that these are greatly reduced since the forces are introduced into the ground via as wide a stand-up surface of the roller as possible. Carrying this idea further results in that the best results should ultimately be obtained if the individual segments of the roller are flat, i.e. its radius of curvature is endless.
Although no shearing stresses occur in the ground to be compacted in this design, the disadvantage is noted in DE-U 296 21 103 that a traction and/or climbing ability is no longer present during a vibration for tires of this type which are presumably known. Moreover, in this publication, a considerably jolting movement is considered a disadvantage for tire surfaces formed from flat sections and it is instead proposed to make the tire surface from sections which have the form of a triangle or trapezoid, wherein adjacent casing sections each have an equally long triangular or trapezoidal side in common and are arranged in such a way that a triangular side or longer trapezoidal side of the adjacent casing surface, opposite a corresponding triangular point or shorter trapezoidal side, is alternately followed by a triangular point or a shorter trapezoidal side of a preceding casing section at the front end of the tires in their peripheral direction.
However, rollers of this type have the disadvantage that their median axis for placing two adjacent casing sections each flat thereon must be tipped in each case which requires an extensive apparatus structure.
Also, in rollers of this type, it is only possible to obtain traction or climbing ability if a comparable second polygonal roller is present on a further axis of a road roller, said second polygonal roller ensuring the forward movement with an edge while a flat section ensures the desired ground compacting on the first-mentioned tire.
In the two previously known road rollers, a good synchronization must be assured for the rotation of the rollers on both axes, as can be seen in the above, said synchronization ensuring the described phase-displaced rotation of the two rollers on the front and rear axes on a continuous basis.
Thus, the object of the present invention is to further develop a roller, as described above, in such a way that it has as good an automatic synchronization as possible. Moreover, a possibility should be given to make it possible to omit the extensive synchronization of the front and rear axes when using two rollers on a road roller.
According to the invention, this object is solved by a corresponding roller that has several adjacent sections in an axial direction consisting of segments abutting one another in a peripheral direction and which have abutting edges displaced vis-à-vis one another in the peripheral direction.
The advantage of these rollers lies therein that their xe2x80x9crolling behaviorxe2x80x9d is improved considerably. At the same time, the compacting and the advancement and/or climbing ability can be realized with only one roller. Moreover, the effect of the sections arranged so as to be displaced vis-à-vis one another in the peripheral direction is to reinforce the individual segments, as a result of which an even more improved transmission of the vibration forces to the ground material to be compacted is obtained.
Preferably, corresponding rollers have between 2-7 corresponding adjacent sections.
To obtain a compacting that meets the requirements, it is proposed to provide the vibrating roller with a directional vibrator which can, if necessary, be adapted to the ground in the direction of and/or the amplitude of its vibrating force.
In this connection, it is furthermore proposed to turn the roller intermittently via a stepped gear, whereby this stepped gear can, for example, be coupled with a device for detecting a vibration speed of the directional vibrator. It is thus ensured that a given vibration speed is applied to each ground section on which the roller comes to rest with a flattened segment and to thus ensure a desired compacting result.
It is also possible to couple the stepped gear with a device to move the vibrating roller, said device directly determining the ground compacting by means of various parameters and, when a set value is reached, to then actuate the stepped gear to shift it to a next segment.
Finally, with a compacting device of this type which moves forward intermittently, it is ensured that the contact time of the flattened vibrating segments is sufficient in each case for the desired compacting result.
Surprisingly, it is also possible to ascertain very good compacting results if the individual segments have a slightly concave slope directed to the roller axis.
Furthermore, it was found that the climbing ability was even more improved when the abutting edges of the flattened segments were provided with serrated slats protruding in a radial direction which can, moreover, be made of a harder material and thus reduce wear which is greater at this point.
To eliminate the impressions which are caused by the polygonal points in the ground to be compacted and which can be seen at the abutting edges between individual segments of a section in the roller cross section, it is, moreover, proposed to equip the compacting devices with a smooth roller surface with which the undesirable surface structure can be subsequently compacted and smoothed.
In addition, it is also proposed to provide a roller with circular cylindrical sections. In particular, this enables a very quiet mode of travel, especially on approaching and departing paths that run on Roads. Preferably, these circular sections are here provided in the vicinity of the axial ends of the roller in order to increase the stability of the compacting device.

Device for earth packing having at least one vibrating roller


A fluid control valve actuated by a biased diaphragm responsive to fluctuating pressure in the flow area of the valve to control the valve under conditions of high pressure or reduced pressure. A secondary safety diaphragm is provided separated from the controlled fluid, usually a hydrocarbon, to insure that a breach of a primary diaphragm will not permit leakage to atmosphere.

In fuel systems, valves, characterized as "demand" valves, maintain fuel supply lines closed except when a utility such as a furnace is using fuel and a reduced pressure in the supply line on the utility side causes a diaphragm controlling the valve to open the valve. Similarly, pressure regulator valves which are diaphragm controlled, rather than using a solid piston, will be controlling the flow of inflammable fluid which will be in contact with the flexible diaphragm.
These control diaphragms are made from a material that is resistant to hydrocarbons and yet the constant flexing might cause a breach which could result in a leak of the hydrocarbon to the surrounding environment. Diaphragms need atmospheric venting on one side and thus cannot be totally sealed off.
The present invention has an object, the provision of a diaphragm-controlled valve which has a safety design to avoid leakage of the fluid being controlled. It is a further object to provide a safety valve for inflammable fluids which is relatively inexpensive to manufacture.
Other objects and features of the invention will be apparent in the following description and claims in which the principles of the invention are set out together with details to enable persons skilled to make and use the invention.


Methods, computer readable storage media, and systems are provided for generating machine-readable biometric data from a medical device, which may include: obtaining an image of the medical device including a display of the medical device; retrieving a reference image of a reference display corresponding to the medical device, the reference image defining a reference data field within the reference display; comparing the image to the reference image to identify a data field within the display corresponding to the reference data field within the reference display; identifying one or more alpha-numeric symbols within the data field; and converting the alpha-numeric symbols into the machine-readable biometric data. The machine-readable biometric data may be used to create a data record for a user of the medical device, and can be communicated to an Independent Diagnostic Testing Facility (IDTF) database or server.

The systems and methods related to diagnosis of ailments often require the analysis of biological signs and biometric data obtained from a medical device. These devices may not integrate the ability to capture, archive, and transmit this biometric data, and may have no means for connecting to a computer or computer network to transfer biometric data from the medical device to a database record.
It may be desirable to have a system and method that differs from those systems and methods that are currently available.

Method and system for generating machine-readable biometric data


Transform encoding techniques are disclosed which permit reductions in entropy coding memory requirements. In an illustrative embodiment, a selected discrete linear transform is applied to a discrete-valued version of an information signal to be encoded. The transform is selected such that it produces a transformed output that can be entropy coded using a reduced codeword memory without a substantial increase in entropy coding rate. The entropy coding may be, for example, scalar entropy coding which independently codes each of the components of the transformed discrete-valued version of the information signal, using a single entropy codebook for all of the components to be encoded. As another example, the entropy coding may utilize scalar entropy coding for a first subset of the components of the transformed discrete-valued version of the information signal, using a first codebook for each of the subset of components to be encoded, and vector entropy coding for a second subset of the components, using a second, larger codebook for each of the vectors to be encoded. Other types of entropy coding can also be improved through appropriate selection of the discrete transform.

FIG. 1 shows a conventional transform encoder 10 having a structure common to many well-known audio, video and image coding standards. This common encoder structure includes a linear transform 12, a scalar quantizer 14, and an entropy coder 16, arranged in that order. Transform coding of this type is generally viewed as a computationally efficient alternative to vector quantization. At high encoding rates, it is typically not the transform partitioning itself but the efficiency of the entropy coder that makes transform coding most useful. In the transform encoder 10, the transform is calculated on continuous-value data, i.e., "full precision" data prior to quantization, even though the data will ultimately be represented more coarsely. This also tends to increase the complexity of the subsequent entropy coding operations. Although developments such as zero-tree structures, described in J. M. Shapiro, "Embedded image coding using zero trees of wavelet coefficients," IEEE Trans. Signal Proc., 41(12):3445-3462, December 1993, mix the quantization and entropy coding operations to some degree, the transform is generally still calculated on continuous-value data.
In traditional transform coding of the type illustrated in FIG. 1, the input is generally a continuous-valued random vector sequence x, and it is presumed that the entropy coder 16 uses scalar entropy coding. The problem is then to design a continuous-valued linear transform T such that x=Q(T(x)) is coded efficiently with scalar entropy coding, where x=(x.sub.1, x.sub.2, . . . x.sub.n) is a discrete-valued random vector and Q is a scalar quantization function. The average rate for entropy coding of x is lower bounded by the entropy: H(x).ltoreq.R(x), where H(.cndot.) denotes the entropy of a random variable and R(.cndot.) denotes the rate obtained with an actual code. Subscripts on R will be used herein to distinguish between specific codes, when necessary. In addition, there is always a code that performs within one bit of the entropy, i.e., R(x)<H(x)+1. A Huffman code is an example of one such code.
Scalar entropy coding separately encodes each of the n components of x. This separate encoding can reduce the memory requirements and encoding complexity in many applications, but may also result in an increase in encoding rate. There are two causes of this increase. First, the dependencies between components may not be completely exploited. This is reflected by the following basic property of entropy: ##EQU1##
Second, when using an entropy code, one may do as much as one bit worse than the above-noted entropy bound, i.e., R.sub.0 (x).ltoreq.H(x)+1. Thus, using n separate codes may waste n bits: ##EQU2##
In the above-described traditional transform coding framework, the conventional approach is to pick the continuous-valued linear transform T from among a set of orthogonal transforms, as described in, e.g., A. Gersho and R. M. Gray, "Vector Quantization and Signal Compression," Kluwer Acad. Pub., Boston, Mass. 1992. Use of a nonorthogonal transform would generally make the quantizer less effective. Among the orthogonal transforms, there is an essentially unique transform, known as a Karhunen-Loeve transform, that minimizes the rate after scalar entropy coding. It was observed in M. T. Orchard et al., "Redundancy Rate-Distortion Analysis of Multiple Description Coding Using Pairwise Correlating Transforms," Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. Image Proc., Vol. 1, pp. 608-611, Santa Barbara, Calif., October 1997, that if a continuous-valued vector x with independent components is first quantized and then transformed, i.e., such that x=T(Q(x)), then there is no need to limit the set of transforms. Generalizations to arbitrary dimension transform coding in the multiple description transform context are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/030,488 filed Feb. 25, 1998 in the name of inventors Vivek K. Goyal and Jelena Kovacevic and entitled "Multiple Description Transform Coding Using Optimal Transforms of Arbitrary Dimension."
The above-described conventional approaches can suffer from significant drawbacks. For example, in traditional transform coding, all of the degrees of freedom in the design are generally used to minimize the rate, with the result that no degrees of freedom are left for other manipulations.
It is therefore generally not possible, using the conventional transform coding techniques described above, to minimize the entropy coding rate and simultaneously pursue other important objectives such as memory reduction. Conventional encoding techniques are therefore unduly complex, and often consume excessive storage and computational resources.

Method and apparatus for reduced complexity entropy coding


Provided is a method of generating a pilot pattern capable of perform adaptive channel estimation, and a method and apparatus of a base station and a method and apparatus of a terminal using the pilot pattern.

In a wireless communication system, a received signal is influenced by a channel environment, and thus it is necessary to compensate for the influence of the channel environment. To do this, a predetermined pilot symbol is inserted in the time domain and the frequency domain during data transmission between a transmitter and a receiver in the wireless communication system. The receiver performs channel estimation using two continuous pilot symbols, to compensate for channel deterioration of data symbols between the two pilot symbols.
As a result, when the interval between the pilot symbols decreases, and the density of the pilot symbols increases, the channel estimation performance is improved. However, the ratio of the pilot symbols in a frame increases, which reduces information transmission efficiency.
FIGS. 1 and 2 show examples of a pilot pattern used in an existing orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) system.
FIG. 1 shows a pilot pattern used in a downlink partial usage of sub-channels (PUSC) mode in IEEE 802.16e worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) standard, and FIG. 2 shows a pilot pattern used in a European telecommunications standards institute (ETSI) digital video broadcasting terrestrial (handheld) (DVB-T(H)) mode.
Referring to FIG. 1, in the pilot pattern, pilots are inserted into subcarriers, which is repeated every 2 orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) symbols. In this structure, although sufficient OFDMA symbols are collected by the receiver to be used for channel estimation, a pilot interval is always fixed as 4 in a slot, so that in order to compensate for the channel deterioration of a data subcarrier between the pilots, interpolation has to be performed, and correspondingly performance degradation due to the interpolation cannot be avoided.
Referring to FIG. 2, in the pilot pattern, pilots are inserted into subcarriers, which is repeated every 4 OFDM symbols. In this structure, although 4 OFDM symbols are collected to be used for channel estimation, the pilot interval is always fixed as 3, so that the channel estimation performance degradation due to the interpolation cannot be avoided either.
In addition, the existing pilot pattern has a structure in which adaptive control of the channel estimation performance, granularity, channel estimation latency, and the channel estimation memory size according to the channel environment is impossible.
Therefore, a pilot pattern capable of minimizing the channel estimation performance degradation due to the interpolation while maintaining a low pilot density, and an adaptive channel estimation method using the pilot pattern are required.

Method of generating pilot pattern for adaptive channel estimation in OFDMA systems, method of transmitting/receiving using the pilot pattern and apparatus thereof

Abstract: The pilot pattern selects pilot symbol positions based on distances from pilots of previous orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) symbols to a subcarrier position of a current OFDMA symbol in the frequency domain and the time domain, so that a low pilot density is maintained so as to effectively transmit data, and stable channel estimation performance can be obtained even in a bad channel environment.

Abstract: In addition, the minimum burst allocation size is determined according to the channel environment between the base station and the terminal, guaranteeing channel estimation performance suitable for the channel environment, and improving granularity, channel estimation latency, and channel estimation memory size.

ELECTRONICS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH INSTITUTE


An improved apparatus and method for non-invasive monitoring of blood oxygen saturation and pulse is made by modifying a conventional prior art pulse oximeter probe for use inside an ear canal or other body cavity. This placement is particularly useful for unobtrusively monitoring the blood oxygen saturation and pulse of pilots flying high performance military aircraft. When monitored blood oxygen saturation or pulse levels fall to a level indicating imminent unconsciousness, control of the aircraft can be removed from the pilot and the aircraft unloaded to reduce G-loading. The apparatus is made by removing the light emitting diode (LED) and light sensor from a commercially available pulse oximeter probe, or oxisensor, and cementing them on opposite sides of a conventional ear plug. The light emitted from the LED travels a reflective path through the vascular tissue surrounding the ear canal to be received by the light sensor on the other side of the canal.

The present invention relates generally to apparatus for non-invasive monitoring of human physiological conditions, and more particularly to an ear canal pulse oximeter for monitoring the physiological conditions of pilots and other aircrew members flying high performance aircraft.
G-force induced loss of consciousness, or GLOC, is second only to spatial disorientation as a human factors threat to aircrew members of modern military high performance aircraft. GLOC is believed to be one of the primary causes of military aircrew fatalities notwithstanding the use of anti-G suits and other human factor improvements in modern military aircraft. Each improvement in aircraft performance since the early 1900's has been accompanied by an increased danger to aircrew members from human factors sources. Aircraft performance first reached a level sufficient to induce GLOC at least in the early 1920's, more than 65 years ago.
The U.S. Military, particularly the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy, has actively advanced the loss of consciousness prevention art. The Air Force and Navy are each the assignee of numerous patents in this art, including patents for reclined seats, advanced anti-G suits, rapid acting servo values for anti-G suits and G-limiting flight control computer systems, many of which are now standard equipment in modern high performance military aircraft. An example of such patents is U.S. Pat. No. 4,821,982 to Van Patten, which includes a discussion of the effect of acceleration and rate of change of acceleration on a pilot, and which patent is incorporated by reference in this application as though fully rewritten.
Notwithstanding these efforts, there has been a notable lack of satisfactory loss of consciousness monitoring devices for aircrew members. Such monitoring systems would monitor critical physiological factors, particularly blood oxygen saturation levels, and signal an alarm or actuate an automatic pilot system to assume control of the aircraft whenever monitored physiological factors fall to levels indicating imminent loss of consciousness.
The lack of such loss of consciousness monitoring devices is primarily because such monitoring has generally involved either anatomically invasive instrumentation devices or, at best, unwieldy external contrivances. These devices are, of course, highly disfavored or even considered physiologically and psychologically threatening by aircrew members, particularly fighter pilots.
To make such devices acceptable to aircrew members, they must be totally invisible in use or at least very unobtrusive. One useful approach to making such a device unobtrusive during use by aircrew members is described in copending commonly-assigned patent application Ser. No. 07/272,146, now U.S. Statutory Invention Registration H1039, "Intrusion-Free Physiological Condition Monitoring," by Tripp et al, which application is incorporated by reference in this application as though fully rewritten. That application discloses the modified use of a nasal septum probe, or oxisensor, used with a conventional medical pulse oximeter. The nasal septum probe fits over a patient's nose bridge, or septum. The nasal septum oxisensor is modified to mount within the nose bridge covering portion of a conventional aircrew member face mask so that the blood oxygen saturation and pulse rate of the aircrew member can be monitored without any noticeable interference with, or extra effort by, the aircrew member.
A pulse oximeter calculates blood oxygen saturation from the different rates at which oxygenated hemoglobin and reduced hemoglobin absorb light of different wavelengths or frequencies. Typically, two wavelengths of light are used, one in the red portion of the spectrum and the other in the infra-red. Also typically, absorption of the infra-red wavelengths is much less sensitive to blood oxygen saturation levels than is absorption of the red wavelengths, and the intensity of a particular infra-red wavelength remaining after passing through vascular tissue can serve as a constant against which to measure the intensity of a particular red wavelength remaining after passing through the same vascular tissue. Pulse rate is calculated from the timing of the relative rise and fall of the amount of light absorbed at each wavelength.
The pulse oximeter probe prior art has placed light emitting diodes (LEDs), and corresponding light sensors, over a variety of body appendages having sufficient vascular tissue. Such appendages include a finger, an ear pina, or ear lobe, the nasal septum as previously mentioned, and the scalp. The prior art frequently refers to ear oximeters, but in all cases it is referring to oximeters using probes, or oxisensors, that mount across the ear lobe.
A particular problem with adapting conventional medical monitoring devices for use on aircrew members while in active flight is maintaining accuracy. Conventional medical monitoring devices are generally attached in a hospital setting to a motionless and prone patient. Mounted on an aircrew member, they either will not remained attached or cannot maintain accuracy, or both.
Other than the invention described in the referenced copending commonly-assigned application, the prior art has not produced a successful means for monitoring blood oxygen saturation of aircrew members while in active flight.
A variety of different successful solutions to the problem of physiological monitoring of aircrew members will be necessary for persons working in the human factors field of art to chose from so that the most effective solution for each unique need will be available.
Thus it is seen that there is a need for additional physiological monitoring devices suitable for use with aircrew members during active flight.
It is, therefore, a principal object of the present invention to provide a non-invasive, unobtrusive physiological monitor for a pilot or aircrew member of a high performance aircraft.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a probe for a blood oxygen saturation level and pulse monitor that fits inside an ear canal.
It is a feature of the present invention that it can be incorporated as part of a protective ear plug already issued to aircrew members.
It is an advantage of the present invention that its placement inside a relatively dark body cavity greatly reduces its sensitivity to error from external light sources.
It is another advantage of the present invention that it measures blood oxygen saturation as near as possible to the area of primary concern, inside the brain of an aircrew member.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent as the description of certain representative embodiments proceeds.

Ear canal pulse/oxygen saturation measuring device

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force


A glass holder is provided which is used to hold a glass stably at the edge of a dish. It has a glass holding body shaped like a cup and a cylindrical mounting frame vertically extending from the underside of the bottom of the glass holding body. The mounting frame is cut horizontally halfway around to form a mounting section so that the edge of a dish can freely be inserted into or removed from the mounting section.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a glass holder that allows a glass to be removably placed at the edge of a dish.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
At parties, when eating while standing, one often has to hold a glass of drink and a hand-held dish at the same time. When a person picks up food and put it on his dish or when he eats the food, the glass should be put temporarily on a table or the like to free his hand. He also has to find an appropriate location on which to place his glass and to take care so that his glass will not be taken for other glasses placed near by. Because of such additional attention he may not be able to enjoy the party. At times the person may be forced to hold both glass and dish while eating and accidentally make a mess.
To cope with such a problem, a glass holder has been proposed, which enables a person to hold with one hand both dish and glass with the glass held at the edge of the dish. Exemplary patent applications that propose such a glass holder include Japanese Utility Model Preliminary Publication No. Showa 62-42473, Showa 63-138182, Heisei 1-119570, and Heisei 1-179572.
These glass holders have as basic constituent elements a holding section that holds a glass upright and a clamping section that clamps the edge of the dish to fix the holding section to the dish. In the Japanese Utility Model Preliminary Publication No. Showa 63-138182, when attached to a dish, the glass holder has its holding section located on the edge of the dish to support a glass. In other glass holders, the clamping section grips the edge of the dish with the holding section projecting out from the dish.